USCGC (YN-92) WOLCOTT

Historical:

Wolcott, a 100-foot patrol boat built to combat rum-runners during Prohibition (1920-1933), was one of 13 in her class, which were delivered to the United States Coast Guard. Corwin was delivered first on October 21, 1925, ending with WOLCOTT on July 26, 1926. These 13 were steel-hulled patrol boats that were capable of close inshore work but were slower than the 75-foot patrol boats. They made up for their slower speed and lack of maneuverability with better accommodations for the crew so that they could stay at sea for longer periods and work well off-shore. They were all built by Defoe Boat & Motor Works of Bay City, Michigan.

Wolcott was delivered and accepted by the Coast Guard on 24 July 1926 in Bay City, Michigan. She departed Bay City for Boston on 28 July 1926, arriving there on 19 August 1926. She then motored to Curtis Bay, Maryland and departed 22 August for Pascagoula, Mississippi. She arrived at her initial station of Pascagoula on 4 September 1926 where she served through 1934. She was then transferred to Milwaukee, Wisconsin until she was placed out of service on 12 May 1936.

The High-Seas Sinking of the I’M ALONE

After a spirited chase off the New Orleans Bar. The Cutters Dexter and Wolcott were forced to fire on the schooner “I’m Alone” when their captain refused to surrender or allow the cutters’ officers to board and search the vessel. The “I’m Alone” was known as a notorious smuggling vessel, having been engaged in smuggling liquor into the United States for several years. Until the latter part of 1928, the I’m Alone operated on the New England Coast and had caused the Coast Guard forces a great deal of trouble. The commanding officer of the Dexter spoke to the master of the I’m Alone through a megaphone and informed him that the I’m Alone would be sunk unless it obeyed the command to stop. Warning shots were fired ahead and when the vessel did not stop, the Dexter fired through the riggings and later put a dozen shots into the hull of the I’m Alone. The sea was too rough to permit the I’m Alone to be boarded and seized by force and the furthermore the master of the I’m Alone waved a revolver in a threatening manner indicating that he would resist forcibly any attempt to board his vessel. The I’m Alone sank at 9:05 a.m. on March 22. The Coast Guard vessels picked up the members of the crew of the I’m Alone with the exception of one person who was drowned. When the body of this seaman was taken from the water, the members of the Coast Guard worked more than two and one-half hours in an attempt to resuscitate him but without avail. On January 5th 1935 the International Commission concluded that although the I’m Alone’s business at the time she sunk was unlawful, the action taken by the Coast Guard was unlawful too. The U.S. Government apologized to the Canadian government and paid $25,000 as a token of regret.

Owner’s comments: – The vessel was commissioned as the USCG CUTTER WOLCOTT and was used in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. In 1929 the Wolcott fired from her 3″/23 anti-aircraft caliber guns the first shots against the now famous rum runner A’lone. The chase was on and two days later the USCG CUTTER DEXTER fired shots and sank the A’lone.

The Army Corp of Engineers acquired the boat from the USCG in 1936 They converted it into a survey vessel and put it into service on the Great Lakes.

During WW2 she patrolled the Atlactic coast. In the late 40s back in the Army Corp of Engineers hands she was put into service in the Panama Canal zone as a public relation vessel and was at the disposal of the Governor and other officials for outing and events.

In the mid 1950s Tidewaters Trans CO purchased her and used it for an oil survey vessel on the west coast of the USA.
In 1968 Willamette Tug and Barge purchased the vessel and used it as a company yacht; I believe at this time she had a teak paneled interior installed, along with the 671 diesels.

Fast forward to the 1990s the Corwin Class Patrol Boat WOLCOTT was bought at auction by a retired dodge dealer, and was now in private hands. She sat in Portland OR for the next six Years. By March of 2001, the current owner Shawn Berrigan, on his 40th birthday, purchased the vessel along with his now wife Diane. They hauled her out at the Foss Maritime Shipyard in Rainier OR and spent the next year replacing bottom plating, a new fuel tank, and wiring. After work was complete they moved the vessel to Sacramento CA, where they spent the next two years until they lost their mooring lease. They then moved to Steamboat Landing in the Sacramento Delta. In October of 2004 they purchased a small marina with a house on the property in Courtland, CA, which ensured a safe mooring and home for WOLCOTT.

Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

• Owner/Guardian: (1926-1936) – United States Coast Guard
• Disposition: (1936) – Transferred to the War Department
• Owner/Guardian: (1936-1950) – The Army Corp of Engineers
• Owner/Guardian: (1954-1957) – Pacific Towboat and Salvage Co.
• Owner/Guardian: (1957-1978) – Russell Family, Inc
• Owner/Guardian: (1978-1995) – Willamette Western, Inc
• Owner/Guardian: (1995-1995) – Air-Sea International/Robert L. Jarvis
• Owner/Guardian: (1995-2001) – Lattitude Educational and Counseling Service, Inc.
• Owner/Guardian: (2001-2001) – Robert L. Jarvis Trustee RLJ Revocable Trust.
• Owner/Guardian: (2001-present) – Diane S. House/Shawn Berrigan.

Oliver Wolcott (1760-1833)

Wolcott was appointed by President George Washington to be the 2nd Secretary of the Treasury. He served from February 3, 1795 to March 3, 1797. Wolcott was retained in office by President John Adams and Served from March 4, 1797 to December 31, 1800. When Alexander Hamilton, the 1st Secretary of the Treasury, resigned from the Cabinet, President Washington appointed Wolcott, placing in the office a man known to be a vigorous supporter of Alexander Hamilton’s financial program.

Wolcott, a third generation scion of an American family prominent in Connecticut and national affairs during the colonial and early national periods, had attracted attention as a specialist in public finance for his work in settling the financial dispute between Connecticut and the Federal Government in 1784. After serving briefly as Comptroller of Accounts for Connecticut during 1788-1789, he was named Auditor (1789-1791) and then Comptroller of the United States, where he served from 1791 until 1795. An enthusiastic proponent of Alexander Hamilton’s financial philosophy and program, Wolcott spent much of his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury defending his increasingly unpopular financial program against the attacks of the Jeffersonians.

He was retained in office as Secretary of the Treasury by President John Adams, and served through that Administration until his resignation during the election campaign of 1800, effective December 31, 1800, to accept the U.S. Judgeship of Connecticut. Oliver Wolcott died on June 1, 1833 in New York City. He had served briefly in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Resources

• Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
• U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 – December 31, 1933.
  Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).
• United States Coast Guard (Historians Office)
• Owners: Diane House/Shawn Berrigan
• Naval Cover Museum (NAMESAKE – Oliver Wolcott (1760-1833)
• Photo credits (in order of appearance: Diane S. House/Shawn Berrigan, The Army Corps of Engineers, Yale University Art Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
• British Pathé (Rum Running (1929)

 

 

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