Venture I

Venture I

(MB: t. 48 (gross); 1. 80'0" b. 13'0"; dr. 4'0", cpl. 14; a. 1 3-pdr. 1 1-pdr.)

The first Venture (SP-616)—a wooden-hulled, screw steam yacht designed by F. D. Lawley and completed as Shadow in 1916 at South Boston, Mass., by George Lawley and Sons Corp.—was acquired by the Navy under free lease from Mrs. Sarah L. Silsbee of Isleboro, Maine, on 28 April 1917 and commissioned the same day, Chief Boatswain's Mate Zidon C. Long USNRF, in command

Attached to the 5th Section, 1st Naval District, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Venture operated out of the Portsmouth Navy Yard through the end of World War I, conducting security patrols and performing dispatch duties. Following the armistice, she was decommissioned on 5 February 1919 and returned to her owner.