Guardians of the Graveyard of the Atlantic: The 235-Year History of the USCG in North Carolina Paperback – February 7, 2026

The land now known as North Carolina was inhabited by several Native American tribes including the Cherokee, the Catawba, the Croatan and others. Europeans started arriving from Spain in 1524 and in 1567 Hernando de Soto came looking for gold. The English established a colony on Roanoke Island in 1584 but a few years later all the people were gone. More English came in the late 1600s. By 1713 most of the Indians had moved west and North Carolina and South Carolina had separated. In 1729 North Carolina became an official English Royal Colony.Over the ensuing years, folks in North Carolina decided that paying taxes to people across the Atlantic was a waste of hard-earned money. They joined with other colonies and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. After the war, when the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, they ratified it and on 21 November 1789, North Carolina became the twelfth state in the United States.In 1790 the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, established the Revenue Cutter Service, primarily to collect tariffs and police the ports where foreign vessels came to trade. He contracted to have one Revenue Cutter built in each state and he asked the port customs collectors John Daves and Nathan Keais to contract to build one cutter in Washington, NC. In 1792 the Revenue Cutter DECISIVE arrived for service in Wilmington, NC, and a long history of sacrifice and service began. This book traces those 235 years of service in detail and provides readers with a unique perspective on the smallest BUT most effective military service in the United States.With more than 95,000 miles of shoreline, 25,000 miles of navigable rivers and 4.5 million square miles of U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, the U.S. Coast Guard protects the maritime transportation system, regulates and safeguards ports and waterways, performs thousands of lifesaving search and rescue missions and ensures the integrity of the maritime border. As a member of the joint force, a law enforcement organization, a regulatory agency and a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Coast Guard employs a unique mix of authorities to ensure the safety and integrity of the maritime domain to protect the economic and national security of the nation. The more than 55,000 members of the Coast Guard (active and reserve) operate a multi-mission, interoperable fleet of more than 250 cutters, 200 fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft and 1,600 boats and its own dedicated Cyber Command to protect critical maritime infrastructure.The Coast Guard’s primary mission is to ensure our nation’s maritime safety, security and stewardship. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 delineates 11 missions for the Coast Guard—Homeland Security Missions (Ports, Waterways and Coastal Security, Drug Interdiction, Migrant Interdiction, Defense Readiness, and Maritime Law Enforcement) and Non-Homeland Security Missions (Marine Safety, Search and Rescue, Aids to Navigation, Living Marine Resources, Marine Environmental Protection, and Ice Operations).On an “average day” the U.S. Coast Guard 1) saves 12 lives and over $1.2 million in property while conducting 44 search and rescue cases and assisting 60 people in distress, 2) interdicts 7 undocumented migrants, seizes 85 pounds of marijuana and 1,221 pounds of cocaine, 3) investigates 34 pollution incidents and 50 maritime casualties involving commercial vessels, 4) facilitates the movement of $12.6 Billion dollars of goods through the Nation’s Marine Transportation System, 5) screens 329 merchant vessels for potential security threats prior to arrival at U.S. ports and escorts 9 high-capacity passenger vessels, and 6) services 80 buoys and fixed aids to navigation. Read more