Uncle Sam, Mariner

The romance and reality of sea travel, with an emphasis on the reality. As the war entered its final stages, many members of the US merchant marine remembered the neglect into which the service had fallen in 1919. Film of European transatlantic liners such as the Queen Mary is contrasted with footage of America’s only super liner, Leviathan, languishing in New York harbour. This March of Time film argues that a thriving merchant marine is vital for security and important for the economy.

A warning to not let history repeat itself which also takes the chance to put the unglamorous but vital work of the US merchant marine in the spotlight. After the end of World War I, the US merchant fleet fell into neglect, with ships left to rust. The timely Merchant Marine Act, passed by Congress in 1936, meant that by the time war broke out again, subsidies, shipbuilding and the founding of a Maritime Commission had laid the basis for a fleet which by 1945 was the biggest in the world. This film depicts the men of the merchant marine as exemplary Americans: stoical and courageous in wartime, but also aware of their rights and prepared to go on strike for better conditions.