The Birth of the Coast Guard

The Birth of the Coast Guard. Lifesaving Heritage of Orleans. , On January 28, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed the law creating the US Coast Guard by combining the Lifesaving Service with the Revenue Cutter Service. The law put the Coast Guard under the Treasury Department in peacetime and under the Navy in time of war. , Operationally, there was not much change right away, but for USLSS personnel, including those in Orleans, it was a significant change. They were now in the military service with new ranks, rates, and pay scales. District superintendants became commissioned officers, keepers became warrant officers, and surfmen became enlisted Coast Guardsmen. The surfmen became known as “sand pounders” to their sea-going counterparts. , The Orleans Lifesaving Station was designated as Station 40. One of the principal architects of the legislation that created the Coast Guard was USLSS Superintendent Summer I. Kimball, who had guided the Service as well as the Revenue Marine Division of the Treasury Department into the formidable organizations that they had become. As a footnote to our heritage, Kimball taught school in Orleans early in his career. , On July 21, 1918, Coast Guard lifesavers carried out one of the most dramatic operations in lifesaving history. On that date, during World War I, a German U-Boat surfaced off the coast of Orleans and began shelling the tugboat Perth Amboy and its four barges in tow. The U-Boat also shelled the Orleans coast in the vicinity of Nauset Beach. , Station 40 Keeper Robert Pierce saw the attack developing, recognized that mariners were in danger, and like many before him, ordered the lifeboat to be launched, leading the mission himself. Pierce, a surfman since 1890, was the son of a Wampanoag Indian. As the lifeboat approached the tug, concussions from the U-Boat’s deck guns blew the hats off several of the surfmen. , Surfman Bill Moore transferred to the Perth Amboy and was later credited by doctors as having saved the arm of one of the injured crewmen. This rescue mission, conducted under enemy fire , put the lifesaver’s unofficial motto “you have to go out; you don’t have to come back” in a whole new perspective. , This display was made possible through Orleans Community Preservation Funds . This historical marker was erected by Orleans Community Preservation Committee. It is in Orleans in Barnstable County Massachusetts