Unable to make radio contact with Blackthorn, Capricorn’s pilot blew two whistle blasts to signal that the ships pass starboard-to-starboard. After regaining its bearings, Capricorn began to turn left, but this prevented the two ships from passing port-side to port-side. Glare from the brightly lit passenger vessel prevented the bridge watches of Blackthorn and Capricorn from seeing each other at first. Having been overtaken by the Russian passenger ship Kazakhstan, Blackthorn proceeded in mid-channel. While the tender steamed down the shipping channel near the mouth of Tampa Bay, the 600-foot tanker S.S. In late January, after completing its overhaul, Blackthorn prepared for the voyage back to its homeport of Galveston, Texas.īlackthorn began its journey on the night of Monday, Jan. From late 1979 through early 1980, Blackthorn received yet another overhaul-this time in Tampa, Florida. Like the rest of the service’s aging fleet, Blackthorn underwent numerous overhauls during its lengthy career. One of forty 180-foot buoy tenders built during World War II, Blackthorn was commissioned in 1944. Born and raised in Carlsbad, New Mexico, his parents gave the young man permission to leave high school early to enlist in the United States Coast Guard. The 18-year-old seaman apprentice had graduated from the Coast Guard Training Center at Alameda, California. In 1979, less than a year out of boot camp, a quiet and unassuming young man came aboard the buoy tender Blackthorn (WLB-391). Coast Guard, there is no better example of the Biblical scripture listed above than the case of “Billy” Flores. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
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