This photo was sent to the Seafarers LOG by Pensioner Ted Vargas of Princeton, W. Va.It was taken at sea in March 1949 during one of the many trips he made to Cruz Grande, Chile aboard the SS Steelore.
He doesn’t remember the complete names of all the other men in the picture with the exception of Hector Duarte, with whom he had sailed on another Ore ship, the SS Bethore. Brother Vargas was the 12-4 fireman; Duarte was the 8-12 fireman.
The Ore ships were the bread and butter to many Seafarers in the port of Baltimore during that period, Vargas wrote the LOG in a note accompanying the photo, especially during times of slow shipping.
Brother Vargas sailed on three Liberty ships in the ’40s and ’50s. He presently volunteers as the 12-4 oiler aboard his fourth Liberty ship, the John W. Brown, based in Baltimore. He notes that a interesting book has been published about the John W. Brown. “Good Shipmates: The Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown, volume one: 1942-1994,” was written by Ernest F. Imhoff, one of the vessel’s volunteer crew members.
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