Nevertheless, her Master, Robert Cochran, drew his pay during the time of her construction and so therefore probably chartered a private vessel to conduct patrols until the South Carolina entered service.

The only incident that garnered published notice was when the governor ordered the cutter to transport a company of soldiers (artillerymen from Fort Johnson) down the waterway to protect a stranded British merchant vessel, the Aracabessa, from another vessel that may have been a French privateer.

By the time the cutter got underway and arrived at the scene, Aracabessa was burning from stem to stern.

[1797] when the Revenue Cutter was ordered by the governor to go down to five fathom hole to protect the English ship Oracabessa from the French pirate who burned her, a detachment of 20 of Capt.

Depredations such as that which befell Aracabessa and the American merchant ships, among others, did motivate the government to begin building a navy.