From collection Jake Gillison Collection
LB2016.15.448
The S.S. ROOSEVELT (1905) underway in the Arctic with Admiral Robert E. Peary onboard. She was built for Admiral Peary's polar exploration expeditions. She was also used as a commercial tugboat, a U. S. Bureau of Fisheries supply ship, and a U. S. Navy patrol vessel in Worllld War I. The SS ROOSEVELT was an American steamship of the early 20th century. She was designed and constructed specifically for Robert Peary's polar exploration expeditions, and she supported the 1908 expedition in which he claimed to have discovered the North Pole. After her career with Peary, ROOSEVELT saw commercial use as a tug. She also operated as a United States Bureau of Fisheries supply ship and served as a United States Navy patrol vessel during World War I. Name SS Roosevelt Namesake Theodore Roosevelt Owner Peary Arctic Club Operator Peary Arctic Club Builder McKay and Dix Shipyard, Verona Island, Maine Laid down 19 October 1904 Launched 23 March 1905 Sponsored by Mrs. Josephine Peary Completed July 1905 Fate Sold August 1910 Design and construction United States Navy Commander Robert Peary designed Roosevelt specifically for operations in support of his Arctic exploration expeditions. His design attempted to incorporate the best features of previous polar exploration ships with innovations that would give her first-of-their-kind capabilities. Peary designed the ship along the same lines as the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen's schooner FRAM, with the capability both to push through large floating ice packs and squeeze through and between ice fields. ROOSEVELT was a schooner with an ice-strengthened flexible wooden hull sheathed in steel and braced by a unique system of trusses. The wooden construction of her hull gave it both strength and the flexibility to bend rather than break when ice struck it or pressed against it, and her hull planking was assembled through a lamination process that gave her hull greater strength than a single piece of wood could provide Her hull was 30 inches thick in places and was egg-shaped, a design that would allow her to rise and ride above sea ice that pushed against her below the waterline - almost popping up out of the ice - rather than be crushed by it. Her bow and stern both had 1-inch steel plating; the bow plating extended from her keel to 3 feet above the waterline and 10 feet aft, while the stern plating also extended from the keel to above the waterline and extended 14 feet forward. Between the bow and stern plating, a layer of steel 3?8 of an inch thick and 6 feet tall extended along the waterline. Previous Arctic exploration ships had relied on sails for their primary propulsion, with engine power secondary, but ROOSEVELT became the first such ship to reverse that principle. She had three masts, all of which could carry sails for auxiliary propulsion, but relied for propulsion primarily on a powerful 1,000-horsepower compound steam engine - equipped with a special system that allowed it to generate 1,500 horsepower for brief periods if she encountered particularly massive ice concentrations - that drove a single, large propeller 11 feet in diameter on a 1-foot diameter shaft designed to generate powerful thrust that could push her through drift ice. She had a sharply raked stem intended to increase her ramming and cutting power against sea ice, and a short length at the waterline and narrow beam to give her increased maneuverability when steering between ice packs. Her rudder was of a special design that gave her the maximum possible steering capacity while exposing the rudder as little as possible to ice damage. Her design minimized auxiliary structures, both to allow the stowage of sufficient fuel, supplies, and provisions for lengthy stays in the Arctic and to give her a relatively shallow draft so that she could operate in shallow waters and close to shore. ROOSEVELT was the first ship ever built in the Western Hemisphere for Arctic exploration. Her construction cost was US$150,000 and was funded in part by a US$50,000 gift by George Crocker, the youngest son of banker Charles Crocker. The McKay and Dix Shipyard laid her keel at Bucksport, Maine, on 19 October 1904. Sponsored by Peary's wife, Josephine Peary, who broke a bottle of champagne encased in ice across Roosevelt's bow, the ship was launched on 23 March 1905 and christened SS ROOSEVELT in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had openly supported Peary and played an instrumental role in arranging for the U.S. Navy to grant Peary a leave of absence so that he could continue his Arctic explorations. After fitting out, she was delivered to her owner, the Peary Arctic Club, in July 1905. She drew considerable attention because of her innovative design and at the time of her construction she was considered the strongest wooden vessel ever built. On 16 July 1905, Roosevelt, captained by Robert Bartlett, set out from New York City on what was called the Roosevelt Expedition, sponsored by the Peary Arctic Club, with Peary and his party aboard.[1] Roosevelt withstood a fire, rudder damage, and encounters with fog and icebergs and proceeded northward to Cape Sheridan in the north of Ellesmere Island. Made fast to the ice on 5 September 1905, she remained there through the winter of 1905–1906, becoming the second-largest ship ever to spend a winter in the Arctic. Peary and his party disembarked in January 1906 to head northward across the ice, and set a record for Farthest North, reaching a latitude of 87 degrees 6 minutes North before turning back https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Roosevelt_(1905)
