High Seas Series : The Mary Joyce

Homecoming had been a long time in coming, Their ship had been decommissioned at Pearl Harbor and Wilson had asked is best friend and ex-Executive Officer, Oscar Robbins to accompany him home.

Oscar had no family, he had been an orphan and had been raised by several groups of disinterested foster parents. He swore he would never allow another boy to grow up as he did, if there was any way he could prevent it.

The two men had been at war for seven years, it was May of 1969 and they were weary. Their small ship had been savagely treated and it had been an all-consuming job just to keep the old wreck on top of the water!

They stepped off the Pan American Airways flight from Honolulu and Wilson spotted his Uncle Joe waiting for them at the Arrivals Gate, holding the hand of a young boy who was nervously dancing from one foot to the other. Oscar hung back a little so that his friend could be the first to greet his Family.

As Wilson stepped through the gate the young boy could be contained no longer he lunged free of Uncle Joe and leaped at Wilson, hanging on dear life. Man and boy were alike, tears were pouring from both their eyes as they hugged each other for the first time. They said nothing, the expression on their faces told the other all they needed to know.

They stepped out of the line of traffic to let the other passengers by, some snarled at the two uniformed men, but older men and women smiled at them and understood the young boy's need to be held by his father.

Uncle Joe had corralled a baggage attendant and they all headed for the baggage carrousel to retrieve the luggage Wilson and Oscar had brought with them. They both had sixty days leave coming to them before they were to be released from Active Duty.

Wilson had just been promoted to Lieutenant Commander and Oscar was a full Lieutenant. Since Wilson held Command at Sea, he was given the courtesy of being addressed as "Captain".

There were two sailors from the Darby Jones, their ship, and they saluted Wilson as they passed by to get their own luggage. Wilson saw them again as they were exiting the air terminal. The two sailors were standing there alone, nobody had come to meet them and Wilson could see they were trying to decide what to do.

Holding his son by the hand, he walked over to the two sailors, who immediately snapped to attention and saluted their Commanding Officer. Wilson told them to be At Ease and asked, "What are you guys gonna do?"

The older of the two sailors, PO1 Johnny Dale replied, "Sir, wes in a strange place, me n' Allen, we got nobody to go to an' wes never been here before, sir."

Wilson asked, "You have no families?"

PO1 Dale replied, "No sir, wes both been err err disowned by ours families sir an, uhhhh."

Wilson understood immediately and rather than embarrass the two young men, he said, "Why don't you come with us?"

He had looked at his Uncle Joe and Uncle Joe's head was nodding in a "yes", so Wilson continued, "Guys, we got a big old house down in Daly City, not too far from here. And you are welcome to stay with us until you can decide what you want to do."

PO3 Dale looked down at his feet and mumbled, "But Sir, wes........"

Wilson interrupted them and said, "Yeah guys, I know, but it don't make any difference, come on, lets get our bods outta here."

Both the young sailors were having trouble seeing, their eyes were too wet.

Oscar leaned down and put their bags on top of the luggage cart and they all went out to the short term parking area where Uncle Joe had parked his station wagon. Before they got into the car, Oscar whispered to the two sailors, "Yeah, the Cap'n and I know about ya. But you have been great shipmates and shipmates stick together. Don't you worry, we aren't gonna say nothing about y'all. Everything will work out just fine."

Little did Oscar Robbins know just how prophetic his words were!

The drive down to Daly City took more than an hour, the traffic was terrible as there was a ball game at Candlestick Park. When they finally got to Uncle Joe's house, Mrs. Bailey, Joe's housekeeper, was getting a little worried about them. She looked out the window as they drove up and she saw two extra people with them, so she threw two more plates on the dining room table and got the silver arranged as they walked in the door.

Eleanor Bailey had known Wilson since he had been a toddler and she hugged him tightly, a few tears running down her face. She turned to Oscar and said, "You must be Mr. Oscar Robbins and she looked to two young sailors over and said, "I doesn't know you boys, but iffn ya' come in with the Cap'n ya are welcome here too. Get ya all washed up, I got corned beef n' cabbage ta' dish up as soon as ya'll are sat down."

By the time Eleanor Bailey had finished stuffing "her" boys with corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and topped off with her fresh baked apple pie, everyone was groaning.

Joe took the two young sailors downstairs, where there was a large bedroom and an adjoining toilet and shower. He asked them, "The room has a double bed, I can move a single bed in here..."

Johnny Dale said, "No sir, that's fine with us"

Joe laughed, "Yeah, I figgered that, but I thought I'd ask anyways."

Johnny said, "You don't mind, sir, that us...."

Joe said, "Nope n' I ain't gonna ask neither. If'n my nephew, Wilson, said you was guests, then it tain't none of my business neither!"

After Joe had left, the two sailors hugged each other and tears flowed down their faces. Allan said, "Johnny, what are we gonna do?"

Johnny said, "Let's play it by ear, the Cap'n an' the XO are good guys, maybe theys kin' help us git a job." The two young men slept better that night than they had in several years, they didn't know what life had in store for them, but, after a good night's sleep, they were ready to face the world and all its problems.

Upstairs, Joe asked Wilson to step into the den, he needed to talk with him. When Wilson had sat down Joe began, "Son, we got some figuring we need to do. First, we gotta talk about Mary Joyce's estate. She inherited all of her folks estate and now, you are her heir. That amounts to about twelve million dollars!

Wilson's teeth snapped shut, he had no idea that Mary Joyce's folks had been that wealthy. Joe held up his hand and said, "Before you comment, there is your folks' estate, you are a very wealthy young man, Wil, they left you eighty-seven million dollars in stocks and securities and the ownership of a trucking line."

Wilson asked, "What about my son, Patrick?"

Joe smiled and replied, "Yeah, Patrick, he got the other half, Mary Joyce left him twelve million dollars also. It is in trust for him and you and I are the administrators of his money.

Wilson shook his head to clear the cobwebs and said, "What am I gonna do, Uncle Joe, I don't have a job an' things don't look none too hot in the job market right now?"

Joe replied, "Why do you have to do anything? You got a fleet of long-haul trucks workin' for ya' and a damned fine manager running them. Your stocks and securities are invested and turning a nice profit. Ya got a damned fine boy ta' raise, that oughtta keep you out of trouble for a good period of time!"

Wilson sighed and said, I suppose so an' I'm gonna ask Oscar to stick around. He ain't got no one an' he and I have become pretty close....

Joe replied, "Look, you guys are all sailors, why not go sailing? Ya kin buy a sail boat, maybe fish a bit or carry a few crates of cargo and them two sailor boys what come home with ya' look like they could use a place ta' call home. Pat kin' join ya summers an' when I die, you gonna git all mine, too. No, I ain't gonna tell ya how much, just know it will more than double what ya gots now!"

Wilson sat there thinking and finally said, "Why not an' I know some guy over at ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) that might be interested in some pretty pictures of ships of "the other kind"!

So it was that Wilson John O'Toole made up his mind to become a "rich, snot nosed playboy" and continue to work for Uncle Sammy!

The next day, Wilson got together with Oscar Robbins, Allen Davis and Johnny Dean and told them that he was going to purchase a sailboat big enough to carry a little freight, maybe do some fishing and take pictures.

Allen asked, "Eeer sir, what kind of pictures is you gonna take?"

Wilson smiled and said, "How about some of Uncle Josep and his Moscow Borscht Carriers?"

Allen didn't get the jest, so Johnny leaned over and explained it to him. All the rest understood and Oscar asked him, "Ya got the funds to carry this off, Cap'n?"

Wilson replied, "Yeah, but if you are offern' see me later." When they had all agreed to the proposition, Wilson contacted a ship broker up in San Francisco and told him what they wanted.

The broker said, "I got two or three sailing ship you might be interested in, how about you come up here tomorrow morning n' take a look at them?"

Wilson agreed and he and Oscar went out to purchase a couple of automobiles for them. As they sat in the car, Oscar asked, "Wil, are we gonna be spies or just playboys?"

Wilson smiled and said, "Yes"

Oscar chuckled and said, "OK, let me invest in this proposition too. How about I chuck in ten million to start with?"

Wilson looked at him hard and asked, "Are able to do that?"

Oscar smiled and replied, "Yeah, my full name is Oscar Dupont Robbins" and I had to fight like hell to get my parent's estate as their only child.

Wilson's only reply was, "WOW!"

They went down to the local Ford dealership and purchased two large station wagons, a panel delivery truck and a small flatbed truck and told the salesman that the trucks were to be delivered to O'Toole and Robbins Marine Services at 110 Bayshore Highway the next day.

They next headed to the ship broker to take a look at what he had. The very first ship they were shown, both men fell in love with the vessel. It was a three masted ship capable of sailing around the world and had two cargo holds. It had two Enterprise Diesel engines for auxiliary power and a self-contained Caterpillar Diesel generating set for lighting and electric power needs. The ship had been built in 1964 and the owners laid it up earlier in the current year after completely overhauling the engines and generator and having the steel hull sand blasted and painted with anti-fouling paint.

She required a crew of eight deckhands and two engineers to operate the ship in international waters and could carry five hundred tons of cargo. She was equipped to fish, but the refrigeration system for the forward hold had been removed. The ship retained her net booms and they could easily be used to handle cargo. Both men decided she was the ship for them and they made a deal with the broker on the spot. Before the day was out, they were the proud owners of a small ship about the same size as the minesweeper they had spent a significant portion of their young lives trying to keep afloat!

They made arrangements to have the ship inspected by their insurance carrier and then towed to the small pier Uncle Joe still had at the Port of Redwood City.

As they walked out of the man's office, there were several teenagers hanging around and they spotted Wilson and Oscar. Both men had neatly trimmed hair and shined shoes, marking them as military men. The teens began heckling Oscar and Wilson, calling them "Baby Killer's" and "Mass Murderers".

Just as one of the teens decided to take a swing on Oscar, probably because he was much shorter than Wilson, two ex-sailors came up behind them and suddenly, all four teens were flat on their backs on the sidewalk screaming that they had been attacked by maniacs.

While the teens were nursing bloody noses, the four friends got in their station wagon and headed back to Daly City.

The next day, Wilson called over to the Coast Guard headquarters in San Francisco to make an appointment for them to see about getting their Merchant Marine documents and licenses. Johnny had been an Engineman First Class on the minesweeper and Allen had been a Boatswain Mate Second Class, so they felt they could get their "tickets" fairly easy. Oscar had graduated from the Maritime Academy and already had his Mate's License. Wilson didn't feel he would have any problem passing the examination for Master, six hundred tons, any ocean.

When they had completed their telephone calls, all four sat down at Eleanor's kitchen table to plot and plan.

Oscar said, "Guys, I wanna thank ya'll for taking down that bunch of thugs, I think its gonna be a problem, us ex-servicemen aren't very popular with the younger generation around here."

Wilson then laid out his plan and that everyone would be paid the going wage. He told them that they would have to "pretend" that the ship was a yacht so they could kinda hide and stay out of the control of the unions.

Allen asked, What are we gonna call our ship, sir?"

Wilson replied, "I would like to call her the Mary Joyce after my wife." Everyone thought that was a good idea and Johnny brought up the matter of the cameras, he asked, "What are we gonna do about takin' pictures?"

Wilson replied, My Uncle Joe was a professional photographer for many years, I think he can help us in that department."

Then Allen brought up the matter of pay, he asked, "Sir, how much we gonna get paid?"

Wilson smiled and said, "Well, first, my name is Wilson or Wil or even Hey You. We aren't still in the Navy." He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket and continued, "I plan on paying union scale plus ten percent and a share in the profits, so you, as Ship's Boatswain will get $1,100 a month plus your ten percent and your share of any profits. In addition, you get your room and board."

Allen replied, "Sir, ahh Cap'n Wil, I ain't sure I can call you just by yer first name, but I'll try to remember. As fer the money, hell, I'dda settled fer my room and meals, plus a little spendin' money!"

Johnny laughed and added, "Fer alla me, I'dda been happy just havin' me a job. I bin hungry a'fer and ain't much inclined ta' doin' it again! 'Sides, I git to stay with Allen, all safe and cozy like!"

With all that settled, Oscar and Wil started looking around for more ex-sailors to flesh out their crew. Wil made appointments for them all to go down to the Coast Guard Headquarters the next day and Oscar grilled Uncle Joe on the types of cameras he thought they should have.

Joe was eager to be involved and, were it not for young Patrick, he would have angled for a berth on the Mary Joyce himself!

None of them had any problem passing the tests for their tickets and they all had enough sea time to qualify. They slowly built up their crew and Wil's telephone call to his buddy at ONI brought six Naval Officers, in civilian clothes knocking, on their front door. The ONI bunch were excited about having an observation ship manned by "some of their own" and that they would be getting the benefit of another group of "eyes" watching the Soviets and their running mates.

It took them nearly three months to get everything settled and a crew collected. They carefully selected ex-servicemen as prospective crew members and, with the war in Southeast Asia winding down, there were plenty of servicemen out looking for work. They needed another engineman to assist Johnny running the auxiliary engines, the electric system and all the electric motors, air conditioners and laundry machinery on board.

Oscar got his license upgraded to First Mate and they had to hire two more mates and a complete bridge crew of sailors and watch standers. Allen was appointed Chief Boatswain and Johnny became the Senior Engineman and Chief Mechanic.

Wil had no problem passing his tests and walked out of the Coast Guard Building with a shiny new Master's Certificate in his hand.

The only rule they made fast and foremost, there was to be no military clothing or procedures on board the Mary Joyce, they had to present a 100% civilian appearance if they were to remain safe.

On sailing day, Joe brought Patrick down to the pier to watch his daddy sail off. The boy was in tears, but he proudly stood on the pier and held a salute as the Mary Joyce backed away from the pier on her auxiliary engines and headed upbay, towards the Golden Gate. Patrick stood on the pier, in rigid salute, until the ship was out of sight.

Uncle Joe understood, so he left the boy alone until the ship had sailed beyond sight. He gently led the sobbing boy back to the car and held him until his tears began to stop.

He said to Patrick, "Pat, your Daddy and his friends are doing something very important for our country and we need to pray for their safety every day until they return. They are all heroes and what they do will help us stay strong and free."

Pat looked up at his Uncle and asked, "Bbbut what aabout what those guys on the street say?"

Joe looked down at his Nephew and replied, "Son, they are fools, they know not what they say, but, they also, will be helped by what your Daddy and his ship do."

It would be ten months before Patrick Wilson O'Toole set his eyes on his Father again.

The Mary Joyce was an easy riding ship, she did an easy ten knots under sail as they headed for Sydney as their first port of call. They had two cargo holds full of machine parts and electric motors destined for a large agriculture supply business in Sydney. They were ahead of the monsoon season and it was a comfortable voyage west.

The ONI had contributed two professional photographers to assist and train the Joyce's crew in the art of taking pictures without being seen. They would get off the ship in Sydney and return home, however, one of them, Jerry Gault, was interested in staying with the ship, even if he had to sign on as crew!

Wil sent a carefully worded message back to their factor in San Francisco to be forwarded to a special office of the ONI in Oakland about Jerry wanting to remain with the ship.

The office had a front name of Machinery and Freight Brokers, Inc. and Mr. Jerry Galt was requesting permission to continue on the voyage to observe what type and kind of machinery would sell well in Southeast Asia.

Terry Smith, President of the firm, replied that it was alright for Jess Galt to remain onboard the Mary Joyce. "Terry Smith" would remain their point man with ONI for the next several years and would eventually be replaced by Jerry Gault.

Neither names were the men born with, but it sufficed to make contact with them and Jess's passport actually did say, "Jerry Andrew Gault"!

They rode easy all the way to Sydney, they made the Botany Bay Light right on schedule and eased into the port under their auxiliary engines and tied up at the Access Road Pier.

They offloaded their cargo and took on pallets loaded with sacked wheat and several pallets of dried fish. While they were working the dried fish, the smell was so bad that any bystanders hurried to get away from them.

Several dock workers came on board to assist the loading and were promptly guided into the Captain's Stateroom. They collected the rolls of exposed film that was ready for them and they left off a fresh case of film and a request that they call at Port Moresby next.

Wil gave them his written report on their observations and one of the men left a large envelope filled with hundred dollar bills in American currency for their expenses. The agreement was for sixty-five thousand dollars per month, plus expenses. The folks at ONI considered it a good investment and jumped at the offer.

They spent the night tied up and all, except for two sailors detailed as night watchmen, headed into town to eat their fill of fried barramundi and chips. None of them were heavy drinkers, so only a few beers were ordered and they were all back on board by midnight.

At seven the next morning, the enginemen cranked up the two auxiliary engines and dropped the shore power cables before cranking up the generator. They had filled the water tanks the previous night and a small amount of fresh food was delivered just before they sailed.

At half past seven, Wil pulled on the ship's horn and they began backing the Mary Joyce away from the pier and out into the harbor channel. After dodging an inbound tanker, they got out past the breakwater and hoisted the sails, turning north towards Papua New Guinea before shutting down the auxiliary engines.

With a quartering wind, they were only able to squeeze seven knots out of the Joyce as they followed the Australian Coast northwards. Wil planned on passing to the west of the Coral Sea Islands and then head straight for Port Moresby.

The wind held steady, somewhat against them, but they were not being held to a time schedule. Off the Coral Sea Islands, they spotted a Russian Factory Ship and its attending fishing fleet. He started the camera up on the mainmast to rolling and sent Cal Ivers, one of his new sailors who had some expertise with a hand held camera, went up to the top of the wheel house and pretended to be sun bathing while he supplemented the larger camera Jerry had put up on the mast.

They knew they were being watched, so Wil kept the Joyce steady on her course and paying no particular attention to the factory ship or its fishing fleet. Cal did not stop sun bathing until the Russian ships were no longer in sight. He had shot up three rolls of film and he said to Wil, "Cap'n Wil, they was guns on that factory ship, big ones an' they was trackin' us as we passed by!"

Wil shivered a bit and then congratulated the young man for keeping his cool up on top of the wheel house.

That night, when he sent in his daily report, Wil noted the position of the Russian Fishing Fleet, the number of trawlers with the factory ship and that the factory ship appeared to be heavily armed.

They finally made Port Moresby and were met by their factor, who had arranged for the Joyce to be fueled and food to be delivered. The factor was a fussy little man who appeared to be Indonesian and not hardly four feet tall! He hung around, for no apparent reason, all day long and finally left just before dark.

About ten that same night, their ONI contact arrived to collect the exposed film. He was laughing, "I didn't think Jun Gao was ever going to leave, I sure hope he got lots of no information to report to his Russian Masters!"

They had worked cargo all that day and a barge came alongside the next morning to exchange the dried fish for dried coconut husks to be made into soap. The things smelled to high heaven and everyone got off the pier while the cargo was being loaded.

A small boat came by and slipped under their mooring lines, only slowing a bit as it passed them by. A few minutes later, there was a knock on Wil's stateroom door and a tall, lanky red headed man stepped inside the door. He said, "Hi, Cap'n, I'm Jess Trower an' I need a ride to Timur and maybe further." He handed Wil a voucher and a copy of his orders. He was Intelligence Specialist Jess Trower, a civilian working for ONI. Wil knew enough to not ask any questions and had the steward make up the bunk in the guest stateroom.

Jess Trower was a congenial shipmate and became genuinely liked by the crew. HOWEVER, his damned copra still smelled to high heaven and, no matter what heading Wil tried, all the stink blew into the interior of the Joyce. It was a pretty good bet that none of the crew would buy a coconut candy bar again, EVER!

They finally made port at Dili. There was no wharf, so they were anchored out in the bay. Jess asked to be taken ashore in the ship's small boat and they were to wait for him.

He was back in just a few hours, as mad as a wet hen! When he was alone in Wil's stateroom, he said, "Those Damned Russians, they got a damned slave ship working off Java, we are to meet the Indonesian Navy out of Denpasar in six days. They are gonna raid the ship and free the slaves they are using to run their cannery on board!"

Wil looked at his charts and said, "Wow, we had best get started now! It's a long haul up there!" Wil stepped up to the wheelhouse and began preparations for getting underway. He checked the last reports on fuel levels, they might have to use the auxiliary engines to get there in time. As they left the lee side of the mountains surrounding Dili Harbor, the wind picked up and filled their sail tight.

As soon as they got out to sea, they dumped that damned copra and they all swore there would never be a bit of it brought on board the Joyce again!

He set their course and warned the helmsman to be sure to keep the sails filled. As soon as they had gotten underway, Cook called that chow was on the table, so everyone headed for the mess. As they were eating, Jess asked if he could address the crew and Wil told him to go ahead.

Jess stood up and, as soon as everyone quieted down, he said, "Guys, we are chasing a Russian Slave Ship. They are using prisoners to run the canning factory on board their ship. That is a gross violation of international law and, they are inside the territorial waters of Indonesia and it is a violation of Indonesian law as well. The Indonesian Navy is going to board the Russian Trawler and arrest the skipper and crew. They then will tow the ship to Jakarta. We will not be involved, except to observe, but we gotta get there in six days. If we can free those slaves even an hour earlier, we just gotta do it!"

The mood in the mess deck was anything but friendly towards the Russians. Wil hoped there were no bottles of Russian salad dressing on any of the tables!

Paul Waters, the Third Mate called down to Wil, asking permission to start the auxiliary engines, he was battling a rising headwind and they were losing speed. Wil gave him permission and then finished his supper before heading back to the bridge.

It was a race against time, the Joyce was beginning to pound as the seas started to pick up, Wil figured he was in for a night on the bridge. It was not his first by any means, but it was his first on board the Joyce.

Even with the engines running, the sails were pulling hard, they were running before a half wind. He looked at the pit-log and saw that they were doing sixteen knots and rising! He settled down in his bridge chair and watched for a while, but it seemed that the Third Mate was competent and had everything under control.

Paul Waters was a young man, only a year out of the Merchant Marine Academy, but he was well-liked by the crew and it seemed to Wil that he was doing everything right, so, at midnight, Wil decided to pack it in and he headed for his bunk.

They met up with the Indonesian Navy on the fourth day and they steamed in a loose formation towards Sundra Strait and the Russian fishing fleet.

What is Captain Wil going to be confronted with when the Indonesian Navy descends upon the Russians? Will he be able to keep his skirts clean and his assignment secret?