The Steamboating Forum

In the late 30's my dad worked ,one winter, building 32ft Bristol Bay sail boats at the PAF shop in Bellingham WA. From the time a keel hit the floor, in sixteen hours, they had a boat ready for the paint and iron work. This was a crew of about ten men. This was done "Libertyship" fashion. Keels and centerboard boxes were pre assembled, stems and sterm posts pre cut, ther ribs pre bent on molds, and the planks cut from paterns. Two or three months went into preping the parts for less than a month of assembly time. I think they built fourteen boats that winter. Nobody had heard of a liberty ship yet!

Dave

My old chief, a real "McAndrews" if there ever was one (may he rest in peace), talked about attempting to make Glasgow in a winter gale in a loaded Liberty. A series of vertical weld seams (staggered) were opening and shutting in the upper No.Two hold as the hull bridged and peaked the crests. They obviously made it. He pointed the equivalent seams out to me on the John W. Brown back in '91, and I like to show them to my mates when we cruise the Brown on her Chesapeake runs.

By the way, it's worth the dough - about a day's wages - to ride the Brown all day. We were down by the crank pits when they were maneuvering into Baltimore and we had to pinch ourselves to keep from grinning. She still runs her c.1918 B&W standard Navy issue boilers. The entire engine room is c.WWI design.