With war in 1941, every seaworthy private yacht was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy. Crocker was paid just $35,000 for his beloved $350,000 schooner. Zaca was painted battleship gray, renamed IX-73, and ordered on patrol 500 miles off of Eureka, California. She once spotted a Japanese fleet sailing down the coast and her radio report had them turn tail and retreat.
Zaca’s normal duty was as a radio beacon station, although she did carry two .50 caliber machine guns ‘just in case’. When she returned to Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay every three weeks, her freezer was reliably full of salmon. In 1944, Zaca was replaced by a diesel patrol boat and in 1945 was decommissioned and, along with several other well-worn yachts, auctioned off.