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The Day, New London, Conn., David Collins column

The Day - 6/16/2017

June 16--Edward L. Beach, a decorated war veteran and celebrated naval officer who once lived in a grand historical mansion in Mystic, served for a time as naval aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Among the reminiscences about Beach in Proceedings Magazine, after his death in 2003, was one from an old friend, a golfer, who told of the only time Beach, not a golfer, was ever on a golf course with Eisenhower.

Beach evidently sprinted across a Washington-area golf course to deliver an urgent written message to the president: "Korean War is over."

The president glanced at the message, said thanks, and kept playing golf, Beach had told his friend.

There were other fascinating reminiscences in Proceedings about Beach, who not only had a distinguished naval career, but was also a prolific writer.

In addition to his books about his years in the submarine service, he wrote a novel, "Run Silent Run Deep," a revenge at sea story reminiscent of Moby Dick, on a submarine instead of a whaling ship, that was made into a movie starring Burt Lancaster and Clark Gable. (Film buffs may know it was Don Rickles' debut movie performance.)

One of Beach's great accomplishments was a record-setting submerged circumnavigation as skipper of the Groton-built Triton submarine, the only western sub ever powered by two nuclear reactors.

I began a research journey, learning more about Beach after Bill Turner, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway, told me he has a $2,399,000 listing for the house at 29 Gravel St. in Mystic that was the home of two captains.

One was Beach. The other, Capt. John Appelman, who built the house in 1837, was apparently a part of an interesting moment in Mystic marine history.

A 1922 history book "Groton, Ct. 1705-1905" by Charles Rathbone Stark identifies Appelman as among the crew -- no one is identified specifically as captain -- of the Mystic-based sloop Hero, which engaged in combat in Block Island Sound during the War of 1812.

The Hero, according to Stark, was fitted out and sent to retake another Mystic sloop, the Fox, which had been captured by the British.

The two vessels met for a short, half-hour battle about 10 miles southeast of Block Island. The Hero eventually prevailed, ripping out the mainsail of the Fox and her shrouds before coming alongside for hand-to-hand combat.

The Hero eventually brought her prize home, passing Watch Hill and traveling up the Mystic River for a celebration at home, according to Stark.

Presumably the handsome Greek Revival house Appelman built on Granite Street was paid for with some of the prize money he earned in war privateering.

Capt. Beach, a highly decorated officer in World War II, also came from a naval family. His father, for whom he was named, was a captain who saw action at Manila Bay in the Spanish-American War and commanded the Battleship New York, flagship of the American battle squadron in World War I.

Like his father, Capt. Beach attended the Naval Academy, finishing second in his class in 1939. They are both buried in Annapolis, Md., across from Beach Hall, named in their honor, according to the son's obituary in the New York Times.

Submarines Beach served on sank 45 enemy ships during World War II. He received the Navy Cross after his deployment aboard the Tirante, which sank nine ships on its first patrol.

With Beach in command, the Triton -- then the largest submarine in the world, at 447 feet, with a crew of 183 -- completed its underwater circumnavigation in 61 days in 1960, setting a record that has never been broken. Beach later wrote that enduring 24 hours of depth charges dropped around his submerged submarine during the war was much worse duty than the two months spent underwater in the Triton.

The boat left on its historic journey from Groton on Feb. 16, 1960, generally following a course taken by Magellan in the 16th century, eventually surfacing off Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, where Capt. Beach was met by helicopter and flown to join Eisenhower at the White House, where he was presented with the Legion of Merit award.

The circumnavigation was a triumph at a time when the United States was trying to flex its technical and military might before the Soviet Union.

I found, on a web site chronicling historic houses in Connecticut, a posting under a listing describing 29 Gravel St., made by someone who said she grew up in the house and claimed her mother thought it was haunted.

If so, it's possible they could be some of Mystic's more distinguished ghosts.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com

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