 Words at War Presents 83 days the story of seaman Izzy Izzy Izzy Izzy what just Izzy? It's my last name Izzy some last name you got What's your first name basil basil? Your mother didn't like children maybe Any odd take it easy is he play out flat Yeah What are you guys is the Navy man? You was he yeah me Seaman second-class my rating American gun crew on a Dutch merchant ship. How long we out there? 83 days what happened? We was torpedoed About 4 30 in the afternoon of November 2nd 1942 a fast Dutch cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk a few hundred miles off the coast of South America Only a few of the 400 men on the ship survived and one of them Basil Dominic Izzy seaman second-class of the United States Navy was found on a raft in mid-ocean nearly three months after the sinking Tonight the national broadcasting company in cooperation with the council on books in wartime brings you the incredible saga of seaman Izzy and his companions Words at War presents 83 days by Mark Murphy You lose torpedo, huh? Yeah, then what oh nothing much nothing much we could do It was off watch when it happened me and jowdy. He was my buddy and Jensen and a couple of others. I forget now Anyhow, we was playing poker Jawbone poker Jensen owed me close to a million bucks by then how much a million bucks you owe me and don't forget it Fat chance with you hounding me for it. Come on deal. Yeah, you'll wear the spots off shuffling them But take it easy. I'm dealing ain't I you deal like my old lady. Don't forget the pot and he up. I forgot You forgot. Yeah for 3,000 miles. We have to tell you every time to Andy up sure. That's how I won a million bucks I opened I'll play I'm in how many cards. I'll take two how many me three Okay, this one I'd laugh out loud if we got torpedoed now with Jensen owing Izzy Oh Gee right under us a million Fish That's what you call it getting torpedoed you call it catching a fish a fish is a torpedo see Me and Jowdy hit the deck running and checked in at our gun stations But it was no use by the time we got there their ship was so far down by the head We couldn't get elevation on the gun So we took our shoes off and went over the side was cold the water I mean boy was it cold What do you expect steam heat It was hanging on a we're not really a raft just some bamboo stick slashed together We can hardly see Jowdy this he was running so high, but we finally got together all right It wasn't big enough to climb up on so we just hung on and watch the ship go down There it goes and all my clothes on it I paid a hundred bucks for one of my suits a hundred bucks too much for a suit of clothes Two of the lifeboats got launched before the ship went down just two of them We watched while I pick up as many men as they could carry. There wasn't a room for us It was tough to watch them put up their sails and shove off leaving us there on the water They were sorry about it too. All right, I guess You could tell the way they looked when they went by They kind of waved at us When they were way past one guy leaned out and yelled back at us what do you say? Good luck. He said We'll need it Good luck The little luck we could have been the guys in that boat going some place after a while it got dark Then it was real tough real bad Lots of men died that first night all around us. We could hear them Yellen sometimes and crying I heard a man crying like he was a baby After a while he stopped Drowned I guess I Didn't wish him no harm, but I was glad when he stopped crying like that Was a bad night We lay there on the water clutching onto the raft was a bad night Around morning. We got a kind of a laugh. Oh This guy see he was an ensign named Fox He came drifting by on a hatch cover riding it like it was a horse They had a long bamboo pole and he made out like he was one of them nights, you know like King Arthur has Well when the sharks came around this ends it would take this poll he had and he'd stab at them in the water And then they'd go away for a while When they came back again is and folks would sock him again with the pole and all the time he kept on riding this hatch cover like It was a horse It was a kind of a laugh for a while Until the Sun came up It was tough in the night, but when the Sun came up You couldn't get away from it You could turn your back to it and then it would reflect off the water like from a mirror And would stab in your eyes like it was gonna tear off the back of your head All day long was like that Just hanging on and cursing and dozing off once in a while Then waking up at the edge of the raft cutting in your belly and the Sun making scrambled eggs out of your brain Nobody said much that day Nobody talked Just hung on and puked and waited for the Sun to go down After that things got worse Everybody started seeing things off their head even me The stars were big and close They looked like the lights on a ship and they blinked like the blinking lights on a ship. I was sure there were ships all around us Then I smelled smoke. I noticed a big hole in the water not far off Well guys was going down for a cigarette Now let go the raft and I started swimming away What's he going watch where you going it? I feel like a cigarette. I'm going down for a smoke Down to where all those guys are coming up from smoking is he Burgers why don't you bring your hamburger Johnny not now later come back? He brought me back to the raft a half a dozen times he did that And I kind of I kept seeing things and would swim off All night it was like that and the second night Then when it got morning, I stopped seeing things Not everybody did Not Jensen listen you guys There's a hill on the other side of the raft Jensen as a hill on the other side And I think there's some German spies got a place there now. I bet they're pretty nice guys Jensen Sure, I'll bet the nice guys even if they are spies and get us plenty to eat from them all fixed up I'll be right back Jensen come back. Let go of me Just for that. I won't bring enough Jensen come back Jensen. There's no hill there. I won't bring it up Only you and me Jensen Here goes my million bucks So Jensen went off looking for the hill There were others Satter white nautra They swam off looking for a hatch cover Underneath it was supposed to be a case of beer Kassowich He thought he lost a book. I got to get back to my father I got a book for him and I can't let it sink because I got to get it back to my father only there wasn't any book And after a while Kassowich let go the raft Then there was no more talk about books It came morning again and the son came up. It was like the day before only nobody had any beans left by then Except Ensign Fox He was still riding the hatch cover like it was a horse and stabbing its sharks with that pulley head Well, he was getting kind of dopey by then no sleep Dose off a little as head would lean forward And he'd start slipping sideways and then all of a sudden he catch himself falling and he'd straighten up quick and Kind of shake his head and start slapping at the water with his pull It was like that all morning Then I saw the raft The big raft the one we were hanging on it was just bamboo it hardly floated But this other one stuck up out of the water a couple of feet was about ten feet long I told Jowdy about it. I said we ought to go over there and get on it too far You'll never make it come on too far come on. Will you go ahead? You want to go drown yourself if you want It's your funeral. It's too far. I Started out by myself finally Was a long way off and it felt like a year swimming toward it After a while I saw I couldn't make it the way I was going and I swam to get in front of it and figure the current would bring it down to me Then I couldn't swim any more hardly. I Just lay there on the water with my legs aching and my life jacket digging into my belly and give me cramps All I could do was lay there Just wishing that big raft would come my way I'm talking to it like it was human This way I'd say Float a little to the left a little more. Don't be scared left a little more left That's a good raft That's right. That's the way Left a little more please Finally it bumped into me And I climbed up on it For the first time in 48 hours nearly I was out of the water There were four other guys on the big raft All the rest of the day we spent in trying to paddle a big raft over to where Jowdy and Ensign Fox were But it wouldn't go it wouldn't go Well finally I was so pooped out all I could do was just lay there and look over where the others were I Couldn't see Johnny and the other guys in the water. I just knew where they were on account of Ensign Fox I could see him Still riding the hatch cover like it was a horse and he was a knight Every once in a while he'd start to go to sleep and then he'd wake up and start poking the water with his pole again After a long time. I didn't see him anymore He must have gone to sleep Not woke up in time. I lay there on the big raft And I cried Like I told you there were four other guys in the big raft one. I knew Ensign Maddox He was my gunnery officer on board ship Then there was Beasley an American sailor and case van der slot. He was a Dutchman. It could hardly speak good English The fourth guy was a 17 year old Dutch kid named Hougendam Nicol Hougendam Well, you can't go around calling the guy Nicol or Hougendam. So we just called him junior He was from Holland and he was crazy about American bedtime stories All day long. He'd make Maddox tell him bedtime stories. Oh look Junior I told you this one five times already for two weeks. I've been telling you about the three bears Haven't you had enough yet? I like it. You go ahead. Please The little baby bear tasted his porridge and he said My porridge is too hot the first month went by fast Then the days began to get funny. We were running out of food and water There was 10 gallons of water and a big can of chocolate when we started and we rationed it out until it was almost all gone then Days got funny The mornings would go fast Every afternoon was like a year Waiting for night to come so if you get our little piece of chocolate And every day Maddox would tell junior a bedtime story Three bears mama and papa baby bear they tasted their porridge Leave part out porridge. I Could use some porridge myself whatever it is Hey, you see what's porridge? I don't know vote me like that. I don't know And I wish you wouldn't ask me every time you tell that story I could use some oatmeal come you you finish the story. Oh, no, no more. I'm not gonna tell you any more bedtime story Please no Beasley was the first After we ran out of food we took to catch a little minnows that came alongside the raft We did them raw bones and all only Beasley couldn't keep him down. So he started getting weaker You could tell there's a gut so he couldn't hear I can't hear I Can't hear mr. Maddox. What's the difference? There's nothing they hear anyway. So what's the difference? I can't hear I'm gonna see your lips moving. All right. I know you're talking, but I can't hear you What'd you say? After that started going blind And it got worse and worse We'd come up to them and hold up four fingers in front of them and say How many fingers can you see Beasley? What do you say how many fingers can you see Beasley? Who is that right? No, I'm holding up four fingers. See one two three four Can you see them now? They only see two December 3rd was my birthday the day before I told the other guys about it How I'd never been away from home before on my birthday Here I am out in a raft in the middle of the ocean. I never mind is he We'll be in New York or Brazil for your birthday and you can send a telegram home, or maybe even call him on the phone Yeah, sure is he how are we gonna be picked up in one day? My birthday's tomorrow. Never forget It takes only one half an hour for a ship to come over the horizon and Come over and pick us up. Sure On the boat rescue this tomorrow will tell the ship's cook at your birthday and he'll bake your cake sure If we get picked up today We tell him tomorrow is your birthday and you get cake anyhow The next day was my birthday Grain Hours went by and we still talked about my birthday and it kept on raining It rained the hardest of my birthday that it ever did while we were out there. They try to cheer me up Oh, never mind is he will be picked up tomorrow and we tell ships cook yesterday was your birthday and He baked you cake just the same That afternoon it rained so hard. I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me And I cried my head out in the rain and tears rolling down out of my eyes Because I knew if the ship did come by they couldn't see us. I Was 20 years old that day Christmas came we were out 53 days on Christmas By that time we're all pretty far gone. I Was so thin I could put my fingers all the way around my arm Beasley was the worst Like a cigarette Alice, please just lay there and talk to himself for two people. We didn't even know he was dying Case van der slot the oldest Dutchman kept singing some kind of Dutch song Nico the kid he slept most of the time Maddox sat on the edge of the raft turning his head as far as it would go from one side to the other watching the horizon Once no while he beat his hands against the edge of the raft and after a while. He said what's he saying? Who case some kind of Dutch song I don't like it's driving me nuts I know the words it might not be so bad, but not knowing the words is driving me nuts Shut up case Well, what's the matter? I said shut up. I said Very Christmas Merry Merry Christmas. So I use Noel and a happy new year I Know what I do if I was a sure shut up I'd walk down the street and I'd go into the first five and ten cent store I came to and I get me some fig squares. That's what I do. What is this thing squares the little cookies They get ground up figs inside, you know in the five and ten. They're always fresh and I've heard of a fig square Sure, you know the kind of cut off at each end and you can see the ground up figs inside Maybe I mean fig Newton laugh yet in the other we call them fig Newton not where I come from where I come from they call Them figs square laugh yet. They call them fig Newton On the 66th morning when we woke up Vander slot asked me how Beasley was All night long Beasley had been moaning in the morning. We looked at him to see how he was He was dead his hands were out in front of him like he was grabbing for something his teeth were showing We knew he was dead, but we kind of watched him for a couple of hours hoping he would move But he didn't and then we were sure he was dead and we took off his dungarees and Got ready to bury him somebody ought to say a prayer About you as he you're a good Catholic. All right. I'll say something. Oh My god, I'm hardly sorry for having offended thee and I'd test all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell But most of all because they offend thee my god who are all good and deserving of all my love I firmly resolve when I say push you guys boys Dear Lord, this is our friend take good care of you. Amen. Amen. He's probably going to a better place many rest in peace push After Beasley died nothing much happened for a long time We had a couple of arguments on the raft and got so Maddox wouldn't talk to van der slott only to me and the kid Nico Van der slott and the kid were sort each other too So the only one in the raft who had talked to van der slott was me When the others wanted to tell him something they told me and then I told him hey Yes, he yeah, tell him this would stop seeing Nick says to stop singing Tell Nick I said for him to jump overboard Tell him I I said no he says no doesn't seem to bother you much What I said it doesn't seem to bother you much What doesn't the Dutchman singing used to bother you Singing what singing you can't hear him sing it. What did you say? Can't you hear them? Listen, can't you hear them? Go on sing some more Did you hear him? What did you say? How many fingers How many fingers am I holding up how many? To that right Yeah, yeah, sure sure. That's right, too, but I was lying It was four fingers. I held up just like I used to for bees Maddox was deaf already was going blind just like bees we had It was dying He lasted ten days after bees that night 76 night He was grown in a way all night Now and then one of the Dutchman would feel him to make sure he was all right next morning the 77th day When I woke up Nico the kid was watching me You you awake you see yeah Better look at the officer You better look at him Morning, mr. Maddox. How's it coming? Hey Mr. Maddox Mr. Maddox It happened early in the morning. We didn't want to tell you He should bury him right away. I think Yeah Take off his wedding ring. He used to talk about it His wife told him to be sure to come back with it on or us. It would be bad luck. Yeah Maybe we should leave it. No, no, his wife will want it I So we buried Maddox at sea like we had basically This time we watched his body his hair was off along by then and floated out in the water And we could seem drift past us and then back back 50 feet or so his hair floating out in the water and Something jarred him his hair flooded in the water and we didn't see him anymore Then one morning Vanderslaut woke up Nick and me listen listen you guys what listen I can't hear anything There it is a plane a plane Started yelling at the plane waving Standing up and then falling down I just lay there I couldn't hear the plane engines. I knew what that meant I put up four fingers in front of my face. I could still see for that. They were blurred I was next Didn't see us We saw two more planes that morning just scouting now looking for us. They were just scouting then early in the afternoon Vanderslaut the Dutchman he saw some smoke he rubbed his eyes and he said I don't know But I think I see something under horizon. We couldn't see anything but later on we saw it We saw one ship then two ships and four ships a convoy It just went along the horizon We just look and then Vanderslaut said if this misses us today I jump overboard there were planes flying around the convoy and the first ship was a destroyer We wanted to try and stand up when we kept falling down The destroyer kept going fast around the convoy and then we noticed some smaller boats some PC boats sub chasers Then a PC boat had a right for us They see us they see us What's the matter with them they're pointing a gun at us. Yeah They're going to shoot out. Oh, no, they ain't look. They're flying an American flag. They're gonna pick us up Pick us up We wound up the day in clean sheets The 83rd day we were in the raft three months Later on a guy from the Coast Guard came down a fetus He fed us like we were babies With a spoon take it easy What's your name? Is he? Is he what just as he it's my last name is he some last name you got What's your first name basil basil? Mother didn't like children. Maybe yeah Anyhow take it easy easy I out flat Yeah How long we out there? 83 days what happened we was torpedoed As the 17th program of words at war we have brought you passages from the recently published book 83 days the survival of semen is he by Mark Murphy this book tells the true story of basil is he semen second-class an ex baseball player from South Barry, Massachusetts The radio adaptation was by Edith summer semen is he was played by Paul man Others in the cast were Paul Gordon Tom Hoyer Kenneth Lynch Myron McCormick Bill Quinn Jackson Beck and Glenn Anders The original music was composed by Morris memorsky and conducted by max goberman the production was under the direction of Joseph Losey Next week words at war will bring to you passages from Paris underground by Etta Scheiber Who with another woman organized an underground railroad smuggling British soldiers out of Concord, France? Words at war is brought to you in cooperation with the council on books in wartime by the national broadcasting company and the independent radio stations associated with the NBC network