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OIL FROM ABADAN
SS W. H. Libby
The Esso tanker W.H. Libby arrived at Boston, September 3, 1939, the day of the declaration of war in Europe, to discharge 79,442 barrels of crude and fuel oils brought from Texas City. She was commanded by Captain Alfred J. Thorson and Chief Engineer Ben R. Chappelle was in charge of her engineroom.
Following a short period of coastwise service the vessel was sold by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey to the Panama Transport Company - November 18, 1939, at Montreal. At this time her American crew was replaced by Canad-ians.
The W. H. Libby carried cargoes of fuel oil from Montreal to Three Rivers, Canada, and from Caripito to Belem, Brazil, then - January, 1940 - was dispatched from Caripito to Le Havre, France. On her return across the Atlantic she repaired at New York, after which the reduced demand for tanker tonnage necessitated her tie-up in the Patuxent River.
Brought back into service in October, 1940, the W. H. Libby was once again manned by an American crew. Her voyages during the remainder of the year included one from Aruba to Freetown and one from Caripito to T eneriffe.
The first eight months of 1941 saw the W. H. Libby engaged exclusively in coastwise and Caribbean trade. On August 22, she was transferred to British registry and a British crew took charge. Two transatlantic voyages ensued - the first from Houston to the United Kingdom, the second from Curacao to Iceland. On her return from that Arctic outpost she was transferred back to Panamanian registry and her British crew was replaced by Americans. Thereafter she was manned by Americans for the duration of the war.
The W. H. Libby sailed from Curacao March 7, 1942 for Cape Town with 69,745 barrels of fuel oil. She left Cape Town on April 9 for Abadan, in the Persian Gulf. While en route she was time chartered to the War Shipping Administration - April 20, 1942.
Concentrated on Abadan Loadings
Abadan, Iran's strategically located refinery and oil shipping point, was of incalculable value to^ the Allied war effort. From the time of the W. H. Libby's arrival there. May 2, 1942, until February, 1944 her
cargoes consisted almost, entirely of Abadan loadings. The sole exception was a shipment of fuel oil and Diesel oil carried from San Pedro to Sydney, Australia, in June and July, 1943. Twelve cargoes of fuel, Diesel, and furnace oils were loaded by the tanker at Abadan and delivered at ports far and wide across the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean - as far east as Australia, as far south as Port Elizabeth on the Cape of Good Hope, nearer by to Bombay and Aden, and finally, on her last trip from Abadan, to Naples.
Fueled Former Luxury Liners
Captain Arnulf Hartman, master of the W. H. Libby during the early part of her Abadan service-up to the May, 1943 visit to San Pedro - reported that while he was in command she fueled the Ile de France, the Aqnitania, the Britannic, and the Queen Mary, all of which were then troop transports.
The tanker was greeted on her arrival in Naples, March 29, 1944, by an air raid on the city. No bombs fell near the vessel. Thirteen days later, while bound from Algiers to Alexandria, she was caught in another raid, which was described by Captain Anthony W. Bissick:
"The W. H. Libby left the port of Algiers, in convoy, at 7:07 p.m. on AprM 11, 1944, bound east. At approximately 11:30 p.m., when about 35 miles outside Algiers, the convoy was attacked by enemy torpedo planes. Ship's Clerk Russell O. Wirtz, Messman Auguste A. Jumeau, and Ordinary Seaman Zenon J. Pinto were injured by flying metal - probably falling antiaircraft shrapnel. These men were treated at sea by a U. S. Navy doctor from an escort vessel who boarded the W. H. Libby at 11:30 a.m., April 12, and left at 12:25 p.m. They were referred to the ArmyJiospital on arrival at Alexandria, April 18, 1944. None of their injuries proved to be serious."
The W.H. Libby carried fuel oil from Alexandria to Haifa, then crossed the Atlantic to New York, where she arrived June 9, 1944. This was her first call at an east coast United States port since she had last visited New York in February, 1942 - two years and four months before.
She was once more assigned to coastwise and Caribbean service, in which she remained for the rest of the war.
The transportation record of the W. H. Libby during the war years was in summary as follows:
The SS W. H. Libby was built in 1921 by the G. M. Standifer Construction Corporation at Vancouver, Washington. She is a sistership of the John Worthington, the Livingston Roe, the Christy Payne, and the Chester O. Swain.
A single-screw vessel of 12,485 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 27 feet, 3 inches, she has an overall length of 477 feet, 93^ inches, a length between perpendiculars of 463 feet, 3 inches, a moulded breadth of 60 feet, and a depth moulded of 37 feet, 3 3/4 inches. With a cargo carrying capacity of 89,851 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate of 4,000 barrels an hour.
Her quadruple expansion engine, supplied with steam by three Scotch boilers, develops 2,800 indicated horsepower and gives her a classification certified speed of 9.9 knots.
The wartime American masters of the W. H. Libby were Captains Alfred J. Thorson, William Mello, Harold Griffiths, Arnulf Hartman, Anthony W. Bissick, Rupert W. Gwaltney, Elmer L. Carty, and Frank E. Wirtanen.
Americans in charge of her engineroom during the same period were Chief Engineers Ben R. Chappelle, Clyde P. Williams, Peter Olsen, Rudolph Fenslau, Howard B. Johnson, Frank J. Burchalewski, George G. Graham, Fred Lewis, Reginald E. Harris, William M. Strang, and Paul Christ.
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