Research Note

Revenue Cutter Colors

Frank E. Donahue

What I learned from extensive reading is that as time went on, the white gunport stripe, which extended the full length of the hull, got narrower and narrower until it ultimately disappeared. Generally, US Navy painting practices were followed by the Revenue Marine. In the 1830s, when the Morris Class was built, white was the gunport stripe color and the inner bulwarks were normally white, though as someone mentioned, other colors like buff, green, pale yellow, etc.were sometimes in vogue in the Navy and imitated by the Revenue Marine. As you move into the 1840s and 1850s, the gunport stripe reduces to what we might call molding strips, and often they were painted red or some other more decorative color. By the time the Harriet Lane appears, the gunport stripe is gone.

The earliest photo of a Revenue Marine cutter is one of the Gallatin, a Morris Class cutter. It shows a white gunport stripe half the size of the gunport, occupying the lower half. I decided to follow that example.

The most cannons the Morris Class cutters carried was 6, but often only two, one on each side. When the Navy "borrowed" the cutters for wartime service, they loaded up with 14 guns, hence the 14 gunports.

The sketch of the Morris cutter from the Smithsonian in Chapelle (American Sailing Ships) depicts the Morris with no gunport lids/covers. I would assume, though,that she had them.

AL's Harvey makes for a good base for a kit bash. It also has the simple stem (once you cut away some of it) that the Morris had when built. The stern area of Harvey is a bit narrow, something I didn't notice until it was too late, so my model can only be an approximation. Otherwise, changing the deck layout to match the sketches in Chapelle was rather easy. She should look pretty sharp when she's all done. The unique Revenue Marine flag will really set her off nicely.
{Frank E. Donahue}

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