It started out as a minor mystery. Although a ship named the McArthur was built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, that name did not appear on the list of the 513 craft constructed there. The mystery was solved with the discovery that, while the schooner—named after U.S. Navy Lieutenant William P. McArthur (see sidebar, page 18)—had in fact been built at Mare Island, she was not a Navy ship, but a vessel built for the U.S. Coast Survey. The story of her construction presents a fascinating glimpse of the shipbuilding trade of a century ago.
In the years following the Civil War, the Navy operated on extremely limited funds. The number of men employed at Mare Island decreased from 806 in 1873 to 82 in 1877. Most of the activity on the waterfront was repairing ships of the Pacific Squadron and an occasional merchant ship. Thus, workmen welcomed the opportunity in 1875 to build the schooner for the Coast Survey.
The McArthur was built under the direction of W. H. Mapes, Chief Engineer of the Coast Survey, who reported to the Honorable C. P. Patterson, Superintendent, U.S. Coast Survey. Mapes’s letters from Mare Island to Washington, D.C., reveal the frustrations and successes he encountered during the project.
The keel of the new Coast Survey Steamer was laid on 1 September 1875. On the 30th Mapes wrote the first of many letters to Patterson.
On my arrival here I found the keel of MC ARTHUR in place, also stern posts.
ADM Rodgers received me very warmly but was surprised when he found out that I had not brought out funds to pay off the men now employed in our work. I was under the impression that the men were to be paid by the Yard and then to draw on Coast Survey for the amount expended. The Admiral stated that he had no money on hand to pay off his own men.
The work was commenced 8/30/75 and is now being pushed rapidly. One thing is certain: the framing work is first class and Mr. Much (Naval Constructor) deserves a vote of thanks for his interest in our work so far.
Eventually, the Coast Survey established an account from which Mapes drew funds to pay the men. On 6 December he wrote:
In accordance with your order of Nov. 8 I have this date drawn on Samuel Hein, Esq. for $10,000 . . . through Bank of Nevada, San Francisco. The object in drawing for so much is to be ready to meet bills that will be contracted for. Drawing this in the early part of next month for anchors, chain (lumber for joiner work which is now ordered) then the rigging of canvas for sails and upper deck windlass, salt, etc.
I find San Francisco very corrupt so far as bids are concerned. For instance, bids were issued for 16 tons of rock salt. The lowest proposal received was for $17 per ton, which I rejected. 1 went to San Francisco and by going around quietly, bought the same salt for $6.00/ton at open purchase.
Again in black walnut, the lowest bid was $170/lin- ear feet, which was also rejected. Took another walk around, had the same stuff offered me for $140/linear feet, by the same bidders who did not know who I was.
I mention the above to show you that in some things it is absolutely necessary to waive all bids and go in the market like an old farmer, and buy. So far I have been very successful. However, when buying anchors, chains, yellow metal, canvas, etc., bids, I suppose, must be issued.
I am trying in every way possible to economize and think for the amount of $28,000 that we will be able to complete the work and get most of the fittings, yet possibly we may have to have a small amount extra to finish. Still I have not got far enough along yet to tell.
Do what you will, the payroll runs up, together with gold, high wages, and the eight-hour law; everything is against us. The men work harder on our job than I ever saw them in any yard, yet the progress is slow. We have had ten days’ rain in November but it has now cleared up with very good prospects. The vessel is planked within three strakes of the shear strake. The true nails are half driven, the main deck beams are in, the knees for same are half fitted, the spars are caulked out, the irons for same (picked up from spar shed) are on hand.
The boats [are] in hand. The fastenings for them will be copper. Mr. Much has a large quantity of such things not on charge which he will give to us. In all cases, Mr. Much is doing all he can for us. Labor is our biggest bill. I have been in all departments chatting with these foremen and getting a little from each. The boss plumbers had four hot water closets that belonged to the INDEPENDENCE condemned because the bowls were rough inside, supposed to be worn out. By applying acid we found the roughness was caused by chloride of lime which the crew did not clean off. Acid brought them out as nice as new. . . .
I have 40 hammocks and 20 bags promised me, also old junk blocks, junk rigging good and found some with rigging that CAPT Phelps said I might have, but when it was overhauled it proved to be 3-3/4 inch too large for shrouds. What a pity. Our shrouds are to be 2-3/4. There are a great many things that can be got.
On account of room and cost, would it not be better to omit the hot air furnace and use stoves in this climate where the hot air furnace would be so little used? It is hoped that by the middle of January we will be ready to launch unless we have very bad weather.
Late in 1875 the yard laid off nearly one half of its 428 employees. This created a serious problem for Mapes, who had expected all the yard’s shops to be operational. As a result, it became even more expensive to have several shops working on small, diverse, but nonetheless vital, projects.
Mapes continued to scrounge the yard for items he could utilize, and on 8 January 1876 he reported: “I have also found a wheel which will answer us by repairing it with a new barrel. The wheel is six inches larger in diameter than specifications but by enlarging the pilot house that much there will be room to swing it and also to get around the spokes.” He ended his “long tedious letter” by admitting, “I am almost crazed over the expenditures, yet am conscious of having done the best.”
After months of frustration, Mapes’s ship was finally completed. The 130-ton surveying schooner was 122 feet long, with a 20-foot beam and a draft of 7 feet, and she could accommodate a complement of 7 officers and 26 men. According to the official shipyard log of 1 April 1876, “The new surveying steamer MC ARTHUR was successfully launched at 6 A.M.” The San Francisco Post, while noting the successful launch, added the following caveat:
It is asserted by competent judges that [the McArthur] is the most extraordinary specimen of naval architecture built in this or any other country, [but] old Noah himself would probably have preferred to be drowned at once rather than trust himself in this nondescript.
With funds running low and the shipyard barely functioning, Mapes went back to Washington, D.C., in May to report to Patterson in person and to review the project, significantly over budget. Upon his return in August he found additional problems.
When this vessel was laid up last May it was caulked to [the] height of the main decks and was well laid up. On my return to complete the work, it was found that the seams above waterline were open in places and required making over.
The shrinking in the planking was due to the long spell of dry weather and the hot north wind, and not because she was not properly cared for when laid up.
She was completely covered with canvas and the watchman wet down the sides every morning over the canvas.
The McArthur's sea trial on 5 December was “a perfect success,” according to the Mare Island Log, and the Vallejo Evening News Chronicle reported:
The screw steamer MC ARTHUR, just completed at Mare Island Navy Yard for service in the U.S. Coast Survey, made a formal trip to San Francisco and back Tuesday, and the general verdict was the old equine, one of ‘an ugly ’un to look at, but a good ’un to go,’ but not exactly that either, since as speed was not the required quality in a craft intended for the service that this one is, it is not the quality for which the MC ARTHUR is distinguishable so much as for more valuable ones.
Commissioned on 6 December, the McArthur went to sea, returning to Mare Island on several occasions for minor repairs until her last departure in August 1899. She was known as a comfortable ship and basically retained the same crew year after year.
Despite the problems that arose during her construction, the McArthur was a strong, seaworthy vessel that served continuously for nearly 39 years, performing the work of the Coast Survey and, after 1879, for the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The discovery of gold in southeastern Alaska in 1882, for example, necessitated a rapidly systematic survey of Alaska, for which the McArthur led the way.
An aging vessel, the McArthur was nevertheless a respected schooner at the end of her career. In a report dated 4 September 1914, her commanding officer noted the condition of the ship.
Motive Power: The propelling power of the vessel is of a design long since out of date.
Electrical Equipment: The MCARTHUR is not equipped with any electrical appliances, lights, or wireless outfit. . . . Every visitor comments on the kerosene lamps.
The manifest advantages of a wireless must be denied the MC ARTHUR as space is so limited that even the small room required for a small outfit is not available.
In the vital part of surveying equipment, the MC ARTHUR has always been deficient. It was built before launches were available as at the present time. The superstructure is so frail that a suitable steam launch could not be hoisted on board.
The report noted in summary that the original cost of the ship had been $55,000; repairs during 1905 to 1914 had equalled 56% of the original cost. Estimated costs required to upgrade the McArthur at the time of the report were not justified. Her working days were over. She was condemned and sold on 8 February 1916, having left behind a record befitting the hero for whom she was named. In the words of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey for the year ending 1851:
The work which he [Lieutenant McArthur] accomplished will live forever ... he exhibited a constancy, an energy, and a rare force of command, which enabled him to triumph over almost insuperable difficulties. These qualities would have made him conspicuous in any career. . . . His name will long be identified with the progress of the republic in the West.