Voyage Nine
SS Sturdy Beggar - Page 1
The war in the Pacific
was still going on so I signed on as wiper on a C-2 cargo ship, the SS Sturdy
Beggar. 
I went to Houston and boarded her on July 12, 1945. We took on a cargo
of Fog Oil. The ship was chartered to the Mississippi Shipping Company and the
Captain was Christopher Olsen. Buddy Jordan, who I had shipped with before,
was one of the firemen. There were other Galvestonians in the crew: Robert Hobluetzel,
a big tall blonde-headed kid that everybody called "Cotton", and Jerry
Kaluza, real nice boy. I really got to like Jerry. Buddy Jordan didn't like
Cotton and I think they finally got into a fight. Buddy didn't get along with
many people. I had known Cotton before we shipped and he was a nice guy. I don't
know how anybody could dislike Jerry Kaluza - he was the most likable guy. The Sturdy Beggar left Houston on 18 July, 1945 and sailed independently for the Panama Canal. The Official Log-Book shows that she went through the canal and arrived at Balboa,
Canal Zone on July 24, 1945.
The Sturdy Beggar was luxurious compared to the Liberties I sailed on. She was bigger and had nicer quarters and she was fast. C-2's had a newer type of turbine engine than a Liberty did. ( The Armed Guard Report of Lt. Urquhart lists the "Average speed: 14.3 knots". )
In my war time experience, I don't recall security as being very stringent. Sometime we had to show a pass to the wharf security, but most of the time you just told them what ship you were off. I don't remember having to produce my seaman's passport or any identification often. I walked around just about where I wanted to go and nobody ever stopped me. But going through the Panama Canal was different. Armed Marines boarded the ship before we started through. They lined us up and the commanding officer read out the rules. We weren't supposed to stand near railings and were not to throw anything, even a cigarette butt, over the side or we could be shot. They stationed a Marine next to everyone of us all the way through the canal.
Down in the engine room while I was working, there was a Marine standing right next to me. He followed me around as I did my work. He had one of those little machine guns that they called "burp guns". I got mad - him pointing that goddamn gun at me. Finally I told him, "Goddamnit, don't point that thing in my direction. " Hell, I didn't want it to go off and get shot by accident. After I told him, he did keep it pointed away from me. A sergeant stood next to the engineer with a walkie-talkie. It was apparent that the government was seriously concerned about sabotage of the Panama Canal.
When we sailed alone across the Pacific, and it was like a piece of glass. After all of my experience in the Atlantic, especially the North Atlantic in winter, the Pacific was calm like a lake. While we were in route to Leyte, Philippines the war with Japan ended. I think that they declared an official end of hostilities on August 15, 1945 and we arrived at Leyte on August 21,1945. The Captain announced it over the load speaker when he heard that it was official.
We were off Tacloban, Leyte for a while and then they sent us down to Manila. We were there for several weeks just waiting around while they figured out what they wanted to do with our cargo. We had all these barrels of fog oil that were intended for fleet escorts - destroyers. They burned the oil to create smoke screens, but now that hostilities had ended, I guess that they didn't need the stuff.