Antique Maritime Diary from 1942 Navy Officer John S (02/11/2011)...

Home > Worthopedia – Price Guide > Transportation and Vehicles >

Antique Maritime Diary from 1942 Navy Officer John Sell

Terms and Conditions for using our site

Antique Maritime Diary from 1942 Navy Officer John Sell

Sold For:

or Sign In to see what it's worth.

Sold Date: 02/11/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Transportation and Vehicles

1942 Navy Diary

You're bidding on a really interesting find. It's a personal diary from a Navy officer during his time of duty in 1942. It's in perfect condition. It has a clap and lock that I was able to open. Gold lined pages. The officer's name was "Jack" who served upon the U.S.S New York. His name is crossed off by another person who wrote in the diary later. The last name Ealyeu (it's hard to make out in the dark room I'm in now)

The first few entries seem to come from another officer serving in Pearl Harbor in 1951. John F Sell Jr. serving on the U.S.N.R. sworn in 1941 and writing in 1951 on the USS Agawam Aogg.

The main part of the book features Jack's experiences during 1942. It's really fun going through this book and reading about this young man's experiences and the way people used to write. He uses a lot of military terms. Some of his entries are short. Some of them for example:

"Feb10 - Made Liberty with Stein and Chet. We took in all the joints in Norfolk, Va."

"Feb11 - Had a tough morning watch. Too much liberty last night."

"Mar2 - Not making any headway. The storm is too strong. 65 to 90 knots"

Mar3 - Nothing happened. Weather still bad. Sleep is impossible."

He talks about going to Halifax, New York, Iceland and a bunch of other places. Captain's inspections. Fighting with subs and sinking them. My favorite part of the book is when he ends up going cruising for ladies and picking up some girls with his buddy and driving around with them. He gets pulled over by a motorcycle cop in the city who takes the women away from the Navy guys. They end up driving and crashing into a taxi cab. The author ends up in a hospital bed for a couple months.

The back of the diary has a name in the address book. "Alan G. Scheider. 910 Maryland Ave N.E. Washington D.C"

This is a great piece of history and very interesting to read through in detail. Awesome collectible. Starting bid at just one penny ! I hope it goes above that price though. =)

Please in my 100% feedback history. Thanks for looking!!