by Mary Lou Walters
While on vacation recently Petersburgh Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst encountered a display of memorabilia about the ship SS United States, which brought back a lot of memories for him.
Krahforst, traveling third class and with $5 in his pocket, immigrated to the United States on the SS United States in 1953.
[private] The SS United States was the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the US and is the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction. Even in her retirement she retains the Blue Riband. This is given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest speed. Her east bound record was broken in 1990 but even today her west bound record stands intact.
The SS United States was constructed in 1951 and was subsidized by the US government. This was because she was designed to allow conversion to a troop carrier should the need arise. She operated uninterrupted in transatlantic passenger service until 1969 but now has run into disrepair. Since 1996 she has been docked at Pier 82 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia. There have been many unsuccessful attempts to restore her and it seems she may go to scrap metal soon.
Ziggie remembers well the speed of the ship. She approached and then sped by the Queen Mary II in the middle of the ocean. When they hit a hurricane the weather did not slow her as she bounced through waves so high, that at times, the propellers cleared the water completely.
Ziggie was one of the few passengers not felled by sea sickness. His table mates in the grand dining room had been young women from England and Scotland. He had little English and they had helped him navigate the amazing menu. When the hurricane blew in, they did not show up in the dining room. He sought them out and found them strapped into chairs on the deck. He didn’t need English to bring them fruit several times a day until they cleared the storm.
They arrived safely in New York and rest is an example of the American Dream. Ziggie built a successful electrician’s business in New Jersey and in 1968 moved his family to Petersburgh. He built his electrician business here and he and his wife, Marianne, ran the Petersburgh Country store for 18 years. He became Town Justice and held that office for 28 years and he is currently the Town Supervisor. [/private]