Of the more than 2,700 Liberty ships built during World War II, only two are still operational in the United States. One, the John W. Brown, now docked in Baltimore, may become homeless when its five-year agreement for free berthing at Rukert Terminals’ Pier C in Canton, Maryland expires at the end of next September.
The Baltimore Sun quotes, Richard Bauman, 65, a retired ship pilot for the state of Maryland who serves as captain and master of the John W. Brown, saying “We’ve spent a good bit of time looking for a new, permanent home, but we haven’t really had a whole lot of luck. They’re not going to throw us out, but they run a business, and they would like to have us find a place where we can stay permanently.”
Officials with Project Liberty Ship say all parties are working to find a permanent home.
“We wish them well, and we told them we’ll work with them,” says Rukert CEO Norman Rukert Jr. “We’re not going to say on Oct. 1 that they have to go.”
The Baltimore Sun also notes, that finding a permanent home won’t be easy. Fewer than a dozen commercial piers in the area are large enough to handle the ship, said Michael Barnes, a member of the nonprofit’s board.
The John W. Brown operates on a budget of about $1 million a year, Barnes said, almost all raised through donations and fees. Project Liberty Ship officials figure it would have cost about $15,000 a month to rent the Canton pier, and they’re expecting to spend about that much, possibly more, for a new space. They’re even willing to consider purchasing a pier, Barnes said.
“The bottom line is: We really don’t expect anybody to give us a free pier,” he said.
I’d be looking for a berth in a tourist town, that way they can recoup mooring fees by charging visitors for guided tours.
They are probably ahead of me there 🙂
Take it to the Maritime Museum of San Diego. They seem to be doing well to have two submarines a small fleet of sailing ships, a steam yacht, and a steam ferry.
They should look into Tampa and a berth near American Victory. Two seagoing ships that helped win the war and a true memorial to all those merchant mariners who gave their all.
They consider contacting the WW-II Museum located near the Mississippi River in New Orleans, LA. The museum owns, restored, and operates a PT boat on Lake Pontchartrain and they have restored a landing craft.
Hope its fate is better than the USS Zuni/USCGC Tamaroa which for a short time lived in Baltimore. Now a reef. We need to do better this time around.
There’s Battleship Cove in Connecticut also. They also have a PTBoat, Aircraft Carrier and submarine, all from WW II. At least they did 30 years ago.
I hope they find something close by so as not to impact their volunteer force
Maybe look into the Navy piers in Newport, RI.
I know this is far fetched and unrealistic, but I have an idea. Bring the Brown to San Francisco, and SWAP it for the O’Brien. Then bring the O’Brien to Portland Maine Harbor for her new home at the harbor where she was born! I knw nothing of the legalities, but it seems within the realm of probability that the region could have a fund raising to build a pier at the South Portland Bug Light park where the O’Brien was built. The remains of several New England Shipbuilding piers are still to be seen. There is already a large Memorial structure to the Liberty Ships, and the South Portland Historical Society is a very active organization well acquainted with pulling off the “undoable”!