This Day in U.S. Coast Guard History - February 28
1867- As ordered by the Treasury Department, each officer of Revenue Cutter Service, while on duty, was entitled to one Navy ration per day.
1871- Congress passed 16 Stat. 458 which addressed shortcomings in previous legislation regarding the inspection and certification of steamboats and their crews. This Act established the Steamboat Inspection Service within the Department of Treasury headed by a Supervisory Inspector General answerable to the Treasury Secretary. The Act also provided SIS inspectors with greater authority over more aspects of the maritime field.
1942- Certain duties of former Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation transferred to Coast Guard temporarily by Executive Order 9083. The transfer was made permanent on July 16, 1946. Also, the U.S. Maritime Service was transferred to the Coast Guard from the War Shipping Administration on this date.
2004-Coast Guard units responded to an explosion aboard the 570-foot Singapore-flagged tanker Bow Mariner off the coast of Chincoteague, Virginia. The Bow Mariner was carrying 6.5 million gallons of industrial ethanol when it exploded and sank. The Coast Guard rescued six survivors.
(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)
