Thriller on the Philadelphia Waterfront
Apprentice Jimmy McKee had seen a painter burnt to death and a rigger crushed by a propeller at the shipyard before he turned twenty-one. He had yet to learn there were more sinister ways to die on the waterfront … ways employed by insidious men motivated by greed and power.
Jimmy finds purpose as a welder at the Philadelphia Navy Yard constructing boilers that power aircraft carriers at a time when the Navy mandates using a robotic welding process that guarantees to save money at the expense of shipyard jobs. But when the robotic welds fail during sea trials on the USS Saratoga, an influential Navy admiral blames the leaking boilers on human error and orders a tiger team of welders and boilermakers to make repairs at the ship’s homeport in Florida. Just as the team is set to finish, four men are killed in a horrific accident.
Jimmy later discovers that one of the dead men had information that proved the robotic welding process was scientifically flawed and begins to look into Maestro Fusion, the company who pioneered the process, and uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the highest echelons of the Navy.
“All the good guys are dead.”
Jimmy McKee
“I know you can take care of yourself, Jimmy, but these people are powerful, and ruthless. Be careful.”
Jackie Reddi
“I am truth.”
the homeless man
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Contact: jimbrennansr.author@gmail.com
The Story Begins
Jimmy McKee folded over a handrail, heaving hot air and drool into a deep pit. His stomach churned from the stench of a blackish-yellow goo oozing around human bone. A boilermaker stood next to him, sobbing as smoldering remains were lifted from an escape trunk on the USS Belknap. What had been a nineteen-year-old painter less than fifteen minutes ago was a lifeless heap inside a metal bucket normally used to haul scrap, rusted valves, and trash.
Based on true events that led to the closure of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in 1995.
By Jim Brennan
Philly native, worked the Delaware River waterfront for more than twenty years.
Contact: jimbrennansr.author@gmail.com
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Once A Welder 