Career
He was a petty officer assigned to Station Chatham, Massachusetts and part of his duties were that of coxswain of Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG 36500. Webber and his crew of three rescued the crew of the stricken tanker Steamship Pendleton, which had broken in half during a horrific storm on February 18, 1952 off Cape Cod. Webber maneuvered the 36-foot lifeboat under the Pendleton"s stern with expert skill as the tanker"s crew, trapped in the stern section, abandoned the wreck of their ship on a Jacobs ladder into the Coast Guard motor lifeboat.
Webber and his crew of three, Engineman Third Class Andrew Fitzgerald.
Seaman Richard Livesey. And Seaman Ervin Maske, saved 32 of the 33 Pendleton"s crewmen who were on the stern section of the ship.
Their successful rescue operation has been noted as one of the greatest in the history of the United States. Coast Guard. Webber was a veteran of the Merchant Marine during World World War II and joined the Coast Guard in 1946.
He rose to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer during a distinguished 20-year military career that included a tour in the Vietnam War.
The first-in-class Sentinel class cutter, USCGC Webber was named in his honor. She was commissioned on 14 April 2012 at her home-port of Miami, Florida. In 2016 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures released The Finest Hours, a depiction of the Pendleton rescue, with Chris Pine portraying Webber.
Webber"s memoir was published in 2015, titled Lightships, Lighthouses, and Lifeboat Stations: A Memoir and History ().