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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Roosevelt (SP 2397)


Roosevelt served both the Department of Commerce and U. S. Navy.
Arctic Steamer:

  • Laid down 19 October 1904 by the McKay and Dix Boatyard, Bucksport, ME for the Peary Arctic Club
  • Launched 23 March 1905
  • Sold in August 1910 to John Arbuckle
  • Sold in 1915 to the Bureau of Fisheries
  • Acquired by the Navy 18 March 1918 and placed in service the same day
  • Returned to the Bureau of Fisheries 11 June 1919
  • Sold in July 1919 to M. E. Tallackson
  • Converted to an ocean tug and served in that capacity from April 1923 to November 1924 with the West Coast Tug Co.
  • Sold to the Washington Tug and Barge Co. of Seattle, WA
  • Beached and abandoned 21 January 1937 at Cristobal, Balboa, Panama.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,600 t.
  • Length 182'
  • Beam 35' 7"
  • Draft 17'
  • Speed 9.5 kts.
  • Armament: Three 3-pounders
  • Propulsion: One 750hp vertical compound steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Roosevelt
    Roosevelt 101k SS Roosevelt unable to move north through the ice at Cape Collinson, Nearest the Pole
    Roosevelt 274k Undated post card Tommy Trampp
    Roosevelt 271k
    Roosevelt 249k Undated post card
    Inscription on back of card reads:
    "No. 33. ICE HUMMOCKS IN PATHLESS WASTE. What must be the site to the creator of this vessel, stranded alone in a vast expanse of ice. Surrounded by impassable floes she must await patiently her pilot's guiding hand which means safety or death. Will the way open or will the way close? The answer is in doubt and the strongest hearts quail and look upward to the source of all guidance and assistance."
    © 1909, Kawin and Co., Chicago, IL
    Roosevelt 89k c. 1911
    Photo from an original vintage tobacco/cigarette card issued by WD and HO Wills, Bristol and London, England
    Fisheries Vessel Roosevelt
    Roosevelt 354k 4 July 1917
    The government fisheries steamer Roosevelt, formerly Admiral Peary's Arctic exploration ship (later a tug) leads the marine parade through the newly opened Lake Washington Ship Canal which connected Lake Washington and Lake Union with Shilshole Bay and Puget Sound
    Photo from Maritime Memories of Puget Sound by Jim Gibbs and Joe Willamson    		 Tommy Trampp
    Roosevelt 578k 4 July 1917
    Passing under the Fremont Bridge into Lake Union
    Photo from Maritime Memories of Puget Sound by Jim Gibbs and Joe Willamson
    Roosevelt 423k Descending the Foc's'le ladder aboard Admiral Peary's flagship Roosevelt, one of Puget sound country's best known and loved pioneers, Ezra Meeker. Having had much to do with the upbuilding of a frontier land, Meeker lived to a ripe old age. He came west in 1852
    Photo from Maritime Memories of Puget Sound by Jim Gibbs and Joe Willamson
    View the Roosevelt (SP 2397)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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