Sea Rover AT-57

Sea Rover

(AT-57: t. 199, 1. 121'; b. 24'6", dr. 14'; s. 10 k.; cpl.
20; a. 1 3", 2 mg.)

Sea Rover (SP-1014)—a tug built in 1902 by the Fulton Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif.—was purchased on 11 December 1917 through the United States Shipping Board from the Shipowners and Merchants Tugboat Co., San Francisco, Calif., and commissioned on 31 January 1918, Lt. (jg.) F. M. Cook, USNRF, in command.

Sea Rover sailed from Mare Island on 11 February towing three barges to the Atlantic coast. She underwent repairs at Norfolk and served briefly as station tug at New London before arriving at Bermuda on 18 May 1918 to serve in the same capacity there.

As her machinery was considered too unreliable for convoy work, Sea Rover remained at Bermuda for over a year, primarily engaged in towing in the harbor and near the islands. However, on 2 September 1918, Sea Rover sailed to escort destroyer Barry (DD-2) to Charleston, S. C. Barry released the tug on 3 September and directed her to return to Bermuda; but, on the following day, Sea Rover ran into a hurricane. During the next two days, the ship cracked a seam in a fuel tank, developed a severe list which caused her to send an SOS, and finally took refuge in the Bahamas on 7 September. Bermuda did not hear of her arrival there and, after an unsuccessful search, reported her lost at sea on 9 September. Sea Rover later underwent repairs at Jacksonville, Fla., and returned to Bermuda on 14 October.

Sea Rover again left Bermuda on 10 May 1919 to escort 40 subchasers to Charleston, S. C., but arrived there herself on the end of a towline due to a boiler failure. She returned to duty at Bermuda on 10 June, but was detached from duty there on 1 July. Departing Bermuda on 14 July, she towed a gunnery target to the west coast and arrived at San Francisco on 27 September. There she was drydocked and then laid up in reserve with a caretaker crew. Sea Rover was designated AT-57 on 1 July 1920. She was decommissioned on 4 March 1921, struck from the Navy list effective the date of her final sale, and sold on 25 February 1922 to R. W. Greene, San Francisco. She remained in service with the Shipowners and Merchants Tugboat Co. until scrapped in 1949.