Great Lakes:
A Brief History of U.S. Coast Guard Operations
byDennis L. Noble
The
The need for assistance to those upon the lakes brings
up the old argument between salt and fresh water sailors. Many an old salt
would ask what danger could there be on a lake? With the opening of the St.
Lawrence Seaway in 1959 some of the questioning sailors had a chance to sail
on the "mill ponds" and soon found that waves of twenty feet in
height, or higher, can be quickly generated and danger is as real for a
sailor on Lake Michigan as on the ocean. If one looks at the
statistics, it becomes abundantly clear that this body of fresh water is
huge. The chain of lakes making up the region encompasses 94,510 square
miles. Indeed, it does appear that the lakes are, in the words of one
writer, the "
The U. S. Lighthouse Service was the first of the four
agencies that would eventually make up the U.S. Coast Guard on the
By 1866 there were 72 lights guiding ships to safety.
The need for lights is well illustrated when one realizes that by the 20th
century there would be more than 100 lighthouses dotting the shorelines of
the lakes and the
Spectacle Reef, located at the eastern approach to the
Straits of Mackinac, was, according to official reports, "probably more
dreaded by navigators than any other danger now unmarked throughout the
entire chain of lakes." Congress, in 1869, authorized work to begin on
the project with an estimated cost of $300,000. Major 0. M. Poe, of the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, was the supervising engineer for the project. Poe
selected a shallow area on the reef with only 11 feet of water over it.
Before commencing work on the foundation, however, the wreckage of the iron
ore schooner Nightingale had to be cleared away.
A crib dam was then constructed ashore and then
transported to the reef. Once the dam was in place, the water was removed so
the work crew would have a dry location in which to labor. Next, the
construction force leveled the foundation and, using three foot long bolts,
bolted preshaped stones to the base rock, with 21 inches of the bolt sunk
into the reef. Then, the courses of stone were bolted to each other and to
the layers of stone below. Each bolt was "set in pure portland cement
which today is as hard as the stone reef."
The tower of the light itself is a solid stone mass
for the first 34 feet and then rises at least five stories to the top of the
structure. It took at least four years to complete Spectacle Reef Light. So
severe was the winter of 1873 when the keepers came to open the new light,
they found ice rafted against the structure to 30 feet in height. This was
seven feet above the entrance and the men had to chop the ice away before
they could seek shelter. The light was officially first exhibited on June 1,
1874, and "has since guided lake vessels past the dangerous reef and
toward the Straits of Mackinac which lead into
Lighthouses may seem a perfect place for many of us in
this hectic, modern age. However, the words most used by keepers to describe
their existence are "loneliness" and "monotony." A great
deal of a keeper’s life centered on the mundane duties of keeping the
station and its equipment clean. Before the advent of electricity one
of the keeper’s primary duties was to keep a close watch on the lamp which
was the main source of illumination. The wick of the lamp had to be
carefully trimmed to produce a strong light. In fact, a keeper was judged by
how well his lamp was trimmed. This constant attention to wicks led to
lighthouse keepers earning the nickname "wickies."
Most people today probably view the profession of
lighthouse keeper as male dominated. This is in large part true, but in the
United States many of those lighthouses whose histories go back at least to
the 1800s "at one time or another had female assistant keepers; and a
surprising number had women as principal keepers." This was, however,
not because of an enlightened view on the part of the service. Rather, it
was a means of saving money. Many of the principal keepers were married and
it was cheaper to have a husband and wife team than to provide two separate
quarters. Both wives and family members helped in the running of a light.
For example, on May 11, 1890, a rowboat capsized in the
Lighthouses, such as Spectacle Reef, were some of the
most isolated stations in the service. For the most isolated and dangerous
duty, however, one had to serve 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, plus the ever present danger of being
rammed by another ship in thick weather.
The U.S. Lighthouse Service also operated another
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 locations of lights made this duty hazardous, as
lighthouses by their very nature are located in dangerous areas. 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 ...." The first tenders on the lakes were vessels chartered
by the Lighthouse Service. In 1874, the Dahlia was the first tender
constructed especially for light ice on the inland seas. She was 141 feet in
length, steam powered, iron-hulled, and the first to start the custom of
naming this class after flowers, shrubs, trees, or plants.
The next predecessor agency of the modern day U. S.
Coast Guard to be stationed on the
The Revenue Cutter Service on the
The next predecessor organization to appear in the
The winter of 1870-1871 on the
Officially, the service began on the Great Lakes in
1876 with 11 stations on
The rescues performed by the crews of the service
caught the imagination of the public and the press. Indeed, the sight of a
keeper, erect in the stern of his boat, urging on his crew as the boat
pitches in high surf, could make the most staid journalist gush forth with
purple prose. Surfmen soon began to be dubbed "soldiers of the
surf" and "storm warriors." The men who served at the
stations, however, led lives that could be best described as consisting of
hours of boredom, interspersed with seconds of sheer terror.
The man in charge of a station, officially known as a
keeper, had years of maritime experience and could handle men and boats in
difficult situations. The keeper spent many years in one area, becoming an
expert on the weather and surf conditions. Furthermore, because crewmen,
called surfmen, were chosen from the local community, the stations remained
principally a local affair and this is one of the main reasons behind the
strong bond that now exists between the modem day U.S. Coast Guard and the
municipalities that dot the
One of the best examples of the old U. S. Life Saving
Service keepers and his bond to a local area is
Arguably the greatest rescue of Lawson’s long
career, and one of the most difficult on the Great Lakes, came on Nov. 28,
1889, when the steamer Calumet foundered off Fort Sheridan. The
entire crew of the Evanston Station, and their boat, were transported by
rail to the location. Then the crew had to wrestle the boat down a steep
bluff to the beach. Lawson and his college crew next had to face a howling
gale, towering waves, and wind-lashed sleet to reach the shipwreck. For
their rescue of the 18 crewmen of the Calumet, the entire Evanston
crew received the Gold Lifesaving Medal, one of the few times that the
highest lifesaving award had been presented to an entire crew. Lawson
finally left the service on July 16, 1903 and died on Oct. 29, 1912, still
residing in the Evanston area. At the time of his retirement one writer
aptly summed up the old lifesaver: he "set standards and traditions
that will last a life time."
The last of the four predecessor agencies to
eventually form the U. S. Coast Guard on the Great Lakes is also the one
that has been the least documented and, therefore, will be discussed only
briefly. The Steamboat Inspection Service came about due to the large growth
of steam powered ships and the resultant explosions of faulty boilers, with
great loss of life. The mounting death toll led to the passage of the first
laws, in 1838, to regulate passenger carrying steam vessels.
In the early years of steamboat development, inland
waterways were better suited to the new vessels than ocean navigation. The
waters of the Great Lakes, of course, were ideally suited to this new type
of propulsion. The Steamboat Inspection Service grew in fits and starts. The
service usually gained more responsibilities after a marine disaster. By
1911 the organization would list as their duties: the inspection of vessel
construction and equipment; the examination and licensing of marine
officers; the examination of seamen and investigations of marine casualties
and violations of inspection laws; establishing regulations to prevent
collisions; and establishing regulations for the transporting of passengers
and merchandise. There were two Steamboat Inspection Service Districts in
the Great Lakes: the Eighth included all the waters north and west of Lake
Erie and the Ninth, which encompassed the St. Lawrence River, Lakes Erie,
Ontario, and Champlain. Headquarters for the Eight was in Detroit and the
Ninth District headquarters was located at Cleveland, Ohio.
The first decades of the 20th century would bring huge
changes to the four small federal maritime agencies on the Great Lakes. The
gradual adding of stations and shifting of various cutters continued but, in
general, as the new century began the status quo was maintained until 1915.
Then, in an effort to streamline government operations, a major change came
about. On Jan. 15, 1915, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life
Saving Service were amalgamated to form the U.S. Coast Guard.
At first glance there seems to be little difference
between the new service and its predecessors. Cutters still performed their
traditional duties, the St. Mary’s River Patrol still operated during
shipping season, and small rescue boats continued to put out into storm
tossed lakes to rescue those in distress. Indeed, in November 1919, during a
strong gale, with the temperature hovering at 18 degrees above zero, the
rescue of the H. E. Runnels near Grand Marais, Michigan, was a feat
that one historian noted was "worthy ... even by the standards of the
old Life-Saving Service ...." All of the U. S. Coast Guardsmen who
rescued the 19 crewmen of the Runnels received the Gold Lifesaving
Medal. There were, however, large changes on the horizon.
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. With easy access to Canada,
smugglers had a field day. Illegal activities on the lakes reached its
zenith during the fall of 1927 and the spring of 1928. To combat the rum
runners on the Great Lakes, station crews were doubled, patrol boats were
increased, and a 75 foot picket boat class was added to the U.S. Coast
Guard’s inventory. Although these measures helped, the flow of liquor was
never completely stopped and only the passage of the 21st Amendment, the
repeal of Prohibition, brought the rum war to a close.
The role of the new U.S. Coast Guard in the effort to
keep America dry was not a popular one. One historian has noted the service
was unpopular with the "drys" because they could not completely
cut off the supply of illegal liquor. On the other hand, they were also
unpopular with the "wets" who were angry over the supply of
spirits that were interrupted. "It was a cross which the Coast
Guardsmen had to bear, and he bore it well." Out of the long rum war,
however, some good did emerge. The U.S. Coast Guard had, in general, been
known only locally. Now it received national and international notice. Most
importantly, the service "remained larger and more important than it
had been previously."
The 1930s not only marked the end of Prohibition, it
also ushered in the beginnings of new technology for the U.S. Coast Guard on
the Great Lakes. In 1932, a new class of cutter was constructed at the DeFoe
Works, Bay City, Mich., and christened the Escanaba. She was 165 feet
in length and powered by a 1,500 horsepower steam turbine. On Dec. 9, 1932,
the new cutter was assigned to her homeport of Grand Haven, Mich. The Escanaba
was designed to help keep shipping lanes open as late as possible. Twenty
days after arriving in Grand Haven, the cutter participated in her first
rescue, pulling two downed pilots from the cold waters of Lake Michigan.
In 1938, a Grumman V-118 twin engine amphibian
airplane was assigned to the Great Lakes Air Patrol Detachment at Traverse
City, Mich. The detachment operated for three months to test the feasibility
of constructing an air station in the area. The first evaluation, however,
recommended operations only during shipping season. One year later, as
war clouds began to thicken, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made another
major change to the U.S. Coast Guard. Again, citing governmental efficiency,
the U.S. lighthouse Service was taken over by the Coast Guard. Shortly after
this, the service itself became part of the U.S. Navy as the nation prepared
for World War II.
The Great Lakes assumed an even greater role as a
transportation artery during World War II. It now became an important part
of the war effort for the Coast Guard to keep shipping moving as late as
possible and to guard against sabotage. U.S. Coast Guard personnel guarded
shorelines, docks, vessels, bridges, patrolled harbors, and manned lookout
stations to protect vital shipping. In 1942, as a wartime measure, the
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. In order to keep shipping moving as
long as possible, $8 million was appropriated to build an icebreaker for
Great Lakes use. On March 20, 1943. the 290 foot Mackinaw’s keel
was laid. She was launched and commissioned on March 4, 1944, the most
powerful icebreaker in the world at the time for her designed purposes.
At the outbreak of World War II, some cutters were
transferred from the Great Lakes to help in the Battle of the Atlantic. One
of the cutters making the move to the Atlantic was the Escanaba. In
June 1943, while operating with a convoy out of Narsarssuak, Greenland,
Seaman First Class Raymond O’Malley, at 5:10 in the morning, heard "a
noise which sounded like three or four bursts of 20 mm machine gun
fire." Within minutes after this noise, there was a tremendous
explosion that ripped the cutter in two. Only two men survived, O’Malley
and Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Melvin Baldwin. The citizens of Grand
Haven, to pay tribute to the m e n who died, established a memorial park and
raised more than a million dollars in U.S. war bonds to build another ship
to bear the name Escanaba. Since World War II, Grand Haven has held
the U.S. Coast Guard Festival in August of each year.
The U.S. Coast Guard that emerged from World War II is
basically the service that still operates its multifaceted 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. technology has also made it
possible to automate lighthouses and keepers are no longer required. In
fact, when the U.S. Coast Guard took over the U.S. Lighthouse Service, it
began to seek ways to automate many of the isolated stations. Spectacle Reef
Lighthouse, the great engineering feat of the 19th century, for example, was
automated in 1972. It is estimated that at the end of the 1980s there will
be no manned lights in the United States, thus ending an era in our maritime
history. Lightships have also been replaced. The last lightship on the Great
Lakes, the Huron, was disestablished and a lighted horn buoy and
radio beacon replaced her station on Aug. 21, 1970.
Lastly, the number of small boat stations have been
greatly reduced by changing technology, including Keeper Lawrence O.
Lawson’s old Evanston, Illinois, unit. Keeper Henry Cleary, of the
Marquette, Michigan, U.S. Life-Saving Service Station, conducted tests on
the first 34 foot lifeboat equipped with a two cylinder, 12 horsepower
engine. Eventually, these tests developed the work horse of the U.S. Coast
Guard small boat stations--the 36 foot motor lifeboat. In 1961 a new 44-foot
motor lifeboat replaced the older boat. While these boats made it possible
to reduce the number of small boat stations, one of the largest reasons for
the reduction was the development of the helicopter as a rescue tool and the
addition of more air stations on the Great Lakes. In 1966, a new air station
was opened near Detroit and equipped with Sikorsky HH52A helicopters. This
"chopper" has a top speed of 125 mph. It was designed to pick up
an injured person either by rescue hoist or by landing in the water, and
then return to base with a safe margin of fuel remaining. In its first year
of operation, the station is credited with saving 330 lives.
In 1967 another major administrative change came to
the U.S. Coast Guard on the
Like the old U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, the U.S.
Coast Guard still continues to perform a multitude of duties on the
In the early 19th century units of the modern day U.S.
Coast Guard began their long service to the maritime community of the