Really Dad, A Merchant Marine?

I was going through some old papers after my parents passed and found the most interesting document. A Continuous Discharge Book from the Department of Commerce that belonged to my Dad. I have to admit that I had no idea what exactly a Merchant Marine was, and most certainly had no idea that my Dad was a Mariner.

My Dad's Discharge Book from 1942. I blurred his last name from the window.

What is a Merchant Marine or Merchant Mariner?  They are Private or Government ships or vessels that were used to transport goods or services throughout the navigable waters of the United States. In my Dad's case he worked on three ships that were car ferries that transported train cars, automobiles and passengers across the Great Lakes. The "car" in car ferry is related to train cars, not automobiles. He was a porter on the SS City of Midland 41, the SS City of Flint 32, and the SS City of Saginaw 31. My Dad was 23 years old and spent the Summer of 1942 working on these three ships.

The car ferry would pull into the dock at a set of railroad tracks and the train engine would push the train cars, using the tracks, into the ship.

The Continuous Discharge Book looks almost like a passport. The document was issued by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation. The book included date of birth, height, eye and hair color, complexion, place of birth, his thumb print, signature and photo. This page was signed by the Assistant Inspector of Hulls at the Port of Toledo in Ohio.

The log pages of his discharge book lists the name of the ship, the date and place of engagement, rating (job), description of voyage, date and place of discharge, and signature of Master and Shipping Commissioner.  In my Dad's book, for example, the first line of the log lists that he was on the City of Midland, engagement was on 6-5-42 in Ludington, he was a Porter, on the Great Lakes, discharged on 6-17-42 in Ludington, and it was signed by Chas E. Robertson (the ships Captain).

There is a strap inside the book that had a Certificate of Service slid under it. This document has my Dad's picture on it and certifies that he had taken the oath required by law to to serve on an American vessel of 100 tons gross and upward in the Deck Department in the rating of ordinary seaman. He received this on June 4, 1942, one day before he sailed. My parents were married exactly 2 years later on June 4th of 1944.

On the back of the certificate was a list of the jobs he was endorsed for. One was for the Engine Department to serve as a coal passer-wiper. A coal passer would supply the boiler with coal and remove the ash, and a wiper would clean the engine spaces and machinery. He was also endorsed for the Stewards Department and serve as a Messman (food handler).

My Dad worked the first two weeks In June in 1942 as a porter on the Midland. The SS City of Midland 41 was built for the Pere Marquette Railway Company in 1940-41 at the Manitowoc Ship Building Co. in Wisconsin for $2,000,000. This ship was hailed as the largest car ferry in the world. The Midland could hold 34 freight cars and 50 automobiles. It had 74 air-cooled staterooms that included 12 parlor suites, salons, and a beautiful dinning room. On it's maiden voyage, to Lundington, MI on March 12, 1941, it was loaded with 32 train cars loaded with 1,526,000 cans of condensed milk. Sweet!

The SS City of Midland 41

Post card my Dad sent his Dad, my Grandpa, after about 8 days of work.

During WWII the SS City of Midland 41 served as a training vessel for the Coast Guard and the US Navy. During the Summer months it acted as an extension of US10 and carried passengers and their cars across Lake Michigan. Then in November of 1997 it was stripped down to its train car deck and turned into a barge. The Midland was renamed the Pere Marquette 41.

They disassembled the Midland and took it down to the train car deck and renamed it.

For the next month my Dad worked as a porter on the SS City of Flint 32 and the following 6 or 7 weeks he worked on the SS City of Saginaw 31, also as a porter. The Flint and the Saginaw were sister ships that were built in 1929 for the Pere Marquette Railway Co and were also built by the Manitowoc Ship Building Company for $1,250,000 each. Both ships could carry 32 train cars and had 40 staterooms and 5 parlors.

This is the SS City of Flint 32 and it looked just like its sister ship the SS City of Saginaw 31.

The Saginaw caught fire in 1971 and was sold for scrap 2 years later. The Flint was sold to the Norfolk & Western Railroad in 1970 for $100,000 and converted into a river barge. The SS City of Flint 32 was renamed the Roanoke and operated until 1994.

I was surprised that my Dad had such an interesting Summer job. I had no idea that he worked on these ships, or why. Maybe his parents wanted him to get out of the small town in central Ohio where they were living and have a sea adventure. I am positive that he would have done anything to not work on the family farm that Summer. I know he may have been in college at the time and that may have been how he made money for that Summer. This was the first Summer after the December 7 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, when the United States entered WWII. Maybe he was trying to see if he wanted to enter the Navy. As it turned out he didn't enlist into the Army until March of 1945 which was closer to the end of the war. I think that may have had to do with his father dying in 1943 and he was the only male living at home helping my Grandma on the family farm. There is so much I don't know about my parent's younger years, and there is really no one left to ask. I guess I will just have to keep investigating through all that paperwork that was left behind. Paperwork like my Dad's Continuous Discharge Book.