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Concrete Ship & Mulberry Blog

Blogs about World War I and World War  II Concrete Ships and Mulberry Harbour components

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Voyages of ‘Faith’ - USA's First Seagoing Concrete Ship - Part 2

16 May 2023|Myth Buster, US - World War 1

The first concrete ship of the USA in full steam
Faith in full steam - Wikimedia

Firstly, massive thanks to Erlend Bonderud for his meticulous research into the voyages made by ‘Faith’ !

Faith many many sea voyages - far and wide. Here are the documented ones that Erlend found during his research . . .

Her first journey, leaving on May 22nd 1918 with a cargo of rock salt and copper ore, was from San Francisco to Seattle, a journey of 796 nautical miles, arriving on 28th May 1918.

From Seattle, on 30th May 1918 she voyaged the 20 miles to Tacoma and from there to Vancouver, Washington, a further 367 nautical miles.. 

Liverpool Journal of Commerce in a report on the 15th August 1918 referred to a telegram dated 29th May 1918 sent to the owners :-

“Concrete steamer Faith, six days out of San Francisco with full cargo, reached Seattle yesterday afternoon on her way to Vancouver, after one of the roughest coast voyages recorded. Eighty mile gale, waves 35 feet high. Everything in perfect condition. Captain and Government officials aboard expressed themselves as follows : Faith acted as any other good ship of wood or steel, with absolutely no vibration”.

Returning, she stopped off in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and arrived back in San Francisco on 12th July 1918, a return journey of around 1,379 nautical miles.

Further trips followed in 1918 : 

She went to Vancouver and then on to Chile with a cargo of lumber. From Chile, she travelled via the Panama Canal, where she was photographed, to New Orleans with a cargo of Nitrate

Then, from New Orleans she voyaged to Havana with mixed goods and on 7th November 1918, just before the end of World War I, she left Havana for New York carrying 20,000 bags of sugar.


A dry dock - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dry_Dock_1.JPG
A dry dock - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dry_Dock_1.JPG

Dry-Dock Inspection

‘Faith’ was drydocked on 25th November 1918 in Eerie Basin, Brooklyn, for a thorough inspection.

Fougner, as an accomplished concrete ship engineer, provides observations of the many engineers and shipping men that inspected her during her dry-docking, all apparently finding her to be ‘perfectly sound and seaworthy’. He notes :-

‘Some minor details on deck might have been improved, such as the attachment of the wood deckhouses and winches. A slight leakage of fuel oil from the concrete tank forward of the engine-room bulkhead had occurred as a result of light oil being used on one journey.

The ship was perfectly watertight ; and there was no sweating in the holds. In rough seas she exhibited the easy movements and lack of machinery vibration which are characteristic of concrete ships.’

On 15th December 1918, she left New York for South America on a voyage that included stops at Balboa (Panama), Guayaquil (Ecuador) Callao (Peru) and Arica (Chile), arriving at Valparaiso (Chile) on 22nd January 1919.

‘Faith’ successfully travelled tens of thousands of miles, seemingly incident free, in her first eight months of operations. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer on 3rd January 1919 reported that :-

‘The Faith, the 7,900 ton concrete has now been running for over three months, and has encountered  the worst winter weather experienced on the Pacific during the past ten years, but she has proved that she can run without mishap against an 80-miles-an-hour gale, when steel vessels have had  to  run for port, or any rate, to heave to for better weather, and, in the same weather that Faith encountered on her maiden voyage, two now non-concrete steamers—the Blackford and Coos Bay—foundered’.


Faith travelling along the Panama Canal, from Nicolay Fougner 'Seagoing and other Concrete Ships' 1922
Faith travelling along the Panama Canal, from Nicolay Fougner 'Seagoing and other Concrete Ships' 1922

More Journeys in 1919

‘Faith’ then returned to New York, this time via Caleta Buena (Chile) and Mollendo (Peru), arriving on 24th March 1919. She then left for New Orleans, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires.

According to ‘The Belgian Shiplover’ P132a by Norman L. McKellar in March/April 1960, in June 1919 she was sold to the France-West India Steam Ship Co. of New York.

In the July of 1919, ‘Faith’ arrived in Copenhagen and was recorded as having been at Quay on 19th July 1919. Thereafter, on 1stAugust 1919, she left for London, arriving on 20th August 1919, at Surrey Commercial Dock, thereby achieving the honour of being the first concrete ship to cross the Atlantic. 

The event was reported in the Belfast Telegraph on 26th August 1919 -  ‘The largest concrete ship in the world has just arrived in London after her first trip across the Atlantic. This vessel is the steamship Faith, which is owned by the San Francisco Steamship Company.’

Captain Campbell, the master, stated that never once had she rolled more than two degrees. "She behaves like a breakwater in a seaway, and is just immovable” said Captain Campbell. 

"She is as dry as any ship can be and. naturally. does not leak. I have been at sea 35 years, and I have never been in a better vessel for ease of handling. The steering gear is controlled from the chart-house by electricity. We ran also switch on the steam steering gear, and if that breaks down we can still steer by hand. Her speed is about 7 ½ knots. We came across the Atlantic in 21 days, and only required three firemen. our furnaces being oil-fired”.

The article went on to describe the luxurious suite that the Captain enjoyed and the nicely varied fare that the crew enjoyed ! The event was widely reported in the UK. 

An article in the Birmingham Daily Gazette on 28th August 1919 declared that the vessel was now owned by the French-American Line of New York.

Having been inspected by Members of the Concrete Institute on 11th September 1919, ‘Faith’ left London on 12th September 1919.  She arrived 18 days later on 30th September 1919, at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, hence gaining the accolade of being the first and ONLY concrete ship to complete a trans-Atlantic roundtrip voyage.

S.S. Atlantus did not cross the Atlantic as is oft claimed – the FACTS are to be found at https://thecretefleet.com/blog/f/myth-buster-blog---ss-atlantus-the-legend-and-her-urban-myth

This is S.S. Atlantus. She did NOT travel across the Atlantic !!!!
This is S.S. Atlantus. She did NOT travel across the Atlantic !!!!

On 10th October 1919,  she passed Gibraltar on 30th October 1919 before arriving a Savona, Italy, on 4th November 1919.

From Savona, leaving on 26th November 1919,  she journeyed to New Orleans, arriving on 28th December 1919. 

Journeys in 1920 were less frequent. Having left Gulfport Mississippi on 1st February 1920, she was recorded as being in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 17th April 1920 and Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 9th May 1920. 

Leaving Buenos Aires bound for New York on 16th July 1920, she subsequently spent a month at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil followed later by another month at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, receiving repairs for weather damage. 


A merchant ship in heavy seas (NOT 'Faith'
A merchant ship in heavy seas (NOT 'Faith'

A column in the Liverpool Journal of Commerce on 4th October 1920 (from a self-declared non-enthusiast of concrete ships) whilst referring to damage sustained by British concrete ship ‘Armistice’ states :-

“There is already the report of the above-water collision damage sustained by the concrete Faith some time ago. It was not very serious damage, admittedly, but no steel ship could have been put right as cheaply as she was, when a local house-builder came down with his mate and did the job for five pounds.” Presumably this was when she was docked in London

It wasn’t until 17th March 1921 that her next recorded appearance was, when she arrived in New Orleans. 

Something had clearly impacted the otherwise, previously smooth series of voyages made by ‘Faith’. Had ‘Faith’ sustained damage, or was it something else, something financial ?

What actually transpired is that her new French owners were struggling to pay the bills, including the operating expenses of ‘Faith’.

Liverpool Journal of Commerce ran a revealing article regarding Faith on 22nd August 1921 :-

“For some time, she made large sums of money—but considering the circumstances of the times it would have been difficult for her to have avoided doing so if she put to sea at all. It must be remembered that in order to encourage the experiment, the United States Government undertook not to requisition her at their equivalent to our blue book rates, but to allow her to get her cargo where she could. and at whatever rates she could. In other words, they gave her owner’s permission to make a very comfortable fortune in a very short time. 

But such conditions do not last for ever, and by the time she had changed hands once or twice efficiency counted in shipping rather more than it did before the war. Although the Faith possessed many attractive features, this was trying her rather too high, with the result that a short time ago she was ordered to be sold by the U.S. Judicial Authorities in order to satisfy the wage claims of her crew. And not a single bid could be obtained from the public”.

To satisfy the standing claims from the cargo owners and crew payroll, a bid of $200,000 was made for ‘Faith’ by  a company called Gamma Commercial Co., but it transpired that they were unable (or unwilling) to produce the agreed-upon amount. In October 1921 she was auctioned again, this time selling for the paltry amount of $5,735. She finally ended up in the hands of ship-breaking company, A. Marx and Sons Co., Inc of New Orleans.

Clearly, ‘Faith’ had made her last voyage under her own steam. Having been stripped of all usable machinery, equipment and fittings, she was moored to the levee above the city of New Orleans, her bow pointed upstream. 

She was to remain like this, with a solitary caretaker on board, for more than ten years until finally, in July 1932, her hulk (and that of a few other dismantled concrete ships), was towed to Álvaro Obregón (Frontera), Mexico, where she was scuttled as embankment in the Grijalva River. 

Statements that she was used as a breakwater in Cuba are, based on the evidence, incorrect.


Faith in her heyday - Wikimedia
Faith in her heyday - Wikimedia

Epilogue

I should really reserve judgement on what I am about to say, but I believe that when all research is completed, ‘Faith’ will be THE ‘stand-out’ concrete ship of World War I, achieving many significant ‘firsts’.

Firstly, she was the first seagoing concrete ship to be built in America.

Secondly, she did undertake many long distance voyages, including being the first concrete ship to cross the Atlantic from the U.S. to the U.K., and back again .she was first to the party, certainly in the United States. 

Thirdly, she dwarfed other concrete ships of her era built elsewhere in the World .

Fourthly, as a privately built and owned concrete ship, she appeared to ‘hold her own ‘commercially for around two years. In 1918 and 1919, she was trading as a ‘tramp ship’ in the period during which many ships had been lost and seemingly enjoying favourable commercial terms (according to the Liverpool Journal of Commerce at least).

I very much doubt that any other concrete ship, during this first era of concrete ship building, completed as many nautical miles as ‘Faith’.

Why did she ultimately have only a relatively short life. Whilst she may have been relatively slow, she appears to have been robust. It is a simple statement of fact that concrete ships are heavier than their steel equivalents so inevitably, despite any efficiencies of design, if indeed she had any, will cost more to run than a steel equivalent.  

It is easy to be wise after the event. ‘Faith’ was conceived, designed and built during the ‘Great War’ and no-one foresaw that the War would, thankfully, end on 11th November 1918. 

It took a lot of faith for Me Leslie Comyn to invest $750,000 in ‘Faith’. Perhaps he should have taken the offer of $1,800,000 in May 1918 !!


Sources :-

The Life & Times of The Crete Fleet : Richard Lewis (as yet unpublished)

Concrete Shipbuilding : Erlend Bonderud (as yet unpublished)

Other sources and credits as acknowledged above

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