History:
Love Beneath the Palms:
An Island Romance
Note: Since we began our creation of this magazine edition, Robert Fischer has passed away. We thank
him and his wife, Jane McVickar, for writing such a beautiful story that stands as a perfect honorarium to
true love, and to our veterans.
During the chaotic months following
America’s entry into World War
II, an uncertain time when victory
favored the fascist Axis powers, romance
unexpectedly blossomed under the palms
and pines that lined Boca Grande’s beaches
and streets.
Throughout the desperate early days of
1942, the seemingly invincible Imperial
Japanese Navy overran island after island in
the South Pacifi c, while in the North Atlantic,
prowling Nazi U-boats destroyed huge
quantities of Allied waterborne tonnage.
The ravages of unrestricted submarine
warfare were, however, not limited to the
Atlantic Ocean: Fascist marauding also
extended into the placid waters of the Gulf
of Mexico.
To counter the threat to Allied Gulf
shipping (the national pipeline from the
Texas oil fi elds to the eastern seaboard
had not yet been completed; vital oil
shipments moved either by rail or sea), Nazi
submarines operating off of Florida’s west
coast were hunted by a handful of small
U.S. Navy patrol craft, barely larger than
commercial fi shing boats. It was this threat
to Gulf shipping that brought one such
vessel to the tropical port of South Boca
Grande.
Early in the spring of 1942, submarine
chaser USS PC 449, Atlantic Fleet –
Submarine Chaser Division 31, was
dispatched from the U.S. Naval Operating
Base and Fleet Sound School at Key West
Thanks to
Pirate Coast Magazine
and Becky Paterson,
we are able to bring
you this article as it was
written in Pirate Coast
in March, 2007, by
Robert Fischer and
Jane McVickar.
to escort a Navy mine-laying ship 300 miles
across Florida’s treacherous Gulf waters
to the Florida port of South Boca Grande.
At the start of World War II, electronic
underwater mines were completed at a
Navy depot near Placida. The assembled
mines were shipped over the Seaboard Air
Line Railway for loading onto warships at the
railroad’s Charlotte Harbor ocean terminal
near the southern tip of Gasparilla Island.
At daybreak on Wednesday, April 22,
1942, the PC 449, along with its minelayer
charge, arrived at the sea buoy entrance to
Boca Grande Pass. The two men-of-war held
station off the outer bar, awaiting the arrival
of the harbor pilots who would deliver the
vessels safely into port. Capt. Kingsmore
Johnson took command of the minelayer,
while the junior harbor pilot, Capt. Carey
Johnson, guided the sleek, 110-foot
submarine chaser to a berth alongside the
pilot boat pier.
After docking, the crews of both vessels
were granted shore liberty, relieved
from duty while the minelayer loaded its
deadly cargo. Sailing time was set for the
following morning. After securing PC 449,
its executive offi cer, Ensign John LeFoy
Brouwer, asked Captain Johnson if there
was, “anything doing in the little town.” In
response, Capt. Johnson invited Brouwer
and the sub-chaser’s captain, Thomas W.
Nazro, for cocktails at Fugate’s Patio Bar. The
ship’s doctor from the minelayer would also
accompany them.
56 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • November/December • 2020