In 1967 I sailed a season on SS Fred A Manske a selfunloder that hauled
a lot of gypsum (used in making drywall), One of the plants we hauled to
was a National Gypsum plant at Waukeegan. The Manske was not a large freighter, but, it sure was out of place next to marina size pleasure
craft. One of my shipmates lived in Chicago, so he would hop on electric
railway for a quick trip home after we unloaded. I would take his watch
as well as my own. Luke would rejoin ship at Rail to Water where we loaded coal for power plant at Muskekgon. Gypsum cargo took a long time to unload. sometimes 24 or more hours. It might mean working
a 4 hour watch, working 24 hours to unload and then another 4 hour
watch, Sailors had a hard life,
At the time the OMC plant was pointed out, but, unloading cargo did not allow for snooping about. All hands in deck department worked
from time we tied up until holds were empty and boom was brought
in and secured.
Louis
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