Contributed by Lubec Historical Society
Description
The USCGC Eagle in Cobscook bay waiting to sail with the body of Hopley Yeaton to New London, Connecticut for reburial.
Hopley Yeaton (1739-1812), was known as the Father of the Coast Guard. He was initially buried on his retirement farm in North Lubec, Maine. After 163 years, having acquired legal authorization, Yeaton’s body was exhumed for reburial at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. Transportation was aboard the USCGC Eagle, photographed here, which departed Cobscook Bay on August 20, 1975.
A Coast Guard Academy undergraduate, John Russell LCDR (retired) Class of 1979, was aboard, and he recounted the journey when visiting West Quoddy Head Ligthouse on August 19, 2013, 38 years to the day when the Eagle arrived in Lubec. He wrote, “ As a Swab (4th class cadet), I sailed with the crew of the USCG Eagle (WIX-327) from Portland to Lubec, Maine, the third week of August 1975. Although the purpose of the trip was sail training, our mission was to retrieve the remains of Capt. Hopley Yeaton, the first officer commissioned for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (also known as the Revenue Marine.) The Revenue Cutter Service later became the U.S. Coast Guard, and Capt. Yeaton is considered the ‘Father of the Coast Guard.’ Capt. Yeaton was buried in Lubec and was then exhumed from his grave officially on November 1, 1974, although the rumor was his remains were removed on Halloween - the night before. The remains were removed by cadets of the Coast Guard Academy as part of a project to place Capt. Yeaton’s remains in a memorial crypt at the Academy in New London, Connecticut.”
A three-masted barque and the only active commissioned sailing vessel in the U.S., she was launched in 1936 at Hamburg as a training vessel for the German navy and was awarded to the United States as reparations following WWII. On May 15, 1946, she was commissioned into the U.S. Coast Guard service as the Eagle and sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany to New London, CT.
The USCGC Eagle had a length of 295 feet, 39 foot beam, 17 foot draft, and a displacement of 1,862 tons.
About This Item
- Title: The USCGC Eagle, Cobscook Bay, 1975
- Creator: Anthony Badalamenti
- Creation Date: 1975-08-20
- Subject Date: 1975-08-20
- Location: Cobscook Bay, Lubec, Washington County, ME
- Media: Photographic print
- Dimensions: 13.7 cm x 20.2 cm
- Local Code: 618 jpg
- Object Type: Image
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For more information about this item, contact:
Lubec Historical Society135 Main Street, Lubec, ME 04652
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.
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