Charles Axel Alexius Modeer (1877- ?), a native of Kalmar, Sweden, moved to Chicago with his family as a baby. Following in the seafaring footsteps of his father, who was a shipmaster on the Great Lakes, Charles ran away from home at the age of 17 and spent six years aboard sailing ships. He joined the Pacific Mail Steamship Company out of San Francisco after 1900. Modeer entered the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1909, as second officer on the Lightship Columbia and served on various lighthouse tenders, including the Manzanita. He commanded the Manzanita from 1929-1941, when he retired from the Coast Guard. He was headquartered at Astoria, Oregon. During World War I, Modeer joined the Navy but returned to the Lighthouse Service in 1919.
From the description of Charles Axel Alexius Modeer notebooks, [ca. 1907-1939]. (Oregon Historical Society Research Library). WorldCat record id: 54367891
