WW II Liberty
ship life preserver from the S.S. John P. Poe, named for John Prentiss Poe Sr., Democratic political power and Attorney General of Maryland from 1891 to 1895. Poe was
father to six sons who all played football while at Princeton (referenced throughout
posts on this blog), several being named as All-American. His sons took part in and
made their mark in other sports as well, including lacrosse, hockey and
wrestling.
When
researching the history of the Liberty Ships, we found it to be an absolutely
fascinating subject. At the beginning of the 1940s, there was a critical need
for cargo vessels to carry troops, vehicles, guns and munitions and other war
related cargo. An emergency program was put in place to build a fleet of ships
following the general rules of mass production, and 2710 ships were built in
this fashion from 1941 to 1945 (one burned during construction, or the total
would be 2711).
The largest
of the shipyards manufacturing these ships was the Bethlehem – Fairfield Shipyard
in Baltimore, where the S.S. John P. Poe was built, launching on July 25, 1942,
hull number 0054. The Poe was scraped in 1972, which was later than most.
Only three
of the Liberty Ships still exist, most having been scraped. During the war over two hundred of these ships
were lost. The majority of the records show that this was due to causes such as
torpedoes, bombardment, kamikazes, explosions and wrecks.
A very
unusual find, and a fitting addition to our collection, this life preserver was found
in St. Petersburg, Florida and was identified simply as “Original Antique Life
Maritime Life Preserver Baltimore” - we were lucky to have come across it.
