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Date 1-15-08
March 01
- 2008 update part three
of a former Great Lake's Engineering
Worker
This is loge with more of my memories of the building of the Edmund
Fitzgerald .
i suppose it is hard for anyone who didn't work at helping build one
of the most famous ship's in the history of the great lake's to relate
to what it mean's to the
myself and other ship yard worker's to know we were part of the building
of the
Edmund Fitzgerald . as for me anyway i have mixed feeling's as i think
about the big Fitz . there are happy memories' of helping build her
then there is always' the
sad thought's of the tragic end she came to 17 year's later when she
went down with all 29 sailor's aboard without a distress call for help
,no time for a plea it
seem's except i know there were their final prayer's to god .
yet there are more victim's , the 29 family member's ,the worker's who
are also
victim's . asbestos exposure has taken the health from many as well
as myself .
also other bad working condition's ,especially working in the double
bottom's
where it is small confined space's ,breathing all the welding smoke
without proper
safety equipment . i would go home and cough up black soot and even
red paint
used to paint the ship , this thing's all contributed to lung problem's
.
still i am glad and proud to have been apart and my contribution to
the building of this now famous ship what a beauty she was and what
good memories' i hold of those 50
year's ago day's and night's i worked . night's i liked to work because
it was cooler after the sunset because of the breeze from the Detroit
river , if you were lucky enough to be on top deck especially . day's
were very hot though if you were in the side tank's or even worse the
double bottom's welding or burning .
but it was an exciting adventure , i was amazed at the speed of the
building of
of the fitz and the other two last ship's built at the yard . i remember
the last winter i worked just prior to the yard going out of business
,i worked with two Frenchmen
fitter's most of that period on the last . we were inside the cabin's
installing the ceiling and when it came to my last day and i was handed
my lay off notice that
morning and proceeded to the ship we were finishing up i told the 2
Frenchmen
well guy's this is my last day . and to my surprise both of them grabbed
me and with tear's in their eye's they told me they sure would miss
me . ( i had always' heard the french were very emotional people ) and
at the end of the shift , i was
hugged again and again they both cried and i think i did too. you get
a close
comradery between your co worker's working under dangerous and bone
chilling
winter's working out side in winter and extreme heat in summer inside
the ship's
with all the welding , burning and so forth day and night the ship inside
become's
like being in an oven almost.
as i think i stated in one of my previous stories , you had to be tough
to work in the shipyard , i recall while waiting in line to pick up
my pay one Friday ,two big men were arguing about a one dollar loan
that one of them loaned the other .
so one say's to the other you sob you were suppose to have paid me last
Friday and if you don't today I'm taking it out of your rear end( cleaned
up a bit) <
so the other guy say's i was going to pay you today but since you've
taken this
attitude i,m not gonna , i got my pay and walked on out behind them,
and about maybe 10 yard's into the parking lot , the fight was on ,
both were as i said large men i would say 6 ft 5 one was and the other
only a few inches shorter but stocky
now the parking lot was paved if you will with molten steel slag from
great lake's steel so you can imagine how sharp it was and rough on
their back fighting by now on the ground, one on top beating the other
then the other on top and back and forth . some said we should separate
them . personally i thought if two grown men wanted to about kill each
other over one dollar them let them go at it ...
finally one of the foremen and a couple of guard's separated them. now
then
by the next work day i guess they had decided to forget it because they
seemed to be friend's the best i recall..
shipyard worker's for the most part were hard working hard partying
men and seemed to like to fight hard and drink hard too. i myself did
my part of partying and had a few altercation's being a young man anyway
.
back in the late 1950's wage's weren't as high as today and if you made
between
one hundred and two hundred dollar's that was a lot of money because
everything was much cheaper . gasoline was less than 20 cent's ,groceries
were much much
cheaper as well as everything else , new ford or chevy car's were around
1800.dollar's .and up. you could rent a house for 40 dollar's a month
.
aww the good old day's they were i miss them and wish it was that way
today.
back to the big fitz it took five hundred men with sledge hammer's to
launch the ship , you would drive wedge's a very short time then rest
and drive again until the ship was ready to slide down into the slip
.then a whistle was blown and five hundred men had one minute to scramble
out from underneath the ship to safety
as our welding foremen told us -a minute may not sound like much but--
you can run a long way in 60 second's and so it was .
i worked a few more year's in michigan and then moved back to my home
state of kentucky but i miss my old michigan friend's and ship yard
buddies as well as my
other friend's as i had lived in michigan since about 11 or 12 years
of age michigan was sorta like my home also. i do hope some other fellow
shipyard worker's will come forward and write some memories also i hope
some remember me and read my stories also i hope that we can get in
touch and talk over old time's . i know my memory isn't as good as it
was once but i still have a pretty good memory even after fifty year's
. i also know were not getting any younger and it is a part of our lives
helping build the edmund fitzgerald so we need to tell our stories as
someday
we will leave a legacy for our families and our fellow man because the
sinking of the edmund fitzgerald is something that need's to be remembered
and not forgotten . i hope some day the mystery is solved beyond doubt
as to why the
big fitz went down with her most precious cargo of 29 brave sailor's
.
again i wont to tell the families of the 29 sailor's i am sorry for
your loss may their soul's rest in peace . this is loge ( pronounced
as logie ) signing off for now .
Memories
of a ship yard worker
I
worked at Great Lakes Engineering Works helping build the Edmund Fitzgerald,
EVERYONE KNEW ME AS LOGE. I worked out of the welding department from
1957 until 1961. I also helped build two more ship's before the closing
of the yard. I worked out of the welding department at first as a welder
helper, then I worked as a welder. The first night that my boss whitey
the welding foremen told me I was going to weld, he told me don't listen
to the fitter's when they tell you that you have put enough weld on
what ever your welding, you put what you think is enough to put on a
weld. So sure enough I was welding with a fitter helper welding on what
we called a dog an L shaped piece that was used to drive wedge's to
pull the two plate's flush so they could be welded together. First tack
weld's ( maybe a foot apart and approximately 3 inch to 4 inch long
tack weld's, then after the plate's were tack welded from top to bottom
of the joined plate's. A strong back had to be welded that was like
maybe 30 inches long plate which was welded to each plate to hold the
plate's securely in place until they could be welded completely from
top to bottom. Then the chipper's would come back and chip loose the
strong back's which were no longer needed. Ok, getting back to the first
stage of welding on the L shaped dog on to one plate which was my first
job . I welded the dog on the top and was about to weld the dog on the
bottom because there was to be tremendous pressure on the dog when the
fitter helper would be driving the wedge to pull in the plate to match
the opposite plate even. Then before I could weld the dog on the bottom,
the fitter helper said oh that is enough weld, no use he said welding
it on the bottom too. ( I say's well your wrong the dog will break if
not welded all the way around with all the pressure your going to put
on it.) He pushed me aside and was determined to do it his way. So I
said let me get off to the side before that dog fly's off while your
driving that wedge. and I did, thank god too because after several huge
blow's of the sledge hammer the dog broke and it sounded like a shot
gun blast and the dog flew past the fitter ricocheting off the tunnel
way wall on the opposite side. No one got hit by it luckily so the fitter
say's to me you were right. Now this time you weld it as much as you
think it need's. I had to laugh because it was funny since no one got
hurt THAT IS !.
I
recall server worker's name's that I worked with which. I hope some
remember me also, it would be nice if they read this and get in touch
with Roscoe Clark and he can tell you how to contact me. That would
be nice to talk over old time's at the yard of our memories of those
long ago day's.
The
last winter I worked at the yard I worked doing mostly repair work on
old ship's one I recall was sitting in front of the yard in the river
. and the old ship was leaking below the water line. I went in at 5
am so it was still dark and I went down into the very bottom of the
ship with a flash light and as I made my way along the small inner bottom's
there were rat's scourging by me trying I suppose to get off the leaky
old tub. That gave me a funny feeling ( not really at the time afraid
of them though.) Ok another thing I recall - I was on top deck welding
one vary cold day and a lotta men were trying to get warm by standing
by a rivet pot that was used to heat rivet's, when this buddy of mine
tap's my helmet and say's to me, see the guy standing with his back
to you ? I say's yes, he told me why not have some fun , he has on steel;
heel tap's on his boot's so drag a little weld across each heel of his
boot's. I say's your trying to get me killed . He goes oh no no one
will tell it was you . So I did as he asked then got up stood by the
rivet pot opposite the man I had did this deed to. well wasn't long
until the man got this strange puzzled look on his face and he leaned
forward as if to take a step and of course he couldn't then he began
to curse saying what the ( blank) Then I guess he turned around as far
as he could and saw what it was holding him, then he easily worked his
boot's loose as there was only small tack's of weld so he broke loose
and really cursed ( say's ) if I find the man did that im going to beat
him up and throw him over board.
Playing
trick's was a habit in the yard for us and luckily I never got thrown
over board or beat up though. Back to working on the big fitz - I had
one boss named art and art had been in ww 2 he had been in the jungle's
and caught malaria fever I heard - and it left him looking vary thin
and didn't look like he felt good. So while I was a welder helper he
called on me many time's to go with him to the inner bottoms ( or double
bottom's some call's it ) and he say's loggie I trust you so - if you
don't hear me banging around back in there come looking for me, as he
I guess wasn't feeling well while inspecting weld's back in there where
it was so very hot in summer any way. It must have been well over 110
degree's if not 120 degree's. Anyway I felt honored that he trusted
me to be there and come check on him if needed be. Another thing come's
to mind is I was asked to go on the dry dock and take a welder helper
to help me get my welding cable on to the dry dock so I could weld.
Ok I was pulling my cable onto the dry dock but - My helper was just
letting the cable slide through his hand's not helping at all. So this
fellow worker said look at that sorry guy, he isn't helping you at all,
I said no sure isn't. So this fellow say's give me your cable and I
did, then he jerked the cable real hard and the helper went flying into
the cold ice cold water yelling throw me a life line. I know this was
drastic measure's but it sure woke the helper up . Shortly there after
it was lunch break and in the shop we saw curry the helper with an army
blanket wrapped all up in it, saying he hee I don't have to go back
out today whitey told me that I can stay in the shop rest of the day.
Oh
those day's so long ago are really good to think about even though it's
been many year's ago. I really loved working in the yard at great lake's
engineering. I started there as an eighteen year old wet behind the
ear's young man, the older guy's called me kid. But to all I was really
called loggie. The edmund fitzgerald was such a nice beautiful ship,
even in the cabin's it was so nice with drape's over the window's and
port hole's . and the galley ( the kitchen) it was all stainless steel.
I recall every one always' talking how beautiful the fig fitz was (
an 8 million dollar beauty we called her. ) I can't even imagine today
how much more it would cost to build her. to all the family's of the
29 sailor's I want to say you have my deepest sympathy for your loss.
I can only imagine your pain ( but I know the loss of my son sure is
a hard painful thing that I lost nearly a year ago ) so this is loge
signing off for now.
January 11, 2008
new update
2-4-08
WELDER
HELPER & LATER A WELDER
MY
YEAR'S AT THE SHIPYARD SEEM'S SO LONG AGO,
BUT STILL MEMORIES LINGER OF HAPPY TIMES SPENT
WORKING
ON THE BIG FITZ . SOME NAME'S COME TO MIND OF FELLOW WORKER'S AND
MY BOSSES .WORKERS >THESE ALL WORKED OUT OF THE WELDING DEPT >
BUD PONGRATZ WELDER HELPER &LATER A WELDER ,BILL TEEDMEN WELDER
HELPER ,WALTER KALARGIC WELDER HELPER, MACK HARRISON TANKMAN , ALBERT
PERKING'S BURNER, (MY DAD NICK NAME WAS CHESTER WELDER HELPER ) HIS
FOREMEN NICK NAME WAS MISTER DILLION - ( GREEN A TANKMAN ) , ( LABEAU
WELDER ) (BELLAMY BROTHERS WELDERS< ALIAS GOLD DUST TWINS )- HENRY
A WELDER -- JENKINS WELDER , PHIL WELDER ,FREEMAN WELDER , THOMAS WELDER
HELPER AND LATER WELDER . KERRY WELDER HELPER< THESE ARE ALL THE
WELDING SHOP WORKER'S I RECALL THE NAME'S OF ( I DO REMEMBER FACE'S
OF OTHER'S )
NAMES OF BOSSES THAT I RECALL - ( WHITIE WELDING SHOP FOREMAN)
TOM BAIRD , STEVE BAIRD , ART JOHNSON , (JIM BOB GARNER NIGHT WELDING
SHOP FOREMAN ) BURKART ? BOSS
OTHER WORKER'S NOT FROM THE WELDING DEPT : LITTLE JOHNNY CRANE HOOKER
: ANOTHER LITTLE JOHNNY I THINK HE WAS A FITTER HELPER , HE WAS ONE
OF THE CASULTIES THAT FELL IN THE CARGO FROM TOP DECK
I HAD JUST SPOKE WITH LITTLE JOHNNY NOT MORE THAN 3 TO 5 MINUTES BEFORE
HE FELL TO HIS DEMISE WITHIN A FEW FEET OF ME ,I HEARD HIM SCREAM AS
HE FELL.
ANOTHER 2 WORKER'S THAT GOT KILLED WITHIN THE TIME I WORKED AT THE SHIP
YARD ( ONE WAS AN OILER IN ONE OF THE BAYS ,HE GOT CAUGHT IN THE GEARS
OF AN OVER HEAD CRANE , HIS NAME I NEVER KNEW ? ALSO
ONE WELDER WHO WAS FOUND IN A SIDE TANK ,CAUSE OF DEATH I NEVER HEARD
BUT-- MOST WHO KNEW HIM SUSPECTED ELECTROCUTION BECAUSE HE WAS MISSING
HIS FINGER'S ON ONE HAND AND HE HAD TO PLACE HIS WELDING ROD UNDER HIS
ARM PIT THEN- CLAMP HIS WELDING STINGER ON IT . ( OUR SHOP FOREMEN WHITEY
ALWAY'S HAD A SAFTY SPEECH EVERY SO OFTEN AND-- HE ADVISED US THAT FOR
EVERY SHIP THAT WAS BUILT THEY
AVERAGED THE LOSS OF LIFE OF ONE MAN PER SHIP ) AND SO IT WAS WE LOST
3 MEN IN THE BUILDING OF THE LAST THREE SHIP'S BUILT WHILE I WORKED
THERE AND THOSE WERE THE LAST THREE SHIP'S BUILT BEFORE GREAT LAKES
STEEL BOUGHT OUT THE YARD .
OCCAISONALY A BODY WAS SEEN FLOATING DOWN THE DETROIT RIVER AND -- WERE
FISHED OUT AND BROUGHT TO THE SHIP YARD FOR THE CORRONER . ONCE THE
DRY DOCK HAD TO BE PULLED OUT IN THE SPRING I BELIVE IT WAS , AND A
MAN'S BODY FLOATED OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THE DRY DOCK, IT WAS SUSPICONED
HE HAD FALLEN IN THE SLIP THE PREVIOUS FALL OR EARLY WINTER AND SOME
HOW NO ONE MISSED HIM ,SO I HEARD..
THIS IS LOGGIE SIGNING OFF FOR NOW .
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