From Aztec shore to Arctic zone,
To Europe and Far East.
The Flag is carried by our ships,
In times of war and peace.
And never have we struck it yet,
In spite of foe-men's might,
Who cheered our crews and cheered again,
For showing how to fight.
We're always ready for the call,
We place our trust in Thee.
Through surf and storm and howling gale,
High shall our purpose be.
"Semper Paratus" is our guide,
Our fame, our glory too.
To fight to save or fight to die,
Aye! Coast Guard, we are for you!
No
one seems to know exactly how Semper Paratus was chosen as the Coast
Guard’s motto. But there is no doubt as to who put the famous motto to words
and music. Captain Francis Saltus Van Boskerck wrote the words in the
cabin of the cutter Yamacraw in Savannah, Ga., in 1922. He wrote the
music five years later on a beat-up old piano in Unalaska, Alaska. At that
time it was probably the only piano in the whole long chain of Aleutian
Islands. Van Boskerck received his commission in the Revenue Cutter Service
May 20, 1891.
Left: First Lieutenant Francis Saltus Van
Boskerck, USRCS, circa 1907; click on image for a 300 dpi high-resolution
scan.
In 1917 he was Captain of the Port in Philadelphia and
an aide for the fourth naval district at the American routing office in
Philadelphia. He was also censor for the district, and was the first Coast
Guard officer to report a German submarine on the Atlantic coast. After the
war, Van Boskerck transferred to the Puget Sound Navy Yard to supervise
repairs on the famous cutter Bear. He commanded Bear on the 1920
summer cruise to the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean.
In 1922, as commander of Yamacraw,
Van Boskerck was stationed at Savannah and chased rum-runners off the
coast of the Carolinas and Florida. In 1923 he went to the Naval War College
at Newport, R.I., and in 1924 became District Commander of the Great Lakes
District. Van Boskerck was commissioned Captain in 1925.
"Captain Van," as he was known to his
many friends, was next ordered to Seattle as Assistant Inspector of the
Northwest District. In 1925 and 1926 he was Commander of the Bering Sea
Forces, headquartered at the remote port of Unalaska. It was here that he
found time to fit the words of his song to music with the help of two Public
Health dentists, Alf E. Nannestad and Joseph O. Fournier. Mrs. Albert C.
Clara Goss, the wife of a fur trader, let them use the beat-up piano on which
the song was written. For probably as long as Captain Van Boskerck could
remember, Semper Paratus had been a Revenue Cutter and Coast Guard
watchword. The words themselves, always ready or ever ready, date back to
ancient times.
No official recognition was given to the
Coast Guard motto until it appeared in 1910 on the ensign. Captain Van
Boskerck hoped to give it as much recognition as "Semper Fidelis" of
the Marines and "Anchors Aweigh" of the Navy.
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