There were three cadet shipping offices - New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. Once a cadet's assignment on a ship was over, he had to report to the nearest shipping office the next day. You couldn't anticipate how much time off you would get between shipping assignments because it was dependent on when another ship needed cadets. Because I lived only an hour from New York City, I was able to spend one night at home before reporting. Denny Gross lived in New Jersey and was able to make it home as well. On reporting to the shipping office the next day, we were immediately assigned to the Mormactrade which had just docked in Brooklyn. The Mormactrade was a Moore-McCormack Lines freighter that traded to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
 |
| S/S Mormactrade - 1967 |
The Mormactrade was built in 1962 in Sun Shipbuilding, Chester, PA. She was a C-3A class freighter, also known as a 1624, was 423 feet in length and had five cargo hatches. She was built the same year as the African Meteor but was not quite as fast, averaging around 18 knots. The large smokestack with the company logo was actually a dummy stack. It was used for sunbathing. The actual smokestacks were the two king posts just aft of the superstructure. The deck officers were Captain Soren Brinch, Chief Mate Steve Hertz, 2nd Mate Jay Bolton, and 3rd Mate Andy Hughes. I can't remember he name of the other 3rd Mate. I was assigned to the 4 to 8 watch with Jay Bolton, a Fort Schuyler graduate. Jay was another good tutor. We got along well. Unfortunately, Jay fell seriously ill in the first port and had to remain there. I have since run into Jay several times while inspecting ships in the New York area. He is the only former shipmate from my cadet year that I've seen since and is still active in the maritime industry.
 |
| Buenos Aires Plaza Congreso 1967 |
There are seafarer's clubs in most ports around the world. Some seafarer's clubs are better than others but in general they are places where seamen can go to hang out, play pool, have a drink, call home and just get away from the ship for a few hours. The Stella Maris Centre in BA had the reputation of being one of the better clubs. It was run by the Apostleship of the Sea. We docked on a Sunday afternoon and heard that the Stella Maris club held dances on weekends so that's where Denny and I headed. It didn't disappoint. They had what I would best describe as a pot luck dinner dance and there were lots of local families there. Denny and I met a couple of young secretaries and had a great time. Denny had Monday off but I had to work. He made arrangements with the girl he met to tour the city the next day. I told the girl I was with that I'd come back to the club for the Wednesday night dance; she said she'd be there. The problem was, I had had too much to drink. Monday morning, all I could remember was that one of the two girls was really attractive. Denny had the day off, met up with his date and had a great time seeing Buenos Aires. Because Denny had such a good time, I assumed his date had been the pretty one. To make a long story longer, Jay Bolton became ill and was hospitalized. The ship was now shorthanded and I was asked to take over the day cargo watches. Even though I got off work at 5, I talked myself out of going back to the Stella Maris club that Wednesday because I was convinced that my date was the less attractive one. I finally returned to the club the night before we sailed. I recognized a girl from the first night and went over to talk to her. I was floored when she asked why I hadn't showed up Wednesday evening. She was the girl I was supposed to meet and was gorgeous. She had planned to show me around the city but because we were sailing early the next morning, there was no more time. I never got to see much of Buenos Aires and had no one to blame but myself.
It was only a short voyage across the Rio de la Plata to our next port, Montevideo, Uruguay. During the 60's, Uruguay had the reputation for being a popular retirement place for seafarers due to the reasonable cost of living. Although Montevideo seemed like a nice city, my main memory of the port was the smell of the uncured cow hides we loaded as cargo; they really stunk. Remains of the German heavy cruiser Graf Spee, damaged by the British during World War II and later scuttled by her captain, were visible just outside Montevideo harbor. Moore-McCormack had decided not to send a replacement mate for Jay so I was permanently assigned the 8 to 5 in-port cargo watches. They promised me I would get extra pay for this but I never saw a dime. We were in Montevideo for two days and I only made it ashore briefly.
From Montevideo, we headed for Rio de Janeiro. In my opinion, Rio is a close second to Cape Town as the most picturesque city in the world. The harbor, Guanabara Bay, is guarded at its entrance by Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf Mountain). Corcovado Mountain, on which stands the statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), literally looms large over the city. The beaches are wide and crowded. The ocean water, however, was bitter cold and few people were swimming. I was surprised by the cold water since the Brazil Current flows south from the equator. The freighter docks were located on the western side of the city. You had to drive through a tunnel to get into the city proper. The oceanfront along Copacabana Beach was not unlike Miami Beach in that it was lined by hotel after hotel. Although Rio was a very scenic city, it was also plagued by large slum areas known as favelas, some of which were located on a hill in city center. We were told that during the rainy season, the filth literally ran down hill into the affluent areas. Crime was rampant in Rio. We were advised to stay on the main streets and not to walk around after dark. We took taxis wherever we went. In 1967, Ipanema was the "in" place to visit thanks to Astrud Gilberto's sultry hit song "The Girl from Ipanema." Ipanema Beach lay just to the south of Copacabana Beach. Denny and I spent a day at Copacabana but never made it to Ipanema. We also took in a Brazilian dance extravaganza show at one of the fancy beachfront hotels. They can really dance. There is a unique soft drink sold in Brazil, Guarana Antarctica, which
is very sweet and loaded with caffeine. You don't want to drink Guarana
in the evening unless you plan on not sleeping that night. We spent three days in Rio before heading south to Paranagua. |
| Rio de Janeiro Dock Area 1967 |
In 1967, Paranagua was a small port. I understand it has since grown considerably. I have almost no recollection of Paranagua other than there was basically nothing there. I believe it was primarily an oil port in those days.
 |
| Elevador Lacerda - Salvador |
It was a Christmas to remember. The officers mess hall was one deck below the stateroom deck. The crew's mess room was one deck below the officers mess. After Christmas lunch, Denny and I went up to the officers lounge on the stateroom deck. Like the African Meteor, the Mormactrade also carried twelve passengers. While we were sitting in the lounge, we heard a blood-curdling scream from one of the women passengers. We jumped up, ran out of the lounge and saw a man covered in blood passed out on the deck. At first we thought it was a passenger. It turned out to be one of the engine crew. With the help of the ship's Purser, who also served as the medical responder, we carried the man to the ship's hospital. Apparently, this crewman was a piece-of-work. He had a drinking problem and had missed the ship in Buenos Aires and rejoined in Montevideo. He was drunk and obnoxious during Christmas dinner and one of the cooks got tired of it and hit him on the forehead with an iron frying pan to shut him up. The injured man headed up the two decks to the Captain's quarters but passed out before getting there. Denny and I spent the next 5 hours holding compresses on the man's head. During this time, he regained consciousness and babbled apologies on and off.
It was evident that the injured crewman needed to be evacuated. The nearest port was a small village called Macieo. The ship was too large to enter the harbor so we anchored off the breakwater. Since it was Christmas night, the port radio station was closed. The only way we could get a message to shore was by signal light. There was a small ship docked there. We flashed our signal light many times at the other ship before they finally responded. The message was relayed and after an hour or so, a small boat with port officials came out to us. Even though this was a medical emergency, the officials made us go through full customs and immigration inspections. They finally agreed to take the injured seaman ashore for treatment. He was placed in a Stokes rescue litter and lowered into the small boat. Denny and I accompanied him ashore and made sure he was handed off to a medical team. The story had a happy ending. When we arrived back in Brooklyn a couple of weeks later, he was there to collect the gear he had left on board.
After the excitement of Christmas Day 1967, the remainder of the return voyage was non-eventful. The ship made it's coastwise stops before returning to Brooklyn where Denny and I disembarked. Denny was a year ahead of me in school. Because he was an athlete, he was on a "split sea year," which meant his sea year was divided up between his sophomore and junior years so he could play baseball during the spring semester. Denny was a great shipmate and we were good friends. In the "it's a small world category," Denny lived in Warren, NJ, the neighboring town to where my wife grew up. My brother-in-law and Denny had been classmates at Watchung Hills High School. After I got married and moved to the area, I ran into Denny shopping at Bambergers (Macys) in downtown Plainfield. He was sailing as an engineer with Sea-Land. We got together several times over the next few months as our shipping schedules allowed. When I came back from my next voyage, I was shocked to learn that he had unexpectedly died at home in his sleep. I don't believe he had even turned 30. The industry lost a good shipmate.
The Mormactrade was "mothballed" to the Ready Reserve Fleet in 1984 and scrapped in 2005
 |
| Taking a sun line - Mormactrade |
No comments:
Post a Comment