 Built by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland, Ohio, at a cost of $74,993.70, the ship was launched on 18 December 1891, the lighthouse tender was accepted by the United States Lighthouse Service on 14 April 1892 and operated on the Great Lakes from her base at Detroit until the United States entered World War I.She was originally assigned to duty on Lake Superior and served there until transferred to the operational control of the United States Navy.Transferred to the Navy by the Executive order of 16 April 1917 which placed the Lighthouse Service under the control of the Navy Department, "Amaranth" was assigned to the 9th Naval District, but continued to serve much as she had done before the war.