James Mark Seabrooke of Englewood died on July 9 at Englewood Hospital surrounded by his wife and children. He was preceded in death by his parents William H. and Myrtle Seabrooke of Fitzgerald, Georgia and brother Lee F. Seabrooke of Silsbee, TX. He is survived by his wife of 44 years Brenda Daniels Seabrooke, Englewood, FL, his son, Kevin Seabrooke (Carol) and grandson Ian of Front Royal, VA and his daughter Kerria S. Jannicola (Paul) and grandson Dylan of Chesapeake, VA, sister Billie S. Clackum of Ranger and Skidaway, GA, nephews William J. (Sherry) Seabrooke, Cummings, GA, Reese (Linda) Seabrooke,- Grants Pass, OR and several nieces and nephews.
Captain Seabrooke was born in Fitzgerald, GA on August 4, 1939 (Coast Guard Day), graduated from Fitzgerald High School in 1957 and the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London Connecticut in 1961. His first active duty was on the USCGC Sebago, Mobile, AL 1961-64. He was commanding officer of LORSTA (Long Range Aid to Navigation) on St. Paul Island, AK 1964-65, earned a masters in oceanography from Oregon State University in Corvallis OR in 1967. From 1967-70 he was stationed at the Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit in Washington, DC and was field party chief for the Weddell Sea expeditions in Antarctica aboard the icebreaker USCGC Glacier 1968-70, International Ice Patrol oceanographer aboard the USCGC Evergreen 1967-70, oceanographer assigned to the USCGC Sweetgum in 1969 to survey torpedoed and sunk WWII tankers off the Atlantic coast for residual oil, Chief of Marine Science School at the Coast Guard Training Center on Governors Island, NY 1970-73 and assistant training officer, executive officer of the USCGC Diligence 1973-4, oceanographer at Command Pacific Area in San Francisco, CA 1974-79, Training Officer, Executive Officer, Commanding Officer at the USCG Training Center in Petaluma, CA 1979-83, Chief of Bridge Division at Coast Guard Headquarters Washington, DC 1983-89, Military Advisor to Surgeon General C. Everett Koop 1989-90, Bridge Division Chief at Coast Guard Headquarters 1990-91.
As Chief of Bridges Captain Seabrooke permitted the only causeway in the US or its possessions that wasn’t legislated by an act of Congress. The causeway connected Sears Island to the mainland in the Penobscott River in Portland, Maine. The permit was later upheld in Federal courts as being valid under the Constitution. His Weddell Sea discoveries on the formation of Antarctic bottom water were published in journals. He invented a dolphin release net, U.S. Patent Number 4006549.
On retirement in 1991 Captain Seabrooke owned and managed a 170-acre hardwood forest in Hedgesville, WV and was a consultant for the law firm that represented the towing company whose barge hit the bridge on Upper Mobile Bay that caused an Amtrak wreck. In 1999 Captain and Mrs. Seabrooke moved to Manasota Key in Englewood, Florida.
Burial will follow later in the columbarium in Arlington National Cemetery.