Log of the USS BLESSMAN 9 January 1944

LOG:
There followed three more such trips during which no BLESSMAN convoy ship was molested by the German U-Boat packs which were then out in full force in the Atlantic.

A chronological summary of these cruises follows:

The second cruise departed New York, 9 January 1944, arrived Belfast, Northern Ireland, 19 January, departed Belfast 27 January 1944, and arrived in New York, 8 February 1944.

The third cruise departed New York, 28 January 1944, arrived Swanson Wales, 9 March 1944, departed Swanson, March, 13 March 1944, and arrived New York, 26 March 1944.

The fourth cruise departed New York, 6 April 1944, arrived Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 15 April 1944, departing Londonderry 22 April 1944, arrived New York 26 April , arrived New York, 1, May 1944.

MY COMMENTS:
We were seasoned sailors by now and always looked forward to tying up at some port for liberty ashore. Londonderry was a friendly place with lots of girls, lots of whiskey and a dance on Saturday evenings. The houses were small with no central heating. The houses I was invited into were neat and clean. In the evening the open fireplaces were the part of the house everyone gathered, because the rest of the house was cold.

At the Londonderry dock, where six of seven DEs were tied one to the other each ship had a deck watch, where upon returning to our ship, we would be required to salute and request permission to board, cross the deck of that ship and repeat the salute and request at the next ship. Eventually we found our ship and our bunk where we could dream of our next liberty and the Londonderry girls we left behind.

On one cruise we were lucky enough to be the first ship tied to the Londonderry Dock. One of my shipmates, George, seaman first class, had bought an unopened bottle of vodka that he hoped to smuggle past the desk watch. He asked me for my help. The plan was for me to go aboard first, walk to a part of the deck where we would be out of sight of the watch and he would throw me the bottle from the dock. He threw short and the bottle smashed into many pieces against the side of the ship. We cried over the loss of the Vodka. We climbed into our bunks complaining that war was hell.