Amber

Amber

A hard, translucent fossil resin which is normally yellowish to brownish in color. Since it can be highly polished, amber is used as a gem.

(PYc - : dp. 260; 1. 120'; b. 21'5"; dr. 10'6"; s. 12.5 k.)

Polaris—a yacht built in 1930 at Seattle, Wash., by the Lake Union Dry Dock Co.—was purchased by the Navy from Edward and Kathryn Lowe on 23 December 1940, converted for naval service by the Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Co. Inc., Winslow, Wash.; renamed Amber on 10 January 1941 and simultaneously designated PYc - , and placed in commission at Seattle on 3 March 1941, Lt. W. B. Combs in command.

Amber was assigned to the Inshore Patrol of the 13th Naval Distriet and, from May until early August, operated around Seattle, Tacoma, and Port Townsend, Wash. The patrol craft left Seattle on 6 August on a cruise to Alaska, and visited Ketchikan, Juneau, and Sitka, before returning to Seattle early in Se September.

In November, the ship was assigned to patrol duty at Astoria Oreg., and patrolled the Strait oFJuan de Fuca off Neah Bay Wash., under the control of the Northwest Sea Frontier Patrol Group.

Amber was decommissioned on 18 October 1944 and her name was struck from the Navy list on 13 November1944. The ship was sold back to her former owners on 13 June 1945.