We live in a great maritime nation! The USA leads all countries in imports by dollar value, at $2.4 trillion estimated in 2017. We are the second leading exporter by dollar volume at almost $1.6 trillion estimated in 2017. It is estimated that approximately half of the US import/export trade is carried by sea, or by the maritime industry. The total trade in and out of our country in 2017 is estimated at 4.0 trillion dollars. The USA transports more than twice the amount of goods along our domestic inland waterway system than the amount imported and exported. We live in a great maritime nation! We have a great maritime industry!
National Maritime Day was established by the US Congress in 1933 to honor our countries Maritime Industry, the date on May 22 commemorates the date in 1819 that the U.S. flagged ship S.S. Savanah set sail from Savanah Georgia to Liverpool England as the first vessel with steam assisted propulsion to cross the Atlantic. 140 years later the U.S. flagged N.S. Savanah, named after the S.S. Savanah, was launched as the first nuclear powered merchant ship. She sailed into Galveston in 1963, and later returned to Galveston to be refueled for the only time in her seagoing career. The refueling was done by Todd Shipyard utilizing a purpose built structure built to nuclear standards, for handling the nuclear fuel assemblies. The building is in use today for fabrication.
We live in a great maritime state, and Galveston is a great maritime community, steeped in maritime history. Looking around the Galveston Harbor we have Pier 19 where the Mosquito fleet is berthed. It was built in 1854 by the Galveston Wharves and Cotton Compress Company, and has been berthing merchant vessels for 163 years. The Galveston Wharves and Cotton Compress eventually merged most other wharves companies into their business and controlled most of the waterfront on Galveston Harbor. Through the years some of the more prominent families in Galveston were owners or shareholders. In 1869 the city became one third owner in exchange for use of the streets ending at the waterfront. Finally the entire company was sold to the City of Galveston in 1940 and today the Galveston Wharves is managed through the Galveston Wharves Board, still a city owned Port.
In the same area at pier 20, is the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum and Education Center. This rig was built just up the coast in Beaumont Texas in 1969, she drilled more than 200 wells offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The Ocean Star and many offshore drilling rigs have been resupplied and supported by our merchant marine for over 80 years.
Just down the waterfront at pier 21, the Elissa is berthed, representing the early days of sailing she was built in 1877 and plied the waters of the globe sailing in and out of ports including Galveston Texas. At over 140 years of age she is still sailing today. Last month she sailed in the Tall Ships Challenge Gulf Coast, sailing in a parade of schooners and barques down the length of Galveston Island, and eventually to the Gulf ports of Pensacola and New Orleans. Forgive her for a bit of part replacement and surgery, for a 140 year old lady she is looking very spry.
The shipyard on Pelican Island, across from the Elissa, can trace its beginning to the early 1900’s when land was leased from the city of Galveston to begin a ship repair facility. In 1934 the facility was leased by Todd Shipyard which built or repaired ships through 1990. During this time it built or carried out major conversions on 86 vessels. During WWII they built 12 T1 Tankers, in 1958 the first Chemical Tanker conversion was carried out there. The yard continues in operation today repairing ships and drilling rigs. The company that manages the shipyard today, Gulf Copper and Manufacturing, celebrates its 70th Anniversary this year. the original founders of Gulf Copper were Galvestonians working for the Farmer Copper Company, eventually moving to Port Arthur, with the blessing of Mr. Farmer, to open a company repairing copper seawater pipes on the fleet of oil tankers trading into Port Arthur. Pelican Island has had a shipyard in operation for more than 100 years.
The US Coast Guard first came to Galveston in 1878, originally with an outpost across the way on Pelican Island, eventually they built a station at Fort Point on the North East of Galveston Island, where they have major operations. The US Coast Guard has been in Galveston for 140 years.
Across the channel from the US Coast Guard is now known as Seawolf Park, it opened in 1971 and with the USS Cavalla and the USS Stewart, preserving WWII parts of Naval History for our own heritage.
If you go the Western reaches of Galveston Harbor, you will find Texas A&M Maritime Academy. Authorized by the Texas
Legislature and the U.S. Maritime administration, the school got its sea legs in 1962. Today there are almost 500 cadets in the Academy. These young men and women are preparing for careers as officers in the U.S. Merchant Marine and will be the leaders of tomorrow for our Maritime Industry.
So there are a few icons of the local maritime community and waterfront. We should not forget about the men and women serving in our Merchant Marine, our US Navy and our US Coast Guard. There are two plaques and one memorial stone at pier 20. The smaller, and most recent plaque at pier 20, commemorates the USS Ross, commissioned on this site in June 1997, she is the 25th Arliegh Burke class guided missile destroyer and currently assigned to the 6th fleet in the Mediterranean sea defending our beliefs in human rights and our freedom.
The oldest plaque at pier 20, is actually a granite stone dedicated to the First Navy of Texas and commemorating the Mariners of that 4 ship Navy. This Texas Navy had a brief but pivotal history, without which we may not be here today. This fleet prevented the Mexican Navy from landing a second army and supplies to join General Santa Anna in his efforts to put down the cause for Independence in Texas. And as important, this small fleet which was home ported in Galveston, guarded our coast and prevented the Mexican Navy from mustering an invasion of the Texas Coast after the Battle of San Jacinto in early 1836 through most of 1837.
The third plaque, which best captures the meaning of National Maritime Day, is a memorial to a group of Merchant Mariners that came before us, and whose nautical skills, hard work, and ultimate sacrifices allowed our great country, state and community to be what it is today. This plaque commissioned by the Council of American Master Mariners and the American Merchant Marine Veterans in 1994, on the 50th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion in WWII, is dedicated to a previous generation’s loss at sea while supporting the Allied Nations in World War II.. The plaque tells of the United States Merchant Marine losses, as well as those of the United Kingdom and the Allied countries. The Allied countries lost more than 47,000 merchant mariners at sea to U-boat warfare as they attempted to supply Allied countries with foodstuffs, war equipment, and fuel to obtain victory. While the numbers are small when compared to the overall lives lost in WWII, we shall not forget the US Merchant Marine had the highest rate of casualties of any service in WWII.
In conclusion, I ask that you take the time to visit these plaques, and recognize that the two plaques, and stone, rest in a place overlooking the Galveston waterfront, and represent men and women that have made Galveston possible. Perhaps we can find a way to allow these memories a higher standing so the generations that follow can be aware of what actions and sacrifices that came before them allowed for their freedom and prosperity. Perhaps one day we can embellish the area around these plaques such that they are not standing on the sidelines of the Harbor but are the center of the life at the harbor.
Founded in 1948, Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Inc,, an employee-owned company, repairs and refurbishes marine vessels and offshore rigs and fabricates ancillary components for marine, offshore, subsea and alternative energy markets . The company operates strategically located shipyards, dry-docks and fabrication facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Gulf Copper serves the oil and gas, drilling, and marine transportation markets in addition to the United States government.
GC Energy Services is a division of Gulf Copper. GC Energy Services provides global project support with structural welding, high pressure and low pressure pipe welding, SS welding and passivation, electrical services, scaffolding, non-destructive testing services (NDT), quality assurance services, inspections, and rope access technicians.
Be Safe in all that you do,
Leonard Hale PMP
