Oral History: Alton Kay 14-Aug-14, 20140814.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Genre:

Internet videos.

Nonfiction films.

Physical Description:

online resource (video file 0:40:21) : Sound, Colour

Place of Publication:

14-Aug-14,

Summary:

Third Engineer Alton Kay served in the Merchant Marines from 1944-1946. Kay boarded the S.S. Joshua Hendy in Westwego on June 28, 1944, serving as an oiler. They were in port for 2 weeks while they loaded mules, feed for the mules, railroad engines, tanks, army equipment and 90,000 cases of beer. Not all of the beer made it to its destination. There were army troops on the ship assigned to the equipment and a veterinarian for the mules. In Norfolk, Virginia they joined a large convoy of merchant ships who were escorted by an aircraft carrier with its destroyer escorts and cruisers. When they arrived at the straits of Gibraltar they broke convoy and headed for Malta. They were unable to dock at Malta due to the Germans having mined the harbor. They sailed across the Mediterranean Sea docking at Port Said; then, went on to Calcutta, India where they unloaded the mules, the military equipment and the beer. From Calcutta they sailed to Perth and then on to New Zealand. Lastly they sailed across the Pacific to Chile. While sailing across the Pacific, Kay began to develop the symptoms of appendicitis. He made it to Tocapilla, Chile just in time to have an appendectomy. The S.S. Joshua Hendy docked at Mobile, Alabama on 28 March 1945. In nine months the S.S. Joshua Hendy and her crew had sailed around the world.

Notes:

Description based on online resource (viewed on 12 June, 2019).

Archive Reference: OH.3284.