Stories . PIECES OF MEMORIES Memories of the Raritan - By David Robb

Raritan - "Time Was" - by David Robb I was in Sturgeon Bay in '68 just after the ice breaking season. We pulled in to have our bottom sand blasted and painted. The sand blaster actually broke through the hull plating into the motor room on the starboard side just aft of the collision bulkhead. You and I know that something we never talked about was what would happen if a YTM ever holed out in the engine room. They'd go down like a stone. In Lake Michigan in March, survival would have been slim to none. We all hit the Office in S.Bay that night.  I lost track of the "Rhangotang" after I got off her. I  was on a sales call in Cleveland in about '81 and after arriving at my hotel over looking the harbor, I pulled open the curtains and there before me tied to the main dock was Raritan just three blocks away. Instead of a dinner by myself, I went down the street and grabbed three large pizzas and a couple six packs of cokes and asked the OOD for permission to come aboard. They had just finished chow but saved them for a late snack. I had the run of the ship for a couple hours. It was spooky as hell. I was having flash-backs everywhere. I recalled complex conversations, people's names, events, the bad storms, the boredom during maintenance, everything. It was a dead calm summer's evening. The sun was low and hot to the west.  When I took my old station on the bridge and put my hands on the wheel as I had for hundreds of hours a year before, the ship heaved. Even the OOD who was standing near me wondered what caused it because there were no other vessels in the area. It was as if Raritan knew I was back and bridled. Like I said, it was spooky.  I was leading seaman aboard her and the go-to guy when the ice was tough, really tough. Often, I was called out of my rack to go back on watch 15 minutes after being relieved to get us moving again. I developed a technique of working the wheel. I could feel the boat through my feet and hands and knew just what she needed to keep her moving.  I was even able to get her to break ice backing down. (Absolute no-no, as you know.) I did large semi-circles with the rudder amidships and then broke through the middle. Spooky. After Cleveland, I understand that she was decommissioned and sold to Kings Point as a training ship for the merchant marine academy there. That's the last I heard of her. Someone mentioned that she had seen some duty in the Hudson River. Oh, here's a little known fact. She was unique by her enunciators (and her canvas dodger with her name on it). Most YTMs had brass handles on them about 9 inches high. Being stationed in "beer town" we got a set of genuine Schlitz Beer bar tap handles that were about 14 inches high. They were simulated white ivory with the elegant gold and blue Schlitz logo on them. The engineers fit them in place of the old handles. Not exactly regulation but the Admiral liked them and gave us exemption in the ship's log for them. If you were standing at the windows on the opposite of the conn when moving from 11th step to 13th, you could get a nasty bruise in the back. I did. Only once.  Raritan had her main stick replaced some time before I got there in Jan '65. Instead of steel, it was aluminum. The result  of the reduced weight aloft meant that she could roll two degrees farther in bad weather (54 degrees) but then it was a faster return roll that could through a 200 pound man clear across the bridge. You know what I'm talking about. You always found a place to get wedged in to, in bad weather. Remember, all the green water that would totally flood the fore deck to the superstructure? Only the jack staff would be showing. Then, we'd all hold our breaths until she would bob up and shake tons of green water down the side decks and then do it again. On the bridge, it felt like an elevator falling and then she would cork screw around, the prop would cut some air and shake the hell out of everything and do it again and again - hour after hour.  I remember a new guy who was so sick one trip in October that he promised the old man his next two pay checks if he would stop the motion for five minutes! He didn't. How about those gorgeous summer evenings on the fantail under the awning? The first year, the Exec made us do manila 6 thread eye splices on everyone of the lashings all around the ridge pole wire. Of course, 6 hours later, we got a SAR call and being on Bravo 2, we knifed everyone of them because of the risk of damage in high winds.  David Robb.