SOUTHWEST HARBOR — On Tuesday, September 8 at 5:30 p.m., join us for a talk about the Coastal Picket Patrol of World War II by John Wilbur at the Southwest Harbor Public Library. The presentation will be on the use of sailing vessels in World War II with emphasis on the part played by the boats based at Southwest Harbor. John has been researching the Picket Patrol since 1990, and has recently published the novel An Unusual Way to Fight a War: At Sea with the Offshore Patrol. This program will be presented in-person with online viewing available.
Just over a month after Pearl Harbor, German U-boats launched Operation Drumbeat, devastating shipping along the U.S. East Coast for months before the Navy sank its first U-boat. Shortages of patrol and escort craft meant that stop-gap methods had to be employed. One of the more unusual operations in World War II was the Coast Guard’s Coastal Picket Patrol, where sailing yachts found themselves in the unlikely role of U-boat hunters. Southwest Harbor was the base for one of the flotillas of this remarkable endeavor with seven sailing vessels ranging in length from 52 to 76 feet sailing out of the base at the end of Clark Point Road.
