02/18/2025
Seventy-three years ago today the crew of the CG36500 - Bernie Webber, Andy Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey, and Ervin Maske, - rescued 32 crew members from the T2-tanker "Pendleton". The rescue took place just east of Chatham, Massachusetts and to this day is regarded as the greatest small-boat rescue in US Coast Guard history.
This painting of the rescue of the "Pendleton" is by noted marine artist Tony Falcone. He collaborated with Bernie Webber to make sure the painting realistically captured the rescue scene. The original painting is on display at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Webber, Fitzgerald, Livesey, and Maske set out from Chatham Harbor at approx. 6:00 PM in the 36-foot motor lifeboat CG36500 to rescue the crew of the tanker "Pendleton." Having lost the lifeboat's compass during the near-impossible passage over the Chatham Bar and sailing in a snow storm in the dark, the CG36500 miraculously found the stern of the "Pendleton". The CG36500's crew was able to rescue 32 crewmembers of the "Pendleton", and returned to the Chatham Fish Pier with the "Pendleton" survivors at approx. 9:00 PM. These days, such a small boat would never have been sent on such a perilous mission. The skill of the crew and, as Bernie Webber recalled, a few fortuitous events, enabled the crew of the CG36500 to successfully rescue all but one of the crew stranded on the stern section of the "Pendleton".
A detailed account of the rescue can be found in the following books:
THE FINEST HOURS* by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. New York: Scribner, 2009.
TWO TANKERS DOWN by Robert Frump. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2008.
INTO A RAGING SEA by Bernie Webber. Cape Cod, MA: On Cape Publications, 2015.
THE PENDLETON DISASTER OFF CAPE COD, updated third edition by Theresa Mitchell Barbo and Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.). Charleston, SC; The History Press, 2010
*A film version of The Finest Hours was released in 2016. As is the case with many film adaptations, the film is based on the true story of the "Pendleton" rescue, but does alter some of the historical details, as is typical of most film adaptations. The film does an excellent job of providing a visual sense of the rescue, but is not as historically accurate as the book.
