Death of a Wooden Shoe - U.S. Coast Guard

The diary that follows is one of the few first-hand accounts that survives from the
early crisis period of the Greenland Patrol, and the only such first-hand account
from the perspective of an involved young enlisted seaman. Therefore, it
occupies a unique place in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard, of U.S. naval
operations in the Arctic , and of the Second World War.
P.J. Capelotti
Washington , D.C.
October, 1995
Historical Background
On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded neighboring Denmark , a nation of four
million compared to Germany ’s eighty millions.
It is unlikely that Adolf Hitler was unaware of the strategic value of Denmark's
colony Greenland, especially the cryolite mines located at Ivigtut on the island's
southwest coast, which mine produced the world’s greatest amount of the quartz
like fluoride of sodium, a substance used in the electrolytic production of
aluminum, essential for construction of military aircraft. The mine’s production
quantity dwarfed the total production of the only two other known mines in the
world, one in Colorado and the other in the Ural Mountains of the Soviet Union.
Greenland cryolite had been a cornerstone of the U.S. aircraft industry since the
1920s, and accounted for practically all of Greenland ’s exports.
The Ivigtut mines are less than a mile up a fjord from the sea, and vulnerable to
enemy attack. Vessels transporting cryolite from Greenland to the U.S. were also
in grave danger, particularly when southbound through the narrow Strait of Belle
Isle .
In addition to it’s cryolite, Greenland was quickly transformed by the war into a
strategically desirable island. It provided a refueling stepping stone for shortrange,
England-bound U.S. military aircraft, and served as weather observation
outpost for North Atlantic convoys. As war threatened to engulf the world, U.S.
interest in Greenland grew in proportion.
In early 1941, the U.S. passed the Lend-Lease Act and, defying German sea
blockades, began supplying the British with large amounts of munitions and other
war materials. These shipments transited Greenland waters. In April, the U.S.
signed an agreement with the Danish ambassador that placed Greenland under
the protective custody of the United States .
Commander Edward Hanson (Iceberg) Smith led an expedition from the Coast
Guard Cutter Northland to locate and survey what would soon become the
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