Reporting from the Ship

It was a perfect day to cruise the San Francisco Bay -- especially, very especially, on the Jeremiah O'Brien. As usual, a good crowd was aboard to enjoy watching the city go by while a nice breeze provided a wind-in-the-face sensation of speed. Leaning on a railing and waving to other ships, or just watching the bow wave in front of the O'Brien produced a genuine feeling of contentment, everyone being a part of this pleasant and rare experience. And at the end, everyone went home with a tan!

We wanted to find out why people took the cruise and so we asked. Some of the folks who were aboard this time are pictured here, and some stories -- reasons for being on board -- are provided.

Bud Larson looks like a typical sun and wind burnt old salt; except for his modern clothing, he could be someone who may have stepped onto some big ship at any time in history. Well, Bud is definitely a sailor, that's for sure. A native of San Francisco, he was on board a Liberty Ship in the Pacific in 1943, so the layout and features of the Jeremiah O'Brien are quite familiar to him. In addition, he has been a crewmember on the O'Brien for 7 years.

A member of the Merchant Marine during World War II and after, he later worked as a tow boat operator for the Port of San Francisco. In fact, he was a tow boat operator for 32 years. He is now retired, but still misses the old times. It appears that he would rather be on a boat than anywhere else, just like any sailor who loves the sea.

Jean Erickson and John Maki were definitely a set of satisfied cruise takers. Jean perhaps especially was nostalgic because during the War, she was helping to pop out Liberty Ships by the score. A "Rosie the Riveter" type then, she now thinks back to how dangerous the work actually was, and how no one at the time seemed to mind. There was a job to be done, and she did her share. Being on board the Jeremiah O'Brien, she thinks back on the history of it all: the work, the War, how times were back then especially for women and how things have changed so much in all these years. The War changed the lives of many women by enlisting them into the work force, and when the War was over, many of the women had a new attitude as to what their roles should be in society. Women could do what men could do, and proved it. And they could continue doing it, if they wanted to, after the men came home. And they do so today of course. It is not the early 40's anymore.

With a good breeze blowing their hair about, we see Steve Beck and Charlene, whose last name is too difficult to pronounce (according to Steve). And they are both smiling and enjoying the cruise, which is great! Steve certainly must be used to the breeze because he spent 4 years in the Navy aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz. He enjoyed his tour and remarked that the Nimitz was like a floating city, with over six thousand crew aboard.



The reason Charlene and Steve took the cruise was due to Charlene. She found out about the Jeremiah O'Brien through a tour that she took, decided a cruise on board would make a great day trip, and then bought tickets. She liked the idea of getting out, being somewhere much more interesting than say a regular cruise ship that is, being somewhere out of the ordinary -- and the O'Brien was a perfect candidate. She also liked the fact that everything is taken care of -- food is available, no need to pack a lunch and that the only thing that needs to be brought on board is a desire to enjoy the ride. She and Steve were very happy that they took the trip.

Pete and Phyllis T. are quite happy. They came on board because of presents -- Mother's Day and Father's Day, to be exact. Parents receive all sorts of things, but the present of a cruise on the O'Brien is different and memorable. Pete is no stranger to being aboard ships he was a machinist's mate for a long time, serving aboard the U.S.S. Shaw and the U.S.S. Sabine (notice his cap). He served from 1940 to 1969, but this was the first time he and his wife were aboard the O'Brien. They came down from Sacramento, where they have been living since 1945, just to be on the cruise.

Leslie and Clara Arvai are from Novato. Their daughter and son-in-law live in Sacramento, and they got tickets for the cruise as a gift from their son-in-law, a reservist in the Navy. Although not Navy folks themselves, the Arvais enjoyed the outing very much, something a lot different, and something fun. Leslie worked in construction and as a nuclear power engineer, so the workings of a ship were of great interest to him. The Arvais are Hungarian and have been in the States for forty-five years. They have been back to Hungary several times since after the Communist downfall, and have been watching the development of a newly thriving nation, their former home.

For Joe Breden and his son John, participating in the Jeremiah O'Brien cruise also had an added benefit they got to see each other, something which is usually difficult because Joe lives in Sun City Center, Florida and John lives in the Bay Area. Joe is retired and John is a Chief Boatswain's Mate and works at the Marine Safety Office in Alameda.


Joe is certainly a lover of ships -- he drove all the way from Florida to make the cruise, a coast to coast trip! He has been on our sister Liberty ship, the USS John W. Brown in Baltimore, and up and down the Atlantic coast on Liberty Ships. But time has run out for most of them, and the O'Brien is one of the few examples left in the States.



John is thinking of being in town for the San Francisco to Sacramento cruise in September. As he said, the opportunities to be on these ships are vanishing rapidly, so the idea is to take advantage of any opportunity that arises. But, in September, John will probably catch a plane to come out here. Too much driving otherwise!



Carl Nolte and Brian Goldman have been friends of the O'Brien for a long time, and appreciative of ships for even longer. Brian, for example, is a crewmember and an engineer who has been with the O'Brien for about 10 years. He has been with the Coast Guard as well as part of the Merchant Marine, and has worked at the Maritine Academy in Vallejo. Aboard Chevron owned ships, he has traveled to and from Eastern Europe. The O'Brien cruise, of course, did not cover nearly such a distance, but it seemed that if it really did go so far, both Carl and Brian would have gladly been on board for the duration!

Below we have a family portrait, with several generations. Starting from the upper left and proceeding clockwise, we have Brian Chally, Steve Brokaw, Joan Chally, Joseph Perrin and Jen Rassler. Jen is Joseph's granddaughter, Joan and Brian are her parents, and Steve is Jen's boyfriend.

Jen found out about the May cruise by checking the Jeremiah O'Brien's website, and thought it was a good idea to go on it as a family. She especially expected that Joseph would very much enjoy it. And she was right. Joseph was a member of the Merchant Marine (as his cap shows) and served as an engineer for many years. During his first stint from 1937 to 1947, he lived through many adventures, some of them quite hazardous. During the War, he sailed the North Atlantic, a very treacherous passage even during peacetime, and even got to eyeball the Bismarck from some distance away before she was sunk. How many of us can say the same?! In Normandy, he was at Omaha Beach after D-Day. He sailed to Malta. In the Pacific, he did the Murmansk run and was at Bougainville near the Solomon Islands. He even assisted in the rescue of sailors from a ship that was sunk by the Japanese.

In spite of everything, Joseph does not believe the Germans or Japanese were evil. According to him, they were just doing their jobs, just like he was doing his job. He did not hate them back then, even though he was often in danger mainly because of them. His feeling that the enemy consisted of basically good people has continued to the present day.

Ed Walraven (on the left) and Dick Anderson are two more happy cruisers. Dick was a guest of Ed's, and it was his first time on board. He said that he was not disappointed, not in the least. Everything was nice, pleasant, interesting and the food was good! Ed, who is from Corte Madera, was no first-timer. This was his third cruise on the O'Brien and he got interested in the ship after he saw a documentary on Liberty Ships on PBS. Being on the O'Brien let him experience a real, live Liberty Ship first-hand, and he liked it a lot. He is actually no stranger to ships he served in the Navy during World War II on an aircraft carrier, the USS Rendova.

The reasons for crew members being on board the Jeremiah O'Brien are simple they want to be there! Being mostly volunteers who perform maintenance and other duties, as well as ship operations, they are mostly on board when the ship is not taking a cruise, and are the real workers keeping the O'Brien shipshape -- it really is in an outstandingly unique state of preservation. It is really very easy of course all you have to do is spend many many hours getting your hands dirty while cleaning and scraping and painting pretty much everything everywhere. And then, after all that is done, you should get ready to soon do it again! The work aboard the ship is never completely done, and the ship itself seems to cry out for more maintenance, even when maintenance is said to be complete. In other words, there is lots and lots that needs to be done on a working ship, and if one things seems to get finished, there is usually an inexhaustible supply of other things that must be done would be good to do. It used to be said that a house is forever there is always something to do, and the house is never, in a complete sense, totally finished. So it is with the O'Brien, but on a more massive scale -- the O'Brien is forever if you want to keep it running and looking great.

And two of the crew members who perform just those sorts of tasks are Phil O'Mara and Bob Dougherty. Bob is the ship's signalman and also an weekend shipkeeper, and Phil, who is relatively new as a crew member, is a carpenter and a head shipkeeper. Among other things, he was completely responsible for constructing the wooden platform on the flying deck. The deck, the way that he put it together, is not just a place for people to stand. With his skills and artistic sense, he created a unique work of art functional and decorative at the same time. Go up and see it and admire it -- it is very much worth the climb. And the view from the flying deck is just splendid.

Next time the Jeremiah O'Brien offers the opportunity to take a cruise, be sure to be aboard! Wear a hat, bring sun screen and enjoy yourself!

Another story on the May Cruise

[Ged Gasperas, Ph.D. is an aeronautical engineer and head of DigiDyne, Inc.]

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