Ghost Port

Boston's old, famed harbor lies closer to the Atlantic convoy routes than any U.S. shipping center, 200 miles nearer to Europe than any other big U.S. seaport. Boston Harbor is deep. Railheads are at water's edge. There are plenty of piers, cranes, warehouses for handling cargoes; plenty of trained labor. But last week, while other Atlantic ports were chockablock with war supplies, Boston docks and warehouses were empty.* The nation's handiest harbor on the Eastern Seaboard was a ghost port.

Explanations crusted the situation like barnacles on a foul bottom. The past...

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