The Coast Guard improved the proficiency and safety of afloat operations after the unfortunate circumstances of the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn in 1980, as well as the White Alder in 1968 and Cuyahoga in 1978. After 35 years of service, the buoy tender Blackthorn collided with a 600-foot tanker S.S. Capricorn losing 23 of 50 crew members, Jan. 28, 1980. We pause to remember Blackthorn and our lost shipmates nearly 40 years after its sinking.