June 14 (UPI) — The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday the discovery of one of its ships, sunk off the California coast exactly 100 years ago.
The cutter McCullouch delivered the news in 1898 of Commodore George Dewey‘s victory in the Spanish-American War at the Battle of Manila Bay. After the destruction of the Spanish fleet, the boat sailed with the announcement to a telegraph office in Hong Kong.
It later patrolled the waters off the West Coast, sailing from its home port of San Francisco. In 1917 it struck a passenger ship in dense fog at Southern California’s Point Conception and sank.
Although its crew was rescued, one crewman later died of his injuries.
“McCulloch and her crew were fine examples of the Coast Guard’s long-standing multi-mission success, from a pivotal naval battle with Commodore Dewey, to safety patrols off the coast of California, to protecting fur seals in the Pribilof Islands in Alaska,” Rear Adm. Todd Solalzuk, commander of the USCG 11th District, said in a statement.
Confirmation of its location was made in October by a joint U.S. Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mission, an agency statement said. Although it is not located in a NOAA marine sanctuary, the ship remains government property and no portion of it can be removed or disturbed.
