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Summer of Sail Training Launched a Lifetime of Opportunities I suppo rt your proj ect to ger yo ung peo ple interested in the sea-ler an old man tell you why. As a high school junior in 1935 I answered an ad for a summer learning experi ence on a rail ship offered by rhe American Nautical Academy aboard rhe Marsala , commanded by Captain Olive r Bo hid. Every morning starred at 0630 with "all hands up and over rh e mainmast. " M y first ass ignment was as the Captain's cabin boy (I think I was the cleanest-looking cadet on board that month). As a result of that experience I applied in 1938 for rhe US Merchant Marine Cader Co rps and was appointed ro Moore-Mac's SS Brazil as a D eck Cad er. I later sailed with American Export Line, did my active duty in the Navy, and afte r the war sailed with Alcoa until 1949, at w hich rime I went to work for rhe NY Port Authori ty. I retired in 1980 as Ge neral Manager, Marine Terminals. Ir is very important to help get yo ung peo ple exposed to the wo nders of the sea. CYR TL V. STORER Whiting, New Jersey Basil Harrison and Project Experiment My wife Beth and I had rhe opporruniry to co ngramlate Bas il Harrison on receiving NM HS's Distinguished Service Award for his commitment to Proj ect Experiment at the Society's Annual M eeting held at M ystic Seaport in April 1998. Basil Harrison 's resolve is a scintillating example of the comm itment I find so inspiring and abundan t among our m embers. H e will be missed as he has left us w i rh a high standard to maintain. STEVEN J ONES Middletown, D elaware A remem brance of Basil's life appears on p.
41.-ED. Vets Interested in WWII in the Pacific USS Morris, a Sims-class destroyer, named afte r Comm. C harl es Morris (1 784- 1856), was built by rhe No rfolk Navy Yard. She served in both rh e Atl antic and Pacific fl eets and made 3 passages through rh e Panama Canal. Morris an d her crew earn ed 15 barde sta rs and awards for other actions in their figh ring. Morris did every possible tas k, including rhe rescue of hundreds of survivors SEA HISTORY 87 , WINTER 1998-99
from sinking aircraft ca rriers. W hen rhe Secretary of the Navy spoke ar our reunion in 1988, he said " l ,7 50 m en were saved by the Morris." Old ve terans seem to share a common goal, to put a human face o n historic tragedies, guard the m emori es, tell the "sea stories" of rhe ships, the survivo rs, and the victims. We are t rying to locate veterans in re rested nor only in the Bartles of M idway and Okinawa but also in o ther Pacific O cean areas where Ameri ca n sailors, airmen, marines, soldiers and Coast Guardsm en fought and died . C DR WILLIAM C. GIBSON , USN (Rer) USS Morris (DD-41 7) Veterans Ass'n USS Morris (DD-4 17) Veterans Association, PO Box 187, Chatham PA 193 18. More Remembrances of "Shetlands Bus" I sent a copy of Sea H istory 84, with rh e arti cle on rhe KNM H itra-rh e "Shetlands Bus" which ran men and supplies into German-occupied No1way in WWII-to a fri end of mine, Jan E rikso n, in H augesund, Norway. Jan served in rhe Norwegian underground durin g rh e war and remembers rhe H itra. I am enclosing photos of her ly ing alongside the quay this summer in Haugesund, Norway. She appears to be shipshape and in Bristol fas hio n, her age 56 years. CAPT. WARREN G. LEBACK Princeton, New J ersey In his letter in Sea H istory 86 regarding m y articl e on KNM H itra (SH84) concerning
KNM Hirra, indeed looking shipshap e and in Bristol fashion, in H augesund, Norway
the ro le of rhe "Shetlands Bus" in the sin kin gs of Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, Marc Cohen was quite correct in saying rhe subchasers played no part in the sinkin g of the Bismarck. As he poims our, the sinking rook place many months prior to Norway's acquisition of the SCs. Neve rtheless, the Norwegians we re sending their fishin g smacks back and forth between rhe Sh etlands and Norway, ca rrying short-wave radios, transmitting equipment, coast watchers, and undergrou nd personnelall to inform the Allies of everything they detected regarding enem y ship movements. The sinkings of the Scharnhorstand Tirpitz rook place in Norwegian waters, after the SCs we re in operation. No one will ever know the exact nature of the communicatio ns network that led to these sinkings but it seems safe to say the Shetlands Bus was a key link in a highly coordinated, complex effort. THEODORE R. TREADWELL D anbury, Co nnecticut
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