Report: Labor Day Cruise
Chesapeake Bay
by Capt. Brian Hope
September 6th , 1997

iving in fear that readers of this magazine will tire of hearing only good news, we report that our final full length cruise of the 1997 season was just about perfect. With 804 persons aboard, the BROWN was filled to capacity, but the crowd was friendly, the weather cooperative, sales set a record and the day's events went off without a hitch.

This was our 22nd full length cruise and it featured the debut of two most interesting groups. The BROWN, as many of you know, carried two shiploads of German POW's across the Atlantic from North Africa. In order to recreate these voyages, on a limited scale, we invited a dozen reenactors of the group known as Grosse Deutchland to participate in our cruise. They arrived in true POW style, in 2 1/2 ton trucks and guarded by U. S. Army MP's. Marched up the gangway, they were taken to detention areas on the hatch covers and watched closely to be certain they didn't "try anything funny."

Once the MP's determined that their prisoners would behave, things got a bit more relaxed and the "Germans" were allowed to mingle with the passengers, who were eager to discuss their role as reenactors. They did a superb job and it might be said that they truly were the "hit" of the day. During the afternoon two of the POW's, guarded by an MP with a Thompson submachinegun, walked through the crowd giving out brownies. When asked why he needed to guard them so closely, the MP replied, "These men are deserters!"