Crossed Canoes

On August 4, 1790, Congress created the Revenue Cutter Service. Ten cutters were built to enforce the growing nation’s tariff laws. Eventually those ten ships and their crews grew to become the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard’s mission is part law enforcement, part coastal defense, and part search and rescue. They report to the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime matters and to the U.S. Navy during war. The Coast Guard is a massive fleet of coastal and sea-going ships. They’re still called cutters, though they bear little resemblance to the 1790 fleet. They also maintain helicopters and fixed-wing craft. All of the lighthouses in the United States are run by the U.S. Coast Guard. How cool is that? Anyway, today is United States Coast Guard Day, a day you probably don’t celebrate unless you’re actually a member of the Coast Guard. But maybe you should. August could definitely use more holidays.