Evening star., 1941-08-05

but highly integrated air and sea
neutrality patrol Reporter Pat
McGrady felr for three days
Nth the patrol of important
North Atlantic ports.
The Stars Special News Service.
NEW YORK. Aug. 5.-The big
twin-engined Hall seaplane lum-
bered down the ramp and entered
the water, where it swayed slightly
with the tide.
Within a minute or two the beach,
ing crew had unfastened the landing
gear. In another minute the plane
was clear of its land trappings.
Stand by to start the engines" ,"
1t. w. l. Swanston called into his
small microphone. From each of the
five compartments came an AYE,
aye. sir"
The ecrew-co-pilot. flight engineer
and his assistant. first and second
radio operatorS-was ready.
With a bang the starboard engine
started. The port engine coughed
and burst into a roar. The ship
nosed into the wind and, with ever
growing thunder and speed, parted
the sea before it and took to the air.
Nothing Much Happens"
This was the start of daily neu-
trality patrol flight by the United
States Coast Guards aviation wing
As the plane rose over Floyd Ben
nett Field, where the Coast Guard
and Navy maintain their air bases,
1t. Swanston leaned over to shout
above the engines din and the clatter
of a thousand wires. cables and
conduits that lined the ships in
terror:
Nothing much happens on these
flights, but, for your sake, / hope
there's a story"
The field below and the air above
us are alive with aircraft. Yellow.
hornet-hke Navy trainers circle high
and low. Four great Navy patrol
bombers ride in tandem like large
black whales against the horizon.
Directly beneath us q score OF
bombers are being dismantled for
Grating and shipment to Britain.
They already bear British mark
ings and are camouflaged.
Quickly the plane ghdes over AM
brose Channel, through which mot
ley fleets of tired old ships still limp
to and from war-ridden waters.
A Woe-begone Fleet.
These derelicts, which long ago
should have been scrapped out Of
respect to their age, seem to out
number 10 to l the really seaworthy
craft that pass beneath the pro-
tecting guns of forts that encircle
this important gate to America.
Just beyond Ambrose Lightship
traffic is heavy. Ships of all sizes
and descriptions converge from the
South and East. One in particular
attracts 1t. Swanston's attention
a gray-black vessel with armament
fore and aft.
We swoop low and circle the ship
until 1t. Swanston is satisfied it is
British. All markings. of course,
have been painted over.
A half hour out We encounter an
ancient ark with three assorted
cannon on her after-deck. The
decks. and even her guns, are rusty
and the ship seems incapable of
carrying the Unmatched cannon.
A salvo, seemingly, would shake her
to pieces.
Of Asbury Park. N. j., We come
upon pleasure craft well out to sea
1t. Swanston looks them over care
fully, for they are a chronic head
ache to the Coast Guard.
Often Require Rescues.
Fresh from their desks in the city
and as stepped and skilled in navi-
CATION lore as correspondence
schools can make them, many Of
these hardy vacationers head into
all sorts of trouble, and the Coast
Guard gets them out-9,249 Of them
last year.
Here we saw the Moro Castle
burn seven years ago. The Coast
Guard did heroic job 'there-but
the coasts are dotted with points of
Coast Guard heroism.
A few miles off Atlantic City, N. J.
we come down upon a foreign
frelghter, New York bound. The
crew waves as We speed so feet over
/ her There
and her name is in white letters
She does not ply in European waters
now.
A Navy patrol blimp hovers OIL
the New Jersey coast, a cleaning
silver bag against the shore.
High over Barnegat Lightship we
run into fog and go downstairs to
an altitude of about 100 feet. Almost
before We see it we are over another
gray ghost of the seas. outward
bound. We circle low around her
twice. She. like all other sus-
piciouS- looking vessels, is reported
by radio Immediately in code.
The Five-Fathom Lightship boys
wave fraternally as the plane circles
and turns east to sea. The light
ships, under presidential order, now
are operated by the Coast Guard
the sinewy arm of the Treasury
Department.
| Like Crater.
Far out from land the ocean be.
comes to us a huge crater with
steam rising from the perimeter
Against this false horizon ships look
like large airplanes.
Out of the mists we sight an old
hulk. A man and dog emerge from
the cabin, satisfying 1t. Swanstor
it is not derelict which the Coas1
Guard must destroy.
Now, except for a rare tanker
| there Is pothing but sea and sky