TALES OF AN OLD SEA DOG

Updated - Friday May 14, 2004

Captain Claude William "Bill" Bailey, U.S. Coast Guard (retired), Master of All Ships, All Oceans was the commanding officer of nine Coast Guard ships during his illustrious career. He is not only a retired ship captain, he is an accomplished musician, and a prolific writer. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

• Alpha to Omega By C. William "Bill" Bailey An interesting article, "USS Wakefield In Singapore"  in an issue of Quarterdeck Log certainly awoke slumbering memories in this old sea dog ..........
• The First Cruise of Lightship 196© By C. William "Bill" Bailey - Ferrying a brand new lightship from Bay City, Michigan to Boston. A tale to make an old RM cringe.
• A Buoy Tender Tows a Battleship By C. William "Bill" Bailey - In the early days of the CGC TUPELO during WWII, she did many different jobs for the Navy in the Pacific Theater. 
• The Tupelo's Early Years By - C. William "Bill" Bailey - Here as a brief insight into the life of the TUPELO during WWII.
• Buoy Tender Duty In The South Pacific - 1943-1946 By C. William "Bill" Bailey - Extracted from Chapter Three of Captain Bailey's Autobiography, "You Can So, Eat Your Cake And Have It Too" ©2002 - Reprinted By Permission.
• Three Stories In One - 1964 –1965 ©ByC. William "Bill" Bailey- Riding the QE II, An Admiralty Court experience, and escorting the Bark, "Eagle".
• The Venerable Cutter GENTIAN by C. William "Bill" Bailey- Come along with Captain Bailey and the Gentian as she services many Caribbean lights, most of which have long since been turned over to other countries.
• Postwar Reminisces - Pacific Buoy Tenders ByC. William "Bill" Bailey - WALNUT had a beautiful steam whistle that sounded as loud as the fog horn on the old Lightships. When I blew it leaving the dock across the harbor from the District Office  it would rattle their  windows. The Admiral forbade me to blow it before 8 O'clock in the morning.
• Coast Guard Cutter COOS BAY an article C. William "Bill" Bailey - [1616 words] A COOS BAY skipper tells of the life of the cutter.  
• Leadership Equals Seamanship and Vice Versa by C. William "Bill" Bailey - The Ambassador Story. 
• Letters To Home - Chase I - By C. William "Bill" Bailey Captain Bailey was one of the old "Sea Dogs" in the Coast Guard. He commanded nine ships during his long career, the cutters COO'S BAY, EASTWIND, and CHASE being the last three.  He was a man that showed great concern for his crews. He implemented a policy of writing letters home to the crew's families and many of his friends. This is one of those letters.
• A Venerable Cutter By C. William "Bill" Bailey – Captain Bailey was the last Commanding Officer of the Ice Breaker EASTWIND.
• Letters From The Land Of The Ice ©2000 By C. William "Bill" Bailey - This story told in a series of letters and photographs is of the last voyage of the venerable Icebreaker Eastwind. It is a large file and is in the Adobe PDF format.
• The Back Story Of An Engagement By C. William "Bill" Bailey - (4,000 words) - Danielle Steele couldn't have told this story any better.

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