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PICS-FROM-THE-PAST

June 2006

These photos were sent to the Seafarers LOG by Pensioner Alfred Porcari of Howard Beach, N.Y. They were taken aboard the old Liberty ship Lewis Emery Jr. in 1954. The vessel was carrying coal from Japan to Korea on a 6-month trip. In the first (top) photo, ABs are tying up the ship in Japan. The Seafarer in the center is Agustin Tellez, father of SIU Executive VP Augie Tellez. In the middle photo, crew members "shoot the breeze on the #4 hatch. That’s what we used to do in the old days," wrote Porcari in a note accompanying the pictures. In the bottom photo, "The wheelhouse had portholes, so when we had to steer in tight places, like the Panama Canal, as in the picture, we had to steer on the open flying bridge." Porcari joined the SIU in the port of New York in 1947 and retired in 1991.