Quote:
Originally Posted by vineyardblues
Sorry Larry, I have to steal this thread 
I thought this would be interesting for everyone.
I have been told that during ww2 their was no fishing on any CapeCod beaches and they could only fish in the canal, (maybe Flap can fill in the blanks) Below is a picture of a permit from the war Dept to fish the canal. June 11,1941
Enjoy
VB |
In June 1941 we were not at war yet with either Japan or Germany but we were heavily involved in the lend/lease act of 1940. Through the lend/lease act of 1940 were providing Great Britain with "surplus" materials such as mothballed WW I destroyers and tanks, planes and surplus ordinance ( which was actually newly made but declared surplus as our standing Armed forces at the time numbered in the 200000 range) a minor technicality.
The only way to get this stuff to GB was by convoy and being that at the time our territorial limit was only 3 miles off the coast Nazi U-Boats were having a field day with the convoys of merchant ships depating for GB and being that we were still officially "neutral" we provided no naval armed ships to cover them and GB didn't have sufficient naval arms to do it either until they were 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way across.
These convoys found it best to use the CC Canal and make up in Buzzards Bay. This helped avoid at least a bit of the u-boat threat as once in open water they were on thier own. One fact had not escaped the US Govt was that sabotage of these convoys transiting the canal would really mess up the process and cause vessels to leave NY and have to go aound the outer cape on thier way to Halifax Nova Scotia. A ship blown up by german saboteurs in the canal would have drastic effects on the the fragile supply line to GB.
( See the Stephen R. Jones wreck in the canal May 1942 and the mess that caused 1000 yds east of the Bourne Bridge)
So the canal became off limits to any civilian use unless under the Corp of Enginneers gave specific permission. Note that it was understood that fishing would only be permitted in daylight hours not in the nightime though the permit does not speciffically say so. Armed patrols in jeeps were constantly going up and down the servoce roadws on both sides. Anyone caught and not known to the patrol personnel were hauled in. There were Gun batteries at each end. ( The Horizon Beach club, though under a differnt name now, was built as a WWII barracks for the gun battery at the east end originally. I had my first legal drink there when it was known as the Ship's Turn inn.)
Stan Gibbs told me of this in length and told me how they would sneak in to fish and keep a look-out for the patrols where they would hide in the rocks and bushes when they would come by.
It was a big thing to gather with the familly on Sundays and watch the ships go through sometimes 30 or 40 at a time heading to uncertain futures and GB.