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| African Americans in the United States Coast Guard part II |
CAPTAIN MICHAEL A. HEALY, U.S. REVENUE CUTTER SERVICE
Captain Michael A. Healy, the only African American to have a command or commission in any of the Coast Guard’s predecessor services, commanded the cutter Bear from 1887 to 1895. Healy retired as the third highest-ranking officer from the Revenue Cutter Service.
One of ten children born in Macon, Georgia, to an Irish immigrant and a slave of mixed blood, Healy habitually ran away from school. At the urging of his brother, who felt sea life would discipline the youngster, the 15-year-old Healy was hired as a cabin boy abroad the clipper Jumna in 1855. He applied to and was accepted by the Revenue Cutter Service in March of 1865, was promoted to Second Lieutenant in June 1886, and to First Lieutenant in July 1870.
As First Lieutenant, Healy was ordered aboard the cutter Rush, to patrol Alaskan waters for the first time. He became known as a brilliant seaman and was considered by many the best sailor in the North. A feature article in the January 28, 1884 New York Sun stated: "Captain Mike Healy is a good deal more distinguished person in the waters of the far Northwest than any president of the United States or my potentate in Europe has yet become."
Healy distinguished himself when he took command of the cutter Bear, considered by many the greatest polar ship of its time, in 1886. The ship was charged with "seizing any vessel found sealing in the Bering Sea." By 1892, the Bear, Rush and Corwin had made so many seizures that tension developed between the United States and British merchants. Healy was also tasked with bringing medical and other aid to the Alaska Natives, making weather and ice reports, preparing navigation charts, rescuing distressed vessels, transporting special passengers and supplies, and fighting violators of federal laws. He served as deputy U.S. Marshal and represented federal law in Alaska for many years.
On one of Bear’s annual visits to King Island, Healy found a native population reduced to 100 people and begging for food. After ordering food and clothing, Healy worked with Dr. Sheldon Jackson of the Bureau of Education to import reindeer from the Siberian Chukchi, another Eskimo population. During the next ten years, Revenue cutters brought some 1,100 reindeer to Alaska. The Bureau of Education took charge of landing and distributing the deer, and missionary schools taught the natives to raise and care for the animals. By 1940, Alaska’s domesticated reindeer herds had risen to 500,000.
The Coast Guard named an icebreaker for Michael Healy, in acknowledgment of his inspiring commitment to the Service, including his invaluable assistance to Alaska Natives.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR: HEROES OF THE REVENUE CUTTER HUDSON
During the Spanish-American War, two African American cuttermen distinguished themselves at the Battle of Cardenas Bay in Cuba. On 11 May 1898 the Revenue Cutter Hudson, armed with two six-pounders, joined two U.S. Navy gunboats and a torpedo boat for a raid into the Spanish-fortified bay. Careful to avoid mines, three of the vessels moved into the channel, one gunboat provided supporting fire. Once inside the bay, they spotted their target. Hudson and the torpedo boat, USS Winslow, moved at full speed to attack the Spanish gunboats moored to the sugar wharves. The second Navy gunboat held back to support their attack with her 4-inch guns.
Before they reached point-blank range, the Spanish shore batteries were hitting Winslow. Firing smokeless powder, the Spanish guns could only be located by their intermittent flashes. Meanwhile, the American gunners, hampered by smoke from their own black powder, returned fire. The Hudson alone fired 135 shells in just twenty minutes. Helping to sustain this rapid rate of fire was Hudson's African American steward, Savage, who passed ammunition in a steady stream.
With advantages in position, cover, and visibility, the Spanish fired on the ships from five different directions with solid shot and shrapnel. "Shells screamed overhead and lashed the water all around," recalled one cutterman.
For almost half an hour Winslow escaped serious damage. Then two shells ripped into her. With a boiler and her steering engine wrecked, she began drifting toward the beach. The Spanish then concentrated their fire on her. Hudson now stood shoreward into the hail of the "very fierce" fire and to take Winslow into tow. When only 100 feet away, the cuttermen watched in horror as an exploding shell cut down four sailors waiting to catch the heaving line. Other hands caught the line and made it fast. With that Hudson began moving toward safety. "The sound, smoke, and smell of battle faded into the distance, into the past, leaving Cardenas the heat and humdrum of perpetual siesta, and to the Coast Guard, the remembered words, ‘Cardenas Bay."’
In his after-action report, Hudson's Commanding Officer spoke highly of his men:
Each and every member of the crew from the boatswain down to Moses Jones, the colored boy who attached himself to the after gun and never failed to have a shell ready when it was needed, did his whole duty cheerfully and without the least hesitation. This appears more the remarkable in view of the fact that none of them had ever been under fire before, and that the guns were without protection or shelter of any kind. They deserve the most substantial recognition in the power of the Government for their heroic services upon this occasion.
The courage of the crew, including Steward Savage and Cook Moses Jones, was recognized by a joint resolution of Congress, acting upon the recommendation of President William McKinley:
In the face of a most galling fire from the enemy’s guns, the revenue cutter HUDSON, commanded by First Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb, United States Revenue Cutter Service, rescued the disabled WINSLOW, her wounded commander and remaining crew. The commander of the HUDSON kept his vessel in the very hottest fire of the action, although in constant danger of going ashore on account of the shallow water, until he finally got a line fast to the WINSLOW and towed that vessel out of range of the enemy’s guns, a deed of special gallantry.
I recommend that, in recognition of the signal act of heroism of First Lieutenant prank H. Newcomb, United States Revenue Cutter Service, above set forth, the thanks of Congress be extended to him and to his officers and men of the HUDSON; and that a gold medal of honor be presented to Lieutenant Newcomb, and silver medal of honor to each of his crew who served with him at Cardenas.
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