From http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/Chronology_Aug.html DAILY CHRONOLOGY OF COAST GUARD HISTORY: AUGUST DAILY CHRONOLOGY of COAST GUARD HISTORY AUGUST 1 August 1799-Secretary of Treasury describes the ensign and pennant authorized to be flown by revenue cutters as "consisting of 16 perpendicular stripes (one for each state in the Union at that time) alternate red and the Union of the Ensign to be the Arms of the United States in dark blue on a white field." 1910-Alaska was designated as a separate lighthouse district, with a district office and depot established at Ketchikan for directing operations. 1952-The US Coast Guard released a photograph of unidentified aerial phenomena (i.e. a UFO), taken by a 21-year old CG photographer on 16 July at the Salem Coast Guard Air Station. 1985- The 49-year old cutter Ingham gains the distinction of being the oldest commissioned cutter in service when her sister, the Duane, was decommissioned. 2 August 1881-At about 8 o’clock in the morning, during a dense fog on Lake Huron, the crew of Station No 2, Tenth District (Point aux Barques, Michigan), heard the signal-whistle of a steamer to the northeast. The sharpness of the sound indicated a call for assistance. The life-saving crew found the steamer City of Concord with the schooner L.L. Lamb in tow, bound to Port Hope. The captain of the steamer stated that he was uncertain of his position on account of the fog and desired to know the bearing and distance to his destination. The keeper provided the information and the two vessels reached Port Hope soon afterwards. 4 August 1790-Congress authorized building of first "ten boats" establishing the Revenue Marine. The history of the Coast Guard begins. 1854-Congress appropriates $12, 500 for purchase of boats for life-saving purposes at a number of designated ports on the Great Lakes. 1894-Facilities of marine hospitals extended to keepers and crews of the Life-Saving Service. 1949-Congress approved Public Law 207, which revised, codified and enacted into law title 14 of the United Stated Code. This set forth for the first time a clear, concise statutory statement of the duties and functions of the U.S. Coast Guard. 5 August 1889-The US Life-Saving Service issued a circular prescribing an appropriate outfit for the keepers and surfmen. This was the first time that uniforms were required in the Service. 1935-Congress passed Anti-Smuggling Act broadening the jurisdiction of Coast Guard. 6 August 1918-The first American lightship to be sunk by enemy action, Lightship No. 71, was lost on her Diamond Shoals station. She was destroyed by a German U-boat. The lightship's crew took to their lifeboats and reached shore without injury. 1997: The cutters Basswood and Galveston assist in the rescue of the survivors of the crash of a Korean airliner, Flight 801, in Guam. 7 August 1789-Twelve lighthouses accepted from states by Act of Congress. Prior to this they had been paid for, built and administered first by the colonies and then the states. 1789-An Act of Congress (1 Stat. L., 53), only the ninth law passed by the newly-created Congress of the United States and the first one to make any provisions for public work, created the Lighthouse Establishment as an administrative unit of the Federal Government, when it accepted title to, and joined jurisdiction over, the lighthouses then in existence, and provided that "the necessary support, maintenance and repairs of ‘all lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers erected, placed, or sunk before the passing of this act, at the entrance of, or within any bay, inlet, harbor, or port of the United States, for rendering the navigation thereof easy and safe, shall be defrayed out of the treasury of the United States." 1882-An Act of Congress (22 Stat. L., 301, 309) required all parties owning, occupying, or operating bridges over any navigable river to maintain at their own expense, from sunset to sunrise, throughout the year, such lights as may be required by the Lighthouse Service. 1927-Horace Alderman, a rumrunner, murdered 2 Coast Guardsmen and a Secret Service agent after his craft was stopped by patrol boat CG-249 off the coast of Florida. Alderman was eventually subdued by the remaining crew of CG-249 and arrested. He was later tried, convicted, and hung at the Coast Guard station at Bahia Mar, FL. 1939-"Suitable observance of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Lighthouse Service was called for by a joint resolution of Congress, signed by the President on May 15, which was known as Public Resolution No. 16. By this resolution the week of August 7, 1939, was designated lighthouse week." 1942- Landings at Tulagi and Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 1958- A collision of the merchant tankers Golfoil and Graham in heavy fog in the entrance to Narragansett Bay, RI, set fire to both vessels. US Coast Guard, Navy, and commercial units fought the fires for three days, searched for missing crewmen, and assisted in directing traffic through the area. The USCGC Laurel directed the on-scene operations. 8 August 1950-The Coast Guard commenced screening merchant seaman signing on American vessels on the East and Gulf Coasts where the vessels were foreign bound. Those seamen designated as poor security risks would not be signed on. 9 August 1942- The transport USS Hunter Liggett rescues the survivors of the four Allied cruisers sunk the preceding night during the Battle of Savo Island, otherwise known as the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. 1950- Congress enacted Public Law 679, which charged the Coast Guard with the function of port security. 1982- The Department of Defense approved the use of Coast Guard law enforcement detachments on board Navy vessels during peace-time. The teams conducted law enforcement boardings from Navy vessels for the first time in history. 10 August 1971- President Nixon signed Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971 considered to be most significant legislation in long history of federal action in this field. The new act repeals most of the Federal Boating Act of 1958 and amends Motorboat Act of 1940. Shifts responsibility from boat operator to manufacturer. 1990- The Military Sealift Command begins loading equipment and supplies from the Garden City Port In Savannah, GA, to support Allied operations during Operation Desert Shield. Coast Guard units, including reservists called-up specifically for this operation, maintained security zones and ensure the safe loading of the vessels. 11 August 1974-President Ford signed into law the first bill of his new administration, a measure authorizing the Coast Guard to adopt modernized boiler and pressure safety standards on board ships. 12 August 1982- Coast Guard vessels escorted the nation's first Trident submarine, the USS Ohio, into its home port at Naval Submarine Base Bangor, providing security for the sub's transit. Coast Guard units guided the sub past a Soviet spy ship and 400 anti-nuclear protesters. 1994- "Team Coast Guard" is created when the the commandant, ADM Robert Kramek, approved recommendations that integrated the reserves into the operation missions and administrative processes of the regular Coast Guard, effectively eliminating the differences between the two service components. 13 August 1819- Revenue cutters Alabama and Louisiana captured Mexican privateer Bravo in the Gulf of Mexico. Crewmen destroyed Patterson's Town on Breton Island, a notorious pirate's den, ending organized piracy on the Gulf Coast. The Bravo's captain was Jean Le Farge, Jean La Fitte's lieutenant. 1954-Congress Public Law 584, resulting in the Coast Guard relinquishing to the Federal Communications Commission the responsibility for issuing safety radiotelegraphy and safety radiotelephony certificates and exemption certificates under the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea. 14 August 1848-Congress appropriated $10,000 for life saving stations and apparatus between Sandy Hook and Egg Harbor; first funds to be expended under supervision of Revenue Marine Service. $5000 appropriated in 1847 for saving life from shore was turned over to collector of customs at Boston to acquire boathouses and equipment on Cape Cod for Massachusetts Human Society. (See March 3, 1847) 15 August 1914- Extension of Sponge Fishing Act with enforcement to the Revenue Cutter Service on the request of Secretary of Commerce. 1943-Invasion of Vella La Vella, Solomon Islands. 1944-Invasion of Southern France. 16 August 1918- Keeper John Allen Midgett and the crew of Station No. 179 at Chicamacomico, NC rescue the crew of the mined British tanker Mirlo. All but 1 of the crew are named Midgett and each received the Gold Lifesaving Medal for their actions in saving the crew amid the burning oil and wreckage. [CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS FAMOUS RESCUE] 1941-Honolulu Coast Guard District transferred to Navy. 17 August 1898-The America schooner, Decorra, stranded on Black Head, 4 1/2 miles ENE of the station, during thick weather. Lifesavers arrived in their surfboat and found that she was leaking fast and in danger of sinking. They went to work at once, manning the pumps and bailing her out with buckets. Finally a tugboat arrived, took her in tow, and beached her safely in Jonesport Harbor. 1929- Horace Alderman, convicted of murdering 2 Coast Guardsmen and a Secret Service agent in 1927, was hanged at Coast Guard Base 10 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He was the only person ever executed on Coast Guard property. 1990- At the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Transportation and the Commandant of the Coast Guard commit Coast Guard boarding teams to operation Desert Shield. Coast Guardsmen served in the Gulf prior to this commitment, however. 18 August August 19, 1898: James J. Coste, a surfman from the Sullivan's Island Life-Saving Station, drowned in the line of duty during a rescue attempt. 1941-Coast Guard charged by Congress with enforcing law to protect war-lanes in Alaskan waters. 1983- Hurricane Alicia hits Houston, TX. Coast Guard units responded to calls for assistance. 19 August 1898-About 8 p.m. the keeper of life-saving station was notified by one of the crew of the quarantine boat that cries for help were heard coming from the channel opposite the station. The crew immediately launched the surfboat and pulled Into the darkness. As they proceeded they heard the cries for help and pulled in their direction until they found a boat capsized and one man clinging to her bottom. They hauled him in and he informed them that he and three others were returning from a hunting trip in the sloop, Jennie, when she capsized in a sudden squall. The other men were rescued by the yawl from the quarantine station. When she capsized the anchor went overboard, securely anchoring her; consequently the keeper decided not to attempt to right her until morning. At daylight the surfmen returned to her, righted and bailed her out. 1994- Operation Able Vigil commences during a massive influx of Cuban refugees fleeing Cuba. It is the "largest joint peace-time operation" in Coast Guard history, according to the then-commandant, ADM Robert Kramek. 20 August 1898-The American schooner, Rouse Simmons had her cargo shift to starboard, giving her a heavy list and forcing her covering board up so she leaked badly. She was sighted by the station lookout coming around the SE point of North Manitou Island. The surfboat was launched and pulled out to her. She had 4 feet of water in her hold, and was leaking too fast for her crew to keep her afloat much longer. She was anchored on the advise of the keeper and the station crew rigged out her booms to port. The pumps were then manned by all hands, spouts rigged to discharge the water overboard, and after 4 hours of work she was freed and on an even keel. 21 August 1968-USCGC Point Verde reported that she had received a call from the Chevron Oil Company in Venice, LA reporting that an oil rig, approximately 25 miles east of Grant Isle, LA had a blowout and was on fire. The exact number of persons on board the rig at this time was unknown. Two Coast Guard helicopters and USCGC Point Sal were dispatched. Several private vessels and oil company helicopters were already on the scene. A CG helicopter transported three injured persons to the US Public Health Service Hospital in New Orleans and several oil company helicopters transported persons to other hospitals. The Coast Guard helicopter returned to the scene and along with Point Sal, a 53-footer, and another CG helicopter conducted a search for persons in the water. The number of persons on board was determined to be 33 with 23 definitely accounted for, five confirmed missing, and five reported accounted for, but not confirmed. Two people were known dead with 12 having been hospitalized. 22 August 1898- The America schooner, Vandalin, stranded about 4 miles N by W from the station and the crew went to her assistance. Upon their arrival they found that the schooner s crew had carried out an anchor so they manned the windlass and after one-half hour of hard heaving, succeeded in releasing her. They piloted her into deep water, then returned to station. 1994- The Polar Sea and the CCCS Louis S. Ste Laurent became the first "North American surface ships" to reach the North Pole. 23 August 1893-"This was the first instance in the history of the United States Light-House Establishment in which a light-ship has foundered at her moorings," reported the Lighthouse Board, when Lightship No. 37 was lost in rough seas at her station at Five Fathom Bank off the entrance to Delaware Bay. 1979- The keel of the first of the new 270-foot class medium enduring cutters, the CGC Bear, is laid. 1993- The CGC Yocona hosted the Russian icebreaker Aisberg for the first ever joint Russian-U.S. search and rescue exercise. The exercise was based out of Kodiak and involved three aircraft from Air Station Kodiak, two Russian aircraft, the Aisberg, and the cutters Chase and Ironwood. 24 August 1912-Congress gave effect to the convention between United States, Great Britain, Japan and Russia prohibiting taking of fur seals and sea otters in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea by authorizing the President "to cause a guard or patrol to be maintained in the waters frequented by the seal herd or herds of seal otter. " 25 August 1945-USCGC Magnolia sank in a collision off Mobile Bay with the loss of 1 man. 1950-USHS Benevolence collided with Mary Luckenbach. USCGC Gresham and other vessels responded and 407 persons were saved. 1971-The Secretary of Transportation announced the awarding of a contract to the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, WA, "to build the world’s most powerful icebreaker for the US Coast Guard," Polar Star, the first of the Polar-Class of icebreakers. 26 August 1896-Fort Niagara, NY- At 1 am the keeper and lookout heard cries of distress on the Canadian side of the river. The surfboat was launched in the direction of sound. They found a man in the water clinging to a pole almost exhausted and crying out that he could hold on no longer. He was taken into surfboat and carried to his home. 1992- Hurricane Andrew strikes Florida and the Gulf coast states causing extensive damage. Coast Guard units conduct search and rescue, relief, and transport operations. 27 August 1942-USCGC Mojave rescues 293 men from the torpedoed transport, Chatham in the Strait of Belle Isle. 28 August 1916-An Act of Congress (39 Stat. L., 536, 538) provided that "light keepers and assistant light keepers of the Lighthouse Service shall be entitled to medical relief without charge at hospitals and other stations of the Public Health Service under the rules and regulations governing the seamen of the merchant marine." 1919-Coast Guard returned to the Treasury Department administrative control from the Navy after World War I. 1963- As soon as two US Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft became reported as overdue at their destination, Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, the US Coast Guard Eastern Area Commander initiated an intensive air search. It lasted through 2 September with as many as 25 US Coast Guard, Air Force, and Navy planes participating. None of the 11 occupants of the two KC-135's were ever found, only wreckage, indicating that there had been a midair collision. 29 August 1916-Secretary of Treasury authorized to procure three light craft river steamboats, including lifeboats and other necessary lifesaving appliances and equipment for rescuing lives and property and distributing food and clothing to marooned people during Mississippi and Ohio River floods. 1916-Congress authorized Treasury to establish ten Coast Guard air stations but appropriated only $7000 for an instructor and assistant. Appropriation for their construction and for planes not made until 1924. 1916-A naval appropriations act (39 Stat. L., 556, 602) provided for the first time the mobilization of the Lighthouse Service in time of war by authorizing the President, "…whenever in his judgment a sufficient national emergency exists, to transfer to the service and jurisdiction of the Navy Department, or of the War Department, such vessels, equipment, stations and personnel of the Lighthouse Service as he may deem to the best interest of the country." 1980- The Coast Guard and the Royal Navy signed a Personnel Exchange Agreement. The first exchange between the two services were helicopter pilots. 30 August 1852- Congress awarded Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) his steam boat pilot certificate. Hew as examined by a District of St. Louis steamboat inspector for piloting on the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans. 1872- The Neptune Line steamer Metix sank in 30 minutes off Watch Hill, RI. Of 104 passengers and 45 crew, only 33 survived. A coasting schooner struck the Metis, which had a full passenger list and cotton cargo bound for New England textile mills. Captain Daniel Larkin (retired light keeper and one of the first Life-Saving Station captains), Captain Jared Crandall (light keeper), and lifeboat crewmen Albert Crandall, Frank Larkin, and Byron Green launched from the Life-Saving station. Boat Captain John Harvey and crewmen Courtland Gavitt, Edward Nash, Eugene Nash, and William Nash saw the collision and launched a fishing seine from the beach. The lifeboat and seine rescued 32. Revenue cutter Moccasin from Stonington, CT, met the boats, took their passengers, and located a survivor. The Moccasin and seine continued to search until dark. Participants were awarded Certificates of Heroism from the Massachusetts Humane Society and gold medals, minted to commemorate the rescue, by Congressional resolution, February 24, 1873. The event signified the growing interaction among the members of the Life-Saving Service, the Lighthouse Service, and the Revenue Cutter Service, a factor in the later merger of the three services. 31 August 1852- The Lighthouse Board was created and charged with administering the Lighthouse Service, as the Revenue Cutter Service again decentralized. The board was comprised of Army and Navy officers, and civilian scientists. Channel marking and light operation acquired scientific precision and engineering. Classical lenses and lateral buoy systems were introduced. The Life-Saving Service separated from the Revenue Cutter Service in 1852 also. [Daily Chronology] [Historians' Office] [USCG Home Page] Added: January 1998 Updated: August 2002