| Sources |
- [S15] Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sai, Year: 1880; Census Place: Middle Island, Suffolk, New York; Roll: T9_935; Family History Film: 1254935; Page: 154B; Enumeration District: 316; Image: 0037.
- [S325] Debby Gincig Painter, Descendants of John Randall (http://www.geocities.com/gincig/randall/randallfam.htm (Copy saved to Descendants of John Randall) : accessed ), ., Downloaded; 11 September 2009.
- [S49] Long Island Advance (Long Island Advance, 20 Medford Ave, Patchogue, NY), 20 Jan 1931, page 1. Former Brookhaven Man Is Commander of the Leviathan.
FORMER BROOKHAVEN MAN IS COMMANDER OF THE LEVIATHAN
Captain Albert Randall, Native of This Section, Wins Highest Station in American Merchant Marine.
Goes From the George Washington to Bridge of Flagship of Passenger Service—Takes Blue Point Boy With Him Whose Father Taught Him Sailing on Great South Bay.
A former Brookhaven man, Commodore Albert B. Randall, is now chief sailing officer of the United States lines, a position he attained in being appointed commander of the Leviathan, largest American merchant vessel. And in taking over this great transatlantic liner he has transferred with him Allan Payne of Blue Point, who was a seaman under him when the veteran officer was captain of the S.S. George Washington.
In keeping the Blue Point youth with him Commodore Randall is not only recognizing the sailor's personal record but also paying a debt to the boy's father for early training he gave the present head of the famous passenger fleet.
Payne is the son of Captain and Mrs. Alanson Payne of Blue Point avenue, whose home is just north of the Blue Point firehouse. The elder Payne is an old bayman who for years has sailed the Great South Bay and he recalls vividly the early training he gave Captain Randall. Young Payne was 19 years old Sunday and expects to sail as quartermaster on the next trip, an unusual honor for so young a boy. Hi elder brother, William was valedictorian of the class of 1929 at Patchogue high school and is now an honor senior at Cornell.
So this part of Long Island, which has bred many deep sea sailors, came back for a bit of its former glory, for a time at least, as the ceremonies took place in the harbor at New York. For the past year and a half Payne, who was a pupil in the Patchogue high school a few years ago, had been on the George Washington, learning the ropes, so to speak, under Captain Randall.
Commodore Randall was born in Brookhaven September 11, 1879, and his first sailing was out on the Great South Bay at the age of ten, when he built his own boat. However, report has it that his father had other ideas about the lad's future and broke up the home-made craft. But that did not deter him for on his mother's side of the family, as far back as 1639, he forebears were sailing out of the east end of the island, their home being near Southold. He continued to get on the water whenever he could with men that had boats around Brookhaven and gradually got into some of the fishing boats on the bay.
From these old time baymen he picked up a wealth of Knowledge each summer until he was 17 and from Captain Payne of Blue Point everything that a youngster, desirous of going to sea, would need to know. At 17 he shipped aboard the bark Obed Baxter, apparently for Santos, Brazil, but in reality around the world. Until 1899 he shipped aboard sailing boats and then steam attracted him. He sailed about on tramps and during the Spanish-American war he entered the transport service and became an officer.
In 1901 the former Brookhaven man went into the naval auxiliary service as third officer on the Ajax, circling the world on government business. Then as chief officer of the Caesar he towed the dry dock Dewey from Baltimore to Manila and because of the seamanship shown was made master of naval auxiliaries in 1906.
Early in the World War he was recalled from Furlough and made enrolling officer in New York and then given command of the transport Bridgeport, the former liner Breslau. His next command was the Teresa, another transport, and then he took command of the Standard Arrow. He was officially commended for bringing it through the danger zone and was promoted to commodore of convoys attached to the British Admiralty. He held this post until after the war.
After serving as personnel officer at the Port of New York he was given command of the Powhatan and again distinguished himself when it began taking water in water in a heavy gale. He kept the pumps working until another boat came alongside so that all the passengers were transferred and the Powhatan made port with mishap. In 1921 he went to the United States lines, going from one ship to another until he reached the bridge of the Leviathan, the apex of his career, last week.
- [S49] Long Island Advance (Long Island Advance, 20 Medford Ave, Patchogue, NY), 15 July 1948, p.21. Admiral Randall, Native Son.
Footnotes of L.I. History
ADMIRAL RANDALL, NATIVE SON
By Thomas R. Bayles
A native son of Brookhaven town who stood at the top of the United States Merchant Marine was Rear Admiral Albert B. Randall, USNR, Commandant of the U.S. Maritime Service and retired Commodore of the Fleet of the United States lines. He was the only merchant marine officer ever to hold the rank of rear admiral in the United States Naval Reserve.
He died in November, 1945, at the age of 66, and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National cemetery, thus ending the career of this great Long Islander who descended from Stephen Randall, one of the first settlers of Middle Island.
Born in Brookhaven
Born on September 10, 1879, at Brookhaven*, he was the son of William F. Randall, a native of Middle Island, and Sarah S. Smith of Brookhaven. The moved to Bridgeport, Conn., soon after the birth their son and it was there that Albert received his education and later at Vermont academy.
The veteran mariner was as salty as the language of his hard swearing parrot, Barnacle Bill. He had lived on, by and for the sea since he was 13, when he sailed before the mast on a voyage around the Horn which his mother hoped in vain would cure him of his appetite for the sea.
When he was 17, he enlisted as an ordinary seaman on the bark Obed Baxter, whose skipper, Leander B. Sweeney, was a first cousin of Albert's, and also a native of Brookhaven. He saw much service in Asiatic waters during the next few years and served on the army transports, "Burnside," "Sedgwick" and "Kilpatrick" as ship's officer, to and from the Philippines and the West Indies. In 1901 he joined the Navy Auxiliary Service and was assigned as third officer on the "Ajax." He was promoted several times to more responsible posts and received his master's license in 1905, and his first command in 1907.
During World War I he was called into service under the Naval Reserve commission he had held since 1902, and became a commodore of convoys. He was returning on the "President Lincoln" after commanding a 52 ship convoy safely across, when the ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. Captain Randall took to a life boat and escaped capture by removing his tell tale uniform, and when the U boat commander hailed the boat and demanded to know where the captain was, the captain shouted, "He went down with the ship." Capt. Randall distinguished distinguished himself in the convoy service during the war.
Old Navy men still talk of the feat that won Admiral Randall his captain's four stripes in 1904. As chief officer of the Navy collier, "Caesar," he was assigned the seemingly impossible task of towing the drydock "Dewey" from Baltimore to the Philippine Islands, a distance of 12,000 miles. The drydock was 300 feet long with square ends and was almost unmanageable on the tow. It broke loose frequently, and there were days when the log showed miles lost rather than gained, but Admiral Randall got the "Dewey" to its destination in 6 months and 10 days. Recommended for promotion to captain, the 25-year old Randall looked too young to the admiral in charge of the Navy's collier branch. Six months later he returned from a voyage to the tropics with a full beard, appeared before the admiral, got his four stripes and shaved his beard off the next day.
Commanded Luxury Liners
In 1921, he became master of the S.S. America and later on in the same year took command of the "George Washington," and during the next 15 years Capt. Randall commanded many of the finest luxury liners, including the "Republic," the "Manhattan," and the famous "Leviathan." He was finally promoted to commodore of the fleet aboard the flagship "Manhattan." Although he served in the Merchant Marine, he remained in the Naval Reserve and was ranking commander at the time of his retirement in 1939. His retirement was brief, however, and with the beginning of the activities leading up to the Second World War he was called to active service and again commissioned Rear Admiral, and assigned to the position of executive officer of the Seamen's Service for the Port of New York. In April, 1942, he was promoted Commandant of the United States Maritime Service with headquarters in Washington.
Among the many rescues performed during Admiral Randall's long career was one in 1920, in which he acquired the nickname of "Rescue Randall," as a result of his feat in transferring 274 passengers from the sinking "Powhatan," which he then brought safely back into port at Halifax. In 1922 he rescued six men from the schooner "Rhein deMers," which was foundering with her rudder and sails gone, off Newfoundland, and with mountainous seas raging. Again two years later he went to the aid of a Coast Guard cutter that had been blown helpless out to sea in an October gale off Nantucket, and took off the eight members of her crew.
Cited by Roosevelt
His acts of heroism and his brilliant career as commander of great American ships prompted the President of the United States to send him the following letter upon his retirement in 1939:
My Dear Captain Randall:
I take the occasion of your retirement to congratulate you on a long and distinguished career. Your years of service have been marked by many exploits requiring the highest qualities of seamanship and command. As Commodore of the United States Lines you commanded the greatest vessels in the American Merchant Marine, and proved yourself worthy in all respects of the prominent position that you held.
Your career may well be the inspiration of American youth as we enter a new phase and era of expansion. Your services with the armed forces of the United States, as well as with the Merchant Marine, illustrate the inter-depdence of the Navy and the Merchant Marine for the eventual well being of your country.
Very sincerely tours,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
President of the United States.
A very similar article by Bayles appeared in the Long Island Forum, February 1962, p. 31-32.
* There is some ambiguity as to whether Bayles' comment that Randall was born "at Brookhaven" meant Randall was born at the Hamlet of Brookhaven or the a broader meaning of the Town of Brookhaven. Bayles was well familiar with locality names in the Town of Brookhaven. In the first paragraph in identifies "Brookhaven town;" when mentioning Albert Randall parents, his father was identified as "a native of Middle Island" and mother "of Brookhaven" (both localities within the Town). I think it is reasonable to be inferred that Albert Randall was born in the Hamlet of Brookhaven.
However, Albert sojourn's in Brookhaven hamlet was brief. By the 1880 census, the family was living in Middle Island. And soon after the family appears to have removed to the Bridgeport, Connecticut, vicinity, where it appears that Albert spent his youth.
- [S725] Ancestry.com. U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012., §6, #8461-A.
- [S326] Unknown author. In possession of Joyce Leming., Manuscript: Rock Smith Family including hand written notes and addendum giving the descendents of John Ellis Smith. (Joyce Leming suggested that the document may have originally been obtained from t.
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![Albert Borland Randall, [i] ^](img/male.jpg)
1879 - 1945 (66 years)
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