American history afloat

As I stepped onto the deck of the USS Potomac, I was conscious I was stepping aboard living history. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt boarded this presidential yacht August 4, 1941, four months before the United States entered World War II. The newspapers were told the cruise was to be a simple fishing trip, but the President was secretly transferred at night to the cruiser USS Augusta, which took him to a rendezvous with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland. It was there that the two world leaders forged the Atlantic Charter, the allied partnership that contributed so much to winning the war. It's also when FDR first proposed a "United Nations" to keep the peace.

The USS Potomac is at Oakland, California, now, docked at colorful Jack London Square. A 15-minute film at the Visitors Center put the historic ship into the context of FDR's times. He took office as President in 1932, when the country was in a terrible depression, and he served through most of World War II, dying only when the final victory was in sight.

I learned, watching the 70-year-old black-and-white films that brought the era to vivid life, that the USS Potomac was built in 1934 as the Coast Guard cutter Electra. The 165-foot vessel was converted into a presidential yacht and recommissioned as a U.S. Navy vessel. A former assistant secretary of the Navy and an avid sailor, FDR had a love of the sea. Especially during sultry summer days in Washington, DC, in that time before air-conditioning, he relished cruising on the USS Potomac in preference to staying in the White House.

Kenneth Kingsbury, who was a Navy gunner himself during those days, took our small group on a tour of the ship, which looks exactly the same today as it did all those years ago. He pointed out the dining saloon, where FDR presided over peace-time and war-time strategy sessions, and where he and Eleanor entertained King George VI and Queen Elizabeth ha 1939, the first visit to the U.S. by reigning British royalty. Among others who cruised on the yacht were Crown Princess Martha of Norway, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden.

The presidential cabin surprised us with its plain, even spartan accommodations--we had expected a vessel outfitted for a president to be at least somewhat opulent. After all, FDR's predecessor, Herbert Hoover, chose as his presidential yacht the all-wood Sequoia, featuring rich paneling and ornate fittings, which sounds more like what presidents would traditionally prefer.

Kingsbury reminded us that FDR had polio, and his greatest fear was being caught in a fire and unable to escape. The all-steel Potomac was his preference. Though the vessel originally had only one stack, a second, false stack was added with a hand-operated elevator installed inside. President Roosevelt could roll his wheelchair into it, and because he had developed an extremely strong upper body, was able to use the pulleys to rise from the main deck to the upper boat deck.

After FDR's death, the vessel was sold and began to deteriorate. At one time she was seized by immigration authorities when the ship was being used as a front by drug smugglers. Finally, the Potomac was thankfully purchased by the Port of Oakland, and the long process of restoration began.

The President's favorite spot was the fantail, where he liked to fish, and also entertain at the cocktail hour. A thick, brown leather cushion, identical to the original, covers the curved bench fitted into the stern. FDR always sat in the center position, telling stories, laughing, and joking. The President mixed drinks for the guests, often congressmen and senators he was trying to persuade to vote for or against a bill. They could order whatever drink they wanted, but it always turned out to be a martini--perfectly prepared for the congressman who agreed with FDR, but made one-to-one and with a teaspoon of olive brine for those who disagreed with him.

I sat in the center of the leather cushion and felt the presence of FDR. The Port of Oakland is to be thanked for saving and restoring this priceless memorial.

Dockside tours of USS Potomac are every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Two-hour cruises of San Francisco Bay sail Thursdays and Saturdays, April to October, departing at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. For more information call 510-627-1215; or log onto www.usspotomac.org.

COPYRIGHT 2004 World Publishing, Co. (Illinois)
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group