My Coast Guard News

A painting by Peter Rindlisbacher of the Cutter James Madison capturing the British merchantman Shamrock. (Coast Guard Collection)

May 24, 2024

Rogue cutter Madison — remembering our first POWs 210 years ago

Filth, disease, vermin, overcrowding and lack of fresh air and water made life on hulks a battle for survival.

Early photograph of crewmembers of the Bering Sea Patrol cutter Bear with Asian national crew members seated in the bottom row. (U.S. Coast Guard)

May 10, 2024

Devotion to Duty — Asian nationals serving in the Coast Guard

Asian nationals began serving in the United States Coast Guard 175 years ago, playing an important role in the history of the Coast Guard’s ancestor agency of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service.

Portrait image of Charles Jones Soong in civilian attire, photographed in 1880 at Wilmington’s 5th Street Methodist Church. (Duke University Libraries)

In early 1879, Soong signed-on to the revenue cutter Albert Gallatin under the command of Captain Eric Gabrielson and stationed in Boston. Soong served aboard the Gallatin for over a year. (U.S. Coast Guard)

May 3, 2024

Charles Jones Soong—Cutterman and powerful Chinese patriarch

Charles Jones Soong served in the Revenue Cutter Service. However, his fame is little known in the U.S. compared to his celebrity in the Far East.

Painting of the Civil War revenue cutter Morris titled “Inspection of a Merchant Ship,” by Gil Cohen, depicts a boat howitzer ready for use on the ship’s bow. (U.S. Coast Guard)

April 26, 2024

Sentinels of the past — the Coast Guard’s Civil War Boat Howitzers from the Revenue Cutter Service

Written by retired Gunner CWO Steven Wilson, this essay provides the history of two Coast Guard Civil War artifacts: Boat Howitzers #245 and #246.

A veteran of the Civil War as a U.S. Navy officer, and the Spanish-American War as part of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, Frank Hamilton Newcomb served for over 40 years in the U.S. sea services. He was a progressive thinking man and considered one of the finest officers of the Revenue Cutter Service. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

May 5, 2023

The Long Blue Line: Lt. Frank Newcomb and the Battle of Cardenas Bay 125 years ago

Spanning the Civil War and the Spanish-American War, Frank Hamilton Newcomb served for over 40 years in the U.S. sea services.

Painting commissioned of Revenue Cutter McCulloch when it first set sail in 1897. (Coast Guard Academy Collection)

April 28, 2023

The Long Blue Line: 125 Years Ago—Cutter McCulloch in the Battle of Manila Bay

The role of the Revenue Cutter McCulloch in the Spanish-American War

Painting of Alexander Fraser showing his home town of New York and the cutter Harriet Lane in the background. (U.S. Coast Guard Collection)

Sept. 2, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Captain Fraser—Coast Guard’s forgotten visionary and first commandant

. . . [Captain] Fraser opposed an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and this official’s hostility proved fatal to the Captain’s long career: by an arbitrary abuse of power, the administration in 1856 revoked his commission summarily. Both indefensible and stupid, this action resulted wholly from personal animosity and cost the government one of

An engraving showing “wreckers” salvaging a grounded vessel in the Florida Keys. In 1822, around 40 British and nine American sloops served as wreckers in the Keys. In addition to providing rescue and salvage assistance to grounded vessels, a few were also notorious smugglers and pirates. (State Archives of Florida)

Aug. 12, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Revenue Cutter Alabama rescues 16 from human traffickers 200 years ago!

In June 1822, the Alabama District Court in Mobile heard cases against three vessels that had been seized several months earlier by the Revenue Cutter Alabama. Within the space of four days, beginning on March 4th, the 56-foot topsail schooner had captured them just north of the Florida Keys. Two were charged with “having onboard . . . negroes . .

Aug. 3, 2022

Coast Guard Day – Seeing the Completed Jigsaw Puzzle Picture

Here is part one of a two-part story of the beginnings for the United States Coast Guard as we celebrate 232 years.

11. Native Alaskan homes near Katmai Village, Alaska, buried in volcanic ash and dust, June 7, 1912. (USGS)

June 7, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Katmai—Part II. The Apocalypse comes to Kodiak and the Revenue Cutter Service

Part 2 of the Katmai eruption