Engineers choose the damaged Liberty ship most likely to sail

The United States Maritime Service asks the volunteer crew to decide whether transferring from Augustus Thomas to William Sharon offers the faster repair. Thomas still has a large flooded engine-room breach that underwater welders may never close. Sharon has devastating topside and boiler damage, but its generators, switchboard, and most of the main engine remain dry or recoverable above nine feet of water. The second assistant engineer recognizes that rebuilding firebrick around the boilers will be difficult work for which his formal training provided no shipboard exercise. The crew nevertheless transfers because restoring those systems appears more achievable than saving Thomas. Salvage becomes a comparative decision about engineering difficulty and risk.