The Coast Guard Rescue of the SS Pendleton
One of the greatest rescue operations in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard happened on the night of February 18, 1952 off the coast of New England. This rescue of the SS Pendleton is the stuff of books and a major motion picture.
To use the well-known writing cliché, it was literally “a dark and stormy night.” On that night, the sea was producing 70-foot waves. These waves were so strong that they broke the SS Pendleton, a 504-foot oil tanker, into two pieces. The forward half of the mighty ship was lost, taking the lives of Captain John Fitzgerald and 7 others. The stern, or rear half of the ship, remained floating. 33 men had no hope of survival without the Coast Guard attempting the nearly impossible rescue.
The only available rescue craft — Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG36500 — was a small, 36-foot, open boat, captained by Coxswain Bernard Webber and a crew of just three other men, Engineman Third Class Andrew Fitzgerald, Seaman Irvin Maske, and Seaman Richard Livesey. The boat had a rated capacity for just 16 people to try and rescue the 33 SS Pendleton survivors.
The path to rescue meant going through the notoriously difficult Chatham sandbar, which was dangerous on a good day. The crew got off to rough start, with a large wave shattering the windshield, leaving them exposed to the freezing cold. The wave also ripped off the ship’s compass, the only navigational aid on-board.
To calm their nerves and help keep focused on the task at hand, the four crew sang the hymn “Rock of Ages,” which ends with, “And while I draw my final breath, I’ll rest upon your grace. And when I close my eyes in death, I’ll wake to see your face.”
Amazingly, they were able to locate the shattered remains of the tanker. Using a rope ladder, 32 out of the 33 men on board were successfully rescued onto the tiny Coast Guard boat. In the pitching waters, one member of the Pendleton crew died tragically when he was crushed in the rescue attempt.
For “extreme and heroic daring,” all four crew members received the Coast Guard’s highest honor — The Gold Lifesaving Medal. The small Coast Guard rescue boat has been preserved in a Massachusetts museum.
The Coast Guard Rescue of the SS Pendleton
Randall acts as the lead writer for ColdWater’s Drive Thru History® TV series and Drive Thru History® “Adventures” curriculum.