South1Nest Pacific A brief history of U. S. Coast Guard operations

by Dennis L. Noble

u.s Revenue Culler Joseph Lane 1849-1869

I o- -­5 10 15 20ft.

-!'---'-~--'--'.:;..:=fuo~-a:us~tt~l:G~ua :.r:::-:::I-'.==..=..-L.-- rd BicentenniaI Series y the end of the Mexican War in 1848, the had taken possession of , whose coastline w as virtually unknown and devoid of any aids to navigation. In fact, not a single existed along the entire West Coast. With gold fever running high and wag­ ontrains full of pioneers pushing west towards California, the federal government tasked four small organizations to aid mariners and provide a federal law enforcement in the wild Southwest. In time, these four agencies would combine to form the modern day U.S. Coast Guard.

Reprinting of material in this pamphlet is encouraged. Please credit: U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Staff and the author, Dennis Noble.

Design and layout by T BracewelUor LifeSa~ing Commandant's Bulletin # 5-89 Pt. Arena Station crewman with a horse­ drawn cart carrying a lifeboat down main street during the 1904 4th of July celebrations.

u. S. Coast Guard in the Southwest Pacific· 1 The Pt. Arena Life-Saving Service Station crewmen demonstrates the operation of tlile breeches buoy, JUly 4,1904

he story of the U.s. Coast Alcatraz Island, Point Pinos, Point high that egg-pickers were gathering Guard in the Southwest, Lorna, Santa Barbara, Point seabird eggs on the island and selling T begins with the U.S. Conception, the Farallon Islands, them for a nice profit. The Lighthouse Service. Congress, realiz­ Humboldt Harbor, and City, entrepreneurs strongly felt that a ing that aids to navigation were essen­ in addition to other loca tions on the lighthouse would drive away their tial to maritime trade and the devel­ West Coast. Between 1852 and 1858, source of income and prevented the opment of the West, authorized in sixteen lights were erected in what construction crews from coming 1848 the establishment of today is California, Oregon, and ashore. A Coast Survey ship, with along the coast. The primary problem Washington. armed sailors was dispa tched to ascer­ at that time was that the majority of The Treasury Department awarded tain and mediate the situation. Upon the Pacific coastline was unexplored, the contract to build the lights to the seeing the armed landing party, the making it virturally impossible to Baltimore based firm of Francis X. egg-pickers quickly surrendered, loca te sites and build lighthouses. Kelly and Francis A. Gibbons. The deciding that a lighthouse would not The federal government mandated ship Oriole was dispa tched, with men be harmful to the birds. that an exploration survey be conduct­ and supplies, to . In California, with its long coastline, ed to insure that the most advanta­ December 1852, the foundation for the needed more and more lights as trade geous lighthouse sites were located. first lighthouse in California was increased throughout the nineteenth The U.S. Coast Survey, la ter U.S. Coast begun on Alcatraz Island. By 1854, century. Some of the lighthouses were and Geodetic Survey, was given the the first light shined from the West a real test of ingenuity and expertise task. It was not until 1849, however, Coast on Alcatraz Island. for nineteenth century engineers. One that a ship was able to conduct the The construction firm's workers of the most difficult to build was at St. survey. Eventually, Congress autho­ that arrived at the Farallon Islands George Reef. Built on Northwest Seal rized the first group of lights in met with an unexpected setback. The Rock, which is only 300 feet in diame­ California at Fort Point, Fort Bonita, cost of eggs in San Francisco was so ter, it is one of the few wave swept

2 • Commandant's Bulletin Bicentennial Series Blunt's Reef Lightship was commissioned June 28, 1905. Often stormy, the lightship was blown off station six times. lights in the country. (A wave swept letters to describe their existence are another had female assistant keepers; light is exposed to the full force of the "loneliness" and "monotony". A and a surprising number had women .) During construction, work great deal of a keeper's life centered as principal keepers." This was not, could only be accomplished on every on the mundane duties of keeping the however, because of an enlightened fifth da y due to the cycle of the station and its equipment clean. view on the part of the service. pounding . The foundation of St. Lighthouses were by necessity Rather, it was a means of saving George Reef Light is a pier in an irreg­ placed in areas of danger and were in money. It was not unusual to have a ular oval shape, 86 feet in diameter, isolated . Before the advent of husband and wife team at a station. faced with cut granite and filled with electricity, the lighting device was a Both wives and children helped in concrete. The tower is also construct­ lamp. Fuel for illumination ranged running the light. For example, Mary ed of granite with the smallest block from whale oil, lard oil, rapeseed oil, Israel raised four children while weighing 17 tons. The light stands and petroleum products. The wick of assisting her husband at the Old Point 144 feet above sea level and was first the lamp had to be carefully trimmed Lorna Light, near San Diego. Another lit on October 20, 1892. All total, it to produce a strong light and watched example, Juliet Fish, keeper of the took an incredible ten long years to constantly throughout the night. This Angel Island station, in San Francisco successfully complete the project, yet constant attention to wicks led to Bay, once manually pounded a fog after 97 years St. George Reef Light lighthouse keepers earning the nick­ bell for twenty hours straight when still stands today. name "wickies.' the mechanical striker failed. The life of a nineteenth century Unbeknownst to most people In additon to lighthouses along the lighthouse keeper, manning a light­ today, many light keepers were California coast, there were two light­ house away from the pressures of life women. F. Ross Holland, one of this ships stationed within the state's may seem idyllic to most modern country's foremost authorities on coastal waters, at Blunt's Reef, near Americans. However, the words most lights, noted that lighthouses going Cape Mendocino, and outside of San used by keepers in their diaries and back to the 1800's "at one time or Francisco Bay. These small, special

U S. Coast Guard in the Southwest Pacific· 3 One of the most exposed lighthouses on the Pacific Coast, 51. George Reef is an excel! nt example of a wave-swept lighthouse. ships guarded areas where it was of smoke over the entire . The no other vessel could get to and work impossible to build a light structure. ship suddenly found itself a haven for through storm, darkness and sun­ If lighthouse duty was monotonous land birds ranging from humming shine. The first tender along the and lonely, light-ships were doubly so, birds to owls. When the smoke finally Southwest oast was also the first with the added danger of being cleared, the birds returned to their nat-I steam powered tender, the Shubrick. rammed by ships in foul weather and habitat. Jefferson M. Brown and She anived in San Francisco on May the hazard of sinking. Forced by duty am Miller, of the Point Arena Light, 27,1858. to remain on station no matter how along with a civilian volunteer, won I fierce the storm has caused more than the Gold Life Saving Medal, the high­ he next predecessor agency one lightship to capsize and sink dur­ est award for lifesaving, for their res­ of the modern day U.s. ing heavy gales. The first lightship in cue attempt on ovember 22, 1896. T oast Guard to be stationed California took station outside San The men tried to assist the San Benito along the Southwest coast was the Francisco Bay on April 7, 1898. wrecked near the light. Three times U.S. Revenue Cutter Ser ice. Crews of lighthouses and lightships the men attempted to reach the ship in Established in 1790 by Alexander were also instrumental in saving lives a small boat, "only to be hurled back Hamilton, the fir t Secretary of the of those in distress near their 10 a­ by the force of the sea." Treasury, the service was formed to tions. The annual reports of the U.S. The Lighthouse Service also operat­ stop the loss of badly needed revenue Lighthouse Service are filled with ed their own fleet of ships, called by sea-going smugglers. The first ten accounts of rescues. In 1916, for Lighthouse Tenders. The tenders pro­ small cutters were deployed from example, the small Blunt's Reef vided supplies and work parties to the Maine to Georgia. The Service also Lightship somehow managed to scattered and isolated lighthouses, in soon found itself with a military role, squeeze on board 150 survivors of the addition to maintaining other lesser participating in the Quasi-War with liner Bear. The San Francisco light­ aids to navigation. The work was 0798-1800). In fact, because ship, in 1902, had an unusual assis­ dangeous, as lighthouses were 10 ated the U.S. avy was disbanded after the tance case. Forest fires were sweeping in hazardous areas. The tenders and Revolutionary War, the U.s. Coast Northern California, with a heavy pall their crew were expected to go where Guard, through the Revenue Cutter

4 • Commandant's Bulletin Bicentennial Series Service, is the oldest, continuous fed­ patrolled regattas in the Bay area. such as the Bear and the Thetis, well eral sea-going force in the United One of her most unusual duties came known for their dramatic rescues of States. In addition to its law enforce­ during the great San Francisco ­ whalers and explorers trapped in the ment and military duties, the Service, quake of 1906. A great deal of the Artie ice, dropped their anchors in San in 1836, was assigned "winter cruis­ city's destruction was caused by fires. Francisco's harbor. To seamen, the ing" or performing lifesaving duties The cuttermen of the Golden Gate gambling halls and bars of San on the high seas. served as firefighters and transporting Francisco's infamous Barbary Coast When the first ship of the U. S. officials and refugees. Then, in the were paradise. The monotony of Revenue Cutter Service, the Lawrence, midst of their work, the commanding weeks and months at sea magnified arrived in San Francisco, on October 3, officer of the cutter was given the the pleasures of shore leave, and San 1849, the duties of the agency were Francisco more than any other port in well established. The newest mar­ the world was the zenith of debauch­ itime organization in the early ery at the turn of the century. The Southwestern Region soon began a Seaman worldwide crews of the Revenue Cutters, wide variety of duties, including the although they often stuck together added task of exploring and reporting considered, San when in port, were not immune to San back to Washington D.C. on the eco­ Francisco's attractions. nomic possibilities of the area. Well Francisco, the pivet into the twentieth century, the vast he next predecessor agency majority of the cutters were stationed point of the infamous of the U.s. Coast Guard in in the area. Barbary Coast, the T the Southwest is the one that The duties of the early cuttermen probably most shaped the general was as varied then as they are today. most exciting port ... public's perception of the Service as a A good example of life on board a ut­ lifesaver - the U.S. Life-Saving Service. ter in the 1800' is the crew of the the zenith of debauch­ The mission of this service was to Argus. LT. William C. Pease, the ut­ launch small boats in an effort to res­ ter's commanding officer patrolled ery at the turn of the cue people shipwrecked close to between San Francisco and Benicia, shore. The Service began as a series of near the entrance to the Sacramento century. volunteer shore-based rescue stations I~iver. From March 8 to May 30, 1852, along the Eastern Seaboard. In 1848, Pease boarded three ships, calmed a added responsibility of taking on the federal government came on mutineer aboard another ship, helped board the gold reserve from the board. It was not, however, until 1871, free a grounded vessel, plus conduct­ Federal Bank in San Francisco. The when Sumner Increase Kimball took ed normal patrolling. The Argus' cutter remained a floa ting bank until command, that the Service became work was so efficient that Capt. the fire danger was over. The skipper highly respected. Under Kimball's William Hunter, the senior Revenue of the Goldw Cate breathed a great strong and efficient leadership, more Cutter Service officer, noted that "it sigh of relief when the gold was care­ stations of the organization began to would be almost impossible to smug­ fully ounted and removed from his be established along the eastern gle goods by sea to Sacramento, or ship. The small cutter, after serving seaboard, Ull the Great Lakes, Gulf Stockton, as the entrance to those forty-eight years in San Francisco was Coast and, finally, on the West Coast. places are so well guarded" by the decommissioned in 1945. Stations at Golden Gate, in the present Argus. By 1914, the cutters of the Revenue Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Not all craft in the Service were sea­ Cutter Service were a regular sight in Bolinas Bay and Humboldt Bay were going. Customs duties also entailed the Southwest, especially in the San authorized on June 20, 1874. Other the use of small harbor craft. One of Francisco Bay area. San Francisco stations at Southside, Fort Point, Point the more venerable ships to serve in served as the primary winter port Bonita, Point Reyes, and Arena Cuve, the Southwest was the Goldell Gate. along the Pacific coast. Many of the soon followed. The 110 foot cutter was built in Seattle cutters would spend the winters The duties of the men, called surf­ in 1896 and arrived in San Francisco patrolling California's coastal waters men, who were assigned to these sta­ on May 13, 1897. The Goldell Cate per­ and in the summer sail for several tions were deceptively simple: using formed law enforcement boardings, months of sea-duty on the lookouts and beach patrols to detect towing, helped fumigate vessels, and Patrol. Some of the legendary cutters, ships in trouble, they were to put out

U S. Coast Guard in the Southwest Pacific· 5 Top: A radio room on board a lighthouse tender off the south­ west coast. Radios were intro­ duced to the maritime communi­ ty very early in the 20th. Century. Right: A painting depicting the cutter Bear from the time of the U.S. Revnue Cutter to the U.S. Coast Guard today.

6 • Commandant's Bulletin Bicentennial Series Left: The original drawing for the Golden Gate Life-Saving Station shows an almost resort type of station. Below: The Farallon Island Light, put into operation on Oct. 15, 1856. Workmen had to carry the material for the light to the top of the peak. The island was the site of an eggpickers war when peo­ :/ ple would come to the Farallons to harvest :;..• ~ - seabird eggs for San Francisco food markets. I;­ -/ Bottom: During the Rum War, 75 foot wood­ en patrol boats, known as "six bitters", were used as a second ring of defense against smugglers of liquor. The CG-262 has just brought in her prize, the Elcisco, into a San Francisco dock, circa 1927.

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U S. Coast Guard in the Southwest Pacific· 7 ~ilIiiiI~~~~~~~-~-~~. - ~~-. One of a series of OLDTIMER L1FES~VERS in the Life-Saving Service by M.J. BurnJ published in Harper's Weeklies, c. 1900.

to sea in small oar-propelled boats Humboldt Bay Station. On December steam ships. Thereafter, in fits and anytime a ship was in distress in their 22, 1888, while working with his fel­ starts, other acts followed, usually area of operations. If the seas were low surfmen in assisting the collier after some accident pointed out safety too rough for boats, the lifesavers Mendocino, he saw the body of a small weaknesses. In 1903, the Steamboat used a line-throwing device, called a child that the station's surfboat could Inspection Service was transferred to Lyle gun, to establish a strong hawser not reach. Surfman Regnis fearlessly the Department of Commerce and between the ship and shore. The plunged into the cold, pounding surfl Labor. By 1911, the duties of the orga­ amount of muscle power to ram a 700 and recovered the body. For his nization included: the inspection of to 1,000 pound surfboat, or a lifeboat courageous actions he was awarded vessel construction and equipment; that weighed between two and four the Gold Life Saving Medal. the examination and licensing of tons, into towering surf is difficult to marine officers; the examination of imagine. The men who served at the ­he last of the four predeces­ seamen and investigations of marine life saving stations, however, led lives sor agencies to form the casualties and violations of inspection consisting of hours of boredom, inter­ T modern day U.S. Coast laws; establishing regulations to pre­ spersed with seconds of sheer terror. Guard is also the least docUlnented vent collisions; and establishing regu­ The dramatic rescues performed by and studied. The Steamboatl lations for the transporting of passen­ the surfmen caught the imagination of Inspection Service came about due to gers and merchandise. the public and the press. Reporters of the large growth of steam powered the day gushed forth with praised for ships and the resultant explosions of he year 1914 marks a major these mighty men, dubbing the surf­ faulty boilers, with a great loss of life. change in the affairs of the men "soldiers of the surf" and "storm After a number of terrible disasters, predecesor agencies of the . " T warnors . Congress hesitantly took action. On modern day u.s. Coast Guard. The One example of a "storm warrior" July 7, 1838/ the first legislation was Life-Saving Service was no longer was John Regnis, a surfman from the ena ted to promote safety on board attracting young men to its ranks.

8 • Commandant's Bulletin Bicentennial Series The Humboldt Bay Station, authorized as a Life-Saving Station unit on June 20,1874, was completely rebuilt in 1936. This was due in part to the low pay u.s. Coast Guard's inventory, compli­ CG-811, was patroling near Sunset and the lack of a retirement plan. It ments of the U.s. Navy. Although Beach, in the vicinity of Los Angeles, was not unusual to have men in their these efforts helped, the flow of liquor and, at 1:15 am, sighted a suspious 38 sixties and seventies manning the was never completely cut off and only foot speedboat, the A-2193. The cutter surfboa ts. In a move to streamline the passage of the 21st Amendment, sounded her siren, flashed her spot­ and improve government operations, the repeal of Prohibition, brought the light on the boat, and illuminated her the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the rum war to a close. Coast Guard ensign. The boat tried to U.S. Revenue Cutter Service were The rum war on the Pacific Coast escape. The cuttennen fired warning combined on January 20, 1915, to form never rea hed the intensity that was shots with a rifle, but when the boat the U.S. Coast Guard. encountered by Coast Guardsmen on still refused to heave to, the skipper of the East Coast, mainly because of the the CG-811 ordered the crew to open ne of the first major tasks lack of large population centers. The fire with the machine gun. The A­ of the new Service came in larger areas of San Francisco, Los 2193 immediately headed towards the O 1920 with pas age of the Angeles, and San Diego, provided the beach, where her crew went over the Volstead Act, the social experiment to Coast Guard with enough action, side as the boat broke into flames. outlaw liquor in the United States. however, to keep them busy. Usually, The effort to keep America dry was For the next 14 years, the U. S. Coast liquor would be loaded on ships at not a popular one and placed the new Guard waged a war against smugglers Vancouver, British olumbia, for the U.s. Coast Guard in an awkward posi­ of illegal spirits The Service soon long trip to the Southwestern Region. tion. The "drys," those that wanted found tha t it did not have the men nor Most seizures in the California area the prohibition of spirits, were angry the equipment to successfully wage were simple affairs of boarding a sus­ that the flow could not be stemmed, this battle. Station crews were dou­ pected craft and making an arrest, but while the "wets" were equally bled,-patrols were increased and a 75 there was always the chance of the angered over the supply of spirits that foot picket boat class was added to the unforseen happening. The six bitter, were interrupted. As one historian

U S. Coast Guard in the Southwest Pacific· 9 'r"1..~ .1_1*:_1& I

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Left: A crewman from the Point hieo fires on a Honduran drug vessel, the Islander, a sign of the Coast Guard's escalating war on drug smuggling. Top: The OL-5 ampHibious airplane was the first aircraft built for the Coast Guard. The Rum w~r struggles reinforced the need for air­ craft to spot smugglers. Right: (J;oast Guardsmen standing watch along the Pacific Coast near San FrancIsco during War War II . noted, "It was a cross which the Coast ven during the most pressing speed below steerage. In a feat of Guardsman had to bear, and he bore it days of the rum war, the role great seamanship, the Chief and his well." Out of the long rum war, how­ of saving lives never crew managed to safely remove the ever, some good did emerge. The U.s. E changed. In fact, command­ four people from the Rena. Churchill Coast Guard had, in general, been ing officers of cutters that were active­ was offered the Gold Life Saving known only locally. But their work ly engaged in stopping rum runners Medal and his crew the , but the during the years of battle gave the were told that the saving of lives Chief refused to accept any higher Coast Guard national and internation­ remained their most important mis­ medal than his crew receieved and al notice. Most importantly, the ser­ sion, even above stopping the flow of thus all received the Silver Medal, the vice "remained larger and more liquor. The role of the small boat sta­ second highest award for lifesaving. important than previously." tions in the Coast Guard differed very I The need to locate smugglers far little from that of the old Life-Saving y the late thirties, as war out at sea also brought about a Service. To be sure, there were clouds thickened, President "renaissance" in Coast Guard avia­ improvements, such as motorized I B Franklin D. Roosevelt made tion. The first Coast Guard aviator, Lt. lifeboats. One of the best examples of another major change to the U.S. Elmer Stone, had pointed out the need how little things had changed is at the Coast Guard. On July 7, 1939, again for aircraft as early as 1916, but the air Humboldt Bay Station. in the interest of streamlining the fed­ arm had languished. Prohibition On June 23, 1939, Surfman Karl L. eral government, the Ligh thouse proved Stone correct and from 1926, Carios (the title of surfman had Service was transferred to the Coast when the Loening OL-5 amphibious remained into the early Coast Guard Guard. Shortly thereafter, the service plane became the first aircraft built to years) on lookout duty spotted the itself became part of the U.S. Navy as Coast Guard order, aviation grew in Rena near the Humboldt bar and saw the nation entered World War II. importance. she was in difficulty. He immediately Later, as a wartime measure, the The first Coast Guard Air Station in alerted the officer in charge, Chief Steamboat Inspection Service, now California was established at Linberg Boatswain's mate Gardner J. called the Burea u of Marine Field, San Diego, on July 1, 1934, with Churchill. Churchill, with a crew of Navigation, was temporarily trans­ one plane and a "handful of men" four, headed the 36 foot lifeboat ferred into the Coast Guard in 1942. under the command of LT. Luke toward the yacht, which by 7:20 pm The move was made permanent in Christopher. It was moved a "short was swamped. As Chief Churchill 1946. distance" from this location in 1937. brought his boat through the pound­ At the beginning of hostilities resi­ On November 15, 1940, another Air ing surf, the lifeboat completely van­ dents of California's coastal areas Station was established at San ished beneath the breaking seas. The were extremely fearful of an imminent Francisco. closer Churchill approached the Rena, Japanese invasion. Thirteen days after the more he was hampered by the the attack on Pearl Harbor an incident debris breaking off the vessel and by occurred near Humboldt Bay that the fact that he had to reduce his fueled these fears. The tanker Emidio

10 • Commandant's Bulletin Bicentennial Series

• maneuvers and the periscope van­ ished as suddenly as it had appeared. Fifteen minutes later it was spotted again, still tracking the boat. Then, for some unknown reason, the scope dis­ appeared and the boat proceeded unharmed into Humboldt Bay. The fear of an invasion led the Coast Guard to strengthen its beach patrol force, a trad itional duty of the old Life-Sa ving Service. In 1942, for example, eighty men were assigned to the Humboldt Bay area for patrol duties. The Coast Guardsmen trav­ eled by horseback, jeep, and on foot with dogs to detect enemy landings.

he U. S. Coast Guard that emerged from World War II is T basically the service that still opera tes its multifaceted missions radioed she had just been hit by a tor­ take the small boat. The dark shape's today. There have, of course, been pedo near the Blunt's Reef Lightship bow came near the boat's stern at the changes. Technology has played a and was sinking. Fifty-two men were crest of a wave, while the lifeboat was large role in bringing about a new in the water, with one man killed and in the trough. The Boatswain put the look to the Coast Guard. When the one badly wounded. The cutter boat's wheel over hard and advanced Service obtained the Lighthouse Shawnee, at Humboldt Bay, was the throttle to full speed. The combi­ Service, in 1939, it immediatly began ordered to get underway, but heavy na tion of following the seas' motion, to seek ways to automate many of the seas were running at the bar and all rudder action, and speed, caused the isolated stations. Large navigation aids to navigation were darkened due small boat to whip completely around, buoys, solar power, and better naviga­ to the invasion fears. The senior Navy and as the craft slid by, the Coast tional equipment have all spelled the officer in the area, who was in charge end of the wickies. The Lighthouse of a nearby radio station, felt the risk Service, during its heyday in the to the cutter was too great and Southwest had thirty-eight lighthous­ ordered the Shawnee to remain in port. Fearing a Japanese es and two lightships. By 1988 there Gardner J. ChurchilL now a Warrant were no Coast Guard manned light­ Boatswain, wanted to take the Coast invasion/ California's houses or lightships within the waters Guard Station's 36 foot lifeboat to of the State of California. It is estimat­ assist. The Navy officer again refused. Coast Guard Beach ed that by the year of the Coast Churchill, however, elected to disre­ Guard's bicentennial, in 1990, the gard his orders and proceeded to the Patrol maintained Service have automated all of its scene, south of the station near the Eel lights, thus ending an era in our mar­ River. vigilant watchs for itime history. Two hours after getting underway, Technology has also caused the lifeboat was traveling slowly enemy landings of changes in the small boat stations through the dark in heavy seas when troops or saboteurs. within the Southwest. New high suddenly the lookout noticed a low, powered lifeboats are incredibly fast dark shape in the distance. Churchill and have longer ranges. The greatest flashed a signaL but received no reply. Guardsmen identified their pursuer change in search and rescue work was The officer began to become a little as, indeed, a submarine. the development of the helicopter. uneasy about the mysterious shape Undetered, Churchill continued his Prior to World War II, most small boat and then noticed that whatever was search for the tanker's crew. At 8:30 in rescue sta tions were grouped in the out there had begun to close on the the morning, the Coast Guardsmen area from San Francisco northward. lifeboat. Churchill then turned and gave up the search and started the In 1929, for example, there were eight set a course away from the area, only long, rough trip back to Humboldt stations scattered along this stretch of to be followed by what the Coast Bay. Nearing their station, the crew the Northern Calfornia coast. Fifty­ Guardsmen now felt was a Japanese spotted a periscope heading towards eight years later, in 1987, there were submarine. The craft started to over­ them. Churchill began to take evasive ten stations spread from San Diego, in

U S. Coast Guard in the Southwest Pacific· 11 the south, to Humboldt Bay, in the north. Even though the stations now cover a larger area, the combination of better boa ts and helicopters allows re cues to be accomplished much fa ter than in the early days of shore based rescue operations. The The u.. oast Guard continues to perform some amazing rescue feats Coast Guard within the Southwest. During the Northern California floods of 1955, for example, Coast Guard airmen under­ in the took work that the Commandant of the Coast Guard noted was truely an ? Southwest "outstanding performance," even for a :d,e =.dC:: tl service noted for rescues. An H04S helicopter piloted by LT Henry J. Pfeiffer, with Petty Officer

ISACRAMfNTO Joseph Accamo, as hoist operator, flew for nearly twel e hours, beginning at 4:35 in the morning. Pfeiffer and Accamo were relieved alternately by LCDR George F. Thometz, Jr.,and o 50 100 Petty Officer Victor Rou land. An I I I unbelievable 138 people were rescued Miles by the Coast Guardsmen. The first fifty-five were picked up in darkness, Selection of Lights with the "ch pper" hovering above and Stations along "trees, chimney ,and television anten­ the California Coast nae, the only illumina tion being pro­ vided by an Aldis lamp held by the hoist operator." At one time three women and eleven child ren were somehow squeezed into the heli­ copter, which one historian noted must "be a record for an H04S." Another helicopter rescue, on December 4, 1985, took place about twelve miles northwest of the Golden Gate bridge. An HH-3F from San Francisco Air Station, piloted by LT Don Rigney, hoisted three Vietnamese Chdnnec Island HartDr r! immigrants from a fishing boat that had gone aground on a reef. The res­ cue was completed despite rough IOceanS'de~ seas, darkness, and a language barrier. The traditional duties of law enforcement have changed very little for the Service in the Southwest. , \ Some fifty-five years after Coast :,,·'e,-~ Guardsmen finished the Rum War, the

12 • Commandant's Bulletin Bicentennial Series men and women of the Service found themselves once again engaged in a war against smugglers, this time the contraband is drugs. On May 23, 1988, the cutter Cape Romain, an 82 foot patrol boat, and two 41 foot boats from Station San Francisco, intercept­ ed a tug and barge near the Golden Gate bridge. A search revealed approximately 37.5 tons of hashi h and 13.5 tons of Asian marijuana. After the seizure, it took "almost 12 hours" to unload the contraband. It I " was the largest seizure of hashish in U.s. history. Two administrative changes took place for the Service in the Southwest Region in 1967 and 1988. The Coast Guard, in 1967, was transferred from its traditional home in the Treasury Department to the Department of Transportabon. In 1988 , the Eleventh Coast Guard District and the Twelfth Coast Guard District were combined to form the Eleventh Coast Guard District, which now covers the tates of California, Tevada, Utah, and Arizona. In 1990, the U. S. Coast Guard will mark two hundred years of service to the nation. Since the 1840s, the Service has provided assistance to the maritime community, and others, in the Southwest. Even though technolo­ gy has caused the establishment of new stations, the shifting of others, and the decommissioning of still oth­ ers, this small Service continues to enforce federal maritime law" and provide a rescue organi7i1tion for those in distress. In fact, with the increase in recreational boating, the Coast Guard now handles more res­ cues than ever before. The men and women of today's U.S. Coast Guard, who responded to emergencies along the West Coast, are carrying on, and surpassing the strong foundations of service to others established by the deeds of their reknown predecessors. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft, past and present, at work in the Southwest.

U S. Coast Guard in the Southwest Pacific· 13