My father who is 93 now, served on the merchant ship SS Bering 1944 or 1945 Vancouver to phillipines.Looking for photos of ship or any info. of where to look for details concerning this ship or crew.
Re: SS Bering
Posted by Russell Brown on June 4, 2018, 7:16 pm, in reply to "SS Bering"
My Dad was ordinary on the Bering in 1919 after returning from Navy in WWI.
Two stories I remember: At breakfast, one of the crew complimented the cook for raisins in the oatmeal but they were wevels.
Heavy weather in the Bering Sea under slow bell and no one allowed on deck and seeing single handed crabbers with a steadying sail working.
Re: SS Bering
Posted by Arthur Hayden on March 15, 2018, 3:03 pm, in reply to "SS Bering"
My father Alfred R Hayden was with the armed guard on that ship as it left Scotland for Murmansk, they were the "forgotten convoy" and were left up there for 8 months with no rations. He was a gunner and an Coxswain 3rd class in the US Navy.
Re: SS Bering
Posted by Joe Fuller on November 11, 2017, 7:25 pm, in reply to "SS Bering"
My father, passed away in 2002, was in the naval armed guard. served on the SS Bering when she was part of the "Forgotten Convoy" as a gunners mate. You can google "Forgotten Convoy" for a little more information.
Re: SS Bering
Posted by Jos Odijk on January 17, 2016, 7:02 am, in reply to "SS Bering"
Posted by Ron Carlson on March 9, 2010, 9:08 am, in reply to "SS Bering"
Jim,
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