 She sailed 6 December 1842 via Charleston, South Carolina, and Tampa, Florida, and conducted surveys in the Gulf of Mexico until midsummer 1843, returning to Norfolk, Virginia, on 24 July 1843.Used as a school ship there through October 1843, she then carried condemned ordnance from Pensacola, Florida, to New York until August 1844.On 21 September 1844, "Oregon" sailed from Norfolk to the Republic of New Granada with dispatches, returning 11 January 1845.