Home > All About Hull, MA, MA> Coast Guard

Coast Guard Station in Hull, MA

U.S Department of Homeland Security
United States Coast Guard
Point Allerton Station
93 Main Street
Hull, MA
(781)-925-0166

Ever wonder what a typical day is like at Coast Guard Station Point Allerton? 

Answer: there is no typical day. The men and women stationed at Point Allerton are busy round-the-clock patrolling the waters, enforcing the law, performing rescue operations, and in between keeping a rigorous training schedule both from computers and books as well as engaing in training drills on land and on the water. Engineers maintain and fix the fleet of high tech boats.

Formerly part of the Department of Transportation, the Coast Guard is now a part of the Department of Homeland Security. The men and women who patrol the waters are armed and once on the water are not subject to state laws and can stop and search any boat on the water in search of drugs, illegal fishing, carrying of illegal immigrants, suspected terrorism and recreational boaters who are intoxicated. 

The Coast Guard is very active in protecting Boston, in particular, because of the LNG tankers that come right into the city itself, making this area particularly high risk for terrorism acts. 

The men and the women in the Coast Guard are on for two days and then off for two days. Some live in Hull and others live outside the area. They give of themselves above and beyond their Coast Guard duty, helping people in the neighborhood of the station and raising funds for charitable causes. In May of 2006 we had an exceptional amount of rain, and with it considerable flooding. The men and women stationed at Point Allerton helped everyone in the neighborhood by pumping out their basements. Several members of the Coast Guard raise money regularly for The Shriners Burn Center in Boston.

Coast Guard members either graduate from Coast Guard Academy or join the Coast Guard directly and go through an eight week boot camp. They train rigorously every day to be able to drive the boats through the most difficult water conditions, to be able to fix the boats while they are being driven, to be able to police the waters, (Coast Guard members are armed and wear bulletproof vests), and perform rescues (Point Allerton Station has six Coast Guard members trained as EMT's). It is not unusual for them to be out on their boats from eight to 14 hours straight in emergency situations. 

Asked if they ever feel scared out on the water in a crisis and the answer is "No." They are so highly trained, that it is automatic to them to know exactly what to do and the only thing on their minds are the safety and protection of the crew on the boat as well as the people being rescued. They have an $18 million state-of-the-art boat that can handle the roughest of seas, and will right itself if it flips.

The Coast Guard station itself  has a gymnasium/training room, and all Coast Guard members must continually pass physical testing. There is a computer room/library where members study for exams. There is an 24 hour operations room with spectacular views from Everett out to Quincy and beyond. There is a home theater room with a black leather sofa, which is supposed to be off-limits to the station mascot, Liberty - but rumor has it that Liberty has her own set of rules about watching TV on the sofa!

We toured the station and were so impressed with the young men and women of our Coast Guard, all of whom are confident, competent, dedicated and proud, and all go above and beyond to serve our country and our community.

 

 

Back to Top