Michael A. "Hell-Roaring Mike" Healy is the person who said:

"When I am in charge of a vessel, I always command; nobody commands but me. I take all the responsibility, all the risks, all the hardships that my office would call upon me to take. I do not steer by any man's compass but my own."

He spoke those words at his court martial trial in 1896.

Healy, the son of a slave, served a distinguished career as the Captain of the United States’ most famous cutter, the USRC Bear. Healy took command of the famous cutter Bear in 1886 and on numerous occasions drove himself and his crew well beyond the call of duty. Over the course of his career, he saved hundreds of men.

In one rescue alone in 1888, Healy’s Bear crew rescued 160 sailors from whaling vessels trapped near Point Barrow, Alaska. In 1890 he initiated the successful program, which transferred herds of reindeer from Siberia to Alaska in order to help feed the native Alaskan population. In addition to this humanitarian effort, Healy was the service’s foremost Arctic navigator and he maintained American laws in Alaska in the absence of established courts.

Despite being court-martialed, Healy retired from the service on September 22, 1903 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 64. At the time, he was the third most senior captain in the service.

The USCGC Healy, the largest cutter in the Coast Guard fleet and the service's newest icebreaker, was named in honor of Revenue Captain Michael A. Healy.

For more information about Mike Healy, click here.