Sappho SP-1427

Sappho

(SP-1427: t. 275; 1. 149'91/2''; b. 28'91/:2''; dr. 10'; s. 15 k.)

The first Sappho was built during 1886 by New England Shipbuilding Co., Bath, Maine, as a wooden passenger vessel acquired by the Navy on 6 August 1918 from William C. Sproul of Chester, Pa.; and commissioned on 20 August 1918, Boatswain D. Sullivan USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the 4th Naval District for local transport duty, Sappho was accidentally rammed by the S.S. Delaware on 25 August 1918. Necessary repairs were completed by 20 October, allowing Sappho to resume transport service between Philadelphia Navy Yard and nearby ports in New York and New Jersey.

Sappho was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pa., on 18 February 1919, and returned to her owner the same day. Sappho's Navy crew was returned to the Navy Yard by the tug Triton.