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FIRST SUEZ CONVOY
SS W.S. Farish.
The W. S. Farish survived the war without harm from the enemy, but like her sister ship the G. Harrison Smith, she had many narrow escapes. Captain Hans Bonte, who was her chief mate from October 6, 1940 to November 18, 1943 and was later given leave of absence to serve as master on vessels of War Emergency Tankers, Inc., related some of the ship's adventures in an interview for this history.
"On December 7, 1941," he said, "when the W. S. Farish was en route from Aruba to New York, Captain Martin Olsen and I was on the bridge when Radio Operator Stephen Hidalgo reported the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. When I told the startling news to Chief Engineer John P. Martin and a group of men who were playing pinochle, they would not believe me until they listened to the radio themselves.
"That evening I relieved the second mate on the bridge. We were burning dim navigation lights. Suddenly I saw a pair of indistinct
green and red lights dead ahead. I turned the W. S. Farish hard right and then hard left. We passed a British tanker within 75 feet! I imagine that the blacked out vessel, seeing our running lights perilously near, switched hers on just in time. When the breathless moment had passed, Captain Olsen came up on the bridge. I asked him to look astern. He cautioned me always to keep a sharp lookout.
Near Hatteras.
"A couple of voyages later, when we were bound from Corpus Christi to New York, we had reached, about January 18, 1942, a position 40 miles off Wimble Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, when at 6 a.m. we heard the ship's auto alarm. Radio
Operator Hidalgo told us that a U-boat was shelling a Marine Transport Lines, Inc., tanker (SS Malay). A few hours later, he received warnings that submarines had been reported in our vicinity. We hoped most of these were false alarms, as at that time, we were not armed, but at the first warning, we commenced zigzagging.
"During the early night hours I was on watch and saw what appeared to be a flashing light forward of our starboard beam. As I had no knowledge of a buoy in that position, I extinguished all navigation lights. We had been told that it was a trick of enemy submarines to show flashing lights in order to be mistaken for buoys. No incident occurred and after the W. S. Farish was well clear of this possible danger, we again put on dim running lights, in accordance with Navy orders. Shortly afterward, a large vessel approached us from the port quarter and without challenging, us swung hard left and disappeared in the darkness.
"Arriving at New York January 20, 1942, we went to a shipyard for regular repairs and emergency defense installations. The latter consisted of a degaussing system, blackout equipment, a. 5-inch stern gun, four 50-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and a foundation for a bow gun. We also took aboard a Navy gun crew.
Saw Sinking Tanker.
"On a later voyage we left New York March 15 and were approaching Cape Hatteras when we received the report of a submarine
attack on a tanker nearby. Captain Olsen decided to turn the ship around, and head for shore. We steered a northwesterly course about 20 minutes, then came about and resumed our former southeast course. When I went to supper, soon after the radio warning was received, I informed the gun crew of the attack and told them to be on the alert.
"When the W. S. Farish approached the scene of the attack we saw the tanker in a sinking condition; a Coast Guard boat was cruising around and picking up survivors.
"Soon afterward we sighted two ships-the Wm. Rockefeller slightly ahead of us and a freighter forward of our port bow. After taking
bearings, I was in the chart room when I heard a distant explosion. Captain Olsen instructed me to sound the general alarm.
Coming out of the chart room, I was told that a torpedo had apparently struck the vessel on the port side. It was getting dark.
By Captain Olsen's order the alarm was switched off and I told the crew members on deck that the emergency was over as far as we were concerned."
The W. S. Farish, when war broke out on September 3, 1939, was at Las Piedras, Venezuela, whence she sailed September 4 with 139,856 barrels of crude oil for New York. Captain Joseph W. Rafalowski was in command and Chief Engineer Edwin C. Cox
was in charge of her engineroom.
For nearly three years, the vessel remained in coastwise service, plying regularly between Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico ports and
New York, with a few trips .to Baltimore and Montreal as well as intermediate voyages from Puerto La Cruz, Cartagena, and Guiria
to Aruba. In the main, she carried crude, although a few of her cargoes were fuel oil.
The W. S. Farish was time chartered to the War Shipping Administration on April 3, 1942. She started her first wartime Atlantic crossing when she left Curacao on May 11, 1942 with 122,528 barrels of fuel oil for Cape Town. Her master was Captain Martin
Olsen and her engine room was in charge of Chief Engineer John P. Martin.
"After we cleared the Caribbean Sea," Captain Olsen said, "we did not worry too much about submarines but we feared surface
raiders and when we saw smoke on the horizon, we ran. One night Second Mate Byron I. Lasseter called me and said he saw something. We were running all blacked out.
"I went to the bridge and could see a dark shape coming up on the port quarter and gaining on us. I called the officer of the armed
guard and had the guns trained on it. The unknown vessel sheered off suddenly and disappeared.
Missed Torpedo by 25 Feet "For my return to Caripito, the authorities at Cape Town routed me via Trinidad. One evening about suppertime, as we were nearing Trinidad, I was standing at the rail when a torpedo passed the stern, about 25 feet off. The water
was very clear and I could see the torpedo distinctly. I could not see the submarine, but we kept zigzagging until 9 p.m.
Fortunate Course Change.
"I altered course 90 degrees, went due south, and ran for about 50 miles on the new course before heading inshore.
"About 6 a.m. the next day, a ship was torpedoed where we would have been if we had kept on our scheduled course. It I had not
seen the torpedo and changed course, the submarine would have trailed us all night, awaiting daylight for the kill."
The next two voyages of the W. S. Farish were from Caripito and Guiria to New York with crude and from Aruba to New York with fuel oil.
Sailing from Curacao September 24, 1942 the W. S. Farish began a series of six consecutive trips to Glasgow, carrying fuel oil on
the first four and U. S. Navy special fuel on the last two. The second of those voyages provided a good example of the multiple
difficulties which beset the Merchant Marine when the exigencies of war and the caprices of North Atlantic weather-caused delays in the deliveries of war materiel.
The W. S. Farish left Curacao on December 29, 1942 with 116,837 barrels of fuel oil consigned to Glasgow.
At New York, she joined a convoy, which sailed February 11, 1943 for St. John's, Newfoundland. At 7:15 a.m., January 20, the vessel was forced to heave to in a southwest gale and heavy seas, which damaged her rails and life rafts. During the storm, she became separated from the convoy. The next day, January 21, at 7 p.m., she got under way and proceeded alone to St. John's, arriving January 22.
After her rails and life rafts had been repaired, the W. S. Farish departed February 9 to join a convoy, but could not find it and returned to St. John's. The vessel finally sailed in convoy on February 19. Arriving in Glasgow March 4, the W. S. Farish spent
eleven days in port owing to the crowded conditions prevailing in the Clyde when American troops and supplies were pouring into
Britain.
Quick Turnaround.
In contrast, the next trip of the W. S. Farish was expeditious. Leaving New York in convoy on April 20, 1943, she reached Glasgow
May 12 and sailed May 15 after less than three days in port. This was an unusually quick turnaround at that time and was accomplished in spite of the fact that deck cargo had to be discharged and that nearly two days were required to make minor repairs and adjust compasses. The W. S. Farish reached New York May 31, 1943-41 days after sailing.
Captain George E. Christiansen joined the W. S. Farish at St. John's on the second Glasgow trip described above. He relieved Captain Carl Svenson, who had been hospitalized. Captain Christiansen remained in command until December 22, 1944. Of the Glasgow voyages, he said:
"We usually loaded 21 planes and half dozen gliders on deck. In April 1943, we went to dry dock at New York and had a steel spar deck installed. Only one of the planes carried on the spar deck was damaged-its belly tank was lost in a heavy storm."
Following the trips to Glasgow, the W. S. Farish was transferred to Pacific service and made 4 voyages during 1944. On the first
of these, she left Curacao December 6, 1943 with 127,758 barrels of fuel oil and arrived at Milne Bay, New Guinea, on January 17, 1944. At that time, the fighting on Kwajalein was drawing to a close and ended with the capture of the island on February 8, 1944.
At Milne Bay, the W. S. Farish discharged into U. S. Navy oilers and HMAS Bishopdale and bunkered the destroyer USS Lamson. Making departure February 8, she reached Aruba on March 16 and loaded 126,140 barrels of special Navy fuel, which she delivered at Wellington, New Zealand, April 24 to 28.
The vessel's next cargo, also loaded at Aruba, was 121,110 barrels of special Navy fuel. With this, she went first to Tulagi, where she discharged July 7 to 9 into the USS Kangaroo. Stopping at Milne Bay for orders, she proceeded to Humboldt Bay, New Guinea, where Japanese resistance had ended on April 27,
1944. At Hollandia, from July 19 to 27, she discharged into the Coast Guard frigate USS Glendale, the SS J. Sterling Morion, the oiler USS Villalobos, the HMAS Bishopdale, the USS Panda, and the famous USS Victoria, formerly and at present the SS George G. Henry. History was being made farther north in the Pacific. U. S. forces landed on Guam July 19 and on Tinian July 24.
Pacific Experiences.
Captain Christiansen, who was still in command of the W. S. Farish at that time, related for this history some of the vessel's
experiences during this and other Pacific voyages:
"On July 4, 1944 at 9:20 a.m., when we were southeast of the Solomon Islands, we sighted a surfaced submarine about 4 to 5
miles oft'. It was running parallel to the ship, but in the opposite direction. The general alarm was sounded and the men stood by.
We signaled to the submarine but she did not answer; we could see her for about 30 to 40 minutes. The W. S. Farish had a 5-inch gun aft, a 3-inch forward, and eight 20-millimeter anti-aircraft guns; the last were set in two clusters-one amidships and the other aft. There were 27 men in the gun crew.
The submarine would have been a perfect shot, but we thought it was probably an Allied submarine and took no action. If it was
Japanese, possibly her commander did not want to risk action. At any rate, she did not fire. When we reached Tulagi, I reported
the incident to the Navy and pointed out the spot on a chart. I was told that we had no submarines there at that time and that it must have been a Jap.
73,000 Miles in 13 Months.
"In thirteen months, we traveled 73,000 miles at an average speed of 10 knots. We were frequently diverted to avoid Japanese submarines and other enemy vessels. Such detours at times cost the ship twelve days' traveling time. Barnacles and seaweed slowed us down; there were small minnows in the sea grass that grew on the hull.
"We often had two Navy oilers at our sides. While fueling them we sometimes had hoses stretched across their decks to cruisers or destroyers-in this way bunkering six ships at a time. We fueled American, Australian, Netherlands, and British shipsincluding a British cruiser which was dive-bombed at Leyte by a Japanese plane; 25 men on her bridge were killed."
Tribute to the Crew.
Captain Christiansen paid a tribute to the men that served with him in the Pacific:
"I believe that the crew of the W. S. Farish on those voyages was the best a man could hope for. They were excellent in every way, the finest crew I ever sailed with."
On her final Pacific voyage in 1944, the W. S. Farish sailed September 10 from Curacao with 133,876 barrels of fuel oil, which were discharged at Manus, Admiralty Islands, October 26 to 31.
During the remaining months of the war, the vessel carried crude oil from Cartagena to New York, special Navy fuel from Curacao
to Manus, Admiralty Islands, and from Balboa to Pearl Harbor, and crude from Puerto La Cruz to Philadelphia.
The wartime transportation record of the W. S. Farish was in summary as follows:
The SS W. S. Farish was built in 1930 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Kearny, New Jersey. She is a sister ship of the G. Harrison Smith. A single-screw vessel of 20,615 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 30 feet, 71/2 inches, the W. S. Farish has an overall length of 543 feet, 71/3 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 525 feet, a moulded breadth of 74 feet, and a moulded depth of 40 feet, 6 inches. With a cargo carrying capacity of 154,130 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate of 7,000 barrels an hour.
Her turbine engine, supplied with steam by two water-tube boilers, develops 4,400 shaft horsepower and gives her a classification certified speed of 11.7 knots.
The wartime masters of the W. S. Farish were Captains Joseph W. Rafalowski, Andrew B. Jakobsen, John L. Johnson, Chester
C. Ballard, Charles Warner, Martin Olsen, Peder A. Johnson, Carl Svenson, George E. Christiansen, Swen A. Malm, and Herbert
A. Nelson. In charge of her engine room during the same period were Chief Engineers Edwin C. Cox, John P. Martin, Harold O. Laffitle, Emil Enstrom, Earl Williams, Claude L. Lawson, Florence A. Daniels, Reginald S. Patten, John A. Waite, and Daniel C. Dunn.
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