Posted by David Goddard Jr. on August 1, 2009, 12:14 pm
My father was part of the armed guard aboard the converted merchant tanker GULFPRIDE. This is what my mother told me the ships name was. It was according to her sunk off of OMAN near the end of the war. I however have not been able to find any information on the ship or my father in the archives available on the net. Anyone with sourced information please e-mail me. It will be greatly appreciated. dg2
I hired on at the Gulf Oil Port Arthur Refinery in 1975. I worked maintenance on/around the docks for over 6 years (1977-1984). I've seen the Gulf Pride at the docks numerous times over the years. I've even talked to some of its crewmen when they would come to our smoking pen. I don't remember any of their names... She was still coming in to dock as of 2015 when I retired. I know this isn't much info, but it does serve to let you know that this proud ship is still (as far as I know) in service.
My grandfather was the stearman on the Gulf Pride during WW2. His name was Ernest Davenport. I dont know for sure when he left. He became sick on the ship and they carried him off by a stretcher. He never went back. I remember when I was 2 and meeting the ship with my grandmother.
Here is what I have been able to find about the tanker GULFPRIDE, along with some information about an Armed Guard sailor who may be your father.
A ship named GULFPRIDE was built in 1927 by Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Kearny, NJ, for the Gulf Oil Company. She was renamed HAMILTON LAKE in 1955, and was finally scrapped in 1964. See http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/federalkearny.htm and scroll down to hull #86. There have been a number of ships by this name but the above-referenced vessel is the only one that would have operated during World War II.
A search of ConvoyWeb (http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html) turns up no fewer than 100 convoys in which GULFPRIDE sailed during World War II. Without exception, all of the convoys were within the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, and to or from ports on the East Coast of the U.S. A full history of the ship's operations between December 1941 and June 1945, both in convoy or sailing independently, is available at http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?search.php?vessel=GULFPRIDE~armain. There is no evidence from this history that GULFPRIDE was ever near Oman.
Searching a database of ships damaged or sunk during World War II, I find no mention of GULFPRIDE. The closest I can come is a ship named GULFPRINCE, which was damaged in a torpedo attack in the Mediterranean in 1943, with the loss of one Armed Guard sailor. There were a number of other ships with names beginning GULF…, all identified as tankers, that were damaged or sunk during World War II. But all of these other ships operated along the East Coast, in the Caribbean, in the Gulf of Mexico or, in one case, in the Pacific. See http://usmm.org/sunkaz.html#anchor15661.
I did two searches of Ancestry.com, a subscription database that is more commonly used for genealogical research. However, www.ancestry.com also has databases of crew members of ships that arrived at various U.S. ports of entry between about 1820 and 1957, particularly the port of New York. One search was for GULFPRIDE, and I found numerous records of her arrival in New York City in 1932, 1942, 1943, 1946 and 1949, and two arrivals in Philadelphia in 1941 and 1944.
I also made a search at Ancestry.com for David Goddard on any ship. I found references to a David L. Goddard arriving in New York on 19 Aug 1943, 12 Jan 1944, and 10 Feb 1944. In each case he was a member of the Armed Guard unit assigned to a ship named CITIES SERVICE KOOLMOTOR, also a tanker. In two of the arrivals the ship had sailed from Aruba, in the third case from Venezuela. In each record David Goddard is identified as a gunners mate third class; in two records he is further identified as having a serial number of 648 18 61. Was your father David L. Goddard, and do you know his serial number?
You could obtain a short-term subscription at a very modest cost to Ancestry.com so as to replicate the results of my searches. See the Subscription tab at the upper right of the homepage of Ancestry.com.
A search of the Armed Guard website finds five men who served in GULFPRIDE at one time or another. In two cases their service dates on the ship are not noted, and in a third case the man sailed in her after World War II. It is possible that four of the men may have been shipmates of your father. Their names:
Edward Roy Davis, no dates indicated Starret D Dobcon, no dates indicated Marc Enright (post-World War II only) James I Harman, 1945 James Arden Simmons, 6/29/42 - 11/26/42
I do not know, however, whether any of the men are still living, nor do I have contact information for them. I suggest you contact the Chairman of the Armed Guard veterans association, as he might know whether they are living and, if so, would have addresses for them. Please contact:
C.A. Lloyd, Chairman U.S.N. Armed Guard World War II Veterans Association 115 Wall Creek Drive Rolesville, NC 27571 Telephone: 919-570-0909 E-mail: clloyd@nc.rr.com
You may be able to obtain your father's complete service records, including the ships to which he was assigned, by contacting the National Archives. See http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.html for details. The same page also discusses obtaining detailed information on the operations of individual ships, also available from the National Archives, if you want to pursue that information as well.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard website www.armed-guard.com
Dear Dear, Ron Carlson, You have reenergized the search for my fathers existence. My sister and I have been searching for more than forty years for any information on my fathers military history. The one piece of information that was solid was his service number 648 18 61. So in fact you found my dad for me and my sister. Dad died August 4, 1948, I was 6 months old and my sister was 2 1/2 so we virtuly have no memory of him. Now that we both are getting older and have large extended fasmilies with only one blank on the family tree, our dad. I could never thank you enough for your help and the resources you've given us to make the work of filling in the nearly empty space on the family tree. Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH. David Lane Goddard Jr.
Enter "GULFPRIDE" (all one word) in the search box, and click on "Find Vessel".
You will get a rather lengthy list of her voyages during the war. Rather interesting is that she is not shown as having been sunk, and was still operating in early June, 1945.
This is not a definitive list, but it is based on extensive research done by Arnold Hague. It is certainly possible that she was sunk after the last entry in this database.