OLIVER WOLCOTT
Ship Name and Designation History
This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.
Built 1872-73 Sold February 19 1897 to Joshua Green of Seattle, Washington, for $3,050. |
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This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).
Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.
- Covers Page 1 (1894)
Postmarks
This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.
A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an
image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN
THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the
existing example.
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Postmark Type |
Date From to Date To |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
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USPOD CDS |
1894-06-02 |
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Mail to the Cutter
Chickies, PA is now a “dead post office,” with Chickies being located in Lancaster County about half way between Columbia and Marietta, PA.
The cover was back stamped in San Diego, CA on June 8th, 1894.
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N/A |
1884 |
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N/A |
Photo from the USCG Historian Website. Notice the use of "USS" and ""WOLCOTT".
Other Information
The USS is, of course, incorrect in that the WOLCOTT was a United States Revenue Service Cutter. The cutter was named for the second secretary of the treasury, Oliver Wolcott, who succeeded Alexander Hamiliton, and later was governor of Connecticut. So the name of the ship is correctly written as: USRSC OLIVER WOLCOTT.
The OLIVER WOLCOTT, also known simply as WOLCOTT, entered service on the west coast in 1873. She was built of white oak and yellow fir from Oregon and Washington, with bilge keels and iron-wire standing rigging. She replaced the cutter "WAYANDA" and operated out of Port Townsend, Washington, as part of the Bering Sea Patrol.
Her crew deserted in 1882 for unknown reasons. In 1883, at the request of the British Columbia authorities, she was directed to be present at Fort Simpson, to prevent an "Indian outbreak." (Note: The Indians were Tlingit.) (USCG Historian)
"On January 15th, 1883, The New York Times published an account (from Victoria, British Columbia) of Cutter OLIVER WOLCOTT being dispatched to the Metlakahtla mission because of an alleged dispute between a Bishop Ridley and a Missionary Duncan. The bishop and the missionary were from the Church of England. Why an argument between two clerics needed a warship to intervene was unclear. Interestingly, the same article said that “The Baptists have withdrawn from the province (British Columbia), and have sold their church in this city.” (Glenn Smith).
The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service Officer’s Register, July 1st, 1892, lists Horace B. West as a Second Lieutenant assigned to the steamer WOLCOTT at Port Townsend, Washington. LT West was born in, and entered the Revenue Cutter Service from, Pennsylvania. His date of rank was February 21st, 1888. (Glenn Smith)
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