The first USC&GS McArthur, originally USCS McArthur, was a 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...

 that served as a survey ship in the United States Coast Survey from 1876 to 1878 and in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1878 to 1915.

Construction and acquisition

McArthur was built by the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo

Vallejo, California

Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, in 1874. She entered Coast Survey service as USCS McArthur in 1876. When the Coast Survey was reorganized in 1878 to form the Coast and Geodetic Survey, she became a part of the new service as USC&GS McArthur.

Career

McArthur served almost exclusively in the waters of the Territory of Alaska.

Tragedy struck McArthurs crew on 17 August 1894 when one of her officers and four crewmen drowned after their boat capsized coming through surf

Breaking wave

In fluid dynamics, a breaking wave is a wave whose amplitude reaches a critical level at which some process can suddenly start to occur that causes large amounts of wave energy to be transformed into turbulent kinetic energy...

 on the coast of the state of Washington.

On more than one occasion, McArthur assisted mariners in distress. On 15 December 1909, she hauled the passenger

Passenger ship

A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...

 steamer Fleetwood off the ground in Grays Harbor, Washington. On 30 May 1914, she rendered assistance to the Ketchikan Power Company barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

 Blanche; seas were breaking over Blanche, seams had opened in her hull

Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

, and water was flooding in faster than Blanches pump

Pump

A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as liquids, gases or slurries.A pump displaces a volume by physical or mechanical action. Pumps fall into three major groups: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps...

s could pump it out, but McArthur kept Blanche from sinking.

On 16 January 1915, McArthur was at Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, Washington when a fire broke out on the docks

Dock (maritime)

A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...

 there. She was unable to move because she did not have steam up. The Coast and Geodetic Survey survey ship USC&GS Explorer, which had steam up, towed both McArthur and the survey ship USC&GS Thomas R. Gedney

USC&GS Thomas R. Gedney

USC&GS Thomas R. Gedney, originally USCS Thomas R. Gedney, was a survey ship in service in the United States Coast Survey from 1875 to 1878 and in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1878 to 1915....

 to a safe location.

McArthur was retired later in 1915.

Commemoration

McArthur Peak, Port McArthur, and McArthur Reef, all in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, were named for McArthur.