Historic Nantucket, Fall 1977, Vol. 25 No. 2

The USS Nantucket Navy and Schoolship Takes Her Place in Our Maritime History by Theodore C. Wyman IT WAS THAT remarkable event of our Bi-Centennial Year — Operation Sail — which gave people occasion to look back to the days of the sailing ships, and find much of interest. It was over fifty years ago that I spent two years on one of these legendary wind ships, and so I decided to write of that ship before even the memory of the craft joins those com­ panions who have already sailed over the horizon on their way to Fiddler's Green.

There have been several ships in my sea career, but the first of them was the USS Nantucket. I was a cadet aboard her from October, 1923, to October, 1925. When I graduated I passed an examination given by the U.S. Steamboat Inspectors, and received a license for third assistant marine engineer, ocean going, unlimited tonnage.

The USS Nantucket was a three-masted craft, barkentine rigged, and with a steam engine. The propeller shaft could be uncoupled while under sail alone. Because she was originally the USS Ranger, a Naval vessel, she had been bark-rigged, and had served at one time on the China station. Of interest to steamboat men is the fact that her engine, consisting of a high pressure and low pressure cylinder, was mounted horizontally, perhaps to lessen the danger from shell fire. She was a coal-burning vessel, with four Scotch boilers, and I can remember shoveling coal on my first voyage across the Equator.

As the USS Ranger, launched in 1876, she was a gun-boat of 12 guns. After 35 years of Naval service she was loaned to the State of Massachusetts to replace the old schoolship Enterprise, and her name changed to Rockport. In February, 1918, her name was again changed and she became the Nantucket, and during World War I she was a gun­ boat operating in the First Naval District, as well as serving as a training ship for U.S. Navy Midshipmen. After the War she resumed her role as a Massachusetts training ship, and during a visit to Nantucket in Sep­ tember, 1919, the Town of Nantucket presented her with a new ship's bell, with the name "Nantucket" engraved thereon.