Waterways such as the Cottica River were no narrow that the vessels had to put their bows into small streams to turn and then were towed upstream, stern first, to the loading docks. There, the valuable cargoes would be shipped to aluminum mills and eventual construction into airplanes. When Dan towns came aboard as an A.B. at Mobile, Alabama, in May 1943, Soreldoc was on lease to Alcoa. He was 18 years old and one of two sailors of that age on board. The others ranged upward to 56 year old Captain Thomas W. Paisley.
Towns recalls the ship was under the flag of Panama and carried a crew from many nations.
There were 30 sailors on board plus an American Security Officer for trips to and from Trinidad. Soreldoc had recently been outfitted for combat. The wheelhouse, forecastle and crews quarters aft were covered with thick steel and a British twelve-pounder was mounted on a gun deck on the stern. Towns remembers loading 30,000 bags of cement via slings, into the cargo hold at Mobile. The ships sailed May 9 but went to Pensacola, Fla., for repairs resuming the voyage May 11.