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Law
Excerpt - Law and order
Healy rules Alaska waves
… A “floating court” of sorts evolved when justice was meted out from the decks of revenue cutters beginning in the late 1880s.
A commander in the U.S. Revenue Marine, precursor to the U.S. Coast Guard, was the first revenue cutter commander to make regular patrols into the harsh arctic waters. Capt. Michael A. Healy was about the only source of law in a lawless land, and he transported criminals onboard the cutter Bear from remote Alaska communities to Sitka for trial.
 U.S. Revenue Marine Capt. Michael A. Healy poses with his pet parrot on the quarterdeck of his most famous command, the Revenue Cutter Bear, around 1895.
Photo courtesy of National Park Service
Healy began his 49-year sea career in 1854 at age 15 when he signed on as a cabin boy aboard the American East Indian clipper Jumna bound for Asia.
The son of a Georgia plantation owner and an African slave from Mali, Healy quickly became an expert seaman. During the Civil War, he requested and was granted a commission as a third lieutenant in the U. S. Revenue Marine from President Abraham Lincoln.
After serving successfully on several cutters in the East, Healy began his lengthy service in Alaska waters in 1875 as the second officer on the cutter Rush. He was given command of the revenue cutter Chandler in 1877. Promoted to captain in March 1883, he then assumed command of the cutter Thomas Corwin in 1884. Finally, in 1886, he became commanding officer of the Bear, taking her into Alaska waters for the first time.
He became a legend enforcing federal law along Alaska’s 20,000-mile coastline. In addition to befriending missionaries and scientists, he rescued whalers, Natives, shipwrecked sailors and destitute miners, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
 The Bear plied Arctic Ocean waters, often vying for a pathway through icebergs.
Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard
The captain often drove himself and his crew beyond the call of duty, as in 1888, when the Alaska whaling fleet was anchored behind the bar at Point Barrow to ride out a southwest gale.
The wind veered to the north, and huge waves broke over the bar. Four ships broke apart and sank, tossing the ships’ crews into the icy waters. Healy and the Bear’s crew saved 160 whalers, Coast Guard records show.
Healy also assisted in serving the humanitarian needs and welfare of Native Alaskans through the introduction of reindeer to Alaska in order to replace the declining whale and seal populations, which were among the Natives’ primary food sources.
Healy brings reindeer to Alaska
While serving as second-in-command of the Thomas Corwin as it searched for the lost exploration ship Jeanette along the Siberian Coast in 1881, he noticed that the Chukchi people were able to sustain themselves by raising reindeer. In 1890, Healy used that knowledge to work with the Rev. Dr. Sheldon Jackson and famous naturalist John Muir to import reindeer to Alaska.
At his own expense, Healy transported 16 reindeer from the Natives of the Siberian Coast to the Seward Peninsula. In 1892, another 171 reindeer were added to the herd and Teller Reindeer Station was established. More reindeer followed. These selfless acts and humanitarian efforts helped Natives continue their subsistence ways and probably saved many lives.
Coincidentally, his interpreter in the Arctic was Mary Makrikoff, who years later would become the first Native woman to own her own reindeer herd and be known as “Reindeer Mary” and “Sinrock Mary,” as told in “Aunt Phil’s Trunk: Volume 1.” During the early 1900s, she was the richest Native woman in Alaska, selling reindeer to prospectors, the government and others….
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