Don't Give Up The Ship!
Liberty Ships were cargo vessels built in the United States in support of the War Effort. Between 1941 and 1945, 2,710 Liberty Ships slid down the slips of eighteen American shipyards and headed for sea. They were mass-produced - more ships of that design were built than any other. They were ubiquitous. We used them, and we sent them to our allies, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, as part of our lend-lease program. They were cheap - very cheap. They were built fast - an average of 42 days from the laying of the keel to launch. One was completed in less than five days. And they were expendable. The design life of a Liberty Ship was just five years.
A great number were expended. But a couple have survived to this day. The engine room scenes in the movie Titanic were shot aboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, which is now a floating museum.
There's one in Cape Cod Bay that didn't make it: the SS James Longstreet. Named for the Confederate general, she was launched from the Todd Houston shipyard in Irish Bend, Texas on April 2, 1942. On October 26, 1943, she ran aground on Sandy Hook, New Jersey in a gale. Her 70-member crew was rescued by the Coast Guard, and the ship was declared a total loss.
The US Navy acquired her in June of 1944, stripped out her engines, removed her bow and stern guns, painted her bright chromium yellow, and made her a target for air-to-surface guided missiles. She managed to run herself aground again while being towed, and at one point snapped her anchor chain and drifted for ten days. When she was finally recovered, the Navy decided to take no more chances. This time, she was going to stay where she was put. She was sunk in Cape Cod Bay off Eastham.
Now, the thing you need to remember is that Cape Cod Bay is shallow. The Longstreet was sunk over three miles from shore, in 20 to 25 feet of water. Since she drew over 36 feet, for all intents and purposes, she looked like she was still afloat. She continued to be used for target practice by aircraft from Otis Air Force Base and the South Weymouth Naval Air Station until 1971.
I was last in her neighborhood a little over 30 years ago. It was a weird sort of tourist attraction. The Eastham general store sold a pamphlet by a local writer telling the tale of the Longstreet and how she came to her unhappy end. At that time she was broken in two, but she was clearly visible from shore.
Eventually, the sea takes all ships. (With the possible exception of Farley Mowat's The Boat Who Wouldn't Float, which is currently displayed, well away from water, at Margeree Forks on Cape Breton. But that's another story.) The Longstreet is no longer visible from shore, even at low tide. The area where she lies is marked "Prohibited Area" on charts due to the danger of ripping out the bottom of your boat on the wreck or just setting off some unexploded and unstable Navy ordinance.
But she's still there, still aground, if you know where to look.
© Christopher Seufert Photography
A great number were expended. But a couple have survived to this day. The engine room scenes in the movie Titanic were shot aboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, which is now a floating museum.
There's one in Cape Cod Bay that didn't make it: the SS James Longstreet. Named for the Confederate general, she was launched from the Todd Houston shipyard in Irish Bend, Texas on April 2, 1942. On October 26, 1943, she ran aground on Sandy Hook, New Jersey in a gale. Her 70-member crew was rescued by the Coast Guard, and the ship was declared a total loss.
The US Navy acquired her in June of 1944, stripped out her engines, removed her bow and stern guns, painted her bright chromium yellow, and made her a target for air-to-surface guided missiles. She managed to run herself aground again while being towed, and at one point snapped her anchor chain and drifted for ten days. When she was finally recovered, the Navy decided to take no more chances. This time, she was going to stay where she was put. She was sunk in Cape Cod Bay off Eastham.
Now, the thing you need to remember is that Cape Cod Bay is shallow. The Longstreet was sunk over three miles from shore, in 20 to 25 feet of water. Since she drew over 36 feet, for all intents and purposes, she looked like she was still afloat. She continued to be used for target practice by aircraft from Otis Air Force Base and the South Weymouth Naval Air Station until 1971.
I was last in her neighborhood a little over 30 years ago. It was a weird sort of tourist attraction. The Eastham general store sold a pamphlet by a local writer telling the tale of the Longstreet and how she came to her unhappy end. At that time she was broken in two, but she was clearly visible from shore.
Eventually, the sea takes all ships. (With the possible exception of Farley Mowat's The Boat Who Wouldn't Float, which is currently displayed, well away from water, at Margeree Forks on Cape Breton. But that's another story.) The Longstreet is no longer visible from shore, even at low tide. The area where she lies is marked "Prohibited Area" on charts due to the danger of ripping out the bottom of your boat on the wreck or just setting off some unexploded and unstable Navy ordinance.
But she's still there, still aground, if you know where to look.
© Christopher Seufert Photography