John Tyler's Cruise to the Princeton

President John Tyler and most of his cabinet members boarded the USS Princeton on February 28, 1842. The ship was a state-of-the-art warship designed by Captain Robert F. Stockton to modernize the U.S. Navy. Two 12-inch wrought-iron cannons were placed on her deck; they could launch cannonballs weighing more than 200 pounds with downrange accuracy of nearly five miles. In addition to its coal-fired boilers, the Princeton featured a collapsible smokestack meant to reduce wind friction and boost its speed.