FAIRHAVEN -- Capt. Emerson Harlow Hiller, 84, of Green Street died at home Saturday, July 10, 2004, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was the widower of Priscilla (Place) Hiller.
Born in Mattapoisett, he was the son of the late George Rockefeller and Sarah (Nelson) Hiller.
He graduated from Fairhaven High School in 1937 and graduated as senior deck officer from the Massachusetts Nautical School and the sail training vessel Nantucket in 1939.
He kept fond memories of his cadet days aboard the training ship and maintained close friendships with some of his fellow cadets, who together founded the Ancient Mariners club of retired sea captains and officers, which meets regularly.
A born sailor who grew up building boats and sailing them in Mattapoisett Harbor and on Buzzards Bay, Capt. Hiller was a deck officer aboard a coast and geodetic survey vessel before the United States entered World War II.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was a mate aboard the liberty ships Meriwether Lewis, George H. Williams and Anthony Ravalli. He assumed full command of the liberty ship John S. Copley at the age of 24. He was the youngest recipient of an unlimited master's license to command any vessel on all oceans.
He served in Europe and the Pacific. The stories of his wartime experiences were related with humor that belied the understated courage that marked his service. When telling the story of surviving an air raid in a harbor in Italy, he focused on a fellow officer's comical difficulty with his battle helmet, and only as an afterthought did he mention the deadly shell fragments that littered the ship's decks.
After World War II and 10 years in business ashore, he was a master mariner for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He was master of the research vessels Chain, Atlantis II and Knorr for 24 years. At Woods Hole, he was known for his tough and fair leadership and his sense of humor. Capt. Jacques Cousteau, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Vice President Hubert Humphrey and William F. Buckley Jr. were guests aboard his ships.
A new species of deep-sea animal, protobranchia, was discovered during one of Capt. Hiller's voyages and was named after him: Spinula hilleri. The scientists included the following statement in their research log: "We name this species after Captain Emerson Hiller of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, whose superb seamanship has enabled us to trawl successfully at great depths and with precision throughout the Atlantic Ocean."
A master craftsman, he built fine furniture aboard ship that he presented to friends and relatives as gifts when he returned from his voyages. On a research mission in the Indian Ocean, he built Monsoon, an 18-foot sailboat that he continued to sail in Mattapoisett Harbor until recently.
For the last eight years of his career with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he was accompanied on voyages by his wife aboard the Knorr. Scotland, New Zealand, and Antarctica were some of their destinations.
After he retired in 1983, he became a ham radio operator, keeping in touch with Woods Hole ships and making friends throughout the world.
Survivors include two sons, Thomas Place Hiller and his wife, Cynthia, of Mattapoisett, and Emerson Harlow Hiller Jr. and his wife, Charlene, of Dartmouth; a daughter, Jane Hiller Farran, and her husband, William, of Philadelphia; eight grandchildren, Samuel, Jay, Nina, Seth, Kathryn, Christopher, Abigail and Eliza; and two step-grandchildren, Brad Farran and Kate Farran.
Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday July 17, 2004 at Cushing Cemetery, Mattapoisett, Ma. followed by a memorial service at 11:30 a.m. at the First Congregational Church, Fairhaven, Ma.
In lieu of flowers, donations will be accepted in his memory to benefit the Marine History Room of the Mattapoisett Free Public Library, Barstow Street, Mattapoisett, Massachusetts 02739.