JUST back from the Korean war-fronts after a six month hitch, Paul P., 3rd Mate of the Robin Kirk, a new C-3 modified (19 knots), gives ample proof of what we already know -- that without merchant ships our nation would be immobilized in peace or war. Expecting a short trip to carry supplies to the fighting men in Korea, Paul P. found himself in far Pacific waters equipped with little more than summer clothing in the way of personal gear, although his stay stretched into the months of bitter Korean cold.

Mr. P., who participated in the invasion of Normandy in World War II, was again in an invasion of historic proportions when the U.S. unloaded men and battle equipment at Inchon (the seaport of Seoul) under 24-hour-a-day naval protective firing. Mr. P. himself spent a week in that harbor and, as an eye-witness, tells that the same kind of gallant protection continued as the Robin Kirk steamed away from the coast of Inchon.

With his naval base at Yokohama in Japan, Mr. P. found that he not only had to combat man-made dangers but those of nature too. Only a few hours outside of Yokohama his convoy (yes, a convoy, as in World War II) was overtaken by a typhoon. According to his eye-witness account it was one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. Waves, created by gale winds of 90 miles per hour, rose as high as sixty feet into the air. The ship=s only recourse was to head into the wind and try to ride out the storm. Gratefully, Mr. P. reports that his convoy arrived intact at the port of Inchon. Still further natural barriers greeted the ships there for Inchon is one of the most hazardous ports in the world, with a rise and fall in the tide of 33 feet, a zigzagging channel, and a rapid current of 4 knots. The Robin Kirk and two other ships were the only ones that ventured into the harbor as they had priority cargo. It was here that merchant men put ashore themselves (because the Koreans were not experienced enough to handle such cargo) the Apackaged army@ which pressed toward Seoul. Trucks, loaded with ammunition and supplies, gas tanks full, and oil in the engine, were ready to go ashore and be driven away completely assembled for action. On the same ship were carried the troops that were to man the trucks.

Through the six months of warfare that Paul P. spent carrying supplies around the peninsula of Korea, he experienced enemy gunfire from hostile planes attacking as American ships sought to unload in the harbors; he saw Russian-made mines and aided in blowing up some of them himself; he witnessed during his off-duty hours ashore the many nationalities that go to make up the United Nations armies -- Belgium, Turks, English, Greek, French, Dutch, Swedish, Thailanders -- perhaps there were more but these were the nations that he remembers for himself. Many times he had occasion to give thanks for the protection of the United States Navy, and British and French ships as his C-3 carried men and supplies to the fighting fronts, and in some tragic situations, evacuated them.

Mr. P.=s experiences are telling evidence that our merchant Fleet, her ships and her men, share an integral part in our nation=s welfare -- in peace and in war.