News From Fort Schuyler

January 1, 1999 - Volume 3, No. 1

ONE ISSUE AT A TIME - Sixty issues of News from Fort Schuyler were distributed in 1998 to a subscription list of over 700 alumni, staff and friends of SUNY Maritime College. It may be said, without too much exaggeration, that by mailing it electronically there was a saving of time (seconds vs. days) and money ($0 vs. $10,000+ in postage.) Most important, however, was the feedback from recipients. In 1998 NFFS 'wrote itself', with a little help from the editor. Now that the Maritime College Alumni Discussion List is online it is more than likely that NFFS will change in both content and frequency. Your comments and suggestions, as always, are important as we head toward the Spring 1999 semester -- and the Millennium. Happy New Year!

EBB TIDE - Word of the death of MARTIN P. SALKIN, Class of 1949, has been received from his classmates, TOM BENNETT and ED DANGLER. Marty, who lived in Boca Raton, died in late December following a bout of pneumonia. Ed notes that: "We will certainly all miss his great sense of humour and joie de vivre."

THE OLIVET LEGACY - It is probably safe to say that CAPTAIN ALFRED F. OLIVET, Class of 1921, the Commanding Officer of EMPIRE STATE II, III and IV, was viewed by most cadets as a master mariner, role model, and no-nonsense disciplinarian. The June 2, 1998 reminiscence from KARL E. HUBNER, Class of 1954, however, showed Captain Olivet from a more personal perspective. It prompted BILL McMULLEN, Class of 1964, to write:

"I have read KARL HUBNER'S piece on his medical care on board the training ship [NFFS, June 2, 1998]. CAPTAIN OLIVET was both admired and feared by many Cadets and generally seemed to hide his more human side from us. In reading Karl's piece, I was reminded of an event on my Mug Cruise in 1961. We were in the Pentland Firth and Captain Olivet had put the boats over the side for training. The weather in those latitudes is mercurial at best and in the course of the afternoon, the wind shifted and freshened. It was running against the significant current and a substantial 'chop' was set up. The boats were being swept away from the ship as driving rain in squalls passed by. Captain Olivet had to pick up the boats by bringing the ship alongside each one, or nearly so, one by one as we could not pull against the current. For those of us in the boats it was an adventure, and I don't think we appreciated what was going through Captain Olivet's mind as he saw us all drawing away from the ship."

"In any case, we all were picked up in due course. I remember when our boat reached the rail, he was standing there along with BILL SEMBLER [Class of 1952] - Training Officer at the time, I think - and they were both helping us out of the boats. It had been a hard pull for a long time. That was remarkable in itself. What was astonishing, was that Captain Olivet told DR. GOLDIN to take us to Sick Bay and then he sent down to Sick Bay a bottle of brandy for us to use in 'warming ourselves.' An authorized drink on the training ship from the cabinet of the Master is to be remembered, and has been remembered to this day."

"Most people to that point believed that Captain Olivet had at some time had his heart removed, perhaps without anaesthetic. He did however, have a caring and very human side. It would be interesting to see other postings to this page where people recount paradoxical experiences with him. It is fair to say that he profoundly affected the daily lives of a significant number of Cadets over a long period of time."

"As I think of this more, I recall one of the great snow storms that we had in the early 60's. Pennyfield Avenue was closed and there were no classes. There was a very large number of shovels available, however, and the Cadets were employed in digging out the campus. I and some others were sent to his house to help dig out the front walk and driveway. It was very cold and windy and at the end, he and his wife called us into the house for hot chocolate and brownies etc., and we had to take off our boots. It was unimaginable to be walking around his kitchen in stocking feet, with him and his wife pouring hot chocolate and cutting up brownies, but it did happen." (Rear Admiral William T. McMullen has been the Superintendent of the Texas Maritime Academy since August 1995.)

REMINDER - The college will continue the practice of shutting down most offices during the winter break in order to save money on heat and salaries. The Luce Library Reading Room, therefore, will be closed through Sunday, January 3.