Summertime Submarine Watching

A gentle rain fell on the streets of New London, as Fran and I sipped our pints of Cottrell Old Yankee Ale at the bar of the Bank Street Road House. During breaks in our converstion I would cast my gaze beyond the back deck and across  the channel of the Thames River in hopes of spying a Virginia or Ohio class submarine making its way upstream to the Electric Boat facility at Groton. On this particular  August afternoon the behemoths of “The Silent Service” would not rise from the depths. Though south of my position something was stirring up Atlantic waters.

An interesting photograph found its way onto the internet of a surfer in the waters off  Strathmere, New Jersey. In the background appeared to be what was  possibly a  Russian nuclear submarine. Staff writer, John West, who was on assignment at McMenemy’s Pub in Portsmouth, New Hampshire was summoned back to New Jersey to take  command of naval operations from aboard the “Escape Goat,” -  the flag ship of  American Public House Review’s Atlantic fleet. By chance the boat was docked across from Maynard’s Cafe in Margate, NJ –  in close proximity to the supposed Russian intruder. 

Commander West began his investigation at Maynard’s,  knowing full well that this legendary local hub of hard partying and well respected repository of useless information was the kind of joint foreign agents might target in order to glean military secrets. When he was satisfied that nothing sensitive was compromised, other than the inside line on next week’s Notre Dame game, he moved the “Escape Goat” to the docks adjacent to Twisties Tavern in Strathmere. Once more his inquiries did not turn up anything unusual, other than a report of a group of pale skinned tourists asking how many rubles were needed to purchase a Twisties tee shirt and a bottle of vodka. Commander West concluded that what was being mistaken as a Russian intruder was nothing more than a deep sea dredging operation.    

 After filing his report with the Coast Guard,  John returned to Portsmouth to complete his story about  McMenemy’s Pub. According to his findings, this fine old Irish tavern may be haunted by a number of  the ladies that provided companionship and comfort to the sailors who served on the more than seventy submarines that were built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard during the Second World War. One of which, “The Galloping Ghost of the Japanese Coast” the USS Torsk now keeps a watchful periscope on our favorite pubs in Baltimore: The Wharf Rat, Slainte Irish Pub and the Cat’s Eye.

For those of you that are still not convinced that our shores are safe from an incursion by the Soviet Navy, our own intelligence gathering unit, operating out of the Trinity Brewhouse in Providence, Rhode Island, has confirmed that the only Russian sub operating in U.S. waters this summer was the Juliette class K-77. She was commissioned on October 31st, 1965 and assigned to the Soviet Northern Fleet. The submarine remained on active duty until 1988, and was decommissioned in the early 1990s. In 1994 the boat was sold to a Finnish businessman, and it was operated as a rather unique restaurant and watering hole, (this writer’s idea of a great “Dive Bar.”)

In 2000 the K-77 was moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia where it was used in the film K-19: The Widow Maker, the fact based film starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. In 2002 the boat began its final assignment as a museum ship operating with the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2007 the K-77 sunk after a combination of high tides, heavy winds and a storm surge flooded the submarine . The boat was raised in 2008, but the extensive damage made restoration and repair economically unfeasible. Sadly, the Juliett Class K-77 made her final voyage on August 11th, 2009 down the Providence River to a site owned by RI Recycled Metals to be dismanteled for scrap.

   

The staff and writers of American Public House Review salute all those intrepid souls that have served in “The Silent Service” and we raise a glass to those that are still on patrol!

Thanks to stevehdc for his photo of the Torsk.

Posted by: Chris Poh

A pirates wedding dreams come true!

This week the American Public House Review takes us on the most personal of journeys, as we head to Baltimore once again for a story of true love, promises, and lots of really good ale at the Cat’s Eye Pub.  (What, did you think the principal creative force behind a website dedicated solely to great taverns throughout the world would have his wedding reception at the Holiday Inn?)

Now I have only been to the Cat’s Eye Pub in the Fell’s Point section of Baltimore once, and that was on assignment to take the photo of the taps you see in the article.  But what I could clearly see in that short span of time was that this place suffers from an excess of personality and character.  Being a city and a center of commerce for the area, many places in Baltimore’s more popular destinations, like Fell’s Point, can be crowded with tourists and conventioneers.  That may also be true of the Cat’s Eye, but you can hardly notice them under the hooting and hollering of the regular set of Scallywags that call this wonderful place home.

So quite some years back, two nice folks came to Baltimore to be wed.  And to celebrate this momentous event, they chose to head to a place the groom describes as “a bit of Bourbon Street or the Barbary Coast”.  Calico Jack Rackham himself would be jealous of such a wedding reception!

Posted by: Dave McBride

 

You’ll find the good captain in the tavern

So, you’ve come seeking adventure and salty old pirates, aye?  Sure, you’ve come to the proper place…

Those immortal words are from Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean and serve as a welcome warning to those who have arrived for what lies ahead.  This week we take you back to the city the British used to refer to as America’s “Nest of Pirates”, Baltimore.

In Fells Point, Baltimore’s immersive old port section, the history seems to come up through the cobblestone in the streets.  Walk along its roads and you could swear you hear the whispers of privateers conspiring to raid a British merchant vessel coming from one of the numerous taverns.  Has the brash Captain Thomas Boyle come back to add to his tally of sunken British ships? 

Captain Boyle was perhaps America’s most famous and feared privateer captain. He commanded the clipper Chasseur, a ship born and bred in Baltimore, the city that boasted America’s largest privateer fleet during the War of 1812.   With it he wreaked havoc upon British commerce.  During the war, while taking many prizes along the coast of Great Britain, he even sent ashore a proclamation to the crown that declared a blockade of the entire conutry…by only his ship!  Yes, we can imagine the good Captain taking great pride in his own sense of humor.  Soon Fells Point and all of Baltimore would refer to the Chasseur as the “Pride of Baltimore”. 

Now I can’t say this for certain, but Captain Boyle, or at least the large majority of those who served under him, probably enjoyed a mug or two of grog after a long voyage.  If he were around today, I would point the good captain in the direction of the Wharf Rat.  It is  certainly a place where a group of privateers could grab a few pints and make the rafters roar.

Posted by: David McBride @ American Public House Review

Next Time – Take the Train

New Jersey Transit Train at Mountain Lakes

As politicians and the press  argue about what mode of transport best suits auto executives when traveling from Detroit to Washington in order to attain another bailout,  it occurs to me that had we not been so quick  to trade our steel wheels for rubber, perhaps we wouldn’t  be on the verge of  totally derailing the U.S. economy. While one can not deny the role of the “Big Three” in fueling  America’s juggernaut  postwar growth, one might question the wisdom of those that put the iron horse out to pasture. 

In the current issue of American Public House Review our correspondents expose their passions for trains big and small. From Lionel to the Lackawanna we explore our nation’s railroading history, and as always we find the time and a proper stop for some track side libations at The Station  at Mountain Lakes.

The Bar in the Station at Mountain Lakes

But never let it be said that we as an organization live too much in the past and refuse to embrace the future. In an upcoming article, written from a bar stool at the  Slainte Pub in Baltimore, our editorial staff will unveil their choice for the future in hybrid transportation.

Fells Point Boat Parade

 Posted by: Chris Poh