Joint Coast Guard News

The Philippines and the United States are discussing conducting joint coast guard patrols, including in the South China Sea, a Manila official said on Monday.With overlapping sovereign claims in the strategic waterway, the Philippines has ramped up rhetoric against what it describes as China's "aggressive activities" in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and U.S. tensions around naval operation.Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard's (PCG) spokesperson on South China Sea issues…

... one year after the commandant’s Final Action Memo on the El Faro sinking.“… the Coast Guard is ultimately responsible to monitor the performance of third parties that perform delegated functions and also to guarantee the effectiveness of vessel inspections and surveys. Yet the Coast Guard failed to adequately oversee the third party in this case, and the investigation reveals that the Coast Guard has not sustained the proficiency and policy framework to do so in general. The…

It has been more than 16 months since the Deepwater Horizon incident on April 20, 2010 which resulted in the deaths of 11 and injuries to 17 men working on the platform and the discharge of approximately five million barrels of oil. The well was finally capped on July 15, 2010 yet the Joint Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Investigation final report (Joint Investigation) has not been completed and released to the public. In addition, Congress continues to wait until the final results are released to make its own assessment of what legislation should ultimately be enacted and the complex litigation will be with us for years.

1885-Keeper Marcus Hanna of the Cape Elizabeth Light Station saved two men from the wrecked schooner Australia. For this rescue Hanna was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Port Hudson in 1863. He is the only person to have ever received both awards. 1915- 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). The Coast Guard, however, still considers the date of the founding of the Revenue Cutter Service, 4 August 1790, as its "official" birthday, even though the Lighthouse Service, absorbed in 1939, is even older than that, dating to 7 August 1789.

1885-Keeper Marcus Hanna of the Cape Elizabeth Light Station saved two men from the wrecked schooner Australia. For this rescue Hanna was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Port Hudson in 1863. He is the only person to have ever received both awards. 1915- 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). The Coast Guard, however, still considers the date of the founding of the Revenue Cutter Service, 4 August 1790, as its "official" birthday, even though the Lighthouse Service, absorbed in 1939, is even older than that, dating to 7 August 1789.

Russell Bolton, 51, of Green Cove Springs, Fla., tells boarding officers about his ordeal. The Coast Guard received a call from the tug Ybor City from Jacksonville, Fla., reporting they had a stowaway aboard the 115-foot barge they were towing. A Coast Guard boarding team along with a Customs and Border Protection officer thought they were going to detain a possible stow away. Actually, Bolton's sailing vessel collided with the barge before sunrise that morning. Bolton had to jump aboard the barge to keep from falling in the water. Coast Guard and CBP officers verified the man's story and took him back to shore. Coast Guard photo by PA1 Donnie Brzuska. The Coast Guard has removed a man found on a barge this morning whose sailing vessel collided with a tug and barge.

The Canadian Press has reported that the federal Canadian government has approved an additional $45m for the Canadian Coast Guard this year, in an effort tokeep many of its existing vessels ship shape. Reports said that the $45m covers just the annual shortfall in coast guard funding for core operations. In 2005, the coast guard received $26 million in one-year interim funding to help bridge the annual gap. But the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had to cover any remaining deficit, the documents note. The funding infusion will enable the coast guard to carry out a series of refits to vessels, such as deck replacement and upgrading on the Cygnus and a major engine overhaul on the Pearkes.

USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) participated in a joint rescue effort off the coast of San Diego June 4. At approximately 8:15 a.m., U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter 6040 from Coast Guard Sector San Diego responded to a medical emergency aboard the charter fishing vessel Holiday involving a 52-year-old male who was apparently suffering a heart attack. “We heard the call from the fishing boat to the Coast Guard over the bridge-to-bridge [radio],” said Stennis’ Commanding Officer, Capt. Brad E. Johanson. “We notified the Coast Guard that we did not have a helicopter aboard, but we did have medical facilities and offered our assistance. Within an hour and a half, Stennis reduced the 60-nautical mile gap to within about 15 nautical miles and was standing by to receive the rescue helicopter.

A 601-foot tanker that was refloated last week after it ran aground in Alaska is due in with escort to Port Angeles Harbor. The Seabulk Pride left Alaska's Kachemak Bay Feb. 8 after the Puget Sound captain of the port cleared it to sail down the coast first to Port Angeles, then to the Tesoro refinery dock in Anacortes to offload its cargo of heavy crude and gasoline. Then the seven-year-old, double-hulled tanker will sail to a dry dock in Victoria for repairs to two small cracks in its outer hull. The Seabulk Pride's first port of call in Washington state will be Port Angeles, where a joint Coast Guard and state Department of Ecology inspection team, along with an American Bureau of Shipping surveyor, will meet the ship.