A violent storm at sea is an awesome experience. During one such storm, the ship was rocking so far that we couldn’t keep the dishes on the table. During another storm the waves must have been so high that they blanketed the ship. The machine gun turrets on each side and higher than the bridge were both flooded. I was in the radio room when the wave hit. The wall outside my quarters had been reinforced with concrete and steel. The wave hit it so hard that I was afraid the wall was going to collapse in on me. After the storm I ventured out . To my unbelief the railing had been shorn apart and tipped up at a 90 degree angle. It was not a simple pipe railing, but was perhaps 2 inches in diameter and all metal. It was hard for me to realize that a wave could be so strong as to cause that amount of damage to a metal railing.
At another more fortunately time, as we approached the Philippines, I would get at noon each day a report on a typhoon’s latest position. It was moving up at a rate which should have taken us to the position we expected to be by the next noon. The captain decided not to alter our course, but to try and weather it. When that noon came, we were in balmy, sunny weather. The crew all said, “Sparks, where is your storm?” When I checked its position, it had stopped in its tracks for 24 hours and let us sail by. The following noon it had moved up to the position we had been in. That storm crossed the Philippines and destroyed several villages. I was so thankful that it stopped for 24 hours and let us go by.
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