1954: CURT CARLSEN "FLYING ENTERPRISE"

THIS UPDATE RECEIVED FROM STEVE CSORGO, JR. ADDS AN INTERESTING BIT TO CAPTAIN CARLSEN AND W2QJO.
THANKS, STEVE.

April 3, 2009 9:09 PM

Hi Tom,

Glad to see this posted and the story about his accident with the Flying Enterprise II. Just wish to add that Capt. Curt, before leaving his ship, stayed awake by talking to other amatuer radio operator including dad. It was many hours before the ship was going to be a loss and he finally left her. Steve Jr.

Thanks to Kathy Csorge Annaccarato and her brother Steve for a nice collection of the late Steve Csorgo's amateur radio adventures. Steve was an avid amateur radio man and counts among numerous notable peopele, this QSL card from Captain Curt Carlsen, hero skipper of "The Flying Enterprise." As I age, I note that many visitors to my site are not familiar with some of the newsmakers from a mere 50 years ago. Herewith some background on W2ZXM, AKA Capt. Curt Carlsen:

From the website http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/lookback/page15.phtml
The Flying Enterprise was an American ship built in 1944 and named Cape Kamukaki and owned by a Steel Co in the USA. In 1947,she was renamed the Flying Enterprise and sailed between Hamburg and the USA.
On December 21st 1951,she set sail from Hamburg to the US with a cargo of pig iron and coffee and ten paying passengers.After steady progress on December 25th,she encounted very heavy seas and gale force winds,approx. 400 miles west of Lands End and Capt Carlsen decided to hove to and ride out the storm. These conditions continued unabated and during this time she suffered considerable structural damage and her cargo started to shift. On December 28th Capt Carlsen sent out an SOS,which was picked up by quite a few ships who went to her aid.Early on December 29th the steamer 'Southland' arrived and tried to get alongside but it was too dangerous,so the passengers and crew jumped into the raging seas and were all picked up safely.