On February 18, 1952, Senior Chief Bernie Webber took the CG36500 lifeboat out of Chatham Station with three volunteers—Seaman Ervin Maske, Seaman Richard Livesey, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Fitzgerald, an Engineman—to respond to the tanker Pendleton, which had broken in two off Chatham during a storm.
Seaman Maske, who was originally at Chatham Station awaiting transport to the Lightship Stonehorse, remained ashore as the Coast Guard had deemed the seas too rough to transport him. He volunteered to join the daring rescue mission, along with the two other Chatham Coast Guardsmen who volunteered to accompany Mr. Webber.
The Coast Guard crew faced harrowing conditions, battling 60-foot waves, hurricane-force winds, and blizzard weather to rescue 33 sailors who survived the shipwreck. As the CG36500 left Chatham Harbor, its compass and windshield were smashed, and the rescue boat began taking on water. Despite these setbacks, the crew persevered, using dead reckoning to locate the stern section of the Pendleton where the ship’s crew awaited rescue.
Tragically, the only life lost was that of the ship’s cook, George D. “Tiny” Myers. In recognition of their heroism, the four men who manned the rescue boat were awarded the prestigious Coast Guard Gold Life-Saving Medals. This event is considered by maritime historians to be “The Greatest Small Boat Rescue in Coast Guard History.” Of the four rescuers, Engineman Andrew Fitzgerald is the only one still living.
### Early Life and Coast Guard Service
Senior Chief Bernie Webber was born in Milton, Massachusetts, in 1928, the son of the late Rev. A. Bernard Webber and Annie Knight Webber. He was one of four sons, all of whom served in the U.S. military during World War II: Paul served in the Army in Europe, Bob in the Coast Guard, and Bill in the Army Transportation Corps.
At the young age of 16, Bernie Webber joined the Merchant Marine Service and trained at Sheepshead Bay Maritime School in New York. Following the conclusion of World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and completed boot camp at Curtis Bay, Maryland.
He was first assigned to Cape Cod, serving lighthouse duty at Highland Lighthouse in North Truro and later at Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard. Webber first encountered the CG36500 lifeboat during a visit to Chatham and was transferred to Chatham Station in 1949.
### Career Highlights
After the Pendleton rescue, Webber transferred to Woods Hole but returned to Chatham in 1954, serving there briefly until 1955. His final tour at Chatham ended in 1963 when he was assigned to the Cross Rip Lightship until its decommissioning.
He was then reassigned to the CG Cutter Point Banks out of Woods Hole, which was deployed to Vietnam. Upon his return, he served aboard the Buoy Tender Hornbeam in Woods Hole and retired from the Coast Guard as a Senior Chief Petty Officer and Warrant Bosun (WO1) on September 1, 1966.
During his extensive career in the region, Webber also served at Nauset Lifeboat Station, Race Point Lifeboat Station, aboard a Coast Guard tug out of Southwest Harbor, Maine, and on the Nantucket Lightship.
### Personal Life and Later Years
Senior Chief Webber met his wife, Miriam Pentinen, a native of Wellfleet, when he was stationed in North Truro. They married on July 16, 1950, in Milton, in a ceremony performed by his father, Rev. A. Bernard Webber.
After retiring from the Coast Guard, Webber served as Wellfleet Harbor Master and reconditioned boats for Nauset Auto and Marine in Orleans. He also partnered on a charter boat out of Rock Harbor, Orleans.
In retirement, he worked for the National Audubon Society and the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, both in Maine. He remained active in the marine industry, working in dredging, towboat, and salvage operations, and even served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In his book, *Chatham: The Lifeboatmen*, Webber reflected, “After 42 years of work on the sea, it became time to come home.”
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