53-462: USS Yosemite may refer to more than one United States Navy ship: USS Yosemite (1892) , an auxiliary cruiser that fought in the Spanish–American War, in commission from 1898 until scuttled in 1900 USS Yosemite (1894) , a steamer in commission from 1911 to 1912 USS Yosemite (CM-2) , a minelayer which bore
106-586: A Danish colony in the Caribbean , consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi); Saint John ( Danish : St. Jan ) with 49 square kilometres (19 sq mi); and Saint Croix with 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi). The islands have belonged to the United States as the Virgin Islands since they were purchased in 1917. Water Island
159-511: A British fleet captured St Thomas on 22 December and Saint Croix on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless. This British occupation of the Danish West Indies lasted until 20 November 1815, when Britain returned the islands to Denmark. By the 1850s, the Danish West Indies had a total population of about 41,000 people. The government of the islands was under a governor-general, whose jurisdiction extended to
212-636: A base for pirates attacking ships in the vicinity and also for the Brandenburg African Company . Governor Lorentz raised enormous taxes upon them and seized warehouses and cargoes of tobacco, sugar, and slaves in 1689 only to have his actions repudiated by the authorities in Copenhagen; his hasty action to seize Crab Island prohibited the Brandenburgers from establishing their own Caribbean colony, however. Possession of
265-463: A better life, and therefore many slaves were converted. By 1900, with a population of 30,000, a fourth of the people were Catholics , while most of the rest were Anglicans , Moravians , or other Protestants . For decades, the Moravians had organized missions and also taken charge of the educational system. Chattel slavery was practiced in the Danish West Indies from at least the 1670s until
318-491: A damaged screw, made only two knots headway even after the storm passed. Finally, after the weather abated completely, her crew was taken off by the U.S. Navy collier USS Justin and Yosemite was scuttled , or foundered from leaks, on 15 November. Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( Danish : Dansk Vestindien ) or Danish Virgin Islands ( Danish : Danske Jomfruøer ) or Danish Antilles were
371-535: A round-trip voyage back to Cavite to pick up stores for Guam. Upon her return to Guam, Yosemite resumed station-ship duties. On 13 November 1900, the former auxiliary cruiser was blown from her anchorage by a particularly violent Typhoon -striking reefs twice and then out to sea from Apra Harbor . Probably while still blowing around the harbor her steam launch sank killing 5 crewmen. For two days, her crew tried to save their ship while it blew 60 miles north and then 40 miles west, but she shipped water badly and, due to
424-401: A second rebellion had formed and some fires had been set, and had notices disseminated to the other islands. General Buddhoe worked with the governor and other officials to end the riots and violence that had broken out on a few estates. In the aftermath, Buddhoe is said to have been jailed and exiled to Trinidad . Governor von Scholten also fared poorly. As governor, he did not actually have
477-534: A slave rebellion, taking over Frederiksted , Saint Croix. That evening, hundreds of slaves gathered peaceably outside Fort Frederik refusing to work the next day and demanding freedom. By 10 a.m. the following morning, about 8,000 slaves had joined. On the afternoon of 3 July 1848 (now known as Emancipation Day ), Peter von Scholten, in order to end the rebellion and prevent bloodshed and damages, went to Frederiksted and announced an immediate and total emancipation of all slaves. He then went to Christiansted , where
530-474: A specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Yosemite&oldid=1222609224 " Category : Set index articles on ships Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles USS Yosemite (1892) The first USS Yosemite
583-544: A voyage to Japan where she underwent repairs at Yokohama and Uraga . Following a brief visit to Nagasaki on 7 and 8 June, the ship headed for the Philippines on the 9th. She arrived in Cavite on the 14th and began additional repairs. On 30 June, Yosemite completed repairs and set a course for Guam. She reached the harbor at San Luis d'Apra on 6 July and resumed duty as station ship. Between 2 and 29 August, she made
SECTION 10
#1732775522057636-700: The German Empire , respectively. The islands were eventually sold to the United States for $ 25 million (equivalent to $ 594,550,000 in 2023) which took over the administration on 31 March 1917 and renamed the territory the United States Virgin Islands. Merchants in Copenhagen asked King Christian IV for permission to establish a West Indian trading company in 1622, but, by the time an eight-year monopoly on trade with
689-750: The Virginia Capes on the 18th. Yosemite arrived at Hampton Roads on 22 July and remained there until 15 August, two days after hostilities ceased. For almost a month, she operated along the Atlantic coast. Between 8 and 19 September, the auxiliary made a voyage to Haiti and then resumed east coast operations briefly before putting in at League Island on 23 September—apparently for repairs because she remained until late in December. Yosemite departed League Island on 29 December and arrived in Norfolk on
742-624: The West Indies , Virginia , Brazil and Guinea was granted on 25 January 1625, the failure of the Danish East India and Iceland Companies and the beginning of Danish involvement in the Thirty Years' War dried up any interest in the idea. Prince Frederick organized a trading mission to Barbados in 1647 under Gabriel Gomez and the de Casseres brothers, but it and a 1651 expedition of two ships were unsuccessful. It
795-1039: The abolition of slavery in 1848. Most slaves worked on plantations, particularly in sugar production , though some also worked at the harbors. Slaves outnumbered Europeans on all islands, often by large margins. On Saint Thomas, population expansion was recorded as 422 Africans and 317 Europeans in 1688, 555 Africans and 383 Europeans in 1699, and 3,042 Africans and 547 Europeans in 1715 (a ratio of more than 5:1), and by 1755 slaves outnumbered Europeans 12:1. On Saint John, there were 677 Africans and 123 Europeans in 1728, 1086 Africans and 208 Europeans in 1733 (a ratio of more than 5:1), and by 1770 slaves outnumbered Europeans 19:1. On Saint Croix in 1797, there were 25,452 slaves and 2,223 Europeans (a ratio of more than 11:1) as well as 1,164 freedmen, and in 1815 there were 24,330 slaves and 180 Europeans (a ratio of more than 135:1) as well as 2,480 freedmen. At that time, freedmen (many of whom had purchased their freedom) also outnumbered Europeans on Saint Thomas and Saint John. Trading African slaves
848-548: The local population approved the transfer in a plebiscite , but the US Senate never voted on the treaty and it expired. The Danish Parliament rejected both a convention and a treaty in 1902. The United States acted again in 1915 because of the islands' strategic position near the approach to the Panama Canal and because of a fear that Germany might seize them to use as U-boat bases during World War I. A referendum
901-683: The 19th. On 23 June, she cleared the Guantánamo Bay area for San Juan, Puerto Rico . She arrived off San Juan on the 25th to participate in the blockade of that port. Soon after her arrival, Yosemite intercepted the Spanish steamer SS Antonio Lopez at 5:20 AM on 28 June when the latter tried to run into San Juan, beginning the Third Battle of San Juan . In spite of heavy covering fire from enemy shore batteries and gunboats Ponce de Leon , Isabella II , and Concha , Yosemite attacked
954-728: The 30th. The ship remained there until 8 April 1899 at which time she got underway for New York . Following a month-long stay, the auxiliary cruiser departed New York on 10 May for duty in the Mediterranean Sea , the Suez Canal , and the Indian Ocean . She arrived in the Mariana Islands , at San Luis d'Apra on Guam , on 7 August. She spent the next eight months at Guam surveying the harbor and serving as station ship. On 17 April 1900, Yosemite departed Guam for
1007-456: The Danish West Indies depended on slavery. After a rebellion, slavery was officially abolished in 1848, leading to the near economic collapse of the plantations. In 1852, the Danish parliament first debated the sale of the increasingly unprofitable colony. Denmark tried several times to sell or exchange the Danish West Indies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: to the United States and to
1060-520: The Dutch assisting their countrymen on Ter Tholen in stealing everything of value, particularly the remaining Danish guns and ammunition. The Danes formed a Board of Trade in 1668 and secured a commercial treaty with Britain, providing for the unmolested settlement of uninhabited islands, in July 1670. The Danish West India Company was organized in December and formally chartered by King Christian V
1113-515: The Eastern Squadron off the coast of Cuba . She stopped at Key West , Florida for five days and then headed for Havana on 7 June, arriving there the same day. Yosemite . She left Havana the next day; visited Santiago and Guantánamo Bay on the 10th; and then, after a brief return to Santiago, headed for Kingston , Jamaica on the 12th. The auxiliary cruiser spent the night of 16 and 17 June at Kingston and returned to Cuban waters on
SECTION 20
#17327755220571166-512: The European population. One of the earliest colonial governors , Gabriel Milan , was a Sephardic Jew . In spite of a general tolerance for religion, many African religions were not recognized because they typically revolved around belief in animism and magic, beliefs that were consistently met with scorn, and were regarded as immoral and subservient. A widespread viewpoint was that if one could convert slaves to Christianity, they could have
1219-540: The US removing its objections to Denmark taking control of the whole of Greenland . Danish administration ended on 31 March 1917 , when the United States took formal possession of the territory and renamed it the United States Virgin Islands . Rear Admiral James H. Oliver was the first American governor of the Danish West Indies. At the time of the U.S. purchase of the Danish West Indies in 1917,
1272-443: The authority to end slavery, but had found himself in a situation where he needed to take immediate action that could not wait for communicating with Denmark. For his actions, he was called back to Denmark to face a trial for treason. He was first denied his pension, but later cleared of the charges. When Denmark abolished slavery in 1848, many plantation owners wanted full reimbursement on the grounds that their assets were damaged by
1325-515: The blockade runner and succeeded in pounding her almost to pieces. She expended 251 5-inch (127-mm) shells in the encounter. At the conclusion of that encounter, the auxiliary cruiser pulled back out of range of the gunboats and their protecting shore batteries to resume her blockade station. She concluded that assignment on 15 July and, after a three-day visit to St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies ( Virgin Islands ), headed back toward
1378-508: The church worked closely together to maintain law and order; the church was responsible for people's moral upbringing, and the king led the civil order. There was no state-sponsored religion in Denmark until 1849, but in the Danish West Indies there had always been a great deal of religious freedom. Danish authorities tended to be lenient towards religious beliefs, but required that all citizens had to observe Danish holidays . Freedom of religion
1431-707: The colony did not include Water Island , which had been sold by Denmark to the East Asiatic Company , a private shipping company, in 1905. The company eventually sold the island to the United States in 1944, during the German occupation of Denmark . St Thomas was a hub of the West Indies packet trade from 1851 to 1885. Denmark issued stamps for the Danish West Indies from 1856 onward. The Danish West Indies were inhabited by many different cultures, and each had its own traditions and religions. The king and
1484-559: The colony, on grounds that it was more disadvantageous than advantageous. The 1733 slave insurrection on St. John, which lasted from November 1733 until August 1734, was one of the earliest and longest slave rebellions in the Americas . The insurrection started on 23 November 1733, when 150 slaves, primarily Akwamus , revolted against plantation owners and managers. The slaves captured the fort in Coral Bay and took control of most of
1537-558: The colony. In 1675, Iversen claimed St. John and placed two men there; in 1684, Governor Esmit granted it to two English merchants from Barbados but their men were chased off the island by two British sloops sent by Governor Stapleton of the British Leeward Islands . Further instructions in 1688 to establish a settlement on St. John seem not to have been acted on until Governor Bredal made an official establishment on 25 March 1718. The islands quickly became
1590-586: The end of March 1801 a British fleet arrived at St Thomas. The Danes accepted the Articles of Capitulation the British proposed and the British occupied the islands without a shot being fired. The British occupation lasted until April 1802, when the British returned the islands to Denmark. The second British invasion of the Danish West Indies took place during the Napoleonic Wars in December 1807 when
1643-611: The island was subsequently disputed with the Scottish in 1698 and fully lost to the Spanish in 1811. St. Croix was purchased from the French West India Company in 1733. In 1754, the islands were sold to king Frederick V , becoming royal Danish-Norwegian colonies. The first British invasion and occupation of the Danish West Indies occurred during the French Revolutionary Wars , when at
USS Yosemite - Misplaced Pages Continue
1696-584: The island. Planters regained control by the end of May 1734, after the Akwamu were defeated by several hundred better-armed French and Swiss troops sent in April from Martinique , a French colony. Colony militia continued to hunt down maroons and finally declared the rebellion at an end in late August 1734. By the 1830s and 1840s, the sugar beet industry had reduced the profitability of sugarcane. The British Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 emancipated slaves in
1749-518: The largest labor revolt in Danish colonial history, took place on 1 October 1878. The revolt began because the formerly enslaved continued to live and work in slave-like conditions even though three decades had passed since the abolition of slavery. Mary Leticia Thomas , today referred to as Queen Mary of St. Croix, spearheaded the revolt alongside three other women: Axeline ‘Agnes’ Elizabeth Salomon, Matilde McBean and Susanna ‘Bottom Belly’ Abrahamsson. The Fireburn uprising and its leaders continue to have
1802-447: The loss of the slaves, and by the fact that they would have to pay for labor in the future. The Danish government paid fifty dollars for every slave the plantation owners had owned and recognized that the slaves' release had caused a financial loss for the owners. The lives of the formerly enslaved people changed very little because many continued to be bound to the plantation system through contractual servitude. Most were bound to serve
1855-443: The name from 1931 to 1939 while out of commission in reserve; formerly USS Tahoe (CM-2), and before that was the protected cruiser USS San Francisco (C-5, later CM-2) USS Yosemite (AD-19) , a destroyer tender in commission from 1944 to 1994 [REDACTED] [REDACTED] List of ships with the same or similar names This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for
1908-567: The neighboring British West Indies , fully effective as of 1840. Abolition in the Danish West Indies was discussed, with Governor von Scholten , who had been seeking reforms since 1830, in favor of emancipation . Scholarly consensus suggests von Scholten's views were influenced by his free-colored mistress Anna Heegaard. King Christian VIII supported the gradual abolition of slavery and ruled in 1847 that every child born of an unfree woman should be free from birth, and that slavery would end entirely after 12 years. That ruling satisfied neither
1961-477: The next year on 11 March 1671. Jørgen Iversen Dyppel , a successful trader on Saint Christopher , was made governor and the king provided convicts from his jails and two vessels for the establishment of the colony, the yacht Den forgyldte Krone and the frigate Færøe . Den forgyldte Krone was ordered to run ahead and wait but ended up returning to Denmark after the Færøe under Capt. Zacharias Hansen Bang
2014-420: The other Danish colonies of the group. However, because the islands formerly belonged to Great Britain, the inhabitants were English in customs and in language. The islands of that period consisted of: The United States had been interested in the islands since at least the 1860s when President Andrew Johnson came close to obtaining St. Thomas and St. John, as Denmark agreed to sell in 1867 for $ 7.5 million and
2067-433: The plantations where they had previously been enslaved. As employees, former slaves were not the plantation owners' responsibility and did not receive food or care from their employers. As part of a sharecropping system, some formerly enslaved people received a small hut, a little land, and some money; however, this one-time compensation did not change the harsh working conditions. The Fireburn labor riot , considered to be
2120-540: The slaves nor the plantation owners. Meanwhile, on 27 April 1848, France signed a law to abolish slavery in their colonies within two months, but a slave insurrection on Martinique led to immediate abolition on Martinique on 22 May and Guadeloupe on 27 May. The slaves in the Danish West Indies did not want to wait for their freedom, either. On 2 July 1848, freedman John Gottlieb (also known as "Moses Gottlieb" or "General Buddhoe") and Admiral Martin King (among others) led
2173-524: The three islands. Britain occupied the Danish West Indies in 1801–1802 and 1807–1815 during the Napoleonic Wars . Danish colonizers in the West Indies aimed to exploit the profitable triangular trade , involving the export of firearms and other manufactured goods to Africa in exchange for slaves , who were then transported to the Caribbean to work the sugar plantations. Caribbean colonies, in turn, exported sugar, rum and molasses to Denmark. The economy of
USS Yosemite - Misplaced Pages Continue
2226-480: The trade of slaves came into effect. Laws and regulations in the Danish West Indies were based on Denmark's laws, but the local government was allowed to adapt them to match local conditions. For example, things like animals, land, and buildings were regulated according to Danish law, but Danish law did not regulate slavery. Slaves were treated as common property, and therefore did not necessitate specific laws. In 1733, differentiation between slaves and other property
2279-823: Was an auxiliary cruiser of the United States Navy . Built as El Sud in 1892 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, in Newport News, Virginia for the Southern Pacific Railroad's Morgan Line . The Navy acquired El Sud on 6 April 1898, at the beginning of the Spanish–American War and renamed her Yosemite . It commissioned her on 13 April 1898 under Commander William H. Emory. After fitting out at League Island , Philadelphia , and at Newport News, Virginia , Yosemite departed Hampton Roads on 30 May for duty with
2332-490: Was delayed for repairs in Bergen . The Færøe completed her mission alone, establishing a settlement on St. Thomas on 25 May 1672. From an original contingent of 190 – 12 officials, 116 company "employees" ( indentured servants ), and 62 felons and former prostitutes – only 104 remained, 9 having escaped and 77 having died in transit. Another 75 died within the first year, leaving only 29 to carry on
2385-554: Was destroyed by a hurricane in August. Smit returned from his fourth expedition in 1663 and formally proposed the settlement of St. Thomas to the king in April 1665. After only three weeks' deliberation, the scheme was approved and Smit was named governor . Settlers departed aboard the Eendragt on 1 July, but the expedition was ill-starred: The ship hit two large storms and suffered from fire before reaching its destination, and then it
2438-455: Was held in Denmark itself on the future of the islands, which had become both a financial burden and a strategic concern. On 17 January 1917, according to the Treaty of the Danish West Indies , the Danish government sold the islands to the United States for $ 25 million ($ 595 million in current prices), when the United States and Denmark exchanged their respective treaty ratifications and with
2491-478: Was implied by a regulation that stated that slaves had their own will and thus could behave inappropriately or be disobedient. There was a general consensus that if the slaves were punished too hard or were malnourished, the slaves would start to rebel. This was borne out by the 1733 slave insurrection on St. John , where many plantation owners and their families were killed by the Akwamu , including Breffu , before it
2544-461: Was not until Erik Smit 's private 1652 expedition aboard the Fortuna was successful that interest in the West Indies' trade grew into an interest in the creation of a new Danish colony. Smit's 1653 expedition and a separate expedition of five ships were quite successful, but Smit's third expedition found his two vessels captured for a loss of 32,000 rigsdaler . Two years later, a Danish flotilla
2597-585: Was part of the transatlantic slave trade by Denmark–Norway around 1671, when the Danish West India Company was chartered, until 1 January 1803, when the 1792 law to abolish the slave trade came into effect. By 1778, it was estimated that the Danes were bringing about 3,000 Africans to the Danish West Indies yearly for enslavement. These transports continued until the end of 1802, when a 1792 law by Crown Prince Regent Frederik that banned
2650-531: Was part of the Danish West Indies until 1905, when the Danish state sold it to the East Asiatic Company , a private shipping company. The Danish West India-Guinea Company annexed uninhabited St. Thomas in 1672; annexed St. John in 1718; and bought St. Croix from France ( King Louis XV ) on 28 June 1733. When the Danish West India-Guinea Company went bankrupt in 1754, King Frederik V of Denmark–Norway assumed direct control of
2703-468: Was partially granted to help settle the islands, as there was a shortage of willing settlers from Europe. This worked to an extent, seeing that a large proportion of settlers were in fact Dutch and British natives fleeing religious persecution. Jews began settling the colony in 1655, and by 1796 the first synagogue was inaugurated. In its heyday in the mid-19th century, the Jewish community made up half of
SECTION 50
#17327755220572756-630: Was raided by English privateers prosecuting the Second Anglo-Dutch War , in which Denmark was allied with the Netherlands. Smit died of illness, and a second band of privateers stole the ship and used it to trade with neighboring islands. Following a hurricane and a renewed outbreak of disease, the colony collapsed, with the English departing for the nearby French colony on Saint Croix , the Danes fleeing to Saint Christopher , and
2809-413: Was suppressed later the following year. In 1755 Frederick V of Denmark issued more new Regulations, in which slaves were guaranteed the right not to be separated from their children and the right to medical support during periods of illness or old age. However, the colonial government had the ability to amend laws and regulations according to local conditions, and thus the regulations were never enacted in
#56943