Captain seeks home port for old cutter

from article by Drew Atkins, Worldlink, Wednesday, April 5, 2006

… the Alert, a former U.S. Coast Guard cutter and the oldest engine-powered ex-U.S. warship still operational.

This trip from San Francisco to Oregon is the farthest the ship had traveled in over a decade. Stone said the vessel, once homeported in Coos Bay, will stay here until about the end of April, he said, to relax, gather up some new crew members and give free tours of the ship. Next, he’ll take it up to Portland to show it around at some summer boat shows. Then it’s on to Port Townsend, Wash., his final planned destination, where on Nov. 30 the vessel will celebrate its 80th birthday.

“The idea is to get it repainted in Port Townsend,” said Stone. “It really needs it, and that’s the only place on the coast that can handle a boat of its size.”

The voyage, then, is one of renovation, an attempt to prepare the old cutter for the final leg of its career. There were 33 other cutters created in 1926, Stone said, and the Alert is the only one that hasn’t been “turned into fenceposts and razor blades across the country,” another way of saying it hasn’t been turned to scrap metal. It is being groomed as a floating museum, to be observed and appreciated.

Stone said he wants to find a port where the vessel can have a permanent home and grow old with dignity. He envisions an Alert gift shop, a support group of volunteers keeping the ship in good repair, a community that cares about the ship and steady streams of school children taking field trips to tour it. Some waterfront communities have made offers for the boat already, he said, but none has met his criteria.

After the ship gets a new coat of paint slapped on it in Port Townsend, Stone said he doesn’t know where he and the ship will end up. He has no concrete plans. All he knows is that until the day when the Alert settles down to become a historic display, he’ll keep fixing it up and navigating the West Coast’s waters, and the old warship’s story will continue to thicken with the years.

… more, from full article

History, description:

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/WEBCUTTERS/Alert1927.html