Verbena, 1870
Any of various New World plants of the genus Verbena, especially one of several species cultivated for their showy spikes of variously colored flowers; any of several similar plants, such as the lemon verbena.
Builder: William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Length: 135'
Beam: 25' 5"
Draft: 9'
Displacement: 295 tons
Cost: $44,100
Launched: 1869
Commissioned: 1870
Decommissioned: ?
Disposition: Sold, 1911
Machinery: Condensing beam steam engine, IHP 300; side paddle wheel propulsion
Complement: 16
Armament: None
Tender History:
Verbena was one of two tenders of the Verbena class, the other being the tender Alanthus. Both entered service in 1870. They were wooden hulled, steam powered, side paddle wheelers of 295 tons.
Verbena was assigned to the Second Lighthouse District as an "Inspection Tender" at New Bedford, Massachusetts and tended aids to navigation in Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay. She replaced the tender Cactus. Verbena was overhauled and a new boiler was installed in 1883.
She was sold in 1911.
Sources:
Douglas Peterson. U.S. Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840 - 1939. Annapolis, Maryland: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1982.