The Coast Guard Cutter Axe, commissioned 60 years ago, installs and maintains aids to navigation on south Louisiana waterways.
Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham, sector commander for Sector New Orleans, speaks at Saturday's event honoring the cutter Axe.
Coast Guard members listen to the speakers at Saturday's event.
Craig Sorby, who served on the Axe 1979-80, talks about his time on the vessel. Sorby, a Minnesota native, was in the Coast Guard 1977-2020.
Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna said boaters in this area would be lost without the Coast Guard's aids to navigation.
Thanks to the Axe for 60 years
The Coast Guard pulled the cutter Axe alongside the Morgan City dock Saturday to give local people a look at the vessel that has served south Louisiana waterways and the mariners who use them for 60 years. The Axe, commissioned in October 1966 in Dorchester, New Jersey, arrived in south Louisiana after serving in Mobile, Alabama. The Axe and its crew construct and maintain aids to navigation all along the coast, the sort of work that doesn't attract much attention until the aids are damaged or destroyed. Senior Chief Gabe Bosman of the Axe; Capt. Melanie Burnham, sector commander for Coast Guard Sector New Orleans; and Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna all spoke about the importance of the Axe's work and the crews she has carried for six decades. The vessel will be at the dock until 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Review/Bill Decker