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Some definitions and thoughts on the meaning
and importance of the US Coast Guard:
 "The
Coast Guard occupies a peculiar position among other branches of the
Government, and necessarily so from the dual character of its work,
which is both civil and military. Its organization, therefore, must be
such as will best adapt it to the performance of both classes of duties,
and as a civil organization would not suffice for the performance of
military functions, the organization of the service must be and is by
law military. More than 120 years of practical experience has
demonstrated that it is by means of military drills, training, and
discipline that the service is enabled to maintain that state of
preparedness for the prompt performance of its most important civil
duties, which are largely of an emergent nature." Captain Commandant
Ellsworth P. Bertholf [as quoted in Robert Johnson, Guardians of the Sea
(Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990), p. 33.
Bertholf discussed the inherent
differences between the Coast Guard and the Navy as well as indicating
why the Coast Guard should still, however, remain a "military service":
". . .the fundamental reasons for
the two services are diametrically opposed. The Navy exists for the sole
purpose of keeping itself prepared for . . . war. Its usefulness to the
Government is therefore to a large degree potential. If it performs in
peace time any useful function not ultimately connected with the
preparation for war, that is a by-product. On the other hand, the Coast
Guard does not exist solely for the purpose of preparing for war. If it
did there would be, of course, two navies--a large one and a small one,
and that condition, I am sure you will agree, could not long exist. The
Coast Guard exists for the particular and main purpose of performing
duties which have no connection with a state of war, but which, on the
contrary, are constantly necessary as peace functions. It is, of course,
essentially an emergency service and it is organized along military
lines because that sort of an organization best enables the Coast Guard
to keep prepared as an emergency service, and by organization along
military lines it is invaluable in time of war as an adjunct and
auxiliary to the Navy. . . .while peace time usefulness is a by-product
of the Navy, it is the war time usefulness that is a by-product of the
Coast Guard."
[As quoted in Robert Johnson,
Guardians of the Sea, (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1988), p. 59.]
What is the origin of the saying
"You have to go out, but you do not have to come back"?
A: A letter to the editor of the
old Coast Guard Magazine written by CBM Clarence P. Brady, USCG (Ret.)
which was published in the March 1954 (page 2) issue, states that the
first person to make this remark was Patrick Etheridge. Brady knew him
when both were stationed at the Cape Hatteras LSS. Brady tells the story
as follows:
"A ship was stranded off Cape
Hatteras on the Diamond Shoals and one of the life saving crew reported
the fact that this ship had run ashore on the dangerous shoals. The old
skipper gave the command to man the lifeboat and one of the men shouted
out that we might make it out to the wreck but we would never make it
back. The old skipper looked around and said, 'The Blue Book says we've
got to go out and it doesn't say a damn thing about having to come
back.'"
Etheridge was not exaggerating. The
Regulations of the Life-Saving Service of 1899, Article VI "Action at
Wrecks," section 252, page 58, state that:
"In attempting a rescue the keeper
will select either the boat, breeches buoy, or life car, as in his
judgment is best suited to effectively cope with the existing
conditions. If the device first selected fails after such trial as
satisfies him that no further attempt with it is feasible, he will
resort to one of the others, and if that fails, then to the remaining
one, and he will not desist from his efforts until by actual trial the
impossibility of effecting a rescue is demonstrated. The statement of
the keeper that he did not try to use the boat because the sea or surf
was too heavy will not be accepted unless attempts to launch it were
actually made and failed (underlining added), or unless the
conformation of the coast--as bluffs, precipitous banks, etc.--is such
as to unquestionable preclude the use of a boat."
This section of the Regulations
remained in force after the creation of the Coast Guard in 1915. The new
Instructions for United States Coast Guard Stations, 1934 edition,
copied Section 252 word for word as it appeared in 1899. [1934
Instructions for United States Coast Guard Stations, Paragraph 28, page
4].
Semper Paratus--translation "Always Ready"--is the
Coast Guard's motto and the title of its service song.
No one seems to know exactly how
it was chosen as the Coast Guard's motto. But there is no doubt as to
who put the famous motto to words and music.
Captain Francis Saltus Van Boskerck wrote the words in
the cabin of the cutter Yamacraw in Savannah, Ga., in 1922. He wrote the
music five years later on a beat-up old piano in Unalaska, Alaska.
For probably as long as Captain Van Boskerck could
remember, Semper Paratus had been a Revenue Cutter and Coast Guard
watchword. The words themselves, always ready or ever ready, date back
to ancient times.
No official recognition was given to the Coast Guard
motto until it appeared in 1910 on the ensign. Captain Van Boskerck
hoped to give it as much recognition as "Semper Fideles" of the Marines
and "Anchors Away" of the Navy.
So what is the deal? Why does the Coast Guard have two
flags?
The history
information below is quoted from the US Coast Guard Historian's Office
The Coast Guard Standard
The origins of the Coast Guard standard are very
obscure. It may have evolved from an early jack. At least one
contemporary painting supports this theory. In an 1840 painting, the
Revenue cutter Alexander Hamilton flies a flag very similar to today’s
Coast Guard standard as a jack. This flag, like the union jack, which is
the upper corner of the United States flag, appears to be the canton or
upper corner of the Revenue cutter ensign.
An illustration in 1917 shows the Coast Guard standard
as a white flag with a blue eagle and 13 stars in a semi-circle
surrounding it. At a later date, the words, "United States Coast Guard--
Semper Paratus" were added.
After 1950, the semi-circle of stars was changed to
the circle containing 13 stars. The Coast Guard standard is used during
parades and ceremonies and is adorned by our 34 battle streamers. We are
unique to the other services for we have two official flags, the Coast
Guard standard and the Coast Guard ensign.
The Coast Guard Ensign
The initial job of the first revenue cutters was to
guarantee that the maritime public was not evading taxes. Import taxes
were the lifeblood of the new nation. Smuggling had become a patriotic
duty during the revolution. If the new nation under the Constitution
were to survive, this activity needed to be stopped.
Working within a limited budget, cutters needed some
symbol of authority. Neither officers nor men had uniforms. How could a
revenue cutter come alongside a merchant ship during an age of pirates
and privateers and order it to heave to?
The solution was to create an ensign unique to the
revenue cutter to fly in place of the national flag while in American
waters. Nine years after the establishment of the Revenue Cutter
Service, Congress, in the Act of March 2, 1799 provided that cutters and
boats employed in the service of the revenue should be distinguished
from other vessels by a unique ensign and pennant.
On August 1, 1799, Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver
Wolcott, issued an order announcing that in pursuance of authority from
the President, the distinguishing ensign and pennant would consist of,
"16 perpendicular stripes, alternate red and white, the union of the
ensign to be the arms of the United States in a dark blue on a white
field."
The ensign was poignant with historical detail,
inasmuch as in the canton of the flag, there are 13 stars, 13 leaves to
the olive branch, 13 arrows and 13 bars to the shield. All corresponded
to the number of states constituting the union at the time the nation
was established. The 16 vertical stripes in the body are symbolic of the
number of States composing the Union when this ensign was officially
adopted.
This ensign soon became very familiar in American
waters and served as the sign of authority for the Revenue Cutter
Service until the early 20th century. The ensign was intended to be
flown only on revenue cutters and boats connected with the Customs
Service. Over the years it was found flying atop custom houses as well.
President William Howard Taft, however, issued an Executive Order June
7, 1910, adding an emblem to the ensign flown by the Revenue cutters to
distinguish it from the ensign flown from the custom houses, which read:
"By virtue of the authority vested in me under the provisions of Sec.
2764 of the revised Statutes, I hereby prescribe that the distinguishing
flag now used by vessels of the Revenue Cutter Service be marked by the
distinctive emblem of that service, in blue and white, placed on a line
with the lower edge of the union, and over the center of the seventh
vertical red stripe from the mast of said flag, the emblem to cover a
horizontal space of three stripes. This change to be made as soon as
practicable."
At about this time, cutters began flying the U.S. flag
as their naval ensign and the revenue ensign became the Service’s
distinctive flag.
When the service adopted the name Coast Guard, the
Revenue Cutter Service’s ensign became the distinctive flag on all Coast
Guard cutters as it had been for the revenue cutters.
The colors used in the Coast Guard ensign today, as in
the Revenue Cutter Service, are all symbolic. The color red stands for
our youth and sacrifice of blood for liberty’s sake. The color blue not
only stands for justice, but also for our covenant against oppression.
The white symbolizes our desire for light and purity.
As it was intended in 1799, the ensign is displayed as
a mark of authority for boardings, examinations and seizures of vessels
for the purpose of enforcing the laws of the United States. The ensign
is never carried as a parade or ceremony standard.
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