 |
According to the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, the iron-hulled steam yacht Oneida was built in 1883 by Jno. Roach & Son in Chester, PA and originally named Utowana. In 1886 Utowana's owner was listed as W. E. Connor, and its homeport as New York. The April 1886 issue of Outing magazine notes that Utowana's owner, W. E. Connor, was Rear Commodore of the Boston Yacht Club. (The issue also includes an illustration of the vessel.)
During 1886-87, Utowana was sold, and its name changed to Oneida. From 1887-1896 Oneida's homeport was listed as Boston, and its owned unrecorded.
During 1896-97, the vessel was sold again, to E. C. Benedict, and its overall length was was shortened from 135' to 121.6'. Oneida registered its homeport as New York from 1897 until 1900.
According to the Naval Historical Center, Oneida was converted to a tug and served as USS Adelante in 1918-1920. The Navy writes:
"Adelante, a 142 gross ton tug (or tow boat), was built at Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1883 as the iron steam yacht Utowana. Renamed Oneida, on 1 July 1893 she served as the scene of an operation to remove a cancerous growth from President Grover Cleveland's jaw, an event that was a closely-held secret at the time. The vessel was later converted to a tug and was renamed Adelante in about 1914. She was taken over by the Navy in August 1918, commissioned as USS Adelante (SP-765) in December and was employed during much of the first half of 1919 in setting up radio compass stations along the Maine coast. In April 1919, she was also used as a boarding boat, meeting vessels arriving off the port of Boston, Massachusetts. USS Adelante was decommissioned in August 1919 and sold in March 1920. During the next two decades she operated as a commercial tow boat out of New York, under the names John Gully (until 1924) and Salvager. The old ship was abandoned by the beginning of 1941."
For more information, see http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-a/adelante.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170765.htm adds:
The iron-hulled. single-screw steam yacht Utowana was completed in 1883 at Chester, Pa., by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engineering Works, and, over the ensuing years, was renamed twice, first to Oneida and, about 1914, to Adelante. During her career as Oneida, she was owned by "Commodore" E. C. Benedict, a friend and confidant of President Grover Cleveland. Benedict's yacht served as an impromptu hospital when doctors performed a secret operation to remove cancerous growth from President Cleveland's upper jaw on 1 July 1893 as the ship cruised in the East River. Such secrecy had been deemed necessary in order avoid creating a greater financial panic in the country.
... (see navsource.org for much of its history in the military) ...
"Sold to J. Daniel Gully, of Brooklyn, N. Y., on 25 March 1920 Adelante was renamed John Gully soon thereafter. In subsequent years, the ship—now classed as a "tow boat"—was renamed Salvager by 1924 and was operated first by the H. J. Wheeler Salvage Co., Inc., of New York (1924-1927) and then by the Salvage Process Corp., of New York (1927-1940). By 1 January 1941, Salvager had been abandoned, due to age and deterioration."
Time magazine adds:
"... In the summer of 1893, when the country was in the midst of the free silver debate, President Cleveland secretly had a cancer removed from his
upper left jaw. Dr. Erdmann went along. "The yacht Oneida, owned by the late E. C. Benedict, was anchored off the Battery landing. Under cover of darkness the President went aboard, followed by Dr. Joseph Bryant [the operating surgeon]. Major O'Reilly of the Army Medical Corps, a dentist and [three other doctors]. We sailed all night down Long Island Sound, anchored in Plum Gut, and the operation was performed the next morning. It was done in the salon of the yacht, the President sitting upon a chair. ... On this occasion we put our aprons over our street clothes but we did boil the instruments." Cleveland lived for 15 years, died of something else. "(Thanks to Bob Birmingham and Andrew & Rebecca Hall.)
Can you provide any information about Oneida? Please contact us.