Soon after Pearl Harbor, the Navy ordered all tuna boats to return to their nearest port. Many, including the Prospect, had Japanese-Americans crews. When the boat docked at Point Loma "the crew was removed under marine guard and the cargo of tuna unloaded."
The Van Camp Sea Company owned the boat and "the government seized the ship." The crew was then shipped to a relocation camp at Poston, Arizona, along with 2000 other Japanese-Americans from San Diego.
At the time, California also had over 1500 regular Italian-American seamen and the government wouldn't let them work on boats or around the docks.
Even though he was Italian, Vince Batfaglia was appointed commander of the YP-346.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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