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Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500

Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG 36500 as a museum boat
History
United States
Name	CG-36500
Operator	United States Coast Guard
Builder	United States Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland
Completed	1946
Out of service	1968
Status	Museum boat
General characteristics
Tonnage	9.1 t (20,000 lb)
Length	36 ft (11.0 m)
Installed power	160 hp (119 kW)
Propulsion	General Motors 4-71 diesel
Crew	4
Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Orleans, Massachusetts
Coordinates	41°47′58″N 70°0′32″W / 41.79944°N 70.00889°W / 41.79944; -70.00889
Built	1946
Architect	U.S. Coast Guard Yard Curtis Bay, Maryland
NRHP reference No.	05000467
Added to NRHP	27 May 2005

Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500 is a historic, 36-foot lifeboat that is berthed at Rock Harbor in Orleans, Massachusetts. Built in 1946, it is notable for its involvement in the 1952 SS Pendleton rescue, one of the most daring such events recorded in the history of the United States Coast Guard. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and now serves as a museum boat.

Description

CG-36500 is a standard 36-foot (11 m) lifeboat, a vessel designed to remain operational under extremely difficult conditions. It has a heavy 2,000 pounds (910 kg) bronze keel and skeg, watertight compartments, and self-bailing features. Most of its wooden elements are white oak frames, with cypress planking, and it has a total weight of nearly 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg). It is sheathed with Monel plating, which allowed for winter time ice breaking.

History

The boat was built in 1946 at the Curtis Bay Maryland Coast Guard Yard, where all 36-footers were built. On 18 February 1952, the crew of CG-36500, which consisted of Boatswain's Mate First Class Bernard C. Webber (coxswain), Engineman Third Class Andrew Fitzgerald, Seaman Ervin Maske, and Seaman Richard P. Livesey, rescued 32 of 33 crewmen trapped on the stern section of the tanker SS Pendleton, which had broken in half in a storm off Chatham, Massachusetts. (The ship's eight other crew members, including Captain John Fitzgerald, were on the bow section when it broke off and sank.) The rescue of the survivors of the shipwrecked Pendleton is considered one of the most daring rescues of the United States Coast Guard. The story is told in the 2016 motion picture The Finest Hours, based on the 2009 book by the same title.

The boat was taken out of service in 1968 and was given to the National Park Service for use as an exhibit at Cape Cod National Seashore. In November 1981, the Park Service, which had not effected any significant restoration work on the vessel, deeded it to the Orleans Historical Society, and a restoration started by a group of volunteers from Chatham, Orleans, and Harwich, Massachusetts. Restoration work was completed in six months and the boat was re-launched in a public ceremony that Bernard Webber and his wife attended. It is powered by a Detroit Diesel 4-71 built in 1948, with about 95 horsepower. During the rescue, it was powered by a 6-cylinder Sterling Petrel gas engine made in Buffalo, New York. The carbureted engine was problematic during the rescue.

External links

• CG-36500 Gold Medal Boat

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

Notes

Citations

1. Tougias, p. 178
2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
3. "CG36500". The Orleans Historical Society. Archived from the original on 16 March 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-03.
4. ^ "NRHP nomination for Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG36500". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
5. Tougias, p. 37
6. Webster, W. Russell. "The Pendleton Rescue". Coast Guard History. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
7. "Pendleton Rescue". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
8. Tougias, p. 177
9. Tougias, p. 179
10. Tougias, p. 89

References used

• Tougias, Michael J.; Sherman, Casey (2009). The Finest Hour. New York, New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-1-4165-6721-9.

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1952
Shipwrecks	10 Jan: Flying Enterprise, Pennsylvania 24 Jan: Arahura 18 Feb: Fort Mercer, Pendleton 5 Apr: Brattind, Buskøy, Pels, Ringsel, Vårglimt 26 Apr: USS Hobson 10 May: Chervona Ukraina 3 Jun: Inger Skou 30 Jun: Mahenge Aug: Cha-194 1 Sep: Derwentfield 4 Sep: Stream Fisher 5 Sep: Foundation Star 7 Sep: Princess Kathleen 9 Sep: Niš 24 Sep: Kaiyō No. 5 28 Sep: La Sibylle 3 Oct: HMS Plym 21 Nov: Krasnyi Kavkaz Nov: Bremen 15 Dec: USNS Grommet Reefer, Shch-117 29 Dec: City of New York Unknown date: Buskø
Other incidents	9 Jan: Robin Doncaster 28 Jan: North Britain 30 Jan: MV Aqueity, Cutty Sark 18 Feb: CG 36500 19 Feb: Arkaba 25 Feb: Tynwald 12 Mar: Caronia 3 Apr: RFA Wave Ruler 26 Apr: USS Wasp April (unknown date): Esso Appalachee 7 May: SS Orcades 8 May: HMS Tenacious 21 May: ROKS Apnok, USS Mount Baker,Nathaniel B. Palmer 3 Aug: USS Bugara, USS Whitehurst Unknown date: Southern Collins
1951 1953

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
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Category National Register of Historic Places portal United States portal

• Ships of the United States Coast Guard
• Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
• Buildings and structures in Barnstable County, Massachusetts
• Orleans, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places in Barnstable County, Massachusetts
• Museum ships in Massachusetts
• 1946 ships
• Ships built in Maryland
• Maritime incidents in 1952
• Motor lifeboats of the United States