USS Small IX: Auxiliary Schooners etc. (2)

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USS Migrant (IX-66) on 1 December 1942
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        Small IX: Auxiliary Schooners etc. (2)
Design        Small acquired. These specifications are for IX-66.
Displacement (tons):        1,300 light, 661 gross
Dimensions (feet):        223.25' oa, 168.1' wl x 34.25' x 15.0'
Original Armament:        1-3"/50SP 4-20mm (1942: IX-66 and 67)
Later armaments:        1-3"/23SP 1-40mmS 4-20mm (1943: IX-66);
4-20mm (1945: IX-67);
Small or none (others)
Complement        68 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        11.5
Propulsion (HP):        950
Machinery:        1 screw, Bessemer diesel (190 NHP)

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
65	BLUE DOLPHIN	17 Mar 42	Shelburne SB	--	1926	6 Apr 42
66	MIGRANT	21 Mar 42	George S. Lawley & Sons	--	1929	19 May 42
67	GUINIVERE	24 Mar 42	George S. Lawley & Sons	--	1921	16 Jun 42
69	PURITAN	5 May 42	Electric Boat	--	1931	19 May 42
70	GLORIA DALTON	11 May 42	Craig SB, Long Beach	--	1925	30 May 42

Disposition:

IX	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
65	BLUE DOLPHIN	28 Jun 45	11 Jul 45	14 Sep 45	MC/S	14 Sep 45
66	MIGRANT	3 Aug 45	13 Aug 45	3 Jan 46	MC/S	3 Jan 46
67	GUINIVERE	2 Aug 45	13 Aug 45	25 Apr 46	MC/S	25 Apr 46
69	PURITAN	27 Sep 43	28 Jun 44	18 Nov 44	MC/S	18 Nov 44
70	GLORIA DALTON	1 Oct 43	28 Jun 44	28 Dec 44	MC/S	28 Dec 44

Class Notes:
FY 1942 (IX 66-67), FY 1942 BuShips Maintenance funds (others). The specifications above are for IX-66, those for the others are in the Ship Notes.

IX-65: On 10 Mar 42 CNO asked BuShips to negotiate for the acquisition of the auxiliary schooner yacht BLUE DOLPHIN for the sum of $1.00 as a gift to the Navy from her owner, Mr. Amory Coolidge of Boston, Mass. The schooner had been designed by W. J. Roué and built in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. She was assigned to the 1st Naval District on 25 Mar 42 for duty as station vessel at Casco Bay. The vessel arrived on 26 Mar 42 at the yard of George Lawley & Son, Neponset, Mass. for conversion and completed conversion on 5 Apr 42. She had a 75' foremast of hard pine and a 104' mainmast of Oregon fir. She was sold back to Mr. Coolidge in September 1945 for $1.00. In 1948 she was acquired by David C. Nutt, who had served as Executive Officer of BOWDOIN (IX-50) on voyages to Greenland between 1941 and 1943. He based BLUE DOLPHIN in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and refitted her for Arctic oceanographic research. From 1949 to 1954 the ship surveyed the fjords and estuaries of Labrador conducting research that resulted in a vital baseline for the thermal and compositional history of subarctic estuaries which contained cold Arctic bottom waters. By the late 1970s BLUE DOLPHIN was a wreck at Sarnia, Ontario. It was later moved to Detroit and can still be seen there on Google Maps at the former Precision Marine, Inc., at 21 St. Jean Street.

IX 66-67: On 14 Mar 42 CNO asked the Maritime Commission to acquire the auxiliary schooner yachts MIGRANT and GUINEVERE and authorized Com-3 to accept them. VCNO designated them IX 66-67 on 8 Apr 42. The auxiliary power was diesel in IX-66 and diesel-electric in IX-67 with 2 diesels, 2 generators, and 2 motors. MIGRANT was one of the last of the very large pre-World War II schooner yachts and had been designed by Henry J. Gielow and built at Neponset, Mass., for Carl Tucker. GUINEVERE, an earlier vessel of the same type, had been designed by A. L. Swasey and Raymond Page, built at Neponset, Mass., and owned by Edgar Palmer, who had built her to replace an earlier GUINEVERE (SP-512) that the Navy had purchased in 1917 and lost in 1919. Both schooners were assigned to the Eastern Sea Frontier in April 1942, based in Boston, and reassigned to the 1st Naval District in April 1944. IX-66, acquired from Mr. Tucker, was converted by Sullivan Dry Dock, Brooklyn, N.Y., and lost her foremast, while IX-67, probably acquired from Mr. Palmer, was converted by Marine Basin Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., and retained all three masts. In addition to their guns both vessels had two depth charge tracks with 300-pound depth charges, two single depth charge projectors, two Mousetrap ASW rocket launchers, all probably fitted in late 1942. They also had sonar and radar and in their early days sometimes conducted sonar searches in mid-Atlantic under sail. IX-67 initially patrolled off Newfoundland and Labrador and occasionally as far as Iceland. She was later turned over to an all-black crew for rescue duty off Boston. In November 1944 Com-1 reported that IX-67 was assigned duties connected with the protection of shipping in the approaches to Boston and for sea rescue purposes and that her services could not be dispensed with without replacement by an equally capable vessel. On 5-6 April 1945 IX-67 assisted the tanker ATLANTIC STATES which had been torpedoed off Cape Cod. Navy records consistently spelled the name of IX-67 as GUINIVERE, although the correct spelling was probably GUINEVERE. Photographs suggest that the overall length listed for MIGRANT and perhaps GUINIVERE included the bowsprit. MIGRANT was sold to the Boston Boat and Engine Co., Boston, Mass., in January 1946, converted to a cargo ship in 1947, renamed FIMBER (British) 1952, and sank off Cape Samana 13 Jul 53 after an engine room explosion. GUINIVERE was sold to Dave Johnson of East St. Louis, Ill., in April 1946 and disappeared from merchant ship registers in 1949. She was last reported to be in the Mediterranean, probably in the 1950s.

IX-69: On 21 Apr 42 CNO asked WSA to acquire the auxiliary steel schooner PURITAN and authorized Com-11 to accept her. Her IX number was assigned on 20 May 42. This schooner had been designed by John G. Alden and built at Groton, Conn. She was purchased from Harry G. Bauer of Los Angeles, an entrepreneur who in 1933 had become President of Edison International, and the vessel was sold back to him in 1944 and returned to service as the yacht PURITAN. Bauer was later co-sponsor of the Puritan-American Museum of Natural History expedition to Baja California in 1957, which was carried out on board his PURITAN. The schooner left Newport, California, on 5 Mar 57 and returned on 6 Jun 57 after logging 4,032 miles. She was transferred to Panamanian registry in 1967.

IX-70: On 4 May 42 CNO asked WSA to acquire the auxiliary schooner GLORIA DALTON and authorized Com-11 to accept her. Her IX number was assigned on 20 May 42. The schooner had been designed by George L. Craig and built by his shipyard at Long Beach, Calif. She was purchased from the estate of Victor E. Dalton and was sold back to his estate in 1944. She then resumed service as the yacht GLORIA DALTON; was renamed GLORIA MARIS in 1955, MARY TYSEN in 1958, and COLLEGIATE REBEL in 1960; and disappeared from from U.S. merchant vessel registers in 1964.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	Notes
65	BLUE DOLPHIN	Ex yacht BLUE DOLPHIN. Auxiliary schooner. 110 tons light, 91 gross. 99.7' oa, 77.0' wl x 21.9' x 12.0'. Wood hull. 1 Bessemer diesel, 140 (or 110) HP, 8 kts.
66	MIGRANT	Ex yacht MIGRANT. Auxiliary 3-masted schooner, steel hull. Specifications above.
67	GUINIVERE	Ex yacht GUINEVERE. Auxiliary 3-masted schooner. 710 tons light 503 tons gross. 195.0' oa, 150.0' wl x 32.5' x 15.0'. Steel hull. 2 screws, Winton diesel electric, 650 HP, 11.5 kts. Crew 54 (1944)
69	PURITAN	Ex yacht PURITAN. Auxiliary schooner. 75 tons light, 101 tons gross. 102.75' oa, 74.7' wl x 22.8' x 9.0'. Steel hull. 1 Winton diesel. Laid up 1 Oct 43.
70	GLORIA DALTON	Ex yacht GLORIA DALTON, ex GEORGANNA. Auxiliary schooner. 75 tons light, 86 tons gross. 107.0' oa, 70.0' wl x 21.0' x 12.0'. Steel hull. 1 Hall Scott diesel. Laid up 1 Oct 43.