[Rarebooks] THREE-PART ARCHIVE OF A WORLD WAR II MERCHANT MARINER: DIARY, SCRAPBOOK AND PHOTO ALBUM

[Ezra Tishman]

Ezra from Aardvark offers this THREE-PART ARCHIVE OF A WORLD WAR II MERCHANT MARINER:   DIARY, SCRAPBOOK AND PHOTO ALBUM
(Note: Scrapbook and Photo Album disbound)		


Palt, John. DIARY, SCRAPBOOK AND PHOTO ALBUM OF A WORLD WAR II MERCHANT MARINER: 1944.
This is a three-part archive that chronicles a year and a half in American Merchant Marine Radio Operator John Palt’s life
aboard several Liberty Ships (seagoing vessels used to transport war material supplies, equipment and even troops to the war
zones). 																														

In all, 2710 British-designed (but American-mass-produced) Liberty ships were constructed, with assembly-line techniques,
which in the interests of speed and the exigency of war, allowed unskilled hands assist with the building. The record for
building one of these plodding behemoths from start to finish was four days, x hours, and x minutes…A number of these craft
developed hull cracks; it was later discovered an inferior grade of steel was used, too often cobbled together with amateur
welds. Simply-conceived, underpowered and slow-moving, cruising at only 11 knots, they made easy targets for German U
Boat attacks); if one’s ship was hit, the odds for its survival were not good. Liberty ships were built to carry cargo, not to
withstand torpedoes or gunfire, and about 200 Liberty ships were sunk during World War II.

Both the diary and the photograph album portray the collision of this radioman’s Liberty ship with another, causing a 50-foot
long gouge which (the radioman’s daughter, in recalling her late father’s storytelling, said) looked just like an opened tin of
sardines. Radioman Palt was one member of a crew which typically consisted of 45 merchant seamen, plus a Navy gun crew
of up to 36. The ship's armament was usually a 3-inch antiaircraft gun mounted on the bow, a 5-inch gun on the stern and four
20-mm machine guns on the deck above the bridge. Although these ungainly behemoths – 400+ feet long and 10,000 tons dry
weight each – were considered the heavy-laden work horses of the War it is generally agreed that without them, the Allies
could not have won the war.

Part I: THE DIARY
 Initially teletyped upon loose-leaf plain (unruled) notebook paper (6” x 9 ó”), Radioman Palt offers a
day-by-day account of a one-and-one-half years aboard Liberty ship SS James M. Wayne, covering the period July 23, 1944
through January 29, 1945. The first 20 or so pages (July 23, 1944 through October 10, 1944) are typed on what I assume is a
radioteletype machine, in all capital letters. Palt was heading home to the states then, and there is a gap. After Radioman
Pelt’s interruption between assignments, the diary picks up, not teletyped, but in manuscript, on November 29th, 1944, and
continues until its January 20, 1945 conclusion, about 36 more pages, for a total of just under 60 pp. Ranging from
descriptions of long sea days of boredom and uncountable numbers of cribbage games, through twenty-five foot waves which
broke loose wildly rolling trucks from their tie-downs aboard, to the collision with another Liberty ship, Palt dispassionately,
if innocently catalogues the daily existence upon the work vessel – days upon days where nothing happens and then, 30 foot
killer waves, with no warning, bringing sudden tumult and incredible danger.

Sample Diary Entries:

August 12, 1944:…The skipper went ashore and came back to the ship all gassed up. Besides that he had a pile of booze on
the ship and drank that up too. Well he got so boozed up that he…picked on the bos’n and the bos’n gave him a good poke
in the jaw. After that he picked on one of the blackgang and that guy knocked him out. We sent a message to the shore station
telling them that the crew would not sail the ship with this captain…”

August 14, 1944: “After we got the news of the new landings in France, we were pretty sure that France was our
destination….Coming into this port the signal station on the hill started to send XXX to us meaning stop carrying out your
intentions and wait for signal from me. Well, our signalman on watch didn’t get the signal right away and we almost ran into
a mine field…”

August 17, 1944: “Now I guess I’ve been through almost everything. About 10 minutes to twelve I was knocked out of my bunk
by a terrific crash. In the dark another ship had rammed us. With this cargo on here it’s a wonder we weren’t blown to
kingdom come…We had no lights anywhere…I immediately ran out on deck with the portable transmitter and I could see this
big bulk loomingup on our starboard side. She tore a hole about fifty feet long…About 10 minutes later, another ship rammed
us. This time on the port side, on the stern…Just then we saw these tow LSTs (Tank Landing Ships) coming together. That was
about the most horrible thing I have ever seen. We know that they were going to ram but there wasn’t anything we could do
but wait for the crash. When it did come it was a terrible grinding sound and we could see some of the men that were thrown
over the side from the shock. There was nothing we could do for them but throw over our ladders and hope they would find us
in the dark. No luck though, we did not pick up a one

August 27, 1944: Missed Mass today…I’ll go twice next Sunday and make up for it…I went out anyway just for the heck of it
and ran into a nice dance in town. Had a few dances and came back to the ship. (End of this journey; Palt is back in the U.S.)
November 30, 1944: “Well, well, now I’ve really seen some rough weather and I do mean rough. Our convoy just hit the edge
of a full gale, which was centered around Boston... the ship is being tossed and pounded…In the afternoon some of the trucks
we had on board broke loose from their lashings and almost went over the side. Several of the men and the first mate went
down to see if they could secure them. While they were down there this wave, which must have been at least 30 feet high, came
crashing over the side tearing the catwalk to pieces and burying the men under water and wreckage. For a minute it looked
like they were all crushed but luckily (only) one man was badly bruised…

December 14, 1944: …Tried to get to sleep early but the captain started to hit the bottle, but good. ..At first it was only loud
talk but the bos’n went below and the captain started on the prowl. Somehow he got stuck in the radio shack and couldn’t get
out. The other operator and I heard him go by our room with a fire axe so we locked the door quick. When he finally went out
on deck, both of us scrammed below where we would have a chance to run if he came down there…”

December 24, 1944: …About 2:30 a.m. the second mate came in and we shot the breeze for a while. He told me that he was
talking to the pilot that is going to take us to Antwerp and the pilot said that the bombing is pretty heavy up there. He said the
Germans are using a V-5 and V-6 type of rocket bomb. Hmmm, looks like a very interesting Christmas this year…”

December 25, 1944: Went on watch at midnight and things were quiet thank heavens. 4 a.m. So help me the quietness of the
place is getting me jumpy. There isn’t a thing moving out on the docks and the ship never seemed so quiet before…”

December 27, 1944: Today I’m 22 and I feel like 50. Got up for breakfast with a head like a balloon…The purser came back
late in the morning and boy he was a signt. He had lost his overcoat and was almost frozen stiff. The temp at 8:00 a.m. was
warm today. It was 34 degrees (f.). All day buzz bombs coming over the ship but although none hit the docks they came too
close for comfort….

December 29th, 1944: “…got a good case of the jitters watching the bombs fly over. All the time I kept wondering if the next
one had my name on it. If Jerry is doing this to shatter my nerves he is going at it in a good way and has a swell start…
“What burns me is the fact that nobody seems to know what the sirens are for and nobody wants to take the responsibility for
turning an alarm in. By gosh I like my self in one piece and I’ll turn in a hundred alarms to keep itthat way. Never saw such a
poor organization of a ship in all my life. Wish I was back with Hudgins again…”

December 30, 1944: “Went into town in the morning and boy what a mess I saw. During last night a rocket bomb hit the post
office and windows for blocks around were blown out. The third mate and I walked back part of the way to the ship and on the
way we saw a Sherman tank that was knocked out in the fighting for this place. We could only find one shell hole in the armor
but that was enough. The inside of the tank was a junk heap from the hit… Hit the sack right after chow but at 9:00 the sirens
went off and we all had to get up. It was a flying bomb attack and I watched them come over for quite a while. One of them
came so close we could almost spit on it. It hit near the ships across the locks. ….A lot of ack-ack went up and the searchlights
fingered the skys but all we could hear was the motors of the plane. The second engineer and I went to church in the morning.
The regular church was hit by a bomb and they had the mass in a school room. While we were in church the sirens went off
and I swear that buzz bomb flew in one of the windows and out the other. It was so close that the vibrations from its motors
broke (?) the remaining windows in the room.

January 20, 1945 Zounds and Gadzuks!! During the night a storm came out of someplace and we are rolling all over the
place. Since we are empty we roll that much more, which is plenty in the first place. Oh well another 10 days.
January 20, 1945: What a day. Very high wind kept up all day and the weather is freezing cold…We are now running at top
speed for New York. Finished painting the battery room today and it sure looks good. (Pat on the back for me). In the
afternoon I went down in our mess hall and heckled the poker players for a while, until threatened. Nice day tho. January 30,
1945.: Back Home and Glad of it. -Finis-“


PART II: THE SCRAPBOOK:

Measuring approximately 14 ó” x 12 ó”, the scrapbook consists of 35 double sided pages, chock-full of important
memorabilia such as birth and baptismal certificates, records of Maritime service, Merchant Marine correspondence courses,
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personnel letters, various papers denoting shore leave, mail regulations, vaccination papers, classification changes, etc.
ALSO menus, a map, promotional pamphlets, antique photos, contemporary military photos, poetry, postcards, promotional
advertising ticket for a homemade pie outfit, telegrams, radiograms, Gallup’s Island (Radio Operator’s Training Center)
Boston, Mass Newspaper, cartoons, clippings, napkins, coasters, FCC licenses, letters of commendation and cards for being
in active battles in several marine battle zones. Disbound, scrapbook lacking one cover; mounting pages flaking at edges.


PART III: THE PHOTO ALBUM:

Measuring 10 ó” x 13”, the album is disbound, but complete. Photos mounted upon heavily-flaking black (photo-album)
paper.
About 88 pages, the album contains 450 photographs which, taken as a whole, thoroughly document the long months at sea,
days of routine, duty and boredom followed by days of very dangerous threats from enemy gunfire, mammoth waves, and,
well, running into other ships, and nearly running into others. Warning at least fifty photographs of Radioman Palt's pretty
girlfriend; it is not known whether she
became his bride. I would assume so, since his daughter provided the album, and although as in many photo albums, some
photographs were removed before we acquired the album, these photographs of "Babe" (her name!) were not removed.
Pictures of the ship, armaments, cargo, rigging, engine room, exterior, plus many named personnnel (first and last names). Most of the photos are 4.5" x 3.5" but
there are several pages each of 2.5" x 2.5", 3.0" x 3.0", and even several 5" x 7”.																$1500

Link to Photos:    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gi4zcm243flcgz2/AAB_VRuzZHzHcFXwCfsmWVWRa?dl=0 <https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gi4zcm243flcgz2/AAB_VRuzZHzHcFXwCfsmWVWRa?dl=0>