JEFFERSON

Steamer, twin screw, iron hull, length 160 feet, beam 24 feet, draft 9.5 feet. Built in 1845 by Charles Knapp at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and assembled at Oswego, New York for service on the Great Lakes. This vessel was turned over to the Coast Survey from the Revenue Service in 1849 and accomplished very little meaningful work before ordered to the West Coast of the United States. The ship was lost in a storm on the coast of Patagonia in 1851. Named for President Thomas Jefferson.

JERSEY

Schooner, dimensions unknown. This was the first Coast Survey vessel. It began hydrographic operations in Great South Bay, Long Island, in 1834. This vessel discovered the famous Gedney Channel leading into New York Harbor that greatly increased the safety and efficiency of merchant shipping entering and leaving New York Harbor. Navy Lieutenant Commanding Thomas R. Gedney was the first commanding officer of this ship. With the exception of work at Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey, in 1840, all work accomplished by this vessel was in the vicinity of New York Harbor. In service 1834-1841.

KINCHELOE

Barge or sloop, referred to as both in annual reports. Dimensions unknown. In service 1876-1882. Named for Julius Kincheloe, a Coast Survey Assistant, who was drowned on the Tillamook Bar, Oregon, with five other men while conducting a hydrographic survey on May 20, 1867.

LEGARE

Screw steamer, length 160 feet, beam 24.5 feet, draft 10.5 feet. Displaced 150 tons. Built in 1843 by R. and G. L. Schuyler, New York for the Revenue Cutter Service and placed in service in May 1844. This ship was the first steam propulsion cutter to serve in the Revenue Service and was equipped with a 6-blade Ericcson propeller as opposed to a paddle wheel or side wheels. This vessel also had an iron hull and could readily make 9 knots. The LEGARE was one of 11 revenue cutters to serve in the Mexican War and served as a dispatch vessel, troop transport, and ammunition ship. It was transferred to the Coast Survey in 1847 and was its first iron-hulled vessel as well as its first propeller equipped vessel. The LEGARE was named for Hugh Swinton Legare (1797-1843), the 16th Attorney General of the United States. He also served in the South Carolina legislature, in the State Department, and in the United States Congress. Atlantic service 1847-1854.

LINCOLN

Revenue Cutter, length 165 feet, beam 26 feet, draft 10 feet. Built by John T. Fardy and Brother, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1864. This vessel transported George Davidson and a scientific party to Alaska in the spring of 1867 to conduct a reconnaissance of Alaska prior to Congressional ratification of the treaty purchasing Alaska from Russia. Davidson’s report helped influence the ratification of the purchase.