Wreck of the USS Bear found

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TheGreenGoblin
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Wreck of the USS Bear found

#1 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:38 am

The wreck of a legendary US naval ship that served in two world wars, performed patrols in waters off Alaska for decades, and at one point was captained by the first Black man to command a government vessel has been found.

A wreck thought to be the USS Bear, which sank in 1963 about 260 miles (418km) east of Boston as it was being towed to Philadelphia, where it was going to be converted into a floating restaurant, was located in 2019.

But it was only in August of this year that a team of experts looking at the evidence came to the conclusion that they are “reasonably certain” that the wreck is indeed the Bear, officials of the US coast cuard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said at a waterfront news conference in Boston.

“At the time of the loss of Bear, it was already recognized as a historic ship,” said Joe Hoyt, of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

The legend of the Bear is so ingrained in Coast Guard lore that the sports teams at the coast guard academy in Connecticut are named the Bears, partly in honour of the vessel.
USS Bear.JPG
USS Bear.JPG (85.09 KiB) Viewed 499 times
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -of-boston
SS Bear was a dual steam-powered and sailing ship built with six-inch (15.2 cm)-thick sides which had a long life in various cold-water and ice-filled environs. She was a forerunner of modern icebreakers and had a diverse service life. According to the United States Coast Guard official website, Bear is described as "probably the most famous ship in the history of the Coast Guard."

Built in Scotland in 1874 as a steamer for sealing, she was owned and operated out of Newfoundland for ten years. In the mid-1880s, she took part in the search for the Greely Expedition. Captained by Michael Healy of the United States Revenue Cutter Service (later part of the U.S. Coast Guard), she worked the 20,000-mile coastline of Alaska. She later assisted with relief efforts after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Her services also included the second expedition of Admiral Richard E. Byrd to Antarctica, and again to the southernmost continent in 1941 to evacuate Americans at the beginning of World War II. She later served in patrol duty off the coast of Greenland for the United States Navy. Between some of these missions, she was a museum ship in Oakland, California and starred in the 1930 film version of Jack London's The Sea-Wolf.

After World War II, Bear was returned to use again as a sealing vessel. Finally, in 1963, 89 years after she had been built, while being towed to a stationary assignment as a floating restaurant in Philadelphia, Bear foundered and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles (160 km) east of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia.
USS Bear

Hell Roarin Mike Healey
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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