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Timeline Library U.S. Coast Guard Opens National Motor Lifeboat School at Ilwaco in 1980. HistoryLink.org Essay 5626 Printer-Friendly Format In 1980, the U.S. Coast Guard opens its National Motor Lifeboat School at Ilwaco. This builds on a history of wreck and rescue at the mouth of the Columbia River, often dubbed The Graveyard of the Pacific. Early Wreck and Early Rescue The fate of the Peacocks launch is unknown. In 1865, however, local resident Joe Munson began a volunteer rescue program that lasted until 1882. He started with a metal lifeboat salvaged from the March 1865 wreck of the sailing bark Industry. Astoria citizens raised money to equip the boat. The U.S. Army provided free moorage for the boat below its Cape Disappointment artillery emplacements, installed in 1863 during the Civil War. The likely moorage was a cove on the southwest side of Bakers Bay, an inlet sheltered by the upriver side of the cape. Lieutenant William Broughton, visiting the area in 1792, had named the bay for James Baker, captain of the Jenny, a British fur-trading vessel he found anchored there. At the Graveyard of the Pacific As the Life-Saving Service grew, it could better equip the Bakers Bay station. In 1882, the stations first full-time, paid Life-Saving Service crew took its oath of office. Frequent shipwrecks where the Columbia River meets the sea -- the area called "The Graveyard of the Pacific," assured continuing official interest in the facility. In 1907, it became one of 17 stations nationwide to receive the services first motor-powered lifeboats. When the service replaced these 34-foot craft with improved 36-foot boats in 1909, Cape Disappointment Life-Saving Station was the first to receive one of them. An early United States Coast Pilot advised mariners that the station was "Furnished with lifeboats, mortars, and all other equipment for affording assistance in cases of shipwreck" (U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). The Cape Disappointment station continued in operation after the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service merged in 1915 to form the United States Coast Guard. In the 1960s, the Coast Guards Thirteenth District, which includes Oregon and Washington, began to replace its long-service 36-foot motor lifeboats with new steel-hulled 44-footers. With the transition came a decreasing level of expertise in the lifeboat crews. To remedy the situation, the district began to use the waters off Cape Disappointment to train crews. National recognition came quickly. In 1980, the United States Coast Guard National Motor Lifeboat School began training Coast Guardsmen from all over the country. A Lifeboat School As the school developed, the co-located Coast Guards Station Cape Disappointment rescue operation continued. In the twenty-first century, it has two missions. The first is for search and rescue within 50 nautical miles of the Columbia River entrance. The second is to provide a maritime law enforcement presence near the approaches to the Columbia River. To carry out its mission, Station Cape Disappointment has 50 crewmembers assigned and operates one 52-foot and two 47-foot motor lifeboats. It also has a 23-foot utility boat. The boats respond to between 300 and 400 calls for assistance every year, serving both commercial and recreational vessels, continuing the work begun in 1865. |
This file made possible by: Paul Allen Virtual Education Foundation U.S. Coast Guard National Motor Lifeboat School entrance, Ilwaco Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard U.S. Coast Guard 40-foot motor lifeboat, Cape Disappointment Photo by BMC Timothy Stentz, Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard
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Sources:
Robert F. Bennett, Sand Pounders: An Interpretation of the History of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, based on its Annual Reports for the Years 1870 through 1914, ed. by P.J. Capelotti (Washington, D.C.: United States Coast Guard, Historians Office, 1998); The Coast Defense Study Group, "Fort Canby," The Coast Defense Study Group Website accessed December 10, 2003 (www.cdsg.org); Sam McKinney, Reach of Tide, Ring of History: A Columbia River Voyage (Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1985); U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, United States Coast Pilot: California, Oregon, and Washington (Washington, D.C.: United States GPO, 1903); U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association, "Chronology of Early Lifesaving," U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association Website accessed December 2, 2003 (www.uslife-savingservice.org); United States Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Group/Air Station Astoria, "Station Cape Disappointment," Coast Guard Website accessed December 10, 2003 (www.uscg.mil/d13/dpa/background/units/ group_astoria.htm); United States Coast Guard, Headquarters, "National Motor Lifeboat School," Coast Guard Website accessed December 2, 2003 (www.uscg.mil/hq/g-/nmlbs/background.htm); Wilkes, Charles, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Vols. 1-5 Microfiche 20926-29 (Chicago: Library of American Civilization, [1845] 1970).
By William S. Hanable, December 12, 2003
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