And speaking of popular, I don't know if it's the summer vacationers or the recent coverage we've gotten in the press, but the tours seem to be going nonstop these days. Of course, being a long-winded Southerner, I tend to take a little longer than these fast-talking New Yorkers, but it seems like I'm having to go faster to prevent the tour behind me from catching up. I'm not complaining, but it's an adjustment I'll have to make.
Of course, not that I could complain about this weekend in any respect. I returned on Saturday to finish up on my air reducer. I took the parts down to the sandblaster in the forecastle and gave them a good cleaning. The nuts and studs came out with no difficulty during disassembly, and were likewise no problem to reinstall. The parts went back together without a hitch, and before long, the reducer was back in one piece and nearly ready to be put back into the system. The only problem was the sheared pipe I mentioned last time. Of course, my backup plan to get spare parts from Home Depot came to naught, in that the components are non-standard sizes, I suppose to prevent unscrupulous shipyard workers from taking parts for use at home or for sale. But all good mechanics, along with a backup plan, have a backup to the backup, so I'm still not sunk. But barring that one part, the reducer is done, sitting on the workbench, waiting to be reinstalled.For my next victim, I picked out a smaller gate valve. You've seen photos of a gate valve before, so I'll spare you this time. But I must say, I was rather surprised. The nuts came off the bolts with no problems. The gasket on one side had fused to each of the flanges, but with 15 minutes of work with a hacksaw, chisel, and screwdriver, the valve came out, no problem. I was apprehensive when I put the valve in the vice for disassembly, but it came apart with no problem. I sandblasted it, took it to the wire wheel, and reassebled it without a hitch. I did replace the handwheel, but that was more for asthetics than necessity (a larger handwheel than what was there seemed more appropriate). Later that afternoon, except for the handwheel, which I decided to repaint, the valve was pretty much back in the system. (I say "pretty much" because I just remembered: I was in the process of reinstalling the valve when I got called away, and I never had a chance to complete the reinstallation. Hopefully no one will be upset that I left my bucket and a few tools in the enginerooms...)
Today, Sunday, the tourists started showing up before we opened. Things were chugging along just fine, from about 10 am until about 2 pm when the weather broke. I did two tours, and the other tour guides and I didn't even see each other until the rain started and chased all the paying customers away. Both of my groups today were outstanding. My first group contained a retired nuke EM1 who is working for a local power company. He and his family had excellent questions, the kids were well-behaved, and it was an all-around good time.
My second group was probably the best group I've had thus far. To begin with, I had a World War II Army veteran. It's always great to have vets along, because they can always interject their personal stories and make things more interesting. This gentleman, being Army, didn't have too much to contribute, but he did say the berthing areas reminded him of the troopship he took to France. Nevertheless, he did get a handshake and a sincere thanks from me before he left.
Also among this group were some fabricators from northern Indiana in town for some work they are doing locally. These guys were sharp and asked excellent questions. On top of that, they wanted to see the enginerooms. Now, I look for excuses to show people the enginerooms. So anyone who wants to see the enginerooms gets their wish granted, at least in that I show them the aft motor room. These guys were so interested, I took them down to the aft diesel room, which I have never done for anyone. And the questions kept coming. It was outstanding! Most groups I take usually ask the same questions, or really simple ones, and it gets to be a bit tedious, but these guys just kept the questions coming, and I was loving every moment of it. They even asked some good questions that I didn't know the answer to, which I like also, because it makes me think, and think hard. And of course, when I go and look up the answer, I get to know just that little bit more about the ship. If I could have a tour each weekend with people as intelligent, inquisitive, and friendly as these guys were, the Navy would probably never hear from me again...
Right as we were about to close, a car pulled up and three gentlemen and a girl climb out. It was obvious that three generations were represented in that car, the girl being the young end and one of the gentlemen the older end, with the two other gentlemen being the middle. They got in under the wire, and another guide took them aboard, but the older gentleman stayed on the wood deck where I was sitting. Being a good tour guide (and a Southerner), it wasn't long until I struck up a conversation with him. As it turns out, he is a DE veteran, joined in February of 1942 and stayed in for 21 years. He retired EMC (Chief Electrician's Mate) and went to work for the Post Office. He and his family drove up from north Jersey just to take a look at the ship, and from what he said, they're back on their way home now.
It was while I was talking to him, it made me think about just how much we stand to lose if we lose SLATER. We lose the men and women each day. That's sad in its own right, but that is how human beings are -- we can't stick around forever. But it made me think about what I'm doing each weekend in Albany. I'm not trying to brag, but I'm putting things in perspective when I say that I'm helping, in some small way, to keep the story of what these men did alive. I'm helping to keep their story alive, and I tell and re-tell their story weekend after weekend, in some small way. And if those who walk away from SLATER have at least some small idea, some increased respect for what these men did (and women; people forget that the people who built these ships were mostly women), then I have done my job. Not that I care about getting glory, because I don't. I care about passing their story on to those who don't know it. I care about doing my job, both the job that pays my bills and my job of keeping these stories alive. My job for my country. My job for my Navy. But most importantly, my job for my Shipmates.
Semper fortis.
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