Forward by Frederick Stonehouse

Between 1878 and 1915, the surfmen and keepers of the United States Life-Saving Service, forerunner to today's Coast Guard, recued more than 186,000 people from certain death in the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific, along the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. They battled hurricanes and nor'easters, raging surf and howling winds, rowing in wooden boats to save people they'd never even met. They lived up to the motto that has historically been attached to them: they had to go out, they didn't have to come back.

They had To Go Out represents an unprecedented gathering of talented historians working in the field of Coast Guard history from the pages of Wreck & Rescue Journal, including works by Dennis L. Noble, Frederick Stonehouse, Ralph Shanks, Maurice Gibbs, and John Galluzzo.