USS Frolic (1864-1883). Named Advance until 1865: a Virtual Cemetery

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USS Frolic (1864-1883). Named Advance until 1865

USS Frolic (1864-1883).Named Advance until 1865USS Frolic, an 880-ton side-wheel steamer, was originally built as a civilian packet at Greenock, Scotland, in 1862. She operated as the Confederate blockade runner Advance from 1863 until her capture by USS Santiago de Cuba on 10 September 1864. Purchased by the U.S. Navy from the prize court in that month, she was commissioned as USS Advance in October 1864. During the rest of that year, and into 1865, she was active off the North Carolina coast and took part in the assaults on Fort Fisher in December 1864 and January 1865. Advance went to New York in March 1865 and was out of commission there until June, when she was placed back into service and renamed Frolic.Frolic was then assigned to the European Squadron as a dispatch vessel, a mission for which she was well suited by virtue of her small size and good speed. Arriving at Flushing, the Netherlands, in July 1865, she operated in northern European waters and in the Mediterranean until 1869. Again out of commission from May to September 1869, Frolic's next active service was patrolling the North Atlantic fishing grounds in April-October 1870. After another period in reserve, she operated off New England for several months in 1872 and was then station ship at New York. In 1875-77, she cruised in South American waters as a unit of the South Atlantic Squadron. Decommissioned for the last time in October 1877, USS Frolic was sold in October 1883. She was a civilian ship, retaining the name Frolic, for a few years after that.