So, when I was a boy, my dad had about a dozen pipes in a rack in the living room. I actually never saw him smoke a pipe, he gave them up in the Navy because they were too hard to fiddle with on board ship, he took to smoking cigars. He smoked cigarettes, but had his very last one on his wedding day, the last photo in my folks' wedding album was the last photo of him with a cigarette. When I grew up I'd have a cigar with pops from time to time when we visited. Pops died last December at the ripe old age of 92, he had a good run. Here's a shot of my dad, my son, and I at Grandparents Day at Valley Forge Military Academy when my son was a High School freshman there. He's 28 now, but what a photo memory this is. Navy, Air Force, then my son went Army, I guess my grandson will be a jarhead. We are all wearing leathers, by the way, no plastic shoes for our military family. 
So, this is a story about a pipe. And a ship. A fancy yacht, really. My dad worked summers in high school as a coal passer on a liberty ship in the Great Lakes, then became a fireman on oceangoing ships to work his way through a physics degree in College. He joined the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army in the Korean War and served three years at sea on the USS Waldron DD-699.
So, the pipe. It was a lion head briar bowl with an Ivory stem, and I've never seen one like it before or since, so no pictures. My mother tossed it when they left the home I grew up in, never realizing what it might mean to me or my son. But the story that went with it is what this is about.
So during one summer when dad was in college he set out from San Franciso on The Corsair, IV a former yacht of J. Pierpont Morgan, later sold and turned into a swanky small cruise ship. Here she is, in all her glory ...
Pops was on her crew when she met her ultimate demise, in 1949, when she ran aground in Acapulco after hitting a rock. No loss of life, but she was on her side and half-submerged when they got all crew and passengers off. Dad had that pipe in his crew quarters, and actually went back the next day and waded to his cabin in waist deep water to get some belongings, among which was the pipe. You can read about the Corsair IV and her demise here.
www.newyorksocialdiary.com
The story was a bit short, as she was not completely written off, at least at first. According to my dad, they had sent a floating dry dock out of San Francisco immediately, hoping to bring her back and fix her up, but while the dry dock was enroute, he said a storm set in and in the surf the ship was simply pounded into bits before the dry dock arrived.
A funny part of the story was that none of the crew had passports, as they lived aboard ship and were not expected to go ashore. They did not need passports while aboard ship, but with their ship now gone they were in Mexico without passports and Mexican authorities arrested them and jailed them. One of the crew was a retired Naval Officer who got hold of the U.S. Consulate who came and bailed them out and put them up in a posh hotel where according to dad, they got into quite a bit of trouble. They were not, um, as refined as the passengers, and some alcohol and fighting were involved, and the embassy folks barely got them out of Mexico, apparently, he never told me any of the details.
But that pipe was in his rack the whole time I grew up in our house and I would have loved to have it now, but he had not smoked it in years and mom tossed it with so much other junk from a 5-bedroom house when they moved into a downtown Chicago apartment. Along with about 40 years of National Geographic magazines from about 1966 to about 2006. Every one of them, no missing issues. What I would not give to have that collection today.
But this was about a wonderful pipe, with quite a story to tell, and its remarkable owner, my dad. I wish I could show her to you. Hope you don't mind this martini-fueled story. Kevin (my boy) and I never tired of pops' old ship stories. I miss him terribly.
So, this is a story about a pipe. And a ship. A fancy yacht, really. My dad worked summers in high school as a coal passer on a liberty ship in the Great Lakes, then became a fireman on oceangoing ships to work his way through a physics degree in College. He joined the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army in the Korean War and served three years at sea on the USS Waldron DD-699.
So, the pipe. It was a lion head briar bowl with an Ivory stem, and I've never seen one like it before or since, so no pictures. My mother tossed it when they left the home I grew up in, never realizing what it might mean to me or my son.
But the story that went with it is what this is about.So during one summer when dad was in college he set out from San Franciso on The Corsair, IV a former yacht of J. Pierpont Morgan, later sold and turned into a swanky small cruise ship. Here she is, in all her glory ...
Pops was on her crew when she met her ultimate demise, in 1949, when she ran aground in Acapulco after hitting a rock. No loss of life, but she was on her side and half-submerged when they got all crew and passengers off. Dad had that pipe in his crew quarters, and actually went back the next day and waded to his cabin in waist deep water to get some belongings, among which was the pipe. You can read about the Corsair IV and her demise here.
The tragic life of the Corsair IV | New York Social Diary
J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. could never have imagined his yacht Corsair IV being converted into a deluxe cruise ship whose short career would end in tragedy but it happened. J.P. […]
www.newyorksocialdiary.com
The story was a bit short, as she was not completely written off, at least at first. According to my dad, they had sent a floating dry dock out of San Francisco immediately, hoping to bring her back and fix her up, but while the dry dock was enroute, he said a storm set in and in the surf the ship was simply pounded into bits before the dry dock arrived.
A funny part of the story was that none of the crew had passports, as they lived aboard ship and were not expected to go ashore. They did not need passports while aboard ship, but with their ship now gone they were in Mexico without passports and Mexican authorities arrested them and jailed them. One of the crew was a retired Naval Officer who got hold of the U.S. Consulate who came and bailed them out and put them up in a posh hotel where according to dad, they got into quite a bit of trouble. They were not, um, as refined as the passengers, and some alcohol and fighting were involved, and the embassy folks barely got them out of Mexico, apparently, he never told me any of the details.
But that pipe was in his rack the whole time I grew up in our house and I would have loved to have it now, but he had not smoked it in years and mom tossed it with so much other junk from a 5-bedroom house when they moved into a downtown Chicago apartment. Along with about 40 years of National Geographic magazines from about 1966 to about 2006. Every one of them, no missing issues. What I would not give to have that collection today.
But this was about a wonderful pipe, with quite a story to tell, and its remarkable owner, my dad. I wish I could show her to you. Hope you don't mind this martini-fueled story. Kevin (my boy) and I never tired of pops' old ship stories. I miss him terribly.
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