News From Fort Schuyler

December 6, 2002 - Volume 6, No. 34

  SALUTE TO RETIREES - The semester's end brings a bumper crop of retirements from Fort Schuyler. Faculty departures include: AARON KRAMER, Class of 1954, and WALTER NELSON, Class of 1961 from the Engineering Department; KEN STANTON, Science Department; PHIL SMUKLER, Marine Transportation; PHIL DEJONG, ROY LARSON and JIM MIGLI (earlier this Fall) from Physical Education. Their cumulative service must add up to several hundred years and their contribution to the academic program will be missed.

Retirees from administrative positions at the college also include long-time staffers MARJORIE STEWART and MARY EARLY, Human Resources; and DOLORES SCIGLIO, President's Secretary. Also, retiring from the custodial and kitchen staff positions are: LORRAINE MOON, GERARD ASIDILLO, NOEL MORALES, JOSE RUIZ, and JOSE VALENTIN.

Enjoy a well-deserved retirement. You can all stop setting your alarm clocks and enjoy your brunches.

PHILADELPHIA PORT CAPTAIN - The December 2002 issue of RCP's "Vessel & Compliance News" (http://www.marinecompliance.org) includes a profile of JONATHAN D. SARUBBI, Class of 1974, Commanding Officer Marine Safety Office/Group and Captain of the Port of Philadelphia. According to the article, he shipped out until he was commissioned as a Coast Guard officer in 1979 and has since served in a variety of posts in the U.S. and abroad - marine inspection, accident investigation, vessel, port and environmental safety. "In 2000, he was promoted to Chief of the Office of Compliance. In that job, he directed the Coast Guard's marine safety and environmental protection compliance programs...[and] ..served as Executive Director of the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Advisory Committee, and as a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Maritime Organization Flag State Implementation Subcommittee." All in all, an accomplished career and it ain' t over yet.

CUSSLER CROWD - The 1 December visit by CLIVE CUSSLER to Fort Schuyler drew over 170 folks to the Luce Library . According to Library Director, CONSTANTIA CONSTANTINOU: "The Cussler event was indeed a success given the fact that it was a holiday weekend, a cold Sunday night, and the worst day of the year for travel! ... Clive was very gracious and generous with his time. He spoke to his fans for about half an hour, entertained questions, and signed copies of 'The Sea Hunters II.' It was a delightful evening."

BTW - The Luce Library still has a limited number of signed copies of 'The Sea Hunters II' for those who were unable to attend his presentation. For more details contact Constantia Constantinou at constantinou@sunymaritime.edu or call her at (718) 409 - 723.

COLOR ME LIGHT BLUE - PETER BACI, Class of 1964, observes: "In reading the NFFS of 11/22/02, I noticed the comment about how the training ships were traditionally white in peacetime and grey during wartime. To the best of my recollection, the TSES IV was grey during my 4 years at Maritime ('60 - '64) and we were at peace at the time (although there was a little trouble already starting to brew in SE Asia). The TSES IV looked like a Navy ship without the pennant numbers on the bow. In fact, we were rendered honors by passing Navy ships when ADMIRAL MOORE was board and we flew his three star flag."

Commenting on Fairplay's suggestion that blue was considered lucky by some shipping companies, LEONARD J. WEISS, Class of October 1946, writes that: "I'm not sure HAL considers them too lucky these days." (Just because you should bring your own food along on your next Holland American Line cruise ?}

ANOTHER TAKE ON CRUISE CREDIT - "I would be surprised if [JOHN INGRAM, Class of 1964] actually sees an increase in his Naval Reserve pension attributable to his time on the training ship," writes MIKE MORRIS, USNS (Ret.) Class of 1981. "After seeing this mentioned in an NFFS many months ago, I too requested a copy of my college transcript and forwarded it to the Naval Reserve in New Orleans, requesting credit for school cruises. However, shortly after that, the Naval Reserve Association (NRA) ran an item in its monthly magazine, stating that contrary to information NRA had previously put out, the Naval Reserve had informed them that it does NOT provide USNR retirement point credits for such cruises - that what the NRA put out previously had been based on misinformation. As for my personal situation, the Naval Reserve never confirmed that they were going to credit my SUNYMC cruise time, based on the request, transcripts, and summer sea term descriptions from the college catalog that I had submitted." (Sorry to hear that. Was this all an 'urban legend', then? )

MARITIME CONTENT - The Marine Matters website (http://www.maritimematters.com) emphasizes passenger ships, past and present, with links to schedules, photos, history and, most interestingly, to WebCams located on cruise ships and at ports and canals. It is always nice to get a live picture from the bow of a ship somewhere in the Pacific while the snow flies in Forest Hills.

Another site, Marine Link is located at http://www.marinelink.com It requires registration (free) for basic access, but provides up-to-date marine industry news. It is produced by the Maritime Group, publisher of the Maritime Reporter and Marine News.

-.-. - - - - - - .-.. For proof that Morse Code is not forgotten, check this British URL to get translations from English text into Morse Code and to get audio playbacks - http://www.soton.ac.uk/~scp93ch/morse/trans.html (Thanks to JANE B. FITZPATRICK, Luce Library Associate Librarian for this heads up)

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS - Your NFFS editor put the wrong label on the talking head who interviewed RICK SMITH, even though he watched the program. The interviewer was RAY SAUREZ. (And thanks again to Jane for rectifying this latest error.)