SERMONS to SEA-LAND

The Seamen's Church Institute

and the History of Maritime
New York
Curators Biographies
Thank you, Dr. Joshua Smith and Clayton Harper for facilitating this exhibition.
Allison Termine is a Librarian and Archivist graduated from Queens College. She has
worked as a project archivist at the American Merchant Marine Museum for 2 years,
processing documents and photographs. Her recent collaboration with Johnathan
Thayer, archivist from the Seamen's Church Institute " Sermons to Sea- Land; The
Seamen's Church Institute and the History of Maritime New York".
Johnathan Thayer is the Archivist at t he Seamen's Church Institute of New York and
New Jersey. He is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Queens College Graduate School for
Library and Information Studies, and the founder of the American Merchant Marine
Veterans Oral History Project. His work and writings have been featured in the New
York Times, Huffington Post, American Archivist, Sea History, and The International
Journal of Maritime History. As of September 2013 he will be a PhD student in the
history program at The CUNY Graduate Center and a Fellow at t he Joseph S. Murphy
Instit ute for Worker Education and Labor Studies.
Special Thank You to;
Jennifer L. Speelman Ph.D., author editor, collaborator and her
HHlOO Class: History of Sea Power, Engineering Section 4E2, Class of 2016
for collaborating and working hard with us on this exhibition.
Section Leader: M/N Mark Betancourt, Class of 2016, 2nd Co.
M/N Michael Dunn, Class of 2016, 2nd Co.
M/N Samuel Hagen, Class of 2016, 4th Co.
M/N Thomas Hill, Class of 2016, 2nd Co.
M/N Erik Kempinski, Class of 2016, 2nd Co.
M/N Amelia LaFiguera, Class of 2016, Band Co.
M/N Vincent Lettieri, Class of 2016, Band Co.
M/N Breanna Linsley, Class of 2016, 1st Co.
M/N Brian McNiece, Class of 2016, 2nd Co.
M/N Mo Ong, Class of 2016, 4th Co.
M/N Dillon Reaves, Class of 2016, 3rd Co.
M/N Matthew Rich, Class of 2016, 2nd Co.
M/N Timothy Scaffidi, Class of 2016, 4th Co.
M/N Skyler Stone, Class of 2016, 2nd Co.
M/N Charlene Swick, Class of 2016, Band Co.
M/N Luke Valdiconza, Class of 2016, 3rd Co.
M/N Courland Watters, Class of 2016, 4th Co.
M/N Mark Wisniewski, Class of 2016, 3rd Co.
Sermon' S to S ea-L and archival material is brought to you by:
The American Merchant Marine Museum, on the campus of the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy, holds significant historical records of value, includ-
ing rare and unique documents of American maritime history. These include
collections from United States Lines, Moore-McCormack Lines, and Interna-
tional Mercantile Marine, a collection of cruise-ship and ocean liner ephemera,
and documents relating to the personal lives of seafarers, including an extensive
collection of professional licenses for marine engineers and deck officers,
correspondence, and even a few diaries.
The Museum is housed in the former residence of William S. Barstow,
one of Long Island's grand Gold Coast mansions with its own history to tell.
Built in 1910, expanded in 1929-1930, it has housed the Museum since 1978,
when the Academy's alumni donated the grounds and buildings of the Barstow
estate to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The Museum's focus is primarily
on twentieth-century American-flagged commercial shipping, with galleries on
the ground floor featuring ship models, art, and displays reflecting the impor-
tance of American shipping to the nation.
The Seamen's Church Institute promotes the safety, dignity and
improved working environment for the men and women serving in North
American and international maritime workplaces. Founded in 1834, the Insti-
tute is an ecumenical agency affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Over the
years, SCI has adapted to meet the needs of seafarers, anticipating and reacting
to changes in the maritime industry and the Port of New York. Because of this,
the story of SCI is inseparable from the story of the modern seafarer, as well as
the story of the development of Lower Manhattan and the New Jersey water-
front.
*Catalog Credits 2013
Author and Catalog created by, Allison Termine
Author, Curator Johnathan Thayer
Author, Editor, Collaborator Jennifer L. Speelman, Ph.D.
A rchitect Greville
Rickard built the 8-acre estate
in 1910, designed the 20-room
mansion on a hilltop over
looking 400 feet of waterfront
property with a seawall and
decorative concrete balustrade
on the Long Island Sound.
T he grounds include
a 4-car garage and chauffeur's
apartment, It had an eight-
room guesthouse with its own
garage, a superintendent's
house, a boathouse, a
teahouse, green houses,
gardens, and a tennis court.
The boathouse, tennis court
and greenhouse no longer
exist.
Reception Hall
Staircase
In 1975, the Kings Point Fund, the finan-
cial arm of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Alumni Association, bought the property from
the Lundy family for $500,000.
The family gave the fund as a gift furnishings
valued at more than $400,000. The acqujsition of
the estate was the largest project undertaken at
that time by the Kings Point Fund and culmi-
nated in a year of negotiations.
The transaction came about through the effort of
Mr. Herman Brickman who is a trustee of the
Kings Point Fund. He was a long time advisor to
Mr. Lundy. In 1979, the house was converted into
the American Merchant Marine Museum.
,
Maritime New York
--
-- -
C o e n t i e ~ Slip, SCI Archives
"There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as
Indian isles by coral reefs - commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the
streets take you water ward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole
is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight
of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.
Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears
Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see? -
Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of
mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the
pierheads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the
rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of
week days pent up in lath and plaster - tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to
desks. How then it this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?
But look! Here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and seemingly
bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the extremist limit of the land;
loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get
just as nigh the water as they possibly can with failing. And there they stand - miles of
them - leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, streets avenues - north,
east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite.
(Herman Melville, Moby Dick)
The Sentinel 1 &2, SCI archives
New York's shipping and shipbuilding
industry created a bustling waterfront
community in the 19th and 20th
centuries. Maritime ministry paralleled
the development of the port, with
New York City and the Seamen's
Church Institute (SCI) at its center.
Beginning with the War of 1812,
Americans gained a new level of
public awareness about the plight of
seafarers working in the nation's
maritime industry.
During and leading up to the War, British officers seized hundreds of
American vessels and impressed American seafarers for service in the
Royal Navy. Rallying under the slogan "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights",
the United States again declared war on the British Empire.
The Two-year conflict that ensued brought the subject of maritime
commerce to the forefront of public conversation. In 1812, Joseph
Tuckerman and other like-minded reformers founded the Boston Society
for the Religious and Moral Improvement of Seamen, the "earliest
organization in the world known to have been founded for the exclusive
purpose of promoting the spiritual welfare of seafares" according to
Roald Kverndal, author of the encyclopedic Seamen's Missions: Their
Origin and Early Growth. While philanthropic groups had established
precedent organizations in London (the Navy and Military Bible Society
{1779} distributed pocket bibles to British soldiers and seafarers in the
Royal Navy), the founding of the Boston Society set in motion a movement
for mission to seafarers in the United States.
The development of an American maritime ministry quickly shifted its
center to the Port of New York, where the Marine Bible Society was founded
in 1817, followed by the New York Port Society in 1818. With the beginning
of construction on the Erie Canal and the introduction of new transatlantic
packet service from London to New York provided by the Black Ball Line in
1817, Lower Manhattan developed into a central site for maritime
commerce. More ships in port meant more seafarers, and the streets of
Lower Manhattan's "sailortown" quickly transformed into a network of
boarding houses, saloons, and brothels set on cashing in at the expense of
this migrant population of workers.
By the 1820s, the East River at Water Street, Old Slip and Front Street also
accommodated groups holding prayer meetings and services for seafarers
and "classes of the population as did not frequent public worship".
On June 4, 1820, the New York Port Society consecrated a Mariners'
Church on Roosevelt Street (now the area immediately north of the
Brooklyn Bridge) capable of holding 1,000 congregators. The New York
Port Society employed the Rev. Ward Stafford, who in 1820 went on a tour
of the eastern seaboard that, according to Kverndal, resulted in the found-
ing of 23 branches of the Marine Bible Society. In 1826, most of these
branches were consolidated under the American Seamen's Friend Society
(ASFS), which found a permanent home "midway between the two rivers"
in front of the South Baptist Church on Nassau Street. Riding the momen-
tum of the Evangelical United Front, the work of ASFS spread rapidly.
Having formed in 1834 with the original goal of sending missionaries to
upstate New York and Appalachia, the Young Men's Church Mission
Society, an auxiliary of the Episcopal City Mission Society, shifted focus to
seafarers in 1843. Out of these predecessor organizations was born the
Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, a non-for-profit
organization that has cared for and advocated on behalf of seafarers for
179 years.
In 1843, SCI's Board of Managers resolved to purchase the hull of the
ferryboat Manhattan for $400 and converted it into a chapel. The Institute
secured wharfage at the foot of Pike Street and the first Floating Chapel of
Our Saviour was consecrated. Now chaplains could hold services in the
heart of "Sailortown" itself, setting up shop amidst the brothels and
saloons with which church service would be competing.
On July 3rd of 1843, the Institute appointed Rev.
Benjamin C. C. Parker as their first Seamen's
Chaplain. Parker preached in a corner room
above a grog shop on the corner of Pike and
South Streets for a year until the Floating Chapel
was ready for service. Despite the modest space,
Parker recruited hundreds of seafarers for
Sunday services, handing out free prayer books
and encouraging the men to sign temperance
pledges. Temperance was indeed the major issue
of the day. In his journals, Parker claims that
there were 13,000 sailors in the Port of New York
who had signed the pledge by the beginning of
1844, with 1,200 signing in 1843 alone. In his journal,
Parker writes:
"If these are the results of the mission & the efforts of the gentlemen of the Society
in the present place of meeting, merely an unattractive upper room over a grog
shop, what may be hoped for when the Society has a place of public worship, in
every respect pleasing, attractive and congenial to the sailor." October 29, 1843.
The opening of the Floating Chapel attracted enthusiasm from seafarers
and the general public. When renovations were complete, the Chapel was
towed to the foot of Battery Park where the public was invited onboard to
check out the City's latest, and undoubtedly most unusual house of
worship. Interest was so high that when Parker began holding services at
Pike Street, three to four employees were tasked with security duty to
prevent non-seafarers from filling up the pews on Sundays. The Floating
Chapel was built for the express purpose of granting seafarers their own
space to worship and SCI was not shy about acting on this]
principle. By April 1844, Parker claims that 300 to 400 B f
non-seafarers were excluded from service every Sunday.
Being a docked vessel meant that the Floating Chapel
was more exposed to the elements than other landlocked
structures. Twice the Chapel was struck by other vessels:
by the bowsprit of a brig in 1849 and by the sloop
Advocate in 1853. Icy snowstorms combined with the
river's chop caused damage to the Floating Chapel on
three separate occasions between 1845-1853.
t,
\.
t
~ .
Floating Chapel, SCI archives
Despite such hardships and
dangers of the waterfront
ministry, Parker's journals are
filled with stories of redeemed
sailors and an acute sense of
appreciation for the majesty and
industry of New York Harbor.
Parker writes with unabashed
wonder recalling the steamer
Great Britain passing a few
hundred yards outside the
Floating Chapel's vestry window:
"A more sublime magnificent and imposing sight I never witnessed. Her motion had
become slow on reaching so near the dock. .. Her long waists 322 feet and beautiful
outline & graceful proportions with 6 masts and flags streaming at the head of each in
the breeze & onward progress made the imagination ... but a trifling deception in
comparison to the reality so filling the mind with astonishment and admiration."
August 10, 1845.
SCI's first floating chapel was replaced with a second Floating Church of Our
Saviour in 1869, and a third floating chapel, the Floating Church of the Holy
Comforter, was installed along the North (Hudson) River. Reading rooms and
"Sailors' Homes" followed on Pike Street, West Street, and State Street.
Missionary outposts in the 1860s attempted to reach as many of New York's
maritime community as possible in a seaport that handled 52 percent of the
nation's combined imports and exports and with the New York Custom
House collecting enough duties to pay all operating expenses of the national
government.
Seafaring in the 19th century was a dangerous and challenging occupation.
Enlisting on a merchant vessel was a rough deal for the working seafarer. In
exchange for the low wages offered to them, seafarers could expect to
encounter cramped living quarters, bad food and abusive mates and masters
on board. Seafarers worked under the constant threat of corporal punishment
at the hands of their superiors, the likes of which have been notoriously
depicted in the works of Herman Melville, among many others (see White
Jacket (1850) and Billy Budd (1924 [published posthumously]). Perhaps the
most unjust aspect was the effects of a law established in 1790 defining a
seafarer's decision to abandon his ship for any reason as "desertion" punish-
able by arrest and imprisonment. Bounties were issued for "runaway sailors"
who were often captured by bounty hunters and returned to their vessels in
chains. Once on board, they would be left at the mercy of their captain who
could lawfully employ corporal punishment such as flogging.
E ven when on land, seafarers faced hardships unique to their line of work. Crimps,
also known by the telling name "land sharks," competed for the sailor's business at
their establishments where bot h drink and women were available for purchase. Crimps
and their agents were often so eager for the sailor's business that they would row out in
port to meet incoming vessels, climbing onboard to offer the sailor their services before
his feet even touched land. In response to such practices, early seafarers' advocacy
groups began to emerge in the latter part of the 19th century, eventually leading to the
passage of t he Shipping Commissioner's Act in 1872, requiring that seafarers on
American ships sign their articles in front of an appointed United States Shipping
Commissioner, only after having proved t heir sobriety. It was the hope of the Act's
supporters that the legislation would prevent shanghaiing, or t he practice of enlisting a
sailor on board a vessel while he was drunk or ot herwise impaired. In reaction to the
Act's passage, boarding house keepers refused to furnish crews for ships in port,
effectively bringing t he shipping industry to a halt and minimizing the effectiveness of
the legislation.
The leaders of the Seamen's Church Instit ute had dedicated themselves to the cause of
seafarers' rights since the organization's earliest years. One of the most vocal of the
Instit ute's activists was J. Augustus Johnson, Chair of the Joint Conference of the
Interests of Seamen, a consortium of seamen's groups concerned with legal advocacy
that in addition to SCI included the American Seamen's Friend Society and t he
Maritime Association and the Marine Society. Building on t he Maguire Act of 1895,
which abolished the imprisonment of" deserting" sailors on coastwise journeys, the
Conference resolved to work towards the passage of further legislation and the enforce-
ment of laws already in existence. In 1897, a Supreme Court decision ruled that four
sailors who had abandoned t he ship Arago while in Chile citing unsafe working
conditions were not protected by the Maguire Act because they had travelled to a
foreign port. Furthermore, t he ruling stated that sailors were" deficient in t hat full and
intelligent responsibility for their acts which is accredited to ordinary adults and as
needing the protection of the law in the same sense which minors and wards do." The
decision was widely condemned by advocacy groups, and pressure to address the legal
status of seamen in t he United States increased.
The reaction of Johnson and the Conference was to advocate for passage of a bill that
would comprehensively secure fundamental rights for working seafarers. The draft of
the bill established the right of seamen to quit t heir vessel without fear of imprison-
ment, regardless of the location of port, as well as abolishing corporal punishment and
establishing minimum requirements regarding provisions and living quarters onboard
vessels. Having recruited Senator Stephen White of California, the "White Act" passed
in 1898. SCI' s Superintendent Rev. Archibald R. Mansfield, himself secretary of the Join
Conference for t he Promotion of the Interests of Seamen, would later comment that "it
is no exaggeration to say that (Johnson] was the one man responsible for the passage of
the bill in its final form."
By the tum of the 20th cent ury, New York was one of the busiest ports in the world and
waterfront activity hummed with vessels and sailors from all over the world. The era of
mass immigration from Europe created extensive passenger liner service resulting in
1892 t he opening of Ellis Island as an immigration station. By 190712,000 passengers a
day arrived in New York. British, German, and American liners all had liners that
serviced the transatlantic routes and had New York as a hub. The Seamen's Church
Instit ute grew as well. By 1912, the Institute had raised $1,000,000 towards construction
of a new centralized 13-story headquarters to be built at 25 South Street.
The city's philanthropists came out in full support of the project. JP
Morgan led the effort with a $100,000 donation, while John D. Rockefeller
donated the second highest amount-a respectable $50,000. Henry C.
Frick, Augustus D. Julliard, Andrew Carnegie and a trio of Vanderbilts
(Frederick, William and Alfred) also numbered among SCI' s founding
donors. With such high profile support, the cornerstone laying ceremony
for the new building promised to be a grand event. The date was set:
April 16, 1912. Hours before the guests assembled in the auditorium of the
unfinished building, tragic news struck the New York waterfront-the
unsinkable Titanic was lost.
The ceremony proceeded as planned, with speakers making last minute
edits to their speeches to address the tragedy. Mayor William Jay Gaynor
spoke first before sealing the cornerstone shut with a Bible, SCI's annual
reports, and copies of New York daily papers displaying headlines of the
Titanic's sinking on their covers. SCI took up a collection to donate to the
victims' families and dedicated two of the new building's bedrooms in
honor of the Titanic's crew.
On April 18, Carpathia finally reached New York City's Pier 54 with the
Titanic's survivors. More than 200 crew members had lived, and SCI was
on hand to welcome them back to land. The American Seamen's Friend
Society at 507 West Street hosted the crew, and SCI staff assisted in the
distribution of clothing and toiletries to replace the items lost in the
wreck. Men received a full suit of clothes, boots and a cap, as well as a
razor and comb, while the 20 surviving stewardesses received complete
outfits. SCI led church services to mourn the friends and coworkers who
did not make it back to shore.
Shortly after recovering from one tragedy, New York watched as the First
World War broke out. The port and the Brooklyn Navy Yard played a
pivotal role when the United States entered the conflict. In 1801 the
United States government acquired 219 acres in Brooklyn and established
a Navy Yard that became one of the navy's most important shipyards. It
was a leader in the navy's transition from sail to steam and was one of
America's first large scale industrial complexes. The Brooklyn Navy
Yard's most significant contribution was as a "battleship yard" beginning
in 1890 with the construction of the U.S.S. Maine through 1941 with the
construction of the U.S.S. Missouri. Across the harbor, Hoboken, New
Jersey became a major port of embarkation for the doughboys of the
American Expeditionary Force. Perhaps the most well-known troop
transport was the Hamburg-American transatlantic liner seized by the
United States and renamed S.S. Leviathan. Able to outrun German
submarines, she carried thousands of doughboys to Europe and then
operated under the United States Lines until 1934.
(}
During the interwar years, New York shippers handled 2/3 of the nation's
imports and 1/3 of its exports. The seaport became known as a hub for
agricultural products (bananas, sugar, cocoa, coffee) coming from South
American and the Caribbean, especially the freighters of the Moore-
McCormack Lines that operated regular runs to South America.
The stock market crash of 1929 affected the maritime industry much as it did
other industries across the United States. Working conditions deteriorated as
ship owners lowered wages and increased shifts. Fewer vessels went out to
sea, leaving maritime workers homeless and without money, as-most received
only enough wages to get by until the next ship came in. Moreour, shipping
companies set up blacklists with the names of deserters, making it increasingly
difficult for men to get decent }\'Ork. The International Selynen' s Union, strong
and active at the beginning of the century, stumbled administratively in the
early 1920s and was unable to strike successfully against the cits. Organiza- f
tions like SCI, the Jane Street Mission, and the Seamen's Friend
Society found thenlselves overwhelmed with the number of seafarent seekix)g
relief.
The period of the early 1930s sawL ""--along With workers in all
industries-organiz.e into unions better working conditions. On the
New York walel'.&ont;, the Marine 'Ii'ansport Workers of the International
Workers of the World, the Marine Workers Industrial Union (MWlU) of the
Communist Party, and various local Unemployed Councils sprang into action,
calling to rally together.
During 1939-1941- before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Ameri-
can declaration of war- American seafarers felt the austere effects of neutrality,
struggling to find work on ships banned from entering zones of conflict. Mean
while, as European merchant ships fell victim to German torpedoes in the
Atlantic, their survivors sought refuge at SCI' s headquarters at 25 South Street.
The Institute established club rooms for Dutch, Belgian, and British seafarers in
exile from their home countries, and 256 British children evacuees roamed the
building's halls while they waited to find temporary placement with American
families.
On December 8, 1941, one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Lay
Vice President of SCI' s Board of Managers and President of the United States
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Declaration of War against Japan. Three days
later, Germany and Italy declared war against the U.S. The port of New York
would now become a major staging area for Allied convoys crossing the Atlan-
tic.
..
1:naeased wartime production at shipyards meant an increased demand for
trained seamen. The federal government expanded the U.S. Merchant Marine
Cadet Corps and established a training facility on the former Cluysler Estate at
Kings Point. SCI' s Merchant Marine School expanded all the way through the
13th-Story roof of the building to provide rooftop instruction and pilot house
training. Meanwhile, the iconic Titanic Memorial Lighthouse shown on through
the government-mandated dim-out along the east coast, its light deemed by the
Coast Guard too valuable a resource for ships navigating in and out of New
York Harbor to be shut down for any prolonged period of time.
The merchant marine suffered a 3.8% casualty rate in their wartime service, a full
three percentage points higher than any branch of the American armed service. By the
end of the War, 250,000 merchant mariners participated, with 6,845 killed, including
142 Kings Point Cadet-Midshipmen and 68 USMMA graduates. New York shipped
1/ 3 of all supplies overseas and 1/2 of all troops passed through the port of New York.
Liberty ships and their gallant crews paid a heavy price as Need total number of
casualties. The war brought men from torpedoed vessels to SCI' s doors in great
numbers.
The postwar period brought a realignment of shipping activity and a revolution in
shipping technology. In 1915, New Jersey's Bay Front Development and Meadow
Reclamation Project began reclaiming waterfront marshland located on the outskirts
of the cities of Newark and Elizabeth. The project oversaw const ruction of a 7,000 foot
ship channel with a 1,200 foot pier, capable of accommodating increasing scale of
cargo volume and vessel size.
However, it was the launching of Malcolm McLean's SS Ideal X in 1956, that
ultimately shifted the center of maritime activity to Newark, New Jersey. The
introduction of containerization technology greatly increased the volume and speed
with which cargo moved from port to port. Containerization also reduced the time
and labor required to unload cargo. Reacting to new competition from the expanded
port in Newark and Elizabeth, Mayor of NYC Robert F. Wagner proposed an $800
million dollar investment towards restructuring of Manhattan's piers to handle larger
ships and increased cargo traffic. The City built new piers north of 14th street (now
Chelsea Piers) exclusively for use by Holland America Lines. Ultimately, the passen-
ger line decided to abandon Manhattan altogether, following a trend of shipping
companies leaving the City for more spacious and accommodating New Jersey.
In response to the shift of cargo traffic from Lower Manhattan to New Jersey, SCI
opened the one-story Port Newark Station on Export Street in 1961, expanding the
facility in 1965. This process of relocation dramatically changed the demographic,
social, and cult ural landscape of traditional waterfront communities in Lower
Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Today the Port of New York and New Jersey remains one of the busiest container
ports in the world. While harbor traffic has shifted away from Lower Manhattan's
sailortown towards the margins of the New Jersey waterfront, maritime commerce
remains an integral part of New York City's economic pulse: 90 percent of all goods
imported from other countries, everything from sneakers to orange juice, still come to
the United States on ships. SCI's International Seafarers Center at 118 Export St reet in
Port Newark continues to welcome the seafarers who work on ships, many of whom
find themselves far away from their homes in Eastern Europe, the Philippines, or
elsewhere in Southeast Asia. While technology like containerization has made the
presence of seafarers and longshoremen less and less visible from our perspective on
land, they continue to provide the essential work that makes possible daily life in
New York City.
End.
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\
T he officers and men of the Merchant Marine, by their devotion
to duhj in tlze face of enemy action, as well as
natural dangers of tile sea, 11ave brought us tlze tools to finislz tlze
job. Tlzeir contribution to final victory will be lollg remembered.
American Merchant Marine Museum
United States Merchant Marine Academy
300 Steamboat Road
Kings Point, NY 11024
(516) 726 6047