ISLAND PATROL
The Lewis spent much of her time in the Western Pacific patrolling American protected islands. A typical patrol would last three weeks. She would steam at 7 knots and occasionally stop at one of the isolated islands. There are several hundred small inhabited inlands in the area patrolled. The crew would assist where possible, and protect where necessary.
While the Lewis was on island patrol out of Guam from the Bonin Islands on the north to the Caroline Islands on the south, the local natives would often paddle their outrigger canoes out to the ship in order to trade. Most often it was sea shells for cigarettes.
One of the main purposes of the island patrols was to insure that no one bothered the local natives. No one was allowed within three miles of the islands without permission. Occasionally a Japanese fishing boat would get caught too close to one of the islands. The result was arrest and escort to Saipan for appearance before a federal judge. In the above picture is a seven man crew wood hull fishing boat that was arrested in the Bonin Islands. As luck would have it, halfway to Saipan, a typhoon formed and was approaching Saipan from the East. The top speed of the fishing boat was seven knots. Not fast enough to beat the storm to Saipan. A steel cable was attached to the fishing boat and the Lewis went to twenty knots. As we approached Saipan and the ground swells ahead of the typhoon got larger, there were times when all you could see was the cable going into the water, then like a cork, the fishing boat would pop up and ride on the surface until the next large swell came along.
This group of Polynesian outriggers had been blown well off course by a storm in August 1959. They were assisted by the Lewis by towing them back to their home island.
A close up of one of the outrigger crews.
Chief Corpsman Boltan holding sick call on one of the small islands.
A happy group of patients after sick call with Chief Boltan.
Bill York in front of an old bunker on Haha Jima in the late 1950s
MORE ISLAND PATROL PHOTOS
HOME
