Edwin G. Barnes
Fireman / Watertender

Ed Barnes, a World War II merchant marine veteran who sailed in seven Liberty ships, died August 3, 2010, at 83. He had joined Project Liberty Ship early on while S.S. JOHN W. BROWN was still in New York.

Edwin Goode Barnes, Jr. of Prince George, Virginia, a World War II veteran of three convoys, an early supporter of SS JOHN W. BROWN when the ship was in New York and a fireman/watertender on her cruises since 1991, died August 3, 2010. He would have been 84 on September 18, 2010.

Barnes sailed to Europe during the war and stayed at sea eight years until 1953. He also served in the U.S. Army. Altogether he shipped out on seven Liberty ships, other freighters including CEDAR RAPIDS VICTORY and several Esso T-2 tankers, mostly in the Atlantic.

He once sailed the Liberty ship RUFUS CHOATE to Australia; his other Liberties besides the BROWN were the tanker CHRISTOPHER L. SHOLES, THOMAS SAY, J. HOWLAND GARDNER, JOSEPH GOLDBERG (a tanker) and EPHRAIM BREVARD. No melodramatic stories here.

"My trips were uneventful, pretty routine. Never came under attack. We did have some big storms, but you get that at sea. Nothing unusual.

"I've been in boilers all my life, mostly with Chesterfield Allied Chemical as a supervisor, generally in Virginia. I also worked at Anheuser Busch in Williamsburg, Virginia. I retired in 1991."

When the BROWN's engine room gang hears the mating call of the double-boiler, triple-expansion engine, they still come running to sail again. Barnes and his good friend, Ted Vargas, who sailed on many ore ships, would high-tail it from their homes in Virginia and West Virginia to join the BROWN crew on Living History cruises.

Barnes grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His family moved to Virginia when Ed was 15. The wartime teenager yielded to the call of the sea when the time came to serve.

"I entered the Sheepshead Bay merchant marine training station in New York in November 1944 and trained there. I caught my first ship, CHRISTOPHER L. SHOLES on January 5, 1945. We refueled Navy destroyers in two Atlantic convoys.

"I was first a wiper going over and they needed a fireman/water tender coming back. That's what I did from then on. In the third convoy, I was on AMASA DELANA, a regular cargo ship. We loaded ammunition in Baltimore, took it to Edinburgh, Scotland, and came back to Baltimore. I was on her when the war ended."

Barnes' interest in the BROWN goes way back. He heard about the BROWN from a neighbor, Bob Face, a Chesapeake Bay pilot. "He taught Brian Hope, another pilot, and of course Brian spearheaded the BROWN's revival in Baltimore.

"But before that I first learned in the 1980s about a Liberty ship they were trying to save in New York. It was the BROWN. I wrote right away, exchanged letters with Mike Gillen. He was a leader there. I became a Life Member then. I'm an Admiral. I perked up when they said they were trying to bring the ship out of the James River fleet to Baltimore.

"Everyone who has ever worked on a Liberty ship has a love for them. It's hard to explain. I remember my days on them fondly. The first time I came on the BROWN in Baltimore I felt so good even if the ship was a mess. It was in pretty rough shape. I was a stranger there. Then I saw someone I knew, Art Wadsworth. It was good to be on a Liberty again.

"I live 175 miles away from Baltimore but I like to come up for the ship and the people. JOHN W. BROWN is history. I love history.

"I did two trips to the Reserve Fleet to get parts. I was on the third leg of the Great Lakes trip in 2000 and also sailed to Charleston, Boston, Long Island and Philadelphia. Both of my sons have been on Living History cruises."

Barnes was delighted when he upgraded his fireman/water tenders documentation in 2000. "They told me I had to take the test. I bought the blue book for the engine room and studied for two months. I went back to the same guy to take the test. He conferred with someone else in another office. I could hear the other man say, 'Give the man his license,' so I signed the papers and walked out of there and had five more years on the BROWN."

Ed received the following awards and decorations for his wartime service: Atlantic War Zone Ribbon and Medal; Honorable Service Medal; Mediterranean-Middle East War Zone Ribbon and Medal; Merchant Marine Emblem; USCG Honorable Discharge; Victory Ribbon and Medal. He became a Life Member of Project Liberty Ship in 1982, and a Life Member/Admiral in 1999.

Ed is survived by his wife Louise, two sons, six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, two sisters and a brother. Ed and Louise were married 64 years.