Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by Michael Emery

In British maritime tradition, the fleet is reviewed before setting off to battle. Here, the "O'Brien" crew salutes the Queen of England, along with leaders from 12 nations, aboard the royal yacht H.M.S. "Brittania."

Jeremiah O'Brien sails again

By Bob Aldrich

The 1994 voyage of the Jeremiah O'Brien, the last seagoing Liberty Ship among more than 2,750 built for service in World War II, is the subject of a photographic exhibition opening March 2 at Forbes Mill Museum.

"From Dry Dock to D-Day, the Return Voyage of the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien" is the title of both the museum's exhibit and a book by freelance photographer Michael Emery of San Francisco. Emery did the photography while a member of the O'Brien's crew on its 1994 voyage from San Francisco to England and France, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion of June 6, 1944.

Carl Nolte, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, who was on board the ship for the Atlantic trip and described the adventure in a series of articles, is expected to be at Forbes Mill on March 2. There will be a public reception that day from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., said Peter Tiernan, president of the Los Gatos Museum Association.

It was Tiernan who met Emery, 29, at a San Francisco convention of E Clampus Vitus, the California history club, and arranged for the exhibit to come to Los Gatos. Emery's photographic exhibit recently returned from London, where it was shown at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. It has also been on display at the American Merchant Marine Museum, Kings Point, N.Y.; in the Russell Senate Building in Washington, D.C., American President Lines in Oakland; and in the TransAmerica Pyramid, San Francisco. Tiernan pointed out that one of the missions of Forbes Mill is to bring in exhibits of a regional nature.

"The voyage of the Jeremiah O'Brien was sort of improbable," Emery said at a Forbes Mill planning session. "Here was an event of great historical significance that didn't get much attention beforehand, only after it happened."

Plans for the opening reception were being shaped. "We hope to have a band and members of the Maritime Union," program chairwoman Louise Collins, a museum board member, said. A color video made by another crew member, Gene Anderson, is to be shown.

Liberty ships were a lifeline between the United States and Britain during World War II. Their crews faced danger from German submarines and violent Atlantic storms to bring supplies to a country under siege from Nazi bombers.

Maritime crews did not receive the benefits that other military veterans were awarded. Only in later years did Congress vote for compensation.

Volunteers labored for 14 years to repair and restore the last Liberty Ship, docked at a San Francisco pier.

He had to put in some hard work on the 1994 voyage, Emery said. "I chipped rust, painted and handled lines. Most importantly, I learned about the sea and the lives of seamen." In between chores, he made a photographic record of the crew at work.

After the ship docked at Portsmouth, he shot photos of the celebrations, including a salute to Queen Elizabeth aboard her yacht Brittania. The O'Brien was the only Liberty Ship among hundreds of vessels taking part.

The steam-driven Jeremiah O'Brien carried a crew of 56, ranging in age from about 17 to 75, the age of its chief engineer, Richard Brannon. The vessel departed a dry-dock yard in San Francisco on April 18, 1994, and arrived at Portsmouth May 28 after 41 days at sea. The restored ship returned to San Francisco in September 1994.

Norman Burke of Los Gatos, a retired San Jose business executive, served as a crew member from San Francisco to Panama. Burke said he hoped to be at the March 2 reception.

"The 1994 trip was a very satisfying experience," Burke said. "The camaraderie among the crew was wonderful. It was a labor of love." Burke worked as an oiler. As a young man, he had served in the Merchant Marine in the Pacific during World War II. Burke was one of those who helped to restore the last of the Liberty ships.