A brief history of U. S. Coast Guard operations by Dennis L. Noble .. :';:.. ":":":::.. IIh;ro~~:a~ n~::r:~ .. .... " ~%'f'~ff?l"2)tf~';";;i/"";"""{(~waterway for the transportation of goods from the rich American heartland. Together, they form the most important inland waterway in North America. As early pioneers and com­ merce pushed westward through this great waterway, the federal government provided four small organizations that helped those who sailed upon the lakes and provided a mar­ itime federal law enforcement presence in the old Northwest. Eventually, these four agencies were amalgamated to form the modern day U.S. Coast Guard. Reprinting of material in this pamphlet is encouraged. Please credit the Coast Guard Public Affairs Staff and the author. An artist's rendition of one of the first stations along Lake J -' ~\ .' .. -.-.-­ - -....:­ ~ o. -:..=-_--:--_- .. - -=-..:._- -­ :::.~~ ~_ ._-c;f -.­ Superior's shoreline. Many of the first U. S. Life-Saving Service stations were in small cottages at very isolated locations. U. S. Coast Guard on the Great Lakes· 1 One of the drills the men of the Life-Saving Service had to perform weekly was the capsizing and righting of the lifeboat. This he need for assistance to would eventually make up the U.S. be more than 100 lighthouses dotting those upon the lakes brings Coast Guard on the Great Lakes. The the shorelines of the lakes and the St. up the old argument service traces its roots to 1716 with the Lawrence River. T between salt and fresh establishment of a lighthouse on Little The builders of Great Lakes light­ water sailors. Many an old salt would Brewster Island, at the entrance to houses faced great difficulties in erect­ ask what danger could there be on a Boston Harbor. By 1789 there were 12 ing their structures. Ughthouse lake? With the opening of the St. lights located within the new United Service engineers had to contend with Lawrence Seaway in 1959 some of the States. high bluffs, sandy coasts, shoals, and questioning sailors had a chance to There is considerable debate on other problems. The hazards are best sail on the "mill ponds" and soon where the first light was established in illustrated by the establishment of found that waves of twenty feet in the Great Lakes. A fire in 1920 Spectacle Reef Light, the "greatest height, or higher, can be quickly gen­ destroyed many of the service's engineering achievement in light­ erated and danger is as real for a records, so an accurate listing is not house construction on Lake Huron, sailor on Lake Michigan as on the possible. However, F. Ross Holland, and one of the outstanding feats in the ocean. the foremost writer on United States lighthouse service as a whole ...." If one looks at the statistics, it lighthouses, sets the 1819 establish­ Spectacle Reef, located at the east­ becomes abundantly clear that this ment of Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, as ern approach to the Straits of body of fresh water is huge. The the first light in the region. Whichever Mackinac, was, according to official chain of lakes making up the region lighthouse it was, the need for aids to reports, "probably more dreaded by encompasses 94,510 square miles. navigation grew as shipping navigators than any other danger now Indeed, it does appear that the lakes increased. unmarked throughout the entire chain are, in the words of one writer, the By 1866 there were 72 lights guid­ of lakes." Congress, in 1869, autho­ "Eighth Sea". ing ships to safety. The need for lights rized work to begin on the project The U. S. Lighthouse Service was is well illustrated when one realizes with an estimated cost of $300,000. the first of the four agencies that that by the 20th century there would Major O. M. Poe, of the U.S. Army 2 • Commandant's BUlletin Bicentennial Series drill is being performed at Marquette, Mich. Note the keeper climbing over the gunwale. Corps of Engineers, was the supervis­ the top of the structure. It took at most used by keepers to describe their ing engineer for the project. Poe least four years to complete Spectacle existence are "loneliness" and selected a shallow area on the reef Reef Light. So severe was the winter "monotony." A great deal of a keep­ with only 11 feet of water over it. of 1873 when the keepers came to er's life centered on the mundane Before commencing work on the open the new light, they found ice duties of keeping the station and its foundation, however, the wreckage of rafted against the structure to 30 feet equipment clean. the iron are schooner Nightingale had in height. This was seven feet above Before the advent of electricity, one to be cleared away. the entrance and the men had to chop of the keeper's primary duties was to A crib dam was then constructed keep a close watch on the lamp which ashore and then transported to the was the main source of illumination. reef. Once the dam was in place, the Lighthouse keepers used The wick of the lamp had to be care­ water was removed so the work crew words like loneliness and fully trimmed to produce a strong would have a dry location in which to light. In fact, a keeper was judged by labor. Next, the construction force monotony to describe how well his lamp was trimmed. This leveled the foundation and, using constant attention to wicks led to three foot long bolts, bolted pre­ their lifestyle lighthouse keepers earning the nick­ shaped stones to the base rock, with the ice away before they could seek name "wickies." 21 inches of the bolt sunk into the reef. shelter. The light was officially first Most people today probably view Then, the courses of stone were bolted exhibited on June 1, 1874, and "has the profession of lighthouse keeper as to each other and to the layers of since guided lake vessels past the male dominated. This is in large part stone below. Each bolt was "set in dangerous reef and toward the Straits true, but in the United States many of pure portland cement which today is of Mackinac which lead into Lake those lighthouses whose histories go as hard as the stone reef." Michigan." back at least to the 1800s "at one time The tower of the light itself is a Lighthouses may seem a perfect or another had female assistant keep­ solid stone mass for the first 34 feet place for many of us in this hectic, ers; and a surprising number had and then rises at least five stories to modern age. However, the words women as principal keepers." This u. S. Coast Guard on the Great Lakes • 3 The Lightship Huron was the last of her type on the Great Lakes. She left her station on Aug. 21, 1970, replaced by a horn buoy. was, however, not because of an Reef, were some of the most isolated total of 18 different stations were occu­ enlightened view on the part of the stations in the service. For the most pied. The complement of the small service. Rather, it was a means of sav­ isolated and dangerous duty, however, ships was usually one warrant officer ing money. Many of the principal one had to serve aboard lightships. and 10 crewmen. In general, their keepers were married and it was These small, special ships guarded duties were "monotonous, repetitious, cheaper to have a husband and wife areas where it was impossible to build dangerous, and above all, lonely." team than to provide two separate a light structure. The obvious danger The u.s. Lighthouse Service also quarters. Both wives and family in this type of duty is that the vessel operated another fleet of ships ­ members helped in the running of a must remain on station no matter how known as Lighthouse Tenders. The light. For example, on May 11, 1890, a fierce the gale, plus the ever present tenders provided the means to bring rowboat capsized in the Detroit River. danger of being rammed by another supplies and needed work parties to A passing tug signalled to the keeper ship in thick weather. the scattered and isolated lighthouses. of the Mamajuda Light for help. The he first lightships on the The locations of lights made this duty keeper and his boat, however, were Great Lakes, numbers 55, 56, hazardous, as lighthouses by their not at the station, so 14 year old and 57, took their stations on very nature are located in dangerous Maebelle L. Mason, daughter of the T Simmons Reef, White Shoal, areas. The fleet of tenders consisted of keeper, with the help of her mother, and Gray's Reef in northern Lake "vessels whose duty it is to go where launched a small punt. Then, by her­ Michigan on Oct. 22, 1891. Unlike no other vessels are allowed to go, and self, the girl pulled for one mile and many early vessels of this class, which who, through storm, darkness and managed to get the exhausted man were fitted with sails, the first light­ sunshine, do their work ...." The first aboard the boat and then rowed back ships in this region were, as one offi­ tenders on the lakes were vessels char­ to the lighthouse. For her rescue, the cial report put it, able to go "to and tered by the Lighthouse Service. In young woman received the Silver from their stations with their own 1874, the Dahlia was the first tender Lifesaving Medal, the second highest steam, the only lightships in any ser­ constructed especially for light ice on award for rescue work.