rescued the passengers, but also craned the boat up on to the buoy deck before heading back to port. Mesquite was pressed into service as a fire-fighter several times in her career. Perhaps the most dramatic case occurred in January 1973. The port engine on the tanker Venus exploded and caught fire, killing one of her engineers. Mesquite went to the ship's aid and was able to extinguish the engine room fire in a matter of hours. She earned the Coast Guard Unit Commendation for this event. In 1959 Mesquite was assigned to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. She replaced USCGC Hollyhock (WAGL-220) there. Her career at Sturgeon Bay was similar to that at Sault Ste. Marie with the seasonal removal and replacement of buoys, frequent calls for ice breaking over the winter, and the occasional vessel in distress. On April 10, 1964, though, it was Mesquite that needed a rescue. She was placing buoys at the beginning of spring, as she had for years. That year, however, Lake Michigan was at an unusually low level. At 11 am Mesquite went aground on Eleven-Foot Shoal in Green Bay and ripped a twelve-foot gash in her hull. The flooding reached five feet deep in her engine room and shut down the ship's engines and generators. The tug sent to pull her off the reef went aground, too, another victim of low water levels. Mesquite's crew placed a temporary patch on the hull to stop the flooding, so there was no danger of sinking. USCGC Sundew arrived on scene the next day and towed the tug off the reef. Then the two ships cooperated in towing Mesquite free. Mesquite went into dry dock at Sturgeon Bay for repairs. In 1972, USCGC Woodbine, based in Grand Haven, Michigan, was decommissioned. Mesquite was assigned responsibility for Woodbine's fleet of buoys. She also inherited some of Woodbine's equipment. In June 1976 she sailed for Portland, Maine. Mesquite's crew was transferred to the newly renovated USCGC Acacia at Curtis Bay. They sailed their new ship back to Sturgeon Bay where Acacia replaced Mesquite. Meanwhile, Mesquite went into the Coast Guard Yard for her own renovation. Her engines were overhauled and a bow thruster was added to improve the ship's maneuverability. At the completion of the work in the fall of 1977, Mesquite took on the crew of USCGC Sundew, which was entering the Coast Guard Yard for her