Tag Archives: USRC Tahoma

Holy Pith Helmets, Batman

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A piece of military kit seldom seen in U.S. military service, especially while underway in dress whites:

Officers of United States Revenue Cutter Tahoma, 1909: CAPT Johnstone Quinan, Commanding (second row, seated second from left) 1st LT Charles Satterlee, Executive Officer (second row, far left) 2nd LT Edward S. Addison, 2nd LT Archibald H. Scally, 2nd LT (future WWII USCG Commandant) Russell R. Waesche (front row, center) 1st LT of Engineers Harry M. Hepburn, 3rd LT of Engineers Frank E. Bagger, Passed Assistant Surgeon J. S. Boggess, U.S. Public Health Service.

USCG Historian Office’s image. 201210-G-G0000-001

After 1908-09 construction by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey, the brand new 191-foot steel-hulled cutter with her quartet of 6-pounder rapid-fire breechloaders set out for her permanent homeport at Port Townsend, Washington– which made sense, as she was named for Mount Tahoma (Mount Rainier).

Her initial east-to-west round-the-world cruise from New York to Port Townsend saw her cross through the Suez Canal and saw her make port calls at Gibraltar, Malta, Iskenderun (where she stood by for 13 days to protect U.S. interests in Turkey), Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Manila, and Yokohama– hence her officer’s tropical use of pith helmets.

Based in the Pacific Northwest, she would winter in Washington and spend each summer, typically March through October, in Alaska waters on the annual Bering Sea Patrol.

USRC Tahoma off Alaska; scanned from original in Satterlee Collection, U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office Special Collections.

Sadly, the proud little cutter would be lost on an uncharted reef on the south side of the Aleutian Islands some 110 years ago this month, in September 1914-– without any injuries to her crew.

With her complement able to take to the cutter’s small boats, they were rescued by the nearby merchant steamer Cordova and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ship USC&GS Carlile P. Patterson.

She would be the last cutter lost by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service– formerly the U.S. Revenue Marine going back to 1790– as the service was amalgamated with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard in 1916.

The USCG has gone on to recycle her name twice, once for a 165-foot A-class cutter (WPG/WAGE-80) that served on convoy duty in WWII, and the second for a Bear-class 270-foot cuter (WMEC-908) that has been in service since 1988.

Neither of those have likely used pith helmets.

Holy Pith Helmets, Batman

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How about this great group shot of the officers of the brand new 191-foot U.S. Revenue Cutter Tahoma, dressed in their tropical whites, complete with sun helmets.

U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office photo 201210-G-G0000-001

As detailed, the above include: CAPT Johnstone Quinan, Commanding (second row, seated second from left) 1st LT Charles Satterlee, Executive Officer (second row, far left) 2nd LT Edward S. Addison 2nd LT Archibald H. Scally, 2nd LT Russell R. Waesche (front row, center) 1st LT of Engineers Harry M. Hepburn, 3rd LT of Engineers Frank E. Bagger, Passed Assistant Surgeon J. S. Boggess, USPHS. Observe, the ranks are based on U.S. Army tables rather than U.S. Navy.

Of note, the future ADM Russell Randolph Waesche, shown as a young USRCS 2nd LT above, would be the WWII-era commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

From his bio:

He also presided over the greatest expansion of the USCG in its history and made sure the service maintained its separate identity while it was under the administrative control of the U.S. Navy. Admiral Waesche saw his small peacetime fleet swell with Coast Guardsmen manning more than 750 cutters, 3,500 miscellaneous smaller craft, 290 Navy vessels, and 255 Army vessels. The Coast Guard participated in every major amphibious operation.

No word on if he did sometimes put the old pith helmet back on.

As for his ride, she had an interesting tale of her own.

Commissioned on 25 March 1909, the 1,215-ton cutter Tahoma, armed with four 6-pounders, still had fresh paint in the above image. Her crew, including the young Mr. Waesche, soon became globetrotters, taking her from her builders at the New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden, New Jersey to her homeport in the Pacific Northwest, via the long way around.

To get to her cruising ground she made the long journey to the Pacific coast via the Suez Canal, setting sail from Baltimore on 17 April 1909. She visited St. Michaels, Azores to obtain coal before arriving at Gibraltar on 3 May 1909. Ordered to proceed as quickly as possible to Alexandrette [now known as Iskenderun, Turkey] by the Treasury Department, she departed Gibraltar, stopping in Malta, before arriving at Alexandrette on 12 May 1909. The U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, had requested a U.S. warship to calm American expatriate nerves during civil unrest in the Empire. The Tahoma remained off the Turkish coast for 13 more days before being ordered to resume her course to the Pacific. She visited Port Said and then transited the Suez Canal. Then it was on to Aden, Colombo, and arrived at Singapore on 30 June 1909. She then sailed for Manila arriving there on 8 July and made a port call at Yokohama on 21 July. She arrived at her new station in Port Townsend on 23 August 1909.

USRC Tahoma off Alaska; scanned from original in Satterlee Collection, U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office Special Collections.