COAST GUARD HISTORY

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UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

INFORMATION
PUBLIC DIVISION, WASHINGTON, D. C. CG-213
<^Jl

Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the

Treasury and founder of the U. S. Coast Guard.

MBL/WHOI

03D1 0037157 1
How the first

cutter fleet was launched

The history of the Coast Guard goes Smuggling, you must remember, had
back more than a century and a half to been a popular activity during the struggle
the beginnings of the United States. The to throw off British "taxation without

Nation dates from the Declaration of In- representation." Colonials had considered

dependence, July 4, 1776, but the consti- evasion of duties imposed by the Parlia-
tutional government we know today did ment overseas an act of patriotism such
not start until 1789. That was the year as the Boston Tea Party. Patriots had been
George Washington was inaugurated as smugglers; smugglers had been patriots.
first President and that the first Congress And respectable citizens like John Han-
convened in New York, the first capital. cock and Samuel Adams, both signers of
The very next year, on August 4, 1790, the Declaration, engaged in smuggling.
Congress passed and Washington signed By the time the Revolution was over,

a bill authorizing the construction of "ten smuggling was a habit, and it was Hamil-
boats" for guarding the coast against ton's job to stop it, if the young nation
smugglers. wasn't to go bankrupt. It was easy enough
This was the beginning of the Coast to show people that the customs duties in-
Guard. It was known in those first days, stituted by Congress were taxation ivith

however, as the Revenue Marine. Later representation, but it was not easy to make
it was called the Revenue Cutter Service. people see smuggling as a crime and smug-
Not till 1915 was it given its present glers as criminals. Faced with public
famous name. But despite name changes apathy, if not outright sympathy, toward
it has kept its identity as an organization, smuggling, Hamilton decided to resort to
and in point of continuous service the a fleet to enforce the customs laws.
Coast Guard is considered the oldest of Hamilton asked "that there be ten boats,
the Nation's seagoing armed forces. two for the coasts of Massachusetts and
The father of the Coast Guard was New Hampshire; one for Long Island
Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of Sound; one for New York; one for the
the Treasury. It was he who asked Con- Bay of Delaware; two for the Chesapeake
gress to provide a fleet of armed cutters (these of course to ply along the neigh-
to insure the collection of tonnage dues boring coasts) ; one for North Carolina;
and import duties from vessels entering one for South Carolina; and one for
United States waters. Georgia."
$1,000 per cutter equivalent of the Navy titles lieutenant
commander, lieutenant, lieutenant junior
The "ten boats" were to be cutter grade, and ensign, which came into Coast
types that is, heavy-keeled schooners Guard usage in 1920.

that could carry plenty of sail for speed. It was Hamilton's idea to give the of-

"Boats of from thirty-six to forty feet keel ficers commissions that would "not only
will answer the purpose, each . . . armed induce fit men the more readily to engage,
with swivels," Hamilton told Congress. but will attach them to their duty by a
"The first cost of one of these boats, com- nicer sense of honor."

pletely equipped, may be computed at one The first man commissioned "a Master
thousand dollars." of a Cutter in the Service of the United
The first cutter was the two-masted States" was Hopley Yeaton of New
Massachusetts, built and launched at New- Hampshire. On March 21, 1791, he took
buryport, Mass., in 1791. Her deck, di- the double oath to support the Consti-
vided into long quarterdeck and deep tution and detect and prevent frauds
waist, measured 50 feet from her Indian against the revenue that Coast Guard of-

figurehead to her square-cut stern. The ficers still take, and was given command
beam was 17 feet 8 inches; the depth 7 of the cutter Scan?mel. During the Revo-
feet 3 inches. She "measured" 7OI/2 tof^s lution he had fought as Captain John
and was armed with six swivel guns, Barry's third ofiicer aboard the frigate

which made her the most formidable ship Raleigh.

in the cutter fleet. The 51 -ton Scammel, Two other cutter masters also were
the 50-ton Active and Pickering, the 40- Navy John
veterans of the Continental
ton Diligence, and the 35-ton Argus. Foster 'Williams, who commanded the
Vigilant, Virginia, and South Carolina Massachusetts, and David Porter, who
had only four guns apiece. The General commanded the Active.
Greene, a 30-ton sloop, had but three.

Uniform of the day

Rum, brandy or whisky
'What uniforms these earliest Coast
To sail these ships, Hamilton engaged Guardsmen wore we can only guess, be-
crews of "respectable character." For each cause in the beginning the Revenue
cutter. Congress authorized one master, Marine was loosely organized under the
not more than three mates, four mariners, administration of local collectors of the
and two boys. The masters received $30 a customs and no uniform regulations are
month, first mates $20, second mates $16, known earlier than those of 1830. The
third mates $14, mariners $8, and boys assumption is that the original cutter

$4. All received rations, which included crews dressed much like men of the Revo-
among other items a "half gill of rum, lutionary Navy, disbanded in 1785.
brandy, or whisky, 1 quart salt, 2 quarts Masters probably wore cocked hats
vinegar, 2 pounds soap, 1 pound candles." over hair tied up in short queues, blue
In 1799, masters and mates were given swallow-tail coats with gold buttons and
the titles of captain and first, second, epaulets, knee breeches and boots. Buttons
and third lieutenants. These were the were usually arranged in groups of four
 The Revenue Cut+er Pickering, one of the first ten cutters.

on lapels, pocket flaps, cuffs, and coat with brass buttons, and trousers that were
skirts to indicate the rank of sea captain. bell-bottomed so they could be easily

Other symbols of authority were side arms rolled up or worn over boot tops,

and a speaking trumpet through which probably completed the ancient mariner's

to call orders to the crew and to hail ships uniform.

to stand by for boarding. However they dressed, one thing sure

The mariners (or sailors, as we call about the Revenue Mariners they must

them now) also wore their hair in pigtails, have been good sailing and fighting men.

which they tarred for protection against They made smuggling less profitable and
less popular. For their work they were
the salt water. The traditional broad sail-
given increases in pay and subsistence in
or's collar was designed to catch drippings
1793, and again in 1796. Then between
from the waterproofed queues. When 1795 and 1801 the 10 original cutters were
really dressed up, the mariners sported
gradually replaced with 13 larger ships
hard black hats with flat brims and pill- more and heavier guns and
that carried
box crowns, but at sea they more likely bigger crews. The evolution leading to
wore knitted caps both for warmth and for the great, 20th Century Coast Guard was
the streamlined effect. Short blue jackets finally underway.
 Cutters versus

French privateers

-TOR nearly eight years Hamilton's fleet In 1799, Stoddert ordered four fleets of
of cutters was the young Nation's only 20 ships to sea against the French raiders.
navy. The regular Navy was not organized In this force were eight cutters. Of 20
until 1798. At the time, a diplomatic war French ships captured by the combined
of nerves France was waging on the fleets, 16 were taken by cutters. The 187-
United States had broken out into an ton cutter Eagle set something of a record
undeclared shooting war at sea. French by capturing five French ships, recaptur-
privateers, preying on American shipping, ing seven American ships, and assisting
seized more than 340 of our ships. in the capture of 10 others.
During the ensuing hostilities. Congress
ordained in 1799 that "Revenue Cutters The bigger they came
shall, whenever the President of the The Pickering, sister cutter of the Eagle,
United States shall so direct, cooperate fought a notable engagement with the
with the Navy of the United States." On privateer L'Egypte Conquise on October
August 4, 1949, Congress put it more 18, 1799. The Frenchman was fitted out
strongly: "The Coast Guard as established and doubly manned expressly to capture
January 28, 1915, shall be a military serv- the Pickering. Against her 14 nine- and 4
ice and a branch of the armed forces of six-pounders and crew of 250, the cutter
the United States at all times. The Coast had only 14 four-pounders and 70 men.
Guard shall be a service in the Treasury But after a 9-hour battle, the bigger ship
Department, except when operating as a hauled down the Tri-Color and surren-
service in the Navy." dered. Later, in 1800, the Pickering was
President John Adams, anticipating the lost with all hands in a storm.
act of Congress, had placed the cutters About this time, cutters began to fly

under the orders of Benjamin Stoddert, what we know today as the Coast Guard
first Secretary of Navy, in 1798. Among ensign and pennant. In authorizing these
their early assignments was patrolling be- banners in 1799, Congress ruled: "When-
tween Nantucket and Cape Henry, and ever any ship or vessel, liable to seizure or
escorting the new frigate Constitution on examination, shall not bring to, on being
her maiden cruise. In this period, too, required to do so or on being chased by
cutters performed the first convoy duty, any cutter or boat, which has displayed
guarding American merchantmen from the pendant and ensign prescribed for ves-
the privateers. sels in the Revenue Service, the master
 The Coast Guard ensign.

of such cutter or boat may fire at, or into, blue on a white field." The stripes stood

such vessel, after such pendant and ensign for the States that comprised the Nation
has been hoisted and a gun fired by such The original 13 States were
at that time.

cutter as a signal . .
." commemorated by an arch of 13 blue stars
Secretary of the Treasury OHver Wol- in a white field. The only change in the
cott described the ensign and pennant in a ensign was made in 1927 when the Coast

letter to his collectors in 1799 as "consist- Guard seal of shield and anchors was
ing of sixteen perpendicular stripes, alter- centered on the middle of the seventh
nate red and white, the Union of the red stripe. This distinctive emblem on
Ensign to be the Arms of the U. S. in dark the ensign had been authorized in 1910.
 ]effersou captured the Patriot, the first

prize to fall into American hands. Alto-

Cutters win gether, the cutters took 14 enemy ships.
The Madison brought in the 300-ton
brig Shamrock, and shortly afterward the
glory in the schooner W^ade, carrying $20,000 in gold
and silver. The Vigilant took the British

War of 1812 privateer Dart in a running battle between

Newport and Block Island.

But Britain was a great sea power and

was able to send strong squadrons into
Nine cutters, averaging 125 tons, each American waters. Frequently the cutters,

with 6 to 10 light guns and crews of 15 to seeking contact with the enemy, found
30 men, fought in the War of 1812. The themselves up against bigger, more heavily
war was not a week old when the cutter armed warships.
 '.}.
\
On June 12, 1813, under cover of night
and fog, three barges from the British man-
of-war Ncirc/ssus tried to, take the 75-ton
cutter Sz/rveyor by surprise in the York
River, Va. Though outnumbered 50 to 15,
the cutter crew wounded seven and killed
three of the enemy before the Surveyor
was captured. British Capt. John Crerie
was so impressed by "the determined way
in which her deck was disputed, inch by
inch," in hand-to-hand fighting, that he
returned to Capt. William Travis of the
cutter "the sword you had so nobly used."
Another lively battle ensued when the
6-gun cutter Eagle encountered the 18-gun

The cutter Madison, 1813.

brig Dispatch, raiding shipping off Long

Island. The cutter crew ran its ship

aground on an island and then dragged

her 4-pounders to the top of a bluff where
they had the drop on the enemy. When
ammunition ran low, five of the crew re-

turned to the Eagle for more, but only

three of them made the round trip. Aboard
the ship, they replaced the ensign that had
been shot away. The British fired a whole
broadside at them, and the Americans sal-

vaged the small shot that riddled the hull.

Back on the bluff, they made cartridges of

bits of cloth and pages from the cutter's

log and fired the shot back at the British.

So telling was this fire that the enemy, un-

able to land to take the bluff, was forced to

withdraw. Later, the cutter was refloated,

but as she limped toward port the war-

ship returned to the battle and captured
her easily. Incidentally, today's cadets train
aboard a modern Eagle.

^The capture of the French privateer

Mehifable and her prize Nancy by the

cutter Eagle.
7
 tariff on imports entering through her
Warring ports. Five cutters were dispatched to
Charleston to enforce the collection of
customs, and President Andrew Jackson
against
declared: "If a single drop of blood shall
be shed in opposition to the laws of the
piracy United States, I will hang the first man
I can lay my hands on upon the first tree I
can reach." Ships arriving with sugar from
and slavery
Havana anchored under the guns of the
cutters and their cargoes were impounded
in Fort Moultrie until the import duties
Interludes of peace between wars were paid. The crisis was ended with
were all too brief for the cutters. No Henry Clay's tariff compromise of 1833.
sooner was the War of 1812 brought to In 1836, the Seminole Indians went on
a close, in 1815, than they were ordered the warpath in Florida and eight cutters
to sea against pirates and slave ships. The were ordered to the scene. The W^ashing-
cutter Active captured a number of priva- ton arrived just in time to land men

teers in Chesapeake Bay between 1816 and and guns to save Fort Brook after the
1819. The Dallas captured others off Seminoles had ambushed and massacred
Savannah in 1818. all but one of the soldiers defending the
In 1819, the Alabama and Louisiana, on fort. This was the first amphibious land-
their way to stations in the Gulf of Mexico, ing by combined forces in United States
overtook and easily captured the Mexican history and anticipated by more than 100
privateer Bravo, commanded by La Farge, years similar operations carried out by the
a lieutenant of the notorious pirate Jean Coast Guard in World War II.

La Then the two cutters wiped out

Fitte. The cutters continued cooperation with
Patterson's Town, a pirate den on Breton the Army and Navy in Florida for two and
Island. This practically ended organized a half years, blockading rivers, carrying
piracy in the Gulf, though occasional dispatches, transporting troops and am-
raiders came up from the West Indies and munition, and providing landing parties

Central and South America. The Louisi- for the defense of settlements. When
ana, with a United States and a British peace was finally restored all hands were
warship, took five pirate ships in 1822. rewarded with a grant of a quarter

square mile of public land in Florida.

500 slaves freed
Reorganization, 1843
The Dallas captured a slave ship in
1820, and the Alabama took three slavers Under Secretary of the Treasury John

in 1822. In all, nearly 500 Negro slaves Spencer, the Revenue Marine was set up
were liberated by cutters enforcing the as a bureau within the department along
law forbidding their importation. lines similar to the present Coast Guard
There was more trouble in the wind in establishment. It had accounting, engi-
1832, when South Carolina "nullified" the neering, personnel, operations, intelli-

8
gence, and legal branches, and a captain like the AicLane, Dallas, and Spencer,
was detailed to head the bureau. equipped with a novel and untried under-
About the same time, the service began water paddle-wheel, began to leak so badly
building cutters with iron hulls and auxili- on her way to Mexico that she had to be
ary steam power. The first, the Legare, beached.The Polk leaked on launching
was launched in time to be ordered into and was never used. The Spencer, found
action in the Mexican War in 1846. The defective, was used as a lightship at

Forward and McLatte aided Commodore Hampton Roads. The McLane had her
Perry in carrying out an amphibious as- machinery removed and was converted
sault at the mouth of the Tabasco River into a lightship in 1848. The Woodbury
in 1847. In the operation, however, the and Van Biiren, though not steamers, were
McLane ran aground and had to be pulled condemned as not worth repairs. The
off, which may be why Perry reserved his Legare was withdrawn from service be-
praise for the Forward. "I am gratified," cause of a dangerous boiler and trans-
he wrote, "to bear witness to the valuable ferred to the Coast Survey. The Walker,
services of the Revenue Schooner For- also turned over to the Coast Survey, was
ivard." There was no word for the Steamer run down and foundered off Barnegat.
McLane. Modern engineering officers say that, con-

sidering early steamships used sea water

Ill-starred steamers in square-shaped boilers with no safety
Not only the McLane but all the first devices, it's a wonder they didn't all just

steam cutters were ill-starred. The B/bb, blow up.

Tabasco River landings in which the Forward and tAcLane participated.

 her colors. The cutter fired a shot across
the steamer's bow, and according to the
On both sides cutter's captain, "it had the desired effect."

Later, the Harriet Liine participated in

of the the first Union victory, the capture of Fort

Clark and Fort Hatteras, which were bases

for blockade runners in Hatteras Inlet.
Civil War Then, transferred to the Navy, she served
as the flagship of Admiral David Porter,
whose grandfather had been a master of
one of Hamilton's original ten cutters. At
The side-wheeler Harriet Lane, built in
Galveston she was captured and finished
1857 at a cost of $140,000, was the first
the war as a Confederate ship.
successful steam cutter and one of the
famous ships of the Civil War. In this By November 1864, the cutter fleet con-

period of divided loyalties a number of sisted of 11 screw propeller steamers, 3

officers and men resigned to join the Con- side-wheelers, and 14 sailing vessels. They
federacy, and five cutters in southern helped enforce the blockade and lent sup-

waters were seized for the South. But the port to the Army and Navy striking into

Harriet Lane fought under both Stars and the- South.

Stripes and Stars and Bars. The cutter Kangatuck escorted the Mon-
She is also credited with having fired itor when she sailed out into Hampton
the first shot of the war in April 1861, Roads, March 9, 1862, to do battle with
on the eve of the bombardment of Fort the Confederate iron-clad Merriniac. The
Sumter. As part of a force sent to relieve cutter Aiianii saw action at Willoughby's
the beleaguered fort, sHe came upon the Point, where she landed President Lincoln
southern steamer Nashville trying to run on Confederate-held soil the day before
into Charleston harbor without showing the fall of Norfolk.

The Harrief Lane at sea.

 The Hudson rescuing the Winslow.

braved deadly fire from Spanish guns to

tow the crippled Navy torpedo boat

A brief war in Winsloiv from under enemy shore bat-

teries and certain destruction.
Altogether, there were 18 cutters in the
an era of peace war with Spain. Thirteen operated from
East Coast bases, eight of these blockad-
ing Havana with Admiral Sampson's fleet.

After the close of the Civil War in Four others and the McCulloch were in

1865, the cutters enjoyed a relatively long the Pacific. Three more were in yards being

period of peace, interrupted only by the fitted for battle when the brief war ended.
eight-month Spanish-American War in In the peaceful periods before and after
1898. The outbreak of this war found the the Spanish war, the Revenue Cutter Serv-
cutter McCulloch en route to San Francisco ice underwent changes that presaged the

via the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. tight-knit, efficient, dependable organiza-
At Singapore, she was ordered to join tion that the Coast Guard is today. Regu-

Dewey's forces in the Philippines. There lations of 1871 provided for regular

she distinguished herself in the Battle of inspection of cutters and for physical and
Manila Bay and afterward raced to Hong professional examination of ofificers. In

Kong with news of the American victory 1876 a system for training cadets to be-
so that it could be cabled to the world. come ofificers was instituted. Finally, in

The cutter IF/Wow became involved in 1SU5, the Revenue Cutter Service and the
a naval battle off Cuba, while helping Lifesaving Service were merged and the
cut the Cienfuegos cable, which linked new organization, headed by a captain
Havana with the outside world. In another commandant, was called the Coast Guard,
battle at Cardenas, the cutter Hudson the name it has borne ever since.

11
 men and one Coast Guardsman in a lone
High cost of victory lifeboat and floating on make-shift rafts

another seven seamen and eight Coast

Guardsmen. Eleven of the Seneca's com-
in World War I
plement, including two Navy petty offi-

cers, and five of the collier's crew were

lost.

Plan l, acknowledge. That was the "Seldom in the annals of the sea," de-

dispatch received by all Coast Guard units clared the British Admiralty in praise of

on the morning of April 6, 1917. It meant the Seneca, "has there been exhibited such
that the United States was at war with self-abnegation, such cool courage, and
Germany and that the 15 cruising cutters, such unfailing diligence in the face of
200-odd officers, and 5,000 men of the almost insurmountable difficulties." If

Coast Guard were to go into action with that sounds like Winston Churchill, per-

the Navy. The naval action was almost haps it is because he was the Admiralty's
exclusively undersea warfare and the Coast chief at that time.

Guard was in the thick of it, convoying Shortly afterward, the cutter Tampa,
cargo ships and screening transports. bound for England after having brought
One of the most famous antisubmarine a convoy safely into Gibraltar, disappeared
units of the Atlantic Fleet was Squadron 2, with a loud explosion. A little wreckage
Division 6, composed of the cutters Ossi- and 2 unidentifiable bodies were the only
pee, Seneca, Yamacraw, Algonquin, Man- traces ever found of the ship and 111 Coast
ning, and Tafnpa, based at Gibraltar. Guardsmen and 4 Navy men aboard her.

On April 28, 1918, the Seneca was es- It is believed she was hit by a torpedo.
corting ships toward Gibraltar when at During a fire and explosions at a Mor-
2:45 in the morning the convoy ran into gan, N. J., shell-loading plant in 1918,
a pack of three U-boats. The British naval Coast Guardsmen relaid damaged rails so
sloop Cowslip was nearly broken in two that a train load of TNT could be saved.
by a torpedo. Under the circumstances, the An unarmed surfboat answering the dis-
Seneca would have been justified to steam tress call of the tug Perth Amhoy, under
on, looking for the safety of the other ships fire from a surfaced submarine off New
and herself. But she stopped three times to England, apparently was enough to scare
put off lifeboats and pick up 81 survivors. the U-boat off.

In another of the Seneca's convoys the A tower look-out at the Chicamaco-

British collier Wellington was torpedoed. mico, N. C, Coast Guard Station saw the
She was abandoned but remained afloat. British tanker Mirlo torpedoed 7 miles off
Her crew refused to reboard her, though shore. The station's motor surfboat made
19 of them relented when 20 of the Sen- three trips through burning gasoline and
eca's men manned her and got up steam northeast seas in gathering darkness to
for Brest. Her captain said he couldn't see save 36 British seamen.
others doing duty that was his. In the night The Coast Guard suffered greater losses,
a galecame up and at 4 a. m. the Welling- in proportion to its strength, than any of
ton went down. At daybreak, the British the other United States armed forces in

destroyer W^arrington picked up seven sea- World War I.

12
 World War II port security guard.

tions increased from 1,096 to 1,774. And

In World War II at the end of June 1945, its personnel

numbered 171,168. Of these nearly half

served on ships. There were only 10,000
its manpower more men ashore than at sea, many of the

shore billets having been taken over by

45,000 temporary reservists and 10,000
hit the peak
Spars. Killed in action were 572.
Between World Wars the Coast Guard
had grown. This was due in part to pro-
Guard hibition, for, though enforcement of the
In World War II the Coast hit its

peak strength. It had 802 vessels (over 65 laws against smuggling liquor was unpop-

own, and in addition manned ular, unpleasant, and dangerous, the Coast
feet) of its

351 Navy and 288 Army craft. Shore sta- Guard had never before enjoyed such

13
generous appropriations. Despite retrench- Submarine war again
ment after prohibition, the service was
three times its World War I size in 1940 On November 1, 1941, the Coast
and well equipped to handle events that Guard was ordered to operate as part of

foreshadowed our entry into World the Navy. The next month Pearl Harbor

War II. was bombed and we were in the war. The

When the war broke out in Europe cutter Taney was in Pearl Harbor when

in September 1939, Coast Guard ships, the bombs fell.

planes, and stations were ordered to carry As in World War I, a big part of the
out extensive patrols to insure that mer- Coast Guard's task was antisubmarine
chant ships in our waters did not violate warfare. Coast Guard cruising cutters and
the neutrality proclaimed by President escorts, as well as its sea frontier patrols
Roosevelt. The next summer, the Coast and pickets along the coast, helped win the
Guard began its port security operations Battle of the Atlantic. These ships de-
under the revived Espionage Act of 1917 stroyed 11 U-boats; Coast Guard aircraft
and the newly enacted Dangerous Cargo sank another. Besides, more than 4,000
Act. In March 1941, the Coast Guard survivors of torpedoings and other enemy
took 28 Italian, 2 German, and 35 Danish action were rescued from the Atlantic and
ships into protective custody and in- Mediterranean by Coast Guardsmen.
terned their crews to prevent scuttling and The 165 -foot Icarus blasted a U-boat
sabotage. Shortly afterward, ten 250-foot to the surface not far off the Atlantic
cutters were turned over to Britain under Coast and took its crew prisoners. The
lend-lease. At the same time cutter patrols Campbell, after a night-long battle with a
were operating in Greenland, which was submarine wolf pack, rammed and sank
in the United States' Western Hemisphere one of them for sure, and probably scored
defense zone. on the others with her depth charges. The

The Coast Guard cutter Spznczr sinks a German submarine.

"~~^

- -lis I
spencer was credited with two subs, and ing small boats through the surf made it

the Duane for an assist. the logical organization to train and supply

But there were losses, too. The Hamil- crews for landing craft from the smallest
to77 capsized while in tow after she had barges to the giant LST's (landing ship,
been torpedoed off Iceland and had to be tanks). Coast Guard crews served also on
sunk by gunfire. The Acacia was sunk in many of the big assault transports which
the Caribbean; the Escanaba, Leopold, carried the barges and troops within strik-

Muskeget, and Natsek in the Atlantic ; the ing distance of the beachheads.
Serpens in the Pacific. Only two of the On D-day in Normandy, Coast Guard
crew survived the Escanaba. Not long 83-foot cutters were given special life-

before, the Escanaba had spent eight saving assignments. Under fire from Ger-
hours in sub-infested waters rescuing sur- man defense guns, they saved 1,468 sur-
vivors from a torpedoed transport. Some vivors of sunken landing barges.

of her crew went over the side in darkness Coast Guardsmen distinguished them-
to tie lines to men who were too weak to selves on other fronts. In September 1941,
climb aboard. the cutter Northland swooped down on
Another of the spectacular war duties the sealer Buskoe and frustrated a Nazi
of the Coast Guard was manning the land- attempt to set up a weather station in

ing craft that hit the invasion beaches with Greenland, effecting the first naval capture
assault troops. Guadalcanal, Attu, North in World War II. Then there was the
Africa, Salerno, Anzio, Tarawa, Makin, beach patrol, guarding 40,000 miles of
Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Normandy, South- shoreline. Beach-pounder John Cullen
ern France, Luzon, Guam, Saipan, Iwo detected four Nazi saboteurs landing on
Jima, Okinawa the Coast Guard made Long Island from a submarine. Their cap-
all those stops, and a lot in between. The ture led to apprehension of four others
Coast Guard's years of experience operat- landed in Florida.

D-Day in Normandy.
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The combat information center room of the ocean station patrol cutter Rockaway.

who do the work have to stick to their

Keeping a posts and ride out the heaviest seas in

foulest weather.

weather eye Weather patrols were instituted in

1940, when two Coast Guard cutters were

assigned to observation stations between
out at sea Bermuda and the Azores. Before that mer-
chant ships had supplied the information,
but this had been curtailed when the out-

One of the big jobs of Coast Guard cut- break of the war in Europe forced ships
ters is serving as ocean station vessels. This of belligerent nations into radio silence.

requires them to cruise for 21 -day periods Toward the end of the war there were
in areas 10 miles square so that meteorolo- 11 Coast Guard ocean stations in the
gists can gather on-the-spot data to relay Atlantic, acting as plane guards and radio
to the Weather Bureau. Forecasts and beacons as well as watching the weather.
storm warnings based on such data permit These dwindled after the war, so that by
trans-ocean ships and planes to avoid dan- 1946 there was only one. Five Pacific sta-

gerous weather conditions, but the cutters tions, which the Coast Guard took over

18
 \

!mm

A Coast Guardsman on ocean station in the North Atlantic prepares to release a

weather balloon.

from the Navy in 1946, were reduced to A large raft put off from the Bibb made
two. three round trips, taking passengers from
At the present time, the Coast Guard the plane to the ship. Returning on the
North
operates four ocean stations in the fourth trip, the raft, with 16 persons
Atlantic and two in the Pacific. aboard, began to drift away. A motor surf-
What these ocean station vessels mean boat from the Bibb went after it, but both
for ocean air travel, over and above the swamped. Quickly,
the small craft were
weather reports they supply, was demon- the Bibb bore down on them and men
strated in October 1947 by the cutter over the side of the cutter in landing nets
Bibb. She was on her ocean station 800 whisked the people from the raft and the
miles east of Newfoundland, when the
surfboat out of reach of the sea. Twenty-
flying boat Bermuda Sky Queen, bound
two persons spent the night on the plane
from Ireland to Newfoundland, flew over
after darkness made further rescues im-
her. A hundred miles beyond, the plane
possible. These were taken off next morn-
had spent so much of its fuel bucking
ing. Four days later, the Bibb steamed
headwinds that it would not have been
able to make land. So it turned back and, into Boston with 69 survivors. A broom
despite 35-foot waves, landed near the was lashed to her mast. She had made a
Bibb. clean sweep.
19
 heavily blanketed with fog and every year
Huntmg down an average of 400 bergs drift southward
toward the busiest steamer lanes in the
world. Considering the vastness of the
icebergs is a area, the generally poor visibility, and the
great number of bergs, it is not inconceiv-
chilly job able that one may occasionally get into
the shipping lanes unobserved, despite the
most up-to-date scientific developments
and detection equipment used by Ice
In 1912, the British liner Titanic, built
Patrol cutters and planes. Yet, in all the
at a cost of $7,500,000, left Southampton
time the Coast Guard has performed this
for New York on her maiden crossing of
duty, no ship has been lost through col-
the Atlantic. Her passengers and crew
lision with an iceberg.
numbered 2,207. Only 690 ever set foot

safely on shore The remaining

again. In both World Wars, however, when'
down ship when she submarines were more of a menace than
1,517 went with the

struck an iceberg as she neared New- icebergs. Ice Patrol was suspended so that

foundland.
cutters could perform more important
It was after this tragedy that a confer-
escort duty. There was but one major mis-

ence of the principal maritime nations,

hap in the second war. The British ship
Sreud Foyne hit a berg in March 1943.
meeting in London in 1914, decided to
Before she sank, 145 persons aboard her
inaugurate an International Ice Patrol, the
were rescued by Coast Guard and other
cost to be defrayed in fixed proportions by
craft.
the nations benefited. The Coast Guard,
however, had actually started ice patrols During most of World War II, a de-
in 1913. tachment of Coast Guardsmen experi-
enced in Ice Patrol was based at Argen-
tia, Newfoundland, to serve as a clearing-
Icebergs in the fog
house for ice formation. The movement
The area patrolled is 45,000 square of bergs was reported to them by planes
miles or about the size of the State of Penn- and escorts that encountered ice while
sylvania. During the ice season, which performing other duties. Finally, regular
runs from February to August, the area is patrols were resumed in 1946.

Planes team up
with cutters to
detect icebergs
in the fog-bound
North Atlantic.
 who may be taken aboard," and in 1843 to
They have to go preserve property found aboard wrecks
and to secure the cargoes for the owners.

out, don't have

Humane Society, 1785

to come back Lifesaving operations from shore date

from the founding of the Massachusetts
Humane Society, a volunteer group, in

1785. The society built its first lifeboat

The modern Coast Guard came into station at Cohasset in 1807. In 1849, a
being January 28, 1915, with the merger congressional appropriation provided the
,of the Revenue Cutter Service and the collector of customs at Boston with $5,000
Lifesaving Service. It was a logical con- to buy boathouses and equipment for the
solidation, since both services had worked society. The next year, Congress appro-
closely within the Treasury Department priated $10,000 to build Government life-

for upwards of a century with but a com- boat stations along the New Jersey coast
mon aim to protect life and property and to provide "surfboats, rockets, carro-
from the ravages of the sea. Actually, the nades, and other apparatus for the better
Lifesaving Service had been established preservation of life and property from
within the Revenue Marine Division in shipwrecks on the coast."
1871, but seven years later had been made
a separate bureau. During the separation,
Surf-cars and cannon
however, cutter officers supervised the
drilling and inspection of lifesaving sta- One of the first stations was built at

tion crews. Spermacetti Cove on Sandy Hook, N. J.,

The cutters' concern with maritime in 1849. It has been preserved as a Coast
safety dates back to 1831, when the first Guard museum. Inside this structure of

winter cruise was ordered to aid seafarers weather-beaten shingles about the size of
and ships in distress. Cutters were charged a two-car garage are relics of long ago, in-

in 1836 "to aid persons at sea, in distress, cluding the station's yellowed logbooks.

The Coast Guard's self-righting, nonsinkable motor lifeboat.

fragments of wrecked ships, early surf- to go out," declared one old timer. ""It

boats, watertight dinghies called surf-cars doesn't say anything about coming back."
that were operated like breeches buoys,
and a variety of cannons and projectiles Special breed of men
for shooting lines aboard wrecked ships.

For over five years these early stations Usually, though. Coast Guard crews do
were manned by volunteers, called to- come back, their missions accomplished.

gether like a volunteer fire department One of the reasons is that years of expe-
whenever there was a shipwreck. In 1854 rience in launching small boats through

keepers were appointed for the stations at dangerous surf has developed a special,
an annual salary of $200. Not till 1871 rugged breed of men. Another reason is
was the Secretary of the Treasury author- that the equipment is specially developed,
ized to employ surfmen to man the too.

stations. Take the lifeboats, for example. There

In the 70 years between 1871 and are a number of types, each designed and
1941, cutters and lifeboat stations rescued built by the service for a particular task.

203,609 lives and nearly $2,000,000,000 There's the 26-foot surfboat that weighs
in property from shipwreck and flood. To nearly a ton and is propelled by oars. The
do this magnificent job, men of the old same boat comes in a power model, and
services and the new have had to put to both types arc self-bailing. Then there are
sea in the worst possible weather. "All I two models of motor lifeboats, a 36-footer

know is the regulations book says you have and a 52-footer. These are self-bailing,
self-righting, and virtually unsinkable,
and they have enclosed, heated com-
partments.
Newcomers among rescue craft are the
versatile amphibious trucks, or DUKWs,
as they are called. These vehicles can do
55 miles per hour on paved roads; then,
without stopping, partially deflate their
tires for better traction on sand and do
12.4 miles per hour across beaches and
into the water where they can make six

miles per hour. In reversing this process,

they can reinflate their tires, again with-
out stopping, when they return to the
paved roads.

A breeches buoy is an old but

still workable method of getting
shipwrecked sailors to shore.
 A Cod^t Guard flying boat brings a stricken seaman to a marine hospital.

the Coast Guard's effectiveness as a res-

Aviation extends cue agency is the helicopter. The ability

of these aircraft to hover and to take off

and land straight up and down makes pos-
a helping hand sible rescue operations in areas that are

inaccessible to more conventional types

of air and surface craft.
Aviation has greatly extended the The Coast Guard pioneered in the use

helping hand of the Coast Guard. Rescue of helicopters and in November 1943 set

operations that were once restricted to up a helicopter training base at the Coast

coastal waters because of the limited range

Guard Air Station at Floyd Bennett Field

of earlier equipment, can now be carried

in New York. A year later, 150 mechanics
and over 100 pilots had been graduated
out on the ocean. Giant Marlin fiying
from this special school.
boats can go 1,500 miles from shore, land
In 1945, a Coast Guard helicopter pen-
on the ocean to pick up survivors of an the snow-covered wastes near
etrated
accident or someone from a ship who Goose Bay, Labrador, and brought out the
needs medical attention ashore. crew of a cracked-up Royal Canadian Air
Another type craft that has increased Force plane. The next year a Belgian air-

23
liner crashed near Gander, Newfound- Since 1938, the Coast Guard has taken
land, in wilderness that was inaccessible special measures to protect trans-ocean air-
except to a helicopter. This rescue was a liners in its traditional activities to insure
combined operation with the helicopter safety at sea. By 1940, the Coast Guard
ferrying the 18 survivors to a nearby lake had developed an "Outline of Procedure"
where a Coast Guard flying boat took which provided coordination of safety
them aboard and flew them on the last lap operations by all agencies concerned,
to civilization. maintenance of a ship and plane position
The Coast Guard has had a hand in center, activation of the Coast Guard's
aviation from the very beginning. When distress organization, and transmission
the Wright brothers made their historic and dissemination of information.
first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, three In 1944, an interdepartmental inter-

members of the nearby Kill Devil Lifeboat agency Air-Sea Rescue Agency was set

Station were on hand. One of them up with the Coast Guard Commandant at

snapped a picture of the plane while it its head. This agency was primarily en-
was in the air, and after the flight, when gaged in research and development of
a wind flipped the plane over and threat- rescue procedures. Since the war, the work
ened to wreck it, all three grabbed it and has been continued by the Coast Guard.
helped secure it safely. Adoption of the National Search and
Rescue plan in 1956 reaffirmed the Coast
Guard's responsibility in coordination of
Air group formed, 1916
rescue operations in the vast maritime
By 1916, the Coast Guard had its own regions.
aviation division, which has grown until To And the lost, to help the injured, to
today it has nine air stations, three air save the imperiled this is the mission of
facilities, and twelve air detachments. Coast Guard aviation.

Helicopter
hovers, lets

^%^^ ^^^^s^S^^isSr ^^-^

down life-lift.
^ ^;:^^ 43?^SS^ -
 Guideposts that

bring ships home

When the men who venture to sea get

into trouble, the Coast Guard goes out

and brings them in. But even when ships
are not in distress, the Coast Guard brings
them in guiding them past rocks and
shoals, through darkness and fog until
they are at last safe in port. This is done
by means of navigational aids light-

houses, lightships, buoys, fog signals,

radio beacons which the Coast Guard

maintains. There are over 39,000 aids.

About two-thirds of them are buoys. More

than 500 of them are fully manned light-
houses.
The first lighthouse in America was
built in 1716 on the site of the latter-day
Boston Light. Before that only bonfires
or blazing barrels of pitch on headlands
guided ships to port at night. Shipwreck-
ers would duplicate the crude beacons on
lonely stretches of coast to lure ships onto
the beach where they could be looted. Setting a large radio beacon buoy into
position.
Boston also had one of America's
earliest fog signals, a loud cannon which
started booming in 1719. The first buoys entering New York harbor. The responsi-
had appeared in the Delaware River by bility for aids was taken over by the Fed-
1767. The earliest lightship station was eral Government in 1789, when the Light-
that at Craney Island in Hampton Roads, house Service was established in the Trea-
Va., where a decked over small boat sury Department. The Service was under
was moored in 1820. The first outside Treasury's Revenue Marine Bureau
lightship was stationed off Sandy Hook (1845-52) and its Lighthouse Board
in 1824. (1852-1910), which passed to Commerce
In Colonial times, aids to navigation in 1903. The Service was a Commerce
were built and maintained by the various bureau (1910-39) until returned to Trea-
localities. The Sandy Hook Light, for ex- sury and the Coast Guard.
ample, was built with the proceeds from a The tallest light in service is the 191-
lottery and maintained by a tax on vessels foot Cape Charles, Va., tower. The Cape

25
Hatteras Light in North Carohna, three The electronic age
feet taller, had to be abandoned in 1935
The operation of lighted aids is a lot
because of encroachment by the sea. But
easier now, however, than in the bygone
the highest light, though it has only a 43-
days when smoky oil lamps had to be
foot tower, is perched 422 feet above the cleaned and hlled and their wicks kept
"Pacific on Cape Mendicino, Calif. It can trmimed. Some present-day lights and fog
be seen 28 miles away. signals are turned on and off by a remote
The toughest job of the aids to naviga- radio control system called ANRAC (aids
tion branch of the Coast Guard is main- to navigation radio controlled). And there
taining upwards of 23,000 buoys dis- are other electronic wonders: RACON
tributed along the inland and coastal (radar beacons) which gives distance (up

waterways of the United States, Alaska, to 120 miles) and bearing of ships and

Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. They are planes from the beacons; and LORAN
(long-range aids to navigation) which pro-
inspected at regular and frequent inter-
vides navigational information to air and
vals, and the compressed gas or electric
surface craft. Present Loran stations, lo-
batteries which supply power to operate
cated in Greenland, Newfoundland,
their lights must be renewed to keep them
Alaska, the Philippines, the Caribbean,
in proper operation. They must be re-
and remote Pacific islands as well as
moved from the water periodically for
continental United States, form a safety
cleaning and painting, repairs or replace-
network over the North Atlantic and
ment of worn and broken parts, and oc-
North Pacific. In 1948, Congress author-
casionally taken out of the water for relo- ized the Coast Guard to expand its Loran
cation or to permit renewal of the chain networks to meet the needs of the armed
and anchors by which they are moored to forces and the maritime and air commerce
the bottom of the sea. of the United States.

The Pigeon Point Ligh+house in California.

 Medical and dental care reached isolated
Everything under villages, brought by cutters carrying Public
Health Service doctors and nurses. Mar-
riages were performed by the commanding
the midnight sun
officers of cutters. And though today
Alaska has its local Territorial govern-
ment, many of the foregoing functions are
i HE first American ship to reach Alaska, still carried out by cutters of the Bering
after its purchase from Russia in 1867 for Sea Patrol. In addition, they discharge the
$7,200,000, was the cutter Lincoln. The normal duties that the Coast Guard per-
flag flying from her mast and from cutters forms everywhere.
subsequently sent there was for many years One of the notable Alaskan cutters was
the outward symbol of government in that the Bear which served 41 years on the Ber-
remote region. ing Sea Patrol, carried Byrd to the Antarc-
More than symbols, though, cutters per- tic and still came out fighting in World
formed many functions of government. War II. In the winter of 1897, she volun-
For the Department of Justice they en- teered to go to the aid of whaling ships
forced the law, apprehended criminals, frozen in near Point Barrow. After sailing
and transported "floating courts." For the as far as she could, the Bear sent a rescue
Navy Department they gathered military group mushing nearly 2,000 miles across
mtelligence. For the Post Office Depart- the ice, driving a herd of 400 reindeer
ment they carried the mail. For the De- before them for food. They set out Decem-
partment of the Interior they carried teach- ber 17, 1897; they reached the whalers
ers to their posts and checked up on sani- March 29, 1898. For 4 months they kept
guarded timber and game. For the
tation, order and staved off starvation among 500
Department of Commerce they made sur- natives and 300 marooned sailors until the
veys of the coast and of regional industries. Bear got through in July.

The cutter Bzat, arctic veteran.

 Among the laws enforced by the Coast The problem of how to keep the seals

Guard in Alaska are those governing seal- from becoming extinct was not settled

ing. At the time of the Purchase m 1867, until the United States, Great Britain,

there were an estimated 5,000,000 seals. In Russia, and Japan agreed in 1911 to ban
the first three years of American rule, hunt- commercial sealing in the North Pacific

ing was unrestricted in the seal breeding and Bering Sea. For its part, the United
grounds in the Pribilof Islands. In one States undertook to hunt seals in the Pribi-

season 250,000 were killed. In 1870, the lofs and to prorate the proceeds from the
Government set a limit of 100,000 male sale of pelts among the four treaty powers.

seals a year and leased the hunting rights Enforcement of the ban on deep-sea seal-

in the islands as a monopoly to the Alaska ing was assigned to the Coast Guard's

Commercial Co. for 20 years. Bering Sea Patrol. In 28 years, seals in-

creased from 132,279 to 1,872,438, and

Slaughter on the sea the Treasury had 52,324,501 after paying

the other nations their share of the fur
Ships that hunted seals at sea, however, profits.

had a free hand. They increased from 16 Japan abrogated the pact in 1941. Only
in 1880 to 3-i in 1886 and mo\ed into the the United States, Britain, and Russia enjoy
Bering Sea. Because they took females and its benefits today. And the Bering Sea Pa-
any seals they could get their harpoons trol continues to police not only the sealing
into, there was a sharp falling off in the treaty but subsequent agreements and laws
herd and the United States had to hmit covering halibut, whales, walruses, and
island hunting to 2 3,000 a year. alien fishermen.

Eskimos arrive in an oomiak to keep a dental appointnnent aboard the cutter Klamath.

t
.^^
-.%

Jf
.cM^^
 Merchant marine inspection is one of the Coast Guard's major responsibilities.

and the persons they carry. Believing that

Marine safety "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound

of cure," the Coast Guard enforces many

Federal laws relating to the safety of ves-
is a sels and carries out periodic inspections to

see that they are observed.

responsibility
Inspection and certification

The story of Government inspection and

Marine safety is one of the Coast certification of powered vessels goes back

Guard's major peacetime responsibilities. more than a century to the days of the

Through its Merchant Marine Safety pro- country's first steamboats. In later years
gram, the Coast Guard makes its contribu- this function was carried out by the Bureau
tion toward safety for American vessels of Marine Inspection and Navigation of

29
the Department of Commerce. In 1942, odic inspections of the hulls, machinery
for reasons closely related to the war effort, and equipment of merchant vessels to in-
most of the Bureau's function and person- sure seaworthiness and compliance with
nel were transferred temporarily to the safety regulations, the approval of plans
Coast Guard. The transfer was made per- prior to construction or conversion of mer-
manent in 1946. chant vessels, and an extensive first inspec-
tion of all new vessels during construction
Merchant Marine safety to make sure they are built in compliance
with the approved plans.
program

From the Service standpoint, "Marine Other duties

Inspection," as it soon became known, was
a natural. It was entirely logical that the The jurisdiction of the Coast Guard
Government agency which already had re- extends to ships' personnel. This includes
sponsibility for rescue work and safety the licensing and certification of officers

afloat should also perform the job of acci- and crews, investigation of casualties or
dent prevention by inspection and regula- personnel troubles, and the institution of
tion. There was already a large body of disciplinary action where needed. The
Marine Safety laws on the statute books Coast Guard also investigates violations
and a complete set of Government regula- of navigation laws of the United States,
tions in use by the Bureau when the Coast numbers motorboats, supervises the proper
Guard took over in 1942. But to keep shipment and discharge of merchant ves-
abreast of the times and to insure the ma- sel crews, and develops and promulgates
rine industry a full voice in its own regu- new or revised standards and rules for
lation the Coast Guard quickly established improved marine safety for the entire
a Merchant Marine Council. This is a body country.
of senior officers and advisors whose prin- In addition to the foregoing navigation
cipal job is to evaluate all proposals for laws, the Coast Guard is responsible for
change in regulations affecting the marine preventing oil pollution and obstruction of
industry. waterways, for supervising anchorages,
In administering today's Merchant Ma- and for patrolling regattas. In wartime, it

rine Safety program, the Coast Guard is has broad port security powers under the
closely associated with nearly every phase Espionage and Dangerous Cargoes Acts.
of the life of an American ship from the All of the Coast Guard's duties are im-
first plans on the drafting board to the final portant to this Nation's welfare and to the
trip to the scrap yard. Even on smaller ves- maintenance of a strong and healthy mer-
sels which are not subject to inspection, cer- chant marine. They are administered by
tain laws and regulations requiring safety Coast Guard officers and men in most of
equipment, numbering, safety procedures, the principal ports of the United States.
and manning by qualified crews are ad- Some of these duties are performed by
ministered and enforced by the Coast Coast Guard personnel stationed in such
Guard. large foreign .seaports as London, Yoko-
Among the duties which the Coast hama, Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Naples,
Guard must carry out are thorough peri- and Athens.

30
 The Coast Guard Training School in Gro+on, Conn.

tight-knit organization is something of a

Coast Guardsmen miracle in efficient use of men and equip-

ment.

are made, not born

Where every man counts

In the Coast Guard, every man counts.

The peacetime manpower of the Coast Every man must be a specialist not in one
Guard is around 30,000 or about a tenth job but several. The only way to get such
of its World War II strength. The service men is to train them. This became apparent
it renders, however, is out of all proportion long ago as the service was growing up,
to its numbers. Look at the duties detailed having more and more duties assigned to
on the preceding pages. They are many, it every year.
complex, and scattered widely to distant Back in 1876, a system was set up for
parts of the globe. Performance of these filling third lieutenant (now ensign) va-

staggering chores by a relatively small. cancies from among cadets who had served

31
a 2-year training and probationary period. tions. The four-year course is essentially

In the summer of 1877, the old schooner that of an engineering college, with the

Dobbin, refitted as a "school of instruc- addition of naval and military training in

tion," sailed from Baltimore with the first the cadet battalion ashore and practice

class of cadets nine of them. For 41/2 cruises afloat. On graduation, the cadets
months they tacked between the mainland are commissioned ensigns in the Coast
and Bermuda, and then visited Province- Guard, awarded bachelor of science de-
town, Mass., Portland, Maine, and the grees and assigned to active duty.

Azores. In 1878, the 250-ton bark Chase Enlisted men of the Coast Guard also

was built as a cadet ship to replace the are highly trained. Immediately on induc-
Dobbif?. When the Chase put into winter tion, they are sent to "boot camp," as the
quarters at New Bedford, Mass., the school Coast Guard's well-equipped primary
was continued in a sail loft. In the winter training stations are called, for basic train-

of 1900, the Chase was quartered at Arun- ing. Later, they may go to one of the
del Cove, Curtis Bay, Md., and a two-story many schools the Coast Guard maintains
wooden school was built there in the serv- for training petty officers, or they may
ice's repair yard. The school moved to climb up the promotion ladder via the nu-
Fort Trumbull, New London, Conn., in merous correspondence courses of the

1910, and finally in 1932 into new build- Coast Guard Institute in Groton, Conn.
ings of its own a little farther up the In short, the emphasis in the Coast
Thames River. Guard is on brains as well as brawn. Only
Thus evolved the institution now fa- this way is the Coast Guard able to carry

mous as the Coast Guard Academy. out its manifold assignments, true to the

Cadets of the Academy represent the traditions of more than a century and a

best of America's youth, selected on the half of service to America.

basis of physical and scholastic examina-

A cadet Color Guard marches down the parade ground at

the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1958 O -460332

32
t