USAT MERRITT 1923 ...
On July 1, 1923, the army transport ship USAT Merritt out of Manila, Philippines, docked at Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. It carried five hundred and twenty-six Russia "boat people" survivors of some seven thousand who had fled Vladivostok eight months previously as victorious Communist forces advanced on the last out post of resistance to the Bolshevik revolution.
Thank you for compiling so much information about this historic voyage! It has been difficult to find much information on the subject. My grandfather told my father that he was very lucky to get a spot on the last ship that departed Vladivostock. He enlisted with the Amur Cossacks while fighting moved eastward during the the civil war. It seems he was in Korea until the following spring and ended up in Shanghai. He was not a passenger on the Merritt and did not arrive in California until 1951. I am trying to locate the memoir of Admiral Stark, have you read it?
Thank you for compiling so much information about this historic voyage! It has been difficult to find much information on the subject. My grandfather told my father that he was very lucky to get a spot on the last ship that departed Vladivostock. He enlisted with the Amur Cossacks while fighting moved eastward during the the civil war. It seems he was in Korea until the following spring and ended up in Shanghai. He was not a passenger on the Merritt and did not arrive in California until 1951. I am trying to locate the memoir of Admiral Stark, have you read it?
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