In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the U.S. Coast Guard served as the Alaskan 911. Known then as simply the Revenue Cutter Service, it was comprised of skilled navigators, judges and law enforcement specialists tasked with preventing the frontier from descending into anarchy, and securing its status as a "cash cow" for the mainland states.

This is the history of the early U.S. Coast Guard, with special focus on its former whalers-turned-cutters, the Bear and the Northland, and their voyages along the coast of Alaska, Hawaii and Greenland. Following the two vessels through history, chapters detail the diverse responsibilities that the "Coasties" had to face at the time, including capturing seal poachers and pirates, delivering babies, pulling natives' teeth and even engaging in combat with a German warship.