USLHT Columbine (1892)

Columbine first sailed in the fleet of the U.S. Lighthouse Board, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In this quasi-military organization, each Lighthouse District had an Inspector, typically a Naval officer, and an Engineer, typically an officer from the Army Corps of Engineers.  While the Engineer was primarily responsible for the construction and maintenance of lighthouses, piers, and other structures, the Inspector was primarily responsible for supplying lighthouses and lightships, and maintaining buoys and lightships in their assigned locations. In her first assignment, Columbine supported the Inspector of the 13th Lighthouse District, based at Portland, Oregon.^[17] To support the Inspector, however, she had to get to Portland.

Columbine sailed from New York on 30 October 1892.^[18] Since the Panama Canal was still in the future, she made her way to the Pacific via the Strait of Magellan. There were several stops along the way for coal and provisions. Columbine arrived at Bahia, Brazil on 19 November 1892.^[19] She stopped at Montevideo, Valparaiso, and Callao^[20] finally arriving in San Francisco on 28 January 1893. She underwent numerous repairs in San Francisco to fix both the issues with her original construction, and the wear and tear of her long voyage from Cleveland. She was repainted, as her white hull showed a great deal of rust. A new propeller was fitted with a greater pitch in hopes of greater fuel efficiency.^[21] The drafts and grates of her furnaces were modified to improve the efficiency of her coal burning.^[16] She was dry-docked to clean the marine growth from her bottom. Before leaving the Bay Area, Columbine boarded a cargo of 200 tons of buoy mooring chain at the Mare Island Navy Yard to take with her to her new assignment.^[22] Columbine finally reached her base in Portland on 21 April 1893.^[17]

Supporting the District Inspector, Columbine had a number of missions. She placed new buoys, cleaned and maintained existing buoys, reset buoys that were moved off-station by storms and removed buoys that were worn out. In one of her first working trips for the 13th Lighthouse District, for example, she sailed for Southeast Alaska on 26 May 1893. In a 25-day round trip she placed 12 new buoys, cleaned and painted 47 buoys, and repaired 12 beacons.^[17] Columbine towed lightships, including Light Vessel 50,^[23] into position and back to port for maintenance. She was also used to deliver food, water, wood, coal, lantern fuel, and other supplies to lighthouses and lightships.^[24] In 1894, for instance, she delivered 150 tons of coal, 13,000 board feet of lumber, and about 200 tons of other material.^[25]

In 1895 a larger propeller was installed in a further effort to improve fuel efficiency.^[26]

On 1 January 1897 Columbine was transferred from the Inspector to the Engineer of the 13th Lighthouse District. Her primary mission became the construction and maintenance of lighthouses, fog signals, and related civil works.^[27] She continued to tend some buoys and deliver some supplies for the Inspector.^[28]

In June 1898, Columbine hosted Rear Admiral John G. Walker, chairman of the Lighthouse Board, on an inspection trip of Southeast Alaska.^[29] The ship reached 59° 29′ north latitude, the furthest north any lighthouse tender had sailed at the time. This was considered remarkable, but also implied that there were no maintained aids to navigation on the entire Alaskan coast north of the panhandle. Also notable on this trip was that the first navigation beacon in Alaska was erected. This was a modest light on Castle Hill in Sitka.^[30] A similar inspection trip took place aboard Columbine in 1899 when Brigadier General John M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, inspected army installations on Puget Sound.^[31]

In August 1896 gold was discovered in the Klondike. Tens of thousands of would-be prospectors sailed up the Inside Passage to begin their trek to the gold fields. Noting that there were only 58 buoys in all of Alaska to guide the influx of marine traffic, in 1898 the Lighthouse Board recommended that Congress appropriate $100,000 for a new tender to focus on Alaska.^[32] Later that year, gold was discovered in Nome, creating an increase in Alaskan ship traffic in an area where there were no aids to navigation at all. In the summer of 1900, Columbine's annual trip to Alaska was notable for two reasons. First, Alaska was of sufficient priority that both the Inspector and Engineer of the 13th District were aboard. Second, Columbine reached Dutch Harbor, the first Lighthouse Service vessel to reach the Aleutians.^[33]

In 1903, the Lighthouse Board was transferred to the newly created U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor.^[34][35] Since the Lighthouse Board still had operational control of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, little changed in Columbine's operations.

In 1910, Congress abolished the Lighthouse Board and replaced it with the all-civilian Lighthouse Bureau of the Department of Commerce and Labor.^[36]  This change did impact the ship's work in that District Inspectors and Engineers were replaced by a single District Superintendent. All ships did any construction, maintenance, or buoy tending they were assigned.^[37] As part of this reorganization, Alaska was split from the 13th District and became a separate Lighthouse District, the 16th.^[38] Columbine was assigned to the new district, and based in Ketchikan.

Since USLHT Armeria was wrecked in May 1912 off Hinchinbrook Island,^[39] Columbine was the only tender permanently assigned to Alaska during much of her time there. Her efforts were supplemented on occasion with vessels chartered by the district.^[40] She placed and maintained buoys from Southeast Alaska to Dutch Harbor. She delivered supplies to lighthouses including Scotch Cap Light,^[41] Eldred Rock Light, Sentinel Island Light, and Five Fingers Light.^[42] In 1914 she made the initial surveys for the construction of the Cape St. Elias Light.^[43]

On 2 February 1915, Columbine sailed from Ketchikan, bound for San Francisco, where she arrived on 15 February 1915.^[44] There, she went into the shipyard for repairs. At San Francisco she swapped crews and missions with USLHT Kukui, which was judged to be more capable of withstanding the rigors of Alaska.^[45] On 12 May 1915 Columbine sailed for Honolulu to replace Kukui, but with Kukui's former crew.^[46] She arrived at her new base on 20 May 1915.^[47]

On 17 January 1916, the barquentine British Yeoman anchored off Port Allen, Kauai as a Kona storm began to lash the area. Her anchor drug in the wind and she was driven toward the beach. Her stern hit the reef at least nine times jamming her rudder. Columbine, on the other side of the island at Kilauea, received a radiogram warning of trouble at Port Allen and went to help. Using one of her ship's boats, Columbine managed to pass a hawser to British Yeoman and began to tow her away from the shore. Progress was fitful. While Columbine was able to tow the much larger ship far enough offshore to prevent her from being destroyed, the towing cable parted in the high winds and seas. Once the line broke, British Yeoman was adrift until a new line could be rigged. Ultimately, five towing cables were rigged, one after the other, as each of the previous lines broke. The fifth cable was the last aboard either of the two ships, so when it broke, Columbine radioed for assistance. The Navy tug USS Navajo was dispatched from Oahu. She managed to tow the disabled ship into port after overcoming additional challenges. When Columbine was finally able to anchor, her crew had been at their stations for 55 hours.^[48]

Praise for Columbine's role in the rescue was effusive. President Woodrow Wilson wrote to Commerce Secretary William C. Redfield, "Thank you for letting me see the report of the heroic services of the officers and crew of the Columbine. I have read it with quickening pulse. If you have the opportunity, will you not convey to these men my personal congratulations?"^[49] The Secretary complied, and wrote a letter of commendation to the crew that stated, in part:

I take special pleasure in commending you for your gratifying exhibition of seamanship in connection with this rescue, and also desire to express my high appreciation for the services of all on board during the rescue, in which the best traditions of the Lighthouse Service have been upheld so well.^[50]

On 11 April 1917 President Wilson issued Executive Order 2588^[51] transferring a number of lighthouse tenders to support the American effort in World War I. Columbine was transferred to the United States Navy. She was commissioned as USS Columbine, the second U.S. naval vessel of that name.^[52]

During her Navy service Columbine and Kukui swapped back to their original missions, with Kukui going to Hawaii and Columbine to Alaska.^[53] By January 1918 Columbine was in Portland, Oregon for repairs, and shortly after back to Alaska.^[54][55] On 8 May 1918 she sailed from Astoria, Oregon for Baltimore, to which she had been transferred.^[56] There she was responsible for placing and removing submarine nets for the 5th Naval District.^[57]

After the war, on 1 July 1919,^[58] the components of the Lighthouse Service which had become part of the Navy were returned to the supervision of the Department of Commerce. Columbine was struck from the Navy List.

After her Navy service, Columbine was given a major refit to repair damage and modernize the ship. The work was begun on 26 November 1919 and was completed on 5 May 1920 at a cost of $54,556.^[57]

Columbine was laid up in February 1923. She was replaced in the 5th District by USLHT Speedwell.^[59]

In June 1924, the Lighthouse Service announced that Columbine would be reactivated and sent to the 9th District to replace her sistership USLHT Lilac.^[59] Lilac's crew took possession of Columbine^[60] and departed Portsmouth, Virginia on 31 October 1924 to sail her to San Juan, where she arrived in November 1924.^[61]

During the evening of 6 November 1925 the U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat 245 was attempting to enter San Juan Harbor in heavy seas when one of her crew fell overboard. His shipmates threw him a line which tangled in the boast's propeller rendering her helpless. Columbine came to the boat's rescue, and despite the seas, managed to save all seven of the boat's crew. Columbine's captain, Norman C. Manyon, received the gold lifesaving medal for his heroism.^[62]

On 26 December 1926, the Cunard liner RMS Franconia went hard aground at the entrance to San Juan Harbor. Columbine assisted in refloating the ship.^[63]

Columbine arrived at Portsmouth, Virginia on 8 April 1927. Her crew was transferred to USLHT Acacia who sailed her to San Juan to replace Columbine.^[64] She was sold through a sealed bid process. Bids were opened on 22 July 1927 by the Superintendent of the 5th Lighthouse District.^[65] The ship was purchased by the Union Shipbuilding Company of Baltimore, Maryland.^[66]

Union Shipbuilding Company used Columbine in its ship breaking and salvage business. Over the course of her career with Union Shipbuilding, she towed 196 ships to the company's salvage yard in Baltimore to be broken up.^[67] These ships came from a variety of East and Gulf-coast ports, many under large contracts with the U.S. Shipping Board^[68][69] to dispose of unneeded ships remaining from its activities in World War I.

In December 1929, the passenger liners RMS Fort Victoria and Algonquin collided near the Ambrose lightship outside of New York Harbor. Columbine was nearby at the time, towing ex-USS Polar Bear to Baltimore for salvage. She answered the SOS calls from the two ships and rescued the last 18 people aboard Fort Victoria as she sank, including her captain and pilot.^[70]

In 1932, Columbine was chartered to locate the wreck of HMS Braak, which sank in Delaware Bay in 1798. The hope was that the wreck might contain $40 million of treasure.^[71]

Columbine was abandoned, likely scrapped, in 1942.^[72]

Partial list of Columbine tows to Union Shipbuilding breaking yard

Ship	Date of Tow	Type
Betsy Bell[73] Chicomico[74] Hawarden[75] Haxtum[76] Quillwark[77]	1930 1931 1930 1930 1929	U.S. Shipping Board Design 1015 freighter
Ossawatomie[78] Worcester[79]	1929 1930	U.S. Shipping Board Design 1016 freighter
Norumbega[80]	1931	U.S. Shipping Board Design 1019 freighter
Des Moines Bridge[81] Hico[81] Knoxville[82] Louisville Bridge[82] Phoenix Bridge[83] Virginia Bridge[83]	1929	U.S. Shipping Board Design 1023 freighter[84]
Intan[85] City of Sherman[86] City of Vernon[87]	1931	U.S. Shipping Board Design 1025 freighter
Lake Elkwood [88] Lake Fiscus[89] Lake Ganado[90]	1930	U.S. Shipping Board Design 1074 freighter
Franklin County[91] Lake Farragut[79] Lake Fibre[92] Lake Geyser[93] Lake Gilta[91] McCreary County[94]	1931 1930 1930 1931 1931 1931	U.S. Shipping Board Design 1099 freighter[95]
ex- USS North Dakota[96] ex- USS Cleveland[97] ex- USS Des Moines[98] ex- USS Powhatan[99] ex- USS Dixie[100] ex- USS Polar Bear [101] ex- USS Polar Star[102] ex- USS Western Sea[103] ex- USS Zirkel[104]	1931 1930 1930 1928 1928 1929 1929 1931 1929	Delaware-class battleship Denver-class cruiser Denver-class cruiser Troop transport Destroyer tender Refrigerated freighter Refrigerated freighter Design 1013 freighter Design 1015 freighter
Apache[105] Northland [106]	1928 1934	Clyde Line passenger ship Eastern Steamship Co. passenger ship