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Hi Spike, Backatcha,
My one and only experiece on a navy ship was in 1954 when I got my
orders
for a tour of duty in England. We left NY Harbor, bound for Southampton
England
on the USNS Geiger (a troop ship). It was to be a 7 day voyage, that is,
until
all hell broke loose! About out third day out of port and I was already
tired
of seeing nothing but water in all directions.
That's the day we met Hazel (Hurricane Hazel that is). We spent the
next
three days going up and down and sideways instead of East, as in 'towards
England'.k
Hazel was supposedly the worst Hurricane in history (that hit the east
coast) until Hugo came along about 30 years or so later.
The anchor broke loose and was swinging wildly around and put a big
hole in
the side of the ship. "D" deck was flooding and the bilge pumps couldn't
keep up
so they moved everyone out of D-deck, closed it off, and let it (?) fill
with
water, thus making us ride much lower in the water. I don't know why, but
for
some reason the water then started flooding "C" deck so they moved us all
up
into B-deck and by now the dependants, higher ranks and
feather-merchanants were
all getting jammed in together in the cabin class on A-deck. There were
people
sleeping on the floor in the hallways, on the counters in the BX and snack
bars,
and anywhere else there was room to lie down.
On three different occasions they had us up on the weather deck and
told us
that we were sinking so we'd have to depart the ship in life boats and
hope for
the best. The third time we went up there they actually tried to put some
boats
over the side but when they made an attempt to get them out into the water
they
dumped some sailors in the ocean because the ship was pitching so
violently that
the life boats were not 'lauchable'. The Ships Chaplin gave us all 'last
rights' and wished us all the best when our ship finally went down. (I was
in
the Air Force, what in the hell was I doing on this sinking ship???)
Towards the end of the third day the storm had passed and, believe it
or
not, we were still afloat (barely). We were riding so low in the water
that the
swells were coming up over the sides and onto the weather-deck. I won't go
into
gruesome details, but believe me, the ship didn't 'smell' all that great!
(Ever
heard of 'sea-sick'?) I didn't get seasick but I think I was about 1/2 of
the
one percent that didn't. (That's another story in itself, as to why I
didn't.)
Anyway, on the tenth day we docked at South Hampton England and if I
never
see another Navy Ship it'll be about three centuries too soon!
I have no idea how many people were on this 'troop ship' but a few
thousand
I'd guess. No thanks, I'll go by plane from now on, no more 'ocean
cruises' for
this guy!
Bob Saville
Spike Kavalench wrote:
> Bob, I don't know about you, but if I found myself on a ship with 475
> drunken stinkin sailors, I'd be swimming for shore.
> Spike
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bob Saville" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Georgia Trehey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: "Bob Caspary" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "E. T.
'Pete'
> Petrie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "G/F Alon S/N149 George Frebert"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "H. Sloane" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Hall, Dan"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Jim Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Andy Pomeroy"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Candy Leggett"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Christopher Stermer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Colin
> Brooks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Darian and
> Joe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Dennis Spiegel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Doug
> Davis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Downwind Jaxon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ed
> Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Evelyn Torres" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Jack
> Lewis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Jack Russell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "James
> Percival" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "john" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ken
Doyle"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Larry Wilkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Matthew
Brunner"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Maurice" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Max Doubrava"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Michael T Kennedy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Spike Kavalench" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Barb Super Goldstein" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Paul
> Anton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Percy G. Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2001 9:35 PM
> Subject: Re: Humor-Avast ye shipmates..... (fwd)
>
> > *****On a diet like that, for that long a period, I doubt if they ever
saw
> the
> > English, whether they 'encountered' them or not.
> > I don't know if I could last through a party like that. (I didn't
say
> I
> > wouldn't try though!)
> > BTW, how could they return to Boston with the original 475 men?
You'd
> think
> > 'at least' a few of them would have fallen overboard during the party.
> ; - )
> >
> > Bob Saville
> >
> >
> >
> > Georgia Trehey wrote:
> >
> > > Please see my comments aft.
> > >
> > > Georgia
> > >
> > > Avast ye shipmates.....
> > >
> > > When there were iron men and wooden ships:
> > >
> > > This comes by way of the National Park Service, as printed in
> > > "Oceanographic Ships, Fore and Aft", a periodical from the
oceanographer
> > > of the US Navy.
> > >
> > > On 23 August 1779, the USS Constitution set sail from Boston, loaded
> with 475
> > > officers and men, 48,600 gallons of water, 74,000 cannon shot,
11,500
> pounds
> > > of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum. Her mission: to destroy
and
> harass
> > > English shipping.
> > >
> > > On 6 October, she made Jamaica, took on 826 pounds of flour and
68,300
> gallons
> > > of rum. Three weeks later, Constitution reached the Azores, where
she
> > > provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 2,300 gallons of Portuguese
> wine.
> > >
> > > On 18 November, she set sail for England where her crew captured and
> scuttled
> > > 12 English merchant vessels and took aboard their rum. By this time,
> > > Constitution had run out of shot. Nevertheless, she made her way
unarmed
> up
> > > the Firth of Clyde for a night raid. Here, her landing party
captured a
> > > whiskey distillery, transferred 13,000 gallons aboard and headed for
> home.
> > >
> > > On 20 February 1780, the Constitution arrived in Boston with no
cannon
> shot,
> > > no food, no powder, no rum and no whiskey. She did, however, still
carry
> her
> > > crew of 475 officers and men and 18,600 gallons of water.
> > >
> > > The math is quite enlightening: Length of cruise: 181 days Booze
> consumption:
> > > 1.26 gallons per man per day (this does NOT include the unknown
quantity
> of
> > > rum captured from the 12 English merchant vessels in November).
> > >
> > > Naval historians say that the reenlistment rate from this cruise was
> 92%.
> > >
> > >
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > > My math didn't give the same answer. If you add
> > >
> > > 79400 gal rum
> > > 68300 gal rum
> > > 2300 gal wine
> > > 13000 gal whisky
> > > _________________
> > > 163000 gal booze divided by 181 days = approx 900.55 gal/day divided
by
> > > 475 men on board
> > > = approx 1.90 gal per man per
> day!!!
> > >
> > > It sounds like it was my kind of party: -In excess of 150,000 gal of
> sauce
> > > -475 Men
> > > -And the mission was to
harass
> > > English shipping
> > >
> >
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