Catalina Ave. He was transferred to the Cyclops so he could be taken to the naval hospital in Washington, D. Davis, nee Campbell, was a prominent resident of Redondo, with her family having lived there since In addition to Davis, one San Pedro sailor, year-old J. Rufus King, and three seamen from Long Beach — O. Roosevelt officially declared the ship lost at sea and all of those aboard were pronounced dead on June By then, a whirlwind of rumored causes already had begun swirling and would continue to do so for about the next century.
Conrad A. Nervig, an officer on the Cyclops who left the ship when it was in Rio, wrote about Worley in a July article in Proceedings, a journal of the U. Naval Institute. Unfriendly and taciturn, he was generally disliked by both his officers and men. Other rumors ran the gamut of possible causes. Early on, it was thought that the heavily laden, slow-moving ship had been boarded by enemy German agents and transported to Germany. The German government quickly disavowed this theory.
Perhaps the enemy agents had set a time bomb to explode and sink the ship? No, this would have left evidence floating in the waters. None was found. Same with the possible torpedoing by a German U-boat, another suggested explanation. No further information about the ship was listed. In the Catalogue, published in a Billig Philatelic Handbook, the cancel was listed again, but this time with a year date of This edition reported that the ship was commissioned on 7 November , and her post office was established on 20 February A post office closing date of 1 March is given, presumably the date of the last month-end report the Postal Clerk had sent in while they were still in port in Barbados.
Gill provided a drawing of the cancel, the very first illustration in the discussion of cancel types. It eventually became featured in the explanation of the Locy Type Chart as the example of a basic Type 1 cancel Figure 7. Kent, David A. Editor-in-Chief, David A. She is also not listed in the Postal Guides during this period.
I believe that, at first, Gill made the cancel purely as a lark, an interesting experiment to test his artistic skills. When someone pointed out that his year date seemed odd, since the standard cancel that year would have been a Type 3, not a Type 1, he changed the date to , and then produced a drawing to prove it.
It would also appear that the post office establishment date was pure fiction, to justify the cancel. Although many people have written about seeing the cover over the years, no full description of it has ever been published. I believe that we must accept the truth that the famed CYCLOPS cover, too, was made by Gill himself from a metal printing plate on an old unused stamped envelope. Query, why would Mr. There should have been a significant volume of mail for official business, primarily to the Bureaus at OpNav, and to and from family and friends.
There are multiple factors why the envelopes with postmarks from the ship were not preserved. World War I was before collecting covers became a hobby. Family and friends were more interested in the contents of letters than the envelope. When the ship and crew were lost it many distraught survivors destroyed the correspondence as was the custom.
Moreover, the ship had been in service for nearly seven years prior to the establishment of her post office. The officers and crew may have been in the habit of sending the mail from port rather than the on-board post office and perhaps they expected that mail posted ashore would be moved faster. Following are extracts of correspondence from one young sailor who was a member of the crew of Cyclops from the summer of until she was lost. Morgan, a relative of the Sailor, Edward S.
Morgan, Jr. Reproduced with the gracious consent of Marvin W. Barrash from U. Cyclops , Heritage Books, When and where we are sent we never know so you see it will be pretty hard to keep in direct communications with home. Six weeks later he still was on board Cyclops at Brooklyn celebrating Thanksgiving Day when he wrote to his sister, Mable.
On 5 December Cyclops was at Baltimore, Maryland scheduled to depart early on the morning of 6 December The envelope was posted ashore at Norfolk, most likely to avoid censorship since Edward freely discussed the intended voyage of Cyclops.
The cruise was intended to last half a year starting with a voyage to the South Atlantic to deliver coal. Next, Cyclops was scheduled to sail to the Falkland Islands, a 28 day voyage.
Thereafter, she was to pass through the Panama Canal and proceed to the Philippines. Edward expected to be promoted to Fireman Second Class and eventually become an Oiler. He wrote another letter mailed on board Cyclops on 28 January addressed to his mother.
While the envelope has been preserved the letter was not among the papers presented to President Roosevelt. The final letter was written while Cyclops was in Brazil and arrived at the family home in mid-March Mail and letters from Cyclops. The sole genuine example of a postmark from Cyclops was found among this correspondence.
The following letters were handwritten. Several portions have been omitted. As we did not have a drill period this afternoon I decided that I would write you just a word. I am located in the main camp now and we were given liberty for the first time last evening August the ninth and you can imagine how glad I was when they turned us loose. I guess you will be surprised to hear that I am a finished Sailor, and that I am to go aboard a Ship in about a week.
When and where we are sent we never know so you see it will be pretty hard to keep in direct communication with home. Mother read this carefully. Tell Clarence that if ever anything should happen that would require my returning home at any time it is absolutely necessary that he send me a telegraph. That is the only way I would be able to get a furlough and in any emergency do not fail to wire me immediately.
I expect to be a wireless operator before long, but it will take a little hard work before I am able to qualify. Everything is progressing nicely, and the life is rather fascinating after a fellow gets used to it. We arose and had breakfast this morning at 4 a. I have had several light spells of sickness since I have been here, but I am over them now … tough as leather, and as hearty as can be. I can do something I never did before, and that is roll up in any old hole, or on top of a table and go to sleep.
As we are having the afternoon off; I thought that it would be a good opportunity to drop you a line. Clarence I am enjoying the sights , of our largest city now. I was on Broad Way several days ago and it certainly is a sight to see the bright lights at 45 St. I also traveled in the Subway which is a regular treat for one from Washington. Upon entering the East River we passed under the Brooklyn Bridge; out top masts were but about one foot from touching the bridge.
We are now in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and intend to stay here for an indefinite period. Some of our men are getting eight day furloughs, but as you have to draw for one, and as I am a very poor gambler I run a very poor chance of getting one. It is now by the Y. Tell Minnie that I received her letter at Wednesday night, and I was surely glad to get it because I am invited to dinner at a private residence in the city, and if I had not received the letter I could not have gone.
The jersey that Clarence sent me is just what I have been wanting. The muffler is certainly a fine one, and the head gear came in handy last Sunday night when we had to answer a fire call in the yards. There were over couples there, and I think I missed one dance during the evening, and I had fine young ladies all by myself at refreshment time. Online Image: 51, bytes; x pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives' photographic reproduction system.
Rigging between the two ships was used to transfer two pound bags of coal at a time. The bags were landed on a platform in front of the battleship's forward inch gun turret, and then carried to the bunkers. The donor, who served as a seaman in South Carolina at the time, comments: "it showed that this was possible but a very slow method of refueling.
Nothing was heard of the test afterwards. Brookins, Jamestown, NY, His cap band is from that ship. Online Image: 46, bytes; x pixels. Online Image: 55, bytes; x pixels.
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