FROM THe MEMOIRE OF GARY GOEDKen
As a point of reference, the Equator is an imaginary line running east to west around the earth and is half way between the North and South Poles. It is also known as Zero Latitude. In naval terminology, a person who has not crossed the equator is a lowly “Pollywog”. If you have crossed the equator and gone through the initiation, then you become a “Shellback”. A person who crosses at 00 Latitude and also 00 Longitude is a “Golden Shellback”. There seemed to be a lot of unusual activity going on around the ship the last several days. Guys were building large structures, hauling stuff around, holding secretive conversations, etc. We eventually found out that those guys were all shellbacks, having already crossed the equator. They were preparing for an elaborate initiation ceremony for us lowly “Polywogs”.
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King Neptune & wife Amphitrite during Shellback initiation
The evening of Dec. 21 the Polywogs (approx. 75% of the crew and Marines) assembled for a meeting in the well deck. After we agreed on our plan of attack, we disbursed and went into action. The door of the electrical shop was welded shut with Bakelar (Underwater Demolition Team-shellback) still inside. Bakelar was the biggest, most muscular guy on the whole ship. Bane (the other UDT-shellback) was chained to the safe in the disbursing office. Shellback Officers were pulled out of their staterooms and all but 4 were locked up or tied. The mighty Polywogs had gained control of the ship and were about to broadcast it over the PA system when the Executive Officer, Cornetta called everyone to quarters and we were told that the ‘gig’ was over. Tuesday morning the Polywog flag was hauled up the mast and guarded till noon when my boss, Shellback Smitty ran it down. The Shellbacks also made a Jolly Roger flag but the unshakeable Polywogs ditched it over the side.
Wed. morning Dec. 22, lookouts were stationed around the ship to watch for Davy Jones to emerge from his deep sea locker. The uniform of the day was wool watch caps, heavy foul weather jackets, skivy shorts turned backwards and shoes. At 09:34 we crossed the equator and we were honored by a visit from Davy Jones and his guards. The noon meal was served by Polywog First
Class and Chief Petty Officers who also cleaned the tables, swabbed the mess hall and worked in the deep sink and scullery while in dress uniform. The more fortunate Polywog officers formed a choir and sang for the Shellbacks. Marines ate in their fatigues turned inside out while we were in blue trousers and jerseys. Anyone that had the watch wore white jumpers backwards, swim suits and sneakers.
That afternoon the flight deck was filled with various activites. The band gave a concert to start things off and the Marine and Navy Honor guards were mustered and inspected. The soccer team played an exhibtion game with their legs tied, plus a parachute jump was staged along with some helo operations
29
and also the band had another concert but this time with Chaplain Young posing as an exotic island belly dancer.
Thurs. Dec 23 was proclaimed as initiation day for all Polywogs. There were only about 50 Shellbacks aboard to carry out the initiation activities which was hardly enough to keep everything in line, so the first few Polywogs that finished their initiation got to help dish it out to the other Polywogs. That day King Neptunes’ roar was heard throughout the ship and his wrath fell upon many a Polywog.
Time for a real “professional haircut”
At 09:30 on this day we crossed the equator, (the first time for most of us), and the ceremonies began. Some of the initiation activities that transpired were:
1) we had to kiss the knee of King Neptunes Queen at which time we got a good squirt of quinine in the eyes and then had to rinse our mouths with quinine water.
2) we were smeared with tar.
3) we had to crawl into a pine coffin with holes all around the sides and be squirted with high pressure fire hoses which was rather painful.
4) kiss the baby’s belly while he rubbed grease in our hair.
5) be locked in the stockade while mighty big Bakelaar whipped us with a heavy rubber hose.
6) given a variety of gross haircut types.
7) dumped backwards into a large tank of dirty, oil bilge water.
30
8) and the most painful was to walk the gauntlet line while 30 Shellbacks wacked us with heavy rubber fire hoses. They didn’t hold back either and if someone went thru too fast, they had to make the journey a second time.
Your turn in the bilge water
All in all, it was a pretty rough initiation, one I don’t want to go through again but I wouldn’t want to miss it either. A few Polywogs refused to go thru with it. A couple others claimed physical abuse and never finished.
The Shellbacks did a great job of preparing everything and added a lot of color to it with the ceremonial dress costumes. Now, almost the entire crew were Shellbacks except a few. The last several days were a lot of fun and very much outside of the normal Navy routine. Around 12:00 the initiation was over and we left the company of the Graham County and steamed alone. All new Shellbacks received a wallet sized certification card and a very large colored diploma.
Since Solant Amity was going to be an extended trip and with over 300 Marines onboard, we had to find something for them to do. Most were given assignments with various divisions of the crew. 4 Marines had some form of communications experience, including Gary S. Yauger, Bob Moehler, Mike Stellato and Rich Heitman and they were assigned to work with us on the signal bridge. They helped however possible and we became good friends.
Years later on Sept. 5, 1975, I was watching NBC news when they announced that Squeaky Fromme tried to assisnate Pres. Gerald Ford on the streets of San Francisco. The Secret Service agent who arrested Squeaky was my good marine friend from the Hermitage, Gary S. Yauger. A year or so later I tried to contact Yauger by calling the Secret Service in D.C. After numerous tries, finally I was able to talk wtih him. I was making a business trip to D.C. in the near future and we agreed to meet at Reagan Airport. We had a very interesting visit and
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he talked about some of his experiences in the Secret Service. He died at a young age of 59 on Dec. 17, 1998.
Sat. Dec 24, 1960 (Christmas eve day) we moored in Recife, Brazil. That night several of us went downtown to the Moulin Rouge. It was pretty wild with all the Sailors, Marines and regular customers. We thought things were getting way out of hand so we headed back to the ship through some dark streets. One of the girls from the bar and several of her local guy friends followed behind us. None of us wanted any part of trouble, so Stellato volunteered to calm any waves and give us a chance to get back to the ship safely. Surprisingly, a week or so later, Stellato came down with a case of VD.
Sunday Dec. 25, 1960 was Christmas. We had a large dinner with a X’mas tree in the mess hall and decorations below decks. My claim to fame is that I ate Brazil nuts in Brazil on Christmas day. Some of us went to the Sumbura and then to the House on Stilts and made it back to the ship by curfew time.
Hall, Mohler, Barber and Gary in Recife, Brazil
I had my Zippo Navy cigarette lighter engraved in Recife Christmas eve, 1960.
32
Monday, the Helga Schroeder, a merchant ship from Bremenhaven, Germany, tied up next to us. One of their crew was Harry and he spoke pretty good English. Moehler, one of our marines had immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1952 and could speak German fluently. Their talents helped us all bond very well together. Eight of their crew came over to our ship and we eventually went ashore together several times which was fun.
At midnite, Dec. 31 we departed Recife. Getting out of port was no easy task with our new Captain Rood. He had no past ship experience. We almost backed into the ship behind us, we were so close that we hit his anchor chain which was hanging straight up and down. Next we almost hit a ship broadside, missing by a few yards and nearly hit another as we backed down. When we finally got out of the channel we almost ran aground on the shoals. We were hoping that something would happen which would mean a month of investigation and Recife was a nice port. At 02:30 it was determined that one of the marines was missing. A copter was sent to find him at the House on Stilts. They found him alright but the wind velocity from the helicopter tore the roof off one of the nearby houses. At 03:00. Dec. 31, we were finally out of danger to ourselves or anyone else and on our way to Monrovia, Liberia, Africa. Nothing else happened that day or night which was New Years eve.
Jan. 1, 1961, Admiral Reed gave a pep talk over the PA system about the value of our upcoming trip to Africa. At 07:00 Jan. 2 we caught up with the Graham County which left Recife 14 hrs. before we did.
That afternoon we got emergency orders to chase and pursue a ship called the “Santa Maria”. It was a large Portuguese cruise ship, full of passengers which had been hijacked by Henrique Galvao and a team of 24 Portuguese and Spanish rebels to protest dictatorships of Franco in Spain and Salazar in Portugal. The Santa Maria was heading east toward Africa as were we. We and every other ship in the area chased her for several days. One evening we thought we were rather close on her tail. We went up the mast to the big 36 inch search light. We spotted a ship and with the help of binoculars and the big 36” light pointed at her, we could read “Santa Maria” on her stern. We pursued her but unfortuantely, they were able to out-manuveur us and they slipped away in the dark. One of the ships in our group, the USS Gearing, a destroyer, located the Santa Maria and was able to come up alongside and board her. Galvao finally surrendered to the USS Gearing and ended the mayhem. After that we continued on our course for Monrovia.
Wednesday we were scheduled to meet the USS Rigel AF-58, a refrigerated ship to take on supplies. For 2 hours we searched on radar but couldn’t find her so we sent a marine copter out to search and finally located her. It took 7 straight hours using 400 men helping to take stores aboard while the band played.
Jan. 5 we tied up at the pier in Monrovia, Liberia. We fired a 21 gun salute in honor of the country. There were about 500 people waiting at the pier for us. After docking, the signalmen started dressing the ship, draping flags over the sides, the gang plank and from bow to mast and mast to stern. In the
33
afternoon some of the local dignitaries came aboard and met with the Admiral and his staff.
On Jan 7, 1961 a lot of the crew boarded several buses for a 45 mile trip to the Firestone Rubber Plantation, the largest in the world. The roads weren’t good and it took a while to get there. We went through a few villages and past numerous thatched huts. It was an eye opening experience seeing how some people have to live in this world. The plantation was 40 square miles with 10,000,000 rubber trees and 15,000 natives working it. They showed us how they tap the trees, gather the liquid, separate it and process it. Then they ship the crude rubber to the states for refining. After the tour, we were taken to the plantation’s golf and country club and we had a few drinks on the house.
King Neptune & wife Amphitrite during Shellback initiation
The evening of Dec. 21 the Polywogs (approx. 75% of the crew and Marines) assembled for a meeting in the well deck. After we agreed on our plan of attack, we disbursed and went into action. The door of the electrical shop was welded shut with Bakelar (Underwater Demolition Team-shellback) still inside. Bakelar was the biggest, most muscular guy on the whole ship. Bane (the other UDT-shellback) was chained to the safe in the disbursing office. Shellback Officers were pulled out of their staterooms and all but 4 were locked up or tied. The mighty Polywogs had gained control of the ship and were about to broadcast it over the PA system when the Executive Officer, Cornetta called everyone to quarters and we were told that the ‘gig’ was over. Tuesday morning the Polywog flag was hauled up the mast and guarded till noon when my boss, Shellback Smitty ran it down. The Shellbacks also made a Jolly Roger flag but the unshakeable Polywogs ditched it over the side.
Wed. morning Dec. 22, lookouts were stationed around the ship to watch for Davy Jones to emerge from his deep sea locker. The uniform of the day was wool watch caps, heavy foul weather jackets, skivy shorts turned backwards and shoes. At 09:34 we crossed the equator and we were honored by a visit from Davy Jones and his guards. The noon meal was served by Polywog First
Class and Chief Petty Officers who also cleaned the tables, swabbed the mess hall and worked in the deep sink and scullery while in dress uniform. The more fortunate Polywog officers formed a choir and sang for the Shellbacks. Marines ate in their fatigues turned inside out while we were in blue trousers and jerseys. Anyone that had the watch wore white jumpers backwards, swim suits and sneakers.
That afternoon the flight deck was filled with various activites. The band gave a concert to start things off and the Marine and Navy Honor guards were mustered and inspected. The soccer team played an exhibtion game with their legs tied, plus a parachute jump was staged along with some helo operations
29
and also the band had another concert but this time with Chaplain Young posing as an exotic island belly dancer.
Thurs. Dec 23 was proclaimed as initiation day for all Polywogs. There were only about 50 Shellbacks aboard to carry out the initiation activities which was hardly enough to keep everything in line, so the first few Polywogs that finished their initiation got to help dish it out to the other Polywogs. That day King Neptunes’ roar was heard throughout the ship and his wrath fell upon many a Polywog.
Time for a real “professional haircut”
At 09:30 on this day we crossed the equator, (the first time for most of us), and the ceremonies began. Some of the initiation activities that transpired were:
1) we had to kiss the knee of King Neptunes Queen at which time we got a good squirt of quinine in the eyes and then had to rinse our mouths with quinine water.
2) we were smeared with tar.
3) we had to crawl into a pine coffin with holes all around the sides and be squirted with high pressure fire hoses which was rather painful.
4) kiss the baby’s belly while he rubbed grease in our hair.
5) be locked in the stockade while mighty big Bakelaar whipped us with a heavy rubber hose.
6) given a variety of gross haircut types.
7) dumped backwards into a large tank of dirty, oil bilge water.
30
8) and the most painful was to walk the gauntlet line while 30 Shellbacks wacked us with heavy rubber fire hoses. They didn’t hold back either and if someone went thru too fast, they had to make the journey a second time.
Your turn in the bilge water
All in all, it was a pretty rough initiation, one I don’t want to go through again but I wouldn’t want to miss it either. A few Polywogs refused to go thru with it. A couple others claimed physical abuse and never finished.
The Shellbacks did a great job of preparing everything and added a lot of color to it with the ceremonial dress costumes. Now, almost the entire crew were Shellbacks except a few. The last several days were a lot of fun and very much outside of the normal Navy routine. Around 12:00 the initiation was over and we left the company of the Graham County and steamed alone. All new Shellbacks received a wallet sized certification card and a very large colored diploma.
Since Solant Amity was going to be an extended trip and with over 300 Marines onboard, we had to find something for them to do. Most were given assignments with various divisions of the crew. 4 Marines had some form of communications experience, including Gary S. Yauger, Bob Moehler, Mike Stellato and Rich Heitman and they were assigned to work with us on the signal bridge. They helped however possible and we became good friends.
Years later on Sept. 5, 1975, I was watching NBC news when they announced that Squeaky Fromme tried to assisnate Pres. Gerald Ford on the streets of San Francisco. The Secret Service agent who arrested Squeaky was my good marine friend from the Hermitage, Gary S. Yauger. A year or so later I tried to contact Yauger by calling the Secret Service in D.C. After numerous tries, finally I was able to talk wtih him. I was making a business trip to D.C. in the near future and we agreed to meet at Reagan Airport. We had a very interesting visit and
31
he talked about some of his experiences in the Secret Service. He died at a young age of 59 on Dec. 17, 1998.
Sat. Dec 24, 1960 (Christmas eve day) we moored in Recife, Brazil. That night several of us went downtown to the Moulin Rouge. It was pretty wild with all the Sailors, Marines and regular customers. We thought things were getting way out of hand so we headed back to the ship through some dark streets. One of the girls from the bar and several of her local guy friends followed behind us. None of us wanted any part of trouble, so Stellato volunteered to calm any waves and give us a chance to get back to the ship safely. Surprisingly, a week or so later, Stellato came down with a case of VD.
Sunday Dec. 25, 1960 was Christmas. We had a large dinner with a X’mas tree in the mess hall and decorations below decks. My claim to fame is that I ate Brazil nuts in Brazil on Christmas day. Some of us went to the Sumbura and then to the House on Stilts and made it back to the ship by curfew time.
Hall, Mohler, Barber and Gary in Recife, Brazil
I had my Zippo Navy cigarette lighter engraved in Recife Christmas eve, 1960.
32
Monday, the Helga Schroeder, a merchant ship from Bremenhaven, Germany, tied up next to us. One of their crew was Harry and he spoke pretty good English. Moehler, one of our marines had immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1952 and could speak German fluently. Their talents helped us all bond very well together. Eight of their crew came over to our ship and we eventually went ashore together several times which was fun.
At midnite, Dec. 31 we departed Recife. Getting out of port was no easy task with our new Captain Rood. He had no past ship experience. We almost backed into the ship behind us, we were so close that we hit his anchor chain which was hanging straight up and down. Next we almost hit a ship broadside, missing by a few yards and nearly hit another as we backed down. When we finally got out of the channel we almost ran aground on the shoals. We were hoping that something would happen which would mean a month of investigation and Recife was a nice port. At 02:30 it was determined that one of the marines was missing. A copter was sent to find him at the House on Stilts. They found him alright but the wind velocity from the helicopter tore the roof off one of the nearby houses. At 03:00. Dec. 31, we were finally out of danger to ourselves or anyone else and on our way to Monrovia, Liberia, Africa. Nothing else happened that day or night which was New Years eve.
Jan. 1, 1961, Admiral Reed gave a pep talk over the PA system about the value of our upcoming trip to Africa. At 07:00 Jan. 2 we caught up with the Graham County which left Recife 14 hrs. before we did.
That afternoon we got emergency orders to chase and pursue a ship called the “Santa Maria”. It was a large Portuguese cruise ship, full of passengers which had been hijacked by Henrique Galvao and a team of 24 Portuguese and Spanish rebels to protest dictatorships of Franco in Spain and Salazar in Portugal. The Santa Maria was heading east toward Africa as were we. We and every other ship in the area chased her for several days. One evening we thought we were rather close on her tail. We went up the mast to the big 36 inch search light. We spotted a ship and with the help of binoculars and the big 36” light pointed at her, we could read “Santa Maria” on her stern. We pursued her but unfortuantely, they were able to out-manuveur us and they slipped away in the dark. One of the ships in our group, the USS Gearing, a destroyer, located the Santa Maria and was able to come up alongside and board her. Galvao finally surrendered to the USS Gearing and ended the mayhem. After that we continued on our course for Monrovia.
Wednesday we were scheduled to meet the USS Rigel AF-58, a refrigerated ship to take on supplies. For 2 hours we searched on radar but couldn’t find her so we sent a marine copter out to search and finally located her. It took 7 straight hours using 400 men helping to take stores aboard while the band played.
Jan. 5 we tied up at the pier in Monrovia, Liberia. We fired a 21 gun salute in honor of the country. There were about 500 people waiting at the pier for us. After docking, the signalmen started dressing the ship, draping flags over the sides, the gang plank and from bow to mast and mast to stern. In the
33
afternoon some of the local dignitaries came aboard and met with the Admiral and his staff.
On Jan 7, 1961 a lot of the crew boarded several buses for a 45 mile trip to the Firestone Rubber Plantation, the largest in the world. The roads weren’t good and it took a while to get there. We went through a few villages and past numerous thatched huts. It was an eye opening experience seeing how some people have to live in this world. The plantation was 40 square miles with 10,000,000 rubber trees and 15,000 natives working it. They showed us how they tap the trees, gather the liquid, separate it and process it. Then they ship the crude rubber to the states for refining. After the tour, we were taken to the plantation’s golf and country club and we had a few drinks on the house.
Monrovia, Liberia welcoming crowd
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Gary taking picture of tapping a rubber tree at Firestone
Sun. eve. Mohler and I went in to town. Monrovia has a population of about 12,000 and about 1,500 are white, most of those either with the US government or private companies. There were only a couple nice places and one new unfinished modern hotel on the hill overlooking the Atlantic. However we did have a super good, large lobster dinner at Heinz and Maria’s. Once again we witnessed how poor the average person was. Some never even wore clothes, they lived in baked mud and stick shacks and danced the traditional native dances. The women with babies always nursed them in public with no sign of any embarrasment.
Jan. 9 at 17:00, President Tubman and his cortage came aboard for a buffet luncheon with Admiral Reed and staff. The Marines gave a 21 gun salute when he arrived and departed. We also presented their government with medical supplies and encylopedias that we had aboard. During our stay in Monrovia we dressed the ship 3 different times and had approx. 4,000 visitors on board during the 8 hours of open visiting.
Early on Jan. 10 we left the pier at Monrovia, headed for inner anchorage and by 09:00 we were on our way to Bathurst, Gambia. On Thurs. Jan 12, at 10:00 we were tied up to the pier. We didn’t have to leave the ship to see that it was a ravished, god-foresaken place. Population was 2,000. Later that day, 3 more ships of the Solant Amity 1 taskforce showed up at Bathurst including the USS Gearing DD-710, Vogelsang DD-862 and Nespelen AOG-55. This was the busiest day we ever had on the signal bridge in terms of messages communicated. The previous high was 24 visual messages transmitted in a single day. Today we had 56 messages and the majority of them had to be communicated with all 4 ships in the group.
Jan. 13 we had another 42 messages. I saw a confidential message in the radio room telling us to leave that eve. At 17:00 they cancelled all liberty and an
35
Monrovia, Liberia welcoming crowd
34
Gary taking picture of tapping a rubber tree at Firestone
Sun. eve. Mohler and I went in to town. Monrovia has a population of about 12,000 and about 1,500 are white, most of those either with the US government or private companies. There were only a couple nice places and one new unfinished modern hotel on the hill overlooking the Atlantic. However we did have a super good, large lobster dinner at Heinz and Maria’s. Once again we witnessed how poor the average person was. Some never even wore clothes, they lived in baked mud and stick shacks and danced the traditional native dances. The women with babies always nursed them in public with no sign of any embarrasment.
Jan. 9 at 17:00, President Tubman and his cortage came aboard for a buffet luncheon with Admiral Reed and staff. The Marines gave a 21 gun salute when he arrived and departed. We also presented their government with medical supplies and encylopedias that we had aboard. During our stay in Monrovia we dressed the ship 3 different times and had approx. 4,000 visitors on board during the 8 hours of open visiting.
Early on Jan. 10 we left the pier at Monrovia, headed for inner anchorage and by 09:00 we were on our way to Bathurst, Gambia. On Thurs. Jan 12, at 10:00 we were tied up to the pier. We didn’t have to leave the ship to see that it was a ravished, god-foresaken place. Population was 2,000. Later that day, 3 more ships of the Solant Amity 1 taskforce showed up at Bathurst including the USS Gearing DD-710, Vogelsang DD-862 and Nespelen AOG-55. This was the busiest day we ever had on the signal bridge in terms of messages communicated. The previous high was 24 visual messages transmitted in a single day. Today we had 56 messages and the majority of them had to be communicated with all 4 ships in the group.
Jan. 13 we had another 42 messages. I saw a confidential message in the radio room telling us to leave that eve. At 17:00 they cancelled all liberty and an
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Gary overlooking Capetown from Table Mountain
The next day we were back on the high seas and all we saw were seals. On March 20, the Graham County left our squadron for Pointe Noire to pick up a few supplies from the USS Eltinge AP-154. That morning we saw an amazingly large school of about 3,000 dolphins. In the afternoon we saw several whales that stayed alongside us for a couple hours. They were very playful, sticking around and once in a while they would come at us broadside, then suddenly slip underneath the ship and appear on the other side. Seeing whales was not a common sight but every once in a while we might see one or two. We never knew what kind they were. The exciting show was when they would breath and blow a very large stream of air and water up thru their blowhole. In the evening we met up with a Russian ship which we tailed for awhile and then quit tracking him.
Mar. 21, 1961 we received a message from the President of Ghana requesting us to pay a visit to his country. After we got clearance, I assume from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, we headed for the port city and capital, Accra. Mar. 25 at 07:30 we arrived and Capt. Rood didn’t let us down. He made 4 unsuccessful attempts for the pier and hit 1 crane, knocking it over in the process before we got moored. We stayed there for 2 days and it was a full schedule with high-level meetings aboard and ashore. We never heard what was accomplished during the visit but according to the stories or rumors, it was sold as being a very successful visit. Once again there were lots of visitors touring the ship.
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Welcoming crowd at Accra, Ghana
Before we left Accra, the President of Ghana gave Captain Rood a small alligator about 22 inches long. Capt. put it under our personal care on the signal briidge. We had a cage made for him and kept him on the bridge during the days for sunning. We weren’t trained as alligator tenders but he survived our care techniques. We nicknamed him “Hermy” and he became the ships’ mascot. We would tease him frequently with sticks and you could see that he would become a vicious fighter as he grew. Monday at 06:30 we left Accra. On that day, 37 different crewmates went to Mast, including 7 Chief Petty officers and 1 officer. Going to the Mast is receiving a reprimand by the Captain. We never heard any reason for the extremely unusal event but it must have been substantial. On Mar. 27 at 07:00 we left Accra, Ghana.
Mar. 31 we replenished supplies from the Rigel and refueled from the Nespelen. When completed, they and the Gearing and Vogelsang left for stateside. April 2 we met with the USS New DD-818 and USS Jonas Ingram DD 938 who were our early replacement arrivals for Solant Amity 2. The next few days we spent most of the time talking with the new ships by signal light and semaphore flags. It was mostly chit-chat, trying to find out what was happening back in the states. We also let the new crews know what they were in for during their Solant Amity 2 cruise.
On Apr. 4 the ships split up. On April 5 at 08:00, the Hermitage and the USS New arrived at Las Palmas, Canary Island and the Graham Cty. and USS Ingram left for Santa Cruz. Las Palmas was quite interesting but no match for Capetown. We stayed for 2 days while doing some touring of the island. Apr.
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10 at 09:00 we left the Canary Islands without even seeing any canaries and took off for Cadiz, Spain. April 13 we tied up at the Cadiz pier. The Graham Cty tied up alongside us shortly after that and the 2 destroyers went on to Rota, Spain.
Cadiz was a very old city. Most of the streets were cobblestone and not nearly wide enough for cars to travel. The shops were old and small and during the evening they were locked with large black iron gates in the front. April 16 was a Sunday and the most popular pastime on Sunday is bullfighting. A number of us went to a very large round coliseum which held many thousands of people. Bullfighting is a very old, colorful and formal event. It’s also very cruel and seemingly an unecessary sport. Each Sunday, 6 bulls are chosen with a very slim chance that any of them will survive the day. The bulls certainly have the advantage in terms of physical size but not the intelligence to compete. The matador is very capable and he slowly wears the bull out by successfully inflicting wounds and avoiding contact. Usually in each pass, the matador is able to inflict damage to the bull with a long sword.
Eventually the bull is so worn out and in pain that it can barely defend itself and the matador rams his sword down the bulls back and spine. At that point the bull is about dead but just to be sure, a colorful crew comes out and drives a spike into the bulls forehead. Then they attach ropes to the bull and with their horses, they drag the bull out of the ring. During the fight the crowd gets very excited and noisy but it’s all about death.
Bullfights in Cadiz, Spain
Apr. 17, 1961 at 09:00 we left Cadiz and went on into Rota, Spain once again, where we picked up observers for our Operation Readiness Inspection. Soon as they were aboard we pulled out and we went to General Quarters and drills all day long. After we finished we headed back to Rota at flank speed. Once the observers left the ship we were on our way back to Freetown, Sierra Leone,
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once again. The Graham Cty stayed behind at Rota for repairs and the New and Ingram went into Cadiz.
Talking with semaphore flags
Sunday Apr. 23, at 11:00 we arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone once again and tied up to the fuel pier. The next afternoon after refueling, we left the pier and anchored at King Tom’s Point. With us were the British ships HMS Bermuda CLG-52, HMS Leopard F-14, HMS Lynx F-27, HMCS Algonquin DDE-214, HMNS Nigeria MSO-389 and HMGS Afadzato. We were very busy sending and receiving messages with the other ships, some were official messages but many were just shooting the breeze. Depending on the distance between us, we would use either the 12 inch lights or semaphore flags.
The harbor was just full of small boats, yachts, a cruise ship and more than 10 U.S. and British warships. We were all here to observe April 27, the day the country of Sierra Leone gained it’s independence from Britain. On the 28th, Captain Rood was given a python snake about 7-8 ft. long as a gift. He wasn’t afraid of the python and kept him in his shower stall. Later that day, his steward unknowingly opened the door to clean the shower and was in for a big surprise.
Apr. 29, 1961 at 06:00 we departed Freetown with all the ceremonies concluded and went off for Bathurst, Gambia. Apr. 30 at 09:30 we arrived at Bathurst. Around 12:00 we caught the first glimpse of the USS Spiegel Grove, York County and the fuel tanker USS Chewaucan coming over the horizon. These were more of the relief task force for Solant Amity 2 to be headed up by Rear Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey on board the Spiegel Grove. He received the Medal of Honor and 4 Navy Crosses in his career. May 1, the ships New, Jonas, Ingram and Nigeria came in to complete the relief task force. The next several days we kept busy around the clock with an average of 39 messages per day.
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Anytime we would receive an official message, one person was busy reading the lights or semaphore flags while the other person wrote down the actual wording for delivery to the OD. Communicating was much easier if it was un official and we were just chit chatting with the other ship. Then we could just form the entire sentence in our mind without any assistance and there was no record.
On May 3 at 16:00 we left Bathurst and Africa for the last time and headed out for Trinidad once again and then the states. May 9 we had a “SOLONG SOLANT AMITY” party. There was entertainment by the COMDESFLOT 4 band and a few talented individuals. Bobby JO presented Adm. Reed with a very fine colored portrait. The morning of May 10 we arrived at Trinidad. As usual with Capt. Rood it took us 3 separate tries to successfully tie up at the pier. That afternoon there was a beer party ashore and we had liberty that night. We headed back to the Teahouse of the August Moon. Adm. Reed and his entire staff had left the ship by the time we got back from liberty and it was sort of a relief to be rid of them and all the formalities.
Gary overlooking Capetown from Table Mountain
The next day we were back on the high seas and all we saw were seals. On March 20, the Graham County left our squadron for Pointe Noire to pick up a few supplies from the USS Eltinge AP-154. That morning we saw an amazingly large school of about 3,000 dolphins. In the afternoon we saw several whales that stayed alongside us for a couple hours. They were very playful, sticking around and once in a while they would come at us broadside, then suddenly slip underneath the ship and appear on the other side. Seeing whales was not a common sight but every once in a while we might see one or two. We never knew what kind they were. The exciting show was when they would breath and blow a very large stream of air and water up thru their blowhole. In the evening we met up with a Russian ship which we tailed for awhile and then quit tracking him.
Mar. 21, 1961 we received a message from the President of Ghana requesting us to pay a visit to his country. After we got clearance, I assume from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, we headed for the port city and capital, Accra. Mar. 25 at 07:30 we arrived and Capt. Rood didn’t let us down. He made 4 unsuccessful attempts for the pier and hit 1 crane, knocking it over in the process before we got moored. We stayed there for 2 days and it was a full schedule with high-level meetings aboard and ashore. We never heard what was accomplished during the visit but according to the stories or rumors, it was sold as being a very successful visit. Once again there were lots of visitors touring the ship.
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Welcoming crowd at Accra, Ghana
Before we left Accra, the President of Ghana gave Captain Rood a small alligator about 22 inches long. Capt. put it under our personal care on the signal briidge. We had a cage made for him and kept him on the bridge during the days for sunning. We weren’t trained as alligator tenders but he survived our care techniques. We nicknamed him “Hermy” and he became the ships’ mascot. We would tease him frequently with sticks and you could see that he would become a vicious fighter as he grew. Monday at 06:30 we left Accra. On that day, 37 different crewmates went to Mast, including 7 Chief Petty officers and 1 officer. Going to the Mast is receiving a reprimand by the Captain. We never heard any reason for the extremely unusal event but it must have been substantial. On Mar. 27 at 07:00 we left Accra, Ghana.
Mar. 31 we replenished supplies from the Rigel and refueled from the Nespelen. When completed, they and the Gearing and Vogelsang left for stateside. April 2 we met with the USS New DD-818 and USS Jonas Ingram DD 938 who were our early replacement arrivals for Solant Amity 2. The next few days we spent most of the time talking with the new ships by signal light and semaphore flags. It was mostly chit-chat, trying to find out what was happening back in the states. We also let the new crews know what they were in for during their Solant Amity 2 cruise.
On Apr. 4 the ships split up. On April 5 at 08:00, the Hermitage and the USS New arrived at Las Palmas, Canary Island and the Graham Cty. and USS Ingram left for Santa Cruz. Las Palmas was quite interesting but no match for Capetown. We stayed for 2 days while doing some touring of the island. Apr.
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10 at 09:00 we left the Canary Islands without even seeing any canaries and took off for Cadiz, Spain. April 13 we tied up at the Cadiz pier. The Graham Cty tied up alongside us shortly after that and the 2 destroyers went on to Rota, Spain.
Cadiz was a very old city. Most of the streets were cobblestone and not nearly wide enough for cars to travel. The shops were old and small and during the evening they were locked with large black iron gates in the front. April 16 was a Sunday and the most popular pastime on Sunday is bullfighting. A number of us went to a very large round coliseum which held many thousands of people. Bullfighting is a very old, colorful and formal event. It’s also very cruel and seemingly an unecessary sport. Each Sunday, 6 bulls are chosen with a very slim chance that any of them will survive the day. The bulls certainly have the advantage in terms of physical size but not the intelligence to compete. The matador is very capable and he slowly wears the bull out by successfully inflicting wounds and avoiding contact. Usually in each pass, the matador is able to inflict damage to the bull with a long sword.
Eventually the bull is so worn out and in pain that it can barely defend itself and the matador rams his sword down the bulls back and spine. At that point the bull is about dead but just to be sure, a colorful crew comes out and drives a spike into the bulls forehead. Then they attach ropes to the bull and with their horses, they drag the bull out of the ring. During the fight the crowd gets very excited and noisy but it’s all about death.
Bullfights in Cadiz, Spain
Apr. 17, 1961 at 09:00 we left Cadiz and went on into Rota, Spain once again, where we picked up observers for our Operation Readiness Inspection. Soon as they were aboard we pulled out and we went to General Quarters and drills all day long. After we finished we headed back to Rota at flank speed. Once the observers left the ship we were on our way back to Freetown, Sierra Leone,
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once again. The Graham Cty stayed behind at Rota for repairs and the New and Ingram went into Cadiz.
Talking with semaphore flags
Sunday Apr. 23, at 11:00 we arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone once again and tied up to the fuel pier. The next afternoon after refueling, we left the pier and anchored at King Tom’s Point. With us were the British ships HMS Bermuda CLG-52, HMS Leopard F-14, HMS Lynx F-27, HMCS Algonquin DDE-214, HMNS Nigeria MSO-389 and HMGS Afadzato. We were very busy sending and receiving messages with the other ships, some were official messages but many were just shooting the breeze. Depending on the distance between us, we would use either the 12 inch lights or semaphore flags.
The harbor was just full of small boats, yachts, a cruise ship and more than 10 U.S. and British warships. We were all here to observe April 27, the day the country of Sierra Leone gained it’s independence from Britain. On the 28th, Captain Rood was given a python snake about 7-8 ft. long as a gift. He wasn’t afraid of the python and kept him in his shower stall. Later that day, his steward unknowingly opened the door to clean the shower and was in for a big surprise.
Apr. 29, 1961 at 06:00 we departed Freetown with all the ceremonies concluded and went off for Bathurst, Gambia. Apr. 30 at 09:30 we arrived at Bathurst. Around 12:00 we caught the first glimpse of the USS Spiegel Grove, York County and the fuel tanker USS Chewaucan coming over the horizon. These were more of the relief task force for Solant Amity 2 to be headed up by Rear Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey on board the Spiegel Grove. He received the Medal of Honor and 4 Navy Crosses in his career. May 1, the ships New, Jonas, Ingram and Nigeria came in to complete the relief task force. The next several days we kept busy around the clock with an average of 39 messages per day.
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Anytime we would receive an official message, one person was busy reading the lights or semaphore flags while the other person wrote down the actual wording for delivery to the OD. Communicating was much easier if it was un official and we were just chit chatting with the other ship. Then we could just form the entire sentence in our mind without any assistance and there was no record.
On May 3 at 16:00 we left Bathurst and Africa for the last time and headed out for Trinidad once again and then the states. May 9 we had a “SOLONG SOLANT AMITY” party. There was entertainment by the COMDESFLOT 4 band and a few talented individuals. Bobby JO presented Adm. Reed with a very fine colored portrait. The morning of May 10 we arrived at Trinidad. As usual with Capt. Rood it took us 3 separate tries to successfully tie up at the pier. That afternoon there was a beer party ashore and we had liberty that night. We headed back to the Teahouse of the August Moon. Adm. Reed and his entire staff had left the ship by the time we got back from liberty and it was sort of a relief to be rid of them and all the formalities.
