page_title: Ellsworth P. Bertholf
section_title: Alaska
hierarchical_section_title: Ellsworth P. Bertholf / Career / Alaska
caption_attribution_description: Ellsworth P. Bertholf Congressional Gold Medal (front)
context_page_description: Ellsworth Price Bertholf was a Congressional Gold Medal recipient who later served as the fourth Captain-Commandant of the United States Revenue Cutter Service and because of the change in the name of the agency in 1915, the fourth Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. His leadership during his tenure as Commandant was critical to the U.S. Coast Guard's survival at a time when outside agencies wanted to either take it over or split its missions up among several agencies.
context_section_description: In November 1897, Bertholf received orders assigning him to USRC Bear homeported in Seattle, Washington. USRC Bear was tasked with the Bering Sea Patrol and spent several months out of each year patrolling the Alaska coast. At the same time he reported to Bear, word was received that several whaling ships were trapped in the ice at Point Barrow. The Overland Relief Expedition was planned by the Secretary of the Treasury and Bear left for the Bering Sea facing the Arctic winter, a feat that had not been attempted before. Although Bear was built for working in icy waters, it was not an icebreaker and could not be expected to sail through pack ice to the trapped whalers. Near Nelson Island, the captain of Bear put ashore the executive officer, Lieutenant David H. Jarvis; the ship's surgeon, Dr. Samuel J. Call; and Bertholf with instructions to drive a herd of reindeer overland to the stranded whalers. The distance to Point Barrow overland from Cape Vancouver was roughly 1500 miles. Bear turned back and wintered over in Unalaska awaiting the spring thaw while the rescue party gathered dog sled teams and acquired the necessary number of reindeer. Because of a lack of trained dogs, Jarvis instructed Bertholf to continue searching the Inuit villages for sled teams while he and Call went ahead to Cape Prince of Wales where there were large numbers of domesticated reindeer.  Bertholf caught up with Jarvis and Call and helped re-provision the relief mission. The party finally reached the whalers in early March, 1898, walking most of the distance and enduring temperatures as low as -45 degrees Fahrenheit.  In 1902, Jarvis, Call and Bertholf were awarded Congressional Gold Medals in recognition of their heroic relief efforts for the 275 American whalers at Point Barrow in what became known as the Overland Relief Expedition. That expedition has been hailed as one of the most perilous rescue missions in maritime history.
  After a short assignment aboard USRC Thetis undergoing repairs at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Bertholf was again assigned to Bear in May, 1899, but this time as the executive officer. During this assignment, the crew of Bear delivered more reindeer to Alaska from Russia, enforced Federal law, rescued stranded destitute gold miners from starvation, rescued whalers from a shipwreck and investigated two murders; the Revenue Cutter Service being the only law enforcement in Alaska at the time. During this time Bertholf took the examination for First Lieutenant and was promoted in June 1900.  In January 1901, he was attached to the Department of Interior and sent to Russia to acquire more reindeer that were of hardier stock, for shipment to Alaska, for the relief of the Inuit. He was sent to the U.S. Embassy in St. Petersburg, Russia for consultation with Russian officials, and was advised to cross Russia by way of the Trans-Siberian Railroad and contact herdsmen near Okhotsk. After purchasing the reindeer and moving them to the port of Vladivostok, he was responsible for contracting for the ship to transport the reindeer to the Teller Reindeer Station near Port Clarence, Alaska. His next assignment was as executive officer of USRC Manning at Bremerton, Washington where he took part in the Bering Sea Patrol, participating in law enforcement, rescues and hydrographic surveys. He was detached from Manning in November 1902 and managed to squeeze in his marriage to Emilie Innes Sublett of Hackensack while on leave before reporting for his next assignment.
caption: Bertholf Congressional Gold Medal
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