Vergana ScStr

Vergana

(ScStr: t. 128; 1. 145'; b. 17'10"; dr. 8'6"; dph. 9'4";
s. 12 k.; cpl. 19; a. 2 1-pdrs.)

Vergana-a steel-hulled, single-screw, schooner rigged steam yacht-was built in 1897 by T. S. Marvel of Newburgh, N.Y. 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 World War I, when the Navy evinced an interest in the ship for local patrol duties.

Although some records indicate that Vergana was delivered to the Navy on 4 May 1917, her deck log records that her first commanding officer, Ens. E. Dahlgren, USNRF, reported on board the ship on 16 April 1917. The ship was commissioned on 10 July.

Vergana-classified as SP-519—performed harbor entrance patrol duty at San Francisco for the duration of World War I. She alternated with Sentinel ( SP180), SP-647 (formerly California), and the Coast Guard vessel Golden Gate underway at the mouth of San Francisco Bay or stationary at guard duty beside a pier. She performed those duties almost continuously, with periods of upkeep and liberty breaking that routine.

Decommissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif., on 16 January 1919, Vergana apparently remained in reserve thereafter. 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, Calif.