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| | Viper I (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01) |
 | | The first Viper -originally the cutter Ferret designed by naval architect Josiah Fox and built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va., between 1806 and 1809 -was commissioned under her old name on 18 April 1809, Lt. Christopher Gadsden, Jr., in command. |
 | | She was renamed Viper during rerigging as a brig at the Washington Navy Yard in 1809 and 1810, and from Washington sailed to New Orleans, La., arriving there on 15 March 1811. |
 | | During the war, Viper proved woefully inadequate in deep water operations against the larger, more heavily gunned British warships and was captured by the 32-gun frigate HMS Narcissus off the coast of Belize, British Honduras, on 17 January 1813 and taken to New Providence in the Bahama Islands. |
| www.hazegray.org /danfs/sail/viper1.htm (187 words) |
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