The Coast Guard
in the
Pacific Northwest
by
Dennis L. Noble
The establishment of the U.S. Coast Guard
in the states of
Washington
and
Oregon
is tied to the increase in maritime trade during the western expansion of
America
.
Great Britain
and
Spain
controlled the area encompassing the present day
Pacific Northwest
states prior to 1846.
Spain
eventually gave up her claim and later, due to pressure from the
United States
,
Great Britain
also ceded her land in the region. When the
Oregon
Territory
was created, in 1849, the region was thinly populated. For example, there
were approximately 304 Americans living north of the
Columbia River
. Then gold was discovered in
California
and the resulting large wave of emigrants caused a demand for lumber to
build new homes and in mining operations. Large stands of timber growing
almost to water’s edge made the
Pacific Northwest
a logical location to obtain and ship the needed raw material. Then as some
gold seekers became disillusioned they began to drift northward to see if a
change could improve their lot. Many of these people settled near water and
the sea became an important communication link for the small settlements.
For instance, in 1853, when the
Washington
Territory
was formed, there were 3,965 inhabitants, about half of whom lived around
Puget Sound
. Thus, by the 1850s the
Pacific Northwest
had a brisk seagoing trade.
With the establishment of a new territory
and a growing maritime business, there also developed a need for the
government to collect customs revenue. The first customs activities were
centered at
Astoria
,
Oregon
, and then, in 1851, the Puget Sound Collection District was established in
Olympia
,
Washington
. The office was moved two years later to Port Townsend,
Washington
, then the largest port on the Sound. The Collector of Customs not only took
in revenue, he documented vessels, administered marine hospitals, supervised
lighthouses, and even undertook a little steamboat inspection.
The major problem facing the new
Collector of Customs in the region was smuggling. The large amount of coves,
inlets, and rivers, plus the nearby British territory, made
Puget Sound
a smuggler’s dream. The loss of revenue to the
United States
was put forth as the main reason for sending a revenue cutter to the
Pacific Northwest
. In addition, it was reasoned, a cutter would help ships in distress and
would make an appropriate vessel for government officials to make their
rounds. The Treasury Department apparently felt these were valid arguments
for it dispatched the cutter Jefferson Davis, which sailed into
Puget Sound
on September 28, 1854. The cutter marks the first unit of the U. S. Coast
Guard to be stationed in the states of
Washington
and
Oregon
.
The Jefferson Davis was a topsail
schooner, built by J. M. Hood at
Sommerset
,
Massachusetts
, in 1852-1853 for $9,000. She was 94 feet, 9 inches in length, 23 feet in
breadth, 8 feet 11 1/2 inches in depth, and with a tonnage of 176 1/95.
Captain William C. Pease, the youngest Captain in the U.S. Revenue Cutter
Service, commanded a crew made up of three officers and at least thirty-two
men. The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, in which Pease served was founded, in
1790, by Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, to prevent
smuggling and the loss of revenue to the new nation. The Service operated
under the Treasury Department and is one of the predecessors of the modern
day U.S. Coast Guard.
The Jefferson Davis proved her
worth. Very shortly after her arrival, Captain Pease and his command were
caught up in the unrest between the Native Americans and whites of the
region. The cutter found herself being employed as a troop transport, a
platform for gunfire missions, and at one point Pease sent Third Lieutenant
J. H. Harrison ashore to help command an infantry unit in combat. In the
dispute over the San Juan Islands--known as the "Pig War" — the Jefferson
Davis and the cutter Joseph Lane, from
Astoria
, helped in delivering dispatches. In addition to these combat duties, the
small cutter helped mariners in distress. In the days before the telegraph,
it was almost impossible to tell when a ship was definitely lost. In the
case of sailing vessels, a ship could be overdue without being in trouble.
The cutter, therefore, responded to many false alarms. For example, on
December 6, 1854, the Jefferson Davis proceeded to search for the
schooner L. P. Foster, whose owner feared she had been driven aground
on
Vancouver Island
. The cutter searched for many days and weathered a strong westerly gale off
the west coast of
Vancouver Island
, only to find that the missing schooner wasn’t lost in the first place.
When the Jefferson Davis sailed
into
Puget Sound
, she marked the first step in the federal government’s role in assisting
mariners of the region. If trade were to increase in the
Pacific Northwest
, however, a system of aids to navigation would be needed to help prevent
shipwrecks. The northwest coast of the
United States
is noted for its rocky headlands, large amounts of precipitation, fog, and
strong winds, the traditional enemies of sailors. In 1848, there was not a
single lighthouse along the 1,300 miles of rugged coastline stretching from
Puget Sound
to the California-Mexico border. The Act that created the
Oregon
Territory
did call for lighthouses at Cape Disappointment and New Dungeness, both in
the present state of
Washington
, and the establishment of buoys in the Columbia River and
Astoria
harbor. Before the lighthouses could be built, however, the government
decided to send the Coast Survey to check the sites to see if, indeed, the
locations were suitable for lights.
The Coast Survey began their work in 1849
and sent back their recommendations. The report stated there should be a
total of 16 lights, including
Cape Disappointment
and New Dungeness.
Washington
, the Survey felt, should have additional structures at
Smith
Island
, Cape Flattery, and Willapa, later
Shoalwater
Bay
. In
Oregon
, a light was considered necessary at the mouth of the
Umpqua
River
. Between the years 1852 and 1858, all of the recommended lighthouses were
erected and manned by the U.S. Lighthouse Service, another predecessor
agency of the U.S. Coast Guard.
All of the first lighthouses in
Washington
and
Oregon
were of a single design: a
Cape Cod
dwelling with the tower rising through the center of the house. The design
was by Amni B. Young, an architect employed by the Treasury Department.
Many of the lighthouses along the coasts
of
Washington
and
Oregon
posed unusual problems. The site chosen for the light at
Cape Flattery
is a good example. The structure would be situated on high rocky
Tatoosh
Island
. The terrain, however, was not the main difficulty. The island was the
traditional summer location for the Haidas and the Nootka tribes of
Canada
to fish and hunt whales. The white-man’s incursion onto the island was
looked upon with disfavor. To add fuel to an already inflammatory situation,
a smallpox epidemic broke out, killing at least 500 in the local Makaw
village. The Native Americans laid the blame for the plague at the doorstep
of the white man.
The lighthouse construction party arrived
at
Tatoosh
Island
with a tense situation on their hands. Before any work began on the light,
the men built a blockhouse for protection against an expected attack. The
feared encounter never materialized and, in December 1857, the light was
placed in commission. Even after the station was completed, friction with
the Native Americans continued. The combination of friction, low pay, bad
weather (it rains an average of 215 days a year at the island), and lengthy
tours of duty made it difficult to retain keepers. Once, all four keepers
resigned at the same time. Enough men were eventually found who were willing
to endure the isolation and loneliness. John M. Cowen, for example, arrived
at Tatoosh on May 5, 1900, and remained there for thirty-two years and six
months. To appreciate the difficulties of living on the island, Mrs. Cowen
related that a "70 mile (an hour) gale wrecked chimneys and roofs, and
blew Mr. Cowen end over end for 300 feet. Only by clinging to the grass and
crawling on his hands and knees was he able to avoid being blown from the
island into the sea...’
To the east of
Tatoosh
Island
, within the Straits of Juan de Fuca, another early lighthouse has an
unusual history. The New Dungeness Lighthouse was one of the original lights
mentioned when the
Oregon
Territory
was formed. The light sits on Dungeness Spit, a narrow finger of sand
jutting out into the Straits. The Straits are noted for fog, drizzle, and
strong winds. Thus, the lighthouse was an important aid to navigation as
shipping increased in the
Puget Sound
region. New Dungeness Light was first displayed on December 14, 1857. The
tower was masonry, painted half black and half white, thereby also making it
a daymarker. The markings, as seen from the Straits, causes "an
illusion to the human eye (that) frequently (seems to) raise the tower to
five times its actual size and then suddenly change(s) it to a low, black
line close to the ground." The lighthouse, in 1871, was once isolated
when the actions of the sea caused a fifty-foot gap to appear in the spit.
The same seas, however, also quickly filled in the gap. Probably the most
unusual aspect of the light was the fact that, unwittingly, it was
constructed on the site of a battleground where local Native Americans
fought rival tribes. The unusual aspect is that, while many battles took
place at the site, whites were never involved. "The government.
Concerned for the safety of the keepers...ordered the lighthouse equipped
with heavy green shutters for protection in ease of an. attack."
Eventually, the battles became so common place and the dangers so
nonexistent to the inhabitants of the light, the keepers "unconcernedly
pulled the shutters closed and went about their duties."
To the south, one of the most difficult
of all lighthouses on the West Coast to establish was built at
Tillamook Rock
,
Oregon
. This light marks dangerous offshore rocks. Tillamook Rock is a rough,
crag-like rock where the sea dashes wildly against it. Only one side of the
rock even presented a suitable location to place a light. It took several
weeks of waiting out rough weather to land just one man, armed with nothing
but a tape measure, to provide the measurements from which plans were drawn.
Quarrymen were eventually landed to level a site. The men working on the
construction labored from October 1879 to January 2, 1881, under the most
severe conditions imaginable. The seas made landing dangerous, with wind and
seas threatening to wash the workers off the rock once they managed to get
aboard. A large boom was finally installed that helped in landing men and
supplies.
Tillamook Rock, once placed into
commission, provided difficulties for those that served at the station. The
force of the sea caused incidents that strain credulity. Green water has
been reported topping the light’s lantern room, some 133 feet above the
sea. In December 1886, a half-ton mass of concrete was sheared off and flung
some ninety feet above normal water. In 1894, thirteen panes in the lantern
room were completely shattered and rocks, seaweed, and fish were flung into
the room. The iron roof received so many holes that in 1898 it had to be
replaced with thick, flat reinforced concrete.
It took a special person to stay on
Tillamook Rock. One lighthouse keeper, as a reward for long and faithful
service at the isolated station, was selected to help care for the U.S.
Lighthouse Service’s exhibit at the Panama Pacific Exposition in
San Francisco
in 1898. After a week amongst the crowds, the keeper pleaded to return to
his rock. "No more of them noisy wise cracking crowds for me, I’ll
live here until I die," the keeper reported upon his return to
Oregon
. Robert Gerloff actually hated to go ashore and it was rumored that he had
spent a five-year stretch on the rock without relief. When it came time for
his retirement Gerloff pleaded with the Service to allow him to stay aboard
Tillamook Rock as a paying guest, but his request was denied and the old
keeper left the light for the last time.
The most isolated and dangerous duty in
the Lighthouse Service was aboard lightships. These small, special ships
guarded areas where it was impossible to build a light structure. The
obvious danger in this type of duty is that the vessel must remain on
station no matter how fierce the gale. Another real danger is the
possibility of being rammed by another ship attempting to feel its way
through thick weather. The William F. Channing, for example, struck the
Columbia River
Lightship, in January 1950. The lightship on this station had been
involved in collisions on two previous occasions.
The first lightship on the West Coast was
the
Columbia River
Number 50. The ship was built by the Union Iron Works of San
Francisco and began her service in 1892. The next lightship assigned to the
Pacific Northwest took station at Umatilla Reef, about halfway down the
coast of
Washington
, in 1898. The third, and last, lightship location in the region was at
Swiftsure. The light vessel took station near the entrance to the Straits of
Juan de Fuca in 1909.
The U.S. Lighthouse Service also operated
a fleet of ships known as lighthouse tenders. The tenders provided the means
to bring supplies and needed work parties to the scattered and isolated
lighthouses. The rocky nature of lighthouse locations made this duty very
hazardous. One author noted that the fleet of tenders consisted "of
vessels whose duty it is to go where no other vessels are allowed to go, and
who, through storm, darkness and sunshine, do their work..." At first,
all tenders were fitted with sails. The first steam powered vessel of the
Service assigned to the West Coast was built in
Philadelphia
, in 1857. The 140-foot Shubrick sailed for many years on the waters
of
Puget Sound
. She helped in the construction of the first lighthouses in the state of
Washington
, became enmeshed in the unrest with the Native Americans and whites of the
region, and helped ships in distress. She also had a brief stint in the U.S.
Revenue Cutter Service from 1861 to 1867. The old tender served for some 28
years before being sold for scrap in 1885.
The Lighthouse Service along the West
Coast continued to grow over the years. As new ports gained importance,
additional lights were placed into commission. By 1900, for instance, there
were 17 lighthouses located in
Washington
and
Oregon
.
The purchase of
Alaska
in 1868 caused an increase in the Revenue Cutter Service’s presence in the
Puget Sound
region. The main port of operations for the cutters sailing to protect the
United States
’ revenue interests in the territory was Port Townsend, Washington. Some
of the most famous cutters of the Service, the Bear, the Corwin, and
Wolcott — sailed to the Bering Sea and
Arctic Ocean
from this port. After the turn of the 20th Century, however, the
port
of
Seattle
began to become more important for all shipping in the region.
The next predecessor agency of the modern
day U.S. Coast Guard to be established in
Washington
and
Oregon
was the Steamboat Inspection Service. The large growth of steam powered
ships and the resultant explosions of faulty boilers, with great loss of
life, caused the passage of the first laws to regulate passenger carrying
steam vessels in 1838.
In the early years of steamboat
development, inland waterways were better suited to the new vessels than
ocean navigation. The inland waters of
Washington
and
Oregon
were ideally suited to this new type of transportation. It was not until
1863, however, that Captain J. M. Crouch, as Inspector of Hulls, and John
Gates, Boiler Inspector, were established at
Portland
,
Ore.
In their first year of operations, they inspected 24 steam vessels and
licensed fifty pilots and thirty-eight engineers. As work increased, another
office was established in
Seattle
in 1871. By 1899, the Portland District was inspecting 151 vessels totaling
42,944 tons and issuing 188 licenses.
The last of the four predecessor agencies
that would eventually make up the U.S. Coast Guard — the U.S. Life-Saving
Service — did not begin duty in the Pacific Northwest until 1877, even
though it can trace its federal origins to 1848. The primary duty of this
organization was the assistance to mariners in distress close to the beach
by shore based small boats. One has only to look at wreck charts of the
region to understand the need to establish rescue stations. Regional marine
writer Jim Gibbs, for example, has listed at least 204 wrecks around the
entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca Don Marshall lists 124 known wrecks
between
Cape
Falcon
and
Cape Disappointment
on the Washington-Oregon coasts.
The first station of the U.S. Life
Saving-Service in the Pacific Northwest was established at Shoalwater, later
Willapa
Bay
, in 1877, with Cape Disappointment and
Neah Bay
,
Washington
, stations placed into commission in 1878. (
Neah
Bay
station was first built on
Waddah
Island
). Most stations of the Service, until well after the beginning of the 20th
Century, were small, usually consisting of no more than seven men. The
crewmen, called surfmen, spent long hours practicing with their rescue
equipment and performing beach patrols and lookout duties. When assistance
was needed, it was oars and human muscles against the sea.
The lifesavers certainly earned their
small monthly wages. In 1881, for example, Keeper Alfred T. Harris, of the
Cape Disappointment Station, rescued 19 men from a wrecked ship. Three years
later, with a volunteer crew, Harris helped in the rescue of 175 passengers
from the Queen of the Pacific. The British bark, Lammerlaw, grounded
near
Shoalwater
Bay
at five in the morning on October 30, 1882, during a driving storm. The
rescue of its crew is described in the pages of the Annual Report of the
U.S. Life-Saving Service:
The start was... made for the wreck, the
danger and difficulty increasing at every boat’s length... In tempestuous
weather the great field of shallow waters literally raged, and the wreck
struck out aslant, the center an abatis of flying chutes and cataracts...
Amidst this turmoil the boat inched up to the wreck, the men keeping a
terrible grip on the oars and straining for their hold against the sea. Once
the boat half-filled and an oar snapped...but finally, by hazardous
maneuvers...the crew of the Lammerlaw was rescued. For his efforts,
Albert T. Stream, who was in charge of the rescue, received the Gold
Life-Saving Medal, the highest award bestowed by the Service, and a medal
from the British government.
With the establishment of the U.S.
Life-Saving Service in the Washington-Oregon region, all the predecessor
agencies of the modern day U.S. Coast Guard were now effectively serving the
maritime community of the
Pacific Northwest
. The gradual adding of stations and the shifting of the various cutters
within the area continued but, in general, the status quo was continued
until 1915 when, in an effort to streamline government operations, a major
change came about. On January 15, 1915, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and
the U.S. Life-Saving Service were amalgamated to form the U.S. Coast Guard.
The first major task of the new Service
came in 1920, with the passage of the Volstead Act, the experiment to outlaw
liquor in the
United States
. For the next 14 years the U.S. Coast Guard waged a war against the
smugglers of illegal spirits. While the volume of smuggling in
Washington
and
Oregon
never reached the proportions of that along the eastern seaboard, there was
enough to keep Coast Guardsmen busy.
The cutter Arcata, under the
command of Boatswain L.A. Lonsdale’s "skillful and patient
endeavor,… was able to make a good number of seizures (of illegal), many
of them involving...craft (of higher speeds)." In June 1924, for
example, Arcata was pursuing a speedboat and placed a shot across her
bows. The rumrunner returned fire with small arms. The cutter then increased
her rate of return fire and the smuggler’s boat exploded, apparently hit
in her fuel tank. The boat was beached and it was found to contain
contraband liquor, plus some Chinese were found onboard who were trying to
enter the United States illegally.
The repeal of Prohibition in 1934 ended
the long rum war at sea. The role of the U.S. Coast Guard in the effort to
keep America dry was not a popular one. As one historian has noted, the
Service was unpopular with those that wished to ban liquor because they
could not completely cut off the illegal flow of booze and the Service was
unpopular with those that wished the country "wet," for the
anti-smuggling work did cut off some of the sources of liquor. ‘It was a
cross which the Coastguardsman had to bear, and he bore it well." Out
of the long rum war, however, came an expanded Service that "remained
larger and more important than it had been previously." In the same
year as the repeal of Prohibition, a major new unit was established on the
West Coast. On July 29, 1934, work was begun on the first U.S. Coast Guard
Alr Station on the West Coast. Its location at Port Angeles, Wash., was
chosen for the strategic position it occupied for coastal patrol. The
station’s first equipment included three seventy-five foot patrol boats,
four picket boats, and one amphibious aircraft.
As war clouds began to thicken in 1939,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt made another major change to the U.S. Coast
Guard. Again, citing the need for governmental efficiency, the U.S.
Lighthouse Service, in existence since 1789, was taken over by the U.S.
Coast Guard. Shortly after this take over, the Service began to go on a
wartime footing and was greatly increased.
During World War II, the U.S. Coast Guard
in the Pacific Northwest continued its traditional duties while assisting in
the war effort. Beach patrols, now greatly augmented with dogs and horses,
continued to keep a lookout for ships in distress, but now, reacting to the
fear that gripped the country, the patrols kept a sharp watch for submarines
and saboteurs. Air Station Port Angeles was a base for training aerial
gunners and also had a practice landing strip for carrier landing training.
In 1942, as a wartime measure, the former Steamboat Inspection Service, now
called the U.S. Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, was transferred
to the U.S. Coast Guard. The transfer was made permanent in 1946.
Even in the midst of a global war, the
U.S. Coast Guard, now operating under the U.S. Navy, carried out its
humanitarian role in the Pacific Northwest. During a severe gale on March
31, 1943, the Russian freighter Lamut struck near Teahwhit Head,
Washington., south of Cape Flattery, and started a unique rescue. The
Captain of the Lamut lost his position in the gale whipped rain and
struck heavily against the rocks near La Push.
There were 44 men and eight women aboard
the doomed vessel. The wild pounding seas drove the ship hard against the
rocks and prevented other ships and small boats from approaching her. The
men from the Quillayute Coast Guard Station started to hack their way
through thickly wooded terrain and came out onto the rocky headlands, with
the Lamut lying on the rocks below them. The Coast Guardsmen, turned
mountain climbers, edged their way cautiously onto a precipitous ridge. A
glance at contemporary photographs of the Lamut wreck site and one
can feel nervous about the sailors inching their way over rain slick rocks,
with heavy winds tearing at them and threatening to hurl them into the
waters below. Clinging to the rocks high above the ship, the rescuers knew
that if something were not accomplished quickly, the crewmen would be lost.
There was, however, no rescue equipment then available that could be
wrestled out onto the dangerous ridge and the rope available would not reach
the Lamut. While the Coast Guardsmen tried to figure out how the crew
could be saved, the Russians attempted to launch a lifeboat, but one woman
was killed and another injured when a cable snapped. Now everything depended
upon the men clinging to the rocks above the freighter.
In one of the most inspired moments in
the history of maritime rescue in the Pacific Northwest, the Coast Guardsmen
on the rocks above the Lamut hit upon the idea of how to bring the
crew to safety. The men unlaced their shoes and tied the laces together,
thus forming enough extra line to reach the Lamut. The incredulous
Russian seamen grabbed the shoelaces, tied a heavier line to the makeshift
messenger line, which the Coast Guardsmen then hauled up the cliff.
Eventually, a heavy line was stretched from the Lamut and belayed to
the rocks above. The crew of the Lamut was now compelled to work its
way hand-overhand up the hawser to the relative safety of the cliff.
"Hanging between the black clouds above and the snarling, crashing
breakers below, they went. One slip would have meant instant death."
Later, some of the crew "admitted that fear alone impelled them
onward." The inspired actions of the Coast Guardsmen prevented the sea
from claiming more victims.
The U.S. Coast Guard in the Pacific
Northwest that emerged from World War II is the Service that still operates
its multi-faceted missions today. To be sure, there have been major changes.
Technology, for example, has made it possible for the closing of many units.
Better ship navigation has made the use of some lighthouses no longer
necessary. Isolated Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, where Robert Gerloff served
for so many years, was disestablished in 1957. Technology has also made it
possible to automate lighthouses and the use of keepers at a light station
is no longer necessary. In fact, when the U.S. Coast Guard took over the
Lighthouse Service, it began immediately to explore ways to automate the
many isolated stations. Tatoosh Island, where so much friction developed
between the Native Americans and the Service, was automated in 1977. It is
estimated that before the end of the 1980s there will be no manned
lighthouses in the United States, thus ending a long era in our maritime
history. Technology has also marked the end of all lightships in Washington
and Oregon.
Lastly, another technological advancement
was the replacement of the Coast Guard’s standard workhorses in lifesaving
equipment. In 1961, a new 44-foot motor lifeboat was built to replace the
old 36-footer. To test the prototype boat, the Coast Guard chose the Cape
Disappointment Station area where the
Pacific Ocean
breaks on the Columbia River Bar to form huge surf. From this testing site
came the formation of a unique school, the
National
Motor
Life
Boat
School
. At the school, U.S. Coast Guard coxswains from all over the United States
learn "to forge (an) understanding between the boat, the people and the
sea" Or, as one writer has graphically put it, the students "learn
to work calmly while instinct warns they’re about to die."
Other changes in the region include
adding other air stations at
Astoria
in 1964 and
North Bend
,
Ore.
In 1967, the U.S. Coast Guard was transferred from its traditional home in
the Treasury Department to the Department of Transportation. The Service in
the
Pacific Northwest
continues to pursue its traditional duties of assistance and law
enforcement. On January 18, 1986, for example, the Honduran ship, Eagle
One, was seized near Neah Bay,
Wash.
Eagle One was found to be carrying a total of 507 pounds of illegal
cocaine. The seizure marked the largest haul of illegal cocaine to date on
the West Coast.
When the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service
cutter Jefferson Davis sailed into Puget Sound in 1854, it marked the
beginning of the U.S. Coast Guard’s long service to
Washington
and
Oregon
that continues to this day. The various small maritime agencies that were
amalgamated into the present day Service left a strong foundation of
assistance to others. Today, the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard, who
serve in the many units scattered throughout the
Pacific Northwest
, continue to carry on, and to surpass, the deeds of their illustrious
predecessors.