alers 120 Years Ago Above the Arctic Circle a ship in sight, and others wanted to know if we had come up in a balloon. Had we not been so well known, I think they would have doubted that we really did come in from the outside world.
The year just closed has been fruitful of noble achievements in the field of war, and while I have commended to your consideration the names of heroes who have shed luster upon the American name in valorous contests and battles by land and sea, it is no less my pleasure to invite your attention to a victory of peace.
1897 Overland Relief Expedition approaches whalers trapped in the Arctic ice. Another Bear officer who had volunteered for the cruise to save the whalers, Harry Hamlet, would also advance to the top post in the Coast Guard. Later, while still an officer, Jarvis became a special government agent at Nome, Alaska, and served there when a smallpox epidemic struck the community. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt assigned Jarvis as customs collector for the District of Alaska. He was pro-
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After returning home from the expedition, Jarvis assumed command of Bear, as would Ellsworth Bertholf, who in 1915 rose through the ranks to become the first commandant of the modern Coast Guard.1
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For their death-defying feat, President McKinley recommended Jarvis, Bertholf, and Call for a specially struck Congressional Gold Medal. In early 1899, in the aftermath of the expedition and the concurrent Spanish-American War, McKinley wrote in his recommendation letter to Congress:
USRC Bear officers, including Second Lt. Ellsworth Bertholf (front row far left), First Lt. David Jarvis (front row third from left), Captain Francis Tuttle (center), and US Public Health Service surgeon Samuel J. Call (back row far right). 1
The Revenue Cutter Service merged with the Lifesaving Service in 1915 to become the US Coast Guard.
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moted to captain in 1905 and, that same year, he retired from the Revenue Cutter Service after a nearly twenty-five year career. After Jarvis retired, President Theodore Roosevelt offered him the governorship of Alaska Territory, which he declined. Captain David Jarvis died in 1911, six years after leaving the US Revenue Cutter Service. He had become an important figure not only in the history of the service, but also in the settlement of Alaska. A highendurance Coast Guard cutter bore his name, as does Mount Jarvis in Alaska’s Wrangell Mountains. Today, the US Coast Guard awards the Captain David H. Jarvis Leadership Award every year to a Coast Guard officer who demonstrates outstanding leadership skills and motivates and inspires other men and women to strive for excellence. Jarvis’s memory lives on in the history and heritage of the US Coast Guard and the State of Alaska. William H. Thiesen, PhD, is the Atlantic Area Historian for the United States Coast Guard. A regular contributor to Sea History, Dr. Thiesen was awarded the 2017 Rodney N. Houghton Award for the best feature article in Sea History. His articles appear weekly in the online history series, “The Long Blue Line,” featured on the Coast Guard Compass website. For more information on USCG history, visit www.uscg.mil/ history. 21