POTOMAC CURRENTS
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Floating White House”
Oakland, California
GPS and the Potomac
By Les Marks and Ron Ucovich
2007
Volume 4 Number 3
Presidential Rail Car, U.S. Number 1
Ferdinand Magellan
Compiled by Rich Knowles
In the days of yore, when “Iron Men” went
down to the sea in “Wooden Ships” they would
navigate their ships across the water using a
compass and kept track of their position by taking fixes on the stars and the sun with an instrument called a sextant. While the USS Potomac
was in service as the “Floating White House”
for President Roosevelt, the US Navy crew still
used the above basic instruments, as well as using visual aids to navigation. They also had the
ability to calculate their positions more accurately, by taking directional bearings on coastal
radio stations.
Today the Potomac has much better electronic equipment to accurately pinpoint its position. The ship is equipped with a Chart Plotter
that gets information from a pre-programmed
chip, radar, depth sounder and Global Positioning System (GPS).
The pre-programmed chip shows a map profile of the west coast, from Acapulco, MX to
Cape Flattery, WA. We use the portion that depicts San Francisco Bay. This profile includes
all the navigation aids, such as buoys and lighthouses. The radar displays the stationary and
moving environment around the Potomac. By
watching the radar, the crew can detect other
ships and take evasive action to avoid a collision. The depth sounder provides the crew with
a profile of the bottom around the ship so they
know how much water is beneath them, which
allows them to avoid running aground. Lastly,
the GPS provides very accurate information
about the ship’s position. On the Chart Plotter, the GPS will provide a track showing exactly where the ship has been cruising. It also
provides a very accurate digital readout of the
ship’s speed and position in latitude and longitude. You might wonder how it can do this, let
me explain:
The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978
and the system grew from there. As of April
Continued next page
Adjacent to Metro Zoo in south Miami-Dade County is one of the most unusual and fascinating
museums in the country--the Gold Coast Railroad museum, where actual historic railroad cars are
on display on a half mile of real track. There are no electrified miniature trains here. This is the real
thing!
The proudest acquisition is the Ferdinand Magellan,
built expressly for President Franklin Roosevelt in the
20th Century. Like our USS Potomac, it is now a designated National Historic Landmark.
The Magellan was completely restored to its former
glory by a team of experts from the Smithsonian Institute after suffering damage during Hurricane Andrew
in 1992. The Magellan, used by Presidents Roosevelt,
Truman and Eisenhower stands ready to go back into
service should any sitting president need it.
The USS Potomac and the Ferdinand Magellan share
a great deal of history. Like the Potomac, a special elevator was installed. The elevator, on the observation platform at the rear of the car, was used to
aid the president in boarding the car in a wheel chair. This elaborate device was removed from the
railcar after the death of President Roosevelt. The rear platform was often used by the President for
making speeches, especially when the car was used for “whistle stop” campaign trips. The famous
news photo of Harry Truman holding up a copy of the Chicago Tribune with a banner headline stating “Dewey Defeats Truman” was taken on this platform at St. Louis Union Station.
The 84 foot long car was originally painted Pullman green. President Roosevelt’s only request for
the design was to “make it a little more comfortable,” resulting in a redesign of the interior. The car
was returned to the Pullman Company’s Calumet shops, near Chicago, for a complete rebuilding.
The number of bedrooms was reduced from five to four which created more room for the dining
room and observation lounge. Steel armor plate 5/8” thick was riveted on to the sides, roof, floor
and end of the car in a manner that made it undetectable when the car was viewed from any distance.
Three inch bullet proof glass, manufactured by laminating twelve sheets of 1/4” thick glass into one
piece, was sealed into the window frames replacing conventional safety glass.
Two escape hatches were built into the car, one in the ceiling of the observation lounge and one
on the side wall of the shower bath in the presidential bathroom, near the center of the car. Special
trucks, wheels and roller bearings were installed to support the additional weight. A standard heavyweight Pullman car of the Magellan’s era weighed 160,000 pounds. The rebuilt Ferdinand Magellan
Continued page 3
Independence Day Cruise
Join us July 4th for Fireworks, Champagne and Gourmet Desserts
7:30 to 9:30 pm - $125 per person Call 510-627-1215 for reservations
Page 2
GPS fron page 1
2007, there are 30 satellites in a more or less
polar orbit arrangement. These satellites are at
an altitude of 12,600 miles and circle the earth
twice each day. The ship’s GPS receives a signal from at least three satellites. The signal received from the satellite contains a time stamp
that the ship’s GPS uses to calculate how long
it took the signals to reach the GPS receiver.
Since radio waves travel at the speed of light
(186,000 miles per second) it can calculate the
distance from the satellites. By using a process
called trilateration, it pinpoints the ship’s position with an accuracy of a few meters. The following diagram shows how the mileage marks
from the three satellites would appear on the
earth, and where they intersect is the position of
the ship’s GPS receiver.
Marti’s Musings
Why We Do……… What We Do.
Each morning, when I come into work, before I even open
the door to the Visitor Center, I glance over at the Potomac. I do
so not so much to see if she’s still afloat, or to see if anyone is
on board, I glance over at our magnificent ship to remind myself
how meaningful and important what we do actually is. Perhaps
I can clarify for you why caring for the Presidential Yacht Potomac is so important not just to all the people who comprise the
“Potomac family,” but to everyone.
Foremost it is important to us to share with the guests, clients
and students the amazing history of the Potomac and the man she
served, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I cannot think of a
single president, except perhaps our early leaders like Washington and Jefferson, who did so much for our country. The man,
Franklin Roosevelt, and his amazing wife Eleanor had a dynamic
impact on America that is still resonating today.
The social and economic programs that FDR moved through congress in the early days after the
Great Depression got our country back on its feet and moving toward a viable economy after years
of economic disaster. Some of the programs, like WPA, CCC, NRA, etc., were designed to get
America back to work. The end product of those programs, the dams, the water pumping stations,
the roads, parks systems, are all still with us and working for us today.
The graphic below shows the layout of the
system when it had 24 satellites in the constellation. With 30 satellites, the system provides
more coverage for better accuracy. This system
of satellites is managed by the United States Air
Force 50th Space Wing.
Since the Potomac only cruises in the waters
of San Francisco Bay, this hi-tech equipment
acts more as devices for safe cruising than for
actual navigation. For the most part navigation
on the Potomac is visual, with the aid of radar at
night and during foul weather as the electronic
eyes of the ship.
The social programs instituted by FDR (with no small influence from First Lady Eleanor) to bring
hope and dignity to the families who suffered horrible economic reversals during the depression, are
still in place, albeit modified to reflect changing needs. These programs, some of which are highly
controversial today, are designed to lend a hand to families who have suffered economic downturn
and need some assistance to become productive again. The Social Security program insures that
retiring seniors, who pay into the system throughout their working lives, have a small stipend that
they can count on.
The Potomac played a historic role in many of the landmark decisions formulated by President
Roosevelt. It was used as a place to think, talk and strategize during hot Washington, DC summers.
It was a vessel used for entertaining world leaders and forging bonds between key governments to
move the war efforts forward. It was also used to take FDR to certain clandestine meetings with
government leaders to formulate world policies, like the Atlantic Charter which shaped U.S. actions
toward Japan and Germany after WWII.
The Potomac has had an interesting history in her own right, including uses as a disco, marine
fisheries vessel, ferry boat and, legend has it, a drug runner. She started her career as a USCG cutter
designed to chase “rum runners” landing on the East Coast during Prohibition. Then the Potomac
was transformed to proudly serve as the Presidential Yacht for President Roosevelt. In 1945, after
the death of FDR, the Potomac began her 50 year-long, convoluted, and sometimes humbling journey to Oakland. One highlight along the way includes ownership by “the King,” Elvis Presley.
Now the Potomac, fully restored, operational, and beautiful, is berthed at the foot of Clay Street
in the soon to be transformed Jack London Square in Oakland. She still serves as a place to think,
entertain, strategize and enjoy by leaders of the East Bay and San Francisco communities. She is
visited by thousands of school children and adults each year. She plays hostess to many events,
including corporate soirees, weddings, birthdays and anniversaries. She celebrates major holidays
such as Independence Day, Fleet Week and Veterans’ Day with cruises on the Bay.
More importantly, however, the Potomac represents a historic and crucial time in American history and a man whose impact, decisions and actions still affect us today. That’s why we care, work
tirelessly to maintain this historic ship, reach out to tell our story and represent a very important and
vital part of the community of Oakland and the greater bay area.
And all in a morning’s glance!
Marti B.
Magellan Continued from Page 1
weighed 285,000 pounds – the heaviest railcar
in the United States. The Ferdinand Magellan
traveled at the end of a special train that included Pullman sleeping cars for staff, baggage cars
and a communications car operated by the Army
Signal Corps.
One of the more significant bits of Presidential service for the Ferdinand Magellan occurred
on January 9, 1943 when a five-car train was
quietly assembled in the Washington railyard.
The president’s Navy stewards were summoned
from the presidential yacht to perform duties
ordinarily handled by Pullman porters. Officials
preparing this special train were told not to issue
any instructions that might cause suspicion. The
train left Washington D.C. at 10pm with President Roosevelt aboard and headed north, supposedly for Hyde Park. The train, however, only
went as far north as Fort Meade, Maryland. An
hour later it was headed south beginning President Roosevelt’s journey to the now-famous
Casablanca Summit Meeting. Before dawn on
January 11, the train arrived in Miami. The president was driven to Dinner Key terminal where
he boarded a seaplane for Africa.
FDR traveled about 50,000 miles in the
Ferdinand Magellan during his presidency. He
preferred to travel at 35 miles per hour. On
April 9, 1945, he left Washington on the Ferdinand Magellan for a trip to the Summer White
House at Warm Springs, Georgia, arriving there
on April 10th. He died the next afternoon of a
stroke. On April 13, the funeral train bearing the
President’s body left Warm Springs for Hyde
Park. Mrs. Roosevelt was riding in the Ferdinand Magellan, which was the second car from
the end of the train, for the first time since it had
been placed in presidential service. The casket
was placed inside the Conneaut, another Pullman car, by removing a window to make a large
enough opening to place the casket inside. The
bullet proof windows of the Ferdinand Magellan could not be removed.
President Truman used the car more than
any other president. In Truman’s famous “whistle stop” campaign tour of 1948, he traveled
more than 28,000 miles and made close to 350
speeches from the rear platform of the Ferdinand Magellan. The last president to occupy the
Ferdinand Magellan while it was the property
of the US Government was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who used it very little. The last trip for
the Ferdinand Magellan in government service
was in 1954 when Mrs. Eisenhower traveled
from Washington D. C. to Groton, Connecticut
to christen the world’s first nuclear powered
submarine, the U.S.S. Nautilus.
In 1978 the Ferdinand Magellan was listed
in the National Register of Historic Places and
the next year, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum
received permission to replace the Seal of the
President of the United States on the rear platform of the car.
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is located
in Miami-Dade County Florida. Much of this
information is found on the folowing web site:
http://goldcoast-railroad.org
Eleanor Roosevelt –
A Teacher To Remember
Note:
It isn’t often that we encounter people who
actually had personal experiences with the
Roosevelts. Mary Kent Scott is one of those
people and, at our request, has penned the following memories of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Eleanor Roosevelt was a presence at Todhunter School during the two years I spent there.
Todhunter was a small (98 students) school in
an old brownstone located on the upper east side
of New York. It was owned by Mrs. Roosevelt
and Miss Marion Dickerman, the principal. The
school was on the English model; we were in
forms rather than grades and some of the teachers were English.
Mrs. Roosevelt taught there three days a
week, commuting from Albany while her husband, Franklin, was governor of New York
State. The classes she taught were in history,
literature and public affairs. My memory of
Mrs. Roosevelt was mostly of her weekly assembly talks. While I don’t remember the subjects of her talks, I do remember that we were
all attentive. We would march down the stairs
to the hunting song “Do You Ken John Peel?” I
do remember that she was tall, slender and erect,
and moved with grace. I also remember that she
wore clothes from a New York shop, The Tailored Woman.
Another memory is of being one of five students who, along with Mrs. Roosevelt, were
driven by her chauffeur to deliver Christmas
baskets to people on the lower east side. She had
a way making all of us feel quite special and I’ll
never forget her warmth and charm.
Even though I was only in the fourth and fifth
forms, all the students were invited to attend
graduation ceremonies. Governor Roosevelt
was the speaker and while I remember that his
talk was inspiring, I wasn’t prepared for the realization of how difficult it was for him to move
and get into his chair – even with assistance.
Later, when the Roosevelts moved to the
White House, the seniors were entertained there
by Mrs. Roosevelt.
The Todhunter School soon merged with
the Dalton School in New York and my family
moved to Scarsdale. Mrs. Roosevelt gave a talk
while I was at Smith College several years later
but my attempt to meet and speak to her was
unsuccessful.
As Remembered by Mary Kent Scott
2007 Fleet Week and
Veterans’ Day Cruises
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Page 3
That Eleanor
Roosevelt was
courageously
way ahead of
her time is apparent in many
of her writings. Recently
I came across
information regarding classes
that she taught at Todhunter School in New
York, which, to my mind, makes her even more
admirable. Remember, this was during the l920s
and l930s.
Her teaching methods encouraged students
to think for themselves. Her history exams had
two parts: one factual and one analytical. Students had to answer questions such as:
• Give your reasons for or against allowing
women to actively participate in the control of
the government, politics and officials through
the vote, as well as your reasons for or against
women holding office in the government?
• What is the object today of the inheritance,
income and similar taxes?
• How are Negroes excluded from voting in
the South?
In each class, she underscored the connection between things of the past and things of
today, as well as encouraging the students to
understand the difference between subject and
citizen. She took students on field trips to the
New York Children’s Court and various tenements and markets in the city so they could see
the problems facing New Yorkers and how the
government tried to address them.
Source: Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site, Hyde
Park, New York
Angie Papastefan, Editor
[email protected]
The Potomac Association
540 Water Street
P.O. Box 2064 Oakland, CA 94604
Telephone: 510-627-1215
www.usspotomac.org
The Potomac Currents is published
by the Association for the Preservation
of the Presidential Yacht, Potomac, Inc.
Printed courtesy of the Port of Oakland’s
REPROGRAPHIC DEPARTMENT
Editor: Angie Papastefan
Layout and Design: David McGraw
Editorial Board: Marti Burchell, Rich Knowles,
Les Marks and David McGraw
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission by the publisher.
CONTRIBUTIONS and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PATRON
Wanda Viviano
January 1 thru May 31, 2007
Joe Brennan and Jan Tiura
Cynthia Weiss
Buzz Gibb
Stanley Jacobsen and Emmy Werner
COMMANDER IN CHIEF
Anonymous
Willis Deming
Arthur Haskell
Denny and Ruth McLeod
ADMIRAL
Richard Zampa
Mary Bergan
ELEANOR
Larry and Christine Westland
David Lee Woods and Phyllis D. Chambers
CAPTAIN
Miriam and Leon Bloomberg
Olaf Elander
George Fraser
Albert Groh
Linda Huber
Ironworkers International
James McCloud
Eleanor Moore
Michael and Deborah Roosevelt
Gordon Seligson
Page 4
John and Clem Underhill
Beverly Voelker
FIRST MATE
Bruce and Gail Adair
Jill Boornauan
Windy and Jerry Butler
Bob Cowen
Fred Cunningham
John and Patricia Dervin
Art and Ardeth Dreshfield
Les and Elaine Dropkin
Robert Eakin and Avis Hendley
Bill and Maria Ewing
Dorothy and Julie Filice
Bonny and Earl Hamlin
Walter Jaffee
Marvin Jensen
Tom and Lori Jeramiasen
Rich Knowles and Merlyn Uhlenberg
Neal and Nancy Lambly
Daniel Lamey
Pat MacLean
David and Myrna McGraw
Jim O’Connor
John and Marilyn Welland
FALA
Sally Beck and David Brossard
Donald Bonney
Gus Dorough
Joseph Echelberry
Georgia Edlund
Elizabeth Hannon
Leroy and Marlene Hintzman
Esther Jennings
John Lucy
Frank McConville
Modern Express Courier
Dawn Muller
Herbert Ploch
Mary Rudser
Jerry and Lovene Silsdorf
Warren and Helen Tryon
Robert Woodruff
STUDENT/TEACHER
Ted Brown
ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
City National Bank
David and Myrna McGraw
Note: if you have any questions or comments about the above listing, please e-mail: [email protected] or write to Friends of the Potomac,
Attn: Gordon Seligson, P.O.Box 2064, Oakland CA 94604
WELCOME, RICH KNOWLES
In addition to his twice-weekly duties in the
Potomac office, Rich Knowles has joined the
POTOMAC CURRENTS Editorial Board. In
his own words, here is a brief bio.
I retired in August 2002 from 40 years in the
banking business. During 22 years at Bank of
California, I held several positions, primarily at
the San Francisco main office. I retired as Vice
President in the Bank’s Credit Policy Division.
My long and valued friendship with David
and Myrna McGraw is responsible for my joining the office staff. I am beginning my third
year with the Potomac. I assumed the responsibility for cruise reservations when Ken Kingsbury “retired.”
Journalism qualifications? Well, I was business manager of my high school yearbook.
Does that qualify? (Editor’s note: YES!) I
graduated from the University of San Francisco
with a BS in Organizational Behavior.
That’s me, oh yea, I play the piano, too, and
love to travel, with a cruise scheduled this fall
with the McGraws and another Potomac family,
the Biggins.
✮✮✮✮✮
POTOMAC SCHEDULE
SPECIAL CRUISEs
Independance Day • July 4th
Angel Island Cruise, Tram Tour and Lunch • July 25, August 22, September 26
Call for departure times, reservations and pricing
DOCKSIDE TOURS
The Potomac is open for docent-led dockside tours from mid-January to mid-December. Tours
are approximately 45 minutes and include a 15 minute video shown in the Visitor Center.
Wednesday and Friday 10:30am to 2:30pm (last ticket sold at 1:45pm)
Sunday 12 Noon to 3:30pm (last ticket sold at 2:45pm)
Dockside Ticket Pricing:
$7/Adult • $5/Seniors • 12 and under/Free
SPRING 2007 HISTORY CRUISES
Enjoy a two-hour narrated History Cruise with our knowledgeable docents and crew. Complimentary soda, coffee, tea and water are available. Tickets may be purchased by contacting TicketWeb
at www.ticketweb.com or by calling 866-468-3399, or by calling the Potomac at 510-627-1215.
Reservations are highly recommended. Groups of 20 or more must make reservations by calling the
Potomac Association at 510-627-1215.
History Cruises Depart Jack London Square at 11am
History Cruise Ticket Pricing:
Adults $40.00 / Seniors (over 60) $35.00
Youth 6-12 $20.00 / Under 6 Free
Groups of 20 or more $30.00
For future dates and information: www.usspotomac.org
Board of Governors and Staff
Michael Roosevelt, Chairman
Carla Betts, President
Al Groh, 1st Vice President
Tom Morehouse, 2nd Vice President
Art Haskell, CFO
Rick Anderson, Mary Bergan
Joe Brennan, David Connolly,
Curtis Davies, Virginia Furth
Jean Gaskell, Buzz Gibb, Judy Goff
Doug Higgins, James McCloud
Denny McLeod, Ron Paredes,
Kirk Rowlands, Richard Zampa
Marti Burchell, Executive Director
Craig Newton, Shipkeeper