This Day in U.S. Coast Guard History – November 8

1942- Landings made in Vichy-French-held North Africa by Allied forces.  Coast Guard-manned vessels participated.

1959- The tanker Amoco Virginia, with a cargo of aviation gasoline, exploded and caught fire at Houston, Texas.  US Coast Guard units in the Galveston-Houston area assisted local and Federal agencies in extinguishing the blaze.  For 10 more days, Coast Guard air and surface units controlled a dangerous situation by spreading foam to reduce the fire hazard of leaking aviation gas, directing harbor traffic, pumping out the damaged vessel, and moving her to a safe dock.

1979-The crew of Coast Guard LORAN Station St. Paul Island, Alaska, rescued the crew of the Japanese factory fishing vessel Ryuyo Maru NR Two which had run aground near Tolstoi Point on St. Paul Island during a storm.  The Coast Guardsmen used a makeshift breeches buoy to effect the rescue of all of the 81 crewmen aboard the fishing vessel.

(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)