FOREWORD 



NO NATION has remained a leader among free peoples which did not maintain a 

 strong position on the seas. 



"For Trade, Travel, Defense — The American Merchant Marine." 



There is no more important motto for every American citizen to know and to prac- 

 tice. The use of American flag ships by all Americans for trade and travel will guarantee 

 an American Merchant Marine immediately available for national defense in any emer- 

 gency. 



We all hajve a stake in the Merchant Marine. Our merchant ships are vital for de- 

 fense, indispensable to peacetime commerce. The United States cannot get along with- 

 out a Merchant Marine. It helps provide employment for millions of Americans and at 

 the same time it is an important part of our national defense. Without the profits from 

 export and import trade, thousands of businesses would not exist. 



We welcome a certain amount of foreign shipping. It promotes peaceful commerce 

 between nations. But, let's not depend upon foreign ships. If we do, and those nations 

 withdraw their ships — as they have done twice in a generation — our goods will pile up — 

 waiting for ships that might never return. And our seamen will again be turned away 

 from the sea for lack of jobs. 



The American Merchant Marine carried 270,000,000 tons of cargo and billions of gal- 

 lons of gasoline and oil — 4,000 tons every hour, day and night, during the war years. 

 America's merchant ships carried 10,000,000 men to war and home again. Our Merchant 

 Marine turned overnight from a wartime operation to a life-saving organization on a 

 world-wide scale. We brought corn from our farms to the hungry peoples of the world. 

 The Merchant Marine rushed farm animals from our Western ranges to restock the 

 ruined farms of Europe and many another land. We hauled coal from our mines and 

 oil from our refineries to keep millions from freezing to death. 



Ships! We have some good ships in our Merchant Marine. But we need more new 

 passenger ships. Men to sail the ships.? They are the highest paid and have the best liv- 

 ing conditions of any seamen in the world. 



We must face the future squarely. 



Our ships need American cargoes and passengers to \eep them in operation. 



We shoidd have learned by now that our American Merchant Marine, which served 

 us so valiantly in tvar and is so vital in peace, is worth fighting for. 



Let's }{eep it sailing and across every sea! 



The nation that invented the steamship must now use it! 



I am hopeful that Americans of all ages, particularly those living inland, will get a 

 better idea of their Merchant Marine from Jack Coggins' pictures. He is one of the best 

 marine illustrators I know, and his part in the preparation of this book has been much 

 the harder one. 



S. Kip Farrington, Jr. 



East Hampton, New York 

 July 31, 1947 



