HAPPY FATHER’S DAY COMMANDER… (June 15, 2003)
The young Ensign was excited to be heading home that April day in 1967, after finishing his maiden voyage as an officer and a gentleman in the United States Coast Guard. He had been assigned to the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Sassafras right out of officer candidate school (OCS) and after months of re-fitting along with numerous other mundane dry-dock preparations performed under the watchful eye of the commanding officer, he and the crew finally “set sail” on a three-week aids to navigation tour.
The USCGC Sassafras is a 180 foot/1000 ton buoy tender who’s primary role was to set and maintain navigational buoys along the eastern seaboard from the Jersey shore up to the coast of Maryland, including Chesapeake Bay.
The young Ensign was not really all that young as he would turn 23 in three weeks, having already served 6-years in the Coast Guard as an enlisted man rising to the rank of Petty Officer First Class before putting in his OCS packet. Still, it was his first voyage wearing the bars of an officer and he knew his metal would be tested. And tested it was.
While returning to their homeport of Cape May, New Jersey on the afternoon of April 27, 1967 the USCGC Sassafras received a severe weather warning that gave pause to her skipper. The forecast called for severe winds of up to 80 knots (70 mph) and seas rising close to 50 feet high. Any Captain worth his salt knows that the confines of a port was no place for a seafaring vessel in weather like that. The skipper of the Sass ordered her to turn about and head for sheltered water at the foot of the Delaware River to ride out the storm. The Captain was well aware of the impact such a decision would have on the morale of the men who had been at sea for three weeks already, but he also had a responsibility to save his ship, and moored alongside a dock in foul weather could certainly destroy it. The Captain was not aware that his young Ensign was looking forward to getting home that day to celebrate his son’s three-year birthday, not that it would’ve changed his decision.
The young Ensign kept busy supervising his men making ready the ship for the oncoming tempest. There were hatches to be battened and mainsails to be secured. Actually, I don’t think that the buoy tenders had mainsails, but they probably had to secure the booms or something. During his preparations, the young Ensign discovered a small electrical fire in the forward area of the ship and with the help from a damage control team quickly extinguished it.
Though he was disappointed at the prospects of missing his son’s birthday, the young Ensign allowed himself a little satisfaction for doing something of merit. This, after all, beat supervising the swabbing of the deck and the scraping of barnacles from the hull; little did he know just how much he and his crew would meritoriously accomplish that day.
The mayday call came in just after sunset. A 90-foot fishing trawler, the Mockingbird, was taking on water and sinking quickly with her crew of five. Numerous Coast Guard rescue boats attempted to make the rescue, but the seas were just too high- 50 feet at their crest- for the smaller vessels and they had to be turned around. Monitoring the radios, the Captain of the Sassafras decided to lift anchor and attempt a rescue himself, reasoning that his larger ship might be able to handle the heavy seas more easily than the smaller rescue boats. The young Ensign wasn’t as convinced, as he witnessed waves cresting overtop of the 36-foot tall control tower and crashing onto the deck of the buoy tender. Yet he knew those men on the Mockingbird needed help, and quickly.
It took the better part of that night for the Sass to reach the sinking fishing vessel, and in that time, the conditions had worsened. It was virtually impossible to maneuver any ship close enough to attempt a rescue of the sailors on board the Mockingbird. Then again, you couldn’t find a Coastie who wouldn’t try as the alternative of watching a ship sink and her crew drown was out of the question. Arriving just after midnight, the crew of the Sassafras immediately attempted to send life rafts across turbulent seas to the sinking trawler but were unsuccessful due largely to the tremendous winds.
Facing near impossible odds with the wind, rain, and salty waves crashing in their faces, the men of the USCGC Sassafras tightened their lashes and moved in for the rescue. And moved away from the rescue. And again, moved in but had to pull away. The storm was taking its toll on the men who had not slept now for more than 24 hours.
Finally, at dawn the Captain of the Mockingbird ordered his crew to abandon ship. They hurriedly donned life jackets and bravely jumped into the raging sea, tethered to one another by a 1″ nylon rope.
Moments later the Mockingbird stood up on her stern and sank into the depths of the dark, angry sea. As she went under, the remaining air that was trapped in her hull suddenly escaped, rushing out in a chilling scream that all aboard the Sass felt in their souls; a scream that burned into the memory of the young Ensign as the sound of a dying vessel.
The Captain of the Sassafras knew that time had run out. He deftly maneuvered the large buoy tender as close to the men in the water as possible. Lookouts announced that there were now just four fishermen within reach, as the skipper of the Mockingbird had vanished. The young Ensign, lying on the deck, his feet held by members of the crew, extended a hand to the exhausted fishermen who were too weary to reach up and grab the outstreatched hand. Ignoring the cold water that soaked his clothing, while riding the rise and fall of the swells of the waves, the Ensign tried to inch out a little further hoping to grab a collar or a life jacket or something, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a Coastie leap into the sea.
The ship’s Chief Boatswain Mate had jumped into the water and one by one raised the arms of the now near hypothermic men so that the Ensign and his crew could pull them onto the deck of the Sassafras. It didn’t take long for the Chief himself to become exhausted to the point where he could not raise his arms. The exhausted young Ensign, still laying on the deck of the Sass, reached out one last time and grabbed hold of the Chief’s life jacket until help came from the crew, dragging the old Coastie aboard.
The Captain of the Mockingbird was then spotted and subsequently rescued. With five very grateful, albeit cold and wet, fishermen safely aboard, the USCGC Sassafras made for home- Cape May, New Jersey.
Traditionally, U.S. Navy Destroyers would strike a corn broom to the yardarm of the ship announcing to all that they had completed their mission with a “clean sweep” of the enemy. Loosely following tradition, the Captain of the Sass ordered a corn broom be struck from the yardarm of the Sassafras as she pulled into port.
The young Ensign’s wife was eagerly awaiting his return having followed the story on the local television news, and his son having just turned three-years old, waved as the buoy tendered moored dockside.
The five fishermen who had been rescued would not leave to return home to Virginia until they had bought every Coastie in town a drink. Unfortunately for them, Cape May was the Coast Guard’s main training center on the east coast.
The young Ensign spent a total of 26-years in the United States Coast Guard eventually retiring (kicking and screaming) as a Lieutenant Commander. More importantly, he is my dad, my hero. He taught me how to be a man, a husband, a father, and believe it or not, a Soldier. I can’t think of a better birthday present than the saving of 6 lives on the very day I was born. Thanks Pop. I can only hope to be half the hero to my sons as you have been to me. Happy Father’s Day Pop- Semper Paratus. Sgt Hook out.
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