UPDATED NOV. 1, 2021
Photos: U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA
The cutter Bear - storied veteran of the Bering Sea Patrol - has been described as one of the most famous ships in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2021, explorers identified its wreck almost 60 years after it foundered.
The Bear patrolled the 20,000-mile coastline of Alaska, assisted with relief efforts after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, transported Admiral Richard E. Bird on his second expedition to Antarctica, appeared in the 1930 film version of The Sea-Wolf by Jack London and served in World War Two.
Considered a forerunner of the modern icebreaker, Bear was built in Scotland in 1874 and initially worked as a seal hunting ship in Newfoundland. The dual steam-powered and sailing ship was assembled with six-inch thick sides for cold-water duty.
Bear entered the federal fleet in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, a forerunner of the Coast Guard. It was decommissioned in 1944 and sold to private interests. It sank in 1963 while under tow in the North Atlantic at age 89.
In 2021, it was announced the wreck had been located approximately about 90 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.
According to an Oct. 15, 2021, article in Coast Guard News: "In 2019, a team from NOAA Ocean Exploration and NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program, working off the Coast Guard Cutter Bear (named for USRC Bear), mapped 62 square miles of seabed and found two targets for further exploration.
"USCG and NOAA researchers returned to sea earlier this year on the USCG’s ocean-going buoy tender Coast Guard Cutter Sycamore, this time with an advanced remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with high-resolution underwater video cameras.
Bear entered the federal fleet in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, a forerunner of the Coast Guard. It was decommissioned in 1944 and sold to private interests. It sank in 1963 while under tow in the North Atlantic at age 89.
In 2021, it was announced the wreck had been located approximately about 90 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.
According to an Oct. 15, 2021, article in Coast Guard News: "In 2019, a team from NOAA Ocean Exploration and NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program, working off the Coast Guard Cutter Bear (named for USRC Bear), mapped 62 square miles of seabed and found two targets for further exploration.
"USCG and NOAA researchers returned to sea earlier this year on the USCG’s ocean-going buoy tender Coast Guard Cutter Sycamore, this time with an advanced remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with high-resolution underwater video cameras.
"Though the operational conditions encountered at the site were challenging, the team was able to collect enough video and still images sufficient to provide the documentation needed to identify the wreck."
