A 1.5″ round challenge coin was recently minted out exclusively by U.S. Challenge Coins. This coin called the USCG Wrightsville Beach Station has an antique finish with raised and painted details on both sides of the coin. It has a rope edging without epoxy.
This USCG Wrightsville Beach Station token has its roots in piracy with the American Revolution having its roots in what the colonists thought as unfair taxation on goods being imported in the country. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin protested on this emphatically in Philadelphia while citizens in the Atlantic coast are taking matters in their own hands, boarding ships and merely taking the stuff. When war with the British was declared, smuggling became a means of relieving King George of revenue. Then piracy became privateering wherein private ships were assigned by the government to assault enemy vessels and split the “take” with investors.
When the colonies won their independence, all these had changed since the founding fathers of the nation found out that they can generate revenue on their own by levying tariffs on imported goods. This gave smugglers a difficult time in distinguishing between tax imposed by King George and the one authorized by the new Congress of the United States. Alexander Hamilton introduced a bill in Congress that created the United States Marine Service Revenue in April 1970 which was unpopular among smugglers.
The bill was approved by the Congress in August 1790 and construction of the ten cutters started. Since there was no U.S. Navy during that time, men aboard the ships were designated as officers of the customs. The cutters were stationed in strategic locations along the Atlantic sea coast to patrol the coast in any weather condition.
The other side of founding of the Coast Guard story happened when life – saving operations was focused towards the crew and shipwreck passengers. With the passage of the Newell Act in 1948, the United States Life – Saving Service was established. It also established an array of unmanned life – saving stations along the Eastern coast starting from New Jersey. The stations were run by the Revenue Cutter Service staffed with volunteers. It was not until the September 1854 hurricane before the United States Life – Saving Service recognized that they were ill – equipped and ill – trained.
The Congress threw more money at the service keeping full – time keepers and two superintendents in every station and by 1871 new stations were built and six – man boat crews were commissioned to each. New stations emerged along the rock – bound coast of Maine, Cape Cod, Port Aransas, Texas, and along the North Carolina’s Outer Banks and Wrightsville Beach was not on the list.
The network stations were officially organized as a separate agency of the United States Department of the Treasury and became the United States Life-Saving Service in 1878. In 1915, the Act to Create the Coast Guard was signed that combined the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life – Saving Service. There were 270 life-saving stations covering the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. In 1939 the US Lighthouse Service was added. It was later joined by the US Steamboat Inspection service in 1946. Still Wrightsville Beach was not on the list of Coast Guard stations.
History has it that prior to World War II, funds were allocated for a Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach but when the war broke out the funds were diverted to support the war. It was only in 1957 that a station was built on the south side of the Town Hall at the request of town aldermen. By 1969, a new station was built on Water Street which was originally created to house a crew of 18. Today, the station accommodates a crew of 32 and maintains four boats.
9/11 events changed the Coast Guard forever. Wrightsville Beach Station was quickly transferred to the Homeland Security Department upon its implementation and became its leading agency.