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HISTORY
The
Coast Guard Auxiliary: Past and Present
 Boating
always has been one of America's favorite pastimes and entered the sport
arena in the early nineteenth century. Rowing and yachting races were
among the most popular spectator sports through the 1930s. The wealth
generated in post Civil War America, along with the growth of railroads,
spurred the development of resorts, country homes, and the suburbs–all
places to go boating. The federal government began to construct large
dams, reservoirs, and lake systems during the Depression, adding to
waterways. With the development of the single-operator motorboat and the
outboard engine at the turn of the twentieth century, the number of
recreational boaters skyrocketed. In 1939, the Coast Guard reported that
there were more than 300,000 boats operating in federal waters. In the
previous year it had received 14,000 calls for assistance and had
responded to 8,600 "in peril" cases–a record number. Boaters needed to be
better trained in seamanship and federal law. At the same time, civilian
yachtsmen were pressing the Coast Guard to establish a volunteer arm of
the service.
As a
result of these demands, on June 23, 1939,
the Congress passed legislation...
USCG at La Push -
RESCUE BY A SHOESTRING
On the night of 31 March
1943, the Soviet freighter LAMUT battled it's way through a typical
Pacific Northwest storm ...
See the
Forks Officers
and Forks
pages, too! |
