Coast Guard Museum Collection
Just a few of the historic items in the Museum's collection
Cutter Memorabilia:
- Silver gravy boat from the ward room of the USRC Androscoggin, and a silver plated serving spoon made by the R. Wallace Company for the Revenue Cutter Service.
- Hand held oil lantern of brass and glass from Admiral H. S. Berdine's stateroom on the Cutter Seminole.
Equipment:
- Quadrant manufactured by Braham of Bristol. From c.1830, making it one of the oldest in the collection. Wood, brass, optics and an ivory name plate and scale.
Flags:
- Pennant from the USS LCI(L)-87, a landing vessel manned by a Coast Guard crew during World War II.
Medals:
- A one of a kind medal struck for and awarded to then LT Ellsworth P. Bertholf for his work in the overland relief of whalemen and their ships who had become trapped in the ice at Point Barrow in the winter of 1897-1898. (face and reverse)
- Gold and Silver Life-Saving Medal. The gold life-saving medal on the left was used between 1874 and 1882. This particular medal was awarded to Surfman Charles Seaman who earned it for "signal heroism" when he responded to the wreck of the schooner George Taulane on 3 February 1880. As a member of the crew of station No. 12, District 4 (in New Jersey), Seaman, his fellow crew members, the crew from Station No. 11, and some volunteer fishermen rescued the crew of the burning lumber schooner during a snowstorm. The silver life-saving medal on the right was used between 1874 and 1882. This particular example is a blank.
- Life saving medal given to the volunteers who rescued the 32 people on the Steamer Metis when it ran into trouble off Long Island at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, on August 31, 1872.
- Lieutenant David H. Jarvis's special medal from Congress for his part in rescuing whalers trapped in ice at Point Barrow, Alaska in 1897.
- Distinguished Flying Cross awarded posthumously to LT John Pritchard, USCG. The Coast Guard awarded the DFC to LT Pritchard for his attempted rescue of an Army Air Force B-17 which had crashed on the icecap on the west side of Greenland, 28 November 1942. The first day, Pritchard and Radioman First Class Benjamin Bottoms rescued two injured crewmen and returned them to his cutter, the USCGC Northland. The second day their aircraft disappeared in a storm.
Models:
Movie, Recruiting
& Propaganda Posters:
- Love in a Goldfish Bowl (1961)
- Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (1943): Through thirteen episodes Don Winslow battles the German accented Scorpion, ally of the Japanese in their plans to invade the West Coast of the United States. Based on the newspaper feature "Don Winslow of the Navy," these "shorts" played between feature films at movie theatres during World War II.
Paintings & Etchings:
- "The Wreck of the Atlantic Cast Up By the Sea," Etching by Winslow Homer, printed in the 26 April 1873 edition of Harper's Weekly.
- "Wreck in the Offing," Etching by Howard Pyle.
- "New Jersey Life-Saving Crew," Etching by Joseph Becker, printed in the 25 January 1873 F. Leslie Magazine.
- "Breeches Buoy Rescue," painting.
- Life-saving crew rowing through the surf, painting.
- "USRC Bear" underway, oil on canvas by Hunter Wood.
- Crew of the Revenue Cutter Bear ferrying stranded whalemen, oil on canvas by Anton Otto Fisher, Coast Guard Artist.
World War II Art:
- "Fight to the Last," oil on canvas by Anton Otto Fisher, Coast Guard Artist.
- "Landing Craft" painting by Jacob A. Lawrence (right)
- "A Torpedoed Tanker," oil on canvas by Anton Otto Fisher, Coast Guard Artist.
- "USCGC Campbell," oil on canvas by Anton Otto Fisher, Coast Guard Artist.
- "Invasion of Italy," oil on canvas by BMC William Goadby Lawrence, Coast Guard Artist.
- "Amphibious Landing," oil on canvas by BMC William Goadby Lawrence, Coast Guard Artist.
- "Landing on the Beach," oil on canvas by BMC William Goadby Lawrence, Coast Guard Artist.
- Iwo Jima, World War II oil on canvas.
- USS Samuel Chase, painting.
- "Off-Loading Supplies," oil on canvas by Ken Riley, Coast Guard Artist.
- "Dawn," oil on canvas by BMC William Goadby Lawrence, Coast Guard Artist.
- "Getting the Troops to the Front," oil on canvas by Duncan Gleason.
- "The Invasion of Normandy," oil on canvas by George Sottung.
Portraits:
- Portrait of Alexander Hamilton, oil on canvas copy of portrait by Copley. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury and the "father" of the Coast Guard.
- Portrait of Revenue Marine Captain Frederick Lee, commanding the cutter Eagle during the War of 1812. He was responsible for the safety of New Haven Harbor, Connecticut, and Long Island Sound during the war. HMS Dispatch captured the Eagle after a 24-hour battle.
- Portrait of Revenue Cutter Service Captain John A. Henriques. Henriques was the first superintendant of the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction (which was the fore-runner of the Coast Guard Academy). Oil on canvas by Irwin D. Hoffman.
- Portrait of Revenue Cutter Service Captain Alexander V. Fraser. Fraser was the Revenue Cutter Service's first "military" commandant. Oil on canvas by Irwin Hoffman.
- Portrait of Revenue Cutter Service Captain Girdler. Oil on canvas by George Sottung.
- Portrait of Revenue Cutter Service Captain Josiah Sturgis. Oil on canvas by George Sottung.
- Portrait of Douglas Munro. Munro is the Coast Guard's only Medal of Honor recipient.
Cutters:
- Training barque Alexander Hamilton. Oil on canvas by James A. Mitchell, 1978.
- USRC Forward. Oil on canvas.
Lighthouses:
- Swallowtail Lighthouse, Grand Manan Island. Oil on canvas by Milton J. Burns.
- The Twin Lighthouses of Thatcher's Island, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Oil on canvas by Fischer Margeson.
- "Winter Passage," Minot's Ledge Lighthouse. Oil on canvas by William Formby Halsell.
Swords, Uniforms & Accoutrements:
- U.S. Life-Saving Service Cap worn by Surfman A. A. Jacobs while stationed at Life-Saving Station No. 19, Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts. Jacobs served in both the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the Coast Guard.
- Surfman's Badges from the U.S. LSS District 4, Station 14, Surfman 3.
- Epaulettes from a one-star admiral.
Miscellaneous:
"The Life-boat Game": A board game manufactured from 1899 to 1904 by Parker Brothers
Last Modified 8/8/2008