A Trip Aboard the USCG Cutter Smilex

NEW BERN, North Carolina - It all started with a Sunday evening stroll along New Bern, North Carolina’s waterfront where the USCG Cutter Smilax had just moored. Her crew was making all shipshape after a day of working with aids to navigation (ATON) on the upper reaches of the Neuse River. While talking to the ship’s executive officer, we mentioned that we were CG Auxiliary ATON verifiers whereupon we were invited to return at 1800 for a guided tour. At that time, Captain McAloon, USCG, invited us to join them on the "Queen of the Fleet" the following day as she ventured up the Trent River to replace a daybeacon that washed up in the marshes following Hurricane Irene.

My husband Tom and Auxiliarist Fil Pagano accompanied me the next morning bringing along beautiful weather for our mission. The cutter Smilax with her three Auxiliary guests was underway at 1000. We watched with a great deal of respect as the crew skillfully negotiated both the low lying Cunningham and railroad bridges before lowering the mast to pass underneath the Highway 70 "high rise" structure.

There was also the challenge of high voltage lines, something we small craft boaters can blissfully ignore. The cutter was pushing a work barge as long as herselfand was loaded with ATON gear, including a large crane and pile driver. The cutter draws five feet and her flat bottom makes her subject to side winds and currents.

The shoals of the Trent River present a real challenge for drafts of five feet or more. Fil and Tom remained in the pilothouse during the upriver trip and were able to provide "local knowledge" to the Captain when requested. Along the way I checked daymarks for any irregularities. I observed that local ospreys had already begun their nests with, of course, the inevitable daymark obscuring.

We arrived at our destination, jockeying into correct position by coordinated use of instruments and scuds on the barge. The new post was pile-driven into place, numbers applied to backboards and attached to the mark. The Trent River ATON contingent is now once again complete.

The cutter Smilax’s downriver trip was uneventful and by late afternoon we were moored at New Bern’s Grand Marina. As we live only a few blocks from the marina, we invited Captain and crew to join us in a low-country boil in our backyard.

For the three of us it was a fantastic day observing the Coastguardsmen performing their duties with dedication and skill. All local boaters can thank the crew of the USCG Cutter Smilax for making our inland waters safe! We hope Captain and crew will invite us back for another cruise.

Auxiliarists of Flotilla 20-04 serve the New Bern, NC area of the Fifth District Southern Region for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Auxiliarists support boaters operating around the upper Neuse and the Trent River area. Flotilla 20-4 attracts most of its members from New Bern and the southern side of the Neuse River.

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