# "M/V SUN BIRD" ex-USCGC CRAWFORD



## mbarnette (Oct 30, 2007)

I am trying to find disposition information on the freighter SUN BIRD. She was built in 1927 as the USCGC CRAWFORD (WSC-134). She was sold in 1956 and was a research vessel (R/V CRAWFORD) for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. She was sold in 1970 to the University of Puerto Rico and eventually sold some years later. Apparently, she entered merchant service, and the only record I have of her is a newspaper article regarding her seizure for drugs:

1986-CGC Manitou stopped the 125-foot SUN BIRD in 7th District waters and her boarding team discovered 40,000 pounds of marijuana hidden aboard. The boarding team then located the vessel's builder's plate and learned that the SUN BIRD was the decommissioned "buck-and-a-quarter" cutter CRAWFORD. The former cutter and her 14-man crew were taken into custody. A newspaper article describing the incident noted: "If CRAWFORD was a person, Miami would have probably seen it blush . . . The ex-Coast Guard cutter received more publicity for smuggling the drugs than for its 20-year Coast Guard career."

I believe she was sold at auction, but I am unclear where she went from there....
Any ideas?

Cheers,
Mike


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## Milan Raidor (Nov 4, 2008)

*Not the Crawford*

Can it be you are thinking about the General Greene ?? Decomm 11/15/68 Sold 70’s Renamed Belmont, Seized by the Coast Guard as a “drug boat” Scuttled off Florida.

Regards


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