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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Bonita (SP 540)

Sunk 26 November 1918
Motorboat:

  • The second Bonita was built by the Holmes Motor Co., Mystic, CT
  • Acquired by the Navy 17 May 1917 and commissioned Bonita (SP 540) soon thereafter
  • Sunk after a collision with the fishing schooner Russell 26 November 1918 while moored astern at Coast Guard Station 25, Boston Harbor, MA.
  • Struck from the Navy Register 18 December 1918.

    Specifications:

  • Length 46'
  • Beam 10'
  • Draft 3' 6"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement: Eight
  • Armament: One 1-pounder and one machine gun
  • Propulsion: One 45hp 4-cylinder Holmes gasoline engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Bonita 113k Photographed circa June 1917, while on duty with the First Naval District
    U.S. Navy photo NH 100115    		 Naval Historical Center
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: The second Bonita, a wooden-hulled motor boat built by the Holmes Motor Co., of Mystic, Conn., was acquired by the Navy for use as a section patrol craft and delivered to the Navy by her owner, Mr. Robert Windsor of Boston, on 17 May 1917.

    While no deck logs for this boat seem to exist, other records indicate that she received the classification SP-540 and operated in Boston harbor as a patrol craft through the end of World War I. Not long after the war's end, on the night of 25 and 26 November, Bonita sank as the result of a collision with the fishing schooner Russell. Repeated efforts to locate Bonita's wreck proved unsuccessful, and her name was struck from the Navy List on 18 December 1918.

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