News From Fort Schuyler

October 1, 1999 - Volume 3, No. 45

SOCP & STCW @ SCHUYLER - A reminder from MarAd's JOHN DUMBLETON, Class of 1961, that the Ship Operations Cooperative Program meets at Fort Schuyler, October 4-5. According to John, "SOCP is a partnership between commercial shipping companies, seagoing union training schools, maritime academies, and government agencies to promote safe and efficient operations." Much of SOCP's focus is on assisting member organizations comply with STCW revisions. SOCP has produced several training videos, plans more, and is compiling a database of training resources. More ? Go to - http://www.socp.org

UNLIKEY VENUE - The October issue of the glitzy techno-magazine, "Wired," contains an informative article about containerization , technology and modern ocean shipping: "The 20-ton Packet - Ocean shipping is the biggest real-time datastreaming network in the world." Readers who wade through the ads to reach page 246, will find Stewart Taggart's article worth reading and, despite the punchy prose, perhaps even relevant to discussions of the future direction of the college. "As this revolution unfolds, a once all-brawn industry....... is morphing into a brawn-AND-brains business, peopled with computer geeks and systems whizzes." He writes that following the post-war eras of containerization and intermodalism, "...electronic data interchange and its Web-based offspring are ushering in a third era, marked by ubiquitous data about all goods in the supply chain, from factory to cargo ship to warehouse to retail store." [10 pages, illustrations, interesting.]

CELLULOID SCHUYLER - Several readers recall that a music video was filmed on the EMPIRE STATE. JOHN O'SULLIVAN, Class of 1984, provides chapter and verse: "A video by Julio Iglesias, 'Moonlight Lady,' was filmed on the TSES V back in 1985, they had some people in Maritime dress uniforms. I do not know if any of the extras were Domers." Additional details from MIKE BURKE, Class of 1986: ".. I remember ... a lot of stretch limos and a lot of beautiful women get out of them. They also painted a small portion of the bulkhead that would be seen in the video. They used the 1st Class Classroom for most of it." BTW - Another take on the film "Virus" comes from SAL MERCOGLIANO, Class of 1989: "One of the greatest of all ironies is that the ship in the movie that is depicted as an ex-Soviet tracking ship is actually the ex-USNS VANDENBERG. Her original mission was to track both US and Soviet missile launches....."

PLUGGING ALONG - A Class of 1977 reader of "News from Fort Schuyler" certainly followed up on the August 9 item about the wearable Xybernaut PC. He wrote: "Your note about a wearable PC on cruise, spurred a research idea for use of the technology in a shipyard. The technology could save us thousands of man-hours of work. Thanks for keeping us informed."

HERE IN SPIRIT - Nine members of the Class of January 1944 held a reunion on Homecoming Day in NC rather than NY. A report of the event, prepared by STAN LLOYD, noted that it was hosted by GLENN CRAWFORD and DORIS GOTHARD. "Present were CHARLIE WHITESTONE, FRED NELSEN, OLEG GAYDEBOROFF, GENE SULLIVAN, DON SHARLAN, GEORGE HOLMAN, NORMAN DeWEIR, LLOYD, and GLENN... We like to tell ourselves that as a wartime class we enjoy closer bonding, but reading 'News from Fort Schuyler' proves that bonding exists in all classes. We also share very strongly the positive influence of NYSMA and particular fondness for GEORGE RISER and BOS'N HOLMES."

RISER REMEMBERS - This from BILL McMULLEN, Class of 1964, who recounts that: "My uncle, GEORGE THORSEN, was Class of '28, and largely responsible for my going to NY Maritime. At my graduation in June, 1964, my Uncle saw Riser and said to me - 'Is that George Riser?' I told him it was and he said he wanted to meet him. Riser had taught seamanship to my Uncle on the NEWPORT. We walked over and George Riser looked at my uncle and said something like, 'Ehhhh, Tompkins, Townsend, Thompson ? Class of 1929 ?' Bear in mind that these men had not seen each over in 36 years. My uncle said, 'Thorsen, 28' Riser said, 'Ehh, Thorsen - how are you?' An astonishing performance that I have never forgotten."

THE SPIRIT MOVED HIM - According to the National CAMM News section of the current issue of Sidelights, published by the Council of American Master Mariners, the recipient of the Spirit of the Seas Award is FATHER MAURICE LALONDE (OFM), Class of January 1944. His classmate, Stan Lloyd, explains that: "Captain Lalonde served in the Navy after graduation, joined the priesthood after WWII, served in South America, went back to sea as Master, and eventually returned to work in St. Agnes in Manhattan."

TIME AND TIDE - Notification of the death on April 19, 1998 of WARREN L. MEYER, Class of January 1944, was recently announced to his classmates by STAN LLOYD. Stan writes that: "Warren was one of the babies of our class who first sailed Ass't. Third Engineer, not being old enough to get his ticket." [Ed. According to the Social Security Death Index, Warren was still only 18 when he graduated.]

SOMEWHERE IN THE PACK - Another frequent participant in the Falmouth Road Race was identified by JOHN O'SULLIVAN as DAN FARNSWORTH, Class of 1985. A look at the 1998 results show that DAN placed 626 in a field of 7,200. This 7.1 mile long race began as a competition between rival bartenders in Woods Hole and Falmouth Heights. The race's 7.1 mile distance is the distance between the two bars.

BE PREPARED - There will probably be another issue of NFFS this weekend in an attempt to keep up with all the good material that is being submitted.