by Dan Baumbaugh Feb. 1997 (updated to January 1, 1999)

The Bering Sea Patrol was born in 1867 when the revenue cutter "LINCOLN" was sent north following Alaska's purchase from Russia. At that time there was only one lighthouse and scattered Russian settlements in the district. During its early years, the captains of the revenue cutters, and later the Coast Guard cutters, served as United States commissioners and were almost the only law in the wide areas of the territory.

However, even before Alaska became a U. S. possession, men of the Revenue Cutter Service were sailing in Alaskan waters. Our history is replete with stories of their heroism and adventure, and their dedicated service under hazardous conditions and hardship.

In 1865, a Revenue Service cutter was in Alaska when the telegraph cable line to St. Petersburg (Sitka) was projected. Although "LINCOLN" was the first American vessel to arrive in the territory after the purchase from Russia, it was the Revenue Cutter "CORWIN" that, in 1880, became the first U. S. vessel assigned to general police work in the Bering Sea.

The first Bering Sea Patrol Force, made up mostly of revenue cutters, sailed from Port Townsend, Washington in 1892 under the command of Robley D. Evans of the U. S. Navy. In addition to the flagship and the sailing cruiser "YORKTOWN", the squadron included "ADAMS "MOHICAN", "RUSH", "RANGER", "CORWIN", "BEAR" and "ALBATROSS", plus two British ships, "H.M.S. MELPOMENE" and "H.M.S. DAPHNE".

For decades following that first force, numerous Coast Guard ships have served on the Bering Sea Patrol enforcing laws, and transporting doctors, judges, teachers and missionaries to far-flung native villages, and rescuing mariners in distress. Although "CORWIN", "RUSH: "BEAR", and "NORTHLAND" were among the early cutters, in the years that followed, many, many other Coast Guard vessels provided needed supplies, medical attention, mail and cheer to much of the scattered Alaskan population.

Gone, and possibly nearly forgotten, in a city where a local motto reads, "It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here," lie buried several Bering Sea Patrol sailors of the Revenue Cutter Service and the Coast Guard. Signs of age are evident in the isolated cemetery on the outskirts of the city of Unalaska, Alaska, located 543 miles southwest of Kodiak in the Aleutian Islands. Graves of sailors from the cutters "HAIDA", "PERRY", "RUSH", and "BEAR" were identified some years ago by volunteer crew members of the "STORIS" who also repaired the grave sites of U. S. and British sailors who died during the Bering Sea fur seal conflict between 1885 and 1911.

The cause of death for several of the sailors was identified. Records indicate that Seaman C. C. Moulthrope of the cutter "PERRY" died as a result of a fall from the cutter's mast; Coxswain Axel E. Johanson of the "BEAR" perished of exposure in 1905, and Seaman Rankin (the grave shows no first name) of the cutter "RUSH" died in 1906 of the flu when he was 19 years old.

The historic "Bering Sea Patrol" became a thing of the past in 1964. After nearly a century of service, its name was changed by the Coast Guard to the "Alaska Patrol" to conform with its widened arc of activity which, by then, stretched from the Alaska Canadian border in the south to the Arctic Ocean in the north.

Now the patrol works closely with Coast Guard planes to provide a combined air-surface operation in northern waters. One of its main functions is to enforce treaties with foreign nations in sealing and fishing activities.

In 1975, a group of 16 Coast Guardsmen who had sailed the Bering Sea Patrol before and during World War II, joined together to form the first Bering Sea Patrol Veterans Association. One of those men, Hulin Hurt, "took the helm" and arranged a "reunion" which was held in Oakland, California in 1976. That was the first of 23 reunions which have followed.

Because of the relatively small number of those original Bering Sea Patrol sailors surviving and because of the strong desire to keep our organization "alive", membership eligibility has been broadened from time to time and now includes retired or former members of the U. S. Coast Guard who served on active duty in Alaska (17th Coast Guard District) for a continuous period of twenty-one (21) days and/or those who qualify to wear the Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal as a result of duties in Alaskan waters.

Our name was changed in 1992 to "Bering Sea Patrol - Alaska Veterans Reunion Association of the United States Coast Guard." Membership has increased from the original 16 men to about 300 men and women, many of whom will be attending our 24th annual reunion to be held at Reno, Nevada during the period September 14-16, 1999.

Ours is a proud heritage and we especially salute those who came before us.

Full many a sailor points pride
To cruise o'er ocean wide;
But they cannot compare with me,
For I have sailed the Bering Sea.

While though you've weathered fiercest gale
And every ocean you have sailed;
You cannot a salty sailor be
Until you've sailed the Bering Sea.