Polaris, 1872

March 12, 2021
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Polaris, 1872


A star of the second magnitude, at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper and almost at the north celestial pole.


Builder: John Mahoney, Mobile, Alabama

Length: 45'

Beam: 15' 3"

Draft: 3'

Displacement: 15 tons

Cost: $1,100.00

Commissioned: 1872

Decommissioned: 1875

Disposition: Sold

Rig: Schooner-rigged launch

Machinery: None

Complement: ?

Armament: None


History:

One of four Lyra-class wooden-hulled launches built for the Lighthouse Service.  They were paid for with funds appropriated for the construction of the Trinity Shoals and Timbalier lighthouses in Louisiana.

Each was used as a freight boat in the 8th Lighthouse District.  Note that these were the first craft in the Lighthouse Service that were not named for flora and fauna.


Sources:

Douglas Peterson.  United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.