Moynihan - The voyage of the rose city: an adventure at sea

The Voyage of the Rose City is a work of nonfiction. Some names and identifying details have been changed.

Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth Moynihan

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

S PIEGEL & G RAU and Design is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

All photographs, unless otherwise credited, are from the personal collection of John Moynihan.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Moynihan, John McCloskey
The voyage of the Rose City / John Moynihan.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-679-64381-4
1. Moynihan, John McCloskeyTravel. 2. Merchant marinersUnited StatesBiography. 3. Seafaring life. 4. Rose City (Oil tanker) I. Title. VK140.M69A3 2011 387.5092dc22 2010052485 [B]

Jacket design: Christopher Brand

www.spiegelandgrau.com

v3.1

When I was a boy with never a crack in my heart.
W. B. Y EATS , The Meditation of the Old Fisherman

J OHN HAD A GREAT WANDERLUST , which, I admit, I encouraged. But during spring break from Wesleyan in 1980, when John told us he would like to ship out in the Merchant Marine for the summer, his father and I had vastly different views of such an adventure. Pat was in his first term as United States Senator, but when he was Johns age he had worked on the New York City docks, then joined the Navy, and he cautioned that it might be a tough experience. But as a passionate former sailor, I was excited that John might sail across the equator or circle the globe, so I immediately set about helping him. In the middle of the night on the date he was set to sail, he phoned us from a deserted New Jersey dock with the alarming news that the ship was not there. As we talked, a car arrived, crew members spilled out, and he hurried off.

Following his voyage, John spent the spring semester at Trinity College, Dublin, and then returned to Wesleyan in the autumn. He was accepted into Paul Horgans writing tutorial, which required students to produce a book. He hoped the journal hed kept while aboard the Rose City could serve as the basis of one, a proposal Mr. Horgan accepted. Although John spent much time thinking through the process, by terms end he had produced only a brief outline and a few sample pages for Mr. Horgans review, leaving the disappointed tutor with no choicehed have to drop John from the course. At their first meeting in the new term, when Paul Horgan unhappily raised the subject of the book, John stopped him by holding up 270 typewritten pages and asking, This book? He had spent the entire month-long break holed up in his room, writing. Mr. Horgan was pleased with his effort and suggested, with the comment, Keep sailingyoure on your way, that John work on a second draft for the university honors program. He received his degree with High Honors in General Scholarship.

John Moynihan on the Rose City

Pat was proud of John for making the most of the voyage and writing the journal; he loved The Voyage of the Rose City and hoped it would be published. But when I tried to read it I was appalledhow could I have put my child at such risk? His life had been in dangernot once but repeatedly! I was so upset and consumed by guilt I couldnt read it.

Pat retired from the Senate in January 2001 and died in March of 2003; then, the following year, John died from a fatal reaction to acetaminophen. In 2006, two years after Johns death, when I was still sorting through his papers and possessions, I finally read The Voyage of the Rose City. I was deeply moved, and so impressed by what he knew about people, the world, and himself when he was barely twenty. For almost two years I kept going back to Johns journal in my despair over his death. He was a wonderful son, a high-spirited, talented fellow who died suddenly just when he was about to start a new life in Australia.

Johns voyage on the Rose City was the most powerful and formative experience in his life, and his account of it reflects his spirit, intelligence, and heart. I felt compelled to publish a limited edition of The Voyage of the Rose City to preserve and share it. It was a healing experience to take the pages of his loose-leaf notebook and drawings from his sketchbook and turn them into a book. Working with Stonecrest Industries, compositors in Stamford, New York, near the farm Pat and I had for almost forty years, was restorative.

I had one hundred copies printed, and on June 26, 2010, the anniversary of the date the Rose City sailed across the equator, Johns brother and sister and I had a publication party with about fifty family friends. It was also the night of the June full moon. John and I called ourselves moon freaks because wherever we were in the world, when the moon was full we would try to find each other and talk. It was a curious and delightful bond; I say its due to his having been born on Galileos birthday.

Shortly after this, Celina Spiegel heard about the book and called to ask if she could read it. She liked it! I am thrilled that Johns account of his experience on a supertanker can be shared with a wider public and live on. I am grateful to Spiegel & Grau for making this possible.

YOURE NOT
PAID TO THINK!

T HE CALL CAME IN AT MIDNIGHT . One of the 124 watch banged on my door and gave me the word: all hands on deck to let go in forty minutes. Within fifteen the crew had assembled in the lounge on A deck. The Bosun shuttled back and forth between the bridge and the main deck, straightening out the logistics and trying to encourage a crew that was already tired and restless. This was itwithin a couple of hours, all twenty-seven of the current crew of the SS Rose City would be committed to an overseas voyage, and only the executive board of the company sitting in the bidding room in Seattle could really say for how long.

The 812 and 124 watches disappeared down the aft stairway to work the stern. The 48 watch (Billy, Jake, and me) and the Bosun shuffled down the main passageway and headed for the bow. The quarter-mile walk from the house to the bow took about five minutes. Along the way Billy and Jake briefed me on the job that lay ahead. More important, they told me how to write it up on the overtime sheet. Every minute counts. Take em for all you can get. Snatch it up! Jake would say, grabbing as if to lift J. Paul Gettys wallet.