Stuck in Chesapeake Bay

Eileen, Stan with Martha sailing on a yawl in 1948 on the Chesapeake Bay.

My father, Stanley Gibson Cooper, was a student at the Annapolis Naval Academy from 1945-1949. This was after World War II where he served in the Pacific. During his Sophomore year, he had minor surgery on his nose. He was attracted to his nurse, Ensign Martha Gabuzda. They started dating a few weeks later in the fall of 1947.  

In the winter of 1948, Stan’s sister, Eileen Cooper, took the train from New York City to Annapolis for the weekend to spend time with Stan & meet his fiancé. They attended the school dance with a blind date for Eileen on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, after church, Stan, Martha, Eileen,  her blind date, with another couple took out an Academy large yawl for the afternoon. As they entered the central point of Chesapeake Bay there was no wind. The three midshipmen, who were engineers could not figure out to start the yawl’s engine so they kept rowing about in circles. As the afternoon sailed by, Eileen was panicking as she had to catch the trains back to New York City to be home that evening as she had to report for work the next day! This was a 7-hour ride for her. Fortunately, the Academy missed them, sent out the Coast Guard to their rescue & got them back to land on time. 

Stan was the only one in the family who did not know how to handle the smaller boats like this, that his grandfather, father, brother, nephews who sailed with glee.  He did much better on the larger military ships as he worked under deck or flew jets with taking off & landing them which he loved with glee.