This 'n' That: Ghost of the infamous Ked

Ked” (oil tanker) once more hit the headlines with the story of its history and removal from Bremerton. A few of my old readers may remember an article I wrote when Ellen Egan published the Kingston Community News, back in September 1998. At that time, Oscar Bailey, who owned the Ked, just happened to be a childhood pal of my husband Don and me, who we had lost contact with many years ago. Because of the notoriety concerning the Ked we were able to find him again and renew the friendship.

Don and Danny, as we called him back then, were the first two 16 year olds to sign up in the Merchant Marines for the emergency wartime manpower crisis, World War II. With so many men already in various services in war zones, younger and eligible men were needed to ship supplies to the armed forces. The date was May 24, 1943, and both were right out of high school. Our family archive has photos from several Seattle newspapers showing the two fellows signing up – Don with pen in hand and Oscar in line to the side.

The two adventurers joined and trained together at Catalina Island, Calif., had one trip together, then went off in separate directions, losing touch. That is, until 45 years later when the ‘infamous Ked episode’ hit the fan where I spotted the name in a local paper telling about the oil tanker and owner.

I knew it had to be Oscar (Danny) Bailey. I squealed from my favorite reading place, the tub, “Donnie, I found him! Oscar’s in Poulsbo. I know it’s him.” Odd, because often we had talked about, and wondered what had become of him. Excitedly we drove to Poulsbo (yes, I dressed first) and found it to be our friend from long ago.

As reported, he was headed for Alaska to pick up stored heavy equipment with the plan to sail to Chile, where he was planning a new life. Always the dreamer and adventurer. Just as he thought all was going well, his tanker broke down and had to be towed to Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island. Oscar had put all his funds into buying the tanker and whatever was needed for the long trip. The Ked had to put up for sale but there were no takers and no money to repair it.

A few months after this disaster, Bailey had the tanker towed to Liberty Bay in Poulsbo where the powers that be gave him a rough time over it. They came up with every nit-picking thing they could and Oscar ended up in court. Finally around 1998, he sold the Ked to another fellow (never receiving any money for it). The WWII oil tanker then laid around rusting at a site in Bremerton’s Port Narrows for about 10 years or so. It was recently declared a derelict ship along with another and towed to Seattle to be broken down for the metal.

I called 80-year-old Oscar to read the recent articles to him in Nevada, where he now resides. We still keep in touch once in awhile. No, he never did make it to Chile, although he did try for some years to raise enough money to buy another ship to continue his dream. I’ll say this for our old friend, he was and still is, a visionary, a man not afraid to work hard for something he truly believed in with all his heart. He tried with everything in him to accomplish what you or I would never even think of doing, and God love him, he came close to realizing his dream.

A salute to you dear old friend, from your two greatest fans.

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