shipyard

 

What am I doing? IDK, I have no idea. After reading late and going to bed at ten or eleven, I can't remember which, instead of nine o'clock sharp, so sleeping late and now sipping my magic mug of hot & black three hours later than usual - - . IDK.

70° outside and mostly sunny but beginning to cloud over as I sit here looking across St Andrews Bay at Shell Island and a small craft that has been anchored at the Pass for several days now. It has a crane at the stern and at first I thought it must be a buoy tender, but that don't make no sense, a buoy tender sitting there for several days. When I see them working in the Bay, they stop at a buoy, maybe lift it out of the water, work on it a bit, set it back down in the water, and move on to another buoy that's due for maintenance. It's a USCG function.

At the two PCB churches I served, one as interim rector just over a year and a half, the second as vicar for five years, we had parishioners who were in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, a valuable service that they loved performing.   

The coffee's good. Every day's different and every day's the same, nomesane? No you don't, but you'll understand when you get here. It's a little hazy even for me this morning but maybe it'll start clearing up as the coffee takes charge.

The picture is Wainwright Shipyard during World War Two. Where the Port Authority is now, the shipyard built liberty ships. Here's a piece lifted from Florida department of state files online:

Responding to the wartime shipping needs of Great Britain, the United States Maritime Commission selected the J. A. Jones Construction Co. to build and operate a yard for construction of Liberty ships in Panama City. One of nineteen American shipyards used for this purpose, the five slipways of the Wainwright Yard saw 108 ships constructed from 1943 to the end of the war. While most of these were of the standard Liberty design, many others received modification to facilitate the shipment of aircraft, army tanks, and other war materiel. The average per ship construction cost of $2,020,000 placed the Panama City yard mid way between per ship costs at the remaining facilities.

Named for General Jonathan Wainwright, the impact of the yard on the local economy was tremendous. With as many as 15,000 employees at any one time, the company provided housing, stores, and restaurant and laundry facilities within the property. Panama City population increased from 20,000 in 1940 to a wartime peak of 60,000 residents.

With the construction of the last ships in late 1945, removal of the slipways and shops then occurred and the site came under operation of the Panama City Port Authority. Prominently displayed in front of the port authority office is a granite memorial which serves to recognize the contributions of the Wainwright Shipyard to the Allied Victory.

I remember Mama saying that Panama City population grew from five thousand to twenty-five thousand during the War. I don't know if that's accurate or not. I do remember there being an acute housing shortage for the military and civilian folks coming here to do war related work. Families were encouraged to take in folks, and so both upstairs bedrooms in our house were offered. Sharing the one upstairs bathroom, we had a person, or a couple, or even a little family in each bedroom all the war years, and my folks stayed friends with several of them for the rest of their lives until the Christmas cards stopped coming. 

There are stories related to that, for another Time perhaps.

To accommodate the war influx of workers, mass housing projects were built here, of long wooden buildings with several apartments strung out. Drummond Park housing was west of "Little Dothan" and north of Hwy98, out Michigan Avenue. If you're headed west, turn right at MacDonald's. 

After the War, Linda's father's Birmingham, Alabama real estate company owned Drummond Park, and her family came here for him to manage the rentals and eventually start cutting up the long buildings and finishing them into small houses for sale in the middle to late 1950s.

Annie B. Sale was another such housing project, located north and several blocks east of Bay High. After the War, it was used to accommodate the newly established Jinks Jr High 

I'm thinking it was about where Tommy Oliver Stadium is today. 

Jinks Jr Hi at Annie B Sale started my sophomore year at Bay Hi, school year 1950-51, and we dropped off Gina and Walt there on the way to dropping me at Bay High. ALSO it was Linda's 9th grade year, and here' a photo of Linda Peters (now Weller these 67 years), with Eleanor Ann Sale and Phyllis Roll as 9th graders, EA stepping over the ditch that ran along the property in front of the school. I don't know who the girl is who's leaning forward between EA and Linda. Phyllis on the right.

Other public type housing was built later, including Massalina, and one across 11th Street from Jinks Middle School.

With an appointment at 10:15, it's Time for me to sip the last sip of coffee and stop to shave and shower. 

I do need to remember that during the War there would be publicity about liberty ships being launched, and our family would get in the car and drive to a place where we could watch as the new ship slid out into the Bay with a huge splash. 

Anyway, RSF&PTL

T89&c

PS. I meant to point out in the top picture that you can see the old Hathaway Bridge, the wonderful old span construction. It was two lanes, the "draw" would swing open to let ships, tugs and barges through. The old bridge at Apalachicola was that same construction still when we moved there in 1984. More stories other Times, eh?