The Carolines?

[Jan Lundquist]

For the purposes of our story, we call them the Carolines, after the name of Eldridge Johnson's yacht. Since he was an early pioneer in the communications industry, It seems fitting that he used signal pennants in his yacht's seal. I can'f figured out their meaning, though

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https://www.abebooks.com/Motor-Yacht-Ca ... id=1&pid=1

The yacht itself was quite large and luxurious:

The CAROLINE'required a crew of forty-two men, including the master and his mates. In addition to that there was a staff of eight cooks and stewards and a radio operator. This came to a total of fifty-one persons, not counting a maid and a valet who were -quartered in the passengers' section of the vessel and were supposed to be brought aboard by the owner and his wife

His Master's Voice Was Eldridge R Johnson, by E.R. Fenmore Johnson, https://worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF ... n-1974.pdf

Unfortunately for Johnson, Senior, this cruise would be the last he would take.. He fell into a deep "melancholia" soon afterward, that lasted until the end of his days.

William Stephenson was not a part of the Smithsonian expedition, but weassociate him with them, as he, supposedly, hosted or attended a dinner party for the crew when the ship over-nighted in port at Hamilton, Bermuda. However, there is no evidence for such a stop nor such an encounter in Fenmore Johnson's account of the cruise, which begins on page 163 of the above linked .pdf.

On another Caroline related note, I have been told, that the impetus for the alliance was born in France between the wars. Those who had seen the horror of the first World War and pledged themselves to do all in their power to prevent another.

I also seem to remember being told, or reading, that the group came about through the actions of women, but this seemed improbable to me, given women's lack of power and influence at the time. As this is third or fourth hand information, I am just posting it here, for the record and in the event that more information should come to light.

[Jan Lundquist]

hmm and hmmm and hmmmm,,,,

First, the bad. Fenmore's book. Ugh. It is more poorly written than Kitselman's fiction, and shockingly, casually, racist in places. In the most blatant example, he relates that Eldriidge refused to have Dominican leader Trujillo aboard the Caroline. His opposition was not not because Trujillo was a murderous strongman, but because of the color of his skin.

Second, I don't know what to make of the absence of Stephenson and Bermuda in the narrative*. Was he "edited" out of the 1975 version of the story? If Fenmore, who (reportedly) worked for the NRL during WWII, knew of Stephenson's clandestine activities, this is a possibility. Or is the stop over not mentioned, because it didn't happen? It might be interesting to see if the Smithsonian has the pilot's log for the expedition.

And, thirdly, as to the, also unproven, story linking the Carolines origins to women and France. The closest connection I can make to that narrative is through "Big Chief" Gloria Swanson and ex-husband, Henri de la Falaise, and their operation to save scientists from the Nazi swarm. (I have written about this before, elsewhere in this forum). The story teller in me sees a connection between Gloria and Henri, an executive with Pathe and RKO, to Stephenson, via their offices Rockefeller Plaza building and, a more indirect connection to Atherton Richards, who saw a need for the OSS to have a pictures and films division in NYC. But all of happened 6 years after the Caroline cruise, so, although we know that Gloria went to Europe in 1827, with lover Joe Kennedy (and his wife!) I am slowly circling the drain on this origin story.

ETA: I get my Bahamas and Bermudas mixed up. I THINK the story goes that the Carolinians crossed paths in Nassau, not Hamilton. Sorry for adding confusion to confusion.