Marcellus AC

Marcellus

A Latin masculine proper name.

(AC: dp. 4,315; 1. 295'3"; b. 35'1"; dr. 21'3"; s. 11 k.; cpl. 68; a. 2 6-pdr.)

Marcellus, an iron schooner-rigged collier was built as Mercedes by Mounsey and Foster, Sunderland, England, in 1879 and later renamed C. Fellinger. She was acquired by the Navy as Titania from William Lamb 13 June 1898; and commissioned at Boston 28 September 1898, Lt. Comdr. J. H. Winslow in command.

Following a brief cruise along the east coast, MarceIIus sailed from Lambert Point, Va., 4 January 1899 to carry coal and supplies to American forces at Havana, Cuba. After returning to Norfolk 10 February, the collier proceeded to New York where she decommissioned 10 March and was placed in reserve. Recommissioning 7 January 1900, she operated for 5 months along the Atlantic coast, carrying coal to Norfolk 11 June.

Marcellus recommissioned 25 November 1902 and, besides operating along the Atlantic seaboard, made four voyages to the Caribbean before decommissioning at Norfolk 2 March 1904. The ship recommissioned 2 August, 1909 to serve both as a collier and as a training ship for deck and engineering personnel. The ship departed Norfolk 29 August and cruised along the east coast until she sailed for the Caribbean 11 November. She made two voyages to Guantanamo and Panama before returning to Norfolk 20 December.

On the 27th, a merchant complement replaced her naval crew. Marcellus continued on collier service along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies. She decommissioned at Portsmouth, N.H., 24 January 1908.

Marcellus recommissioned 2 April 1900 with a merchant complement. Following overhaul in mid-April, she cruised to Norfolk and then sailed for Guantanamo Bay, returning 10 June. On the 8th, she was officially designated an active member of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The collier continned her duty on the Atlantic coast, delivering coal to naval bases along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean for the next year. In August 1910, the ship was ordered to sail to Guantanamo Bay, for which she cleared Delaware Bay 7 August. On the 9th, while 60 miles off Cape Hatteras, N.C., she collided with merchant steamer Rosario di Gregario and sank. She was struck from the Navy list 22 September 1910.