PRESS RELEASE 7.6.2022
SCOTTS VALLEY, CA: 7/5/2022: Every Ship has a story. This sea story began over fifty years ago,
sometime in the nineteen seventies, at a Marine Engineers Christmas party. 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. Back in the day, when America had literally thousands of Liberty ships, Tom 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. To his credit, Mr. Pottenger had the vision to keep the best Liberty Ship out of the scrap yard. This documentary film actually has the man, himself, explaining that story. “They” steamed this Liberty Ship out of the Fleet under her own power, after no care for over 33 years.” The first-person documentary film, “The Last Liberty” documents this historic event, 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, and others. 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 he was able to attract to this volunteer effort, due to his stature in the maritime industry. He was a living legend, at that time. His connections made it happened. Today, his name is forgotten, until now. Harry Morgan is the 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. 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 original founders of the National Liberty Ship Memorial. “The Last Liberty” documentary film is dedicated to Tom Pottenger and Harry Morgan, in remembrance and gratitude to them and all Merchant Mariners and ship builders who served in World War II. 1/2
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 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 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 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” delivering precious supplies that won the war. 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. 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 Story – that Unites Americans. 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. How it Works For the Museum
The Last Liberty
Last Liberty
The Film
Website
POC: Gibbous Film Productions: Robert Ferrand producer@thelastliberty.com 650-576-3334 2/2