SS BERING was a cargo ship built by the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1920, although her original name was SALATIGA. She was renamed BERING in 1926 (likely when she was sold to a new owner), renamed again to HELLENIC in 1946, to VENUS in 1951, and was finally scrapped in 1959. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/sun.htm and scroll to hull number 21. A photograph of the ship, as SALATIGA, is at http://www.wivonet.nl/pagdrie2.htm. For other possible sources of photographs, see http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html.
The subscription Ancestry.com website (www.ancestry.com), which is more commonly used for genealogical research, includes databases of the names of passengers and crew of ships that arrived at various U.S. ports of entry as early as about 1820 and continuing as late as 1957, depending on the port in question. I made a search of Ancestry.com and found a record for a seaman by the name of Charles Arnold arriving in San Francisco aboard BERING on October 30, 1945, from Manila, Philippine Islands. He was listed as age 28, with four months of sea service, and joined the ship on June 20, 1945, in Portland, Oregon. He was described as 5'6" tall and 142 pounds. Does this describe your father?
His position on the ship was that of "B.R. utility" which likely means he was a bedroom steward for the ship's officers and passengers. He was part of the steward's department, which is that portion of the crew that is responsible for meals and accommodations aboard ship, including (possibly in his case) cleaning cabins and doing laundry.
The ship had a crew of 41 and had 13 passengers, including nine priests, two teen-age students, a lawyer and a businessman, all citizens of the Philippines.
The names of the crewmen and their positions are as follows:
Sahlgren, William Master (i.e., captain)
Pounds, Victor M. Chief mate
Mueller, John B. 2nd mate
Gimble, William 3rd mate
Burns, George Purser
Henson, Lester Chief radioman
Henson, Luther 2nd radioman
Moe, Ole T. Boatswain
Ludersen, Johan Carpenter
Watkins, Milford Able seaman
Pavola, Donald "
Smith, Merle "
Bakke, Myron "
Henderson, James "
Pont, Vernon "
Nelson, Kenneth Ordinary seaman
Issacs, Howard "
Long, Conrad "
Erickson, Gunnar Chief engineer
Stimpson, Harris 1st engineer
Boyum, Earl 2nd engineer
Gip, Ah Fong Chan 3rd engineer
Sanchez, Lazaro 4th engineer
Goldstine, Harry Deck engineer
Dunbar, Willie Oiler
Stillwell, Curtis "
Mish, Stanley "
Seidelman, Jack Fireman
Gurley, Richard "
Allen, Billie "
Huddleston, Lester Wiper
Burger, Dale "
MacDonald, Adrian Chief steward
Foster, Donald Chief cook
Caldwell, Henry 2nd cook
Suguitan, Ambrocio 3rd cook
Childers, William Messman
Sulpot, Julio "
Lambert, Richard "
Miller, Lloyd "
Arnold, Charles BR utility
If this was your father, he was 28 at the time of this voyage but about 1/3 of the crew was age 20 or younger. It is possible that some of these younger men, now in their 80s, may still be living. But I would have no way to supply contact information for any of them.
For a modest cost you could obtain a short-term subscription to Ancestry.com and make the same search I did. See the Ancestry.com homepage for a link to subscription options.
You may be able to obtain additional information about your father’s seagoing career by contacting the U.S. Coast Guard, which was and is responsible for maintaining records of merchant seamen and officers. See this page of the Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website for information on contacting the Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center: http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. In particular see section A.2. Records of Individuals - Merchant Marine. Additional information may include other voyages in addition to the one I found.
Good luck and I hope the above information is useful.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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