The Finest Hours: The Rest of the Story
By Barbara Bangs MacNeil
Thanks to the movie The Finest Hours, many know the story of the rescue of 32 crew members from the SS Pendleton during the fierce winter nor’easter in February 1952. The Coast Guard, led by Boatswain’s Mate Bernie Webber and his intrepid crew, braved the infamous shoals off Chatham Harbor in their thirty-six-foot motor lifeboat CG36500 to reach the Pendleton. It was drifting so close to shore it was within sight of Chatham Light, and yet was struggling on the other side of those deadly shoals. My father, Donald “Don” Bangs, also had a part in this harrowing event, which today is still considered one of the most heroic Coast Guard rescues in history.
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The rest of the story…
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My parents, Don and Eleanor, moved to Sandwich in 1953 where they made their home, raised their two children, my brother Philip and me, and lived out the rest of their lives. My father’s career in the Coast Guard spanned 30 years, from 1936 until his retirement in 1966. He served in many locations before and after being transferred to the Sandwich Coast Guard Station in ‘53, including skippering buoy tenders, serving twice on the Cross Rip lightship, and as Coast Guard Lifeboat Station Master at several stations along the east coast of Massachusetts. ​
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During World War II he participated in the invasion of Okinawa while serving in the Pacific Theatre, first skippering the Coast Guard-manned U.S. Army freight and supply ship FS2-62, which he sailed through the Panama Canal to California, then transferring to the gasoline tanker USS Hiwassee (AOG-29) for the remainder of his war service.
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Chief Boatswain's Mate Donald Bangs
World War II Coast Guard-manned US Army freight and supply ship FS2-62
Gasoline tanker USS Hiwassee (AOG-29)
​After the war, he was briefly stationed in the Philippines on the FS2-65, before finally returning home to his family in 1946 to finish out his Coast Guard career stateside.
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But surely the most dangerous mission of his long career was in February 1952. At that time, we were living in Chatham, where he was Chief Boatswain’s Mate at the Chatham Coast Guard Station.
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Before Bernie Webber got the call about the SS Pendleton, there were reports of another ship in trouble. Don and his hand-picked crew were already headed out of Stage Harbor in their tiny thirty-six-foot motor lifeboat CG36383, fighting 70-foot waves, in search of this ship, the SS Fort Mercer. The Fort Mercer was reported floundering 27 miles further east of Chatham’s Pollock Rip. Those that know the waters around Cape Cod know that by the time you get to Chatham you are already about 50 miles out to sea from the mainland in some of the most treacherous waters on the east coast, making this an arduous journey for a thirty-six-foot vessel, even without the added hazards of a winter storm.​
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While other, larger, Coast Guard vessels had managed to rescue many of the crew hunkered down in both the bow and the stern sections of the Fort Mercer, Don got word that one more man had been seen still clinging to the bow.
Determined to rescue this last mate, he and his crew spent a total of 22 hours at sea in their cramped vessel bobbing like a cork in the storm-churned seas trying to locate and then circling the doomed ship, seeking to rescue this Fort Mercer crew member.
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Sadly, this last crew member slipped into the sea before they could pull him onboard. Don and crew, exhausted and nearly frozen to death, returned to the Chatham Station. My father never wanted to talk about that night. He considered his mission a failure because he couldn’t save that life. However, he will always be a hero in the eyes of his family and those who knew this quiet, unassuming man.​
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Don’s Coast Guard Lifeboat CG36383 has been lost to time, however Bernie Webber’s Lifeboat CG36500 was rescued and restored. She spends her days in Rock Harbor, Orleans, and makes an annual trip to Sandwich where she takes a rest at the Sandwich Coast Guard Station pier, dwarfed in size by private vessels.
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My father was a descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims so in his very blood he knew all about terrifying voyages on stormy seas. During his life, he was never far from the ocean. After retirement, he could often be found walking along the canal. He might have even seen the 36500 making her way through the canal on one of her annual visits, as she did this past July​.
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Bernie Webber's CG36500 docked at Sandwich Coast Guard Station Pier
Barbara Bangs MacNeil is a member of the Friends of Sandwich Town Archives.