Explorer was built by Pusey & Jones of Wilmington, Delaware, with yard number 316 and delivered to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey on 30 November 1904.[2][3]
Explorer was schooner-rigged with two masts with sails which were intended to steady the ship, not for propulsion. Propulsion was by means of a steam engine with cylinders of 13 in (33.0 cm) and 26 in (66.0 cm) with a 20 in (50.8 cm) stroke driving a single 7 ft 6 in (2.3 m) bronzepropeller. A boiler 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m) in diameter and 11 ft (3.4 m) long provided steam. The Coast and Geodetic Survey intended the ship to perform extensive magnetic survey work in which the extensive of metal in her construction would distort observations, so she was constructed primarily of wood, with metal used only when needed and where it could be used "without defeating the purpose of the wooden hull." The hull's length was 147 ft (44.8 m) overall an 139 ft (42.4 m) between perpendiculars, its extreme beam was 27 ft (8.2 m), and its depth was 14 ft 6.5 in (4.4 m). Displacement was 450 tons on a mean draft of 8 ft 7.5 in (2.6 m).[4]
Explorer′s registry information for 1906 shows a vessel of 335 GRT with the signal letters GVWJ, a speed of 10.3 kn (11.9 mph; 19.1 km/h), an 85-ton coal capacity, and a crew of seven officers and 36 men.[5]
Service history
U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey service, 1904–1918
Explorer was commissioned on 29 December 1904 but was weatherbound at Wilmington until 9 March 1905, at which time she departed for Puerto Rico. She began magnetic observations at Norfolk, Virginia, and continued them during the remainder of the voyage. She then commenced hydrographic surveys and updating United States Coast Pilot information. After completing her work at Puerto Rico, she proceeded to Baltimore, Maryland, making magnetic observations during the voyage. She arrived at Baltimore on 21 June 1905 and began repairs.[2]
Explorer left Baltimore on 26 July 1905 and reached Rockland, Maine, on 30 July 1905 to begin surveys. The cruise lasted until 2 November 1905, when Explorer returned to Baltimore for repairs. She got underway again on 4 January 1906 for the winter survey season, bound for the south coast of Puerto Rico, taking magnetic observations on the voyage. She arrived off Puerto Rico on 20 January 1906. She completed her surveys on 28 May 1906 and on 5 June 1906 arrived at Baltimore, where she undertook repairs.[6]Explorer left Baltimore for northern surveys on 23 July 1906, working until the end of the season on 11 December 1906.[7]
Explorer returned to Baltimore on 15 December 1906 for repairs before a major transfer in operations. On 19 February 1907 she departed Baltimore for Seattle, Washington by way of the Strait of Magellan, making magnetic observations during the voyage.[7] On 3 July 1907 she reached San Diego, California, and she arrived at Seattle on 15 July 1907. On 17 August 1907, she sailed for the District of Alaska, beginning a pattern of conducting surveys in the north in Alaskan waters during summer and to the south along portions of the United States West Coast in winter.[8] On 12 November 1907, her launch was run down by the steamer Indianapolis in thick fog at Seattle, and two of four crewmen aboard the launch drowned in the incident.[9]
Upon Explorer′s return from naval service, she was condemned in anticipation of selling her,[12] and the Coast and Geodetic Survey laid up her up at Seattle. However, the Coast and Geodetic Survey director's annual report for fiscal year 1920, covering 1 July 1919 to 30 June 1920, contained an entire section dealing with the urgent need to survey Alaskan waters to enable commerce to develop in the Territory of Alaska. The report emphasized the shortage and limitations of vessels.[13]Explorer thus was put back in commission for Coast and Geodetic Survey work in February 1920. The ship was equipped for wire-drag surveying and to serve as mother ship for smaller vessels, and the survey launches USC&GS Helianthus and USC&GS Scandinavia[note 1] both of which had been repaired after World War I U.S. Navy service on the section patrol, were assigned to her. The vessels proceeded to Alaska for triangulation, topographic survey, and hydrographic survey of Stephens Passage.[14]
Explorer continued in service, and appears in the Coast and Geodetic Survey annual reports and the United States registry under "Vessels of the Coast and Geodetic Survey," into 1939.[15][16] With a new survey ship, also named USC&GS Explorer (OSS 28), due to enter service in the Coast and Geodetic Survey in the spring of 1940, Explorer performed her final work for the Survey in Puget Sound in the fall of 1939 and was decommissioned after 35 years of service.[17]
^ abReport Of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1904. pp. 17, 20=22.
^Report Of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1905. p. 16.
^ abReport Of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1907. p. 14.
^Report Of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1908. p. 14.
^Naval History And Heritage Command. "Explorer". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
^"Naval Patrol". Reports of the Department of the Interior 1918. 2, Indian Affairs and Territories. United States Department of the Interior: 570. 1918. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
^Report Of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1919. p. 83.
^Alaska Needs Immediate, Definite, and Adequate Relief. Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1920. pp. 37–52.
^Annual Report Of the Director, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Secretary of Commerce (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1920. p. 95.
^Annual Report Of the Director, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Secretary of Commerce (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1939. p. 101.
^ abAnnual Report Of the Director, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Secretary of Commerce (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1940. p. 121.
