USC&GS Isis
| 300px USC&GS Isis in the Potomac River, ca. 1916 | |
| Career (United States) | 100x35px  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Isis |
| Namesake: | Isis, an ancient Egyptian goddess who originated the arts and agriculture and symbolized fertility (previous name retained) |
| Builder: |
Marvel's Yard, Newburgh, New York Fitted out at Fletcher's Shipyard, Hoboken, New Jersey |
| Launched: | 10 December 1901 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. H. P. King |
| Completed: | 1902 |
| Acquired: | 1915 |
| In service: | 1915 |
| Out of service: | 24 September 1917 (transferred to U.S. Navy) |
| Reinstated: | 30 April 1919 (returned by U.S. Navy) |
| Fate: | Wrecked January 1920 |
| Notes: | Operated as private yacht Isis 1902-1915 and as U.S. Navy patrol vessel USS Isis 1917-1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Survey ship |
| Displacement: | 555 tons |
| Length: | 180.4 ft (55.0 m)[1] or 199 ft (61 m)[2] |
| Beam: | 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m) |
| Draft: | 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m) |
| Propulsion: | Two triple-expansion steam engines, two shafts |
| Speed: | 15 knots |
USC&GS Isis was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1915 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1920.
Contents
Construction
Isis was built as a private yacht of the same name for William S. and John T. Spaulding of Boston, Massachusetts, by Marvel's Yard at Newburgh, New York and launched on 10 December 1901. She was fitted out at Fletcher's Shipyard at Hoboken, New Jersey, and completed in 1902.
Coast and Geodetic Survey career, 1915-1917
The Coast and Geodetic Survey acquired her from her owners in 1915 and placed her in service as a survey ship that year. She operated along the United States East Coast, used by Ernest Lester Jones -- Director of the Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1915 to 1929 -- to ferry dignitaries about in addition to her hydrographic survey work.
On more than once occasion, Isis assisted mariners in distress. On 28 April 1916, she assisted the launch North Star, which was swamping because of being overloaded in a light choppy sea, in Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina. On 18 February 1917, she aided to the yacht Soncy at Savannah, Georgia, during a fire on the waterfront. On 28 April 1917, her officers and crew helped to put out a fire on the steam schooner Rosalie Mahoney in the St. Johns River in Florida.
On 24 September 1917, Isis was transferred to the United States Navy for World War I service as the patrol vessel USS Isis. Postwar, the Navy decommissioned her on 30 April 1919 and returned her to the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Return to Coast and Geodetic Survey and loss, 1919-1920
Once again USC&GS Isis, she resumed her survey work along the U.S. East Coast. In January 1920 she sank off Crescent Beach, Florida, after striking a submerged obstruction while taking soundings of the sunken dredge Florida to mark the wreck as a navigational hazard.
Notes
- ↑ Per NOAA History Web site (at http://www.history.noaa.gov/ships/isis.html).
- ↑ Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/i3/isis.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/179916.htm).
References
- NOAA History, A Science Odyssey: Tools of the Trade: Ships: Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships: Isis
- NOAA History, A Science Odyssey: Hall of Honor: Lifesaving and the Protection of Property by the Coast and Geodetic Survey 1845-1907
- This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: USC&GS Isis ex-USS Isis USC&GS Isis
- Pages with broken file links
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
- Ships of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
- Survey ships of the United States
- Ships built in New York
- Ships built in New Jersey
- 1901 ships
- Shipwrecks of the Florida coast
- Maritime incidents in 1920
