USFS Osprey
USFS Osprey in 1914
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United States | |
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Name | SS Wigwam |
Namesake | Wigwam, a term used for a semi-permanent domed dwelling used by certain indigenous peoples of the Americas in the northeastern United States or Canada |
Owner | Alaska Packers' Association |
Completed | 1895 |
Fate | Sold to U.S. U.S. Bureau of Fisheries autumn 1912 |
Notes | Operated as commercial cannery tender |
U.S. Bureau of Fisheries | |
Name | USFS Osprey |
Namesake | Osprey, a piscivorous bird of prey of the genus Pandion in the family Pandionidae |
Acquired | Autumn 1912 |
Commissioned | Sometime between 1 and 8 July 1913 (see text) |
Fate | Sold on 14 April or 29 June 1921 (see text) |
United States | |
Name | Foss No. 19 |
Namesake | Foss Launch and Tug Company |
Owner | Foss Launch and Tug Company |
Acquired | 1922 |
Fate | Sold 14 May 1965 |
Notes |
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United States | |
Name | Kiowa |
Owner | Pat Stoppleman |
Acquired | 14 May 1965 |
Fate | Sold 1967 |
Notes | Operated as commercial tug |
United States | |
Name | Kiowa |
Namesake | Previous name retained |
Owner | Samson Tug & Barge |
Acquired | 1967 |
Fate | Sank 30 October 1978 |
Notes | Operated as commercial tug |
General characteristics (as BOF fishery patrol vessel) | |
Type | patrol vessel |
Tonnage | |
Length | 72 ft (21.9 m) |
Beam | 17 ft (5.2 m) |
Draft | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
Propulsion | 1 × 85 kW) compound steam engine, Scotch boiler, and dynamo connected directly to a high-speed Corliss engine, 7.5 tons coal |
Speed | 8–10 knots (15–19 km/h; 9.2–11.5 mph) (average) |
Range | 350 nmi (650 km; 400 mi) |
General characteristics (as commercial motor tug) | |
Type | Tug |
Tonnage | |
Length | 72 ft (21.9 m) |
Beam | 17.3 ft (5.3 m) |
Depth | 7.1 ft (2.2 m) |
Propulsion |
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USFS Osprey was an American
Early history
The vessel was constructed as the 72-foot (21.9 m)
Bureau of Fisheries
Acquisition and characteristics
After the
In the autumn of 1912, the BOF purchased Wigwam from the Alaska Packers Association for US$13,000 for use as the BOF's first fishery patrol vessel in what by then was the
Before placing Osprey
Operational history
Osprey departed Washington on 8 July 1913 to steam north for her first season as a BOF patrol vessel in Alaskan waters.[1] She was assigned Southeast Alaska as her operating area, with her home port at Juneau, Territory of Alaska, and by the end of 1913 had logged 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) as a BOF vessel.[1] Each summer, she enforced salmon-fishing laws and regulations in Southeast Alaska.[1]
The BOF soon encountered difficulties in operating Osprey as a patrol vessel.[1] The Congressional appropriation to pay her crew required them to pay their own mess bills aboard ship, leaving crew members without enough pay left over to make employment aboard Osprey worthwhile, so crewing her with competent personnel was difficult.[1] She could carry only 7.5 tons of coal, giving her only a 350-nautical-mile (650 km; 400 mi) radius, far too small to patrol the districts assigned to her in a large area like Alaska, and coal was expensive in Alaska, costing US$8.50 to US$12.75 a ton.[1] As a coal-burner, she emitted a cloud of smoke from her stack that could be seen at a significant distance, and with few steam cannery tenders in service in Alaska, the sight of smoke on the horizon was almost a sure sign of the approach of Osprey, giving fishery violators ample time to evade detection and interception.[1] Her aging boiler, installed when she was built in 1895, required constant maintenance – although the BOF never replaced it – and her seaworthiness was in question.[1] The BOF's deputy commissioner, Ernest Lester Jones, spent 60 days aboard her in 1914[1] and – noting that she had only 1 foot (0.3 m) of freeboard amidships, a height of 14 feet (4.3 m) from her main deck to the top of her pilothouse, and most of her machinery above the waterline – reported that she was top-heavy, on one occasion in the autumn of 1914 rolling without warning onto her side in a strong wind, causing her engine room to flood.[1] He described her as unseaworthy, confined to her dock on many days when her boiler was in need of maintenance, and dangerously unstable, unable to leave port whenever a strong wind was blowing.[1] In 1915, after two inspectors found Osprey to be in a poor state of repair, the BOF believed that she would be condemned at Ketchikan, Territory of Alaska, but she avoided this fate and remained in service.[1]
In the spring of 1916, Osprey took part in stream investigation work at Wrangell, Territory of Alaska. After spending the summer of 1916 on her normal salmon enforcement duties in Southeast Alaska, she departed for Seattle, Washington, in October 1916 to undergo repairs there.[1] She remained in Seattle for the rest of 1916 and throughout 1917.[1]
In January 1918, Osprey finally returned to Alaska. In the late spring of 1918 she came to the assistance of the boat Good Tidings, which had broken down during a storm, and towed her 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) to Ketchikan.[1] After the Canadian passenger liner SS Princess Sophia ran aground on Vanderbilt Reef in Lynn Canal near Juneau, Territory of Alaska, and sank in a storm on 25 October 1918 with the loss of all 343 people on board[3] – the worst maritime disaster in the combined history of Alaska and British Columbia – Osprey joined the BOF fishery patrol vessels USFS Auklet and USFS Murre in a fruitless search for survivors that lasted into November 1918.[4]
In June 1919, the BOF transferred Osprey to
According to a press report, Osprey was sold for US$550 at a
Later career
After her sale, the vessel became a commercial
On 14 May 1965, Foss sold Foss No. 19 to Pat Stoppleman.[1] Stoppleman renamed her Kiowa and replaced her engine with a Caterpillar D343 diesel engine.[1] In 1967, Stoppleman sold Kiowa to Samson Tug & Barge, which based her at Sitka, Alaska.[1]
Loss
While towing a raft of logs to Wrangell, Alaska, with the Samson tug Calumet in Southeast Alaska on 29 October 1978, Kiowa suffered damage during a storm.[5] Calumet towed her to Herring Bay (57°07′N 134°22′W / 57.117°N 134.367°W) on Frederick Sound in the Alexander Archipelago.[5] The two tugs were still there on 30 October 1978, when the log booms broke up in bad weather, scattering the logs, and some of the logs tore open Kiowa's stern.[1][5] The 83-year-old Kiowa sank in 30 feet (9.1 m) of water without loss of life.[1][5] Calumet rescued her crew.[1][5] Kiowa was valued at US$80,000 at the time of her loss.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center AFSC Historical Corner: Osprey, BOF's first Alaska patrol boat
- ^ a b c d e f g h NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center AFSC Historical Corner: Early Fisheries Enforcement Patrol Boats (1912-39)
- ^ "Report of wreck of Princess Sophia". RG 42, Marine Branch, Series B-1, Volume 290, File 47799, pt. 2. Marine Branch. 14 February 2006. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
- ^ a b AFSC Historical Corner: Auklet and Murre, 1917 Sister Patrol Vessels Retrieved September 17, 2018
- ^ a b c d e f alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (K)