George Fried
| Captain George Fried | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
August 10, 1877 Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Died | July 25, 1949 (aged 71) Yonkers, New York |
| Allegiance |
 United States |
| Service/branch |
 US Army 1898–1900 US Navy 1900–16, 1918–21 US Merchant Marine 1922–46 |
| Years of service | 1898–1946 |
| Rank |
 Captain
|
| Commands held |
USS Zuiderdijk (ID-2724) SS President Grant SS President Roosevelt USS America (ID-3006) SS Manhattan SS Leviathan SS Washington Steamboat Inspection Supervisor, 1934 |
| Battles/wars |
Spanish–American War World War I |
| Awards |
 Navy Cross
|
Captain George Fried, (August 10, 1877 – July 25, 1949) a sea Captain with service in both the US Navy and Merchant Marine, is best remembered for his valiant rescue of the crews of the British steamship Antinoe in 1926 while captaining the luxury liner SS President Roosevelt and three years later the Italian freighter Florida while in command of the luxury liner USS America. Both of the ships he captained during the rescues were owned by the large United States Lines. Fried became familiar to thousands of Americans when his syndicated column "My Thirty Years at Sea", which chronicled his life and ocean adventures, was featured in hundreds of major newspapers beginning in 1929.
Fried was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on August 10, 1877, and attended the Belmont and Dix Street Schools. He worked on a local farm from ages twelve to fifteen, harvesting beets and corn, but from an early age had a desire to sail the seas. He entered Army service at the age of twenty-one during the period of the Spanish–American War and served from 1898 to 1900.
After his brief stint with the Army, Fried enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1900 in New York. His first naval assignment was with the historic USS Hartford, a 255-foot steam and sail-powered sloop of war, which had seen service in the Civil War. As a fledgling US Naval seaman, he began service swabbing the Hartford's decks, working the coalroom, and trimming sails.
During many of the summers from 1900–12, the Hartford took US Naval Academy midshipmen on a cruise to gain hands on experience with essential seafaring skills. During several of these cruises, Fried worked in the deck area where navigation was being taught. In his spare time, he began to study navigational formulas and was assisted by officers, until he had begun to grasp the fundamentals of the science of navigation. During five years of service aboard the Hartford from 1900–05, he progressed from ordinary seaman to coxswain, quartermaster, and finally chief quartermaster, with each position developing and refining what would become his remarkable navigation skills.
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