LIBERTY BELLE IX 72

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Steamer Built 1910 by Harlan & Hollingworth, Wilmington, DE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA (Commercial Service) Completed and delivered to the Wilmington Steamboat Company (Wilson Line) Official Number: 207201 LIBERTY BELLE (Commercial Service) Renamed in 1938 Acquired by the Navy April 23 1942, from the Wilson Line LIBERTY BELLE IX-72 Placed In Service January 1 1943 - Out of Service May 18 1944 Returned to Maritime Commission April 10 1947 ASBURY PARK (Commercial Service) Sold in 1947 to Jersey Shore Lines of Atlantic Highlands, N.J. and renamed TOLCHESTER (Commercial Service) Sold 1949 to Tolchester Lines, Inc., Baltimore, MD and renamed FREESTONE (Commercial Service) Sold in 1957 to Willis Development Corp., Baltimore, MD and renamed POTOMAC (Commercial Service) Sold in 1961 to Potomac River Line, Washington, DC and renamed Returned in 1963 to Willis Development Corp. Returned in 1964 to Tolchester Lines, Inc Fate unknown

 

Conflicting History Data

There is an almost total lack of documentation for this ship in Lloyd's Register of Shipping.
Both CITY OF PHILADELPHIA and Wilmington Steamboat Co. drop off Lloyds after their 1913 edition.

Merchant Vessels of the United States is the better reference for this ship.
CITY OF PHILADELPHIA appears through the 1937 edition and then LIBERTY BELLE shows up in 1938 (look under steam vessels).
ASBURY PARK appears in the 1948 and 1949 editions with owner "Jersey Shore Lines"
TOLCHESTER appears in their 1950 thru 1957 editions with owner listed as "Tolchester Lines, Inc."
FREESTONE appears in the 1958 thru 1961 editions with owner listed as "Wills Development Corp."
Starting in 1962, the ship is no longer found in the "List of Vessels" section but can still be traced via the "Index of Managing Owners" section.
The 1962 and 1963 editions show "S.S. POTOMAC" under owner "Potomac River Line, Inc." of Washington, D.C.
The 1964 edition lists POTOMAC under owner "Wills Development Corp." of Washington, D.C.
The 1965 edition lists POTOMAC under owner "Tolchester Lines Inc." of Washington, D.C.
My source for Merchant Vessels... runs out at 1965 so I have no information on events after that.

Shipscribe says the post-WWII history is as follows:
"In April 1947 she was sold to Andrew Richard of Atlantic Highlands, N.J. Renamed ASBURY PARK in 1947 and TOLCHESTER in 1949,
she was hulked in 1957 as FREESTONE, renamed POTOMAC in 1961, and scrapped in 1974."
Since the ship dropped out of the "List of Vessels" section in 1962, would this support her being hulked?

NavSource provides a couple of extra name changes toward the end:
FREESTONE (in 1957) -> POTOMAC (in 1961) -> TOLCHESTER (in 1964) -> POTOMAC (in 1972)
It also says "Out of documentation in 1981" which conflicts with Shipscribe's "scrapped in 1974".

Ultimately I chose to only go with the history as I could find in Merchant Vessels... and thus ignored the last two name changes described by NavSource.

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1     (1943)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2z

1943-09-03

The ship had no postal facilities; the cover was posted either aboard another ship or ashore.

 

Other Information

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

 

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