History Archive
HistoryCentral Est. 1996
US Navy · Patrol Craft

Marpessa SP-787

A former name retained.

(Motorboat: t. IT (gr.) : 1. 50' b. 10'I" ; dr. 3' ; 9. 20 k.; cpl. It : .1. mg.)

Marpessa (SP-787), a twin-engine, wooden motorboat, was built in 1916 by Mathis Yacht Building Co., Camden, N.J. : acquired by the Navy under free lease from her owner, W. J. Matheson of Camden, 18 August 1917; enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve 8 September 1917; and commissioned 1 October 1917, Enq. H. W. Mathewson, USNRF, in command.

Assigned. to the 7th Naval District, Key West, Fla., Marpessa patrolled the southern Atlantic coast of Florida out of Marathon during World War 1. Following the Armistice, she was returned to her owner 7 January 1919.

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