News From Fort Schuyler

June 11, 1998 - Volume 2, No. 28

- Responding to DICK STENSON'S query in the last issue of NFFS, BILL McMULLEN, Class of 1964, recalled that: "As part of the general "lore" of the College, I remember hearing about the gun barrel that was part of the ballast configuration of the MERCY - EMPIRE STATE III. This may simply be a good rumor and interesting tradition that is totally untrue, but the "information" lingered until the early 1960's."

- Another response from ROY SOLURI, Class of 1962: "I can also add some credence to Dick Stenson's comments. One of the pieces of trivia we were required to learn as Mugs in 1958 was that the ballast of the TSES III was a large gun barrel welded in the keel."

- A comprehensive response from BARRY MARSH, Class of 1986 - "I took a look at my detailed 1/8":1' (1:96) scale 1943 plans of the USS MERCY (AH 8) (the future TSES III) to see if any indication was shown for "gun barrel ballast". The plans don't show any obvious gun barrel in any of the ballast spaces. The only space potentially capable of holding anything near the size of an 18" gun barrel was below what would have been No. 2 Hold had the ship been completed as a C1-B freighter. This space, located on the tank top way down below the Wheelhouse, starting 81'3" aft of the forward perpendicular, was 60'9" long and 3' deep. The plans indicate 135.26 tons of pig iron ballast in the space. No details are shown regarding the distribution of the pig iron. Is it possible this "pig iron" was a large gun, whole or cut-up?

One other space contained a small amount of pig iron, but the space was only about 1' deep. Several other small spaces are shown to have contained concrete ballast - although not indicated, pig iron (or gun barrel pieces?) could have been set into this concrete. The plans don't provide a definitive answer (like "Note: 18" gun barrel used as ballast here"), so I guess the question is still unanswered.

Other sources for the final answer may be the US Maritime Administration (from whom I received my plans, via ERHARD KOEHLER 87); records of the Consolidated Steel Corp., Wilmington, DE (where the ship was laid down as a C1-B freighter); records of the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., San Pedro, CA (where she was converted into a Hospital Ship); or records of the company in Valencia, Spain who scrapped her in 1971."

VIVID ANALOGY - In describing the successful search for the YORKTOWN at a depth of 16, 650 feet, team leader, Robert Ballard, "likened it to lowering a penny on a string from the roof of the World Trade Center in search of a pencil-sized object at street level." (Newsday, 6/5/98, A-28)

HEAVE-HO MY HEARTIES - Here is the final, authoritative list of the 9 line-handling alumni for the Albany port visit, faxed to the editor by Frank Keane: ERNEST DYE 36, FRANK KEANE 78, BRIAN KEMPF 78, TOM MAGLIOCCA 53, TIM RITZ 81, KARL SABODA 70, CRAIG SMITH 54, TRAVIS STEVENS 96, JOHN TOMICH 71. Thanks for a job well done.

SYJCW - The Sunday June 7 "News of the Week in Review" section of the NY Times contained an article entitled "Avast!" which reported on the flood of responses to an incorrect caption on a picture of the new mega-liner GRAND PRINCESS. The article noted: "Perhaps most instructive was Rear Adm. DAVID C. BROWN, who advised that 'the daytime signal indicating the vessel's anchored status, a black ball, is clearly visible near the now." Question: Why couldn't the NY Times editors have included those magic words "SUNY Maritime College" somewhere in that article?

(SYJCW = Sometimes You Just Can't Win)

RAVE REVIEW - A recent review of Humanities professor Ian MacNiven's new book, "Lawrence Durrell: A Biography" ended with this suggestion to library book buyers: "Recommended for all library collections." What more could any author want - except a bigger cut of the royalties ? (Source: Library Journal, 4/1/98)

TITANIC - THE PUZZLER - In a recent e-mail JOHN BORTNIAK, Class of 1976, asks: "I wondered how many people caught what, I at first thought, was a technical error. When they are about to hit the iceberg, the officer on watch calls out "helm hard to starboard". Then you see the helmsmen turn the wheel left. As they pass the berg the officers orders helm to port and the helmsmen turns the wheel to the right. I have heard an explanation of the reason - that it was not a technical error in the movie. Does anyone else know why?" (Any volunteers? Woman and children first)