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By SETH HARKNESS, Staff Writer August 12, 2007

BALTIMORE — The tugboat that guided the John W. Brown away from the pier swung clear and the old ship, now under its own power, gave a few blasts of its brass whistle as it headed out of the harbor.

The narrow, high-sided World War II-era transport ship looked like a floating anachronism beside the blocky container ships it passed along Baltimore's industrial waterfront.

About 800 passengers were aboard the Brown on this sunny day in late June for one of its infrequent cruises from its home berth. One of only two surviving Liberty Ships, the Brown was also freighted with history.

It's a history that reaches from the South Portland waterfront, where hundreds of these ships were built in the early 1940s, to both the European and Pacific theaters of World War II, where the Liberty Ships played a crucial role in the Allied victory.

Though much has been written about the ships' role in the war, sailing on the Brown offers another perspective on this era. From the stooped World War II veterans on board to the massive swinging pistons down in the Brown's engine room and a mock attack by Japanese Zeros, this was history with a pulse.

"It's different than reading about it on the Net or being on a ship that doesn't have any life to it," said Mike Schneider, president of the all-volunteer Project Liberty Ship that saved the Brown from being scrapped 20 years ago.

Later this week, the Brown will tie up at the Maine State Pier in Portland for several days, offering the public a chance to go aboard one of the ships that represent what may have been Maine's greatest contribution to the war effort. Those who buy a ticket can also cruise Casco Bay aboard the Brown on Saturday.

One person who intends to visit the ship is Jack Gibson, 78, who spent the summer of 1942 driving a tractor-trailer truck at the South Portland shipyards where the Liberty Ships were built. Desperate for workers, his employer was willing to overlook the fact that he was only 13 years old at the time.

"It could be like a reunion," Gibson said. "I'd love to meet the truck driver who taught me to drive."

The Liberty Ships were America's response to the Nazi naval blockade that threatened to strangle marine supply lines to Europe. With German U-boats torpedoing Allied supply ships faster than they were being replaced, the United States launched an emergency ship-building program in 1941.

BUILDING VAST CONVOYS

The nation turned out Liberty Ships at the rate of three per day during the height of this building spree, creating 2,710 of the vessels by the end of the war at 18 shipyards. Vast convoys of Liberty Ships steamed across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with the men and materials needed to defeat the Axis powers.

Nearly 10 percent of these ships were built at two shipyards on the South Portland waterfront. Bath Iron Works started building the original East Yard at the present-day location of the South Portland boat launch to fulfill a contract the company won in 1940 to build 30 cargo vessels for the British government.

Before the first yard was complete, BIW won another contract to build ships of nearly the same design for the U.S. Maritime Commission -- these became known as Liberty Ships. The two yards eventually merged into the New England Shipbuilding Corp. and built a total of 266 ships.

For four years, the sound of hammers on steel echoed throughout Portland Harbor and cutting torches lit the night sky as the yards worked around the clock. The yards employed 30,000 people from all over New England, turning out several ships per week in their heyday.

The tub-like Liberty ships were designed to be simple and quick to build, important qualities for ships constructed by inexperienced laborers, many of whom came to the shipyard from farms and factories. The 441-foot Brown, for instance, was built at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore in 54 days. Designed to last only...