Search for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear
Past Expedition
Overview
From September 14-28, NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for the U.S. Revenue Cutter (USRC) Bear. USRC Bear, which served nearly 80 years in the Revenue Cutter Service, the Coast Guard, and the Navy, has a rich history of meritorious service in the Arctic, the North Atlantic, and Antarctica. Originally built as a sealer in 1874, it went down in 1963 in waters near the U.S./Canada international boundary approximately 260 miles due east of Boston and 90 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.
Features
Features provide a deeper dive into expedition-related topics.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bear has arrived back at the Coast Guard pier in Boston, completing a very successful mission (more about this in a few days), offloading all the survey equipment for shipping, and sending off the officers and crew for a well-earned “liberty.”
October 24, 2019
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bear has arrived back at the Coast Guard pier in Boston, completing a very successful mission (more about this in a few days), offloading all the survey equipment for shipping, and sending off the officers and crew for a well-earned “liberty.”
September 28, 2019
In the summer of 2019, the Coast Guard and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bear (WMEC-901) were approached by NOAA with a daunting challenge to jointly conduct an exploratory mission in search of the wreck of the Revenue Service Cutter (RSC) Bear during the unit’s 72-day District One Maritime Security Response Operations deployment.
September 23, 2019
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Several months ago, when there was a scant possibility that Beth Crumley might be able to join the expedition to find the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear, she was thrilled...and equally terrified. She has been to sea before, but in the role of a historian. This mission is different. She is assigned to the survey team.
September 20, 2019
Inevitably, weather is likely to get in the way of the “best laid plans” of any at-sea mission, and ours is no exception. As a result of some storms heading toward New England, we have relocated to the more sheltered waters of Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, just south of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the busy waters of the approaches to The Port of Boston.
September 19, 2019
One objective of the first leg of the recent Deep Connections 2019 expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer was to collect information about the seafloor using the ship’s mapping system to help in the search for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.
September 15, 2019
Yesterday, September 14, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Bear took in lines and slipped from her mooring in Boston. Pulling away from the dock, the cutter turned eastward under gray, overcast skies. The 270-foot vessel passed the skyline of the city, bound for the North Atlantic. This mission is drastically different from the cutter’s usual law enforcement and counter-narcotics operations. This mission is to locate possible resting sites of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear. As Beth Crumley looked into the gray mist, she wondered where that might be.
September 15, 2019
After nearly two decades of planning, the “Search for the Bear” is finally happening! The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bear is arriving at the pier in Boston this afternoon and all the survey equipment has been shipped and received, awaiting loading onto the ship.
September 12, 2019
The Bear is more than just a famous ship; she is a symbol for all the service represents—for steadfastness, for courage, and for constant readiness to help men and vessels in distress. – Captain Stephen Evans, The United States Coast Guard, 1790-1915
September 9, 2019
By the mid-1920s, Bear had served Alaska for over 40 years and over 30 Bering Sea Patrols. During that career, the whaling fleet had sailed out of the Arctic fogs into the mists of memory and waves of miners had come and gone. As Alaskan settlements developed, civilizing influences once provided from the sea by Bear became locally available on land.
September 9, 2019
Revenue Cutter Service officer David Henry Jarvis wrote in his diary, journaling the Overland Relief Expedition, considered one of the most spectacular rescues in the history of the Arctic. As leader of the heroic expedition, Jarvis became one of the Service’s best-known officers to serve in the Alaskan maritime frontier.
September 9, 2019
The Bear’s story did not end with the sinking of the cutter. Instead, a new chapter of the cutter’s history had begun and, within about 15 years of its sinking, the search for Bear was on.
September 9, 2019
In 1885, Bear began its service career along with Thetis, an Arctic whaler turned over to the Revenue Cutter Service by the U.S. Navy. By today’s standards, these first revenue cutters to operate in the ice were considered “ice resistant” vessels.
September 9, 2019
Born in 1839 on a plantation near Macon, Georgia, Healy was the son of a white plantation owner and a slave. Healy became the first U.S. sea service officer of African descent and the first to command a federal ship. His career tied him to the taming of America’s western maritime frontier, earned him the nickname “Hell Roaring” Mike Healy, and made him the most famous captain in Coast Guard history.
September 9, 2019
U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear is one of the most storied ships in Coast Guard history. Largely associated with polar exploration, and particularly its Arctic service, the ship’s history is a series of compelling stories of bravery, dedication to duty, and legendary exploits. Learn more about the goals, objectives, and operational plans to search for the Bear during this expedtion.
September 9, 2019
The native people of Alaska relied heavily on whaling and fishing when the territory came under U.S. control in 1867. However, after foreign whaling, fishing, and sealing vessels entered Alaskan waters, fish and game numbers diminished dramatically, causing large-scale malnutrition and starvation in native towns and settlements. To solve the problem, Captain Healy tried to convince authorities that Siberian reindeer should be introduced to Alaska.
September 9, 2019
In 1881, Lt. Adolphus Greely, a member of the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps, led an expedition to Ellesmere Island, northwest of Greenland, to study its weather and winter conditions. Attempts to relieve Greely’s expedition in 1882 and 1883 proved unsuccessful and members of the expedition began to die of disease and starvation. In 1884, the U.S. Navy purchased Bear and the Arctic whaler Thetis to support a search for Greely.
September 9, 2019
Given the Bear’s iconic status, it is fitting that such a search be conducted to find its final resting place, and this “Bear Hunt” offers an opportunity to not only insure the preservation of this important heritage resource, but to tell its compelling story, once again, to a wider audience.
September 9, 2019
During World War II, Greenland sat on the northern edge of the Battle of the Atlantic and, early in the conflict, the Germans established weather stations there to provide forecasts for their European operations. In 1941, the United States began military oversight of Greenland on behalf of occupied Denmark to prevent these German incursions, retain control of strategic cryolite mines, and build air bases for military aircraft flying from the United States to Europe.
September 9, 2019
Revenue Cutter Bear served every year on the Bering Sea Patrol, which cutters had initiated in 1874. Each of the Bering Sea Patrols covered between 15,000 and 20,000 miles of cruising. Conditions on these patrols were harsh, dangerous, stressful and, at times, deadly (a fact demonstrated by Bear crewmembers buried in the Aleutian Islands). However, Bering Sea sailors experienced long periods of intense boredom punctuated by terrifying events.
September 9, 2019
Multimedia
The images from this expedition add context and help bring the expedition to life. Click on a preview image below to view the full image and get more information.
Education
Ocean Science for Educators provides the best of what the NOAA Ocean Exploration website has to offer to support educators in the classroom. Each theme page includes lessons, fact sheets, ocean facts, exploration notes, multimedia, and related past expeditions and projects. Below are the top education themes related to this expedition.
Team
Each team member’s path to this expedition is unique. Read their bios to find out what makes them ocean explorers.
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program – Bear Mission Coordinator
CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. – Operations Supervisor
U.S. Coast Guard – Assistant Historian
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program – Mission Principal Investigator and Chief Archaeologist
Maritime Studies Department, East Carolina University – Graduate Student
(1955-2009)
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program – Maritime Archaeologist
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program – Maritime Archaeologist
Resources & Contacts
Media Contacts
- NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research
Emily Crum
Office: (843) 460-9772 | Mobile: (202) 424-0081
Email Address: emily.crum@noaa.gov - NOAA Research
Monica Allen
Acting Director of Communications for NOAA Research and Director of Media
Relations for NOAA Research
Office: (301) 734-1123 | Mobile: (202) 379-6693
Email Address:
monica.allen@noaa.gov - NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
Vernon Smith
National Media Coordinator
Office: (301) 713-3125 x248
Email Address:
vernon.smith@noaa.gov - U.S. Coast Guard First District Public Affairs Office
LT Adam Schmid
Email Address:
Adam.M.Schmid@uscg.mil