Carolyn,

Here is more information about EMMA WILLARD, which you may or may not already have.

EMMA WILLARD was constructed by the New England Shipbuilding Company, South Portland, Maine, in early 1943. Her keel was laid February 1, 1943, she was launched April 5, and was completed on April 22, 80 days after keel-laying. She was sold to a private shipping company in 1947 and scrapped in 1968. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/newengland.htm and scroll down to hull #267.

More specifically, EMMA WILLARD was constructed to carry troops (as many as 550 men) as well as cargo. During the war she was operated by Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates of Boston. On her maiden voyage she carried grain, steel and lumber to Avonmouth, England, in convoy HX 238 (see http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/hx238.html). She also made voyages to the Mediterranean. You may also want to make a Ship Search at the excellent ConvoyWeb website (see http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?home.php~armain and http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html) which will give you the whereabouts of the ship in various convoys and dates. I would do the search for you but have exceeded the rather generous limit that the webmaster of that website allows, out of a reasonable concern that users will steal his information for their own use. Any information you find will be about the ship, not its crew.

In 1946 EMMA WILLARD was sold or given to the French government. In 1947 she was renamed to SAINT NAZAIRE, sailing under the French flag. She was sold in 1967 to a Greek shipping company and renamed AGHIA SOPHIA until finally being scrapped in Hong Kong in 1968. See http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsE.html and scroll down to the name of the ship.

I have found two web pages that have additional information and photographs of the ship in her postwar service and appearance. Both pages are in French but you can translate the pages by placing the following URLs into the search box at www.translate.google.com (change the "From" and "To" language selections to French and English, respectively). See these pages:
http://www.es-conseil.fr/pramona/stnazaire.html
http://www.frenchlines.com/ship_fr_1323.php

Among other things the ship carried French troops to Indochina and also carried prisoners of war from Viet Nam to France during France's unsuccessful attempt to retain control of that country in the early 1950s.

Emma Willard (1787 – 1870), after whom the ship was named, was a women's rights advocate who founded the first women's school of higher education in 1814, now named the Emma Willard School, located in Troy, New York.

I hope this information is useful to you and your father.

Ron Carlson, Webmaster