[COMPANY LETTERHEAD]

                                                   PRESS RELEASE

                             Contact: James R. Rice 508.984.6102
                         Seacoast Financial Services Corporation
                                       Dana Briggs, 508.833.7222
                                          Sandwich Bancorp, Inc.


    SANDWICH BANCORP AND SEACOAST FINANCIAL COMPLETE MERGER

NEW BEDFORD and SANDWICH, MA--December 3--Sandwich Bancorp, Inc.
(Nasdaq:SWCB), holding company for The Sandwich Co-operative
Bank and Seacoast Financial Services Corporation (Nasdaq:SCFS),
holding company for CompassBank, jointly announced completion of
their merger, effective 12:01 a.m., December 4, 1998.  In
accordance with the March 23, 1998 Merger Agreement, each share
of Sandwich Bancorp Common Stock will convert into 6.385 shares
of Seacoast Financial Common Stock.  Seacoast Financial will
immediately mail appropriate transmittal information to Sandwich
Bancorp shareholders to effectuate the exchange.

The exchange ratio of 6.385 Seacoast Financial shares for each
Sandwich Bancorp share was calculated by averaging the Nasdaq
closing bid and asked prices of Seacoast Financial Common Stock
for each of the second through the ninth trading days after
consummation of Seacoast's initial public offering on November
20, 1998 (each day's average price became the "Daily Price"),
discarding the two highest and the two lowest Daily Prices and
averaging the remaining Daily Prices.

Effective December 4, 1998, Sandwich Bancorp Common Stock will
be traded as shares of Seacoast Financial Common Stock based
upon the exchange ratio.

Seacoast Financial Services Corporation is the holding company
for CompassBank, headquartered in New Bedford, Massachusetts. 
With the consummation of the merger, CompassBank becomes a $1.9
billion state chartered savings bank serving Southeastern
Massachusetts and Cape Cod through a network of 34 full service
branch offices and 27 branch and remote ATMs.  The Bank provides
a wide array of financial services including consumer banking,
mortgage lending, commercial lending, consumer finance and
alternative investments to retail and business customers.