CREW'S STORIES
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55 gallon alcohol drum
From Jim Brusa, 1956
I was assigned to the Bennington while she was in the Brooklyn Navy Yard getting her face lifted in 1955. I came from the US Navy Motion Picture Service in the yard. That is where all the movies in the fleet, both coasts, came from. I was assigned to the photo lab and spent two plus years in that tiny space. But our sleeping quarters had a port hole and a door that opened to a cat walk on the 05 level. Boy did we try to catch a breeze there. We had the metal benders construct a wind deflector that helped blow in the sea breezes.
One of the methods to quick dry arial film was to put it thru an alcohol bath. That made it necessary to store a 55 gallon drum in a small compartment near the lab. We drew out the liquid with a pump arrangement as we needed it. Shortly after the drum was delivered and used a couple of times, we noticed that the level was much lower that it should have been. When we tried to move the drum, it was attached to the floor. Investigation showed that someone had drilled into it from below and had installed a spigot. That way they could help themselves as they needed. We always suspected the engine crews.
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