“U.S. PREPARES TO RETURN TUNABOATS USED BY NAVY – Lt. Erskine Wood, designated by the War Shipping Administration to negotiate with owners of tunaboats taken over by the U.S. Navy early in the war, will arrive here tomorrow to confer with San Diegans desiring to re–purchase their craft from the Government, the AMERICAN FISHERMEN’S TUNABOAT ASSOCIATION announced. Wood arrived in San Pedro on Monday to survey fishing craft there, and several San Diegans whose vessels are in the northern port have gone there to confer with him. Former owners are given the first opportunity to bid on the boats.
FOUR IN PORT NOW
The Association reported that four San Diego boats – the ‘AZOREANA’, ‘CITY OF SAN DIEGO’, ‘SANTA INEZ’, and ‘SAO JOAO’ – now are here in port awaiting disposal. And at San Pedro are the ‘BELLE of PORTUGAL’, ‘PICAROTO’, ‘QUEEN MARY’, ‘ST. GEORGE’, ‘NORTHWESTERN’, and ‘MADIERENSE’. The 149’ ‘NORMANDIE’, (the largest tunaboat in existence), is due here in San Diego on Monday, and the ‘CONTI BIANCO’ was reported to have left Pearl Harbor yesterday. Altogether about 70 tunaboats were taken over by the Navy and converted into patrol craft. Several were lost in the Southwest Pacific and off Okinawa.”
(*Source: San Diego UNION & Daily Bee newspaper – Wednesday, January 16, 1946 [about 4 months after Japan’s surrender had ended WWII – ed.] – Pg. 22)
~~~~~~~ Then…, nearly a Year Later ~~~~~~~
“WALLACE MUST GO, SAYS SENATOR– U.S. Unity Menaced, Knowland Asserts – America (says Sen. Knowland), as the (post WWII – ed.) trustee for humanity, must present a united front to the rest of the world and to achieve this unity…, Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace must LEAVE the Cabinet, U. S. Senator WILLIAM F. KNOWLAND (Rep.) declared here yesterday. His statement climaxed a busy day here in which he addressed the Convention Session of the California League of Cities, spoke at a combined meeting of local Exchange Clubs, and probed the problems of shipbuilders, fishermen, and canners in a personal inspection…(*Note: Nearly ALL of this article is taken up with the then-current, ‘explosive’ leak, and reactions, into the national press that then-Secretary Wallace was quoted as having used the word “appease” in a statement regarding Russia, immediately taken as a “go-easy-on-Russia” spin/opinion by many, including Sen. Knowland. But the main interest to this particular ‘PA of San Diego-oriented’ listing is focused on the ‘shipbuilders, fishermen, and canners in a personal inspection portion – ed.) ‘…He talked with fishermen, canners, and shipbuilders in an afternoon-long inspection trip of the waterfront.
VISITED SHIPYARDS
First he visited the LYNCH SHIPBUILDING yards where he saw the 110’ tuna clipper ‘LILIANA’ under construction, and talked with Capt. JOE MARQUES, who is readying his big ‘NORMANDIE’ for a cruise to the Galapagos fishing grounds. The ‘Normandie’ (launched in 1938 – ed.) has come back after four years helping the U.S. Navy win the Southwest Pacific war. When Sen. Knowland was with Mr. Harold Cary, Manager of Lynch yard, and Mr. George E. Campbell of the CAMPBELL MACHINE CO. yards, he talked shipping problems, and Mr. Dave Campbell of Campbell yards told him San Diego shipbuilding is suffering from a shortage of almost everything that goes into a ship. At the SAN DIEGO PACKING CO. and the HIGH SEAS TUNA PACKING CO., Knowland saw fish move from the tuna clippers to cans, and heard the Managers of these plants voice their problems.
SITUATION SIZED UP
Escorted to the yards and packing plants by George Campbell, JOE MEDINA, tuna fisherman, CHARLES LEANDERS – President, & George Wallace, Vice-President of the AMERICAN FISHERMEN’S TUNABOAT ASSOCIATION; Knowland said he got an interesting and informative view of the local situation. Mr. Leanders and Mr. Wallace laid before him the plight of 18 San Diego fishermen, whose boats were seized by the government at the start of World War II and were sunk in the conquest of Japan. These men, the fishing boat chiefs said, cannot get replacements at the price the government paid for the seized craft and are now out of business. Their bids for surplus that could be converted to tuna clippers have been rejected, although such bids represented the SAME price the government paid for the lost boats, Leanders and Wallace said.
ADDRESSES VETERANS
‘I have a much better picture of your problems than I had before,’ Knowland said after his tour, as he prepared for the evening meeting with veterans, in the Canadian Legion Building in Balboa Park…”
(*Source: San Diego UNION & Daily Bee newspaper – Wednesday,September 18, 1946 [about 1 year and 1 month after Japan’s surrender had ended WWII – ed.] – Pg. 3)