B&CSC Helped Plan Baltimore’s National Maritime Day Program, May 22, 2021
Tugboat CAPE MAY dressed out for National Maritime Day. Courtesy Vane Brothers Company.
WHEREAS it is fitting that the enterprise and achievements of the American merchant marine and the courage and patriotism of the officers and seamen of that merchant marine throughout our history be thus recognized
Called the “fourth arm of defense” by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during WWII, the Merchant Marine established itself as a cornerstone of sealift support for our Armed Forces, sailing through theaters of war to deliver troops and supplies while keeping vital ocean supply lines operating.Excerpt from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s 2021 National Maritime Day Proclamation.
Members of the Merchant Marine are traditionally not included in Memorial or Veterans Day observances.
In 1970, the Public Affairs Officer at the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD), Walter Oates, a WWII veteran and graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, was instrumental in National Maritime Day becoming the ‘Merchant Marine’s Memorial Day’.
On hand to commemorate the day were the Pride of Baltimore II, a topsail schooner and the sailing ambassador for the National Park Service’s (NPS) Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, and the Association of Maryland Pilots’ boarding vessel Vedette.
Directly across the outer harbor from the observance, are moored the World War II Liberty Ship, S.S. John W. Brown, the Nuclear Ship Savannah, and Baltimore City’s first all-steel police patrol boat, the 1940 Charles D. Gaither, a MARAD designated memorial vessel. They too were part of the Baltimore Port Alliance’s observance of the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore National Maritime Day, dressed out in fluttering flags and pennants.
Visiting tugboats included Dann Marine Towing’s Emerald Coast and Gulf Coast, McAllister Towing’s Bridget McAllister, Moran Towing’s April Moran, and Vane Brothers’ Cape May.
Maryland State Archaeologist Dr. Susan Langley of the Maryland Historical Trust said that “the Port of Baltimore has an embarrassment of wonderful resources both afloat and submerged.”
To Susan’s assessment we would add treasures, which include among others, the museum ship 1854 Constellation, and the 1906 tug Baltimore.
Reverend Mary Davisson, Baltimore International Seafarer’s Center, offered the invocation.
Katrina Jones, Maryland Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Outreach Coordinator for Harbor Development and the 2020 Propeller Club of Baltimore Port Person of the Year, performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” a capella. The combined Pentagon Naval Sea Cadet and BSA Sea Scout Ship 1808 Color Guard presented and retreated the Colors. Color Guard members rotated throughout the program to flank each side of the Posted Colors.
Joseph Wyatt, Community Relations, Association of Maryland Pilots, and his staff were recognized for their years of supporting maritime programs and National Maritime Day activities. The program opened with comments by Captain Eric Nielsen, Association of Maryland Pilots and Chair of the Baltimore Port Alliance as well as the 2021 Propeller Club of Baltimore Port Person of the Year; William P. Doyle, Executive Director, Maryland Port Administration; and Captain David E. O’Connell, USCG, Commander for Sector Maryland-NCR.
Three nonprofit organizations comprised this year’s National Maritime Day Committee: the Baltimore & Chesapeake Steamboat Company, the NS Savannah Association and Project Liberty Ship. Historic vessels associated with the nonprofits as well as one of the tugboats from the fleet of the event’s host, Vane Brothers Company, were highlighted:
- The Baltimore & Chesapeake Steamboat Company (B&CSC) was formed from a group of volunteers on the 1906 Tug Baltimore, which is a part of the Baltimore Museum of Industry’s collection. The GAITHER, Baltimore’s 1940 police patrol/fireboat, is under a grant from the Baltimore National Heritage Area through the City of Baltimore general obligation bond program to assess and revise her preservation plan. BayHeritage.org and its Baltimore & Chesapeake Maritime Group on Facebook
- The Nuclear Ship Savannah Association works to preserve the keystone artifact of President Eisenhower’s ‘Atoms For Peace’ initiative, the Nuclear Ship Savannah. ns-savannah.org
- Project Liberty Ship’s museum ship, the S.S. John W. Brown, is one of two surviving fully operational World War II Liberty Ships. Built at Baltimore’s Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, she was the last of the three Liberty Ships launched on September 7, 1942, making way for the many more that came after her. Baltimore’s Bethlehem-Fairfield Yards built the most Liberty Ships of the 18 shipbuilders during WWII, by 1943, at a rate of three a day. Its SS Patrick Henry was the the first Liberty Ship built for the war effort, launched September 27, 1941. ssjohnwbrown.org
- Vane Brothers Company’s tug Cape May was built in 2018, the 14th in the model-bow Sassafras Class tugboat line initiated in 2008 at the Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corporation of Salisbury, MD, and designed by the late Frank Basile, P.E., of Entech Designs, LLC, Kenner, LA. Built to tow vessels, she has Tier IV compliant 3,000 horse-power engines and electrical service. vanebrothers.com
Speakers told of the Port’s importance historically, today, and of the opportunities to come:
Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby, USN, Ret., former Administrator of MARAD, delivered the keynote address, “Our Merchant Marine in Peace and War … and Covid.”
Kipp Snow, Director of Transportation and Maritime Logistics, Community College of Baltimore County, spoke about the vocational and technical training needs of the Port and the employment opportunities available now and in the future as new technologies continue to be developed.
Susan Langley, Ph.D., Maryland State Underwater Archaeologist with the Maryland Historical Trust, talked about the Shipping Board-Emergency Fleet Corporation (USSB-EFC) and the American Merchant Marine. Langley was involved with NOAA’s 2019 designation of the “Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary” to protect the main body of the USSB-EFC World War I era shipwrecks, the largest ‘Ghost Fleet’ in the Western Hemisphere. Mallows is the first marine sanctuary to be designated in the State of Maryland.
Langley’s closing remarks captured Baltimore Port Alliance’s observance of National Maritime Day:
Dennis Bryant’s “statement, ‘the sea demands constant vigilance’, certainly underscores that we must never underestimate the valuable contributions and the service of the merchant mariners that we commemorate and honor today.”
[Dennis L. Bryant, Reflections on the Trends That Have Shaped the Maritime Industry, ”Marine Link”, May 18, 2021, https://www.marinelink.com/news/reflections-trends-shaped-maritime-487733, accessed 05/23/2021]”
Fair Winds and Following Seas …