John Brambora's Merchant Marine Page

The SS Windrush :

Was a steel ship that Dad sailed to Africa, Cape town, Mombasa, The Red Sea, Aden, Port Elizibeth, around 1940. Dad tells stories of seas so rough they had to tie themselves in there bunks. When the ship was in the bottom of the swells the ship was almost covered in water, and when it would reach the crest of the swells the propellers would come out of the water and shake the whole ship. How could they ever sleep at all. Dad thinks it was owned by the Dollar Steamship Co.
this email was sent to me i'll pass it along to you:
Joseph Stropole sailed aboard the SS WINDRUSH !
NOTE: THE SS WINDRUSH (PORTLAND ME)
WAS BUILT IN 1919, HOG ISLAND
WAS ORIGINALLY BUILT BY SHEPHERD LINES, AND RAN BY THEM THROUGHOUT WWII
WAS ACCOMPANIED BY ONE SISTER SHIP -SEA RUSH (SUNK 1942)
WAS ON NORTH ATLANTIC CONVOY RUNS TO MURMANSK AND ARKANGEL 1942-1944
WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE RUSSIAN AS TAIL END OF LEND-LEASE/MARSHALL PLAN- 1947 DISPOSITION UNKNOWN (SEE OLD ABS RECORDS)
MY FATHER- FIRST TRIP- 1937, TRAMP STEAMING TO PERSIAN GULF, ALEXANDRIA, PORT TUFIC, ETC...
MY UNCLE- OILER FROM 1942- 1943 (Peter Novak)
More on the windrush Click Here For A Photo

The SS George Olson :

A freighter that was built in 1919 as the Castle Town and was a steel steam schooner. (Thanks to Phyllis J. Kelly from the Puget Sound Maritime Research Library for this information.)
Was Owned by the Oliver J. Olson Co.
Sailed in april, 1943 on a 28 day schedule between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Puget Sound and Grays Harbor.
She was a 3500 ton World War 1 Shipping Board steamship. later operated by the Coos Bay Lumber Co. as the Lumbertown and Coos Bay. It was taken over by the Santa Ana Steamship Co. from Oliver J. Olson Co. for service on the Puget Sound - Kuskokwim River route.

The former steel steamship George Olson, in use as a towed lumber barge, went adrift while being towed across the Columbia River Bar by the Tug Mikimiki (2) in february 1964 outward bound for Los Angeles with 3,500,000 feet of lumber.
Three Coast Guard boats attempted to retreive the heavely laden barge, but she began to take on water and became unmanageable. She eventually went on the rocks of Jetty (A) on the north side of the river entrance, and was broken up.
For many days fishing vessels arrived at Astoria, their decks laden with salvaged lumber until they resembled miniature steam schooners.

UPDATE:

The rotting bow and mast stranded in the sand a mile and a half north of Coos Bay's North Jetty is the shipwreck of the George L. Olson.

"According to unconfirmed reports the George Olson, plowing toward the bar, was caught in the suction of a ship entering the jaws and thrown off course onto the rocks. Attempts were made immediately to move her but she settled back. No one was reported injured." The Coos Bay Times reported on June 24, 1944

Three days later, the ship was refloated after some of the lumber was taken off its decks. The vessel was pulled farther into the harbor to see whether it could be saved. Apparently, it was then grounded between Charleston and Empire alongside the shipping channel.

This information I found from the Navy Armed Guard website.
This report tells of the Cynthia Olson being sunk at Honolulu Harbor Dec.7,1941.
All hands on board were lost.

December 07, 1941. 08:00 hrs.
Another report.
Unarmed U.S. Army - chartered steam schooner Cynthia Olson is shelled and sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 about 1,000 miles northwest of Diamond Head, Honolulu Hawaii.
She is the first U.S. merchantman to be sunk by a Japanese submarine in World War II.
There are no survivors from the 35 men aboard.

Dad had been sailing the Cynthia Olson for a while and on the trip from Hawaii to Coos bay Oregon. When he arrived in Coos Bay, the Oliver Olson was getting ready to depart for Hawaii. So not wanting to wait several days until the Cynthia Olson was unloaded and reloaded again, he decided to take the Oliver Olson which was ready to return to Hawaii.
Dad was in Hawaii I assume at Pearl harbor, until almost midnight December 6th 1941 when they departed Pearl Harbor for Coos bay.
The Oliver Olson was out to sea 8 hours when Japan Attacked Hawaii. They had poor radio communications on the Oliver, so they were not aware what had happened or possibly they just were not told in all the confusion.
His family hearing of the Cynthia Olson sinking had thought he was lost among the crew. His decision to change ships had turned out to be a blessing.
Dad said many times ships were sunk or received damage just after he had changed to another ship.

Click Here To See A Picture Of The Cynthia Olson

Some other information found on the Japan Submarine I-26:
This information from: www.ww2pacific.com/japsubs.html

07June42. U.S. freighter Coast Trader is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 about 35 miles southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington

31Aug42. Carrier Saratoga (CV-3) is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-26, 260 miles southeast of Guadalcanal.

13Nov42. In the aftermath of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal: light cruiser Juneau (CL-52), damaged by gunfire, is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 as Juneau retires. [ Five Sullivan brothers.]

11 Sept 43. Seaplane from I-26 reconnoiters the Fiji Islands.

02Jan44. U.S. freighter Albert Gallatin is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 off the Arabian coast.

13Mar44. U.S. tanker H.D.Collier is torpedoed and shelled by Japanese submarine I-26 in the Indian Ocean.

29Mar44. U.S. freighter, Richard Hovey is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-26 in the Indian Ocean. I-26 then surfaces and after shelling the ship, fires upon the lifeboats and rafts, killing one sailor. The Japanese submarine then rams and sinks one of the boats before taking four POWs and clearing the area.

17Nov44. Planes from escort carrier Anzio (CVE-57) and destroyer escort Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) sink Japanese submarine I-26 in Philippine Sea near Palau.

More about the I-26