USLHT Iris (1897 ship)

Plymouth was built by the Neafie and Levy Ship and Engine Building Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was commissioned by the Winthrop Steamboat Company, which intended to use her as a seasonal excursion boat to take passengers from Boston to Plymouth, Massachusetts. She was designed to have as many as 900 passengers aboard. She was launched in early 1897, likely in March.^[1]

Her hull was built of steel. She was 153 feet (47 m) long overall,^[2] 142 feet (43 m) long on her waterline, with a beam of 30 feet (9.1 m), and a depth of hold of 10.4 feet (3.2 m). As a lighthouse tender, she had a fully loaded draft of 10 feet (3.0 m).^[3] Her gross register tonnage was 428 and her net register tonnage was 292.^[4]

Plymouth was driven by a single propeller, 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) in diameter. Power was provided by a single triple-conversion steam engine that produced 800 horsepower.^[4] Its high, medium, and low-pressure cylinders had diameters of 15, 23, and 39 inches with a stroke of 28 inches. Steam was provided by a single coal-fired boiler 12 feet (3.7 m) long and 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m) in diameter.^[1] This power plant made her a fast ship for her day. Her average speed as a lighthouse tender was 12 knots.^[5]

As originally built, Plymouth had four decks, lower, main, saloon, and hurricane. On the hurricane deck were the pilot house, staterooms for the captain and first officer, and two passenger staterooms. On the saloon deck were four passenger staterooms, and two saloons. On the main deck were four passenger staterooms, a social hall, a dining room which would seat 50, baggage storage, and washrooms. The lower deck contained the engine and boiler rooms, crew quarters and mess, and the galley.^[1]

Plymouth was named for her main destination, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Plymouth sailed one round-trip per day between the Winthrop Line wharf in Boston and Plymouth. As this was a recreational excursion, she sailed only during the warmer months. For example, her first scheduled sailing in 1898 was on 12 June.^[6] She sailed at 10 am and arrived at Plymouth at 12:55 pm. The return trip left Plymouth at 3:30 PM. The round-trip fare was $1.^[7] There was a cafe aboard and a band provided live music.^[8]

Plymouth was also chartered for private events, as on 11 June 1998 when the Boston Bank Officers' Association had 400 members on board for a Boston Harbor cruise.^[9]

In perhaps her most special event, she was chartered to serve as a tender for Sir Thomas Lipton's yacht Shamrock during his challenge for the 1899 America's Cup.^[10] Negotiations began on the charter in March 1899,^[11] and in June 1899 a 50-day charter contract was signed. Plymouth was delivered to Lipton's team on 5 September 1899 in New York to begin the charter. The ship was used as crew quarters for the 70 men who sailed Shamrock. While Plymouth already had staterooms for her officers and a crew of 30 men, Lipton's staff added berthing for 50 additional men.^[12]

In November 1899, J. R. Bacon, the general manager of the Winthrop Line, was in negotiations with the Lighthouse Board to sell Plymouth. He asked $80,000 for the ship.^[13]

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In its annual reports for 1897 and 1898, the Lighthouse Board advised the Secretary of the Treasury that the lighthouse tenders in the 3rd Lighthouse District "are so nearly worn-out that they can only last if used with care until vessels can be built to take their places".^[14] Congress responded by appropriating $85,000 for the construction of a new ship on 3 March 1899. Rather than wait to design and build a new ship, the Lighthouse Board decided to purchase an existing ship and convert it into a lighthouse tender. It purchased Plymouth from the Winthrop Steamboat Company on 13 December 1899 for $77,500. On 18 December 1899 she was commissioned as a lighthouse tender and became USLHT Iris. The ship immediately began a conversion project to fit her for her new duties. By the end of January 1900 her conversion was completed at a cost of about $6,500.^[5] In her new configuration, she displaced 606 tons, fully loaded, and 519 tons light.^[15]

Lighthouse tenders were named for trees and flowering plants. Iris was named after the Iris genus of flowering plants. She was the second lighthouse tender named Iris, the first having been built in 1863 and sold in 1892.^[16]

Iris 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 a District Inspector, typically a Naval officer, and a District Engineer, typically an officer from the Army Corps of Engineers.  While the District Engineer was primarily responsible for the construction and maintenance of lighthouses, piers, and other structures, the District Inspector was primarily responsible for supplying lighthouses and lightships, and maintaining buoys and lightships in their assigned locations. Iris was initially assigned to the District Engineer of the 3rd Lighthouse District. She was based at the general lighthouse depot at Thompkinsville, Staten Island, New York. At that time, the 3rd Lighthouse District encompassed the coasts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and portions of New Jersey.^[5] In 1909, Iris had a crew of 5 officers and 17 men.^[17]

Iris maintained many of the lighthouses, fog signals, and other facilities of the 3rd Lighthouse District. These included Gull Island Light,^[18] Plum Island Light,^[18] Race Rock,^[18] and Sperry Light.^[19]

In 1903, the Lighthouse Board was transferred to the newly created U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor.^[20][21] Since the Lighthouse Board still had operational control, little changed in Iris' operations.

U.S. Senator Chauncey Depew sailed on Iris to New York to attend the launch of Prince Henry of Prussia's yacht, Meteor in 1902. The launch was attended by President Roosevelt, whose daughter, Alice, christened the vessel.^[22]

In September 1906, Secretary of the Treasury Lyman J. Gage took a vacation cruise along the New England coast aboard Iris.

In 1910, Congress abolished the Lighthouse Board and replaced it with the all-civilian Lighthouse Bureau of the Department of Commerce and Labor.^[23]  This change did impact the ship's work in that District Inspectors and Engineers were replaced by a single civilian District Supervisor. All ships did any construction, maintenance, or buoy tending they were assigned.^[24] Iris began tending buoys as regular part of her work. The reorganization of the Lighthouse Service allowed the retirement of five under-used tenders to save costs. As these ships left the service, some of the remaining tenders were redistributed. Iris was reassigned to the 4th Lighthouse District, headquartered in Philadelphia, which included the coast of Delaware, and adjoining portions of the New Jersey, and Virginia shores.^[25]

Secretary of Commerce William C. Redfield and a Congressional delegation were aboard Iris on 25 July 1914 for an inspection tour of lighthouses in Delaware Bay. A storm arose and the ship was blown ashore at Cape Henlopen, Delaware. Iris was pulled off the rocks in a half-hour by another ship.^[26]

On 11 April 1917 President Wilson issued Executive Order 2588^[27] transferring a number of lighthouse tenders to support the American effort in World War I. Iris was transferred to the U.S. Department of War, and she was commissioned into the United States Navy as USS Iris. Among her wartime roles was as a mine planter to defend Delaware Bay,^[28] but she remained active tending buoys during her service with the Navy.^[29] During the war she was armed with two 3-pounder guns, and two machine guns.^[30]

After the war, on 1 July 1919,^[31] the components of the Lighthouse Service which had become part of the Navy were returned to the supervision of the Department of Commerce.

In 1919, Iris returned to her duties in the 4th Lighthouse District. She continued her buoy tending,^[32] and maintaining lighthouses, lightships,^[33] and their staffs.^[34] Sometime during her post-war service, her steam engine was replaced by a Fairbanks-Morse 5-cylinder Diesel engine that produced 450 horsepower.^[35][36] On 25 June 1930 Iris was leaving the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal when a burning yacht was sighted. Iris saved the eight people that were in the water or clinging to the wreckage. Captain C. W. Atkins received a letter of commendation from the Secretary of Commerce for this action.^[37]

Iris was decommissioned and laid up in 1934. She was replaced by USLHT Lilac.^[38] Sealed bids for the purchase of Iris were solicited by the Superintendent of Lighthouses of the 4th District on 19 June 1934.^[2] It is not clear if there were any bids or if the bids were inadequate, but in any case the Lighthouse Service kept Iris, albeit laid up and with no crew. Even though she was not in commission or even Federally documented, Iris was occasionally put to use, as in August 1937 when she installed a light on the Delaware River.^[39] Iris was finally sold in February 1939.^[36]

In February 1939 Iris was acquired from the Lighthouse Service by S. Norman Holland.^[40] At the time of sale, the ship was redocumented under her original name, Plymouth.^[36] The ship was sent to the Moon Shipyard and Repair Corporation at Norfolk, Virginia to be refit for her new service.^[41] She was homeported at Crisfield, Maryland and was used in the operations of the Pocahontas Coal Company which was headed by Holland. On 27 March 1939 she was redocumented as Big Chief,^[42] presumably to fit the theme of the Pocahontas Coal Company fleet. Big Chief was the largest ship, the other two vessels being Pocahontas, and Papoose.^[43] During her time with Holland, she carried coal for Pocahontas Coal Company, and a variety of cargoes for other clients.^[44] She participated in salvage operations on the liner Manhattan which went aground off West Palm Beach, Florida in January 1941.^[45]

United States Navigation Company of New York acquired Big Chief at the end of 1941 with the intention of running her as a coastal freighter between New York and Boston.^[46][47]