Delmarva Today 8-5-22
Harold’s guest is author Jack Shaum discussing Jack’s new book, 122 Years on The Old Bay Line. The beautiful steamships of the Old Bay Line, including The President Warfield, pictured above, plied the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and beyond for more than 100 years. They served in the Civil War, World War I, and The Second World War. And as late as 1961, according to Jack, you could still book passage for an overnight excursion from Baltimore to Norfolk for as low as $5.80.
The President Warfield even helped create a country. In addition to serving in the Second World War, the President Warfield, pictured above, was sold to a front company for the Haganah, a Palestine organization. She became a Haganah blockade runner and in 1947 in Sète, France she took on 4,500 Jewish refugees – the ship normally carried around 600 passengers -- and set sail for Palestine as the Exodus 1947. Near Palestine, the ship was intercepted by the British and the refugees eventually were returned to Europe. Leon Urus’ book Exodus is based partly on this venture.
Jack Shaum is a retired award-winning print and broadcast journalist. He is the author of Lost Chester River Steamboats, and co-author of Majesty at Sea. He is also the former editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal of the Steamship Historical Society of America. Shaum’s book also features the photography of Hans Marx.