Naval History and Heritage Command

Upon the passage of the bill appropriating $50,000,000 for national defense, the Department at once took steps for the purchase of auxiliary vessels. On March 12 a board was appointed and directed to communicate with the owners of vessels and obtain from them the terms on which they were willing to sell or charter, and to examine thoroughly such vessels as the Department might designate or the board consider desirable for the use of the Navy, giving particular attention to the condition of the boilers and engines, coal capacity, etc.

The following is the list of vessels purchased. In addition to these, the City of Pekin was chartered from the Pacific Mail Steamship Company at $1,000 a day for the transportation of supplies from San Francisco to Manila. Also four steamers of the International Navigation Company were chartered--the St. Paul, St. Louis, New York (renamed the Harvard), and the Paris (renamed the Yale)--at $2,500 a day each for the first two and $2,000 a day each for the last two. These four steamers were, at the request of the War Department, turned over to it to meet its necessities in the way of transporting troops--the Yale for sixty-five days, the Harvard for twelve days, the St. Louis for twenty-eight days, and the St. Paul for forty-eight days. The city of Philadelphia loaned to the Navy Department, for the nominal sum of $1, its ice boat No. 3 (renamed the Arctic). The yachts Free Lance and Buccaneer were also generously loaned for service during the war, without charge, the former by Mr. F. Augustus Schermerhorn and the latter by Mr. William R. Hearst.

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