The 73-74 cruise was the second of my three cruises while on the Hawk. I looked through my cruise book and found a FA M Whitney that was in the Engineering Department, P-2 division. The propulsion divisions did indeed work in the main machinery rooms.
While serving on the same ship, we never met. I am sorry for your loss.
Thank you for your response and the photos that you sent. We are slowly learning more and more about Mike and his time aboard the Kitty Hawk. We just found out that he was the last or one of the last men to escape the fire before the doors where shut. He had severe burns to his arms and fought nightmares for years after returning home.
Frank,
Real sorry for your loss, and a snappy salute to you too for following up on the old man's life history. I'm sure you are well aware of this, but in case you are not, There was plenty of asbestos in the Engineering spaces.
I had to clean a "void" space that was home to the exhaust tubes from the boilers. They ran horizontally from the center to under the island where they turned vertical again. They were wrapped in asbestos matts at least 10" thick.
We slept on them while we were thinking about work, they were newer, cleaner, and thicker than our rack mattresses. And WAY bigger. Thankfully I have not shown any signs of lung problems (yet)
Thanks for the salute JT. I was aware of the asbestos but not to the extent that you describe. I encourage you and anyone reading this to get some type of testing done. Mike did not show any signs either, when he finally did he was gone within months. Not trying to scare anyone but this stuff is ugly.
Please keep the stories coming though, my wife--his daughter, has asked me to make a book of sorts for her of them.
