Register of the Revenue Cutter Officers, 1790-1914

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This service originated under an act of August 4, 1790, authorizing the construction and equipment of cutters to enforce laws governing the collection of customs and tonnage duties. Customs collectors supervised the cutters from 1791 until 1843, when a Revenue Marine Division in the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury took over that function. In 1849 control of cutters was again transferred to the collectors, but in 1871 a new Revenue Marine Division was established. It became the Revenue-Cutter Service on July 31, 1894. Its functions include suppressing smuggling, the slave trade, and piracy; assisting ships in distress; removing and destroying wrecks other navigation hazards; and enforcing quarantine regulations, neutrality laws, and laws forbidding the importation of unskililed Chinese labor. After 1867 it enforced regulations in Alaska concerning the unauthorized killing of fur-bearing animals, fishery protection, and traffic in firearms, ammunition, and liquor. It was authorized in 1914 ato furnish medical and surgical aid to crewmembers of American deep-sea fishing vessels. It was also responsible for furnishing the vessels for the International Ice Patrol, established in 1914.

The U.S. Coast Guard, established in the Department of the Treasury in 1915, was formed by consolidating the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life Saving Service. The Light-house Bureau was added in 1939. The Coast Guard, which operates on the high seas and navigable waters of the United States and its territorial possessions, operated as part of the navy in time of war or when the President directs.

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