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Where did they go?
By PJ
The other day while driving across the Seattle Viaduct, I was checking
out what was going on in the harbor. (Which is what all waterfront workers young
and old do when driving that way.) Something was missing. After some deep
thought which didn’t take very long. It dawned on me. The “whirley’s”
were gone, no more “whirley” cranes. Where did they go? When I started
longshoring in the early 50’s, that’s all there was, but they were seldom
used. We used the ship’s gear for 95% of heavy lifts. So getting a job with a
crane gang was a good thing. It was eerier work in the hold. By the 70’s we
were using the “whirley’s” all the time. Some “gantry” cranes were
starting to appear on the horizon. Then the “starcons” made an appearance.
(more crane work) Life is good. By now I was a crane operator getting 3 &
4days a week on the cranes and checking the rest of the week. I once asked an
old timer why the difference in “whirley” cranes, some electric but the
majority we diesel electric. He told me during WWII, if we were bombed and the
electricity was cut off the cranes would be shut down. But the diesel electrics
would have to be directly bombed for them to be unworkable. That made sense to
me. We would keep on working. I was talking to a crane trainer and asked him
about the “whirley “cranes. He told me there were still a few around but not
many. It sounds like us pensioners
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ILWU - PMA Benefit Plans Office
Seattle ILWU Pension Club
President
Dick Melton
Vice President
Bob Rogers
Secretary Treasurer
Parker Johnston
Recording Secretary
Pete Collen
Trustees
Bill
Lassiter
Carl Woek
Mike Caso
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