RECOLLECTION

George Pearce 1989

“A wet trip !”

I do not recall where this event occurred but the Swanson anchored in a bay and we were using the Captains gig, which was a 26 foot motor whale boat with a detachable Canopy to haul stores. Naturally the Canopy had been removed and later in the day the Gig would be used to haul “Liberty Parties” to and from the ship. Usually everything is great when hauling the liberty party to the shore. But later at night when returning liberty party back to the ship sometimes a small problem may arise as some sailors have been known to partake a beer or two!

On this particular day Seaman Sutton was the Coxswain (Sailor who steers or has charge of a small boat.) and I was the engineer. I do not remember who the Bow Hook man was.

The Bay had become very rough as we were returning a “Liberty Party” to the Swanson. Sutton gave me one bell (engine ahead slow), then he gave me four bells (engine ahead full). As we got out farther in the bay, we took at least two big waves over the bow that flooded the forward section of the Gig, wetting down the passengers and at this point we stopped and the passengers started bailing out the sea water with their hats.

Sutton then gave me one bell followed by four bells; to which I questioned: “Are you sure?” and he replied : “I’m the Coxswain and I’m running this Gig and you answer the bell.”

I gave her full speed and we took more waves over the bow and flooded the forward section of the Gig again.

Joe Faust MM2/c or MM1/c who was aboard as a wet passenger decided he had best act, so he took over the helm from Sutton. He told me to back her down, which brought the bow up. The passengers all started bailing and I was using the bilge pump. We got the Gig on an even keel. We used a hand Searchlight to scan the water around the Gig and lo and behold we found a passenger in the water. He had either fell in or was washed overboard. We proceeded at a much slower speed to deliver some wet and sober sailors to the Swanson.

R-33