By Bob Currie, Vessel Examiner
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Station Galveston Flotilla.
“Crossing the bar” is the euphemism we use in the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary for a member who has died. “Crossing the Bar” is an 1889 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It is considered that Tennyson wrote it as a lament to the dead. He compares death with crossing the “sandbar” between river of life, with its outgoing “flood”, and the ocean that lies beyond [death], the “boundless deep”, to which we return. He is believed to have written the poem after suffering a serious illness while at sea.
The Station Galveston Flotilla of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary operates out of the USCG Station Galveston base on Galveston Island. They provide assistance to the Coast Guard by providing maritime observation patrols in Galveston Bay; by providing recreational boating vessel safety checks; and by working alongside Coast Guard members in maritime accident investigation, small boat training, watch standing, and property administration.
This column is dedicated to the memory of U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Coxswain Curt Nicholls, who suffered a massive heart attack after rescuing a stranded sailboat and towing it to port a couple of weeks ago. Ironically, Curt was retiring as a Coast Guard Auxiliary coxswain, and this was to be his last trip as a certified boat crew member. He was a member of my flotilla, and was a great leader in our flotilla. As Curt’s shipmates, we reflected on his passing, and everyone agreed that dying suddenly at the end of a successful rescue mission was the highest praise of his life’s work.
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Curt has crossed the bar, but his memory lives on in his shipmates, who will continue providing Coast Guard mission support in our local waters. If you call the Coast Guard on channel 16 for assistance, it will be one of Curt’s shipmates who answers the radio at Station Galveston or Station Houston. If you run into trouble on the water, it will be Curt’s shipmates who come to your rescue. He and his service to the recreational boating community will be forever in our memories, and we will do our best to live up to his standards.
For more information on boating safety, please visit the Official Website of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division at www.uscgboating.org. Questions about the US Coast Guard Auxiliary or our free Vessel Safety Check program may be directed to me at [email protected]. I am available to perform free Vessel Safety Checks, and I will come to your location to perform them. SAFE BOATING!
[6-17-2019]
Posted in 
Good read. Thanks Bob.