Whew - what a weekend!
I've been trying to get a moment in between my busy schedules to get to the boards to give you an update.
First, I can't express enough how GRATEFUL and DELIGHTED I am to those who participated this past weekend. There are so many names!!
Tim Katzung
Sam Trisler
Dennis
Rick
Lt. Cmdr. Dona Snodgrass
Lt. Snodgrass
Kat
Eddie
Brad
Monte
All the Cadets!
Man - I can't remember all of the names right now (or probably the correct spelling) BUT a hoarde of folks were present and contributed to the B-Fish! THANK YOU!!!!
So, what was accomplished?
First, let me tell you that Tim Katzung absolutely blew me away. He not only took on the Crews Quarters, but went at it with both a personal and financial gusto. The crew quarters on our boat had in the end been converted into a classroom during her days as an auxillary vessel. As a result all the original bunks, stanchions, and more were torn out. All that remained were the original lockers, bulkheads, etc. Tim re-created from photos and clues left behind new bunk stanchions. He fabricated these amazing replicas from scratch! The stanchions being used were made from wood and other assorted materials (some supported by plumbers tape). The new ones are steel! Then he installed and painted them. The racks we had (if I am to understand correctly) came from a liberty ship or some other such surface vessel. Tim removed these racks, sandblasted, repainted, and re-instaled them on the B-Fish (I'm still sore as hell from finageling them from the truck, down the forward hatchway, through the maze of FTR, OC, Control, Galley, & Crews Mess - keeping from scratching them). He replaced the old bunk support chain with over 100 feet of new. Needless to say, it was a very large task for one man. BUT it gets better!!! When he was removing one of the few racks left to repiar, repaint, etc, he dropped a braket between the bulkheads. So reaching between them, he found to everyone's astonishment a letter, still in its envelope, from one of the former crewmen serving aboard the B-Fish during her auxillary days. We are guessing at this last, as the letter itself is very faded and we cam across the word T.V.. So this has to be after the 40's. The letter is from the City of Florida, so either was sent to the Batfish while she was in Florida or afterwards in New Orleans (I'm thinking the latter). We took some high res photos of the letter and are trying to manipulate them in photoshop by creating a negative image so that perhaps we can make out the whole letter. It has a 6 cent Air Mail stamp and is from a wife named either Judy or Jody and there are two children mentioned in the letter too. Hopefully, we can discover who the letter belongs to. Right now it rests safely between two panes of glass in the back rooms of the Museum. I'll keep you updated as we go.
We also had a tremendous amount of work done on the upper decks. We removed a large portion, later priming the exposed support beams. The most difficulty came in removing the wooden plugs that filled the bolt holes - then of course the bolts. Dennis (original crewman) really helped out in this latter task. He really put a lot of us to shame, by the way. We are saving the deck removed, as some of it is from the original decking made from Teak. The rest is Pine. We are trying to establish a Plank Ownersip sponsor program and will make undetermined lengths of decking available to contributors. Right now we are looking at a minimum sponsorship of $250 per plank. I have found that this type of program has been a great success on other museum ships.
Sam Trisler did a great job of replacing some of the Stainless Steel in Officer Country, along with newly polished mirros from the Officer quarters. I never thought those mirrors would reflect again but our commanding officer, Correy Twilley is to thank for that. WOW! What a difference! I can only imagine what it would be like if we could get the large amount of stainless stell in the Crews mess and galley looking remotely like the stainless steel in the OC corridor! Sam also removed some fans from the Reefer so that they might be rebuilt. There is a large effort by many to get the galley and mess operational again. Sam and I also explored som enew areas that were former dry and cold storage spaces.
Mark Sarsfield cam ein the next day (sorry I missed you) and installed the newly acquired Navy tablecloth and linens in the Ward Room. These vintage pieces were an incredibly lucky find and they look amazing. Perhaps Mark can post some images of the decorative detail they each came with. Mark also reported that he replaced a ton of light bulbs and now we can see our way around better. Of course he also tinkered on the many other electrical and mechanical nightmares that are an ever going project. Mark is another contributor that has gone way above and beyond.
We had a agreat lunch from Charlies Chicken (loved the rolls and gravy especially) and some cool drinks provided by Loves Botteling. A lot of visitors too - each excited to see the work being done and wishing us well.
Tim's wife, Kat also spent time inputing the HUGE volume of data regarding donated and museum owned materials. When I last checked in she was up to the 1980's! But I think her eyes were bleeding by then...
Then our new potographer and upcoming newest member of the BLHA crew, Monte took a hoarde more photos. The total images are now nearing one thousand. Some of the views he had were from below the decking looking upward at the ongoing work and crews. Some really great stuff. We may not recognize the boat when we see them!
OK - this post has gone on WAY TO LONG, but as you can see, a lot occurred and is still coming up. I am really excited about our new February BLHA gathering and can't wait to spend another weekend on the boat. Thanks for reading all of this!
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