Description
Book Synopsis In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the U.S. Coast Guard served as the Alaskan 911. Known then as simply the Revenue Cutter Service, it was comprised of skilled navigators, judges and law enforcement specialists tasked with preventing the frontier from descending into anarchy, and securing its status as a cash cow for the mainland states.
This is the history of the early U.S. Coast Guard, with special focus on its former whalers-turned-cutters, the Bear and the Northland, and their voyages along the coast of Alaska, Hawaii and Greenland. Following the two vessels through history, chapters detail the diverse responsibilities that the Coasties had to face at the time, including capturing seal poachers and pirates, delivering babies, pulling natives'' teeth and even engaging in combat with a German warship.
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction—The Bear and the Northland: The "911s" of the North
- 1—Semper Paratus, Bert Rankin
- 2—Captain, My Captain
- 3—Reindeer Rustlers
- 4—Do Bears Have Tales?
- 5—The Bizarre Court-Martial of Captain Healey
- 6—The Bear May Have Been a Ship,
- but There Was Railroading Afloat
- 7—Impeach Hamlin and Convict Healey
- 8—The Fallout Hurts More than Healey
- 9—Ellsworth P. Bertholf, the Santa Claus of the Coast Guard
- 10—A Unique Partnership
- 11—Providing Provisions
- 12—Relief at Point Barrow
- 13—1900—A Year of Death, Disease, and Devotion
- 14—The Bear Takes a Hawaiian Vacation
- 15—The Bear Rides the Waves to Bust a Crime Wave
- 16—The Only Ship the Bering Patrol Lost
- 17—Judge Not, Lest Ye Be "Thurbered"
- 18—A Lieutenant Makes a Major Discovery
- 19—Healey and His Counterparts Share a Conundrum
- 20—Sailing on the "Inconsistent Sea"
- 21—Five Killed, a Dozen Captured
- 22—A Seemingly Hopeless Task
- 23—The Bear and the Karluk
- 24—The Bear and the Explorers
- 25—The Bear Goes into Hibernation
- 26—The Great Walrus Hunt
- 27—Routine, but Challenging
- 28—Sailing Toward War
- 29—World War II's Weirdest Battle
- Epilogue: The Bear Goes to the Bottom; the Northland Ends Life on the Scrap Heap
- Appendix A—Technical Specifications/Features (the Northland)
- Appendix B—How The Call Has Outfitted the Bear
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
