DESSERT
The Skipper and the Eagle: The Voyage Begins! by Capt. Gordon McGowan US Coast Guard Captain Gordon McGowan was sent to Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1946 to take command ofa German war prize, the three-masted bark Horst Wessel. McGowan recounted his experiences in Germany, overseeing the ship's restoration to seaworthiness and commanding its voyage as the US Coast Guard vessel Eagle to New London, Connecticut, in The Skipper and the Eagle. Sea History Press is publishing a reprint ofhis lively account, with a new afterword written by current Eagle Capt. Robert]. Papp, Jr., and a new introduction by Peter Stanford. In the following passages McGowan describes his first sight ofthe Horst Wessel and the ensuing effort to rebuild her in the midst ofthe material shortages ofpostwar Germany. Aiding Capt. McGowan was his resourceful supply officer, "Von, " who always seemed to be able to find the items they needed, no questions asked.
he lay at a bombed-out spare parts and fittings must come fro m German establishshipyard amid the ugly skeletons of sh atte red ments. New sails had to be probuildings and mountainous duced in German sail lofts by German sailmakers. heaps of rubble, her stately masts canted drunkenly to starboard , Sail cloth now in use on as she rested on the bottom of a square- ri gged sailing ships is narrow waterway at low tide. made of flax, this being considered more suitable than cotton Her gray sides were smeared with stains, the paint on her duck, since it does not get as hard and stiff when wet, but is yards and masts blistered and still one of the strongest known cracked . Raised metal lettering vegetable fibers. This is a conceson each side of the quarterdeck informed the world that this sion to the fact that the days of the horny-handed square-riggerwas the Horst Wessel, a ship of man who spits to wi ndward is a the dead Nazi navy. The Ho rst Wessel was built at thing of the past. The squarerigged ships now in use in norththe Blohm and Voss Shipyard ern European countries serve as in Hamburg in 1937. She is a the yo ung man's introduction three-masted bark, 295 feetover to the sea, and since modern all , displaces 1700 tons, and carmechanization does not permit ries 22,000 square feet of sai l, long periods of time to be degive or take a stays'! or two. She vo ted to thisonephaseofasai lor's has an auxiliary diesel which education, the use of this softer can be disengaged from the promate rial is necessary. It wo uld peller while under sail by means have bee n a simple matter to buy of a clutch on her main shaft. the cloth in London, CopenI marveled at the rowering The H orst Wessel in dry dock in Bremerhaven, Germany, 1946, hagen or Stockholm, but the use height of th e mai nm'st, which being refitted for service as the US Coast Guard Eagle. (All photos of dollars, pounds or kroner was stood 148 feet above the watercourtesy the US Coast Guard) forbidden . lin e, and tried ro imagine what T he probl em of obtaining sails in suffithis bedraggled guttersnipe, with her rust gage in sabotage, the Germans were alstreaks and dirt, wo uld look like with a lowed to remain in their ships, and assisted cient numbers loo med large r as the days fresh coat of paint and a new suit of sails. in disarming the vessels and d isposing of went by. Sail cloth ap peared to be almost Now she was totally out of co mmission am munition and other explos ives. When non-existent. T ime afte r time the supply we arrived, the Horst Wesselwassti ll manned officer was sent by jeep to some part of and her yards were bare. by Germans. We we re directed to proceed Germany on a hot lead, only to receive the * * * * * Havingfound the Horst Wessel in Jar worse with the fittin g out, using that crew and a discouraging news that the warehouse condition than had been reported, Capt. nearby German shipyard force as man- whi ch had been the "target for the day" had previously been the target of alli ed bombMcGowan undertook the project of refitting power. her for her new incarnation as a US Coast T he co nditi ons prescribed by the Allies ers. We had so m any disappointments that Guard training vessel. in the turning over of the Horst Wessel to I began to develop a persecution complex. The turning over of the remnants of the the U nited States required, amo ng other T his was partly eased by a phone call from German navy to the Allied Fo rces was a things, that the ship should be made in all the M ilitary Governo r's office in Berlin . "Hello, McGowan, are yo u there? T his simple and well ordered affair. Upo n ass ur- respects seawo rthy at no cost to the Ameriance being give n that they would not en- can Gove rnment. T his meant all sail cloth, is Colonel Blank. I have some good news
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SEA HISTORY 86, AUTUMN 1998
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