The Job

The Seattle Chapter

In July 1999 I reported to Coast Guard Group Seattle, located at Pier 36 in downtown Seattle. At Group we are responsible for coordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) efforts from Olympia in south Puget Sound to the Canadian border, including the San Juan Islands. We have two small boat stations under our command; Station Bellingham in the north and Station Seatte for the southern area. Each station has two 41 foot Motor Lift Boats and one SAFE boat. For SAR requiring aircraft we use one of the three HH-65 Dolphin helicopters staged at Air Station Port Angeles, on the Olympic Peninsula. Depending on the location of the search we can have an asset on scene anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours. We depend heavily on boaters who are already on the water and in the area to render assistance until we can get one of our boats or a helo to the scene. "Good Samaritans" are usually very cooperative because they know that maybe one day it'll be them in need of assistance.

At Group Seattle we maintain a radio watch 24/7 on VHF-FM channel 16, which is the international hailing and distress frequency. We have four antennae throughout our area of responsibility that are able to monitor all calls. We have four additional frequencies that we use to communicate with the boating public or our units. Everything that comes into or out of group, either via radio or telephone is recorded and time indexed. We also have some new VHF-FM direction finding equipment, we're still working out the bugs but it's helped us a few times. For law enforcement purposes we have secure comms on both VHF-FM and High-Frequency.

The base here in Seattle is homeport for several cutters. There are two 378 foot Hamilton class cutters, the USCGC MELLON and USCGC MIDGETT. All three of the Coast Guard's Ice Breakers are homeported here, USCGC POLAR STAR, USCGC POLAR SEA and USCGC HEALY. The Polar class ice breakers are 399 feet and the Healy is 425 feet. Also moored at Pier 36 is the USCGC BAYBERRY, a 65 foot tug attached to a barge used solely for ATON in the inland waters of Washington. Other vessels under the control of Group Seattle but moored elsewhere include USCGC OSPREY-87 foot patrol boat USCGC ORCAS - 110 foot patrol boat and USCGC HENRY BLAKE-175 foot Buoy Tender.