I really didn't know Bill's first name until recently...He was always Shannon to me!. He was a cook and night baker on the 1970 Westpac. I stood the 12-4 AEF watch and would look forward to getting a fresh half loaf of bread when Shannon pulled them out of the oven at around 2am. I had to do some fast talking to get it. He had a great sense of humor. One morning (I think we were in port) Shannon was making the tradition "fried fore****s" and had a collender setting in the top of the rinse sink which had about 6" of sudsy dirty water in the bottom. We were shooting the breeze while he waited for the chipped beef to boil on the cook top directly across from the sink. After a while, Shannon lifted the pot with the beef and poured it into the collender to strain the beef from the water. But he did not count on the water level rising and very quickly, the beef was marinating in the total volume of the boiled water and the sudsy water in the sink! He just grinned and drained the sink. Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice and neither Shannon nor I ate the main course that morning!!!!
Shannon died in 1972 and the funeral held in Minneapolis, MN was attended by Lem Crump along with Robert Hamilton, Samuel Barnes, John Madison(Big John) and, Tyrone Lewis, all crew members of the Permit. Peace and God bless.