Circle Line Boat: XII

XII started out as USCGC Argo, a Coast Guard cutter named for the ship in Greek mythology that carried Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. She was commissioned on January 6, 1933, and spent her early years on Coast Guard Academy cadet training cruises out of Newport, Rhode Island.

During World War II, Argo was attached to the Atlantic Fleet as a convoy escort. On January 6, 1944, exactly eleven years to the day after her commissioning, she helped rescue 23 survivors and recover six bodies after two other vessels in her convoy collided in heavy seas. Argo and her sister ship Thetis were honored for their efforts that night.

Argo was decommissioned in October 1948 and sold in November 1955. Circle Line eventually acquired her and renamed her Circle Line XII.

XII went on to serve Circle Line for decades, and on September 11, 2001, she helped ferry thousands of evacuees from Lower Manhattan across the Hudson to New Jersey. The U.S. Coast Guard recognized Circle Line with the 9/11 Medal for her role that day, a vessel that had already proven herself in a rescue once before, more than half a century earlier.