1st Verse
From Aztec^ shore to Arctic zone^^,
To Europe^^^ and Far East^^^^.
The Flag is carried by our ships,
In times of war and peace.
And never have we struck it yet,
In spite of foe-men's might,
Who cheered our crews and cheered again,
For showing how to fight.
2nd Verse
SURVEYOR and NARCISSUS*,
The EAGLE and DISPATCH**,
The HUDSON*** and the TAMPA****
The names are hard to match;
From Barrow's shores^* to Paraguay*^,
Great Lakes or ocean's wave,
The Coast Guard fought through storms and winds
To punish or to save.
3rd Verse
Aye, we've been "Always Ready"^*^
To do, to fight, or die
Write glory to the shield we wear
In letters to the sky.
To sink the foe or save the maimed
Our mission and our pride
We'll carry on 'til Kingdom come
Ideals for which we've died.
Chorus
We're always ready for the call,
We place our trust in Thee.
Through surf and storm and howling gale,
High shall our purpose be.
"Semper Paratus" is our guide^*^,
Our fame, our glory too.
To fight to save or fight to die,
Aye! Coast Guard, we are for you!
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Historical Backround
The original words and music were written by Captain Francis S. Van
Boskerck, USCG. Although he wrote the words in the cabin of the cutter
Yamacraw in Savannah, Ga., in 1922, the lyrics continue to describe
present-day operations ("From Europe to Far East"). He wrote
the music five years later on a beat-up old piano in Unalaska, Alaska.
At that time it was probably the only piano in the whole long chain
of Aleutian Islands.
^ This ("Aztec shore") refers to the landings by the United
States on Mexico's Gulf coast during the war with Mexico in the 1840's
in which Revenue cutters participated. The two principal naval operations
carried out during the War with Mexico (1846-48) were blockading the
enemy’s coasts and amphibious landings. The U.S. Navy was critically
short of the shallow-draft vessels needed for the landings. Five cutters
were engaged in amphibious operations and performed important services
during a number of landings, particularly those at Alvarado and Tabasco.
Cutters also served on blockade duty.
^^After the Alaska purchase, the revenue cutter Lincoln transported
officials to tour the vast new territory, and the Bering Sea (which
lies partially in the Arctic Zone) became the center of the service’s
multifaceted duties in the north. Eventually, the work would formally
be called the Bering Sea Patrol. For nearly 100 years, revenue cutters
sailed to the frigid, fog-shrouded waters of the Bering Sea in the spring
and returned to their home ports in the fall. The Revenue Cutter Service
provided a form of law and order in this isolated unforgiving land.
They performed these duties in a region where no other law enforcement
agency existed. The Revenue Service for many years acted as the only
law enforcement agency and provided many civil functions. They even
performed marriage ceremonies and held church services.
^^^Coast Guard cutters in Europe escorted hundreds of vessels between
Gibraltar and the British Isles throughout World War I (WWII hadn’t
been fought when the lyrics were penned), and also performed escort
and patrol duty in the Mediterranean. This is further explained in the
specific case of the Tampa below.
^^^^In the Spanish-American War, cutters fought in the Far East. McCulloch,
carrying six guns and manned by 10 officers and 95 crewmen, was at the
battle of Manila Bay (Phillipines) and, subsequently, was employed by
Admiral George Dewey, USN, as his dispatch boat.
The Coast Guard aided flood relief efforts during the late 1920's in
the Far East (China).
*Augmenting the Navy with shallow-draft craft evolved out of the War
of 1812 into a continuing wartime responsibility. During the opening
phases of the war, Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin addressed
Congress. He said, "We want small, fast sailing vessels... there
are but six vessels belonging to the Navy, under the size of frigates;
and that number is inadequate." During the last two centuries,
cutters have been used extensively in "brown water" combat.
A cutter made the first capture of the war. One of the most hotly contested
engagements was between the cutter Surveyor and the British frigate
Narcissis. The Surveyor was captured. The British Captain wrote to Captain
Samuel Travis on the following day,
-
"Your gallant and desperate attempt to defend your vessel
against more than double your number excited such admiration on
the part of your opponents as I have seldom witnessed, and induced
me to return you the sword you so ably used in testimony of mine...
I am at loss which to admire most, the previous arrangement on board
the Surveyor or the determined manner in which her deck was disputed
inch by inch."
**The defense of the cutter Eagle against the attack of the British
brig Dispatch and an accompanying sloop, is one of the most dramatic
incidents of the War of 1812. The cutter was run ashore on Long Island.
Her guns were dragged up on a high bluff and from there the crew of
Eagle fought the British ships from 9 o’clock in the morning until
late in the afternoon. When they had exhausted their shot, they tore
up the ship’s logbook as wads and fired back the enemy’s shot
that lodged against the hill. During the engagement the cutter’s
flag was shot away three times and was as often replaced by volunteers
from the crew on the hill. Finally, the British took the beached cutter
with overwhelming numbers.
The present-day USCGC EAGLE is the seventh Coast Guard Cutter to bear
the name in a proud line dating back to 1792. It is the largest Tall
Ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only square-rigger in U.S.
government service. The ship was built in 1936 by the Blohm and Voss
Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned as HORST WESSEL, a training
ship operated by Nazi Germany to train cadets for the growing German
Navy. The ship is said to have downed three aircraft in combat during
this period. Following World War II, it was taken as a war prize by
the United States and a Coast Guard crew -- aided by the German crew
still on board -- sailed the tall ship in 1946 from Bremerhaven to its
new home port in New London, Connecticut.
EAGLE now serves as a seagoing classroom for the future
officers of the U.S. Coast Guard. It is on the decks and in the rigging
of the EAGLE that these young men and women get their first taste of
salt air and life at sea.
***In the Spanish-American War, cutters fought in the Caribbean and
Far East. Eight cutters, carrying 43 guns, were in Admiral William Sampson’s
fleet and on the Havana blockade. McCulloch, carrying six guns and manned
by 10 officers and 95 crewmen, was at the battle of Manila Bay and,
subsequently, was employed by Admiral George Dewey, USN, as his dispatch
boat. At the battle of Cardenas, 11 May 1898, the cutter Hudson sustained
the fight against the gun-boats and shore batteries of the enemy side
by side with the torpedo boat USS Winslow. When Ensign Bagley, USN,
and half the crew had been killed and her commanding officer wounded,
Hudson rescued the craft from destruction while under furious fire from
the enemy’s guns. In recognition of this act, Congress authorized
that a gold medal be presented to Lieutenant Frank Newcomb, USRCS, a
silver medal to each of his officers, and a bronze medal to each member
of his crew.
****On the morning of 6 April 1917, a coded dispatch was sent from
Washington to every cutter and shore station of the Coast Guard. Within
a few hours the entire Coast Guard, officers and enlisted men, vessels
and units came under the operational control of the U.S. Navy. In August
and September 1917 six Coast Guard cutters, Ossipee, Seneca, Yamacraw,
Algonquin, Manning, and Tampa left the United States to join our naval
forces in European waters. They constituted Squadron 2 of Division 6
of the Atlantic Fleet’s patrol forces based at Gibraltar. Throughout
World War I, they escorted hundreds of vessels between Gibraltar and
the British Isles, and also performed escort and patrol duty in the
Mediterranean.
On the evening of 26 September 1918, Tampa, having acted as ocean escort
for a convoy from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom, proceeded toward
the port of Milford Haven, Wales. At 8:45 p.m. a loud explosion was
heard. Tampa failed to arrive at her destination and a search was made
for her by U.S. destroyers and British patrol craft. A small amount
of wreckage identified as belonging to the cutter and two unidentified
bodies in naval uniforms were found. It was believed that Tampa was
sunk by a German submarine. Every officer and enlisted man on board
Tampa perished. There were 115 in all, 111 of whom were Coast Guard
personnel. With the exception of U.S.S. Cyclops, whose fate has never
been ascertained, this was the largest loss of life incurred by any
U.S. naval unit during the war. The British Admiralty wrote to Rear
Admiral William Sims, USN,
-
"Their Lordships desire me to express their deep regret at
the loss of the U.S.S. Tampa. Her record since she has been employed
in European waters as an escort to convoys has been remarkable.
She has acted in the capacity of ocean escort to no less than 18
convoys from Gibraltar comprising 350 vessels, with a loss of only
2 ships through enemy action. The commanders of the convoys have
recognized the ability with which the Tampa carried out the duties
of ocean escort. Appreciation of the good work done by the U.S.S.
Tampa may be some consolation to those bereft and Their Lordships
would be glad if this could be conveyed to those concerned."
^*In 1891 the legendary cutter Bear, under the command o Captain Michael
A. "Hell Roaring Mike" Healy, transported reindeer from Siberia
to Alaska in an experiment aimed at turning natives from hunters to
herdsmen and provided them with a steady food supply. In 1897-1898,
First Lieutenant David H. Jarvis, Second Lieutenant Ellsworth P. Bertholf
and Dr. Samuel J. Call, all of the cutter Bear, drove a herd of reindeer,
in winter’s brutal grip, from Teller, Alaska, on the Bering Sea,
to Point Barrow’s shores. Here, they provided food for a fleet
of whalers frozen in the ice.
*^The cutter Harriet Lane was assigned to the punitive naval expedition
against Paraguay in 1858-59. Ten years after the War with Mexico, a
naval force was sent to Paraguay in 1858 to settle a dispute with that
nation. The cutter Harriet Lane was ordered to join the squadron. Since
the cutter was the only shallow-draft steamer among the 18-ship force,
the Harriet Lane was the most active warship in the squadron. Commodore
Shubrick, in his report to the Secretary of the Navy, made special mention
of Harriet Lane’s value to the squadron and the skill and zeal
shown by her commander, Captain John Faunce.
^*^No one knows exactly how Semper Paratus was chosen as the Coast
Guard’s motto but it had long been a Coast Guard watchword. No
official recognition was given to the Coast Guard motto until it appeared
in 1910 on the ensign, in hopes of giving it as much recognition as
"Semper Fidelis" of the Marines and "Anchors Aweigh"
of the Navy.
