Bagheera

 

The black panther in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book who saved Mowgli by offering a bull for his life.

(Auxiliary Schooner: tonnage 30 (gross); length 66'0"; beam 10'6"; draft 6'6" (mean); complement 9; armament 2 1‑pounders)

Bagheera (SP‑963)‑‑an auxiliary schooner built in 1907 at Boothbay, Maine, by Hodgdon Brothers‑‑was acquired by the Navy on free lease from Mr. J. W. Hendrick, of Chicago, Ill., on 22 June 1917 and placed in commission on 24 June 1917, Ens. Nelson B. Wolfe, USNRF, in command.  Bagheera performed section patrol duties in the 5th Naval District for the remainder of World War I.  Decommissioned at Norfolk, she was returned to her owner on 5 February 1919.  Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register that same day.

Raymond A. Mann

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23 September 2005