We looked after one boiler

Heroes Remember

We looked after one boiler

Transcript

First ship, I was a seaman, I was on the focsle. That meant I handled the lines that tied up the ship. There was a boatswain's mate there, of course, who knew everything that had to be done. You learned to splice lines. You, we used spring lines. They're part steel and part hemp, and they're, it's interwoven. And you have to learn to splice that, which isn't easy. And then you learn to splice an eye into a standard manilla rope, and that sort of thing. This is what the boatswain teaches you, when you're at sea and you're not, you're not chipping and painting. Usually, you're chipping and painting but, and, but, that was basically it. You handled the lines and I ran a winch for unloading cargo. That's, that's all part of that particular that deck crew. I was on the focsle, and we had a cargo hold. You have a focsle, and a well deck, and then the bridge and the main deck, but in that well, you have generally a cargo hold. And you can drop down and cart a lot of that, which is... I ran a winch for that job, but... And then, when I come off the Monticello, went to Europa, I went in what they called a black gang, that's the engineers. The seaman wears a white stripe, and the engineers wear red, on their shoulder patch, until they earn their chevrons. So, I went from white to red and, and then, I worked in the boiler room. I operated boilers. We had four boiler rooms. Four boilers to a room and they're double ended, burners at both ends. And you have... we looked after one boiler room each watch. And you pulled your burners, and cleaned the burners and stuff, got them ready for the next watch because you had put the fresh ones in. And you checked for smoke, ‘cause one thing wasn't allowed, was smoke off the ship. You, they didn't want that. So, you... air had to float properly to dissipate the smoke. And your burners had to be clean, so they didn't create much smoke. So, that's basically what you did. The only thing is, you're 35 feet underwater and, and if you hear an alert, that's your station. You don't go anyplace. Marines come to the hatch covers, where you would get out and marines are there as guards. You cannot leave that. You don't go up the ladders. That's your position during, during alert. But that's better than the guys you know, passing ammunition, ‘cause they go down the ammunition locker and they're down there ‘til the alert's over and they're passing ammunition up. The ammunition was in our ammunition locker, was the mid-ships, where, where you expect to get hit, if you're gonna get hit. But you know, and actually, you can hear, what we called an ashcan. It's a depth charge and if they don't go too deep, you can actually hear the detonator. You hear tick, tick and then, "Pow!" You go to the, you go to the ashcan.

Description

Mr. Stewart compares experiences on deck and in the engine room.

Edward Stewart

Mr. Stewart was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1926. Following his father's footsteps, he attempted to join the navy, but was under age. Drafted at the age of 18, he was selected for naval duty. Mr. Stewart served aboard troop ships during the latter stages of the Second World War, both on deck and in the engine room, and spent considerable time ashore in Germany, France and Denmark. He also sailed on one of the mass-produced Liberty ships. Mr. Stewart eventually moved to Harriston, Ontario, where he worked 38 years for Canada Packers.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:17
Person Interviewed:: Edward Stewart
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: North Atlantic
Branch:: Navy
Units/Ship:: Europa
Rank:: Able Seaman
Occupation:: Deck Crew, Engine Room

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We looked after one boiler

Heroes Remember