William A. Tilllam, Jr. was born in Watkins Glen in upstate New York. After graduation from high school, he enrolled in New York State Merchant Marine Academy at Fort Schuyler, The Bronx in 1940. The joined the engineering program, and almost immediately after graduation from For Schulyer, he was called up to serve with the […]
Tag: album
Mementos and trauma
Unlike today’s freighters where a crew can be aboard for several soul-crushing months at a time without seeing a port, freighters in the 1940s and 1950s made frequent port calls – either for replenishment of stores or cargo transfers. Port calls for a ship’s crew meant a jaunt around the port district or visits to […]
Samizdat
In 1972 the Soviet Union and Europe suffered a drought that resulted in catastrophic crop failures. Although the Soviet Union was perenially plagued with periodic droughts and crop failure, 1972 was significant since the main crop affected was wheat – a dietary mainstay for both people and livestock. This failure brought about talks between the […]
Charles P. Lloyd
Charles Payne Lloyd enrolled in the U.S. Maritime Commission Cadet Corps in August 1942. As a Deck Cadet he sailed the world aboard the SS Thomas Sim Lee from October 1942 to June 1943 ranging from Casablanca to Western Australia. After this date, the next time Charles shows up in the public record is as a 3rd Mate aboard the Isthmian Lines […]
Gale Rutter
Album | Ephemera | Loose Photos | Album Home Ralph Gale Rutter graduated from Kings Point in July, 1944. He was the grandson of the noted Washington State banker Robert Lewis Rutter – an important capitalist in turn-of-the last-century Spokane. Gale, as he was known, earned a Scholastic Star while at Kings Point and spent his […]
Rudolph P. Aron
The photos in this gallery come from the estate of Rudolph P. Aron. He worked on the Isthmian ship SS Steel Age during the Second World War, and briefly as a Second Officer on the SS Jean Ribuat. The photos are not dated, but appear to have been taken in Hawai’i and the Dutch East […]
Robert “Bob” P. Neukum
Album 1 | Album 2 | Album 3 | Ephemera | Album Home The story goes that Robert “Bob” Paul Neukum lied about his age and enrolled as a Deck cadet at the Merchant Marine Academy in 1943. His parents were not pleased – his father an accountant and his mother a socialite in St. […]