From http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/Chronology_Dec.html DAILY CHRONOLOGY OF COAST GUARD HISTORY: DECEMBER DAILY CHRONOLOGY Of COAST GUARD HISTORY DECEMBER 1 December 1844-Captain Alexander Fraser of Revenue Marine Bureau reported to Congress on failure of first steam cutters Spencer and Legare. 1944-Office of Air-Sea Rescue set up in the Coast Guard. The Secretary of the Navy at the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff early in 1944 established the Air-Sea Rescue Agency, an inter-department and inter-agency body, for study and improvement of rescue work with the Commandant of Coast Guard as head. 2 December 1883-The schooner Champion with a crew of two men stranded on Dick’s Flat, Plymouth Harbor, near Duxbury Pier lighthouse, at about 6 am. The shoal where she struck was about three miles west-southwest of the Gurnet Point Station (Second District), and the crew of the station were not sure she was aground until about 10 o’clock. The life-saving crew therefore arrived on board a little before 2 o’clock in the afternoon. They found one of the men, the captain, at the pumps and the other bailing from the hatch. The vessel was leaking badly. The two men on board were wet, cold, and very glad of the assistance of the life-saving crew. The keeper, at the captain’s request, took charge. The pumps were manned while another gang went to work bailing. When she began to right with the incoming tide, they shifted the booms over and canted her the other way, so as to bring the leaky seams out of the water to chinse them with oakum and nail canvas over all to stop the leaks. After doing this and getting most of the water out, they carried out an anchor into the channel, set all sail and by heaving hard on the hawser, they brought her on an even keel. She was hauled off the shoal at about 4 o’clock and got safely under way. As the weather looked bad, the captain concluded to remain in port for the night and accordingly anchored. 3 December 1852-Georgia grounded in a gale off Bonds, New Jersey with 290 persons on board. The life car was used and all survived. 1883-The schooner Pallas with a crew of three men encountered strong head winds and heavy seas off Cape Cod, MA. About half past 5 in the morning, abreast of Nausett lights, she sprung a leak and became unmanageable. Being close to the breakers, the crew was fearful they would be washed overboard as soon as she struck and took to their boat. Fortunately, they were discovered by the Nausett Station keeper, pulling vigorously to keep away from the surf. The surfboat was launched and the three men rescued. They were brought ashore by the life-saving crew, though not without a thorough drenching because the station boat was nearly swamped on the bar. The schooner meanwhile drifted into the surf, three quarters of a mile north of the station and soon broke up. 4 December 1989: The USCGC Mesquite ran aground near Keweenaw Point in Lake Superior. She was deemed damaged beyond repair and was sunk as an artificial reef. There was no loss of life. 6 December 1917- The French freighter Mont Blanc, loaded with 5,000 tons of high explosives, collided with the Norwegian steamer Imo in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The resulting fire detonated the munitions, killing 1,635 people and leveling much of Halifax and its environs. Men from the CGC Morrill were landed to provide assistance. This disaster led to the creation of captains of the ports for the major U.S. ports. The Coast Guard was tasked with the new duty. 1944-Ormoc Landing, Philippine Islands 1946-The number of Coast Guardsmen on active duty had been dropped to 22,156 in order to meet budgetary requirements. Many lifeboat stations had to be placed in a limited caretaker or inactive status and some vessels tied up because they lacked complements . 1953- US Coast Guard search and rescue facilities at the Naval Base in Bermuda were instrumental in rescuing four survivors and recovering 17 bodies from the Cuban aircraft "Cubana 471," which crashed on take-off from the airport at Kindley Field, Bermuda. 7 December 1941-Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor-- USCGC Taney’s screen of anti-aircraft fire prevented Japanese planes bombing Pearl Harbor from destroying Honolulu power plant. 1968- The cutter White Alder sinks after colliding with the M/V Helena near White Castle, LA. 17 Coast Guard personnel were killed. 8 December 1904-An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the noncontiguous territory of the Midway Islands. 1983- Four cutters arrived off of the island of Grenada to replace U.S. Navy surface forces conducting surveillance operations after the U.S. invaded the island earlier that year. The cutters involved were the Cape Gull, Cape Fox, Cape Shoalwater, and the Sagebrush. 9 December 1899-A Treasury Order entrusted the Bureau of Navigation "with the duty of examining and disposing of petitions for the remission of fines, penalties, and forfeitures under the laws relating to navigation, vessels, steamboat-inspection, and passengers." 1959- At the request of the Russian Embassy, the crew of a US Coast Guard UF plane removed an ill Russian seaman from the merchant ship Jana in the Bering Sea. The plane, with an interpreter and a doctor aboard, landed in a blinding snow storm at Dutch Harbor, where the patient was transferred to a hospital. 10 December 1905-"To evaluate its use in lighthouse work, radio equipment was installed experimentally on Nantucket Lightship in August of 1901. On December 10, 1905, while riding out a severe gale, Lightship No. 58 on the Nantucket Shoals Station sprang a serious leak. There being no recognized radio distress signal at that time, the operator could only repeatedly spell out the word "help". Although no reply was received Newport Navy station (radio) intercepted the call and passed it on to the proper authorities. The lightship tender Azalea was dispatched to the assistance of Lightship No. 58, and upon arrival at the scene passed a towline. The long tow to a safe harbor began, but after a few hours it was quite evident that Lightship No. 58 was sinking. Azalea took off her crew of thirteen men only minutes before she sank. This pioneer use of radio had indeed proved Its worth in rescue operations." 11 December 1881-Six men landed from a boat on Race Point, Cape Cod, and were soon after found, wet, chilled through, and much exhausted, by the patrolman from Station No. 6, Second District. He learned that they were the captain and crew of the Canadian schooner J .A. Hatfield that had been sunk in a collision with an unknown bark the night previous. The patrolman conducted them to the light keeper's dwelling nearby. 12 December 1876-First examination for Revenue Cutter cadets held in Washington. 14 December 1846-Captain Fraser protested in a report to Congress against "unjust imputations" made against the Service for its involvement in the failure of the first steam cutters. He also requested the authority to employ medical aid on cutters and to provide pensions for personnel disabled in service. 1854-Congress authorized appointment of first lifeboat station keepers at $200 per year each and superintendents for Long Island and New Jersey serving under Secretary of Treasury who "may also establish such stations at such lighthouses, as, in his judgment, he shall deem best." 1996: The M/V Bright Field collided with the New Orleans Riverwalk, causing substantial damage. 15 December 1943-Landings made on Arawe Peninsula, New Britain. 1944-Landings made on Mindoro, Philippine Islands. 1976: The Liberian flagged tanker Argo Merchant, with 7.5 million gallons of oil on board, grounds on a shoal southeast of Nantucket. The cutters Sherman and Vigilant responded, along with other vessels, but heavy weather prevented the containment of the spill. 16 December 1831-Secretary of Treasury John McLane ordered Revenue cutters to conduct "winter cruises." The USRC Gallatin becomes the first cutter "directly authorized by the government to assist mariners in distress." 1960- A United Airlines DC-8 with 83 passengers on board collided with a TWA Super Constellation carrying 42 in the New York City area. US Coast Guard helicopters, working with the aircraft of the US Army, Navy and New York Police Department, transported the injured passengers from the Constellation's wreck on Staten Island to a nearby hospital. Coast Guard vessels also searched the New York harbor area. The debris they picked up was used by the Civil Aeronautics Board in its determination of the cause of the mishap. 17 December 1897-Overland Expedition from Bear started from Nunivak Island to rescue whalers at Point Barrow. 1903-Kill Devil Life Saving Station personnel assisted Wright brothers at first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, NC. 1942-USCGC Natsek disappears in Belle Isle Strait. There were no survivors. It was thought that she capsized due to severe icing. 19 December 1881-The keeper and six men of his crew were absent from the surfboat from Station No 4, Second District (Gurnet Point MA). They were for drilling and mailing official letters. The surfman who remained in charge at the station saw a schooner standing inside of Brown’s Island Shoals and knowing that unless warned, she would get ashore, he put off to her in a small boat and piloted her clear. She proved to be the schooner Milton and had mistaken the channel entrance to Plymouth Harbor. 20 December 1943-USCGC Bodega grounded off Canal Zone. No lives lost. 21 December 1936-Ice breaking authorized by Executive Order No. 7521. 1960- The tanker Pine Ridge, with 37 crewmen on board, reported it was breaking in two about 120 miles off Cape Hatteras, NC. Immediately, the US Coast Guard dispatched aircraft and vessels to the scene and alerted nearby US Navy and merchant vessels. After the arrival of a US Coast Guard UF-2G amphibian aircraft, the bow section of the Pine Ridge capsized, throwing some members of the crew overboard; the stern section, however, remained afloat and upright. Mountainous seas rebuffed every attempt of the tanker Artemis to rescue the seamen in the water. Life rafts and emergency equipment, meanwhile, were airdropped, and the helicopters from the aircraft carrier Valley Forge successfully removed the 28 survivors from the still floating stern section. Of the bow section and the 9 missing crewmen, only debris and lifejackets were found, despite a widespread air and surface search. 22 December 1837-Congress authorized President "to cause any suitable number of public vessels, adapted to the purpose, to cruise upon the coast, in the severe portion of the season, and to afford aid to distressed navigators." First statute authorizing activities in the field of maritime safety. Thus interjecting the national government into the field of lifesaving for the first time. Although revenue cutters were specifically mentioned, the performance of this duty was imposed primarily upon the Revenue Marine Service and quickly became one of its major activities. 23 December 1904-Near Oak Island and Fire Island, New York the American schooner Frank W. McCullough ran aground on Fire Island Bar, 2 miles from the former station and 4 from the latter, at about 9 am. The Oak Island crew reached the vessel at 10:30 am and the Fire Island crew a half hour later. They found her pounding heavily and leaking badly. They manned the pumps and assisted the crew in throwing overboard the cargo of lumber; but on the flood tide the sea began to break over the wreck and the were obliged to give up for fear of being washed overboard. The Fire Island surfboat filled in the seaway and foundered. At midnight the sea moderated and all hands, 14 surfmen and 5 of schooner crew, abandoned the wreck in the Oak Island surfboat and at 2 a.m. reached the shore. The vessel was lost. 24 December 1955-Being the first rescue unit to reach the flood disaster scene in northern California, a US Coast Guard helicopter hoisted 138 persons to safety within 12 hours. The first 58 were made possible because of a light of a small handheld searchlight from positions of peril among chimneys, television antennas, and trees. In all, the Coast Guard assisted Federal, state, and local agencies in saving over 500 persons by helicopters and boats. 25 December 1944-Palompon, Leyte, Philippine Islands occupied. 26 December 1943-Landing at Cape Gloucester is conducted with Coast Guard-manned LST’s. 27 December 1968-In October 1968, the United States Air Force requested additional Loran-C Coverage in Southeast Asia and by December 27, 1968 the Coast Guard had received authorization to proceed with the project. This led to the construction of a number of LORAN sites in the area, including South Vietnam. 28 December 1835-Massacre of Major Dade’s command at Fort Book, FL. This was a cause of the Seminole War. 1857-The light was first illuminated in the Cape Flattery Lighthouse, located on Tatoosh Island at the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Washington. "Because of Indian trouble it was necessary to build a blockhouse on Tatoosh Island before even commencing the construction of the lighthouse. Twenty muskets were stored in the blockhouse, and then the lighthouse work began." 1903-An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the non-contiguous territory of the Hawaiian Islands. 29 December 1897-Congress prohibits killing of fur seals in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean. 1903-An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to Guantanamo, Cuba. 30 December 1876-The British ship Circassian was destroyed off Bridgehampton, LI following a successful rescue of 49 persons on December 11 by the USLSS. During later salvage operations in a storm the ship drifted out of the sand, resulting in the loss of 28 of its salvage crew including 12 Shinnecock Indians. 1944-Coast Guard-manned FS-367 takes survivors from USS Maripopsa at San Jose, Mindoro, Philippine Islands. 1958- The 590-foot tanker African Queen ran aground and split in two 10 miles off Ocean City, MD. Within two hours, 15 helicopters from the nearby US Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps bases evacuated all 47 crewmen successfully. The US Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at New York coordinated the operations. 31 December 1881-At 4 a.m. the patrolman from Station No. 34, Fourth District, New Jersey, discovered a vessel ashore on the south bar at Townsent’s Inlet, NJ about three miles south of the station and a mile offshore. He reported at the station at once and the vessel was boarded by the life-saving crew within an hour and a half. She proved to be the schooner Joseph F. Baker with a crew of eight persons. After endeavoring to work the vessel off with her sails, the keeper made preparations to run an anchor and heave her off. By this time a wrecking vessel came alongside, and her captain arranged with the master of Baker to take his vessel off. The life-saving crew, which had meantime been joined by the keepers of Station 33 and 35, finding they could be of no further service, left the vessel, taking ashore dispatches for the captain. A steamer towed the vessel off the bar. 1952- Sinbad, the mascot of the cutter Campbell during World War II, passed away at his last duty station, the Barnegat Lifeboat Station, at the ripe old age of 15. He served on board the cutter throughout the war and earned his way into Coast Guard legend with his shipboard and liberty antics. 1981- The 14 remaining LORAN-A stations closed down at midnight, ending Loran-A coverage, which began during World War II. [Daily Chronology] [Historians' Office] [USCG Home Page] Added: January 1998 Updated: August 2002