Plague Ship
During the 1936 cruise, 9 days after leaving port in Los Angeles headed for Balboa, the crew of 67 cadets on Cal Maritimes' first training ship the T.S. California State found themselves in what is known as a Hell Spot, when a ship is too far from land to get help. Even at top speeds, it would take about ten days for the ship to reach the nearest port. It was in this spot on a Friday that Willard Moore took ill; by Sunday morning he was unconscious.
Not knowing what was wrong but fearing a contagion, the on-board doctor asked for four cadet volunteers to assist him, at a possible risk to their own lives. Howard Mollenkopf, Bill Cohn, Kenneth Sonderlund, and J. P. Goodal heeded the call.
Over the next few days, each took turns taking watch over the young man. Moore was alternating between unconsciousness and mania. Finally, the ship's doctor diagnosed him with spinal meningitis.
Unfortunately, by noon on Monday, Feb. 10, Willard Moore had passed. The four cadets with him in his final hours helped prepare him to be buried at sea and served as pallbearers.
With the American flag draped over the body, Captain Dwyer read the services. For safety reasons Moore's clothes were sent overboard, but his valuables (rings, pictures, wallet, and cuff links) were all kept. These valuables, along with the flag that covered him, were given to his mother upon the ship's return.
When Moore first took ill, the T.S. California State had sent out a distress call. On Monday, the steamship Santa Paula, which had received the distress call while at port in the Canal Zone, arrived and was able to provide the serum needed for meningitis. By Wednesday the U.S. Navy, in the Tatnall, a Coast Guard cutter, sent over doctors and nurses. By the time they arrived another cadet had come down with meningitis, but he was able to get the necessary care. The four cadets that watched over Willard went into a ten-day quarantine. The crew was able to disinfect the vessel well enough that it was not necessary for the entire ship to quarantine when they reached their next port, Balboa.