Arcturus, 1872
The brightest star in the constellation Boötes.
Builder: John Mahoney, New Orleans
Length: 45'
Beam: 15' 3"
Draft: 3'
Displacement: 15 tons
Cost: $1,100.00
Commissioned: 1872
Decommissioned: 1875
Disposition: Sold
Rig: Schooner-rigged launch
Machinery: None
Complement: ?
Armament: None
History:
One of four Lyra-class wooden-hulled launches built for the Lighthouse Service. They were paid for with funds appropriated for the construction of the Trinity Shoals and Timbalier lighthouses in Louisiana.
Each was used as a freight boat in the 8th Lighthouse District. Arcturus was laid up in 1880 and sold. Note that these were the first craft in the Lighthouse Service that were not named for flora and fauna.
Sources:
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.
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