Saffron ScTug
Saffron
(ScTug: t. 73; dr. 8'; s. 14 k.; cpl. 16; a. 1 gun)
John T. Jenkins, a wooden-hulled screw tug built in 1863 at New Brunswick N.J., was purchased by the Navy on 8 December 1864 at Perth Amboy, N.J. renamed Saffron; and commissioned within the following week, Act. Vol. Lt. Henry M. Pishon in command.
The tug was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and was serving at Hampton Roads by 15 December 1864. Saffron operated there and up the James River supporting Army forces during the final months of General Grant's Richmond campaign.
On 3 April 1865, soon after Union forces learned that General Lee had evacuated Richmond, Saffron joined a group of other Union ships in clearing obstructions and torpedoes from the channel leading to the fallen city. Their rapid and efficient work enabled President Lincoln to proceed safely up stream the next day to the newly-captured Confederate capital. There throngs of rejoicing former slaves greeted the President as he walked to the Confederate executive mansion.
After clearing the river to Richmond, Saffron helped to tow a captured Confederate ram, Texas, down stream. The tug then continued to operate in the James, clearing torpedoes and obstructions from that important waterway, until late in May.
Her squadron's report of 1 June tells that Saffron either had recently sailed or was about to sail north.
No record of her decommissioning has been found, but it is certain that the ship was sold at New York City to a D. Townsend on 25 October 1865. The tug was redocumented as Clifton on 17 February 1866 and remained in merchant service until she was lost under unknown circumstances in 1885.