USCS Belle was a schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 that served as a survey ship in the United States Coast Survey from 1848 to 1857.

The Coast Survey acquired Belle from the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 Quartermaster Department in 1848 and placed her in service along the United States Gulf Coast, where she spent her entire Coast Survey career.

Belle sank in a gale

Gale

A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are...

 at the end of the 1853 surveying

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

 season, but she was raised in 1854 and returned to service. She was lost on uncharted shoal

Shoal

Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...

 off St. Andrews Bay

St. Andrews Bay

St. Andrews Bay is a bay located in Bay County in the panhandle of Florida. The county seat of Panama City is located on the bay, named for Saint Andrew. The Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay Railway, which ran from Panama City to Dothan, Alabama , was also named for the bay.-History:St...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, in 1857.