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4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL June 22, 2016 O PINION Offbeat Oregon History For captain and crew, catastrophic shipwreck was luckiest break of their lives BY FINN J.D. JOHN For the Sentinel W hen their ship suddenly started sinking beneath their feet, just after nightfall on a winter day while crossing the notorious Columbia River Bar, chances are that Captain Canute Rommerdahl and his crew thought their luck had run out. They’d fi gure out later that the sinking of their ship, the S.S. Drexel Victory, was probably the luckiest break they’d ever caught in their lives. No one actually knows what happened to the Drexel Victory that night, as she steamed across the bar en route to Yokahama, Japan. The ship was practically brand-new, having been built less than two years before at the Permanente/Kaiser shipyard in Richmond, Calif. But she was a Victory ship — and that gives our best clue as to what might have suddenly happened to her at 5 p.m. on the fateful evening of Jan. 19, 1947. Victory ships were, essentially, souped- up Liberty ships. And Liberty ships were one of the most important reasons the Nazis lost the Second World War. The basic Liberty Ship was patterned after a First World War-era British cargo steamer, with the blueprints modifi ed to make mass production possible. To keep costs down and make huge production numbers pos- sible, it was obsolete by design, using an antiquated but reliable 2,500-horsepower steam engine to shove a squat, blocky 441- foot-long hull through the water at a barely- adequate 11 knots. But it was capacious, and it was cheap, and when production re- ally got rolling the Portland shipyard alone was cranking them out at a rate of one new ship every three days. The Nazi submarines, trying to choke off the torrent of supplies crossing the Atlantic to keep the war go- ing, soon found themselves inundated with thousands of these ugly things, and no mat- ter how many they sank, the numbers never stopped increasing. But an awful lot of them were getting sunk. Slow and underpowered, they were sitting ducks when a submarine got them in its sights, and no amount of guns and depth charges added to the upper decks could change this. Also, when a submarine put a hit on a Liberty ship, the results could be quite dra- matic. Part of the modifi cation of the origi- nal British design involved having the Lib- erty ships’ plates welded rather than riveted. This resulted in a stronger, tighter connec- tion between the plates, and a much faster one to boot — but it meant something else, too: When a crack got started, it could liter- ally circumnavigate the ship. A Liberty ship could crack in half. And plenty of them did exactly that. Of course, when a German torpedo hits an unarmored cargo ship, she’s going to sink one way or another, cracks in the hull or no cracks in the hull. What was more alarm- ing were the three known cases of Liberty ships just breaking in half and sinking while minding their own business, nowhere near a German raider. One of these, the S.S. John P. Gaines, broke in half and sank off the Aleutian Islands, drowning 10 mariners. And, of course, plenty more were lost in storms and heavy weather at sea; it’s a good bet that under the strain of hurricane winds and mountainous seas a few other Liberty ships went down with all hands and no one the wiser as to why. So it was with all these factors in mind that the U.S. War Shipping Administration commissioned a replacement for the Lib- erty, just a few months after Pearl Harbor. That replacement would become the Vic- tory class. The Victory was an improvement in every possible way. Thanks to a massive power upgrade, it was over 50 percent fast- er — 17 knots, which is roughly the same speed as a surfaced German submarine — so it was far harder to put a torpedo into. It was bigger — 455 feet long and displacing 15,200 tons, versus 441 feet and 14,245, re- spectively. Then, too, it was far easier on the eyes than a Liberty ship, with a raked bow and an elegant cruiser stern. And to help address the cracking problem, the internal bracing was changed to make the hull less stiff. The very fi rst Victory ship, the S.S. Unit- ed Victory, slid into the water at Henry Kai- ser’s Oregon Shipbuilding Company yard in Portland, in January 1944. From then until the end of the war, a total of 531 of them were launched from six shipyards — the largest number of them built in Portland — to join the 2,750 or so Liberty ships in Uncle Sam’s wartime production records. The Drexel Victory was one of the last Victory ships built, in the waning months of the war. Now, two years later, she was making her way across the bar with a mod- est load of cargo bound for Yokohama, Ja- pan, when suddenly something big and loud happened to the hull amidships — between holds 4 and 5. It was nothing as dramatic as what had happened to the doomed Liberty ships, but it was enough. Water poured into the ship; plates bulged under the sudden pressure. The crew got to the pumps and tried to keep up, but the ship was clearly sinking. By now the darkness was complete, but fortunately the weather wasn’t too heavy, so the Coast Guard motor lifeboat Triumph and cutter Onondonga managed to get the crew evacuated without any major trouble. Then the Onondonga tried to get a line on the drifting, unmanned freighter, hoping to beach her or at least make sure she didn’t sink in the middle of the channel. All efforts failed, though, and the sinking Drexel Vic- tory drifted out to sea, wallowing lower and lower and fi nally sinking in deep water just offshore. So, what happened? No one really knows for sure. The captain was exonerated at the subsequent hearing; he’d had his ship in the channel, doing everything he was supposed LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A new peace movement We need a new peace movement, a movement to bring both peace and peace of mind. A movement that turns away from greed and force, because greed and force are ugly in the eyes of childhood and our better nature. The world needs a peace movement to becalm its waters and rinse its skies with cool, clean rain. We CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS Cottage Grove City Hall: 942- 5501. www.cottagegrove.org/ Cottage Grove Mayor Tom Mun- roe: 942-5501. Cottage Grove City Councilors: Mike Fleck, At Large: 942-7302 K. Michael Roberts, At Large: 942-5501 Jake Boone, Ward 1: 653-7413 Jeff Gowing, Ward 2: 942-1900 Garland Burback, Ward 3: 942- 4800 Amy Slay, Ward 4: 942-5501 need a world that acquires learning (for its own sake) and makes peace (for its own sake), removes rocks from its fi elds and sows for a tomorrow that we can give our children as a gift. Our world needs a peace movement because tigers love not the lamb, and bloodshed lays salt upon the land. Leo Rivers Cottage Grove Lane County Commissioners: Faye Stewart, East Lane Com- missioner Lane County Public Service Building 125 East 8th Street Eugene, OR 97401 Phone: (541) 682-4203 Fax: (541) 682-4616 Oregon State House of Representatives: Rep. Cedric Hayden (REP) District: 007 900 Court Street NE Suite H-288 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: (503) 986-1407 Fax: (503) 986-1130 Email: rep.cedrichayden@state. or.us Oregon State Senate: Sen. Floyd Prozanski (DEM) District: 004 900 Court Street NE Suite S-319 Please see OFFBEAT, Page 10A Salem, OR 97301-0001 Phone: (503) 986-1704 Fax: (503) 986-1080 Email: sen.fl oydprozansski@ state.or.us Governor: Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, Oregon 97301-4047 Phone: (503) 378-4582 Fax: (503) 378-6827 United States House of Representatives: Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (DEM) District: 004 United States House of Represen- tatives 2134 Rayburn House Offi ce Building Washington, DC 20515-0001 Phone: (202) 225-6416 Fax: (202) 225-0032 Email: http://www.house.gov/for- mdefazio/contact.html The health risks of natural sweeteners BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD For the Sentinel A dded sugars come in several forms other than table sugar, such as evaporated cane juice and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Calorie-contain- ing sweeteners like maple syr- up, honey, agave and coconut sugar are marketed as “natural” and often touted as healthier al- t e r n a t ive s to these types of added sug- ars. Is there any truth to these claims? Similar to sugar, these $ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM 116 N. Sixth Street · P.O. Box 35 · Cottage Grove, OR 97424 ADMINISTRATION: JOHN BARTLETT, Regional Publisher.............................. GARY MANLY, General Manager................942-3325 Ext. 207 • publisher@cgsentinel.com ROBIN REISER, Sales Repersentative...............942-3325 Ext. 203 • robin@cgsentinel.com TAMMY SAYRE, Sales Repersentative......... 942-3325 Ext. 213 • tsayre@cgsentinel.com SPORTS DEPARTMENT: SAM WRIGHT, Sports Editor...................942-3325 Ext. 204 • sports@cgsentinel.com CUSTOMER SERVICE CARLA WILLIAMS, Office Manager.................942-3325 Ext. 201 • billing@cgsentinel.com LEGALS.............................................................942-3325 Ext. 200 • legals@cgsentinel.com NEWS DEPARTMENT: JON STINNETT, Editor......................................942-3325 Ext. 212 • cgnews@cgsentinel.com GRAPHICS: RON ANNIS, Graphics Manager (USP 133880) Subscription Mail Rates in Lane and Portions of Douglas Counties: Ten Weeks ............................................. $9.10 One year ..............................................$36.15 e-Edition year .......................................$36.00 Rates in all other areas of United States: Ten Weeks $11.70; one year, $46.35, e-Edition $43.00. In foreign countries, postage extra. No subscription for less than Ten Weeks. Subscription rates are subject to change upon 30 days’ notice. All subscritptions must be paid prior to beginning the subscription and are non-refundable. Periodicals postage paid at Cottage Grove, Oregon. Postmaster: Send address changes to P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424. Local Mail Service: If you don’t receive your Cottage Grove Sentinel on the Wednesday of publication, please let us know. Call 942-3325 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Advertising ownership: All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by the Cottage Grove Sentinel become the property of the Cottage Grove Sentinel and may not be reproduced for any other use without explicit written prior approval. Copyright Notice: Entire contents ©2015 Cottage Grove Sentinel. alternatives are still low-nutri- ent concentrated sweeteners; they add substantial calories to the diet while contributing very little nutritional value. Maple syrup and honey elevate blood glucose similarly to sugar (su- crose), leading to disease-caus- ing effects in the body. Agave and coconut sugar rank lower on the glycemic index but are still empty calories and have other negative effects. Repeated exposure to these excessively sweet tastes dulls the taste buds to the naturally sweet tastes of berries and other fresh fruits, which perpetuates cravings for sweets and can undermine weight loss. Since some natural sweeteners un- dergo fewer processing steps than sugar, they may retain some phytochemicals from the plants they originate from, but their nutrient-to-calorie ratio is still very low, and they contain minimal or no fi ber to slow the absorption of their sugars. The negative health effects of added sugar and HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) are well document- ed, including increased risk of weight gain, diabetes, cardio- vascular disease and cancer. Agave nectar is marketed as a low-glycemic sweetener, due to its high fructose content (agave is approximately 90 percent fructose). Sucrose is half fruc- tose and half glucose, made up of one fructose molecule linked to one glucose molecule. HFCS contains 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. All sweet- eners (and fruits) contain some combination of glucose, fruc- tose, and the two bound together as sucrose. Maple syrup con- tains about 90 percent sucrose, so it is very similar to regular white sugar. Coconut sugar con- tains 70-80 percent sucrose, and honey contains 49 percent fruc- tose and 43 percent glucose. Fructose and glucose are broken down differently by the body. When fructose is ab- sorbed, it is transported directly to the liver, where it is broken down to produce energy. Fruc- tose itself does not stimulate in- sulin secretion by the pancreas. However, much of the fructose is actually metabolized and con- verted into glucose in the liver, so it does raise blood glucose somewhat (although not as much as sucrose or glucose). Despite its lower glycemic index, added fructose in the form of sweeten- ers still poses health risks. Fruc- tose stimulates fat production by the liver, which causes elevated blood triglycerides, a predictor of heart disease. Elevated tri- glycerides have been reported in human studies after consuming fructose-sweetened drinks and this effect was heightened in the participants who were insulin- resistant. Fructose, when used as a sweetener, also seems to have effects on hunger and sa- tiety hormones that may lead to increased calorie intake in sub- sequent meals. When you ingest any ca- loric sweetener, you get a mix of disease-promoting effects: the glucose-elevating effects of added glucose and the triglyc- eride-raising effects of added fructose. Sweeteners, unlike whole fruits, are concentrated sugars without the necessary fi - ber to regulate the entry of glu- cose into the bloodstream and fructose to the liver. All caloric sweeteners have effects that promote weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease, regardless of their ratio of glucose to fruc- tose, or what type of plant they originate from. Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and a board certifi ed family physician specializing in lifestyle and nu- tritional medicine. His newest book, The End of Heart Disease, offers a detailed plan to prevent and reverse heart disease using a nutrient-dense, plant-rich eat- ing style. Visit his informative website at DrFuhrman.com. Submit your questions and com- ments about this column directly to newsquestions@drfuhrman. com. Letters to the Editor policy The Cottage Grove Sentinel receives many letters to the editor. In order to ensure that your letter will be printed, letters must be under 300 words and submitted by Friday at 5 p.m. Letters must be signed and must include an address, city and phone number or e-mail address for verifi cation purposes. No anonymous letters will be printed. Letters must be of interest to local readers. Personal attacks and name calling in response to letters are uncalled for and unnecessary. If you would like to submit an opinion piece, Another View must be no longer than 600 words. To avoid transcription errors, the Sentinel would prefer editorial and news content be sent electronically via email or electronic media. Hand written submissions will be accepted, but we may need to call to verify spelling, which could delay the publishing of the submission.