U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Acushnet, oldest commissioned Coast Guard cutter, and the officially designated “Queen of the Fleet” will be sold as surplus at an online auction scheduled to end on March 16th. Current bidding is $66,000. (Updated 4/04)
US NAVY DIVER CLASS VESSEL (Note the GSA auction site rather oddly does not allow direct linking to individual auctions. Click the arrow to the right on the GSA auction page to see the Acushnet auction.)
The Acushnet was originally USS Shackle (ARS-9), a US Navy Diver-class rescue and salvage ship which went into service in 1944. During World War II, she earned three battle stars for coming to the aid of stricken vessels. In 1946 she began her 65 year career in coastal service when she she was transfered to the Coast Guard. The Acushnet was the sole remaining World War II era ship on active duty in the US fleet. The cutter is currently based in Ketchikan, AK.
Thanks to Kyle Stubbs for passing the word along.
At $30,000.00 this is easily afforded by the Sea Shepherds who are looking for a vessel. Can the sale be restricted as to future usage and thus exclude the SSCS.
Good Watch.
This link leads no where “US NAVY DIVER CLASS VESSEL”
I’m sorry you don’t like SSCS. I may not like you, but I certainly don’t manipulate the law to preclude you from purchasing government surplus. This is the United States, civil servants have no business picking which organizations they like and don’t like and changing the rules to reflect those personal feelings!
On the previous link the cutter is on the last page.
I still can’t figure out how to link directly to the cutter auction.
Leave it to the government to come up with an auction website that makes it difficult to find what you are looking for.
Patriot,
The Sea Shepherds routinely use vigilante violence. They break international law and openly fly a pirate’s flag. They also do nothing whatsoever to save endangered species of whales. While they make for amusing reality TV programming, they are otherwise dangerous and bumbling miscreants.
It is highly unlikely that Watson’s gang would want the Acushnet under any circumstances.
First of all, “international law” governs the interactions of nations with each other, not private individuals or organizations, so its impossible for the Sea Shepards to have violated “international law”. And flying a pirate flag, oh my goodness, they must be pure evil! Do they make people walk the plank too? Can you specify exactly which laws they have been convicted of, or does guilty until proven innocent not apply since you don’t like them and they are “obviously” bad to you. The bottom line is that as long as they haven’t been designated a terrorist organization in the U.S. (they haven’t) they have every much as right to buy a government surplus vessel as you, me, or the retired CAPT. To ask civil servants to subvert the rule of law to prevent them from purchasing it makes you much more of a menace to democracy in my book than the Sea Shepards will ever be.
Rick as you can see you are wasteing your time trying to explain things to ‘Patriot’. Poor chap does not know International Maritime Law to comment but of course still does anyway. Patriot may I respectfully suggest you visit and read NAUTICAL LOG you will have a wonderful time!!
Good Watch.
You misunderstand international law. It applies to everyone, even Paul Watson. The Sea Shepherds routinely interfere with lawful navigation, and engage in vigilante violence on the high seas. They sell t-shirts which list the number of ships that they have rammed and sunk! That they are not treated as criminals speaks only to a failure in international law enforcement.
Your claims about “subvert[ing] the rule of law” are also off base. The government has every right under law to set terms and conditions on the sale of surplus property. I doubt Watson’s gang would want a 60 year old ship under any circumstances. His Hollywood fat cats usually buy him newer toys for his criminal activities/reality TV show.
First of all, I think the same about he Sea Shephers as the rest of you, however I also believe in the rule of law. To that end I have a simple request. Please give a reference to the specific “international law” that has been broken here? Not an unsubstantiated reference to “interference with lawful navigation”, but an actual law, the actual code. Another simple request, list the specific code that they actually been convicted of. In my United States, individuals and organizations are innocent until proven guilty and we follow actual laws that can be referenced. I find it ironic that you criticize the “vigilante violence” of the Sea Shepherds, then proceed to “convict” them using your opinion formed from watching a TV show and based on “laws” you can’t cite. Anyone who advocates that federal employees “set terms and conditions” to exclude an organization based on that logic is pretty scary to me. If we can do that, then we can also “set terms and conditions” to exclude you or me, simply because we don’t like you for whatever reason. Fundamental freedom stuff here.
I see Captain Peter, that you were right. This is looking like a pointless exercise.
Patriot, you are making lots of demands here, while making numerous wholly unsubstantiated claims. Before I cite the appropriate sections of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, that the Sea Shepherds regularly violate, or list the various charges made against Watson in a half dozen or so countries, why don’t you site the appropriate GSA regs that would prevent the appropriate agencies from specifying reasonable terms and conditions for the sale of a former naval vessel.
As I’ve said more than once, I doubt Watson would want a sixty year old ship under any circumstances.
It is true that both the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation are just agreements between nations that they will each pass national laws that prohibit the mentioned practices, they are not laws themselves since there is no UN enforcement agency or UN courts except war crimes courts. Also, I think it it correct that the Sea Shepherds have never been convicted in the U.S., having charges brought against you is very much not the same as conviction in most countries. Don’t know what GSA can or can’t do, but I’m pretty sure they can’t specify “anyone can buy this but a group that has been charged but not convicted of some laws in other countries”
Yes and no. You are correct, international law is just an agreement to enact laws to reflect the terms of the specific treaty. On ratifying international treaties, the parties to the treaty are obligated to incorporate the treaty into domestic law. In the US Constitution this is spelled out in Article 6 – “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land;…” So the treaty itself does become law, part of the ” the supreme Law of the Land.”
The practical issue with both Somali pirates and the Sea Shepherds is one of political will. As long as Somali pirate are caught and then released it hardly matters that piracy is, and has been throughout history, a crime. Likewise as long as the illegal violence practiced by the Sea Shepherds is ignored by the nations of the world, they will their criminal acts. At an animal rights convention in 2002, Paul Watson was also quoted as saying, “There’s nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win. Then you write the history.” Sadly, as long as nations choose to look the other way, those who choose violence will win.
Point being, they’ve never been convicted. I agree that they should have been prosecuted and from what I see they would most probably have been convicted, but they haven’t been. I also thought OJ Simpson was guilty or murder, but I would have been completely wrong to discriminate against him as a civil servant because of what seemed obvious to me (I know, he’s in jail now but I’m talking about before the latest). Because we have this little thing called “innocent until proven guilty” in the U.S. and they haven’t been proven guilty in a court of law, they are in point of law innocent. Anyone who advocates that the government take action to specifically discriminate against them absent conviction of any crime is decidedly un-American and really pretty scary. Can the GSA make reasonable rules, sure. Can they make rules solely motivated by a desire to block one specific auction participant who would otherwise be lawfully allowed to compete, as advocated by the retired CAPT above? I certainly hope not. Once again, I don’t say this because I love the Sea Shepherds, I don’t. I’m just very disturbed by retired military officers who advocate something that goes against the very fabric of American democracy and don’t even seem to think it is wrong.
Patriot,
There is no constitutional right to be able to own or purchase a surplus Navy vessel. This has nothing to do with “the very fabric of American democracy” and everything to do with simple common sense.
She sold last night for $600,825. I don’t know who the buyer was.
Thanks for the update. At that price it looks like someone may plan on using her for something more interesting than scrap metal. I hope her already long and productive life continues for years to come.
Rick, I’m with you on that one. As a former crew member on the Acu I’d hate to see her scrapped after 67 years on active duty…
While looking at Google it appeared that the Sea Shepards have been charged with violating certain wildlife protection statutes concerning seal hunting after a confrontation with a Canadian Coast Guard Icebreaker and their vessel was seized by the Canadian authorities. Was this ever resolved?
Here’s a link to the blog…
http://dieselduck.blogspot.com/2009/02/ship-for-sale.html
who ended up winning the boat?
Fellows
I bought this ship with O.P.M and i and the investor’s had hopes of taking her to Belize to give divers world wide opportunity to dive the 189 miles of barrier reef there and the blue hole and have a place to live, it can hold about 75 divers,i bid on the ship with the strategy she would have fuel aboard from the short hop from Alaska to Seattle,where I’m picking her up in a few days from a great bunch of good men i must say in the coast guard …and i thought i could just top her off and make the trip and give her a new home and make America proud by helping to make her Queen of the Caribbean,she would have been the largest dive vessel in the Caribbean… her range is 10,000 n/miles and holds almost 95,000 gallons of fuel
The ship is being stripped like a cheap hoe including the layout drawings of the boat that shows of its compartments and with all her three levels and all them state rooms i needed them bad,i think there called deck plans,lol you know you use them to get out of harms way in case of a emergency or find the emergency,,,, what does the coast guard need with them,they could of left that it belongs on the ship,there taking it etc. off..the fuel that was aboard when i bought her has been sifled out of her and redistributed to other vessels,i thought when you buy something like this in America whats in the tank is yours,i have never sold somebody a car or a boat or ship after i get there money and give them the title and bill of sale,then say i got to take the fuel out of it,don’t worry i will leave you just enough to get to the fuel station,especially after strategantly bidding for the fuel left in it,i just knew they would fill them tanks like the did thats just the way the military does things,the auction never said it was going to take the fuel out of her and leave me just enough to get her out of the port of Seattle into big water,what a crappy thing to do,what do you think?maybe I’m wrong in my thinking,at least this ship is tight, been rebuilt to the gills when it was dry docked in 2009 i mean everything that looked warn out was fixed or replaced, bebuilt the motors shafts new props seals ect,even a brand new deck it would take millions of dollars to build a ship or buy a ship like this on the open market,and shes sexy to,with the fuel prices as they are I’m forced to resale her now to somebody with deeper pockets than the investors i got to buy her,i pondered on the idea of making her a one of those most deadly catch boats,what do you think fellows on that idea,i have not worked in over 10 years fellows solidly ,all the illeagles,and immigrants from Mexico have dominated the work force in America its not that they work cheaper,i have found if you have hired a immigrant from Mexico that speaks poor English and there native tongue Spanish and put them in H.R Department all they hire is Mexicans and new citizen’s in America and the companys all seem to be doing this in the all the construction trades and the unions have grasped this and have done the same thing,i don’t speak Iraq or Iranian or Spanish,so jobs are what they are, and you got to be creative and think outside the box,so my friends tryed to help me and others by buying this ship just so i could work maybe and make a living doing the good life,well fuel is up 2.50 cents since the auction and now I’m forced to resale her and get the money back to the owners and maybe make them a profit,so that’s the rest of the story like that Paul Harvey fellow use to say back when Walter Cronkite and the rest of America was working….
Greetings,
The Ketchikan Daily News in Ketchikan, Alaska, the now former homeport of the now former USCG cutter Acushnet, would be interested in contacting the current owner of the vessel.
As the Acushnet served this area for a number of years, there’s local interest in learning what’s next for the historic ship.
Thanks!
TO THE NEW OWNERS. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A REALITY TV SHOW WITH YOUR VESSEL?
C.P. RYAN/PRODUCER
As a former Mighty A crewman, I was disappointed that an American city did not buy this historic ship, and have it docked as a floating museum. Hate to see it torn apart like this; so many memories, so many adventures. I was on when the A went to rescue of two tankers which split in two off Cape Cod in Feb. ’52.
The Queen of the Fleet deserves a better fate.
I saw her just a few days ago sitting at Stabbert marine in Seattle. Her racing stripe is gone, but she looks otherwise intact, but without much going on.
I am the news director for a Ketchikan radio station. We are interested in interviewing the owner of the Acushnet. The ship was ported here for many years in the Coast Guard and is of great local interest. Anita Hales, KFMJ Radio. http://www.kfmj.com
I aam fascinated by the brief writings on the Tusitala. My father who left home in Helsinki in 1910 worked his way to Wales where he signed on to the grain trade in which he was involved for several years. He stopped sailing in 1923. He has seen the Tusatala he had seen the ship and considered her to be the most beautiful of the windjamers. I grew up in Larchmont sailind as a bilge boy on Atlantics and International Class sloops prior to WW2. My younger brother and I were brought up to go to sea. I graduated the NY State Maritine Academy in January 1946, went to sea as mate on freighters, returned to the College in 1948 and was degreed in 1949 and passed my Chief Mates License in 1949. My brother retired from Sea-Land serving as Captain of container ships. During the Korean War I served as a LT(sg) and operations officer of US Naval Cargo Handling Battalion 6 in the far east.When I returned home I apprenticed in Average Adjustion (Marine Claims)serving as chairman of the Association of Average Adjusters of the US
Ps. The name of Felix Riesenberg is well remembered.
Bill Carlson
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Dear current owner of the retired U.S.C.G. Acushnet. We are a marine relarted renewable energy group based in Florida with an interest in talking to you about the use of your vessel for our new fuel research for marine diesel fuel and other marine related renewable tecknologies that could be used with your vessel. If you would like to talk further about the possiblity of a purchase or joint venture let us know. NELSON 7279065298
The Acushnet will be heading to Fla. soon. Are you really interested in this ship? Nona
What is the latest of this ship? Perhaps a maritime museum should have a look at it..
George Marikas
Shipping Education & Training
CP if your still interested in making a reality show about saving and restoring then operating a historic vessel contact me via E-mail may be able to give you the ultimate show of shows as far as as that goes.
Samvimes76@yahoo.com
I went down and shot a short video of the Acushnet yesterday. You can see the video on YouTube, my page name is: Yachtnerd. It’s at Lovric’s in Anacortes. I first saw the ship anchored in Friday Harbor in September and wondered what it’s story was. Then around January 20 we had a very strong storm out of the south, a friend who lives on the water told me she saw a small ship heading out of the Guemes Channel into the storm. Just leaving the channel it was already taking it hard with water spraying way up over the bow. She thought it was strange,” why were they heading out now? Do they know that it’s going to be 10 times worse in the Straight of Juan De Fuca?” Later another friend told me he had heard about a ship heading out in that storm and that it had gotten into big trouble, tried to anchor, but was dragging. Then the rumors were that the Coast Guard, Home Land Security, and even the Canadian military got involved. Was the ship making a “run for it” in the storm? I don’t know, but it ended up tied up back here at Loveric’s, apparently in some kind of legal trouble. Yesterday when I went down to have a look myself all seemed fine, the generator was running, I saw one person on board. The ship looked like she was ready to get under way again. Any body know any more about the interesting story of this ship since it was sold?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alqTORItip4&context=C3f3886cADOEgsToPDskI51IaDxDNwniudhNZvGZ4Q Here is a link to the video you can cut and paste into your browser.