Nellie Jackson was built as a civilian two-masted sail-and-steam schooner of the same name in 1896 by J. W. Brooks in Maryland. On 24 August 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, the Conservation Commission of Maryland, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Nellie Jackson (SP-1459).
Nellie Jackson served on patrol duties, presumably in the Chesapeake Bay area, for the rest of World War I. She was decommissioned on 26 November 1918, and the Navy returned her to the Conservation Commission the same day.