USCGC Sundew (WLB-404)
Sundew is one of 39 original 180-foot (55 m) seagoing buoy tenders built between 1942-1944. All but one of the original tenders, USCGC Ironwood, were built in Duluth. Like all of these tenders, Sundew was named after a plant, in this case the sundew, a carnivorous plant from the genus Drosera.
In 1958, Sundew was assigned to Charlevoix, Michigan, and the following November helped in the rescue of two survivors from the Carl D. Bradley when it sank in a storm on Lake Michigan 47 miles (76 km) west-northwest of Charlevoix. Sundew remained at Charlevoix until 1981, when she was replaced by USCGC Mesquite. Sundew was then moved to Duluth, Minnesota, where it served until it was retired in 2004.
Sundew served 60 years for the Coast Guard and was decommissioned and retired on 27 May 2004. As part of the decommissioning, the vessel was given to the city of Duluth, its last home port, to be used as a museum ship. The services provided by the Sundew were taken up by USCGC Alder.
Due to a drop in tourism revenue, in 2009 the city of Duluth sold Sundew to local residents, Jeff and Toni Foster, David Johnson and Mary Phillipp. The Sundew moved from its museum location in Duluth in the spring of 2010, and currently (2021) occupies a private slip near Duluth's Great Lakes Aquarium.
External links
- Sundew - U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, WLB 404
- National Park Service Report on the 180-foot (55 m) buoy tenders
- Photo history of USCG buoy tenders by the Coast Guard Historian's Office
- Article Winter 2004 Article from North Star Port Magazine
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. MN-98, "U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SUNDEW, Minnesota Avenue, Duluth, St. Louis County, MN", 39 photos, 1 color transparency, 6 data pages, 4 photo caption pages