sam boats

[Captain Kong]

Hope you enjoyed your trip John.
Did you get up to Saigon?
Cheers
Brian.

[happy daze john in oz]

Hope you enjoyed your trip John.
Did you get up to Saigon?
Cheers
Brian.

Great trip mate, no we went up country on a day tour, very enlightening I must say will speak more of it later.

[Stan Hackett]

Hi I have a photo taken,going into Newport news in the early sixties,we were sailing past hundreds,all tied up and in moth balls,don,t know how to attatch it though. Stan H member

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Stan.
When you have finished your post scroll down too MANAGE ATTACHMENTS click on this and a box will appear, click select files, browse will come up select the file, then click upload, then put file on on site. Hope this helps.
Cheers Des

[Stan Hackett]

thanks Taff the first snap was taken in Japan,shouldn,t be there but i cant get it off.we were sailing past hundreds of them,glad i took the snap,a lot of them were Jumboised,added another hold. Stan

[Captain Kong]

Good one Stan, It was like that in Suisun Bay in San Francisco in the 70s Hundreds of Sams, now there is only the Jeremiah O` Brien left there.
Chjeers
Brian.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Anyone who wants a good definitive read about "Sam" boats should read

LIBERTY--The Ships that Won the War by Peter Elphick ISBN 1-86176-158-9 an expensive tome but no doubt available at Amazon cheaper

An extremely well researched book and lays to rest some myths about these ships.

One interesting fact was that the Ocean type (British design) the fore runner of the Liberty was built both in the USA and UK, although the USA delivered them quicker they used more man hours per vessel for building than the British yards. The reason for the slower delivery from British yards was the "Blackout" our yards were not allowed to work at night because the lights required, hot rivets and welding torches would have been a magnet for German bombers. By comparison there were no such light restrictions in the USA and work continued 24 hours a day 365 days of the year, in fact in one yard everyone worked christmas day for free as a xmas present to the US Forces and Merchant Marine (whom were highly regarded), they built seven ships that month instead of six

Having lived with the Blackout it was not until reading this book that I realised what a profound effect it had on our shipbuilding industry as of course in those days there were no undercover yards, so working hours in the winter months must have been sorely restricted.

Rgds

Ivan

[Peter Trodden]

We should not forget the great contribution that the Canadian built Fort Boats made during ww2, both the Victory and North Sands type. Quite a few were still sailing long after the war, be it with different Flags and names.
ttfn Peter T.

[Ivan Cloherty]

We should not forget the great contribution that the Canadian built Fort Boats made during ww2, both the Victory and North Sands type. Quite a few were still sailing long after the war, be it with different Flags and names.
ttfn Peter T.

Peter their history is well documented in the above book with Thompsons of Sunderland being the instigators and driving force behind the Fort, Ocean and liberty ships

[Gulliver]

The prefix SAM stood for Structure Aft of Midships, which is how all the ships were initially designed.

I'm afraid that's another myth as well,which is dispelled in another book which we've recently discussed on site "Liberty-the Ships that Won the War " by Peter Elphick.
SAM stands for nothing more than STANDARD AMERICAN MERCHANT.
Best Regards

Gulliver