sightseeing business acquired Argo and she began a second career as a city tour boat. After his wartime responsibilities had ended, Eliot Winslow was ready to go home. In a letter to his command, he wrote, "If the Argo ... is scheduled to fight the wintry blasrs alone all winter, my answer is, 'Get me off.' One winter upside down was enough for me. It took me three weeks [on shore] to regain the full use of my feet! " After retiring from active duty, Winslow settled in Southport, Maine (near Boothbay) , where he started a business running tugs and local tour boats. For years, Winslow gave summertime tours of the southern Maine coast aboard the sightseeing vessel he nam ed fo r his old cutter, the Argo. Winslow lived to see his nineties at his home in Southport. Winslow and Fehler fought on opposite sides of World War II and took very different paths in their wartim e journeys . Both m en found a unique role to play in the conflict, one as a German U-boat commander and the other as a Coast G uard cutter captain. Neither officer could have imagined the roles they would play in the
After completing the successful transfer ofsurrendered U-boats to Po rtsmouth, Captain Winslow navigated Argo up to Southport, Maine, to anchor in front ofhis parents' home situated on Love Cove. The cutter barely fit through the rocky narrows and is the only vessel ofits size and kind to have visited the sp arsely populated area. war, nor how their paths wo uld cross in the closing act of the Battle for the Atlantic. ,!, William H. Thiesen, PhD, is the Atlantic Area H istorian for the US Coast Guard. He is the author of Industrializing American Shipbuilding: The Transformation of Ship
Design and Co nstruction, 1820-1920 (University ofFlorida Press, 2 006) and is a regular contributor to Sea History. For more info rmation on USCG history, visit www. uscg.millhistory or contact: H istorian's Office, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, 431 Crawford Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704.
National Historic Landmark 6 National Memorial to Coast
Guardsmen who lost their lives during WWII through Vietnam. • Awarded two Naval Presidential Unit Citations for her service during Vietnam. • Credited with sinking U-Boat 626 during convoy duty in the North Atlantic. Don't miss the opportunity to tour this ship. learn about its remarkable history. the recently completely underwater re-fit and the current work being done restoring her topside. USCGC INGHAM is located in Key West on the Truman Waterfront.
• Explore the only intact historic U.S. shipyard for larg e wooden ships • See life-size scu lpture of the world's largest wooden sailing vessel • Tour Bath Iron Works to see the Navy's new high-tech destroyer Zumwalt DDG-1000 being built IRese rvation s required; ava ilable online) • Take a lighthou se cruise on the Kennebec River • Go aboard and below deck on a fishing schooner (July to October) Special 2013 Exhibits: That Flaunting Rag! Maine's Maritime War Against the Confederacy Beyond the Breakers: Lighthouses, Life-Saving, and the U.S. Coast Guard
You can Visit ...You Can Help The foundation seeks donations to continue restoration of this important vessel. Please send your tax-deductible contributions to: :;
USCGC INGHAM Memorial Museum P. 0. Box186. Key West. Florida 33041 •Phone: (305)-218-6600 www.uscgcingham.org
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243 Washingto n Street • Bath, Maine · 207-443-1316 · www.MaineMaritimeMuseum.org
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SEA HISTORY 142, SPRING 2013