Nautical Research Journal 73


1. Photograph of a man and wife in Dayton, Ohio, stranded on top of their front porch during the Great Flood of 1913. (Courtesy of Wright State University)


“River Cutter” Yocona pioneers technology on the nation’s rivers and desegregation in the Deep South By William H. T iesen


T roughout the history of the United States Coast Guard, the nation has tasked the Service with new missions to respond to all sorts of maritime threats and crises. Such was the case with the Great Flood of 1913, considered by many as the most devastating fl ood to strike the United States.


In the history of deadly American fl oods, the Great Flood of 1913 ranks only second in number of lives lost. T e 1889 Johnstown Flood distinguished itself


as the deadliest with approximately 2,200 victims killed in the small city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. However, the 1913 fl ood aff ected over a dozen states, wiped out between 600 and 900 civilians, caused hundreds of millions in damage and made homeless 250,000 Americans.


As a consequence of this natural disaster, Congress voted to fund Federal fl ood relief and rescue work on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. And, on August 29, 1916, Congress passed a naval appropriations bill that included money for the construction of three “light- draſt river steamboats” for the Coast Guard. T eir mission was to “give relief, succor, and assistance to victims of fl oods” on the two major rivers. In addition to their specialized riverine duty, the cutters would support the usual Coast Guard missions of “rendering assistance to vessels in distress, saving life and property, protecting the revenue, enforcing the navigation and motor-boat laws, and prosecuting


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