My dad recognized the name and thought it was a former Coast Guard Cutter from World War II so he was checking it out.

From: http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Cartigan1927.asp :

CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat, BUILDER: American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., Camden, NJ, COST: $90,000
COMMISSIONED: 3 March 1927 LAUNCHED: 27 January 1927 DECOMMISSIONED: 12 October 1968
DISPLACEMENT: 232 tons, PROPULSION: 2 x 6-cylinder, 300 hp engines, LENGTH: 125 feet, BEAM: 23 feet, 6 inches, DRAFT: 7 feet, 6 inches, COMPLEMENT: 3 officers, 17 men, ARMAMENT: 1 x 3"/27 (1927); Depth charge racks; mousetraps (1943)
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CLASS HISTORY:
This class of vessels was one of the most useful and long-lasting in Coast Guard service with 16 cutters still in use in the 1960’s. The last to be decommissioned from active service was the Morris in 1970; the last in actual service was the Cuyahoga, which sank after an accidental collision in 1978. They were designed for trailing the "mother ships" along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their re-engining in the late 1930’s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels 3 additional knots. All served in World War II, but two, the Jackson and Bedloe, were lost in a storm in 1944. Ten were refitted as buoy tenders during the war and reverted to patrol work afterward.
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CUTTER HISTORY
This vessel was built by the American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation and was launched on 27 January 1927 in Camden, New Jersey. She was sponsored by Miss Harriet Hosmer. The Cartigan was placed in commission on 8 March 1927. She was originally stationed at Stapleton, New York, at Coast Guard Base Two, until she was transferred to Coast Guard Base Three in Norfolk, Virginia in January 1931. Her first commanding officer was Boatswain Austin H. Troy, and he and his crew captured a rum-running schooner soon after her commissioning.

In September 1932 she was sent to Harbor Beach, Michigan and remained there for 10 years. She conducted light icebreaking operations in the Connecticut River during 1943 and then served as a patrol and escort vessel along the eastern seaboard during the remainder of World War II. She was in storage in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1946 to 1947 due to lack of personnel. She was at New York (1947-50); Galveston, Texas (1950-1953); and Panama City, Florida (1953-1968). She was decommissioned a final time on 12 October 1968 and was sold 9 April 1969 to Nicholas Mitchell, of Brooklyn, New York, for $26,129.00.
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COMMANDING OFFICERS:
Boatswain Austin H. Troy, 1927-?
1960-1968:
LT J. P. Randle
LT W. R. Lipham
LT William R. Bell
LT Clarence C. Atkins