This continues the reflections of Orville Hersch in his letters home about his time on the S.S. Virginian, the second UNRRA livestock ship to leave the United States, the end of June 1945.
Fire and Life Boat Drills
“We have fire drill once a week, also life boat drill at the same [time] or immediately following. Each person on the ship is required to go to his station for fire drill – and the fire hose is/hoses are turned on to check on their working alright [sic]. Then the whistle is as follows –
1 long blast – go to your fire station.
3 short blasts – turn off the water.
6 short blasts & 1 long blast – go to your life boat.
3 short blasts – dismissal – return to our work.
“In this life boat drill we all put on our life belts to which are attached a whistle to blow, a knife to cut or defend ourselves when in the water, a flashlight to attract attention in the darkness etc. The flashlights are all new batteries & shine brightly. The rafts on which 20 men can ride look like this:
From letters of O. R. Hersch, courtesy of Heifer International.
slats on top – also on the bottom – The bottom is like the top – so the raft cannot fall upside down. Between two [vertical] air tanks is a compartment containing fire signals, fishing tackles, chocolate bars, canned fresh water, hatchets, gigs, oars, spears, food etc.
Life boat drill on the S. S. Creighton Victory, July 1946. Photo courtesy of Ben Kaneda.
“In case the ship strikes a floating mine – a ‘SOS’ will call other ships to our aid – so these boats & rafts will help us out until the other ships arrive. The raft slides off the ship when a small ring is slid away from an open link and the raft held to the side of the ship so a man can climb down a knotted rope over the side of the ship to the waters edge and then swim to the raft. Our life preservers are well able to keep us afloat even tho we don’t know how to swim – most of us in case of danger would leap from the ship feet first & hold one hand between our chin on the top of our life preserver and the other hand over our nose to keep the water out. These life preservers give us a feeling of security in the midst of this boundless deep – the depth of which makes the deep azure blue of a deep blue sky.”
Bill of Lading
Besides the official cargo on the Virginian, the cowboys had brought along items like soap, needles, thread, buttons, etc., which Orville is distributing here to grateful Greeks in Salonika. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.
The livestock ships usually carried additional cargo in the bottom holds, of which Orville wrote, “Perhaps you will be interested in the bill of lading of our ship. We have –
2000 sewing machines
1548 bales of straw
13 steel chains weighing 14000#
30 bundles of steel weighing 93490#
41 steel bars weighing 149900#
12000 bags of 16% dairy feed
5557 bales of mixed hay (timothy & clover) – 293 ton
40 bags bran – 2 ton
702 bags oats – 40 ton
2735 ton superphosphate – fertilizer
260 large crated boxes of tractors & parts – 2 ton each
270 bundles of parts
325 heifers
12 bulls
375 mares
(also have 11 fresh cows – 10 living calves – so we milk & have plenty of milk & the calves are doing fine)
5028 net tonnage of our ship
7985 gross tonnage of our ship
48 men in the ships crew, seamen etc.
26 cattle men
To power this vessel, Orville reported it carried 13637 barrels (bbl) of oil with 42 gallons per barrel, or 2091 ton. It used 325 bbl of oil each day at sea and 70 bbl when in port. The ship carried 1230 tons of fresh water of which 35 tons were used per day with livestock on board and 15 tons without livestock.
Quite an undertaking! Imagine the details UNRRA had to work out for each of their 360 shipments.
Orville Hersch at the old wall of Salonika, Greece, July 1945. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.
The Seagoing Cowboys 