S.S. C.H.M. Jones

The S.S. C.H.M. Jones was a merchant marine vessel during the Second World War. IT was one of hundreds of “Liberty Ships” that were designed to be built quickly and inexpensively at a time of national emergency. These vessels were used as troop transports and for the shipping of war material to the combat zones.

The Jones was a product of the New England Shipbuilding Company, built at the west yard in South Portland, Maine. The vessel was launched in September 1944. Little more has been documented regarding the Jones' history, except that she was scrapped in Kearney, New Jersey in 1961.

Those who sailed with the Merchant Marine were at as much risk as naval combat sailors. Merchant ships carried minimal armaments and were largely dependent on the destroyers that escorted them for protection from enemy submarines. One of the deadliest enemies was lurking not under the waves however, but below decks.

The use of asbestos in ship construction was mandated by Congress after the Morro Castle disaster in September 1934, when cruise ship S.S. Morro Castle caught fire off the New Jersey coast. The fire wound up killing about a quarter of those aboard. However, lawmakers were not privy to the information of which asbestos corporations and medical researchers were well aware – that asbestos was a highly toxic substance.

Corporations that included W.R. Grace, Raysbestos, Johns-Manville and others joined in a secret agreement in the late 1930s to keep information about the health effects of asbestos out of public knowledge when and wherever possible – and when it was not possible, to spread propaganda that would minimize any health concerns. The conspiracy worked well; by the time the U.S. Government started to issue advisories to war production plants in 1943, such warnings were not taken seriously and as a result many mesothelioma navy cases have been reported.

This conspiracy was exposed during an asbestos trial in 1977. The plaintiff's attorney in the case discovered documents in the office of the CEO of the Raysbestos Corporation that have come to be known as the “Sumner Simpson Papers,” showing that the major asbestos product manufacturers had in fact known of the toxicity of asbestos and had agreed to suppress and falsify this information. Defense lawyers for the asbestos industry could no longer use the claim ignorance as a defense.

Today, the strategy is to deny that the plaintiff's illness is caused by asbestos, or that it even is an asbestos disease. If you were among those who sailed aboard the S.S. C.H.M. Jones, it is important to understand that symptoms of asbestos disease or mesothelioma can take decades to manifest, at which point such diseases are in their late stages. A solid diagnosis is necessary in order to win a judgment against an asbestos manufacturer, since the symptoms of asbestos disease are similar to those of other disorders. Even if you are not showing symptoms of malignant mesothelioma now, it is important to get regular, thorough checkups so that any illness can be diagnosed as early as possible.

Sources

Bowker, Michael. Fatal Deception: The Terrifying True Story of How Asbestos is Killing America. New York: Touchstone, 2003.

Mariners. “Liberty Ships – C.”
http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsC.html