USS Huron, a 1020-ton Alert class screw steam gunboat built at Chester, Pennsylvania, was commissioned in November 1875. Until mid-1877, she cruised in the Caribbean area, calling on ports in Central America, northern South America and the West Indies. Following repairs at New York, Huron departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, on a voyage to collect scientific information in the area of Cuba. However, while en route on 24 November 1877, she was wrecked in a storm near Nag's Head, North Carolina. Nearly a hundred of her officers and men were lost in this tragedy.