Keith Tillotson
The Trial (1944)
When we hit Australia the crew got up a petition about the chief engineer. Now, he was a regular alcoholic type of guy. I remember when we left Seattle he was stacking his room full of liquor. There was one guy that was stealing it. He caught him doing it, and the guy threw the whole case over the side. So that wasn't too good a trip for him to start off with.
We had taken on a lot of troops in Hawaii to head for Guadalcanal, and the chief engineer decided he'd put a lot of chlorine in the water so they wouldn't drink so much of it. Had only about two spigots for about a thousand troops to fill up their canteens and drink. He put so damn much chlorine in you could hardly drink it. We didn't have to worry about that down in the engine room, 'cause we could just tap out of the tanks downstairs that didn't have the chlorine in 'em. They didn't like that.
He didn't need to conserve water. In the Merchant Marine you usually pick up your regular drinking water in port, but we also made it – evaporated a lot of water – and he didn't need to put all that chlorine in there.
And, the food was bad. They even found cockroach wings in the soup. An awful lot of cockroaches – you'd have your water bowl full of those things in your stateroom. Runnin' across your chest. It was bad. 'Cause it was a wooden superstructure. Creaked like the old type ship.
Well, the crew got up a petition about all this stuff. See, aboard ship you're hauling Marines or Army, and they had a Marine crew aboard. We had a civilian captain, but the Army tells you where to go – what island. They give you the destination. You also had a Navy gun crews, plus the Merchant Marine. Everybody hated everybody, almost. 'Course the service people they couldn't get a petition, but the Merchant Marine can.
So they got up a petition, and I signed that petition. I was the only officer that signed it.
When we hit Guadalcanal, the chief decided to dump one of those tanks to wash out the bilges. In the states, that'd be against the law to do that. A lot of oil in the bilges leaks. I was in charge of the water and oiling the ship, taking on oil and all that. That's what the second engineer does. He says, "Wash out the bilges with that chlorine water." He gave me orders to do that, so we did it. But, everything I did, I put in a logbook, you know.
When they unloaded the ship in Guadalcanal, they went to Australia. Some port in northern Australia – I forgot the name of it. I'd have to look it up on the map. Had a Coast Guard trial. United States Coast Guard – they're in charge of issuing all the licenses for the Merchant Marine. And they came aboard.
The only one they called up to testify, it was me. So it was my word against the captain, the doctor – the Marine – the chief engineering officer, and somebody else. My word against all those guys. I got peed off.
But all they did, they give the chief warning – and the captain – to be more lenient with the water or whatever.
See, when you're out at sea, the captain's in charge. The captain, the doctor, and the chief engineer. They're God out there. Whatever they say it is, you gotta do. They couldn't – they didn't fine him or anything. They just told him to be – what not to do, what he shouldn't be doing. That's about all there was to it.
But, you can imagine the relationship I had with the chief engineer on the way back. For the reports – the daily – I'd just throw a thing on his desk, you know.