The "Darwin" Geography Lesson

There is a specific kind of silence that happens at a station or on a cutter right after the SAR alarm goes off. It’s that half-second where every Coastie on board collectively thinks, ‘Alright, who tried to fight the ocean today, and what were they drinking?

I’ve seen 'Natural Selection' try to work its magic in just about every corner of the globe. I’ve watched it in the North Atlantic, where the ocean is actively trying to freeze you; in the Caribbean, where people assume 'tropical' means 'safe'; and in the Long Island Sound, where Montauk’s currents have a very special way of humbling the overconfident.

I've spent 16 years acting as the maritime world’s 'undo' button. Whether it was on a small boat out of New York or from the deck of a medium endurance cutter in the Caribbean, or an icebreaker pushing through the South Atlantic, the common denominator is always the same: a human being who underestimated the water.

From Montauk to the Ice

On a small boat out of Montauk, you’re often dealing with the 'Weekend Admiral'—the guy who bought a boat on Friday and thinks he’s Vasco da Gama by Saturday morning. But on the cutters, especially the icebreakers, the scale changes. Down in the South Atlantic or the deep Pacific, you aren’t just fighting a bad current; you’re operating in a place where the environment doesn't even want you to exist.

Saving someone in those conditions isn't just a job; it’s a direct insult to the laws of probability. That’s why we created the 'Interfering with Natural Selection since 1790' line. It’s a nod to the fact that, regardless of the latitude, the Coast Guard is there to make sure Mother Nature doesn’t get the last word.