High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Texan schooner Independence was one of the four schooners of the First Texas Navy (1836–1838). In 1836, Charles Hawkins, a veteran of the United States and Mexican navies, visited Texas Governor Henry Smith, seeking a commission in the new Texas Navy. Smith was impressed with his credentials and sent him to New Orleans, where he was given the task of acquiring the United States Revenue cutter Ingham for the Texas Navy, which he did in early January, 1836, for $1,710.