Voyage Four
SS Nicholas D. Labadie - Page 1
I spent the month of May at home with my wife and family. On June 1, 1944 I was back in Houston on a brand new Liberty Ship, SS Nicholas D. Labadie. The Labadie sailed from Galveston on June 8, 1944. The Normandy Invasion had just taken place before we put to sea and that was the big news at the time. I was sailing with some good friends on the Labadie. Bobby Prothro was an AB and Terry Garland, who had been my best man, and Curtis Hurst were working mess along side me.
We crossed the Gulf of Mexico, rounded Florida and headed up the eastern seaboard for New York. Couple of days out of New York one of the escorts dropped some depth charges; but other than that it was a routine voyage except that our ship served as flag ship for the Convoy Commodore and his staff. I don't know what they did. Most of their time they spent in deck chairs sunning themselves up on the monkey bridge. The ship docked June 17, 1944. We went ashore in New York to the U.S.O. Canteen. It was a big place with a big band and hundreds of people dancing. We were not military but they let us in. I went to some of the famous night clubs in New York. These were classy places that wouldn't let you in unless you were dressed nice with a coat and tie.
I often had plenty of cash and I liked a good suit of clothes. They had this myth that we merchant seaman were overpaid. That isn't the truth. We didn't make much more than a Navy sailor of the same rank. When you figure that we had to buy all of our clothes and work gear; that we paid our own travel expenses; that we were off salary soon as we docked or were sunk; and if we got injured we had to pay our own medical expenses, then we didn't really make more money than the guys in the service. If you figure in the G. I. Bill and the benefits they got that we didn't, then we really didn't do that well by comparison. There wasn't much diversion at sea other than cards and lots of money changed hands - among the servicemen also. I was pretty good at cards and I usually had some winnings to spend when we hit port. I could afford to dressed well and I went to some ritzy places.
After New York we were up off Halifax, Nova Scotia and it was a sunny beautiful warm summer's day. The water was so blue that I took off my shirt and shoes and socks and decided to go for a swim. I jump into the water in the harbor at Halifax and when I came up to the surface I couldn't move. I could hardly cry out for help because the water was so icy cold it took my breath away and paralyzed me- cramped my arms and legs. They had to throw me a rope and pull me out or I would have quickly drowned. The Chief Mate chewed me out. He wanted to know what in the hell I was trying to do, kill myself? He told me the water there, even in the summer time, is about freezing. I didn't know it was that cold - it didn't look so cold but is was deadly cold.
From Halifax the Labadie crossed the North Atlantic in a big convoy with plenty of escorts. The convoy crossed into the Irish Sea and made for the Firth of Clyde and up the River Clyde into Glasgow, Scotland where the Labadie docked July 3, 1944.
We were in Scotland about two weeks and I had a good time ashore. I did some sightseeing and hit the bars. Curtis Hurst and I had our picture taken in full Scottish garb - kilts and all. We were drinking and thought we ought to have a picture made together . We went to a regular portrait photographer's shop. The woman asked what kind of picture did we want and we told her we wanted to be photographed in kilts. She said that she could do that and went and got the whole outfits.
One of the crew knew somebody or had some connection that got us into to a big dance at a real Scottish castle, with a moat and drawbridge - the whole deal. They had those great halls and big fire places and a full orchestra. It was quite a spread with an open bar and all. That night was quite something - very classy.
The SS Nicholas D. Labadie sailed from Gourock, Scotland on July 18, 1944 in a convoy of over one hundred ships with ten escorts and arrived in New York on August 2, 1944. The crew got discharged and paid off on the 5th of August 1944 and Danny caught the train home to Texas.