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65th Anniversary Edition WWII Memories The First Voyage of the S.S. Michael Moran The most spectacular, exciting and unique event in Southern California Cruise aboard the Lane Victory, a fully restored WWII cargo ship Enjoy the sights of Los Angeles harbor enroute to the blue Pacific and beautiful Catalina Island Relive the excitement of a wartime convoy www.lanevictoryship.com By Captain Bill Carroll I first went aboard the S.S. Michael Moran in the middle of August, 1944, while she was still in the shipyard in Portland. Me. where she was built. She was operated by Moore McCormack Lines, a company with whom I had sailed before. I signed on as Third Mate; this would be my fourth Liberty Ship. From Portland we sailed down to Boston where we loaded military cargo for a destination unknown. Most of the crew were down-easters. Capt. George Blanthorn was Master, a real gentleman with a good sense of humor. The First Mate was a Mr. Marshall, an older man who had flown with the French Escadrill in WWI. The Second Mate was Mr. Pease. I can still picture some of the rest of the crew; the Radio Operator and some of the engineers; but. I have long since forgotten their names. I remember that the Third Engineer came from Kleinsfeltersville, Pa. Its claim to fame being that that was the longest name on a post office in the U.S. His claim, not mine. (It's funny what one remembers after 60 years.) Left is Bill Carroll circa 1944; Right is Capt. Bill Carroll today. For the purpose of camouflage, all ships were painted battleship grey; com- pany colors stowed for the duration. However, we were not long out of Boston when our good Captain, an old Moore McCormack company man. had the Mate paint the three inch band The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Maritime Reporter and Engineering News on 65 years of service to the maritime industry, and on two years of a successful partnership with us on the SNAME Maritime Technology Expo. 601 Pavonia Ave., Suite 400 Jersey City, New Jersey 07306 (201) 798-4800 www.sname.org Circle 260 on Reader Service Card around the stack dark green and on either side the Mormac logo, a circular, white background with a red "M" in the center. He also had the Mate stencil the name "Little Mike" on the bow of each of our four lifeboats. I never sailed with another skipper who was that audacious. We were in a pretty good size convoy as we headed out across the Atlantic; 50 to 70 ships or more. By this time, the submarine threat had diminished to some extent and I don't recall any inci- dents other than some depth charges being dropped on the other side of the convoy. There was a Midget Carrier in the column next to us. They carried a couple of Bi-planes which would take off every morning to reconnaissance the area for submarines and raiders. Our first landfall was Land's End, England and we were the first convoy to take this route through the English Channel since the beginning of the war. We proceeded up the channel to Southend, located at the mouth of the Thames River which leads to London. There we dropped anchor, awaiting orders. O A "computer bug" is .5 first identified and V named by LT Grace Murray Hopper while H1 she was on Navy 0) active duty in 1945. USS Nautilus (SSN- 571), the first nuclear- powered submarine, casts off lines and sends message "under- way on nuclear power" 38
