National Archives: Coast Guardsmen on the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spencer

"Hey sailor, give me a hand with this rope"
        Say, you look a little green around the gills, these seas gettin' to ya huh? It takes some gettin' used too, I know, my first berth was no picnic either.
        Help me tie this load back down, won't do to let'em break loose. More than one ship's gotten' in trouble with an load out of kilter! And the RAF need these plane parts real bad, I hear the Gerries are giving'em a real rough go of it"
        I just hope we make it out of the ‘Air Gap' Last ship I was on, I took a dip in the saltwater courtesy of a German U boat. Happened on the last day through the Air Gap, if we hadn't gotten off a distress call, I wouldn't be here today.
        Until the Royal Air Force aircover meets us tomorrow, we're sittin' ducks, I just wish we had some guns to fight back with."
        "The Merchant Marines, is these big ships that carry the supplies back and forth—and the men also—over to England. And that's where they deposited everything, and from there, it was moved on to different battle fields. And it was a very dangerous job for these men. Because they were torpedoed, and a lot of them lost their lives. A lot of the ships went down. And the ones that did survive, a lot of them came back in deep depression, because it was very, very risky business for them."—Terry Schulz

National Archives: "Victory cargo ships are lined up at a U.S. west coast shipyard for final outfitting before they are loaded with supplies for Navy depots and advance bases in the Pacific." Ca. 1944