Bear (ship)
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | — |
| Built: | Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. Greenock, Scotland |
| Launched: | 1873 |
| Fate: | Sunk in the Atlantic, 19 March 1963 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 703 tons |
| Length: | 198.5 ft (60.5 m) |
| Beam: | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
| Draught: | 18.8 ft (5.7 m) |
| Type: | Barquentine 1 funnel, 3 masts |
| Hull: | Wood |
| Propulsion: | Compound Steam Engine 300 ihp, 1 screw |
| Speed: | — |
| Range: | Limited by water and provisions |
| Complement: | 51 |
Bear, also known as "Old Iron Sides",was a ship built in 1873 for the ten-day-long sealing season in Newfoundland.
In 1884, she was sold to the U.S. government and took part in the search for the Greely Expedition, whose seven survivors were found at Cape Sabine. From 1885 to 1927, Bear served as a U.S. Revenue Cutter Service cutter stationed in Alaska, where she looked out for seal poachers, shipwrecked whalers, and illicit trade with Alaska Natives, ferried reindeer from Siberia to Alaska, and served as a floating courthouse.
Laid up at Oakland in 1926 and transferred to the city for use as a museum ship, Bear starred as the sealer Macedonia in the 1930 film version of Jack London's The Sea-Wolf. Rear Admiral Richard Byrd acquired her for his second Antarctic expedition in 1932, and Bear sailed there again with the U.S. Antarctic Service in 1938.
From 1941 to 1944, USS Bear served in the Northeast Atlantic Patrol. Purchased for the sealing trade in 1948, her refit proved too costly and she was laid up in Halifax.
In 1963, while in tow to Philadelphia for use as a floating restaurant, she foundered about 250 miles (400 kilometers) east of New York at 42°40N, 65°11W.
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