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U.S. Coast Guard Rescues

SS Pendleton - SS Fort Mercer

February 1952

For additional items please see our many other pages as well.  

In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal nor'easter in years. In the early hours of February 18, the men at Coast Guard Lifeboat Station Chatham manned the radios in anticipation of distress calls sure to come. Two tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer, built with low quality steel, found themselves 10 to 20 miles offshore in the same horrifying predicament.

Soon both tankers soon split in two, leaving the men on board utterly at the Atlantic's mercy. The men held out little hope. But the Coast Guard soon responded, dispatching cutters, and motor lifeboats CG-36383 and CG-36500 at Station Chatham made preparations to respond. These small but sturdy wooden boats were dwarfed by the enormous sixty-foot seas and seventy knot winds, which far exceeded the boats’ design. 

By noon, BMC Donald Bangs, with his crew EN1 Emory Haynes, BM3 (P) Antonio Ballerini, and SN Richard Ciccone, left Stage Harbor in the CG-36383 and headed for the Fort Mercer’s last known position. BM1 Bernard Webber and his crew, EN3 Andrew Fitzgerald, SN Richard Livesey and SN Irving Maske, also left in the CG-36500 powered only by its 90 horsepower gasoline engine. The men were aware that they were embarking on a possible suicide mission.

As the CG-36500 approached Chatham’s treacherous outer bar, she was smashed by mountainous waves and thrown high in the air. From Coast Guard accounts, the boat landed on its side, recovered, and was struck again. Tons of seawater crashed over the boat breaking its windshield and compass and flattening coxswain Webber. Shown are survivors of the tanker Fort Mercer following their rescue, arriving in Boston on the cutter Acushnet. 

Webber struggled to regain control and steer into the towering waves to bring CG-36500 across the bar. Engineer Fitzgerald worked in the cramped compartment to keep the engine running as the weather and visibility worsened. Miraculously, the searchlight soon revealed a mass of twisted metal – the PENDELTON, heaving high in the air with each massive wave. Shown are 5 survivors with Coast Guard CWO Daniel W. Cluff. 

Soon, a Jacob’s ladder was lowered over the side, and unbelievably, men clamored down the ladder!” Coxswain Webber skillfully maneuvered the CG-36500 along the Pendleton and, one by one, the survivors either jumped and crashed on the tiny boat’s bow or fell into the sea, where Webber’s crew assisted them onboard at great personal risk. After multiple approaches and 20 survivors safely recovered, the CG-36500 began to handle sluggishly, but there was no turning back. It was all or nothing. And, so it went as Webber and his crew “stuffed” their human cargo aboard and risked life and limb again and again. Finally, 32 of 33 survivors were onboard the CG-36500. There remained only one giant of a man, George (Tiny) Myers, left on board. But before the CG-36500 had maneuvered under the Jacob’s ladder, Myers jumped too soon and was swallowed up by the sea. There was now nothing left to do but return - dangerously overloaded, lost, with no compass to steer by and in zero visibility. 

Coxswain Webber decided to put the wind and seas on the boat’s stern and let them force the vessel ashore. In time, a red flashing light appeared! The boat’s searchlight soon revealed the buoy that marked the entrance to Chatham and safe water! Although not all of the eighty-four men caught at sea that night survived, it is a testament to the Coast Guard crews that any came home at all. 

To this day, the rescue of 32 men by the crew of the CG-36500 remains the greatest small boat rescue in Coast Guard history! The rescue made international headlines and for their heroism, the four stubborn Coast Guardsmen would receive the Congressional gold life-saving medal. In 1968 CG-36500 was retired. She languished in the bushes on Cape Cod for thirteen years until she was acquired by the Orleans Historical Society. 

Today CG-36500 has been lovingly restored by area volunteers and is again seaworthy. She is on exhibit as a floating museum dedicated to the memory of the life-savers of Cape Cod. 

A few years ago I was fortunate to have been aboard CG-36500 as she again approached that dreaded Chatham Bar in a light wind and rain, bringing to mind that time sixty years ago. For me it was a thrill indeed, bringing to me a heightened sense of respect for the Coast Guard crews that day that I will never forget. 

(Information taken from US Coast Guard accounts.)

This summer Walt Disney Pictures is developing a long awaited film on these Coast Guard crews, to star Chris Pine, based on the book The Finest Hours (available below) by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. They will be filming at studios in Quincy, Mass. and in Chatham on Cape Cod. We have been working to obtain items and uniforms for the production and we will keep you posted on the progress. 

Update: The movie is complete and will be released in Chatham on January 28, 2016 and worldwide the following day. 

Read of that day from Coxswain Webber himself: 

  20209. Webber, Bernard C., CHATHAM “The Lifeboatmen”. Orleans , Mass. 1985. 1st. 128p. Illustrated with numerous photographs. Late in February 1952, a northeaster swept New England with bitter cold, snow and gale force winds. East of Chatham 70-knot winds and 60-foot seas battered merchant vessels as the tankers SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton met the full force of the storm. They both broke in two on the morning of February 19th with 84 half-frozen men marooned on the battered hulks. The story of how these men were rescued is retold even today. In the days following the ordeal, twenty-one Coast Guardsmen would be decorated. The men who ventured into 60-foot seas in the little 36-foot CG36500 motor lifeboat to rescue the tanker crews showed what heroism really is. How this all came about, and the story of life at Cape Cod small boat stations in the 1950’s, is a tale well worth reading and a tribute to Coast Guardsmen everywhere.  Wonderful reading. (M).  $44.95.

Special numbered edition with actual wood piece from MLB CG-36500.  $59.95. 

1979. The Ship Fort Mercer Sinks near Cape Cod. Life Magazine. March 3, 1952. Large 2-page article relates the struggle as the crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer were rescued by men of CGC Yakutat during the fierce February 18-19 storm off Chatham, Cape Cod. One man had been swept from the Mercer’s bow and four lost in a desperate night rescue attempt by the Yakutat. At daybreak a launch took off two more men. Then the Yakutat moved in dangerously close, shot across a line attached to a rubber raft, and the last two seamen were rescued, just 19 minutes before the bow of the Mercer slipped below the waves.  With three photos and text. Full issue with interesting articles of the day. Clean, tight, light wear to spine, good condition. (VG+). $44.

13431-1. (photo) Crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Rescued by Men of CGC Yakutat. February 18-19, 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 8” official Coast Guard photo shows excellent detail as crewmen of CGC Yakutat, fighting against time and the clutches of the rough seas, struggle to remove survivors from the fast sinking bow section of the tanker SS Fort Mercer by means of rubber liferafts attached to life lines. Shown are two survivors being supported in the water by Coast Guardsmen as they are transferred from the rubber raft to the safety of the Coast Guard Cutter Yakutat. In all 18 crewmen were rescued from the broken tanker Fort Mercer off Chatham in this fierce northeast storm. Photo is b/w and includes description. Clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $64.

13431y. (photo) Stern end of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Awaits Arrival of Salvage Tugs SE of Nantucket. February 20, 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 10” press photo shows good detail of the Stern end of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer as the Coast Guard Cutter Eastwind stands by, awaiting the arrival of salvage tugs to tow the hulk to New York Harbor. Aboard the stern of the Fort Mercer are the “Captains Courageous” who stayed with their ship, battling the elements since Monday February 18 when the tanker split in two. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Clear, close view, great detail. This is a rarely seen view. (VG+). $48.

13431x. (photo) Stern end of the Tanker S.S. Fort Mercer Towed into New York Harbor. February 24, 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 8 ¾” press photo shows good detail as tugs the Stern end of the Tanker S.S. Fort Mercer Towed into the calm waters of New York Harbor after battling the elements since Monday February 18 when the tanker split in two. Aboard the stern of the Fort Mercer are the “Captains Courageous” who stayed with their ship until salvage operations were completed. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Clear, close view, great detail. This is a rarely seen view. (VG+). $44.

30111. (lot 3 photos) SS San Jacinto (SS Fort Mercer) Once Again Breaks in Half After Explosion c.1964. c. March 27, 1964. Lot of three (3) press photos 7 ½” x 10” show excellent details of the T-2 tanker SS San Jacinto, once named SS Fort Mercer. In 1952 18 crewmen were rescued from the tanker Fort Mercer after she split in two off Chatham in a fierce northeast storm. During this storm the SS Pendleton also split in two in the same area prompting the rescue of 32 crewmen by the Coast Guard’s CG-36500, a rescue immortalized in thje book and movie The Finest Hours. One photo in this lot shows good detail of the SS Fort Mercer before the 1952 tragedy. The strange fate of the Fort Mercer did not end here, however. Its owner, Trinidad Corp., had the stern towed to the Todd Shipyards Corp.'s Galveston, Texas, yard, where a new bow was attached to the stern section. When the 545-foot re-christened vessel, the San Jacinto, left the yard in 1953, it was 40 feet longer. In 1964, as the reincarnated tanker steamed 40 miles off Virginia, an explosion blew the San Jacinto in two during a routine cleaning of its tanks, leaving one man dead. A second photo shows the stern, which had drifted some 40 miles from the bow. The section was picked up by salvage tugs which towed it to Newport, R.I., eventually through Long Island Sound to New York. A third view shows the stern section right after the accident as a Navy helicopter hovers over the vessel ready to remove the crew if needed. The ship would emerged a third time, in 1965, not as one ship, but two: the Pasadena and the Seatrain Maryland. The unlucky F ort Mercer saga finally ended in a Bangladesh shipyard, where the Seatrain Maryland was broken up in 1983. Clear, close, nice detailed views with descriptions and dated. (VG+). $78. (available individually $34 each)

13431w. (photo) Crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Rescued by Men of CGC Eastwind. February 18-19, 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 8” Coast Guard / press photo shows excellent detail as crewmen of CGC Eastwind, fighting against time and the clutches of the rough seas, struggle to remove survivors from the fast sinking stern section of the tanker SS Fort Mercer by means of rubber liferafts attached to life lines. 18 crewmen were rescued from the broken tanker Fort Mercer off Chatham in this fierce northeast storm. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $42.

20209g. Bernard C., CHATHAM “The Lifeboatmen”. Orleans , Mass. 1985. 1st. 128p. Inscribed by the author to the Monomoy Yacht Club 11-14-85. Illustrated with numerous photographs. Late in February 1952, a northeaster swept New England with bitter cold, snow and gale force winds. East of Chatham 70-knot winds and 60-foot seas battered merchant vessels as the tankers SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton met the full force of the storm. They both broke in two on the morning of February 19th with 84 half-frozen men marooned on the battered hulks. The story of how these men were rescued is retold even today. In the days following the ordeal, twenty-one Coast Guardsmen would be decorated. The men who ventured into 60-foot seas in the little 36-foot CG36500 motor lifeboat to rescue the tanker crews showed what heroism really is. How this all came about, and the story of life at Cape Cod small boat stations in the 1950’s, is a tale well worth reading and a tribute to Coast Guardsmen everywhere. Contents clean, slightly age toned, rarely opened. Wonderful reading. (VG+). $174.

8458. [model kit] U. S. Coast Guard 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat. c.1989. Complete unassembled plastic model kit by Glencoe Models reproduces this renown rescue craft in splendid detail, including all decals and three scale figures. This sturdy craft has been responsible for the rescue of hundreds of seamen and now you can build one for display on your shelves too. This is a High Quality, injection molded plastic, made in the USA Coast Guard Rescue Boat Model Kit - 1/48 scale including three figures. This is a Hard to find Glencoe Model, known and respected by model collectors and aficionados world wide. Award Winning unique model made from the highest quality materials. Certain to create hours of excitement for any model enthusiast. 1/48 scale, unassembled kit. Includes new decal set for CG-36500. (M).  $24.98.

Just Arrived: DVD The Finest Hours 

  Images Copyright Walt Disney Studio Pictures 

1686. (DVD) The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue. DVD. Run time 114 min. PG-13. Based on the extraordinary true story of the greatest smallboat rescue in Coast Guard history, THE FINEST HOURS is a tale of courage, loyalty and honor in the face of overwhelming odds. When a massive storm strikes off the coast of Cape Cod, it rips a T-2 oil tanker in half, trapping more than 30 sailors on its rapidly sinking stern. As BM1 Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) and his crew set out in the station 36-foot motor lifeboat to save them, Chief Engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) struggles to buy his men more time. Packed with heroic larger-than-life action and driven by the men's faith in their mission, themselves and one another, THE FINEST HOURS is a triumph. The Finest Hours has incredible and astonishing true-to-life heroism and action-packed rescue scenes. This marvelous and terrifying yarn ( Los Angeles Times ) deserves a place as a classic of survival at sea ( The Boston Globe). In the days following the ordeal, twenty-one Coast Guardsmen involved in multiple rescue missions would be decorated. Movie is based upon the original 1985 account by Coxswain BM1 Bernard Webber. $29.95. (x)

1646. (postcard) U.S. Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500. William P. Quinn photo. Difficult to find color postcard features an image of the Coast Guard motor lifeboat CG-36500 known best for the 1952 rescue of 32 sailors from the broken and foundering tanker SS Pendleton off Chatham, Cape Cod. A portion of the procedes from these cards goes to the Orleans Historical Society for the continued preservation of CG-36500. New. $1 each. 

13431v. (photo) Crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Delivered to Boston by Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet. February 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 9” press photo shows excellent detail as Alanson S. Winn of Marlboro, Mass., waves good-by to the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet after the cutter docked in Boston. Winn was one of the 18 crewmen rescued from the broken tanker Fort Mercer off Chatham in a fierce northeast storm. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Dated February 20, 1952. Clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $44.

13431u. (photo) Stern end of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Towed into Calm Waters of Narragansett Bay. February 22, 1952. Clear, close, original 6” x 9” press photo shows good detail as tugs the Stern end of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Towed into Calm Waters of Narragansett Bay after battling the elements since Monday February 18 when the tanker split in two. Aboard the stern of the Fort Mercer are the “Captains Courageous” who stayed with their ship until salvage operations were completed. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Clear, close view, great detail. This is a rarely seen view. (VG+). $58.

13431s. (photo) Crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Rescued by Men of CGC Yakutat. February 18-19, 1952. Clear, close, original 7 ½” x 9 ½” press photo shows excellent detail as crewmen of CGC Yakutat, fighting against time and the clutches of the rough seas, struggle to remove survivors from the fast sinking bow section of the tanker SS Fort Mercer by means of rubber liferafts attached to life lines. 18 crewmen were rescued from the broken tanker Fort Mercer off Chatham in this fierce northeast storm. Photo is b/w and is a clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $44.

13431j. (photo) Wife of Crewman of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Looks at Photo of Ship. February 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 9” press photo shows excellent detail as Mrs. Hilda Colby, looks at photo of the Fort Mercer. Her husband, Howard S. Colby, was First Engineer on the doomed vessel and was listed as missing when this photo was taken. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Dated February 20, 1952. Clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $44.

13431g. (photo) Crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Delivered to Boston by Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet. February 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 9” press photo shows excellent detail as two crewmen from the SS Fort Mercer thank Lt. Cmdr. John M. Josephs of the Acushnet. Shown are crewmen Alanson S. Winn of Marlboro, Mass. and Massi Hunt of New Orleans, two of eighteen crewmen rescued from the broken tanker Fort Mercer off Chatham in a fierce northeast storm. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Dated February 20, 1952. Clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $54.

13431n. (photo) Crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Rescued by Men of CGC Yakutat. February 18-19, 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 8” press photo shows excellent detail as crewmen of CGC Yakutat, fighting against time and the clutches of the rough seas, struggle to remove survivors from the fast sinking bow section of the tanker SS Fort Mercer by means of rubber life rafts attached to life lines. 18 crewmen were rescued from the broken tanker Fort Mercer off Chatham in this fierce northeast storm. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $44.

29185-mv. Tougias, Michael and Casey Sherman. The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue. 2015. Simon & Schuster. 311+p. Soft wraps. The true story behind the major motion picture from Disney starring Chris Pine, Eric Bana, and Casey Affleck written by a recognized master of the genre a blockbuster account of tragedy at sea (The Providence Journal ). It s the winter of 1952 and a ferocious Nor'easter is pounding New England with howling winds and seventy-foot seas. Two oil tankers get caught in the violent storm off Cape Cod, its fury splitting the massive ships in two. Back on shore, four young Coast Guardsmen (BM1 Bernard Webber, Andrew Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey and Irving Maske) are issued a near impossible mission: save the lives of the stranded seamen. Sailing a tiny lifeboat into the teeth of the killer storm, the rescue crew soon loses all navigation. With no idea where the stranded seaman are nor how to get back home, the crew continues, soon coming upon the SS Pendleton in the darkness. Thirty three hopeful men appear at the wounded ship’s railings. Can the tiny lifeboat save them all? Dripping with suspense and high-stakes human drama, The Finest Hours has incredible and astonishing true-to-life heroism and action-packed rescue scenes. This marvelous and terrifying yarn ( Los Angeles Times ) deserves a place as a classic of survival at sea ( The Boston Globe). In the days following the ordeal, twenty-one Coast Guardsmen involved in multiple rescue missions would be decorated. Based upon the original 1985 account by Coxswain BM1 Bernard Webber. (M). $9.99. (x)

Just in time for the movie release The Finest Hours: 

1602. Webber, Bernie. Into a Raging Sea : My Life and the Pendleton Rescue. 2016. On Cape Publications. 172p. Soft wraps. Into A Raging Sea features the riveting, firsthand account of what is widely regarded as the greatest small-boat rescue in Coast Guard history, told by BM1 Bernie Webber. Webber and his crew were awarded the prestigious Gold Lifesaving medal for the miraculous rescue of thirty-two men off the stern of the SS Pendletonwith a thirty-six-foot motor lifeboat, in nighttime blizzard conditions, with seas surpassing sixty feet. Made more famous in the recently released book and movie The Finest Hours, the rescue of 32 sailors from the sinking ship caught in a ferocious winter storm is a dramatic tale, but what made this mission so special is that the boat Webber skippered that terrible night was a mere 36 feet in length and the waves were almost twice that size! In Into A Raging Sea, Bernie tells that story, but the book is so much more than that. In these pages you'll read about rescue attempts that did not turn out well, stories of fishermen from a time long past, rescues done with the by-gone technique of the "breeches buoy," humorous anecdotes, and what Cape Cod and its people meant to Bernie. Into a Raging Sea is a story of sacrifice, bravery, disappointment, and challenges. And in the background of Bernie's journey is one constant, the sea. Forward by Michael J. Tougias. (M). $15.95. 

1613. Webber, Bernie. Lightships, Lighthouses, and Lifeboat Stations: A Memoir and History. 2015. Universal Publishers. 192p. Soft wraps. Lightships, Lighthouses and Lifeboat Stations is part history book, part memoir, written by Bernie Webber, recipient of the Coast Guard's highest award, the Gold Life-saving Medal, and one of the heros of the Disney movie The Finest Hours (released January 29, 2016). The manuscript for this book was written by Webber but not published before he passed away. Now his daughter with the help of writer Michael Tougias have published this his second book. While the public will recognize Webber's name from the movie and the bestselling book by the same name, few people know that during his lengthy Coast Guard career he served on lightships in addition to lifeboat stations (small boat rescue stations) and lighthouses. Webber poses the following question: "How did the lightship men cope with the isolation, constant loneliness, boredom, fear, or just sheer terror? All were part of life on board a lightship. Rough seas tossed the ship about, rearing up and down on the anchor chain. This was a world of isolation, noise from operating machinery, and blasts from the powerful foghorn that went on for hours, sometimes days, at a time." Webber answers that question in this book, drawing on a combination of personal experience and meticulous historical research. Discussions of men going mad, lightships being run down by larger ships, anchor chains breaking, and lightships cast upon shoals are offset by humorous stories and the author's reflections on his best days at sea. Webber also explains some of the heroic actions of a few lightship men over the years, and points out that they received no recognition at the time. The isolation these men faced was intense, but they learned to make do with what they had. Fourteen historic photos are included, as well as a Foreword by Michael Tougias. A most interesting and deserved further look into Bernie Webber’s life and career. (M). $25.95.

Note: I particularly enjoyed Webber’s accounts of life as a young Coast Guardsman, working with the Keepers from the old Lighthouse Service at Highland and Gay Head lights, and at Nauset and Gay Head Lifeboat Stations. 

13431c. (photo) Crewmen of the Tanker S.S Fort Mercer Delivered to Boston by Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet. February 1952. Clear, close, original 7” x 9” press photo shows excellent detail as Alanson S. Winn of Marlboro, Mass., waves goodby to the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet after the cutter docked in Boston. Winn was one of the 18 crewmen rescued from the broken tanker Fort Mercer off Chatham in a fierce northeast storm. Photo is b/w and includes date and description. Dated February 20, 1952. Clear, close view, great detail. (VG+). $54.

1625. (burgee - pennant) U.S. Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500. Professionally made burgee (“A small distinguishing pennant flown by a yacht, usually representing the yacht’s home club.”) features an image of the Coast Guard motor lifeboat CG-36500 known best for the 1952 rescue of 32 sailors from the broken and foundering tanker SS Pendleton off Chatham, Cape Cod. This burgee professionally made, with brass grommets and heavy stitching and seams and can be flown. After more than two decades of meritorious Coast Guard service, the CG-36500 was decommissioned in 1968 and sat neglected and nearly forgotten for years. The Orleans Historical Society acquired the boat in 1981, and it has been carefully rebuilt and maintained by many dedicated volunteers with the support of generous grants and individual donations. A portion of the procedes from these pennants goes to the Orleans Historical Society for the continued preservation of CG-36500. Measures 12”h x 18”w. (M). $49.95. (x)

20212. na. RESCUE CG36500. Orleans. 1985. Soft wraps. 48p. Illustrated with over 40 photographs. A collection of stories, photographs and illustrations detailing the career of CG36500 and the famous rescue of thirty-two men from a broken tanker on the night of February 8, 1952 off Chatham, Massachusetts. The information is gleaned from official Coast Guard reports, local news stories and the men who braved the seas that night themselves. Thirty years after the rescue, the boat was saved from oblivion and completely restored by volunteers of the Orleans Historical Society and still proudly plies Cape Cod waters as a museum dedicated to the memory of life-savers of the United States Coast Guard. (M). $19.95.

Disney's THE FINEST HOURS - a movie based on the extraordinary true story of the Coast Guard's greatest small boat rescue in history is coming to a movie theater near you early in 2016.

A heroic action-thriller, “The Finest Hours” is the remarkable true story of the greatest small boat rescue in Coast Guard history off Chatham, Mass.

Watch the movie trailer at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQmllwTKtqU 

  Image Copyright Walt Disney Studio Pictures

DVD. Disney's THE FINEST HOURS - a movie based on the extraordinary true story of the Coast Guard's greatest small boat rescue in history is coming to a movie theater near you in January 2016. We will have the DVDs available of this thrilling account as soon as they are available. 

13324. Coast Guard's Greatest Lifeboat Rescue. Wooden Boat Magazine. #212 January/February 2010. Excellent detailed article contains 11 detailed photos and seven pages chronicle the single greatest small-boat rescue in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard, and the fate of the CG-36500 in the years following. Includes many details of the rescues of 32 men that February day as well as the work in the following years finding and acquitting the motor lifeboat and the years of restoration work that followed. Well done. Full issue with many interesting articles. (VG+). $24.

11397. (wood model kit) U.S. Coast Guard 36' Motor Lifeboat CG-36500, 1/16th scale by Dumas Products, "The Model Boat People". This is an all wood kit featuring plank on frame balsa strip construction with die-cut parts for the superstructure. The kit includes cast fittings, mounting stand and Coast Guard insignia and  decals. Finished model is 27" long with a 8" beam. The CG 36500 is famous for the rescue of 32 men from the tanker S. S. Pendleton, which broke in half during a winter storm off Chatham Bar, the elbow of Cape Cod (also known as New England's graveyard of ships). On Feb. 18, 1952, Bernard Webber, Andrew Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey and Irving Maske from Life Boat Station Chatham, Mass., braved 60-foot seas aboard the Motor Life Boat CG36500 to rescue the crew of the S.S. Pendleton that had broken in half during a winter storm off the coast of Cape Cod. At the end of the mission, the crew of CG36500 had saved 32 of Pendleton’s 33 crewmembers. To this day, the saving of the Pendleton crew remains the single greatest small-boat rescue in the history of the United States Coast Guard. The crew received the Gold Life Saving Medal for their efforts during this almost impossible rescue. Also available separately is the Dumas Running Hardware kit (DUM2371) to make this an RC Boat! This is a BRAND NEW factory sealed kit. Just released. (M). $188.

29185. Tougias, Michael J and Casey Sherman. The Finest Hours - The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue. Simon and Schuster. 2009. 224p. In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal nor'easter in years. As the weather wreaked havoc on land, the freezing Atlantic became a wind-whipped zone of peril. In the early hours of Monday, February 18, while the storm raged, two oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer , found themselves in the same horrifying predicament. Built with "dirty steel," and not prepared to withstand such ferocious seas, both tankers split in two, leaving the dozens of men on board utterly at the Atlantic 's mercy. The Finest Hours is the gripping, true story of the valiant attempt to rescue the souls huddling inside the broken halves of the two ships. Coast Guard cutters raced to the aid of those on the Fort Mercer , and when it became apparent that the halves of the Pendleton were in danger of capsizing, the Guard sent out two thirty-six-foot lifeboats as well. These wooden boats, manned by only four seamen each, were dwarfed by the enormous seventy-foot seas. As the tiny rescue vessels set out from the coast of Cape Cod , the men aboard were all fully aware that they were embarking on what could easily become a suicide mission. The spellbinding tale is overflowing with breathtaking scenes that sear themselves into the mind's eye, as boats capsize, bows and sterns crash into one another, and men hurl themselves into the raging sea in their terrifying battle for survival. Not all of the eighty-four men caught at sea in the midst of that brutal storm survived, but considering the odds, it's a miracle -- and a testament to their bravery -- that any came home to tell their tales at all. (M). Soft cover $14.95. 

27259. Barbo, Theresa M., John J. Galluzo and W. Russell Webster. THE PENDLETON DISASTER OFF CAPE COD: THE GREATEST SMALL BOAT RESCUE IN COAST GUARD HISTORY. History Press. 2007. 128p. Soft wraps. Late in February 1952, a northeaster swept New England with bitter cold, snow and gale force winds. East of Chatham 70-knot winds and 60-foot seas battered merchant vessels as the tankers SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton met the full force of the storm. They both broke in two on the morning of February 19th with 84 half-frozen men marooned on the battered hulks. Four Coast Guardsmen set out from Cape Cod during a fierce storm in a seemingly impossible quest to locate and rescue the crew of the damaged tanker Pendleton. They returned as heroes. This book chronicles the miraculous true story of Bernie Webber and the Coast Guard 36500. The story of how these men were rescued is retold even today. $19.99.

Numerous original photos available - please inquire...

Filled with early images, many from private collections and never before published.

Read about the heroic 1952 rescue of the crews from the SS Pendleton and SS Fort Mercer, still considered today the most heroic small-boat rescues in Coast Guard history

Read about the lightship crews and their dangerous missions, guarding the shoals and coastline of Cape Cod

Read about the Momomoy Disaster, in which seven life-savers perished while attempting to rescue the crew of the barge Wadena.

Read about Nauset’s famous “Three Sisters” lighthouses, the only such lighthouse configuration in the country, why they were built and what became of them.

Read about the Chatham lights and why they were moved so often.

Read about the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station, who’s crew rescued 34 persons in the first five years of operation.

Read about the many changes at Race Point Light Station and its renewed importance today

1443. Claflin, James W. Lighthouses and Life-Saving Along Cape Cod. Arcadia. 2014. 128p. Soft wraps. With over 200 vintage photographs, this is the fourth volume in a series of photographic histories of lighthouses and lifesaving along the coasts of the United States by the author. For centuries, heroic men and women have guarded the treacherous yet beloved Cape Cod coastlines. From Provincetown to Chatham, Sandwich to Cuttyhunk, and many towns in between, residents have relied on the Atlantic for employment and nourishment. But Cape Cod has always been plagued with a shifting coastline that consistently defies mariners’ efforts to pass through Massachusetts waters. In 1792, as shipping increased, mariners petitioned for a sorely needed lighthouse. It was not until 1797 that the first lighthouse on Cape Cod was built at the Highlands in North Truro. More lights and rescue stations would follow as the seas claimed their toll. Many lightship stations were also established from Chatham through Nantucket Sound to mark the constantly changing sandbars submerged offshore—more than in any other spot along the US coastline. Today, as sea levels change and sands continue to shift, some of these historic stations have been lost or moved, while still others are preserved only in such photographs as these. This compact volume features over 200 early photographs dating from the 1870’s through the 1960’s, drawn from the author’s and other private collections, most never before published, and traces the history of these services through photos and text. (M). $21.99. (x) 

13424. Barbo, Theresa Mitchell, Captain W. Russell Webster (ret) and Julia Marshall. The Daring Coast Guard Rescue of the Pendleton Crew. Charleston. 2013. 124p. Stiff wraps. Jack Nickerson and his faithful lab, Sinbad, wake early one snowy Cape Cod morning, ready for winter fun. Meanwhile, miles away in the ocean, the crew of a cargo tanker ship called the Pendleton is in serious trouble. The waves and wind of a raging nor’easter rip the tanker in two, leaving the people to cling for their lives in the wicked, cold storm. There’s no time to waste—the Coast Guard, including Jack’s friend Bernie Webber, leave Chatham Harbor in search of the Pendleton crew. They don’t yet know that Jack and Sinbad have snuck aboard the rescue boat as stowaways. Join the young duo in the front-row seat for the greatest small-boat rescue in American history. Well done, with wonderful illustrations that add flavor to the story. The Daring Coast Guard Rescue of the Pendleton has well-written and well-paced action that keeps youth interested, wanting to read page after page. Historically, the Coast Guard action is correct. Jack’s story is fiction, used to bring children into the story. Sinbad, the black lab always by Jack’s side, was a real dog that hung around the Coast Guard Station Chatham and was loved by the crews. (M). $14.99. (x)

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All text and illustrations on web site Ó James W. Claflin . 03/21/2022 All rights reserved. Use prohibited without written permission.