William H. Turnquist, 60, veteran captain of the Matson Navigation Co., survivor of the German sinking of the Lusitania (sic) off the Irish coast, and a veteran of World Wars I and II, died September 13 in a local hospital after suggering a heart attack on board the ship he had been assigned to command on the San Francisco-Australia run.
Turnquist was a native of Stockholm and had lived in the United States 40 years. He started his working career as a seaman and was a quartermaster on the Lusitania when the ship was torpedoed. He was rescued after many hours in the waters of the Irish sea. He later was assigned to a naval and participated in many campaigns. During World war II he held the rank of captain and commanded an assault transport. He was the skipper of the Calawall of the Los Angeles Steamship line on the Los Angeles to Honlulu run when in 1931 the Matson line absorbed the Los Angeles company. Turnquist was commanding the S. S. Mariposa of San Francisco-Australia run when World War II broke out. He reported to the Navy and served during the entire conflict.
He reported back to Matson when peace came and had been given the S. S. White Squall, which was being put in shape in the Consolidated shipyards here. Turnquist was in charge of the work, having been here for a month.
He lived at 1900 Vallejo street in San Francisco and is survived by his widow, Mrs. Novelle Turnquist, and a son, William H. Turnquist, of San Francisco, and a step-sister, Miss Jean Turnquist of Bridgeport, Conn. Funeral services and interment will be in San Francisco, with Mottell's mortuary in charge of local arrangements.
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