Sea Scout Ship 40
The Captain Wrucke

Stories from the Crew!
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We were sailing on the Sacramento River going about ten knots.  Our wake was spreading out behind us in a large "V" shape.  As we looked astern we saw two shallow draft speed boats, the kind folks use in high speed racing competition.  One of these slowed down, turned at a right angle to our wake,  crossed over, then turned parallel to our course and resumed its speed.   The other vessel, however, decided to cross our wake on a parallel course to ours.   The result was that the engine from his boat flew into the air and came down in the lap of the racer.  He lost an arm and learned a very important lesson in the process. Luckily for him, the skipper of our ship was a medical doctor who immediately responded and provided emergency aide.

W. K. Sargent

Betty Gregory of Oakdale, CA writes:

I was a Girl Scout Mariner in the late 1940's and we worked with Sea Scouts of the area doing computing for their regattas.  We were from Mountain View. Captain Knox was the Captain of the Sea Scout boat, Sea Eagle at Palo Alto.  I often wonder what happened to the boat.

Submitted: May 30, 2011