Derek Rieksts
CAPT., USCG (Ret.)
I was the Operations Officer assigned to the CGC STORIS from 1987 to 1990. I worked for two Captains: CAPT (Ret.) Alan (“Big Al” – but never to his face) Walker and CAPT (Ret.) John Alan (Al) Doty – a superb “Alaskan Sailor”. I served with two great XO’s – my friends CAPT (Ret) Tom Trosvig and Wayne Raabe, CDR (Ret).
I have many memories of STORIS, most of them very good:
The rescue of the Alaska Monarch crew off of St. Paul in 1990: Maneuvering the ship in the ice so that we could pass the towline was very tense. Many times we had less than a few feet of water beneath the keel and while dredging into position we snapped a Navy stockless anchor in two when it wedged between rock (broken) bottom and the ice. Many have seen the dramatic video of the rescue by the Kodiak H-3 and C-130 crews. In reality it was much more dramatic – until I saw the aircraft break out of the low ceiling, I thought we were going to watch those fishermen die in the Bering Sea ice. If you catch the video on TV and cringe at the poor Coast Guard radiotelephone procedures - I take full blame. I thought sounding like a Ballard fisherman would put the crew of Alaska Monarch at ease – I don’t think it had any effect.
Other memories:
- Conducting 99 law enforcement boardings of foreign and US fishing vessels in a single 30-day patrol in the Bering.
- Anchoring out in 100 knots of wind south of Sitkinak. We dropped both
hooks and then launched into “Casino Night”. The next morning we had to
weigh anchor and get underway for a multi-day search for a dragger
missing in Shelikof Straits – we never found the crew or their boat –
just their abandoned life raft. - Exxon Valdez clean up in Kodiak, Homer and Kenai Fjords: Enough said.
- In a blinding snow-storm near Akutan we used our small boat to
MEDEVAC a baby stricken with meningitis. After we picked up the baby
and her father we somehow, without radar, found our ship in the
blizzard, and were able to get the baby to an advanced medical
facility. - Unique “Alaska Patrol – ALPAT” liberty: Silver salmon fishing in
“Left Hand Bay” north of Sand Point where some of our crew were chased
by bear; half of the crew being stranded at the “Weathered Inn” in Cold
Bay for two days; harassing the Marines in Adak; special ops in Attu;
beach liberty in Kiska; the Elbow Room in Dutch Harbor.
Throughout my career I met many “STORIS sailors” – including the first Engineer Officer, who brought the ship from Toledo, OH around to Boston in 1942. He told me during the trip contaminated fuel fouled all of the filters and that the crew had to “donate” their socks to the engineers so that they could use them as filter elements. Not sure if that was true or not, but it makes for a typical STORIS sea story.
I served in the Coast Guard for nearly 30 years and my tour aboard STORIS was the most memorable. My most prized possession is the National Ensign from the STORIS presented to me when I retired. I am looking at it now and it reminds me how fortunate I was to serve aboard one of the great Coast Guard cutters.
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