Champions of Commerce

In the Great Galveston Hurricane, Harry Claiborne demonstrated great devotion to duty. He manned the light in the worst sea and weather conditions and saved hundreds of storm victims.

From fragile wooden hulls of the Age of Sail to the steel giants of the early 20th century, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service—and later the Coast Guard—evolved to meet the icy challenges of America's northern waterways. As steam power and steel hulls unlocked frozen frontiers, cutters shifted from surviving the winter to breaking its grip. Discover how daring missions, innovative ship design, and a presidential mandate forged the legacy of America’s first icebreakers.

Those familiar with Coast Guard history know that the service’s development has been shaped by the nation’s natural and man-made disasters. Many Coast Guard missions were written in blood. Nowhere is that clearer than the marine safety mission.

Beginning in the Great Depression, aviator William “Bill” Wincapaw began the tradition of “The Flying Santa” to show his appreciation for the dedication and self-sacrifice of Maine’s lighthouse keepers and their families for standing the watch in isolated and often inhospitable locations.

Native Americans have been members of the Coast Guard and its predecessor services for well over 200 years.

In 1946, the Scotch Cap Lighthouse is destroyed by a tsunami wave estimated at well over 120 feet high that also impacted the greater Pacific.

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of schooner Carroll A. Deering’s crew of 11 or 12 men has never been solved although the Department of Justice had been called in to investigate rumors of “piracy.”

Over its service of nearly 65 years, Storis set the record for length of service for a White Hull cutter, steaming 1.5 million miles and recording many firsts and setting many records, including some that have endured to this day.

It was at Guanica on a stormy night in 1914 that Domingo Suarez witnessed a pilot boat capsize beyond the mouth of the bay. Without hesitation, he jumped into the water and assisted the boat’s crew to safety, earning a U.S. Lighthouse Service commendation.

On Aug. 23, 1899, the terse message: “Sherman is sighted,” announced the return of the troopship after the Spanish-American War. Transmitted from Lightship 70, this message was the first wireless ship-to-shore telegraph message in U.S. history.