USS Margaret (SP-328)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Margaret.

USS Margaret (SP-328) was a menhaden fishing trawler acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was configured by the Navy as a Section mine sweeper. Postwar she was sold, resuming commercial fishing as Margaret. With World War II the vessel was acquired by the U.S. Coast Guard, serving from December 1942 to June 1943 as an emergency manned vessel. Margaret resumed menhaden fishing and was shown as active in the U.S. register as late as 1968.

USS Margaret (SP-328) photographed c. 1917–19.
History
United States
Name	Margaret (1912—1918) SP-328 (1918-1919) Margaret (1919 at least 1968)
Namesake	Margaret Bellows, youngest daughter of Joseph Foster Bellows of Bellows & Squires Company.
Owner	Bellows & Squires Company (1912—1918) U.S. Navy (1918–1919) Douglas Company (1919-?) Reedville Oil and Guano Company (?- at least 1968)
Builder	Humphreys Marine Railways, Weems, Virginia
Completed	1912
Commissioned	21 May 1917
Decommissioned	c. 1919
Renamed	renamed USS SP-328 in 1918 to avoid confusion with another Navy ship named Margaret
Stricken	c. 1919
Identification	U.S. Official Number: 209747
Status	Active 1968
General characteristics [1]
Type	menhaden fishing trawler
Tonnage	273 GRT, 185 NRT
Displacement	468 tons (full load)[2]
Length	128 ft (39.0 m) LOA 120 ft (36.6 m) LBP
Beam	23 ft 4 in (7.1 m)
Draft	9 ft (2.7 m) (mean) 11 ft 4 in (3.5 m) ("Navigagion")[2]
Installed power	Steam, 1 double ended boiler 1 × 5.5 kw 115 v Crocker-Wheeler electric generating set
Propulsion	Vertical compound steam engine, 375 ihp
Speed	9.5 kn (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h)
Complement	3 officers, 30 men
Crew	31 (fishing)
Armament	WW I: 1 × 6-pounder gun WW II: 1 × 6-pounder gun, 2 × 20mm, 2 × short depth charge tracks[3]

Commercial fishing

Margaret was a wood-hulled menhaden fishing trawler built in 1912 by Humphreys Marine Railways^{[note 1]} for Bellows & Squires Company.^[1][4][5] Joseph Foster Bellows and George P. Squires had joined Humphreys in taking over the marine railway construction firm in 1912 to build their menhaden fishing fleet.^[6]

The 1913 U.S. registry shows Margaret, U.S. Official Number 209747, as engaged in fishing with a registered crew of 31 with registry port of Tappahannock, Virginia.^[7]

The vessel was named for the youngest daughter of the company's Joseph Foster Bellows and became one of his favorites of the company fleet.^[6]

Navy service

Margaret was acquired from Bellows & Squires Company for $90,000 and simultaneously commissioned on 21 May 1917.^[1][4][5] The Navy took all but two of the company's fleet as mine sweepers, the others being George H. Bradley III, Joseph F. Bellows, Little Joe, David K Phillips, Elizabeth Froelich, and George P. Squires.^[6] Margaret was renamed SP-328 in 1918 to avoid confusion with another Navy ship named Margaret.^[5]

Postwar disposition

Following the Armistice ending World War I SP-328 and the other boats of the Bellows & Squires Company were sold at auction. The company had built replacements at the yard in which it held interests and, fearing damage to engines, did not bid on any of the boats.^[6] Margaret was sold to the Douglas Company, Reedville, Virginia, on or about 4 April 1919.^[6][8][9]

At some point Margaret, converted to diesel, was sold to the Reedville Oil and Guano Company.^[6] The registers for 1928 and 1930 show the vessel operating for the Douglas Company of Reedville, Virginia, engaged in fishing.^{[10][11][note 2]} On 28 December 1942 Margaret was chartered for $850 a month by the U.S. Coast Guard, converted at a cost of $115,200 and commissioned as the emergency manned (EM) USCGC EM Margaret (WYP 323). The vessel did patrol duty based from Cape May, New Jersey, until decommissioned 7 June 1943 and returned to the owner 24 June 1943.^[2][3]

Margaret is shown as registered and active as a fishing vessel in the 1968 U.S. register.^[12]

Footnotes

1. The Navy record shows Henry Brusstar. Brusstar, of Baltimore, purchased the yard in 1906 but it had been acquired by H. R. Humphreys and reorganized by 1912.
2. The NavSource information that the ship was registered in 1927 to the National Oil Co. of Norfolk, VA as the freighter National II does not appear to be supported by the register.

See also

• Reedville, Virginia
• Section patrol