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Tag: The Long Blue Line

The overcrowded decks of the paddle-wheeler Sultana just before her fiery explosion.

April 25, 2025

Sultana Fire - A maritime disaster that helped shape the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety mission

April 27, 2025, marks the 160th anniversary of the Sultana Fire. These are excerpts taken from the article Written in Blood: Maritime disasters that shaped the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Mission.

Artwork of the night the Marine Electric shipwreck and the incident’s lasting impact on the Coast Guard. The converted WWII-era ship capsized 30 miles off the Virginia coast on Feb. 12, 1983, and brought about drastic changes in the Coast Guard, including revamped marine safety procedures and the implementation of rescue swimmers. (U.S. Coast Guard illustrations by Petty Officer 2nd Class Corinne Zilnicki)

April 18, 2025

The shipwreck that changed the Coast Guard forever

The Coast Guard continues to improve its marine safety program to this day to ensure a safe marine environment. This article originally appeared in the Coast Guard Compass in 2019.

Aftermath of the Black Tom Island munitions explosion. (U.S. National Park Service)

April 11, 2025

Espionage Act and the origins of port security

Port security has been one of the longest-running missions of the United States Coast Guard.

Rare photograph of Bear sitting in the ice while aiding another vessel. (U.S. Coast Guard)

April 4, 2025

America’s first ice ships and icebreakers

As maritime interests chased valuable resources into icebound waters and commercial shipping continued further into the winter months, the duties of the Revenue Cutter Service increased in frozen areas previously considered unsafe in wintertime.

Members of the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche (WMSL-751) law enforcement boarding team inspect a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Nov. 20, 2023. The interdiction of the SPSS yielded more than 5,500 pounds of cocaine. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

March 28, 2025

Enforcing the Law at Sea — The Rise of Drug Smugglers

The Coast Guard has been at the forefront of countering the shifting tactics of drug smugglers.

On Nov. 30, 1886, Revenue Cutter Rush seized 350 pounds of opium aboard Steamship Rio De Janeiro at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. It was the first seizure of opium at sea by the U.S. Revenue Marine. (U.S. Coast Guard)

March 21, 2025

Enforcing the Law at Sea — The First 30 years

With a seizure of opium near the entrance to San Francisco Bay in November 1886, cutters of the Revenue Marine Service began a fight against maritime drug smuggling that continues to this day.

A Coast Guard Cutter Diligence pursuit team interdicts a "go-fast" boat suspected of smuggling illegal drugs. From left to right in the in the "go-fast" is Lt. j.g. Edward Hobaica, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jussen Gonzales, while from left to right on the Coast Guard response boat is Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Sanabria, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charles Murray and Petty Officer 1st Class Adam Mallard. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Cutter Diligence/Released)

March 14, 2025

The Service’s early drug seizures

An opium seizure in 1886 launched an evolution in drug interdiction.

In the Coast Guard’s first major seizure of marijuana, Cutter Dauntless seized Fishing Vessel Big L with 1,130 pounds of pot in March 1973. (U.S. Coast Guard)

March 7, 2025

Origins of drug interdiction

How the Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless made history in the fight against drug smuggling.

A November 1991 Haitian migrant interdiction performed by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Feb. 28, 2025

Making an Impact — Coast Guard Intelligence in the 1980s and 1990s

In the early 1980s, the Coast Guard recognized increase demand, complexity of law enforcement missions, and the need for an intelligence program.

2. After World War I, the Navy returned Manning to the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard, which stationed it in Norfolk, Virginia. The cutter was assigned to annual “winter cruising” from December through March each year. (digitalcommonwealth.org)

Feb. 21, 2025

Saving Sunbeam — a deadly human trafficking case over 100 years ago

The 1919 Sunbeam rescue and its role in exposing early challenges of illegal immigration.