Lincoln, 1926
Named for the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
Cutter History:
The schooner Lincoln, a rum runner, was seized by the Coast Guard and commissioned into Coast Guard service in 1926. She was used as a patrol boat tender and supply vessel off the East Coast. She was a sailing vessel with an auxiliary engine. She departed Cape May, New Jersey, bound for Baltimore, Maryland, in late 1926 with a cargo of gasoline and oil. After arriving safely at Baltimore she picked up a cargo of scrap metal and set sail for Morehead City, North Carolina. On 18 December 1926, in heavy seas and wind, she caught fire after her fuel tank exploded off the coast of North Carolina near the Cape Lookout Lightship. A passing British passenger liner, the RMS Defender, responded to a wireless distress call issued by the lightship, whose crew had spotted the fire. During a five-hour rescue attempt, the British crew fought heavy seas, winds, and fire to effect a rescue. They managed to save two of the seven aboard the cutter but the other five* perished. The Lincoln sank soon thereafter. The CGC Modoc also responded but arrived too late to assist. She then searched the area for other survivors without success. The Defender deposited the survivors at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
SURVIVORS:
Mo.M.M. 2/c Gordon J. Schultz
Sea. 2/c Howard T. Carter
KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY:
Boatswain (T) T. A. Erlingson
C.Mo.M.M. Oluf Hansen
Mo.M.M. 2/c William C. Hunnicutt
Coxswain William H. Alston, Jr.
S.C. 3/c Pedro S. M. Quiroga
*NOTE:
Press accounts of the sinking note that six Lincoln crewmen perished in the fire and sinking but a memorial tablet placed at Section Base Nine the following year list only five names.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.