Catalogue description Transport Ministries: Coastguard (CG and TCA Series) Files

The Coastguard Agency (TCA) was set up in 1995 to administrate the Coastguard and the TCA prefix was introduced to replace the CG one used by the Department of Transport. In 1998 the Coastguard Agency was amalgamated with the Marine Safety Agency to form the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

Earlier History:

In 1809 the Government established a Preventive Water Guard to operate in coastal waters, to tackle any smugglers who had managed to evade the Revenue cruisers further out to sea and to check on the effective functioning of the Revenue cruisers themselves. It was also responsible for giving assistance when a ship was wrecked. In 1816 the Preventive Water Guard was placed under the control of the Treasury and all but a few of the Revenue cruisers passed to the Admiralty, while the Riding Officers remained under the Board of Customs. In the same year a new shore-based service, the Coast Blockade, was established by the Admiralty to complement the existing forces.

The existence of so many different preventive services resulted in much overlapping of function and duplication of effort. In 1821 a committee set up to enquire into the operation of the Customs recommended the combination of all the preventive services (with the exception of the Coast Blockade which would remain under the Admiralty) under a single authority, the Board of Customs, though the officers of the newly amalgamated service were to be nominated by the Admiralty. The proposal was accepted, and in 1822 the Preventive Water Guard, the Revenue cruisers and the Riding Officers united to form the Coastguard. In 1831 the Coast Blockade was also absorbed into the Coastguard.

In 1856, after the Crimean War - during which the Coastguard first functioned as a reserve force for the Royal Navy - control was transferred to the Admiralty. During the next 70 years the service acquired a variety of different responsibilities, ranging from those laid down in the Coastguard Service Act 1856 (to provide for the defence of the coasts of the realm, the more ready manning of the Royal Navy in the event of war or emergency, and the protection of the revenue), to assisting vessels in distress, taking charge of wrecks, operating life-saving apparatus, participating in the lifeboat service, searching for mines and torpedoes lost at sea, and performing sundry duties in connection with signals, telegraphs, buoys, lighthouses, wild birds and rare fish washed ashore.

After the end of the Second World War control of the Coastguard passed to the Ministry of Transport; then in 1964 to the Board of Trade; then in 1983 to the Department of Transport, and in 1998 to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.