thedrifter
05-22-08, 06:13 AM
Ocalan recalls life on the seas
BY GWENN WELCH
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER
Published: Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
OCALA – Merchant Seaman Henry Loftin shipped out of Norfolk, Va., on Sept. 16, 1940, following in the wake of his father.
"Times were hard, and it was that or starve to death," Loftin said.
Loftin went to Baytown, Texas, on a Standard Oil ship to get a cargo for delivery to Albany, N.Y. He made many trips like that, plus a number of trips to exotic ports of call, until his retirement in June 1954.
Some of the trips brought welcome surprises; others weren't a bit of fun. In 1943, for example, Loftin was on his second trip to the Mediterranean with a convoy.
"We left the convoy with a couple of escorts and headed for Bizerte, Tunisia," Loftin said. At midnight, the crew spotted a torpedo headed directly at the ship. The torpedo just missed the ship, but the explosion cracked its hull. When the crew arrived at Bizerte, they found no one there as the town had been evacuated.
By 1944, Loftin had earned the rank of second assistant engineer. His ship was at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia to get the bottom painted before heading for the Pacific. Loftin was aboard to oversee the work and got up at 9 a.m.
"I walked to the starboard side and, as I looked out, there was my father's ship tied up on the other side," he said.
Loftin's ship then left to make a trip to New Guinea, running alone and carrying fuel for delivery to the U.S. Navy. On his second trip, anchoring after 21 days running wide open from Panama to Layte, New Guinea, Loftin spotted his stepbrother's Navy ship moored right beside his vessel.
To earn rank, Loftin attended Officers Upgrade School. In March 1945, he went back to school and, after graduating, contracted out to the U.S. government to operate a tanker. He went on two more fueling trips to the Pacific for the Navy. He was on a cargo trip from Aniwetok, Marshall Islands, to Panama on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, Japan.
Loftin made trips to Ulithi, another speck in the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific, and to the Middle East, the Malacca Strait and Leyte Bay, Philippines. "We ran aground going through the Strait, and it took three days to get off," he said.
When he retired in June 1954, Loftin had earned a chief engineer's steam license and took a job as an inspector for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. He worked for the company 28 years, spending the last 17 supervising inspections, and retired in 1982.
Loftin moved to the area in 1985 and bought a home in northeast Marion County. He and his wife, Deena, have three sons. Loftin volunteers at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park, working in the office once a month. He is treasurer of the Ocala Chapter of American Merchant Marine Veterans. He and Deena belong to the National Association of Clock Collectors.
Ellie
BY GWENN WELCH
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER
Published: Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
OCALA – Merchant Seaman Henry Loftin shipped out of Norfolk, Va., on Sept. 16, 1940, following in the wake of his father.
"Times were hard, and it was that or starve to death," Loftin said.
Loftin went to Baytown, Texas, on a Standard Oil ship to get a cargo for delivery to Albany, N.Y. He made many trips like that, plus a number of trips to exotic ports of call, until his retirement in June 1954.
Some of the trips brought welcome surprises; others weren't a bit of fun. In 1943, for example, Loftin was on his second trip to the Mediterranean with a convoy.
"We left the convoy with a couple of escorts and headed for Bizerte, Tunisia," Loftin said. At midnight, the crew spotted a torpedo headed directly at the ship. The torpedo just missed the ship, but the explosion cracked its hull. When the crew arrived at Bizerte, they found no one there as the town had been evacuated.
By 1944, Loftin had earned the rank of second assistant engineer. His ship was at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia to get the bottom painted before heading for the Pacific. Loftin was aboard to oversee the work and got up at 9 a.m.
"I walked to the starboard side and, as I looked out, there was my father's ship tied up on the other side," he said.
Loftin's ship then left to make a trip to New Guinea, running alone and carrying fuel for delivery to the U.S. Navy. On his second trip, anchoring after 21 days running wide open from Panama to Layte, New Guinea, Loftin spotted his stepbrother's Navy ship moored right beside his vessel.
To earn rank, Loftin attended Officers Upgrade School. In March 1945, he went back to school and, after graduating, contracted out to the U.S. government to operate a tanker. He went on two more fueling trips to the Pacific for the Navy. He was on a cargo trip from Aniwetok, Marshall Islands, to Panama on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, Japan.
Loftin made trips to Ulithi, another speck in the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific, and to the Middle East, the Malacca Strait and Leyte Bay, Philippines. "We ran aground going through the Strait, and it took three days to get off," he said.
When he retired in June 1954, Loftin had earned a chief engineer's steam license and took a job as an inspector for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. He worked for the company 28 years, spending the last 17 supervising inspections, and retired in 1982.
Loftin moved to the area in 1985 and bought a home in northeast Marion County. He and his wife, Deena, have three sons. Loftin volunteers at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park, working in the office once a month. He is treasurer of the Ocala Chapter of American Merchant Marine Veterans. He and Deena belong to the National Association of Clock Collectors.
Ellie