Aerial photo of Lowndes leaving Pier 90 - Seattle - 1945

In 2004, William Ramsey sent the following copy of a newspaper photo, which Ramsey identified as the Lowndes just next to Piers 90 and 91 in Seattle, WA. From the newspaper image, I could see the ship was a Haskell Class Attack Transport like the Lowndes. I could not, however, read the hull number. There were 117 Haskell Class ships made for the war. Could this really be the Lowndes in the photo? It was not until almost 20 years later that I researched the photo and proved that Ramsey was correct.

I found the article/photo in the Seattle Times archives, which showed the date (October 22, 1945). The date was not in the photo that Ramsey sent me.

William Ramsey was a Lowndes Navigator. The aerial picture was taken while he was on leave, and he probably saw it in the newspaper. He knew the Lowndes was the only APA ship at the piers on the few days prior to the newspaper article.

Diaries of several crewmen provide us with the Lowndes short time at Pier 90/91:

Max Welker's Diary:

Oct. 17, 1945 - Oh boy, another day gone and tomorrow we arrive in Seattle. Still don’t know if I’ll get to go ashore right away though. Didn’t do much today.

Oct. 18, 1945 - Docked in Seattle at one o’clock today. Got special liberty to call home. Had liberty, had lots of fun. Got 18 letters from home. Got my picture taken.

Oct. 19, 1945 - Moved from docks in Seattle to docks in Lake Washington today. Really a pretty place here - fresh water lake. No letters today. Had to help take out the troop bunk bottoms today. They’re going to strip the ship here.

Calvin Bull's Diary:

Oct 18, Arrived in Seattle Washington at 1300. A ferryboat full of girls pulled up alongside and played different songs. We docked at pier 91 across from the battlewagons Iowa, Maryland and Arkansas.

Oct 19. Left Pier 91 to go to lake Washington for repairs. Heard that I would be transferred in about a week. Went on liberty and made a phone call home to Mom and Dad. Had a steak dinner and saw "A Thousand and One Nights". (Last entry in Bull's diary)

The ship's log (below) shows that the Lowndes moved from the piers to Lake Washington at 8:10AM on October 19, 1945. The Lowndes would not return to the piers until November 1, 1945, so the aerial photograph must have been taken on the 19th, and the picture then appeared in the newspaper on the morning of the October 22nd.

While still at the Lake Washington (Kirkland) shipyards, the ship's log shows that Donald MacPherson (the main Navagator of the Lowndes) was detached. Many of the crew, who had joined the service early in the war, were allowed to leave the service at this time. Reunion member Max Cole also left this same week.

William Ramsey returned to duty, and on November 1, 1945, he became the full Navigator of the Lowndes. On this day, he moved the Lowndes (out of Lake Washington and through the locks) back to Pier 90.

Below is a picture of William Ramsey and his wife at the 1999 Lowndes Reunion in Washington, DC.

Click here to see a 2006 video of the Lowndes reunion group in Seattle, retracing the Lowndes through the Seattle locks.

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