Look at the Past: A letter from buoytender Balsam
Nomeite Pat Callahan shared a letter with The Nome Nugget that was written at sea by his father Tom Callahan to his mother Maureen. The letter was written on July 27, 1973 and was mailed from Hooper Bay, Alaska. Tom Callahan was in the U.S. Coast Guard at the time, sailing on the cutter USCGC Balsam. The part of the letter details the ship’s visit to Nome, Alaska. The Callahans were living at Adak, Alaska but would move to St. Louis, Missouri where Pat Callahan was born.
At Sea July 27, 1973
“Well that adventure is over at least….. being marooned ashore in Nome. You won’t believe how we ever got back to the ship. But I’ll tell you a little later in this letter […] Here we are, myself and 22 others, stuck ashore in Nome while the ship pitches, heaves, and rolls just a mile offshore at Anchor. A howling gale is in progress which prevents us from operating the liberty boat thru the high surf. I went ashore Monday night just to make a telephone call. The first night I stayed up.
But the next day I ran into gentleman I met there last year. His name is Jon Breckin, and he is a civilian who runs the local U.S. Army Corp of Engineers there. He is in Nome only in the Spring and Summers & has a combined office and living quarters on a pier over the water.
The place is heated by a wood stove & has electricity (even a TV from Seattle via cable), but it lacks running water or a toilet. The former is overcome by us of a 55-gallon drum in the kitchen while the latter consists of a “honey bucket” as in days of yore.
So I slept there on a cot and was quite comfortable. As you can imagine I liked it. Was hoping the power could go out and we could really ruff it, but no such luck.
Sadly the next morning the storm was worse than ever. No planes had landed for days. Most of the crew was sleeping on cots provided at the National Guard Armory and those who still had $ were in hotels. About noon I called the ship on the little hand held radio & proposed my grand scheme of the Century.
The reason we could not re-join the ship was because the surf at Nome’s unprotected roadstead. But, up at the little village of Teller, some 75 miles away, was a very well protected land locked little harbor where we could board the ship. And there is a road from Nome to Teller.
So one thing led to another and I got the loan of a bus driver, rounded up all the strandees, and by damn we drove the bus to Teller. That was really neat-o. 75 miles thru the Alaska Bush by bus. We even carried Mr. Koehler and his leg in a cast. The road was gravel & narrow, but actually was quite uneventful. About 3 hours after leaving Nome we got to Teller, a small but clean village at the other end of road.
As the ship wasn’t due to arrive for several hours and it was misty, I hunkered down at the Door of the Lutheran Mission, hoping to get the use of their garage. Well as you might expect we were all whisked right inside the Parsonage and royally looked after. The minister, Reverend Hames Pierson was gone but his wife and her mother-in-law were there. We were ensconced in the church itself, which adjoined their living quarters. Mr. Koehler got a bed, and before 10 minutes was up the coffee pot was on, & supper being prepared. What would you have served to 23 starved sailors, with no notice that they would be “dropping by?”
Well we had fresh just baked real bread, with jam. Cookies all over the place. A huge cauldron of goulash with noodles, tomatoes, ground reindeer, TANG, fruit salad, and more coffee. Altogether it was amazing.
We were there about 6 hours. The mission there deals in ivory & handicrafts, & the crew bought a lot of it. I was so busy in Nome that I never did get you anything, now I got a little thing for you.
Besides buying the ivory, we passed the hat & took in about 85.00 for the church. And when the ship got there I had them send in 5 gallons of ice-cream, a case of steak, & a full case (30 doz) eggs. Eggs there run $1.50 a doz. So all in all the Lutheran Mission made out like bandits.
While waiting for the ship we got into a ball game with the kids from town. It was called “Eskimo Baseball” & it is nothing like normal baseball. So, we lost, but a good time was had. Once the game started a lot of older people from the town came over to watch.
Then about midnight (not dark yet) the ship’s boat arrived & picked us up.
So that was my big adventure this week. I still can’t believe it. The real miracle is how we ever located everybody in Nome at the last minute in order to ride the bus. The bus was free by the way. Seems the boss of the Bus Company is ex Coast Guard.
Only in Alaska. Which is one of the reasons I hate to leave.
Love You All
Tom C.
PS: I forgot to tell you about the mother-in-law. Older lady, past 70, visiting for the summer from Minnesota. She was born in Austria, and at 3 years came to Minnesota. Married a Swede, and they farmed for 56 years. Had 1 daughter and 7 sons. One a missionary in Alaska and another in Madagascar. Very nice old lady. We talked about life on the prairie. She really got into the swing of things. Couldn’t do enuff for the “boys” in the crew. I wrote a little note for her to publish in the local Minnesota newspaper at her home.