Discovery of Historic Cutter

          BEAR  (1874-1963)

 

 

 

U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
2703 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20593-7031


U.S. Coast Guard Museum
Coast Guard Academy - Waesche Hall
15 Mohegan Ave
New London, CT 06320-8100

Contacting us:  U.S.C.G. Historian's Office

Through over five decades of US government service, the venerable vessel BEAR was repeatedly summoned to sail through frontiers and change the course of history for those in its wake. After ten years serving as a private sealer, BEAR was purchased by the US Navy to rescue the survivors of the Adolphus Greely Expedition in 1884, and was the first vessel to locate the remainder of the famine-ravaged party. Transferred to the Revenue Cutter Service and under the command of Captain "Hell-Roaring" Mike Healy, BEAR introduced Siberian reindeer to Alaska in 1891 broadening food resources for native hunters. In 1898, BEAR rescued 265 whaling sailors stuck in the ice north of Point Barrow, Alaska, concluding the historically-overshadowed - Overland Relief Expedition. BEAR also served in both World Wars, and sailed as flagship under command of Navy Adm. Richard E. Byrd in multiple expeditions to Antarctica in between.  This widely voyaging vessel even served center stage on the silver screen adaptation of Jack London’s Sea Wolf in 1930. 

During a chilly northern Atlantic week in June 2021 aboard Coast Guard Cutter SYCAMORE, a NOAA team fortified by representatives of the CG Historian's office, concluded the collaborative 42-year search for the iconic Revenue Cutter, Coast Guard Cutter, and Naval vessel BEAR. By 1963, the screw steamer had returned to private hands for nearly two decades and was being prepared for its final mooring on the Philadelphia waterfront. While being towed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 19, however, the tow cable snapped letting loose the vessel in a galing storm, and it soon came to rest somewhere off the New England coast. Images taken from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ROV PIXEL provided the evidence positively identifying the bottom-resting wreck as the once indomitable BEAR. Lying keel-up, the aged wooden steamer exposed the tell-tale sign of its identity; the unmistakable repair work on its prow. 

As we salute the team who discovered this historic vessel, we also pay homage to the thousands of enlisted and officers that walked it's decks, making the missions and aspirations of a our nation a reality, whether bringing medical aid to pandemic-ravaged populations in remote Alaska, providing succor to victims of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1905, exploring the then-largely unknown southern continent of Antarctica in the 1930s, or rescuing stationed scientific personnel there on the eve of World War, or plying the waters of the Allies' Greenland Patrol. 

To learn more about the modern search for this historic vessel, explore the stories of the Coast Guard’s historic pride, or discover yet untold stories, please visit the links provided below. 

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170531-G-XX000-332.JPG Photo By: US Coast Guard

Apr 17, 2020
na - Argo, WPC-100 From the collection of Argo's CO in 1945, LTJG Eliot Winslow. Photo was taken by LTJG Winslow and remained part of his personal collection. His hand-written caption reads: "The Finger: May 19, 1945, Kapitanen Leutnaut [sic] Jahann Heinrich Fehler was captain of the 1600 ton submarine U-234 bound for Japan with a $5,000,000 cargo of mercury and tons of blue prints of the latest robot bombs and jet-propelled planes. He complained bitterly when ordered with 4 of his officers to sit on the deck with arms folded. Informed by the interpreter of the situation I went below and ordered the guards to "shoot any prisoner who as much as scratched his head without permission. An apology must accompany every shooting. When Fehler was about to disembark, he was still growling. He was informed to saving his grumbling for the captain who would be at the gangway. When asked by the interpreter what were his troubles, he replied first in German. Then turning to me, he said in good English, 'Ach -- my men have been treated like gangsters.' I had been simmering for an hour but that remark brought me to a boil. With eyes meeting head on, I barked 'that's what you are GET OFF!' My outstretched arm pointed to the gangway. Strange as it may seem there was no profanity for the moment, but I must confess the air was blue for 5 minutes while I muttered to myself. . ." Courtesy of the Winslow family.


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This photograph is considered public domain and has been cleared for release. If you would like to republish please give the photographer appropriate credit. Further, any commercial or non-commercial use of this photograph or any other DoD image must be made in compliance with guidance found at http://www.dimoc.mil/resources/limitations.html , which pertains to intellectual property restrictions (e.g., copyright and trademark, including the use of official emblems, insignia, names and slogans), warnings regarding use of images of identifiable personnel, appearance of endorsement, and related matters.



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