Winslow W. Griesser (1856–1931) was a station keeper in the United States Life-Saving Service, one of the agencies that were merged to form the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

. In 2016 the Coast Guard honored him by naming one of its new Sentinel-class cutters, USCGC Winslow W. Griesser, after him.

Keeper

Keepers were full-time employees, who slept in quarters above the boathouse that formed the core of their stations. Their boat crews were not full-time employees. The station keepers job included recruiting and training local men capable of manning their boats, when needed. The boats were light, and were mounted on light wagons. A boat's crew would manually tow the wagon to a good launching site, near a distressed vessel. The boat was launched by towing the wagon into the water until the boat's buoyancy floated it clear of the wagon. Griesser served at life–saving stations at

Fort Niagara, New York Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The fort is on the river's e ...

Lorain, Ohio Lorain () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, about 30 miles west of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 65 ...

, Marblehead, Ohio and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. On November 21, 1900, when commanding the Buffalo life–saving station, Griesser distinguished himself by heroically swimming out to rescue a stranded mariner, in the teeth of a gale. Griesser and his crew tried to launch their boat when a scow came loose in the gale-force winds. When his boat was damaged, when being launched, Griesser decided to swim out to the sole remaining survivor of the scow, who was clinging to an offshore pylon. The first attempt by Griesser and one of his crewmen, to swim out to the stranded man, towing a rescue line failed, when the large waves tossed them back on shore, injuring his companion. Griesser then attempted to rescue the man without assistance. When he got close enough to throw the rescue line to the stranded man, he was too weak to secure himself, and the line fouled the pylon. Greisser was able to get close enough to free the stranded man, and secure the rescue rope to him, allowing him to be successfully hauled to safety. Griesser was so exhausted that he collapsed, once he got to shore. Griesser was award a Gold Lifesaving Medal.

Legacy

In 2010 Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, who was then the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, worked to have the cutters in the new sentinel class named after

enlisted rank An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or warrant officers, except in United States m ...

individuals who served heroically in the Coast Guard, or one of its precursor services. The USCGC ''Winslow W. Griesser'', commissioned on March 11, 2016, is the sixteenth cutter in the class, and fourth vessel in its cohort of six to be stationed in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. Several of Griesser's sons and grandsons enlisted in the Coast Guard.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griesser, Winslow 1856 births 1931 deaths United States Life-Saving Service personnel Recipients of the Gold Lifesaving Medal