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FIFTEEN PACIFIC VOYAGES
SS Esso Richmond (II)
FOLLOWING her official delivery at Chester, Pennsylvania, on June 30, 1942. the Esso RIchmond (second vessel so named)
sailed on July 17 for Baytown and arrived July 25 to load her fIrSt cargo -150,879 barrels of gasoline-for Baton Rouge. She was
commanded by Captain Frank H. Spurr and Chief Engineer Harold O. Laffitte was in charge of her engineroom.
The new tanker got an early taste of the gnm danger which stalked ocean shipping. On July 29, 1942 she was two days out of
Baytown when, as Captain Spurr reported:
"A torpedo exploded about 100 yards abeam of the Esso Richmond. I don't know what set it off. The next day the Robert E.
Lee (passenger vessel of 5,184 gross tons, operated by Alcoa Steamship Company, Inc.) was sunk in the same vicinity."
After one more coastwise trip and less than three months after her delivery, the Esso Richmond was placed on Pacific duty. She
sailed from Baytown on September 3, 1942 for Noumea, New Caledonia, and Auckland, New Zealand, with 141,828 barrels of
Diesel oil and gasoline.
The three years which elapsed before Japan formally surrendered on V-J Day, September 2, 1945, saw the Esso Richmond in
almost continuous service carrying special Navy fuel oil, Diesel oil, and aviation gasoline to the Pacific combat zone. The only
interruption was a run from Aruba to Norfolk in June, 1944, followed by repairs at Newport News, Virginia.
Became an All-Purpose Ship
The tanker completed fifteen Pacific voyages in the three year period-a not unimpressive total considering the long distances
to be steamed, extended stays in ports, waits for convoys, detours around danger areas, frequent calls at control ports, and the
many other factors which delayed all ships supplying Allied combat forces in the Pacific area.
The exigencies of w..ar made an all-purpose vessel of the Esso Richmond; passengers and general cargo regularly traveled
along with the bulk oil cargoes she was originally intended to carry. She ranged far and wide among the islands of the Pacific-
Noumea, in New Caledonia, received frequent calls; Brisbane and Bora Bora, Tongatabu and Tulagi, Manus and Melbourne-
there were few of the newly-famous war supply bases that she did not visit.
The vessel's seventh Pacific trip was typical of this series of voyages. Captain Guy A. Campbell was in command and Chief
Engineer Thor O. Sandin was in charge of her engineroom, when she left Aruba on January 16, 1944 with 139,860 barrels of
fuel oil, Diesel oil, and aviation gasoline. Her fIrst stop was Balboa, January 18, where she took aboard six motor torpedo
boats, 109 officers and men, and 100 tons of equipment belonging to MTB Squadron 27. Next she called at Bora Bora, in the
Society Islands, February 5 to 6, and discharged part of her gasoline cargo. She put in at Melbourne, Australia, February 9,
for bunkers, stores, water, and orders, and then proceeded to Noumea, New Caledonia, where she delivered gasoline and
Diesel oil, February 14 to 17. At Noumea, a 9 ton ship's propeller, needed at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, was added to
her deck load.
At Espiritu Santo, February 19 to 22, more gasoline and Diesel oil cargo was discharged and the propeller was unloaded.
Ten tons of base equipment-jeeps, gun mounts, etc.-and additional personnel, all for MTB Squadron 27, came aboard, as well
as four 7 ton buoys.
Reaching Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands, on February 24, the Esso Richmond disembarked the Navy personnel, the six MTBs,
the 110 tons of equipment, and the four buoys. What was left of her oil cargo was divided between Tulagi and Kukum, on
Guadalcanal.
The Esso Richmond's operations at Tulagi are described in a typical log extract :
Tulagi
Feb. 24
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10:06 a.m.
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Arrival-Awaiting Navy orders.
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5:00 p.m.
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Started unloading dry cargo, forehold.
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Feb. 26
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2:57 a.m.
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Finished discharging forehold.
|
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3:52 a.m.
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4 buoys discharged to Sea bees' lighter.
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Feb. 27
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11 :30 a.m.
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Crane alongside to remove PT boats.
|
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1:40 p.m.
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Seabees' tank lighter alongside.
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2:00 p.m.
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Started discharging motor fuel.
|
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2:30 p.m.
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First PT boat afloat.
|
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3: 15 p.m.
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Finished discharging motor fuelbarge full.
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4:50 p.m.
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Third PT boat afloat-crane away.
|
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7:10 p.m.
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Tank lighter alongside.
|
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8:00 p.m.
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Resumed discharging motor fuel to barge.
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8:50 p.m.
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Finished discharging motor fueltotal, two loadings, 2,055 net.
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Feb. 28
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9: 15 a.m.
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Fourth PT boat afloat.
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9:45 a.m.
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Started unloading deck cargo and ammunition from amidships space.
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2:30 p.m.
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Sixth and last PT boat afloat.
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3:20 p.m.
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Finished discharging all dry cargo. Awaiting Navy orders.
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Feb. 29
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6:47 a.m.
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Anchor aweigh.
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7: 08 a.m.
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Departure.
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Captain Campbell and the crew of the Esso Richmond were thanked for their treatment of MTB Squadron 27 in the
following letter:
MOTOR TORPEDO BOAT SQUADRON TWENTY-SEVEN
c/o Fleet Post Office
San Francisco, Calif. (ewe) The President
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey New York City, N. Y.
Dear Sir:
This letter is written to commend Guy A. Campbell, master of the SS Esso Richmond. From the embarkation of the six
boats at Balboa on 20 January to our debarkation on 27 February in the war zone, he did everything possible to make
the trip as pleasant and instructive as he could. There were fourteen officers and ninety-four enlisted men in extremely
crowded conditions. The serving of meals, laundry, and recreation were handled with a minimum of difficulties. Captain
Campbell as well as all of his officers were only too glad to help our officers in celestial navigation.
In closing I sincerely feel that any future squadrons arriving in this area will be fortunate to travel on any ship Captain
Campbell may be master of.
J. S. Bronte Lieutenant, USNR Executive Officer MTB Squadron 27
Finally, the Esso Richmonds her tanks empty and her decks clear, headed east to reload. She reached Balboa March
30 and arrived at Aruba April 2, 1944, two and one-half months after setting out from that port.
"That must have been at least a mildly harrowing experience was brieHy described in the Esso Richmond's log while
she was returning from her next voyage and was about to enter the Panama Canal at Balboa:
June 9, 1944
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8:25 a.m.
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Engine stopped. No steam owing to water in fuel.
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8:37 a.m.
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Ship drifting into minefield.
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The next entry is just as laconic in recording her rescue:
Tugs called to assist vessel back to channel.
Another letter expressing appreciation for the courtesy shown to U. S. Navy personnel by the master and other officers
of the Esso Richmond was written to the Company when Captain Wesley F. Besse commanded the vessel :
ARMED GUARD UNIT
SS Esso Richmond
28 September 1945
Mr. B. B. Howard
General Manager of Marine Operations Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N. Y.
Dear Mr. Howard:
It has been my pleasant duty to be Commanding Officer of the Armed Guard Unit aboard your ship, the SS Esso Richmond,
during the past few months.
I cannot say enough about the complete cooperation and cheerful helpfulness of Captain W. F. Besse, his mates, and en-
gineers. Now that the war is over and won, and the Armed Guard is being removed, may I say, for my crew and for myself,
"Good sailing, Godspeed, and may we all live in the peace which we have fought to preserve."
Most cordially yours,
Fred U. Sisson
Lieutenant, USNR Commanding
The wartime transportation record Richmond was in summary as follows:
Year
|
Voyages (Cargoes)
|
Barrels
|
1942
|
3
|
444,400
|
1943
|
5
|
712,088
|
1944
|
6
|
743,761
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1945
|
4
|
463,566
|
Total
|
18
|
2,363,815
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The second SS Esso Richmond was built in 1942 by the Sun Shipbuilding" & Dry Dock Company at Chester, Penna. She is
a sistership of the Esso Buffalo, the Esso Rochester, and the second Esso Columbia, which became the Navy oiler USS
Atascosa.
A single-screw vessel of 18,615 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 30 feet, 4 1/2 inches, the Esso
Richmond has an overall length of 547 feet, 2 3/4 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 521 feet, a moulded breadth of
70 feet, and a depth moulded of 40 feet. With a cargo carrying capacity of 153,704 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate
of 8,000 barrels an hour.
Her turbine engine, supplied with steam by three water-tube boilers, develops 9,020 shaft horsepower and gives her a clas-
sification certified speed of 15.5 knots.
The masters of the Esso Richmond in the war years were Captains Frank H. Spurr, John L. Johnson, Guy A. Campbell, and
Wesley F. Besse.
In charge of her engineroom during the same period were Chief Engineers Harold O. Laffitte, John W. BaIzli, Ernest A. Lar-
son, Thor O. Sandin, and Everett Brown.