"The black gang are the members of a ship's crew who work in the fire room/engine room; they are also called stokers or firemen. They are called "black" because of the soot and coal dust that is thick in the air in the fire room/engine room. The term began being used in the days of the coal-fired steamships. The term is commonly used in the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy to describe personnel in 'M' and 'B' divisions."Firemen and other members of a ship's Engine Force were called the "Black Gang" due to the considerable amount of oily grime and dust that collected on their skins, hair and clothing from performing their assigned duties in the often stifling heat of the confines of the Engine Room...MoMM2/C Johnson's assignments seesawed back and forth between Fireman and Motor Machinist's Mate, as well as sharing gunnery, deck watch and galley duties as needed with the other crewmembers...Truckman chose to honor his Uncle's service with what has become first a series of articles, and then books concerning the tiny wooden ships classified as Small Coastal Transports, of which APc-48 was but one example...Truckman's research staff has found that any information concerning these small but tough little ships is often buried in the shadows of the larger warships, and often must be pried out of the mountains of data that was recorded in the various official Navy reports, and the books written in the post-war period...
At this time Truckman is proud to declare the embarkation of our own "Gray Gang" dedicated to digging out those stubborn bits of intelligence to keep the fires of APc research burning, much as the "Black Gangs" of earlier centuries dug the last scrap of coal from their vessels' coal bunkers to fuel the fires of their ships...The "gray" is in deference to the color of hair taken by many of us whose interests lie in this narrow field of inquiry...The only requirements needed to enlist with this important research team, is to use the email link in the sidebar to the right of this article to submit the username to which you want your new finding credited...What we are looking for is any pictures, books, articles or news items concerning the activities, locations or service of these ships or their crewmembers, whether in war or in the hard-earned peace which followed, that may be included in future books in the "APc-48" series...Please note that your submissions do not have to be directly related to APc-48, but rather to any of the Small Coastal Transports, including the planning stages, construction, recruitment, staffing, assignments or later post-war civilian careers...Letters, journals, notes and diaries can be other valuable sources...If it concerns the APc ships, or their officers and crews, we want to hear about it...
It is also not necessary to submit new information right away, just your intention to add to our APc bank of knowledge and your username (real or assumed) are all that is necessary...A method of keeping score of information submissions may also be added in the future...
EDIT: Score of acceptable submissions is now kept by the italicized number within parentheses to the right of the username...
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