Page 12 - Port of Baltimore Magazine July August 2011

[10] The Port of Baltimore ■ July/August 2011 To subscribe or renew, visitwww.marylandports.com
Soundings
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NANCY MENEFEE JACKSON
A tug sprayed water at the conclusion
of the National Maritime Day
celebration, which included a speech
by Capt. Mark O'Malley, U.S. Coast
Guard Sector Baltimore.
EVENTS
— . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — . — .
National Maritime Day Ceremony is
Set On Nuclear-Powered Merchant Ship
T he 52-year-old N.S. Savannah, the world’s first
nuclear-powered merchant ship, was the setting
May 21 for a Port of Baltimore National Maritime Day
Commemoration. Officially observed on May 22 as a time to
honor all mariners, Maritime Day marks the anniversary of
when the original incarnation of the Savannah set out in 1819
to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Co-hosted by the Baltimore Port Alliance and U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy Chesapeake Alumni chapter — in cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime
Administration (MARAD) — the ceremony included a color
guard, the laying of a wreath and the ringing of the ship’s bell.
The guest speaker was Vice Admiral Terrance T. Etnyre (Ret.),
former Commander of Naval Surface Forces. Other speakers included
Capt. Mark O’Malley, Commander of Sector Baltimore for the U.S.
Coast Guard, U.S. Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda, former
Sen. Paul Sarbanes, and former U.S. Rep. Helen Delich Bentley.
Bentley, a longtime Port supporter, beseeched the crowd,
“Through the Korean War and the Vietnam War, to the global war
on terrorism to relief operations in Haiti and Japan to the genius
of containerized shipping, tell America about the contributions of
merchant mariners.”
Perhaps more than any words spoken, the importance of
mariners was illustrated by the arrival of the MSC Carla, which
appeared under the Francis Scott Key Bridge and then, aided
by tugs, eased against the neighboring terminal, loaded with
containers.