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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Rodgers (I)

Steam Whaling Bark:
  • Steam whaling bark Mary and Helen, acquired by the Navy at San Francisco in 1881
  • Commissioned USS Rodgers, 30 May 1881, LT. Robert M. Berry USN in command
  • Sailed north June 1881 in search of the steamer Jeanette and two whalers, Mount Woolaston and Vigilant
  • Fire broke out aboard, 8 October 1881, while wintering over in St Lawrence Bay, abandoned and adrift her magazine exploded 31 October destroying the ship
  • Crew wintered over in native villages until February 1882 when rescued by the New Bedford whaler North Star
    Specifications:
    Displacement 420 t.
    Length 138'
    Beam 30' 3"
    Depth of Hold 16' 8"
    Draft unknown
    Speed 6-8 kts
    Complement 35
    Armament unknown
    Propulsion steam and sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Merchant Service
    Rodgers 81k Illustration of steam whaler bark Mary and Helen underway.
    Image from Freshwater and Marine Image Bank, University of Washington, found on the Naval-History.com web site.    		 Robert Hurst
    Rodgers 74k Drawing of Mary & Helen underway by C. S. Raleigh, found on the Naval-History.com web site. Robert Hurst
    USS Rodgers
    Rodgers 181k USS Rodgers at the Mare Island Navy Yard in 1881 before departing for the Bering Strait and the Arctic.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 108357/font>    		 Mike Green
    Rodgers 141k Drawing of USS Rodgers probably produced in 1881.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 108358    		 Mike Green
    Rodgers 255 Burning of USS Rodgers. Newcomb, Raymond Lee (1882). Image from the book Our Lost Explorers : the Narrative of the Jeannette Arctic Expedition, as related by the survivors, and in the records and last journals of Lieutenant De Long, Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, p. 400. This is a photograph from the Freshwater and Marine Image Bank at the University of Washington. Robert Hurst
    USS Rodgers (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Rodgers logbook, June to November 1881, Alaskan waters
    New York Times, 22 June 1882, regarding the loss of the Rogers
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    This page is created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Michael Junge
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 18 May 2023