Renshaw, a new schooner still unrigged, was captured by a boatcrew from USS Louisiana in the Tar River some 5 miles above Washington, North Carolina, on 20 May 1862. The members of the expedition named the prize, taken without papers, for Louisiana's commanding officer, Comdr. Richard T. Renshaw. R. T. Renshaw, soon renamed Renshaw so that she might also honor his brother, the late Comdr. William B. Renshaw, was placed in service as an ordnance hulk and formally purchased by the Navy from the Boston Prize Court on 28 October 1862.