U-Boats in the Bahamas

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[Eric Wiberg] “…builds a character both attractive and intriguing to the reader. I ended genuinely curious about what might come next, and confident that I used to be in the hands of an expert story-teller.”
–William F. Buckley Jr.

“Eric Wiberg’s ability, to unearth obscure historical facts, keeps me in a constant state of surprise. I commend his relentless determination to ensure every detail, with local sources in Nassau’s historical community, for corroboration of his findings.”–Capt. Paul C. Aranha, Creator, The Island Airman . . . and his Bahama Islands Home.

“Eric Wiberg has made a significant contribution to the bibliography of World War II history.”
–J. Revell Carr, Santa Fe, N.M.

This book tells one more key part of the big story and is one more piece in the giant puzzle of the history of World War II. Its value for historians cannot be underestimated.
Throughout the stories of the attacks by German and Italian submarines on Allied shipping in the water around the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, several consistent themes emerge in Wiberg’s thorough accounts. Prime among them is the heroism of the merchant mariners who again and again put themselves in danger as they performed the critical task of moving supplies, military and civilian, that have been vital to ultimate victory.

We read of a large number of instances of sailors having their ships shot out from under them and then steadily going back to sea and having additional ships torpedoed and sunk. We will also recognize what we know today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which was seldom recognized 75 years ago. Wiberg pays proper credit to the controversial Duchess of Windsor, whose husband was the wartime governor of the Bahamas. Just as she carried out this official duty, this book relates the heartening tales of everyday Bahamians, ceaselessly poor and on outlying islands, who generously provided for these desperate castaways.

Wiberg also acknowledges the heroism of the Axis submariners as he recounts not only their victories but also their deaths as a few of the subs were eventually tracked down and sunk.

History isn’t great events, it is the continuum of many small events carried out by real people. U-Boats in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos gives us an intimate glimpse of those events and, importantly, those people.
J. Revell Carr
Santa Fe, NM

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