“More than a quarter-century at sea” — sounds like the beginning of an epic novel.
Instead, it’s the Coast Guard career of Chief Warrant Officer Paul Dilger of Rockland. With 26 years at sea, Dilger arguably has the most sea time of any active Guard member.
He says it wasn’t planned.
“It just kind of happened,” Dilger said.
Born in North Dakota and raised in Minnesota, Dilger didn’t seem like a strong candidate for sea life. But at an early age he became enchanted with tales of early explorers like Drake and Magellan.
Soon, he was trying out his own sailboat on some of Minnesota’s ten thousand lakes. After that, Dilger says, it was only a matter of time.
“Once you start the lakes, you want to go bigger,” he said.
The Coast Guard came into Dilger’s life because of a perceived slight at work in 1977; after receiving a meager ten-cent raise from his then-employer, he decided he could do better elsewhere. Shortly thereafter, he wandered into the Coast Guard recruitment office and got hooked for life.
In 29 years of service, Dilger has served at over ten posts from Alaska to Cape Horn. This is his third tour in Maine, where he’s currently part of Rockland’s Aids to Navigation team. Frequent moves never bothered him; he’s always been a wanderer at heart.
“I want what’s around the next corner,” he said.
Dilger’s most memorable experiences at sea have come on patrol boats in the Gulf of Mexico, where high-speed chases and cat-and-mouse hunts of drug smugglers gave the Gulf a Wild West feel.
“It’s just like the movies,” he said. “It was so interesting and fun!”
But he also relishes the serene times in his career, and particularly loves Maine’s waters for their quiet in winter.
“It’s just like you’re out there by yourself,” he said.
Having recently served in Rockland, Dilger didn’t plan on coming back to Maine so soon. But the Coast Guard made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: the chance to live in the Owl’s Head lighthouse keeper’s cottage. Dilger said it didn’t take him long to accept.
So what’s it like living in a lighthouse cottage?
“Like anybody would probably imagine,” he said. “The coolest thing in the world.”
From the cottage windows, Dilger can see the lighthouse, Rockland Harbor and the island of Vinalhaven. When he wants a bird’s eye view of the sea, he can climb the stairs of the lighthouse.
“It’s a multimillion-dollar view any window you look out,” he said.
Owl’s Head Light is relatively short for a lighthouse, just 30 feet of brick at the entrance of Rockland Harbor. It was built in 1825 to guide ships involved with the local lime trade.
The original lighthouse and cottage were both constructed of stone, but neither lasted very long.
“Whoever [constructed] it, did a lousy job,” Dilger quipped.
Dilger has done his share of historical restoration, so he has a right to talk. Before he and his wife moved in, the keeper’s cottage had been abandoned for more than three years. They helped renovate it, and his wife decorated the cottage’s interior with seafaring antiques.
“When people come in, it looks like the 1850s,” Dilger said.
The cottage sits between two rock knolls on five private acres, with a state park beyond. Dilger says his grandchildren love to visit.
“For your kids, it’s a great place to play,” he said. “But as a parent, you have to be concerned about steep cliffs.”
Coincidentally, Dilger’s ship, the Abbie Burgess, was named after a 19th century female lighthouse keeper in Maine. Burgess was the child of an island lighthouse keeper and kept the light burning through some brutal weather while her father was away. Later, she married the son of the keeper who replaced her father. In all, she ended up spending more than two-thirds of her life tending a lighthouse. When the Abbie Burgess was dedicated, Burgess’s family gave the Guard her collected correspondence.
Dilger has read Burgess’s letters and admires her tenacity.
“It’s a very inspirational story,” he said. “We tend to romanticize lighthouses, but it was just darn hard work.”
As for Dilger, he tentatively plans to retire from the Guard next year after 30 years of service. Unfortunately, he will then have to part with the lighthouse cottage.
“It’ll be a sad day when I have to leave,” he said.
As for his plans after the Guard, Dilger isn’t sure what awaits him. His wife is a Mainer so he might live in Maine for a while, but he says taxes along the coast would be a problem.
“I don’t envision myself staying up here,” he said.
One suspects that in the end, Dilger’s yearning to wander will get the better of him and soon after retirement, he will again be on a ship headed out to sea.