View source for USS Bear

{{Short description|Dual steam-powered and sailing ship}}
{{For|the later United States Coast Guard cutter|USCGC Bear (WMEC-901)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin|infobox caption=''Bear''}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Bear (AG-29) Antarctica c1939.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Bear'' (AG-29) in Antarctica, 1939
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=[[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
|Ship name=SS ''Bear''
|Ship owner=* W. Grieve, Sons & Company 1874–1879
* R. Steele Jr 1880–1883
|Ship operator=
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=1874
|Ship builder=Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. [Dundee], Scotland
|Ship completed=
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship registry=[[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's, Newfoundland]]
|Ship identification=[[Official Number]]: 66840
|Ship fate=Sold to U.S. government in 1884
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1912}}
|Ship name=* USRC ''Bear'' (1885–1915)
* USCGC ''Bear'' (1915–1926)
* ''Bear of Oakland'' (1926–1939)
* USS ''Bear'' (1939–1944)
* ''Arctic Bear'' (1944–1948)
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=1885
|Ship decommissioned=1944
|Ship in service=1884–1929,<ref name=Bear1885>''Bear'', 1885</ref> 1939–1944
|Ship out of service=1926–1938 (museum ship); 1944–1948 (laid up)
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sold to Canadian owners for sealing in 1948
|Ship notes=Wireless call sign for USRC ''Bear'' was "RCB".<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101055258162;view=1up;seq=63 "List of Revenue Cutters"], ''WIRELESS TELEGRAPH STATIONS OF THE WORLD, INCLUDING SHORE STATIONS, MERCHANT VESSELS, U.S. REVENUE CUTTERS, AND VESSELS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.'' CORRECTED TO OCTOBER 1, 1910. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY. BUREAU OF STEAM ENGINEERING. WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1910, p. 59.</ref>
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=Canada
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Canada|1921}}
|Ship name=SS ''Arctic Bear''
|Ship owner=Shaw Steamship Line
|Ship namesake=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship in service=
|Ship registry=[[Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
|Ship out of service=1948–1961 (protracted refits); 1962 (restaurant conversion)
|Ship fate=Sank in the Atlantic, 19 March 1963, under tow
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship type=Ice-strengthened auxiliary steamer
|Ship displacement=703 tons
|Ship length={{convert|198.5|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|30|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|18.8|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion= {{convert|300|ihp|lk=in|abbr=on}} compound steam engine, 1 screw
|Ship rig=[[Barquentine]]
|Ship speed=
|Ship range=Limited by water and provisions
|Ship complement=51
|Ship armament=
|Ship aircraft= Carried Barkley-Grow seaplane on Byrd Expedition III
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Bear''''' was a dual steam-powered and sailing ship built with {{convert|6|in|cm|adj=on|1|spell=in}}-thick sides which had a long life in various cold-water and ice-filled environments. She was a forerunner of modern [[icebreaker]]s and had a diverse service life. According to the [[United States Coast Guard]] official website, ''Bear'' is described as "probably the most famous ship in the history of the Coast Guard."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgcHealy/history.asp|title = United States Coast Guard (USCG) - Pacific Area}}</ref>

Built in Scotland in 1874 as a steamer for [[seal hunt|sealing]], she was owned and operated from [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] for ten years. In the mid-1880s, she took part in the search for the [[Lady Franklin Bay Expedition]].<ref>{{cite book
| publisher = Government Printing Office
| last = United States. Revenue-Cutter Service
| title = Report of the cruise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear and the overland expedition for the relief of the whalers in the Arctic ocean, from November 27, 1897, to September 13, 1898
| location = Washington, D.C.
| access-date = 2014-03-23
| year = 1898
| url = https://archive.org/details/reportofcruiseof03unit
}}</ref> [[Commanding officer|Commanded]] by [[Michael A. Healy|Michael Healy]] of the United States Revenue-Marine, renamed the [[United States Revenue Cutter Service]] in 1894 (and one of the ancestor organizations of the [[United States Coast Guard]]), she worked the {{convert|20,000|mi|sigfig=3|adj=on}} coastline of [[Alaska]]. She later assisted with relief efforts after the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]].

Her services also included the second expedition of Admiral [[Richard E. Byrd]] to [[Antarctica]], and again to the southernmost continent in 1941 to evacuate Americans at the beginning of [[World War II]]. She later served on patrol duty off the coast of [[Greenland]] for the [[United States Navy]]. Between some of these missions, she was a [[museum ship]] in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[California]], and starred in the 1930 film version of [[Jack London]]'s ''[[The Sea-Wolf]]''.

After World War II, ''Bear'' was returned to use again as a sealing vessel. Finally, in 1963, 89 years after she had been built, while being towed to a stationary assignment as a [[floating restaurant]] in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], ''Bear'' foundered and sank in the North [[Atlantic Ocean]] about {{convert|100|nmi}} south of [[Cape Sable Island]], [[Nova Scotia]], [[Canada]].

==Construction and sealing career==
''Bear'' was built in 1874 as a sealer at Dundee, Scotland shipyards. Custom-built for sealing out of [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's, Newfoundland]],  ''Bear'' was the most outstanding sealing vessel of her day, the lead ship in a new generation of sealers.<ref>Tod, Giles, M.S., ''Last Sail Down East'', Barre Publishers, (1965) p. 48</ref> Heavy-built with {{convert|6|in|cm|adj=on|1|spell=in}} thick wooden planks, ''Bear'' was rigged as a sailing [[barquentine]] but her main power was a steam engine designed to smash deep into ice packs to reach seal herds. At the time of her arrival in St. John's, there were 300 vessels outfitted each season to hunt seals, but most were small [[schooner]]s or old sailing [[barque]]s.<ref>Ryan, Shannon, ''The Ice Hunters: A History of Newfoundland Sealing to 1914'' (1994) Breakwater Books Ltd. {{ISBN|1-55081-095-2}}.</ref> The new sealing ships represented by ''Bear'' radically transformed the Eastern North Atlantic seal fishery as they replaced the hundreds of smaller sealing vessels owned by merchants in [[outport]]s around Newfoundland with large and expensive steamships owned by large British and Newfoundland companies based in St. John's.<ref>[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/sealing_disaster.html "1914 Sealing Disaster", Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage]</ref> Owned at first by the Scottish firm W. Grieve and Sons, she was acquired in 1880 by R. Steele Junior.<ref>''Lloyds Register'' 1875-1883</ref> ''Bear'' spent a decade sealing from St. John's. In 1884, the Steeles sent ''Bear'' back to Scotland for a refit.

==American government service==
{{stack|[[File:Loading Reindeer on U.S.S. Bear, c.1896.jpg|thumb|Men loading [[reindeer]] onto USRC ''Bear''.]]}}

The massive wooden hulls of Newfoundland sealing vessels had proved ideal for Arctic exploration. Just back from her refit in 1884 and ready for another season of sealing, ''Bear'' was instead purchased by the U.S. government in 1884.  Under command of Commander [[Winfield Scott Schley]], ''Bear'' and took part in the search for the [[Lady Franklin Bay Expedition]], whose seven survivors were found at [[Cape Sabine]].

''Bear'' served as a [[revenue cutter]] in the United States Revenue-Marine, renamed the [[United States Revenue Cutter Service]] in 1894, from 1885 to 1915 and as a [[United States Coast Guard Cutter|cutter]] in the [[United States Coast Guard]] from 1915 to 1926. Throughout the years from 1885 to 1926, she made the seasonal trek each May from her port in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[California]], to sail north to the waters of the [[Territory of Alaska]] for the five-month season, cruising {{convert|10000|nmi}} on the [[Bering Sea Patrol]], where she looked out for seal poachers, shipwrecked [[Whaling|whalers]], and illicit trade with [[Alaska Natives]], ferried [[reindeer]] from [[Siberia]] to Alaska, and served as a floating courthouse.<ref name=Bear1885/> By order of the [[United States Department of the Treasury]], ''Bear'' was given free run to arrest and seize possessions of poachers, smugglers, and illegal traders, as well as take census of people and ships, record geological and astronomical information, take note of tides, and escort [[whaling ship]]s.

One captain of ''Bear'', [[Michael A. Healy|Michael "Hell Roaring Mike" Healy]], was considered a savior by many of the whalers and native Eskimos, as he bought Siberian reindeer at his own expense for the starving natives to use as the foundation for a new herd in Alaska, paralleling, and possibly in cooperation with, missionary [[Sheldon Jackson]]. During Captain Healy's and ''Bear''{{'}}s 1891 Bering Sea Patrol, the following was accomplished:
* secured witnesses for a murder trial
* ferried reindeer
* sailed the Alaskan governor
* transported a U.S. geographical survey team
* carried lumber and supplies for school construction in remote areas
* delivered teachers to their remote assignments
* delivered mail for the [[U.S. Post Office Department]]
* enforced federal laws
* provided medical support to natives
* conducted search and rescue<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130213223347/http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2013/02/a-bear-of-a-sea-story/ ''A Bear of a sea story''], Coast Guard Compass:  Official Blog of the U.S. Coast Guard, 12 February 2013. {{PD-notice}}</ref>

During one of her yearly trips back to San Francisco, ''Bear'' assisted in rescue operations for 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the [[United States Life-Saving Service]] to form the [[United States Coast Guard]] on 28 January 1915 and the ship was renamed USCGC ''Bear''.{{#tag:ref|After 28 January 1915 the Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the [[United States Life-Saving Service]] to form the [[United States Coast Guard]]. The prefix for Revenue Cutter Service vessels was changed from USRC to USCGC, thus; USRC ''Bear'' became USCGC ''Bear''.<ref name=USCG1915>"Coast Guard General Order No. 1", Historic Documents & Publications, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref>|group=Note}}

==''Bear of Oakland''==
{{anchor|Bear of Oakland}}
Cruising to Alaska for her last patrol in the 1926 season, on her return to Oakland that November she was replaced by a new cutter, {{USCGC|Northland|WPG-49|6}} and ownership was transferred to the city for use as a large barquentine-rigged [[museum ship]],<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1927-03-27/ed-1/seq-73/#date1=1924&index=0&rows=20&words=Bear+Oakland&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1928&proxtext=%22bear+of+oakland%22&y=3&x=12&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 ''The (Washington) Evening Star'', 27 March 1927, p. 1]</ref> ''Bear'' starred as the sealer ''Macedonia'' in the 1930 film version of Jack London's ''[[The Sea Wolf (1930 film)|The Sea-Wolf]]''.<ref name="Burroughs 1970">{{cite book |last1=Burroughs |first1=Polly |title=The Great Ice Ship Bear: Eighty-Nine Years in Polar Seas |date=1970 |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold |pages=104 |ref=ASIN: B0006CA9LC}}</ref>

In 1932 ''Bear of Oakland'' was purchased by Rear Admiral [[Richard E. Byrd]] for $1,050, as a replacement for the barquentine {{ship||City of New York|1885 ship|2}}.  He used her in the [[Richard E. Byrd|Second Byrd Expedition]] alongside the old steel-hulled lumber ship ''Pacific Fir'', renamed by Byrd {{ship||Jacob Ruppert}}, in honor of the New York brewer who was a major sponsor of expedition.<ref name="Paine 2007">{{cite book |last1=Paine |first1=Stuart D. |title=Footsteps on the Ice: The Antarctic Diaries of Stuart D. Paine, Second Byrd Expedition |date=2007 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8n8M_34BsC&pg=PA9 |access-date=27 June 2018 |ref=ASIN: B00VIBZ3B6|isbn=9780826265920 }}</ref>

After the expedition, Admiral Byrd leased ''Bear'' to the Navy for one dollar a year, for use on his government sponsored (third) expedition.<ref name="Lynch">{{cite web |last1=Lynch Jr. |first1=Joseph |title=A Philatelic Introduction to B.A.E. III United States Antarctic Service Expedition 1939-41 |url=http://www.south-pole.com/p0000146.htm |website=south-pole.com |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref>

==United States Antarctic Service Expedition==
On 11 September 1939 she was re-commissioned in the U.S. Navy for service during the 1939–1941 [[United States Antarctic Service Expedition]], led by Rear Admiral [[Richard E. Byrd]], and renamed USS ''Bear'' (AG-29). She carried a [[Barkley-Grow]] [[Barkley-Grow T8P-1|seaplane]] on board.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/pastIssues/2004-2005/2004_11_28.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609133119/http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/pastIssues/2004-2005/2004_11_28.pdf|title = 1939-1941|magazine=The Antarctic Sun|date=November 28, 2004|page=11|archive-date=9 June 2010}}</ref> Lieutenant Commander [[Richard H. Cruzen]] was captain of ''Bear'' during the expedition. Cruzen would rise to the rank of [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]] and commanded the U.S. Navy ships which participated in a large Antarctic expedition named [[Operation Highjump]] in 1948.

In early 1941, USS ''Bear'' assisted in the evacuation of the members of the Antarctic Expedition, as international tensions rose in the months that led up to America's entrance into [[World War II]]. ''Bear'' arrived at the [[Mikkelsen Islands]], just north of the [[Antarctic Circle]], on 16 March 1941, and its crew helped to build an adequate [[airstrip]] to evacuate personnel and equipment from the expedition base in the area.

==World War II==
[[File:USS Bear (AG-29).jpg|thumb|280px|USS ''Bear'' circa 1944]]
From 1941 to 1944, ''Bear'' served in the Northeast Atlantic [[Greenland Patrol]]. The rigging was cut down to two masts to become a fully motorized ship. After the capture, on 12 September 1941, of the German-controlled Norwegian sealer {{SS|Buskø||2}}, which was used as a supply ship for secret weather stations, by {{USCGC|Northland|WPG-49|6}}; ''Bear'' towed the [[Prize law|prize]] to [[Boston]].<ref name=NHHC01>{{cite web|title=Northland (WPG-49)|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n6/northland.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040314191055/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n6/northland.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 March 2004|work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)|publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command|access-date=28 August 2013}}</ref> When more modern ships were available to replace her, ''Bear'' was decommissioned on 17 May 1944 and laid up in Boston until the end of the war.<ref name=NHHC02>{{cite web|title=Bear|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b4/bear-i.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130828192706/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b4/bear-i.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 August 2013|work=Dictionary of American Fighting Ships (DANFS)|publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command|access-date=28 August 2013}}</ref>

''Bear'' had the distinction of being the oldest U.S. Navy ship to be deployed outside the continental United States during World War II.   She was one of the last ships equipped with sails to serve in a theater of war.  She was also one of a very few U.S. Navy ships to have served during the [[Spanish–American War]] as well as both world wars. (The sailing relics {{USS|Constitution}} and {{USS|Constellation|1854|6}} were both in active commissioned service during World War II but neither left port during the war.)

==Postwar==
''Bear'' was purchased from the U.S. government in 1948 by Frank M. Shaw of [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]] for $5,199. Shaw intended to use the ship for sealing. Renamed ''Arctic Bear'', her refit for sealing proved costly and with the decline of the large-scale Newfoundland seal hunt, she was laid up in [[Halifax Harbour]] subject to on and off again refits, and lay derelict for periods of times as she remained at various moorings around Halifax and [[Dartmouth, Nova Scotia|Dartmouth]].

By the early 1960s ''Bear'' was considered for restoration as a museum ship by the City of Dartmouth as well as her old home at Oakland and by the [[San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park|San Francisco marine museum]].<ref>"Famed Exploration Ship May Be Marine Museum", ''Halifax Mail'', 28 March 1982</ref> However the purchase price from Shaw Steamships and the extensive restoration costs scuttled museum plans.<ref>"Bear Project Scuttled. Vessel Refit Too Costly", ''Chronicle Herald'', 19 April 1962</ref>

In 1962 she was purchased by Alfred Johnston of Philadelphia for a floating seafood restaurant.<ref>Bixby, William, ''Track of the Bear'', p. 285</ref> Repairs were made to the ship at Industrial Shipping Limited in [[Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia]] for her new role including the carving of a new bear figurehead.

==Sinking==
In 1963, while in tow by the tug ''Irving Birch'' to Philadelphia, ''Bear'' foundered about {{convert|100|nmi}} south of [[Cape Sable Island]], Nova Scotia, at {{coord|42|40|N|065|11|W|name=SS ''Arctic Bear''}}. She went down early in the morning of 19 March 1963 after a gale struck and severed the tow line. The mast collapsed and punctured the hull, causing the sinking. Her crew of two were rescued by ''Irving Birch''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/wrecks/wrecks/shipwrecks.asp?ID=565 |title="Bear-1963", ''On the Rocks Shipwreck Database'' Nova Scotia Museum |access-date=2 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927161639/http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/wrecks/wrecks/shipwrecks.asp?ID=565 |archive-date=27 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Discovery of wreck==
The search for ''Bear''′s wreck began in 1979, when Dr. [[Doc Edgerton|Harold "Doc" Edgerton]] of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT), the inventor of [[side-scan sonar]], used a side-scan sonar deployed from a [[United States Coast Guard]] [[buoy tender]] to look for the wreck in the vicinity of ''Bear''′s sinking.<ref name=Lundquist20211015>[https://seapowermagazine.org/wreck-of-storied-revenue-cutter-found/ Lundquist, Edward, "Wreck of Storied Revenue Cutter Found," ''Seapower'', October 15, 2021.]</ref> His effort was unsuccessful, but other searches of the  area ensued over the next 42 years, involving a variety of actors including MIT; the U.S. Navy; various elements of the U.S. Coast Guard including the Chief Historian′s Office, the Coast Guard Research and Development Center, and the [[United States Coast Guard Academy]]; the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] (NOAA); the [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]]; the [[Commonwealth of Massachusetts]]; and the [[Government of Canada]].<ref name=Lundquist20211015/> Finally, a search conducted from 14 to 28 September 2021 by elements of NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard in cooperation with various academic researchers confirmed that a wreck discovered in 2019 on the [[Seabed|floor]] of the Atlantic Ocean in [[Canada]]′s [[exclusive economic zone]] approximately {{convert|260|nmi|0}} east of Boston and {{convert|90|nmi|0}} south of [[Cape Sable]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada, was that of ''Bear''.<ref name=Lundquist20211015/><ref name=Wreck>{{cite web|url= https://wbng.com/2021/10/14/coast-guard-wreck-found-in-atlantic-is-storied-cutter-bear/ |title=Coast Guard: Wreck found in Atlantic is storied cutter Bear|publisher=Associated Press (reported on WBNG.com website), October 14, 2021|accessdate=October 14, 2021}}</ref> On 14 October 2021, [[NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps]] [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] [[Nancy Hann]] announced the discovery in a [[press conference]] held on a [[pier]] in Boston adjacent to the Coast Guard [[icebreaker]] {{USCGC|Healy|WAGB-20}}.<ref name=Lundquist20211015/><ref name=Wreck/>

==Legacy==
''Bear''{{'}}s career lasted for 89 years.  She spent a total of 47 years in commissioned service of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, Coast Guard and Navy. She was one of only a few ships to have served in both polar regions.  She is also one of the very few ships to be on active service in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II.

There is a large detailed scale model of ''Bear'' on display in the [[Stockton Center for International Law]], part of the [[United States Naval War College]] in [[Newport, Rhode Island]].

The figurehead from ''Bear'' is in the collection at the [[Mariners' Museum]] in [[Newport News, Virginia]].

The mascot of the [[United States Coast Guard Academy]] is Objee the bear, inspired by the Coast Guard Cutter ''Bear''.  The athletic teams of the Coast Guard Academy are called the [[Coast Guard Bears]].

==Awards==
* [[Spanish Campaign Medal]]
* [[World War I Victory Medal (United States)|World War I Victory Medal]] with "ASIATIC" clasp
* [[Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition Medal]]
* [[United States Antarctic Expedition Medal]]
* [[American Defense Service Medal]] with "A" device
* [[American Campaign Medal]]
* [[European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal]]
* [[World War II Victory Medal]]
* [[Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://media.defense.gov/2017/Mar/29/2001723556/-1/-1/0/CIM_1650_25E.PDF | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904105203/https://media.defense.gov/2017/Mar/29/2001723556/-1/-1/0/CIM_1650_25E.PDF | url-status=dead | archive-date=4 September 2017 | title=Coast Guard Military Medals and Awards Manual | publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security | date=15 August 2016 | access-date=14 December 2020 }}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References used==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web|title=''Bear'', 1885|url=https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Water/All/Article/2082164/bear-1885/|website=Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=27 February 2022}}
* {{cite book|publisher=Government Printing Office|last=United States. Revenue-Cutter Service|title=Report of the cruise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear and the overland expedition for the relief of the whalers in the Arctic ocean, from November 27, 1897, to September 13, 1898|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=2014-03-23|year=1898|url=https://archive.org/details/reportofcruiseof03unit}}
* {{cite web|title=General Order No. 1|url=https://media.defense.gov/2021/Dec/09/2002906427/-1/-1/0/1915_USCG_GO1.PDF|website=Historic Documents & Publications|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=27 February 2022}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.hazegray.org/features/bear/ Haze Gray & Underway: "The Cutter Bear"]
* [https://archive.org/details/ATripToTheArctic  A Trip To The Arctic With Uncle Sam], 1921 film includes footage of USCGC ''Bear''
* [http://digitalcollections.plymouth.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15828coll12 McGoldrick Photographs], a collection of photographs taken of the ''USS Bear'' in Alaska in 1886

{{coord|42|40|N|65|11|W|display=title}}
{{Alaska history footer|state=collapsed}}
{{1963 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bear (1874)}}
[[Category:History of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador]]
[[Category:Exploration ships]]
[[Category:Arctic exploration vessels]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Alaska]]
[[Category:Ships of the United States Coast Guard]]
[[Category:Ships of the United States Revenue Cutter Service]]
[[Category:Ships built in Dundee]]
[[Category:1874 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1963]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Nova Scotia coast]]
[[Category:Water transportation in Alaska]]
[[Category:Antarctica during World War II]]