For wooden boat lovers, the name is synonymous with boats designed with an unerring eye for beautiful and balanced lines, and performance to match. It brings back memories of idyllic holidays afloat in rented motor cruisers; the race-winning Halvorsen brothers, their superb racing yachts, Peer Gynt, Anitra V and Freya; and the Halvorsen-built Gretel; and the boats of World War II - fast 38s, 62s and Fairmiles, and the motor cruiser that sank the Japanese mini submarine in Sydney Harbour.

Naval combat narrative is the heart of this book: Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Bougainville, the Mediterranean sea, the English Channel, the Philippines - historic operations in which the PT boats would win fame, glory, and a place in history. Encyclopedic in scope, this is the definitive work on the history of PT boats. W2537HB - $35.50

We thought we had it tough with a test. As history shows, politics was at one time the only way on to the patrol. I can only guess what must have been required in order to be appointed. Politicians could tell you or your family that his quota for this year was filled but perhaps next year he could do something. They could put that particular carrot on a stick and dangle it for a solid year. All politicians need to be elected or re-elected, so one may have been asked to help in some small way. Perhaps they might work the polls, offer to distribute literature, walk the streets campaigning for the man, or offer a child up as a sacrificial lamb if need be. Of course, there were never any blood alters found in the ruins of old Atlantic City, but a dagger or two have shown up and "et tu Brutus" was heard uttered after many an election.All who were lifeguards, be it for a single year, a decade, or in some cases more than half a century, are the reason sons and daughters were born and some families even exist today. We did, in one very important way, alter the world. We saved lives. We shared in helping Atlantic City to become the Queen she was. This is the tradition of the Atlantic City Beach Patrol.