This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. Regulations say that we have to go out. They don't say anything about coming back. So went the unofficial motto of the United States Life Saving Service. It was true. Regulations required that its crewmen had to use every means at their disposal to save the lives of shipwrecked sailors. They allowed no excuses. The crews could not declare weather conditions too dangerous to make an attempt. Only if they actually tried and failed could they abandon their effort. Many died trying. The Life Saving Service established in the 1870s was the forerunner of the US Coast Guard. Captain Joseph Napier commanded one of the first life saving stations on the Great Lakes. The St. Joseph, Michigan station went into service in the spring of 1877. It immediately proved its worth in the rescue of the crew of the schooner DG Williams. On October 10, 1877, the Williams stranded on the harbor's outer bar during a gale. Her crew of six scrambled into the rigging where they clung like treed cats. Joseph Napier commandeered a boat and with three volunteer rescuers set out to save the stranded crew. The rescuers boat capsized on the breakers. Napier tried again and this time they reached the wreck. They returned to the shore with two of the Williams crew. On a third attempt, the rescue boat filled with water. They bailed it out and managed to save two more crewmen. That left two survivors still aboard the Williams. Napier headed into the surf for the fourth time. A huge wave flung everyone from the boat which badly injured Napier's leg. One volunteer swam ashore. The Williams crew threw a line to one of the rescuers and pulled him aboard the wreck. Despite injuries, Napier and his remaining volunteer brought their boat alongside the schooner. They took aboard the two crewmen and their own man and got them safely ashore. In the end, every man survived. For his gallantry, Joseph Napier became the first recipient of the Life Saving Service's highest honor, a gold life Saving medal awarded on May 1, 1878. In 2016, the US Coast Guard commissioned a new Sentinel class fast response cutter. Her name the Joseph Napier. Today she operates out of Puerto Rico on coastal security patrols and search and rescue missions. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.