The Voyage of the Rose City: An Adventure at SeaA gripping, beautifully told story of a young man’s coming-of-age at sea When John Moynihan decided to ship out in the Merchant Marine during the summer of his junior year at Wesleyan University, his father, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was not enthusiastic: As a young man, before joining the U.S. Navy, Pat Moynihan had worked the New York City docks and knew what his son would encounter. However, John’s mother, Elizabeth, an avid sailor, found the idea of an adventure at sea exciting and set out to help him get his Seaman’s Papers. When John was sworn in, he was given one piece of advice: to not tell the crew that his father was a United States senator. The job ticket read “forty-five days from Camden, New Jersey, to the Mediterranean on the Rose City,” a supertanker. As the ship sailed the orders changed, and forty-five days became four months across the equator, around Africa, across the Indian Ocean, and up to Japan—a far more perilous voyage than John or his mother had imagined. The physical labor was grueling, and outdated machinery aboard the ship, including broken radar, jeopardized the lives of the crew. They passed through the Straits of Malacca three times, with hazardous sailing conditions and threats of pirates. But it was also the trip of a lifetime: John reveled in the natural world around him, listened avidly to the tales of the old timers, and even came to value the drunken camaraderie among men whose only real family was one another. A talented artist, John drew what he saw and kept a journal on the ship that he turned into his senior thesis when he returned to Wesleyan the following year. A few years after John died in his early forties, the result of a reaction to acetaminophen, his mother printed a limited edition of his journal illustrated with drawings from his notebooks. Encouraged by the interest in his account of the voyage, she agreed to publish the book more widely. An honestly written story of a boy’s coming into manhood at sea, The Voyage of the Rose City is a taut, thrilling tale of the adventure of a lifetime. |
Contents
Section 23 | 134 |
Section 24 | 146 |
Section 25 | 147 |
Section 26 | 150 |
Section 27 | 151 |
Section 28 | 156 |
Section 29 | 166 |
Section 30 | 168 |
Section 9 | 38 |
Section 10 | 48 |
Section 11 | 49 |
Section 12 | 55 |
Section 13 | 56 |
Section 14 | 59 |
Section 15 | 66 |
Section 16 | 69 |
Section 17 | 82 |
Section 18 | 96 |
Section 19 | 99 |
Section 20 | 108 |
Section 21 | 125 |
Section 22 | 133 |
Section 31 | 175 |
Section 32 | 177 |
Section 33 | 178 |
Section 34 | 183 |
Section 35 | 185 |
Section 36 | 192 |
Section 37 | 196 |
Section 38 | 201 |
Section 39 | 210 |
Section 40 | 224 |
Section 41 | 235 |
Section 42 | 237 |
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Common terms and phrases
afternoon Americans Angola asked beer Billy Billy’s Bosun bridge business is business cabin Cabinda called Captain Charlie Chief cigarettes coffee crew dark Dave Martin deck deck department didn’t Djarums door drink Dumai eyes fifteen fight figured filled final finally find fire first fish five minutes flying forepeak friends fucking gangway geisha girls go ashore grabbed hand he’d head hell I-Ie Jake japan Japanese jimmy knew laughing launch light looked lookout lounge mate mess Miguel morning motherfucker movie night officers ofthe old-timers Osaka overtime pachinko port pulled QMED returned sailors seaman ship shit silent smiled SS Rose City stared started steward stood story Straits of Malacca sugieing supertanker talking tank thing third mate told Tony took town turned waiting walked wanted watch week wheel winch yelled Yokohama