{{Short description|Ship of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=USRC Seminole.jpg |image_caption=USRC ''Seminole'' }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United States |flag={{shipboxflag|United States|coast guard}} |name=''Seminole'' |namesake=Seminole Native American Tribe |awarded= |builder=[[Columbian Iron Works]]<ref name=USCG01>"Seminole, 1900", Cutters, List of cutters, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref> |laid_down= |launched=18 March 1899<ref name=Canney58-59>Canney, pp 58–59</ref> |acquired= |commissioned=3 September 1900<ref name="Canney58-59" /> |original_cost=$141,000<ref name="USCG01" /> |decommissioned=17 December 1934<ref name="Canney58-59" /> |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |honors= |fate=Transfer to Federal Emergency Relief Administration |notes= }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class= |displacement=845 tons<ref name="Canney58-59" /> |length={{convert|188|ft|abbr=on}} |beam={{convert|29|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |draft={{convert|11|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}} |propulsion=Triple-expansion steam, {{convert|20.75|in|cm|abbr=on}}, {{convert|32|in|cm|abbr=on}}, {{convert|50|in|cm|abbr=on}} dia. X {{convert|27|in|cm|abbr=on}} stroke<ref name="Canney58-59" /> |speed=14.7 knots |complement=8 officers, 59 men |armament=(4) 3-pounders |notes= }} }}
'''USRC ''Seminole''''' was a {{convert|188|ft|abbr=on}}, 845-ton [[United States Revenue Cutter Service]] steamer constructed by the [[Columbian Iron Works]] in [[Baltimore]], Maryland for $141,000.<ref name="USCG01" /> She was commissioned in 1900 and saw service through 1934, when she was transferred to the [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]].<ref name="Canney58-59" />
==Career== ''Seminole'' was first based out of [[Boston]] and she patrolled the New England coast and the North Atlantic. Her winter cruising area included assisting fishing vessels in the ice of [[Newfoundland]].<ref name="USCG01" /> She transferred to [[Staten Island, New York]] on 22 May 1904 and transferred again to [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], arriving on 5 July 1905.<ref name="USCG01" /> Her patrol area included the southeastern coast, as well as winter cruises from [[Cape Hatteras, North Carolina]] to [[Charleston, South Carolina]] and even down through [[Key West]], Florida. Her duties included derelict destruction, attending local ceremonies, patrolling regattas, and rendering assistance when needed such as the 4 January 1914 rescue of schooner [[Thomas Winsmore (schooner)|''Thomas Winsmore'']].<ref name="USCG01" /> ''Winsmore'' was caught in a gale that forced her to shore where she was taking on water in the hold. ''Seminole'' spotted the distressed ''Winsmore'' and came to its aid by passing a [[hawser]] and towing her to a safe anchorage. When the captain of ''Seminole'' learned that the master of ''Winsmore'' believed that a mutiny of his crew was likely, armed crew of the ''Seminole'' were put aboard ''Winsmore'' to stop a possible mutiny.<ref name=1914AR76>Annual Report of the Revenue Cutter Service, 1914, U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, p 76</ref> On 9 April 1914 she assisted schooner {{SV|Wm. Thos. Moore||2}} that had been stranded on the bar at [[Little River Inlet]] on 29 March.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015020609155&view=1up&seq=113 |title=Annual report of the United States Life Saving Service, Year ending June 30, 1914 |publisher=Government Printing Office, Washington |via=Haithi Trust |access-date=4 March 2021}}</ref>
With the outbreak of [[World War I]] in August 1914, USRC ''Seminole'' enforced the neutrality laws of the United States until the United States entered the war in April 1917.{{refn|After 28 January 1915 the Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the [[United States Life-Saving Service]] to form the [[United States Coast Guard]]. The prefix for Revenue Cutter Service vessels was changed from USRC to USCGC, thus; USRC ''Seminole'' became USCGC ''Seminole''.<ref name=USCG02>"Coast Guard General Order No. 1", Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref>|group=Note}} She then served under the Navy and patrolled off the Carolinas. In 1923 she was detached to [[Puerto Rico]] where she served as an independent unit and returned to her permanent station of Wilmington later that year.
On 5 March 1927, the Spanish [[cargo ship]] {{SS|Cabo Hatteras||6}} caught fire in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] {{convert|140|nmi|km}} east-southeast of [[Sandy Hook, New Jersey|Sandy Hook]], [[New Jersey]], and was abandoned by her crew. The Spanish steamer {{SS|Cabo Torres||2}} rescued them. On 6 March, ''Seminole'' sank ''Cabo Hatteras'' with gunfire.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Casualty reports |date=7 March 1927 |page=23 |issue=44523 |column=E-F }}</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Spanish steamer sunk by gunfire |date=8 March 1927 |page=24 |issue=44524 |column=C }}</ref>
In 1929 ''Seminole'' transferred for service on the [[Great Lakes]]. She was stationed at [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan]] until she was decommissioned in 1934.<ref name="USCG01" /><ref name="Canney58-59" />
==Notes== ===Footnotes=== {{reflist|group=Note}}
===Citations=== {{Reflist}}
===References=== *{{cite journal |last1=Eger|first1=Christopher L.|title=Hudson Fulton Celebration, Part II |journal=Warship International|date=March 2021|volume=LVIII |issue=1 |pages=58–81 |issn=0043-0374}} * {{cite book|title=Annual Report of the Revenue Cutter Service, 1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HfPAAAAMAAJ&dq=schooner+%22thomas+winsmore%22&pg=PA76|access-date=29 November 2013|author=U.S. Revenue Cutter Service|year=1914}} * {{cite web|title=Coast Guard General Order No. 1|url=https://media.defense.gov/2021/Dec/09/2002906427/-1/-1/0/1915_USCG_GO1.PDF|work=Office of the Secretary of the Treasury|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=21 December 2025}} * {{cite web|title=Seminole, 1900|url=https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Water/All/Article/2400673/seminole-1900/|work=List of cutters|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=21 December 2025}} * {{cite book|last=Canney|first=Donald L.|title=U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790–1935|year=1995|publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-55750-101-1}} *U.S. Coast Guard. ''Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933''. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint)
{{1927 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seminole}} [[Category:Ships of the United States Revenue Cutter Service]] [[Category:Ships built in Baltimore]] [[Category:1899 ships]] [[Category:Maritime incidents in 1927]]