One such person was Augusto Sengebau, a veteran seaman who sailed on PML (Pacific Micronesia Line) ships in the fifties and early sixties. Augusto Sengebau passed away some years ago, but I recorded his recollections of events surrounding the visit of Musashi to Palauan waters. Gusto was a young teenager when he saw the Musashi anchored off the island of Ngerkebesang in 1944. Gusto said the Musashi was so large that it began generating lots of wild rumors while it was riding at anchor outside Ngerkebesang. “Reports reaching Babeldaob in those days told of a warship so large that if one was standing on the beach at Ngerdis or Ngereksong he would not be able to see Ulong and the nearby rock islands because they would be completely blocked from view by Musashi”, Gusto said.
Another wild rumor that attained the stature of a “legend” had it that when Musashi entered Koror’s internal waters, the sea level at the rock islands rose three feet because of the large amounts of saltwater the huge battleship displaced. “To this day, there are elderly gentlemen, who were teenagers in the mid-forties, who would swear to that occurrence”, Gusto said.
Young Augusto Sengebau himself was so impressed by the imposing sight of the Musashi that he decided to become a seaman if he could get the chance. That chance came shortly after the war and he signed up on one of the American civilian cargo ships plying the waters between Micronesia and the South Pacific in the late forties. The Trust Territory’s shipping company, Pacific Micronesia Line (PML), took over the route and added others in the North Pacific during the decade of the fifties. On his many voyages throughout the Pacific, Gusto would see other big ships, “but none would replace the grandeur of Musashi, with its huge guns bristling on her high decks”, he said.
Use of vulgar languages by our young people should be eradicated.
While attending the funeral service for the late Feliciano Blailes late last month with some long-time acquaintances, we began discussing the frequent use of foul languages which is so common among our young people. One of my friends told us about an incident which he witnessed when he stopped at a gasoline service station to purchase fuel for his car. “Two young men were arguing about something near the door leading to the cashier of the station. They were swearing at each other with profanities (Sius ra chereomel) that would have made the Devil himself blush in embarrassment. Two other young people standing nearby shouted to them to stop wasting time and to begin fighting”, my friend reported.
“Our Schools, with the support of the community and our Churches, must do all they can to eradicate this cancerous growth in our society before it gets out of hand”, my friend commented.
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