USRC Thomas Corwin (1876)

USRC Corwin: Departure for Alaska, 1885. Contemporary engraving.
History
United States
Name:	USRC Thomas Corwin
Builder:	Oregon Iron Works
Cost:	$92,000
Launched:	23 August 1876
Commissioned:	17 July 1877
In service:	1877–1900
Fate:	Sold 14 February 1900
Notes:	Continued operating as a merchant vessel
Name:	SS Corwin
Owner:	Corwin Trading Co., Pacific Coal and Transportation Co., various
Port of registry:	Boston; Seattle
Route:	Seattle, Nome, Western Alaska coastal ports
Acquired:	1900
In service:	1900, 1902–1915
Out of service:	1901
Fate:	Burned in drydock 1916
General characteristics as built
Displacement:	227 tons
Length:	140'7"
Beam:	24'
Draft:	10'10"
Depth:	11' 1½"
Propulsion:	Inverted-cylinder single-stage steam engine, 34" diameter × 34" stroke, single screw disconnected for sailing
Sail plan:	Topsail schooner
Speed:	11.5 knots steam, 12 knots sail, 14 knots combined
Complement:	8 officers 33 enlisted
Armament:	3 guns, unknown type and caliber
General characteristics 1900–1903
Tonnage:	307 gross, 153 net
Length:	137.5 ft
Beam:	24 ft
Depth:	11.3
Sail plan:	Brigantine (aka hermaphrodite brig)
Speed:	9 knots
General characteristics 1904–1916
Tonnage:	447 gross, 239 net
Length:	138 ft
Beam:	24 ft
Depth:	13.2
Decks:	2

The Thomas Corwin was a United States Revenue Cutter and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea. In 1912, Frank Willard Kimball wrote: "The Corwin has probably had a more varied and interesting career than any other vessel which plies the Alaskan waters."

The United States Revenue Cutter Thomas Corwin (aka the Corwin) was the first revenue cutter to regularly cruise the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Built in the state of Oregon, she was finished and commissioned in San Francisco which remained her home port. In a 23-year federal career, she participated in the search for the USS Jeannette, landed scientific parties on Wrangel and Herald islands, shelled the Tlingit village Angoon, interdicted whiskey traffic, rescued shipwrecked whalers, contributed to the exploration of Alaska, and arrested seal poachers. She had at least eight captains during her federal career, but is particularly associated with two: the cool and resolute Calvin L. Hooper and the volatile Michael Healy. She continued operating in the Bering Sea as a merchant and charter vessel after she was sold in 1900.

As a merchant vessel, the SS Corwin started out as a support vessel for minerals exploration, and subsequently was extensively modified to carry passengers. She served coastal ports on Norton and Kotzebue Sounds, the Seward Peninsula, and the Bering Strait during the shipping season, and generally wintered in Puget Sound. She was the first steamer to reach Nome in the spring multiple years, and also frequently the last steamer out in the fall. Her Master through most of her commercial service was Ellsworth Luce West. She attempted to rescue the Karluk survivors from Wrangel Island and participated in the search for four missing Karluk crewmen in 1914.

The Corwin was named for Thomas Corwin, a well-known mid-nineteenth-century politician who served as Secretary of the Treasury during Millard Fillmore's presidency. She was the second of three Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard vessels to bear the name (there was also a patrol boat Cape Corwin).