Category Archives: History

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 10

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

January 10

United States Revenue-Marine revenue cutter USRC Wolcott (1873) at her home port, Port Townsend, Washington.

1889 RC Wolcott made the first-ever at sea seizure of both a smuggling vessel and drugs, and the arrest of its crew, after stopping the British sloop Emerald with 400 lbs of opium and 12 undocumented Chinese aliens at the entrance to Port Discovery Bay, WT.

USCGC Cape Cross (WPB-95321)

1977 CGC Cape George (WPB-95306) received a mayday broadcast from the motor tankship Chester A. Poling.  The 281-foot tankship was breaking in half in high seas and sinking approximately eight miles ESE of Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts, with seven POB.  CGCs Cape George, Cape Cross, Firebush, Decisive, and boats from CG Station Gloucester, Point Allerton, and Merrimack River, and aircraft from Air Station Cape Cod all responded.  Cape George arrived on scene and rescued two persons stranded on the bow section.  A CG HH-3F rescued the first person from the stern of the tankship and a second crewman fell off the stern while attempting to jump into the rescue basket.  At this time the stern section rolled over, throwing the remaining three survivors into the frigid seas.  CGC Cape Cross (WPB-95321) moved in and rescued two of the crewmen while the HH-3F rescued a third.  The six survivors were taken to Gloucester Station and transferred to a local hospital. (Report of the investigation here.)

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 8/9

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

January 8

Satellite map of Johnston Atoll (Kalama Atoll), U.S. Territory in the North Pacific Ocean. NASA satellite image modified for mapping. by Wikipedia user Surfsupusa.

1958  The Coast Guard LORAN Station at Johnston Island began transmitting on a 24-hour basis, thus establishing a new LORAN rate in the Central Pacific.  The new rate between Johnston Island and French Frigate Shoal gave a higher order of accuracy for fixing positions in the steamship lanes from Oahu, Hawaii, to Midway Island. In the past, this was impossible in some areas along this important shipping route.

(A LORAN station operated from Johnston Atoll until June 30,1992. There was considerable nuclear testing that contaminated Johnston Island and the rest of Johnston Atoll 1958 to 1963 and Bioweapons testing 1965-1968. There was also contamination from Agent Orange storage 1972-1977.)

2015  The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards commenced Operation Coal Shovel seasonal domestic ice breaking operations in the southern part of Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair and Detroit River systems, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario.  The mission of Operation Coal Shovel was to quickly reopen the Great Lakes maritime transportation system for the movement of commercial vessels that may become beset in the ice.  The previous winter of 2013-2014 presented some of the harshest ice conditions ever recorded in the Great Lakes.  At one point during March 2014, 92.5 percent of the Great Lakes were covered by ice; this was the highest percentage of ice coverage seen since 1979.  Operation Coal Shovel 2013-2014 started in December 2013 and lasted for a total of 128 days.

January 9

1844  The first published and systematic annual report of the Revenue Marine Bureau was transmitted to Congress on January 9, 1844 by the head of the Bureau, Revenue Captain Alexander Fraser, the service’s first “Commandant.”  The report noted that the Revenue Marine consisted of 15 revenue schooners varying in size from 60 to 170 tons.  The cutters were stationed at Eastport, Portland, Boston, Newport, New York, Delaware Bay, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Key West, Mobile, New Orleans, and Lake Erie.  The report also noted that the number of personnel of the Revenue Marine consisted of 20 captains, 20 first lieutenants, 20 second lieutenants, 20 third lieutenants, 45 petty officers, 7 pilots, 30 stewards, 15 cooks, and 323 seamen.

Coast Guard manned LSTs 67, 66.18, 202, and possibly others unload on Leyte. Coast Guard photo. 

1945  Coast Guardsmen participated in the liberation of Luzon in the Philippines.  Sixteen Coast Guard-manned vessels and seven other Navy vessels with partial Coast Guard crews took part in the offensive.

1952  SS Pennsylvania broadcasted that she had sustained a 14-foot crack in her port side.  A tremendous sea was running, and the wind exceeded 55 miles per hour.  The master advised that the vessel was foundering and that 45 men were abandoning ship in four lifeboats 665 miles west of Cape Flattery, WA.  The Coast Guard used all the facilities at its command in the area, as well as coordinating the use of U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Royal Canadian Air Force facilities in an attempt to locate and rescue the survivors of the vessel.  Fifty-one aircraft from all services and 18 surface vessels participated in the search.  Some of the debris was located, including one over-turned lifeboat, but no survivors were found.

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 7

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

1877  The French steamer Amerique grounded off Sea Bright, New Jersey.  Saved were 189 persons, rescued by the Life-Saving Service crew.  Despite their efforts, three died.

First Reel of the 1948 Academy Award winning documentary “The Secret Land.” Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Northwind featured. 

1947  During Operation Highjump, Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Northwind rescued submarine USS Sennet (SS-408) and Navy supply ships USSYance and USS Merrick that had been stuck in Antarctic ice.

Sennet (SS-408) in the Antarctic Ocean during Operation HighJump, 1946

A portrait of Coast Guard Lt. Colleen Cain by Leonora Rae Smith.

1982  LT Colleen A. Cain, the Coast Guard’s first female HH-52 helicopter pilot, died in the line of duty when HH-52 CG-1420, on which she was co-pilot, crashed into a mountainside 50 miles east of Honolulu.  The pilot, LCDR H. W. Johnson, and aircrewman AD2 D. L. Thompson, were also killed.

CG 1420, source: http://www.heligraphx.com

1994  The barge Morris J. Berman, carrying a cargo of 750,000 gallons of oil, struck a reef off Puerto Rico.  Coast Guard units, including the National Strike Force, responded.

Barge MORRIS J. BERMAN incident, San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 1994. The MORRIS J. BERMAN barge off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. NOAA photo

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 5/6

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

January 5

1883  At 1 o’clock in the afternoon the crew of the Quoddy Head Station discovered a schooner at anchor.  The weather was bitter cold, with a gale from the northwest.  The men got the station’s boat out and pulled to the vessel.  She proved to be Clara Dinsmore from Boston.  There were four men on board, one of them a passenger.  With her sails iced up and splitting, she was in need of assistance.  The keeper took charge and got the vessel under way with the sails she had left and beat her up the bay to her destination at 6 o’clock in the evening.

1975  The “Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC)” Showa Maru ran aground in the Straits of Malacca, eight miles from Singapore Harbor, resulting in a major oil spill.  At the request of the Japanese Government, 10 Coast Guardsmen from the National Strike Force were sent to Singapore aboard a Military Airlift Command aircraft.  In addition to the team, four pumping subsystems of the Coast Guard’s Air Deliverable Anti-Pollution Transfer System (ADAPTS) were also airlifted to the scene. The governments of Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia concurred in the request for assistance.  This incident marked the second time in a year that the Strike Force responded to the request of a foreign government for assistance, the first being a request by the Chilean government to assist after the grounding of VLCC Metula in the Strait of Magellan in August 1974.

January 6

SS Washington, New York Harbor

1934  The United States Line SS Washington came within inches of ramming the new Light Vessel No. 117 on the Nantucket Station.  The liner scraped the lightship’s side, shearing off davits, a lifeboat, antennas, etc.  Five months later the lightship was sunk by the White Star Line RMS Olympic when it rammed the lightship, killing seven of the lightship’s crew.

“L.S. #117.” Photo No. 43; 26 February 1931; photograph by “G.E.E.” LV 117, on station soon after her commissioning in 1930. This photo was taken three years prior to her fateful rendezvous with the Olympic.

1973  The Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut, announced that its cadets were served “meals for the first time by female civilian employees.”  The Academy had “recently become the first of the nation’s service schools to contract their food services to a civilian company.”  Previously, Coast Guard personnel had done the serving.

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 4

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

 44355 was on display at the Bayview Park. Bayview Park is located across from the Long Beach Township Municipal Buildings on Long Beach Boulevard. She was moved to the Tuckerton Seaport (NJ) around 2014.

1980  Coast Guard forces narrowly averted an environmental disaster when the 300-foot barge Michelle F, with more than 2.8 million gallons of No. Six industrial fuel aboard grounded one-half mile offshore from the Brigantine Wildlife Refuge.  Much of her cargo was offloaded before she was successfully refloated.

“I was a coxswain at Coast guard station Beach Haven with the 44355 in January of 1980. The oil barge Michelle f broke loose from its tugboat and went ashore in Little Egg inlet. I was asked to go out and save the crew on that barge in a northeastern storm with 20 ft seas. Coast guard 44355 was there to rescue the crew in that snowstorm. The barge was grounded in the inlet it was almost completely submerged. It took us two tries but we safely got the barge crew off. My crew and myself were awarded the Coast guard medal for extraordinary heroism.”–Matthew Greer uscg ret

The Coast Guard Cutter Healy breaks ice around the Russian-flagged tanker Renda 250 miles south of Nome Jan. 6, 2012. The vessels are transiting through ice up to five-feet thick in this area. The 370-foot tanker Renda will have to go through more than 300 miles of sea ice to get to Nome, a city of about 3,500 people on the western Alaska coastline that did not get its last pre-winter fuel delivery because of a massive storm. If the delivery of diesel fuel and unleaded gasoline is not made, the city likely will run short of fuel supplies before another barge delivery can be made in spring. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard – Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis) NY112

2012  CGC Healy, under the command of CAPT Beverly Havlik, embarked on an Arctic domestic icebreaking mission to escort the Russian tanker vessel Renda through 800 miles of Bering Sea pack ice to deliver 1.3 million gallons of fuel to ice-bound Nome, Alaska.  After 10 days of intense, close aboard ice escorting, the two vessels safely arrived on 14 January 2012 and began a successful 60-hour, over-the-ice fuel transfer while hove to in the ice 468 yards offshore of Nome.

The Day in Coast Guard History, January 3

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

January 3

1882  The watch at Station No. 13, Second District, Massachusetts, reported at about 4 p.m., the collision of two schooners, two and a half miles east southeast of the station. Launching the surfboat, the crew proceeded to the vessels. The smaller vessel, the British schooner Dart, was boarded first. She was out from Saint John, NB and bound for New York with a cargo of lumber and a crew of four persons. The vessel was badly damaged, having her bowsprit, jib boom, and headgear carried away. The life-saving crew at once set to work. They cleared away the wreck and weighed her anchor, which had been let go in the collision. By this time, the steamer Hercules, of Philadelphia had come alongside and Dart’s master arranged for a tow to Vineyard Haven. The life-saving crew ran the hawser from the schooner to the steamer and sent them on their way. The other schooner, in the meantime, had sailed away.

CDR Frank Erickson, USCG, the first US Naval Aviation helicopter pilot.

1944  CDR Frank Erickson received an official commendation after he piloted a Sikorsky HNS-1 helicopter that carried two cases of blood plasma lashed to the helicopter’s floats from New York City to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, for the treatment of Navy crewmen of the Navy destroyer USS Turner, which had exploded and burned off New York harbor.  Having performed that heroic deed in violent winds and snow that grounded all other aircraft Erickson became the first pilot in the world to fly a helicopter under such conditions.  It was also the first “lifesaving flight” ever performed by a helicopter.

2003  CGC Boutwell departed Alameda in preparation for supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.  The cutter began operations in the Arabian Gulf on February 14, 2003.  Prior to the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, her crew conducted maritime interception boardings to enforce U.N. sanctions against Iraq.  At the outbreak of hostilities and throughout the conflict, she operated in the strategically critical and politically sensitive Khawr Abd Allah and Shaat Al Arab Waterways, providing force protection to the massive coalition fleet, securing Iraqi oil terminals, and preventing the movement of weapons, personnel, or equipment by Saddam Hussein’s regime or other guerilla or terrorist forces.

The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) enjoys brief ice liberty on the frozen Bering Sea in below freezing temperatures, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021. The 45-year-old heavy icebreaker is underway to project power and support national security objectives throughout Alaskan waters and into the Arctic, including along the Maritime Boundary Line between the United States and Russia. U.S. Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Cynthia Oldham From USCGC Polar Star Facebook

2014  CGC Polar Star received a request from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on January 3, 2014 to assist the Russian-flagged Akademik Shokalskiy and Chinese-flagged Xue Long, reportedly ice-bound in the Antarctic.  The Russian and Chinese governments also requested assistance from the United States.  After resupplying in Sydney, Polar Star was en route to the stranded vessels on January 4th, enduring 50 knot winds, 20 foot seas and 40 degree rolls. The Coast Guard icebreaker left its homeport of Seattle in December 2013 to support Operation Deep Freeze. The ship’s mission was to break a channel through the sea ice of McMurdo Sound to allow the resupply and refueling of the U.S. Antarctic Program’s McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole stations.  Polar Star was released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority from SAR duties on January 7, 2014, following confirmation that both stricken vessels were free from the Antarctic ice due to a favorable change in wind conditions. The Coast Guard Pacific Area command center received confirmation from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority that both ships broke through the heavy ice, rendering assistance from the Polar Star no longer necessary.

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 2

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

1892  The British schooner H. P. Kirkham wrecked on Rose and Crown Shoal.  The crew of seven was rescued after 15 hours of exposure.  The lifesaving crew that rescued them was at sea in an open boat without food for 23 hours.

“Surfman Roland H. Perkins, one of the crew, who came down with consumption from the ordeal and battled with pneumonia a few months before the rescue, died a couple of months after receiving his medal.”

Andy Lee Howay born mid-flight on a Coast Guard HU-25, January 2, 1986.

1986  Andy Lee Howay was born in flight at 12,000 feet over Gaylord, Michigan aboard Coast Guard HU-25 CGNR 2110 out of Air Station Traverse City.  He was born two months premature and weighed 3.5 pounds upon birth.  Aboard the aircraft were CAPT Martin Niemeroff, USPHS and an obstetrics nurse from Munson Medical Center.  Andy attended the retirement ceremony for CGNR 2110 in 2013.

HU-25 CGNR 2110 Photographer: Glenn Chatfield
Notes: At Cedar Rapids, IA

 

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 1

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

A painting of the original Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse built in 1850

The modern Minot’s Ledge lighthouse built of granite replace the steel lighthouse that was destroyed in 1851

1850  The light in the Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse was first shown.  This lighthouse was the first one built in the U.S. in a position directly exposed to the sweep of the open sea.  It was destroyed and two keepers were killed in a great gale in April 1851.

The U.S. Coast Guard SAR aircraft Arcturus (USCG)

1933  Carl C. von Paulsen, a pioneering Coast Guard aviator, and his crew of four rescued a man during a gale off the coast of Florida while flying in the Coast Guard seaplane Arcturus from Air Station Miami.  He and his crew were awarded a Gold Lifesaving Medal, the first Coast Guard aviators to earn the prestigious award.

1937  Effective this date, the dividing point between the 6th and 7th Lighthouse Districts on the east coast of Florida was moved northward from Hillsboro Inlet to St. Lucie Inlet to place the new trans-Florida waterway (through Lake Okeechobee) under one jurisdiction.

1946  The Coast Guard, which had operated as a service under the Navy since November 1, 1941, was returned to the Treasury Department, pursuant to Executive Order 9666, dated December 28, 1945.

Freeboard mark (Plimsoll mark). Load line markings on a cereal carrier, certified by Bureau Veritas. Photo credit: Wualex

1946  The International Load Lines Convention, which had been suspended since August 9, 1941, was restored to full effectiveness by a Presidential proclamation dated December 21, 1945.  The Coast Guard assumed the enforcement of the convention’s requirements in the interest of safe loading.

Oct. 11, 2020, collision between the offshore supply vessel Cheramie Bo-Truc No. 33 and the Coast Guard cutter Harry Claiborne. NTSB Photo

1954  The “Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1948”, commonly known as the “Revised International Rules of the Road”, became law.  These were a result of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, 1948.

1958  The Coast Guard ceased listening continuously for distress calls on 2670 kilocycles.  Although the countries of the world had agreed at the Atlantic City Convention of the International Telecommunication Union in 1947 to use 2182 kilocycles for international maritime mobile radiotelephone calling and distress, the Coast Guard had continued listening on the old frequency until the public had had sufficient time to change to the new one.

USCGC Point Gammon gets a camouflage coat of dark grey paint at Da Nang, October 1965. Photo credit Lt. Cdr. Richard J. Knapp, USCG

1967  CGC Point Gammon destroyed an enemy trawler in Vietnam.

USCGC Westwind

1984  CGC Westwind was heavily damaged by ice in Antarctic’s Weddell Sea.  About 120 feet of the port-side hull was gashed when brash ice forced the ship against a 100-foot sheer ice shelf.  The gash was two to three feet wide and was six feet above the water line.  The crew made temporary repairs.  There were no injuries.

When the boarding team attempted to board the vessel, the master set the Pacific Star on fire and commenced to scuttle the vessel. In a final act of deterrence, the master turned his vessel and rammed Citrus on the starboard side. The boarding team did get on board and located a large quantity of Thai marijuana in the vessel’s forward hold. As the vessel sank, more than 3,800 pound of marijuana was recovered as it floated to the surface and the seven-man crew was arrested.

1985  CGC Citrus was rammed by the M/V Pacific Star during a boarding incident.  The Pacific Star then sank after being scuttled by her crew.  There were no casualties.  The seven crewmen were arrested on drug charges.

1999  The Aviation Machinist ratings merged with the Aviation Structural Mechanic ratings to form the Aviation Maintenance Technician rating with the designator AMT.  The Aviation Electronics Technician rating became the Avionics Technician rating with the designator AVT.  The Aviation Survivalman rating was renamed Aviation Survival Technician.

 

This Day in Coast Guard History, December 31

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

1881  At 4 a.m. the patrolman from Station No. 34, Fourth District, New Jersey, discovered a vessel ashore on the south bar at Townsend’s Inlet, NJ about three miles south of the station and a mile offshore.  He reported at the station at once and the vessel was boarded by the life-saving crew within an hour and a half.  She proved to be the schooner Joseph F. Baker with a crew of eight persons.  After endeavoring to work the vessel off with her sails, the keeper made preparations to run an anchor and heave her off.  By this time a wrecking vessel came alongside, and her captain arranged with the master of Baker to take his vessel off.  The life-saving crew, which had meantime been joined by the keepers of Station 33 and 35, finding they could be of no further service, left the vessel, taking ashore dispatches for the captain.  A steamer towed the vessel off the bar.

Sinbad

1952  Sinbad, the canine-mascot of the cutter Campbell during World War II, passed away at his last duty station, the Barnegat Lifeboat Station, at the ripe old age of 15.  He served on board the cutter throughout World War II and earned his way into Coast Guard legend with his shipboard and liberty antics.  To date, he is the most decorated mascot to have ever served in the Coast Guard.

Hyperbolic navigation example (Image: Wikipedia)

1980  The 14 remaining LORAN-A stations closed down at midnight, ending Loran-A coverage, which began during World War II.

The crew of USCGC Steadfast holds a decommissioning ceremony for the cutter in Astoria, Oregon, Feb. 1, 2024. Steadfast was commissioned in 1968 and spent nearly 30 years in Astoria.

1985  Vice President George Bush paid an official visit to the officers and crew of CGC Steadfast while the cutter was in Nassau, Bahamas.  Accompanied by RADM Richard P. Cueroni, commander, 7th District and various other U.S. and Bahamian officials, the vice president officiated at an awards and wreath-laying ceremony in honor of the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System and the joint U.S. Bahamian operations.

2014  Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu command center received notification the morning of December 31, 2014 that the tour boat, Mahana Nai’a with 55 people on board was taking on water in the engine room near Kihei.  A Response Boat-Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Maui was diverted to the scene where once on scene, two crewmembers from the RBM went aboard the Mahana Nai’a with a P6 pump and a damage control kit and successfully dewatered the port engine room.  The RBM then safely towed the Mahana Nai’a to Pier 47 at Maalaea Bay.

 

This Day in Coast Guard History, December 30

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

December 30

The Steam Ship Circassian, 1856 by unknown artist (watercolour) (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).

1876  The British ship Circassian was destroyed off Bridgehampton, Long Island, following a successful rescue of 49 persons on December 11 by the Life-Saving Service.  During later salvage operations in a storm the ship broke up, resulting in the loss of 28 of its salvage crew including 12 Shinnecock Indians.

Army freighter similar to Coast Guard-manned USS FS-367

1944  Coast Guard-manned USS FS-367 rescued survivors from USS Maripopsa at San Jose, Mindoro, Philippine Islands.

Foundation for Coast Guard History

Warriors, Lifesavers…
December 30, 1944 — The Coast Guard-manned Army freight and supply vessel USAT FS-367 rescued survivors from USS Maripopsa at San Jose, Mindoro, Philippine Islands.
FS-367 was commissioned April 29, 1944, with LTJG R.H. Greenless, USCGR, as commanding officer. She reached her final destination in the Philippines on 30 December 1944.
In Operation L-3, near San Jose, Mindoro Island, Philippines, she anchored 500 yards off Bulong Point midway between Blue and White beaches. The USS Maripopsa dropped anchor about 300 yards away and some 800 yards from shore.
At 1530 Japanese planes, in a sudden and devastating attack of shipping in the harbor sank or damaged 24 ships. One crashed into the USS Arturus, a PT-boat tender, which sank almost immediately. A second made a low level strafing and bombing attack on a group of LSTs unloading at White Beach blowing the stern off one of them and then turned on the Maripopsa, into which it crash dived. The tank ship immediately burst into flames and a number of the crew either were blown or jumped into the water. The FS- 367 immediately went to her assistance.
At the same time a third Japanese plane made a low-level attack on the destroyers outside the harbor, straddling two destroyers with bombs and finally crashing into the USS Ganesvoort (DD-608), which immediately began to burn and settle in the water, being assisted by two other destroyers, in a sinking condition.
Proceeding to assist the Maripopsa , the FS-367 took several men aboard with her boarding net and James D. Ellis sighting a man struggling in the water and calling for help, dove into the water and supported him until both were picked up by an LSM. The FS-367 stayed alongside the Maripopsa until all survivors had been taken off.
About 1900 the FS-367 withdrew out of the line of fire of guns that were to shell and sink the disabled Maripopsa . Later, this was cancelled and the Ganesvoort launched 2 torpedoes into her. Immediately thereafter a great amount of burning gasoline spread over the bay making the FS-367’s anchorage unsafe.
As she was preparing to move, the Ganesvoort requested she come alongside and take off her crew. By the time she had reached the destroyer, however, the gasoline had spread so widely that the Ganesvoort was in immediate danger of being engulfed. The FS-367, instead of stopping to take off personnel, warped alongside the destroyer and began towing her to a safe anchorage. While so occupied another alert sounded and a Japanese plane was shot down immediately overhead. The FS-367 finally got to safety several hundred yards off White Beach. The next day the Ganesvoort was abandoned by her crew in a sinking condition. No casualties were suffered by the FS-367.
Coast Guard crewed — Under a Joint Chiefs of Staff agreement signed 14 March 1944, the Coast Guard was designated to man certain small Army Transportation Corps vessels (with some already operating in the Southwest Pacific and manned at the time by civilians). The agreement reads: “The Coast Guard, due to decrease in category of defense in the United States, will have some personnel available to man ships and craft for which civilian personnel cannot be obtained.” Five categories of Army vessels were specified for Coast Guard crews: AMRS (Army Marine Repair Ship), TY (tankers), LT (large tugs), FS (freight and supply vessels), and F (Freight vessels). The Coast Guard manned a total of 288 of these Army craft.
(Information courtesy of the Coast Guard Historian’s Office,,,,)

The wreck of the SS African Queen, a Liberian oil tanker that ran aground on Denwick Island, Maryland on the 28th of December, 1958.

1958  The 590-foot tanker African Queen ran aground and split in two 10 miles off Ocean City, Maryland.  Within two hours 15 helicopters from the nearby Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps bases evacuated all 47 crewmen successfully.  The Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at New York coordinated the operations.

1997  The 493-foot freighter Merchant Patriot began taking on water in stormy seas.  Coast Guard air assets from AIRSTA Clearwater arrived on scene and, along with Air Force units, rescued the ship’s captain and her 27 crewmen.  The vessel, however, remained afloat and was later towed to Freeport, Bahamas.