August 10, 2016

"These Vagabond Shoes, They Are Longing To Stray...'

August 10, 2016

"Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today..." Maybe not leaving today, but we are leaving home in less than a month and heading to New York, New York. We will be leaving Baltimore on September 7th, the date that the BROWN was launched in 1942, and we will be arriving on the 9th. Returning to New York, her home for many years. The ship will be open for visitors from Saturday 9/10/16 until Saturday 9/17/16 from the hours of 10am-4pm. On both Saturdays, the 10th and the 17th, the engineering plant will be operating alongside the pier (Pier 36) and visitors can see the 135-ton triple expansion steam engine in operation at slow speed. This is a rare sight- to see an engine designed in the 1880's and built/installed in the 1940's, still operating and still capable of performing as a ship's main propulsion!

All of the BROWN's 13 wartime voyages either began or ended in New York.  In this picture, the BROWN was returning to her new home for the next 36 years. — All of the BROWN's 13 wartime voyages either began or ended in New York. In this picture, the BROWN was returning to her new home for the next 36 years.

In 1946 the government loaned the BROWN to the city of New York, where she became a floating maritime high school, the only one in the United States. The ship served in that capacity from 1946 to 1982, where thousands of students graduated and then began careers in the merchant marines. While a school ship, the BROWN was meticulously maintained by the students and their instructors. As you can see the hull was painted black during these years.

Picture taken at Pier 73 by Mr. L. Tibaldi in the 1950's.

On Sunday, September 18th, the BROWN will have a Living History Cruise out of New York, from Pier 36. This will be the BROWN's 106th Living History Cruise! Passengers who have purchased tickets for the cruise can board the ship at 8am. The ship will leave at 10am and return to the pier at 4pm. For the next 72 hours we are offering a promotion. By clicking this link, you will get $20 off your ticket price. This promotion must be done online, using this link, and not by phone. This link should be all you need, but putting in the promotion code of NYNY2016 will also get you the discount for the next 72 hours. This is a once in a lifetime experience that you can take part in, as it's not everyday that the 74 year old Liberty Ship can come to New York City and have a Living History Cruise.

This is a great experience and it will be lots of work for the 65 crew members that are taking the ship from Baltimore to New York, and the many more who will be traveling from many states to stay for part or all of the time in NY. Crew will be sleeping, eating, bathing and working on the ship during this time. Crew members are 100% volunteer and are willing to do the work needed for this trip because they believe in our mission statement. "Our goal is the preservation and operation of the S.S. JOHN W. BROWN, the last surviving Liberty Ship on the east coast, and one of only two operational Liberty Ships remaining from the great fleet of over 2,700 identical Liberty's which were one of the keys to the Allied victory in World War II. The BROWN is being preserved as a museum ship and a living memorial to the men and women of the American industry that built the great Liberty fleet and the Merchant Seamen and Naval Armed Guard who sailed and defended these ships all over the world."

Painting of the ship is almost complete (hint hint...you may see an upcoming blog showing off the last few months of work) and we have a JWB Alumni and PLS Work Party weekend coming up to get everything ready for our New York visit. We hope to see lots of visitors while we're in New York, as well as passengers on the Living History Cruise. Help us spread the word about this visit to New York!

Project Liberty Ship, Inc is a 501(c)3 non-profit, all volunteer organization engaged in the preservation and operation of the historic ship JOHN W. BROWN as a living memorial museum. Gifts to Project Liberty Ship are tax deductible

andrea horrocks

June 25, 2016

The Life of a Merchant Marine: Documents

andrea horrocks

June 25, 2016

Hello Everyone,

I'm the curator here at SS John W Brown and I LOVE MUSEUMS, no shame. A lot of stuff, or objects as we like to say in the industry, come across my desk and this one folder I am thoroughly enjoying.

This file, object number 2016.25 (no accession numbers, I have a big pile of stuff so I consider it one big accession) is basically the sailing life of this one guy: Charles A. Scarpello. I don't know how we acquired this file, as with most of our objects. Most likely someone put this with a "lot" of other memorabilia on Ebay, it was then purchased by a Merchant Marine collector then given to us. That's pretty much how we acquire objects and we love getting more Merchant Marine objects! If you have anything you want stored securely in our archive, put online on our Omeka site for the world to see, then eventually put on display... we'll take it!

Without further adieu, I present to you 2016.25:

Charles A. Scarpello

Mr. Scarpello sailed during World War II and was awarded at least these two awards for his service, but was not considered a veteran until 1988.

These are pre-war discharge certificates from his sailing career in the 1930's. Note that the Department of Commerce regulated these until 1942, when the USCG took over regulation of the Merchant Marine. Also, note his rise through the ranks from Messboy, to Able Seaman, then Quartermaster (a type of specialized watchstanding Able Seaman who is proficient in navigational duties found on ships with larger crews).

During World War II Mr. Scarpello then earned his third mate's license and thus became an officer in the United States Maritime Service. This government service (akin to the Lighthouse Service or Public Health Service) was a paramilitary government organization created to quickly and efficiently train personnel for the Merchant Marine. This was needed because Liberty Ships (requiring between 30 and 60 crew) were built at an average pace of 52 a month (that's 1,560 to 3,120 mariners by the way) for the duration of their respective shipbuilding program. This certificate was part of his training as an officer in the USMS.

Mr. Scarpello kept sailing into the late 1960's and belonged to the union MMP (Masters, Mates, and Pilots), which many Merchant Marine deck officers are members of to this day. Note his travels to Vietnam during that war as well as Egypt in 1964.

Well that's it for this week from the archives, check us out next week when I highlight another object and also check out collections website for your research and casual perusal!

andrea horrocks

April 27, 2016

Training

andrea horrocks

April 27, 2016

We have a busy cruise season this year with two port visits in addition to our regular schedule (Norfolk in 3 weeks and NYC in September). The Captain announced 2 training days (April 16 and 23rd) and required all who were planning on cruising this year to attend at least one of the events. Crew members came from as far away as Maine, NY, Pa, De and Ga, and a good turnout was seen. Most of the first training on the 16th was actually cleaning and work on the ship, from the engine room to the deck department to the electricians. The captain actually roamed the ship with a list of things that needed to be done, from organizing linen lockers and other storage spaces, to getting things, like the #2 tweendeck and the newest addition (a lifeboat), painted. Here are some shots of some of the things that occurred before lunch.

Trying to maximize the numbers on board the ship in an organized way, lunch of hamburgers, hotdogs and salads was served at 1130 for the crew. Some of the more glamorous shots of engineers in the shaft alley or this photographer cleaning and organizing the slop room, were fortunately NOT captured.

The big event on Saturday's training was the long meeting, where abandon ship, security issue and medical emergencies aboard the ship were covered. This was also a chance for the captain to go over procedures and policies from everything from badges to TWIC cards as well as giving out the most up to date details about our planned trips to Norfolk and NYC. Finally, a new docent manual was given out to all crew, to help with tours and also giving directions on our blue-line-tour (self guided).

On April 23rd, there were some similarities (the same meeting was held by the Captain for those who had not been on the ship on the 16th). But the ship was a bit more chaotic. We had a previously scheduled model shoot that morning, as well as a tour by 3 WWII vets and their families (LCT FLOTILLAS of WWII).

We also had an abandon ship drill and our watchful crew were able to spot 'suspicious' packages found in places on the deck (to practice our security plan). We have so much more to do in terms of preparation for Norfolk and the rest of the cruising season but we are, as usual, doing lots of training and preparation for the visit. If you are in the Virginia area and plan on taking the Norfolk cruise, please note that the last day to order tickets is May 7. See you next Wednesday for that blog.