The first USS Triton (later YT-10) was an iron-hulled tug purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1889. After more than 40 years of service as a Navy yard tug, she was sold off in 1930 and began a second career as a commercial tug.
Triton was built in 1888, hull no. 287 at the John H. Dialogue shipyard in Camden, New Jersey. She was built for P. Dougherty & Company, a Baltimore-based towing firm, and named the Douglas H. Thomas after a prominent Baltimore banker with ties to local shipping. Her official U.S. number was 157229.
The Triton's hull was of riveted iron construction, with a long deckhouse topped by the pilot house. Her tonnage was 140.52 gross and 70.21 net. Her principal dimensions were: length overall and between perpendiculars; beam , and hull depth . She displaced 212 tons (216 Mtons) at a mean draft of .
She was fitted with a dual-furnace coal-burning Scotch (fire tube) boiler, long by diameter, with thick boiler plating. The boiler was rated for up to , but ordinary working pressure was . Coal capacity was 43 tons, and she burned about two tons per 24 hours.
She was equipped with a reversible triple expansion steam engine. Cylinder diameters were , , and , with a stroke.
Triton spent her entire career operating from the Washington Navy Yard at Washington, D.C. She frequently steamed down the Potomac River to the naval reservation at Indian Head, Maryland; during 1900 alone, she recorded 198 round-trips between Washington and Indian Head. During Tritons career, Indian Head was home first to the Naval Proving Grounds in the 1890s and then to the Naval Powder Factory during the first half of the 20th century; in all probability, Triton towed barges to Indian Head laden with materials to be used there in the testing of naval guns and in the production of gunpowder and explosives.
On 17 July 1921, the Navy changed Triton's designation to "YT-10" (yard tug) in accordance with the new system of alphanumeric hull designations adopted that day.
After 41 years of Navy service, the Triton was finally stricken from the Navy Directory on 19 May 1930, and sold on 15 September 1930.
She was bought by a Boston-based towing firm in 1932 and named Melrose. Her steam propulsion system was replaced with a diesel-electric system. She spent the next 13 years plying New England waters.
In 1945, she was acquired by the Steers Sand and Gravel Company, of New York, and named J Rich Steers, then renamed Gwendoline Steers in 1951. She was lost with all nine crew members on 30 December 1962, at the entrance to Huntington Bay (Long Island Sound), NY, during a brutal winter gale.