PRESS RELEASE - A Message to the Soul of America

PRESS RELEASE A Patriotic Message to the Soul of America SCOTTS VALLEY, CA: 9/18/2022: Every ship has a story. Well, there are actually two stories. One is the perspective from the deck, which is the “official” story.

Then there is the perspective from the engine room.

Case in point, how did the Liberty Ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien actually steam out of the fleet under her own power? As a first-person documentarian, the story I heard, from the engine room, was: it all began at a Marine Engineers Christmas Party in the 1970’s. As the story goes, once all the Engineers were well oiled, there was a quiet moment, when someone yelled: “Hey, Morgan! Do you think you could fire up that old Liberty that Pottenger has been hiding up there in the Fleet?”

They said, you could hear a pin drop, and seconds past.

Then Harry Morgan said, “Yeah, I think, I could” and as they say: the rest is history.

The “Official” Story is well documented; however, this film is one of the few films that documents the same events from the perspective from the engine room, by the men who actually did the job. First person.

“The Last Liberty” film documents these historic events, the ship’s subsequent restoration and Memorial Cruise on San Francisco Bay. This film also provides an historical context, including Cameo appearances by President Franklin Roosevelt, Humphrey Bogart, John Pottenger, Harry Morgan, Harry Dring, Richard Brannon and others, most high-ranking marine engineers.

Back in the day, when America literally had over 2,700 Liberty ships, Admiral Patterson, as part of a Maritime Administration ships inventory, had identified the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, as unique, as early as 1962. John Pottenger was the Superintendent of the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, California. One of his tasks was to dispose of hundreds of Liberty Ships for scrap.

However, to actually save this ship, in cahoots with Admiral Patterson, Mr. Pottenger had to hide the ship from Navy Scavenging Parties, over decades. John Pottenger was the boots on the ground man, who played and won the “Chess Game” with the U.S. Navy and deserves the credit for taking the relevant steps that saved this Liberty Ship from the Navy as well as the scrapyard.

This documentary film actually has the man, himself, John Pottenger, explaining: “They” steamed the Liberty Ship out of the Fleet under her own power, after no care for over 33 years.”

Credit where credit is due. What makes this Liberty Ship story “historic” is the ship was “made operational” after 33 years idle. “They” who steamed the ship out of the fleet: are Harry Morgan and the talented crew of marine engineers that Morgan was able to attract to this effort, due to Mr. Morgan’s stature in the maritime industry. He was a living legend, at that time. His connections made it happened. Today, his name is all but forgotten, until now.

Harry Morgan is another unsung hero of this Liberty Ship restoration effort. He came up through the hawse pipe, starting by wiping engine oil at 15 years old, served on 5 Liberty Ships, to become the Port Captain for American President Lines. This film also includes Harry Morgan, himself, explaining the operation of this triple expansion steam engine.

This film also documents the rather profound observations made by others, such as Harry Dring, Curator of the collection of Historic Ships, now known has the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Mr. Dring had a passionate view of Maritime History, which is represented, by himself, in this film.

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Over 2700 Liberty Ships were built. The SS Jeremiah O’Brien is the last one out of the National Defense Reserve Fleet and the last Liberty Ship in “Original” condition. This film is the story of her original restoration by the marine engineers, themselves, who actually did the work.

“The Last Liberty” documentary film is also dedicated to these unsung heroes of this story: John Pottenger: Hid the Ship for Decades in the Fleet from U.S. Navy Scavenging Parties.

Harry Morgan: the Chief Engineer who steamed the Ship out of the Fleet under her own power.

Harry Dring: Provided Latrines for the trip and a Free Berth for years at the National Park.

Matilda Dring: Provided the Producer her ticket, when the ship steamed out of the fleet, for history.

Backstory: This documentary film, “The Last Liberty” was originally produced, 40 years ago, in the early 1980’s. Recently, one hour of the six hours of the original 16mm archival color film has been Digitally-Remastered to High Definition Video and synchronized with the original narration.

Why? In 2022, Russia’s War in Ukraine provides an ironic twist to this maritime story.

Fact: If the grain from Ukraine is not shipped soon: Millions of people in the developing world will die of starvation. One solution is for NATO and the developing world is to request America to reflag merchant ships under the U.S. Flag and provide a U.S. Naval escort to countries in need around the world, as a world humanitarian effort.

This is exactly what America did, in 1941, to save millions of Russians lives, by using Liberty Ships on the “Murmansk Run”, protected by navy ships, delivering precious supplies that saved Russia and helped win World War II. History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.

In the 1980’s, when this film was originally produced, the U.S. Flag Ocean going Merchant Fleet had just dropped from literally 1,000s of ships, down to 375 merchant ships. The original intent of this film was to alert the American Public to the importance of the United States Merchant Marine. Today, the U.S. Flag Ocean going Merchant Fleet has now dropped to below 100 Ships. This film’s “original message” is prophetic and even more relevant, today.

This film is being distributed though the “Loose Lips – Save Ships” – Tell a Friend Affiliates Program to benefit 250 American Maritime Museums. By providing 50% of the subscription fees for leads generated through their respective institutions, by employing a tracking code and online software to monitor the cash flow. Once again, the internet is your friend.

Turn email addresses into $1,000,000. Back of napkin calculation: 64,000 X $15 = $,1,000,000 400 Passengers / Cruise = 4 Cruises / Year = 1600 P/Yr. X 40 Years = 64,0000 Emails.

Mileage may vary, however each respective maritime museum can generate significant revenue, by just reaching out to their existing members and friends and friends of friends and suggest they may enjoy this historic film with a: “Patriotic Message to the Soul of America.”

The “Loose Lips – Save Ships” – Tell a Friend Program intent is to reach out beyond the Maritime Community to all Americans. By better understanding our common United States Maritime History, Americans can understand why we need to financially support our Maritime Museums, especially those museums with the Living History of Operational Ships, at significant cost.

People say, there is nothing that can be done. Well, here is something that can be done.

Last Liberty Website

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For Museum

POC: Gibbous Film Productions: Robert Ferrand producer@thelastliberty.com 650-576-3334