Adolph S. Oko, Jr.

Captain Adolph S. Oko Jr. was in 1948 the captain of the S.S. Kefalos, one of the first ships to smuggle arms to Israel during the War of Independence and, subsequently, an important vessel that rescued slightly over 7,700 Jewish refugees from the Balkans and transported them to Israel in two voyages the same year.

Oko was born December 12, 1904, in New York to Adolph Sigmund Oko who became a celebrated biographer and Spinoza scholar associated with Hebrew Union College and Rose Susan Weisinger, an unmarried couple. The younger Oko grew up spending time with his father's and his mother's families in Cincinnati and Northern California. In the late 1910s, Oko attended the Cincinnati Academy of Art. Adept at drawing, Oko maintained a lifelong interest in fine art and antiquities, a fact that served him well when he worked in San Francisco as a salesman at S & G Gump in the 1920s, and in later years as well.

In 1926, Oko married (Doris) Madge Reniff. In 1927, a son also named Adolph S. Oko, III was born. The marriage, an unhappy one, ended in divorce undertaken in 1933 and finalized in 1934. In 1933 or 1934, Oko married Gladys Zemple.

At age 18, Oko went to sea, serving on at least eleven ships. During the Depression, Oko held a number of disparate jobs. In 1937, Oko's finances forced him into bankruptcy. In the ensuing years, Oko ran a public relations firm. In 1942, Oko joined the US Merchant Marine, serving on six ships on nine voyages, ending as a chief mate. On his last voyage, Oko and shipmates made a trip to the Great Wall of China where Oko was shot and captured by the Communists, and held briefly. In December 1945, Oko and business partners purchased the S.S. Amur.

In 1947, Oko and partners purchased the ex-USS Aries, then called the S. S. Adelanto with the intent of sailing the ship to Israel. When a plan to smuggle half-tracks from South America to Palestine fell through, the ship was put up for sale.

The T/S Dicto was built in 1917 by Bethlehem Steel Company in San Francisco. Sold in 1929, the cargo's turbine was replaced by a triple-expansion steam engine. A sale in 1933 saw the name of the ship changed to S. S. American Cardinal. A 1936 sale resulted in the name S. S. Mallard. The ship was requisitioned by the US government in 1941 and renamed the S. S. Larranga (sometimes seen as Larraňaga). After service in World War II, the ship was placed in the reserve fleet.

...
Wikipedia