Foundation for Coast Guard History

10/21/2026

10/21/2026

"It will be a long time before the day's deeds will be forgotten..."

On October 21 in 1865, a remarkable expression of Nantucket’s unwavering human spirit rescued a sixty-two year old Captain and his four crewmen from a watery grave off the island’s south shore.

10/21/2026

10/21/2026

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday..."

Courtesy Coast Guard Aviation Association archives About 10:20 p.m., on July 5, 2000, HH-65 CGNR 6539 was heading back to base after monitoring a swamp fire east of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, and heard over the radio “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday—Ocean Crusader. I’m an oil rig. I’m on fire.....

10/20/2026

We pause to mourn and remember...

On October 20, 1978, USCGC CUYAHOGA (WIX-157) was underway in the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Potomac River when it collided with the 521-foot Argentine-flagged freighter M/V SANTA CRUZ II. The impact of the collision was so devastating that USCGC CUYAHOGA sank in two minutes, taking 10 crew members and an international officer with it. Eighteen crewmembers survived the incident. Today, we remember the sacrifice of those who perished aboard USCGC CUYAHOGA.

Lost shipmates

MKCS David B. Makin
YN1 William M. Carter
SS1 Ernestino A. Balina
SA Michael A. Atkinson
FA James L. Hellyer
SA David S. McDowell
OC James W. Clark
OC John P. Heistand
OC Edward J. Thomason
OC Bruce E. Wood
LI Wiyono Sumalyo, Indonesian Navy

Survivors of the collision were

CWO Donald K. Robinson
BM1 Roger E. Wild
QM2 Randy V. Rose
MK2 Stephen D. Baker
SN Kevin J. Henderson
SA Jeffery I. Fox
SA Michael E. Myers
OC Arne O. Denny
OC Peter S. Eident
OC Earl W. Fairchild, Jr.
OC Michael E. Moser
OC Frederick J. Riemer
OC Joseph L. Robison
OC Robert P. Rutledge
OC Timothy C. Stone
OC Earl C. Thomas
OC Lawrence V. Williams
LT Jonathan Arisasmita, Indonesian Navy

For additional details and photos: https://www.forcecom.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/FORCECOM-UNITS/TraCen-Yorktown/TCY-History/TCY-Cutters/USCGC-Cuyahoga/

Photo: Bell from Cutter CUYAHOGA with wreath and individual flowers for each crewmember lost, during memorial ceremony at Coast Guard Academy Chapel; memorial plaque, USCG TraCen Yorktown; Cutter Cuyahoga; Cuyaoga being salvaged.

10/19/2026

10/19/2026

Lifesavers...

October 19, 1881 -- The sloop Zulu Chief with four passengers and a crew of two men struck the bar off Hog Island Inlet, Virginia at a point about half a mile from the beach. The accident occurred at 11 o’clock am in plain view of the crew of Station No. 9, Fifth District, on Hog Island. They launched the surfboat and went to the sloop’s assistance. She was pounding heavily and lay in a very dangerous position. The life-saving crew went to work without delay and carried out her anchors and succeeded in saving the vessel.

Interesting historical tidbits -- the original Hog Island Station, built in 1875, was relocated in 1878 to a new site to escape the encroachment from the sea. It was abandoned 1897 and a new site was obtained. The original Station was eventually destroyed by a storm.

(Information courtesy of the Coast Guard Historian's Office)

Images: Life-Saving Station Hog Island

10/18/2026

An old Cape Cod newspaper clipping from the past. The caption to the photo read...

"Osborne E. Hallett, who for ten years, was civilian keeper at Race Point Light Station, Provincetown, is shown left, with Chief Boatswains Mate George Rongner, in charge of Race Point Coast Guard Station, who is bidding farewell to the keeper on his transfer to Nobska Point Light, Falmouth."

Keeper Hallett served at Race Point Light Station from 1945 to 1955.

(American Lighthouse Foundation archives)

10/18/2026

18 October 1848 -- Captain Douglas Ottinger, U.S. Revenue-Marine, was designated by the Secretary of the Treasury to supervise the construction of the first Life-Saving stations and procurement of the equipment and boats to be placed at them. The stations were to be constructed along the coast of New Jersey from Sandy Hook to Little Egg Harbor.

Captain Ottinger reported the completing of construction and furnishing of the eight life-saving stations on 21 May 1849, marking the beginning of Federal life-saving efforts.

Formal federal government involvement began on 14 August 1848 with the signing of the "Newell Act," named for its chief advocate, New Jersey Representative William A. Newell. Under this act, the United States Congress appropriated $10,000 to establish unmanned lifesaving stations along the New Jersey coast south of New York Harbor and to provide "surf boat, rockets, carronades and other necessary apparatus for the better preservation of life and property from shipwreck on the coast of New Jersey". Between 1848 and 1854 other stations were built and loosely managed. The stations were administered by the Revenue-Marine (later renamed the United States Revenue Cutter Service). They were run with volunteer crews, much like a volunteer fire department.

(Information courtesy of the Coast Guard Historian's Office)

10/18/2026