Coast Guard says goodbye to friend
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They played Taps for her, and the men who knew her best had trouble holding back tears. They stood up tall in their dress uniforms and white hats, and they swallowed hard.
She was beautiful and proud with classic lines, they said, but it was her strength and her stalwartness that earned their devotion.
"She has served us well, and we will mourn her loss," said Cmdr. Mike Dawe of the Coast Guard's Group Seattle.
"Seattle is losing a great friend."
In the 31 years that the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Point Doran served the Coast Guard, she helped rescue countless fishermen, sailors and boaters. She helped bust drug dealers, gamblers, fishing cheats and polluters. She escorted submarines through dangerous waters and helped keep peace in times of conflict, patrolling Neah Bay during the whaling conflict, patrolling the Hood Canal during the Vietnam war, making sure protesters in kayaks didn't get in the path of Naval ships.
The last in its class of 82-foot patrol cutters based in the Puget Sound, the Point Doran was retired in a ceremony at Pier 36 yesterday, attended by members of her first crew, members of her last crew and a number of others who have sailed her.
"She was beautiful, and she was tough, " said James White, who was her first commanding officer. "She had so much power you could make her stand up and talk if you wanted."
The Coast Guard, which is attempting to streamline and update its fleet nationwide, will replace the Everett-based vessel with an 87-foot marine protector, the Adelaide, that will be homeported in Port Angeles. Many of the Point Doran's current crew have been reassigned to the Adelaide.
The vessel - which in reality, of course, has no gender but is still fondly called a "she" by crew members and Coast Guard officials - will be stripped of her colors and her stripes and taken to the Philippines, where she will serve that country in another capacity.
Her plaques and awards will be sent to the Coast Guard curator where they will be memorialized alongside those of other retired or decommissioned boats.
At a reception following yesterday's ceremony and during a last visit to the boat, past and present crew members swapped tales.
They talked about the adventures they had onboard and the way she rides so rough in the open sea. They talked about her close quarters and how that made them into family. They talked about all the lessons she'd taught them.
"I learned how to navigate on her," said Greg Porter, a petty officer second-class who's been with the Point Doran as a reservist for more than five years.
"I learned how to stand watch and how to run radar. I was on board when we rescued three fisherman in 25-foot seas off the coast of California and when we went through the locks of the Columbia. It's been a privilege and I'm going to miss her."
Christine Clarridge can be reached at 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com.