CAPTAIN ERNEST ARMSTRONG
This is photos send in by Sonya A. Brittingham (Class of '53).  Her sister Beverly was in the Class of '57.  These are photos of the two girls, their father, Captain Ernest Armstrong and his wife Selma.  They lived in Bungalow 59.

Sonya writes: My father, Captain Ernest Armstrong, was captain on all the tankers shown, at the time the pictures were taken.  He was also captain of the "Hooiberg", and the "Inverlago", and a few others, besides the "Sabaneta" and the "Misoa", so I'm not sure of the names of the unidentified tankers, since Mom didn't label some of her photos.

After the "War", frequently the captains' families were allowed to make a trip down the Lake with them.  So, once in awhile, my mother, sister, and I would do so.  That's why my sister and I are in some of the lake tanker photos--and Mom took the pictures.
The officers' club photo with my sister and I in the pool, (the photo on the left), was taken in the Lake port of Laguinellas, and the photo at the club on the right is at the Lake port of La Salinas.

In the photo where the family is walking down the dock at one of the Lake ports, I wasn't very specific--they are my father, whose tanker was one of the ones being loaded, (I think it was the "Misoa"), his first mate, and me and my sister, Bev.  Mom took the picture.
I'm working on a photo of the "Inverlago" entering Havana, Cuba.  My father was captain of her at the time.  I will send it to you when I get it right.  Apparently, pictures such as this were frequently taken by locals from an excellent vantage point, developed onto a postcard backing, and sold to the officers and crew of that particular ship, at the dock where thy were unloading.  I had the picture enlarged and framed, and gave one to each of my sons.

Here's a little family history on my father, Captain Ernest Armstrong:
He was born in Belfast, N. Ireland, in 1907.  As a young man, he attended the Merchant Navy Academy in Wales.  Upon graduation, he signed on as third mate with a British shipping co.  On a trip around the world on one of their ships, as third mate, he met my mother, an American, who was a passenger on the long sea voyage.  They married, and lived in Belfast, where I was born.  Now, being a family man, he wanted to be home more, so he signed on as first mate on a ship that sailed the Irish Sea, between Belfast, N. Ireland, and Scotland, and England.

By this time, war in Europe was eminent, and my father felt that the family should leave the UK while it was still safe to do so.  He took a job with Esso Standard Oil of London as a lake tanker captain in Aruba.  He sent Mom and me to the US, to her parents in Philadelphia, where my sister, Beverly, was soon born.  Dad arrived in Aruba in May of 1939.  He lived in the BQ.  In 1944, the "War" had waned, so he sent for the family to come to Aruba.  A house was available along "Skippers' Row", (Bung. #59).

My mother, sister, and I left Aruba in 1949.  My father's health was not good, and off and on, he was spending time back and forth between doctors and hospital in London, and his job in Aruba.  He died in Aruba at age 47, in 1954.

 
Skippers' Row along the Lower Road.  Captains' & Chief Engineers

Bungalows on cliff facing the Big Lagoon.  Bungalow #59 directly below arrow.

Sewer pipe running near base of cliff, emptied into the lagoon

Beverly & Sonya Armstrong on seawall at Bungalow #59.  Tankers anchored at the reef,

waiting for a birth at the dock to unload or pick up cargo at the refinery.

Beverly in her fathers' jacket and hat.

Beverly and Sonya on a Lake Tanker.

Photo of stern of Lake Tanker taken from the mid-section.

My guess is this is Lake Tanker Sabaneta.

Captain Ernest Armstrong on bridge of Lake Tanker.

Captains and caddies on Aruba golf course.  Captain Armstrong on right.

Lake Tanker returning to Aruba with load of crude oil from Lake Maracaibo.

My guess is this is Lake Tanker Sabaneta.

Beverly and Sonya on the bridge of Sabaneta on trip to Lake Maracaibo.

Sonya and Beverly on Misoa on trip to Lake Maracaibo with their dad

Loading dock in a Lake Maracaibo port.

Beverly and mom and dad at officers club in La Salinas, Lake Maracaibo waiting for Lake Tanker

to be loaded.

Captain Armstrong and family walking down loading dock to

board Lake Tanker

Beverly and Sonya on Esso Aruba returning to Aruba from Bayonne, New Jersey

Captured German ships "laid up" in Curacao at outbreak of World War II>

Lake Tanker Misoa.  Photo from AUKE VISSER'S ESSO TANKERS Web Site.

Drawing of Lake Tanker Sabaneta.

Also from AUKE VISSER'S ESSO TANKERS Web Site.

Lake Tanker Inverlago, the same design as Lake Tanker Sabaneta.

SEE SONYA'S STORY OF A RESCUE AT SEA

RETURN TO THE LAKE TANKER FAMILY PAGE

RETURN TO BUNGALOW 59