LIGHTSHIP SAILORS
Our Coast Guard Beginning
The First Commandant of The Coast Guard
Written by Arthur P. Motta, Jr. City of New Bedford Office of Tourism & Marketing
In 1877, New Bedford became the first site for the formal training of cadets in the Revenue Marine Service, precursor to the present-day United States Coast Guard Academy. The city’s distinction as birthplace of the Revenue Marine Service School of Instruction is well documented in the archives of the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s office:
"By the 1870s, as technology continued to favor steam over sail, it became evident to some far-seeing officials within the Service and the Treasury Department, that young officers needed to be exposed to formal training in both ships and technology... Captains George W. Moore, James Merryman, and John Henriques urged Sumner Kimball, then civilian head of the Revenue Marine Division in the Treasury Department, to establish a School of Instruction for officers. Kimball was enthusiastic and on July 31, 1876, an act was passed to fill vacancies with cadets in the rank of Third Lieutenant.... In 1877, the cutter Dobbin was selected as a floating school for Service cadets. Cruising the Atlantic in the summers and wintering at Fish Island, New Bedford, Massachusetts, cadets spent two years of instruction on board the ship."
Fish Island connects the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge to Pope's Island in the inner harbor. It is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel and it retains some of the oldest granite bulkheads in our port. The School’s location did not change until about 1897 when it was moved to Maryland.
On October 18, 1877, New Bedford's newspaper, The Republican-Standard, reported that one Mr. Emory, first director of this new School, had arrived in New Bedford in advance of the cutter Dobbin. Due to this connection, and earlier ones, New Bedford enjoyed close ties with some of the prominent figures of the Revenue Marine Service.
Captain Josiah Sturgis, commanding officer of the cutter Hamilton, gained notoriety along the coast of New England. Sturgis rescued hundreds of people and many ships in his career.
The great clock in Seamen's Bethel was presented to the New Bedford Port Society (overseers of the Bethel since 1832) by then Lieutenant Sturgis of the Revenue Cutter McLane in November of 1837. To this day, the old clock marks the hours on the Bethel's east wall. Herman Melville checked his own watch against it when he attended services at the Bethel in December 1841 before shipping aboard the New Bedford whale ship, Acushnet, a voyage that would later inspire him to write Moby-Dick.
The city’s most important tie to Coast Guard history, however, was New Bedford resident, Captain-Commandant Worth G. Ross. Ross was appointed a cadet on January 4, 1877 and was a member of the School of Instruction’s first graduating class in New Bedford.
The Coast Guard Historian’s Office notes: “Ross' greatest contribution as Captain-Commandant concerned the Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction. Throughout his tenure he sought funds to establish a permanent location for the school and to improve the curriculum. When the training ship Chase was decommissioned, the school was moved to Curtis Bay, MD. The facilities, however, were too small. Though Ross could not secure the funds, Congress did authorize the transfer of the abandoned Fort Trumbull, CT from the Army to the Revenue Cutter Service. In September 1910, fifty cadets and their instructors set up the School of Instruction at Fort Trumbull. With this acquisition of land the school grew and eventually became the present-day US Coast Guard Academy.”
Born in Cleveland, Ohio on April 19th, 1854, Ross was educated at Lititz Academy, and graduated from the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction in 1879 in New Bedford, part of the first graduating class of nine cadets.
Ross was made third lieutenant on July 2, 1879; second lieutenant October 24, 1884 and first lieutenant April 18, 1895. In 1897, he was appointed inspector of the first and second districts of the lifesaving service. These districts included the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. During this period, he lived at Brookline, but retained his permanent residence in New Bedford at 75 Madison Street.
He was appointed captain of the Revenue Cutter Service on June 3, 1902; captain-commandant on April 25, 1908; and chief of the Coast Guard on April 1, 1905 holding this position until he voluntarily retired because of ill health in 1911.
He served on the New England Coast for 6 years, on the southern coast for 3 years, on the Great Lakes for 2 1/2 years, on the Pacific Coast and Puget Sound as well as the Bearing Sea and various foreign cruises.
Congress awarded Captain Ross medals for his distinguished service during the Spanish-American War. He served in the Atlantic Squadron and took part in the Havana Blockade. He personally commanded the fleet of Revenue Cutters in the Gulf of Mexico, enforcing sanitary regulations and quarantines during the yellow fever epidemic of 1905.
He was in the Life Saving Service during the 9 years preceding his appointment as captain. His many lectures and magazine articles dealing with the heroism and hardships of the live savers attracted wide attention.
Captain Ross was a highly esteemed citizen in New Bedford throughout his distinguished career and remained active here in his retirement years. He was a leading member of the Naval and Military Order of the Spanish American War as well as an active member of New Bedford’s Old Dartmouth Historical Society, until his death on March 26, 1916 at 7:30 AM at home. His wife, Abby, died in 1927. They had one son, Worth G. Ross, Jr., who also rests here.
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