This Day in U.S. Coast Guard History – February 7

1914-Pursuant to the Convention for Safety at Sea in London, President Woodrow Wilson directed that the Revenue Cutter Service undertake the task of manning the International Ice Patrol.  Henceforth, the Revenue Cutter Service and then the Coast Guard, with brief respites during both World Wars, served in this capacity.

1942- Presidential order created the War Shipping Administration which assumed control over all phases of merchant marine activities.

1943-During a fierce convoy battle near Greenland, USS Ingham, CG, rescued 33 survivors from the torpedoed troopship SS Henry Mallory while USS Bibb, CG, rescued 202.  Bibb then rescued 33 from the torpedoed SS Kalliopi.

1969- CGC Tern, commissioned on this date and stationed in New York, embodied an advanced concept in servicing aids to navigation. Her over-the-stern gantry system of handling buoys was unique. The automation and modernization of over-age, isolated lighthouses and light stations showed significant progress this year. A new, more effective version of the LAMP (Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Project) plan was promulgated in this year.

1980- The CGC Cape Horn saved all six crewmen of the F/V Hattie Rose in a dramatic night-time rescue.  The Hattie Rose, a Gloucester-based 75-foot stern trawler, began taking on water in 25-foot seas and 45-knot winds, 15 miles east of Provincetown.  Sea and wind conditions prevented a rescue by air and so the Cape Horn, under the command of LTJG William L. Ross, and 11 crewmen, diverted from one SAR case to go to the Hattie Rose's assistance.  The F/V Paul and Dominic, standing nearby the stricken vessel, helped direct the cutter to the area.  The Cape Horn's crew got a line to the men, now standing on the bow which was still afloat, and pulled four of the crew to safety aboard the cutter.  The line parted, however, and the two remaining fishermen began drifting away, but two of the Cape Horn's crew, Duncan Grant and Thomas Jennings, leaped into the 35-degree water and secured a line around the two.  They were all then hauled safely aboard.

2003-The CGC Matagorda, a 110-foot Island Class patrol boat, became the first cutter to begin the Integrated Deepwater System modernization and life extension overhaul when she was decommissioned on 7 February 2003 at the Bollinger Shipyard in Lockport, LA.

(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)