Good Shipmates: The Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Ernest F. Imhoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2005

The history of the Liberty ship John W. Brown as told through interviews with her volunteer crew. Includes synopsis of the vessel's World War II history, her career as a high school ship for the city of New York and her restoration to active museum status.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Good Shipmates is a very enjoyable read and a worthy tribute to all those involved with Project Liberty Ship. --Ships Monthly, February 2007

The story of the restoration of Baltimore's Liberty ship told through the experiences of the ship's volunteers during World War II and now coming on board to restore her as an active ship and a living museum. --The Pointer, Feb. 2006

As a biography of a ship, Good Shipmates is well researched and laid out with the right balance of interviews and information. --The Nautical Magazine, May 2006

About the Author

Ernest F. Imhoff is a former editor of The Baltimore Sun and volunteer on the John W. Brown.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: The Glencannon Press; First Edition, First Printing edition (November 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889901369
• ISBN-13: 978-1889901367
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,380,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of a worthy old ship and its amazing restorers, January 11, 2006

By 

J. Ratchye - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Shipmates: The Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Ernest Imhoff recounts the story of a most unlikely candidate for rebirth, the Liberty Ship "John W. Brown". This restoration was a monumental labor of love by talented mariners of all experience and ability levels, who joined together with great determination to bring this old veteran back to life, not just as a stationary museum, but to active status again.

The story of the ship is interwoven with the stories of the amazing men and women, many of them veterans themselves, who poured years of their post-career lives into this project, with great success. Watch for Volume II!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Shipmates, Great Stories!, December 6, 2005

By 

A. L. Wadsworth (Manchester, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Shipmates: The Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

When Ernie Imhoff first went aboard the Liberty Ship John W. Brown he was thoroughly amazed by what he saw. Here was a 14,000 ton steamship brought back from scrap yard condition and placed in full operating status by an all volunteer group of men and women. Most had some prior merchant marine experience, primarily from WWII days, but all had a burning common desire to preserve this significant relic of American History. With the exception of one other Liberty Ship, Brown was the last one left. With his keen sense of human interest, bred over his 40 year newspaper career, he realized that the Brown's were a unique group worthy of his study. One of the crew members sealed the issue by telling Imhoff that a group of social scientists would do well to study the John W. Brown's crew and the way they worked. Never, he said, had a more diverse and differing group of people come together for such a purpose and met with the success that they had. The crew's bond to each other in their endeavor, he said, was as strong as any he'd ever seen.

Ernie Imhoff is no social scientist, but he has used his newshound talents to record that story in his new book, Good Shipmates, The Story of the Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown, published by Glencannon Press, of Palo Alto, California. He joined the crew himself, worked as an Ordinary Seaman and became one of the gang, helping to pull hawsers over the stern. Over several years he interviewed most of the crew and recorded their oral histories. At first glance, Shipmates may seem to repeat Tom Brokaw's Greatest Generation theme, but actually, Shipmates goes further than Brokaw. These oral histories all come together at one end, the John W. Brown and the story of her restoration with the hope of the ship's future preservation as a witness to that great hour of WWII history.

As more and more of the WWII veterans answer the last muster with their comrades we need to have more tangible contact with the history of last century's conflicts. Whether we will admit it or not, the world today is organized and operates by the rules set down as a result of WWII. Today's conflicts are still unresolved issues from that time and even before. If we cannot heed history, we shall surely be doomed to repeat it. We hope that Ernie Imhoff's Good Shipmates and the vessel that they crew serves as a means of making that history more indelible.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Brokaw, December 18, 2005

By 

Bernard J. Wulff (Annapolis, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Shipmates: The Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

If you liked Tom Brokaw's book, you are going to love this one! It's a fascinating true story about an amazing bunch of hard-working volunteer World War II veterans who are keeping one of the last two Liberty Ships, once a life-line for winning the war, in sea-worthy condition while docked in a Baltimore, Maryland harbor.

The author is a journalist and newspaper editor who has been working on the ship with these guys since he retired in 1999. He weaves together dozens of their personal stories involving World War II experiences, interesting facts about the important role of the Liberty Ships in World War II, and what they've been doing to save this one.

For anyone who wants to know more about what it was really like during the war, read this book. The author's informal writing style is very easy to take--a bit like putting on your most comfortable old pair of shoes, sitting in a rocking chair and chatting with a good friend.