[1] On 21 April 1910, the United States Congress assigned the responsibility for the management and harvest of northern fur seals, foxes and other fur-bearing animals in the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, as well as for the care, education, and welfare of the Aleut communities in the islands to the United States Bureau of Fisheries.

[3] Since 1917, the Bureau of Fisheries and Fish and Wildlife Service had operated a "Pribilof tender"[3] – a dedicated supply vessel used to transport passengers and cargo to and from the Pribilof Islands[3] – and by 1962 the Fish and Wildlife Service had deemed the most recent tender, US FWS Penguin II, too small to continue in the role and in need of replacement.

[1] Around 1968, a proposal was made to retire Pribilof and turn over her duties to chartered vessels as a means of saving the USFWS an estimated US$100,000 per year.

medicines, and patients to and from the United States Public Health Service hospital in Anchorage, Alaska, and the loss of transportation services between Saint Paul and St. George Islands for outgoing United States Mail, incoming U.S. Mail that included breakables that could not be delivered via airdrops, perishable goods, emergency repair of equipment, emergency services, United States Government officials, teachers, students, and people involved in cultural and recreational exchanges.

[1] On 3 October 1970, a major reorganization occurred which formed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the United States Department of Commerce.

[1] By this time, however, weekly commercial flights from Anchorage also were transporting mail, medicine, and perishable goods to and from St. Paul Island.

[1] By 1966, the Aleut residents of Saint Paul Island already had begun a transition to self-sufficiency and local self-government,[3] and in that year the U.S. Congress passed the Fur Seal Act, which required that the residents of the Pribilofs gain control of their local government and economy, including the harvesting of fur seals.

[3] Accordingly, the NMFS began turning over U.S. Government land and buildings and the fur seal operations in the Pribilofs to the local population in the 1970s.