2) Evert Boyd, and I
Evert Boyd, Chief Engineer, and me on the Hayes. A top notch diesel engineer, Evert also was an avid CBer, his handle being "Diesel". We were great friends, but over the years I have lost contact with him. Anyone with an update, please let us know.
3) Tsip, tsip, tsip - a snow job
"Tsip, tsip, tsip...err, ahem, err...you see here commander...
err, tsip, tsip, tsip...we
ain't goin' to New Castle.
I changed the schedule...
heh, heh, heh...tsip, tsip,
tsip.'
The Dutton had been running
in, and out of New Castle for
many months, and needless to
say, many of her crew had made "attachments" ashore. Christmas was coming up, and
all had planned to be with their "loved" ones over the holidays. Of course that time of the year in the North Sea can be sometimes pretty wicked, if not storms, then fog, and just miserable weather.
The Captain - to the right - not wanting to go any further north than necessary, chose instead to "holiday" in Southampton, England, being we were coming up from the south anyways.
The fellow in the middle, being in charge of the small Navy group on board was vying for his men, and some of the civilians too, to stick to the planned schedule, and a fun time with "loved" ones.
Article 0733 of U.S. Naval Regs puts the civilian "master" ( Captain ) in charge of the welfare of everyone aboard - military, and civilian, and the ship. The fellow on the right is exercising that responsibility to the dismay of the fellow in the middle.
The fellow on the left ( the High Mate ) is just chuckling to himself. All turned out alright...dems wid "loved" ones jus' took a train to Newcastle, and dems
widout enjoyed Southampton.
Who are these guys anyways...the year is around 1970?????
4) The Michelson - "Spy" ships
The ship pictured above is the USNS Michelson, sister ship to the
USNS Dutton, and USNS Bowditch. Survey ships - the ultimate in intelligence gathering ships - nature's intelligence. These ships recorded
magnetic, and gravity data, plus bathymetry ( mapping of the oceans bottom ). Civilian crewed ( Military Sealift Command - MSC - Merchant Mariners ), with a small military ( Navy ), and civil sponsor ( Naval Oceanographic Office ) personnel unit embarked. They were stripped down Victory Class freighters outfitted with scientific gear. The Bowditch holds the Guiness Book of Records distinction of steaming the most miles of any ship...ever. "Surveying" in the worst storm infested waters of the globe, these ships spent a month at sea, and five to seven days in port. Storm or no, they sailed. These three ships have long been scrapped, replaced by
newer, more up to date ships, but not ever to be outdone...they were the TAGS...the "spy" ships.
5) Another "guess who"
Guess who!
This photo was taken in 1967 aboard the Bald Bagle. One was either Chief Mate, or Captain, and the other was either Chief Engr., or First Asst...either way, both were hot shots. Note no gray hair...yet.
The ship was a reefer, and carried frozen, and chill products from Cheatham Annex ( near Williamsburg Va. ) to Bremerhaven, Germany.
Those were fun days, and
Bremerhaven was still a "sailor's town". One of the two above introduced the other to the Alli-Babba, and other notable haunts around town, and on one occasion rented a car, and "did" the town of Bremen, taking in the great food and show at the Astoria Club. Both are still in close contact with each other, not living far apart, and attend the MMMM on occasion.
Bill
Qu., and me today...32 yrs later.
6) The USNS Bald Eagle
The USNS BALD
EAGLE
As with one's first
love, one's first command is always special. In May of 1967, at the age of 33, I
took assumed command of this C-2 Cargo-Reefer, the first of dozens of ships
until retiring in 1988. It was a blast.
7) Adventures Lost
A respite from High School.
Opportunities of the
past.
Adventures lost.
Things were different for youngsters back when the young fellow pictured in his Radio Officers' uniform decided to take a respite from high school, and "ship out". The "war" was nearing an end, but still going strong, and the American Merchant Marine was at its peak. His subject in High School was Maritime Radio. The school was called Metropolitan Vocational, and was located in lower Manhattan. He traveled five days a week from Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York by subway.
The call of the sea was just too strong for him to wait for graduation, after all, he
he had his vocation down pat, and his country needed him ...now. He shipped out on a tanker as a ship's Radio Officer, returning to school to graduate after the "war" ended. Now, he was really no exception, lots of youngsters did the same, and in different fields, and after he graduated, he could still pursue his ambitions. Whether to him it was an adventure along with it being an honorable profession, you would have to ask him...if you ever attend the MMMM.
Nevertheless, he could pursue this adventure/profession, which today no longer exists, but for a very few. Having attended the same school a few years later, but "taking" Maritime Deck - I wanted to be a deck "ape", I graduated, and "shipped out". Being a Brooklyn kid as he was, I grew up seeing ships everywhere - American ships - first from my baby stroller, and then from streets looking down on the harbor. You could hear the ship's whistles any time of the day, or night, where ever you went in New York.
Now today it's all gone...all the ship's are gone, and gone with them are the adventures, and jobs youngsters could dream of, and get.
I often think to myself when I see a young fella waiting tables in a restaurant, or mowing lawns, or diggin' and scratchin' in some menial, or service/tourist oriented job, that when I was his age I was a ship's officer, and had been around the world several times. I then realize it's not his "druthers", he just doesn't have the opportunities that I had. He doesn't know this...he doesn't know that his country sold his adventure/profession down the river. No...not "sold"...but "gave it away". That's neither here, nor there, it happened in other trades too. Anyways, I go on to wonder if he will be buying his parents a new house...and car when he reaches 21.
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