USRC Grant

Last updated

USRC Grant (1871).jpg
USRC Grant
History
US flag 37 stars.svgUnited States
Namesake Ulysses S. Grant
Builder Pusey and Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware
Cost$92,500
Laid down1870
Launched1871
Decommissioned28 November 1906
Stricken28 November 1906
Nickname(s)U. S. Grant
FateSold to A. A. Cragin of Seattle for $16 ,300
General characteristics
Type Barque-rigged, iron-hulled
Displacement350 tons
Length163 ft (49.7 m)
Beam25 ft (7.6 m)
Draft9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) [1]
Installed powerCoal [1]
PropulsionOne vertical, direct action steam engine, 36.5" diameter × 36" stroke, single screw [2]
Sail planBark without Royal Yards [1]
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) [1]
Boats & landing
craft carried		3
Complement45
Crew7 officers, 34 enlisted [1]
Armament4 × 24-pounder howitzers (before 1893) [1]

USRC Grant was a rare, three-masted revenue cutter built in 1870 and 1871 by Pusey & Jones Corporation in Wilmington, Delaware. She served the United States Revenue Cutter Service in both the Atlantic and Pacific preventing smuggling and protecting shipping. At the outbreak of the War with Spain, she was ordered to cooperate with the Navy 11 April 1898. Throughout the conflict, she patrolled the Pacific coast and was returned to the Treasury Department 15 August 1898. Grant continued to serve the Revenue Cutter Service in the Pacific until sold to A. A. Cragin of Seattle, Washington on 28 November 1906. [3]

Contents

Service history

United States Revenue Cutter Grant, often referred to as U. S. Grant, was an iron-hulled vessel built for the Revenue Cutter Service in 1870-1871, one of the few three-masted cutters ever in service. She was constructed by the Pusey and Jones Corporation at a cost of $92,500.

East coast service

The cutter entered service on 19 January 1872, was assigned to the New York station, with Revenue Captain George R. Slicer, in command. For the next two decades, Grant operated off the east coast from Block Island Sound to the mouth of the Delaware River. [4] [5]

On 23 May 1874, Grant helped ferry the Grant-Satoris wedding party, including the ship's namesake President Ulysses S. Grant, from West 24th Street in New York City to SS Baltic, on which the newly married couple travelled to England. [6]

In the summer of 1877, Grant was the host ship for United States Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman's three-week tour of United States Lighthouses Board, United States Life-Saving Service, and United States Coast Survey facilities. Also on board was Webb C. Hayes, who was then serving as secretary for his father, President Rutherford B. Hayes. [7] [8] During this tour, the cutter rammed and sank the schooner Dom Pedro off Boon Island, with no loss of life. [9]

On 11 July 1887, Grant was used during Queen Kapiolani's return visit to New York City, ferrying her and her party from Servia to shore. [10] She repeated this honor in August, when New York City was visited by Prince Devanwongse, half-brother of the King of Siam, Chulalongkorn I. [11]

Two years later, Grant participated in the 1889 Great Naval Parade, part of the Grand Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of President Washington, held in New York Harbor on 30 April 1889. [12] She was also witness to the launching of USS Maine on 18 November. [13]

She was withdrawn from service on 29 September 1893 and refitted for duty in the Pacific. She departed New York on 6 December, bound for Port Townsend, Washington. En route, the revenue cutter called at Barbados; Bahia, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Valparaiso, Chile; Callao, Peru; San Diego and San Francisco, California, and arrived at Port Townsend on 23 April 1894, ending a voyage of 73 days and 20 hours. [4] [5]

West coast service

In the ensuing years, Grant operated out of Port Townsend, protecting the salmon fisheries and, when necessary, extending assistance to ships of the Bering Sea whaling fleet. She continued her peacetime routine in the Pacific Northwest into the late 1890s. Arriving at San Francisco on 7 April 1898, Grant was placed under Navy control four days later, on 11 April, as the United States girded for war with Spain. Retaining her Revenue Cutter Service crew, the cutter operated under Navy aegis as a unit of the Naval Auxiliary Service through July. Returned to the Treasury Department on 16 August 1898, Grant resumed her peacetime activities, patrolling the same northwest Pacific coastlines of Washington and Alaska which she had covered during her brief wartime naval service. [4]

In early 1902, Grant assisted in the search for the lost HMS Condor. [14] During this search, a ship's boat believed to belong to Condor was discovered at Ahousat. Captain Dorr F. Tozier, commanding Grant, traded the Indians, who had found the boat in December, his dress sword for it. In February, Tozier met with the captain of HMS Egeria, who recognized the boat as belonging to Condor and retrieved it. [15] In 1906, the British government gifted Tozier a replacement sword, as a token of their appreciation "of the valuable and cordial assistance rendered" by him in the search for Condor. [16] In the summer of that year, Grant was involved in the area wide manhunt for the Outlaw Tracy. [17]

In October 1903, [18] to assist with her anti-smuggling mission, [19] Grant became the first United States revenue cutter to be fitted with a wireless telegraph device. [20] [21]

On 23 January 1906, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company's steamer Valencia became stranded off Cape Beale Light, near Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Of the 164 people on board, 126 perished in the tragedy. Grant assisted in operations to recover the bodies of the victims and later transported them to Seattle. [4]

Grant conducted her last cruise in August 1906, patrolling the salmon fisheries off the Washington coast in the vicinity of Point Roberts, Washington. In September, Grant was determined in need of repair too costly to justify the expenditure. [22] Subsequently taken out of service, the revenue cutter was sold on 28 November 1906 to A. A. Cragin, of Seattle for $16,300, [5] [23] after which she became the merchant vessel Grant. [4]

Grant was subsequently sold to the San Juan Fishing & Packing Company who rebuilt her as a dory halibut fishing steamer. [24] In September 1911, she helped rescue survivors of SS Ramona, a passenger steamer that ran aground near the Spanish Island, in Christian Sound, Alaska. [25] Before the year was out, she suffered the same fate, wrecking on the rocks of Banks Island. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Revenue Cutter Service</span> Precursor to the U.S. Coast Guard

The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an act of Congress on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine upon the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to serve as an armed customs enforcement service. As time passed, the service gradually gained missions either voluntarily or by legislation, including those of a military nature. It was generally referred to as the Revenue-Marine until 31 July 1894, when it was officially renamed the Revenue Cutter Service. The Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. On 28 January 1915, the service was merged by an act of Congress with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.

USS <i>Dale</i> (1839) Sloops-of-war of the United States Navy

USS Dale was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy commissioned on 11 December 1839. Dale was involved in the Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, operations along Africa to suppress slave trade, and was used by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and later the U.S. Coast Guard, among other activities. Dale was placed into ordinary numerous times.

USS <i>Bear</i> Dual steam-powered and sailing ship

USS Bear was a dual steam-powered and sailing ship built with six-inch (15.2 cm)-thick sides which had a long life in various cold-water and ice-filled environments. She was a forerunner of modern icebreakers and had a diverse service life. According to the United States Coast Guard official website, Bear is described as "probably the most famous ship in the history of the Coast Guard."

USRC <i>Windom</i> U.S. Revenue cutter

USRC Windom was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service and United States Coast Guard that served from 1896 to 1930. She was named for William Windom, the 33rd and 39th United States Secretary of the Treasury. She served during the Spanish–American War with the United States Navy. Windom was recommissioned as USCGC Comanche in 1915 and again served with the Navy as USS Comanche during World War I.

<i>Washington</i> (1837)

Washington was a revenue cutter that served in the United States Revenue-Marine and in the United States Navy. She discovered, boarded, and captured La Amistad after the slaves on board had seized control of that schooner in an 1839 mutiny.

USS <i>Mackinac</i> (AVP-13) Tender of the United States Navy

The second USS Mackinac (AVP-13) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1942 to 1947 that saw service during World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard from 1949 to 1967 as the cutter USCGC Mackinac (WAVP-371), later WHEC-371, the second ship of the Coast Guard or its predecessor, the United States Revenue Cutter Service, to bear the name.

USCGC <i>Jarvis</i>

USCGC Jarvis (WHEC-725) was a Hamilton-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She was launched on 24 April 1971 and commissioned on 4 August 1971 homeported at Honolulu, Hawaii; served on Ocean Station November and fisheries patrols and search and rescue missions in the Bering Sea. She received a FRAM upgrade in 1990–2. Jarvis was decommissioned on 2 October 2012 and in January 2013 the Coast Guard announced that she would be transferred to the Bangladesh Navy late that year. She was commissioned as BNS Somudra Joy (F-28) on 23 December 2013.

USS <i>Bancroft</i> (1892) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Bancroft was a United States Navy steel gunboat in commission from 1893 to 1898 and again from 1902 to 1905. She saw service during the Spanish–American War. After her U.S. Navy career, she was in commission in the United States Revenue Cutter Service from 1907 to 1915 as the revenue cutter USRC Itasca, and in the Revenue Cutter Service's successor service, the United States Coast Guard, as the cutter USCGC Itasca from 1915 to 1922. During her Coast Guard career, she saw service during World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States naval districts</span> Regions and Districts of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard

United States Naval Districts is a system created by the United States Navy to organize military facilities, numbered sequentially by geographic region, for the operational and administrative control of naval bases and shore commands in the United States and around the world. Established in 1903, naval districts became the foundational system for organizing U.S. naval forces ashore during the 20th century. The term "Naval" forces includes United States Marine Corps and current United States Coast Guard units.

USS <i>McCulloch</i>

USS McCulloch, previously USRC McCulloch and USCGC McCulloch, was a ship that served as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter from 1897 to 1915, as a United States Coast Guard Cutter from 1915 to 1917, and as a United States Navy patrol vessel in 1917. She saw combat during the Spanish–American War during the Battle of Manila Bay and patrolled off the United States West Coast during World War I. In peacetime, she saw extensive service in the waters off the U.S. West Coast. She sank in 1917 after colliding with another steamer.

USRC Walter Forward was a schooner constructed for service with the United States Revenue-Marine. She was more commonly known as USRC Forward. Forward served with the United States Army and United States Navy in Mexican waters during the Mexican–American War and was commended for her actions during the Tabasco River landings by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, U.S. Navy. After the war, she was transferred to the United States Coast Survey for a short time as USCS Walter Forward before being returned to the Revenue-Marine for service during the 1850s and the American Civil War.

USCGC <i>Tampa</i> (1912) US Coast Guard ship

USCGC Tampa (ex-Miami) was a Miami-class cutter that initially served in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, followed by service in the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. Tampa was used extensively on the International Ice Patrol and also during the Gasparilla Carnival at Tampa, Florida and other regattas as a patrol vessel. It was sunk with the highest American naval combat casualty loss in World War I.

USRC <i>Manning</i>

USRC Manning was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service that served from 1898 to 1930, and saw service in the U.S. Navy in the Spanish–American War and World War I.

USRC <i>Onondaga</i>

USRC Onondaga was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 she became USCGC Onondaga. She served as a patrol vessel at various Atlantic coast ports before World War I and unlike most Coast Guard cutters during World War I, she remained under the control of the Commandant of the Coast Guard. After the war she patrolled for a brief time based at New London, Connecticut before being decommissioned in 1923.

USRC <i>Mohawk</i>

USRC Mohawk, was a steel steam powered revenue cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service by William R. Trigg Company at Richmond, Virginia. Her primary duties in the Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard were assisting vessels in distress and enforcing navigational laws as well as a derelict destroyer. Mohawk was sunk after a collision with another vessel in October 1917.

USRC <i>Thomas Corwin</i> U.S. revenue cutter and merchant ship

The Thomas Corwin was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue-Marine and United States Revenue Cutter Service and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea. In 1912, Frank Willard Kimball wrote: "The Corwin has probably had a more varied and interesting career than any other vessel which plies the Alaskan waters."

USRC <i>Jefferson Davis</i> United States Revenue Cutter Service

USRC Jefferson Davis was a United States Revenue Cutter Service topsail schooner of the Cushing class built in 1853. She was named for Jefferson Davis, then United States Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, and later president of the Confederate States of America.

USCGC <i>Unalga</i>

USCGC Unalga (WPG-53) was a Miami-class cutter that served in the United States Revenue Cutter Service and later the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy. The early part of her career was spent patrolling the Pacific coast of the United States and the Bering Sea. After 1931 she did patrol work off Florida and in the Caribbean. After Unalga was sold in 1946, she was renamed after Jewish Agency leader Haim Arlosoroff and used for six months for moving Jewish refugees from Europe to Palestine before being forced to run aground by British Navy ships near Haifa.

United States Revenue Cutter Commodore Perry (1884) was an iron-hulled revenue cutter built in 1884 for revenue service on the Great Lakes, where she served for nine years. In December 1893, she was transferred to the West Coast of the United States, for service in the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan waters, where she served until wrecked near the Pribilof Islands on 27 July 1910.

USRC <i>Algonquin</i>

USRC Algonquin was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. She was homeported at San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1905 to 1917. Algonquin served briefly for the U.S. Navy along the Atlantic Coast in the summer of 1898 before being returned to the Treasury Department. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 the vessel became USCGC Algonquin. The ship served as a patrol vessel at Norfolk, Virginia at the beginning of World War I before being assigned convoy duty in the Mediterranean. In February 1919 Algonquin was transferred to the West Coast and served in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska until being decommissioned at San Francisco in December 1930.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "New Revenue Ships". The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattle, Washington. 30 September 1893. p. 5.
  2. ↑ "Revenue Cutter Service". Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times. XL (1401): 18. 20 October 1906.
  3. ↑ "Grant". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships . Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command . Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. "Webcutters: Grant, 1871" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard. "Record of Movements, Vessels of the United States Coast Guard, 1790 - December 31, 1933" (PDF). Coast Guard Historian's Office.
  6. ↑ "The Bridle Party Departed". Holmes County Republican. Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio. 28 May 1874. p. 2.
  7. ↑ "Washington News and Gossip". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 29 June 1877. p. 1.
  8. ↑ "Secretary Sherman's Inspection Trip". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 5 July 1877. p. 1.
  9. ↑ "Summary of News". Bradford Opinion. Bradford, Vermont. 28 July 1877. p. 4.
  10. ↑ "Queen Kapiolani's Returned". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 11 July 1887. p. 1.
  11. ↑ "Devanwongse is Here". The Sun. New York, N.Y. 1 August 1887. p. 3.
  12. ↑ "The Great Naval Parade". The Evening World. New York, N.Y. 29 April 1889. p. 1.
  13. ↑ "The Maine Launched". New-York Tribune. New York, N.Y. 19 November 1890. p. 4.
  14. ↑ "Town and Country News". The San Juan Islander. Friday Harbor, Washington. 30 January 1902. p. 3.
  15. ↑ "More Condor Wreckage Found". The Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Honolulu, Hawaii. 24 February 1902. p. 10.
  16. ↑ "Revenue Cutter Service". Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times. XL (1409): 22. 15 December 1906.
  17. ↑ "Government Vessels Pursue Outlaw Tracy on Puget Sound". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco, California. 7 July 1902. p. 1.
  18. ↑ "Wireless Installed". The Seattle Star. Seattle, Washington. 2 November 1903. p. 5.
  19. ↑ "Under the Searchlight". Electricity. XXV (19). New York: 254. 11 November 1903.
  20. ↑ McCurdy, James G. (February 1910). Wells, William Bittle; Pease, Lute (eds.). "Criss Cross Over the Boundary, the Romance of Smuggling Across the Northwest Frontier". The Pacific Monthly . 23 (2). Portland, Oregon: Pacific Monthly Publishing Company: 189, 193.
  21. ↑ Kroll, Douglas (2014). A Coast Guardsman's History of the U.S. Coast Guard. Naval Institute Press. p. 161. ISBN   9781612518763.
  22. ↑ "Revenue Cutter Service". Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times. XL (1398): 14. 29 September 1906.
  23. ↑ "Revenue Cutter Service". Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times. XL (1407): 22. 1 December 1906.
  24. 1 2 Newell, Gordon, ed. (1966). The H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Washington: Superior Publishing. pp. 121, 195.
  25. ↑ "First Pictures of Ramona Wreck". The Seattle Star. Seattle, Washington. 15 September 1911. p. 1.

U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935, Donald L. Canney, Naval Institute Press, 1995

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.