Website Links Dept of Boating: http://www.auxbdept.org/main.htm USCG Auxiliary Nat Mbr Site: http://www.cgaux.org NOAA's United States Coast Pilot Nautical Books Now Available on the Internet: http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/cpdownload.htm Div 5 Web Site: http://www.a09505.uscgaux.info/

Flotilla 43-17 September 2012

NEXT FLOTILLA MEETING Tues. Sept 18. 1900- 2100 hrs

Boldt Construction Company N21 W23340 Ridgeview Parkway Waukesha, WI 53188 Phone in meeting room 262-446-7160

. Dinner location, Spring City at 17:30 2820 N. Grandview Blvd. Pewaukee, WI 53072 262-544-9000

Treat Provider for September Joan Lake

1 FC’s Report - Joan Lake

Summer is coming to an end and what a summer it’s been! Our Fall conference will be held here in Milwaukee, Sept 21-23, there is still time to sign up and register for classes on Saturday.

Dues are due this month, please bring your check to the flotilla meeting and I will send them on to Gary Fisher our treasurer. $35.00 per member.

Elections will be held in November. If you’re interested in becoming Vice commander or flotilla commander please let me know. We will be setting up our nominating committee this month.

STAFF REPORTS

VFC Report - Tom Seegert

I want to relate a story about one of our flotilla members. She set a goal to do over 40 VSCs this year. I have seen her present at Pewaukee and Nagawicka Lake boat launches. Not only has she diligently manned these two sites in the blistering, hot summer sun, she has single-handedly organized VE blitzes at a local bait shop in Delafield. Her conscientiousness and professionalism in performing VEs is a reflection of her dedication to the mission. Yes, Marlys Williams, we are proud to have you on the team. I know you will reach your goal.

If you want to get the best out of a person, you must look for the best that is in him. Bernard Haldane

FSO IS - Paul Neumiller

All members should complete the new online 7028 form to update your personal data, like phone numbers, e-mails, etc. Member updating of this directory is done using the new Online Change of Member Information form ANSC-7028. That form now is the 7028 Webform that can be located at http://webforms.cgaux.org/forms/7028 not currently on the forms page. The new online 7028 form makes this very easy. Be sure to include the Auxiliary Skills Bank information when you do this. The forms are sent automatically to me when submitted. Our flotilla will be measured on our progress of updating the Skills Bank.

All members need to catch up on paperwork. A number of members are behind on 7029 forms.

An updated member roster is attached.

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FSO PE - Paul Neumiller

We are running an About Boating Safety class at Tinus Marine, starting September 24th. All new members should take this class, even if they have completed the “Online version”. There is a lot of basic boating information that is not in the online version that can be learned from the experienced instructors that we have presenting this class. If new members are interested, please contact me.

FSO PA - Harvey Randall

On Saturday, August 18th the Auxiliary made its second appearance with a static PA display at the 8th annual Antique and Classic Boat Show on Pewaukee’s lakefront. We had perfect weather for the day and our booth saw a lot of traffic from boaters and other visitors. This year we brought Coastie with us and he put on a fantastic show thanks to expert operators Kelly Tebbs and Tom Buck from Flotilla 43-13. At the end of the show, we again had the honor of accompanying soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve’s 372nd Engineering Company in the closing ceremonies of the show. As a special honor for veterans, the ceremony included presentation of colors, a VFW Honor Guard arriving by pontoon boat, a 21-gun salute courtesy of the Waukesha Sherriff’s Department, singing of the National Anthem and a war bird fly-over.

This show was a huge success thanks to Kelly, Tom, Peter Krueger and Joel Berman from flotilla 43-13. The organizers were very pleased to have us participate and have invited us back for next year.

Photo courtesy of Wil Vidal, Glacier Lakes Chapter, Antique & Classic Boat Society 3 FSO CM – John Werner Radio Facility

An Auxiliary radio facility does not require a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license when operating while assigned to duty or performing a mission directed or scheduled by the U S Coast Guard.

A radio facility may be offered for use by an Auxiliarist and, if it meets requirements for that type of facility, it will be accepted by the Director of the Auxiliary. The facility owner must arrange for an initial inspection of the facility and, thereafter, a re-inspection every three years from the date of acceptance for use. Radio equipment used on a surface or air facility is considered and inspected as part of that facility. In general, the operator of a radio facility must maintain radio logs and formal message logs. Under ordinary conditions, Auxiliary radio facilities operate according to the Telecommunications Manual, COMDTINST M2000.3 (series).

If you have an interest in expanding your AUX qualifications please follow the link below, we can use more watch standers! http://www.cgaux.org/response/_documents/BeQualified/BecomingQualifiedAuxilia ryTelecommunicationsProgram.pdf

FSO CS - Tom Myers

I recently wrote this article for a Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War newsletter and thought it may be of interest for the readers of the Spindrift.

Tom Myers

As we celebrate Navy Week and the bicentennial of the War of 1812 in Milwaukee from August 8 to August 14, 4 ships are docked in Milwaukee’s harbor; the US Navy frigate USS De Wert, the US Navy coastal patrol boat, the USS Hurricane, the Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ville de Québec, and the US Coast Guard cutter Neah Bay.

Milwaukee was chosen by the Navy as one of 13 cities highlighted during the War of 1812 bicentennial celebration in large part due to the history of naval battles on the Great Lakes including Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Milwaukee is also the home of the United States Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan, responsible for the safety of ports, boaters and shipping in Lake Michigan, and the US Coast Guard Station Milwaukee that patrols from Windy Point south of Oak Creek, north to Port Washington.

The inclusion of the USCGC Neah Bay in this celebration recognizes the Coast Guard and its predecessors’ service as the oldest maritime agency of the United States. The Coast Guard, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, 4 operates under the direction of the Department of the Navy in times of war or when directed by the President.

In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, the US Revenue Marine, a successor to the original 10 ships commissioned by the US Treasury Department in 1790 as the Revenue Service, numbered only about 400 men distributed on 23 sailing cutters and a single iron-hulled steamer, the 180 foot long, 650-ton, side paddle wheeler, Harriet Lane. These ships patrolled the east coast, the west coast and the Great Lakes.

As war appeared imminent in April 1861, President Lincoln ordered a mission to relieve the men blockaded in Fort Sumter. The flotilla included ships carrying 500 soldiers along with escorts that included the well armed Harriet Lane, commanded by Captain John Faunce. During the trip south, the ships encountered a storm and the Harriet Lane, separated from the rest of the flotilla, arrived alone on April 11. It was shortly after her arrival, in the early morning of April 12, that the Confederates at Fort Moultrie fired the first shot of the Civil War, directed at Fort Sumter. Later that day, the Harriet Lane fired the first cannon of the war for the Union directed at the South Carolina steamship Nashville.

The Harriet Lane also served in the fleet that captured Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark in the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries, August 28-29, 1861. The Harriet Lane later became part of the US Navy and served until she was captured by the Confederates at Galveston, Texas in 1863.

Other Revenue Service ships saw action during the war including the sinking of the schooner Caleb Cushing by boarding sailors from the Confederate raider Tacony, while she was moored in the harbor at Portland, Maine. The Revenue steamer E A Stevens, also known as the Naugatuk, an experimental vessel that included a large Parrot rifle loaded from below decks, water ballast tanks with pumps to raise and lower the ship during battle, and twin screws that could be operated separately, participated in the Battle of Drewery’s Bluff on May 15, 1862.

The Revenue Marine Service was converted to the Revenue Cutter Service in February, 1863. The majority of the service provided by ships of both groups was in support of the Navy and the Army; delivering mail, carrying supplies, running lighthouses and other aides to navigation, chasing blockage runners, and saving lives.

At the end of the war, the Revenue Cutter Service consisted of 20 steamers and 13 sloops and schooners.

The men and ships of the Revenue Marine Service and the Revenue Cutter Service during the Civil War were truly Semper Paratus or “Always Ready”.

Respectively submitted,

Tom Myers US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla Staff Officer – Communications Flotilla 095-43-7, Waukesha, Wisconsin 5

The USCGC Neah Bay

Captain John Faunce, commander of the Harriet Lane

The US Revenue cutter Harriet Lane

Bombardment of Fort Darling, Drewery’s Bluff on May 15, 1862 including the USRC Naugatuk

Sources:

6 Harriet Lane fires the first naval shot of the Civil War, by Lt. Stephanie Young, USCG, published on April 4, 2011 in the Coast Guard Compass, the Official Blog of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The United States Coast Guard and the Civil War: The U.S. Revenue Marine, Its Cutters, and Semper Paratus, by Truman Strobridge, USCG website: http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/Cvil_War_strobridge.asp

Lincoln’s Navy, The Ships, Men and Organization, 1861-65, by Donald L. Canney, Conway Maritime Press, London, United Kingdom, 1998, pp 206-210.

Flotilla 43-17 members assist during the 2012 Air Show.

Maureen VanDinter; Dave Johnsen; Tom Buck; Jim Eichenseer; Guest, Jake, grandson of Gerry Hussin; Gerry Hussin.

Photo provided by Judy Johnsen.

FSO PB - Kurt Rojahn

PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL SPINDRIFT REPORTS.

[email protected] or [email protected]

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