These photos were sent to the Seafarers LOG by Pensioner Gordon P. Driscoll of Warren, Ore.
The snapshot on the right was taken in 1946 when Driscoll was a saloon pantryman aboard the SS Central Victory, an American-Hawaiian Steamship Co. vessel sailing from the West Coast to the East Coast. Driscoll was on a beautiful beach in Mayaguez, P.R. that was practically deserted. He is drinking milk from a coconut that one of the locals had given him.
The other is a recent photo of him in his large garden with one of his prized watermelons. Driscoll, who said he’s sometimes called “the watermelon man,” grows the delicious vegetables (yes, they’re vegetables) and has won several prizes at the state fair.
Brother Driscoll, now 78, sailed with the SIU in the steward department for 33 years (with a two-year stint in the Army in the middle). He retired in 1978 but keeps abreast of SIU activities by reading the Seafarers LOG . . . and he wonders what that beautiful deserted beach in Mayaguez looks like today.
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