Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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Sr ' , ... ML fw TRANSITION - STEAM AND SAIL AND LIVE SHE DID ........ THE THIRD VESSEL TO AMEND THE LEGEND OF ESSEX WAS COMMISSIONED ON 9 OCTOBER 1876 AT THE BOSTON NAVAL SHIPYARD. A CORVETTE OF THE LINE, SHE HAD THE DISTINCTION OF BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN STEAM AND SAIL DURING THIS CRUCIAL TRANSITIONARY PERIOD OF TIME. JUST AS TODAY, NEW INVENTIONS WERE FROWNED UPON, SCOFFED AT - NONE THE LESS, THERE WERE THOSE WITH FAITH AND FORESIGHT TOWARD THE FUTURE OF A RAPIDLY GROWING COUNTRY. CONSEQUENTLY ESSEX WAS, IN A WAY, FORTUNATE. SHE HAD BEEN DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO MAKE USE OF EITHER MEANS OF PROPULSION AND, ALTHOUGH UNKNOWN BY HER CREW, ESSEX WAS T0 OUTLIVE EITHER OF HER FOREBEARERS. PERHAPS NOT AS GLORIOUSLY, BUT NONETHELESS CON- TRIBUTING HIGHLY AND POSING INVALUABLE SERVICE TO HER COUNTRY. ESSEX RETIRED ON 27 OCTOBER 1930, AFTER FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE TO HER COUN- TRY, DURING WHICH TIME THE TITLE OF AMBASSADOR OF PEACE FIRST ETCHED ITSELF INTO THE LEGEND THAT IS ESSEX. THAT LEGEND WAS NOT TO REST, HOW- EVER, AS THE NAME WOULD AGAIN APPEAR ON, AND EVEN HEAD, THE NAVY'S LIST OF SHIPS - AND THE NEW WOULD DWARF THE OLD AS THE PAST BECAME PRO- LOGUE TO THE FUTURE.

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OF IRON SHIPS QQ' X f-4m.... ' .

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'ii ABOVE: ACADEMY MIDSHIPMEN SUMMER CRUISE 1893 RIGHT: RICHARD WESLEY KONTER AGE I5 MAY 1897 RICHARD WESLEY KONTER KUNITED STATES NAVY RETIREDJ, SURVIVING APPRENTICE OF THE THIRD MAN-OF-WAR TO CARRY THE NAME OF ESSEX, ENLISTED IN THE NAVY AT THE AGE OF 15 FOR 59.00 A MONTH. AFTER FOUR MONTHS OF TRAINING AT NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, HE DEPLOYED ABOARD ESSEX FOR A SIX-MONTH CRUISE OF EUROPE AND THE WEST INDIES. THE NAME ESSEX IS VERY DEAR TO US WHO SERVED ABOARD THE BARK-RIGGED FRIGATE AROUND THE TURN OF THE CENTURY RELATES MISTER KONTER AS HE REMEMBERS THE CRUISE: EACH MORNING, NO MATTER HOW WARM OR COLD THE WEATHER WAS, ALL US BOYS HAD TO STRIP OFF NAKED AND GO UP TO THE FORECASTLE, OR FOKSIL AS I SPELL IT, AND HERE TWO BOYS MANNED A HAND PUMP WHILE A THIRD PLAYED A SALT WATER HOSE ON US FOR OUR DAILY BATH. LATER, WE DREW A RATION OF THREE QUARTERS OF A BUCKET OF FRESH WATER IN WHICH WE HAD TO SCRUB OUR TEETH, SHAMPOO AND SHAVE, THEN SCRUB OUR CLOTHES WITH THE LEAVINGS. IF ANY WATER WAS LEFT, USUALLY ALMOST GOO, WE SCRUBBED THE SHIP'S PAINTWORK. THE ESSEX HAD AN AUXILIARY STEAM ENGINE ABOARD, WHICH WE USED ONLY WHEN LEAVING OR ENTERING PORT, OR IN EMERGENCIES, AND IT COULD DRIVE US ALONG AT THE FAST SPEED OF ABOUT FIVE KNOTS. WHEN STEAMING OUT OF PORT, AND AFTER WE HAD CLEARED LAND, THE ENGINE WAS STOPPED. WHILE THE ENGINEER'S FORCE WAS DISCON- NECTING THE LARGE PROPELLOR FROM THE MAIN SHAFT, US BOYS WERE ALOFT SETTING ALL SAILS. AS-SOON-AS THE ESSEX WAS UNDER CONTROL OF THE WINDS, THE ENGINEER'S FORCE WOULD USE BIG HAND CRANKS AND LOWER THE SHIP'S SMOKESTACK DOWN INTO THE FIREROOM WHERE IT WAS OUT OF SIGHT. WE WERE NOW STRICTLY A SAILING VESSEL.