Wow! Your photos are beautiful! I don’t know if you remember me, but I used to live on Sanibel Island & bought your first books with Seychelle from the Island Bookshop. Still have them. Wish to own any other actual “hold in my hands” books you have written. Keep well & enjoying the adventures of your nautical life exploring the world.
Sincerely from your #1 Sanibel/Fort Myers Fan
Glenda G. Jones
P.S. Looking forward to your new book. Love your newsletters.
Happy to learn your WWII story is still in the offing. May I offer some points for your consideration as you develop the "naval militia" v. U-Boats aspect?
Patrol: in 1942, most daytime sightings of U-Boats occurred when the periscope came up and created a wake called a "feather." Knowing this, German skippers tried to avoid daylight attacks, particularly if they suspected patrol aircraft were overhead. Night was their preferred hunting time. Not only were they harder to detect in the dark, coastal merchant traffic was often silhouetted against the brilliantly illuminated shorelines of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and other cities. In these circumstances, the U-Boats would often surface and fire on their targets with the deck gun. By the same token, the crew of a small craft such as you envision, standing further out to sea could see the U-Boat silhouetted against the shoreline and report it to the military command ashore. And since U-Boats on the surface tended to run on their main propulsion diesels, an alert lookout might detect one by its noise and maybe even the smell of its engine exhaust.
Engaging: your civilian craft would need a way to call in patrol aircraft or warships to attack the U-Boat. Maritime voice radio in the shortwave frequencies (3.2-6.2 MHz) became available in the 1920s, and VHF (30-300 MHz) became available later in the war. This may pose a problem for your story, since the HF shortwave transceivers used vacuum tubes and required more power than a battery pack could provide. If some of your patrol craft were diesel-powered, this might not be a problem. In extremis, your crews could pop a distress flare and hope the Coast Guard will investigate.
Navigation: U-Boats could vanish as quickly as they appeared, so providing a timely and accurate position report is vital. Perhaps you might dedicate a crew member to maintaining a navigation plot with painstaking attention to dead reckoning between fixes and EPs (estimated positions).
Wow! Your photos are beautiful! I don’t know if you remember me, but I used to live on Sanibel Island & bought your first books with Seychelle from the Island Bookshop. Still have them. Wish to own any other actual “hold in my hands” books you have written. Keep well & enjoying the adventures of your nautical life exploring the world.
Sincerely from your #1 Sanibel/Fort Myers Fan
Glenda G. Jones
P.S. Looking forward to your new book. Love your newsletters.
Loved the photos! Thank you.😊
Always enjoy your updates. Reminds me of my own cruising days.
I think a story of the Black Seminoles who escaped to Andros would make a great historical background to a mystery set in Florida and the Bahamas.
Thanks Garry. Another research expedition!
Love the newsletters. Kudos to you, Wayne and the pups for exploring the World
Happy to learn your WWII story is still in the offing. May I offer some points for your consideration as you develop the "naval militia" v. U-Boats aspect?
Patrol: in 1942, most daytime sightings of U-Boats occurred when the periscope came up and created a wake called a "feather." Knowing this, German skippers tried to avoid daylight attacks, particularly if they suspected patrol aircraft were overhead. Night was their preferred hunting time. Not only were they harder to detect in the dark, coastal merchant traffic was often silhouetted against the brilliantly illuminated shorelines of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and other cities. In these circumstances, the U-Boats would often surface and fire on their targets with the deck gun. By the same token, the crew of a small craft such as you envision, standing further out to sea could see the U-Boat silhouetted against the shoreline and report it to the military command ashore. And since U-Boats on the surface tended to run on their main propulsion diesels, an alert lookout might detect one by its noise and maybe even the smell of its engine exhaust.
Engaging: your civilian craft would need a way to call in patrol aircraft or warships to attack the U-Boat. Maritime voice radio in the shortwave frequencies (3.2-6.2 MHz) became available in the 1920s, and VHF (30-300 MHz) became available later in the war. This may pose a problem for your story, since the HF shortwave transceivers used vacuum tubes and required more power than a battery pack could provide. If some of your patrol craft were diesel-powered, this might not be a problem. In extremis, your crews could pop a distress flare and hope the Coast Guard will investigate.
Navigation: U-Boats could vanish as quickly as they appeared, so providing a timely and accurate position report is vital. Perhaps you might dedicate a crew member to maintaining a navigation plot with painstaking attention to dead reckoning between fixes and EPs (estimated positions).
I hope this is useful.
Fair Winds,
Paul Viscovich
Love the photos. You can now add travel guide to your resume. Looking forward to your new book.