United States Coast Guard: Early History
U.S. Life Saving Service and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service
Aug 18, 2008
The need for ocean safety dates back thousands of years. A lighthouse built in Egypt is dated at 300 B.C. The Romans also penned laws requiring assistance to ships at sea as well as regulations regarding salvaging wrecks (40 B.C.), and so on down through the ages.
In the U.S., two groups along with a number of humane societies carried out ocean rescues. Work was hard and frequently treacherous. The lifesavers were not paid, originally. Their services were strictly volunteer. Due to harsh weather conditions, they generally only served the public ten months of the year.
U.S. Life Saving Service
From the origin of the Dutch Humane Society, sprang the British Royal Humane Society and from that the Massachusetts Humane Society was established. The Massachusetts Humane Society constructed basic coastal shelters for shipwrecked sailors. Later, these were to store equipment (surf boats, oars, life jackets) for rescue at sea.
The U.S. Life Saving Service became official in 1871. A number of rescue stations were federally, legally commissioned along the eastern and western coastlines of America as well as in areas of the Great Lakes. However, many of these refuge faciities are in danger of being lost today. They are worn down and deteriorating. There are programs attempting to salvage and restore them as part of the American heritage.
U.S. Revenue Cutter Service
Originally named, The Revenue Marine, the pertinent task of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service under Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of the U.S. Treasury), was to collect the duties and enforce customs and maritime laws. Piracy and smuggling were unbridled, and no longer govermentally sanctioned, that is, the government turned a blind eye to these practices. Attitudes changed after independence. The newly established Federal Government desperately needed the monies from the tariffs on trade goods.
Ten cutters were originally commissioned for this duty. Until the establishment of the U.S. Navy, the Revenue Cutter Service was the only maritime law enforcement of the new American country.
Over time, the service of this branch required training for the officers and included aid to vessels in distress as well as capturing illegal slave vessels. The most famous slave vessel escorted to shore was the Amistad (though not originally constructed as a slave vessel).
The cutters played roles in the War of 1812, The Mexican-American War, Civil War and Spanish-American War, often fighting alongside the newly established U.S. Navy. As mentioned, from time to time, during warfare, the Revenue Cutter Service would be transfered from its own independent operations to aiding the U.S. Navy.
After the merger of the U.S. Life Saving Service and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service into the incorporation of the U.S. Coast Guard, additons to it included the United States Lighthouse Service and The Navigation and Steamboat Inspection Service.
The Life Saver's motto: You have to go out, but you don't have to come back.
Source
William P. Quinn, Shipwrecks Around Maine, Lower Cape Publishing Company, Orleans, Massachusetts, 1983, pg. 3. ISBN 0-936972-11-4.
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