Page 2 Personal Experiences




From: Vince Leopold DC2 1952-53
	I don't have the faintest idea where Yosemite Sam came from. However, I can tell you that the Captain's gig was demolished in the late '50's, it also hit an immovable object in 1953 - namely, the starboard hull of the Whetstone. The deckhands were bringing it aboard in rough seas and could not hold the lines to keep it from swaying and it nose-dived right into the side of the hull. The rest of the carpenter crew and myself managed to repair it before we got back to Japan. I am sending you a picture (hope it turns out) - see below. Here's a little quiz you might want to put on the website. Where did the phrase "OK" come from? The version I heard involves a railroad yard worker who was in charge of getting all the cars loaded before they were connected to the engine for transportation. When the cars were loaded, he would put his initials in large letters on the side with chalk. His name was Obadiah Kelly. I don't know if this is true but it's the story I heard. Maybe someone else can come up with another one.
From: Vince Leopold DC2 1952-53
	This was the scariest moment of my cruise on the Whetstone and also the most memorable night – I wish I could live the second part over again. Somewhere in the waters off Japan or Korea in 1953, we ran into a typhoon. This was a bad one. I can still see those waves crashing over the bow and feel the whole ship shudder each time she tried to lift tons of water covering the forward deck. I don’t think we could have kept that up much longer without breaking up. What came back to my mind were the small cracks in the steel plates, just aft of the starboard boat deck. Weeks or perhaps months later, they cut out large sections of the hull and welded in thicker steel plates somewhere in that area on both port and starboard sides. However, it wasn’t long into the storm when we heard the bos’n pipe and the words “Now hear this. The ship is coming about. All hands stand by for heavy rolls,” and, wow, did we take some heavy ones. At that particular time, I wished I were somewhere else, like on dry land. However, for me, that wasn’t the scary part. Just by luck, I had the midnight sounding watch. We were now going with the wind and heavy waves, and the storm had abated somewhat, but the ship was still pitching and rolling. It came time for me to report to the com that C&R soundings were normal. As I started to climb the ladder on the port side, I looked forward and saw the bow swinging to starboard. The ship was coming about and going into the storm. As the waves hit us broadside, I remember the ship rolling to port and I hung onto the ladder railing for dear life. At one point, I looked down and saw nothing but churning water beneath me. My only thoughts were, I hope this railing holds. The few seconds it took for the ship to come about seemed like an awful long time. The rest of my watch turned out great. To anyone who has ever seen the ocean under a full moon, picture this in your mind. The ship was rolling, but not near as much as it was earlier. The skies had cleared except for scattered white clouds moving by at a pretty good pace, and a brisk wind was blowing spray across the deck. The moon was full, shining on large whitecaps as far as you could see. You could hear them breaking and with the splashing of the waves along the hull, and the steady whine of the twin stacks, it sounded like something a lyricist would put to music. It ended up being a beautiful night worth seeing and remembering.