He had the ability to jump into a dangerous situation and avert tragedy. He stood down a German U-boat captain who was determined to torpedo his ship. At the outbreak of WWII, Manning was in command of the SS Washington with 1000 American passengers who had been stranded in Europe. In the early morning darkness, a German sub surfaced, blinking a warning that gave passengers and crew 10 minutes to abandon ship. Manning ordered all passengers into lifeboats. He then began a rapid fire of exchange with the sub. Manning’s messages kept the Nazi skipper busy translating instead of calculating torpedo trajectories. The end came as the sun rose above the horizon. The sub skipper recognized the Washington as a neutral vessel. Realizing his mistake, he flashed an apology to Manning and the Washington resumed course for Belfast, Ireland. (Click for crewmember eyewitness account)

   In 1929, his seamanship and daring were front-page news. Manning was 31 years old and Chief Officer of the old liner " America" when he received a distress call from the Florida, a sinking Italian cargo ship. The gale lashed Atlantic seas prevented a ship to ship rescue. He volunteered to take a lifeboat and crew over to the Florida. They battled the wind and waves for over an hour, reaching the ship just in time to rescue 32 men from the sinking ship. He returned to a heroes welcome. New York City gave him a ticker tape parade and the keys to the city. For several days he was a celebrity, being interviewed and attending public relations receptions and testimonial dinners. His life at sea had not prepared him for fame and his celebrity status was short lived. He was stopped for speeding and roundly criticized in the press when the City tried to fix the ticket. His relationship with the press deteriorated when he threw a drunken reporter out of his office. He was roundly criticized when he lent his name to a cigarette endorsement. Reflecting on his moments of fame and fall from grace, Manning commented, " My life wasn’t my own, it dawned on me that I was being shown around to amuse people and I didn’t like it". He was glad to return to sea.

As captain of the ship, he lived in a world he had more control of and this made him feel more comfortable at sea. "Manning is a perfectionist", a friend once said, " and his passion in life is to run a perfect ship". Perfection was required to deal with the one element over which he no control, the ever-present dangers of the sea. " It should be borne in mind", he declared, " that the sea is relentless. Its dangers are present on Saturday and Sunday as well as any other time. You have to make it just a little hard, you have to weed out the men. The time will come when you are going to suffer at sea, whether you are a captain or a mess boy". He took his responsibilities seriously. The captain was the master of the ship come hell, storms, or maritime unions. To the crew he was viewed as fair, but was in no sense popular. His management style did not always sit well with the unions, but he did not care. He cared little for public opinion in general. Manning did what he thought was right, without regard to popularity. To passengers he was civil, but not outgoing. He was religious, and neither drank nor smoked. He also lacked a capacity for small talk, which made social occasions stiff and formal affairs. However, most passengers admired his sincerity and competence." You don’t always get the glad had when you sail with Manning," a friend of his once summed it up, " but you feel damned safe".

Safety and speed were discussed for the first run of the United Sates. At a meeting In Manning’s cabin on the America in 1951, Gibbs warned against operating the ship at high speed for the first few voyages. In a memo summarizing the meeting, he said all were in agreement. " I warned them that in my opinion no attempt to operate the ship at high speed should be made until they had several crossings at mid-speed and the crew had been thoroughly broken in". When the time did come for a record he added, " Under no circumstances should the record be beat by very much". On the maiden voyage of the United States, Manning’s speed strategy was the direct opposite. He pushed the ship’s speed faster each day including speeding at night into a fog bank that reduced visibility to zero. This decision drew some isolated criticism. In the Finish shipping journal Suomen Merenkulku denounced Manning in an editorial. They called his decision to speed up into the fog bank " irresponsible", comparing him to captain Smith of the Titanic for refusing to slow down as he entered an Iceberg field. "Radar does not nullify the rules of navigation, which order that in a fog all vessels shall proceed at moderate speed."

Unlike Smith, Captain Manning was never urged by the owners to compromise speed for safety. Even if he had been, Manning would have been the first to tell them where to get off. He was an independent thinker who had no reservations about speaking his mind on any subject, especially one he felt strongly about such as safety. As captain the final decision was his and he believed that the circumstance did not require a reduction in speed.

Gale force winds and rough seas hit the ship as it approached the finish line off the coast of England. Manning did not let up. He knew his ship had the reserve power to overcome adversity as it headed into the final stretch. The United States let out a jubilant roar as it shot past the finish line. Commodore Manning and his ship had made history crossing the finish line in 3 days 10 hours and 40 minutes, beating the Queen Mary’s fourteen year old record by a decisive 10 hours 2 minutes.

At 4:29 AM on July 14,1952, the United States passed Ambrose Lightship, completing the final leg of the race in 3 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes, at an average speed of 34.51 knots. William Francis Gibbs noted that the ship had made the round trip- a total of 5,844 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots (53,329 tons of ship had traveled at an average of 40.8 mph!). They broke out the champagne, and jubilant passengers and celebrated. Laura Dunn was a witness to that historic moment. "I was on board when She broke the record on her maiden voyage. In fact I was dancing to Meyer Davis orchestra, in the early morning with Margaret Truman and a bunch of newspaper reporters. When we did a conga line up to the bridge the Commodore was not too pleased with me. My father was President of the U.S. Lines was also on board and I had known the Commodore, Harry Manning for a long time. It was one of the most exciting times in my life."

References: "The Captain they couldn’t blow down". Dempsey & Herr. Saturday Evening Post. Feb 28 1948. The Big Ship. Frank O Braynard. Published by The Mariners Museum. New York Times 7/6/52