Coast Guard buoytender to be commissioned Saturday; ‘You can feel the tension mounting. Everyone can’t wait to get out’The roughest, toughest bar in the nation will officially have a new master this weekend.

On Saturday, the crew will run aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Fir figuratively bringing life to the steel and rope.

“They run aboard the ship,” executive officer Octavia Poole said. “They man the rail so that they’re all facing the ship. That’s part of bringing the ship to life.”

LORI ASSA – The Daily Astorian

The U.S.Coast Guard Cutter Fir, a buoytender, will be commissioned Saturday.The commissioning ceremony for the ship that manages Columbia River buoys between the mouth and Rainier will be outdoors, weather-permitting, on the pier at the Columbia River Maritime Museum.

It’s not the first time the crew has been aboard the Fir. The ship arrived in Astoria in late September after a 10,000-mile sea voyage from Marinette, Wis. The crew was antsy as they waited on deck to see family members after the journey, which took them to the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and Mexico.

The crew has been training in operations and law enforcement, Poole said.

“Every asset in the Coast Guard is a multi-mission cutter,” she said.

“We still have other obligations including environmental obligations, law enforcement and search and rescue.”

After some vacation and a month of training, the crew is anxious for another task – servicing buoys, Poole said.

“You can feel the tension mounting. Everyone can’t wait to get out,” she said. “Winter’s coming, and we’re really looking forward to getting some buoy evolutions before the bad weather.”

The Fir’s cranes will lift the navigational nine-ton monsters onto the deck of the 225-foot ship.

Crew members then strip grime from the steel surface of the buoy, repair its paint, repair electronic equipment and its chain and anchor.

The ship replaces the Cutter Cowslip, which served the area for several years before it CEREMONY SETThe U.S Coast Guard Buoytender Fir will be commissioned at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, weather permitting. The ship will be open for tours Saturday and Sunday.

was decommissioned last winter. For a year, other buoy tenders in the area have managed the Columbia River, known for the roughest conditions in the Pacific. The Henry Blake, the Aspen and the Blue Bell from locales throughout the Northwest have taken on the duties.

On deck of the U.S.C.G. Cutter Fir, Seaman Jake Schiewe trains the “heat-and-beat,” where an open chain link is heated and pounded closed. The anvil which holds the link is affectionately nicknamed “Fido” and was moved by the crew from the decommissioned Cutter Cowslip to the Cutter Fir.

LORI ASSA – The Daily AstorianThe Fir will begin “working buoys” the week after the commissioning, Poole said.

“We’re looking for discrepant buoys – buoys that haven’t been serviced in a while,” she said.

The Fir is named after a lighthouse tender, which began its career in Astoria in 1940. The ship was decommissioned in 1991 after service in Seattle.

The Cutter Cowslip was more than 60 years old when it was decommissioned Dec. 13, 2002, in Astoria. The ship was transferred to the Nigerian Navy, which will use it as a training ship.

The Astoria buoy tenders seem to have the superstitious number 13 on their side.

The Fir is the 13th of 30 ships that will replace an aging fleet of 37 during the next few years. The U.S. Coast Guard has been replacing several older ships since 1993. Using 500 fewer crew members, the Coast Guard estimates it will save $14 million a year, said Rear Adm. Errol Brown, who commanded the district when the Cowslip was decommissioned.

The new Fir was launched Aug. 18, 2002 and christened by sponsor Sheila Barrett, the wife of Vice Commandant Thomas J. Barrett. The two will fly from Wash., D.C. to attend the commissioning this weekend.

“There’s a sea-going tradition that when someone commissions the ship, they share a part of their personality with that ship,” Poole said. “She’s sharing a part of herself with the ship.”

Hopefully Barrett’s personality will help the crew to develop a motto for the ship. It’s slogan “No bar too rough, too tough or too far” has been passed on from the Cowslip. But the crew is still looking for a nickname to rival the “No Bull Bartender” of the former ship.

Cmdr. Hal Pitts and his advisors decided to wait for that name until the crew works buoys.

“We want something that has meaning for the crew and reflects the Astoria area,” Poole said.