From http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/Chronology_Mar.html DAILY CHRONOLOGY OF COAST GUARD HISTORY: MARCH DAILY CHRONOLOGY of COAST GUARD HISTORY MARCH 1 March 1876- Nuova Ottavia, an Italian Ship, grounded off the Jones Hill North Carolina Life-Saving Station. The rescue resulted in the loss of seven USLSS surfmen, the first since the service started with paid crews in 1870. Among the dead was African-American Surfman, Lewis White. 1902- The first regular light stations in Alaska were established at Southeast Five Finger Island and at Sentinel Island. Both on the main inside passage between Wrangell Strait and Skagway. 1905- The first regular light stations in Alaska were established. 1927- A system of broadcasting weather reports by radio on four lightships on the Pacific Coast was put into effect. 1933- In the interest of administrative economy and efficiency, the 13th and 14th Lighthouse Districts were consolidated with the 15th Lighthouse District. Also, the aids to navigation on the entire Mississippi River system were placed in charge of a civilian lighthouse engineer as superintendent. This relieved the Army engineers detailed for that duty. The offices at Rock Island, IL and Cincinnati. OH were discontinued and all the river work was placed under a single office at St. Louis, MO. 2 March 1792- Congress first authorized cutters to fire on merchant ships who refuse to "bring " (See also Act of March 2, 1799). 1799- Congress authorized that "Revenue Cutters shall, whenever the President of the United States shall so direct, cooperate with the Navy of the United States during which time they shall be under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, and the expenses thereof shall be defrayed by the agents of the Navy Department. 1799- Congress authorized revenue cutter officers to board all ships of the United States within four leagues of the United States, if bound for the United States and search and examine them, certifying manifest, seal hatches and remain on board until they arrived in port. Also to search ships of other nations in United States waters and perform such other duties for the collection and security of the Revenue" as directed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 1799- Congress authorized cutters and boats to be "distinguished from other vessels by an ensign and pendant" with the marks thereon prescribed by the President of the United States, to fire on vessels who refused to bring to after the pendant and ensign had been hoisted and a gun fired as a signal, masters to be indemnified from any penalties or actions for damages for so doing, and be admitted to bail if any one is killed or wounded by such firing. On August 1, 1799, Secretary Wolcott prescribed that the " ensign and pennant’’ should consist of "Sixteen perpendicular stripes, alternate red and white, the union of the ensign to be the arms of the United States in dark blue on a white field." There were sixteen states in the Union at that time. 1799- Congress authorizes President to sell cutters unfit for service and the Secretary of Treasury to apply an unexpended balance of proceeds in purchase and construction of revenue cutters. (This authority revoked March 3, 1845). 1807- Congress outlaws the importation of slaves into the United States. 1868- By Act of Congress (15 Stat. L., 249), the Lighthouse Board was "authorized, when in their judgment, it is deemed necessary, to place a light-vessel, or other suitable warning of danger, on or over any wreck or temporary obstruction to the entrance of any harbor, or in the channel or fairway of any bay or sound." 1889- Secretary of Treasury authorized to keep rivers clear to afford access to spawning grounds. 3 March 1819- Cutters authorized by Congress to protect merchant vessels of United States against piracy; seize vessels engaged in slave trade. 1837- An Act of Congress (5 Stat. L., 181, 185) laid down certain restrictions, by providing that the construction of the large number of new lighthouses, lightships, etc., for which this law was appropriating the necessary funds, would not be begun until examined by Board of Navy Commissioners. They reported to Congress those cases where the "navigation is so inconsiderable as not to justify the proposed works." The Navy detailed 22 officers to this duty and, before the end of the year, their recommendations resulted in the deferment of the construction of 31 lighthouses already appropriated for. 1839- Congress directed that Captain Ezekial Jones, commanding cutter Washington in the Seminole War, be allowed the same pay as a lieutenant in the Navy would receive for like services. 1845- Congress authorized President to appoint six engineers (later amplified by Act of February 4, 1863) and six assistant engineers, one of each to be assigned to each steamer then in the service. Engineers to receive same pay as first lieutenants and assistant engineers same pay as third lieutenants. 1845- Congress directed no person be appointed revenue cutter officer "who does not adduce competent proof of proficiency and skill in navigation and seamanship." 1845- The duties of the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury as Superintendent of Lights was first put on a statutory basis by an Act of Congress (5 Stat. L., 752. 762), which prescribed that "the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury, shall continue to superintend the several matters and things connected with the light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers, as heretofore, of the United States, and to perform all the duties connected therewith, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, until otherwise ordered by law." 1847- Congress appropriates $5000 "for furnishing lighthouses on the Atlantic Coast with means of rendering assistance to shipwrecked mariners." This was the first appropriation for rendering assistance to the shipwrecked from shore. It was not used until 1849 when it was turned over to Massachusetts Humane Society for boathouses on Cape Cod. 1847- An item added to the lighthouse appropriation bill for 1848 (9 Stat. L., 175, 176) provided for "furnishing the lighthouses on the Atlantic coast with means of rendering assistance to shipwrecked mariners." This was the first appropriation by the national government for rendering assistance to the shipwrecked from the shore. 1849- Office of Commissioner of Customs created. Collectors take over control of cutters. 1859- An Act of Congress (11 Stat. L., 423, 424) authorized the Lighthouse Board to use its own discretion in the discontinuance as necessary of such lighthouses as might become useless by reason of changes in commerce, alteration in channels, or other causes. 1873- Signal Corps of Army established storm signal service for benefit of seafaring men, at several life-saving stations and constructed telegraph lines as original means of communication. 1875- Secretary of Treasury authorized by Congress to acquire by donation or purchase, right to use and acquire sites for life saving and life boat stations. 1885- Congress authorized Secretary of Treasury to detail officers and men of Revenue Marine Service to duty under commissioner of Fish and Fisheries of Bureau of Fisheries when they can be spared for such duty. 1899- An Act of Congress (30 Stat. L., 1121, 1152) required that, whenever a vessel, raft, or other craft was wrecked and sunk in a navigable channel, It became the duty of the owner to immediately mark the sunken craft with a suitable buoy or beacon during the day and a lighted lantern at night. Previously, the Lighthouse Establishment had been authorized by Congress to place, when considered necessary, a lightship or other suitable warning of danger on any wreck or temporary obstruction to the entrance of any harbor or In the channel of any bay or sound. 1905- Congress authorized Secretary of Treasury to acquire a suitable site in the State of Maryland upon which to establish a depot for the Revenue Cutter Service; subsequently became Coast Guard Yard. 1915- An Act of Congress (38 Stat. L., 926, 928) provided for cooperation between the Lighthouse Service and the Forest Service in the management of the forest land on lighthouse reservations. 1918- By Act of Congress (38 Stat. L., 928), the protection afforded the aids to navigation maintained by the United States government was extended to those established and operated by private individuals. 1947- The SS Oakey S. Alexander reported being in distress 22 miles east of Portland, Maine, with a hatch stove in and shipping water. The Coast Guard cutter Cowslip immediately proceeded on orders from Portland to assist. When she began breaking up, the ship's commanding officer decided to beach at Cape Elizabeth. The cutter Cowslip arrived on the scene, but was unable to approach the beached vessel because of heavy seas. All 32 crewmembers, however, were removed safely from the ship by breeches buoy by Coast Guardsmen from the Cape Elizabeth Light and Lifeboat Station. 4 March 1907- Congress appropriated $30,000 for installing wireless telegraph on not more than 12 Revenue Cutters. 1915- Secretary of Treasury authorized to detail cutters to enforce anchorage regulations in all harbors, rivers, bays and other navigable waters of United States. 1925- An Act of Congress (43 Stat. L., 1261), for the first time, provided for disability retirement within the Lighthouse Service. 1929- Congress appropriates $144,000 for seaplanes and equipment for Coast Guard. 1952- An air detachment consisting of three helicopters and necessary personnel, established as the first unit of its type on a test basis at the air station, Brooklyn, New York, began operating in support of port security operations. 1977- Ensign Janna Lambine, USCG, became the Coast Guard's first female pilot when she graduated from naval aviation training at NAS Whiting Field, Milton, Florida. 5 March 1881- On this date the crew of Life-Saving Station No. 10, Ninth District (Louisville), won acclaim with a great rescue at the wreck of James D. Parker, a well-known river boat lost in the Indiana chute of the Ohio Falls. She was a stern-wheel steamer of over 500 tons owned by the Cincinnati and Memphis Packet Company and bound from Cincinnati to Memphis. Her crew numbered fifty, including the captain, and she had fifty-five passengers on board, a number of whom were women and children. 6 March 1896- Secretary of Treasury authorized to detail cutters to enforce anchorage regulations St. Mary’s River. 7 March 1883- A dramatic rescue was performed by the crew of Assateague, Va. Life-Saving Station using a surfboat through a howling storm to save the ten persons stranded on the sinking barkentine, Wolverine. 8 March 1942- Coast Guard plane located lifeboats of SS Arubutan off North Carolina coast and directed USCGC Calypso to them. 1973- The first "Coast Guard-controlled drug seizure" took place when the cutter Dauntless seized the sport fishing vessel Big L which was carrying an illicit cargo: one ton of marijuana. (Taken from Charles M. Fuss, Jr. Sea of Grass. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996, p. 11). 9 March 1944- Coast Guard-manned USS Leopold (DE-319) was torpedoed off Iceland by the U-255. It was one of the first successful attacks made by a new German acoustic torpedo. All 13 officers and 148 (out of 186) enlisted men on board were lost. The 28 survivors were rescued by the USS Joyce (DE-317), another Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort. 1946- The Coast Guard-manned LST -767 was damaged in a hurricane near Okinawa. She was later declared a total loss and was decommissioned. USCGC Point White captured a Vietcong junk after a running firefight. 10 March 1909- Fishers Island. N.Y. The British barkentine Ladysmith, during a thick fog, stranded 3 miles WSW of the station. The keeper was notified by telephone and the life-savers, in surfboat, proceeded to the scene. They landed the master, his wife, and 9 seamen. 1983- The Coast Guard retires the last operational HU-16E Albatross, ending the era of seaplanes for the service. 11 March 1941- The Lend-Lease Program was inaugurated. 12 March 1955- Effective this date, all foreign and domestic ships are required to give 24-hour advance notice to the local U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port before entering U.S. ports. This order was designed to improve the U .S. Coast Guard's port security program without "material inconvenience" to shipping. 1965-The beginning of the US Navy’s Operation Market Time to interdict resupply of Communist forces in South Vietnam by river and coastal routes. The initiation of this campaign led to the Navy’s request for USCG vessels and crews to participate in riverine and coastal patrols during the Vietnam War. 13 March 1882- At 7 P.M. the schooner Annie L. Palmer bound for New York from Baracoa, Cuba, with a cargo of fruit, and a crew of six persons, stranded about two hundred yards off-shore, one mile north of Station No. 16, Fourth District, New Jersey. The patrolman reported it to the keeper. The life-saving crew boarded the vessel by 8 o’clock and found that she had grounded at low water and could not be moved until the tide rose. They ran an anchor to keep the vessel from working farther on, and waited for the flood tide. At half past 2 the next morning the tide rose and they succeeded in heaving the vessel off. They then took her to a safe anchorage. 1974- A 200-foot fishing vessel requested evacuation of a crewman, who had severe headaches from a earlier head injury. The vessel was directed to proceed to the vicinity of Boston Light Vessel where upon arrival a motor lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Point Allerton evacuated the patient to Coast Guard Base Boston. A waiting ambulance transported the patient to Brighton Hospital. 14 March 1909- Gloucester, Massachusetts: a launch became disabled 3/4 mile southeast of the station. Surfmen manned the power lifeboat and started to assist. On the trip out a schooner was discovered anchored in a dangerous berth 1 3/4 miles southeast of the station. A surfman was placed aboard the launch to repair the motor while the lifeboat proceeded to the schooner. Surfmen put a towline on the schooner, and, with her sails drawing, she was towed into a safe anchorage. 1987-Coast Guard helicopters rescued the crew of the sinking Soviet freighter Komsomolets Kirgizii 220 miles off the coast of New Jersey. A C-130 was first on the scene and stood by the listing freighter until HH-3's from Air Station Cape Cod arrived and saved the freighter's 37-person crew. 15 March 1942- USCGC Acacia was shelled and sunk by U-161 in the Caribbean. 1944- Invasions of Manus (Admiralties) and Emirau (St. Mathias Islands). 1946- For the first time, U.S. Coast Guard aircraft supplemented the work of the Coast Guard patrol vessels of the International Ice Patrol, scouting for ice and determining the limits of the ice fields from the air. 1983- The Coast Guard retires its last HC-131A Samaritan. 1997: Operation Gulf Shield begins. This operation is a counterpart to the counter narcotics operation Frontier Shield. 16 March 1909- Assateague Beach, VA- schooner Charley C. Weaver- One of the crew notified the keeper that the schooner was leaking. The surfboat proceeded to the scene, 1 5/8 miles S. of the station. The schooner’s crew was nearly exhausted from a long spell at the pump. Surfmen shifted her cargo of oysters. They also tried to locate the leak, but were unsuccessful. They then went ashore and returned with the power lifeboat which towed the schooner over the bar. 1945-The Coast Guard-manned destroyer escorts USS Lowe, Menges, Pride, and Mosely, which comprised Task Group 22.14, located the submerged German submarine U-866 off the coast of Sable Island. The Navy credited them with the U-boat's destruction. There were no survivors. 17 March 1863-USRC Agassiz defends Fort Anderson at New Bern, NC from a Confederate attack. 1902-All but one of the members of the crew of the Monomoy (MA) Life-Saving Station perish during the attempted rescue of the crew of the wrecked coal barge Wadena during a terrible winter gale. The dead included the keeper of the station, Marshall N. Eldridge, and six of his surfmen. Eldridge told his crew before they departed on the rescue that: "We must go, there is a distress flag in the rigging." The crew of five from the barge also perished. The sole survivor, Seth L. Ellis, was the number one surfman of the Monomoy station. He was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal as was the man who rescued him, Captain Elmer Mayo of the barge Fitzpatrick. Click here to read about this tragic day. 1941- USCGC Cayuga leaves Boston with South Greenland Survey Expedition on board to locate airfields, seaplane bases, radio and meteorological stations, and aids to navigation in Greenland. 1962- After requesting the evacuation of a seriously injured crewman, the Russian merchant vessel Dbitelny transferred the patient to the Coast Guard LORAN station on St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea. Meanwhile, a Coast Guard aircraft flew a US Navy doctor and a hospital corpsman there to perform an emergency operation. Afterwards, the injured man was flown to Elmendorf Air Force Base, where he was admitted to the US Air Force hospital. 1982- Navy Secretary John Lehman testified before Congress on behalf of the Coast Guard. He characterized the relationship between the Navy and the Coast Guard as being "close and warm." He also praised the new NAVGARD Board, created in November 1980, to formalize the relationship between the two services. 18 March 1909- Holly Beach, and Hereford Inlet, NJ-The schooner C.B. parted its chain while weighing anchor. She set a distress signal which was discovered by the lookouts at both stations. The surfboats proceeded to the scene and surfmen swept for the chain and assisted in securing it on board. 2001- The cutter Thetis seizes the F/V Viviana II which is grossly overloaded with 234 Ecuadorean migrants. The vessel and the migrants were turned over to the Ecuadorean Navy. 19 March 1943- British Steamer Svend Foyne was a victim of an iceberg collision off the southern tip of Greenland. One hundred forty-five persons were rescued by the Coast Guard and other craft. International Ice Patrol was suspended during this period (1942-1945). 20 March 1929-The Canadian schooner I’m Alone was taken under fire and captured by USCGC Wolcott for violating the Volstead Act. This precipitated an incident with Canada that was adjudicated by an international tribunal in the Coast Guard's favor. 1941- Sabotage was discovered on an Italian vessel at Wilmington, North Carolina. The Coast Guard investigated all Italian and German vessels in American ports and took 28 Italian (27 damaged). Two German (1 damaged) and 35 undamaged Danish vessels were also taken into protective custody, including 850 Italian and 63 German officers and crew who were imprisoned. Two months later these vessels were requisitioned for service with the United States by order of Congress for the Latin American trade. 21 March 1791- Hopley Yeaton of New Hampshire commissioned as "Master of a Cutter in the Service of the United States for the Protection of the Revenue." This first commission of a seagoing officer of the United States was signed by George Washington and attested to by Thomas Jefferson. Twelve other commissions of other officers of revenue cutters were signed on the same date. Yeaton was subsequently assigned to the revenue cutter Scammel, stationed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 22 March 1919- The Acting Secretary of the Treasury advised that light keepers and the officers and crews of vessels were not entitled to the benefits of the Public Health Service free of charge after retirement. 23 March 1974- The 40-foot sailing vessel Lorisel II reported she was aground one mile southeast of North Rock, Bahamas, off the eastern shore of Bimini. An HU-16 aircraft and the USCGC Cape Shoalwater were dispatched to assist. The aircraft located the vessel and a local island boat, which was diverted to remove two women and a child from Lorisel II. Cape Shoalwater re-floated the vessel, returned the passengers, and the Lorisel II got underway with no apparent damage. 24 March 1909- Muskeget, MA- The schooner Vigilant parted moorings, and stranded 1 mile S. of the station. The owner applied to the keeper at 10: 30 pm for assistance. Surfmen proceeded to the scene, carried out an anchor and line, and hove the schooner into deep water. During the storm the owner was sheltered and supplied with meals at the station for 2 days. But for the security afforded by an additional anchor and cable loaned by the crew, Vigilant would have stranded a second time. 1989- The tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on a reef in Prince William Sound, AK, spilling 10.1 million gallons of crude oil. This was the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Coast Guard units responded and prevented the entire cargo from spilling, cleaned up the oil which did spill, and conducted an investigation into the causes of the accident. The spill provides the impetus for the passage of the Oil Protection Act in 1990. 25 March 1911- The Treasury Department directed the keepers of USLSS stations to keep a lookout through the beach patrol for stray buoys washed ashore, to secure such buoys when it could be done, and to report their discovery or action to the nearest representative of the Lighthouse Service. 26 March 1945- Landings at Geruma Shima, Hokaji Shima, and Takashiki (Ryukyu Islands). 1946- International Ice Patrol resumed after being suspended during World War II. 27 March 1943- CG-85006 (ex-Catamount) exploded off Ambrose Light. Nine crewmen were lost. 1964- An earthquake (which hit 9.2 on the Richter scale) and an ensuing tsunami struck Alaska, killing 125 people and causing $311 million in property damage. Coast Guard units responded in what was called "Operation Helping Hand." Within two hours of the earthquake, which began at 1732 local time, the cutters Storis, Minnetonka, and Sorrel were ordered to Prince William Sound; the Bittersweet to Seward; and the Sedge to Valdez. "The following morning, three fixed-wing aircraft from Air Detachment Kodiak surveyed the damage while helicopters evacuated those in need. By March 31, most of the direct assistance had been rendered and the task of repair and clean up began. Approximately 360 civilians were evacuated from villages and isolated areas in Kodiak Island and Prince William Sound. The Storis was diverted to Cook Inlet for icebreaking duties in the Port of Anchorage until 18 April." [Arbogast, et al, The U.S. Coast Guard in Kodiak, Alaska, p. 15.] A number of the Coast Guard stations in the area sustained damage, some of it severe. The only Coast Guard fatality occurred when the tsunami struck the light station at Cape St. Elias and one crewman, EN3 Frank O. Reed, was swept out to sea and perished. 28 March 1968- The Secretary of Transportation released his Report on Recreational Boat Safety. The report contained a detailed explanation of the proposed legislation and the programs the department intended to undertake if the proposal was adopted. 29 March 1898- Lieutenants Jarvis and Bertholf and Surgeon Call of the USRC Bear reach Point Barrow after a 2000 mile "mush" from Nunivak Island starting December 17, 1897, driving reindeer as food for 97 starving whalers caught in Arctic ice. This "Overland Rescue" was heralded by the press and at the request of President William McKinley, Congress issued special gold medals in their honor. 1938- By an Executive Order of this date, President Roosevelt enlarged substantially the number of "personnel in the Lighthouse Service who are subject to the principle of the civil service," which allowed advancement in the Service solely on individual merit. 1985- The Nantucket I was decommissioned, ending 164 years of lightship service. 30 March 1867- Alaska purchase treaty signed with Russia. 1942- Coast Guard designated as a service of the Navy to be administered by the Commandant of Coast Guard under the Secretary of Navy. 31 March 1932- United States signs Whaling Convention at Geneva with 21 other countries. 1995: Coast Guard Communication Area Master Station Atlantic sends a final message by Morse Code and then signs off, officially ending more than 100 years of telegraph communications. 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