USC&GS Fathomer (1904)
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USC&GS Fathomer in 1927
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| History | |
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  United States
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| Name: | Fathomer |
| Namesake: | One who fathoms, i.e., measures the depth of or takes a sounding of, a body of water |
| Owner: | Insular Government of the Philippine Islands |
| Operator: | U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey/Insular Government of the Philippine Islands |
| Builder: | Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company, Hong Kong |
| Completed: | 1904 |
| Commissioned: | 1905 |
| Fate: | Lost April 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Survey ship |
| Length: | 152 ft (46 m) |
| Beam: | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draft: | 9.4 ft (2.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 10.5 knots |
The second USC&GS Fathomer was a steamer that served as a survey ship in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1905 to 1942.
Fathomer was built by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company at Hong Kong in 1904 under the supervision of C. C. Yates for the Survey. On 10 December 1904 she underwent trials in Hong Kong witnessed by a special board composed of C&GS personnel and others acting for the Coast and Geodetic Survey, passing her speed trial at 10.5 knots—0.5 knots more than required. The board recommended acceptance after certain changes and additions by the contractor. The ship was delivered by the contractor in Manila Bay on 19 January 1905 and was immediately placed in commission with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
For operations in the Philippines the U.S. Government paid salaries, cost of travel to and from the Philippines and expenses for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey officers aboard the ships. The insular government paid crew salaries and expenses as well as having ownership of the vessels excepting the Pathfinder. All crews were Filipino.
Fathomer spent her career in the Philippine Islands. In late July 1918, the majority of her crew became ill with influenza during the 1918 pandemic, with only two men capable of muster on deck at one point. Returning from coaling at Sandakan, Borneo the ship ran aground on 25 October 1918 at North Tubbataha Reef, the third of three vessels to ground in three years and the only one getting off without assistance.
On 9–10 December 1929,Fathomer rescued 45 men of the Japanese vessel Kenkyu Maru on the west coast of Palawan. On 17 October 1931, she lost three seamen from her crew—part of a signal-building crew working on the west coast of Palawan—when their skiff foundered in a sudden squall while attempting to return to the ship from shore. On 29 October 1933, she pulled the Philippine Dutch Company ship Boynain off a reef near Arrecife Island off Palawan.
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