Doctors and Small Ships
(by Tom Lucas)
Small ships don't have doctors, and that's just the way it is. The question is, what do you do if a man becomes sick enough to die without medical attention?
Such a thing did happen on the Stone while I was a fireman. We had picked up a load of troops in Okinawa, and were enroute to Nam, in convoy with two LSTs.
I don't remember if we were out one or two days, when Shimmel, a fireman attached to M division fell ill, and reported to sick bay. The duty corpsman became concerned, and put him in a bunk in sick bay, then called the HM chief. The chief in turn made the same diagnoses as the corpsman, it was Appendicitis.
During the day, Shimmels condition continued to worsen and Capt. Seabaugh was notified. The HM chief told Capt. Seabaugh that he could perform the operation, but he couldn't make any promises.
This had happened before on a navy ship. During WW II a Pharmacies Mate 3rd class, stationed aboard a sub, SS Sawfish, did successfully perform such an operation. At that time the Sawfish was sitting on the bottom of the south China sea waiting for a Jap convoy. The navy department which denied the incident until 1988, has now decided to recognize that corpsman, who is still alive, for his contribution to the mission.
Now back on the Stone. The signal bridge sent messages to the two LSTs informing them that we have a man in need of immediate medical attention.
In response, one of the Ts signaled that they had a doctor on board, with the troops. As quickly as possible, a highline operation was set up. The T came along side, and we attached the highline to port, and fitted a Boatswains chair, then sent it to the LST. The doctor rode the chair back to the Stone and we thought that would end the story, but it didn't.
Upon arrival, the doctor was informed of the situation; and it was then we learned that he was a dentist. Apparently he just wanted to get off that rolling T.
By this time all this had transpired, it was the middle of the afternoon. A radio message was sent to the nearest seaplane base which was by then at Taiwan. The Stone received a return message that it would be after dark before the seaplane could reach the Stone. So the rescue mission would be launched at first light the next morning, and that the plane would be arriving mid morning the next day.
The Stone's crew were all pulling for Shimmel who was getting sicker and by this time could hardly move because of the pain. Morning came and we waited. By mid morning Capt. Seabaugh called the seaplane base on Taiwan to find the plane had not left the base. He immediately called the MPA, LTJG. Wood, and told him to prepare to make a run for Taiwan at emergency speed if the plane hadn't arrived by noon. At noon there was no sign of the seaplane so Capt. Seabaugh broke convoy without permission from fleet and turned toward Taiwan. We cranked the engines up to emergency flank at 201 rpms or 12.5 knots, and stood by. On several occasions that afternoon Lt. Wood came down to Main Control and early on he saw that we were actually running at 204 rpm.
He only said, "keep a close watch on every thing men to make sure nothing is over heating. And if the vibration gets any worse cut back a little; we do want to get there" Then he went off to check the other engineering spaces.
The port engine crew had noticed our rpm on our monitor on their side and they matched it. That high rpm did cause some vibration; the props were probably a little out of balance. Lt. Wood did keep in contact with Main Control during this critical time. There were also engine repeaters on the bridge showing the rpms but no one called us down
We arrived at Taiwan near midnight and poor Shimmel didn't know he was in the world. I went topside while they were transporting our shipmate to a boat, bound for the navel station. There was no moon that night and not one star did I see; the sky was as black as pitch. It gave me the creeps. I only saw a few lights off the starboard side and nothing to port. We never dropped anchor; we just drifted while the boat was along side. When the boat departed, we resumed our mission at standard speed.
We continued on toward Nam that night and when that mission was complete, we went on to some other places. Eventually Shimmel made his way back to the Stone before we left West Pack for home, though I don't remember which port it was.
He told us that the doc said, that his appendix was just before rupturing when they got to him.
As far as we know Capt. Seabaugh never received any condemnation for braking ranks with the LSTs.
