The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-09-05
BY GEORGE BRITT
Times STAFF Writer

BY GEORGE BRITT
Times STAFF Writer
Copyright 1882, by the New York World
Telegram Corporationl
II WAS sitting up in the Elks
Il Club, months later" said Al
bert B. Randall, the very Yankee
skipper of the Leviathan and
commodore of the United States
Lines, when I got one of the
surprises of my life. Here came
a letter from Josephus Daniels,
commencing me for that Stand
ard Arrow business"
Commodore Randall had been
telling how he raced an oil tanker
across the ocean during the war,
and reached the Portsmouth ma
val base in England just when
the oil supply was exhausted.
To hear him talk, there was
nothing to it. He was waiting
for orders in New York when the
need arose.
The convoy had sailed at noon,
and if the Standard Arrow waited
until morning she couldn't over
take the others. She wouldn't be
loaded, full, until after dark.
And there was a rule that no
deep ships could be moved from
Bayonne through the kills at
night. The towing companies re-
fused to take the risk.
Sure, I'll try her." said Com
modore Randall, undaunted by
the thought of a ship drawing
thirty-two feet of water in a chan
mel only thirty-two feet one inch
deep.
Send me some tugs from the
navy yard at o'clock tonight,
and put on the pilot"
TINE darkness made no differ
Il ence, as it turned out. The
tanker slid out of the harbor as
if on a track and overlook the
convoy two days later. The COM
modore laughed.
There's another war story he
enjoys telling about the time he
was sunk on the President Lin
coin, returning as a passenger
after commanding a convoy of
f1fty-tWo ships safely across.
At the explosion his first re-
flex was to save the new uniform
he just had bought in London.
He hung it carefully on a coat
hanger in his stateroom closet,
put on an old uniform and took
to a lifeboat.
One of his fellow oarsmen was
Cupid" Black, old Yale football
player, then navy ensign.
AS the boats floated away from
the wreck, the U-boat came to
the surface amidst them. Com
modore Randall shed his coat with
the gold stripes of rank none too
soon.
The U-boat drew alongside and
handed over an American sailor
picked up in the water. Them
Heinies amt SO bad" the sailor
remarked later. They give me
two big shots of cognac."
manded the German skipper,
Where's the captain?" de-
looking for a captive souvenir.
He went down with the ship"
shouted Randall, and the others
eagerly lying.
Don't worry, Black" said the
German; I'VE don't want you"
Black swore. The enemy he
recognized as an old prep school
classmate Of his.
DURING the war Randall
- stepped into Newport News
and performed an act of friendly
piracy for the navy, taking the
freighter Theresa away from the
shipping board by cajolery and
assertiveness when red tape was
holding things up.
AS a boy sailor he froze stiff
receiving the signal halyards
t44A OuSi1 Vic 4OAby Aldln u uCA VI
a sailing ship and had to be low
cred to the deck by his shipmates.
He sailed before the mast on
army transports in the Spanish
war. He was with the navy aux
iliary fleet for years. Once he
was the black sheep of the mer-
chant marine when it was charged
he had passed up fisherman in
distress.
After his vindication, within a
year he saved SO many schooners
and dories and coast guard cut
tiers that they nicknamed him
Rescue" Randall.
An old tub, which bore the
names of Powhatan, Hudson, New
Rochelle. President Fillmore and
two or three others at various
times, which he commanded for
years by whatever title was cur
rent, probably tried his patience
and seasoned him and brought
him fame and credit more than
any other ship he ever knew.
When she finally was broken up,
he salvaged her steering wheel