Vergana (S.P. 519)
1917-1921
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(S.P. 519: tonnage 128 (gross registered); length 125'0"; beam 18'9"; draft 7'5" (mean); depth of hold 9'4"; speed 12.0 knots (maximum),11.0 knots (cruising); complement 22; armament 2 1-pounders)
Vergana, a steel-hulled, single-screw, schooner-rigged steam yacht, was built in 1897 at Newburgh, N.Y., by T. S. Marvel. Owned first by F. S. Flower of New York City and later by Wilbert Melville of Los Angeles, Calif., the ship was acquired by stationer and printer Charles H. Crocker in either late 1916 or early 1917. She was registered at San Francisco, Calif., and homeported at Belvedere Cove, Calif., at the time of America's entry into the Great War [World War I], when the Navy evinced an interest in the ship for local patrol duties. Given the identification number S.P. 519, Vergana was commissioned on 16 April 1917, Ens. Gustava Dahlgren, USNRF, in command.
Vergana performed harbor entrance patrol duty at San Francisco for the duration of the Great War. She alternated with Sentinel (S.P. 180), S.P. 647 (formerly California, acquired from the San Francisco Bay Pilots' Association), and the Coast Guard vessel Golden Gate underway at the mouth of San Francisco Bay or stationary at guard duty alongside a pier. She performed those duties almost continuously, punctuated only by periods of upkeep and liberty.
Decommissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif., on 16 January 1919, Vergana was reclassified an old district patrol craft, OYP-519, on 17 July 1920. The ship was ordered sold on 30 September 1921. An initial sale of that date was never consummated; but, on 25 February 1922, Vergana was sold to Louis A. Fracchia of Oakland, California.
Robert J. Cressman
Updated 6 April 2022
