John Rodgers, 1883
A naval hero and chairman of the Lighthouse Board.
Builder: Ward, Stanton & Company, Newburgh, New York
Length: 160'
Beam: 27'
Draft: 8' 8"
Displacement: 571 tons
Cost: $59,986.70
Commissioned: 1883
Decommissioned: 1921
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: Marine condenser beam steam engine; coal-fired marine return tubular boiler; side paddle wheels; 235 IHP
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Deck Gear: 44-foot wood derrick with manila hemp rigging.
Complement: 18 (1907)
Armament: None
Tender History:
The John Rodgers was completed on 1 June 1883 and was assigned as an inspection tender to the 3rd Lighthouse District and served along the New York and New Jersey coastline. She ran aground at Noank, Connecticut in January of 1889 but was safely refloated with little damage. In May of 1896 she had electric lighting installed. She changed homeports to New London sometime in the early 1900s.
She was decommissioned in 1921 and was sold the following year.
Sources:
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.