Richard Livesey, USCG Gold Medal Crewman
Tribute to Coast Guard Gold Medal Crewman from the Pendleton Rescue
By Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.)
Richard Livesey, formerly of the Cape, died on December 27, 2007, in Englewood, Florida after a long illness. Like many contemporaries of his time and generation, his senior years were quiet and unassuming. When Richard passed on, he left a quiet legacy of courage and deed about which few knew.
Livesey, 77, was one of four Coast Guard “Gold Medal” crew men from the February 18, 1952 rescue of sailors from the stricken 503-foot long tanker Pendleton.
How significant was that 1952 Coast Guard mission?
On August 21, 2007, Coast Guard leaders published their Top 10 list of all-time significant Coast Guard rescues during the previous 217 years. The Pendleton small boat rescue, listed as the Number 3 all-time rescue, was only eclipsed by the 1980 rescue of 520 people from the Dutch liner Prinsendam off Alaska and the service’s phenomenal performance in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, saving 33,545 people.
At the same time the Coast Guard was hallmarking having saved over 1,109,310 lives since 1790, I couldn’t help but lament the fact that so few people knew Chief Petty Officer Livesey like I knew him.
I first met Mr. Livesey in 2002 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Pendleton rescue. More than 50 years after he and three other Coast Guardsmen, Bernie Webber, Andy Fitzgerald and Ervin Maske, embarked in a 36-foot motor lifeboat and saved 32 Pendleton seamen during a nasty Nor’easter, Livesey remained quiet, unassuming and almost apologetic for the commotion he “caused” because of the various testimonials and ceremonies.
Little about his behavior or appearance in 2002 would have led anyone to believe that he was one of four “chosen” crewmembers who had volunteered 50 years earlier to go out in 70 knot winds, horizontal, sub-zero freezing rain, and 60-foot towering seas --- the same weather that had split two 502 foot tankers in half the evening before.
In 1952, he was the first to volunteer and was one of three remaining crew from the Chatham Coast Guard station --- the remaining crew having scattered when the call for volunteers was announced.
The Coxswain of the small rescue craft, Bernie Webber, recalled that Livesey found everything “about the sea ‘wondrous’” and every challenge, including the night of February 18, 1952, was met positively, making Webber’s job “easier.” Webber also recalled that one of Livesey’s trademark sayings after a mission was a simple “thanks Webb,” regardless of the complexity or duration of the mission.
The four rescuers, including Livesey, rescued the crew of the stricken tanker Pendleton, which had broken in half. The Coast Guard small boat’s coxswain maneuvered the 36-footer under the Pendleton's stern with expert skill as the tanker's crew, trapped in the stern section, abandoned the remains of their ship on a Jacobs’s ladder. One by one, the men jumped into the water and then were pulled into the lifeboat by Livesey and the others who exposed themselves during the torrent. Webber and his crew saved 32 of the 33 Pendleton crewmen. The rescuers, including Livesey, were awarded the Coast Guard’s Gold Lifesaving Medal, the service’s highest award for bravery for their heroic actions.
After the rescue, Mr. Livesey went on to finish his career in the Coast Guard, retiring as a Petty Officer First Class. Last September, Livesey was given an honorary promotion to the rank of chief petty officer by Charles Bowen, the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard. He is survived by his wife Virginia, six children and several grandchildren.
Mr. Livesey’s shipmate and fellow hero, Ervin Maske, died in October 2003, in Marinette, Wisconsin.
To my friend Mr. Livesey, “thanks, Richard!”
01/10/08 Submitted by: Dara O'Malley jobrenl123@aol.com
BMC Richard Livesey
BMC Richard Livesey, a crewmember on the CG 36500 during the Pendleton Rescue of February 18th, 1952 passed away December 27th 2007 in Englewood Florida. Richard received the Gold Lifesaving Medal for his heroic actions in saving 32 crew during the Pendleton Rescue. Services are being planned, but no details as of yet. The article at the link below appeared in the Cape Codder Newspaper.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/orleans/town_info/history/x469068537
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Livesey family.
01/07/08 Submitted by: Dave Considine dmjc05@verizon.net
Richard Livesey
Remembering valor at sea
By Matthew Belson
Fri Jan 04, 2008, 11:52 AM EST
REGIONAL - Richard Livesey wasn’t a household name around the Lower Cape, and before his death last week at the age of 77, he had lived in Florida. But his bravery here, back in 1952, will long be remembered by the Coast Guard and by those he helped rescue as a crewmember aboard the CG36500, the lifeboat that is displayed every summer at Rock Harbor. He is the second of the four crewmembers to die.
Livesey, along with his crewmates, earned Coast Guard gold lifesaving medals for braving a brutal winter storm the night of Feb. 18, 1952 and rescuing 32 men from the stricken tanker Pendleton, which had split in half off the coast of Cape Cod.
Battling 60-foot waves and a 70-knot headwind, Livesey and fellow shipmates, coxswain Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernard Webber, Seaman Irving Maske (who died in 2004) and Engineman Third Class Andrew Fitzgerald, crossed the infamous bar at the mouth of Chatham Harbor in the 36-foot motor lifeboat to try and find the Pendleton. Its compass lost in the wind and rain, the Coast Guard crew located the Pendleton, and its remaining 32 crewmembers were plucked from the vessel and crammed into the lifeboat. Once loaded, Webber turned the boat back to the Cape and headed once again through the turbulent seas and wind toward Chatham.
“Richard and three others made the decision to risk their own safety so that others would live,” said Peter Kennedy, coxswain and officer in charge of the CG36500 that has been restored and is now operated as a working museum through the Orleans Historical Society. “The rescue of the 32 men from the Pendleton was but one example of the courage of Coast Guard men and women through the years to save mariners in peril.”
Kennedy said the crew of the Motor Lifeboat CG36500 defined valor at sea.
“The Orleans Historical Society is privileged to be the caretakers of this historic boat on which Richard served and we are saddened to learn of his passing,” he said.
The daring rescue made international headlines.
Following the rescue, Livesey continued his career in the Coast Guard and retired as a petty officer first class. Last September Livesey was given an honorary promotion to the rank of chief petty officer by Charles Bowen, the master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard.
At Coast Guard Station Chatham the legacy of the actions of Livesey and his shipmates is visible from the photographs on the wall and memorabilia of the rescue.
Senior Chief Petty Officer David Considine, the officer-in-charge of the station, said one of the lessons from the Pendleton rescue he tries to instill in the young men and women assigned to the station is the importance of working together as a crew.
“It takes a boat crew to do a successful mission,” said Considine.
Livesey died Dec. 27. He lived in Englewood, Fla., and is survived by his wife, Virginia, six children and several grandchildren.
01/05/08 Submitted by: Dara O'Malley jobrenl123@aol.com
Richard Livesey , USCG Chatham
Station Chatham was saddened to learn that Richard Livesey passed away on December 27, 2007. Richard Livesey was a crewmember aboard the CG36500 during the Pendleton Rescue on February 18th, 1952 and recipient of the Gold Lifesaving Medal for his actions during that rescue. Richard was promoted to honorary Chief Petty Officer in September 2007 by the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles 'Skip' Bowen. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Livesey family
01/05/08 Submitted by: Dara O'Malley jobrenl123@aol.com
Richard Livesey
The Cape Cod Chronicle
January 3, 2008
-----
Coast Guard Marks Death Of CG36500 Crewman
CHATHAM — Richard Livesey, one of the four crewmen of the Coast Guard Gold Medal rescue boat CG36500, has died at his home in Florida.
In 1952, Seaman Livesey was chosen to take part in the daring rescue of crewmen from the stricken tanker Pendleton in a fierce storm off Chatham. With no navigational equipment, the 36500 found the tanker and rescued 32 men, bringing them back safely over the Chatham bar. The legendary rescue earned the crew the Gold Lifesaving Medal, and a prominent place in Coast Guard history.
In September, Livesey was promoted to honorary Chief Petty Officer by the Coast Guard, in recognition of his heroism and service. With the passing of Ervin Maske several years ago, only two members of the Gold Medal crew survive: coxswain Bernie Webber and engineer Andrew Fitzgerald.
01/05/08 Submitted by: Dara O'Malley jobrenl123@aol.com
