Zera Luther Tanner (December 5, 1835 – December 16, 1906), sometimes spelled Zero, was an American naval officer, inventor, and oceanographer. Tanner invented a depth sounding system, wrote several books on

hydrography Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary p ...

and retired as a commander of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1897.

Career

Zera Luther Tanner was born in

Warsaw, New York Warsaw is a town in Wyoming County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 5,064 at the 2010 census. It is located approximately 37 miles east southeast of Buffalo and approximately 37 miles southwest of Rochester. The town may h ...

, in 1835, the son of Zerah and Ruth (Foster) Tanner. The elder Tanner died when his son was one year old, so the younger Tanner worked in family farms until his late teens, when he apprenticed to a mechanic. Tanner traveled by ship to Great Britain in 1855, and because of ill health chose to take a longer voyage from Liverpool to Bombay, India aboard SS ''Culloden'' in 1856. After two round trips, one as third officer, Tanner chose sailing for his profession. Returning to the United States, after Tanner served aboard American merchantmen, he eventually assisted several seaborne troop movements in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

Civil War service

Tanner chose to join government service and was appointed acting ensign of the Union Navy in the summer of 1862. Tanner served upon the

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

and the supply steamer during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. When ''Rhode Island'' captured a British

blockade runner A blockade runner is a merchant vessel used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait. It is usually light and fast, using stealth and speed rather than confronting the blockaders in order to break the blockade. Blockade runners usuall ...

in December 1864, Tanner was put in charge of the prize crew. During the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865, Tanner commanded the boats from his vessel landing Union ground forces.

Post war service

Tanner entered the

in 1868, coming over from the deactivated volunteer services. Until his retirement in 1897, Tanner served the navy in hydrographic survey and

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

commands, often in conjunction with the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, generally known as the

United States Fish Commission The United States Fish Commission, formally known as the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, was an agency of the United States government created in 1871 to investigate, promote, and preserve the fisheries of the United States. In 1 ...

. Tanner partially designed and oversaw the construction of two ships for the commission. USFC ''Fish Hawk'', in service from 1880 to 1926 and the first large vessel ever built expressly for the promotion of fisheries, was a smaller vessel designed for coastal waters and was primarily used as a mobile fish hatchery although she also conducted fisheries research, while USFC ''Albatross'', which served as a fisheries research ship from 1882 to 1921 except for brief periods in U.S. Navy service in 1898 and from 1917 to 1919, was the first full-sized vessel primarily designed for marine research. Tanner was the first commanding officer of ''Fish Hawk'', from November 10, 1882 to May 21, 1885. He commanded ''Albatross'' for nine years, including transporting famed naturalist

Alexander Emanuel Agassiz Alexander Emmanuel Rodolphe Agassiz (December 17, 1835March 27, 1910), son of Louis Agassiz and stepson of Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, was an American scientist and engineer. Biography Agassiz was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and immigrated t ...

on an 1891 voyage to the Galapagos Islands. Tanner was promoted to commander in 1893 and was relieved of command of ''Albatross'' on May 1, 1894. After an extended furlough, was assigned to duty with the Fish Commission on January 1, 1895. He retired from the Navy on December 5, 1897, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 62.

Death and legacy

Tanner died in Washington, D.C. on December 16, 1906, aged 71, and was buried with military honors at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. Tanner was a Companion of the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or simply the Loyal Legion is a United States patriotic order, organized April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Army. The original membership was composed of members ...

. He was also a member of the

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

Legacy

Tanner developed an improved method of

depth sounding Depth sounding, often simply called sounding, is measuring the depth of a body of water. Data taken from soundings are used in bathymetry to make maps of the floor of a body of water, such as the seabed topography. Soundings were traditionally ...

, using instruments of his own design. He patented his system in 1899 as the Tanner navigational sounding apparatus. Two U.S. Navy ships have been named after Tanner. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, , an attack cargo ship with service in the Okinawa campaign was re-purposed for oceanographic survey work and renamed . ''Tanner'' spent her career mapping significant coastline areas and was retired in 1969. In 1990, was built for the U.S. Navy as a fast oceanographic research vessel. Now named TS ''State of Maine'', she serves as the

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

of the

Maine Maritime Academy Maine Maritime Academy (Maine Maritime or MMA) is a public college focused on maritime training and located in Castine, Maine. The academy was established by the 90th Maine Legislature on March 21, 1941. Unlike federal service academies, a congr ...

. File:Captain Zera Luther Tanner.JPG, Before 1902

Selected works

*''Deep-sea exploration: a general description of the steamer Albatross, her appliances and methods''

Date of rank

*Acting ensign – August 18, 1862 *Acting master – September 29, 1864 *Ensign – March 12, 1868 *Master – December 18, 1868 *Lieutenant – March 21, 1870 *Lieutenant commander – February 22, 1883 *Commander – February 7, 1893 *Retired list – December 5, 1897

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Zerah Luther 1835 births 1906 deaths American explorers 19th-century American inventors Burials at Arlington National Cemetery American oceanographers People of New York (state) in the American Civil War Union Navy officers United States Navy officers Fisheries scientists People from Warsaw, New York Scientists from New York (state)