On
the first of Michelson's several visits to Port Canaveral, sea turtles
swam along as the ship entered the inlet from the Atlantic. Then a
small, sleepy little seaport, there were no container ships and no
cruise liners. Fishing and some recreational boating appeared to be the
main activities. There was dock space for a few ships to tie up along
the south side of the port, really just a narrow inlet like many along
the Florida coast. At that time the northern side of the port, part of
the space center, was usually reserved for tracking ships, recovery
vessels and whatever supported the then booming space industry.Michelson did not have a high priority for berthing space at Port Canaveral. We had to shift around to accommodate other vessels. Highest on the dock space pecking order was the orange juice ship. Tropicana OJ had a processing plant nearby that squeezed, bottled and pasteurized orange juice. Launched in 1957, the good ship SS Tropicana transported the refrigerated Florida juice product from there to northeast US markets.
On one port visit we had to move out of the port and anchor off shore overnight to accommodate some other ship. One of our motorized life boats was used as an hourly ferry service from the anchorage to inside the port. An AB (able seaman) ran the engine and steered as the fourth mate captained the "Little Michelson". This was my one and only "liberty boat" experience while in this very different navy.
Another time we were required to tie up, again just for one night, on the north side of the port. This kind of isolated us from civilization as it was difficult to get out of and back into the space center property. That evening somebody had a brilliant idea. Collecting some monetary contributions, he somehow acquired several cases of cold beer. We navy guys and some of the crew then started drinking, sitting around the pier by the ship and adjacent beach area. The space center's security police, known as "Pan Am Cops", did not like this. Our impromptu nocturnal beach party was raided and we all walked or crawled back up Michelson's gangway. The party was over.
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| Port Canaveral in more recent times. |
