News From Fort Schuyler

May 4, 2009 - Volume 9, No. 20

GREAT SHOWING - Last week's 26 April Open House brought many accepted students to Fort Schuyler. According to an email from AARON ROWEN '05, a Lecturer of Engineering at the Maritime College, "We had over 1200 interested parties attend. Between students and parents, this is a phenomenal and unprecedented number of people. The mood on campus that day was so charged with excitement, I can't relay it properly in words. Because of interest like this, admissions standards are rising, which is good for everyone involved." [Thanks for DICK BRACKEN 56, Fort Schuyler Maritime Alumni Association president, for sharing this note.... and Bravo Zulu to the all those on campus who are contributing to this rising curve.]

WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE - Recently, seven engineering students from Fort Schuyler presented their research findings at an American Public Power Association technical conference held in Austin. Their presentation, 'DEED Technical Design Presentation - Marine Current Propeller and Non-Submerged Generator,' was based on a four-month underwater turbine project carried out for an Electrical Engineering Design course taught by PROF YAQUB AMANI. According to the college website: "Plans call for a turbine prototype to be installed in New York's East River under the Throggs Neck Bridge" and the students will be "...evaluating the benefits, costs, market potential and prospects for commercialization of this technology." (A tip of the hat to all these engineers in training: RICHARD ANDERSON, EBENEZER ASHONG, PETER BONTORNO, KEVIN FAY, DANIELLE GRISSON, ROSS LORY, AND ANTHONY OSEI-OWUSU.)

D&B TO BANDS - "The Class of January 1944 had a great Drum & Bugle Corps," recalls STAN LLOYD Jan '44. "I was one of the drummers. We practiced and paraded Saturday in the Inner Gorge before weekend liberty. We marched on St. Patrick's Day and another parade occasion in 1943 on Seventh Avenue (maybe 5th) and were rewarded with extra liberty. Also in the class were two of the best buglers, ALEXANDER CHRISTOS and ROBERT EGAN, both deceased. While only 1 bugler was authorized, there were times when both sounded Tattoo & Taps simultaneously. All hands listened - you could hear a pin drop and almost brought some to tears with its resonance."

"During the war years of 1944 and 1945," writes OTTO LIEPIN Oct '46, "two first classmen, BILL RYAN '45 and DANNY DERR '45, started a marching band and brought our school from a drum & bugle musical group into a full-complement brass band with about 30 or so members. I can remember marching around the old fort to some spirited renditions of Sousa marches, including 'Stars and Stripes Forever.' The marching drills were always a chore, but with the band out in front, and 'crafty' George Riser marching alongside, we managed to do quite well. I am not sure where the band instruments were found, or donated, nevertheless - we had music and Bill Ryan, being a 6-footer, he naturally became the drum major."

"Out of this group of 30 or so members, we formed a dance band which entertained us on the 'Cruise Ship' EMPIRE STATE I and II. I also seem to remember that our musical guys played at some of the seaports we visited on our 'after the war' three-month 1946 cruise to Callao, Peru. We visited seven seaports, including Havana, Cuba - great liberty ports."

SALLY PORT SAYING - Referring to the quote attributed to Stonewall Jackson "...but men and officers must obey.." BOB SCHMITT '66 writes: "This is something we all had to memorize as mugs and recite without hesitation. After 40 years I can still recite it. I was wondering how and when it came to be above the Sally Port?" [Anyone have an answer for Bob?]

TRADING PLACES - "CONRAD YOUNGREN '67 had it right", says a fellow engineer, TOM CLARK '62. "The routine to blow tubes at sea was at 0500 after coordinating with the bridge. We engineers would call up the bridge and ask permission, and would typically get something similar to the 'give me 20 minutes to change course' reply, and we would hold off until the minute, and then let loose."

"For about two weeks during one of my early cruises, an 'exchange' was set up for an engineer to spend his watch on the bridge while a deckie spent his watch in the engine room. That did lead to some 'funny business' with blowing tubes, but it did give engineers a better appreciation of what had to be done topside to prepare. The same program included 'man overboard' drills to give engineers a good idea of the intricacies of ship handling, and deckies an idea of what it took down below to answer bells. My recollection (admittedly biased) is than an engineer made the closest safe approach to the 'man overboard' buoy."

Harking back to an earlier era, STAN LLOYD Jan '44 writes that "...as a member of the black gang and mug on the Hog Island EMPIRE STATE I, I had duty in the bilge in the boiler room, in addition to squirming into the fire box of the 'Scotch boiler' where you stood up and brushed down the walls of soot, finishing off showering with sea water and Lava soap. I only wish some of my classmates were able to read this!"

THE BELLS OF ST MARY'S - 60 years ago, on July 14 1949, a delegation from the TS EMPIRE STATE, led by CAPT ALFRED F. OLIVET '21, visited the blitzed ruins of St. Mary's Church in Southampton, England in order to bring a collection from the school that was raised to help restore and re-cast the church bells that fell during a World War II Nazi air raid in June, 1940. [Source: Alumni Association 75th Anniversary Bulletin, December 1949.]

The bells of St. Mary's Ah! Hear! They are calling
The old lads, the new lads who've gone to the sea;
Our dear Alma Mater, we hear your voice calling,
The ship's bells shall ring out, ring out for you and me.