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The vessel that would end up serving as the lighthouse tender CLOVER was originally built for a private owner by Burger and Burger Shipbuilders in Manitowoc Wisconsin in 1899.
Needing a supply vessel to assist in the construction of the White Shoal lighthouse, she was purchased by the United States Lighthouse Board in late 1907, in which capacity she operated out of the Ninth District depot in Milwaukee. At this point, she retained her original name. After completion of construction at White Shoal at the end of the 1910 navigation season, she was fairly worn from repeated building materials and supplies trips up the lake, and with her services not immediately needed in the district, she was laid-up at Milwaukee for two years. In 1912, the Eleventh District, which was responsible for the lights on lakes Huron and Superior, had need of an additional general service tender, and so the decision was made to refit TWO MYRTLES, since the cost of doing so could be accomplished out of the general fund, and would not require the specific appropriation whish would be needed for the construction of a new vessel.
At different times over the ensuing years, CLOVER both served out of Detroit and Saulte Ste Marie, where she conducted general duty on the St. Mary's river. After 35 years of service, she was again rebuilt and refitted in 1932, at which time her length was increased to 93 feet. With the commissioning of
the new first-class tender TAMARACK in 1934, CLOVER's services were no
longer needed in the district, and she was decommissioned and sold into
private ownership in 1935. Her new owners renamed her SS TWO MYRTLES,
and continued to operate her as a private freighter until 1947 when she
was abandoned due to old age. |
Her oak hull was 88' in
overall length and 80' 2" at the waterline. With a beam of 22'
10", she drew a maximum of 6' 4" and had a maximum
displacement of 205 tons. Her single screw was powered by coal-fired,
high pressure, non condensing boiler steam engine which generated 100
brake horsepower. She was named TWO MYTLES after the owners wife and
daughter, who both shared the same name.
In early 1913, she steamed
to Manitowoc where she was fitted with new boilers and engines, her
superstructure was significantly reconfigured and she was fitted with an
improved boom and hoisting apparatus. In conformance with the Lighthouse
Service's standard practice of naming their vessels after flowers and
trees, she was renamed CLOVER, and delivered to the Eleventh District
depot in Detroit on December 5, 1913.
