The second USS Morris 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....

 in the Continental Navy

Continental Navy

The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War, and was formed in 1775. Through the efforts of the Continental Navy's patron, John Adams and vigorous Congressional support in the face of stiff opposition, the fleet cumulatively became relatively...

 placed in commission

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 in 1779.

Morris was presented to Oliver Pollock

Oliver Pollock

Oliver Pollock was a merchant and financier of the American Revolutionary War, of which he has long been considered a historically undervalued figure...

 by Governor Bernardo de Gálvez of Spanish Louisiana in the summer of 1779 for the use of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 forces on the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

. Armed and commanded by Captain William Pickles

William Pickles (American Revolution)

William Pickles was an officer of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War.Commissioned on October 10, 1776, he was active on the Gulf Coast. He was given command of the , a British ship that had been captured on the Mississippi River, in 1779, but she was destroyed by a hurricane...

, Morris operated on the Mississippi and nearby waters against British

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 commerce. In September 1779 she captured British sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 West Florida in the Battle of Lake Pontchartrain

Battle of Lake Pontchartrain

The Battle of Lake Pontchartrain was a naval engagement on September 10, 1779 that was part of the American Revolution fought in the waters of Lake Pontchartrain between Mandeville and Lacombe in Louisiana...

after a severe conflict.