47 Foot Lifeboat at Ocean City Inlet

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>U. S.C.G. 44' LIFEBOAT AT THE OCEAN CITY INLET</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#993300" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id127.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" TUNDRA SWANS AT BLACKWATER"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id118.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sterling and Yeomac"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water Color Prints Matted for 14 x 18 or"><U><B><IMG SRC="00d0d1d0.gif" border=0 width="13" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water Color Prints Matted for 14 x 18 or"><U><B>Return to water color and oil page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="4ca965e0.gif" border=0 width="150" height="94" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>   <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT>           </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>The 44 Foot Motor Life Boat (MLB) has been the search and rescue mainstay of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for worst case conditions since January 1973.  The 44 foot MLB was built to replace the 36 foot MLB which was the search and rescue craft the USCG had relied upon since 1937.  MLB 44350 regularly patrols and serves the area surrounding Ocean City, Maryland.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>All of the 44 foot MLB’ s were all built between January 1963 and November 1972 at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland.  On the smaller boats the first two digits of the boats number indicate her length in feet.   109 MLBs were built designated as numbers 44300 through 44409; craft of this size are not given names.  They were designed to survive complete and devastating repeated rollover in heavy surf or seas.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A tribute to their effectiveness is the fact that of the 109 built, 104 were still in service in 1997; only two having ever been lost at sea during that entire period; the other three were decommissioned and sold because of their age and maintenance costs.   Despite the superb 44 foot MLB record improvement is always strived for and  a new 47 foot MLB  has been  introduced to replace the 44 </B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>