How the Coast Guard Pulled off One of its Greatest Rescues During a Nor'easter

Unsure whether they would ever step on solid ground again, a distressed group of mariners huddled above the imposing waves that thrashed their broken ship.

A menacing nor'easter pummeled the SS Pendleton on Feb. 18, 1952, causing the oil tanker to be broken in two a mile off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The captain and seven crewmen were in the bow, or front, of the ship while the other 33 seamen on board were in the stern (rear), according to author and historian Michael Tougias, who wrote “The Finest Hours,” the historical account that inspired the movie of the same name.

Forty feet above the ocean, those in the stern watched helplessly as their shipmates in the bow slipped away, never to be seen again, according to an obituary for one of the Coast Guard crew members that was published in The New York Times.

Twenty miles from where the Pendleton split, the same nor'easter improbably claimed another tanker on that horrible day. Unlike the Pendleton's crew, the mariners on the Fort Mercer sent a distress message alerting officials on shore of their crisis. Because of that, five large Coast Guard cutters, a Navy ship and a reconnaissance plane braved brutal storm conditions in search of the Fort Mercer, according to historian W. Russell Webster, co-author of "The Pendleton Disaster off Cape Cod." Thirty-eight of the 43 men on the Fort Mercer were later rescued.

Since it was unable to send out a call for help, the Pendleton wasn't so fortunate to receive such a robust response. It wasn't until a radar station detected four large hulks in the water that it became clear that two tankers actually had fallen victim to the stormy seas, according to The New York Times.

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With so many resources devoted to rescuing the men on the Fort Mercer, a patchwork crew at nearby Chatham Lifeboat Station was assembled to search for the Pendleton. Boatswain's Mate First Class Bernie Webber led a four-man search party that included Petty Officer Third Class Andrew Fitzgerald and Seamen Richard Livesey and Ervin Maske.

As their 36-foot motorized lifeboat, the CG 36500, moved away from shore in the early evening on Feb. 18, the crew felt some trepidation. Their nervousness only grew when they looked into the distance and observed waves as tall as mountains, Webber recalled in a 1967 interview with a Cape Cod radio station.

"The boat seemed smaller than ever to me at that moment," Webber said in the interview. "Perhaps a little panic set in, and I said, 'Well, can I turn back? Shall I go ahead? What's to be done?'"

One of those monstrous waves struck the CG 36500 with such force that it hoisted the lifeboat into the air and flipped it around. The impact shattered its windshield, knocked Webber -- who was steering the boat -- off his feet and destroyed the ship’s only compass. Those setbacks didn't deter Webber as he valiantly tried to maneuver the boat against seas that rose as high as 60 feet.

In the interview, Webber recalled asking Fitzgerald to go to the front of the boat and turn on a small searchlight so he could see over the bow. As Fitzgerald complied, another wave battered the CG 36500, tossing him into the air.

Webber lost sight of Fitzgerald.

"My heart went down [to] my feet," Webber said in the radio interview. "I said, 'My God, I've lost Andy. He's been washed overboard.' Another sea hit us, and a tremendous thump came behind me, and I looked, and here was Andy Fitzgerald lying on the deck down behind me."

It wasn't the only time Fitzgerald put himself at risk during the CG 36500's perilous journey. When its waterlogged motor cut off in the stormy conditions, Fitzgerald went into the small engine compartment to restart it. Because of the cramped quarters, Fitzgerald could not avoid brushing against the engine as it started and severely burned his back, Webber recounted to the station's listeners.

Webber, who served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II before joining the Coast Guard in 1946, was struggling as well. As Webber battled the waves with no windshield in front of him, snow pelted his face. Without precisely knowing where they were going, the CG 36500's crew was drawing closer to the wrecked Pendleton.

Webber didn't realize how close they were until he asked Fitzgerald to turn on the searchlight again, he said in the radio interview. Once they could see through the nighttime darkness, they saw the giant stern of the Pendleton looming over them.

"If I had gone another 50 feet, I would have run right into it," Webber recalled.

Finding the Pendleton was only the beginning. Now Webber and his crew had to figure out how to get the cluster of men clad in orange life jackets down from high above into their boat. With room under normal circumstances for no more than 16 people, according to the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the CG 36500 was never intended for such a large-scale rescue.

The Pendleton's crew tossed a rope ladder over the damaged ship's side and began their descent. As they did, Webber strived to position his boat properly. Afraid he would smash the CG 36500 into the Pendleton, he exercised caution and said he normally would make two or three passes for each survivor. While some men jumped off the ladder and landed on the lifeboat's deck, others had to be retrieved from the rolling sea.

In all, Webber and his crew saved 32 of 33 men, cramming them into whatever empty space they could find onboard. Not long after the last survivor stepped aboard CG 36500, the hulking stern of the Pendleton sank.

"The ship rolled right down toward us, and it seemed like the lights came right into my face," Webber recalled 15 years after the incident. "They were so close. Evidently, the ship took a heavy roll, and then it rolled back and just disappeared from us. I saw it happen in an instant."

For their actions, Webber, Fitzgerald, Livesey and Maske received the U.S. Coast Guard’s Gold Lifesaving Medal.

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