The historical society has a neat little bunch of a dozen photos showing members of the Coast Patrol, naval reservists who were stationed and housed at Boothbay Harbor during World War I. Their barracks were on the upper floors of the Lewis Block (Carbone's for decades, now Tidepools) just west above the Eastern Steamship wharf. Isaiah Lewis had the foresight to build the large three-story store/living space just above the steamer wharf in 1883, during the first summer resort boom.

The approximately 100 men who were stationed here were in charge of a boat or boats to patrol and defend their stretch of the coast. The boats for the task were berthed at the steamer wharf. One shot shows the servicemen near their 54-foot patrol boat Cobra (SP-626), while another shows them on their 74-foot Content (SP-538). SP was an acronym for section patrol, civilian vessels that were identified as suitable to be drafted into service in wartime, as in these cases. The boats, besides patrolling, also held exercises with fishing boats or larger naval vessels inshore and offshore. During the war, 4,000 such vessels were identified as possibilities, and some part of that number were actually "borrowed." After the war, Cobra was transferred to the Bureau of Fisheries, while Content was returned to its owner.

The members of the Coast Patrol were here for about a year, from December 1917 to after Armistice Day in November 1918. Some of the dozen shots are staged, such as five panoramas showing the men in formation, in either dress white or dress blue uniforms. Some are impromptu, such as a couple taken of a few "Jackies" clowning up on the roof. And three show the servicemen on the wharf or on their patrol boat. The less professional shots list some of the men's last names. I wish I could have run many more of the shots—they're all deserving.

News blackout

Looking through the few Boothbay Registers we have at the society from those years, I was not surprised that there was no news mentioning their patrols or any waterborne news about them, no matter how harmless. Wartime meant a news blackout on military activities, even if those activities consisted of patrolling without encountering anything suspicious or hostile. The fish they caught while underway and the fishermen they helped are unknown.

But there was no blackout on the social side of their lives in Boothbay Harbor. Our sparse collection of Registers from that era provides some information about the Coast Patrol's leisure time. In mid-July 1918 the Jackies held a field day at Ocean Point, competing with both the summer colony's residents and natives in athletic events and games. The games were followed by dinner at the Pleasant View House and dancing at the casino. The men also put on a vaudeville show at the Opera House.

In August 1918, thanks to donations from Squirrel Islanders, a recreational center with reading material and a piano was opened for the men of the patrol. It was housed in the Pastime Theatre, located on the second floor of a Bank Square building on Townsend Avenue next north of the present Janson's. Local hostesses were leading Boothbay Harbor women, such as McKowns, Nickersons, and Bess Reed who lived in the historical society building. The ladies served coffee and sandwiches a few evenings a week and did the same for the Coast Guard men stationed almost on the same site in World War II.

Next time will include Morrill Colby's childhood memories of the Coastal Patrol.