Morgan Evans: "One Year or less in the U. S. Merchant Marine" [USCG LSA]

U. S. C. G. Lightship Sailor Images from the past

Morgan Evans: "One Year or less in the U. S. Merchant Marine"

By Morgan Evans

In June of 1945 I enlisted in the U.S. Maritime Service, I was sent to boot camp at Sheepshead Bay on Long Island. I didn’t realize that I was going to the only “Concentration Camp” in the United States. This was according to Walter Winchell, a popular radio news commentator at that time. They had a tough obstacle course that you were required to run every day. Since I knew that ships wouldn’t have this type of course I decided it would be to my benefit to take double duty on rowing the life boats everyday. There is lot more water in that ocean than land and I might have to row to get to land.

I went to the engineering school there for deck engineer, fireman, water tender and oiler’s papers. I completed this school by the end of October 1945 and was issued papers for this type job in the Merchant Marine. I was discharged from the Maritime Service since it was only for training.

I had been sent back to Norfolk since that was where I enlisted. I then found out that I was basically on my own to find a ship and go to sea. In order to do that you were almost forced to join a labor union or you couldn’t get a job. So in self defense I joined the “SIU” (Seafarers International Union).

My first job was as an oiler on the George W. Brown. Our first trip was to Windsor, Nova Scotia in Canada. We went into port at 5 PM on high tide. I went ashore down the gangplank and came back about 11 PM and walked across a ladder to the flying bridge. There is a 28 foot tide in this port and the ship was resting on bottom. We pulled out the next morning at high tide. They said that the ship would have to go with the tide both in and out in order to make it. We carried gypsum ore to New York and unloaded in the East River.

I signed on this same ship for a trip to Cuba. It took four days from New York to Cuba on a perfectly flat sea. When we passed Cape Hatteras we entered the Gulf Stream. It was so calm that it looked like the ocean was dyed green in one section and blue in the other. We docked in Nicaro, Cuba which was the mine for the American Nickel Ore Company. Three of us took a trip by land to Antilla, Cuba. This was on an old bus that stopped every mile or so to pick up people, goats, pigs, chickens and lots of other things. It was quite a ride around the small mountains looking out and you couldn’t see any road under the bus. We decided to find a better way back so we took a “ferry boat” across the bay back to Nicaro. A bad thunderstorm came up and broke the old steering ropes. Two of us grabbed the ropes and steered the boat while the “captain” ran the throttle and pointed directions for us to steer. This was probably about a 35 foot open boat After this adventure we decided to try horse back riding which worked better. So much for Cuba’s transportation system! The ship was loaded with 40 pound bags of nickel ore which they were worth about $50 per bag and had to be kept dry or it would be worthless when it was delivered. The skipper said that we had over a million dollar cargo which was a lot in 1945. When we pulled out into the ocean there was a northeaster that we had to ride all the way to Baltimore. The ships holds were only half full but we were up to the load mark and we looked like a tanker. We had to keep the pumps in the holds running to keep the ore dry. This being a wartime ship they weren’t too keen on keeping the crew dry. All the hatches were leaking and we had a foot of water in each stateroom which did not come equipped with pumps. When we passed Cape Henry it started snowing and continued to Baltimore.

The next ship I signed on was the Luther Hurd in Norfolk. We took a load of coal to Maine. This trip was uneventful, just a cruise up the coast and back to Norfolk. Ships had started being hard to find for trips.

In February of 1946 I had a chance to sign on the John Gallop that had just returned from the Pacific war theater and hadn’t been in a shipyard since it was built. I went to NOB in Norfolk to take a look. It was the worst rust bucket I had ever seen but it was riveted. I didn’t like to sail on Liberty ships that were all welded because they broke up easily in a rough sea. I went on board to check the engine room and it was clean enough to be a kitchen. The engine room crew had kept everything in good shape. Our first stop was a shipyard in Norfolk to be overhauled. The shipyard had orders to rebore the LP cylinder on the triple expansion steam engine. This cylinder is 6 foot in diameter. The chief engineer did not want it done because the engine was OK for him. But the work was done. We left the shipyard and went the coal docks in Newport News to load for a trip to Leghorn, Italy. After we loaded coal and pulled away from the pier a steerage problem occurred so we went in the Newport News Shipyard dry-dock. With engine running to back out of dry-dock a line broke from one of the tugs and the prop hit the wall. So we went back into dry-dock. The prop was repaired and we set sail for Leghorn. About an hour after we dropped the pilot at Cape Henry I was on watch in the engine room when I heard a slight knock. The engineer wanted me to check the shaft alley for a hot bearing. When I was about half way down the alley the knock really got loud and it looked like the shaft was bouncing. I ran back to the engine room just as the engineer shut the engine down. The connecting rod on the LP cylinder was real hot and the engineer accused me of not oiling it. I had just completed all the oiling when I went to the shaft alley. We had to anchor because the engine was froze solid. We removed the cylinder head and found part of the piston broken and Jammed against the cylinder wall. After being at anchor for a couple of days a Navy tug towed us back to shipyard. When the cylinder was checked it was found that it had been bored out in an oval shape which caused the piston to catch on the wall. At least I was cleared of failing to oil it.

Since we had cleared port I was able to sign off this ship. I felt like this ship was a jinx and I needed to get off. I had a chance to talk to an oiler later that made this trip and he said they had a lot of trouble on the trip including have to slow down to cool the bearings down. The John Gallup was sent to the James River Graveyard after this trip.

Soon after I left this ship the SIU union went on strike. The strike lasted long enough that I was getting short on money. I decided that I would be better off to go in the Coast Guard and get the benefits of the GI bill so I could get an education.

On two trips north we went through the Cape Cod Canal both ways. Little did I know that about a year later I would be sailing these same waters going to work on light ships.

And now for the Picture Album

The story continues in “Three Years and Two Days” See Morgan's "Three Years & Two Days" here

Back Lightship Sailor Images Library Menu Menu

Rick Gryder Webmaster

~
~