❖ LIGHTHOUSE TENDER HEATHER AND FRIENDS

USLHT HEATHER
Built of steel at the
Moran Bros. Shipyard, Seattle.
631 tons, 165' x 28.5' x 14.9'
Compound engine (23,43) powered by
2 single-end Scotch boilers at 105 pounds
working pressure and developing 685 HP.
Launched 1903,
one year before the launch
of USS NEBRASKA
at Moran Brothers Yard, Seattle.
HEATHER commanded by
Captain W.E. Gregory
from 1903 to 1907.
Original photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

CAPTAIN WILLIAM E. GREGORY
Lifelong mariner born in Dublin in 1848.
He was in the merchant service
for over 20 years
before he came to the Columbia River
on the bark HIGHLAND LIGHT and then 
joined the steamer MANZANITA.
There is more to his long service for 
another post.
Original photo from
the Saltwater People Historical Society© 

Astoria, OR. c. 1903. Admiral Gregory's flagship, the HEATHER, along with the MANZANITA and the COLUMBINE are all lined up to their wharves in imposing array. The HEATHER arrived down from Portland last evening and is now regularly in commission. She is the largest lighthouse tender in the United States, and, although not of striking beauty, takes much of the shine off her smaller and older associates. It remains to be seen whether she can keep her nose above water as long as they. The HEATHER has on board two large gas buoys that have just arrived from the east. One of them is to replace the light buoy which went blind some months ago on the Columbia bar. They are each about 40' long, being more than half submerged when afloat, and are kept in an upright position by a large iron weight at the lower end. The lantern enclosing the light stands about 15' above the water and is protected by iron guards.
      The light is guaranteed to burn continuously for 18 months without being refilled.
      The HEATHER's complement of officers is as follows: 
Captain William E. Gregory; chief officer, E. Hammarstrom; second officer, Gustaf A. Mikander; chief engineer, Harry C. Lord; assistant engineer, Henry E. Wilson. 

Newspaper publisher unknown. Suspected date of publishing to be 1903.

U.S.L.H.T. HEATHER
approaching Destruction Island Lightstation 
on the Washington coast.
dated 1913.
The HEATHER was well-known
at the Light Stations in the PNW.
Photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

U.S.L.H.T. ARMERIA
Capt. W.E. Gregory
left the HEATHER
to command the U.S.L.H.T. ARMERIA.
Click image to enlarge.
This card is signed by Capt. Gregory
who mailed it home to Astoria in 1908.
Original photo from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

1907: Capt. W.E. Gregory left the HEATHER to command the ARMERIA. 

U.S.L.H.T. ARMERIA
1909
Inscribed as participating in the 
The 15th annual Regatta, Astoria, OR.
Admiral and staff;
Capt. W.E. Gregory is on deck in the black hat.
Original photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

1940: HEATHER was decommissioned and replaced by the new 178-ft lighthouse tender FIR.

1948: Following wartime Army service as FS-534 was sold as surplus to J.P. Angel and Matt Ryan of Seattle, who resold her to Capt. Martin Gagino and  Victor H. Hammond, British subjects.
      In an R.H. Calkins Marine News column (undated) here is more on the next chapter of HEATHER and her 9,000-mile trip casting off from Seattle, WA.
      "The adventurous captain and crew of the 506-ton former US Lighthouse tender have arrived at Singapore. The HEATHER, piloted by Capt. Martin Gagino, completed the voyage with an unusual crew aboard:
      A honeymooning couple, their bridesmaid, and their amah, who signed on as ship's laundress.
      Captain Gagino, who left Seattle last March, after buying the ship, had his 23-year-old son, Desmond, along as mate.
      They all reached Hong Kong after 30 days. At Hong Kong, the skipper's newly-married daughter, Cora, and her husband, Stephen L. Velge, went aboard with a bridesmaid, Yvonne D'Almedia, and the amah. Mrs. Velge became stewardess, Velge 'junior officer.'
      They sailed to Cebu with cargo, returned to Hong Kong, and thence to Singapore.
      Gagino was a War Shipping Administration master mariner during the war. Singapore is Gagino's home. He will sail between that port and the Dutch East Indies.
      The HEATHER, launched at the Moran Shipyards in Seattle, was decommissioned after nearly 30 years service as a lighthouse tender and sold in this port."