he U.S. declaration of war on Germany in April 1917 renewed
debate on the adequacy of America’s maritime resources
during global conflict. It took an extraordinary national effort for
America’s Merchant Marine fleet — which delivers troops and
supplies during war, and also moves exports and imports in
peacetime — to ramp up to speed in World War I. And even then,
America was at the mercy of foreign ship operators who tripled
their customary freight rate to transport U.S. military forces.
Troubled by this gap in America’s national defense and
the costliness of the short-term fix, two Marylanders took it
upon themselves to ensure the nation wasn’t caught short the
next time. Bernard Baker, founder of Baltimore Storage and
Lighterage (which became Baker-Whitely Towing), provided
warehousing and merchandising for the Port community,
tirelessly drove the government to build ships of U.S. registry
and formed the International Mercantile Marine Company to
help finance their construction. Maryland’s U.S. Sen. George
Ratcliffe worked the legislative end, introducing a bill that
became the Merchant Marine Act of 1936.
Merchant Mariners
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