The sardine fisherman was from one of the Stagnaro familys of Santa Cruz pre-WWII sardine fleet. It was converted hurriedly into a coastal Minesweeper by the Navy which has a desperate need to patrol the West Coast, and sweep any mines laid by Japanese subs. This was, unbelievable as it may seem today, our only defense against any Japanese invasion that broke through our paltry fleet of capital ships left afloat after the Pearl Harbor disaster. Our one gun was a single barrel 6-pound relic of the Spanish- American War of 1898! After the Battle of Midway in which we sunk 4 Japanese carriers, the threat of invasion was much diminished and these vessels were primarily used as minesweepers. A unit of six of us swept the main ship channel out to the 100 fathom curve, a couple of miles past the S.E. Farallon, and back every day. No mines were ever swept. We thought we were actually preempting an enemy foray. In the meantime, this mine force served as a farm team, sending its graduates to the Western Pacific mine fields.