DOC Modern British Playwriting: 2000-2009: Voices; Documents; New Interpretations (Decades of Modern British Playwriting) by Philip Roberts; Dan Rebellato in Arts-Photography

Description

Starting its life as an attack transport in World War IImdash;and one of the last five left afloat by warrsquo;s endmdash;the USS Queens saw action at Iwo Jima and other hot spots in the Pacific theater. After the war; the ship became the SS Excambion; one of the ldquo;Four Acesrdquo; of American Export Lines: the only fully air-conditioned ships in the world at the time. In 1965; the versatile Excambion underwent yet another transformationmdash;into a floating classroom. Recommissioned as the USTS Texas Clipper; the ship began a third life as a merchant marine training vessel with its home port in Galveston. For the next three decades the Texas Clipper would be home to merchant marine cadets; and by the time it was retired in 1996; it was the oldest active ship in the U.S. merchant marine fleet. Finally; the Texas Clipper; after protracted bureaucratic wrangling; was designated to be sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef to provide habitat for marine life. In 2007; the ship was towed to its final resting place; seventeen nautical miles off the coast of South Padre Island. Now; 136 feet below the surface; the venerable Texas Clipper lives on as the home to a wide variety of underwater species. Filled not only with meticulously researched technical and historical data about the shiprsquo;s construction; service record; crew procedures; and voyages; The Ship That Would Not Die also features lively anecdotes from crew members; passengers; and officers. More than 140 color and black-and-white photos illustrate the shiprsquo;s construction; its wide variety of shipboard life; the exacting process of making the Texas Clipper ready to become an artificial reef; and its final sinking in the Gulf of Mexico.