Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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one t|iialiru(l ( )lli ci -ol-lhi-Di ' ck underway. And litsidts. the Kx(( ( omplctcly overlooked the fiirt that at least one ollicer not his eommis- sion on the hasis of havinij, for many years, made peri(Kli(al trips to ( ' .ap ' Lookout and the Culf Stream in a -,o-foot cruiser in pursuit of his favorite hohby of deep sea fishing without once getting sea sick. But all this is actually Ix-side the point; we had the boat out there in the Pacific, and we had to drive it; so we tigured we might as well drive it on down New Guinea way as we had been told to do. Here wc go, boys! Hold your hats!! Sailing, sailing over the bounding main. And many a stormy ivind shall blow Ere Jack comes home again. There followed many pleasant days of cruis- ing on the quiet waters of the .South Pacific, and we all enjoyed the pleasant company of a fine group of passengers, because, at that time, we ' hadn ' t begun to fight, and we had some leisure time on our hands (Oh, how we long for the leisure, now). It was the first time in those waters for most of us, and we really enjoyed the beauty of the Pacific, with its crystal clear, emerald green water, and its many species of flying fish, not to mention an occasional whale and school after school of porpoise, dolphin and shark. As the time went on. we drew nearer and nearer to the Equator, and the great ma- jority of us, being Pollywogs, looked forward to crossing the line with grave apprehension. It was, howc -er, on E minus 4 (four days be- fore crossing the line) that the secret leaked out. He had tried to keep it a secret as long as he could, but when Xeptune ' s representatives, lining up the .Neophytes ahead of time, asked him for his Sheiiljack card, he had to admit that, even though he graduated at Annapfjjis in 1932. he was an humfjje, lowly Polly wog. Well, to say the lea.st, it was som comfort to us 800 odd genuine and unembarrassed Pollywogs to know that we had a three stripx-r, 12 years out of Crab Town, going through the ordeal with us. .So, with increased fortitude and a grim determination to undergo our coming ordeal like men of the Nyvee of old, we went about our daily ta.sks, trying to forget that Davey Jones would soon be coming up through the hawse pipes with our Royal Summonses un- til on .Sunday, 2 July 1944, we received a dis- patch on board reading as follows: = FROM: HRH XEPTUXIS REX TO: USS LUXGA POIXT (CVE 94) 302330 X IT HAS BEEN REPORTED THAI IHE USS LUXGA POIXT WITH A FULL C;OM- PLEMEXT OF GROSS POLLYWOGS IS ABOUT TO ENTER MY ROYAL DO- MAIX X IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED TH. T ALL MY LO AL SHELLBAC:KS ABOARD IXSTITUTE A RO AL ClOURT TO TRY ALL SUC:H POLLYWOGS AS MAY BE FOUNT) IN THE C:OMPANY OF REAL SEAFARIXG MEX X IT IS DI- RECTED THAT A REPORT LOG BE KEPT B ' A TRUSTS ' SHELLBACIK SO THAT XO IMPERTIXEXT POLL ' WOG MAY ESC:APE due PUXTSHMEXT FOR HIS rashxess x all such OF- FEXT)ERS SHALL BE BROUGHT TO TRIAL UPOX MY ARRIX ' AL OX BOARD AT THE EQUATOR X THIS SHALL BE PROMULGATED TO THE CREW AT QUARTERS X X 302330 We continued with our classes of instruction and our arious drills with renewed interest and vigor in hopes that we could momentarily forget our impending doom, but even the con- tagious smile of our popular instructor, Com- mander E. G. O.sborn. U.SX. did little good in helping us to get our minds off our coming initiation, because on Mondays 3 July, we re- ceived another dispatch which read as follows: 34

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formation was received with ripples; in fact, waves of excitement throughout the ship, be- cause it had been a long time since we had been to New Guinea (never, for most of us). As a matter of fact, it had been so long that we had forgotten all we ever knew about the place; so much so that we were half hoping to find it populated with gobs of those beautiful South Sea sirens, the kind that Samuel Goldwyn had accustomed us to expect, waiting for us on the beach. This happy prospect almost made us forget the unhappy prospect of our coming initiation before King Neptune. Meanwhile, the Civilian Officers of the Ship ' s Company turned to in their determina- tion to prove to the Executive Officer that he was wrong. For it was none other than Com- mander E. R. Swede Eastwold, USN, who, in his first informal talk with our Officers in Bremerton on 4 April 1 944, said, and we quote him verbatim as follows: Well, I ' ve been looking over the Officer ' s Roster and I find the Reser es (he meant civilians) in the majority. I understand that other C E ' s before us have gone out under the same uncertain and shaky conditions, though, which proves it can be done: so all I want you to do is to prove it to me. I don ' t see how it can be done, but it ' s up to you. Do the job; that ' s all I want. The Exec, however, couldn ' t have realized how far wrong he was in estimating the ability of his officer personnel. He simply hadn ' t, at that time, interviewed all the officers to see just what their Naval qualifications were, because we were so fortunate as to have lawyers, engineers, chemists, bookmakers, radio crooners (a Na- tional hook-up, too), insurance men, football coaches, petroleum engineers, business men, lumber dealers, rising young business men, dry ice manufacturers, prominent young business men, lawyers, flying machine dri% ' crs, dentists, doctors, farmers (gentleman farmers, of course), lawyers, school teachers. Harvard men (a Vale man, too, and also a son of old Nassau), law students to be, salesmen, public welfare work- ers. Ministers (Methodist), law students, paper cup salesmen, filling station operators, three graduates of the United States Naval Academ -. classes of 1923, 1932 and 1935 (adding up and di iding by three gives an average of 1930; therefore, we were somewhat comforted to know that three members of the class of ' 30 were with us to keep us oflT the coral reefs that lay ahead), detectives, lawyers, lawyers, one child of the Streets of Paris, hauling contractors. certified public accountants, lawyers, boxing instructors, G.M.A.C. Bird Dogs, lawyers, obstetricians, and lawyers. For the life of us we can ' t understand how anyone can feel that all these qualifications can ' t add up to at least Top: Our escort center : . part of New G route to New G boltoi of San Francisco enroute to New Guinea: hangar deck cargo on Shakedown to Hangar deck cargo and passengers en- 33

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King Neptu nd his Royal C:o FRO?. : HRH NEPTUNIS REX TO: USS LUNGA POINT (CVE 94) INCONFOx UITY WITH THE CUSTOMS ESTABLISH! D SINCE MEN HAVE SAILED BEYOND THE SEAS AND INTO MY REALM 1 HE COMMANDING OF- FICER IS REQUESTED TO HAVE ALL LOWLY POLLYH ' OGS FALL IN AT QUARTERS ON JULY FOURTH AT 1400 TO RECEIVE SUBPOENA DIRECTING THEM TO APPEAR BEFORE NH ' ROYAL COURT ON WEDNESDAY JULY FIFTH X UNIFORM FOR SUCH LOWLY C REA- TURES SHOULD BE AS FOLLOWS C;0- LOx 0FFIC;ERS comma FANCY ' GREY OR KHAKI TRC3USERS BLUE SERVICE TOP COAT AND WHITE C:APS EN- LISTED PERSCONNEL WHITE TROU- SERS BLUE JUiMPER FLAT HATS PEA- COATS AND WOOLEN GLOVES X UNDER NO C:iIRC:UMSTANCES SHALL SUC:H PERSONS BE PERMITTED TO WEAR SHOES OR SOX X SPECIAL OF- FICER LOOKOUTS SHALL BE POSTED IN THE EYES OF THE SHIP ONE HOUR PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF MY ROYAL SCRIJBE DA ' EY JONES X UNI- FORM ANT) EQUIPMENT FOR LOOK- OUTS SHALL BE PRESCRIBED BY THE SENIOR SHELLBACK ABOARD X Tuesday, 4 Jul- ' 944: 12-16 Steaming- as before. 1405 Da ey Jones welcomed aboifird by Captain. Sure enoi gh, at e.xactly 1400. our officer lookouts, bemg ever on the alert, sighted Davey Jones climbing the down haul chains out of the depths of the briny deep, right up the bow of our ship and through the haw.se pipes, and they immediately reported the arrival of our dis- tinguished guest to the OOD, who, in turn, reported it to the Captain. The Old Man promptly invited Davey up to the flight deck where he extended him a warm welcome aboard, whispering in Davey ' s car that he hoped the Royal Court would give us Pollywogs H — the next day, particularly the E.xec, be- cause it was with a feeling of utter contempt that the Skipper had learned that his Executive Ofliccr, with all his years at sea, had never gotten nearer the Equator than the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. Davey Jones expressed his appreciation to the Captain for the warm welcome, and then looked down upon the supplicating Pollywogs with a supercilious and gluttonous expression on his weather-beaten face, and commenced reading the charges, most of which were faked, against the individuals bowing in great humil- ity and fright before his Majesty ' s emissary. Davey seemed to enjoy the suffering of the Pollywogs immensely as they stood about the flight deck, barefooted, and in pea coats and top coats, with that Equatorial .sun beating down upon them (and us), and the perspiration dripping from their chins. His expression seemed to warn the poor un-initiatcd that where beads of perspiration dropped that day, drops of blood would be dripping on the mor- row, after they had been convicted without trial before the Royal Cburt, and were re- ceiving their just punishment. After warn- ing the Pollwogs to be prepared for trial at ex- 35