Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet 1097-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (thin sourcing
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED (thin sourcing
- Evidence ID
- uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-pkt-1097-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS/NHHC, 'J. M. Woodworth (YT-137)' (updated by Robert J. Cressman, 22 August 2025) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Entry text, paragraphs 1-4; data line '(YT-137: displacement 135; length 84'0"; beam 20'0"; draft 6'9")'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- J. M. Woodworth was built at Philadelphia by Neafie & Levy in 1903 for the U.S. Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service as a boarding tug and fumigation vessel; she served the Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, Quarantine Station from 1903 to 1937. The Navy acquired her from the Public Health Service on 2 November 1937, retained her name, assigned her the identification number YT-137, and placed her in service as a harbor tug at the Washington (D.C.) Navy Yard. After limited service in late 1937 and early 1938 she was declared unfit for naval purposes and stricken from the Navy List on 28 December 1938. She was sold 17 April 1939 to Gallagher Bros. Sand & Gravel Corp. of New York City, converted to diesel power, renamed John Murray, and operated until scrapped in the early 1970s.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1903-1939 construction and service; scrapped early 1970s
- Population
- Crew/yard personnel aboard and alongside YT-137 at Washington Navy Yard, 1937-1938 (composition undocumented)
- Limitations
- Authoritative Navy service history but contains no asbestos, material, insulation, or crew-complement information. DANFS figures (displacement 135, draft 6'9") differ from NavSource's spec table (132 gross tons, draft 10'0") - divergences logged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-01
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[3]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, 'J. M. Woodworth (YT-137)' (navsource.net) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Chronology and specifications table; namesake photo caption (John Maynard Woodworth)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource Service Ship Photo Archive entry for J. M. Woodworth (YT-137) documents: built by Neafie & Levy, Philadelphia (yard no. 968 per NavSource); completed 1903 as U.S. Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service boarding tug/fumigation vessel; Marcus Hook Quarantine Station 1903-1937; Navy acquisition 2 November 1937; Washington Navy Yard 1937-1938; struck from the Naval Register 28 December 1938; sold 17 April 1939 to Gallagher Bros. Sand & Gravel Corp., New York, NY; dieselized and renamed John Murray (Official No. 239133) in 1939; scrapped early 1970s. Spec table: 132 gross tons / 89 net tons, 84'8" x 20'0" x 10'0", steam propulsion, no armament, complement unknown. Namesake: John Maynard Woodworth (1837-1879), first supervising surgeon-general of the Marine Hospital Service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1903-1970s
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary archive corroborating DANFS; contains no asbestos or materials information. Yard number 968 and the 84'8"/10'0" dimensions appear only here - DANFS gives 84'0" length and 6'9" draft. Complement is expressly unknown.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-02
-
[4]shipbuildinghistory.com (T. Colton), 'Neafie & Levy, Philadelphia PA' yard table and 'Yard Tugs (YT, YTB, YTM, YTL) Built or Acquired Before WWII' table [other_primary]
- Locator
- Neafie & Levy construction table, 1903 block; http://shipbuildinghistory.com/smallships/yt1.htm row 137
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The Neafie & Levy construction table lists J. M. Woodworth as a 135-ton tug built 1903 for 'U.S.P.H.S.', noted 'To USN 1937 as YT 137, sold 1939'; the yard-history text documents Neafie & Levy (Penn Works, Kensington, Philadelphia) as an iron shipbuilder and marine-engine builder that closed in 1907. The pre-war yard-tug table repeats the row: '137 | J. M. Woodworth | J. M. Woodworth | Neafie & Levy | Philadelphia PA | 135 | 1903 | 1937 | Ex-USPHS, sold 1939.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1903
- Population
- Neafie & Levy construction workforce, 1903 (context only)
- Limitations
- Independent yard-production corroboration of builder, year, tonnage, and Navy transfer; no materials/asbestos content. The yard table leaves the yard-number and official-number cells blank for this hull, so NavSource's 'YN 968' remains a single-source claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-03
-
[5]Hedley-Whyte J., 'Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences,' Ulster Medical Journal 77(3):191-200 (2008), via PubMed Central PMC2604477 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Sections 'Logistics of Asbestos' and 'Shipbuilding'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era context for a 1903 steam tug in 1937-1938 Navy service: peer-reviewed history of asbestos in shipbuilding records that by the early twentieth century fire-resistance testing had established asbestos as 'the best and most cost effective insulating material'; that 'In 1922 the US Navy specified asbestos use in new submarines. South African chrysotile asbestos was specified for gaskets, insulation, packing and tape'; and that in 1939 the U.S. classified asbestos as a critical material. A steam-powered vessel of this era would ordinarily have carried thermal insulation on boiler and steam lines and asbestos-containing gaskets and packing, but no document establishes what insulation or gasket materials were installed on this hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1900-1939 era context
- Population
- Era-level: marine engineering crews and construction trades of the early 1900s
- Limitations
- General era literature, not a hull or class record - the source does not name this vessel, harbor tugs, or pre-WWI construction specifically. Establishes that asbestos was the standard insulating material of the period and Navy-specified by 1922, not that this hull carried it. Does not establish quantity, present-day presence (hull scrapped early 1970s), individual exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-04
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[6]Batch-9302 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS; NavSource; shipbuildinghistory.com yard and YT tables; Naval Vessel Register (out of scope by stated policy); CourtListener opinion and docket indexes; PubMed Central era literature [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-01 through sl-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement record, materials specification, or docketed asbestos case naming J. M. Woodworth / YT-137 / John Murray (ON 239133) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The Naval Vessel Register cannot hold a record - NVR states it excludes ships and service craft disposed of before 1987.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 2026-10-05
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1903 steam plant remained in the hull through its 1937-1938 Navy service and 1939 diesel conversion, neither documented at materials level. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-05
-
[7]NARA record groups RG 90, RG 181, RG 41/RG 26 (finding-aid level identification only; no file pulled) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Record-group level only
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads not retrieved (no spend authorized): NARA RG 90 (Records of the U.S. Public Health Service) for Marcus Hook Quarantine Station and PHS vessel files, 1903-1937; NARA RG 181 (Records of Naval Districts and Shore Establishments) for Washington Navy Yard service-craft and survey/board records bearing on the 1938 'unfit' declaration; merchant vessel documentation for Official No. 239133 (John Murray) in the Merchant Vessels of the United States annual lists and RG 41/RG 26 vessel-documentation files.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Limitations
- Leads only - no archival file was pulled or verified to contain material on this hull; record-group identification is researcher inference from agency responsibilities.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-j-m-woodworth-yt137-06