Julia Hamilton (schooner)

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|Ship name=''Julia Hamilton'' |Ship namesake=Possibly for daughter of William Thomas Hamilton, Maryland's governor 1880 to 1884. |Ship owner=Maryland Conservation Commission |Ship operator=*State Oyster Police *State Fishery Force |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sold 1918 by Maryland Conservation Commission for $350.00 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }}

|Ship beam= |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed= |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=3 |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=Six pounder gun (Oyster Police Force) |Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |} ''Julia Hamilton'' was a Maryland State Oyster Police Force (“Oyster Navy”) schooner, part of the force established to enforce state conservation laws designed to protect Maryland's oyster resources when out of state, often New England, dredgers began destroying reefs in the Chesapeake Bay. Later local opposition to licenses turned to open "warfare" in the "oyster wars" when a fleet of state vessels fought "oyster pirates" in armed conflicts.

That force became the Maryland State Fishery Force under the Conservation Commission of Maryland with which the schooner served when the entire force, boats and men, became a part of the U.S. Naval Reserve in an agreement between the state and the Navy in 1917. ''Julia Hamilton'' continued to patrol the usual waters enforcing conservation law as well as federal law under the agreement. After the war the state modernized its force selling the older sailing vessels to be replaced by purpose built motor boats. The force was one of the elements forming today's Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police.

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