Satilla SP-687

Satilla

(SP-687: t. 106, 1. 128', b. 16'6", dr. 7', s. 14 k., cpl.28; a. 1 3-pdr., 1 mg.)

Satilla, a wooden, single-screw yacht built during 1902 by George Lawley and Sons, Neponset, Mass., was purchased during May 1917 by the State of Maine from the estate of her late owner, R. Hall McCormick of Chicago, for the local use of the section patrol commander at Rockville, Maine; enrolled on 18 June 1917 in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve, purchased during 1917 by the United States Navy; and commissioned on 31 May 1917, Ensign Roswell F. Eaton, USNRF, in command.

Satilla began her naval service on 24 May 1917 with the Maine Naval Militia, patrolling the state's coast in the tense days just after the United States entered World War I. Subsequently commissioned in the United States Navy, she continued to cruise in waters off Rockville and Bath, Maine, frequently lying to overnight at Cross Island, Winter Harbor, and Cutler Harbor. On 1 September 1917, she served as one of the escorts for the destroyer Manley (DD-74) during her sea trials off Bath, Maine.

While lying alongside the Hodge Boiler Works dock Rockville, Maine, Satilla was accidentally rammed by Ibis (SP-3051), and suffered considerable damage. Although her hull was buckled in on the port side and leaking, she was repaired and returned to duty after the war's end. Satilla steamed to Boston on 19 September 1919 where she was placed in the custody of the Commandant, 1st Naval District. Struck from the Navy list on 7 November 1919, Satilla was sold on 25 March 1920 to Oscar L. Ledberg of Providence, R.I.