USLHT Arbutus (1933 Ship)

USLHT ''Arbutus'' was built as a lighthouse tender for the Massachusetts coast. She served in that role from her launch in 1933 until World War II. In 1939, the Lighthouse Service was merged into the United States Coast Guard and the ship became USCGC ''Arbutus''. During the war she was under United States Navy control. She served as an anti-submarine net-tender at Newport, Rhode Island. After the war she was posted to New York and resumed her buoy tender responsibilities. She was decommissioned in 1967 and sold in 1969.

After her government service, ''Arbutus'' was used in a number of treasure hunting expeditions in Haiti and Florida, most notably, Mel Fisher's salvage of the Spanish galleon '' Nuestra Señora de Atocha''. In 1983 she sank at anchor while engaged at that site.

Construction and characteristics

In 1931, the Commissioner of Lighthouses requested funding to replace USLHT ''Azalea'''','' which was then beyond economical repair. Although ''Arbutus'' was originally planned to replace USLHT ''Ilex'', she was assigned to replace ''Azalea''. Pusey and Jones Corporation of Wilmington, Delaware was the low bidder and won the contract to build ''Arbutus'' for $239,800. Contracts for the ship were signed on 14 July 1932.

''Arbutus'' was launched on 25 March 1933. Her sponsor was Elizabeth Duncan Putnam, daughter of Commissioner of Lighthouses George R. Putnam. Among the guests at the ceremony were Commissioner Putnam, Delaware Governor C. Douglas Buck, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper. A luncheon for the visiting officials was held after the launch at the DuPont Biltmore Hotel in Wilmington.

''Arbutus sea trial took place on 5 June 1933 on the Delaware River. As a result of the successful trial, the ship was accepted by the Lighthouse Service on 6 June 1933.

Her hull was built of mild steel plates, riveted together. The ship was long overall, with a beam of , a depth of hold of , and a draft of . She displaced 997 tons, fully loaded.

''Arbutus'' was driven by two propellers. Power was provided by two triple-expansion steam engines. Each engine generated 500 horsepower at 150 RPM. The ship was capable of reaching a maximum speed of 11.3 knots. Steam for the engines was produced by two oil-fired boilers which had a working pressure of 200 pounds per square inch. The engines were built by Pusey and Jones.

The ship was equipped with a steel mast and boom that served as a derrick to lift buoys and other loads on and off the ship. A separate steam engine and winch gave the derrick the ability to hoist loads of up to 20 tons.

The covered forecastle on the main deck housed the crew washrooms and toilets, and stowage for deck equipment. Crew quarters were on the lower deck forward, and petty officers' quarters were on the lower deck aft. The steel main deck house held the galley, pantry, crew's mess, and officers' staterooms and dining room. Above the main deck house forward were the pilot house, ship's office, and adjoining captain's cabin, and washroom. The upper deck aft contained the radio room, and a stateroom, washroom, and dining room for the Lighthouse District Superintendent, as well as an extra stateroom.

Lighthouse tenders were named for trees and shrubs. Arbutus is a genus of flowering plants in the heather family. The ''Arbutus'' launched in 1933 was the third vessel of that name to serve as a lighthouse tender. The second USLHT ''Arbutus'' was launched in 1879.

U.S. Lighthouse Service (1933–1939)

''Arbutus'' was assigned to the 2nd Lighthouse District which encompassed the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Her home port was New Bedford, Massachusetts. She began her work there in July 1933 delivering supplies to the lighthouse at Bristol, Rhode Island.

Buoys are moved by storms and ice, break loose from their anchors, are hit by passing ships, rust, and worn by the weather. They require periodic maintenance, and this was one of ''Arbutus's'' main missions. Her buoy tending chores were complicated by winter sea ice along the New England coast. Ice would damage or sink large iron buoys, so every fall ''Arbutus'' would replace threatened nuns, cans, and bell buoys with wooden spar buoys. In the spring she would have to reverse the process and put all the metal buoys back in place. ''Arbutus'' also placed temporary buoys around wrecks while preparations were made to remove them.

Many lighthouses and all lightships were supplied by sea, since their remote locations offered no land transportation. ''Arbutus'' performed this task through her entire career, delivering mail, food, water, and other supplies.

While some lightships of this era were capable of self-propulsion, many were towed to and from their stations. For example, in 1934 ''Arbutus'' towed to port for maintenance ''Relief Light Vessel No. 49'' from its station in Buzzard's Bay. In December 1935 ''Arbutus'' towed ''Boston Light Vessel No. 54'' to drydock in Quincy after she was hit and almost sunk by the freighter ''Seven Seas Spray''.

U.S. Coast Guard (19391969)

The Lighthouse Service merged into the United States Coast Guard on 1 July 1939. The tender became USCGC ''Arbutus'' (WAGL-203). She was assigned to the Boston Coast Guard District which was responsible for the coast of New England from Maine through portions of Rhode Island. Her crew underwent a transition from civilian to military service. ''Arbutus'' was based at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

During World War II ''Arbutus'' was fitted with one 3"/23 gun and two 20mm/80 cannons. During the war her complement included 1 officer, 3 warrant officers, and 37 enlisted men. From at least 1 April 1943 to 1 July 1944 she served as part of the Net and Boom Group at Newport, Rhode Island and maintained anti-submarine nets.

After World War II, her homeport was changed to New York, and she was based at the Coast Guard station at Saint George, Staten Island. ''Arbutus'' went back to tending buoys, lighthouses, and lightships. As lighthouses were equipped with radio beacons allowing ships to determine their position by radio direction finding, buoy tenders, including ''Arbutus'' were given the new task of maintaining the calibration of the beacon transmitters. For example, on 1 August 1961, ''Arbutus'' calibrated the beacon at the Little Gull Island light.

On 1 January 1965, as part of the Coast Guard's modernization of its ship classification scheme, ''Arbutus'' was reclassified as a coastal buoy tender and given the designation WLM-203.

Notable events

Public tours of ''Arbutus'' were offered at the Staten Island Coast Guard base in 1945, 1947, 1948, and 1954.

A New York Police Department helicopter developed engine trouble on 25 February 1960 over New York Harbor. It was equipped with pontoons, so it settled onto the water. The two police officers aboard were rescued by ''Arbutus'', which then hoisted the helicopter onto her deck.

On 8 February 1965 Eastern Airlines flight 663, a Douglas DC-7B aircraft, crashed near Jones Beach State Park shortly after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport. ''Arbutus'' arrived on the scene in the early afternoon of 9 February. She had two divers and sonar equipment aboard in order to locate the wreck which was in of water.

On 15 July 1966 she ran aground in Long Island Sound, but was refloated without damage.

Decommissioning and sale

''Arbutus'' was decommissioned on 10 January 1967. Based on Coast Guard studies of buoy tender utilization, she was not replaced. She was sold on 28 April 1969.

Marine Exploration Company, Inc. (19691976?)

Marine Exploration Company, Inc. of Miami purchased ''Arbutus'' with the intention of using her as a salvage platform for recovering treasure from wrecks on the north coast of Haiti. It appears that she was used in this manner in 1971. Her history thereafter becomes uncertain. At some point her engines were removed. By 1976 she was controlled by Treasure Salvors, Inc., another Florida-based treasure hunting company.

Treasure Salvors, Inc. (1976?1983)

While contemporaneous press accounts reported that ''Arbutus'' was purchased by Treasure Salvors, Inc., Mel Fisher's financing of his salvage operations was notoriously complex and involved multiple corporations. It is uncertain which legal entity owned the ship and where she was registered. In any case, in 1976, ''Arbutus'' was towed to the site of the wreck of the Spanish galleon ''Nuestra Señora de Atocha''. She was used as a work barge providing a machine shop, living quarters, and supplies for the team salvaging the wreck and as a "sentry ship" to maintain a claim to the site and to watch for poachers.

On 6 November 1977, two U.S. Marine Corps A-4 Skyhawks on a training mission mistook ''Arbutus'' for a target vessel and fired rockets at her. The rockets missed, and no harm was done to the ship.

The ship was at anchor west of Marquesas Keys in an area known as the Quicksands when she sank in 1983. She is still there, and is now a popular spot for snorkeling and fishing.

Cultural use

The back cover of Jimmy Buffet's album " Songs You Know By Heart" is a photo of Buffet on the pilot house of the sunken ''Arbutus''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbutus

1933 ships
Ships built in Delaware
Ships of the United States Coast Guard
Ships of the United States Lighthouse Service