MONMOUTH BEACH — Bob O’Brien, president of the New Jersey Museum of Boating in Bay Head, will present an illustrated history of local boat builders during WWII and their craft.
“The History of Boatbuilding during WWII on the Jersey Coast” will be presented 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, at the Monmouth Beach Cultural Center, 128 Ocean Ave. The program is open to the public.
During World War II, the U.S. Navy recruited many New Jersey boat builders to build wooden boats for use as picket boats, patrol boats for antisubmarine warfare and the famous PT boats used in the Pacific.
Famous boat builders of Monmouth County such as Charles Irwin, Olaf Olsen, Bahrs and others produced craft essential to the war effort and were awarded commendations by the War Department for their work. Boat builders from Bayonne, where PT 109 was built, to Monmouth and Ocean counties and beyond supported the war effort.
O’Brien is past commodore of Bay Head Yacht Club, served on board of the New Jersey Historical Society and is a trustee of the Toms River Seaport Society and Bay Head Historical Society.
The New Jersey Museum of Boating was founded in 1998 in Point Pleasant to preserve the legacy of boating in New Jersey.
The nonprofit organization has more than 350 members and is a partner of the Ocean County Council of Maritime Museums with Tuckerton Seaport and Toms River Seaport Society.