During the next several months I spent nearly all my time in the engine room. To make a rate, I had to pass written tests and demonstrate practical abilities on all aspects of operating an engine room. This meant I had to learn every piece of machinery in the engineering plant including what it was, how to use it and how to fix it if it broke. This included the boiler system that consisted of 3 stations which I had to master and have a Chief sign for me. From there, I had to move on to the evaporator system which provided fresh water for the entire ship. This system converted salt water to fresh and took sometime to master. From there, I mived on to all the various auxillary systems ( boats, cranes, etc. ). All this training took me about 8 months which I worked on during my off duty time. The faster I learned, the faster I made rates. The task was enormous and challenging. Of course I wanted to make the next rate but that wasn't the driving force behind me. What motivated me the most was that I was LEARNING. I was recieving an education and I felt like my brain was a sponge. I was soaking it all up. It was an exciting time for me. I couldn't get enough. When I was on duty, I was tearing down some piece of equipment and rebuilding it under the watchful eye of my mentor who would sometimes answer my questions and on some occasions, answer my question with a question forcing me to work the problem through. When I was off duty, if I wasn't scheming to make extra money, ( washing and ironing fellow sailors uniforms or polishing brass or shining shoes ), I had my face buried in a technical manual. As I look back on it now, I could never find the interest to read a good book or novel. But I could completely engross myself in a technical manual and be lost to the world. My mentor, the chief, spent little time praising me for a job well done, but when I was off the mark, he would be all over me like stink on shit. I didn't need the oral praise from him because I could see in his eyes the pride he had for me. This just made me work that much harder.
It was during this period that I was involved with my first cruise. July of 1937, it was. We went to sea as part of the task force searching for Amellia Earhart. We were limited in our search area because we couldn't approach certain land masses such as the Marshall and Gilbert islands because they were under Japanese control and we were not yet at war with the Japanese.
True or False, I'll let you decide. In May, 2000, I was watching a Discovery Channel show on the disappearance of Emilia Arhart. During the show, it talked about the massive search conducted by the U.S. Navy including film footage. When they started talking about the mystery and speculations regarding her disappearance, new theories were discussed. One theory that grabbed me by the throat was the possibility that the whole disappearance was staged by the Navy and Amellia was a willing participant. At this time, the powers to be knew that we would eventually go to war against Japan. Logistacally, we were not prepared. But just as important, Intellegence wise we were totally in the dark. WE knew virtually nothing about the Pacific. The theory goes that Amellia had agreed to make a flight into the area and purposely ditch close to a selected island. The powers to be knew that no nation in the world would object to us conducting this massive search. This we did, but at the same time we mapped the Pacific using a number of means. We overflew every island and got as much film footage as we could. The theory ends by stating it was most probable that Amellia ditched on the wrong island and we missed picking her up by 300 miles. EVidence was presented during the show that Amellia was picked up by the Japanese and taken to Saipan where she was subjected to severe interrogation.
The learning process never stopped whether we were at sea or in port. My education continued. One thing I picked up on was the fact that if you showed an interst, everyone was willing to help. From the chief to the engineering officers to the warrant officer and anyone in charge of spaces knew me and not once did any of them turn me away when I had a question.
As time progressed for me, we made several cruises between Long Beach, California and the Hawaiian Islands. Now, I was really seeing some of the world. Life was good. I had me some real fine liberty calls. But you must consider at this time I was a 17 - 18 years old "pretty boy" as some shipmates referred to me. I always had a pocketful of cash, a cocky smile on my face and a fairly good gift of gab. When it came to the girls, well, I was developing into somewhat of a worldly man. This character development continued to grow until I got grounded by the one true longterm love, but, thats a different chapter.
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On one of our return trips to the states we anchored off San Clemente for small arms range practice. It was here that I became entwined in a crisis situation that I thought was going to put an end to the good life I was really enjoying. At the time our ships complement was seriously undermanned and the bulk of the crew was sent to the gunnery range. I was standing watch in the power plant and it was pretty quiet, so I was monitoring what was going on with the rest of the ship via j.v. phones. My job, should the need arise was to start the process of lighting off one of the main propulsion turbine generators. According to the manual, this was a 2 - 2 1/2 hour procedure. And the engineer room manual was like the Bible. To deviate from this process was akin to committing a serious crime. I starting picking up bits and pieces of information that all was not good on the bridge. Something was a foot. Turns out it was a rather severe Santa Anna storm that started up with little warning and was already causing the ship to drag anchor. I knew what to do because I'd done it numerous times. But, in this case, I was Mr. Fireman 1st nobody and alone. So, I stepped up the process on my own while monitoring the chatter from the bridge. I could tell the stress levels were increasing rapidly and a second anchor was dropped and we were now dragging 2 anchors --- still heading towards the rocks stern first. Now, it got personal for me because my ship was in danger of running aground on the rocks and "I" couldn't let that happen. You can understand these feelings if you understand the love affair that existed between a ship and her crew.
One of the steps involved in the process of firing up the plant was to warm up the turbines with exhaust steam until an expansion indicator showed they were in the safe zone. So there I stood, watching the expansion indicator slowly rise while listening to the panic on the bridge. I got to thinking maybe there was a way to speed up the process. So, I forgot about the Bible and cracked the throttle valve just a hair letting in a minute quantity of live steam. Watching the indicator, I saw the needle move a bit faster so I thought "what the hell" and gave her another shot of steam and she was nearing the safety zone much faster. At this point, I was totally focused on my engine and was just vaguely aware of the problems on the bridge. They had theirs and I had mine. When I checked the indicator again it was in the green so I cracked the throttle a bit more and saw the turbine was in motion. To me, everything looked good so I let her go. I was just standing there being totally tickled with myself when I got a call from the control room which statled me back to real time. When I responded, "Sir?", someone told me that their indicators showed that my turbine was rotating. That's when I noticed my watch and only about forty minutes had passed. I knew I was in big time trouble but what was done was done so I responded with as much bravado as I could muster and said, "Uhh (gulp) Yes, Sir, it appears so." I was ordered to transfer control of the turbine to them. I did and we were underway. After that, I just sat for awhile feeling scared but good at the same time. Scared because I figured I'd get busted at the very least but good because the rocks were not going to mess with my ship, not on my watch. I decided it didn't matter to me what the higher ups did to me because I did what had to be done so damn the consequences. There was a great deal of conversation over this incident but to my surprize nothing ever happened to me which made me feel good because I didn't particularly like the idea of having to make the same rate twice.
My life lesson from this situation was "In times of crisis, don't panic. Keep calm and you can still think while surrounded by chaos."
TO BE CONTINUED..............
UNCLE SAM
THE HOBO YEARS PART 1
THE HOBO YEARS PART 2
THE BEGINNING
THE EARLY YEARS
HOMEPAGE...so you can sign the "GuestBook"
� 1997 [email protected]
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