The

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

''Hassler'' was the first

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

hulled Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective ...

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

used in the service of the

United States Coast Survey United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

Ship history

Plans for a new ship to chart the waters of U.S. Pacific Coast were drawn up in early 1870 by Carlile Patterson, the hydrographic inspector of the U.S. Coast Survey. Patterson called for an iron-hulled ship of about 325

gross ton Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

s, with a draft of no more than and a top speed of . He required that the ship use no more than 2½

ton Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean: * the '' long ton'', which is * the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...

s of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

per day and could hold up to two months of provisions for a crew of 37. The resulting ship was built in 1871 at the River Iron Works in Camden,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, under the supervision of John H. Dialogue. She was a three- masted

equipped with a steeple compound engine, and cost

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

62,000 to build. In 1871-1872 the ship sailed on the ''Hassler'' Expedition, under Commander Philip Carrigan Johnson, brother of the artist

Eastman Johnson Jonathan Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906) was an American painter and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance. He was best known for his genre paintings, paintings of ...

. This was the first major scientific expedition sent by the government for marine exploration. The expedition included Professor

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

and his wife Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, Elizabeth Agassiz; Mrs. Johnson; Dr. Franz Steindachner, ichthyology, ichthyologist; Dr. Thomas Hill (clergyman), Thomas Hill, botany, botanist; Count Louis François de Pourtalès, L. F. de Pourtalès, Joel Asaph Allen, James Henry Blake (zoologist), James Henry Blake, and others. The steamer left Boston, Massachusetts, Boston December 4, 1871, and reached San Francisco, California, San Francisco in August 1872. On the way to Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas surface observations were made. Deep-sea dredging was done at Barbados and along the Brazilian coast. At the Strait of Magellan, Straits of Magellan frequent stops were made, and at particularly interesting places several days were spent, and inland excursions undertaken, especially to examine glaciers. Throughout the route collections were made, with much of this material deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Some of the zoological results of the expedition were published by Agassiz, Theodore Lyman (Massachusetts), Lyman, and Pourtalès. After nearly 25 years in service, mostly around the Alaskan coast, the ''Hassler'' was finally decommissioned on May 25, 1895. In August 1897 she was sold to the McGuire Brothers for $15,700, and renamed ''Clara Nevada''. She sailed from Seattle on January 26, 1898, with a crew of 40 men, bound for Skagway, Alaska with 165 passengers heading for the Klondike Gold Rush, Klondike gold fields. Late on February 5, 1898, the ''Clara Nevada'' left Skagway with between 25 and 40 passengers aboard. During the night she struck an uncharted rock several hundred yards north of Eldred Rock and sank immediately. There were no survivors.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassler (vessel) 1871 ships Ships of the United States Coast Survey Research vessels of the United States Steamships Shipwrecks of the Alaska coast Maritime incidents in 1898 Ships lost with all hands Ships built by Dialogue & Company