Michael A. Healy, who was the first person of African descent in the US Coast Guard, and the first to command a U.S. government ship.
Born into slavery, he’s the son of Mary Eliza Smith and her owner, who become her husband, Michael Morris Healy, an Irish immigrant planter. He sent several of their children north to be educated.
Michael A. Healy became a cabin boy, then a merchant seaman and eventually an officer.
In 1865 he was commissioned as a third lieutenant by President Abraham Lincoln,
Healy began his lengthy service in Alaskan waters in 1875, serving and getting promoted on several revenue cutters. In 1886, he became the commander of the cutter Bear.
He earned his reputation as “Hell Roaring Mike” as a stern commander and alcohol user. He and the sailors of Bear rescued one hundred and sixty sailors from various whaling vessels that were trapped in Alaska.
At the peak of his career Healy knew Alaska’s icy waters better than any other single individual.
Captain Healy officially retired in 1903 and passed away shortly after on August 30, 1904. He was sixty-four.
in 1999, ninety-fve years afer his death, the Coast Guard named an icebreaker after him, the USCG Healy.
