Heather, 1903
A low-growing Eurasian shrub, Calluna vulgaris, growing in dense masses and bearing small evergreen leaves and pinkish-purple flower clusters.
Builder: Moran Shipbuilding, Seattle, Washington
Length: 178' 6"
Beam: 28' 6"
Draft: 14' 11"
Displacement: 831 tons
Cost: $118,567.58
Commissioned: 10 June 1903
Decommissioned: 6 September 1940
Disposition: Transferred to the War Department
Machinery: 1 vertical condensing fore & aft compound steam engine; 2 Scotch-type boilers; single propeller; 750 SHP
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Deck Gear:
Complement: 24
Armament: None
Tender History:
The Heather was a steel and wood-hulled coastwise tender that entered service in 1903. Although built as a steamer, she could rig sails for propulsion if needed. She was assigned to the 13th Lighthouse District and operated out of Seattle.
She was re-engined with a single diesel in the late-1930s. She was loaned to the War Department on 1 September 1940 and was permanently transferred on 6 September 1940. She kept her name in Army service but was given the hull designation of FS-534. She was sold to a foreign buyer after the war and was last noted as working off the China coast in the 1950s.
Sources:
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.