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ELEVEN MILLION BARRELS
SS Livingston Roe
THE Livingston Roe is not a large ship (12,500 deadweight tons), nor fast (10 knots), as deep sea tankers go, but by spending a large part of her wartime service on short Caribbean voyages, she established a record total of nearly eleven and one half million barrels of oil transported during the war years—-more than was carried by any other Company vessel while in wartime commercial service.
This record was achieved in spite of a long repair period resulting from a fire which occurred in May, 1943, while the Livingston Roe was at Recife, Brazil.
September 3, 1939, first day of the European war, found the Livingston Roe bound from Providence to Corpus Christi, where she arrived September 5 to load her first wartime cargo, 89,814 barrels of gasoline for New York. Captain Anthony J. Coumelis was her master and Chief Engineer Laughton D. Angel was in charge of her engineroom.
The ship remained in coastwise trade through 1940 and 1941, and until June, 1942. The rest of 1942 she spent in carrying mixed cargoes of gasoline, kerosene, heating oil, etc., from Curacao and Aruba to Puerto Rico.
The Livingston Roe had been time chartered to the War Shipping Administration on April 28, 1942 in Delaware Bay. She was redelivered to her owners at New York on July 7 of the same year.
Ferried U. S. Navy Personnel
In March, 1943 the tanker transported 100 octane aviation gasoline from Trinidad to Belem, Recife, and Natal, Brazil, and ferried 257 U. S. Navy personnel on the half day's run from Recife to Natal.
On April 13, 1943 the Livingston Roe sailed from Trinidad once more for Recife, where the fire occurred.
Temporary repairs to the vessel at Recife enabled her to depart on April 28, 1943 for Aruba, where she loaded Navy Diesel oil, delivered at New York July 5.
Used “Persephone's" Midship House
At Baltimore the Livingston Roe’s midship house was replaced by that of the Persephone. The latter vessel had broken in two after a U-boat attack 011 Barnegat Light, May 25, 1942, but her forward half was salvaged and towed into port.
After permanent repairs had been completed, the Livingston Roe returned to duty in November, 1943, and on November 12 she was sold by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey to the Panama Transport Company. She sailed from Baltimore November 21 for New York and from New York November 28 for Aruba, where Danish officers took charge of her.
Thereafter the vessel was assigned to Caribbean service exclusively for the duration of the war. lt was the large number of short Caribbean hauls made in this period that brought her total of oil carried to a record for Company vessels.
The wartime transportation record of the Livingston Roe was in summary as follows:
The SS Livingston Roe was built in 1921 by the G. M. Standifer Construction Corporation at Vancouver, Washington. She is a sistership of the John Worthington, W. H. Libby, Christy Payne, and Chester O. Swain.
A single-screw vessel of 12,500 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 27 feet,
3 1/2 inches, the Livingston Roe has an overall length of 477 feet, 9 3/4 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 468 feet, 3 inches, a moulded breadth of 60 feet, and a depth moulded of 37 feet, 3 8/4 inches.
With a cargo carrying capacity of 89,851 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate of 4,000 barrels an hour.
Her quadruple expansion engine, supplied with steam by three Scotch boilers, develops 2,800 indicated horsepower and gives her a classification certified speed of 9.9 knots.
The Livingston Roe arrived at Recife on April 28. 1943. with motor and aviation gasoline. As directed by the port authorities, she docked at the pier alongside Warehouse No. 2 on the afternoon of April 30 and began to discharge her cargo. On the morning
of May 2, while Captain Elmer L. Carty, master of the Livingston Roe, was ashore in conference with U. S. naval and customs authorities in connection with clearing his vessel for departure from Recife, a fire broke out on the pier to which the tanker was moored and spread rapidly to the ship. Members of the crew immediately closed the cargo discharge valve, unlocked the anchor windlass so that the chain could be paid out if necessary, and shut off the fires under the boilers. As a precautionary measure, the officers and crew temporarily left the vessel; several jumped overboard and swam to the dock or were rescued by launches, but three of them, Wiper George H. De Allaume, Messman William J. Flannery, and Messman Ramon Ruiz, were drowned.
Through arrangements made by the Company, they were buried in the British Cemetery at Recife.
It was not long before the fire was brought under control and in the early hours of May 3 the flames had been completely extinguished.
During the fire several employees of the Standard Oil Company of Brazil sustained burns which subsequently proved fatal.
 On the morning of 2 May 1943 while Milwaukee was under repairs at Recife, her crew showed great initiative and skill fighting a fire on tanker SS Livingston Roe which threatened the harbor U.S. tanker Livingston Roe, loaded with aviation gasoline, catches fire, near warehouses containing ammunition and dynamite; prompt firefighting efforts by crews of U.S. and British naval vessels in the harbor, from U.S. Navy and U.S. Army shore establishments, and from Brazilian army, naval, and civilian organizations prevent a major catastrophe. In the figure above a rendition of the ship in flames.
The American masters of the Livingston Roe in the war years were Captains Anthony Coumelis, Graham C. Covert, lngvald Henriksen, Olav Olsen. Elmer L. Carty, and Chester C. Ballard.
Americans in charge of her engineroom during the same period were Chief Engineers Laughton D. Angel, George H. Ulmer, Ira W. Billinger, Thomas B. Hutchins, William F. Kronisch, Edward A. Snyder, William H. Ahrens, Frank J. Bailing, Joseph M. Farrell, Alvah B. Strout, Paul Christ, Ernest J. Palmer, John P. Martin, Charles L. Stonebridge, and George B. Calundann.
The Danish master of the Livingston Roe was Captain Holmboe Oxaas. Associated with him were Chief Engineers Carl Peter Hansen and Harry Jessen.
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