The first USC&GS Oceanographer (OSS-26) was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1930 to 1942.

Construction and early career, 1899-1930

Oceanographer was built as the private yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 Corsair III for the industrialist J. P. Morgan, Jr.

J. P. Morgan, Jr.

John Pierpont "Jack" Morgan, Jr. was an American banker and philanthropist.-Biography:He was born on September 7, 1867 in Irvington, New York to John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. and Frances Louisa Tracy. He graduated from Harvard in 1886, where he was a member of the Delphic Club, formerly known as the...

, in 1899; sources differ as to her builder, but it was either T. S. Marvel and Sons at Newberg, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, or W. & A. Fletcher Company

W. & A. Fletcher Company

W. & A. Fletcher Co. was an American manufacturer of marine boilers and steam engines for Hudson River Steamboats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

 at Hoboken

Hoboken, New Jersey

Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. In 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Corsair III from Morgan 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 and commissioned her as the patrol vessel USS Corsair (SP-159). Corsair was returned to Morgan in 1919 and once again became Corsair III.

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey career

On 2 January 1930, the Coast and Geodetic Survey purchased Corsair III from Morgan for $1.00 (USD) for use as a survey ship, and placed her in service as USC&GS Oceanographer (OSS-26) that year. Oceanographer operated along the United States East Coast during her career with the Survey.

Oceanographer conducted many offshore surveys and discovered many of the canyon

Canyon

A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...

s incising the continental slope between the Georges Bank

Georges Bank

Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor which separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean and is situated between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia ....

 area and Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. She also supported the study of geophysics

Geophysics

Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...

 when Maurice Ewing

Maurice Ewing

William Maurice "Doc" Ewing was an American geophysicist and oceanographer.Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basins, ocean bottom photography, submarine sound transmission , deep sea coring of the ocean...

 conducted his first seismic reflection profiling experiments from her in 1935.

On 23 August 1933, Oceanographer and the Coast and Geodetic Survey steamers

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...

 USC&GS Lydonia and USC&GS Gilbert

USC&GS Gilbert

USC&GS Gilbert was a launch that served as a survey ship in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1930 to 1962.Gilbert was built by Latham D. Smith at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1929...

 handled considerable radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 traffic for Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, during the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane, which struck the city on that date and set records for high water levels. Oceanographers commanding officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

, H.A. Seran, reported that the ships radio plant was for a time during the height of the hurricane the only means of communication from Norfolk to points outside; during this time, Oceanographer handled all radio traffic for the U.S. Navy, as well as for commercial companies.

In January 1937, crewmembers of Oceanographer and Lydonia were detached to man Coast and Geodetic Survey launches

Launch (boat)

A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...

 under the direction of the Red Cross during flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

 relief efforts at Kenova

Kenova, West Virginia

Kenova is a city in Wayne County, West Virginia, at the confluence of the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers. The name of the town comes from its unique position where the borders of Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia meet. Founded in 1859 but not incorporated until 1894, the town's early history and...

, West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

.

On 7 April 1942, Oceanographer was transferred to the U.S. Navy at Norfolk for 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...

 service

Return to U.S. Navy service

The Navy initially classified Oceanographer as a gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

 and renamed her USS Natchez (PG-85), but quickly reclassified her as a survey ship and renamed her USS Oceanographer (AGS-3)

USS Oceanographer (AGS-3)

USS Oceanographer was a survey ship of the United States Navy during World War II that produced charts chiefly of passages in the Solomon Islands area of the Pacific Ocean. Upon transfer to the Navy, she had initially been named and classed as gunboat USS Natchez ...

. She operated in the Navy until 1944, when she was decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

. She later was sold for scrapping.

Commemoration

In recognition of her survey work off the U.S. East Coast, the underwater features Oceanographer Canyon and Corsair Canyon -- the latter name derived from her name as a World War I U.S. Navy patrol vessel and private yacht prior to her Coast and Geodetic Survey career -- are named for Oceanographer.