THE COAST GUARD is famil- iar to most Virginians who venture out onto the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River as watchful guardians who are sometimes welcomed aboard for the occasional marine inspection, and whose presence is always welcomed when the water is coming in over the gunwales.
The Old Coast Guard Station in Virginia Beach, formerly known as The Life-Saving Museum, preserves much of the state's maritime history and stories of ships lost, ships saved and daring rescues. Located at 24th Street and Atlantic Avenue, the station is a perfect destination for school day trips.
The museum building is one of the few remaining examples of the picturesque rescue-boat stations left in the nation, and offers a host of year-round programs ranging from maritime poetry contests for students to pig and oyster roasts to lifeguard reunions. The station also boasts a fine museum shop, library and seasonal maritime craft shows and exhibits.
On Water Safety Day, visitors can watch simulated surf rescues by Coast Guard boats and helicopters and learn safety tips so they need not be one of the thousands of people each year who pray that the familiar white hull of a cutter soon shows up on the horizon. When sea conditions are at their worst, the Coast Guard counts on getting the call: "You have to go out. You don't have to come back."
I joined the Coast Guard back in 1975 with visions of daring rescues from the decks of pitch- ing small boats and an idyllic life in a scenic New England cove at a cozy rescue station not unlike the one that houses the museum. The reality was intensive schooling in radar, electronics, computers and naval gunnery, followed by three years aboard two world-roaming 378-foot ships that could go almost 18,000 miles between pit stops.
The first ship, the Jarvis, was home-ported in Honolulu and called on Japan and Russia and dozens of ports in Alaska including the Pribilofs, Dutch Harbor, Adak, Attu, Unalaska, Sitka, Yakutat and Kodiak, to name a few. The Bering Sea, another part of the Jarvis' patrol area, is freezing cold, shallow and the destination of the very warm Japan Current. These environmental conditions translate as: "If somebody wants to do a remake of 'The Perfect Storm' without resorting to special effects, a calm day on the Bering Sea would probably be too rough."
Fisheries patrols were the Jarvis' principal job, and our captain was adept at suddenly springing out from behind any one of the many Aleutian Islands to bust a ship violating our territorial waters. You know the ole man is a daring ship handler when you look a startled arctic fox in the eye from the deck of a 2,700-ton ship that is going 15 knots.
The second "378," the Chase, was based in Boston and visited Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, Ireland, France, Morocco and Spain while I was aboard. One might wonder just whose coast we were supposed to be guarding, anyway.
The Coast Guard had 10 missions (at last count) that include everything from military readiness to environmental protection and maintaining aids to navigation. Joining the Coast Guard as an alternative to the dangers of military service may bring a rude shock: The Coast Guard has been involved in every major conflict since the nation's founding, and has engaged any number of smugglers, slavers, brigands, pirates and bootleggers when the other branches were in peacetime mode. The Coast Guard's wartime record is not just impressive, it is incredible.
The first prize ship taken in the War of 1812 was seized by the cutter Jefferson. Nine cutters served during the Mexican War, and the cutter Harriet Lane fired the first naval shot of the Civil War.
During the Spanish-American War, the McCulloch paused during a round-the-world shakedown cruise to join Dewey's squadron at the Battle of Manila Bay. Every crewman aboard the cutter Hudson was honored with a Medal of Honor for towing the Navy ship Winslow after it was disabled by furious shore fire at Cardenas, Cuba. The cutter got between the Winslow and the Spanish guns to absorb the fire and shield it from further damage.
During World War I, the Coast Guard had a higher percentage of its personnel killed in action than any other military branch. The United States' first naval capture of WWII was courtesy of the Coast Guard, and the cutter Taney's deck gun was the first crew-served weapon to return fire at Pearl Harbor. The Taney was credited with fighting off a force of five enemy aircraft and saving the Honolulu Power Plant. She received 11 battle stars, getting scarred by fire from everybody from the Luftwaffe to the North Vietnamese.
The homeland-security mission has burdened the Coast Guard with daunting new duties. Like the rest of the services, it has had to rapidly adapt to new realties. With greater emphasis on port security, the Coast Guard has risen to the task of inspecting and escorting thousands of vessels each year. The Coast Guard can be a great career--you might just get a billet at that picture-postcard-perfect small boat station on the Chesapeake, or you might be treading on foreign sands anywhere between Nahodka and Casablanca and get to look a very perplexed fox right in the eye.
For more information, or to book a tour at the Old Coast Guard Station, call 757/422-1587.
BOB SARGEANT is a freelance writer living in Spotsylvania County.