Editing Coast guard (section)

==History==
===United Kingdom===
[[File:Girvan Coastguard station.JPG|left|thumb|The HM Coastguard station at Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland]]
The predecessor of Britain's modern [[HM Coastguard|His Majesty's Coastguard]] was established in 1809 as the [[Waterguard]], a department of the [[HM Customs and Excise]] authority, which was originally devoted to the prevention of [[smuggling]]. At the time, due to high UK taxation on liquors such as brandy, as well as tobacco and other luxuries, smuggling of such cargos from places such as France, Belgium, and Holland was an attractive proposition for criminals. The barrels of brandy and other [[contraband]] were landed from the ships on England's beaches at night in small boats and later sold for profit, as later depicted in the [[Doctor Syn]] series of books by [[Russell Thorndike]]. The Coastguard was also responsible for giving assistance to [[shipwrecks]].

Each Waterguard station was issued with a [[Manby mortar]], which had been invented by Captain [[George William Manby]] in 1808. The mortar fired a shot with a line attached from the shore to the wrecked ship and was used for many years. This was the origin of the Coastguard's life saving role. In 1821 a committee of inquiry recommended that responsibility for the Preventative Waterguard be transferred to the Board of Customs. The [[Treasury]] agreed and (in a memorandum dated 15 January 1822) directed that the preventative services, which consisted of the [[Waterguard|Preventative Water Guard]], cruisers, and [[riding officer]]s should be placed under the authority of the Board of Customs and in future should be named the "Coastguard". In 1845 the Coastguard was subordinated to the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.donnanookcoastguard.org.uk/page4.html|title=The History of H M Coastguard}}</ref>

[[File:Cape Hatteras life saving station.jpg|thumb|The [[Cape Lookout Coast Guard Station|Cape Hatteras Life-Saving Station]], [[North Carolina]], in use from the mid-19th century]]
In 1829 the first UK Coastguard instructions were published and dealt with discipline and directions for carrying out preventative duties. They also stipulated that, when a ship was wrecked, the Coastguard was responsible for taking all possible action to save lives, to take charge of the vessel and to protect property.<ref>[http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Coastguard_History] National Archives - Coastguard History (1992 Memorandum)</ref>

===United States===
In the United States, the [[United States Coast Guard]] was created in 1915 by the merger of two other federal agencies. The first, the [[United States Revenue Cutter Service]], founded in 1790 and known until 1894 as the United States Revenue-Marine, was a maritime customs enforcement agency that also assumed a supporting role to the [[United States Navy]] in wartime. The second, the [[United States Life-Saving Service]], was formed in 1848 and consisted of life saving crews stationed at points along the [[United States East Coast]]. The Coast Guard later absorbed the [[United States Lighthouse Service]] in 1939 and the functions of the [[Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection]] via a two-step process in 1942 and 1946.