Anemone IV, a 127-foot motor ketch, was built in 1899 at Gosport, Maine. In 1917 she was based in the Pacific Northwest and was leased by the Navy in October of that year and placed in service as Anemone IV (SP-1290). Later renamed SP-1290, she served for more than a year on recruit training duty at the Naval Training Station, Seattle, Washington. She was returned to her owner in March 1919.