-
- An
important
- chapter
- in the history of
worldwide
- search and
rescue
- craft
-
-
-
-
-
-
- The 44-foot motor
lifeboat is a unique craft in the overall development of
American coastal lifeboats. A strong challenger of the
Pacific Northwest’s trying conditions, the "44" has
been used successfully around the nation and has had a
worldwide influence on search and rescue craft. In the
development of the 44-footer we see a prime example of a
vessel being designed for very specific conditions,
translating design concepts of seaworthiness, ease of
handling, speed, weight, draft, strength and capacity
into a much-loved boat that Coast Guard crews speak of in
almost reverent tones. Just how did this remarkable craft
come to be?
-
- Lifesaving craft have
evolved over a period of more than 200 years into boats
of highly specialized design well suited for their
ultimate purpose. Coastal lifeboats perform search and
rescue work under heavy sea and surf conditions. They go
out when other craft are returning to port, and run in
harm’s way in hazardous conditions that create
distress and disaster for other vessels. Lifeboats must
not only survive, but also return safely with the rescued
survivors and crew. These are boats whose success depends
on the crew, which must have complete confidence in the
design and construction of their boats—the basis of
their safety and work.
-
- No matter how it is
propelled—by oar, sail or motor—a coastal
lifeboat needs certain essential design characteristics
to make it a sea boat for all weather. A high degree of
stability, great strength of construction, rapid
self-righting and self-bailing, reserve buoyancy, a hull
bottom reinforced against damage, moderate weight and,
not so incidentally, speed are the factors that make or
break a lifeboat. These seakeeping characteristics
reached a peak in the 44-foot motor lifeboat, and are now
being improved upon again with the advent of the 47-foot
class.
-
- A look at the long
and colorful history of the 44-foot lifeboat begins
shortly after the Lewis & Clark expedition reached
the Pacific Coast. In the young United States, coastal
rescue work was becoming organized. The Massachusetts
Humane Society, a private lifesaving organization, placed
its first lifeboat on station at Cohasset in 1807, thus
beginning generations of specially designed boats for
coastal rescue work. By 1872, the organization had 72
lifeboat stations along the Massachusetts coast, and the
roots of the National Lifesaving Service had been
established. The Newall Act of 1848 established
lifesaving stations along the New Jersey shore to aid
shipping heading in and out of New York and Philadelphia.
As stations multiplied, so did the scope of lifesaving
craft.
-
- The early boats
furnished to both the Massachusetts Humane Society and
the federal lifesaving stations were more correctly
called surfboats rather than lifeboats. The surfboats
were generally open, shallow-draft boats measuring 20 to
27 feet in length, developed for launching directly from
the beach into the surf. Their design was greatly
influenced by the local inshore fishing craft with which
the lifeboat station crews were most familiar. Early
surfboats were neither self-bailing nor self-righting,
although these later became important
features.
-
- From
Surfboat to Lifeboat
-
- While the surfboat
was an indigenous American adaptation, the larger
lifeboats were cross-cultural descendents of a single
important ancestor. The lifeboat type used by the U.S.
Lifesaving Service, and later the U.S. Coast Guard,
through the 1950s was a direct evolution of the standard
self-righting, self-bailing coastal lifeboat of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) of Great Britain. In
contrast to the surfboats, the lifeboat type was
generally larger (over 27 feet in length), more heavily
constructed, of deeper draft, and both self-righting and
self-bailing. Normally these craft were kept at sheltered
moorings or launched from slipway, rather than from the
open beach.
-
 In
1873, the newly reorganized U.S. Lifesaving Service
purchased a 30-foot self-righting, self-bailing, pulling
and sailing lifeboat from the RNLI, which had spent many
years developing a successful lifeboat. Adopting the
RNLI’s design with some modifications, the result
was a new American lifeboat, 26 feet 8 inches in length.
By the late 1880s, the standard American pulling and
sailing lifeboat had grown to 34 feet, and in 1899 one of
these larger boats was modified to accommodate a gasoline
motor. Over the next eight years, significant
improvements were made in both motors and lifeboat
design. By 1907, these features were combined in the
first class of American lifeboats designed from the keel
up as motor lifeboats.-
- When the U.S.
Lifesaving Service was merged with the Revenue Cutter
Service in 1915 to create the U.S. Coast Guard, the new
service quickly turned to making significant improvements
in the traditional English-design lifeboat. The first new
model resulting from this project was Type H, which was
built from 1918 until 1928. Lifeboat Type T was built
between 1928 and 1931, followed by the Type TR built
between 1932 and 1937. The last double-ended wooden hull
motor lifeboat design that could still trace its origins
back to the original English lifeboat of 1873 was the
Type TRS, built from 1937 to 1956. (The 36-foot motor
lifeboat displayed in the Museum’s Great Hall is a
Type TRS.)
-
- The gasoline motor
and later the diesel engine brought the 19th-century boat
design into the twentieth century. However, the hull
form, with its round bottom and double ends, limited its
speed. The first standard 36-foot motor lifeboat of 1907
did 9 miles per hour with a 40 horsepower gasoline motor.
Years later, the 36-foot 8-inch Type TRS—the last of
the line—only did 9.88 miles per hour with a
90-horsepower diesel motor.
-
- From Wood
to Steel
-
- Hull material was
another limiting factor. For almost 90 years, almost all
coastal lifeboats in the United States and Europe were
built of wood. By the late 1930s it was increasingly
difficult to obtain high-grade lumber with straight grain
and even texture that could meet the rigid standards
required for lifeboat construction. And, as it has been
for centuries, the wooden boats were costly to maintain
and repair. With costs increasing, Coast Guard officials
began to consider alternatives in both design and
construction.
-
- In the very early
years of the U.S. Lifesaving Service metal hulls were
tried, but for a number of reasons ultimately proved
unsuccessful. The Francis lifeboats of 1849-1856 were
built of corrugated galvanized iron; in service, they
proved to be too heavy and difficult to handle.
Maintenance was a serious problem, with considerable and
rapid structural deterioration. Later, between 1873 and
1876, further attempts were made to develop an iron hull,
but this, too, proved inadequate. Metal as a boatbuilding
material for American coastal lifeboats would not be
seriously considered again until 1938.
-
 In
that year, design development began for a self-righting,
self-bailing, steel hull motor lifeboat 40 feet in
overall length. This breakthrough boat (numbered
CG-40300) was built in 1940 at the Coast Guard Yard in
Curtis Bay, Maryland. Instead of the traditional
double-ender hull, the CB-40300 had a slightly squared
stern, but her hull remained a traditional round-bottom
displacement hull. Fitted with a 120 HP Sterling Petrel
gasoline engine, she made 10.36 statue miles per hour on
her trial runs— only about a mile per hour faster
than the Type TRS of 1937. The CG-40300 was, in effect, a
traditional but slightly larger and faster boat than the
36-footers, and built of steel instead of wood. It was a
modest step forward, although not popular with most
lifeboat crews who still preferred the wooden
hulls.-
- After brief service
at several lifeboat stations along the East Coast, the
CG-40300 was transferred to the Great Lakes where she
served at the Plum Island Lifeboat Station, Wisconsin.
She was eagerly greeted there, because her steel hull
enabled her to work well in light ice conditions. The
boat was retired in 1979 after 39 illustrious years of
service.
-
- With the advent of
World War II, future lifeboat development was put on
hold. Production of the Type TRS motor lifeboats
continued on a limited basis at the Coast Guard Yard at
Curtis Bay, Maryland, during and after the war. At this
cradle, wooden hull motor lifeboats from the Type H
through the Type TRS were built, with the last Type TRS
being completed in August 1956. It marked the end of 83
years of wooden hull lifeboat development and
construction for the U.S. Lifesaving Service and the U.S.
Coast Guard.
-
- A New
Chapter
-
- A major new chapter
in American coast lifeboat development opened in when the
first 52-foot self-righting motor lifeboat was
completed— the first steel motor lifeboat since the
40-foot CG-40300 of 1940. Their design emphasized
strength, seaworthiness, and durability in order to
operate on the dangerous bars of the Pacific Northwest
Coast. Powered by twin 150 HP diesels, they have a top
speed of 11 knots and a cruising range of 495 nautical
miles. The four motor lifeboats built between 1956 and
1962, Victory (CG-52312). Invincible
(CG-52313), Triumph II (CG-52314), and
Intrepid (CG-52315), have been an outstanding
success and are still in service. However, these boats,
the largest motor lifeboats ever built by the Coast
Guard, were never intended as a service-wide replacement
for the 36-foot wooden hull motor lifeboat.
-
- By the late 1950s,
the 36-footers were averaging 25 to 30 years of active
service, and the oldest boats had serious deterioration
problems. While maintenance costs rose, the Coast
Guard’s needs were also changing. Their work
involved a growing number of search and rescue cases, as
people took to the water in ever-greater numbers both in
pleasure boats and small commercial fishing vessels.
Faster rescue craft with greater cruising range and
towing capability were clearly needed.
-
- Those craft would
come about in the early 1960s, as a completely new motor
lifeboat class. Until 1960, given the slow and
evolutionary progress in coastal lifeboat design, the
most significant improvement had been the replacement of
oar and sail by the gasoline motor and, later, the diesel
engine. But the stage was set for a radical
departure.
-
- Designing
a Most Remarkable Lifeboat
-
- By the late 1950s,
the art and science of small craft design had progressed
significantly, with advancements in reliable towing tank
studies, metallurgy (improving the qualities of steel and
aluminum as boatbuilding materials), and diesel engine
design (producing more powerful engines that were also
smaller in size and lighter in weight). The Coast Guard,
in setting. out to state the requirements for a new
lifeboat class, undertook a most comprehensive design,
construction and evaluation process. They consulted
experienced lifeboat personnel from throughout the
country on the weaknesses as well as strengths of the
36-foot motor lifeboat. They also sought recommendations
as to what features should be included in a new lifeboat
design. The resulting set of requirements was published
in July 1960.
-
 The
new motor lifeboat should be self-righting and
self-bailing, and able to operate successfully in coastal
waters under unusually severe weather and sea conditions.
It should be able to negotiate large breaking seas and
run into large seas without excessive pounding. It should
have increased power and speed, with a full-speed range
of 150 miles, and twin screw propulsion to provide
greater reliability and improved handling. Improved
rescue and towing capability, protected accommodation for
survivors and crew, and more efficient, safer working
areas were also called for. Structurally, the hull should
be of welded Corten steel for greater strength and less
corrosion, and it should be designed to withstand
icebreaking and accidental groundings, as well as the
hard use of working in severe weather, heavy seas and
surf.-
- For the first time,
the steering station was located amidships. It would
include an integrated steering and engine control
console, special clamped compass and remote-controlled
electronic equipment including a 100-mile range radio
transceiver, direction finder, depth sounder and
radar.
-
- After the preliminary
design was developed, a 1/12-scale model was built for
towing tank testing. The results of these tests, further
studies and the construction of wood mock-ups to
determine the best arrangements for the mast platform,
crew stations and the steering console, provided the
additional data required to complete the final plans for
the new 44-foot motor lifeboat.
-
- Construction of the
prototype boat, CG-44300, began in April 1961 at the
Coast Guard Yard. In February 1962, the CG-44300 was
launched. She survived her sea trials with flying colors,
earning accolades from the Service as "...the most
remarkable piece of equipment to bolster the operational
capabilities of the Coast Guard since the development of
the 52-foot MLB." Coast Guard Headquarters announced the
completion of the CG-44300 on March 9, 1962, stating that
it was the prototype for an 18-boat construction program,
later expanded to 25 boats designated CG-44301 through
CG-44324. In total, 110 of the 44-foot motor lifeboats
were completed over a ten-year period. During that time,
inflation took its inevitable toll: whereas the cost per
boat in the first program was $115,000, the last boat
(CG-44409) was completed in 1972 at the cost of
$225,000
- —an increase of
almost 100%.
-
- The Life
Story of a Lifeboat
-
- On April 14, 1962,
the CG-44300 left the Coast Guard Yard for the Chatham
Lifeboat Station, Massachusetts, visiting a number of
lifeboat stations along the East Coast from Hatteras
Inlet to Maine before reporting for duty. The delivery
and station crews all evaluated the boat’s
operations. By October, the boat had left Chatham for the
13th Coast Guard District, arriving in Seattle,
Washington on the October 19th. She then went to Station
Yaquina Bay, Oregon for rough-water evaluation in the
heavy breaking surf conditions of the Pacific Northwest.
The 44300 turned in outstanding performances under
conditions ranging from large ground swells offshore to
strong ebb chop, moderate breaking seas, and large
dangerous seas on the bars and reefs. Operation in
following seas was also excellent. During the evaluation
period she covered 3,000 miles at an average speed of
11.1 knots while consuming fuel at the rate of 20.4
gallons per hour.
-
- CG-44300 served at
Station Yaquina Bay from October 1962 to 1981. In July
1981, she was transferred to the National Motor Lifeboat
School at Cape Disappointment, Washington, serving there
for another 15 years. The boat always saw very hard duty,
going end-over-end and rolling completely several times.
But she also won the admiration and. indeed, the
affection of her crews, training coxswains from stations
throughout the United States in adverse weather and sea
conditions.
-
- End of an
Era
-
 While
responding to a search and rescue mission out of Cape
Disappointment on July 29, 1996, the CG-44300 experienced
a serious engine breakdown and was withdrawn from
service. Although the boat itself was still in excellent
condition, the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged
engine could not be justified. By then the 44-foot motor
lifeboats were beginning to be replaced by the new
47-foot MLBs. After surveying, the boat, the Coast Guard
turned her over to the Columbia River Maritime Museum,
where she has joined an outstanding collection of U.S.
Coast Guard rescue craft.-
- A
Worldwide Legacy
-
- Almost from the
moment she was designed, the 44-foot motor lifeboat was
recognized as a major and historic step forward in
lifeboat design. In Scotland in 1963, delegates to the
Ninth InternationaI Lifeboat Conference saw motion
pictures of the CG-44300 being tested on the bar at the
entrance to Yaquina Bay, and were presented with two
papers on the new 44-foot motor lifeboat. Great interest
among the delegates eventually resulted in the spread of
the design to several other countries. The British RNLI
was deeply impressed, and purchased the CG-44328 in May
1964, later having more than twenty built in England as
the Waveney Class lifeboats. (Truly, history had made a
complete circle. In 1873, an English lifeboat strongly
influenced American lifeboat design, an influence that
lasted until 1937. Now, in 1964, an American lifeboat
determined the design and construction of a major class
of British lifeboats!)
-
- Other countries
adopted the new design: the Italian Coast Guard,
the Canadian Coast
Guard, and the Norwegian
Life Saving Service, which made a few modifications (such
as an enclosed bridge) for better operation in the
extreme cold of Norwegian waters.
-
- An
American Legacy: The 47-footer
-
- By the mid-1980s, the
oldest of the Coast Guard’s 44-foot motor lifeboats
were approaching 22 years of hard service. In 1981, there
were still 105 boats in active service operating from 77
stations along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the
Great Lakes. But it was time to plan for an eventual
replacement. The new lifeboat design had as its goal a
boat retaining the durability and survivability of the
44-footer combined with 30 years of technological
progress.
-
- The acquisition
project spanned almost 10 years of development,
construction and evaluation first of limited production
boats, followed by full production of approximately 100
replacement motor lifeboats. The prototype 47-foot motor
lifeboat, the CG-47200, arrived at Station Cape
Disappointment to begin tests and evaluation in September
1990. The replacement of the venerable 44-foot motor
lifeboat had begun, and undoubtedly there will be an
exciting story to tell of the "47s" in just a few
years’ time.
-
- For the
Future
-
- CG-44300 is now
preserved at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, where it
speaks to a significant chapter in the development of the
American coastal lifeboat. The boat, with her equipment
and accessories intact, bearing the scars and stories of
her long career, will enable the Museum to interpret the
technology of American and international coastal lifeboat
design, and the very human stories of search and rescue
on the Pacific Northwest coast. With her sister rescue
craft—a 36-foot motor lifeboat, 25-foot motor
surfboat, and other earlier craft—44300 stands for
the continuing history of the great professionalism,
courage and valor of U.S. Coast Guard lifeboat
crews.
-
- Acknowledgments
-
- The author is deeply
indebted to numerous U.S. Coast Guard personnel for
providing background data for this article, especially to
Capt. Robert W. Witter USCG (Ret.) and Dr. Robert M.
Browning, Jr. U.S. Coast Guard Historian.
-
- William D.
Wilkinson is director emeritus of The Mariners’
Museum, Newport News, Virginia. This article is excerpted
from his forthcoming book, The History of American
Coastal Rescue Craft from 1807 to the Present, and is
used with permission.
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