Liberty Ship Memorial - Maine From Not Above
Maine. No longer from above, rather from the ground. My wings have been clipped, perhaps like Icarus I flew too close to the sun and got burned. Rather, more likely, it was Aeolus, whose strong winds signal the onset of Spring, who has betrayed and left me to view Maine from the ground. Now I am just like all the other photographers and bloggers trying to capture Maine’s history from a (no longer unique) angle. Well, what am I going to do, cry about it? No, I already did that earlier. My tears soaked the beautiful green grass as I walked from the Bug Light across back to our car. Then, I realized, another interesting historical site was appearing before my eyes. A large ships hull rises from the grass and pavement. Its cool steel exterior is partially opened on three sides, gently beckoning the young student-of-history within. Like a beached whale, this ship sits not upon the water but the land. I enter into (pass the threshold?) of this semi-interior / semi-exterior beast. There I am greeted by signage replete, a wealth of colour and information which quickly occupies my mind. Curiosity overwrites those feelings of sadness held so recently for my new Ostrich-like state.
Where I have found myself is the Liberty Ship Memorial. If you find yourself at Bug Light Park, I heavily encourage you to take a break from the wind messing up your hair and find respite and education in this monument/memorial. The land that you stand on in Bug Light Park used to be water. So is the place you are standing now. During World War II this entire area behind the breakwater was once an immense 140-acre shipyard that churned out hundreds of cargo vessel for the Allied cause in World War II. 236 of these 266 vessels were Liberty Ships, which is the name derivation of this memorial. The war effort as we know raged not only on the front lines in the European and Pacific Theatres, but also here at home as men and very importantly women reported for a variety of labour jobs to support the war effort in whatever way they could. The Todd-Bath Shipyard was constructed in 1941 and need for 10,000 workers was estimated. Turns out they needed closer to 15,000. Over the course of the war 80,000 joined the workforce for shorter and longer periods at the South Portland shipyards. Women played a huge part of this and other manufacturing jobs during the war effort. Rosie the Riveter’s allegorical cousin in the shipyards was Wendy the Welder. Thousands of “Wendy’s” did their part contributing to the war effort in this very shipyard.
The Liberty ships these workers made were sometimes referred to as “The Ugly Ducklings” of the US fleet. These massive ships were utilitarian, cost-effective, and could hold a massive amount of cargo. The US built over 2,700 Libertys over the course of the war, more than any other single design type in the history of shipbuilding. Their overall length was 441’ 6”, to put that in perspective think 1.5 football fields. A typical Liberty crew consisted of 44 merchant mariners and 12 Naval gun crew. Armament varied by mission but typically a 3” gun to the fore, 5” gun to the aft, and 2-8 20mm anti-aircraft guns spread elsewhere along the ship.
The signs were so informative (they are the source of all the above specified information) that I barely needed to do any internet research to gain a great deal of appreciation for this monument as well as the men and women who worked and produced so much to help with the war effort. However, to gain a little extra appreciation for the memorial itself, I trotted over to the Historical Marker Database to learn more about the half-ship that I was standing within. Ed Langlois was a key figure in the creation of this memorial. He himself was a shipyard worker and fought to preserve and honour the memory of his fellow workers and their efforts here in South Portland. As the country had no use for the shipyards post-WWII, the memory of them might have been relegated to the history books without this beautiful installation of public history.
Extensive research was required to create a sculpture that would accurately reproduce what a Liberty ship would’ve looked like in the drydock. A design team traveled from San Francisco to Toledo and back to be able to capture enough measurements, photographs, and data for the Liberty Ship Memorial’s designer, Renneth and Woodwarth. “With its exposed frames and partial exterior plating, the sculpture conveys the ship's scale, lines, and construction details. It also illustrates the utilization of pre-assembled parts that allowed Liberty Ships to be constructed so quickly. Details such as the size and spacing of the frames, height of the deck, welded plates, position of the gun turret, and color of the paint are among the many elements that remain true to the original Liberty's construction. The ships were launched from the shipbuilding basins with their bows out, and so the Memorial is oriented facing the bay. Aptly, the bow of the sculpture forms a chapel-like enclosure for viewing and reflection.”[1] An incredible deal of thought, planning, and execution went into preserving the history of this place and honouring the labour and sacrifices that went into ensuring this chapter in Maine history would live on for future generations to memorialize.
Alas, how I longed to be able to see what it looks like from above! Until then, enjoy these pictures of Maine from the ground and take some time to visit this site when you can and read all the wonderful signs and placards. There is a LOT of information to learn about these ships, the people that built them, and what that meant for the Allied war effort. I suppose the quantity of information and my flight-grounded status will just be one more reason to return to this park and these two beautiful pieces of Maine history on a windless summer day. For “once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
[1] https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=50474
[2] https://airfactsjournal.com/2020/08/the-famous-quote-that-da-vinci-never-said/
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