SEA JET, Belmar, NJ – 1957 The "SEA JET" was built in 1944 at Bristol, RI as the US Navy Air Sea Rescue Boat "C-77461". After the end of World War II, the Navy transferred her to the US Coast Guard and she was renamed the "CG-63050". In 1949, she was declared a surplus vessel and sold to Captain David Shinn. He converted the boat to party boat fishing, named her the "BOBBY II" and operated the boat from Belmar, NJ. In April of 1955, as she was returning from a day of fishing at the 'Cholera Banks', the 7,652-ton freighter "SS PRESIDENT BUCHANAN" struck her. The collision sheared off a 13-foot section of the bow of the 63-foot "BOBBY II". Because of her military construction (which included double forward crash bulkheads), she did not sink and was even able to return to Belmar under her own power. Hundreds of people flocked to the Belmar Marine Basin to get a first-hand look at this amazing vessel. The "BOBBY II" was repaired at Stowman Shipyards, Dorchester, NJ and Captain Shinn renamed the boat as the "SEA JET". In 1966, she became Captain Joe Galluccio's "SEA RANGER". Photo courtesy of Captain Norm Mordaunt.