Fort Schuyler Magazine Spring 2023

responded quickly and decisively, dropping the port side anchor to forestall further catastrophe. Clearly, Seth’s quick thinking demonstrated the resolve, initiative and independent decision-making capabilities instilled by his years of License training – the same training that has so guided countless generations of mariners. Several upper-class cadets, returning from late-night liberty forays, had bravely forded the torrent at the campus entrance and began assisting and directing the MUGs at the pier, further preventing a full break-away of the ship. Gil Williamson ’57 recounts how he and a fellow cadet, under an upper-classman’s direction, climbed a Jacob’s ladder to aid the stricken ship, deftly watching for broken steel mooring lines as he navigated the treacherously swaying rain-soaked deck. Eventually, the ship’s generator was fired up and her deck lights illuminated. Under guidance from upper-classmen, Maritime President Vice Admiral C. T. Durgin, Commandant of Cadets and Training Ship Master Captain A.F. Olivet and Maritime Executive Officer Commander James M. Maley, MUGs passed mooring lines between ship and shore. Meanwhile, the Cadet Duty Officer ashore had placed an emergency call to McAllister Towing, and by 2:50 AM several of their tugs had made all possible speed under the conditions to the Fort. A carefully choreographed operation by men and boats had TSES II once again secured to the pier – no doubt with an added complement of extra-strong mooring lines! “We thought the upper-classmen were gods in terms of taking over the scene,” recalls Ted Mason ’57 today, adding: “Vice Admiral Durgin, then President, called us together the following week to compliment our performance and indicated there was nothing in his four years at the Naval Academy that even came close. It set the framework for the next four years for the Class of ‘57.” And thus, the legacy and enduring value of Maritime’s honored regiment and USCG license training was made manifest in that moment of truth, in a raging storm back in November 1953. Acknowledgments: Steve Hertz ’57, Ted Mason ’57, and Gil Williamson ’57 for sharing their recollections of this event. Laura Andrews, MLIS at Stephen B. Luce Library for locating records published in The Porthole Vol. VI No. 7, 13 November 1953, campus news and the New York Times November 7, 1953.

Training Ship Empire State II, circa 1953, in the waters off SUNY Maritime. Converted from the USS Hydrus, a World War II U.S. Navy attack cargo ship, TSES II served Maritime College from 1946 to 1956.

Backs turned to the merciless wind and driving snow, anxious cadets await the arrival of tugs to ease the Training Ship back to her berth.

Part of McAllister Towing’s fleet circa early 1950s. The Cadet Duty Officer ashore at SUNY Maritime campus telephoned McAllister who sent several tugs to secure the TSES II when its mooring lines broke, threatening to set it adrift from the pier during a storm overnight November 6 / 7, 1953.

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