Records from the Great Depression
Cath Madden Trindle
USMC-United States Maritime Commission
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| Victory drawing – see website below |
Merchant Marine Act of 1936 (49 Stat.
91985), approved June 29, 1936 merged the U.S. Shipping Board Bureau of the Department of
Commerce and the U.S. Shipping Board
Merchant Fleet Corporation. Abolished 1950
Created to
develop a merchant marine to carry the domestic and foreign waterborne commerce
of the United States on ships built, owned, and operated by United States
citizens. It succeeded United States Shipping Board and Merchant Fleet
Corporation.
The first major act of
the commission was to adopt a long-range building program calling for the
construction of fifty new ships a year for the next ten years. The goal
was to replace no later than 1948, the aging fleet of vessels sailing under the
US flag. This ambitious plan required expansion of the shipbuilding
capabilities.
The Merchant Marine
Act contained provision for governmental assistance. Loans were abandoned
in favor of differential subsidies. The Government agreed to pay, up to a
certain percentage, the difference between building the ship in the US and
building it in a foreign country.
The Commission created
designs and specifications for most of the ships constructed under its
authority. It also maintained detailed checks on contractors’ working plans,
supervised construction, audited costs, conducted trials of the vessels.
The USMC regulated all
water-borne commerce with the exclusion of coastal and internal shipping.
It controlled the purchase, charter, requisition, operation,
maintenance, insurance, and transfer or sale of all ocean-going United States
Government controlled, noncombatant vessels with the exception of Army
and Navy transports and vessels engaged in domestic transportation.
Supervision of freight-forwarding and terminal services were also
in its pervue.
The outbreak of war in Europe soon after the first of the new
ships went into service coupled with the withdrawal of many ships of foreign
registry and the destruction of ships of belligerents put a heavy burden
on the American merchant marine. The Commission accelerated
the construction of cargo ships and instituted the construction of vessels for
lend-lease. They also handled emergency transportation problems, enforced
priorities for cargo space, requisitioned vessels owned by American citizens,
and acquired possession of foreign merchant vessels in United States ports.
A war-risk insurance for the protection of American ships, cargoes, and
crews was set up.
In 1942 the the
Commission’s functions were divided by assigning to a new agency, the War
Shipping Administration, all control over the operation of the merchant
service. The Commission responsibility for all phases of the
construction, by private shipyards under government contract, of the merchant
fleet. At the end of the war, the War Shipping Administration was
liquidated and its continuing functions were gradually reassumed by the
Maritime Commission.
The Maritime
Commission was abolished on May 24, 1950, by Reorganization Plan No. 21 of 1950
(64 Stat. 1277) which established the Federal Maritime Board and the Maritime
Administration.
The United States Maritime Commission website, created by Frank Gebhardt,
appears to be on a German server and a few links are broken. However, it
is a wonderful compilation of information on the Commission and the ships it
built. A highlight is a database of ships built under the auspices of the
USMC as well as drawings and specifictions. There are pictures, documents,
scanned shipyard magazines and movies. You will also find links to
libraries, ships and museums.
§ While the majority of documents created by the
USMC are housed by NARA at College Park there are at least two collections
housed in San Bruno. One set is the “operational records of the “Victory
Ship” S.S. George Berkeley, 1942-46, consisting of correspondence, issuances,
inspection reports, crew lists, guide books, and ship certificates,
correspondence, minutes, and copies of labor-management agreements of the Pacific
Coast Maritime Industry Board, 1942-47.” The other is a collection
from the West Regional Office, consisting of photographs and negatives of
the Richmond Housing Project, 1942-43. Similar records for other vessels
can be found in College Park.
§ The San Francisco Maritime Museum – J. Porter Shaw Library (National Park
Service) has over 200 publications dealing with the USMC. You will find
audit reports, equipment design and maintenance manuals, laws, standards and
more. You can search the catalog and if you find an interesting volume you
might be able to borrow it by inter library loan.
§ You can find the US Maritime
Commission and US Coast Guard movie created by Warner Bros, A Ship is Born,
on YouTube. Other movies are available on the website above.
§ The Labor Archives and Research Center at San
Francisco State University has records from the Maritime Federation of the Pacific Coast
Records 1935-1942. These records
concern the interests of those involved in the dock and seagoing
occupations that were being controlled by the Maritime Commission.
There are organizational, materials related to conventions and
conferences, the Executive Board, constitutions, officers, District and
Subdistrict Councils, subject files, financial records, and records pertaining
to the Federation’s publication . There are also files of related organizations
and Unions.
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