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- The CG44301 as it appeared in July, 1966.
Note the absence of the familiar stripe on the hull, now
found on most Coast Guard Boats. Two theories persist
about the origin of the stripe: one was that President
John F. Kennedy wanted an easy way to recognize the boats
that were protecting him while he was sailing, and the
other is that a film director came up with the idea to
dress up the Coast Guard boats featured in the 1970 Walt
Disney film, "Boatniks." Photo Charles S.
Fox.
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- CHATHAM — To the uninitiated,
the Coast Guard boat tied up at the Fish Pier seems like
an ordinary 44-foot motor lifeboat, one of a large class
of boats that have been used around the country for the
past 40 years. But actually, it’s a piece of
history, returned to Aunt Lydia’s Cove by a quirk of
fate.
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- The boat, the CG44301, has a
connection to the most famous Coast Guard rescue boat
associated with Station Chatham, the CG36500, the wooden
boat used in the famous rescue of 32 men from the tanker
Pendleton 50 years ago this year. Along with his crew
members, the coxswain of that rescue boat,
Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernie Webber, earned
the prestigious Gold Lifesaving Medal for heroism. Webber
went on to become the officer in charge at Station
Chatham, and was one of the Coast Guard’s most well
respected experts on surf rescue, for obvious
reasons.
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- Largely as a result of the Pendleton
rescue, the Coast Guard realized the limitations of the
old 36-foot wooden lifeboats, which were designed to hold
a very small number of survivors, and relied on small,
gasoline-powered engines for propulsion. The Coast Guard
needed to design a larger boat, capable of withstanding
heavy, breaking surf.
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- So, in 1961, Webber was ordered to
Coast Guard headquarters to help evaluate a prototype
44-foot motor lifeboat. In the winter of that year,
Webber helped test the boat in severe weather conditions,
a story he relates in his book, "Chatham: The
Lifeboatmen."
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- "This new 44-footer was in sharp
contrast to the old 36-footers like the CG36500. She was
built of steel and powered by two GM diesel engines. She
had two heated compartments for survivors, with settees
and seat belts to hold them in safely during a rough
passage. Unlike CG36500, which had only a compass for
navigational equipment, the new 44-footer had an array of
electronic aides. She was equipped with radar, direction
finding equipment, depth finding equipment, and several
radios with various range and frequencies. The boat had
an enclosed pilot station, and a seat for the helm with a
safety belt attached. It was also designed to roll over
and come upright again."
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- At first, Webber was unimpressed. The
boat had helpful equipment, but was in need of many
changes, which he presented to the unenthusiastic boat
designers. The next year, Webber was ordered to return to
headquarters to test the new prototype. He skippered it
south to Cape Hatteras and north to Rockland, Maine,
stopping at stations along the way. Webber said he was
impressed by the boat’s performance. But there were
plenty of old-timers who wondered what was wrong with the
tried-and-true 36-footers. That new prototype boat, the
44300, was stationed briefly at Chatham, while production
began on the new class of boats.
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- When most of the old 36-footers had
been decommissioned and burned, new 44-footers were in
place around the nation. Station Chatham gave up the
44300 and received, in its place, the first production
model 44-footer, the 44301. That boat was delivered to
Chatham from the Coast Guard shipyard on March 25,
1963.
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- The 44301 served at Station Chatham
until Dec. 30, 1971, taking part in hundreds of missions
and many rescues, and helping countless Coast Guardsmen
practice heavy weather rescue skills. The boat, described
to be in "good" condition, was transferred for a brief
tour of duty at Station Cape Cod Canal. It was then
shipped back to the Coast Guard shipyard at Curtis Bay,
Md., in "fair" condition.
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- There, the boat was overhauled,
incorporating changes learned in places like Chatham. It
was then trucked to Cape Disappointment outside of
Ilwaco, Wash., for use in the Coast Guard’s National
Motor Lifeboat School. Coxswains from around the nation
used the 44301 to learn heavy weather skills by bringing
the boat across the famed Columbia River Bar, which,
according to legend, is rated by Lloyd’s of London
as the third most dangerous stretch of water in the
world. Despite being assigned to the area known as the
"graveyard of the Pacific," the 44301 actually profited
from being assigned to the school, where it received
topnotch maintenance and service.
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- But as it had with the old
36-footers, changing times have prompted the Coast Guard
to develop a more modern rescue boat, capable of faster
speeds, and greater protection for the crew and a bank of
state-of-the-art electronics that handle navigation and
communication. And so, the new class of 47-foot motor
lifeboats was introduced to phase out the old 44-footers.
The streamlined 47-foot boats are now stationed around
the nation, and handle most of the Coast Guard’s
surf rescue applications.
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- But because of their deep draft,
47-footers cannot be used everywhere, and would take a
severe pounding while trying to cross the Chatham Bar.
For that reason, Station Chatham recently received a new
prototype Nearshore Life Boat, which is now being tested.
(Several weeks ago, the new NLB was hammered by several
large waves, and suffered damage to its inflatable
collar.)
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- This left Station Chatham in a
predicament: it needed reliable rescue boat coverage
during the prototype period for the NLBs, and the aging
fleet of 44-footers were all but gone, having been sold
by the government. Many of the venerable boats are now in
use in places like the Philippines, Madagascar and
Honduras. One of the two 44-footers at Chatham was
deteriorating and needed replacement, so the Coast Guard
put out the search for the best-maintained 44-footer on
record. Of all the boats remaining from the 110 that were
built, one of them was reported to be in excellent
condition, the 44301.
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- And so, having been trucked across
the country again, the 44301 is back in Aunt Lydia’s
cove, where it will end its career. One of the oldest
commissioned boats in the Coast Guard is tied up
alongside the newest one.
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- Back at the station where it began
its service 40 years ago next March, the 44301 is in
remarkably good shape.
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- "It’s almost like new," Station
Chatham’s Senior Chief Stephen Lutjen said.
"It’s a very well maintained boat." In fact, in a
recent fine-tooth-comb inspection by visiting Coast Guard
officials, the 44301 had very few reported
problems—about as many as would be reported on a
brand new boat.
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- The excellent maintenance at Cape
Disappointment undoubtedly has something to do with that
good report, as does the meticulous care the boat
receives at its new home. But the key to the reliability
of the 44-footers was their simplicity, Lutjen
said.
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- "When you look in the engine room,
there’s nothing in there but engines," he said. On
the new 47-footers, there are also computers and lots of
cables. "The 44s are about as basic as they get," Lutjen
said.
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- The challenge, according to
Boatswains Mate First Class Jason Holm, is keeping spare
parts for the now-vintage 44-footer. There is a small
cache of parts at Station Chatham, and a few more at
Group Woods Hole, but none anywhere else, he said. While
the steel hull and the engines will last indefinitely
with proper maintenance, parts of the boat with
custom-designed parts will be hard to maintain. If there
are troubles with the transmission or the power take-off
unit that runs the water pump for firefighting, it might
be a major problem. Otherwise, the Coast Guard hopes to
get as much as five more years’ service out of the
44301.
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- Both Holm and Lutjen trained on the
boat when they passed through the National Motor Lifeboat
School years ago. It is a reminder, Holm said, that
Station Chatham has always been one of the Coast
Guard’s vanguard units, having been the first of its
class to be placed in service. That tradition continues
today, with the testing of the Nearshore Life Boat. And
though Coast Guardsmen don’t readily show
sentimentality, both Holm and Lutjen are clearly pleased
that the ‘301 is back plying the waters of Aunt
Lydia’s Cove.
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-
-
-
- My thanks go to
The Cape Cod
Chronicle, for allowing me to use this
material.
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