Raymond Witt
Messman / British Merchant Navy

Raymond John Witt, 74, a most loyal shipmate, of Bath, England, died after collapsing while dining with his wife Susan. He had been a member of Project Liberty Ship since the JOHN W. BROWN was a schoolship.

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A self-described "traveling man" for his many jobs in many places, Ray worked on the BROWN almost to the end. He was aboard ship for almost a month in September and worked the September 6 cruise. His work ranged from galley to wherever a body was missing.

Ray had had a heart condition after a massive heart attack about 1976 just after working for twelve months on boilers at an oil rig off Norway.

It was while he was recovering that he began researching and writing his monograph on the heroic S.S. STEPHEN HOPKINS, the Liberty ship that engaged two German ships in the South Atlantic on September 27, 1942. The Hopkins sank the German raider STIER and was herself sunk. Ray's little book is sold in the ship's store.

Ray had a difficult childhood in Bath where he was born December 28, 1929.

"I had very little schooling. My father said I didn't need any schooling. During the war, he and I would go out shooting rabbits for food. The school superintendent would come and scold my father and get me. Soon my father would take me out again. My father came and went. He finally left the family for good when I was 11 . Never saw him again. My mother was Edith Kate Witt. She was a terrific person. Wonderful lady. She was still working as a waitress at 78.

"Times were tough in England before, during and after the war. Cold winters, no heat in the house. Mum would light the stove in the morning and my brother, sister and me would take turns holding our feet in the stove to warm up".

Ray began sailing as a bell boy "in 1946 or 1947" on the passenger/cargo ship RANGITIKI, of the New Zealand Shipping Co., from London to New Zealand and Australia. He sailed as a cabin boy on SAMINDORO, a Liberty, to Argentina. Later he crewed on the THISTLEDALE, a Fort-class ship. She blew a condenser top in Odessa, Russia, and later grounded after leaving Istanbul. Then in 1948 and 1949 on a tramp steamer, the HARTISMERE, first stop Baltimore for a load of grain. "Fascinating thing for me was the ice cold Coca Cola machine on the pier. That was a revelation."

After other ships and ports, Ray came ashore in 1956 at age 27. His sea life wrecked his first marriage.

In galleys on ships he learned food work. He managed his own 200-bed hotel, the Hawthorne, in the Bristol area. He worked in England, Scotland and Wales as a fitter and welder. In 1966 he began working for Babcock and Wilcox as a common welder on boilers, including two years in South Africa at power stations. Then maintenance manager at Bath College. "It was a secure job with many benefits but, strange to say, I hated every minute of it."

But he loved the BROWN which he joined early on. By long distance he convinced Charlie Crabbin about his Hopkins booklet. Ray didn't see the BROWN until a visit here in 1991. The lady bus driver never heard of the ship but he persuaded her to go off her route to find the ship. His first shipmate was George Dodge who invited him to leave his hotel and sleep aboard ship.

In September 2003 he said to a galley mate, "I love the BROWN. I come over mostly to see the guys. I help where I can. Galley. Errands for carpenters. Starboard toilet. I help where I can. That's the BROWN spirit."