Does any remember Lyle Webb Barnes who served in the Merchant Marines during the end of WWII, or how I can get info on him? He was my Father
Re: lyle barnes
Posted by Ron Carlson on November 6, 2008, 10:39 pm, in reply to "lyle barnes"
Gary,
The website www.ancestry.com, which is more commonly used for genealogical research, has databases of passengers and crew members of ships arriving in the port of New York, and several other U.S. ports of entry, for the period 1820-1957. Included in these databases are the crews of World War II merchant ships.
At ancestry.com I found a record for a Lyle W. Barnes, who arrived in New York City on 12 July 1945 aboard SS SEA BASS, which had sailed from Le Havre, France, on 3 July. He is listed as age 17 and, like most of the crew, had joined the ship in San Francisco on 29 May 1945. He was described as 5'10" tall, 160 lbs, and the total length of his service at sea was three months. Given his age and total service time, this was certainly his first voyage. He was not scheduled to be discharged from the ship at the port of arrival, so he would likely have remained with SEA BASS for her next voyage, whenever and wherever that might have been. His position in the ship's crew is listed as utility messman, meaning he was part of the so-called steward's department, the major duty of which was planning, preparing, serving and cleaning up after meals. The crew of SEA BASS totaled 80 men, of which 35 were steward's department staff, both numbers being unusually large for a merchant ship. This points to the likelihood that SEA BASS was operating as a troop ship, bringing servicemen home from Europe. Indeed other online sources (including http://www.armed-guard.com/ag96.html, which is on the Armed Guard website) list SEA BASS as a troop transport.
According to http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/westernpipe.htm, SEA BASS was a C-3 cargo ship constructed by the Western Pipe and Steel Company in San Francisco, being completed on 31 March 1943 for the U.S. Maritime Commission. She was sold into private service in 1946, underwent several name changes, and was scrapped in 1973.
While I cannot find any more information about Lyle Barnes at ancestry.com, it is possible that he had more extensive merchant marine service. The U.S. Coast Guard was and is responsible for issuing merchant seaman documentation ("seaman’s papers") so your father may very well be in the Coast Guard's records. You may be able to obtain his service records by contacting the Coast Guard's National Maritime Center, which maintains merchant marine personnel records, at:
U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center Mariner Information (NMC-4) 100 Forbes Drive Martinsburg, WV 25404 Telephone: (304) 433-3400
Submit as much identifying information as possible including name, date of birth, copy of death certificate if deceased, Social Security number, address, and Z or service number. (If you have any documents of his, a merchant mariner identification card has a serial number starting with the letter Z, hence the reference to Z number. A Z number would probably be the second most important piece of information, after the seaman's name, that you could provide to the Coast Guard. But if you don't have it, submit what information you have.) In your case you might also mention that he was a utility messman on SS SEA BASS in the period May-July 1945.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard website www.armed-guard.com
Re: lyle barnes
Posted by Gary Barnes on November 8, 2008, 5:52 pm, in reply to "Re: lyle barnes"
Thank you Ron
Re: lyle barnes
Posted by Rick Pitz on November 7, 2008, 3:02 pm, in reply to "Re: lyle barnes"
Ron / Lyle:
I have been doing extensive research on the troopships used in WWII. I have not completed the research on Sea Bass yet, but here is some additional data that might help.
Prior to the time that Lyle joined her on May 29, the ship had made several trips from San Francisco to Pacific theater ports. On June 8, 1945, she left San Francisco, transited the Panama canal June 16-18, and arrived in Le Havre on June 29, loading troops for their return to the US.
She left Le Havre on July 3 for New York, arriving on July 21. She left New York later that same day for Avonmouth (the mouth of the Avon River in Bristol, England), arriving there on July 29. She loaded troops for re-deployment to the Pacific theater. She left Avonmouth on August 2, 1945, transited the Panama canal August 13-14, and arrived at Hollandia (New Guinea) on Sept. 5, 1945. After disembarking her troops, she left Hollandia on Sept. 7, 1945. With victory in Japan, Sea Bass was diverted to Manila, Lingayen, and Okinawa. She next headed to Hawaii, then ultimately to San Pedro, arriving back in the US on November 2, 1945.
In early December, she left again for Okinawa, then to Pearl harbor, and back to San Francisco on January 11, 1946.
She sailed to Seattle, and on February 25, 1946 she sailed to Yokosuka, Okinawa, and Yokohama. She operated locally around Yokohama for about 3 months, and returned to San Francisco on June 3, 1946. She was sold at this point, as Ron indicated in his message.
Additional info on the ship: Length=492', beam=69;, draft=28'6" Gross Tons = 7,949 Speed = 16.5 knots Capable of traveling 21,000 miles She had twin turbine engines, and could carry 2,838 passengers (troops) and 184,900 cu ft of cargo.
She was converted from a freighter to a troop ship by the Moore Drydock Co., Oakland, CA, between Feb 9 and July 6, 1944.
During WWII she was operated by the Matson Navigation Company.