August 24, 2016

August Work Weekend Shenanigans

August 24, 2016

Normally the Alumni (when we say Alumni, we refer to those that attended the BROWN when she was a Maritime High School in NYC for about 36 years) organize about 2 work weekends a year which are typically in the spring and fall. With the painting of the ship and the looming trip to New York, there was (and still is) tons of work that needed to be done, so a work party weekend was organized and happened last weekend. About 8 people drove down from NY and one came from Ohio. They came down on Friday and worked hard from Friday through Sunday. On Saturday we had a good turnout, despite the heat, of regular Saturday crew members. We even had the painters come to do some final touching up, and there was an afternoon general meeting for members at 12:30pm.

They almost had to lube him up to get him into position to get this painting done!

The morning started out with bringing in the wire and putting out the mooring line on the stern of the ship. A bit of organization that needed to be done (a ship's version of putting everything back in place, where it belongs) thanks to the months of painting.

Engineers are always greasing things up..we had to stop them from greasing up that painter in the picture at the beginning of the blog! But that's how a basically 74 year old Liberty ship still operates...lots and lots of diligent maintenance.

Another thing that was done was to use the boom to bring on some equipment, which included a freezer and a new industrial grade 'sanitizer' which annoys certain long term crew who say "It's NOT a sanitizer, it's just a diswasher!!!" We have to get our jabs in when we can, lol. We also brought on plenty of dry stores for the trip north.

Due to the heat and the amount of work that crew were busy working on, the 9am general meeting was moved to 12:30pm. Lots of info about the New York trip was discussed, as well as our October cruise. The Captain also talked about the many things that needed to be done in the remaining 2 1/2 weeks before we hit the high seas. We ended the meeting with some 1000 Volunteer Hours awards to Chuck and Dan. Congrats guys!

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

August 17, 2016

What's Been Going on This Summer

andrea horrocks

August 17, 2016

Not only has the blog been missing in action, but the ship was closed for a few weeks. What the heck has been going on with the SS JOHN W. BROWN the last few months?!?!? This is Part two of the painting job that started last fall where the house was power washed and repainted. For this portion, thanks to a grant and lots of fundraising, we were able to have the deck professionally done, all at once. Even with a crew of professionals working 5-6 days a week, this took a couple of months, and many man hours. Sometimes a picture (or a few...) IS worth a thousand words.

In this gallery, you can see a lot of the work that was done taking things apart so that they could be better stripped of paint. You can also see a lot of the pictures of bare steel. Oh what a mess! Now it makes more sense why we needed to close the ship to visitors for a bit.

Each week a new signup sheet was generated for crew to come down to sit with the ship while work was being done. Keep in mind that summer is when many people go on vacation, and not to forget that most days on a steel ship are pretty uncomfortably hot, and you can see the obstacles faced this summer. But each day was covered and some crew members really gave tons of their time to see this through.

By July, things were beginning to come together...

Finally, about two weeks ago, at the end of painting, the crew had to lower all the booms into their cradles so that they could be painted as well. This is not something that happens very often; it's been about 10 years since they were lowered all the way. But at least one pair needed to be brought back up into position in the following week, so that supplies could be brought on the ship in preparation for New York. Here are a few pictures:

Check out the video of a small part of the process. We ended up raising the booms on the #3 hatch last weekend so that we can use them to bring heavy things on board the ship, but we still have A LOT of work to do in the next month before we leave for New York. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for continuing information.

andrea horrocks

August 10, 2016

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

andrea horrocks

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!