June 12th This Day in Coast Guard History

[ollie]

12 June

1813- The Revenue cutter Surveyor, at anchor in the York River, Virginia, was surprised by a three-barge attack force launched from the British frigate HMS Narcissus. Outnumbered 50 to 15, the cuttermen wounded seven and killed three of the enemy before the cutter was captured. The British commanding officer of Narcissus was so impressed by "the determined way in which her deck was disputed, inch by inch," in hand-to-hand combat, he returned to Revenue Captain William Travis, the commanding officer of Surveyor, "the sword you had so nobly used."
1917- An Act of Congress appropriated $300,000 to enable the U .S. Coast Guard to extend its telephone system to include all Coast Guard stations not then connected as well as the most important light stations with no means of rapid communication.
1925- Lake Huron Lightship radio fog signal was placed in commission, being the first signal of this kind on the Great Lakes.
1999-The small cruise vessel Wilderness Adventurer ran aground in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. All passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the stranded vessel. The responders from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Coast Guard, and Glacier Bay Tours and Cruises (which operated the vessel) then successfully refloated her and towed her to drydock. Oil containment booms contained the 300 gallons of fuel that leaked from the vessel. A Coast Guard spokesman later stated "This is the best-run multi-agency operation I've seen in my career. It went well. We still have a damaged vessel to take care of, but at least it's not at the bottom of the ocean in a national park." The Coast Guard also investigated the accident.

[Woodmonkey]

I like this and hope it's a regular feature.

[ollie]

From the Coast Guard Historian's site:

13 June

1929-Coast Guard Radio Technician A. G. Descoteaux became the first person to broadcast from an aircraft. In a Loening amphibian, he reported the takeoff of a French aircraft on a trans-Atlantic flight at Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The account was relayed by ground equipment to an extensive national hookup and was received by U.S. and foreign listeners.
1942-John C. Cullen, Seaman 2/c discovered Nazi saboteurs landing on beach at Amagansett, Long Island. He reported this to his superiors. The FBI later captured the Nazis and Cullen was awarded the Legion of Merit.
1942-CGC Thetis sank the German U-boat U-157 off the Florida Keys. There were no survivors.
1943-CGC Escanaba exploded and sank off Ivigtut, Greenland, with only two survivors. The cause for the loss has never been confirmed.