ORCHID was one of 8 Manzanita Class steel tenders- all 8 were built by the New York Shipbuilding Co. in Camden, NJ in 1908. At 190' LOA they were the largest tenders working at the time and the first tenders to be built to a standard design for the U.S. Lighthouse Service. ORCHID served most of her career from 1908 to 1945 in the lower Chesapeake Bay. She is shown here in her WWII gray paint scheme.