Morrill (Lot M. Morrill), 1889
Lot M. Morrill (1812-1883) was the Secretary of the Treasury from 1876 to 1877 under President Ulysses S. Grant.
Builder: Pusey & Jones Company, Wilmington, Delaware
Length: 145' 3"
Beam: 24'
Draft: 12' 3"
Displacement: 288 tons
Cost: $72,600
Commissioned: 10 October 1889
Decommissioned: 19 October 1928
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: Compound-expansion steam engine
Top speed: 13 knots
Complement: 38
Armament: 1 (unknown type)
Coast Guard history:
Lott M. Morrill was an iron-hulled vessel that cost $72,600 to construct. She had duty on the southeastern coast and the Great Lakes. Her first home port was Charleston, South Carolina where her assigned cruising grounds included the waters between Georgetown, South Carolina to Beaufort, North Carolina. She was occasionally assigned to temporary duty in the waters off the east coast of Florida.
The Morrill was taken over by the Navy 24 April 1898 for service in the Spanish-American War. She patrolled between Cuba and Florida during May, and for the next 3 months operated along the west coast to Florida. During her tour she captured two ships: a French ship, Lafayette, and Spanish sailing ship España. The Lot M. Morrill was returned to the Treasury Department 11 August 1898. She was then assigned to the Great Lakes and was based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here she served during the open shipping season and was laid up during the winter months. In addition to her regular duties, she also patrolled many regattas, including the T. J. Lipton Cup regatta off Chicago, Illinois, in August of 1904. In 1906 her cruising grounds included the waters between Niagara Falls through Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron to the Straits of Mackinac.
On 4 August 1914 she was ordered to "observe neutrality laws" after the outbreak of World War I in Europe. She was transferred to the Navy on 6 April 1917. The Morrill was in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 6 December 1917 when the French munitions freighter Mont-Blanc exploded, taking the lives of 1,600 people and leveling much of the town. The Morrill sent a rescue party and towed other vessels to safety. She was later cited by the Secretary of the Navy as "the first to render assistance to the...inhabitants of " Halifax. After the war she returned to the Great Lakes for duty.
She was decommissioned on 19 October 1928 and sold to Antonio Di Domenico of New York City for $7,100.
Lot M. Morrill, no date.
Lot M. Morrill, no date.
“Revenue Cutter Morrill,” patrolling the America’s Cup Race, 1901.
Library of Congress Photo, No. 4a05560;
Photo by Detroit Photographic Co. (09016).
“Revenue Cutter Morrill and Yacht Pathfinder,” America’s Cup Race, 1901.
Library of Congress Photo, No. 4a5551;
Photo by Detroit Photographic Co. (09002).
Sources:
Cutter History File.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).