Talk:USS Oceanographer (AGS-3)

Merge?
Oppose. Merger makes good sense in cases where there is little in both Navy and C&GS or where one or the other is short or insignificant. In this case there is enough USC&GS history and significance to warrant a stand alone piece, just as there is with Navy. The "Green Goblin" has significance in both Navy and C&GS history and a good bit of fame in survey lore. Palmeira (talk) 04:42, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

Support. We have two articles about one vessel. There is sufficient overlap that one article would not be overlong. Suggest merging and moving to Corsair II, her original name.FunkyCanute (talk) 11:39, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Agree with merge and done as per WP:Bold. No need for 2 articles on the same ship, especially since the C&GS info is not so long as to warrant a split. -- P 1 9 9 ✉ 14:25, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

Possible Sabotage?
User 98.182.35.81 edited this page (you can find it in the list of revisions, it is the last edit he/she did on this page). He/she added the price that the ship was sold by J.P. Morgan Jr. to the U.S. Navy as $1.00. This may have been a silly mistake, or it could have been someone that thought it would be funny to add outrageous information to a rather pristine page. 98.182.35.81 user page is full of bots reporting that his posts are not verified and/or not truthful. I insist on the revoking of his account and Wikipedia privileges. kch1999 04:31, 5 December 2014 (UTC)


 * The reference to the $225,000 purchase price is in a model ship blog and refers clearly to Corsair II built 1891 and acquired by Navy as USS Gloucester (1891). I will have to check references, but before you accuse people of pranks in quoting $1 buys or leases during wartime you might want to check your history. It was quite common for wealthy people to do so with the $1 meeting the legal minimum for a transaction. From a one minute Google search just a few:


 * "Mayo Clinic offered its services to the government for $1 per year through its aero medical research unit."


 * Winfield House, home to U.S. Ambassadors in London, sold to the U.S. government for $1 by Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton after World War II


 * Santa Catalina Island Goes to War for $1 per year lease.


 * You insist someone be banned because you jump to a conclusion citing the wrong source? I don't think so! Palmeira (talk) 15:37, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

Avoid confusion
There are four Morgan yachts named Corsair and care must be taken to avoid confusion as II and III both going into government service and the first yacht sometimes somewhat forgotten so that in some references III is confused as II. Palmeira (talk) 21:04, 5 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Corsair an existing 185 ft foot yacht on which Morgan placed an option in 1881 that may sometimes be seen as Corsair I. It was aboard this vessel that Morgan negotiated a settlement July 10, 1885 between the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad settling a ruinous financial war and known as the "Corsair Compact".
 * Corsair II a 241 ft foot yacht built by Morgan in 1891 and serving as USS Gloucester during the Spanish American War
 * Corsair III a 304 ft foot yacht built in 1898 by Morgan that served the Navy and also as the Coast and Geodetic Survey until 1944
 * Corsair IV was a 343 ft foot yacht built in 1930 for J.P. Morgan Jr. and turned over to the British Admiralty in 1940

The Corsairs
Even some good references seem to lose track of Morgan's Corsairs so here is a guide:

Corsair is the yacht for which "The Corsair Compact" is named. Quote: "On July 10, 1885, aboard his yacht, Corsair, J. Pierpont Morgan negotiated an agreement between two major East Coast railroad competitors, New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad. The outcome was called the 'Corsair Compact.'" So this is #1 with no number attached, just the first.

So, just plain Corsair on which that negotiation took place existed before the 1891 yacht Corsair was built and launched which makes the 1891 yacht Corsair II.

Starting what became a Morgan tradition, that yacht was replaced when the government took it for the Spanish American War with a larger one, built 1898 that is the subject of this article. That makes this one Corsair III. He got this one back for a while, but larger yachts beckoned and the government needed a survey vessel.

So in 1930 he built the biggie, not yet covered on Wikipedia, Corsair IV, a, 104.55 m monster yacht that became a luxury Pacific Cruise Lines vessel, SS Corsair.

So, count from a Corsair existing in 1885 forward or count backward from Corsair IV and the subject of this article is Corsair III. Palmeira (talk) 04:45, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

Sequence of naming
Corsair (III), (1898-1917 and 1919-1930); USS Corsair (SP-159) (1917-1919), USC&GS Oceanographer (OSS-26) (1930-1942), USS Natchez (PG-85) (1942), and USS Oceanographer (AGS-3) (1942-1944). Broichmore (talk) 11:59, 6 September 2018 (UTC)