Francis Saltus Van Boskerck

Van Boskerck was born in October 1868 and was a native of New York state. He was appointed to join the Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction on May 17, 1889, as a cadet. Until 1890, the School of Instruction was held on ships, After many years in the Coast Guard, Van Boskerck attended the Naval War College in 1923 and 1924. Upon leaving, he was made district commander of the Great Lakes District. == Career ==

Van Boskerck received a commission into the Coast Guard, then the Revenue Cutter Service on May 20, 1891. He would go on to serve twenty-three years of sea duty out of a thirty-six-year career, not leaving the Coast Guard until his death in 1927. Previously, he served as a first lieutenant. Van Boskerck's first prominent position was in 1914 and 1915, when he was tasked with overseeing the construction of the cutters and at Newport News, Virginia. In 1917, he was made captain of the Port of Philadelphia, while simultaneously being an aide for the Fourth Naval District there. He held these positions during the U.S. involvement in World War I, and was the first member of the Coast Guard to detect a German U-boat in the Atlantic. Post-World War I When the war ended, Van Boskerck was once again tasked with construction oversight, this time on repairs of the cutter USCGC Bear. In the summer of 1920, he commanded a cruise of Bear to the Bering Sea. In 1922, he was placed in command of USCGC Yamacraw, headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, aboard which he wrote the lyrics to "Semper Paratus". The vessel's primary mission at the time was to intercept illegal shipments of alcohol (during Prohibition) aboard boats off the coast of Florida and the Carolinas. In 1923, Van Boskerck went to Newport, Rhode Island to attend the Naval War College, and in 1924 he was placed in command of the Great Lakes District. A year later, in 1925, he was named assistant inspector of the Northwest District. In 1925, he was put in command of the Bering Sea Patrol, headquartered in Unalaska, Alaska, and held the post into 1926. It was here he would write the music to "Semper Paratus". In 1926, Van Boskerck returned to the East Coast and was named commander of the Norfolk Division in October in order to fill a vacancy. That fall, he took a week of leave and traveled to Washington, D.C., in order to discuss his retirement from the Coast Guard with Lieutenant Colonel Harvey Miller, also publisher and editor of Coast Guard Magazine. Miller offered him a job as national commander of the Army and Navy Union, which Van Boskerck was honored by. He would have been the first former Coast Guard member to hold the position. That day, he also persuaded Miller to publish "Semper Paratus". == Creation of "Semper Paratus" ==

Writing of Lyrics In 1922, Van Boskerck was in command of the cutter USCGC Yamacraw, which chased boats smuggling then-illegal alcohol in the coastal waters of Florida and the Carolinas but was headquartered in Savannah, GA. It was near the shore of this city, where, in his cabin, Van Boskerck wrote the words to "Semper Paratus". He wrote of the experience: He then presented the lyrics to the officers of Yamacraw, expecting criticism. == Death ==

After he delivered the words and music of "Semper Paratus" to Miller, Van Boskerck had intended to head to New York City for the Army–Navy football game that was to be held there. For an unknown reason, he instead decided to take a steamboat back to Norfolk. As he was leaving his room to disembark the vessel, he died abruptly of a heart attack. He had no known ailments at the time of his death. Van Boskerck died in the early hours of the morning on November 26, 1927. His death was reported by the Associated Press in The Evening Star that day. ==References==