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The service, eventually to be known as the US Lighthouse Service, was established under the control of the Treasury Department (1 Stat. L., 53).
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Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, to create a maritime service to enforce customs laws (1 Stat. L. 145, 175). Alternately known as the system of cutters, Revenue Service, and Revenue-Marine this service was placed under the control of the Treasury Department.
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Hopley Yeaton of New Hampshire was commissioned as "Master of a Cutter in the Service of the United States for the Protection of the Revenue." This first commission of a seagoing officer of the United States was signed by George Washington and attested to by Thomas Jefferson. Twelve other commissions of officers of revenue cutters were signed on the same date. Yeaton was subsequently assigned to command the Revenue cutter Scammel, stationed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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Service to provide better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam is established under the control of the Justice Department (5 Stat. L., 304). This "service" later became the Steamboat Inspection Service.
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Congress appropriates funds to pay for life-saving equipment to be used by volunteer organizations (9 Stat. L., 321, 322).
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Steamboat Act established Steamboat Inspection Service under the control of the Treasury Department (10 Stat. L., 1852).
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The Lighthouse Board, which administered the nation's lighthouse system until 1 July 1910, was organized. "This Board was composed of two officers of the Navy, two officers of the Engineer Corps, and two civilians of high scientific attainments whose services were at the disposal of the President, and an officer of the Navy and of the, Engineers as secretaries. It was empowered under the Secretary of the Treasury to "discharge all the administrative duties" relative to lighthouses and other aids
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U.S. Life-Saving Service established as a separate agency under the control of the Treasury Department (20 Stat. L., 163).
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Bureau of Navigation established under the control of the Treasury Department (23 Stat. L., 118).
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Department of Commerce and Labor is created (32 Stat. L., 825). Bureau of Navigation and the Steamship Inspection Service transferred to new department.
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Muskeget, Massachusetts: the schooner Vigilant parted moorings, and stranded one mile south of the station. The owner applied to the keeper at 10:30 p.m. for assistance. Surfmen proceeded to the scene, carried out an anchor and line, and hove the schooner into deep water. During the storm the owner was sheltered and supplied with meals at the station for two days. But for the security afforded by an additional anchor and cable loaned by the crew, Vigilant would have stranded a second time.
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The Treasury Department directed the keepers of life-saving stations to keep a lookout through the beach patrol for stray buoys washed ashore, to secure such buoys when it could be done, and to report their discovery or action to the nearest representative of the Lighthouse Service.
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President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the "Act to Create the Coast Guard," an act passed by Congress on 20 January, 1915 that combined the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service to form the Coast Guard (38 Stat. L., 800).
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On this date Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG became the first Coast Guard officer ordered to flight training. He reported to Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School.
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The first Coast Guard aviators graduated from Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School. Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG, became Naval Aviator #38 (and later Coast Guard Aviator #1).
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With the declaration of war against Germany the Coast Guard was transferred by Executive Order to the control of the Navy Department.
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The Acting Secretary of the Treasury advised that light keepers and the officers and crews of vessels were not entitled to the benefits of the Public Health Service free of charge after retirement.
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Coast Guard reverted to Treasury Department after President Wilson signed Executive Order 3160.
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The first Coast Guard air station was established at Morehead City, North Carolina. The station was closed on 1 July 1921 due to a lack of funding.
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Steamboat Inspection Service and Bureau of Navigation combined to form the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection (47 Stat. L., 415). The new agency remained under Commerce Department control.
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Public Law 622 reorganizes and changes the name of the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection Service to Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation (49 Stat. L., 1380). The Bureau remained under Commerce Department control.
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On 26 March 1938 the US Coast Guard motor lifeboat Triumph departed from the Point Adams Station, located near Hammond, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River. It proceeded out to the bar and stood by while several crab boats crossed in. The tug Tyee with a barge load of logs in tow was attempting to cross out. Tyee passed too close to the life buoy and the barge drifted into the outer break on Clatsop Spit. See Link for futher details.
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1 July 1939: Lighthouse Service became part of the Coast Guard (53 Stat. L., 1432).
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President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8929 transferred the Coast Guard to Navy Department control.
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Executive Order 9083 transferred Bureau of Marine Inspection temporarily to the Coast Guard under Navy Department control.
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Coast Guardsmen participated in the landings at Geruma Shima, Hokaji Shima, and Takashiki in the Ryukyu Islands.
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In compliance with Executive Order 9666, the Coast Guard returned to Treasury Department control.
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International Ice Patrol resumed after being suspended during World War II.
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In April 1946 the Coast Guard created the Eastern, Western, and Pacific Area commands to coordinate cases that required the assets of more than one district.
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Pursuant to Executive Order 9083 and Reorganization Plan No. 3 the Bureau of Marine Inspection was abolished and became a permanent part of the Coast Guard under Treasury Department control.
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Executive Order 167-81 transferred the Coast Guard from the Treasury Department to the newly-formed Department of Transportation.
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In January 1973, the Coast Guard renamed the Eastern and Western areas to the Atlantic and Pacific areas, respectively.
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The 40-foot sailing vessel Lorisel II reported she was aground one mile southeast of North Rock, Bahamas, off the eastern shore of Bimini. An HU-16 aircraft and the CGC Cape Shoalwater were dispatched to assist. The aircraft located the vessel and a local island boat, which was diverted to remove two women and a child from Lorisel II. Cape Shoalwater re-floated the vessel, returned the passengers, and the Lorisel II got underway with no apparent damage.
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The tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 10.1 million gallons of crude oil. This was the worst oil spill in U.S. history to date. Coast Guard units responded and prevented the entire cargo from spilling, cleaned up the oil which did spill, and conducted an investigation into the causes of the accident. The spill provided the impetus for the passage of the Oil Protection Act of 1990, which greatly increased the Coast Guard's role in protecting the na
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Ryan Erickson graduates US Coast Guard boot camp in Cape May, NJ. [personal entry]
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Two Coast Guardsmen, BM2 Scott Chism and SN Christopher Ferreby, gave their lives in the line of duty when their small boat CG-214341 capsized on Lake Ontario. Their loss led to important changes in the small boat community's training, equipment and operations.
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1 March 2003, the Coast Guard formally transferred from the Department of Transportation to the newly-created Department of Homeland Security.
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* Three Iraqi sailors were captured in the northern Persian Gulf, the first Enemy Prisoners of War (EPOWs) taken by Coast Guard forces deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 24-member crew of the CGC Adak plucked the Iraqi sailors from the sea. The Iraqis had jumped overboard as their patrol boat was destroyed by coalition forces operating in the Gulf. The POWs were taken aboard the Adak and later transferred to an undisclosed location.
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USCG ModernizationTo create unity of command in America’s ports, better align field command structures, and improve Coast Guard operational effectiveness, Sector Commands will be created throughout the CG by integrating Groups, Marine Safety Offices (MSO), Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), and in some cases, Air Stations. Sector Commands were established by 2006.
