How does one go about starting a fund to preserve an old merchant ship?

Factual Questions
1

This has been on my mind for quite some time. There’s an old U.S. Navy oiler laid up in the James River, the former U.S.S. Saugatuck. She’s one of the two remaining WW2 era American oil tankers (the other, S.S. Mission Santa Ynez is at Suisun Bay.

Both have been lying in mothballs for upwards of 20 years and both will probably be disposed of shortly.

I don’t want this to happen, both ships are important historical artifacts IMHO, so what can I do?

The Santa Ynez was controlled, at least recently by the MSA (Maritime Sealift Command, I think) and the Saugatuck is currently under the watch of the Maratime Administration (MarAd).

Other ships, like the S.S. Lane Victory or the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien were given to private groups to preserve. Both ships are now operational museum ships, and I visited the Lane Victory during her recent visit to San Diego.

I’m a ship buff, and plus I’m writing a screenplay (along with everyone else on Earth) about a WW2 convoy centered around a tanker similiar to the two ships mentioned above. Operation Pedestal, for those interested.

So who should I contact to start a preservation effort, how much money is needed, and would anyone here like to help out.

Or am I completely naive about all this.

2

Have you considered getting hold of the people in possession of the S.S. Lane Victory or the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien and S.S. Jown W. Brown and asking them how they got started? I don’t know if the oilers can be fitted to sail or whether the preservation groups are interested in ships that are only able to be displayed in a permanent mooring, but is it possible that they might want to tackle another project? If they would not want to do it (or you would rather do it yourself), they should still be able to give you a lot of information on how to do it.

S.S. Lane Victory
U.S. Merchant Marine Veterans of WWII
P.O. Box 629
San Pedro, California 90733-0629
(310) 519-9545
Fax: (310) 519-0265
Email: webmaster@lanevictoryship.com

S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien and S.S. Jown W. Brown
Project Liberty Ship
PO Box 25846
Highlandtown Station
Baltimore, MD 21224-0546
USA

Tel: +1 410-661-1550
Fax: +1 410-558-1737
http://www.liberty-ship.com/ (S.S. Jown W. Brown)
http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.com/ (S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien)