Film Overview

This film tells the story of Jim Manzolillo, who sold papers as a boy, narrowly missed death when twice torpedoed as a Merchant Mariner in WWII, and ended up owning the largest private shipyard in Mexico. After selling the shipyard, Jim moved to Houston, but missed the ocean, and so took ninety-five cruises, seven times around the world. He collected ship models during his travels until he had no more room for them. He then started the Houston Maritime Museum, one of Houston’s little treasures.

The 58-minute film uses Jim’s narrative, the museum’s models, and archived photos and sounds to bring to life nautical history, such as the Liberty Ship’s U-boat war in WWII, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the nautical adventures of Joshua Slocum, the first man to circumnavigate the world solo. This film is in the tradition of historical documentaries such as Ken Burn’s, “The War” and is a supplement to it.

As a boy, Jim built and sailed homemade rafts on a river near his home. Even then, he modified the rafts to perform better and realized he wanted to be a marine engineer. The editor of the newspaper he sold noticed his abilities and secured him a scholarship to a college with a marine engineering program.

After obtaining his marine engineering degree, Jim shipped out on oil tankers and joined the convoys of Liberty ships that sailed the oceans during WWII. These vessels were under constant threat of attack by U-boats. Jim’s ship was torpedoed but, by luck, his raft was spotted by a U-boat-hunting airplane. Jim was rescued and continued in the Merchant Marine until the end of the war.

After the war, Jim began his own business designing ships. His designs were so good that his customers advised him to obtain a shipyard and build his own vessels. He ended up owning the largest privately- owned shipyard in Mexico and built hundreds of ships for thirty different countries. The ships included the first commercial copper-hulled vessels.

After selling the shipyard and “retiring,” Jim came to Houston. He began cruising and collected so many ship models in ports of call that he ran out of room, even after renting a second condo to store them. He figured that Houston, one of the largest ports in the USA, needed a nautical museum, so he bought a house and started the Houston Maritime Museum. The museum contains models that represent the whole history of sailing and many of the most exciting historical events relating to the sea.