Coast Guard Polar & Ice Operations

Including the Bering Sea, Greenland & International Ice Patrols

A photo of the Northwind on the Northwest Passage escort of SS Manhattan

General Information:

Coast Guard Expeditions, Polar & Ice Operations and the International Ice Patrol: A Bibliography A photo of the Revenue cutter Bear

Coast Guard Ice Operations: Description & Summary

"The U.S. Coast Guard in the Arctic and the Sub Arctic," a history by RADM Edward H. "Iceberg" Smith, USCG, 1949 (pdf).

A History of Coast Guard Ice Operations: A PowerPoint Presentation

Alaska & The Bering Sea Patrol:

 

Alaska & Arctic Operations: A Historic Photograph Gallery

The Coast Guard in Alaska & Hawaii: A Short History

A History of the Bering Sea Patrol

Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer CORWIN in the Arctic Ocean in the Year 1884, by Captain M. A. Healy, U.S.R.M.  Provided courtesy of Google Books (pdf)

Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer CORWIN in the Arctic Ocean in the Year 1885, by Captain M. A. Healy, U.S.R.M.  Provided courtesy of Google Books (pdf)

The Cruise of the Corwin, a book by John Muir, published in 1917.  Provided courtesy of Google Books (pdf).

The Overland Expedition-Rescue to Point Barrow, Alaska, 1897-1898 (a narrative history)

The official Report of The Cruise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear and the Overland Expedition for the Relief of the Whalers in the Arctic Ocean, From November 27, 1897, to September 13, 1898. Provided courtesy of Google Books (pdf).

A Photo Gallery for Commodore Ellsworth Bertholf & the Overland Expedition.

Below Zero: Songs and Verses from the Bering Sea and the Arctic.  A songbook from the Revenue Cutter Service's Bering Sea Patrol, circa 1903 (pdf).

1903 Senate Report on the Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, by Sheldon Jackson, LL.D. provided courtesy of Google Books (pdf).

Report of the Operations of the U.S. Revenue Steamer Nunivak on the Yukon River Station, Alaska, 1899-1901 by First Lieutenant J. C. Cantwell, R.C.S., Commanding (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1902).  Provided courtesy of Google Books (pdf).

An oral history of Vice Admiral Joseph E. Stika, about his time in the Revenue Cutter Service and duty on the Bering Sea Patrol!

Coast Guard Lighthouses & Other Aids to Navigation in Alaskan History (pdf file)


The Arctic:

"Report of the Preliminary Results of the Aeroarctic Expedition with [the dirigible] 'Graf Zeppelin,' 1931."  A technical article published in the Geographical Review written by Coast Guard officer Edward H. Smith & Lincoln Ellsworth.  The article describes their aerial expedition over the Arctic aboard the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin.  Published here as a pdf with the permission of the American Geographical Society.

The 1957 Northwest Passage: A History (pdf file)

"Cutters Around the Continent"; the official documentary film about the historic 1957 Northwest Passage by the cutters Storis, Bramble & Spar.

1957 Northwest Passage: "Notes from Calumet", excerpts from the journal and letters of Captain Harold L. Wood, USCG during the transit of the Northwest Passage by U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Storis, Bramble, & Spar, 1957.  Compiled & edited by Captain Wood's daughter, Lucinda Wood Langjahr.

"Fog, Wind and Ice: Navigating the Northwest Passage": an article on the 1957 Northwest Passage expedition by PACM Pete Capelotti and published in the February, 2009 issue of the Naval Institute Proceedings (link will take you to the USNI Proceedings website)

USCGC Healy's Arctic West - East Summer 2005 Cruise Report (pdf).

The Emerging Arctic: A New Maritime Frontier.  A PowerPoint presentation created by the 17th Coast Guard District, 2008.

Antarctica & Operation Deep Freeze:

Captain Joseph Smith, commanding officer of the USCGC Polar Star, Describes the 1983 Operation Deep Freeze Cruise


The icebreaker CGC HealyIcebreakers:

Icebreakers and the Coast Guard: A History

Coast Guard Icebreakers: A Historic Photo Gallery

USCGC Healy: The United States' New Polar Research Icebreaking Vessel


Greenland:

The Coast Guard and the Greenland Patrol

The First U.S. Naval Capture of World War II: USS Northland, CG

Death of a Wooden Shoe: A Sailor's Diary of Life and Death on the Greenland Patrol, 1942, by Thaddeus D. Novak

Captain David W. Sinclair's memoir.  CAPT Sinclair served on the Greenland Patrol during World War II.  

Combat in the Arctic: The Capture of the German Naval Auxiliary vessel Extersteine by USS Eastwind, CG and USS Southwind, CG, in 1944.

International Ice Patrol:

A History of the International Ice Patrol

The official website of the International Ice Patrol

A photo of a memorial service for the Titanic aboard a Coast Guard cutter
A memorial service for the Titanic, held on board a Coast Guard cutter,
sometime during the 1920s.

Last Modified 2/24/2009