My Father was all of 17 years old when, this took place. A memory that stuck with him through out the years..
Late Fall 1946, Long Beach After returning from Bikini Island Atom Bomb Test
I was shaken awake about midnight and told to report to the Officer of the
Deck. On arriving , the OOD says we have had the mooring line separate and two
of our boats are loose. I want you to take your crew and go find them and bring
them back. The sea was running fast, the rain was coming down in sheets and our
boat was way out at the end of the mooring line. The Jacobs ladder we used to
get to the boats was flapping in the wind and nowhere near the boat. The fireman
volunteered to skinny down the mooring line and fire up the engine and drive the
boat under the ladder so we could board. When we cast off from the mooring line we were fast away from the ship. Carefully turning to run with the wind, we set off to find the loose boats. The bow hook was holding a battle lantern over the bow, trying to see thru the heavy rain, all the while trying to stay in the boat
as it was pitching around like mad. This was a fifty foot motor launch and the
waves were almost as high as it was long. We kept running with the waves and
current and luck would have it, we came across the two boats. Still tied
together by the mooring line and about half full of water. We pulled the line
aboard and tied it off. I carefully turned back into the wind and waves and
tried to make way back to the ship. It was quite apparent that this was not
going to work. The two boats, plus the wind and waves were too much, I could not
make any headway. Carefully turning back to keep from swamping, we headed down
wind towards the beach. I saw a light over on the left and headed towards it,
hoping it would be a safe harbor. We passed thru into the inner harbor and the
waves subsided, but the wind was still kicking up. Spotted what looked like a
small boat basin and started tugging the two boats towards a spot to tie them up
to. Got the mooring line over some posts and the boats were secure. I started
down the pier looking for somebody. Spotted a light on a boat tied up to a pier
and went started calling out. Soon a fellow came out and asked what I wanted. I
told him that I was Coxswain Garrett from the USS Cumberland Sound, AV-17 and
that I had tied up two of our boats to the end of the pier and that he was to
take charge of them until they were picked up by the ship. Then I made my way
along the shore to the Navy landing, where the Beach master was undone that
anyone would be out in the seas that were running as they were. He chewed me
out, then sent all of us down to the basement where there was a nice furnace
running and we could dry out and get warm.
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