Bug Light Park and the Liberty Ship Memorial

Bug Light Park stands as a unique reminder of South Portland's history of seafaring, shipbuilding and maritime commerce.

Construction of the shipyard began shortly before the United States entered World War II. Thirty badly needed freighters was launched to aid the British war effort. They were followed by 236 Liberty Ships.

In the top photo a replica of a Liberty Ship Bow dominates the park. Bug Light is to the right. A wartime aerial photo shows the same site heavy with deck machinery, life rafts and other components of the yard's ships.

The Bug Light Park area was home to a massive shipbuilding effort. Its Liberty Ships played a vital part in supplying Allied forces throughout World War II.

A marina has overtaken the basins where Liberty Ships were constructed. The masonry (top photo) hinged a massive steel gate that allowed the basin to pumped dry.

A Liberty with its partially completed bow supported by timbers, rests in one of the basins. When the vessel was completed the basin was flooded, the doors opened and the ship sent to the fitting out dock.

The wartime shipyard provided employment to 30,000 people---3,500 were women.

At the fitting out dock ships masts were stepped and deck machinery installed. Today, it forms part of a larger wharf where supertankers (top photo) pump cargos into a pipeline to Montreal.

On May 18, 1943 a photo was taken of a liberty at the fitting out dock. She has steam up and looks about ready to head out to sea. The caption says that her keel was laid on May 10---an amazing ten days of intense labor!

Portland Breakwater Light, constructed in 1855, is modeled on an ancient Greek monument. Early on, locals began referring to it as "Bug Light" and the name stuck. It was decommissioned in 1942 and relighted in August of 2000. Bug Light will once again appear on charts as a private aid to navigation.

Liberties were 441 feet long and propelled by a simple three cylinder triple expansion engine. Both the engine and the British hull design adapted well to mass production. Thousands were produced in shipyards on both coasts and became workhorses of the Battle of the Atlantic duel between convoys and U-boats.