SS Jeremiah O'Brien Visit

Nathan, my brother and I visited an old steam ship - a cargo ship employed during the second world war and now harbored in San Francisco. It was great to have Nathan, a naval architect with us while we explored the ship. He knows so much about these things!

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My brother was so delighted by the experience and by his conversations with Nathan that he even said that if he stopped making planes, he would consider making boats!

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]This is a view of the bridge, with a set of flags used for communication purposes.
[[posterous-content:pid___28]]The ship didn't have many guns - we counted 4. One at the bow, one at the stern and one on each side of the ship - they were mainly used against planes. Most people on the ships were not soldiers, but simple government workers whose role was to furnish the armies with what they needed. Because the ship carried precious cargo and fuel for the war and because their convoys typically were not very well defended they were a primary target for submarines and the chances of dying on such a s

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hip were five times higher than the chances of dying in a submarine or a destroyer.

Apparently, the guns didn't help the crew increase their chance of survival. Quite the opposite. Since most crew were civilians and known to others to be civlians, when the ships were destined to be sunk, before they were equipped with guns, it was not uncommon for enemy ships and submarines to give the crew a heads up so they had time to evacuate the ship and board the life boats. After all, what was precious and needed to be destroyed was the cargo. The crew was insignificant.

After the ships were armed, the risk of pulling alongside and offering them a chance to withdraw was too high and ships were just sunk without any notice.

[[posterous-content:pid___29]]One of the officers' cabin.[[posterous-content:pid___30]]

Yep, these guys shit on the Jeremiah's deck just like they shit on Elise's deck. No loyalty.
[[posterous-content:pid___25]]Crew quarters.[[posterous-content:pid___23]]Mate's quarter
[[posterous-content:pid___24]]Somebody's quarter...[[posterous-content:pid___19]]OK - time for the boys to play and inspect the guns.[[posterous-content:pid___21]][[posterous-content:pid___10]]

[[posterous-content:pid___9]]Each gun required a lot of muscle to move around and aim...[[posterous-content:pid___11]]OK, where are these seagulls hiding
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Wonder what the range was...

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Look at the size of these wrenches in the engine room!!!
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The electrical panel looks scary - open connectors everywhere. In heavy seas and if you are not looking, your hand might just grab the metal of a closed connector...
[[posterous-content:pid___22]]Pistons connecting the engine to the shaft of the propeller

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There were 4 cylinders of various sizes through which the steam would be pumped through (the boiler were big and the water was heated with gas and not coal - other than that, very similar to the Titanic engine room, in smaller of course. And funny that but one of the engine scenes in the movie Titanic was filmed on the Jeremiah. 

[[posterous-content:pid___2]]The engine is operational and the Jeremiah takes about 4 cruises a year. There is no gear so the coupling is super simple; it is either 'stop' or 'forward' or 'back'. In order to reverse, the entire engine had to be reversed (and stopped first of course) - it took 30 seconds to go from lowest speed in forward motion to reverse.

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[[posterous-content:pid___14]] These are the cargo bays[[posterous-content:pid___6]]Cafeteria...
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[[posterous-content:pid___8]]Bathroom and head
[[posterous-content:pid___5]][[posterous-content:pid___1]][[posterous-content:pid___4]]The old fashioned bolt cutter and door opener...