supply and made it worth its weight in gold. Th e watchman seemed to share my enthusias m. "Ve go t more. " H e led me to the base ment. There he showed me thousands of items, all specifically designed fo r shipboard use . There were bins full of shin y new marlinspikes; there were fids and mallets, turnbuckles, spectacle irons, a ge nerous suppl y of oakum, tarred hemp of all sizes, and a million wire rope clamps, bolts and shackles . T his was a ship rigge r's dream. After wallowing about in my newly found bed of mariner's catnip, I had the watchman seal up the building. On the way back to the ship I stopped to call o n my boss at the Base. With elaborate nonchalance I sidled up to the subject: "Co mmodore, may I have a free hand in rounding up stuff necessary for the firring our of the Ho rst Wessel!" "Why, yes, McGowan; anybody interfering? " "No, sir. I think, considering the Ho rst Wessel's rig, I ought to have some so rt of priority when I discover stuff, seein g as how it's go ing to be so hard to find things we must have. For instance, o ne of my officers has whipped out a slide rule and estim ated that we need twenty-two miles ofline just to replace wo rn out stuff; and to call the ship seaworthy, there ought to be an ampl e supply in the bosun 's locker and hawse r room." "As much as that?" "W ell , it may nor be exact, but it's beginnin g to look like it wi ll take that much. " "You have a fr ee hand. T ake anything yo u can find within reaso n. Good hunting! " "Ir's all right th en ifI pass this wo rd to the suppl y officer?" "Yes, it is. " With rema rkable self-restrain t I drifted over to the supply office r and relayed th e message. After I got my car out of sight of H eadqu arters I roared back to th e ship. I call ed my offi cers together, broke the good news, and ordered every inch of runnin g ri gging be renewed befo re sailing day, and all possibl e space down below loaded with th is beautiful new cordage and gear.
* * * * * Meanwhile, the crew removed the cracked engine block in preparation for the instaffa-
SEA HISTORY 86, AUTUMN 1998
I n 1992, Eagle sails off San J uan, Puerto Rico, p reparing to lead the international fleet ofsail training ships up America '.s East Coast in OpSail '92. tion ofthe new engine block Von had secured from a factory in Augsburg. Next morning the new block arrived. Setting it down on the old engine bed was simply a reverse procedure of what had happen ed the day before. To witness the ceremony I climbed down into the engine room. As our prize was gently lowered and canted into place, I lit a fl as h light to get a clear view. With the block ho ve rin g over the engine bed only a few inches more to go, I blinked to get rid of what looked like an optical illusion.Just as in the co mic gag, where there is an extra buttonhole at the top of a vest and an extra button at the bottom, th e holdin g down bolts and the bolt holes weren ' t linin g up properly. This thing just had to fir. Ir was th e right serial number, the right mark, the right builder's date; everyth ing checked . I darted a look at the boss rigge r and the ya rd machinist. Their express ions told me all I needed to know. T he damn th ing did not fit. I yelled for Von. "Com e here and look at yo ur prize. What went wro ng? Is this th e block yo u so proudly pull ed off the asse mbly lin e?" H e examined th e thing si len tl y for more than a minute. "Ir beats hell out of me, Cap' n. That block was checked and double checked, but it sure don' t fir. " Sadly we climbed th e engine room ladd er and went into a huddle o n deck. "Von , I wa nt yo u to doubl e check every fi gure o n the engin e, on th e bed, and on the invo ice, and take off for Augsburg with yo ur precio us letter. "
Von lit out for Augsburg without wa iting for lunch. When he returned a few days later, he had the solutio n to the myste ry, thanks to having run into a German engineer who had been at the factory since the time the Ho rst Wessel was built. During the war th e factory had re-designed the Horst Wessel engine without indicating the change with a modification number. H e and Von had worked out the solutio n to our problem. They had co mpared the engine bed plate and crankshaft bearing measurements. They found that a new bed plate which would fir our new block wo uld, at the same time, accommodate our crankshaft and th e other fittin gs in the lower part of our engine. The new bed plate arri ved promptly and the work of assembling our almost new engin e we nt along w ithout a hitch. Typical of Vo n, he had managed to scroun ge new valve assemblies and various other parts here and there as dividends. As he was bragging about his successes, I interrupted to say: "T his is about th e same as jacking up a whistle and running a new ship under it. " "It was about time for us to have a littl e luck, Cap ' n. " 1-
With more fuck and a lot of hard work, the ship was made seaworthy and left Bremerhaven on 3 0 May 1946 with a crew of Germans and Americans, making her first voyage as USCG Eagle. Today, "Americas Taff Ship " sails American and international waters, training Coast Guard cadets in seamanship and representing the United States in international sail training events.
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