A story by DANIEL R CHRISTOPHER from 1918 - 1919
A look back at a Sub Chaser Crew on duty along the Maine coastline near the conclusion of The Great War. This is a condensed viewing of my grandfather's rather extensive photo album, specifically, a sampling of the many pictures concerning his time in the Navy Reserve.
A look back at a Sub Chaser Crew on duty along the Maine coastline near the conclusion of The Great War.
This is a condensed viewing of my grandfather, Pasquale A. Christopher's rather extensive photo album. This is a sampling of the many pictures concerning Pasquale A. Christopher's time in the Navy Reserve. He quickly developed a good eye for the camera. Of course, shots including him may have been taken by someone else, though I do know he carried a tripod with him as well.
Pasquale A. Christopher (originally 'Christoforo') immigrated from Italy as a young boy, and settled in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1917. After training he was assigned to the Sub Chaser S.C. 268. Of his early months of active duty and the time spent at sea on active anti-submarine patrol we have no photo record. This seems logical since busy active duty during wartime on board a speedy, rapid, pitching and rolling ship on 24-hour alert would not afford the leisure time or opportunity for a junior crew member to use a camera, nor would it have been tolerated. But as the end of hostilities neared and U-Boat activity waned, orders were issued for the Naval Communications Infrastructure Mission. It is at this time that my grandfather started taking pictures, documenting the many locations he traveled to along the coast of Maine for the purpose of "repairing and erection of Radio Compass Stations...."
Photographs exist in fair abundance of many of these 110-foot-long wooden vessels. Databases containing all known pictorial records - organized by hull numbers, are not totally complete, however. In other words, for a good number of hull numbers, no published photographs are known to exist. My grandfather's ship (S.C. 268) was among them. Being entrusted with my family's photo albums by my father, it is with pleasure that I publish these pictures taken with 'his father's camera' - including first ever published pictures of the WW1 Sub Chaser S.C. 268
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