William/Vilhelm Binde was born February 6, 1913 in Latvia. He went to sea at the age of 21, working as a "wiper" or an "oiler" on various ships plying the Atlantic, traveling to such far-flung ports as Liverpool, Panama City, Gibralter, Swansea, Rouen, Livorno or Guantanamo Bay. Throughout the 1940's and 1950's he was a crew member on the Skiensfjord, the Everaga, the Belgian Gulf, the Booker T. Washington, the Vanja, the Aragon, the Abu, and the Floria.
For much of his life he used New York City as his home port; and he spent his later years living on 33rd Street in Long Island City.
William Binde died December 27, 2002, at the age of 89, and was buried on Hart Island.
Sources: U.S. Social Security Death Index; New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1974; New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957; U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002; U.S. Atlantic Ports Passenger Lists, 1820-1873 and 1893-1959; Massachusetts, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963.