SS Jeremiah O'Brien

The History of a Liberty Ship from the Battle of the Atlantic to the 21st Century by Capt Walter W Jaffee
Hard Cover Glencannon Press 2004
The first part of this book focuses on this ship, a member of the famous Liberty Class merchant ship, during active service in the Second World War. This service included service in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. With each voyage, the crew would normally be “paid off” under merchant tradition with a new crew for the next voyage. The book the focuses on the restoration efforts which started in the 1970s and culminated in participation in the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1994 in England and France. The author, a master mariner and member of the crew which took Jeremiah O’Brien to Europe is readily able to give the narrative a nautical feel and ease of use of terminology. One minor criticism of the work is the reference to HMS Belfast sinking in World War Two, which was not correct and the correlation to Jeremiah O’Brien berthing alongside Belfast in London in 1994 was not made. This book is an enjoyable read.