Further to the above message: I realized that you were asking about SS JOHN CARROLL, a name that had not come up in your other messages. So let me add to my answer in that context.
JOHN CARROLL was a Liberty ship built by a Kaiser Permanente shipyard in Richmond, California, in April-June 1943. She survived the war. From what I can tell from other sources, JOHN CARROLL may have operated primarily and possibly exclusively in the Pacific during the war. I can find records in Ancestry.com of JOHN CARROLL arriving in San Francisco, Seattle, and Astoria, Oregon, in 1944 and 1945, for example. In each case she arrived from Australia, Hollandia, Guam or other Pacific destinations. Point being, she did not operate on domestic routes only, if at all. However searches for "Beasley" and "JOHN CARROLL" in the period 1941-1945 for these three ports turn up nothing.
But that's not conclusive. For one thing, I doubt that the ship arrived only in these three ports and Ancestry.com records are sketchy for some ports. In any case I don't find the ship arriving anywhere in the last six months of 1943, when she was operational. More to the point, my experience with Ancestry.com records for ship arrivals at West Coast ports is that in many cases the records list the merchant marine crew but NOT any Armed Guard crew, although surely Armed Guard crews were aboard many or most ships on these voyages. I don't know the reason for this apparent lapse in record keeping but it is annoying. In short, Ancestry.com may not help you in this case.
All is not lost. In my earlier message I noted that records may exist in the National Archives. In fact I know that the Archives holds "Armed Guard officers' reports" that detail activity related to Armed Guard crews aboard many, many ships, regardless of the area in which they operated. The reports vary in quality, depending upon the diligence of the Armed Guard commanding officer on each voyage, but certainly a full roster of Armed Guard personnel aboard a given ship would be expected in each report.
These Armed Guard officers' reports are held at a major National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland, specifically in the Modern Military Records Unit. You may be able to obtain research assistance from the Archives staff to find records for JOHN CARROLL. The sticking point may be to determine when Henry Beaseley was aboard the ship. Presumably that would have been prior to February 7, 1945, when I found him aboard WILLIAM H. ASHLEY. You say his records do not indicate what dates he was aboard what ship but this narrows it down somewhat.
If you want to pursue this angle and request records for JOHN CARROLL in hopes of finding Henry Beaseley, write to the following address:
Modern Military Records Unit (NWCTM)
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
In your letter, include the name of the ship; the name of the person about whom you are seeking information (or just ask for copies of all voyage reports prior to February 7, 1945); the date/time period of interest; your full name, address, and telephone number; and as much other detail as possible about the information you would like to obtain. Due to the volume of requests received and the time needed to identify appropriate records, response time may be lengthy.
A charge will be imposed for research, reproduction and mailing of the records. However do not send any cash/check/charge card information with your initial inquiry. Archives staff will review your request and mail to you an estimate of the cost and payment information. Follow the directions contained in that letter to order the desired records.
Again, good luck.
Ron Carlson
Responses « Back to index | View thread »