Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online:
Unnumbered Ships Photo Archive

USC&GS Isis



Call sign (1919):
George - Vice - Watch - Mike

ex-USS Isis
USC&GS Isis


Isis served both the Coast & Geodetic Survey and the U. S. Navy

Survey Ship/Patrol Vessel:

  • Built in 1901 at Marvel's Yard, Newburgh, NY for William S. and John T. Spaulding of Boston, MA
  • Launched 10 December 1901 and sponsored by Mrs. H. P. King, sister of the owners
  • Fitted out at Fletcher's Shipyard, Hoboken, NJ
  • Acquired by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1915 and commissioned USC&GS Isis
  • Acquired by the Navy 24 September 1917
  • Commissioned USS Isis, 4 October 1917
  • Decommissioned 30 April 1919 at Norfolk, VA and returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey
  • Sunk in January 1920 off Crescent Beach, just south of St. Augustine, FL while taking soundings of the sunken dredge Florida to mark the wreck as a navigational hazard
  • Sold 30 April 1927.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 555 t.
  • Length 189' 5"
    1919 - 180.4'
  • Beam 24' 9"
  • Draft 11' 8"
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 71
    1919 - 56
  • Propulsion: Two Yarrow boilers, two 1,000ihp vertical triple expansion steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    Isis 339k Mike VanPelt
    Isis 95k c. 1916
    Potomac River, MD
    NOAA photo
    NOAA Website
    Isis 112k c. 1916
    Norfolk, VA
    C&GS Season's Report Rude 1916 photo
    Isis 1032k c. January 1920
    Sinking
    Mike VanPelt

    Commanding Officers
    01LT Gilbert T. Rude, USN4 October 1917
    02LTJG Archibald J. Sherlock, USNRF1918
    03LCDR Edward Sherlock, USNRF1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan

    View the Isis
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website

    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Unnumbered Ships Photo Index

    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster

    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History