Ocean Station News

1799- Having existed essentially nameless for 8-1/2 years, Alexander Hamilton's "system of cutters" was referred to in legislation as "Revenue Cutters."  Some decades later, the name evolved to Revenue Cutter Service and Revenue Marine. 1940- The ocean station program was formally established on 25 January 1940 under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt. The Coast Guard, in cooperation with the U. S. Weather Service, were given responsibility for its establishment and operation. The program was first known as the Atlantic Weather Observation Service and later known (and "beloved') by thousands of Coast Guardsmen who served after World War II as the "Ocean Station" program.

1935- CWO (GUN) and NAP Charles T. Thrun, Coast Guard Aviator Number 3, was killed when his Grumman JF-2 Duck (CGNR V136) crashed at Cape May. CWO Thrun was the first Coast Guard aviator to die in the line of duty. 1937- CG units began flood relief operations in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. These operations lasted until 11 March and resulted in the rescue of hundreds of victims and thousands of farm animals. 1946- Staged jointly by the Coast Guard and the Navy, the first public demonstration of LORAN was held at Floyd Bennett Field in New York. 1949-The tanker Gulfstream collided with icebreaker CGC Eastwind. The collision and resulting fire killed 13 of Eastwind's crew, nine of whom were chief petty officers.

1899-First Navy wireless message was sent via the Lighthouse Service Station at Highlands of Navesink, New Jersey. 1943-CGC E.M. Wilcox foundered off Nags Head, NC. One crewman was lost. 1949-The rank of commodore, established in 1943 as a wartime measure, was terminated by the President under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved 24 July 1941. 1977- The CGC Taney departed Ocean Station "Hotel" on 30 September 1977 when the station was closed and replaced by a buoy. This was the final ocean station patrolled by a Coast Guard cutter. 1994-The crew of Coast Guard LORAN Station Marcus Island decommissioned their station and turned it over to the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency.

1791- Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton authorized an allowance of 9 cents for every ration that Revenue officers did not draw. 1922- Congress authorized officers of the Customs and of the Coast Guard to board and examine vessels, reaffirming authority to seize and secure vessels for security of the revenue under act of March 2, 1799. 1938-A hurricane hit the northeast coast, wreaking havoc among the lighthouses and the light keepers there. First assistant keeper Walter B. Eberle of the Whale Rock light was killed when his lighthouse was swept into the sea. The wife of head keeper Arthur A. Small was killed when she was swept away from the Palmer Island Light Station.

1944-The attack and liberation of Guam commenced. Participating vessels included the Coast Guard tender CGC Tupelo and the Coast Guard-manned Navy warships included Cor Caroli, Aquarius, Centaurus, Sterope, Arthur Middleton, LST-24, LST-70, LST-71 and LST-207. 1947- President Truman signed H.R. 3539, which became Public Law No. 209, authorizing the Coast Guard to construct a suitable chapel for religious worship by any denomination, sect or religion at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London. 1952- The CGC Mackinac, enroute from New York to Ocean Station ECHO, and the SS Gripsholm, removed 45 of the 49 persons on board the SS Black Gull, which had caught fire in a position south of Block Island, Long Island, New York.

1906-In part due to the lobbying efforts of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York, Congress authorized the construction of a cutter "equipped to cruise for and destroy derelicts and obstructions to navigation" for the Revenue Cutter Service. The Service contracted with the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company to build this "derelict destroyer," which was christened USRC Seneca. She was commissioned in 1908. 1938- Lieutenant C. B. Olsen became the first Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He earned the award for "heroism in removing Lieutenant Colonel Gullion, U.S. Army, who was stricken with acute appendicitis, from the Army transport 'Republic'" after making an open-water landing near the freighter.

1799- Having existed essentially nameless for 8-1/2 years, Alexander Hamilton's "system of cutters" was referred to in legislation as "Revenue Cutters."  Some decades later, the name evolved to Revenue Cutter Service and Revenue Marine. 1940- The ocean station program was formally established on 25 January 1940 under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt. The Coast Guard, in cooperation with the U. S. Weather Service, were given responsibility for its establishment and operation. The program was first known as the Atlantic Weather Observation Service and later known (and "beloved') by thousands of Coast Guardsmen who served after World War II as the "Ocean Station" program.

1935- CWO (GUN) and NAP Charles T. Thrun, Coast Guard Aviator Number 3, was killed when his Grumman JF-2 Duck (CGNR V136) crashed at Cape May. CWO Thrun was the first Coast Guard aviator to die in the line of duty. 1937- CG units began flood relief operations in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. These operations lasted until 11 March and resulted in the rescue of hundreds of victims and thousands of farm animals. 1946- Staged jointly by the Coast Guard and the Navy, the first public demonstration of LORAN was held at Floyd Bennett Field in New York. 1949-The tanker Gulfstream collided with icebreaker CGC Eastwind. The collision and resulting fire killed 13 of Eastwind's crew, nine of whom were chief petty officers.

1956-CGC Chincoteague manning Ocean Station Delta in the North Atlantic, received a distress message that the German freighter Helgs Bolten was taking on water and wished to abandon ship as soon as possible. After reaching the scene some hours later, the cutter found that the high winds and 25-foot seas made it impossible to launch lifeboats. Two inflatable lifeboats, therefore, were passed by shot line to the freighter, and the 33 crewmen aboard were removed to the cutter unharmed. Chincoteague then stood by the drifting vessel for seven days, while commercial tugs made salvage attempts. All of the survivors returned on board the cutter to Norfolk, Virginia, while a tug towed Helg Bolten to the Azores.

1790-Contract entered into for the construction of the "first" of the 10 revenue cutters, Massachusetts, at Newburyport, Massachusetts. 1952-A Merchant Marine Detail was established at Yokohama, Japan to handle increased merchant marine problems occurring there as a result of the Korean Conflict. 1956- CGC Pontchartrain, on Ocean Station November, rescued the passengers and crew of Pan American Clipper Flight 943 after the clipper ditched between Honolulu and San Francisco. 1992-CGC Storis became the first foreign military ship to visit the Russian port of Petropavlosk since the Crimean War.  During the goodwill visit, Storis conducted joint operations with the Russian icebreaker Volga. (Source: USCG Historian’s Office)

1899-First Navy wireless message was sent via the Lighthouse Service Station at Highlands of Navesink, New Jersey. 1943-CGC E.M. Wilcox foundered off Nags Head, NC. One crewman was lost. 1949-The rank of commodore, established in 1943 as a wartime measure, was terminated by the President under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved 24 July 1941. 1977- The CGC Taney departed Ocean Station "Hotel" on 30 September 1977 when the station was closed and replaced by a buoy. This was the final ocean station patrolled by a Coast Guard cutter. 1994-The crew of Coast Guard LORAN Station Marcus Island decommissioned their station and turned it over to the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency.

1791- Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton authorized an allowance of 9 cents for every ration that Revenue officers did not draw. 1922- Congress authorized officers of the Customs and of the Coast Guard to board and examine vessels, reaffirming authority to seize and secure vessels for security of the revenue under act of March 2, 1799. 1938-A hurricane hit the northeast coast, wreaking havoc among the lighthouses and the light keepers there. First assistant keeper Walter B. Eberle of the Whale Rock light was killed when his lighthouse was swept into the sea. The wife of head keeper Arthur A. Small was killed when she was swept away from the Palmer Island Light Station.