In the nineteenth century the United States government had four small maritime organizations that assisted in saving lives, enforcing federal maritime laws, guiding mariners safely to their destinations, and inspecting ships to insure the safety of passengers. In time, these organizations were amalgamated to form the modern day U.S. Coast Guard. The history of the U.S. Coast Guard along the swampy Gulf Coast, Florida’s beach-swept Atlantic Coast and the nation’s heavily commerce traveled Western Rivers provides an insight into the development of this multifaceted Service.
In order to grow, the fledgling United States needed a strong maritime trade business. The combination of stormy weather, hazardous coastlines and poor navigational tools made maritime trade a risky business. It is not surprising, therefore, that the first lighthouse in North America was established in the busy harbor of Boston, on Little Brewster Island, in 1791. Thereafter, lighthouses spread slowly along the coastlines as the country grew. The first federal seacoast lighthouse on the Gulf Coast was begun in 1818 at Frank’s Island, La., but never put into operation due to an inadequate foundation. It was rebuilt in 1823 and remained in operation until 1856, when the Pass a l’Outre Lighthouse replaced it. The topography of the southern coastal region dictated the type of light structure to be erected. In areas of low sandy beaches, tall towers were built so mariners could see the light at a greater distance out to sea. The light at Pensacola, Fla., for example, established in 1824, could be seen for 21 miles offshore. Bays and sounds with soft muddy bottoms were unable to support the weight of a tall tower. For those areas, a protected screw-pile light was built, such as at Redfish Bar, Galveston, Texas ,first lit in 1854. These structures had METAl legs with screw-like flange tips on their ends. The legs turned instead of being pounded into the bottom. Atop the legs, the main building was a wooden house. This type of lightweight structure could easily be carried by the muddy bottom. In exposed areas, such as Ship Shoal, La., there was also another type of screw-pile light. These differed from the protected types in that the light was tall, with an iron skeleton tower. Added to some of the screw-type flanges were large, iron-foot plates to diffuse the pressure of the tower. A good example of this structure is at Fowey Rocks, Fla., established in 1878.
Along the Western Rivers there was one lighthouse at Natchez, Miss., but the U.S. Lighthouse Service maintained buoys and river lights. Prior to 1874 traffic on the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers was usually restricted to daylight hours. The twisting rivers, snags, and sandbars made night navigation almost impossible. A demand by the river transportation companies made Congress authorize a study for lighting the rivers.
The lighting devices used on the rivers were simply lanterns hung from posts, known as post lights. One keeper would oversee a number of these lights, which were designed for easy maintenance. By 1890, over I ,500 post lights were helping navigation over 1,500 miles on eighteen rivers and Puget Sound. By 1917, there were 1,798 lights and 861 buoys and beacons marking 4,226 miles of the Mississippi, Ohio, and other tributaries.
Contrary to popular opinion, the life of a lighthouse keeper was anything but romantic. The technology of the nineteenth century ensured a life of monotony and loneliness. Fuel to light the beacons throughout the century ranged from whale oil, lard oil, rapeseed oil, and, finally, petroleum products. The main lighting device was a lamp and a wick. The best light was produced from a well-trimmed wick, so keepers spent an inordinate amount of time trimming. The constant attention to this chore led all lighthouse keepers to quickly earn the name "wickie."
There are, of course, always exceptions to any type of life. On September 27, 1906, for example, a hurricane swept the state of Mississippi’s coastline. The storm completely crushed the Horn Island Lighthouse, killing the keeper, his wife, and daughter. Three more people were killed at Sand Island, La. After the hurricane, the local inspector sent the following telegram, "Sand Island Light out. Island washed away. Keepers not to be found."
Duty aboard lightships was also both lonely and dangerous. Lightships were placed at locations where the technology of the day could not erect a light structure. Sailors aboard these vessels faced danger from a gale blowing them off station and onto the beach, or capsizing them. Lying in the path of hurricanes, this was a constant threat. On September 16, 1875, for example, the Galveston Lightship broke its moorings and ran aground on Pelican Island and, again, in 1900, she was driven off station. Another risk was the possible collision with a ship making its way through foul weather.
No matter how lonely or dangerous lighthouse employees in the southern coastal region and along the Western Rivers were dedicated and brave. The animal reports of the Lighthouse Service are replete with reports of rescues undertaken at great risk. In the hurricane of 1906, 23 lights were damaged, but an inspector wrote that he had "heard stories of gallant actions" and had personally "witnessed the uncomplaining manner" in which keepers bad taken their losses and "their cheerfulness in beginning all over again." The attendants along rivers were no less brave. Light attendants on the Western Rivers were constantly having to replace lights destroyed by floods and assisting those in distress due to the high waters.
By the 1930s, the U.S. Lighthouse Service was well established along the southern coastal region and the Western Rivers. The service claimed 67 lighthouses along the east coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, lightships, hundreds of minor aids to navigation, river lights, and a fleet of ships, called tenders. Tenders were used to service buoys and lighthouses.
Another early federal organization that played an important role in the maritime affairs of the southern coastal region came about due to smuggling. Prior to the American Revolution, some colonists, in order to escape what they felt were oppressive taxes, resorted to smuggling. The war with England made these smugglers something akin to heroes, as they robbed King George for needed revenue. The new United States, however, soon found that they badly needed revenue and one way to obtain it was placing tariffs on imported goods. The smugglers saw very little difference between taxes imposed by the King of England or the United States’ new Congress and continued their illegal trade. Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, sought to curb the loss of taxes by establishing a maritime police force. He requested Congress to authorize the building of ten small boats, to patrol along the Atlantic coastline to stop the smugglers. In 1790, this force was established and the cutters were very successful in their work. While they could not completely stop the illegal activities, they made it very unprofitable and helped recover needed revenue.
Having proved their worth, the small ships were soon assigned other duties. In the Quasi-War with France (1798-1800) the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service assumed the role as a military organization The U.S. Navy was disbanded after the Revolution and, when the difficulties flared up with France, the small cutters were the only federal sea-going organization capable of battle. In general, the Service acquitted itself well. Of the 20 ships captured during the war flying the French flag, 16 were taken by the revenue cutters unaided and they assisted in the capture of two more.
The Revenue Cutter Service was soon busily engaged in the southern coastal region. In the early nineteenth century pirates operated throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The notorious .Jean Lafitte, for example, operated out of New Orleans. The Florida Keys was another favorite area for buccaneers. Pirates, of course, interfered with U.S. trade and revenue, so it was natural that the Revenue Cutter Service would be given the job of combating this loss of revenue. In 1819 the Service gained 2 new emitters to confront the freebooters, the Alabama and Louisiana. Each was constricted 57 feet in length, 17 feet in beam, and with a shallow draft of 6 feet, and upon completion ordered to take station in New Orleans.
On their maiden voyage south, on August 31, 1819, the cutters fought it out with Bravo, commanded by Jean Lafarge, one of Lafitte’s lieutenants. A volley of musketry wounded the first officer and three men aboard the Louisiana. Captain Jarvis Loomis, ordered boarders to take Bravo. The cuttermen sank the pirate ship with cannon fire. Later, in 1820, the Louisiana and Alabama still working together, raided Patterson’s Town on Brenton Island, where the pirates rested from their pillage. Twenty-five "well armed" cuttermen landed at one end of the island and quietly made their way to the stronghold, where they attacked and destroyed the hideout. This effectively crushed and subdued the pirates in the Gulf of Mexico, although some piracy continued. In 1822, for example, the Louisiana captured five pirate ships and the Alabama seized three slavers.
No sooner was the war against the pirates finished than the Revenue Cutter Service found itself embroiled in the Seminole War of 1836. Much of this conflict took place in swamps and close in to beaches, which prompted the Army and Navy to request the services of eight small cutters. The ships carried dispatches, supplies, and troops. The small boats from the cutters provided transportation for soldiers and marines into Florida’s inland waters. At times, the cuttermen moved through the sand-burrs and palmettos" in pursuit of the elusive Seminoles. So effective was the Revenue Cutter Service that Congress raised the pay of crewmen and Florida rewarded the cutter crews with homesteads. The Service returned to normal operations, but once again was interrupted by war. The Mexican War (1845-1848) engaged 10 cutters in gum-fire support for amphibious landings, blockade duty, scouting duty, and transportation of troops and supplies.
In addition to military duties, the Revenue Cutter Service also had a humanitarian role. In 1832, the cutters were ordered to undertake "winter cruising" in the North Atlantic. This provided a service in the stormy months when sailing ships were most likely to need assistance. The humanitarian efforts of the Service are well illustrated by Second Assistant Engineer Charles S. Root, stationed aboard the cutter Galveston at Galveston during the hurricane of September 8,1900. Root asked for volunteers to assist him in taking a small boat to those stranded throughout the city. At the time, the lower portions of the city were flooded to a depth of 4 to 5 feet, and rising. As night rapidly approached, the boat crew was pounded by winds of 84 to 100 miles per hour, while buildings of the most substantial character were toppling over, and the air was filled with flying debris of all sorts.
The boat crew rowed, at times leaping overboard to push the boat through swirling waters while dodging debris blown by the strong winds. Seaman James Bierman periodically swam from point to point hauling the boat with a rope, "thus exposing himself to much additional danger." Root and his crew of volunteers managed to rescue 21 people. For their work, Second Assistant Engineer Root and Seaman Bierman each received the Gold Life Saving Medal, the highest medal for lifesaving bestowed by the Treasury Department, while the remaining seven crewmen won the Silver Life Saving Medal, the second highest award.
By the middle of the second decade in the Twentieth Century, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service was well established along the southern coastal region of the United States. It had proven itself capable of enforcing the maritime laws of the United States, responding to military needs, and providing a rescue service for those in peril upon the sea.
The U.S. Coast Guard commands a well-deserved reputation as a lifesaver. The U.S. Life-Saving Service laid the foundations for this enduring service to preserve life and property. In the days of sail, ships stranded near the beach could expect very little help from other craft, for they also stood an excellent chance of being forced ashore if caught in a sudden on-shore squall. The best chance for rescue came from small shore-based boats. The first small boat rescue stations in this country were due to the efforts of volunteer organizations, such as the Massachusetts Humane Society. The stations established, however, were only in areas of high shipping, which left much of the coastline unprotected. In 1848, the federal government entered the shore-based lifesaving business. It suffered many organizational problems until 1871, when Sumner Increase Kimball was appointed to head the Treasury Department’s Revenue Marine Division. Kimball completely reorganized amid professionalized the U.S. Life-Saving Service and, in 1871, was appointed the General Superintendent of the Service.
The Service had basically three types of stations, lifeboat, lifesaving, and houses of refuge. The stations in the southern coastal region tended to be of the latter two) types. Houses of refuge sheltered shipwrecked sailors along Florida’s east coast and were manned by a single keeper. Lifesaving stations, on the other hand, were for very isolated areas and were manned by a full crew, equipped with both a 700 to 1,000 pound, oar powered surf-boat, or a 2 to 4 ton oar propelled lifeboat. Each boat was self-bailing and self-righting. In the southern coastal region, houses of refuge were located at: Bethel Bay, Cape Malabar, Chester Shoal, Gilberts Bar, Indian River, Indian River Inlet, Mosquito Lagoon, and Orange Grove, all in Florida. Lifesaving stations were at Aransas, Brazos, Galveston, Sabine Pass, Saluria, San Luis, and Velasco, all in Texas.
The most unusual of all the stations of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, and the only one of its kind in the world, was established at the falls of the Ohio River at Louisville, Ky. The first station, a houseboat, was wooden and placed into commission in 1881, later replaced by another wooden structure, which, in turn, was replaced by a steel hulled houseboat, built in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1928.
Shortly after being commissioned, the crew of the station saved 14 people who had been carried over the falls. The following year the same crew rescued 200 people from the steamer James D. Parker after it struck a bridge and sank. In 1913, the Louisville Station crew was credited with saving 500 Families in a flood at Dayton, Ohio. Keeper Benjamin G. Cameron, in 1899 was awarded a Silver Life Saving Medal for saving 108 people on various occasions from 1875 to 1897."
The last of the four federal maritime organizations operating in the region came about because of the advent of steam navigation. During the early years of steamboats, many lives were lost due to faulty boiler explosions. In 1837, after the explosion of Pulaski in North Carolina, with 100 lives lost, Congress finally passed an act "For the better security of the lives of passengers. This was the beginning of the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service.
The Steamboat Inspection Service grew in fits and starts. There was a constant debate as to whether government or private industry should regulate safety at sea. When Sultana in 1865, exploded on the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tenn., and Cairo, Ill. with a loss of 1,500, it prompted additional maritime safety regulations.. The Service slowly built up and each new disaster refined the role of the organization.
A brief look at the Service’s Louisville office provides an example of every-day operations on the Western Rivers. John Shallcross was assigned as the first United States Supervisory Inspector, in 1852. His district covered the Ohio River, and its tributaries, to above the mouth of the Kentucky River, with Louisville as headquarters. The local inspectors were Joseph Sweegur (Hulls) and Ruben Dawson (Machinery and Boilers). In the period from August 30 to November 28 in 1852, the office certified 72 steam vessels. licensed 176 pilots, and 263 engineers and assistants. The total tonnage inspected was 19,175 gross tons, which was sixth in the country, out of 25 reporting districts.
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