SHIP OF MIRACLES. SS Meredith Victory. ~ Synopsis ~

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1 SHIP OF MIRACLES SS Meredith Victory ~ Synopsis ~ In December of 1950, a major evacuation of United Nations military personnel and innocent civilians was conducted from the port of Hungnam, North Korea, to enable them to escape entrapment by an overwhelming and encircling enemy force. Approximately 200,000 people in all were transported south to safety. One of the last vessels to leave the port before it was deliberately destroyed was the American cargo vessel SS MEREDITH VICTORY. Onboard, in addition to her crew of 47 mariners, was an astounding number of Korean refugees...over 14,000! It was the largest evacuation from land by a single vessel in history. The refugees endured terrible conditions during a two day ocean voyage in bitterly cold winter weather. Most of them had to stand, shoulder to shoulder during the entire trip. They had little or nothing to eat, and no water to drink. There were no sanitary facilities available for them, nor any doctors or interpreters onboard. Amazingly, not only did they all survive, but by the time the refugees had arrived at their destination, their number had been increased. Five births were recorded during the transit. The US Maritime Commission and the Guinness Book of Records hailed this feat as the 'Greatest Sea Rescue in the History of Mankind'. In 1960, by a special act of Congress, the MEREDITH VICTORY was conferred the title 'Gallant Ship' and her captain and crew recognized for their accomplishment.

2 ~ A Victory Ship Christened Meredith ~ Towards the end of World War II, the US Maritime Commission created an improved class of general cargo vessels that were slightly larger, faster and could carry more cargo than the famous Liberty ships. This group of vessels, ultimately numbering some 534 carried, for the most part, the suffix 'Victory' as an integral part of their names. They were each 455 feet long, displaced 15,200 tons and had a top speed of 17 knots. Their peacetime complement was 47 merchant marine officers and crew members. Victory ships had the capacity to carry twelve passengers. A group of 150 of these vessels were named after American educational institutions. The SS MEREDITH VICTORY honored Meredith College, a women's liberal arts college founded in 1891 and situated in Raleigh, North Carolina. The MEREDITH VICTORY was one of the many Victory ships built by the California Shipbuilding Corporation. This shipyard was created during World War II near Los Angeles, California and shut down at the end of the war. She was launched on June 23, 1945 in a high percentage of completion, as the image on the left clearly indicates. She was delivered later that summer, but not in time to participate in the war. After World War II ended, the MEREDITH VICTORY provided military and commercial cargo service in the Pacific for a few years. On June 28, 1950, she arrived at the James River Reserve Fleet for deactivation. Three days earlier, the Korean War had started, so instead she was chartered by the US Maritime Commission to the Military Sea Transportation Service. The MEREDITH VICTORY, after being placed in operation by Moore-McCormack Lines, loaded tanks and other military cargo in Norfolk, Virginia and then steamed to Asian waters where she moved military personnel and cargo from Japan to Korea. 2

3 ~ Captain Leonard Panet LaRue ~ Leonard LaRue [right], a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was born on January 14, A career merchant mariner, he sailed during World War II for Moore-McCormack Lines. LaRue was a veteran of merchant marine operations in the Atlantic during World War II that included making dangerous voyages to Murmansk, Russia, to deliver much-needed supplies to America's former ally. When he took command of the SS MEREDITH VICTORY in the summer of 1950, he was 37 years old. On December 14, 1950, Captain LaRue conned his unarmed cargo ship, loaded with drums of jet fuel through an uncharted enemy minefield and into the port of Hungnam, North Korea. Once in port, he found the place in total disarray. The Marine Air Wing, for whom his cargo was intended, was evacuating the vicinity as hordes of Chinese and North Korean soldiers ringed the city. Unable to deliver his load of jet fuel, Captain LaRue was ordered to sail to Pusan, South Korea to discharge his cargo. On December 19th, the MEREDITH VICTORY was alongside a pier in Pusan [depicted on the left], engaged in unloading drums of jet fuel. That process was interrupted when the ship's skipper received emergency orders to leave immediately and return to Hungnam to participate in the desperate evacuation activity ongoing there. Captain LaRue complied so swiftly that there was still 300 tons of jet fuel remaining in the ship's aftermost, lower hold when she sailed. After steaming 450 miles northward, the MEREDITH VICTORY arrived in the vicinity of Hungnam on December 22, Captain LaRue anchored his vessel outside the minefield and awaited direction. Soon, a small boat pulled alongside and several US Army officers boarded the cargo vessel. They asked Captain LaRue if he would try to enter the harbor and help evacuate Korean refugees. They could not order him to do so. He quickly replied: "I will agree to take my ship in and take out as many people as I can." 3

4 ~ A Sea of Humanity ~ Following American minesweepers into the harbor, the MEREDITH VICTORY pulled as close to the beach as the water's depth would permit. Overhead, US Navy jets were diving down to constantly attack the Chinese and North Koreans, who had advanced very close to the city. The battleship USS MISSOURI and other American warships were also shelling the enemy positions, helping to keep them from over-running the evacuation effort. US Navy underwater demolition teams were placing explosives throughout the port and adjacent to the cargo ship, which still was carrying a partial cargo of highly volatile jet fuel. One of the ship's officers, a junior engineer later described the scene: "The port was in chaos. The beach was just a sea of humanity. We had the ship turned around facing the sea...something you usually don't so...and we kept steam on the engines, ready to leave port at a moment's notice." The US Army Corps of Engineers erected a flimsy wooden causeway between the snow-covered beach area and the MEREDITH VICTORY. Thousands of refugees still remaining on the beach surged toward the last ship available. Many were poorly clothed and most carried pitiful bundles of personal belongings. Once onboard the vessel's main deck, dozens at a time were lowered into the cargo holds on wooden pallets where they stoically stood, packed shoulder to shoulder. In the hold that still held drums of jet fuel, some of them perched directly atop those containers. After all the holds were filled with refugees, more came onboard and stood silently on the open deck, exposed to the harsh winter weather. As directed by Captain LaRue, crew members kept count of the number of people as they were embarked. When the loading process was completed, which took twenty-six hours, the MEREDITH VICTORY had taken on 14,000 refugees... including 4,000 children and 17 wounded civilians. At 11 AM on December 23, 1950, Captain LaRue headed seaward. His ship was the last civilian vessel to leave Hungnam with her massive cargo of refugees. The unarmed vessel sailed without escort, bound for Pusan. 4

5 Captain LaRue later recounted what was experienced by his crew and their human cargo while they were at sea in December of 1950 [the map on the right indicates the relative locations of Hungnam and Pusan]: "I cannot possibly describe the nightmarish quality of that journey. We had no food and almost no water for the refugees...they ate only what they could bring onboard. There were no extra blankets, no clothing to warm them. "With this cargo of souls, we steamed out to the open sea, headed for Pusan on the southeast Korean coast about 450 sea miles, or 28 hours' away. Ahead lay formidable risks. We were facing waters mined by the enemy with no means of detecting or destroying them. ~ A Cargo of Souls ~ "Communist submarines, known to be operating in the vicinity, could easily spot and sink us with a torpedo. A single spark could turn the ship into a funeral pyre. We had no escort vessels and no way to protect ourselves against air raids. Yet nothing touched us during that incredible voyage toward Pusan." At one point, a member of the ship's crew was alarmed to discover that some of the refugees were building fires atop the jet fuel drums to keep warm and cook food. Unable to communicate with them in their language, the crew member repeatedly yelled 'NO!' and simulated an explosion verbally and with his hands. Thankfully, that warning got through to the Koreans, and they put out the fires. On a more heartwarming note, during the voyage, five babies were born onboard the MEREDITH VICTORY. The ship's first mate, who only knew basic first aid, delivered all of them. In the ship's log book, he recorded the day, time, ship's position and the names he gave them...kimchee I, II, II, IV and V... 5

6 ~ Christmas, 1950 ~ When the ship reached a very overcrowded Pusan on December 24th, authorities there permitted Captain LaRue to only let a few of the refugees that were sick or wounded disembark. The rest were required to be transported to a refuge on the island of Koje-Do, about fifty miles to the southwest. To help calm the refugees, some South Korean military police and civilian interpreters made that last leg of the journey onboard the MEREDITH VICTORY. Upon arrival at Koje-Do later that day, there was yet another disappointing delay. The harbor there was also overcrowded, and unable to immediately handle the 14,000-plus arrivals. So the ship anchored outside the harbor overnight as preparations were made to receive her huge human cargo. On Christmas Day, 1950, several US Navy landing craft took turns hovering alongside the cargo vessel to begin the disembarkation process. Again using pallets, the overworked ship's crew skillfully utilized their cargo booms and winches to lower the refugees into the landing craft; sixteen at a time. This process took all day, and the weather was not really suitable for such an operation. "The risk of death or injury was great," Captain LaRue [depicted on the right that bitterly cold day] was later quoted as saying. "The vessels pitched perilously in the swelling sea throughout the unloading, the hulls banging and separating. The lines might part and someone could be crushed." Yet no one was... As they left the ship, the Koreans gave a halfbow to their saviors. But there was no overwhelming joy on their faces, because they had just begun their uncertain journey to a hoped-for...yet uncertain...freedom. Captain LaRue remained in command of the SS MEREDITH VICTORY until she was laid up in She was activated again in 1966 and participated in the Vietnam War. Laid up once again in 1970, she ultimately was sold for scrapping in Ironically, what the Chinese military had been unable to do forty-three years previously...effect her destruction...came at the hands of a Chinese salvage firm. 6

7 ~ Brother Marinus ~ The MEREDITH VICTORY's refugee rescue mission had a profound effect on Captain LaRue. In 1954, he left the sea forever and became a Benedictine monk. Taking the name Brother Marinus, he lived quietly in an abbey in New Jersey until October of 2001, when he passed away at age 87. He only left the abbey one time between 1954 and On August 24, 1960 he traveled to Washington, DC where he received the US Merchant Marine Service Medal. Former Captain LaRue is depicted on the left in this image. Before he passed away, Brother Marinus reflected on his 'Ship of Miracles' experience: "I think often of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul. And, as I think, the clear, unmistakable message comes to me that on that Christmastide, in the bleak and bitter waters off the shores of Korea, God's own hand was at the helm of my ship." 7