Happy Birthday, Coast Guard!
Coast Guard celebrates 220 years of service. Click image for larger view. Credit: USCG
August 4, 2010
Today is a special day for the U.S. Coast Guard: its 220th anniversary. In celebration, the Coasties aboard Healy have barbecued a pig for tonight’s dinner. The cooking began last night when scientist Pablo Clemente-Colón and Coasties IT1 Miguel Uribarri and ET2 Jeremy Gainey prepared a Puerto Rican-style marinade (see recipe) for the 80-lb pig. Around 0400 hrs this morning, Miguel, Jeremy, and ENS Nick Custer, along with data specialist Tom Bolmer of the science crew, fired up the barbecue on the helo deck (a platform near the ship’s stern where a helicopter can take off and land). When the coals were ready, the marinated pig was placed on the spit and the vigil began.
DISCLAIMER: We’re not in the ice yet. This aerial photo of Healy, shot during a previous mission, shows the location of the helo deck, marked by an “X” through a circle and a square. The barbecue was forward of the “X,” just outside the hangar door. Click image for larger view.
Credit: Continentalshelf.gov
Thirty minutes later Miguel takes a turn. It’s still early in the morning, but the pig already looks delicious. Click image for larger view. Credit: Helen Gibbons, USGS/ECS Project
Around 0530 I joined ET2 Jeremy Gainey (center), ENS Nick Custer (right), and IT1 Miguel Uribarri (not shown) to help tend the pig. I enjoyed passing the time with them, hearing about where they came from, what brought them to the Coast Guard, and, of course, how to barbecue a pig. Click image for larger view. Credit: Brian Edwards, USGS/ECS Project.
Miguel looks on as Jeremy bastes the roasting pig. Click image for larger view. Credit: Helen Gibbons, USGS/ECS Project
The roasting pig was carefully tended by the Coasties—Miguel, Jeremy, and Nick, plus MK1 John Myers and ME3 Evan Roy—who rotated and basted it every 30 minutes or so, adding more charcoal as needed and draping blankets over the top of the barbecue cover to keep the temperature at 220 to 250°F.
A Bit of Coast Guard History
Leaving the pig to the competent Coasties, I ate breakfast and then did some quick research on the history of the Coast Guard. Here’s a summary of what I found:
The Coast Guard traces its history back to August 4, 1790, when the nation’s first Congress authorized the construction of 10 single-masted patrol vessels called revenue cutters. The Revenue Marine (later known as the Revenue Cutter Service) was charged with enforcing tariff and trade laws and preventing smuggling of untaxed goods. At that time, import duties accounted for about 90 percent of the federal revenue, and first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was instrumental in the creation of the Revenue Marine, was eager to protect this source of funds for the young nation. The revenue cutters gradually accrued other duties. Search and rescue, for example, was added to the mission in 1832, when Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane ordered the cutters to begin winter cruises to aid mariners in distress. In 1915, Congress merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the Life-Saving Service to create the Coast Guard, a single maritime service dedicated to saving lives at sea and enforcing the nation’s maritime laws. You can learn more at the U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office Official website, and in the book Rescue Warriors, by David Helvarg (2009, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Griffin).
Just a few of the dishes on offer during tonight’s “birthday” dinner: roast pork, stuffing, baked beans, and cole slaw. (Note: Ordinarily we use china plates and stainless steel utensils, but tonight we used disposables to give the mess crew a break.) Click image for larger view. Credit: Helen Gibbons, USGS/ECS Project
Back to the Pig—a Tasty Pork Dinner
Tonight’s dinner was more crowded than usual, as many of the watchstanders who routinely sleep through dinner came to the mess for slow-roasted pork. To handle the extra traffic, Miguel, Jeremy, ENS Avery Weston, and MK2 Camille Gavaldon helped the mess crew serve the meal. The pork was delicious (as were the accompanying dishes), and I am guessing that it is all gone now.
At 1600 hours, Healy entered the Bering Strait. Later this evening, she will cross the Arctic Circle. Click image for larger view. Credit: Graphic by Helen Gibbons, USGS/ECS Project; modified from map by Natural Resources Canada, 2008, North Circumpolar Region, in Atlas of Canada.
In Other News: Healy Passes Through the Bering Strait
Healy entered the Bering Strait today at 1600 hours. During the dinner hour, at 1730, the ship left the Bering Strait and entered the Chukchi Sea, passing fairly close to Cape Prince of Wales at the tip of the Seward Peninsula. The fog began to lift and we could see the hazy outline of mountains on the peninsula to our east. Later this evening, we will cross the Arctic Circle. More about that in a later blog.
