Land was purchased in New London on 31 July 1930 for the construction of the Coast Guard Academy. The 40-acre site was made up of two parcels from the Allyn and Payne estates and was purchased for $100,000.
USCG ACADEMY MUSIC MIX: Semper Paratus , The Ocean, Octopus Garden, Seven Seas Of Ryne, Sea Of Joy, Sea Cruise, Sea Of Love, Sailors Lament, Only The Ocean, Around Cape Horn, Back Home In Derry, Thousands Are Sailing, Voyage To Atlantis
The roots of the academy lie in the School of Instruction of the Revenue Cutter Service, the school of the Revenue Cutter Service. The School of Instruction was established near New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1876 and used USRC Dobbin for its exercises. Captain John Henriques served as superintendent from founding until 1883. The one civilian instructor was Professor Edwin Emery, who taught mathematics, astronomy, English composition, French, physics, theoretical steam engineering, history, international law, and revenue law, among other subjects.
“Salty Dog” by Procol Harum is a grand tune. This song’s lyrics are an extended metaphor containing the meaning of life itself….
We are all lone sailors
We all derive meaning from emotions
We all sail a tortured course
At the end we scuttle the ship and make landfall
And reminisce about the peak emotions we’ve felt
The school was a two-year apprenticeship, in essence, supplemented by minimal classroom work. The student body averaged five to ten cadets per class. With changes to new training vessels, the school moved to Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1900 and to Fort Trumbull in 1910, a Revolutionary War–era Army installation in New London, Connecticut. In 1914, the school became the Revenue Cutter Academy, and then the Coast Guard Academy in 1915 with the merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life Saving Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard.
The $100,000 was not raised through a bond issue, as originally planned, but with a bank loan based on uncollected back taxes. The contract was awarded to Murch Brothers Construction Company or St. Louis and ground was broken in January 1931 by Jean Hamlet, daughter of Rear Admiral Harry G. Hamlet, Academy Superintendent from 1928 to 1932. On 15 May 1931, Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon visited New London to lay the cornerstone of Hamilton Hall. Construction proceeded relatively on schedule and cadets moved in to the new buildings on 20 September 1932.
In 1946, the academy received the barque Horst Wessel as a war reparation from Germany, a 295-foot tall ship which was renamed USCGC Eagle. It remains the main training vessel for cadets at the academy as well as for officer candidates at the Coast Guard’s Officer Candidate School, which is located on the grounds of the academy
… Alexander Hamilton can be considered the father of the Coast Guard. In Federalist No. 12, published in 1787, the future Secretary of the Treasury posited that a “few armed vessels, judiciously stationed at the entrances of our ports, might at a small expense be made useful sentinels of the laws.” (via Mental Floss) n 1791, the Coast Guard launched its first cutter, Vigilant.
… Boston Light on Little Brewster Island is the only lighthouse still operated by the Coast Guard. (via Military1)
… Sinbad the dog was adopted by the crew of the cutter Campbell in 1938, and was considered a literal member of the crew – including official paperwork, uniforms and his own bunk. He retired to Barnegat Light before passing away on Dec. 30, 1951. (via Military1)
… The Coast Guard also patrols and maintains U.S. inland waterways, from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The June 2018 American Legion Magazine featured pn one inland-fleet cutter.
… The first permanent Coast Guard Air Station was located in Cape May, New Jersey, and was founded in 1926.
Near Shore Radio 