George Douglas Cobb (18721940) was a

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

along the California coast for 43 years between 1890 and his retirement in 1938. At the time of his death he had served as a lighthouse keeper longer than anyone in the United States. He is best known for saving the lives of two men whose sailboat had capsized near the Oakland Harbor Lighthouse in 1896. He was awarded the

silver lifesaving medal The Gold Lifesaving Medal and Silver Lifesaving Medal are Awards and decorations of the United States government, U.S. decorations issued by the United States Coast Guard. The awards were established by Act of Congress, 20 June 1874; later aut ...

for his bravery in this rescue. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

coastal buoy tender The Keeper class of coastal buoy tenders consists of fourteen ships built for and operated by the United States Coast Guard. The ships were launched between 1995 and 1999 and all remain in active service. Their primary mission is to maintain th ...

'' George Cobb'' (WLM-564)'','' based in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

, is named for him.

Lighthouse keeper career

Cobb began his service as a lighthouse keeper with the

United States Lighthouse Board The United States Lighthouse Board was the second agency of the U.S. federal government, under the Department of Treasury, responsible for the construction and maintenance of all lighthouses and navigation aids in the United States, between 18 ...

, a unit of the Treasury Department, which was responsible for all lighthouses in the United States. The Lighthouse Board was dissolved in 1910 and its responsibilities, lighthouses and staff, including Cobb, were assigned to the

United States Lighthouse Service The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of th ...

, a unit of the

Commerce Department The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econo ...

1896 Rescue

Rain squalls and winds gusting to 50 knots were present in Oakland Harbor on December 26, 1896. A sailboat with three men aboard capsized near the Oakland Harbor Lighthouse, where Cobb was stationed. Cobb launched a boat and rowed out to the overturned sailboat, where two men clung to the keel. He was able to get Frank Whipple into his rowboat, but John J. Kennedy had fallen into the water. Cobb dove in and swam with Kennedy back to his rowboat and then took the pair ashore. The third man on the capsized boat, William Burke, used an oar as a floatation device and managed to swim ashore. On February 28, 1903, Cobb was awarded the silver lifesaving medal for his bravery.

''Alameda'' wreck

On September 30, 1905, the steamer ''

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

'' went aground in a thick fog on the rocks off Fort Point, where Cobb was stationed. The harbor pilot claimed that no fog whistles were blown by the Fort Point or Lime Point stations, and that this contributed to the accident. Cobb was called to testify before the United States Steamboat Inspection Service and asserted that his fog whistle was indeed blowing before the ''Alameda'' went aground.

USS ''H3'' Rescue

On December 16, 1916, the submarine USS ''H3'' went aground in a heavy fog while attempting to enter Humboldt Bay. Heavy surf pushed the ship up onto the beach, but also made it dangerous for anyone on board to enter the water to reach shore. George Cobb, stationed at the time at the Humboldt Bay fog signal station, was part of a team which rigged a

breeches buoy A breeches buoy is a rope-based rescue device used to extract people from wrecked vessels, or to transfer people from one place to another in situations of danger. The device resembles a round emergency personal flotation device with a leg harne ...

to rescue 26 men on the stranded ship.

Personal life

George Cobb was born at Plumstead, Kent, England on March 6, 1872. His parents were Thomas Henry Cobb and Emma Lydia Cobb, nee Kedge. U.S. census records report him emigrating to the United States in both 1884 and 1889. Since neither his father or mother moved to the United States, the later date, when George was 17 years old, seems more likely. George Cobb was married to Anna Christine Theodora Jensen on June 6, 1897, in San Francisco. They had four children, George Foster Herbert Cobb, William Raymond Cobb, Roy Douglas Cobb, and Doris Georgeanna Cobb. Cobb died on December 14, 1940, at his home in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

. He is buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in San Francisco.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobb, George 19th-century American people United States Lighthouse Service personnel English emigrants to the United States