From http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/Chronology_Sep.html DAILY CHRONOLOGY OF COAST GUARD HISTORY: SEPTEMBER DAILY CHRONOLOGY of COAST GUARD HISTORY SEPTEMBER 1 September 1789-An act of Congress provided for the registering and clearing of vessels and the regulation of the coastwise trade, thus laying the foundation of American navigation laws which, until 1912, embodied the marine policy of the United States. 1894-Armed guard of Revenue Cutter Service placed on Pribiloff Islands to guard seals. 1938-USCG assumes responsibility for the Maritime Service. 1939-Armed forces of Nazi Germany invade Poland, beginning World War II. 1942-USCG was no longer responsible for merchant marine training programs. This responsibility was assumed by the War Shipping Administration. 1944-USCGC Northland captured crew of a scuttled Nazi ship off Greenland. 2 September 1945-Japanese sign articles of surrender aboard USS Missouri. World War II ends. 1948- CGC Bibb rescued the crew of the Portuguese fishing Gaspar. < 4 September 1945- The Coast Guard Cutter USCG 83434 became the first and only cutter to host an official surrender ceremony when Imperial Japanese Army Second Lieutenant Kinichi Yamada surrendered the garrison of Aguijan Island on board. Rear Admiral Marshall R. Greer, USN, accepted the surrender for the United States. 5 September 1939- President Roosevelt proclaimed our neutrality in World War II - Beginning of neutrality patrol. 1946-The U.S. Air-Rescue Agency, an inter-departmental group headed by the Commandant of the Coast Guard and engaged on the study of improved and standardized rescue and search methods, was renamed the Search and Rescue Agency. "Search and Rescue Units of the Coast Guard were at the same time integrated into the peace time organization and the whole developed into a system of constantly alerted communications, coastal lookout, and patrols of institute instant and systematic search and rescue procedure in case of disasters." 7 September 1934- USCG vessels respond to the fire aboard the liner Morro Castle. This disaster led to a Senate investigation and subsequent changes in maritime safety regulations. 1953-When the Panamanian SS Eugenia grounded as a result of the heavy weather generated off Cape Cod by Hurricane CAROL, the Cape Cod Life-boat Station removed 13 by breeches buoy and 4 by the DUKW, an amphibious type of surface craft. 8 September 1952-When SS Foundation Star sent a distress signal that she was in tremendous, rough seas and in danger of breaking in half, four Coast Guard vessels and three commercial vessels proceed to her assistance and rescued the crew before the ship broke and sank. 9 September 1942-USS Muskeget (Coast Guard-manned) sunk without trace on weather patrol-9 officers and 111 enlisted men lost. 1943-Salerno, Italy invasion. 11 September 1883-Shorty after noon, during the prevalence of a strong northeasterly gale and high sea, the lookout at the Cleveland Station (Ninth District) Lake Erie, saw a yawl break adrift from its moorings and commence driving towards the breakwater. The life-saving crew at once put out in their surfboat and after a hard pull succeeded In reaching the yawl just In time to save it from being dashed to pieces. It was towed into the river and delivered to its owner, whom they notified. 12 September 1941-After the Danish government in exile asks the U.S. to protect Greenland, the cutter Northland seizes the Norwegian sealer Buskoe, with Nazi agents on board trying to establish radio and weather stations, in MacKenzie Bay, Greenland. The capture of the Buskoe is the first U.S. naval capture of World War II. 1953-When the 6,000 ton ore carrier SS Maryland grounded off Marquette, MI, a Coast Guard helicopter, in the face of driving wind and rain that required the combined efforts of both pilots to hold the controls and stabilize the aircraft, removed 12 crew members with a breeches buoy without any casualties. 13 September 1897-The American steamer, Business Point mistook a buoy and stranded on Mouse Island reef, 9 miles NW of Point Marblehead station. The crew and two tugs attempted to release her, but without success. The master chartered a tug to go to Sandusky for a lighter which arrived about 6 pm. The crew then assisted all night at transferring cargo and at 9 a.m. next day, the steamer backed off. 14 September 1716-The Boston Lighthouse on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor, the first lighthouse established in America, was first exhibited. 1944-USCGC Bedloe (ex-Antietam) and Jackson foundered off Cape Hatteras during a hurricane. 26 crewmen are lost on former, 21 on the latter. 1944-Lightship No. 73 on Vineyard Sound Station foundered during the same hurricane that sank the Bedloe and Jackson, all 12 of her crew perish. 1989- Sikorsky Aircraft unveils the replacement for the Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican helicopter: the HH-60J. The Coast Guard planned to purchase 33 of the new helicopters. 15 September 1944- Invasion of Morotai Island. 1948- After making a night-long high speed run to reach the hurricane-ridden Portuguese schooner Gasper some 300 miles off the southern tip of Newfoundland, USCGC Bibb launched two 20-man rubber lifeboats in heavy rain and swell to rescue 40 survivors and 1 dog from the doomed ship. 1958- A New Jersey Central passenger train plunged into Newark Bay through an open drawbridge, submerging two engines and two coaches. US Coast Guard small craft and helicopters assisted in rescuing 43 survivors and recovering 29 bodies. 1990- The Secretary of Transportation and the commandant committed the first-ever deployment of a reserve port security unit overseas. Port Security Unit 303 is the first unit deployed. 16 September 1918-USCGC Seneca’s crew attempted to bring the torpedoed British collier Wellington into Brest, France, and 11 of Seneca‘s crew were lost when Wellington foundered in a gale. 1988- Hurricane Gilbert hits Mexico and Coast Guard units assist in rescue and evacuation operations on 18-20 of September. 17 September 1882-At 2: 30 a.m., during the prevalence of a strong southerly gale upon Lake Huron, the schooner, Colonel Hathaway, lying at the wharf at South Harrisville, MI was wrenched from her moorings and driven ashore. The morning was intensely dark and rain fell in torrents, but the schooner drove so far up on the beach that her crew of five men found no difficulty in saving themselves without aid. While drifting in, she collided with the schooner Garibaldi, she too broke adrift and drove ashore. The crew of this vessel, five in number, were equally fortunate in getting ashore without trouble. Word being sent about noon to the life-saving station at Sturgeon Point (No. 5, Tenth District), six or seven miles distant, that two vessels were ashore at South Harrisville, the crew at once repaired to the scene to offer their services. Hathaway’s crew was busily at work stripping the vessel, but requiring no assistance. Finding nothing could be done for her, the life-saving crew went to the aid of Garibaldi. After discharging her cargo of lumber and tan-bark, they pumped her out and assisted in heaving her within reach of the lines of a steam-barge, which then took hold and hauled her afloat. She came off in a leaky condition, but nevertheless reloaded her cargo and proceeded to her port of destination in tow of the steamer which assisted in getting her off. 18 September 1939-President Roosevelt directs enlistment of 2,000 new Coast Guardsmen and opens two new training stations. 1989- Hurricane Hugo hits Puerto Rico and eventually makes landfall at Charleston, SC, on the 21st. Coast Guard units conducted search and rescue as well as relief operations. 19 September 1968 M/V Hohannes Frans was taking on water. This 634-foot Dutch tanker with a cargo of oil reported that it was disabled in 10 to 15 foot seas taking on water 250 miles northeast of Bermuda. USCGC Dallas which was In the immediate area, received the same report from the subject via flashing light and immediately went to her assistance. The pump provided by Dallas, however, failed to work properly. A Coast Guard aircraft provided four additional pumps by the evening of Sept 19; Dallas reported that the flooding had been stabilized. Three civilian tugs were enroute, with the first due on the 21st. Weather conditions improved enough on the 21st for the master and crew to remain aboard and continue pumping. The tug Foundation Vigilant arrived on scene on the morning of the 21st and took the vessel in tow. The tug Tasman Zee arrived shortly thereafter and provided three pumps. The three ships proceeded to Bermuda. USCGC Dallas proceeded to Ocean Station Echo. 20 September 1944-Invasions of Peleliu and Angaur launched. 21 September 1791- Secretary Hamilton authorized an allowance of 9 cents for every ration officers do not draw. 1922- Congress authorized officers of the Customs and of the Coast Guard to board and examine vessels, reaffirming authority to seize and secure vessels for security of revenue under act of March 2, 1799. 1943- Landings made at Finechafen, New Guinea. 1957- The German training barque Pamir with 90 persons on board, including 54 German naval cadets, foundered and sank in extremely rough seas 500 miles west of the Azores. The USCGC Absecon, manning Ocean Station DELTA, intercepted the SOS message and immediately proceeded to the scene. Three days later, the cutter and assisting vessels rescued six survivors, but the remaining 84 remained missing. The search continued for seven days, with the Absecon directing on-scene operations of 60 merchant vessels from 13 nations, as well as American and Portugese aircraft. 1987- Coast Guard units responded when two freighters, the Pacbaroness and Atlantic Wing, collided in a dense fog off the coast of Santa Barbara. The Pacbaroness sank, causing a large oil spill. 1989- Coast Guard units from New York rescue 61 survivors of U.S. Air Flight 5050 after it skidded off a runway of LaGuardia Airport and into the Rikers Island Channel. Two persons were killed. 22 September 1897-The sloop yacht, Cuyahoga broke adrift from moorings and drifted out 4 1/2 miles NE of the Plum Island, MA station. Surfmen sailed out and brought her back, turning her over to her owner. 1990- The second port security, PSU 301, is deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield. 23 September 1967-Coho Salmon Fishing Disaster- A severe squall through the Frankfort River Platte area of northern Lake Michigan. Twenty-five-foot waves generated by the squall caught off guard an estimated 1,000 small boats fishing for Coho Salmon. Between 150 and 200 boats were beached and many more were either capsize or otherwise in distress. During the next four days Coast Guard aircraft flew 33 sorties for a total of 55 hours. State and Local police provided beach patrols and private individuals also aided in the operation. One of the greatest problems faced by the Coast Guard was the confusion created by the hundreds of people unaccounted for after the storm, most of whom were not in trouble but had just not contacted their friends or family. Each report of a missing person was carefully followed through so that within 4 days it was determined that seven had been recovered and only one person remained unaccounted for. The Coho salmon which attracted the large number of boats to the area remained in season for another 3 weeks. During this time the Coast Guard maintained daily aircraft and small boat patrols of the area. 24 September 1947-The Coast Guard announced that it had virtually completed the return of United States buoys, lights, and other aids to navigation, to a peacetime basis. 25 September 1916-The beginning of lighthouse work in the United States was commemorated, when a bronze tablet was unveiled at the Boston Light Station on the 200th anniversary of its establishment. A US Navy P5M seaplane that had ditched off the Oregon coast was located through radio contact by a US Coast Guard UF aircraft. After sighting 10 survivors in two rafts 110 miles off shore, the UF crew directed the USCGC Yocona to the scene, where a successful night rescue was made. 26 September 1918-The Imperial German Navy's submarine UB-91 torpedoed and sank the USCGC Tampa (formerly named Miami) which was escorting a convoy bound for Milford Haven, Wales, with all hands. 111 Coast Guardsmen, as well as four U.S. Navy, 11 Royal Navy, and five civilian passengers were killed. The bodies of two of the Coast Guard crew were recovered and were buried in a small church yard in Lamphey, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Great Britain. One body was returned to the family in the U.S. after the war while one, who was never identified, is still interred in Lamphey's church yard to this day. Local residents care for the grave. 1994- Coast Guard forces depart for Haiti in support of Operation Restore Democracy. 27 September 1942- Douglas A. Munro, Signalman 1/c gave his life evacuating Marines at Matanikau Point, Guadalcanal. President Roosevelt posthumously awarded Munro the Congressional Medal of Honor, the only person in the Coast Guard to earn this decoration. 1950- For the purpose of alleviating attrition during the Korean War, Executive Order 10164 authorized the Coast Guard, In cases where enlisted personnel did not immediately reenlist in the Coast Guard, to extend enlistments for one year, if the date of expiration of enlistment occurred prior to 9 July 1951. The Coast Guard, however, adopted a policy of permitting the discharge of men upon expiration of enlistment, provided they immediately enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve. 28 September 1850-An Act of Congress (9 Stat. L., 500, 504) provided for a systematic coloring and numbering of all buoys for, prior to this time, they had been painted red, white, or black, without any special system. The act "prescribed that buoys should be colored and numbered so that in entering from seaward red buoys with even numbers should be on the starboard or right hand; black buoys with odd numbers on the port or left hand; buoy with red and black horizontal stripes should indicate shoals with channel on either side; and buoys in channel ways should be colored with black and white perpendicular stripes. 1850-An Act of Congress (9 Stat. L., 500, 504) gave legal authority for the first time for the assigning of collectors of customs to lighthouse duty. Section 9 of this act authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to assign to any of the collectors of customs, the superintendence of such lighthouses, beacons, lightships, and buoys as he might deem best. The act also stipulated that no collector of customs whose annual salary exceeded $3, 000 a year should receive any compensation as disbursing officer in the Lighthouse Establishment and, in no case, was the compensation of the collectors of customs for disbursements in the Lighthouse Service to exceed $400.00 In any fiscal year. 29 September 1898-The American steamer, Toledo with the barge Shawnee in tow, became water-logged 25 miles SW of the station at Ship Canal, MI. Her crew boarded Shawnee and sailed to the canal. There they engaged the steamer D.F. Rose to tow Toledo in and the surfmen assisted to lay her on the beach near the piers. The keeper then telephoned for a tug and lighter, and upon their arrival all hands set to work until 11 p.m. saving about 1,000 feet of lumber. At this hour the wind came out west and the work had to be abandoned. Toledo broke up and became a total wreck on the 30th. 1986- Coast Guard officials sign the contract papers to acquire the H-60 series helicopter to replace the aging Sikorsky HH-3F Pelicans. 30 September 1899-First Navy wireless message sent via Lighthouse Service Station at Highlands of Navesink, New Jersey. 1943-USCGC E.M. Wilcox foundered off Nags Head, NC. There was 1 lost. 1949-The rank of commodore, established in 1943 as a wartime measure, was terminated by the President under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved 24 July 1941. 1997- Omega Navigation Station Hawaii ceases operation, coinciding with the end of worldwide Omega transmissions. [Daily Chronology] [Historians' Office] [USCG Home Page] Added: January 1998 Updated: June 2001