USS Edith, a screw steamer, was transferred from the War Department to the U.S. Navy under congressional legislation of 3 March 1849, and turned over to Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Squadron, at San Francisco, California. On 16 June Lieutenant James McCormick was ordered to report on the condition of the steamer; subsequently, he was placed in temporary command with orders to transport representatives to the California State Constitutional Convention.