What do you think about the CG's plans for a station in the Barrow, Alaska area? From the news articles I've read, it sounds as though there are plans in the works for a seasonal station with helos and small boats available, to help cover northern Alaska now that the Northwest Passage is starting to open up for more marine traffic. Sounds like an interesting new chapter in the CG's role up there. Personally, I wouldn't mind being stationed there, it would be an adventure. I think that there are many issues for the CG to address now that the ice is melting up there: the need for more icebreakers, more responsibilites (for SAR, security, and environmental protection), the whole question of what country "owns" the Arctic (and the need for a U.S. presence to protect our interests)... I'm just wondering what others think about these new developments, and what you think the Coast Guard should be focusing on up there.

If the need is there, I'm sure the CG will put a bunch of poor saps in that godforsaken tundra.

I can't think of a worse locale to spend even a 4 or 5 month seasonal tour.

The bright spot is that there's a naked woman behind every tree.

The dark side, is that there's no trees.

Everything you need to know about Barrow, Alaska can be seen here.

There are worst places to get stationed at. I wintered over in 1973/74 at the former USCG Radio Station which was located in the former Naval Arctic Research Laboratory. 34 years ago, the temperatures went down to near minus 50 at night. The arctic night time lasted from late October to early April. The sea ice during winter was several feet thick.

During our stay, the 17th District Morale Officer sent us a small shipment of morale gear - a light-weight fishing pole and a console color television. The fishing tackle was useless due to the ice thickness. The closest television transmitter was located 180 miles away in Fairbanks. At that time, there was no cable or sattelite TV reception. All we had was a radio feed from the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.

I hear that due to the global climate change, the weather has moderated a bit up there. Just bare in mind that Barrow is "damp" in that booze cannot be sold in the town but you can bring a litter is spirits, a gallon of beer or 2 litters of wine. And if one of the natives offers you a taste of muktuk, it would be wise to accept, no matter how disgusting it looks or tasts and regardless of your feelings about saving the whales. You don't want to piss them off by refusing their gift.

Oh, and Barrow is the HQ for the Barrow National Forest whose inventory consists of one artificial tree constructed from plywood - when it isn't blown away by the fierce autumn winds.

There are worst places to be stationed at. Coast Guard Headquarters would be one of those places.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard

Press Release

Date: Oct. 25, 2007

Contact: Cmdr. Jeff Carter
(202) 372-4635

COAST GUARD CONDUCTING FIRST NORTH POLE FLIGHT

Mission part of increase in Arctic operations

***Video, stills, interviews, and 3-D polar model available***

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Coast Guard announced a C-130 departed Barrow, Alaska today to fly 1,183 miles to the North Pole as part of an increase in Arctic orientation flights. The crew, which includes a representative from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Barrow community, will assess changes in maritime activity in the region as recently observed climate changes provide greater access to the Arctic.

“The northern reaches of the Arctic is a new area for us to do surveillance,” said Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard district based in Juneau, Alaska, which is at the forefront of the service’s Arctic operations. “We are expanding our patrols because we are seeing increased activity in the region and we need to know what is going on up there.”

The Coast Guard is the principal U.S. federal maritime enforcement agency in the Arctic with broad safety, security and environmental stewardship missions. The service expects its responsibilities in the Arctic will increase in coming years, as increased access brings additional needs for traditional missions such as search and rescue, pollution response, fisheries law enforcement, marine safety, waterways management, maritime security and oceanographic operations. To meet these increased demands it is considering the establishment of a forward operating base in Barrow by next spring to monitor and respond to maritime traffic in the region.

The Arctic region is the focus of increasing interest as a shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, offering a potential route between Europe and Asia that is 4,000 miles shorter than a transit through the Panama Canal. Among the needs the Coast Guard has identified is the potential for a traffic routing system to define shipping lanes in rapidly changing waterways.

“The Arctic is emerging as a functioning body of water with implications for commerce, tourism and transport,” said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard. “The great distances and harshness of the Arctic climate means we have to be prepared for a new defined mission set in an enormously challenging environment. Our nation needs further analysis of trends in Arctic activity and the associated risks to the region, clear national policies and priorities that address the new challenges in the Arctic, and continuing research to provide better understanding of the Arctic.”

Allen has encouraged ratification of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides an international framework for defining the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans and marine natural resources. In a speech Sept. 27 before the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Allen discussed emerging access to the Arctic region and the need to work cooperatively to address challenges and opportunities arising from changes in the region. The speech can be found online at http://www.uscg.mil/comdt/.

“As polar ice coverage recedes, previously impassable channels are becoming open waterways for at least part of the year,” said Capt. Jim McPherson, chief of public affairs. “These newly open waterways in some of the harshest maritime operating environments on earth are, in many cases, uncharted and present safety of navigation issues that must be resolved.”

“The growth in all Coast Guard missions above the Arctic Circle has already begun,” said Brooks. “We are already seeing more mineral, oil, and gas exploration, more vessel traffic, and more scientific missions. We expect this trend to increase dramatically as the United States and other nations focus on the Arctic as an accessible waterway and a rich source of natural resources.”

“The Arctic is a pristine and environmentally sensitive region that must be protected. We as a nation must understand the challenges and opportunities these changes in the environment might present,” said Brooks. “The Coast Guard is well-suited to address new challenges and opportunities in this predominantly maritime domain.”

The Coast Guard brings over a century of experience in the Arctic region. The service is marking the 50th anniversary of three cutters breaking through ice to cross the Bering Strait and into the Arctic Ocean to determine the feasibility of the Northwest Passage as a route for cargo vessels to re-supply the early warning radar network - a critical front for national defense at the height of the Cold War. The cutters’ three-month voyage across the northern edge of the North American continent helped resolve much of the uncertainty about the 4,500 miles of semi-charted waters through which they sailed.

The Coast Guard cutter Healy, an icebreaker based in Seattle, completed a mission in September with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to map the sea floor in the Arctic region. The cutter will return to the region in the spring.

###

Reminds me of the year when even steely-eyed commissioned officers were threatening desertion, mutiny and sedition ... when they established that marine safety gig at Morgan City, LA ...

Marcus,

You will be interested in how much Barrow has changed. I first saw Barrow in 1961 and it did not change much through 1978, on my last trip there.

The years escape me now, but between 2004-2006 I rode the Healy to do some research. Stayed overnight in Barrow in October to catch a flight back home. I stayed in a very nice motel, called to carry out place to get something to eat in the motel. Walked down to a museum and, believe it or not, a very large shopping center-supermarket type of arrangement and had an expresso. Can you imagine all that? I know I was shocked. As you know, it was getting cold in October. Another writer and I walked across the ice in the large pond near Barrow to get to the shopping area. There were fresh vegetables in the supermarket. Do not know, however, how it would be from Nov.-April.

I remember first seeing it again in the helo flying from the Healy[/I. Long stretch of tundra, then seeing the radio towers. I recall those towers from the deck of the [I]Northwindtoo many years ago.

Oh, I remember the science party going up to the former NRL, but do not remember who is running it now.

Slightly off the subject: Does everyone know how
the makers of the tabasco sauce everyone sees in eating establishments, the USRCS, and Barrow are interconnected? Five points on the next service wide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujiro_Wada

This is all I could find on the Tabasco and Barrow connection....I'm sure there is more...

Gunk

Watch out for the Vampires in the winter.

Gunk,

Interesting link, but not the right one.

I flew over it ... looked like a bunch of plywood hovels to me. I didn't see a "Hooters" anywhere ...

You make the place and I'm sure there are plenty of folks who can't wait for the CG to open a base there.

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


OK Dennis, haven't found it yet, but while searching, I did run into this interesting read written by non-other than yours truely...

Gunk

http://www.amazon.com/Barrow-Alaska-Z-Lyn-Kidder/dp/0965482618

OK, do I have to buy this book to find out?

Gunk

quote:

Slightly off the subject: Does everyone know how
the makers of the tabasco sauce everyone sees in eating establishments, the USRCS, and Barrow are interconnected? Five points on the next service wide.

Lt. Jarvis, Bertholf & Surgeon Call, the Overland Expedition to the whalers trapped in the ice at Barrow. The McIlhennys Tabasco Sauce ???? No idea how the Cajuns fit in to the north coast.

quote:

Slightly off the subject: Does everyone know how
the makers of the tabasco sauce everyone sees in eating establishments, the USRCS, and Barrow are interconnected? Five points on the next service wide.

Would this article answer the question?
The Rescue Of The Whalers: A Sled Journey Of 1600 Miles In The Arctic Regions, By Lieut. Ellsworth P. Bertholf, U.S.R.C.S., June, 1899

Master Mate wins the extra five points. Probably like me, it is too late for the service wide.

Edward Avry McIlhenny, a member of the family of the tobasco fame, was at Barrow during the time when what the USCG calls the Great Overland Expedition came about. He was a naturalist at the time. I am not too sure he was a trained naturalist, but it was popular in the 19th century for those who were interested in the world around them to go off to far places to collect specimens. And you have to admit that Barrow is a far place from Louisana.

There is some controversy on McIlhenny's role at Barrow. The best recent book that deals, in part, with the Overland is John Talliaferro, In A Far Country John went to the company's archives to see what he could find out about the man. I knew of McIlhenny's name from reading and writing a couple of things about the
Overland, but never made the connection until John pointed it out to me while we were on the HEALY.

Barrow has a long history with the USRCS and USCG. There is, for example, the story of the execution of a native by the whites at Barrow and how Healy handled it when the BEAR made its annual trip to Barrow. Stay tuned for the biography of Healy to see how it all turned out,
unless you want to read Charlie Brower's account.

With global warming nigh upon us, Barrow Alaska could be the next tropical sought-after duty station.

The History Channel recently showed the Modern Marvels episode about icebreaking featurning Dr. Noble. I knew about the Bear rescue but did not realize who was involved. There is a line drawing of the USRC Bear (along with the Harriet Lane and Joe Lane) on the wall of my son's room. I was surprised the episode did not include the STORIS/BRAMBLE/SPAR northwest passage trip.

Gotta love Johnny Horton.

Having just seen 30 Days of Night I don't think I've had a very rosy picture painted of Barrow, AK...as if the cold and dark wasn't bad enough, I'd have to worry about being eaten by vampires! No thanks...though I'm sure those townsfolk would have faired much better if the Coast Guard had been there to back that sheriff up...

The art direction for the movie must have been pretty good, it looks just like the pictures of the town that were posted here, and it wasn't shot on location.