Tanner invented a depth sounding system, wrote several books on hydrography and retired as a commander of the United States Navy in 1897.

Tanner traveled by ship to Great Britain in 1855, and because of ill health chose to take a longer voyage from Liverpool to Bombay, India aboard SS Culloden in 1856.

[4] Returning to the United States, after Tanner served aboard American merchantmen, he eventually assisted several seaborne troop movements in the Gulf of Mexico.

When Rhode Island captured a British blockade runner in December 1864, Tanner was put in charge of the prize crew.

He commanded Albatross for nine years, including transporting famed naturalist Alexander Emanuel Agassiz on an 1891 voyage to the Galapagos Islands.

Tanner died in Washington, D.C. on December 16, 1906, aged 71, and was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.