Merchant
& Miners Transportation Co. Captain C. Kirwan,
Williams Wharf, Mathews County, Virginia. 1899-1937. Archive.
Passenger Ocean
Liner – S. S. Chatham: Savannah, Georgia to Baltimore, Maryland and return. [Formerly: U.
S. Navy Repair Ship Vulcan Spanish
American War] - S. S. Suwannee; S. S. Howard
Unpublished, 1899. Ledger. Leather spine with marbled
paper over boards. Faintly scored on leather along the front cover: "The
Property of C. Kirwan, 1st Officer S. S. Chatham." approximately 150 pages
with 66 used. The front end page and page 1 are together detached. Memorandum
of Work and Repairs on S. S. Chatham, 1899.; Cubic feet of boats and life
rafts.; 8 pages repairs 1899-1901; passenger list 50 pages with approximately
1500 passenger names in manuscript. Savannah to Baltimore & return.
WITH: Merchant & Miners Transportation Co. Pass. 1918.
issued to Capt. C. Kirwan, Master. Signed by "J. H. Jenkins,"
president. 2-1/2 x 4 inches.
WITH: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company
Identification Card, No. 599. C. Kirwan, Captain., S. S. Suwannee, M & M T
Co., Signed: "C. Kirwan & M. J. Doyle." 2-1/2 x 4-1/16 inches.
WITH: B & O R R Co. Pass. 1918. Captain Clarence
Kerwin, S. S. Howard. On All Piers at N News, Va. Issued to and Signed. 2-1/2 x
4 inches.
WITH: U.S. Customs Service. Port of Baltimore. Pass To
Piers, Waterfront Or Vessel. Issued to and Signed Clarence Kirwan. With
photograph attached. 3 x 5 inches.
WITH: Phila. Balto. & Wash. R. R. Co., Baltimore
Division - P. R. R. 1917. Permit Bearer To Pass Guards At Canton Piers And
Elevator. Signed: "L. C. Frederick." 2-1/2 x 3-13/16 inches.
WITH: United States Department Of Commerce, Steamboat
Inspection Service. License To Master Of Steam And Motor Vessels. Issued to
Clarence Kirwan, Baltimore, Md. 1933. Signed. Printed & manuscript.
Includes: Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico and waters surrounding the West
Indies First class pilot on Chesapeake Bay and tributaries &c. &c.
&c. 8-15/16 inches x 10-5/16 inches. Engraved form with embellishments
including vignette of steamship.
WITH: TLS. 1915. Merchants and Miners Transportation
Co. To Kirwan congratulations for rescuing the crew of the ill-fated Steamship
Colorado. In cover.
WITH: TLS. 1916. Department of Commerce. Steamboat
Inspection Service, Jacksonville, Florida. To Kirwan, Steamer Suwannee. Charges
of damage to raft and vessel on the St. John's River.
WITH: 13 TLS: 3 ALS., 2 TL., + 8 pieces: Names of
wharfs and other docking points (Bell Rock, Three Trees, Sandy Pt., Gloucester
Pt., personal); etc.
WITH: Photograph. Ship Suwannee. 6-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches
mounted on stiff board. Some foxing. Edge of board chipped.
WITH: Photograph. Ship "T.P.A." Convention,
Savannah, Ga., May 17, 1902. 3-7/8 x 5-1/2 inches mounted on stiff board. Some
foxing. Wilson Photo 14.
WITH: Photograph. Ship "T.P.A." Convention,
Savannah, Ga., May 17, 1905. 4-5/8 x 6-1/2 inches mounted on stiff board.
Lightly soiled. Wilson Photo 15.
WITH: Photograph. Ship. Wreck of M. & M. T. Co.,
SS "Chatham" Mouth St. John's River, Florida. 3/20/10. 14 x 4-1/4 Inches.
- - - The S. S. Chatham was built for Merchant
& Miners Transportation Co. in 1884. 1898 sold
to US Navy renamed USS Vulcan, 1899 repurchased by the Merchant
& Miners Transportation Co. and reverted to Chatham, 1910
stranded at entrance to St. Johns River, Florida, scrapped. 2,729 tons.
“Chatham – an iron-hulled, schooner-rigged screw steamship
constructed at Philadelphia by the American Shipbuilding Co. – was completed in
1884 and acquired by the Navy on 2 May 1989 from the Merchants’ and Miners’
Transportation Co., of Baltimore, Md. Renamed Vulcan, the erstwhile merchantman underwent a metamorphosis to the
Fleet’s first repair ship. She was equipped with machine tools, forges, and
foundries, and a large supply of widely varied stores. A large force of skilled
mechanics rounded out her versatile crew. Commissioned on 31 May 1898 at the
Boston Navy Yard, with Lt. Comdr. Ira Harria in command, Vulcan soon sailed for the Caribbean.
After proceeding via
Newport News, Va., she arrived at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 1 July in time to be
present during the North Atlantic Fleet’s bombardment that day of the Spanish
forts at Aquadores. The ship served in Cuban waters for the duration of the
brief war with Spain and performed yeoman service. On one occasion, while out
on nightly patrol, her picket boat, commanded by Naval Cadet Louis G. Miller,
drew some 200 shots from Spanish troops ashore. The Spaniards’ fire – which the
launch spiritedly returned – was ineffective; and all hands returned safely to
the ship.
On 3 July, the American
Fleet met and soundly trounced a Spanish squadron off Santiago, Cuba. Almost as
soon as the smoke of that battle had cleared, the American Navy began making
plans to salvage the Spanish vessels. Vulcan
performed salvage work on the heavily damaged Spanish ships Maria Theresa and Cristobal Colon.
Vulcan
remained in the Caribbean through the cessation of hostilities. Her services as
the first ship of her type were exemplary and noteworthy. In the Bureau of
Steam Engineering report for 1898, Vulcan’s
performance was as “unqualified success and of great value in maintaining the
efficiency of the fleet.” In fact, Vulcan’s
brief tour with the Fleet had proved to be so valuable to the Navy that the
Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering recommended the acquisition of a
second ship of her type to serve the ships of the Pacific Fleet.
By the end of August,
reports from the repair ship further indicated that she had made repairs to 63
ships and supplied stores to 60. In addition, her “unusual facilities” and the
100 skilled mechanics on board enabled her to effect a wide variety of repairs
– including hull work, gun mounts, dynamos, steam pipes, main piston rods for
smaller ships, and “iron castings in considerable quantity.” In the fall, with
her tour thus completed, Vulcan
sailed north on 30 October and proceeded to Norfolk, Va.
After
shifting to the League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pa., in December 1898, Vulcan was decommissioned there on 12
January 1899 and sold on 3 July of the same year to her original owner. Renamed
Chatham, the ship served the
Merchants’ and Miners’ Transportation Co. until 1911 when her name disappeared
from the shipping registers.”
- - - Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
James L. Mooney (editor). Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy.
Washington, D.C. 1981. Volume VII. Page 565.
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