Columbia Steam Ship Company was based in Portland, Oregon. Like many other small shipping companies still around in the 50's and 60's they carried cargo during the Viet Nam war. In 1970 I was 18 and getting out of high school in Houston, Tx. I had to register for the draft at school that year and my number in the lottery system indicated I had a good chance of getting drafted. Since I didn't plan for college I decided to go to sea, which would effectively take me out sight, out of mind if my number came up. The Seafarer's Union didn't forward any mail from bill collectors, parole officers, federal investigators, etc. One week after I came home a graduate, I found my Dad showing my Mom where Ceylon was in the Encyclopedia and found out he had heard of a ship I could get job on that was going there and beyond. A summer job; and then I was to enroll in "college" with the money I would make. As Senior Invsetigating Officer in the Marine Inspection Office of the Coast Guard he knew the guys at the Union Hall well enough to get me a job. I had gone to his office, which was near the ship channel and we had gone aboard a US cargo ship. We went in the fidley and looked own into the engine room.. too confining, and hot. On deck I felt much better and the running rigging was in use, loading cargo. This seemed like a better bet. When the ship arrived we went to Hall together and in the side door to the Patrolman's office. The ship channel in the background out his window, he said I just missed an "acting AB" (Able Seaman position) job on a ship that left that morning. Pier head jump. Just as well, I took an Ordinary Seaman job on the Columbia Baron. Later I would find out that there were 7 high school and college kids working aboard. The reason we all got jobs for the summer would become clear during the trip as we heard the story some of the homesteaders (senior union members who stayed on more than one trip) had to tell.
My whole family and a few neighborhood friends rode with us when I went to join the ship. Berthed at a cargo dock in Corpus Christi, loaded with bagged grain and making ready to "sail". Steamships sail when they depart. The deck department were working overtime to stow the cargo gear when we pulled up on the dock, eye level with all hands who were leaning on the rail taking a break to see who was arriving at the last minute. I took my new sea bag full of new work clothes into the house and found my room after the Bosn looked me over and winked at my Mom when he said I could just go get ready for letting go lines. They would handle the dirty work on deck. The other kids in the car laughed to think I would be allowed to do anything that exotic. When I came out my Dad was talking to the gangway watch who it turned out was someone he knew. Paul "Red" King. He had taken his seaman's document the year before when he pulled a knife on another crew member. He was gaining Red's assurance that, in order to prevent any further loss of income from a subsequent loss of seaman's document, him and the crew would "keep an eye" on me my first trip. Great. Just as my family drove away there was a fire box explosion and and an ambulance came down the dock to get the fireman/watertender "Whitey" who hadn't set the burner all the way in and gotten burned trying to light off the boiler. We got the fire box repaired (bricks had gotten knocked lose) in Trinidad, our bunker port a week later. Whitey failed to make the trip. Hearing the sirens, my parents came back along the dock and found out what had happened from the Bos'n.. They also still had my pillow from home along and I was called to get it and bring it to my room while everyone smiled again.
This wasn't exactly as I had envisioned "leaving home" in my mind during boring classes in high school when I decided to seek adventure on the high seas. Sailing was delayed and I saw my folks one more time the next day when they were leaving to go back to Houston. We had lowered the lifeboat over the dock to scrape and paint it and I was finally dirty from working and could shake my Dad's hand goodbye and wave at my Mom without feeling childish. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Yes, I'll write.
I was on the mid watch. Which meant I worked from midnight to 0400 and then again from noon to 1600. It took some getting used to, and I din't start working overtime in the mornings until we cleared Trinidad. I remember waking up a few hours after we had left the dock in Texas and seeing some islands in the moonlight out the port hole. I thought I was already seeing the world! It turned out to be dredge spoils in Corpus Christi Bay. the pilot boat that night was a sailboat according to my watch partner.. Even though there were sailing pilot boats in the early 20th century, I have no idea why Port Aransas pilots were using one in 1970.
So, off we went, I was signed on to Articles and my home country was falling away astern to never be seen again by the same person. When I would fly home four month later from Taiwan by way of San Francisco I would not be even remotely the same. Unfortunately, I stayed sea sick, slept until noon, had trouble sleeping after dinner and generally was a mess for the trip to the West Indies. Finally, one night on wheel watch I passed out at the wheel. The Chief Mate had to take a look at me and figured out that the problem was mostly constipation, from changing diet, no excercise and dehydration due to the sea sickness. The cure was prescribed by the Bos'n. Get on deck after breakfast and work, which I did. Seas were boarding onto the main deck occasionally and it didn't matter if I didn't make it to the rail to puke. After a while I felt better and didn't have to see the Chief Mate again, which suited me fine.
The mate on my watch was a short hispanic guy who had been in WW II just a few years (25 to be exact) before. He seemed really old to me. We called all the old guys "schizos" because they would be really mad one minute and then happy and foolish the next.. no real in between for most of them. Forget the fact that they had been torpedoed and shot at in their lifeboats when they were my age. We just thought they were exagerrating everything to do with this. It couldn't be that hard! The crew for that little ship was over 40 people. Good thing since we were all only partially capable of making the thing go through the Ocean and around the World.
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I was on the same cruise, working as crew newsman. I remember Whitey being injured and always wondered how he came out from his injuries. I also remember Red very well and there's definitely a story behind that relationship. At 16 years old I too came back a different person, especially after having visited the Army hospital in Saigon. We actually flew from Taiwan to Tokyo and from there to Frisco.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to reconnect with anyone that was also on that cruise. 50 years later I'm afraid a lot of them are no longer with us.