On 08/08/2020 12:21 AM Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:

I recall a big emphasis on rescue ops in the '50's (ever watch 'SeaHunt'), 60', & '70's.

I also recall that one of the agencies they claim to descend from was basically a nautical tax-collecting operation.

One of the papers I wrote for a college English course was on the USCG and from all the material I dug through they did start out as a revenue collecting service. Unfortunately, all my research material is in a notebook that is buried on a bottom shelf of a book case with boxes and stacks of books and gaming material in front of said book case.