News From Fort Schuyler

May 26, 2008 - Volume 8, No. 19

WARM CARIBBEAN WELCOME -There are 13 Bahamian cadets aboard the EMPIRE STATE VI. Maybe this is why the training ship got such a big welcome when it tied up at the Prince George Wharf in Nassau on 16 May. Bahamian dignitaries greeted the 572 cadets, ADM. JOHN CRAINE, VPAA JOSEPH HOFFMAN '75 and CAPT. RICK SMITH '81. Read all about it at www.thebahamasweekly.com Next stop for the TSES6 - Mallorca!

ISN'T TECHNOLOGY WONDERFUL? You can track the course of the Training Ship EMPIRE STATE VI and get updates from the Captain, Admiral, and students by clicking on Summer Cruise at the college website - it is really very informative and well worth checking. (www.sunymaritime.edu)

CRUISES PAST - HARRY F. KESSLER, '54, recently sent NFFS excerpts relating to his Fort Schuyler years from a memoir he wrote several years ago about family and events from the past. He recalls that fifty-seven years ago this summer he went on his "...first cruise aboard the EMPIRE STATE training ship - a converted WWII AKA. The mug year, including the cruise, was split to give each cadet a taste of deck and engineering. By the end of the mug cruise each cadet had to choose either the deck or engineer curriculum for the remaining three years. I chose deck."

He continues: "We started to move our gear from the Fort to the ship in May. We were assigned a bunk in a compartment (three bunks per tier.) I can't remember for sure, but I think the classes were somehow separated as were the heads. The head consisted of a couple of shower stalls, a circular urinal, and two troughs about eight feet long with a board on top of each trough with about five cutouts. The salt water entered on one end and flushed out the other. Privacy was non-existent. Sometimes when all positions were occupied, some wise guy at the intake end would fire up a wad of toilet paper and let it meander down to the outlet. Anyone not aware and didn't jump in advance would get a singed butt!

We departed the pier on a cold, rainy morning in early June 1951. The ship steamed into Long Island Sound where we anchored off Block Island to run lifeboat and other safety drills. Then we set sail. I can't remember if this cruise made its first port call in Miami or Bermuda. Anyway after a short visit, we made a three week transit to Spain. The reason it took so long is because it was at sea where we learned our skills to become professional mariners. Although it took a few days for us to get our sea legs, I can't recall anyone not adjusting. I can remember spending a lot of time scraping and painting, doing compartment cleaning or mess cooking, and of course standing watches. During our first cruise we'd be helmsmen and lookouts on deck, and watch gauges, clean bilges and parts of the steam plant in the engine room - all the cruddy, dirty jobs. But you could take some solace in that every mug before you went through the same miserable routine."

[To be continued]

SS UNITED STATES REMEMBERED - RICK BAGSHAW, '62, writes from Philadelphia that: "It's sad to see [the SS UNITED STATES] from Route 95 on the way to the airport with the distinctive, though fading, red, white and blue stacks. Its future seems to be pretty bleak. I can recall discussions with guys I worked with at Newport News Shipbuilding in the late '60's. Since so many of us working on the SSBN [ballistic missile submarine] program of the day were from the merchant marine and, as I had, sailed in passenger ships (for me - SS CONSTITUTION) we often compared notes. Several guys had sailed as engineers on the UNITED STATES. We were in awe of their tales of that vessel: size, speed, specific fuel rate, etc."

"As a junior high school student in the Bronx," writes DR. KAREN MARKOE, Chairperson of the Humanities Department, "I was selected with one other student to 'adopt' the SS UNITED STATES as part of a district program called 'Adopt a Ship.' Captain ALEXANDERDSON '30 gave us a tour of the ship. Another part of the program involved a visit to the Maritime College with my class, my first visit to the campus. Who knew that one day the college would be such an important part of my life? I think about these two events every time I pass the propeller on campus."

EBB TIDE - News of the death LAWRENCE OLUFSEN, '60 on May 20 was sent to NFFS by his classmate, Herman Molzahn. Larry, a retired IBM executive, had been battling a serious illness for the past two years. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen. A memorial service was held in Croton-on-Hudson on May 23.

THEY KNEW - All but one vote went to JOE SAUVE, Master at Arms, for the memorable quote about lining up alphabetically by height. The majority included JOHN KLUMPP 61, HARRY KESSLER '54, and three members of the Class of 1953, LEN SUTTER, STUART H FITZ and BOB FEY, who added that Sauve's "...wife was the Administrative Secretary of the school. Joe was formerly a New York State Trooper." Marching to a different drummer was JACK HAYES, '47 who wrote; "I always thought of "BOATS TYREE, George Riser's second in command during our mug cruise in 1945, as the perpetrator of 'Now youse mugs line up alphabetically by height."

The ship's radio operator in the fifties was identified as LCDR JOHN R (Sparky) ARKINSTALL by FITZ, FEY, and SUTTER, as well as by JOHN KLUMPP '61, who added: "The radio operator for the Fort and the Cruise during Adm. Durgin's time was Cmdr. John Arkinstall. He tried his best, but I still struggled with Morse and semaphore in his class. Thank God for radios today."

THE CHIEF REMEMBERED - Responding to the news of ED PFLEGING's death, RICK BAGSHAW '62 writes, "He was one that told me, to my amazement, that I had been selected as Cadet Chief Engineer for our final cruise in EMPIRE STATE IV. He was, first and foremost, a down to earth guy. I remember after a hectic day that for some reason escapes me now - Ed invited me into his cabin to have a beer with him and the 1st Engineer. A small gesture, perhaps, but one that has stayed w/me to this day. As others have noted, he was a superb teacher and motivator with a keen sense of humor. He will surely be missed."

ALL- AMERICAN - Maritime College athlete, DONALD J. TOBY, Class of 2008, has just been named an All-American lacrosse player. He received his award at a ceremony at Harvard University on Sunday, May 25. As the Maritime College website (www.maritimeathletics.com) noted, an All American designation is "..the most honorable award that an athlete can earn in their playing career." Donald was a Marine Transportation deck license graduate. "He has accepted a position as second officer on Celebrity Cruise Lines starting in June. 'Ultimately my goal is to sail enough to get my captain's license. What happens next, I don't know but something will come up.'" Well done, Cadet Toby.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Richard Corson - Forest Hills, NY

Latitude 40.716N Longitude 73.85W

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++