The End of the SS 'United States'
The great liner will probably be sunk as an artificial reef of the Florida coast
July 1, 2010 was a great day for lovers of American history: the announcement of Gerry Lenfest's gift of $5.8 million to the SS United States Conservancy, saving the ship from certain scrapping. The donation was facilitated by my friend Judge Thomas Watkins. It was a day full of promise and possibility, of historic preservation put into practice. The Orpheus Club sang, Mayor Michael Nutter and Gerry Lenfest addressed a large crowd, fellow board members (Joe Rota, Susan Gibbs, and Jeff Henry) celebrated, the First City Troop displayed the colors, and the ship flew the American flag for the first time in years as she was illuminated by floodlights.
This celebratory scene was the ending of A Man and His Ship, which I completed exactly two years later. The ship had become a celebrity again, after decades of neglect and abuse.
Things don't always turn out as hoped. It looks like the SS United States, once a ship of dreams and the culmination of 40 years of planning and hard work, a cathedral on the ocean, will be sunk as an artificial reef off the coast of Florida, joining the RMS Titanic and RMS Lusitania as superliners consigned to the deep.
The likes of her will never be seen again.
As one editor once told me, there are two things of which the public cannot enough: the story of Jesus Christ and the tragedy of the Titanic. There is a strange irony: the wreckage of the Titanic, which never finished a single transatlantic voyage, continues to be world news. The once-famous SS United States, which never had a major accident and was by far the better-designed transatlantic liner, will be deliberately sunk.
The loss of this American treasure is very sad. But my own journey, the people I met, storytelling I learned, and the life education I received in the years since 2010, was all worth it.
To all of you who have read my work, and whose paths I crossed while researching the epic story of the SS United States, thank you.
