CG-36500 is a standard 36-foot lifeboat, a vessel specifically designed to remain operational under extremely difficult conditions. It has a heavy 2,000 pounds (910kg)bronzekeel and skeg, watertight compartments, and self-bailing features. Most of its wooden elements are white oak frames, with cypress planking and it has a total weight of nearly 20,000 pounds (9,100kg).[4] It is sheathed with Monel plating, which allowed for winter time ice breaking.
History
The boat was built in 1946 at the Curtis Bay Maryland Coast Guard Yard, where all 36-footers were built.[4] On 18 February 1952, the crew of CG-36500, which consisted of Boatswain's Mate First Class Bernard C. Webber (coxswain), Engineman Third Class Andrew Fitzgerald, Seaman Ervin Maske, and Seaman Richard P. Livesey,[5]rescued 32 of 33 crewmen trapped on the stern section of the tankerSSPendleton, which had broken in half in a storm off Chatham, Massachusetts. (The ship's eight other crew members, including Captain John Fitzgerald, were on the bow section when it broke off and sank.)[6] The rescue of the survivors of the shipwrecked Pendleton is considered one of the most daring rescues of the United States Coast Guard.[7] The story is told in the 2016 motion picture The Finest Hours, based on the 2009 book by the same title.
The boat was taken out of service in 1968, and was given to the National Park Service for use as an exhibit at Cape Cod National Seashore. In November 1981, the Park Service, which had not effected any significant restoration work on the vessel,[4] deeded it to the Orleans Historical Society, and a restoration started by a group of volunteers from Chatham, Orleans, and Harwich, Massachusetts.[8] Restoration work was completed in six months and the boat was re-launched in a public ceremony that was attended by Bernard Webber and his wife.[9] It is currently powered with a Detroit Diesel 4-71 built in 1948, with about 95 horsepower. During the rescue, it was powered with a 6 cylinder Sterling Petrel gas engine, made in Buffalo, New York. The carbureted engine was problematic during the rescue.[citation needed]
The Gold Lifesaving Medal and Silver Lifesaving Medal are U.S. decorations issued by the United States Coast Guard. The awards were established by Act of Congress, 20 June 1874; later authorized by 14 U.S.C. § 500. These decorations are two of the oldest medals in the United States and were originally established at the Department of Treasury as Lifesaving Medals First and Second Class. The Department of the Treasury initially gave the award, but today the United States Coast Guard awards it through the Department of Homeland Security. They are not classified as military decorations, and may be awarded to any person.
Chatham Lighthouse, known as Twin Lights prior to 1923, is a lighthouse in Chatham, Massachusetts, near the "elbow" of Cape Cod. The original station, close to the shore, was built in 1808 with two wooden towers, which were both replaced in 1841. In 1877, two new towers, made of cast iron rings, replaced those. One of the towers was moved to the Eastham area, where it became known as Nauset Light in 1923.
The history of the United States Coast Guard goes back to the United States Revenue Cutter Service, which was founded on 4 August 1790 as part of the Department of the Treasury. The Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Life-Saving Service were merged to become the Coast Guard per 14 U.S.C. § 1 which states: "The Coast Guard as established January 28, 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times." In 1939, the United States Lighthouse Service was merged into the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard itself was moved to the Department of Transportation in 1967, and on 1 March 2003 it became part of the Department of Homeland Security. However, under 14 U.S.C. § 3 as amended by section 211 of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, upon the declaration of war and when Congress so directs in the declaration, or when the President directs, the Coast Guard operates as a service in the Department of the Navy.
The United States Coast Guard Cutter Fir was the last lighthouse tender built specifically for the United States Lighthouse Service to resupply lighthouses and lightships, and to service buoys. Fir was built by the Moore Drydock Company in Oakland, California in 1939. On 22 March 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Tender Fir was launched. She was steam driven with twin screws, 175 feet (53 m) in length, had a beam of 32 feet (9.8 m), drew 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) of water, and displaced 885 tons. Fir was fitted with a reinforced bow and stern, and an ice-belt at her water-line for icebreaking. She was built with classic lines and her spaces were lavishly appointed with mahogany, teak, and brass. The crew did intricate ropework throughout the ship. The cost to build Fir was approximately US$390,000. Fir's homeport was Seattle, Washington for all but one of her fifty one years of service when she was temporarily assigned to Long Beach, California when USCGC Walnut was decommissioned on 1 July 1982.
Point Reyes Lifeboat Station, also known as Point Reyes Lifeboat Rescue Station, is a historic coastal rescue station, located on the Drake's Bay side of Point Reyes in northern California, United States. It was built in 1927 by the United States Lifesaving Service to replace a previous station dating from 1888. It is one of the best-preserved rescue stations of that period on the Pacific coast, retaining elements often lost, including the boat launching infrastructure. It is now a historic property managed by the National Park Service as part of Point Reyes National Seashore. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and it was further declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
Casey Sherman is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling American author, journalist and screenwriter most famous for his 2009 book The Finest Hours, which was adapted into the big budget Walt Disney Studios (division) 2016 film of the same name, and Boston Strong, which was adapted into the acclaimed 2016 film Patriots Day.
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crew and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine. Lifeboats may be rigid, inflatable or rigid-inflatable combination-hulled vessels.
The February 1952 nor'easter was a significant winter storm that impacted the New England region of the United States. The storm ranked as Category 1, or "notable", on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale. Its rapid intensification resulted in heavy snowfall between February 17 and 18, accumulating to 12 to 30 inches. High winds also affected central and northern New England. The nor'easter is estimated to have caused 42 fatalities. In Maine, over 1,000 travelers became stranded on roadways. Two ships cracked in two offshore New England during the storm.
The 44-foot motor lifeboat was the standard workhorse of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) rescue boat fleet. The 44′ MLB has been replaced by the 47′ MLB. The boats are powered by twin diesel engines, each powering a separate propeller. The propellers are protected by the hull to help prevent them being damaged if the boat runs aground. The boats have air-tight compartments forward and aft of the steering station. The aft compartment is designed to hold litters to strap in injured people, while the forward compartment holds uninjured rescued.
USCGC Bernard C. Webber (WPC-1101) is the first of the United States Coast Guard's 58 Sentinel-class cutters. Like most of her sister ships, she replaced a 110-foot (34 m) Island-class patrol boat. Bernard C. Webber, and the next five vessels in the class, Richard Etheridge, William Flores, Robert Yered, Margaret Norvell, and Paul Clark, are all based in Miami, Florida.
The United States Coast Guard no longer operates four 52-foot Motor Lifeboats (MLBs), which supplement its fleet of 227 47-foot Motor Lifeboats. These vessels were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and displace 32 tons. The four vessels are all stationed in the Pacific Northwest.
Michael J. Tougias is an American writer who writes about maritime, travel, and adventure topics.
RNLB Lucy Lavers was an RNLI lifeboat which was on No. 2 station at Aldeburgh from 1940 until 1959 when she was placed in the reserve fleet until 1968 when she was retired. The Rescue Wooden Boats Charity is currently undertaking restoration of the vessel. The Lucy Lavers is entered in the National Historic Ships register and has the Certificate No 2206.
The Finest Hours is a 2016 American action thriller film directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The screenplay, written by Eric Johnson, Scott Silver, and Paul Tamasy, is based on The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. The film stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz, and Eric Bana, and chronicles the historic 1952 United States Coast Guard rescue of the crew of SS Pendleton, after the ship split apart during a nor'easter off the New England coast.
SS Pendleton was a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker built in 1944 in Portland, Oregon, United States, for the War Shipping Administration. She was sold in 1948 to National Bulk Carriers, serving until February 1952 when she broke in two in a storm. The T2 tanker ships were prone to splitting in two in cold weather. The ship's sinking and crew rescue is the topic of the 2009 book The Finest Hours: The True Story Behind the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Rescue, by Michael J. Tougias. Tougias' book inspired the 2016 Disney-produced film The Finest Hours with Chris Pine, which focuses on the Pendleton rescue.
SS Fort Mercer was a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker built by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., at Chester, Pennsylvania in October 1945. SS Fort Mercer, was built under a Maritime Commission contract and launched on October 2, 1945. With World War II ending on August 15, 1945, Fort Mercer did not serve in the war. Fort Mercer was owned and operated by the Trinidad Corporation of New York.
Daniel Webster Cluff was a United States Coast Guard officer who led one of the U.S. Coast Guard’s largest small-boat rescue operations in the midst of a New England winter storm on February 18 through 19, 1952, as Chatham Lifeboat Station’s officer-in-charge. Warrant Officer Cluff’s expertise in small-boat life-saving operations and confidence in his men's abilities resulted in Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG 36500 crew’s rescue of thirty-two survivors from the stern section of SS Pendleton “only minutes before it capsized.”
Bernard Challen Webber was a United States Coast Guardsman. He was a petty officer assigned to Coast Guard Station Chatham, Massachusetts, where one of his duties was that of coxswain of Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG 36500. Webber and his crew of three rescued the crew of the stricken T2 tanker SS Pendleton, which had broken in half during a storm on February 18, 1952 off Cape Cod. Webber maneuvered the 36-foot lifeboat under Pendleton's stern as the tanker's crew, trapped in the stern section, abandoned the wreck of their ship on a Jacob's ladder into the Coast Guard motor lifeboat.
The United States Coast Guard's series of motor lifeboats included a class of 36 foot motor lifeboats. The Coast Guard built the first of version these vessels in 1929, and retired the last active version, in 1987 as they were replaced by the 44 foot Steel Hull Motor Lifeboat. CG 36500 was retired from active service in 1968, and has since been restored and preserved as a floating museum. These vessels are remembered for the daring rescues Coast Guard seamen performed, using them.
This is a list of United States Coast Guard historical and heritage sites that are open to the public. This list includes National Historic Landmarks (NHL), the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), cutters, museums, monuments, memorials and more. It includes only NHL Lighthouses. There are many more resources dedicated to lighthouses, this list attempts to collect everything else in one list. The United States Lighthouse Society, Lighthouse Friends and the many Wikipedia pages dedicated lighthouses are a few of the many excellent resources for those interested in lighthouses. This list captures the most important historical features, that is the NHL and the often overlooked U.S. Coast Guard sites.
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