Civilians to the Rescue

Seeing the need for more men patrolling America's waters Alfred Stanford, commodore of the Cruising Club of America, approached the U.S. Navy in 1941 and tried to convince them to let civilian boats and their owners help with defending the coastline. He even went so far as to offer 30 yachts for the task. The Navy however, refused.. Stanford would not be deterred that easily and by April the offer grew to 70 ocean-going yachts along with 100 other smaller watercraft. Again the Navy denied the help, but it prompted many to write letters to naval commanders and write editorials on the situation to convince them that they needed the civilian force.

In May of 1942 the Chief of Operations, Admiral Ernest King, asked the Coast Guard Reserve to organize a civilian unit that could supplement the coastal naval forces being used for antisubmarine and rescue duties. The Coast Guard Auxiliary was put in charge of forming the new Coastal Picket Patrol, the civilian fleets official name. Originally the idea was to just have these civilian boats form a wide screen around coastal waterways and shipping lanes to prevent enemy submarines from entering. However the auxiliary was not organized well enough to handle the thousands of volunteers and the Corsair Fleet, as they came to be known, was quickly put under direct control of the Coast Guard. The men who volunteered were now able to do what they originally wanted, hunt down enemy subs.