Photo of US Navy submarine chaser USS 661, sister vessel to USS SC 541 which became USCG Air Drake, then the Bahamian mailboat Drake in the 1950s and 1960s.
MAILBOAT NAME: M/V Drake
PAST NAMES: USS PC 541 for Patrol Craft, then USS SC 541 for Submarine Chaser, then USCGS Air Drake (WAVR 418)
DIMENSIONS: 136 tons, 110’10” feet long overall, displaced 95 tons, beam 17′, draft 6’6″, speed 21 knots, Official # 257569, twin 1,540-bhp GM motors of 16-184A diesel variety, two propellers, Call Sign NBER
December 1964, pp. 62- 73, 135-140, from the blog “Bahamian Fragments – Bits and Pieces of Bahamian History”. http://www.jabezcorner.com/Grand_Bahama/Informal1.html
Sources: Mrs. Eldwyth and Danielle Roberts of Abaco, relatives of Sir George W. K. Roberts
For info. on the early life of USS SC 541, http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/150541.htm
For the background of other private owners of the Drake, World War II U.S. Navy Vessels in Private Hands: The Boats and Ships Sold and Registered for Commercial and Recreational Purposes Under the American Flag Paperback – May 14, 2014, By Greg H. Williams