Page 71: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2021)

Purchased by the U.S. Government, she David Jarvis and accompanied by LT successful expedition, in 1933-1935, was put into service by the U.S. Navy as Ellsworth Berthoff and ship’s surgeon and later for the U.S. Antarctic Expedi- part of the rescue ? eet for the Greely Ex- Dr. Samuel Call, from Nelson Island tion of 1939-1941. During World War pedition to the Arctic in 1884, and ? rst near the Bering Strait to drive a herd of II, Bear again went into service for the came to world-wide acclaim as the ves- 450 reindeer 1,600 miles, in the driv- U.S. Navy in the Greenland Patrol and sel that rescued the few survivors of that ing snow and perilous conditions of the notably participated in the capture of a disastrous expedition. In 1885, Bear was Arctic winter, to Barrow to provide food German spy vessel, the trawler Buskoe.

transferred from the Treasury Depart- to the 275 men from the whaling ships Ending her service as a commissioned ment for service in the Arctic as a Rev- stranded onshore. To this day, the U.S. vessel in 1944, Bear was sold in 1948 enue Cutter, and for an unprecedented Coast Guard’s highest honor for bravery to a Canadian steamship company to 41 years, ably patrolled the Arctic, sav- is named for the leader of that expedi- be re-converted to her original purpose ing lives and dispensing justice in this tion, Lt. David Jarvis. as a sealer, but poor market conditions remote and often challenging region. Bear remained in meritorious service caused the company to abandon her on

Between 1886-1895, Bear’s captain in the Arctic until 1917, when she was a wharf in Nova Scotia. The ship was was the legendary “Hell Roaring” Mike transferred back to the U.S. Navy during saved from this fate by an entrepreneur

Healy. While he never, during his life- World War I. After the war, Bear returned from Pennsylvania, who purchased Bear time, self-identi? ed as African Ameri- to again patrol Arctic waters. Notable in the early 1960s to become a museum can, perhaps to avoid the prejudice he during this second patrol was the ship’s and restaurant on the waterfront in Phil- would likely have encountered in in support of relief operations in the region adelphia, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, personal life and career, he was in real- during the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1919. the ship was lost while being towed ity the ? rst person of African American The ship was decommissioned by the to her new berth in 1963, and her ? nal descent to command a ship of the U.S. U.S. Government in 1929 and given to resting place lies, according to the posi-

Government. The U.S. Coast Guard the City of Oakland, California, where tion recorded at the time of the sinking,

Cutter Healy, commissioned in 1999 she was repurposed as a maritime mu- somewhere around 260 miles off Bos- and routinely operating in Alaska, was seum and used as the movie set for the ton, approximately 90 miles South of named in his honor. 1930 ? lm of Jack London’s The Sea Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.

Also notable was the so-called “Over- Wolf. However, the ship was not long land Rescue of 1897.” Discovering idle, as Admiral Richard Byrd pur- Excerpted from Brad Barr, Expedi- that eight whaling ships were trapped chased the still stout ship for his sec- tion Coordinator, NOAA Of? ce of in the ice off Barrow, a small team ond Antarctic expedition. She was re? t National Marine Sanctuaries Mari- was dispatched from Bear, lead by LT and performed admirably for both this time Heritage Program

Figure 13: Dimensions of the “unidenti? ed wreck” explored in 2021.

Image courtesy of NOAA/ONMS www.marinelink.com 71

MR #11 (66-74).indd 71 11/5/2021 11:16:08 AM