During the peak period of shipping activity, it was necessary to
increase the staff of the H & N Oakland Shipping Office from two to five

employees, whose duties were to receive, record, and supervise the hand-

ling of each item of Holmes & Narver cargo. During those periods in
which shipping space was at a premium, it was necessary for the H &N
representatives to determine which items of cargo might be deferred.
Each such decision was difficult, as all items were urgently needed;
each deferred item caused a delay in some particular construction item
at the Jobsite, or a revision of construction schedules.

At times, because of the necessity of adjusting the overall cargo
to the loading requirements of the vessel, certain types of cargo had
to be deferred even though they were urgently required. For example,
it was sometimes requested that utilization of a large proportion of

allocated tonnage be made in heavy concentrated items of cargo which

could be loaded in the lower holds of ships to provide stability; at
other times, it was found to be impossible to load items which required

deck space.

Tirere were particular types of cargo which presented unusual problems. One such problem was the shipment of paving material. At an
early period in the Project, it was determined by comparative tests
that the most acceptable type of asphalt paving material was asphalt

emulsion, which could be shipped either in steel drums or in bulk.

The

former method was considerably more expensive because of the cost of
the drums, and because of additional labor required for stevedoring,
and handling at the Jobsite. The latter method presented difficulties
of stowage at the Jobsite, and Naval personnel feared that asphalt would
foul the cargo tanks on oil tankers.

The timely arrival at Honolulu of a commercial tanker loaded with
emulsion served to demonstrate to the naval authorities that this method
of shipment presented no difficulties. As a result, the USS Mispillion
was made available for the shipment of approximately 900,000 gallons
of asphalt emulsion, loading directly from the vendor's tanks at

Wilmington, California on April 10, 1950 with direct sailing to Eniwetok.
CincPac also made available two YCV's (aircraft barges) with compartmented steel double bottoms which were utilized for asphalt storage at
the Jobsite. At a later date, when increased paving requirements de-

manded additional asphalt, the USS Mispillion made a second trip on
June 30, 1950 with approximately 600,000 gallons of emulsion. This

entire shipping operation was completed with exceptionally pleasing
results. The Mispillion also transported a water taxi which otherwise
would have presented some difficulty, and in addition, made available
cargo carrying capacity for the transportation of certair critical
items whose arrival at Eniwetok was urgently needed at that particular
time,

The transportation of marine craft was itself difficult of accomplishment. Large craft such as LSU's and tugs were generally sent out
from Pearl Harbor under their own power; barges were towed from Pearl
Harbor as suitable towing facilities became available; smaller craft,
such as LCM's and water taxis had to be deck-loaded on ships from
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