In August-September 2011, the ship was in Norfolk, Virginia, undergoing one of her periodic dry-dockings. One of the ship's officers, Ben Lyons, wrote an article about the weekend voyage southbound from Baltimore to Norfolk. The article includes a large number of photographs taken during that voyage.
This kind of voyage is particularly enjoyable for the volunteer crew, since we have a chance really to go to sea (if only for a couple of days), unlike the six-hour Living History Cruises. And it's just the crew, rather than having several hundred passengers aboard as well, so a very different experience from our cruises.
Incidentally, the author, Ben Lyons, began volunteering aboard JOHN W. BROWN at the age of 13. He graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 2000 and has been sailing as a merchant marine officer ever since. Notably he was an officer aboard Cunard Line's QUEEN MARY 2, one of the world's largest passenger ships, rising to the position of chief officer. He was the first (and only) American officer hired by Cunard. But at every opportunity Ben still likes to sail in his first ship, JOHN W. BROWN.
Read Ben's article at http://maritimematters.com/2011/08/a-weekend-on-the-liberty-ship-ss-john-w-brown/.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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