Save Our History

S.O.S.: Save Our Ships

Save Our Ships is part of Save Our History™, The History Channel’s national initiative dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The program documents the history of five important types of ships—a three-masted schooner, a sailing yacht, a steel-hulled warship, the skipjack, and a Liberty ship—and the efforts that are being made to preserve them for future generations. These ships and other important symbols of our nautical heritage are vanishing rapidly, as time, the elements, and modern economics send more and more of them to the bottom of the sea—or to the ravages of the scrapyard.

Working with the National Maritime Historic Association, The History Channel is trying to promote national awareness of the plight of America’s ships. This study guide has been developed by The History Channel to accompany the Save Our Ships documentary. Additional resources for educators are available with this same study guide on our web site ( www.historychannel.com/classroom/index/ )

Grade Level: The documentary is appropriate for students in grades 4-12. This study guide has been developed for middle and high school students. Visit www.historychannel.com/classroom/ for additional support materials.

Objectives: Students will analyze the importance of ships to the development of our nation. They will also consider how technology has impacted the construction and role of ships.

National Standards for U.S. History: Chronological thinking, historical comprehension, interpretation, and research capabilities for, Eras 6 through 10.

• Centerboard
• Draft
• Drydock
• Flagship
• Fleet
• Hawser
• Hull
• Keel
• Landlubber
• Maritime
• Mast
• Merchant marine)
• Nautical
• Propulsion
• Rigging
• Rivet
• Schooner
• Shipwright
• Skipjack
• Stem
• Stern
• Turbine
• U-Boat
• Vessel

Discussion Questions

1. Four of the five ships featured in this documentary were built in the 1890s. What do you think accounts for the surge in ship-building activity at this time?

2. What were the key elements in the design of Liberty ships like the John W. Brown? Why?

3. Describe the efforts of Project Liberty Ship to save the John W. Brown. Why do you think that these volunteers were more effective than the government in saving the ship? How was the project also beneficial to those who volunteered their time?

4. How did yachts like the Coronet reflect the spirit of the Gilded Age? Explain.

5. What are the goals of IRYS, The International Yacht Restoration School? How and why was the school founded?

6. What are some of the difficulties involved in the rehabilitation of the Thayer? Why will it be so difficult to find the wood necessary for the ship’s reconstruction? What kinds of conflicts does this search present?

7. What kinds of skills are students like those from Vicy Elementary School learning from their experiences aboard the Thayer? Do you think that these are meaningful? Why or why not?

8. The host of the documentary claims that ships like the Thayer helped to turn the California gold rush into one of America’s greatest economic booms. Explain the Thayer’s contribution.

9. How was the design of the skipjack particularly well-suited to its use in the Chesapeake Bay? What were the primary uses of these boats?

10. What does Lesher mean when he says that “the skipjack did for boat building on the Chesapeake Bay what the balloon frame house did for the cities of America”?

11. Describe some of the reasons for the decline in the manufacture and use of skipjacks in the Chesapeake Bay.

12. What historical events prompted the increased production of steel-hulled ships like the Olympia in the 1880s and 1890s? In what war did these ships first become an important force?

13. What political message do you think America was trying to send by mounting guns in the admirals’ and captains’ cabins of ships like the Olympia? Do you think this was effective?

Extended Activities

1. Do additional research on one of the ship types featured in this program, documenting more details concerning the construction and use of the ships. Try to situate the ship(s) in the historical time period during which it was constructed, explaining how it served specific political, economic, or social needs. In addition, try to determine the names of some of the most prominent ships of this particular type and find out what has happened to them in the intervening years.

Related Videos

• 

Air Dates

• November 18, 2005