The steamship Mohawk was a steel-hulled freighter built for the Atlantic Transport Line in 1892. She carried live cattle and frozen beef from the United States to England until the advent of the Spanish–American War. In 1898, she was purchased by the United States Army for use as an ocean-going troopship. During the Spanish–American War, she carried troops and supplies between the U.S. mainland, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
After the war, she was renamed USAT Grant and refit for service as a troopship in the Pacific. She carried troops and supplies to the Philippines and China to support the Army in the Philippine Insurrection and the Boxer Rebellion. Costly boiler repairs and the need to reduce the size of the Army Transport Service's Pacific fleet led to the ship's retirement as a troopship in 1902.
Grant was transferred to the United States Army Corps of Engineers and converted into a suction dredge in 1903. At that time she was the largest such dredge in the world and remained so until 1938. Grant was renamed USED Chinook. She was responsible for widening and deepening shipping channels on the Columbia, Delaware, and Mississippi rivers, Hampton Roads, Tampa Bay, New York Harbor, and other major ports and waterways. She was decommissioned in 1946 and subsequently scrapped.
Construction and characteristics The Atlantic Transport Line commissioned four sister ships to be built by the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. They were, in order of launch, Massachusetts, Manitoba, Mohawk, and Mobile.
Mohawks hull was built of steel plates. She was long, with a beam of and a depth of hold of . Her gross register tonnage was 5,658, and her net register tonnage was 3,646.
She was driven by two propellers. These were turned by two triple-expansion steam engines which were also built by Harland & Wolff. They had high, medium, and low-pressure cylinders with diameters of 22.5 inches, 36.5 inches, and 60 inches, respectively, with a stroke of 48 inches. Each of the engines was rated at . Steam was provided by coal-fired boilers. At full speed, the ship would burn 60 tons of coal a day.
Mohawks cargo capacity was built primarily to support the shipment of American beef to England, both in the form of live cattle and refrigerated dressed beef. She was fitted out to transport 1,000 live cattle, with a space of long by wide allocated to each animal. Her refrigerated holds could carry 1,000 tons of fresh meat. The ship also had accommodations for up to sixty cabin passengers.
Mohawk was launched from the Harland & Wolff shipyard on Queen's Island on 25 February 1892. Her engines and machinery were then installed and she was delivered to her new owners on 7 May 1892.
Atlantic Transport Line (1892–1898) While the Atlantic Transport Line was controlled by American shipping magnate Bernard N. Baker, its operations were run from Britain. Mohawks home port was London and she was registered as a British ship. During her six-year career with Atlantic Transport Line, she was assigned to the New York to London route.
Mohawk proved exceptionally capable at moving cattle across the Atlantic. On her first crossing in 1892, she brought 489 cattle to England and only two died en route. Since horses could be shipped using the same facilities as cattle, Mohawk occasionally shipped them as well. In 1897, the hunter Long Shot was shipped to England as a gift to the Duchess of Marlborough from her mother. On the same trip, Mohawk carried 206 horses purchased for British cavalry use. Noted race horse enthusiast Pierre Lorillard shipped a dozen thoroughbreds to London on board. In 1892, Mohawk carried Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show from London back to America. Among the livestock that accompanied the show aboard were 18 buffalo, nine kicking broncos, and three of Cody's personal horses.
Mohawk was a speedy ship for her day. In August 1892, she reached New York From London in 9 days, 20 hours, the fastest passage to that time by a freighter. She beat the record of her sister ship, Manitoba.
Perhaps the most eventful day of Mohawks career as a commercial vessel was 20 January 1897, when she saved the 17 surviving crew of the dismasted and sinking Norwegian bark Persia during a North Atlantic storm.
Army Transport Service (1898–1902)
Spanish–American War (1898) On 25 April 1898, Congress declared war on Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War. An immediate objective was to defeat Spain in the Caribbean, taking Cuba and Puerto Rico. At the time, the United States had few overseas possessions, and thus its military had limited ocean-capable sealift to support such an offensive. American political leaders preferred to acquire American ships to support the war effort, rather than enrich foreigners and rely on foreign crews. There were also legal constraints on using neutral-flagged vessels in American military operations. Through some quirks in the Congressional funding of the war, the United States Navy was able to charter transport ships prior to the declaration of war and tied-up the best of the American merchant fleet for its use. When the United States Army was able to begin acquiring ships after the declaration of war, fewer domestic options remained. While the Atlantic Transport Line was British-flagged, it was American owned, making it a more attractive option.
Army Colonel Frank J. Hecker approached the Atlantic Transport Line to charter its fleet, and was refused. He then offered to buy the vessels he sought and a deal was struck, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War Russell Alger. In addition to Mohawk, the Atlantic Transport Line sold Massachusetts, Manitoba, Mobile, Michigan, Mississippi, and Minnewaska. These ships were placed under the Quartermaster's Department of the United States Army. The Army reckoned Mohawks capacity to be 80 officers, 1,000 men, and 1,000 horses. Mohawk was turned over to the Army in New York on 29 June 1898. The price of the ship was $660,000.
The Army immediately sent the ship into dry dock to have the marine growth scraped from her bottom. The British crew of 79 men refused to serve on a United States military ship. It was variously reported at the time that they were either replaced by Americans or agreed to serve with a 20 percent increase in their wages. However, she was crewed, the ship sailed from New York for Tampa on 5 July 1898, less than a week after the Army took possession. She carried approximately 600 mules, 200 horses, and 1,400 men from Tampa to Puerto Rico. By the time Mohawk reached the island on 2 August 1898, the fighting was all but over. Hostilities ceased on 12 August 1898. +Mohawk troop movements to and from the CaribbeanDepartureFromToArrivalUnits embarked24 July 1898TampaPonce2 August 1898ten companies 11th Infantry Regiment18 August 1898SantiagoMontauk, New York24 August 18988th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment Pacific service (1898–1902)
Having taken Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, the Army had a permanent need for transport to overseas bases. The annexation of Hawaii in 1898 also required new ocean transport. The Army Transport Service chose the best vessels acquired during the war to become a permanent sealift capability. Mohawk and her three sister ships were retained for this purpose. To mark their transition to permanent military service, they were renamed in January 1899 for prominent Civil War generals. Mohawk became United States Army Transport Grant, named for Ulysses S. Grant.
On 27 September 1898, the ship arrived at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine for modifications to prepare her for transport service in the Pacific. The shipyard was the low bidder for the job at $82,800. During the work, the Army requested a number of extras which raised the ultimate cost to about $135,000. Among the projects accomplished at Bath were fitting two lower decks with three-tier pipe-berths which could accommodate 2,170 troops, and expanding the galley, messing, shower, toilet, ventilation, and other facilities to support the troops. Over 100 painters were employed to completely repaint the ship in lead white. A 50-bed hospital was installed. She sailed to New York, after her refit was complete, where she arrived on 4 January 1899.
Grant was assigned to deliver troops to the Philippines via the Suez Canal. In New York she embarked the 4th Infantry Regiment and one battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment. Also aboard were Major General Henry Lawton and his staff. In total, there were 1,730 enlisted troops and about 150 officers and their families aboard. As Grant was the first major transport to leave New York for the Philippines, her departure was attended by a number of notable figures including Assistant Secretary of War Meiklejohn, Adjutant General Corbin, and Quartermaster General Ludington, U.S. Senators Proctor, Warren, and Mitchell, and seven U.S. Representatives, all members of the House Committee on Military Affairs.As Grant backed out of her berth to begin her voyage on 17 January 1899, her starboard propeller fouled an old wire hawser. She was towed to her anchorage and divers were able to clear the old cable. On 18 January 1899, the ship sailed up the Hudson River to Grant's Tomb where a short ceremony was held to honor her namesake. The next day Grant sailed for Gibraltar, where she arrived on 1 February 1899. After taking on coal and water, Grant sailed on, arriving in Suez on 12 February 1899, Colombo on 26 February 1899, Singapore on 4 March 1899, and finally Manila on 10 March 1899.
Grant sailed from Manila on 25 March 1899 for San Francisco, via a coaling stop in Nagasaki. She had on board the bodies of a number of soldiers killed in the Philippines as well as sick and wounded. She arrived on 29 April 1899. As the Philippine Insurrection grew, so did the urgency to move more troops to the islands. Grant and other Army Transport Service ships began a shuttle from San Francisco to Manila. On most of her trips to Manila, Grant carried complete troop units, and a number of recruits and replacements for units already in the Philippines. On her return trips, she usually carried soldiers who were wounded, ill, or dead, prisoners, and those whose enlistment had expired. Depending on the size of her human cargo, she would also board supplies. On one trip, she carried almost 5,000 tons of supplies. The ship had a strong room and used it to carry cash to Manila to pay the Army's expenses. In October 1900, Grant sailed with $1.3 million aboard.
Among her cabin passengers were a number of notable figures. In July 1900, Grant sailed from San Francisco to Taku Bay, China with Major General Adna Chaffee, the commander of China Relief Expedition during the Boxer Rebellion. The civilian Governor of the Philippines, later U.S. President, William Howard Taft sailed home from Manila in December 1901 on Grant. +Grant full-unit troop movements in the PacificDepartureFromToArrivalUnits Embarked19 January 1899New YorkManila10 March 18994th Infantry Regiment 1 brigade, 17th Infantry Regiment31 May 1899San FranciscoManila27 June 189916th Infantry Regiment31 July 1899ManilaSan Francisco29 August 1899Idaho Volunteer Infantry Regiment (481 men) North Dakota Volunteer Infantry Regiment (540 men)
Wyoming Volunteer Infantry Regiment (274 men)
Battery A, Wyoming Light Artillery (57 men)25 September 1899San FranciscoManila24 October 189926th Volunteer Infantry Regiment 250 recruits for other units20 December 1899San FranciscoManila25 January 190048th Volunteer Infantry Regiment2 July 1900San FranciscoTaku, China29 July 19006th Cavalry Regiment 224 Marines28 March 1901ManilaSan Francisco19 April 1901Company F, 26th Volunteer Infantry Regiment (79 men) 29th Volunteer Infantry Regiment (866 men)
32nd Volunteer Infantry Regiment (666 men)1 June 1901ManilaSan Francisco24 June 190148th Volunteer Infantry Regiment