USC&GS A. D. Bache (1871)

U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey ship A.D. Bache, 1889
History
United States
Name:	USC&GS Alexander D. Bache
Namesake:	Alexander Dallas Bache, former Superintendent of the Coast Survey
Builder:	Harlan and Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Delaware, though Shipbuilding History shows her as hull #92 at Pusey & Jones, Wilmington.
Launched:	1871
Out of service:	December 19, 1900
Notes:	Records of C&GS mention the ship arriving at Shooters Island, New York to be "rebuilt" when shortly thereafter the same record states an entirely new hull and boiler were built with machinery, instruments and the name transferred to the new hull.
General characteristics
Tonnage:	182 tons
Length:	147 ft 8 in (45.01 m)
Beam:	23 ft 5 in (7.14 m)
Draught:	10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)
Propulsion:	steam and sail
Notes:	Modern sources, including DANFS and the NOAA ship page, perpetuate identical tonnage and dimensions for the 1871 and 1901 ships. An entirely new hull was built in 1901. Contemporary sources, the annual reports to Congress, clearly specific to the ships of 1871 and 1901 are different and are used.

USC&GS A. D. Bache (1871–1900), the second steamer of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, was named for the former superintendent Alexander Dallas Bache and launched August 1871 at Wilmington, Delaware.

Bache was built in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1871. Modern NOAA sources show her built by Harlan and Hollingsworth, while Shipbuilding History shows her as hull #92 at Pusey and Jones. She was a steamer with sail, "two hundred and eighty tons burthen," with later specifications showing "registered tonnage" of 182, 147 ft 8 in (45.01 m) in length, beam 23 ft 5 in (7.14 m) and draft 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m). She was iron framed and wood sheathed.

The ship was designated for Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico operations with her first mission, under the command of Lieutenant Commander John Adams Howell, USN, being measurements in the Gulf Stream and deep sea soundings in the Gulf of Mexico during trials of the ship.

In addition to making deep sea soundings, the ship engaged in bottom dredging to sample the bottom and obtain biological specimens. During dredging in the Gulf, largely between April 16 and May 19, 1872, the "late Dr. William Stimson," making what appears to be his last trip to sea as he died May 26, 1872, partly directed operations and took charge of the biological samples. The deep dredge sampling along the west coast of Florida was the first to be done in a previously unexplored area. Bache left the Gulf for New York, arriving May 23, for repairs before engaging in hydrographic surveys of Georges Bank off Massachusetts where she anchored on August 22 in thick fog to begin current measuring operations. By September 12 soundings were being made off Cape Sable and, at the request of Spencer F. Baird, authorized by Congress to investigate fishing matters, was making biological dredge casts, the first ocean research for the U.S. Fisheries Commission that is now the National Marine Fisheries Service. Operations, including small boat soundings, were conducted into island and coastal waters including Nantucket.