3 Short Stories at FISHING UNITED – STORIES FROM THE WHEELHOUSE OF CAPTAIN JOHN BOGAN – F/V SHAMROCK
“THE EASTERN SEA FRONTIER” – I am positive if I had never seen the certificate on the wall thanking my father forhis service, the Eastern Sea Frontier or ESF would be a mystery. The ESF was a divisionof the United States Navy. The key goal of the ESF was to have coastal watches alongthe entire eastern seaboard with one sole purpose in mind- spotting U boats. The year was 1942 and all merchant ships were sent guidelines to follow toavoid German U boats. Each ship was required to have a minimum,,, Read the rest here 12:18
There are just so many people in this country who do not realize how close to our shores the Unterseeboot came along the east coast, with areas in particular off North Carolina, Cape May and right off Long Island, the deadliest tool before the A-bomb, wreaked havoc and mayhem on shipping and American lives, along with the brave men on wooden vessels who comprised the Eastern Sea Frontier.
Stories are so few these days as many of the Greatest Generation are and have passed on, but their still are the remenants of the old concrete bunkers along a few of our beach here on the most western end of Coney Island as the Unterseeboot not only dropped off “landing parties”, better known as spies, along the east end – south shore of Long Island. Thankfully with the majority apprehended, but for a number of years there were numerous sightings of strange vessels along the Rockaway Beach and it was not uncommon to hear cannons along the shoreline firing at times in NY Harbor on unknown targets coming through the Narrows, two decades prior to the VZ was erected..
The Eastern Sea Frontier were men with the most basic of navigation equipment….. a compass and timepiece for the most part, but more so, incredible knowledge and navigation skills of their local waters….they were mariners who conducted patrols, looking for the familiar silhouette of the conning tower and the 88mm deck gun on earlier U-boats cruising on top of the water. Heavens forbid if a target was spotted…what then, but it was their job to alert armed US NAVY patrols to check, and when necessary, sink to the cold depths of the Atlantic.
Captain John Bogan who wrote the story, sent me a copy of his father’s ‘certificate’ from the US NAVY, with this incription:
“To all persons who shall see these presents’, Greetings. Be It known that this Certificate from the EASTERN SEA FRONTIER is awarded to John F. Bogan – in recognition of this patriotic services as a CONFIDENTIAL OBSERVER in Atlantic Waters during World War II”
Captain John F. Bogan returned to fishing for many decades after the war, and who knows how many American and Allied lives they and others of the Greatest Generation saved. Even with all the everyday nonsense around us, stories such as this, are a reminder of the patriots who have made this country the greatest in the world.