The Coast Guard Academy's training barque EAGLE had been at the Coast Guard Yard for months of substantial maintenance/repairs and it departed under power in a very foggy afternoon for the Coast Guard Academy at New London, CT. Only a skeleton crew was onboard under command of a Chief Warrant Officer (CHBOSN).

Unfortunately for the Coast Guard, the EAGLE inadvertently strayed from the appropriate shipping lane in Baltimore Harbor/Chesapeake Bay and it was struck by the M/V Jose Abad Santos, an inbound Philippine freighter, in the heavy fog. The EAGLE's bowsprit was torn off and the bow suffered serious damage. A few seconds earlier and they would have been cut in half by the much larger freighter. Thirty and forty foot utility boats from our station responded to the EAGLE's distress calls and they towed her back to the Coast Guard Yard for months of repairs.

A substantial number of Academy graduate Admirals, Captains and Commanders came to Baltimore to see the damage for themselves. An extensive investigation was conducted, and hearings were conducted onboard in our building, and several of us were tasked with typing dictaphone transcripts of the hearings. John C. Medeiros, a Coast Guard Intelligence investigator, was involved in the investigation and I later served several months of active duty under him at the Reserve Division, 7th CG District Office, in 1973 when he was a CWO (PERS). We had a great time going to lunches in downtown Miami, often accompanied by LCDR Snyder, deputy chief of the Reserve Division under Captain Murphy.

The EAGLE returned to service upon completion of the extensive repairs at the Coast Guard Yard, the Coast Guard's only shipyard. After seeing what kind of damage and grief that a Chief Warrant Officer could cause, I decided to make advancement to that rank one of my personal goals in life. : ) Twenty-one years later I was selected for promotion to Warrant Officer and I retired as a Coast Guard Reserve CWO4 (PERS) in 2000 after 4 years active service and 30 years in the CG Reserve. Semper Paratus!