Thomas R. Gedney dressed overall for a holiday.
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History | |
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United States | |
Name: | USC&GS Thomas R. Gedney |
Namesake: | Commander Thomas R. Gedney (d. 1857), United States Coast Survey officer |
Builder: | C. H. Decameter, New York, New York |
Cost: | $63,400 (USD) |
Completed: | 1875 |
Commissioned: | 1875 |
Decommissioned: | 1915 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Survey ship |
Length: | 140 ft (43 m) |
Beam: | 23.8 ft (7.3 m) |
Draught: | 8.4 ft (2.6 m) |
Propulsion: | Steam and sail |
Sail plan: | Schooner rig |
USC&GS Thomas R. Gedney, originally USCS Thomas R. Gedney, was a survey ship in service in the United States Coast Survey from 1875 to 1878 and in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1878 to 1915.
Thomas R. Gedney was a composite wood and iron steamship built by C. H. Decameter at New York City in 1875. She entered service with the Coast Survey that year. When the Coast Survey was reorganized in 1878 to form the Coast and Geodetic Survey, she became part of the Coast and Geodetic Survey fleet. She served along both the United States East Coast and United States West Coast, and operated a great deal in the waters of the Territory of Alaska. Future rear admiral Uriel Sebree briefly served as her commanding officer in 1879.
In October 1903, Thomas R. Gedney was operating in Alaska when found the steamer Farallon anchored in Frederick Sound with a broken propeller shaft and more than 100 passengers were on board. She towed Farallon to Tonka Cannery in Wrangell Narrows, where Farallon transferred her passengers and got further assistance.
On 12 July 1905, Thomas R. Gedney's chief writer, P. H. Coning, drowned when the ship's whaleboat capsized off the coast of Alaska. She suffered another tragedy on 30 May 1908 when a Quartermaster Gunderson fell overboard and drowned.