USCGC Northland (WPG-49) - Bering Sea Patrol

Bering Sea Patrol

Prior to World War II her homeports were alternately San Francisco, Oakland, and Seattle. She served primarily on the Bering Sea Patrol, where she performed "everything under the midnight sun."

The cutters on Bering Sea Patrol were much more than symbols. They assisted in the performance in many governmental functions. For the Justice Department they enforced the law, apprehended criminals, and transported floating courts. They gathered military intelligence for the Navy Department, and carried mail for the Post Office Department. For the Interior Department, the cutters carried teachers to their posts, conducted sanitation inspections, and guarded timber and game. They surveyed coastlines and regional industries for the Department of Commerce and carried Public Health Service personnel to isolated villages, otherwise without medical service.

Northland departed the West Coast in 1938 on her last Arctic cruise, after which she decommissioned. In June 1939, however, she recommissioned and transferred to Boston, Massachusetts to prepare for the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition.