Title: Francis E. Bowker oral history interview, March 14, 2001

Identifier: OH0205   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/11266)

Description: Captain Bowker's maritime career began in the 1930s, sailing a three-masted schooner off Nova Scotia. He second ship was a five-masted schooner, of which he gives an excellent description in the interview. In 1941 he went to officer's school and became a 3rd mate. He was still on schooners during the early part of World War II and discusses being stopped by the U.S. Navy to have the ship's cargo inspected. Later in the war he served on a tanker where he was exposed to toxic gas fumes. He was hospitalized for three months, whereupon his merchant marine career ended when it was discovered he had permanent lung damage. Interviewer: H.A.I. Sugg.