News From Fort Schuyler

March 17, 2000 - Volume 4, No. 9

WEST COAST HEROICS - The headline in the March 10-23 issue of "The Log: California's Boating Newspaper," based in San Diego says it all: "Freighter careens through San Diego Bay: Harbor pilot struggles for control of 51,000-ton ship from drunk captain." The ship was the 623' car-carrier, ATLANTIC SPIRIT, the harbor pilot was BILL BARTSCH, Class of 1984, and the Japanese captain was indeed certified drunk by Coast Guard and harbor police. The incident took place on February 22 as the ship was entering port. Bartsch, who must have had a hair-raising trip, is quoted as saying, "The captain staggered around his wheel house and kept belching. He seemed oblivious to the importance of what was happening around him." What was happening was heavy ship traffic, a narrow channel, language barriers, and a safe docking. Bill did all the right things and kept a dangerous situation from becoming a disaster. Well done ! You can read the whole story at http://www.thelog.com [Thanks to both ED DANGLER, Class of 1949 and TIM FARLEY, Class of 1984, for bringing this news story to the attention of NFFS.] BTW - Tim used the subject header "Fort Scupper grad/pilot" for his e-mail message. Doesn't Fort Scupper have a nice maritime ring?

ALUMNI LAMINATIONS - Here's a great idea for preserving those important memories from OTTO LIEPIN, Class of 1946. "This past week I picked up from North Penn Art Co. five 14 x 18 photo groupings which included a picture of SS AMERICA and a group photo of ship's engineers and in the engineers photo were NYSMA grads from the class of 1946. My reason for mentioning this is that there might be alumni .... interested in having a similar photo composed for them with a ship and classmates within. Actually Hope Becker has our photo of the AMERICA group in the Admissions Office.... The process is similar to the eight panels at Heritage Hall - plastic laminated .... If you get the opportunity to stop in at Admissions you can see the composite." For more information contact Otto at liepin@webtv.net

PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES - The Maritime College 125^th Anniversary Ball will be held at the New York Hilton Towers on Saturday April 8. Honorees will be SCOTT J. KELLY, Class of 1987, Pilot of the Space Shuttle DISCOVERY, and CLYDE J. HART, JR., the Administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration. The Dinner Committee is now accepting advertising reservations. It is also offering sponsorship opportunities for such things as the color guard, the band, decorations, or individual or groups of cadets. All for a good cause. Contact anniversary@sunymaritime.edu for more information.

WELCOME ABOARD NUMBER ONE - "My wife Jacquelyne and I are happy to announce the birth of our first child! " writes CHARLES M. HARRINGTON, Class of 1990. "Andrew Charles Harrington was born on March 10th, 2000, at 9:25am. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 0 oz. at 21' long. Pictures will be online shortly at the following address: http://www.dol.net/~charles.harrington/andrew.htm "

EBB TIDE - News of the death on January 4 of ERNEST VICTOR SCHAERER, Class of 1940, was reported in the March issue of his class newsletter, NYSMMA '40. "He had been a Captain in the Merchant Marine during and after World War II and had a long career in the Marine Departments of Caltex and Texaco companies. Fortunately, he was able to take early retirement, returning to the sea as Captain for several years. He often said it was the perfect cap to a perfect career." One of Victors's most notable accomplishments during his retirement was his leadership in the "restoring and bringing public support for the Merchant Marine and Military Cemetery at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. A service of thanksgiving for Victor's life was held on 17 January 2000 followed by burial of his ashes at Fort Stanton Cemetery with full military honors." (Information about the restoration of this cemetery is on deposit in the Luce Library alumni archives.)

ARE THERE STILL PORTHOLES AT SCHUYLER ? As a follow-up to the NFFS item on underground student publications, BOB LUCAS, Class of 1957, asks: "Speaking of college newspapers, does Fort Schuyler still have one ? As a cadet, the 'Porthole' was published weekly and was the source of campus info from sports to academics and we cadets really looked forward to it." [A check of the archives showed that the Porthole disappeared from newsstands at the end of the 1989/90 academic year and the next issue was not published until 1995. There were several issues published in 1995/96 and 1996/97, but apparently nothing since then.]

OLDE TIME DIGITAL MAPS - An interesting selection of high-resolution digital images of over 2300 maps of all sorts can be found at http://www.davidrumsey.com . According to recent posting on an internet discussion list, IAMSLIC-L: "The web site is powered by the revolutionary Insight Browser software ...which enables the user to zoom in on and pan around the maps revealing rich details." (The software loads when you connect and the results are very impressive.)

WE'RE NUMBER ONE - The college will be running its Spring Blood Drive on Wednesday, March 29 from 10 AM to 8:30 PM. According to a note Admiral BROWN sent to employees, "In recent years, our College has had the highest rate of participation among the other Colleges in the Bronx." This blood drive is open to everyone. Students, staff, alumni, community residents. The more the merrier. [BTW - Cadets can shed blood to erase demerits. 3 Extra Duty credits (15 demerits) = 1 pint of blood. No such perks for faculty or staff.]

NO NFFS NEXT WEEK - The editor will be on the road without a laptop, but back in time for the Blood Drive.