The first USC&GS Surveyor was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1917 and from 1919 to 1956.

Construction

Surveyor was built in 1917 for the Coast and Geodetic Survey by Manitowoc Shipbuilding and Drydock Company

Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company

Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, was a major shipbuilder for the Great Lakes. It was founded in 1902, and made mainly steel ferries and ore haulers. During World War II, it built submarines, tank landing craft , and self-propelled fuel barges called "YOs". Employment...

 at Manitowoc

Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Manitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2000 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,053, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities...

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, and entered service with the Survey that year.

United States Navy service 1917-1919

Surveyor was transferred in September 1917 to the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, which armed her and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 her in October 1917 for World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 service as the armed steamer

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

 USS Surveyor

USS Surveyor (1917)

USS Surveyor was an armed steamer that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.Surveyor was built as the survey ship USC&GS Surveyor in 1917 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and entered service with...

. During 1918, she served at Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

. After the war, she returned to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and was disarmed.

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey service 1919-1956

The Navy returned Surveyor to the Department of Commerce on 31 March 1919 so that she could resume service in the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Departing the United States East Coast, she proceeded to the United States West Coast via the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 in 1919. For the next 36 years, Surveyor operated almost exclusively in the Territory of Alaska, working in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

.

During her caeer, she had occasion to assist mariners in distress. On 25 May 1929, she rescued about 150 passengers and crew of the steamer

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

 Aleutian, which had struck a rock and sunk in Uyak Bay, Alaska; she transported them to Seward

Seward, Alaska

Seward is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 3,016....

, Alaska. On 7 September 1929, she rendered assistance to survivors of the steamer Golden Forest, which was wrecked on Cape Ilktugitak; she located the wreck using radio compass bearings and took aboard two men from Golden Forest for medical treatment. On 31 July 1934, she assisted the steamer S.S. Otsego, which had grounded off Cape Mordvinof, Alaska.

Tragedy struck Surveyors crew more than once during her operations. On 4 October 1927, two men from her crew -- Roy V. Beverly and George Slavin -- drowned at Resurrection Bay

Resurrection Bay

Resurrection Bay is a bay on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, located at the head of the bay. It received its name from Alexandr Baranov, who was forced to retreat into the bay during a bad storm in the Gulf of Alaska...

 off Seward; another crewman, Seaman

Seaman

Seaman is one of the lowest ranks in a Navy. In the Commonwealth it is the lowest rank in the Navy, followed by Able Seaman and Leading Seaman, and followed by the Petty Officer ranks....

 W. H. Bowen, drowned in a heroic attempt to save his two shipmates, and posthumously received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal. In 1936, she lost members of her crew on three occasions: John Martin, her ship's cook, died in a shipboard accident in January 1936; two members of a shore party -- Lieutenant, junior grade

Lieutenant, Junior Grade

Lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, United States Merchant Marine USMM, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade...

, Marshall R. Reese, USC&GS, and Quartermaster

Quartermaster

Quartermaster refers to two different military occupations depending on if the assigned unit is land based or naval.In land armies, especially US units, it is a term referring to either an individual soldier or a unit who specializes in distributing supplies and provisions to troops. The senior...

 Max McLees -- drowned on 26 September 1936 when their boat overturned on the north shore of Unalaska Island

Unalaska Island

Unalaska is an island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska, at . The island has a land area of . The city of Unalaska, Alaska, covers part of the island and all of neighboring Amaknak Island where the Port of Dutch Harbor is located...

 in the Aleutian Islands; and Seaman Robert F. Stryker died in October 1936 when he fell off a cliff during survey operations on Unimak Island

Unimak Island

Unimak Island is the largest island in the Aleutian Islands chain of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the easternmost island in the Aleutians and, with an area of 1,571.41 mi² , the ninth largest island in the United States and the 134th largest island in the world. It is home to Mount...

 in the Aleutians.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in the Pacific (1941-1945), Surveyor conducted surveys in support of Allied

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 military operations against Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese forces in the Aleutian Islands.

Surveyor was retired from Coast and Geodetic Survey service in 1956.

Commemoration

Surveyor Bay

Surveyor Bay (Alaska)

For other places with the same name, see Surveyor Bay .Surveyor Bay is a bay in Alaska in the United States.Surveyor Bay is located at Latitude 53°15'41" North, Longitude 167°34'2" West and is on the southeast coast of Unalaska Island, one of the Aleutian Islands...

 on the coast of Unalaska Island

Unalaska Island

Unalaska is an island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska, at . The island has a land area of . The city of Unalaska, Alaska, covers part of the island and all of neighboring Amaknak Island where the Port of Dutch Harbor is located...

in the Aleutian Islands is named for Surveyor.