Pre-NOAA Research and Survey Ships - US Coast & Geodetic Survey
(Ships Withdrawn From Service Before NOAA's Formation in 1970)
Most recent update: September 13, 2015.
NOAA was created in 1970 from the combination of the Coast and Geodetic Survey (formed in 1807 as the Coast Survey), the Weather Bureau (formed in 1870 as a unit of the Army Signal Corps) and the Fish and Wildlife Service (formed in 1871 as the Commission of Fish and Fisheries and later called the Bureau of Fisheries). This table attempts to list all the ships that served the USC&GS but ended their service before 1970. Those vessels that have served since 1970, whether still active or now inactive, are listed here. There are a lot of gaps and uncertainties in this table:
If you have an addition or correction for this page, please send it in.
Name | Builder | Location | LOA | Built | From | To | History |
Built for the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey (listed by year of build) | |||||||
Jersey | 1834 | 1834 | 1841 | ||||
Nautilus | 76 | 1838 | 1838 | 1859 | |||
Vanderbilt | 48 | 1842 | 1842 | 1855 | |||
Phoenix | 70 | 1845 | 1845 | 1857 | |||
Bancroft | 60 | 1846 | 1846 | 1862 | |||
George M. Bache | 1847 | 1847 | 1859 | ||||
Brisk | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 60 | 1847 | 1847 | 1880 | sold 1884 |
John Y. Mason | 63 | 1847 | 1847 | 1861 | |||
Corwin | 125 | 1850 | 1850 | 1867 | |||
Franklin | 60 | 1850 | 1850 | 1859 | hotel ship | ||
Hassler | 61 | 1851 | 1851 | 1872 | |||
Meredith | 63 | 1851 | 1851 | 1872 | |||
Bouncer | 1853 | 1853 | 1855 | lost 1855 | |||
Joseph Henry | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 70 | 1853 | 1853 | 1875 | sold 1875 |
Agassiz | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 70 | 1854 | 1854 | 1875 | |
Arago | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 81 | 1854 | 1854 | 1863 | |
Bowditch | 70 | 1854 | 1854 | 1874 | |||
Humboldt | 76 | 1854 | 1854 | 1872 | |||
Varina | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 91 | 1854 | 1854 | 1875 | |
Bolles | 70 | 1855 | 1855 | ||||
Twilight | 85 | 1856 | 1856 | 1861 | captured 1861 | ||
Howell Cobb | 70 | 1857 | 1857 | 1861 | |||
Torrey | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 70 | 1857 | 1857 | 1875 | |
James Hall | 1859 | 1859 | 1874 | ||||
Caswell | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 74 | 1860 | 1860 | 1870 | |
George M. Bache | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 76 | 1861 | 1861 | 1886 | |
Beauty | 1870 | 1870 | 1884 | ||||
Arago | Maury & Steinburg | New York NY | 93 | 1871 | 1871 | 1890 | to USLHS 1890 |
Alexander D. Bache | Pusey & Jones | Wilmington DE | 153 | 1871 | 1871 | 1927 | later Bache 1901, sold as Kingfisher 1927 |
Fathomer | C. Sharp | Philadelphia PA | 76 | 1871 | 1871 | 1881 | sold 1884 |
Ferdinand R. Hassler | Dialogue & Wood | Camden NJ | 160 | 1871 | 1871 | 1895 | sold as Clara Nevada, lost 1898 |
Hitchcock | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 86 | 1871 | 1871 | 1889 | sold 1891 |
Scoresby | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 76 | 1871 | 1871 | 1891 | sank 1891 |
Silliman | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 83 | 1871 | 1871 | 1888 | to USN 1888 |
Steadfast | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 70 | 1871 | 1871 | 1884 | |
Palinurus | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 84 | 1873 | 1873 | 1889 | |
Quick | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 60 | 1873 | 1873 | 1899 | |
research | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 75 | 1873 | 1873 | 1886 | |
George S. Blake | Fardy & Woodall | Baltimore MD | 148 | 1874 | 1874 | 1905 | |
Baton Rouge | S. D. Bardmore | Louisville KY | 95 | 1875 | 1875 | 1881 | sold |
Earnest | W. E. Woodall | Baltimore MD | 89 | 1875 | 1875 | 1891 | |
Thomas R. Gedney | Delamater SY | New York NY | 140 | 1875 | 1875 | 1915 | |
Ready | W. E. Woodall | Baltimore MD | 1875 | 1875 | 1886 | ||
Drift | W. E. Woodall | Baltimore MD | 76 | 1876 | 1876 | 1892 | |
Kincheloe | 1876 | 1876 | 1882 | ||||
Fuca | J. F. P. Mitchell | 45 | 1882 | 1882 | 1904 | ||
Carlile P. Patterson | James D. Leary | Brooklyn NY | 163 | 1883 | 1883 | 1918 | sold 1919 |
Cosmos | Mare Island NSY | Vallejo CA | 52 | 1887 | 1887 | 1927 | sold 1927 |
Spy | A. C. Brown | Tottenville NY | 51 | 1888 | 1888 | 1905 | |
Transit | A. C. Brown | Tottenville NY | 60 | 1888 | 1888 | 1909 | |
Taku | G. W. Kneass | San Francisco CA | 70 | 1898 | 1898 | 1917 | |
Pathfinder | Crescent SY | Elizabethport NJ | 193 | 1899 | 1899 | 1940 | lost 1942 |
Hydrographer | James Reilly Supply | Port Jefferson NY | 101 | 1901 | 1901 | 1928 | |
Explorer | Pusey & Jones | Wilmington DE | 135 | 1904 | 1904 | 1939 | to National Youth Authority 1939 |
Surveyor | Manitowoc SB | Manitowoc WI | 186 | 1917 | 1917 | 1956 | |
Marindin | Canton Lumber | Baltimore MD | 60 | 1919 | 1919 | 1944 | |
Mitchell | Canton Lumber | Baltimore MD | 60 | 1919 | 1919 | 1944 | |
Ogden | Canton Lumber | Baltimore MD | 60 | 1919 | 1919 | 1944 | |
Rogers | Canton Lumber | Baltimore MD | 60 | 1919 | 1919 | 1944 | |
Gilbert | Leathem D. Smith | Sturgeon Bay WI | 77 | 1929 | 1929 | 1962 | |
Westdahl | Portland OR | 77 | 1929 | 1929 | 1946 | ||
Hydrographer | Spear Engineering | Norfolk VA | 165 | 1930 | 1930 | 1967 | to USN 1942 as AGS-2, returned 1946 |
Perkins | 103 | 1933 | 1933 | later Cowie 1941 | |||
E. Lester Jones | Astoria Marine | Astoria OR | 88 | 1940 | 1940 | 1967 | |
Explorer | Lake Washington SY | Seattle WA | 220 | 1942 | 1942 | 1968 | |
Pathfinder | Lake Washington SY | Seattle WA | 229 | 1942 | 1942 | 1971 | scrapped 1972 |
Hilgard | Robinson Marine | Benton Harbor MI | 66 | 1942 | 1942 | 1967 | |
Wainwright | Robinson Marine | Benton Harbor MI | 66 | 1942 | 1942 | 1967 | |
Acquired by the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey from other sources (listed by year of acquisition) | |||||||
Experiment | Washington NSY | Washington DC | 90 | 1831 | 1835 | 1839 | from USN 1835, returned 1839 |
Gallatin | New York NSY | Brooklyn NY | 77 | 1831 | 1840 | 1859 | captured by CSA |
Wave | Brown & Bell | New York NY | 96 | 1832 | 1845 | 1858 | |
Bibb | 160 | 1847 | 1879 | from USRCS | |||
Legare | R. & G. Schuyler | New York NY | 160 | 1843 | 1847 | 1854 | from USRCS |
Belle | 60 | 1848 | 1857 | from USAQMD, lost 1857 | |||
Crawford | 60 | 1843 | 1848 | 1861 | from USRCS, returned 1861 | ||
Ewing | Abraham Cooper | 91 | 1841 | 1848 | 1857 | from USRCS | |
Gerdes | 1848 | 1861 | hotel ship | ||||
Petrel | 71 | 1846 | 1848 | 1860 | ex-Aiken Eclipse, captured 1860, sunk 1861 | ||
Robert J. Walker | Joseph Tomlinson | New York NY | 133 | 1844 | 1848 | 1860 | lost 1860 |
Hetzel | 150 | 1849 | 1874 | from USAQMD, abandoned 1874 | |||
Jefferson | Charles Knapp | Pittsburgh PA | 160 | 1845 | 1849 | 1851 | from USRCS, sank 1851 |
Morris | 92 | 1849 | 1935 | from USAQMD | |||
Madison | 79 | 1850 | 1858 | ||||
Baltimore | 1851 | 1858 | |||||
Guthrie | 66 | 1849 | 1851 | 1861 | |||
172 | 1836 | 1852 | 1862 | ex-Goldhunter, sold 1862 | |||
R. H. Fauntleroy | 83 | 1854 | 1881 | sold 1881 | |||
Benjamin Peirce | 70 | 1855 | 1868 | ||||
Sophia | 1855 | 1861 | |||||
Vixen | 1855 | 1864 | |||||
J. W. Bailey | 70 | 1856 | 1873 | ||||
Dana | 70 | 1856 | 1876 | ||||
Fire Fly | 1856 | 1860 | |||||
Arctic | 172 | 1856 | 1857 | 1857 | ex-Thomas Haight, to USLHS 1857 | ||
Sachem | 121 | 1861 | 1862 | On loan from USN | |||
Marcy | 91 | 1862 | 1875 | from USRCS | |||
Curlew | 159 | 1864 | 1865 | ||||
Barataria | 95 | 1867 | 1885 | ||||
Endeavor | Norfolk VA | 117 | 1862 | 1867 | 1883 | ex-CSA gunboat Lady Davis | |
Lincoln | Fardy Bros. | Baltimore MD | 165 | 1864 | 1867 | from USRCS | |
Sagadahoc | 45 | 1867 | 1886 | ||||
Yukon | 84 | 1873 | 1894 | ||||
Lively | 46 | 1876 | 1886 | ||||
McArthur | Mare Island NSY | Vallejo CA | 121 | 1874 | 1876 | 1915 | |
Eagre | Van Dusen | Williamsburg NY | 140 | 1875 | 1878 | 1903 | ex-Mohawk |
Daisy | 100 | 1869 | 1885 | 1891 | sold 1891 | ||
Matchless | Key West FL | 100 | 1859 | 1885 | 1915 | ||
Yukon | New York | 75 | 1898 | 1898 | 1923 | sold 1923 | |
Marinduque | Uraga, Japan | 132 | 1901 | 1905 | 1932 | served in the Philippines | |
Romblon | Uraga, Japan | 132 | 1901 | 1905 | 1921 | served in the Philippines | |
Fathomer | HK & Whampoa DY | Hong Kong HK | 152 | 1904 | 1906 | 1941 | ex-Orchid (USLHS), lost at Bataan 1942 |
Isis | 180 | 1915 | 1920 | sank 1920 | |||
Discoverer | Todd Shipyards | Brooklyn NY | 180 | 1918 | 1918 | 1922 | ex-Auk (AM-38), Discoverer (ARS-3), sold 1947 |
Audwin | Morris Heights NY | 53 | 1911 | 1919 | 1927 | sold 1927 | |
Elsie III | 52 | 1919 | 1944 | from USN | |||
Helianthus | Bristol RI | 64 | 1912 | 1919 | 1939 | from USN, returned to USN | |
Lydonia | Pusey & Jones | Wilmington DE | 185 | 1911 | 1919 | 1947 | |
Natoma | Charles L. Seabury | Morris Heights NY | 119 | 1913 | 1919 | 1935 | ex-SP-666 (USN) |
Onward | Charles L. Seabury | Morris Heights NY | 140 | 1906 | 1919 | 1921 | ex-Galatea, Ungava, from USN |
Ranger | Robert Jacob | City Island NY | 133 | 1910 | 1919 | 1933 | ex-Thomas Slocum, from USN 1919, sold 1933 |
Scandinavia | Taylor Marine Rwy. | Norfolk VA | 61 | 1916 | 1919 | ex-SP-3363 (USN) | |
Sialia | Pusey & Jones | Wilmington DE | 207 | 1914 | 1919 | 1920 | ex-SP-543 (USN), sold 1920 as Yankee Clipper |
Wenonah | George S. Lawley | Boston MA | 163 | 1912 | 1919 | 1922 | from USN, returned to USN |
Wildcat | 65 | 1919 | 1945 | ||||
Mikawe | Bay City MI | 64 | 1916 | 1920 | 1939 | ex-MB Mikawe (USN) | |
Pioneer | Gas Engine & Power | Morris Heights NY | 187 | 1918 | 1922 | 1941 | ex-Osprey (AM-28), Crusader (ARS-2) |
Guide | New Jersey Dry Dock | Brooklyn NY | 188 | 1919 | 1923 | 1953 | ex-Flamingo (AM-32), Viking (ARS-1), scrapped 1953 |
Echo | Portsmouth NSY | 65 | 1902 | 1928 | 1938 | ex-YFB-32, sold 1938 | |
Oceanographer | T. S. Marvel | Newburgh NY | 304 | 1899 | 1930 | 1942 | ex-Corsair, scrapped 1942 |
Davidson | Luders Marine | Stamford CT | 75 | 1925 | 1933 | 1935 | ex-a (CG-242) |
Dickins | Dachel Carter | Benton Harbor MI | 75 | 1925 | 1933 | 1935 | ex-Volo (CG-144) |
Faris | Colonna's | Norfolk VA | 75 | 1924 | 1933 | 1946 | ex-Sonic (CG-223) |
Miller | Chance Marine | Annapolis MD | 75 | 1933 | 1933 | 1935 | from USRCS |
Pratt | Gibbs Gas Engine Co. | Jacksonville FL | 75 | 1924 | 1933 | 1937 | ex-Patrol (CG-295) |
Ritter | Dachel Carter | Benton Harbor MI | 75 | 1925 | 1933 | 1935 | ex-Sono (CG-145), returned to USCG |
Welker | Rice Bros. | East Boothbay ME | 75 | 1925 | 1933 | 1937 | ex-CG-139, to USAQMD |
George D. Cowie | Great Lakes BB | Chicago IL | 103 | 1941 | 1962 | ex-Rhea III, sold 1962 | |
Guide | 140 | 1941 | 1942 | ex-Comoco, Coronia, Andradite (PYc-11), returned to USN 1942 | |||
Pioneer | Germania Werft | Kiel, Germany | 208 | 1929 | 1941 | 1942 | from USN, returned to USN |
Pratt | 78 | 1941 | 1942 | ex-Midnight Sun (YP-96) | |||
Bowen | Calderwood | 111 | 1943 | 1945 | 1957 | ex-SC-1361 (USN), scrapped 1957 | |
Sosbee | Hodgson Bros. | East Boothbay ME | 68 | 1930 | 1945 | 1961 | |
Bowie | Greenport Constn. | Greenport NY | 136 | 1943 | 1946 | 1967 | ex-PCS-1405 (USN), sold 1967 |
Derickson | Ballard Marine | Seattle WA | 136 | 1944 | 1946 | 1954 | ex-PC-1458 (USN), sold 1954 |
Hodgson | Burger & Burger | Manitowoc WI | 136 | 1944 | 1946 | 1967 | ex-PCS-1450 (USN), sold 1967 |
Parker | Elizabeth City SY | Elizabeth City NC | 111 | 1943 | 1946 | 1957 | ex-SC-1277 (USN), scrapped 1957 |
Pioneer | Lake Washington SY | Seattle WA | 312 | 1946 | 1966 | ex-Mobjack (AGP-7) | |
Stirni | Calderwood SY | Manchester MA | 111 | 1943 | 1946 | 1957 | ex-SC-1358 (USN) |
Tulip | HK & Whampoa DY | Hong Kong HK | 190 | 1904 | 1947 | 1950 | served in the Philippines |
Scott | Thornycroft | Southampton UK | 73 | 1950 | 1955 | 1964 | sold 1965 |
Marmer | Spedden SB | Baltimore MD | 100 | 1932 | 1957 | 1968 | ex-Walter Wyman (USPHS) |
Research | served in the Philippines | ||||||
Peter G. Washington | 1837 | 1846 | ex-USRCS, wrecked 1846 |