Itasca was built as a private wooden motorboat of the same name in 1908 by the Stamford Motor Construction Company at Stamford, Connecticut. In 1917, the U.S. Navy leased her from her owner, Henry Henke, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. Sources differ on her commissioning date, claiming both that the Navy took control of her from Henke at Norfolk, Virginia, on 10 August 1917 and commissioned her as USS Itasca (SP-810) on 18 August 1918, and that she was commissioned in July 1917. SP-810 was returned to Henke on 26 February 1919.