 Words at war. On Words at War tonight, we tell you of an actual event which took place in December 1942. Tonight the story of the incredible adventures of the Coast Guard reserve boat 3070. Coast Guard reserve 3070. All against Navy, that's what it is. That boat belongs to all against Navy. Huh? What's that? Hey, how long you been at sea, Pete, that you ain't never had a haul against Navy? Never mind getting fancy, just tell me what it is. It's them coastal picket boys. You know, fishermen, yachtsmen, blue water sailors, guys like that. Things has been pretty hot up in down the east coast and our Navy sends out a call. So now these guys go charging up and down the coast in their yachts, sea tubs and spit kits looking for German subs. They're a special branch of the Coast Guard. Coastal pickets they call themselves. But the rest of us, they're just haul against Navy. You know, no clays. Yeah, yeah, I see what you mean. This CGR 3070 can't be no more than 10 feet, huh? Hooligan Junior, huh? Our little 10-foot spit kit. She ain't no 10-foot spit kit, she's a 57-foot yaw. Huh? Oh, yaw, where'd you come from? You can stand in here listening. She's the 7-foot yaw, that's what she is. Yeah, you know a lot about her, don't you? She's my boat, I'm a member of the crew. Oh, a hooligan, huh? Yep. Your ship ain't very big, is she? Nope. Has she seen much action? Like submarines, things like that? Nope. What's the matter? Don't even you like her? Ain't she no good? Good. Let me tell you something, Mac. The 3070 is probably the neatest, sweetest little sailing craft that ever kicked up a fan-tail on the wind. And she's a prettiest, slimmest, snootyest, trimmer's little dame that ever walked the water. She can roll with a punch like Lewis, heave to like an angel and run a breeze as light and hot as a kiss. Matter of fact, she's the darndest, finest, fanciest son of a gunboat and the whole pop-mark hootin' navy. You got a butt? Oh, sure. Say, your ship is good like you say. What's she doing laying up here on the dock? Why ain't she out winning the war? She's being fixed, that's why. She's come back after being pushed all over the Atlantic by hurricanes and blizzards. Get a match? Yeah. Pushed all over the Atlantic, huh? For how long? Thanks. Probably one days. I'll come. You got lost. The National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the Council on Books and Wartime brings you an account of one of the greatest searches in American naval history. The epic story of a gallant little coastal picket boat written by Lieutenant Lawrence Thompson. The Navy hunts the CGR 3070. After you got lost, what happened? Didn't they find you? I'm sure they did. Lots of times, didn't take. Not for three weeks, it didn't take. I remember the day we shoved off for this patrol right after Thanksgiving it was. The weather was pretty nasty. Cold and gray and kind of ominous. But we sent the 3070, a 57-foot yaw out on the sea. Log of Commander Eastern Sea Frontier. Entry. A 1300 o'clock Army bomber 35998 reported unable take off for prescribed duty. Engine trouble. Another escort provided outgoing merchant ships. At 1800, message received from CGR 3070 arrived at station 50 miles off Greenport, Long Island. The 3070 under full sail was picking away easy life through the water. There's nine of us aboard, Count and the Skipper, me and Smitty and Jabby and George, and there was Watson and Joe, he was the Exec Officer. There was nine of us all together. Smitty and me was topside on watch. It was night. We couldn't see so good, so he was watching with our ears kind of. German submarines, that is. I said to Smitty, boy, I'd like to see a submarine. I sure wouldn't like to see one. I need to see a submarine like I need a ring in the nose. I wonder what we'd do if we'd seen one. Yeah, that's easy. We'd drown them. Yeah? How? Sure. We'd creep up on them. You see, that's where a sailboat's got it all over a destroyer or a PC. No motors making noises. We'd jump on them, see? Yeah, well, then what? You can't shoot them. No guns. Quiet, will you? I'm telling you. We'd creep up till we got even, then we'd come about real quiet. We'd come about till we were right alongside, and then... Yeah? And then we all take turns spitting down a periscope, see? We'd drown them. I'm dying from laughing. Well, what'd you ask me for? You know what we do? We radio assure and they send out bombers Yeah, I know. What's the matter then? You don't like your job? I like it. It's just that I'd like some action there. Action? Yeah? What size? I'll cut it out, Smitty. You know what I mean? It's okay, but I... Hey, shush, shush. Sub? No, I guess not. Wait, I heard it too. All right, over there. Submarine! We're surfacing two points off for about... Submarine! Wait a minute, it's gone. What's the submerge? Hold on, hold on. There it is. Hey boys, go on. Back to sleep. What do you mean? Don't you know the difference between a submarine and a whale? And what's more, it's a lady whale. With children! Well, that's pretty much how the time went. We patrolled our station, watched for subs, and froze. A sailboat out in Atlantic is no place to be in December. We'd stepped a stove fast to the bulkhead between the cabin and galley, but one little potbellied stove doesn't help much when it comes to keeping nine men warm. Then the sea began to build up and started running pretty high. Anybody who's been juggled around a sailboat by heavy seas knows what I mean. We got seasick. One by one, we got good and seasick. While last day of our patrol, we were real ready to set sail for home. And we... most of us kept pretty nervous waiting for the message calling us in. So to guess how our spirits shot up when that message came. Spirits shot up, all right, like a lead balloon they shot up. We turned the 3070 about and headed out to sea again. The weather really was kicking up now. The job here, the wheels having a hard time meeting the seas, is head on. Then came another message over the radio calling us. A storm warning it was. They said the wind might build up to 30 knots. 30 knots. Hey. Hey, job here, what's the present wind velocity? How about we wish it's then storm warning to shore. And then things got worse and worse and finally the message we'd been waiting for came. Order to shore. Good order except we couldn't follow it. And now we were bouncing through rollers and chopped like a ping-pong ball and we figured we'd have a better chance if we kept sailing home too instead of beating back to the base off wind. Right then we didn't care to go no place. We just wanted to stay where we was. Alive. And then it happened. It was off-watch. Joe and Smitty and a couple others and me and George would say it too. I remember that because he said poor Nazi sub and pocket snows up and weather like this. I bleed for him. He's poor Nazi subs all safe and snug downstairs while we were up here jumping around with a stick. Listen to trouble with you guys you don't know what trouble is. Why this isn't anything a little girl sees running a little high and of course we might capsize at any minute. Oh fine Joe fine I'm glad you're taking it all so happy but just tell me this what happens to us if we capsize just what happens. The best thing that could happen to a sailor Smitty. Yeah what's that a fine Navy funeral with full military on the side of the head by a cannonball all of us were swept all over the cabin like dice in a box all the furniture broke loose the heavy center table skidded after Joe and sucked him on the head and Watson and the cast iron stove met in the same corner only Watson got there first and the stove landed on top of him. Both guys are hurt bad but we didn't know it at the time. Soon as we could we scrambled up the deck. We were sure Charlie had been washed over for it but he wasn't he was hanging to the wheel kind of and pointing up to look look look there yeah I see it that goes our life. Look at that it even took its paddle always well that's what I mean always it even took its eyes after a while we realized the thirty seventy wasn't going to sink so we kind of collected ourselves a bit. I little boat was hurt bad a mason master snapped off the shackle carried away at the head of the storm tricell what was left of the sales was rags and tatters what happened was we got caught in the trough of a couple of breakers and the coming breaker had swamped us like a beach swell cracking up a toy boat at thirty seventy was hurt bad but somehow she was still sailing we were still going we won't be going for long unless you guys get your tails up and start brailing we bailed we all pans from out the galley for two solid hours we bailed and all the time smithy kept worrying us with his talk about seams this seems as open they can't be with the ground okay I'm saying it ain't natural for all this water to be down here this seems as open it can't be okay okay we kept on bailing except for Watson and Joe Watson's ribs had been smashed when the stove fell on him and Joe had got a big gash on the head from the center table we lashed them both in their bunks the ship was rolling so hard they had to be lashed in and Joe lay there holding the towel to his head we watched the blood sop through the towel away coffee soaks up a lump of sugar there was nothing we could do about it it felt bad about not being able to do anything we tried to churn them up we told them we're sure to be rescued before dark sure it's one now why don't they pick us up by five sure they're in a good place to be picked up I bet you a million bucks that the whole Navy gets here by three got darker and darker finally we couldn't even see the bow spread got cold out real cold and snow drove hard in our faces like frozen rain we kept on telling Watson and Joe of how he was going to be picked up a lot of rescues is done in the dark the Navy's got spotlights can pick a man out ten miles off, a hundred miles maybe we're a cinch that night we stood watches only an hour long as the fellas came below freezing cold and soaking wet and spray they'd be so wore out they just fell on the bunks on the cabin deck boots and all wherever they lay we'd cover them up with soaking wet blankets and hope the heat from their own bodies would dry them out and it was a long night cold long and cold and black is a pocket and as it dragged on we stopped talking about being picked up log of commander eastern sea frontier December 3rd entry violent storm raging along Atlantic seaboard all shipping endangered the stress signals from coast guard reserve 3070 intercepted position approximately 20 miles off no man's land at 1300 o'clock army bomber 21760 reported CGR 3070 35 miles east of former position at 2200 Navy PBY 425 reports 3070 being steadily blown out to sea orders given for all craft to be on lookout for 57 for your CGR a big army bomber circled around this flew off and didn't come back maybe it came we wasn't there we was being blown in a terrible clip through the sea couldn't tell exactly where we was heading because all our instruments had been smashed but we figured it was southeast and wasn't good or nothing but bare poles our little boat was running out to sea bouncing through the chop nothing we could do about it we tried to fix things up straight in the cabin and things like that mostly though we bailed except for smitty he was trying to fix the radio which he'd clunked out from our sending a distress signal so much we kept asking him how you doing? she won't go the generator won't work can't get it started she won't go smitty kept on tinkering with ours went by and then around noon I would let out a yell and pound it on the companion way hatch we're torn up to the deck there! a ship about four miles off we stood there watching as it came near we thought it was a PC bolted that ain't no PC, it's a destroyer a limey destroyer it won't stop we stood there watching as it pulled alongside we could see the men on the deck looking as over, one of them what's he say? a stranded in the middle of the ocean and he says hello Joe was right the destroyer swung around and closed to us on our starboard side the seas were still running heavy so the destroyer pumped spunker oil on the water to smooth it so a tool line could be floated down to us we got the tool line alright and with it came big black globs of thick oil which washed up over the taff rail and covered us in the yaw like a coat of slimy glue but we didn't care, we were so happy to be in tow we didn't even care where there was Tony's to say, maybe she's going to Scotland, Smitty I bet she's going to Scotland sure, pretty ship ready I bet she's going to meet up with a convoy and take us to Scotland and so we slammed through the water in the wake of the limey destroyer a heavy fog came up so we couldn't hardly see the limey that was Tony's and the sea had spanked against the bar like the water was cement and the guy's real happy until about midnight that night what's happened Joe, if I was going down it's the tool line it broke and we yelled at the destroyer we kept on yelling for a while but it wasn't no use, she didn't hear us and could assume she'd disappeared into the mist and we couldn't see her no more there goes Scotland and she didn't even know she lost us I'm a discouragement once he wasn't stingy at all I remember thinking it funny at the time because in a joke, Scotland got to be stingy but now this guy I remember distinctly he didn't have no hair and he wasn't stingy she don't even know she lost us you can do it just try all I want a few words only a few little words come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on a few little words come on baby, talk to me Joe started again trying to make the radio work while the rest of his nail tin cans over most of the holes in the 3070s so we didn't have to bail so much anymore see after the line we destroyed a lost us we decided we had to do something ourselves we figured we could rig our forest axle to the main ones like a storm trisel except it was torn and full of holes and we had to sew it first so those guys who wasn't topside on the porch sat around the cabin sewing meanwhile Smitty and George figured out a way to strain the salt water from out the gasoline and the generator and that way they were sure they could get the radio phone working it was December 9th I think it was, six days after we'd been socked by the storm and Smitty was fooling around with the radio like he always did, cussing a bit talking to it like it was alive come on, come on, the words not with the words hi hello baby, hello baby, some more now try a little harder, try a little harder come on, you ain't trying that's the stuff that's the radio, a little more come on baby, work at it come on calling the 3070 stop him keep it up message for 3070 go on Smitty, go on, talk back, answer it cgr 3070 here go ahead and end my joke, go ahead all afternoon we worked getting ready for our radio program that night we was nervous, see even the skipper was kind of nervous and he said Smitty should be allowed to do the talking because he'd fix the radio as the hour came close we got more and more keyed up Smitty kept pumbling with the radio and clearing his throat kinda and then Joe gave the word okay Smitty, start talking alright come on baby, you gotta do it now it's not working give it a chance to warm up will you give it a chance it's gonna work, it's gonna work go on Smitty cgr 3070 here exact whereabouts we don't know but we think we're 400 miles offshore latitude equal to about Atlantic city seas heavy, weather real unfavorable request aid over to you listen then Mike Yoke, this is 3070 we're here about 400 miles offshore latitude about even with Atlantic city request help over to you again Smitty, call him again man Mike Yoke 3070 calling man Mike Yoke come in please, come in over listen man Mike Yoke, come in will you now you Smitty it's dead I know position unknown seas running heavy, weather unfavorable request you find us, I say again find it out Smitty yeah sure Joe, sure I guess I knew it wouldn't work I guess I knew the radio never worked again after that night after the business about the radio kinda took the heart out of us we was getting pretty weak running low on food and water but we didn't seem to care much even stopped counting the days counting the days we didn't give up hope or anything like that but the heart was out of us and then one morning we saw a ship and then two ships a con boy bearing down on us a con boy wasn't their fault they couldn't help us they tried the leading destroyer swung around behind us and tried to tag us with a tow line but they couldn't so they chased us through waves as big as mountains they chased us on a zigzag course with entire con boy the 3070s zipping along dancing in and out around the merchant ships with the destroyer like a big old sheep dog lumbering after we could see guys lying in the rails of the merchant ships staring goggle-eyed must look pretty funny popping in and out like that they didn't laugh though nobody laughed I guess they knew our little boat couldn't help itself they knew it was being whipped by the wind after a while the destroyer stopped trying to catch us so we stood there hanging on the rail and we watched the destroyer and the con boy go away we stood there and we cried like we was babies it was then that Joe made his speech it wasn't much for speeches Joe wasn't especially now when he was still weak and sick from that crack on the head but look you guys we're lost maybe some of you think we won't get back okay okay but I don't believe it we didn't come into this outfit because we expected it to be a picnic and it hasn't been a picnic either we proved to everyone we could go out on a small craft and all kinds of weather we proved we could keep station fulfill our assignments and handle our ships they said we weren't any good a bunch of cripples not good enough to be taken into the regular army and navy hooligans navy that's us and now we're lost we're in bad trouble okay all I want to say is I'll bet a hundred dollars to one that our boat shows up in some harbor somewhere within the next ten days does anyone want to bet? two days later we was rescued yeah we came in on our little piece of torn sail until we landed just off the coast of North Carolina where a patrol boat found us and told us the rest of the way in and when we got to the dock we walked ashore all of us nobody asked for help we walked well that's about all there was to it navy got us all fixed up and they're fixing the thirty seventy now and we pretty soon we'll be back on the job patrolling again got another bite yeah sure that was the second worst thing about the whole business we were on the butts early yeah that was tough but worst of all we felt kind of like we'd failed somehow all of us on the thirty seventy felt bad about it real bad what do you mean you failed you see the whole time we was out there we never sighted one german submarine like you guys said we didn't meet no trouble no action you got a match? oh yeah as the forty third program of words at war we've brought you a dramatization based on the book the navy hunts the cgr thirty seventy by lieutenant laurence thompson the book was adapted per radio by edith summer of the nbc script staff heard in the role of narrator was lamont johnson others in the cast were water vaughn water burke jackson beck michael brown and michael everett the music was by william meter and the production was under the direction of anton m leader next week another in the series of words at war words at war is brought to you in cooperation with the council on books in wartime by the national broadcasting company and the independent radio stations associated with the nbc network