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If you ask any Coast Guard member what the largest Coast Guard
cutter is, their answers will unanimously state Coast Guard Cutter
Healy. And if you ask that same group who the cutter was named for,
each and every person will respond with the same name: Capt. Michael
Healy.
Not only the namesake of the Coast Guard's largest
cutter, Michael Healy is also considered a legend throughout the
Alaskan waterways.
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U.S Coast Guard Captain Michael Healy on the quarterdeck of his most famous command, the Revenue Cutter Bear
(right), with his pet parrot, probably around 1895. (Image created by USA Patriotism! from U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photos)
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Commanding Revenue Cutters: Chandler, Corwin, Bear, McCulloch and
Thetis, Healy became a legend enforcing federal laws along Alaska's
20,000-mile coastline. Over his tenure, he became a friend to
missionaries and scientists, while he also served as a rescuer of
whalers, natives, shipwrecked sailors and destitute miners.
As a young boy, Healy was uninterested in pursuing academic prowess
and instead began a seagoing career in which he quickly became an
expert seaman and rose to the rank of officer aboard merchant
vessels.
Utilizing his skills and
expertise, Healy applied for a commission in the U.S. Revenue Marine
in 1864 and was accepted as a third lieutenant. After serving aboard
cutters along both the east coast and in Alaska, he was promoted to
captain in 1883.
Three years later, Healy took command of
Revenue Cutter Bear. Although already established as an expert
navigator and seaman, Healy made his mark on history in this
position.
He served as one of the sole government
representatives in the remote waters of Alaska, and introduced
missions that the Coast Guard would adopt for future generations:
protecting natural resources, suppressing illegal trade, resupplying
remote outposts and conducting search and rescue missions.
He
also was at the forefront of the Coast Guard's support of scientific
research throughout the Arctic region. During the 1880s, John Muir
made a number of voyages with Healy in support of a scientific
program to introduce reindeer from Siberia to Alaska in order to
provide food, clothing and other necessities for native Alaskans.
With his service, Healy became something of a national
celebrity.
In 1894, an article published in the New York Sun
described him as:
“Capt. Mike Healy is a good deal more
distinguished person in the waters of the far Northwest than any
president of the United States or any potentate of Europe has yet
become. He stands for law and order in many thousands of land and
water, and if you should ask in the Arctic Sea, ‘Who is the greatest
man in America?' the instant answer would be ‘Why, Mike Healy.' When
an innocent citizen of the Atlantic coast once asked on the Pacific
who Mike Healy was, the answer came, ‘Why, he's the United States.
He holds in these parts a power of attorney for the whole country.'”
Healy retired from service in 1903, and died a year later in
1904.
Perhaps Healy's outlook on his own service and
leadership was best described when he stated, “When I am in charge
of a vessel, I always command; nobody commands but me. I take all
the responsibility, all the risks, all the hardships that my office
would call upon me to take. I do not steer by any man's compass but
my own.”
Today, Healy's legacy lives on aboard Coast Guard
Cutter Healy, which continues to support many of the Arctic missions
established by Healy more than 100 years ago.
By U.S. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Katie Braynard
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2015
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