1943

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Captain William P. Crawford ’43, a familiar figure on waterfronts along the West Coast, passed away peacefully on March 20, 2013. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; 13 children, Patricia, Thomas, John, Christine, Andrew, Daniel, Joseph, Robert, Timothy, James, Margaret, Catherine and William; 19 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Bill was born into an Irish seafaring family in 1922, left college to serve as a merchant seaman in the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean-Middle East war zones and was an unlimited shipmaster by the time he was 22 years old. After the war, he finished school and then practiced admiralty law until joining in the operation of the family training school for shipmasters and officers. He taught in Crawford Nautical School locations in New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle for almost six decades. He was a noted author of maritime trade books, including Mariner’s Celestial Navigation and Mariner’s Weather. Bill had a fierce intelligence, insatiable curiosity, undeniable charm and well-arned pride in his many accomplishments. He truly lived every day of his long life. His memory lives on through his family, all of the seafarers he taught and many others whose lives he touched.

08 Nov 2018