The Finest Hours

by Michael J. Tougias

  The CG 36500 remains a living museum dedicated to the lifesavers of Cape Cod. She is in the water year-round, with her winter storage at the Stage Harbor Marina in Chatham. During the summer, the lifeboat occupies a berth at Rock Harbor and travels to various boat shows around the region, where her legend is retold to a new generation of New Englanders. At her helm is Pete Kennedy, a member of the Orleans Historical Society and a man dedicated to keeping the spirit of this tiny boat and the Gold Medal Crew alive. When he’s out on the lifeboat by himself in eight- to ten-foot seas, Kennedy can’t help but think of Webber, Andy Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey, and Ervin Maske. “They saw waves seven times as large,” he marvels. “It’s incomprehensible to me that they could perform that well under those conditions. What a remarkable feat for those young men.”

  EPILOGUE

  THEY WERE YOUNG ONCE

  In the years following the Pendleton rescue, Bernie Webber and Richard Livesey saw each other on occasion at Cape Cod, and the conversation usually focused on their families. One topic they never discussed was the tumultuous hours they had spent huddled together on that small wooden craft cheating death on Chatham Bar. When the idea first came for a 50th reunion of the Gold Medal Crew, Bernie Webber was against it. He didn’t want to relive the past. He would be the focus of attention and adulation, and he felt a little guilty and possibly a little scared. While friends and strangers would be praising him for his heroic effort, Webber feared the dark memories of the death of George “Tiny” Myers. Could he prepare himself for that?

  Another concern was whether such an event would be good for the coast guard. Webber may have felt used by the coast guard during his countless public relations appearances in the months following the rescue, but he also realized the service had been fair to him overall, and he didn’t want to take part in anything that would make a mockery of his life’s work. Organizers convinced Webber that such a reunion would be done tastefully.

  Bernie also wanted to make sure that the three members of his crew would attend. There could be no reunion of the Gold Medal Crew if all four men were not present. Webber had been fighting for recognition for his crew since the day he had nearly declined the Gold Lifesaving Medal back in 1952. That ceremony still stuck in his craw so many years later. Miriam had not been invited to attend, nor had any relatives of the other crewmembers. Webber told organizers that family members would have to be invited this time around. Those planning the reunion agreed to Webber’s request and promised him that their travel expenses would be taken care of.

  Ervin Maske had misgivings of his own. He had undergone knee replacement surgery about a year before, and standing for long periods of time put tremendous stress on his body. He knew there would be a lot of standing around at a reunion like this. Like Bernie, he also knew that he might be forced to relive the rescue over again in his mind. Ervin had spent decades keeping those memories at arm’s length.

  For their parts, Andy Fitzgerald and Richard Livesey were both excited to take part in such a reunion. The festivities began on May 12, 2002, and were spread out over several days with events in Boston and on Cape Cod. Captain W. Russell Webster, chief of operations for the First District U.S. Coast Guard in Boston, spearheaded the planning and managed to track down all the crewmembers and even one survivor from the SS Pendleton. Charles Bridges had been just 18 years old when his life was saved on that frigid night so many years before. Bridges now had a wife, a daughter, and a 20-acre farm in his native North Palm Beach, Florida.

  They had been young once, all willing to risk their lives for their job, for others in need. Now here they were in the twilight of their years. All had tried to put the rescue behind them, seeing it as a chapter in the book of their lives, but not the defining moment. After all, there had been weddings, the births of children, and, sadly, the death of a child as well. Yet as they spoke, it became clear that the bond between these men was as strong as ever.

  For Bernie Webber, the most emotional moment of the reunion came when he saw Ervin. The man could barely stand and yet did his best to smile through the pain. Maske had always held a special place in Bernie’s heart. He was the one member of the patchwork crew who did not have to be on that suicide mission. Ervin had held no real allegiances to Webber and his men; he was merely at the Chatham Lifeboat Station awaiting a ride back to his lightship. Ordinary men might have kept quiet, minded their own business, and stayed out of the fray, but Ervin Maske proved to be no ordinary man. Now, a half century later, it was time for Bernie to say thank you. He approached Maske with his voice cracking and wrapped him in a tearful embrace. Maske’s daughter, Anita Jevne, felt her own eyes watering as she saw the love that was shown to her father. The reunion was an eye-opening experience for Anita, who had never been told the details of that traumatic night. “My dad always said it was no big deal,” Jevne recalled. “He said it was just his job and that he did what he had to do. Once I heard the story told at the reunion, I was a bit in awe of my father and of the other three men.”

  The celebration culminated with a brief voyage on the CG 36500. The crewmembers all smiled as they climbed aboard, although one of them expressed reservations. “Why do we have to go on that boat?” Ervin asked his daughter. He had done his best to stay out of the water since finishing his coast guard enlistment, and now here he was stepping onto a boat that may have saved lives, but that had also left him with decades of nightmares, according to his wife. Maske did not share his feelings with anyone else as he took a seat on the boat and braced himself for what was to come.

  Despite the fact that it was the middle of spring, the air was cold, the winds were strong, and the water was a bit choppy. Still, the crew could have only wished for weather like this during the last trip they had made together on this boat. They left the Chatham Fish Pier for a brief journey around the harbor. Pendleton survivor Charles Bridges watched the small parade of boats circling around the harbor from the pier. Two coast guard officers from the current generation also rode on the CG 36500 to provide a helpful hand if something went wrong. But nothing went wrong on this day. Bernie Webber once again took his rightful place behind the wheel. The CG 36500 was flanked by two 44-foot motor lifeboats and a 27-foot surf rescue boat. The young coast guardsmen on those vessels, no doubt knowing they might someday be tested to the limits of their endurance, looked on with great pride.

  * * *

  At the time, the Pendleton and Fort Mercer rescues were the largest rescues performed by the coast guard. They would later be surpassed by the rescues involved with the cruise vessel Prinsendam in the Gulf of Alaska in 1980 and New Orleans’s Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Pendleton and Fort Mercer are still the largest open-sea rescues involving small boats and cutters in U.S. maritime history.

  SOME FINAL NOTES ABOUT THE RESCUERS

  ANDY FITZGERALD

  Andy Fitzgerald is the last surviving member of the Gold Medal Crew. He and his wife, Gloria, live in Colorado. Andy was asked to be the guest speaker at the United States Coast Guard’s Annual Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Coast Guard Command Center in Washington, DC, in 2009. “I was always told not to begin a story with the words ‘it was a dark and stormy night,’” he told several hundred guests in attendance. “But it really was!” he added, triggering a chorus of applause and laughter.

  RICHARD LIVESEY

  Richard Livesey passed away on December 28, 2007. He worked several jobs after his years in the coast guard, including as a janitor at a high school. No one besides his closest family members knew of his role in the heroic rescue of 1952. He recalled his days spent at Chatham Station as especially happy times, not because of the rescue but because of the friendships.

  ERVIN MASKE

  Ervin Maske died on October 7, 2003. By this time, he was working part-time as a school bus driver in his hometown of Marinette, Wisconsin. Maske was going to pick up the kids that morning and made it across the railroad tracks just beyond the bus yard when his heart gave out and he collapsed at the steering
wheel. “My dad always wore his coast guard cap while driving the bus,” Anita Jevne said. “He wasn’t wearing it on that day. Maybe he knew he wouldn’t be coming home.”

  BERNIE WEBBER

  Bernie Webber died in 2009 at his home in Melbourne, Florida, just two days after he had sent an e-mail to the authors of this book, along with a photo of the refurbished CG 36500 that read, “Guys—here’s your boat—if a movie is made, she’ll be ready. Just like brand new. I won’t be around, but give her a kiss for me.” Webber was 80 years old. In 2011, the U.S. Coast Guard honored Webber with a ship in his name. The Bernard C. Webber was launched in April 2011. She commenced her sea trials on November 27, 2011. She arrived in her homeport of Miami, Florida, on February 6, 2012, and was commissioned on April 14, 2012, at the Port of Miami. The ship’s motto reflects the character of the man: “Determination heeds no interference.”

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  GOVERNMENT AGENCY REPORTS

  United States Coast Guard. “Marine Board of Investigation into disappearance of fishing vessel PAOLINA, with all persons onboard, off Atlantic Coast, February 1952,” February 16, 1952.

  _____. “Marine Board of Investigation; structural failure of tanker FORT MERCER off Cape Cod on February 18, 1952, with loss of life,” February 25, 1952.

  _____. “Marine Board of Investigation; structural failure of tanker PENDLETON off Cape Cod on February 18, 1952, with loss of life,” February 25, 1952.

  _____. Operational Immediate Dispatch from CGC MCCULOCH to CCGD ONE, February 18, 1952.

  _____. Operational Immediate Dispatch from CHATHAM MASS LBS to ZEN/CCGDONE, February 19, 1952.

  _____. Priority Dispatch from COMEASTAREA to USCGC Eastwind, February 18, 1952.

  _____. Priority Dispatch from CCDG ONE to COGUARD CHATHAM LBS, February 19, 1952.

  _____. Priority Dispatch from NODA/CGC MCCULOCH to HIPS/CCGD ONE, February 19, 1952.

  NEWSPAPER AND WIRE SERVICE ARTICLES

  “6 More Die Leaping for Life Rafts.” Boston American, February 19, 1952.

  “Smashed Lifeboat Found [Paolina].” Boston Globe, February 17, 1952.

  “Five Deaths in Wild Northeaster.” Boston Globe, February 18, 1952.

  “Storm Ties Up N.E.” Boston Globe, February 18, 1952.

  “Maine Rescuers Fight Toward 1,000 Stranded” and “Crewmen Abandon Storm-Struck Craft.” Boston Globe, Special Edition, February 18, 1952.

  “32 Saved Off Tankers,” “33 Deaths, Huge Loss Caused by N.E. Storm,” “20,000 Marooned,” “6 Crewmen on Fort Mercer Believed Lost,” “Hero Rescuers Took Terrific Beating,” and “46 in Peril.” Boston Globe, February 19, 1952.

  “Rescued Seamen Tell Stories” and “Pendleton Cut Speed Before She Split in Two.” Boston Globe, February 20, 1952.

  “An Epic Job.” Boston Globe, February 23, 1952.

  “Unusual Leaks on Fort Mercer, Mate Testifies.” Boston Globe, February 26, 1952.

  “First a Roar, Then She Split.” Boston Herald, February 19, 1952.

  “32 Saved, 50 Missing, Two Perish as 2 Tankers Break Up Off Cape.” Boston Herald, February 19, 1952.

  “Cloth Rope Saved Four.” Boston Herald, February 20, 1952.

  “Pendleton’s Survivors Tell of Harrowing Ordeal at Sea.” Boston Herald, February 20, 1952.

  “70 Saved, 14 Dead After 2 Ships Split.” Boston Herald, February 20, 1952.

  “Half Tanker Bucks Gale.” Boston Herald, February 22, 1952.

  “Tugs Pulling Stern” and “Mercer Crew Score Leadership.” Boston Globe, February 22, 1952.

  “Fort Mercer Stern Arrives Safely in Newport.” Boston Herald, February 23, 1952.

  “1500 Marooned” and “Split Bow, Stern of 1 Craft Sighted.” Boston Herald, February 18, 1952.

  “Maine Snow-bunk Entombs Sleepy Tar in Car 54 Hours” and “Storm Death Toll Set at 31.” Boston Herald, February 21, 1952.

  “Broken Tanker First Noticed on Radar.” Boston Herald, February 26, 1952.

  “13 Refuse to Quit Hulk of Tanker—58 Saved.” Boston Post, February 20, 1952.

  “40 on Tanker Sections.” Boston Traveler, February 19, 1952.

  “18 Tanker Men Here.” Boston Traveler, February 20, 1952.

  “Salvage Tugs Move in to Tow Broken Hulks” and “Admiral Lauds 4 in Epic Small Boat Rescue.” Boston Traveler, February 20, 1952.

  “Four Chatham Coast Guards Rescue 32.” Cape Cod Standard-Times, February 19, 1952.

  “Coast Guards Save 18 Men Off Nantucket.” Cape Cod Standard-Times, February 20, 1952.

  “Storm Tossed Dragger Safe.” Cape Cod Standard-Times, February 20, 1952.

  “Fact Finding Panel Takes Testimony.” Cape Cod Standard-Times, February 21, 1952.

  “Tanker Stern Being Towed.” Cape Cod Standard-Times, February 23, 1952.

  “Bow of Pendleton Yields Seaman’s Body.” Cape Cod Standard-Times, February 25, 1952.

  “Heroes of 1952 Return to the Sea.” Cape Cod Times, May 16, 2002.

  “Lurid Stories Crop Up.” Cape Codder, February 28, 1952.

  “Plight of 40 Fathoms Last Week Overlooked for Tanker Wrecks.” Cape Codder, February 28, 1952.

  “Salvage Work on Pendleton Watched.” Cape Codder, August 16, 1956.

  “Rescue Boat Rescue Underway.” Cape Codder, November 17, 1981.

  “Volunteers to the Rescue.” Cape Codder, December 8, 1981.

  “Coast Guardsmen Honored for Heroic Actions of Long Ago.” Cape Codder, May 17, 2002.

  “Sailors Rescued at Height of Storm.” Central Cape Press, February 21, 1952.

  “32 Rescued, 55 Cling to Split Ships Off Cape.” Daily Record, February 19, 1952.

  “Brant Point Crew Plows Through Seas.” Nantucket Town Crier, February 22, 1952.

  “Senate Unit Seeks Data on All Gains Made in Ship Deals.” The New York Times, February 18, 1952.

  “Snowstorm Kills 30 in New England.” The New York Times, February 19, 1952.

  “Two Ships Torn Apart.” The New York Times, February 19, 1952.

  “25 More Rescued in Tanker Wreck.” The New York Times, February 20, 1952.

  “Saw Tanker Peril.” The New York Times, February 22, 1952.

  “2 Tugs Tow Stern of Broken Tanker.” The New York Times, February 22, 1952.

  “57 Men Are Snatched from Sea.” Portland Herald Press, February 19, 1952.

  “Mercer Stern Safe.” Portland Herald Press, February 22, 1952.

  “Tanker Skipper.” Portland Herald Press, February 22, 1952.

  “15 Lost as 2 Tankers Split off Cape.” Standard-Times (New Bedford, MA), February 19, 1952.

  “Battered Ships, Weary Survivors Mark New Epic of Sea.” Standard-Times (New Bedford, MA), February 20, 1952.

  BOOKS AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES

  Barbo, Theresa Mitchell, John Galluzzo, and Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.). The Pendleton Disaster Off Cape Cod: The Greatest Small Boat Rescue in Coast Guard History, a True Story. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2010.

  Dalton, J. W. The Life Savers of Cape Cod. Chatham, MA: Chatham Press, 1967 (reprint of 1902 edition).

  Earle, W. K. “A Saga of Ships, Men and the Sea: When Two Ships Foundered Off Cape Cod, the Coast Guard Was Ready.” U.S. Coast Guard Magazine, June 1952.

  Farson, Robert H. Twelve Men Down: Massachusetts Sea Rescues. Orleans, MA: Cape Cod Historical Publications, 2000.

  Frump, Robert. Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine. New York: Doubleday, 2001.

  Fuller, Timothy, and Harry Friedenburg. “The Coast Guard’s Finest Hour: The Day the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer Broke in Two.” Collier’s Magazine, December 27, 1952.

  Hathaway, Charles B. From Highland to Hammerhead: The Coast Guard and Cape Cod. Self-published, 2000.

  Johnson, Robert Erwin. Guardians of the Sea: History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present. Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1989.

  Kaplan, H. R. Voyager Beware.
Chicago, IL: Rand McNally, 1966.

  Morris, Sid. “Ignore Blizzard—Return to Ship” (reprint of 1965 article). Available at http://www.sitnews.net/Acushnet/022403_SidMorris.html.

  Noble, Dennis. Rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard: Great Acts of Heroism Since 1878. Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2004.

  Orleans Historical Society. Rescue CG 36500. Orleans, MA: Lower Cape Publishing, 1985.

  Quinn, William P. Shipwrecks Around Cape Cod. Orleans, MA: Lower Cape Publishing, 1973.

  ———. Shipwrecks Around New England. Orleans, MA: Lower Cape Publishing, 1979.

  Stancliff, Sherry S. “Fort Mercer and Pendleton Rescues.” Golden Tide Rips, Class of 1950 Edition, 2000.

  Tougias, Michael J., and Casey Sherman. The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue. New York: Scribner, 2009.

  Webber, Bernard C. Chatham: “The Lifeboatmen.” Orleans, MA: Lower Cape Publishing, 1985.

  Webster, W. Russell. “The Pendleton Rescue.” Available at http://www.cg36500.org/history_pendleton_rescue.html.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  MICHAEL J. TOUGIAS is the author of many true rescue stories, including A Storm Too Soon: A True Story of Disaster, Survival, and an Incredible Rescue; Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster at Sea; and Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do, which ALA named an Editor’s Choice and which Booklist praised as “the best story of peril at sea since The Perfect Storm.” A frequent lecturer on his work, Tougias lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

  michaeltougias.com

  CASEY SHERMAN is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author of six books, including Animal, A Rose for Mary, Bad Blood, Black Irish, and Black Dragon. He received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalistic Excellence and has been nominated for an Emmy Award. A featured guest on major television networks and news programs, Sherman has lectured at The National Press Club and the U.S. Coast Guard Command Center in Washington, D.C. He lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts.