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A partial view of San Juan Bay in 1900 before the arrival of Algonquin, showing commercial sailboats docked at “La Puntilla” (the Tip) section of Old San Juan. La Puntilla is the current location of Coast Guard Sector San Juan. local social scene ashore, while onboard the officers and crew hosted dignitaries and government and military officials on special occasions. For these festive events, the crew decorated the ship, the Puerto Rico Regiment band performed on deck, and guests would come aboard to dance and enjoy the hospitality of the ship’s company. Every year, the cuttermen played an important part in Fourth of July celebrations and marched in the Gubernatorial Inauguration parade through the streets of the city,
Dr. J. Edwin Nieves is Commander, Flotilla 63, Division 6, 5th District Southern Region Coast Guard Auxiliary. He is also a member of the CG Aux Interpreter Corps. Dr. Nieves is a physician for the Dept. of the Army Medical Detachment (MEDDAC) McDonald Army Health Center, Fort Eustis, VA. This article was adapted from “The Long Blue Line” blog at coastguard.dodlive.mil.
Algonquin mascot “Billy” on deck following the 1907 inauguration parade for Governor Henri Post. Billy was likely adopted during one of Algonquin’s visits to Culebra or Mona Island. Before the Spanish American War, the Spanish released goats and pigs on those islands, intending to use them later as a food supply. In the background is one of the cutter’s Hotchkiss 6-pounder guns. 32
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army & navy register, 1907
for battling fires that threatened to destroy parts of the city. By this point in Algonquin’s time in Puerto Rico, fifteen members of the cutter’s enlisted crew were Puerto Rican natives, about 25% of the ship’s company. During Algonquin’s 15-year assignment to San Juan, her crew lived and worked side-by-side with residents. Algonquin’s crewmembers were active in the
accompanied by the cutter’s mascot—a goat named Billy. Algonquin also supported the naval parade and gun salute to President Theodore Roosevelt during his visit to the island in 1906. Early in 1915, the Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the US Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard. The cutter, now USCGC Algonquin, carried on with her regular patrols and duties until she received new orders early in 1917 to deploy to Astoria, Oregon, via the Panama Canal. When the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, all Coast Guard assets were placed under US Navy command, and Algonquin returned to the Atlantic to perform escort duty. After the war, the vessel that had spent fifteen years in the tropics was sent to Alaska and spent the rest of her service life in the frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. She was decommissioned in 1930 and sold to a commercial shipping company. She would never return to the Caribbean, but the Coast Guard has maintained its presence there ever since, carrying out the duties of its predecessors— “Siempre Preparado.”
SEA HISTORY 170, SPRING 2020