The moment you have been waiting for…
I am sure you had a hunch that the sailor was Arthur Joseph LaGasa.
Same ears?
Arthur is the son of Frank Lagassa seen here with his five children. Ella Lagassa has been formely identified.
Her brother Arthur is in the red circle.
Dan Hebert, Koeni’s distant cousin, found this interesting piece of information on the Internet about Arthur LaGasa.
He wrote this message on Facebook.
He was a ship’s Captain sailing out of Seattle.
RESOLUTE (1935) The 82 ton 104 foot wooden gas screw Resolute was lost in Stephen’s Passage at 8:40 a.m. January 21, 1935. The vessel was travelling from Juneau to Stephens Passage with four crewmen aboard. The following are statements taken from the casualty report filed by Arthur J LaGasa, master and owner of the Resolute:
“ Heavy gale, heavy seas” “1/2 mile from entrance to Oliver’s Inlet Stephens Passage SE Alaska” “Stranded” “Let vessel go on beach on purpose” “Sprung bad leak and had to be beached” “Equipment only will be saved. Vessel is high and dry on beach and not a menace to navigation” “U S Coast Guard Tallapoosa picked up crew next morning” “Total Loss”
The Resolute was valued at $1,500 at the time of the disaster. There was no cargo on board and no insurance. No lives were lost.
Mapping and Location : Southeast Alaska 58 08 30 N 134 19 45 W Chart 17300
Additional Information : Tonnage 82 Gross 56 Net, Length 104, Breadth 23.5, Depth 10.8, Built 1887 at Mill No 4 OR, Horsepower 85, Registered Juneau, ON 110747, Master and Owner Arthur J LaGasa of Juneau
S ources : 1. U S C G Report of Casualty Jan 28, 1935 at Juneau, 2. Merchant Vessels of the U S (1934) Pgs 526-7
Source: http://alaskashipwreck.com/
This obituary sent by Suzan last week makes more and more sense now…
Arthur served in the Navy during the First World War.
Look closely.
Where was that picture taken?
Hong Kong!
Is Arthur really the sailor on that picture? Your guess is as good as mine.
Now I know you must be all wondering what was a wooden gas screw anyway?
Not much information on the Internet except this.
Am I going to pursue this story or find more about Arthur’s ancestors or his descendants?
I think I will wait from someone to write a comment on this blog. I will see you in September.
If you want to read more interesting ship stories, then visit this most interesting blog.
That blogger is also going to take it easy for a while.
Our Ancestors 
I hope you receive more info so we can continue. The ears? made me laugh – but it’s true.
About the ears… That was intentional on my part.
I thought it was educational on a genealogy blog just like woman’s clothing.
It helps people finding who is who like old pictures and captions.
About continuing, I hope someday descendants will share more about this man.
This is what happened this week with Marie-Helene whose father was with 425 Squadron.
Her father was a bombardier in the same crew with Jacques Morin. I met Mister Morin in 2011. Two years later after writing about him and his crew, someone wrote a comment. Marie-Hélène sent me this…
Artefacts she had from her father.
This comment she wrote…
Il nous en parlait lorsque nous étions très jeunes, aux dîners de famille, j’avais 5 ou 6 ans, et je trouvais cela bien ancien (…), et la guerre me faisait peur. Il m’en reste très peu de souvenirs, si ce n’est toute l’émotivité qu’il mettait dans ce discours.
Pourtant vieillissant, quand il était fatigué, il comptait de un à cent, très régulièrement et très intensément, et mon conjoint qui était assez près de lui me disait avoir l’impression que cela avait à voir avec ses fonctions dans l’escadron.
Tante Suzanne aussi m’a dit que de retour de la guerre, il tremblait et était très émotif quand il parlait de certaines opérations, et ceci l’avait frappée… Mais elle n’a pas pu m’en dire plus et c’est si loin.
Marie-Hélène
TRANSLATION
He would talk about it [the war] when we were very young, when family gathered for supper, I was 5 or 6, and I was finding this quite old (…), and I was afraid about the war. I have few memories, only the emotion in what he was recounting.
When he was old, and he was tired, he would count from one to a hundred, very steadily and very intensely. My spouse who was close to him told me he believe it was because of what he was doing in the squadron.
Aunt Suzanne also told me that when he came back from the war, he was trembling and he was very emotional when he was talking about some missions. That made a big impression on her… But she could not tell me more and this is so long ago.
Marie-Hélène
It’s a shame some of the stories would be lost, but we can understand why.