Coast Guard Cutters on the Great Lakes

Coast Guard Cutters on the Great Lakes. . Until the 1930's the Coast Guard surfmen were shore based, equipped only with oarpowered surfboats to rescue shipwrecked seamen. As steel hulled steam vessels replaced the wooden schooners, more and more wrecks occurred in mid-Lake far away from the capabilities of rescue by the “Heros of Peace.” The Lake Michigan ship disasters of 1929, the fall season when 103 persons perished, brought to focus the need for larger Coast Guard vessels , today's Cutters., Escanaba , Built in Bay City, she arrived in Grand Haven on December 9, 1932 and served with distinction, as an icebreaker and on patrol duty until she left for war in March 1942. The 165-foot steam powered ship was sunk in the North Atlantic June 13, 1943 with 101 of her crew lost , only 2 surviving., Almond , The 161-foot coal burning Almond, a ferryboat converted for wartime duty, was camouflaged and equipped with deck guns. She served as a buoy tender and icebreaker in Grand Haven in 1943., Tahoma , Sister ship to Escanaba, she came to Grand Haven December 13, 1945 with camouflage war paint but was repainted white, which designated her as a peacetime Coast Guard Cutter., Woodbine , The black hulled, 180-foot C.G. Cutter Woodbine was stationed at Grand Haven as a buoy tender and icebreaker during the period 1947-72. The 25 year tour of duty was the longest for any Cutter serving at this port. She also saw duty in the Pacific during world war two., Raritan , The 110-foot tug served as a C.G. Cutter out of this port for search and rescue and icebreaking duty from 1972 through 1979. Raritan was one of the first vessels on the scene following the sinking of Escanaba during world war two and took aboard the only two survivors., Acacia , The black hulled, 180-foot Cutter Acacia served as a buoy tender out of this port from 1979 until she was reassigned to Charlevoix to replace Mesquite in 1990. During the 1987-88 winter she served four months on drug interdiction duty in the Caribbean.