USS Thetis (1881) - Revenue Cutter Service

Revenue Cutter Service

Thetis never again served the Navy. In the spring of 1899, she was transferred temporarily to the Revenue Cutter Service for special duty transporting Siberian reindeer to Alaska. This project was instituted through the cooperation of the Revenue Cutter Service and the Department of the Interior in an attempt to help Alaskan eskimos to learn to herd the animals for food rather than to rely upon their traditional source: the hunt. Between June and October 1899, she transported 81 reindeer from Siberia to Alaska. In the latter month, she was returned to the Navy briefly but was soon transferred back to the Revenue Cutter Service permanently.

As a commissioned cutter in the Revenue Cutter Service, she spent the next 16 years cruising Alaskan waters bringing justice and carrying supplies to the frontier fringes. During that time, she was based both at Port Townsend, Washington., and San Francisco, California In the spring of 1904, she made a voyage to the Hawaiian Islands to transport illegal Japanese aliens from Lisianski Island to Honolulu. Late in 1909, she returned to Honolulu. From then until the end of her career, she alternated duty in the islands with annual cruises to Alaskan waters.

On 27 April 1916, Thetis ended her last voyage for the government at San Francisco. Three days later, she was placed out of commission. On 3 June, she was sold to W. & S. Job & Co. of New York City. Ironically after years of service on the patrol against seal poachers in the Pacific, she was converted into a sealer herself and operated out of Newfoundland for the next 44 years. In 1960, her hulk was purposely grounded off St. Johns, and she remained there until she broke up.