At approximately 6 PM on February 18,1952, Webber, Fitzgerald, LIvesey, and Maske set out from Chatham Harbor in the 36foot motor lifeboat CG36500 on a suicide mission to rescue the crew of the tanker "Pendleton."
Having lost the lifeboat's compass during the nearimpossible passage over the Chatham Bar and sailing in a snow storm in the dark, the CG36500 miraculously was headed on a course that brought them to the stern of the "Pendleton," which was dark at the time the CG36500 encountered the tanker, making it nearly impossible to see.
Soon the men on the "Pendleton," seeing the CG36500's search light, came out on deck and began the dangerous process of descending a halfrotted Jacob's ladder and jumping to the CG36500, all the while both vessels were being pushed about by the wind and waves.
All but one of the 33 crew on the stern of the "Pendleton" were able to make it safely aboard the CG36500, which was now carrying far more people than she was designed to hold. Webber, not knowing his exact location, headed the CG36500 toward the shore, hoping to land the crew along the eastern shore of Monomoy Island or Nauset Beach, but in another improbable circumstance, he ended up steering the CG36500 right to the entrance to Chatham Harbor. Now knowing his exact location, Webber was able to bring the heavilyloaded CG36500 to the Fish Pier, at approximately 8:45 PM. Waiting at the Fish Pier, first responders, along with many townsfolk from Chatham, were able to transport the "Pendleton" crew to Coast Guard Station Chatham or to the local hospital where they could finally receive care and comfort following their ordeal.
All of the men who sailed aboard the CG36500 on that fateful day, and all of the men rescued from the "Pendleton", have since crossed over the bar. Only the CG36500 remains to remind us of the greatest smallboat rescue in Coast Guard history.
A more detailed account of the "Pendleton" rescue can be found in the following books:
THE FINEST HOURS* by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. New York: Scribner, 2009.
TWO TANKERS DOWN by Robert Frump. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2008.
INTO A RAGING SEA by Bernie Webber. Cape Cod, MA: On Cape Publications, 2015.
THE PENDLETON DISASTER OFF CAPE COD, updated third edition by Theresa Mitchell Barbo and Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.). Charleston, SC; The History Press, 2010