The Buford
Encyclopedia
USAT Buford was a cargo and passenger ship, originally launched in 1890 as SS Mississippi, but requisitioned by the US Army in 1898. She was transferred to the US Navy in 1919 and briefly commissioned as USS Buford (ID 3818), and was returned later that year to the Army. She was sold in 1923 and scrapped in 1929.
In December 1919 she became dubbed by the press of the day as the Soviet Ark (or the Red Ark), when she was used by the U.S. Department of Justice
and Department of Labor
to deport 249 non-citizens from the United States because of their alleged anarchist
, syndicalist
, or communist political beliefs.
of Belfast
, Ireland for Bernard N. Baker
of Baltimore and the Atlantic Transport Line
. She was launched on August 29, 1890 and began her maiden voyage, from London, on October 28, 1890. In command was her first captain, Hamilton Murrell, "Hero of the Danmark Disaster
," who a year earlier had saved 735 lives from the sinking Danish passenger ship Danmark, the largest single rescue at the time.
For the first year of her career, the Mississippi plied the waters between London, Swansea
, Philadelphia and Baltimore
.
In January, 1892, the Mississippi was moved to the London-New York route, where she remained until she was purchased by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Department
as part of a seven ship deal on June 24, 1898 and became an army transport ship, serving in the Spanish American War. The Mississippi was assigned the number "25" on July 5, 1898. However, she sailed under her given name until March 2, 1899, the following year, when she was officially renamed USAT Buford, in honor of Gen. John T. Buford
, the Union
cavalry
officer and hero of the Battle of Gettysburg
of the American Civil War
.
On May 28, 1900, Buford entered the naval yards of the Newport News Ship-Building Company for a major refitting as a troop-ship for service between the United States and the Philippines. Two of her original four masts were removed; the other two were replaced with long masts. Once back in service, Buford regularly sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu and Guam
terminating in Manila
, and returning via Nagasaki
and Honolulu.
At 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, Buford was in San Francisco when the
Great Quake of 1906 struck. She was taken from the pier into the bay to avoid the resultant fire and was one of three transports - Buford, Crook and Warren - used in the harbor as temporary storehouses for the supplies coming into the stricken city by sea in the weeks following the disaster.
In 1907 and 1911, Buford was involved in famine relief missions to China. In 1912–1916, she was involved in refugee and troop missions during the Mexican Revolution
. Buford was in Galveston harbor when a massive hurricane hit on August 17, 1915 and was the city's sole line of communication to the outside world through her radio.
With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Buford continued her refugee rescue work, bringing away Americans who wished to flee the European fighting. She supported of the American war effort once the U.S. entered the conflict.
In December 1918, Buford underwent another refit to prepare her for transporting American Expeditionary Force
troops home from the war
.
On January 14, 1919 she was transferred to the U.S. Navy, commissioned as the USS Buford (ID 3818) the next day, and assigned to troop transport duty. During the next half-year she made four round trip voyages between the United States and France, bringing home over 4700 soldiers. She made one more voyage to the Panama Canal Zone
before she was decommissioned by the Navy on September 2, 1919 and returned to the Army Transport Service.
and Alexander Berkman
, to the Russian SFSR. This occurred between the first and second Palmer Raids
of the first "Red Scare"
period in the U.S. After delivering her charges, Buford returned to New York on February 22, 1920.
in 1919-20 following the Russian Revolution, anti-Bolsehvik sentiment quickly replaced the anti-German sentiment of the World War I years. Many politicians and government officials, along with a large part of the press and the public, feared an imminent attempt to overthrow the government of the United States and the creation of a new regime modeled on that of the Soviets. In that atmosphere of public hysteria, radical views as well as moderate dissents were often characterized as un-American or subversive, including the advocacy of labor rights and any less than complementary discussion of American society and its system of government. Close ties between recent European immigrants and radical political ideas and organizations fed those anxieties as well.
The Espionage Act of 1917
made it a crime to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States. It effectively criminalized any act or speech that discouraged full compliance with the military draft. Convicted under this law, Eugene V. Debs
, a five-time presidential candidate, served 3 years of a 10-year sentence before President Warren G. Harding
commuted his sentence on Christmas Day, 1921. Emma Goldman
and Alexander Berkman
were likewise convicted under the Espionage Act
and eventually deported. The Immigration Act of 1918 denied entry into the U.S. and permitted the deportation of non-citizens "who disbelieve in or are opposed to all organized government."
at 6 A. M. on Sunday, December 21, 1919, with 249 "undesirables" on board. Of those, 199 had been seized in the November 7 Palmer Raids. Some were leftists or anarchists, though perhaps as many as 180 were deported because of their membership in the Union of Russian Workers
, an anarchist organization which served social and educational functions for many Russian immigrants, had been the principal target of the raids. Other deportees, including the well-know radical leaders Emma Goldman
and Alexander Berkman
, had been detained earlier. All, by act or speech or membership in an organization, fell within the legal definition of anarchist under the Immigration Act of 1918, which did not distinguish between "malignant conspirators and destructive revolutionists" on the one hand or "apostles of peace, preachers of the principle of non-resistance" on the other. All met the law's requirement in that they "believed that no government would be better for human society than any kind of government." Goldman had been convicted in 1893 of "inciting to riot" and in 1917 for interfering with military recruitment. She had been arrested on many other occasions. Berkman had served 14 years in prison for the attempted assassination of industrialist Henry Clay Frick
after the Homestead Steel Strike in 1892. In 1917 he had been convicted alongside Goldman for the same anti-draft activities. The notoriety of Goldman and Berkman as convicted agitators allowed the press and public to imagine that all the deportees had similar backgrounds. The New York Times called them all "Russian Reds."
Not all the deportees were unhappy to be leaving the United States. Most were single, few were being separated from their families, and some anticipated a brighter future in the new Soviet Russia
.
Twenty-four hours after its departure, the Bufords captain opened sealed orders to learn his projected destination. The captain only learned his final destination while in Kiel
harbor while awaiting repairs and taking on a German pilot to guide the ship through the North Sea minefields, uncleared despite Germany's surrender a year earlier. The State Department
had found it difficult to make arrangements to land in Latvia
as originally planned. Though finally chosen, Finland
was not an obvious choice, since Finland and Russia were then at war.
F.W. Berkshire, Supervising Inspector of Immigration, made the journey to oversee the enterprise and, in contrast to his two most famous charges, reported little conflict. A "strong detachment of marines" numbering 58 enlisted men and four officers also made the journey and pistols had been distributed to the crew.
In "My Disillusionment in Russia
," Emma Goldman
wrote of the Buford voyage:
Alexander Berkman
, in "The Russian Tragedy," added,
Buford reached Hango, Finland
at 4:25 pm on Friday, January 16, 1920. The prisoners were kept between decks until they were landed the next day, Saturday, January 17, 1920, at 2 pm. They were taken off the transport and marched between a cordon of American marines and Finnish White Guards
to a special train that was to take them to Terijoki, Finland, about two miles from the frontier. The 249 "undesirable aliens" were placed, 30 to a car,
Finnish White Guards were stationed on each car platform. The party was to be completely isolated until it reached its destination. Once loaded, the train was then held overnight while rumors of the party being killed as they crossed the border caused a diplomatic flurry.
The journey began the next day, January 18, but the exiles were sidetracked at Viborg
, Finland, remaining confined in their cars, while awaiting the British Prisoners' Relief Mission, which was to cross the Russian frontier at the same time. Delayed by storms, Buford began her return voyage that same day.
On January 19, the trek continued to Terijoki. Once the deportees had arrived, and after trudging through a heavy snowstorm, a parlay was conducted under white flags of truce between Berkman, guarded by the Finns, and the Russians, out on the ice of the frozen Systerbak River
, which separated the Finnish and Bolshevist lines. Things being settled, the "undesirables" then crossed over into Russia at 2 pm, Berkman and Goldman waiting until everyone else had safely crossed. All were enthusiastically received with cheers and a band playing the Russian national anthem. In the war-wrecked town of Bielo-Ostrov, which overlooked the stream, they boarded a waiting train which took them to Petrograd.
Most of the press approved enthusiastically the Buford experiment. The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote: "It is hoped and expected that other vessels, larger, more commodious, carrying similar cargoes, will follow in her wake."
On May 2, 1921, once again in the Pacific, Buford rescued sixty-five passengers and crew from the inferno of the Japanese steam freighter Tokuyo Maru, which had caught fire and burned 60 miles southwest of the mouth of the Columbia River, off Tillamook Head
, Oregon.
In mid 1922, as one of her final duties as a U. S. transport, the Buford conducted an inspection tour of Northwestern and Alaska Army posts and closed a number of posts in the territory abandoned by the War Department
.
In 1923, Buford was sold to John C. Ogden and Fred Linderman of the San Francisco-based Alaskan Siberian Navigation Company. After a voyage to Alaska in the latter half of 1923 and another to the South Seas in early 1924, Buford was chartered for three months by silent film comedian Buster Keaton
for use as the principal set of his film The Navigator
. Buford had been "discovered" by Keaton's Technical Director Fred Gabourie while scouting for ships for another, outside project, The Sea Hawk
. Released on October 13, 1924, The Navigator proved to be Keaton's most financially successful film and one of his personal favorites. After this moment in the limelight, Buford slipped into dormancy and would occasionally reappear at the center of several financially dubious schemes.
On February 25, 1929, it was reported that Buford would be scrapped in Yokohama, Japan by Hasegawa Gentaro. She sailed from Los Angeles on May 11, 1929, flying the American flag under the command of Capt. A. G. Laur to meet her final fate.
In December 1919 she became dubbed by the press of the day as the Soviet Ark (or the Red Ark), when she was used by the U.S. Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
and Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...
to deport 249 non-citizens from the United States because of their alleged anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, syndicalist
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
, or communist political beliefs.
Ship's history
The ship had begun life as the SS Mississippi, constructed by Harland & WolffHarland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Ireland for Bernard N. Baker
Bernard N. Baker
Bernard Nadal Baker was a shipping magnate from Baltimore, Maryland.Baker descended from generations of wealthy Baltimore merchants and glass manufacturers. He studied in Philadelphia with the geologist and chemist Frederick Genth and was a special student at Yale College...
of Baltimore and the Atlantic Transport Line
Atlantic Transport Line
The Atlantic Transport Line was a Baltimore, Maryland-based passenger shipping line that was folded into the International Mercantile Marine shipping trust in 1901. The line developed with railroad support as an offshoot of Bernard N. Baker's Baltimore Storage and Lighterage Company in 1881...
. She was launched on August 29, 1890 and began her maiden voyage, from London, on October 28, 1890. In command was her first captain, Hamilton Murrell, "Hero of the Danmark Disaster
Rescue of the SS Danmark
The rescue of the SS Danmark began on April 6, 1889, when the cargo ship, SS Missouri, came to the rescue of the sinking SS Danmark and saved all of the passengers and crew of the Danmark....
," who a year earlier had saved 735 lives from the sinking Danish passenger ship Danmark, the largest single rescue at the time.
For the first year of her career, the Mississippi plied the waters between London, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Philadelphia and Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
.
In January, 1892, the Mississippi was moved to the London-New York route, where she remained until she was purchased by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Department
U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps
The United States Army Quartermaster Corps is a Sustainment branch of the United States Army. It is also one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Transportation Corps and the Ordnance Corps....
as part of a seven ship deal on June 24, 1898 and became an army transport ship, serving in the Spanish American War. The Mississippi was assigned the number "25" on July 5, 1898. However, she sailed under her given name until March 2, 1899, the following year, when she was officially renamed USAT Buford, in honor of Gen. John T. Buford
John Buford
John Buford, Jr. was a Union cavalry officer during the American Civil War, with a prominent role at the start of the Battle of Gettysburg.-Early years:...
, the Union
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
officer and hero of the Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
On May 28, 1900, Buford entered the naval yards of the Newport News Ship-Building Company for a major refitting as a troop-ship for service between the United States and the Philippines. Two of her original four masts were removed; the other two were replaced with long masts. Once back in service, Buford regularly sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
terminating in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, and returning via Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
and Honolulu.
At 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, Buford was in San Francisco when the
Great Quake of 1906 struck. She was taken from the pier into the bay to avoid the resultant fire and was one of three transports - Buford, Crook and Warren - used in the harbor as temporary storehouses for the supplies coming into the stricken city by sea in the weeks following the disaster.
In 1907 and 1911, Buford was involved in famine relief missions to China. In 1912–1916, she was involved in refugee and troop missions during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
. Buford was in Galveston harbor when a massive hurricane hit on August 17, 1915 and was the city's sole line of communication to the outside world through her radio.
With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Buford continued her refugee rescue work, bringing away Americans who wished to flee the European fighting. She supported of the American war effort once the U.S. entered the conflict.
In December 1918, Buford underwent another refit to prepare her for transporting American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...
troops home from the war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
On January 14, 1919 she was transferred to the U.S. Navy, commissioned as the USS Buford (ID 3818) the next day, and assigned to troop transport duty. During the next half-year she made four round trip voyages between the United States and France, bringing home over 4700 soldiers. She made one more voyage to the Panama Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
before she was decommissioned by the Navy on September 2, 1919 and returned to the Army Transport Service.
Deportations
Bufords most notorious incarnation followed a few months later when she was turned into the "Soviet Ark" (or "Red Ark"). On December 21, 1919, she was used to deport 249 political radicals and other "undesirable" aliens, among them the fiery anarchists Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
and Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
, to the Russian SFSR. This occurred between the first and second Palmer Raids
Palmer Raids
The Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer...
of the first "Red Scare"
First Red Scare
In American history, the First Red Scare of 1919–1920 was marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism. Concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and alleged spread in the American labor movement fueled the paranoia that defined the period.The First Red...
period in the U.S. After delivering her charges, Buford returned to New York on February 22, 1920.
Political context
During the First Red ScareFirst Red Scare
In American history, the First Red Scare of 1919–1920 was marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism. Concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and alleged spread in the American labor movement fueled the paranoia that defined the period.The First Red...
in 1919-20 following the Russian Revolution, anti-Bolsehvik sentiment quickly replaced the anti-German sentiment of the World War I years. Many politicians and government officials, along with a large part of the press and the public, feared an imminent attempt to overthrow the government of the United States and the creation of a new regime modeled on that of the Soviets. In that atmosphere of public hysteria, radical views as well as moderate dissents were often characterized as un-American or subversive, including the advocacy of labor rights and any less than complementary discussion of American society and its system of government. Close ties between recent European immigrants and radical political ideas and organizations fed those anxieties as well.
The Espionage Act of 1917
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18, Crime...
made it a crime to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States. It effectively criminalized any act or speech that discouraged full compliance with the military draft. Convicted under this law, Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
, a five-time presidential candidate, served 3 years of a 10-year sentence before President Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
commuted his sentence on Christmas Day, 1921. Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
and Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
were likewise convicted under the Espionage Act
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18, Crime...
and eventually deported. The Immigration Act of 1918 denied entry into the U.S. and permitted the deportation of non-citizens "who disbelieve in or are opposed to all organized government."
Voyage
The Buford steamed out of New York harborNew York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
at 6 A. M. on Sunday, December 21, 1919, with 249 "undesirables" on board. Of those, 199 had been seized in the November 7 Palmer Raids. Some were leftists or anarchists, though perhaps as many as 180 were deported because of their membership in the Union of Russian Workers
Union of Russian Workers
The Union of Russian Workers in the United States and Canada, commonly known as the "Union of Russian Workers" was an anarchist political association of Russian emigrants in the United States...
, an anarchist organization which served social and educational functions for many Russian immigrants, had been the principal target of the raids. Other deportees, including the well-know radical leaders Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
and Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
, had been detained earlier. All, by act or speech or membership in an organization, fell within the legal definition of anarchist under the Immigration Act of 1918, which did not distinguish between "malignant conspirators and destructive revolutionists" on the one hand or "apostles of peace, preachers of the principle of non-resistance" on the other. All met the law's requirement in that they "believed that no government would be better for human society than any kind of government." Goldman had been convicted in 1893 of "inciting to riot" and in 1917 for interfering with military recruitment. She had been arrested on many other occasions. Berkman had served 14 years in prison for the attempted assassination of industrialist Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel steel manufacturing concern...
after the Homestead Steel Strike in 1892. In 1917 he had been convicted alongside Goldman for the same anti-draft activities. The notoriety of Goldman and Berkman as convicted agitators allowed the press and public to imagine that all the deportees had similar backgrounds. The New York Times called them all "Russian Reds."
Not all the deportees were unhappy to be leaving the United States. Most were single, few were being separated from their families, and some anticipated a brighter future in the new Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
.
Twenty-four hours after its departure, the Bufords captain opened sealed orders to learn his projected destination. The captain only learned his final destination while in Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
harbor while awaiting repairs and taking on a German pilot to guide the ship through the North Sea minefields, uncleared despite Germany's surrender a year earlier. The State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
had found it difficult to make arrangements to land in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
as originally planned. Though finally chosen, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
was not an obvious choice, since Finland and Russia were then at war.
F.W. Berkshire, Supervising Inspector of Immigration, made the journey to oversee the enterprise and, in contrast to his two most famous charges, reported little conflict. A "strong detachment of marines" numbering 58 enlisted men and four officers also made the journey and pistols had been distributed to the crew.
In "My Disillusionment in Russia
My Disillusionment in Russia
My Disillusionment in Russia is a book published in 1923 by Emma Goldman describing her experiences in Soviet Russia from 1920 to 1921, where she saw the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
," Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
wrote of the Buford voyage:
- For twenty-eight days we were prisoners. Sentries at our cabin doors day and night, sentries on deck during the hour we were daily permitted to breathe the fresh air. Our men comrades were cooped up in dark, damp quarters, wretchedly fed, all of us in complete ignorance of the direction we were to take.
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
, in "The Russian Tragedy," added,
- We were prisoners, treated with military severity, and the Buford a leaky old tub repeatedly endangering our lives during the month's Odyssey... Long, long was the voyage, shameful the conditions we were forced to endure: crowded below deck, living in constant wetness and foul air, fed on the poorest rations.
Buford reached Hango, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
at 4:25 pm on Friday, January 16, 1920. The prisoners were kept between decks until they were landed the next day, Saturday, January 17, 1920, at 2 pm. They were taken off the transport and marched between a cordon of American marines and Finnish White Guards
White Guard (Finland)
The White Guard was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918...
to a special train that was to take them to Terijoki, Finland, about two miles from the frontier. The 249 "undesirable aliens" were placed, 30 to a car,
- in [unheated] box cars fitted up with plank benches, tables and beds. Each car contained seven boxes of army rations. The supplies include bully-beef, sugar and hard bread.
Finnish White Guards were stationed on each car platform. The party was to be completely isolated until it reached its destination. Once loaded, the train was then held overnight while rumors of the party being killed as they crossed the border caused a diplomatic flurry.
The journey began the next day, January 18, but the exiles were sidetracked at Viborg
Vyborg
Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...
, Finland, remaining confined in their cars, while awaiting the British Prisoners' Relief Mission, which was to cross the Russian frontier at the same time. Delayed by storms, Buford began her return voyage that same day.
On January 19, the trek continued to Terijoki. Once the deportees had arrived, and after trudging through a heavy snowstorm, a parlay was conducted under white flags of truce between Berkman, guarded by the Finns, and the Russians, out on the ice of the frozen Systerbak River
Sestra River (Leningrad Oblast)
Sestra River is a river in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia.The length of the river is 74 km . The area of its basin is 393 km² . The Sestra River flows over the Karelian Isthmus. It used to fall into the Gulf of Finland until the early 18th century...
, which separated the Finnish and Bolshevist lines. Things being settled, the "undesirables" then crossed over into Russia at 2 pm, Berkman and Goldman waiting until everyone else had safely crossed. All were enthusiastically received with cheers and a band playing the Russian national anthem. In the war-wrecked town of Bielo-Ostrov, which overlooked the stream, they boarded a waiting train which took them to Petrograd.
Most of the press approved enthusiastically the Buford experiment. The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote: "It is hoped and expected that other vessels, larger, more commodious, carrying similar cargoes, will follow in her wake."
Later service
On August 5, 1920, Buford returned the ashes of Puerto Rican patriot Dr. Ramon Emerterio Betances to San Juan.On May 2, 1921, once again in the Pacific, Buford rescued sixty-five passengers and crew from the inferno of the Japanese steam freighter Tokuyo Maru, which had caught fire and burned 60 miles southwest of the mouth of the Columbia River, off Tillamook Head
Tillamook Head
Tillamook Head is a high promontory on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It is located in west-central Clatsop County, approximately 5 mi southwest of Seaside. The promontory forms a steep rocky bluff on the ocean, approximately 1,200 ft high, forested with...
, Oregon.
In mid 1922, as one of her final duties as a U. S. transport, the Buford conducted an inspection tour of Northwestern and Alaska Army posts and closed a number of posts in the territory abandoned by the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
.
In 1923, Buford was sold to John C. Ogden and Fred Linderman of the San Francisco-based Alaskan Siberian Navigation Company. After a voyage to Alaska in the latter half of 1923 and another to the South Seas in early 1924, Buford was chartered for three months by silent film comedian Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
for use as the principal set of his film The Navigator
The Navigator (1924 film)
The Navigator is a 1924 comedy directed by and starring Buster Keaton. The film was written by Clyde Bruckman and co-directed by Donald Crisp.-Plot:...
. Buford had been "discovered" by Keaton's Technical Director Fred Gabourie while scouting for ships for another, outside project, The Sea Hawk
The Sea Hawk (1924 film)
The Sea Hawk is a 1924 silent movie about an English noble sold into slavery who escapes and turns himself into a pirate king. Directed by Frank Lloyd, the screen adaptation was written by J. G...
. Released on October 13, 1924, The Navigator proved to be Keaton's most financially successful film and one of his personal favorites. After this moment in the limelight, Buford slipped into dormancy and would occasionally reappear at the center of several financially dubious schemes.
On February 25, 1929, it was reported that Buford would be scrapped in Yokohama, Japan by Hasegawa Gentaro. She sailed from Los Angeles on May 11, 1929, flying the American flag under the command of Capt. A. G. Laur to meet her final fate.
External links
- Louis F. Post, The Deportations Delirium of Nineteen-twenty: A Personal Narrative of an Historic Official Experience. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1923.
- Subcommittee of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, Communist and Anarchist Deportation Cases: Hearings...: April 21 to 24, 1920: Digest of Cases Deported on U.S. Transport "Buford." Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920. See especially Appendix B, pp. 148–158 for a Buford passenger list.