Ernie at Sea: Crossing the Atlantic

In the last installment of Ernest Boyer’s adventure on the Wesley Barrett, the crew finally set sail for Poland to deliver cattle to the war-torn country. This installment continues the trek across the Atlantic Ocean.  What does Ernie consider “one of the most beautiful sights [he] has ever seen”?  Want to know how he helps a stowaway that joins the trip?  Find out below.

Here are Ernie’s next five entries:

Saturday, June 15, 1946 –

Rained again today.  We passed two other ships.  Got into the routine of feeding watering and bedding the cows.  We turned our clocks up one hour.  It cleared up this evening and there was a full moon on the ocean.  It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen!

Sunday, June 16, 1946 –

It was a beautiful day on the ocean.  We had to move some cattle up [a] deck because Hold 2 was too hot.  After supper we had a short religious service.  Mr. Wolgemuth was in charge.  We passed another ship today.

Thursday, June 20, 1946 –

Arose this morning to see another day of fog.  Had a wonderful meal this noon.  It was claimed it was due to the Louis victory since our entire Galley crew is colored.  Fog lifted a while in the afternoon but settled down again this evening.  We saw sea gulls today so land can’t be too far.  Turned our watched up another hour.  Passed another ship.

Friday, June 21, 1946 –

Today was a perfect sailing day.  There were no white caps and the ocean was peaceful.  When we got up we could see the Queen Elizabeth several miles away.  There were more sea gulls.  We are anxiously awaiting the time we will see England.

Saturday, June 22, 1946 –

It was rather cloudy again today.  Had a rather interesting experience today.  About two-thirty I felt our engines stop so went topside to see what the trouble was.  I discovered we had been hailed by the Boulder Victory and were given stowaway from that ship to take back to Poland.  He was a young fellow who was going to try to get to his uncle in New York City.  His parents were dead.  I gave him a shirt and he seemed thankful.  Worked pretty hard today pulling straw.  We turned our watches up another hour.

Images and journal entries taken from a scrapbook of Boyer’s experience (catalog # 1000 0001 4085).

Part 1. Part 2.