The Peterhoff was a 416-ton iron-hulled yacht originally built for the Tsar of Russia by C. J. Mare & Co. of Blackwall, London, with 140 hp steam engines by J & G.

Peterhoff then entered the harbour at St. Thomas where two U.S. Navy ships commanded by Acting Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes were at anchor.

Wilkes, already notorious for his part in the "Trent Affair", ordered that the Peterhoff be boarded by the USS Vanderbilt just after she had left harbour on 25 February.

Both the Danish and British governments vigorously protested the seizure, but the ship was eventually condemned by the New York prize court and bought by the Union Navy.

On the night of 7 March 1864, men from Mount Vernon and Niphon boarded the wreck at low tide and destroyed as much as they could, cutting down the masts and spiking all the guns that they could reach.

Other guns from the ship are on display at Fort Fisher State Historic Site and the Carteret County Museum of History at Morehead City, North Carolina.