Polaris, 1872
A star of the second magnitude, at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper and almost at the north celestial pole.
Builder: John Mahoney, Mobile, Alabama
Length: 45'
Beam: 15' 3"
Draft: 3'
Displacement: 15 tons
Cost: $1,100.00
Commissioned: 1872
Decommissioned: 1875
Disposition: Sold
Rig: Schooner-rigged launch
Machinery: None
Complement: ?
Armament: None
History:
One of four Lyra-class wooden-hulled launches built for the Lighthouse Service. They were paid for with funds appropriated for the construction of the Trinity Shoals and Timbalier lighthouses in Louisiana.
Each was used as a freight boat in the 8th Lighthouse District. Note that these were the first craft in the Lighthouse Service that were not named for flora and fauna.
Sources:
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.