No. 18
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
AUTUMN 1980
SEA HISTORY No. 18
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE WORLD SHIP TRUST
SEA HISTORY is the journal of the National Maritime Historical Society, an educational, tax-exempt membership organization devoted to furthering the understanding of our maritime heritage. Copyright © 1980 by the National Maritime Historical Society.
8 ABOARD THE EAGLE, William E . Burgess, Jr.
10 LETTERS
MEMBERSHIP is invited and should be sent to the Brooklyn office: Sponsor, $1,000; Patron, $100; Family, $20; Regular , $15; Student or Retired, $7 .50.
14 EDITOR'S LOG
OFFICERS & TRUSTEES are Chairman: Karl Kortum; Vice Chairman: F. Briggs Dalzell; President: Peter Stanford; Secretary: Alan G. Choate; Trustees: Norman J. Brouwer, John Bunker, Alan G. Choate, F. Briggs Dalzell, Harold D. Huycke, Barbara Johnson , James F. Kirk, Karl Kortum , Edward J. Pierson, Kenneth D. Reynard, Walter F. Schlech, Jr., Howard Slotnick, Peter Stanford, John N. Thurman, Barclay H. Warburton IJI, John M. Will, Alen York . President Emeritus: Alan D. Hutchinson . ADVISORS: Chairman: Frank 0. Braynard; Oswald L. Brett, George Campbell, Robert Carl, Frank G . G. Carr, Harry Dring, Joseph L. Farr, Timothy G . Foote, Richard GooldAdams, Robert G. Herbert, Melvin H . Jackson, R. C. Jefferson, Irving M. Johnson, John Kemble, Clifford Lord, Conrad Milster, William G. Muller, John Noble, Capt. David E. Perkins, USCG (ret.), Ralph L. Snow, John Stobart, Albert Swanson, Peter Throckmorton, Curator-at-Large, Alan Villiers, Shannon Wall, Robert A. Weinstein, Thomas Wells, AICH, Charles Wittholz. SHIP TRUST COMMITTEE: International Chairman, Frank Carr; Chairman, Peter Stanford; George Bass; Norman Brouwer; Karl Kortum; Richard Rath ; Barclay H. Warburton, IJI; Senior Advisor, Irving M. Johnson. SEA HISTORY STAFF: Editor, Peter Stanford; Managing Editor, Norma Stanford; Associate Editors, Norman J . Brouwer, Francis J . Duffy, Michael Gillen, Ray Heitzmann, Ted Miles, Naomi Person, Albert Swanson; Advertising & Circulation Director, Charles E.A. Mu ldaur; Accounting, Jo Meisner; Membership, Marie Lore.
SHIP TRUST: AN INTERIM REPORT 15 DAY'S RUN: REPORT ON TALL SHIPS 1980 BY THE AMERICAN SAIL TRAINING ASSOCIAlJON
20 SAIL TRAINING: WILDLIFE & WINDJAMMERS, Naomi Person NO MORE FREE RIDES, Peter Vanadia 24 STORMIE SEAS, Peter Throckmorton
26 CORONET, Timothy Murray 32 A SEAMAN REMEMBERS SHANGHAI, K. E. Hillmar 36 HARRY LUNDEBERG, Karl Kortum
41 COLD SPRING HARBOR WHALING, Robert D . Farwell 42 SHIP NOTES
45 TRADE WINDS, Michael Gillen 48 BOOKS 57 ART: A CAPE HORN ODYSSEY, Thomas Wells , AICH
The National Maritime Historical Society is saving America's seafaring heritage. Join us. We are making America's seafaring past a our nation' s seafaring legacy? living heritage. The National Maritime Membership in the National Maritime Historical Society discovers and Historical Society costs only $15 a year. You'll receive Sea History , restores the few remaining ships C"A HlS~ORY and seagoing artifacts-a nd helps L a fascinating magazine filled keep them in trust for future with articles of seafaring and generations. historical lore. You 'II also be And the Society helps get eligible for discounts on books, young people to sea to keep ali ve prints and other items. the spirit of adventure, the disciHelp save our seafaring pline and sk ills it took to sail the heritage. Join the National magnificent vessels from our past. Maritime Historical Society Won't you join us to keep alive today! s"
y
TO: Natio na l Maritime Historical Society, 2 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201
YES COVER: Thomas Wells went to sea at age 19 to learn to paint what he loved-ships and the sea. At 21 he shipped aboard Passat for a passage round the Horn. See his story and his art, page 57 . Cover painting, the Pamir by Thomas Wells, AICH .
FALL 1980
CONTENTS
OFFICE: 2 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY 11201. Telephone: 212-858-1348.
CONTRIBUTIONS may be made for any recognized project. Make out checks "NMHSShip Trust," indicating on the check the project to which you wish support to be directed.
ISSN 0 146-9312
I want to help. I understand that my contribution goes to forward the work of the Society ' and that I'll be kept informed by receiving SEA HISTORY quarterly" Enclosed is: D $15 Regular
0 $100 Patron
0 $1,000Sponsor
D $7.SOStudent/ Retired
~~~~~~~~~~C-on-tn-.b-utio-ns_t_ oNM ~ H S_a_re_t_ ax_d_ ~-uc-lible. - Z IP~~~~~~~-
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
East Coast Inland This Autumn, relax and unwind for 14 carefree and fascinating days cruising the Intracoastal Waterway from Maryland to Georgia. On November 22, the MN Independence, America's newest and largest coastal cruise ship, will depart from Annapolis, Maryland for its annual East Coast Inland Passage Cruise. The 14 day cruise will terminate in Savannah, Georgia on December 6. The East Coast Inland Passage Cruise is specially scheduled for the perfect time of year when the weather is comfortable and the area's foliage is at its peak. The fiery reds, oranges and yellows of the changing leaves create an Autumn color extravaganza. Ports of call for the cruise are Oxford, Md.; Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg, Va.; Great Bridge, Va.; Belhaven, Morehead City and Wrightsville
Beach, NC; Bucksport, Charleston and Hilton Head Island, SC; and Savannah, Ga. While in port, there's ample time for shopping, sightseeing or just plain daydreaming. Underway, the breathtaking and everchanging scenery is just a stone's throw from the ship. You can enjoy the outside from the air conditioned comfort of the glassenclosed Nantucket Lounge. The Independence has 48 large, comfortable, outside staterooms, each with private bath, regular beds, and large, opening picture window. The food is out of this world, the service superb, and the atmosphere informal. Prices for the 14 day cruise begin at $1176.00 per person. For reservations and information, send in the coupon, or call toll-free 1-800-243-6755. In Connecticut call 345-8551 collect.
Passage Cruises American Cruise Lines 1 Marine Park, Haddam, Conn. 06438 Toll free: 800-243-6755 In Conn.: 203-345-8551
AUTUMN ON THE CHESAPEAKE Spend seven days in the Chesapeake Bay aboard the Independence or American Eagle. The Autumn weather is perfect for cruising, the scenery is spectacular, and the atmosphere relaxing. Ports of call are Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg, Va. , Solomons Island, St. Michaels, Crisfield, and Oxford, Md. Chesapeake Bay cruises sail Oct. 25 and Nov. 1 aboard the Independence; Oct. 12 and 19 aboard the American Eagle. From $588 per person.
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American Cruise Lines
1 Marine Park, Haddam, Conn. 06438
I Please send me complete information. I :
NAME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
I ADDRES S_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ I _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ZIP_ _ __ I I OR CALL TOLL FREE: 800-243-6755 IL ________________________ In Connecticut: 203-345-8551 SH 68 _
IN THE AMERICA'S CUP THERE IS NO SECOND. IN CHAMPIONSHIP TIMEKEEPING, ROLEX HAS NO PEER. Choice of Cup defenders, the Rolex Submariner-Date in stainless steel with matching Fliplock bracelet is a self-winding superlative chronometer, pressure-proof down to 660 feet in its impregnable Oyster case.
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RO LEX Wri te for brochu re. Ro lex Watch, U.SA, Inc., Rolex Buil ding, 665 Fifth Ave nue, New York, NY 10022. World headquarters in Geneva. Other offices in Toronto and major cities around the wo rl d.
NEW RELEASES BY PAUL
McGEHEE, A.S.M.A.
BALTIMORE-The Night Boat to Norfolk Leaving the Busy Inner Harbor in 1935. A Limited Edition of 950 Signed and Numbered Prints $100 each (with Remarque $ 150). 30 "x 48" original $ 12,000.
Art Recollections, Inc., is proud to present six new limited-edition prints by the talented artist, PAUL McGEHEE, A.S.M.A. Of the eleven prints now available, subject matters include 19th century steamboat scenes; oyster boats; four-masted schooner; Heidelberg, Germany waterfront. Send for FREE COLOR BROCHURE
Art Recollections, Inc. 704 North Glebe Rd. Suite 212-SH Arlington, Va. 22203 Tel: (703) 528-5040 Standard Dealer Discounts Apply. © 1980 by Paul McGehee
STORMY PASSAGE- The American Ship T usitala Having Trouble Aloft 950 Signed and Numbered Prints $100 each (Remarqued $150). 30"x 40 " original $8,500.
The biggest call on McAllister
McAl 1•ISI er
The Stuyvesant, a 225,000 dwt tanker, built by Seatrain at their Brooklyn , N.Y shipyard.
McAllister Brothers, Towing and transportat ion. 17Inc. Battery Place. New York, N. Y. 10004. (212) 269-3200. Baltimore (301) 547-8678 •Norfolk (804) 627-3651 PhHadelphla (215) 922-6200. San J"3n (809) 724-2360
SEA HISTORY PRINTS The Young America This famous ship has become a symbol of the sail training effort of the Ship Trust in the United States. We are now pleased to offer a limited edition of 950 prints of the brigantine Young America by the gifted young artist Christopher Blossom, who sails in her crew. This painting, which appeared on the cover of SEA HISTORY #17, is beautifuly reproduced using six inks on 100% rag paper. Each print is numbered and signed by the artist, and the first 100 are also remarqued. Image size is 30" x 17 Yi". Paper size 23" x 35". Price: $75. Price remarqued $150. Through the generosity_of the artist, proceeds from the sale of this print will go to the Ship Trust to keep the Young America sailing.
The Brigantine Young America, by Christopher Blossom
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To: National Maritime Historical Society, 2 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 I have enclosed my check for 0 $75 for a signed and numbered print. 0 $150 for a signed, numbered and remarqued print. NAME
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ADDRESS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OCEANS APART FROM ORDINARY SCOTCH.
Sea Letter:
Aboard the US Coast Guard Bark Eagle at Sea, June 1980 By William E. Burgess, Jr.
"Think, these pictures are not 100 years old, but 100 days old, '' writes the author, a selj-sytled middle-aged insurance man and volunteer at the National Maritime Museum, San Francisco. "And from the decks of an American ship!"
"She is the lovely teacher of our young. "
8
"Ready on the fore! Ready on the main! Ready on the mizzen!" The officer of the deck yells smartly to the sail stations as he cons the bark Eagle off Boston, at the start of the Sail Training Association's Tall Ships Race to Norway. The Eagle will not complete the race, but is starting with the other ships after the celebration of Boston' s 350th anniversary in Op Sail 1980. Eagle will break off to slope south to St. John's in the Virgin Islands, on a 2,500-mile sail training cruise. Eagle ex-Horst Wessel is a 3-masted bark, built by the Germans in 1936 as a naval training ship. Allocated to the US as a war prize, she was sailed here by a Coast Guard crew in 1946, and has served since as a training ship for the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. I had heard of this splendid vessel for years, and had followed her career closely ever since I was a teenager growing up in New England. Aboard for our cruise are 147 Coast Guard cadets (IO percent of them women), 40 enlisted men, 13 officers, and 4 guests. As one of those guests, I am aboard to learn! I came aboard June 3, pushing through joyful crowds, estimated at 6 Yi million people, who came to the waterfront to see the Tall Ships. A mounted policeman asks who I am. I point to my ship and say, confidently: "Eagle-crew!" He waves me through. I dump my gear in a small stateroom abaft the officer's galley, on the starboard side under the mizzen shrouds, which I am to share with the ship's doctor. The next day, June 4 brings squalls, sun, and crowds of happy, proud people waving farewells. The sea sparkled, dense with a glut of boats and the Tall Ships going this way and that. At last, the start, at 2:45 PM. There is a robustious din as all vessels let loose with horns and whistles. To our port is Radich, to our starboard Fock with Guayas beyond her. Radich misses a tack in light airs-can't get her head around. Eagle sails by her, and takes the lead in the Tall Ships Race. We kept that lead. At 8 PM Fock was 1Yi miles astern, with Guayas behind her on the horizon. Radich was 1Y2 mile on port side, slightly astern, Creole to starboard, also slightly astern. Eagle forged ahead during the night and kept the lead until 8 AM next day, when we requested permission to leave the race. We had to begin our passage to St. Thomas. The Eagle offers the ultimate in group training. There are lO SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
Antonio Jacobsen
NANTUCKET - 1887 An exclusive offering of fine oil painting reproductions on heavy artist's canvas and in period gold leaf frames. We include a handpainced 22K gold leaf plaque with artist's name and daces on each piece. Gallery ow ners, dealers and collectors consider chese che finest reproductions available in the world - at decorative accessory prices. ANTONIO JACOBSEN SIDEWHEELERS (1850-1921) Shown :
NANTUCKET signed - lower righc dated - 1887 11 image - 14 x 22" frame - 18 Vi" x 26Vi" Not Show n : GAY HEAD signed - lo wer lefc dated - 1892
"Miami " Signed and Dated 1898
Oil on canvas
20' x 14'
Ex hib it ing in th e " Fa ll Antiqu es Show" Oct. 30-Nov. 2. Pa ssenge r Terminal Pier Hudson Ri ve r & W es t 55 th Street. NYC.
Smith Gallery 1045 Madison Avenue at 79th Street, New York, New York 10021 Tues.-Sat. 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p .m. (212) 929-3121
SEA HISTORY PRINTS
image - 14" x 22" frame - I 8Vi'' x 26 V:z" ISLAND HOME unsigned - undated image - 14" x 22" frame - 18Vi" x 26 Vi"
PRICE LIST Each Any pair Set of three
-
$155 $300 $445
Please enclose check, money order or charge card number. Full refund within 30 days if not totally pleased. AU orders sent Post Paid - U .P .S. (please use street address). Please allow 4 weeks delivery from receipt of order. Charge payments (VISA, MASTERCHARGE enclose card #and expiration date). Mass. Residents please add 5% sales tax .
Send for our color brochure"TheCollection" - a selected offering of museum . and collectors pieces of fine Marine Arc, Portraiture and Primitives. Please enclose $1.00, refundable with your order.
....
CANVASBA~TCOMPANY
The Barn 286 Main Street So. Yarmouth, Mass. 02664
617-394-;! 73
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
A collection of important harbor and river views during the heyday of the merchant sai ling ship by the renowned marine artist
JOHN STOBART PITTSBURGH IN 1900 (shown abo ve)• MAIDEN LANE, NEW YORK• WAYNE CITY LAND ING• VALLEHO WHARF, SAN FRANCISCO• START OF THE SANTA FE TRAIL
Published as signed, limited edition collector's prints, prices are $200 signed and $400 remarqued, except for " Start of the Santa Fe Trail" which is $300 signed, $600 remarqued . Other prints .a re al so available. All prices are subject· to change by availability and the dictates of the collector's market. Through the generosity of the arti st , half the cost of each print will go to benefit the work of the NMHS, and is therefore, tax-deductible. Thi s offer is available to NMHS members only. For more information please contact:
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Tel: 212-858-1348
55
Sportsman's Edge, Ltd A Gallery of Contemporary Sporting and Wildlife Art Original Paintings , Prints and Sculpture
Now showing: Paintings by Suzy Aalund, ASMA Watercolors by Willard Bond, ASMA Marine photos by Frank Klay And other marine and New England scenes Out of print books of the sea. Antique maps & charts.
TRADEWINDS GALLERY 15 W . Main St. (near the bridge)
Mystic, Conn. 06355 Open Tuesday thru Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM or by appointment (203) 536-0119
Fair Weather "Abner Coburn " by Sir Montague Dawson Framed size 26 Y, x 36Y,
Sportsman's Edge, Ltd 136 East 74th Street, New York, N .Y. 10021 Telephone (212) 249-5010 Monday-Saturday 10-6
OUT-OF-PRINT
BOOKS OF THE SEA Our Specialty Cata logs: $4 a year • Book Search Service • Co llecti ons Purchased
· CARAVAN-MARITIME BOOKS 8706-168th Place, Jamaica, NY 11432
MAINE Windjammer CRUISES 6 Care/ree Days!
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Enjoy the grandeur of the Coastal Islands aboard Mattie, Mercantile or Mistress. $295 in June & Sept. $325 in July & August For folder tel: 207-236-2938 or write: Capt . Les Bex, Box 617R CAMDEN, MAINE 04843
The very famous restaurant in Brooklyn. Brooklyn·s Landmark Seafood & Steak House 372 Fulton Street (nr. Sor o Hal l ). For r eservations--875-5181 (pa rk ing nearby) Open Daily. 11:30 A.M . to 9:00 P.M. Sat.4:00 to 11:00 P.M .. Sun . 3:00 to 9: 00 P.M . Major c red it c ard s. Privat e pa rty fac il ities.
Gage &lOllner."
10 19
BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK 29" x 21" 1000 Signed and Numbered $75 Winter 1980 One of the most famous battles of naval history- the Civil War clash between the MONITOR andMERRIMA CK - has been brought to life 117years after it took place through the skill and talent of marine artist Carl Evers. LIMITED EDITION PRINTS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH:
THE GREENWICH WORKSHOP GALLERY 2600 Post Road, Southport, CT 06490
203-255-4613
The Concepcion: "Vicarious Excitement" or Public Trust? Peter Earle's The Treasure of the Concepcion (reviewed in SH 17 :40) is a well researched and eminently readable history of the wreck of Nuestra Senora de la pura y limpia Concepcion, from her outfitting for her fatal voyage from Havana in the hurricane season of 1641 , to the efforts to recover her treasure through to the present day. The book is not just the story of a sunken Spanish treasure galleon; it deals with the interplay of events amongst Spanish, Dutch, French and English that ultimately led to the end of Spanish dominance in the Caribbean. Mr. Earle, however, must be taken to task for his last chapter, which glorifies the Work of Burt Webber and Seaquest Inc. on the Concepcion. ls representing them and other treasure hunters as' 'the last bastions of free enterprise in an increasingly bureaucratic America" the most enlightened view? I believe not. Archaeology is not even mentioned in this chapter. Should not the reader at least be made aware of the obvious: that the Concepcion is in actuality an archaeological site? Treasure ships, along with all early historic shipwrecks represent non-renewable pages of our cultural and historical past; therefore, they should be treated with care. Would Mr. Earle condone someone tearing out pages of a rare historic document to sell for personal profit? I do not think so. But hear how he reports the looting of the wreck: ''Treasure hunting would be transformed by Chicago finance into just another branch of big business, drawing on the risk capital of extremely rich men who knew that American law on tax losses would protect them from the normal penalties of a failure, and who would gain in return for their investment vicarious excitement, expense-paid vacations to the West Indies and a real possibility of great dividends." -Page 228. How can a historian say this without making some comment on the significance of scientific nautical archaeology? Surely he knows that invaluable ship construction data are obtainable from shipwrecks and considerable insightful information can be obtained from a thorough analysis and description of the recovered material that would help fill in the innumerable gaps that are present in all historic records. Will there ever be anything published on the material recovered from the Concepcion, except for a few photographs and cryptic description that might show up in an auction house bulletin? Such has been the case with most if not all of the Spanish shipwrecks salvaged in Florida, such as the ships of the 1715 and 1733 Fleets, which SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
were also excavated by treasure hunters. Let's hope we get at least a detailed description of recovered artifacts from the looters of the Concepcion. Historicall y significant shipwrecks should not be used to make rich men richer or even poor men rich . They should be treated as a public trust and be investigated only by professional archaeologists who will be responsible for scientifically excavating the wreck site, keeping detailed records, analyzing the artifacts, seeing that the artifacts undergo proper conservation, publishing the results in a scholarly report and returning the material in toto to the proper authorities. Only in this way can sites like the Concepcion contribute new data to enhance the story gleaned from existing historic records. The symbiotic relationship between history and archaeology exists-and must be defended against such assaults as that made on the Concepcion. D. L. HAMILTON Conservator in Nautical Archaeology Texas A&M University
May Falls of Clyde Find Safe Haven, Indeed! We appreciate your concern with the Falls of Clyde and any assistance or exposure your organization can provide in your effort to preserve our maritime heritage. We have also been in touch with Senators Inouye and Matsunaga and we understand they are exploring the possibility of legislation to designate the vessel as an "affiliated area" to the National Park Service. Such designation would enable appropriation of Federal funds for a specific period. Meanwhile I have been informed by the present owner, the Bishop Museum, that an anonymous trustee of the Museum has offered to cover any operating deficit for six months. This unexpected generosity has prompted the Museum to continue operations for a full year from the previously announced June 30, 1980 closing date. We are of course pleased with this temporary reprieve and continue to remain hopeful that the Falls of Clyde will permanently find safe haven in our islands. GEORGE R. ARIYOSHI Governor State of Hawaii
We thank Governor Ariyoshi. Letters on the Falls of Clyde sent to NMHS will help demonstrate public interest to the Park Service. -ED.
Whistle While You Work The horns of ships and locomotives don't have the character the old steam whistles did. The sound of steam whistles was often described as melodious, harmonious, musical, deep-throated, sonorous. I collect old whistles, and blow them with compressed air. They echo over Lake Erie and the countryside for miles around, reminding people there once was a better sound in the air. HARRY D. BARRY Ripley, New York
NMHs advisor Conrad Milster perfarms the same civilizing function with a grand collection of steam whistles at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, each New Year's Eve. (SH 10:29). -ED.
Your Society as Ancestral Home No individual, no group, no staff of people treated the schooner William H. A /bury with more grace and assistance than your crew at the Society's headquarters in Brooklyn. We felt right at home. We feel your place is our home, seemingly the ancestral home of all the schooners that are still trying to make a living. Capt. JOSEPH A. MAGGIO Schooner William H. Albury Coconut Grove, Florida Welcome Home, Independence! The Oceanic Independence has returned to Hawaii from the Far East. As the Independence, she was one of the American Export Lines passenger ships operating out of New York to the Mediterranean. She will now cruise from the West Coast to Hawaii under the American flag again. Our American merchant marine really needs her! I am particularly happy, because I was associated with her many years, and watched her being built at Quincy, Massachusetts. JOSEPH L. FARR Nelson, British Columbia
.t .t .t II
View of the Brooklyn Division taken just before the turn of the century
A Century of Shipyard Service to the Port of New York It all started back in 1835 with Phoenix Foundry in Lower Manhattan, then the Delamater Iron Works, which had an active role in the construction of the Civil War Monitor. In 1889, the business moved to Erie Basin as Handren & Robins, later becoming the John N. Robins Co. and eventually, in 1916, Todd Shipyards Corporation was born. Today Todd is the largest independent shipbuilding and ship repair company in the nation, with seven shipyards located in Brooklyn, Galveston, Houston, New Orleans, San
Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Through the years thousands of ships have been repaired at the Erie Basin shipyard, now known as Todd's Brooklyn Division. The outstanding reputation built up over the many decades, through peace and war, has not diminished. Todd Brooklyn stands ready today to service and repair ships of almost any size with expertise and speed. For a job well done you can count on Todd. It's good business to deal with a wellestablished firm.
TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION Brooklyn Division Foot of Dwight Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11231 Telephone: (212) 625-6820 Executive offices: One State Street Plaza, New York, N.Y.
If its been shipped, we've handled it ...
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stevedores and marine terminal operators 17 BATTERY PLACE, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10004 ( 212) 269-2200 · Cable: INTOSTEVE NYK
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Editor's Log
An Open Letter THE LETTER
We face a crisis in the seafaring heritage of the United States. Emergency support is needed for imperilled ships: • The last of our Western Ocean packets, the Charles Cooper, is in critical condition in the Falkland Islands. Emergency stabilization work is needed to keep her whole so she may come home one day to South Street. The bow of the last American clipper Snow Squall is threatened with imminent destruction in the Falklands. Your Society plans an expedition this winter to rescue these imperilled monuments of our national experience at sea. • High costs and lack of assured income threaten the sailing of ships which keep alive the traditions of our seafaring by taking young people to sea. The brigantine Young America was helped by our efforts to continue in sail training this summer; but we failed in the case of the brig Unicorn, which has now been lost to this service; and the Gaze/a Primeiro, having sailed across the Atlantic and up and down our coast, is now idled in Philadelphia, her future uncertain. • On the seabed and underwater in lakes and rivers, lie priceless ships going back to the origins of man's navigation. Each year such historic wrecks, time capsules of the culture they sailed in, are looted for publicity or booty and lost, not only to our generation, but to future and perhaps more caring generations. • New ships and artifacts are discovered each year as foundations for new buildings are dug on our changing waterfronts. Procedures and funds must be generated for speedy response while the bulldozers are held at bay. Not everyone is prepared to commit funds as Patrick Mahoney did in saving an 8-foot section of the famous Niantic when he uncovered her in San Francisco. We need citizen initiative and governmental cooperation in a Ship Trust program to tackle the opportunities and problems resolutely. And we need to move forward from response to crisis to more stable and progressive development. The Maritime Heritage Fund of 1979 was adopted at our initiative to help meet the emergency needs of historic ships. Much of the money that was allocated to historic ships must still be matched by private contribution. The Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'Brien in San Francisco made her match through a nationwide campaign Jed by Crowley Maritime Corporation. The Moody Foundation provided a match for funds allocated to the Elissa in Galveston, with some small assistance from us (see SH 15). In the absenceofa major cooperative campaign, other efforts are not on schedule to complete funding as required by the end of 1980. The Wawona in Seattle, the Bowdoin in Maine need help. As of this spring, the Wavertree in New York had only 5% of her required $179,000 match; with our help she now has over 25%, and we are working under our Ship Trust program to see this through to completion. The help we bring is truly yours. The magic that saves historic ships and breathes life into them comes from our members' support, backed by gifts from foundations, corporations, individuals, maritime associations and labor unions. We mean to do more than meet emergency needs and respond to crises. We mean to build a vigorous, greatly expanded, aware and informed constituency for the seafaring heritage. ''Saving this ship,'' said Alan Villiers, standing on Wavertree 's decks one day, "is hard work. As hard in its way as it was to sail round Cape Horn." But Alan has also said of the Wavertree and her kind: "They were challenging, beautiful, noble ships in whose service there were tremendous compensations and satisfactions." To share in that hard work and those tremendous satisfactions we.invite our friends and the world . PS 14
The following letter was delivered to the Maritime Committee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation at their meeting in August. August8, 1980 TO THE MARITIME COMMITTEE, NATIONAL TRUST:
We ask your support for the Ship Trust program of the National Maritime Historical Society. Under this program, first proposed to function cooperatively with the programs of the National Trust, considerable results have already been achieved, including the adoption of the Maritime Heritage Fund of 1979. We ask particularly that $10,000 voted by you from Operation Sail '76 funds be released now to the Schooner Ernestina Commission in Massachusetts. We ask that you give full recognition to Ship Trust efforts to enlist citizen interest in the seafaring heritage, and to raise funds to advance worthy projects serving that heritage. We ask your support and recognition of the work of the American Sail Training Association, and we propose to you that the proceeds of Operation Sail-Boston 1980 be turned over to the Association to support its mission in keeping the Tall Ships sailing and in getting young Americans to sea. We ask your support for the existing role and future development of the National Maritime Museum, San Francisco, as a center of sea learning and maritime preservation vitally needed in this country. We would welcome affirmative action by resolution of the Committee on these matters. NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Reports on some of the items mentioned in this letter follow.
THE MARITIME HERITAGE FUND OF 1979 From the late '60s through the early '70s, your Society met with the National Trust to urge formation of a Ship Trust Division. The object was to focus support on maritime preservation, and to open channels for government funding which flows to landmark buildings but not to ships. The object was not achieved, and in 1974 Senator Kennedy, Congressman John M. Murphy (NY) and others introduced a bill to set up an independent Ship Trust at our request. Within days, the National Trust moved to kill this bill, and proposed a Maritime Preservation Division. We supported this. But it soon became apparent, as noted in our First Ship Trust Report, that more was needed . Important ships were lost that could have been saved with proper focus of government and citizen aid, while the maritime share of historic preservation grants remained at less than only 0.2 OJo of the national total. We discussed these problems with the National Trust but made no public protest until the autumn of 1977 when the last Hudson River paddlewheel steamer Alexander Hamilton was lost, through failure of promised aid. This we protested; and we set up a Ship.Trust Committee to study the problems. Our protest produced acrimonious reaction by the National Trust; an effort was made to have the Ship Trust Committee disband, and to order the president of the National Maritime Historical Society to retract his protest or resign. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Senator Kennedy, Congressman Murphy and others reacted differently. The Society's Ship Trust Committee was invited to Washington to consider the problems. After numerous meetings, an emergency appropriation of $5 million for the preservation of threatened historic ships was agreed upon. We informed the National Trust of this measure, but they considered it "unrealistic," and opposed the measure, refusing to attend any meetings on it. When the $5 million Maritime Heritage Fund was adopted, in SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
September 1978, it produced confusion in the Interior Depart.. ment. Congressional leaders were asked its intent, and referred Interior officials to us. We met with these officials and explained the plan, which in brief was to announce the Fund with Congressional leaders, ourselves, and others (including the National Trust) in October, so that a winter's campaigning to raise $5 million is matching funds could be effectively launched. We also set forth procedural changes to make the program work for such threatened properties as the Great Lake schooner Alvin Clark, which lacked effective sponsorship. These proposals were rejected, and Interior proceeded to administer the Fund with the National Trust. No early or significant announcement was made; the program reached the field in March 1979, with closing date for applications less than 90 days away. None of the procedural changes we asked for were made. As a result, about half the Fund was disbursed to lighthouses, canal locks and other restorations of non-threatened properties which could have been funded under other programs; to transient educational programs not linked to any museum or ship; and to minor projects not distinguished from many others except that they got their hands out in time. This program, conceived as an annual effort appropriately bringing the maritime share of historic preservation grants from 0.2% to 10% of the Federal preservation budget, was not renewed for 1980. The NMHS Ship Trust Committee is now working to raise matching funds for ships included in the 1979 program, and to fund ship projects not included under the program .
Ernestina, ex-Effie M. Morrissey will sail on a new bottom when she returns from Cape Verde to the US.
THE ERNESTINA "The people of Cape Verde appreciate the tools we sent," reports Ed Andrade of Friends of Ernestina, fresh from a Jtily 15 visit to the shipyard where Ernestina is being rebuilt. "They appreciate master shipwright Franz Meier, who was paid with funds raised in the US. But to stop now would be terrible. This is a very poor country, and lack of support is difficult to explain when you are there. It is also difficult to explain to the Cape Yerdean community in the US, who have held dances and fairs to benefit the ship, and who are contributing all they can." Photos, by Mr. Andrade, show the rebirth of the famous old schooner, but the feeling of continuity is very strong. As the new wood goes in, Cape Yerdeans say: "She's the same old Ernestina!" NOTE: Of all the money disbursed by the National Trust from Operation Sail '76 funds, only one grant has been held up: $10,000 allocated to Ernestina. Other Federal funds totalling $30,000 have meantime been gained by Ship Trust efforts, and $40,000 has been pledged by her proposed home port, New Bedford.
THE AMERICAN SAIL TRAINING ASSOCIATION
Augusto Duarte, superintendant of the shipyard in Mindelo, inspects new frames and knees inside the hull. Funds are sought to complete deck and rig this winter, so the schooner can be sailed home next spring.
From a Massachusetts News Column " .... The only substance lacking was that the Tall Ships themselves did not share in the vast amounts of revenue generated by OpSail '80. " ... What could have more substance than a program which in the course of a few weeks can give young men and women insights into themselves which help shape the remainder of their lives? "Several thousand young people will have had that experience by the time the sail training schedule is completed late this summer. Without the continuing dedication of a small group to those goals, there would have been no Tall Ships to honor Dame Boston this year. Information on becoming a member of ASTA is available by writing the American Sail Training Association, Eisenhower House, Fort Adams State Park, Newport RI 02840." ROBERT A. HASTINGS The Evening Item, Lynn, Massachusetts
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
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"a glittering new waterside pavilion." BEN A. FRANKLIN THE NEW YORK TIMES
"a remarkable feat, as significant to the recovery of our cities as the invention of the pedestrian mall ... a triumph." WOLF VON ECKARDT
THE WASHINGTON POST
"they have taken what once was a sewer and ringed it with a poem." MICHAEL OLESKER
BALTIMORE MORNING SUN
"Baltimore gets a face-lift. We've seen it happen in a lot of other cities ... in which old run-down property in the middle of town is transformed into happy and productive space which pleases the citizens and attracts the tourists. Today Baltimore joined the ranks." JOHN CHANCELLOR
NBC NEWS
"the most vigorous manifestation thus far of downtown Baltimore's extraordinary renaissance." EDITORW..
THE WASHINGTON STAR
"an urban revitalization showpiece." MARY ELLEN HA5KETT
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
1HE ROUSE COMPANY Colwnbia, Maryland
DAY'S RUN
Report of the American Sail Training Association
INTERNATIONAL SAIL TRAINING RACES 1980 With the arrival of the last racer participating in the Transatlantic Race from Boston to Kristiansand, Norway, the Tall Ships-1980 events of the American Sail Training Association passed into history. We are pleased to render our report. BARCLAY H. WARBURTON, III President DANIEL ESCALERA Race Director Race 1: Cartagena, Colombia to Norfolk, Virginia
The trade winds had been blowing strong and steady from the NNE at 20 knots in Cartagena, but on the eve of the start a storm front moved in from the west and the normal weather pattern changed . When the three participating square riggers approached the starting line on May 6, the wind was already failing. Guayas, from Ecuador, favoring the leeward end of the line, crossed two minutes after the gun followed by Spains Juan Sebastian de Elcano. Colombia's Georgia, like a good host crossed last, 33 minutes after the signal, and was engulfed by Class B vessels. Captain Gustovo Angel of Gloria, a meterologist by training, correctly diagNorjollk's Parade of Sail May 19; Spain's Elcano looms over the American brig Unicorn and at right the brigantine Young America.
nosed the weather and short tacked his ship up the coast of Colombia through the first night of racing. The wind veered to the east and Gloria, well to the east of the rhumb line, worked up to head directly for the Windward Passage. Guayas and Elcano, which had headed southwest, hardened up and made the best possible northerly course. Three days later saw a monumental decision situation for each vessel. Gloria had sailed smartly through the Windward Passage, and it appeared as if the race was in the bag. She worked unimpeded toward the Crooked Island Passage, but then lay becalmed for two days. Elcano was faced with a decision as to which course to take at the west end of Jamaica; whether to tack to the southeast and virtually point her bow back to Cartagena, or to continue up to the west of Jamaica, trusting that the wind would return to the normal pattern soon. She opted to stand on until she could tack into the strait between Jamaica and Cuba. In this manner when the wind shifted back to the north, Elcano would be in perfect position to reach through the passage. Instead she spent the next two days bucking a continuing easterly wind, which even veered deeper to the southeast, making only 15 miles of forward progress in each of two successive days. Measuring distance to go and time remaining, she was forced to quit the race and motor on to Norfolk. Guayas,
clawing up the east coast of Jamaica, took advantage of a slight southeast shift and shot through the Windward Passage on the tail of a strong breeze, giving rise to a very intense contest between Guayas and Gloria, both of which were now within sight of each other. For the next four days the lead was to change daily and when the time limit finally expired, Guayas was 24 miles ahead. Gloria displaced her on corrected time to win the race. Class B was also a tight contest. Chile's Blanca Estela took an early lead, with England's Sabre, sailed by the Royal Artillery, giving her a good run for her money until she had to quit to get an ill crew member to hospital in Nassau. Blanca Estela, the Argentine Coast Guard Esperanza and the Argentine Navy Fortuna II finished within eight hours of each other-a close finish to a long race! Class A I. Gloria 2. Guayas Elcano
Actual Time Corrected Time days/ hrs/ min / sec days/ hrs/ min/ sec 13/ 09/ 00/ 00* 9/ 00/ 00/ 00 13/ 09/ 00/ 00* 9/ 10/26/ 00 13/ 09/ 00/ 00 Retired
Class B I. B. Estela
11 / 01 /22/ 00 9/ 17/28/ 11 11 / 06/ 10/ IO 10/ 06/ 26/ 55 2. Fortuna II 10/ 16/ 19/ 41 3. Esperanza 11 / 10/ 19/ 41 4. Chaser 12/ 08/2 1/ 00 11 I 12/ 03/ 00 Retired 13/ 09/ 00/ 00 Sabre OVERALL WINNER: Gloria *Neither ship finish ed within 13d 9h time limit.
A city turns out to celebrate, as the great Elcano slips by against the towers of Boston; a winning photograph in a contest sponsored by the USS Constitution Museum and the Boston Herald American. Photo by Vic DiGravio, age 14.
participated in a Cruise-in-Company with crew interchange. This is a tradition in the Sail Training Races: ships exchange part of their cadets or trainees wit h another ship and sail along together. Life-long friendships have been made between young people of various nations when they overcome language barriers and the different ways aboard a strange ship, and learn to live, work and sail together. Race 3: Boston to Kristiansand, Norway Flukey winds caused agonizing moments for the Race Committee, who had to decide whether to try to send sq uareriggers out of Boston in the face of a light easterly on June 4, or to postpone for 24 hours and incur the wrath of 3,000 spectator craft and 25 Coast Guard patrol vessels. Class A fin ally went off at 4 PM, crossing the line close-hauled on the port tack with the wind holding briefly steady in the east. Christian Radich was over first, followed by Eagle, Gorch Fack, Creole, and Danmark. All ships held on a southeasterly course, except Danmark who shortly wore ship and headed north . Class B went off at 4:30 with Sabre taking the start followed by Blanca Estela,
Chaser, Astral, Zenobe Gramme, Christian Venturer, and Lindo. All Class B' s
Race 2: Norfolk to Boston, Class B The scheduled start 2 PM, May 24, in Hampton Roads off Thimble Shoals Light had to be postponed for lack of wind. A zephyr came in from the southeast and at 1500 the Class B racers were launched on their way-and into a thunderstorm which was to deluge the Norfolk area for the next fo ur hours. Racers followed two distinct strategies: One was to stand out to sea and pick up a two-knot fair current from the Gulf Stream; the other was to play the shore, picking up whatever breeze was generated by the heatingand cooling of the land mass which creates an offshore breeze by day, and a land breeze by night. The wind, however, played its own game, backing into the northeast, where it stayed for the next three days-a dead muzzler. Staying close to the rhumb line, and favoring slightly the land mass, Fortuna II and Esperanza worked out ahead and rounded Nantucket Lightship, where they caught the characteristic New England southwesterlies, giving them a spinnaker run to the finish off Thieves Ledge Buoy just south of Boston. All the others sagged off to the eastward to catch the sure push of the Gulf Stream, and catching no wind ,
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were still at sea when the time limit expired . Since in a race it is impossible to predict the moment of arrival, the Class B racers were supposed to remain at anchor inside of Deer Island Light until the Parade of Sail for the entrance into Boston Harbor. After three days of racing, this is not the most overjoying experience to look forward to, and in a splendid gesture of camaraderie and good will the Cottage Park Yacht Club of W inth rop took on the vessels as they came in, at whatever hour of day or night. It is this kind of experience which makes the whole effort behind Tall Ships events worth the mammoth tasks involved: to sit in the lounge and hear a song sung in English by the members of the club, and then as if in echo, to hear another in a foreign language offered in turn is part of the essence of Tall Ships. Class B Corrected Time da ys/ hrs/min/sec l. Fortuna II 3/ 14/ 18/ 49
2. Esperanza
3115153101
Wh ile the Class B vessels were racing from Norfolk to Boston the Class A vessels
tacked shortly after crossing the line and headed off for Norway, 3096 miles to the northeast. By 7 June ships were reporting good days' runs, and winds from the northwest at 15-20 knots. Good daily runs were made with fair winds which increased to gale force on June 14. Creole, the big threemasted schooner from Denmark, lost her mizzen topmast and retired from the race to head for Southampton. On the 18th a great gale sprang up and all had a hard time; Astral blew out mainsail and storm topsail, lost steering and lay hove-to for several hours until the storm abated. She repaired her own damage and continued on to finish the race at Kristiansand. First to cross the finish line 17 days after the start was Blanca Estela, the Chilean Navy's Swan 65, superbly sailed by her redoubtable skipper Captain John Martin, former Commander of Esmeralda. Close on her heels came the two great square riggers, Christian Radich and Gorch Fack, who had been in a tight race all the way. Christian Radich had come past Fair Isle, between the Shetlands and the Orkneys some few miles in the lead ; she ran out into a southeast wind which forced her to the NE toward the Norwegian coast. A few hours later, when Gorch Fack broke into the North Sea, the wind had shifted back to the westward, enabling her to lay the course directly to Kristiansand. Christian Radich raced down the Norwegian coast, SEA HI STORY, FALL 1980
DAY'S RUN trying desperately to regain her lead; but it was not to be. Gorch Pock finished l hour and 41 minutes ahead of the Norwegian schoolship. Christian Radich was overall winner on corrected time, however, followed by Gorch Pock and Guayas. Danmark had retired earlier from the race. Winner of Class B was Christian Venturer, owned and skippered by Robert Doe from Bermuda. He had arrived in Norfolk with but one trainee aboard; when asked if he knew where he would pick up other crew and trainees he confidently told us: "The Lord will provide for our needs." Christian Venturer left Boston with 10 souls on board and won the race. Class A Actual Time Co rrected Time days/ hrs/ min / sec days/ hrs/min/sec I. C. Radich 2. Gorch Fack
3. Guayas Creole Dan mark
17/ 10/ 5 1/ 36 17/ 09/ 10/23 19114124127
11 / 07/ 47/ 54 11 / 22/28/22 13119149132
Retired Retired
Class B I. C. Venturer
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Lindo 8. Estela Chaser Astral Sabre Apollo Pirata Z. Gramme
22/19/ 14/ 05 22/ 02/ 03/ 33 17 / 07 / 32/ 36 19/ 16/ 05 / 30 22/ 15 / 25 / 00* 21 I 11 /24/ 55
12/ 19/ 55 / 44 14/ 02/ 04/ 18 17/ 10/ 47/ 04 18/ 07 / 45 / 12 19/ 02/ 45/ 08 19/20/ 11 / 32
Retired Retired Retired
OVERALL WINNER: Christian Radich
*Includes an adjustment to elapsed time.
After warm hospitality and a much needed rest in Kristiansand, the ships left on July 8 for Kiel, Germany, where the prize-giving ceremonies were held prior to the beginning of the ST A series of sail training races. Prizes were presented at the Ostseehalle by the Mayor of Kiel, the Governor of Schleswig-Holstein, and the Chairman of the American Sail Training Association, with 3,000 in attendance. The most valued trophy, the Cutty Sark Friendship Trophy, was presented by Mr. John Rudd, President of Cutty Sark Whisky. The trophy is given to that ship which has done the most for international friendship during the period of the races, and was awarded this year to Guayas, the new training ship of the Ecuadorean Navy. In all, this series of sail training races, which saw the first race from a South American port, and which linked up three continents, was a great success. Particular notice should be taken of the tremendous effort made by Blanca Estela, whose epic voyage from Valparaiso to the Baltic and return via Cape Horn, will cover over 9,000 miles. Great credit and thanks must also go to Chaser and Sabre, both from the Joint Services Sailing Center in Southampton, whose Royal Navy and British Army crews sailed the farthest distance to start the first race at Cartagena. w SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
EDITORIAL: Where Is the US? The 1980 International Sail Training Races which started at Cartagena, Colombia were the first ever started at a South American port. They linked up three continents, for the first time in the 24-year history of this effort, as the Tall Ships went on from Norfolk to Boston , and there entered the Transatlantic Race from Boston to Kristiansand, Norway. The races were organized by the AST A with the approval of the Sail Training Association as a gesture of gratitude to the countries of Europe and South America, who sent their ships to the US in 1976 . It is sad to note that no US flag ship took part in the Cartagena to Norfolk race, and on ly two started in the Transatlantic Race with one, USCGC Eagle sailing along for only two days. Why don't more of our ships and yachts participate? The primary reason is probably lack of understanding, both as to how the Tall Ships Races work, and what their purpose is. Most citizens of the United States think that the gathering in New York Harbor in 1976 was dreamed up for the Bicentennial celebrations. The visit of ships from many nations was indeed an outpouring of goodwill on the occasion of our 200th birthday; but few people are aware that it was one of a series of such gatherings, a series that started in 1956 and has continued with growing success every two years since. These gatherings occur at the start or finish of the International Sail Training Races, usually on the occasion of some national or international event. But it is the "Tall Ships Race," organized and run by the ST A, that brings the ships to the selected port and attracts the subsequent thousands or millions of visitors. The intent and purposes of the Tall Ships Races are honored and celebrated by the people in the port, and the progress of the Races is keenly followed . The local celebrations are in honor of the ships and their young people, rather than in honor of the local event, as has been the case in the United States in 1976 and in 1980. A second reason is lack of knowledge on the part of yacht owners, who do not know that they can all take part in the Sail Training Race, provided that 50 percent of the people on board are between the ages of 16 and 22, and that their vessels are at least 30 feet long on the waterline. The young people can be anyone-anyone at all, provided they have not spent much time cruising
offshore. Thirdly, in the ASTA, we perceive that even when the above is understood, there is a reluctance on the part of yacht owners to take youngsters on board . Astonishing as it may seem, there is a very real lack of interest in young peoples' welfare on the part of those who are in the best position to do something to help a youngster grow and mature. It seems easier to write out a check to some worthy cause than to make an actual personal commitment for a week or two. These people, sadly, are missing what could be one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives. Finally, international movements don't really find strong support in our country. The Olympics, long before their present troubles, drifted far from their original purpose of using atheletic competition as a means of bringing people together. The score sheet of gold medals won, touted by the media, is simply an example of national self-interest and man's age-o ld curse of personal pride in being "better" than his neighbor. Fortunately, such unattractive displays of national ego have not touched our seafaring under sail. In the International Sail Training Races, young people from France, Sweden, Germany, russia, Argentina, Chile, Poland, Italy, Spain and other nations come together before or after a race at sea; sometimes they sail in each other's ships; they learn about each other, form friendships, and create an atmosphere in which understanding may grow. In their 24-year history the Sail Training Races have shown us a unique way of demonstrating that mankind is ready to move forward out of egoism into true community . The United States should go to work to catch up with the rest of the maritime world and share in this great ecumenical movement.
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In 1982 we plan to run another InterAmerican Sail Training Race from a South American to an East Coast port, then link up with the ST A Races calling in at Lisbon and the Azores. Let us lean into this and achieve a strong US entry: let us show the world that we do care about young people, that we are proud of our own seafaring tradition, and do wish to be part of this movement that helps bring the people of our planet together, not passively, but in daring and challenge, in cooperation and fellowship. BARC LAY H. WARBURTON, Ill President, the American Sail Training Association 19
The Young America at NMHS pier, East River, on July 4. Crowds come down to see and board the brigantine, just in from a week's sail
training with 22 young New Yorkers. Across the way is South Street Seaport Museum and skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan. The NY Times used this photograph on itsfront page to illustrate Independence Day across the nation. Photo by William E. Sauro, Š NYTimes.
Wildlife and Windjammers By Naomi Person Education Coordinator, NMHS
During the Tall Ships gathering held in Boston during the celebrations of that city's 350th birthday this summer, one of the ships's crews stood out: a group of twenty-four eager teenage Girl Scouts, whose uniforms were blue jeans and a "Wildlife and Windjammers" T-shirt. The scouts, from troops in Massachusetts and New Jersey, would be spending the next week aboard the Young America -learning the ropes and how to haul on them together. Wildlife and Windjammers is supervised by two Girl Scouts staff members: Marine Education Program Specialist Nancy Richardson and Eliot Wildlife Project Director Caroline Kennedy. Twenty-four Scouts sailed with Captain Peter Vanadia from Norfolk, Virginia to Boston, Massachustts on one of the legs of the Tall Ships Race; and twenty-four sailed the following week from Boston to New Bedford, via Cape Cod. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this program as a watch leader during the latter voyage; an experience that reinforced in my heart and mind how vital and unique sail training is. Boarding the ship to relieve the previous week's trainees, we found the deck thronged with girls yarning about their experiences: stories of whale watching,
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climbing the rigging, of critters found and identified in plankton tows, how to stay dry on lookout and steady on the helm . After stowing our gear below, we mustered on deck and organized the ship's routine for the week. The ship's permanent crew instructed the Scouts in the handling of lines, navigation, helmsmanship, seamanship, and safety (a boom is harder than a head!) . Dianne Glemboski, our marine science advisor, set up a thorough program of hands-on biology, oceanography, and pollution studies with instruments to measure water clarity, PH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, a bottom sampler, otter trawls, plankton tow, and keys for identifying algae and marine organisms. In addition, the staff collectively put together a fine reference library for the Scouts to use in pursuing their areas of interest. Starting off next day with the Tall Ships racing to Kristiansand, we sloped across Cape Cod Bay and anchored for the night off Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape, where America's whale fishery was born. Next day we set out to look for whales. While we searched I gave a lesson in whaling history-the ships, the people who fitted them out and sailed them, the life of
those who waited on shore and the downfall of the industry with the advent of kerosene. Discussing the ecology of the fishing grounds, we were interrupted by a cry from aloft: "Thar she blows! Two points off the starboard bow!'' Following the whales for a few hours, we see could them spouting all along the horizon, finbacks diving right under the bows, humpbacks breaching. History zooms into the here and now, and biology comes alive. From this we go to visit the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, on the south side of the Cape, sail through rain and fog in Buzzards Bay, sing chanties, examine sealife hauls, dash about in bathing suits with fresh discoveries, and prepare an onboard exhibit for public viewing in New Bedford. And in that old whaling port we leave the ship. Gathered on the foredeck it all seems very familiar, the faces, the roll of the ship, the smell and feel of salt air. Every element we've interacted with has taught us something new. Duffie bags get tossed onto the pier and their owners follow, to make room for a new group of sail trainees. .t. Note: A similar sail training program for Scouts is run by the schooner Adventuress
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
NO MORE FREE RIDES: Let's Make Our Ships a Line Item in Harbor Festival BudgetsRight Up There with Bumper Stickers!
SAIL TRAINING out of Seattle, Washington. Information about this and other programs is included in A Directory of Sail Training Ships compiled by Nancy Richardson for the American Sail Training Association and the National Marine Education Association, and is available for $2 from Ms. Richardson, 69 Burnet Street, Maplewood NJ 07040. Ms. Person, Education Coordinator for NMHS, has sailed in Clearwater and in the brigantine Eye of the Wind in the Pacific.
THE YOUNG AMERICA: "A World I've Been Looking For, For a Long Time" To date 46 young people have had sail training experience this summer during three American Sail Training Association cruises aboard the brigantine Young America and sloop Providence. Here is what one wrote: "I feel like I've been introduced to a world I've been waiting for, for a long time. The crew, even under pressure of crisis, was as cheerful and patient with us greenhorns as you could imagine-and I was very green. I met for the first time other people who dreamed as I do about adventure and tall ships . ... Here is a song I wrote one moring shortly after a sunrise watch: Sail Young America, Sail Chorus: There's a breeze in the royals You're guided by a star The echos from the past That tell us who we are Feel the wind off the sea Blowin' wild and blowin' free As we sail, Young America, sail. There's many who will sail you Will call the sea their home An open life of wandering That we claim for our own Another world is calling us Far from the shore And you have opened up the door. (Chorus) We've a heritage of seamen Who draw their line to you Of fine and able men Who'd be proud to be your crew A link with our past With the future drawing near The sea will call for sailing ships As long as men will hear. (Chorus) MURIEL CURTIS
N. Billerica, Mass. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
By Captain Peter Vanadia, Director Young America Marine Education Society So far, 1980 has been a rough year for American tall ships. There are only five US flag Class A ships: Eagle, Regina Maris, Gaze/a Primeiro, Unicorn and Young America. The Coast Guard's Eagle, of course, is government funded and doesn't face quite the same problems as the others. Regina appears to be financially secure, although I wonder whether there is real institutional stability, or if her viability depends on the personal commitment and support of a few devoted individuals. A combination of regulations and finances keeps Gaze/a tied to the dock in Philadelphia. As I write, the survival of Unicorn as a training ship is still in doubt. There is a very real possibility she could become a dude cruiser in the islands.* Unicorn is a great ship with a fine and dedicated crew, but she needs dollars to stay afloat. Young America is no longer under the gun, but we haven't solved our financial problem. We have been fortunate enough to obtain time in which to raise the funds needed to pay our mortgage. Until it is eliminated, there will continue to be a threat to our continued existence as an educational ship . All of us are afflicted by the same disease: lack of funds. Finding the cure will not be easy. Sail training is a relatively new concept in this country. Our constituency is miniscule . The idea of sending young people to sea is just beginning to win some measure of acceptance. As a result, we don ' t have much clout in competing for charitable dollars, whether foundation, corporate or personal. Government is barely aware we exist. One useful approach is to publicize sail training. Keeping the existing ships filled with cadets helps keep them financially afloat. This year the American Sail Training Association and the Girl Scouts have taken significant steps in getting young people to sea. The National Maritime Historical Society, through its Ship Trust program, has been responsible for an even more significant development: full corporate sponsorship of a sail training program and of a ship's participation in a harbor festival. Chemical Bank's grant to NMHS funding a training cruise in Young America may be the first time such cor*Unicorn was sold for the cruise trade soon after this was wrillen, despite valiant efforts of the Unicorn Maritime Institute, supported by NMHS seeking a corporate sponsor.
porate sponsorship has been provided in this country. Let's hope it starts a trend. There is another real possibility for providing financial support to operating vessels. That is through harbor festivals. By now it should be common knowledge that harbor festivals pump a lot of money into the local economy. The corporate community in festival cities is generous in their support of these events. Little, if any, of the money raised for these events goes directly to the ships involved . Yet without the ships, there can be no harbor festivals. Surplus funds from Operation Sail in 1976 went to the National Trust, earmarked for maritime purposes. I have been told that any surplus from OpSail '80 will be similarly dedicated. There are two things wrong with this. First, what percentage of the surplus OpSail dollars from I 976and this year went or will go to the operating ships that participated in the events? ls it equitable that funds generated by harbor festivals should go not to the ships that participated (invariably at substantial expense), but to other maritime projects, however worthy? I think not. And by the time some committee decides who should get the money (a year or two after the event that produced the money) it may be too late for some of the vessels involved. Why should we dance attendance in the anterooms of Op this or Op that-when we make their show possible? The second flaw is the notion that it is some portion of the "surplus" funds that will go to the ships. After all the bills for administration, publicity, posters, bumper stickers, bands, fireworks, skydivers, etc., etc., etc., have been paid, if there is anything left over maybe some of it might go to some of the ships that participated. The organizers of harbor festivals do not go to any of the suppliers of the goods and services I've just mentioned with the offer they make the ships. They don't suggest that a fireworks company should put on a display in the hope that if there's any money left over and if a committee decides the fireworks people are sufficiently deserving, maybe they will get some money a year or so later. The ships are the heart of a harbor festival. They should not be treated like poor relations, possibly getting the crumbs from the table as charity. The ships should be a line item in the organizer's budgets. Right up there on an equal footing with the bumper stickers.
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The U.S. Flag Flies Again
District 2 M EBA-AMO is proud to represent all the licensed officers aboard the ocean liner Oceanic Independence, the first oceangoing passenger ship to fly the American flag in more than ten years.
District 2 MEBA-AMO District 2 Marine Engineers Beneficial Association-Associated Maritime Officers Affiliated with the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department Raymond T. McKay, President 650 FOURTH AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11232
TELEPHONE 212-965-6750
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Stormie Seas: An Unfinished Saga By Peter Throckmorton Curator-at-Large, NMHS Aegean and Scandanavian ideas went into the design ofthis latter-day caique, and her career has reached from secret service missions to marine archaeological work. Here her owner, having brought her from the Mediterranean across the Atlantic under sail to Antigua this spring, begins to tell her still continuing story. The Germans invaded Greece in the spring of 1941. That winter, people were dropping dead in the streets of starvation. The Italians, who came in the German wake after their own unsuccessful attempt to invade the peninsula, lived off the land. Thus Greeks were anxious to leave, to say the least; some merely to escape starvation, others to fight the invaders. The Greek islands were almost entirely supplied by small sailing vessels. Some, even then, were auxiliaries, although most had been built as pure sailing ships. The Germans could not commandeer them all, since the precarious life of the islands, and a lot of the mainland, depended on them. The caiques then ("caique" means only a boat, in Greece; the most common type is the trehandiri, a double-ended boat a third as wide as she is long, with depth a third of that) became the Greek road to freedom. Escaping boats usually ended up in Turkey, through a few reached Egypt where the English armies were. In 1942 a combined Allied unit, named the Levant Schooner Flotilla, was formed in Egypt to harrass, and it was hoped, eventually re-occupy the Greek islands. Authentic Greek schooners, fitted with modern diesels, and manned by mixed Greek, American and British crews, would 24
creep quietly among the islands. In 1943, a very bored Sub-Lieutenant in a Royal Navy destroyer on North Atlantic convoy duty saw a notice on a bulletin board, calling for volunteers with sailing experience. His name was Sam Barclay. He came from Norfolk. He volunteered and found himself in Alexandria, enlisted in the Levant Schooner Flotilla. He was immediately fascinated by the sailing ship types that crowded the several harbors of the old port. He was, and still is for that matter, a meticulous draftsman; he had dreams of being an artist after the war. His drawings are almost the only accurate ones extant of the exiled ships in harbor; the double-ended trehandiris and paramas, square-sterned raked-bow verhalass and caravoscaro, copied perhaps from fast American schooners that Greek blockade runners from Hydra and Spetsai and Psara had encounted during the Napoleonic wars in the south of France. He noted particularly the similarity of the trehandiri to the Colin Archer types of Norway: a hull with beam to length ratio of 1:3, with flaring bow and stern and long, lovely sheer. He dreamt of the day he would build his own boat on these lines. So, in Sam's mind, Stormie Seas was born. The war ended, and Sam went back to England to buy a sailing freighter for the Greek islands. He sailed her from Enland, a small black ketch, perhaps 70 feet on deck, named Bessie. I first saw Bessie working alongside the half-sunk wreck of a big Italian passenger liner, Giovanni Batista, in 1947. Her crew were salvaging the teak decks of the liner, and I rowed over and spent a happy afternoon backing
off the bolts that held the teak in place, until my Captain made me go back to work on the motor vessel I was in, and we sailed away. My heart was with the Bessie, and the dream boat sketches Sam showed me, and with the islands of the Aegean with their whitewashed houses ringing rocky harbors, and their hardy decent seafaring people. I did not see Sam again till the 1950s. The intervening years I spent a world away, mostly in the Far East. When I finally got back to the Greek islands I'd forgotten Sam and his schemes. One day, dreaming away a summer afternoon in the shade of a windmill in Mykonos, I watched a beautiful ship come into harbor. I ran down the mountain to the dock, and took her lines from a tall, vaguely familiar person. "Where did you getthis ship?" I asked. "I built her," he replied. It was Sam. He'd built his dream ship, with his partner John Leatham, in 1949 in Perama, the shipbuilding port of Piraeus, the seaport for Athens. He'd named her Stormie Seas. Sam dealt with his charterers, and we repaired to a nearby taverna where we talked and talked. He had found the last of the great sailing boat builders in Greece, Evangelos Koutalis. He and Uncle Vangeli had sat together and put the boat together, using Colin Archer underwater lines and making her a classic trehandiri on deck, with lumber scrounged from everywhere. The ship's frames were cypress and hard pine from a well seasoned pile set aside in 1939. Planking came from the same pile. Underwater she was fastened entirely with wooden treenails. Her decks were made from the teak we'd salvaged from the SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
Giovanni Batista. The fore deck house was made from teak salvaged from a sunken German tug. (Last month, nearly 40 years later, I had to replace a bit of this where the teak was burned the day the tug blew up and sank after strafing by the RAF.) The main deckhouse was teak from a composite clipper ship, I think, scrapped in Perama long before the war. They had finished the boat without engine and were precariously towed through the Corinth Canal. They slipped their tow off Patras and sailed toward Malta. They were hit by a furious gale, which drove them back toward the Adriatic. Off Cape Santa Maria de Leuca the foremast carried away at the deck, and they staggered into the little Italian fishing port there to spend a week shortening the mast by six feet and rerigging it. Then they set sail again and boomed down to Malta, in a roaring northeaster. There is no record about what happened next. No one has written the story of the unsuccessful attempts to prop up the monarchy in Albania against Enver Hoxa's communist front, which took over the country. But the stories still run in seaport tavernas and Stormie Seas earned herself a name for perilous voyaging. Built to look like a Greek coaster, and built so strong she could stay at sea when even a large vessel would be uncomfortable, she was safe so long as a gale was blowing. Gales are frequent in the Adriatic, in the winter. Stormie could tramp along like an innocent coaster, unless you looked in the hold and saw the powerful Ruston Hornsby diesel which could drive her at over 9 knots, or examined the mysteries of her fuel tanks, which had manholes in them and could be arranged to carry cargo or people. These tanks give her a 2,000-mile cruising range today. One day soon after I had acquired Stormie, we were burning off her paint
(burning off every four years kills the shipworm). Sam's friend Grigori, one of the Germarf-fighting crew that had been with him since the war, was scraping as I burned. His scraper struck a plug, and then another and another. Small plugs - measured, they are just 7 .65 mm in diameter. There are eleven of them, a foot apart. '' Lead anchors?'' I said, my Greek not being too good. "Yeah, lead anchors." That noon break I heard the story. They had brought some passengers into a deserted Albanian bay. Five minutes later, troops appeared, and ordered them ashore. Sam told Grigori to slip the anchor. While the chain was rattling out, Sam started the big engine, and with throttle wide open they headed for sea. The Albanians reacted slowly, but in time to stitch a farewell message from a machine gun across Stormie's stern. Stormie Seas has always had the ability to start the engine from the galley hatch, and always will. It helps when the anchor is dragging. By 1952 it was all over, and the next year 1953, Sam took Stormie chartering in the islands. Grigori quit to run his own boat, a lovely Greek version of a Down East lobster boat. Evangelos Koutalis built her, and then died. He was Greece's Harvey Gamage. The world of the Greek caique people (kaikijides) is a closed little league. In the old days we would sit in the tavernas with the old men who were still sailing schooners and try to get them to talk about the times they had sailed schooners to Africa with guns for the Libyans who were resisting the Italian occupation, or about sponge diving, lying to long grass warps in the open sea. They treated us with a proper contempt, as upstarts who hardly knew the secret language of the sea. Then, one by one, they died, and their schooners stopped sailing. Until finally, one day, only Stormie Seas
survived from all the sailing craft of the old time. Sam moved to England in 1967, and I bought Stormie for a song in 1969. Stormie has much history in her bones, as heir in the modern world of the little schooners that ran among the islands. One day Lord Louis Mountbatten paid a visit, in honor of Sam, and had three gins while sitting on the port deck locker. When the locker got rotten, I had not the heart to scrap it, but filled it with putty and cuprinol and shipped it home to Maine, where it serves as a blanket chest. I mean make a brass plaque for it: "The martyred Mountbatten had three gins while sitting on this locker." I remember coming down the Adriatic from Brindisi in a gale. The sails blew out, and we came to Corfu under the fort. The harbormaster refused to believe we'd arrived that morning, it had blown Force 12 and no ship could sail. We'd come along with a hammock stretched in the rigging. That pushed her past Albania. I do not think we would have been welcome there. Now, having brought Stormie across from the Med to Antigua, she sits among the modern Clorox bottle yachts in English harbor. She has come a long way from the world she sailed in, where you had to know everything from how to make your own sails to stepping a mast in harbor far from any shipyard. The marine archaeological project we were going to do here appears to have gone phhhut. And here she sits, with her aging skipper. Among the Clorox bottles.
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Mr. Throckmorton is author of Shipwrecks and Archaeology and other works. We hope to publish his account of Stormie Seas' JO year career as a marine archaeological research vessel. Among his current projects for the Society is return of the clipper Snow Squall bow from the Falkland Islands (SH 4:36-41).
Based on the Greek trehandiri, Stormie Seas is double-ended with flaring bows and stern. Built of cypress, teak and hard pine by Evangelos Koulalis, last of the traditional builders ofsuch craft in the Aegean. At right, the skipper (left) and crew get Stormie Seas ready for the transatlantic passage.
"NOTHING IS TOO GOOD FOR CORONET": A Memoir of the Last of America's Great Sailing Yachts of the Gilded Age. By Timothy Murray
She was christened Coronet at her launch in August 1885 from Poillon Brothers' ways in Brooklyn, New York. Her owner Rufus T. Bush, had spared no expense to provide himself with a fast, luxurious, and able schooner. Her plumb-stemmed hull was designed for structural strength-and speed! She measured 133 ' from stem to stern, her steep floors fell to a flat keel 12' deep, and her beam was 27 '. With a coat of gleaming black (soon changed permanently to white) she was considered by the press to be her builders' finest product. She was indeed, and is today, a crowning glory of her age, the great age of the American sailing yacht. On deck, varnished teak stanchions complemented mahogany brightwork of deck houses and rail. Below, the main stairway of polished marble, fan-shaped at its foot, led past newel posts crowned with brass lamps, through swinging mahogany doors with stained-glass lights, into the large saloon. Finished in hand-carved mahogany panels and set off with handsome mirrors, the main cabin was graced with a granite-topped sideboard, a writing desk, a large table with matching chairs (over which hung a brass chandelier), and a piano. In 1887, two years old, Coronet challenged all comers to a transatlantic race from New York to Queenstown, Ireland. Rufus Bush refitted her for the occasion, bringing her total cost to $100,000. The gauntlet was taken by Caldwell Colt (of Colt firearms) and his famous schooner Dauntless, skippered by the famous "Bui-
ly Samuels.* Coronet won by better than 30 hours, securing her status in American yachting and commanding the front page of the New York Times for March 28, 1887. The following year Mr. and Mrs. Bush, son Irving, and four other guests took Coronet on a round-the-world voyage in the finest style, attended by a crew of ten, two or three cooks and stewards, two officers, and Captain Crosby. She sailed from Pier 8, East River, on March 22, 1888. it was a lightning trip, not without its share of excitement. A crisis arose in Suez City atthe southern end of the Suez Canal. The log for Monday, February 11, 1889 (their fourth day at anchor), reads simply: "this day at 5:30 a.m. Crew refusing Duty." Captain Crosby dealt with this in just one hour: "At 6:30 a.m. begin to work; willing to turn to ... Crew employed with regular routine.'' All was not over. The following Thursday, having been towed through the Canal without incident, Coronet was safely at anchor in Port Said. Now in the more civilized Mediterranean, Crosby played his hand. The log: "At IO a.m. Capt. discharged all Sailors on account ofrefusing Duty at Port Suez City." The names of nine men follow. Then: "Capt. employed by shipping other. . . men.'' By Monday the forecastle was full again, supplies had been replenished, and Coronet was away. For the passengers, life could be idyllic. A lady guest of her fourth owner, Arthur *See "Sailing Backward Into the Azores," SH 12.
Curtiss James, wrote of a March evening in 1895 off Bermuda: "The soft wind blows into our faces across the twilight water [and] we find ourselves singing, as we so often do, when we are so happy we can do nothing else." It is apparent that she was not exactly living in squalor: "The cabin is a good size, with couches extending the length of the sides, a shelf for books above them, a little open grate stove, a piano, and the dining table in the middle, with bright lights above it." Such was life for the first 20 years of Coronet's story. In 1905 she was purchased by her present owner, The Kingdom, an evangelical Christian movement one of whose major goals was worldwide evangelism. The late Capt. Lester S. McKenzie became part of her crew in 1905 and he recalled two significant changes in the social order on board: a doorway was opened from the forecastle and after cabin to amidships (though these may have been put in before 1905), there was no longer any great distinction made between passengers, officers, or crew-'' All Hands now meant every soul aboard. Coronet's most signal voyage under The Kingdom was a second trip 'round the world (1907-1909) for the purpose simply of prayer for all nations. Captain on this trip was the then 24-year-old Lester McKenzie, who died only in March this year, leaving us priceless memories of this voyage. Somewhere on her fourth (and last) passage around Cape Horn, at 9:30 PM , April 23, ina sudden shock of wind and sea she lost her main boom. The iron sheet bail
The 133 'schooner, which sailed/our times around Cape Horn in her remarkable career, survives today. From a drawingfora painting by John M ecray.
Progress that Really Matters ... had parted, and completely unrestrained, the huge spar swung away and broke off against a davit and the main rigging. In a tangled mass of cordage, canvas, and wind-whipped water, McKenzie and the crew wrestled the spar onto the heaving d_eck and secured it. Unbending the enormous mainsail, they dragged it below and ¡ ' cut it off at the first reef. The ship's carpenter re-positioned the undamaged jaws on the long remaining section of the boom, the re-cut sail was bent, and Coronet carried on. Between 1905 and 1911, The Kingdom took her to the Holy Land three times, once around the world, to the West Indies and Africa, and to the Arctic. Her lengthy voyaging ceased in 1911 , but her owners never abandoned or forgot her. She has become rather, a symbol of what The Kingdom stands for: worldwide outreach to prepare for the second coming of Christ. She embodies the unflinching willingness and ability to go to the limits of endurance in behalf of others. And her people for decades have said: "Nothing is too good for the Coronet. "In heavy weather she would bury her nose, shoulder her way through a sea (Capt. McKenzie used to pat her unconsciously as if she were a sentient thing), and always come bursting up. She did not succumb to the worst that was thrown at her. Today Coronet, at 95, is still a viable cruiser. She was refitted in 1947 with a shorter sailing rig and diesel engines and is now berthed in Gloucester, Massachusetts. One of her many friends, Barclay H. Warburton, III, President of the American Sail Training Association, has said: "Coronet is undoubtedly the most historically significant schooner afloat today anywhere in the world. She represents the finest design and construction of almost one hundred years ago .. . and her record of ocean voyages is unsurpassed. She ought to be-indeed, must be-preserved . .. " To this end, the Museum of Yachting in Newport, Rhode Island has set up an Advisory Committee to provide technical advice and expertise to The Kingdom in preserving Coronet. What, then, of the future? At the very least it can be said that there are people who care. And with that great prerequisite, Coronet is not likely to be either lost or forgotten . w
Young hands tuck in the third reef in the mizzen topsail of the Joseph Conrad, en route Cape Horn in the 1930s. Photo: Alan Villiers Š .
As the 12-meter yachts beat and swoop off Newport in September, competing for the America's Cup-the oldest sporting trophy continuously in contention in the world, since 1851-it has been suggested to us that we do something more than we have been doing in SEA HISTORY about yachts. "A man who would go to sea for pleasure," it has been said, "would go to hell for a pastime." Yet man has gone of his own will on broad and narrow waters for recreation and to learn more about his world and himself. On these and the preceding pages we look at two vessels whose owners would perhaps snort at their being called yachts-but so they are, yachts with special missions. Irving Johnson and Alan Villiers are among the small company of men who pursued the desire for seafaring as far afield as Cape Horn-that worst corner of the ocean world, and turning point in man's adventure by sea. Film they made in
their Cape Horn sailing has been picked up in the new film "Ghosts of Cape Horn," which is being shown to the public for the first time in Newport in September, so that Cup racers and those who come to watch may be reminded of the ultimate testing of the sailing ship and her people. Villiers took the little full-rigger Joseph Conrad around the world by way of Cape Horn in 1934-6, with young people in crew. Part of the film shows the vessel (now preserved as Mystic Seaport) hove-to in a Cape Horn sea-"you bastard sea!" as he called it in his account of that voyage. He had set forth his reason for making the voyage six years before he made it: "I have picked my quarrel with what the world calls progress, and have endeavored to show that in the progress that really matters-the progress of character and common sense and the development of mankind-the sailing ship may still have a PS place, after all."
Photo courtesy American Sail Training Association.
Mr. Murray, a native of New Hampshire, serves as First Officer on Coronet's nowadays infrequentforays to sea. Son of her present master and grandson of a past First Officer, he is conducting research/or a book on Coronet's long life story. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
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White man's Shanghai was rich and beautiful. The native's Shanghai and the river, an anthill of poverty and misery. Courtesy, the San Francisco Maritime Museum, Rear Admiral Kemp Tolley Collection.
A Merchant Seaman Remembers Shanghai By K.E. Hillmar At Seattle's Elliot Bay Park by the Cargill grain terminal where ships of most nations are often visitors, the seagulls have discovered something new to them. A spanking big and new freighter, flying a red ensign with five stars, one large and four smaller ones-indicating the People's Republic of China-has just been our visitor. A proud-looking trailblazer was the Liu Lin Hai of Shanghai, presumably the forerunner to a fleet of similar ships to come. If the vessel and its sprightly crew are an indication of progress and development in China as a whole, then it must surely be counted as one of the wonders in the world of economy and politics. The Chinese merchant fleet of the past was a rather primitive conglomeration of vessels, composed mostly of small and old freighters for coastwise trade and thousands of windpowered sampans and junks for local service and river traffic. The coastal steamers were usually commanded by white officers of many nationalities. Some observations and recollections by a former merchant mariner will, perhaps, serve to point out to some degree the unbelievable conditions prevailing in the great seaport of Shanghai about fifty years ago. It may be past history now, but 32
a past still remembered by a multitude of humans in the beehive city on the Whangpoo .
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The year was 1927, the ship, the Norwegian freighter Hinnoy, bound for Shanghai with a load of lumber from the Columbia River. The arrival in the East China Sea was a relief from the ice and snow of the stormy North Pacific, but also a new experience, pointing out to a novice the struggle for existence in parts of the world . One indelible impression on entering those waters was the sense of being transported back in time two hundred years, and another, the feeling that the Chinese borderland extended at least a hundred miles out into the ocean . For out there on the dark waters there must have been ten thousand people manning a thousand fishing boats of all descriptions. Dilapidated junks and little sampans with burlap or bamboo sails, often with women and children aboard, were observed pulling nets and handling lines by raw muscle power, a hundred miles from the nearest shore. As the calm day ended and dark descended on the scene, a new picture appeared . Weak kerosene lights displayed on the vessels transformed the scenery into a vast village seemingly infested by fireflies . How many in that
struggling mass of humanity would again see solid land would never be known . As if to demonstrate the frailty of human existence in the part of the world loosely called the Orient, not even the freighter Hinnoy was immune. During the night when approaching the Shanghai lightship, a man of the ship's crew was seen standing on the high deckload of lumber against a lifeline, looking out into the night. Suddenly he discarded his slippers and as if preparing for a quick dip over the side, swung himself gracefully over the safety rope and was gone. The incident, which was observed from the navigation bridge, caused the officer on watch to set off the emergency alarm and to stop the ship's headway. Men were roused out and a lifeboat lowered, to search the water for the victim. In the meantime, many suspicious looking craft had gathered in the vicinity to watch the commotion, and before long the master recalled the boat and prepared again to get under way. Piracy on the Chinese coast, particularly in the South China Sea, was nothing unusual. Ships on the coastal run were equipped with barbed wire along railings, and machine guns on bridge and boatdecks for protection. The old method of capture was to find a ship cripSEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
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pied or broken down by engine trouble or the like, surround her surreptitiously by innocent looking fishing craft equipped with firearms and boarding hooks, and swarm aboard with the help of the Chinese in the ship's crew. A later method was for the pirates to buy passenger tickets, and disguised as respectable businessmen, wait their opportunity to take over the ship at a timely moment. Many foreign-owned steamers on the coastal run hired Chinese crews, except officers. Under those conditions one never knew what was cooking. So our Master stopped the search and ordered the ship on to her destination . Next day at the pilot station, a white man-a Norwegian-boarded the ship and took charge of the piloting. To the ship's sailors it was almost as if coming home, with a country-man pilot giving steering orders in Norwegian. If the vessel traffic on the coastline had appeared messy, the traffic in the estuary and upriver was next to impossible. Shanghai was a great shipping port, with vessels coming and going continually, but what made navigation nerve-racking was the mosquito fleet of hundreds of sampans and other sailing craft, criss-crossing the river in all directions without paying attention to any rules or regulations. The man at the wheel trying to avoid collision by sheering a little to one side or the other, was quickly told by the pilot to ignore the "riff-raff" and keep to the course. The ship's master overhearing the order, intervened with the pilot and declared that he did not want to sink any craft unnecessarily, but was instantly rebutted. "At times" responded the pilot "it is necessary. For years we have been trying to teach them to stay out of ship's traffic Janes; when that didn't work we tried to fine them, and finally we whipped them, but nothing did any good. Now we have decided to run them down; it may not teach them a lesson, but at least there should be Jess of them." As this conversation ended, a big twomasted junk with bamboo sails and twenty foot Jong steering oar, attempted too late to cross our bow and put himself in a hazardous position of being run down. Both pilot and skipper intently watched the situation. "Steady as she goes," was the brusque order to the wheelman. Instantly there was a crash, and cries from a dozen Chinese throats mingled with cries of seagulls as human bodies were flung into the water, where some kept swimming while others disappeared. Neighboring water craft converged by the ship's side to rescue those who were afloat or hanging onto debris. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
A city on the waler. A jumble of houseboats and sampans in upper Whangpoo above Shanghai about 1925. Courtesy, Wing Luke Museum, Seattle. A quiet day on !he river in the 1920s. Only one of a dozen foreign "men of war" visible. Courtesy. Wing Luke Museum, Seattle.
The vessel sunk was a two-family junk, meaning that the craft was owned by two different parties, both with their families aboard. Everyone worked the vessel, and in a calm the sculling oars were manned by all aboard, from the youngest child to the oldest woman. Insurance of a boat had probably never been heard of. With the ship moored and the accommodation ladder set out, the water police arrived to direct traffic, and well they were needed. As on a command the mosquito fleet gathered-peddlers and rivercraft of all descriptions, some no more than a flattened out treetrunk, others made up as rafts with loads of people aboard. The powerboat arriving to take off the pilot, could not get in to the gangway because of the congestion. Now the water police-all whites-went to work with long truncheons, hitting at everyone within reach, men and women alike. The fleet scattered and the police took a rest. Later many Chinese of both sexes gained admittance to the ship, udoubtedly by the method of "handgreasing." A couple of entrepreneurs arrived with a homemade wooden washing machine, a rotary contraption operated by handcranking. While one operated the machine, the other made the rounds of the ship for dirty clothes and other business. A tailor's agent was a busy man, taking orders for suits with a little Chinese woman companion as a booster and moralebuilder. A score of men's suits must have
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been delivered inside a week. But the fleet of "hangers-on" never thinned out at the ship's side. Every time a garbage can was emptied, the fleet scattered in a wild rush to investigate the refuse, before the river current absorbed the contents. A dead body coming down the river (of which there were many) was always investigated and sometimes stripped of clothes before being pushed away with an oar to continue its voyage to eternity. Tied to a mooring buoy under the stern of the ship were two native women in a small sampan searching for food. All day they remained on location, picking with
33
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The Vixen 34 is not built to satisfy a "market." Each Vixen is built to meet the owner's individual cruising requirements. The design is/ . ( ) contemporary--a separated keel with a skeg hung rudder, a fiber-/ glass hull and deck , and a moderately high aspect rig. The finish and detail are traditional--an interior of teak, mahogany , ash , and maple . Every Vixen launched displays the skill and attention to detail we have maintained in our 135 years of building boats to order. In a time that places a premium on producing one that suits many, we have chosen to continue building one for one . For a closer look at the Vixen 34 and her sister, the Vixen 29, please send $4.00 for our book. We will show you the other side of boat building .
The Vixen 34
LOA - 34'4" LWL - 27'5" Beam - 10'6" Draft - 5'2" Disp . - 12,500 lbs .
MARTHA'S VINEYARD SHIPYARD, INC DEPT. SH, BOX 1236, BEACH ROAD VINEY ARD HAVEN, MASSACHUSETTS 02568 (6 17) 693-0400
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long sticks at everything floating by, and discarding most. From appearance it may have been mother and daughter. As for the small possibility of sustaining life on the river, they all knew that among Shanghai's four million poor people, the competition on the streets would be ten times worse. The Chinese coolie of Shanghai was simply a slave in his own hometown. The city itself was mainly owned and run by foreigners. Proof of that was in the graypainted "men of war" lined up in the middle of the river, flying the flags of many nations. The city itself, divided up into concessions, were governed not by Chinese but by Europeans and Americans. China itself, squeezed between the factions of nationalism and communism, was in constant turmoil of civil war. One of the great pastimes in 1927 was to go to the old town of Shanghai, and for one Shanghai-dollar watch heads with pigtails roll in the sand all afternoon. It appeared that the new government under the warlord Chiang Kai-shek was bent on modernization and elimination of traditions. Thus a Chinaman with pigtails was considered a reactionary and an enemy of the new system, and was indiscriminately weeded out by execution. The victims were tied hands and feet and made to kneel, while the executioners with long curved swords went to work as if chopping wood. Later the paying spectators returned to Nan king Road or The Bund in the International Settlement, for a strong drink of imported liquor; and to dance with some French Mademoiselle to Russian balalaika music and foget about their troubled world for a night. To most of the ship's crew it was a relief to leave behind the sordid cobweb of China's largest city. On departure, a different and more humane pilot was in charge. The time was approaching when white people would no longer direct traffic or anything else in the Chinese harbors. The Japanese for some time held a strong grip on the dragon's tail, but gradually they too had to yield to a new force that had gathered strength behind the mountains-the hammer and sickle.
Mr. Hillmar lives in Seattle where he is working on a book about seafaring. He needs pictures of Chinese river and harbor life and invites readers who know of such pictures to write to him at 1925 First Ave., Apt. B-203, Seattle, WA 98101. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
Remembering...
HARRY LUNDEBERG 1901-1957
and
THE TALL SHIPS
OFFICIALS & MEMBERS
SAILORS' UNION OF THE PACIFIC PAUL DEMPSTER
JACK RYAN
President & Secretary-Treasurer
Vice President & Assistant Secretary-Treasurer
Harry Lundeberg Has Been Heard From: The Part Played by a Seafaring Labor Leader in the Rescue of Certain Ships, Leading to the Establishment of the Historic Fleet at San Francisco By Karl Kortum, Chief Curator National Maritime Museum, San Francisco Karl Kortum was at sea in the last Cape Horn voyage of an American square rigger, the Kaiulani, when Harry Lundeberg, secretary-treasurer of the Sailor's Union of the Pacific, first stepped in to save an historic ship in San Francisco. Lundeberg himself had served in square rig, and was the kind of man who never forgets where he came from-as Karl Kortum 's account of their working together to save the historic ships makes clear. The first time Harry Lundeberg saved the Balc/utha, the square-rigged Cape Horner now in the National Maritime Museum, was in 1942. Frank Kissinger,* the Texas carnival man who owned the vessel and was exhibiting her as a " pirate ship," asked him to intercede with Admiral Land, head of the War Shipping Administration in Washington, D.C. A man named Bradley, the local representative of the WSA, wanted to cut the ship down to a coal hulk. A young lieutenant on his staff felt that she should be part of the war effort. In the excitement just after Pearl Harbor even historical relics (much less a "pirate ship" that wasn't a pirate ship) were fair game. The classic old battleship Oregon, launched by the Union Iron *A word about the Kissinger era-twenty years. II may have been an historically atrocious period in Balclutha's life but ii kepi her alive. These were the twenty years when all her sisters in Oakland Creek except one, Star of Finland (Kaiulani), were being dismantled into barges or sailed across to Japan to the scrapyard.
Works at San Francisco in 1893 and preserved at Portland, Oregon, was handed over to a scrap metal drive by the city fathers. A foolish gesture. As it turned out, she was only part way scrapped and the hull was used as a barge in Guam. After the war she was scrapped-in Japan. Conversation between Bradley, the WSA man, and Frank Kissinger after Lundeberg's phone call to Washingto n: "Well Frank, you win. We' ll make other arrangements for a coal barge. Now take that ship of yours and hide it before another 'ninety day wonder' has another brain storm."
Harry saved the Balc/utha again, twelve years later. The Board of State Harbor Commissioners had turned down the San Francisco Maritime Museum's request for the berth the ship now occupies at Fishermen's Wharf. Without it we could not proceed with our plan to buy the ship. I asked Harry to intercede with Governor Knight. Hi s letter to the Governor straightened the matter out overnight. Governor Knight had his eyes on the vicepresidency of the nation at this point in history, on the Republican side. And Harry Lundeberg was that rare creature, a Republican labor leader. Harry saved the ship a third time, in that same year 1954. He had become a Museum trustee but seldom attended meetings. I asked him to come to a meeting of the board and take care of a rebellion in the ranks. After a year of unsatisfactory negotiations with the owner by the Ship Committee, powerful elements in the
board were ready to throw in the towel, including the most vociferous voice on the Ship Committee-loudest for the ship up until the present, but a voice that was now beginning to express doubts. Dangerous! At this point in the history of our fledgling organization it was a lot easier to stick with ship models, safe in their little glass cases. After all , the rusty old sailing ship being contemplated was the same size as the museum building that held the models. One of the many holes corroded through the side of the ship was big enough to put your head through . The Balc/utha was a bizarre project for a small historical society. There was only $15,000 in the bank, little more than a tenth of what was required to put her back in shape. But sometimes bizarre projects are the best kind. A couple of weeks earlier another member of the Ship Committee, Scott Newhall (original patron of the whole museum), had adroitly saved the Balclutha by a parliamentary maneuvr at an Executive Committee meeting. He blocked action to kill the ship project by pointing out that the Ship Committee had not reported to the Executive Committee. So the E. C. could not take action . T he ship's survival hung on such slender threads. An account in Ventu re magazi ne, February 1965, tells about the meeting of the full Board. ''The morning of that day found Kortum pleading his cause in the offi ce of Harry Lundeberg, then secretarytreasurer of the Sailors Union of the
Harry Lundeberg in action, a leader who never forgot where he came from .
Harry 's seafaring career began in sailing ships like the Oaklands (above). He remembered sailing her through the entrance to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands (below). Painting by J. Steven Dews, 1976.
Pacific and probably the most powerful man on the waterfront. Lundeberg, who had been a militant union organizer most of his life, was not noted for his charm. He listened glumly to Kortum's account of the difficulties over the Balclutha, then, without committing himself, promised to attend the meeting that afternoon. He showed up on time, brushed past the startled shipp ing magnates who were present and sat silently by while the leader of the
Balclutha opposition made a speech suggesting that it was folly to spend all that money for an old ship that didn't even have any scrap value. ''When Lunde berg finally stood up to speak it was in a vein that none of the steamship men had ever heard from him. 'The scrap value is no way to set a price for the last great sailing ship left on the Coast,' he said softly. Then he went on to point out that the Balclutha was a reminder of the city's maritime history, of what the port had once been, of the spirit that would make it that way again. He said he had spent twelve years in sai l and had a deep personal interest in the whole project. "Then Lundeberg sat down, there was a stunned silence, and the man sitting next to Kortum whispered, 'Have you got this guy wired?' Kortum was too relieved to answer. The committee [Board] voted to continue the chase with Mrs. Kissinger."
A few weeks later she yielded, and the Museum acquired the Balclutha from Frank Kissinger' s widow for $25,000 borrowed. Harry was crucial to Museum affairs a fourth time, in 1955, when he sent a letter to Governor Knight launching the "schooner projects," to bring in the threemaster C.A. Thayer and the steam sc hooner Wapama. We were after $200,000 of state money for this project, which later turned into the State Maritime Park . The money was to be appropriatead from tideland oil royalties returned to California by President E isenhower. These funds constituted a $65 million melon to be split up in the state capitol for new parks, monuments, etc . Competition up and down California for this money was intense. Lundeberg's letter to the Governor began: ''As you know, ships played a very large part in the development of our state." He continued, warming up: "Last fall, the Maritime Museum Association pointed out to the State's historical people SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
that a representative steam schooner and a handsome little three-masted lumber schooner, both directly out of California's history, were still afloat and available for preservation and restoration . ... But the State Park Commission man wouldn't even discuss it with our people-the maritime angle just didn't register." The letter concluded by asking for early action, "because the bill is already in the hopper and bureaucratic resistance has a way of building up if given time to do so." Lundeberg's weight accounted for half of our success in this campaign; the other half was the go-ahead attitude of Hugh Gallagher, Matson executive, then museum president, who saw that a bill was put in the hopper at Sacramento, and Stanley Dollar, Jr., who used his old Piedmont family connections to reach and persuade Joseph Knowland, chairman of the State Parks Commission. Knowland was
publisher of the Oakland Tribune. His father had operated schooners in the lumber trade.* The fifth time Harry stepped in was when the crunch was coming in the State Captitol about whether a Ferry Building Park project or the schooner bill was going to pull into favored position. The matter was going to be decided on April 29, 1955 , in a meeting in Sacramento . . . Harry couldn 't go but he gave me permission the day before to sit down with Miss Lenz, his secretary, and work up a batch of Lundeberg-type telegrams to the Governor and to half a dozen assemblymen and our state senator. Dave Nelson, my colleague, was aghast at my militant wording but I figured it might have an effect on the opposition the following day. The point is: Lundeberg was willing to send them. We were up against the City: the Mayor and the Harbor Commission and the
*Among the vessels in which the senior Know/and owned shares was the four-masted schooner H. D. Bendixsen. When the State Park Commission had before them the Maritime Museum's proposal that the lumber schooner C.A. Thayer (a Bendixsen-built three-masted schooner) be preserved, he was wont to reminisce about his father's flotilla. Mr. Know/and spoke in a low old voice and with a twinkle in his eye: "You know my father liked to name his schooners for girls ... but we never knew who the girls were." Some of the Know/and schooners; Norma, Una , Mary & Ivy , Beulah, Lily, Loui se, Lucy, Sadie, Alvena, Caroline Irene.
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Lundeberg's words, backed by action, moved such men as Joseph R. Know/and (left), Chairman of the State Parks Commission, and Hugh Gallagher (right) of Matson Lines, a San Francisco Maritime Museum trustee, shown here meeting aboard a ferry in 1958. They also remembered where they came from, in the clinches. All photos courtesy National Maritime Museum, San Francisco.
Chamber of Commerce and the Planning Commission and the Downtown Association and the Retail Drygoods Association wanted the new park to be located at the foot of Market Street - the so-called Ferry Building Park. We wanted the new park to be at the foot of Polk, two miles away at Aquatic Park (where it eventually was located), but we weren't fighting that battle at the moment - we were just getting schooners through. The scene is Assemblyman Maloney's office in Sacramento, next morning; Cyril Magnin (chairman of the State Harbor Commission), Newton Drury (chief of the Division of Beaches & Parks), Aubrey Neasham (state historian), Miriam Wolff (attorney for the Harbor Commission) and others are taking a hard line: "We want San Francisco's state park to be at the Ferry Building. We'll tie up your schooners behind it, if necessary." Newton Drury, a sly old fox around the capitol corridors, a former director of the National Park Service, leads the offensive for our opponents.* They don't want a cheap bill for $200,000 for a couple of schooners floating around the legislature; it will be an embarassment to them. Their bill is much more ambitious - and much less likely to get passed if we are in the field - a million dollars for the Ferry Building park. They want to combine the two bills. Trouble ahead if San Francisco's assault upon the tidelands royalties is bifurcated. This was before lunch. Dave Nelson and I were making no progress whatsoever. It was plain that the telegram sent the previous afternoon may have gotten through to the Governor's office, but it had not got into the right channels (or any channels) after that. I remember walking aroung the well-manicured grounds surrounding the old State Capitol building during the noon hour. We speculated on whether we should put in with them. We had the "slot" (a blank bill that Maloney had put in early in the session); they had the strength. They were willing to attach
* He later became a friend 38
of the project.
our $200,000 to their $1 million in return for our turning over the bill. I finally told Dave that we should try to go it alone. Otherwise we would use up all our (good but spotty) political strength lobbying for the million dollar Ferry Building Park in order to get the carrot in front of the donkey, the $200,000 for the schooners. We went back into Maloney's office after lunch and the atmosphere had changed completely. Maloney briskly asked us how we would like the bill worded. The Harbor Commission attorney, Miriam Wolff said sotte voce and bitterly to one of her people asking her about what had happened: ''Harry Lundeberg has been heard from!'' Maybe a little rough, but. .. you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs and you can't put together a happy hunting ground for a couple of old schooners without a little politics.
* * * *
Harry Lundeberg and I got along because we both had a love of sailing ships. If I hadn't the bona fides of a voyage around Cape Hom before the mast in my dossier, I don't think he would have paid much attention to my importunings. It was plain that Harry looked back on his fo'c's'le days with pleasure, but his stories about those years were wry rather than sentimental. He occasionally leaned back in his chair, behind the big desk, and reminisced during our visits to his office in the formative days of the Museum . In 1949 the Sailors Union of the Pacific was still located on Clay Street, the city's "sailor town" of bygone days; later a large headquarters building was built at 450 Harrison Street on Rincon Hill. One day not long after theBalclutha had been purchased (the final thrust in that difficult year-long negotiation accomplished because of his personal intervention with the Board of Trustees as above reported), Harry was moved to describe the tweendecks fo'c's'le of the Great Britain. This came up because we were discussing the fo'c's'le arrangements aboard the Balclutha - yet to be recreated because the Alaska Packers had substantially changed her for salmon packet use. The Great Britain fo'c's'le was buried deep in the ship and was primitive in the extreme. Lundeberg had gone aboard her in Port Stanley in 1921, when she was a wool storage hulk. The bark Oak/ands, in which he was a sailor, was alongside, loading from her. How he got into Port Stanley made another story .... He had been sent up from New York to a lumber port in Canada to join the Oak/ands, then under Norwegian flag. The crew forward con-
sisted of eight men. The lumber was discharged in Bahia Blanca and the Oak/ands then stood down the South Atlantic to the Falkland Islands with a chanter to load wool there for London. But she struck bad weather and during two weeks of standing off and on outside the entrance to Port Stanley, the charter time had almost run out. The problem was that the tug had broken down and there was no way to negotiate the narrow entrance except to sail in. Finally, to save his charter, Captain Pederson decided he would have to try it. Watching for a favorable slant he closed with the narrow gap between broad Port William and the sheltered inner harbor, Port Stanley. Harry was at the wheel. The thousandton bark was sharp up with the leeches beginning to quiver, barely making her course as she headed in. Once in the entrance, "I could have spit on the rocks from where I was steering the ship," Lundeberg recalled. It did not look as if she were going to weather the lee headland. The captain could do no more. He paced from side to side of the ship in front of the helmsman muttering, under his breath, an unhappy litany: "F --- this! F --- this! F --- this ... " But the Oak/ands slipped through, barely, and the harbor inside opened up. The charter was saved. The Pilot came aboard, full of congratulations: "You are the first ship to sail in that anyone can remember." "Nothing to it," said the Old Man. JI
JI
JI
AS WE SEE IT Great Liners of The Past Are you interested in great liners such as the TITANIC , OLYMPIC , BRITANNIC, LUSITANIA , MAURETANIA, AQUITANIA , QUEEN MARY, and the QUEEN ELIZABETH I? If so , you may be interested in joining the TITANIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. This society, founded in 1963, covers these liners plus much more about the White Star Line and Cunard White Star Ltd . steamship companies and their ships. Publishes a fine JOURNAL fou r times a year , profusely illustrated . For a sample copy of our journal - send $3 .00 by check or money order. Write for FREE membership information. TITANIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. DEPT. M
P.O. BOX-53 llNDIAN ORCHARD, MASS. 01151 USA
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
':4 Sense of History .. :' PA UL HALL , president of the S eafarers International Union, 1957-1 980.
Paul Hall, late president of the Seafarers International Union and an ardent champion of the American merchant marine, had a deep sense of history. He believed that we have to profit from the past in order to shape a better future. He believed this was especially true of our maritime history, with its costly cycles of indifference and neglect of the American merchant marine. Paul Hall had a deep interest in America's maritime heritage, replete with epics of bold enterprise, daring and courage against great odds. He thought these epics should be told and re-told-to inspire Americans for generations to come. An important part of the nation's maritime heritage is the saga of maritime labor, a story often neglected in the chronicles of America. For this reason Paul Hall set up an historical research department in our union to collect the history of the maritime labor movement from newspaper files and library archives all over the country. This has resulted in the largest single collection of its kind. Paul Hall's interest in preserving and telling the history of the American merchant marine and of the men who sailed its ships will be continued by this union in the belief that we can build a better future if we profit from the past. Frank Drozak
Seafarers International Union
Seafarers International Union 675 Fourth Ave., Brooklyn, New York 11232
NOTICE The owners of the celebrated schooner IIarvey Gamage announce the offering of shares in the construction of a new threemasted schooner, trading West Indies and East Coast US. For information apply:
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Stan Hugill signs out with the X Seamens Institute in one of his most memorable performances, at the Newport Maritime Heritage Festival 1979, _with other artists. By Folkways Records, comm1ss10ned by NMHS and the Sea Heritage Foundation. Proceeds to benefit the NMHS Ship Trust program.
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An anonymous mid-nineteenth century artist records the sylvan setting of the whaling port. The house in the foreground, which still stands, belonged to the Jones family, leaders in the Whaling Company; the St. John's Church steeple, used as a guidepost by returning ships, is at left; the vessel in harbor is supposed to be the whaleship Tuscarora. Painting loaned to the Museum by Jesse Knight.
Cold Spring Harbor Whaling By Robert D. Farwell, Director Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum In the popular imagination, American whaling was the exclusive preserve of New England, on the New Bedford-Nantucket axis. Few think of Cold Spring Harbor, located on Long Island's north shore about 20 miles east of the present New York City line. Between the years 1836 and 1862, Cold Spring Harbor was home port for a fleet of nine whaling ships, ranging in size from 280 to 579 tons. None were new vessels and only one, the N.P. Talmadge, had seen prior service as a whaleship. Cold Spring is nearly 100 miles from the open sea, but on the doorstep of New York, whose manufacturers needed oil to lubricate industrial machinery and whose expanding population needed it for their lamps. The potential for success was not lost on two Cold Spring entrepreneurs, John H. Jones and his brother Walter R. Jones, who formed Cold Spring Whaling Company from among local residents. To direct profits from whaling, the Joneses added revenue gained by using family businesses to equip their whaleships. By 1836, when the Joneses purchased their first vessel, the bark Monmouth, they already owned a grist mill, woolen mill, cooper's shop and lightering firm at Cold Spring. In addition, Walter served as President of Atlantic Mutual Insurance in Manhattan, one of the country's largest marine insurers, which eventually held the policies on all the Cold Spring whalers. Given the brevity of the industry's elevenyear existence, Cold Spring fared well. Over $1,000,000 in whale products were unloaded at Cold Spring's Eagle Dock, and enterprises catering to maritime needs in town flourished. There was some conSEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
cern voiced over the excesses of returning whalemen, and for a time the title "Bedlam Street'' was applied to the thoroughfare most frequented by newly landed crews; but on the whole whaling was viewed in a positive light. Although whaling took firmer root at Cold Spring than in many other ports whose initial exposure to the fishery dates from the same decade, there were incipient problems which eventually ended the Joneses' efforts. Few of these were peculiar to Cold Spring Harbor. They reflected conditions which would eventually plague even New Bedford. One particularly damaging event was the loss of two whaleships, the Richmond in 1849 and the Edgar in 1853, to the rigors of Arctic whaling. Although nowhere near as devastating as the loss of33 ships in 1871 to New England, the results to Cold Spring, a small port with a tenuous grasp on prosperity, were traumatic. Another ominous sign was the increasingly lengthy voyages needed to fill Cold Spring's ships with whale products. For example, in 1836 the Monmouth completed her successful maiden voyage after a mere 8 Yi months' cruise in the Atlantic. By 1858 it took the bark Alice, a vessel of similar size, 44 months to complete her final cruise. Longer cruises were precipitated by a scarcity of whales which could be successfully hunted with the oar and sail technology available to the mid-nineteenth century whalemen. Although far less destructive than modern whaling, the old whale fishery sharply reduced the populations of right, sperm, gray and bowhead whales. As voyages lengthened, so did the costs for outfitting,
repairing and staffing a whaler, and concomitantly, the profits left for the ships' investors decreased. A final blow to Cold Spring Harbor's fortunes were the deaths of Walter R. Jones in 1855 and John H. Jones in 1859. Deprived of their considerable business skills and faced with a myriad of economic problems, the fleet dissolved. In 1862 the Alice was sold and whaling at Cold Spring Harbor ceased. Today the maritime heritage of Cold Spring Harbor and the memory of its whaling industry is preserved by the Cold Spring Whaling Museum, opened in 1946. Located on Rt. 25A, at the town's east end, the Museum houses whaling artifacts ranging from a 30-foot whaleboat last used in 1912-13 bythecrewofthebrigDaisyof New Bedford, to a large collection of scrimshaw. Figureheads, paintings and shiprelated items round out the collection. Beyond serving as repository for historical items, the Museum actively supports marine mammal conservation efforts, and offers a year-round schedule of educational programs, including a lecture series, sea shanty concerts, scrimshaw workshops and films. Some 200,000 people come annually and many receive their first exposure to maritime history here. We see a tremendously important future in the Museum's work on behalf of the proud whaling traditons of our Cold Spring community.
Mr. Farwell came from Mystic Seaport in 1978 to become Director at Cold Spring. On first arrival he lived in the Jones house shown in the painting. 41
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The use of wind-powered ships is not over yet! In Japan a 1600-ton coastal tanker is being built as a sailing ship with auxiliary engine to get past calm spots. The owners al so plan a 1400-ton sailing barge to deliver building supplies in Tok yo-Yokohama area. Jn England, Windrose Ltd . plans to build a 5-masted bark of about 1200 dwt tons to tran sport wool from Au stralia back to England-the most traditional design of variou s ships that are planned. Jn the US, the oil rig Rowan Louisiana may now hold the record for setting the largest sa il ever cut. In March 1978 the ri g was towed across the Gulf of Mexico , assisted by a huge roller-furling jib I 70 ' on the luff, 72 ' on the foot, some 5600 sq . ft. in area. The sail saved abo ut $2400 a day during the tow . Another " return to the past" item is the seriou s consideration of the use of coal as fuel for ocean-going ships. Firemen will not have to work in 120 ° boiler room s of yore - mechanical stoking equipment tak es th eir place. Pulverized coal is being used on some ships and it is being considered for many more. Tim Severin, who sailed across the Atlanti c in a re-enactment of St. Brendan's voyage in a cowhide curragh , plans another voyage- to follow the ancient trade route from Oman to China in a reconstruction of an Arab dhow. Hi s vessel Sohar, named for Sinbad's birthplace, has been under con struction since January; it is hoped that the voyage will begin this fall. The 140-ton wooden hull is 80 ' long, lashed together with coconut fiber ropes and rigged with the same material.
UNITED STATES The American Sail Training Association will hold it s 8th Annual Sail Training Conference, October 23-4, at the Philadelphia Maritime Museum . These broad-gauge conferences have become a valued fixture, touching on public programs, museum work, hi stori c preservation as well as the gut and technical issues of the sail training movement. AST A , Ei senhower House, Fort Adam s State Park, Newport RI 02840. The National Maritime Historical Society ha s schedu led a Ship Trust Forum for November 9-IO, at the National Maritime Mu seum, San Francisco. NMHS, 2 Fulton St., Brooklyn NY 11201. San Jose State University and the National Archives are co-sponsoring a Maritime History Conference on the westward movement by sea during the Gold Rush, November 7-8, at the University, San Jose CA 95192. Maritime Folklife Resources: A Directory and Index is now available from the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. Designed for the serious researcher the 'g uide covers more than 170 mu seums, archives and libraries which have significant maritime holdings. Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540.
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Log Chips Supplement #2 has been completed by editor Norman Brouwer and is now avai lable from the Society for$ I. It contains the li st of British-built ships built in 1874 and it picks up Sailing Ship News where John Lyman left off in 1959 . NMHS , 2 Fulton St., Brooklyn NY 11201 .
EAST COAST Maine Maritime Museum is comp letely rebuilding the wooden tug Seguin of 1883 at their Percy & Small Shipyard faci lity. She is being joined on the ways by the former Arctic exploration schooner Bowdoin, which is to be thoroughly rebuilt with the support of a grant from the fnterior Department' s Maritime Heritage Fund of 1979. Work on Bowdoin will take at least a year, longer for Seguin: both are on ex hibit during reconstruction. Museum, 963 Washington St ., Bath ME 04530; Bowdoin , 39 High St., Camden ME 04643. The Piscataqua Gundalow Project of Portsmouth , NH is continuing to coll ect material and fund s for construction of the gundalow Captain Adams, aiming for launch in fa ll of 1981. Gundalow Project, Box 1303 , Portsmouth NH 03801. The 75' steam launch Calliope, powered by a 3-cylinder , 80 hp steam engine built in Onta rio , Canada in 1906, now makes tours in
Boston H a rbor. Stops include Museum of Transporta tion and USS Constitution. Congress Street & Atlantic Steamship Co., 300 Congress Street, Boston MA 02210. USS Constitution Museum has opened a new exhibit, "The Building of Old Ironsides," composed of three parts: a simulated saw pit, showing how large timbers were cut before powered machines; a full- size reproduction of the frig a te 's stru cture, including keel and frames, thin gs not visible to vi sitors on the ship; a fully rigged mod el of the ship , including sail s , whi ch had been used as a teaching a id during the da ys of wind-powered ship s . C on stitution Mu seum , Box 1812, Boston MA 02129. The New Bedford Whaling Museum has taken on a I 9th-century whaleboat salvaged from the wrec k of the steam whaler Balaena in 190 I. It had been used by local Es kimos for shore whaling until about 1930 when it was put in storage. The Arctic climate preserved the boat to thi s time. Museum , 19 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford MA 02740 . Frigate Rose, a 1970 reproduction of the ship of 1757 (SH 17 :26, SH 16:36) has found a new hom e in New Bedford where her owners, the Colonial Ship Mu seum , plan to rebui ld topside pl a nking a nd mak e other needed repairs.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
MUSEUM NEWS museum president Charles Sanderson also notes that we had incorrectly reported her length: she's 170 ' from jibboom end to spanker boom, 125' on deck. HMS Rose, c/ o Sanderson, 93 Main St., Kingston MA 02364. Suffolk Marine Museum's Modesty, last sloop built for the shellfish trade on Long Island' s South Shore, has been reconstructed and was launched in Great South Bay June 21. Built by Wood and Shute, Greenport NY, in 1923, she ended up as a dockside decoration in Connecticut, where the Museum found her in 1974. In 1977 the Museum began to make repairs to the sloop, but decided that a complete rebuilding would make most sense. The reborn Modesty will join the sloop Priscilla (1883) as a floating Museum emissary , and will also try her hand at oysterin g under sail. Museum, West Sayville NY 11796.
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A little-known part of the 4-masted bark
Moshulu 's history is her service in World War II. After unloading her last ocean-going cargo at Christiansand, Norway in January 1940, she was towed to Kirkeness. There she became a floating depot for mines and depth charges.
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On the left, sailor works on a depth charge in one of the ship' s four hatchways. On the right , another crewman stands near the stern , with a rack for capstan bars on hi s left. Such photographs are useful in restoration of the ship. These are from Karl Hand s, now of E lmhu rst NY, who served aboard in thi s period. Moshulu, Chestnut Mall, Penn' s Landing, Philadelphia PA 19106.
on the schooners
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USS Constellation has returned to Baltimore's Inner Harbor after overhau l at Bethlehem
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Steel's Fort McHenry Yard; major repairs included replacement of 6 " oak planking around ship's waterline, damaged by shipworm and dryrot , constant enemies of wooden ships . Constellation, Pier I, Pratt St., Baltimore MD 21202.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
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Baltimore's Harborplace, on the Inner Ha rbor waterfront, opened in July and is doing a land-office business. Sponsored by the Rou se Corporation, developers of Quincy Ma rket in Boston and prospective developers of South Street Seaport in New York (SH 15:51), the center includes an extensive collection of marine paintings by Melbourne Smith in its Black Pea rl Tavern. The new ly formed Wilmington Steamboat Foundation is working to develop a museum of Delaware steamboating and also to rai se and restore the State of Pennsylvania, built at Wilmington in 1923 for the Wil son Line, and one of our las t surviving coastal passenger stea mers. Foundation, 71 Central Ave., Demares t, NJ 07627. Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum has opened a major exhibit in the newly constructed Chesapeake Bay Building, covering the Bay from its geological beginnings through European discovery and settlement, early trade, the fishing and oystering industry and the Bay today . In this exhibit you'll also encounter a reconstructed bulwark section of the letter-ofmarque merchantman Lynx, designed by volunteer John Lord from Admiralty plans made after her capture, from the Smithsonian
Norlantis, P.O. Box 3175, Saxonville station, MA 01701
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Institution . "If you want to experience the flavor and feel of 1818 ... put your hand on the brown cap rail , look at the black and yellow banding of the hull, sniff the smell of oakum, and let your mind drift," says Museum Director R.J . Holt. Mu seum, St. Michaels MD 21663.
'Drake Versus Ranger' by Wm.Gilkerson l)epicts the opening guns of the first evenly matched ship-to-ship engagement of the American Revolution . Capt. Jones can be seen just abaft the Ranger's mizzen shrouds. A limited edition of200 collector's prints is offered for sale to benefit the work of the N.M. H.S. These fine reproductions were printed in five inks on 10007o linen paper under the supervision of the artist. Each print is numbered, signed and color highlighted by the artist. Image size is 11 "x 17 ", price per copy is $48 .
To: National Maritime Historical Society, 2 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 Please send me prints. My check for$ is enclosed. NAME ADDRESS _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
44
The Mariners Museum has added something new - a 26' hydrofoil. Sailed in the Great Lakes and as far west as Lake Tahoe, the boat has been clocked at 35 mph in a 15 mph wind. Mariners Museum , Newport News VA 23606.
WEST COAST Oeanic Independence will revive the dormant US flag passenger trade when she begins cruising from Honolulu thi s summer. The ship can accommodate up to 750 passengers making her the first true passenger ship to fl y the American flag in more than a decade. The crew are being trained at the Seafarers International Union's Harry Lundeberg School in Piney Point, MD. Owned by Cove Ship Management, she carries a crew of up to 250.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
& MUSEUM NEWS Falls of Clyde has .encountered budget problems with her owner, the Bishop Museum of Honolulu, who can no longer carry her $40,000 annual operating deficit. This Society is working with Senator Inouye and others to seek National Park Service support to keep her open to the public in Hawaii. Letters of interest and support are needed! Send to us (NMHS, 2 Fulton St., Brooklyn NY 11201) or to Falls of Clyde, Pier 5, Honolulu HI 96819. Steam schooner Wapama of 1915 is now high and dry on a steel barge, for major rebuilding.
The work might take as long as three years to complete so a new approach was needed . Now the work does not have to be hurried by the need to make space in a busy shipyard. Historic Ships Unit, National Maritime Museum, San Francisco CA 94109. Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'Brien steamed to her permanent berth at Fort Mason on May 21 ,
after refit at Bethlehem Steel's shipyard in San Francisco. She will be open to visitors on a limited basis until interior exhibits are completed this fall. National Liberty Ship Memorial, 215 Market Street - Suite 532, San Francisco CA 94105. Steamboat Elizabeth Louise was launched in the Sacramento River this spring. The boat is 138 ' overall, 99 gross tons, and powered l;>y a pair of 125-horsepower steam engines salvaged from a tug cut up in 1960. She will start operation as soon as state and local per mi ts are secured. The Museum of History and Industry in Seattle plans a contemporary scrimshaw and ivory carving exhibition, to open December 1980. Those interested in showing their work should apply to: Historical Society of Seattle and Kings County, 2161 East Hamlin St., Seattle WA 98112. Northwest Seaport's three-masted schooner Wawona has been hauled for survey by NMHS Trustee Captain Harold Huycke and Capt. A.F. Raynaud . Work called for includes replacement of 520 feet of waterline planking. About $350,000 from the Maritime Heritage Fund and matching grants is avai lable for this needed work: contributions may be sent to: Seaport, PO Box 2865, Seattle WA 98111 .
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
TRADE WINDS The SL-7: Going the way of the Clipper Ship? By Michael Gillen Every so often a ship comes along that, as a The problem, of course is the price of type, leaves an indelible mark on the fuel oil. Sea-Land has slowed its SL-7s to a maximum of 29 knots, to conserve fuel, maritime history of the world. The but even at 28 knots they use 4.1 barrels of American clipper ship of the mid-19th cenoil per mile. So, for a 21-day voyage you tury was one; with its tall masts, sleek hull, are talking about up to a million dollars and speed it revolutionized world shipping spent on fuel alone. for a decade, then faded into oblivion as a With the first of its eight SL-7s launched new breed of (steam) ship came on the in 1972 (the Sea-Land Galloway and the scene. The 1970s produced its own clipper ship-Sea-Land'sSL-7 containership (see Sea-Land McClean), Sea Land is now planning to retire its entire fleet of SL-7s SH 12:30-31). Besides making an impact just eight years later. A new fleet of 12 on world shipping, the SL-7 has shown the world once again what American industry diesel-powered, 22-knot D-9s is being built to replace the SL-7s (three are already in and imagination could do, as the earlier service). While this is taking place, Seaclipper ship had done. Land is negotiating the sale of all the Like the Flying Clouds of the 1850s, the SL-7s. The prospective buyer is none other SL-7 has electrified the shipping world than the United States Navy. While the with its record-breaking speeds. How SL-7 American taxpayer would eventually have sailors like to brag about "passing to foot the bill for operating the energyeverything in sight" wherever they go! inefficient SL-7s, if indeed the Navy does And, with the ships' designed service speed take them over, I would be glad to see them of 33 knots, their proud boast is easy to remain under American control (there had believe. On a typical voyage an SL-7 will been rumors that the SL-7s would be sold leave Port Elizabeth, New Jersey (with to foreign interests). Certainly, the SL-7s around 1,000 containers), call briefly on would be an important and much-needed Portsmouth, Virginia, then cross the addition to our Navy's fleet of fastAtlantic to call on three European ports deployment logistical supply ships. And, (Bremer haven, Rotterdam, and Algeciras, as such, the SL-7 might well have a much Spain), then re-cross the Atlantic to arrive longer useful life than did the clipper ship in Port Elizabeth just 21 days later! And of the last century. that's at speeds no faster then 29 knots! Unlike the earlier clippers, however, the And so, ironically, the technological SL-7 does not sacrifice payload for speed. breakthrough that spelled the death-toll In addition to being the fastest merchant for the clipper ship - the steam engine ship type in the world, the SL-7 is also one has now numbered the glory days of its of the largest at an overall length of 944 modern counterpart, the SL-7. And feet. The SL-7 achieves its speed from twin emerging as the wave of the future (if not screws backed up by steam engines deliverthe present) is the vastly more economical, ing a total of 120,000 hp. Her power, in if slower, diesel-powered ship. With some combination with a graceful hull, makes 70 percent of foreign-flag, ocean-going the SL-7 capable of speeds in excess of 33 ships now diesel-powered, the everknots. While the engines contributed to innovative Sea-Land seems well advised launching the SL-7 into the forefront of with its plans to keep up with the trend even if it means giving up "the Clipper shipping in the 1970s, they now must take the blame for the SL-7 present predicaShip of the 1970s'.' w ment. Like the former "Greyhounds of Mr. Gillen, who works for the Seafarers the Sea," the SL-7 has practically outlived International Union, is also editor of the its usefulness as a practical merchant ship National Society's Liberty Log. He recenttype, and in just under 10 years. ly went to sea in an SL-7. "SL-7 sailors like lo brag about passing everything in sight."
SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS LAKES & RIVERS The bell of the original North River Steamboat of 1807 rang out the opening of the Hudson River Maritime Center at Kingston, New York on July 4 . On Broadway just inland from the
NMHS, through whom tax-deductible contributions may be made pending achievement of tax exempt status. President Arthur Adams invites communication on building up the Center, which is open weekends and holidays, 1-6 PM and by appointment weekday s. HRMC, 130 Fair Street, Kingston NY 12401. Hudson River sloop Clearwater is having a family. The ferry sloop, a sma ller (about 32 ') type used to move passengers and freight across the Hudson has come back to the river. The wood-hulled Woody Guthrie has been sa iling since 1978, and another sloop the ferrocement Sojouner Truth is nearing completion in Yonkers NY. Clearwater, 112 Market St., Poughkeepsie NY 12601. Lake Michigan Ferry Sloop Project has adopted the sloop as it s symbol in the fight to clean up the Great Lakes. Contributions to help build the sloop or to request further information: Sloop Proj ect, Box 282, Michigan City IN 46360. KEEP THE NEWS COMING! Send items of interest to Ted Miles, Assistant Curator, NMHS, 2 Fulton St., Brooklyn NY 11201.
Rondout Creek waterfront, the new center houses exhibits on Hudson River steamboats and other craft and the river fi sheries, with artifacts from such famous flyer s as the Mary Powell, whose keel still lies in the Rondout. Proposed in SH 10, this effort is supported by
NOTES FROM GREAT BRITAIN By Barry Beadle World Ship Trust Correspondent HMS Ark Royal, last of Britain' s fleet of aircraft carriers, has been sold for scrap after fail1ure of various plans to save her. Laid down duriing World War II in 1943, she was named for the famous ship sunk hy a U-hoat in 1941. She was completed in 1950, and ended active service in 1978. Viking ships and cargoes buried on York' s old Viking waterfront may be destroyed by new building next year, unless archaeologists can raise ÂŁ65,000 to excavate the Viking harbor. Contributions made to York Archaeological Trust may be sent to me as local World Ship Trust representative for forwarding. Steam yacht Scharnhorn, laid up for seven years at Buckie in Scotland, has been acquired by Amos and William Treloar of Haltwhistle, Northumberland for restoration. Built in 1908 for use by the Hamburg State Government, she spent most her days on the Elbe.
Patricia, flag ship of the Trinity House and a pioneer in diesel-electric propulsion, is to be replaced after 42 years' service by a new vessel.
Lizzie Porter, a 71-year-old 35 ' lifeboat which was stationed at Holy Island, Northumberland from 1909 to 1925 is to be preserved at a new museum in Bristol. Since 1936 she has been used as a landing stage at Bees low.
Friendly Forrester, another lifeboat worthy of
The 3 Masted Schooner
VICTORY CHIMES
prese rvation, is to be replaced after 25 years' service at Flamborough on the North East Coast. Variou s fundraising events in Yorkshire and Humberside are helping the RNLl raise money.
Largest Passenger Windjammer Under The U.S. Flag Sails weekly from Rockla nd , Maine. Coast Guard inspected. We invite comparison. For FREE color brochure call 207-596-6060 or write: Capt. Frederick B. Guild Box 368, Rockland, Maine, 04841
The Thames Spritsail Barge 'REMINDER' Sails the waters of the Thames estuary and the East Coast of England providing exciting sailing holidays. Built in 1929 Reminder has been skillfull y co nverted for holiday cruising wh ilst mainta ining her traditional character. One week full y inclusive cruises start ing and finishing a tour Maldon base from ÂŁ1 00 per berth. If you are thinking of visiting Britain in 1981 write for advance detai ls of our historic craft holidays. Free cruise brochure fr om: Capt. Roser Beckett
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THE "BOSTON MAILS"CHINA. On July 4, 1840, Samuel Cunard's Britannia sailed from Liverpool to start the Cunard Line of today. She was soon joined by Acadia, Caledonia and Columbia, and on September 2, 1841, J. & T. Edwards of England registered the "Boston Mails" china, which illustrated cabin scenes and the four steamers, for use on these Cunard vessels. About 25 of these dishes are in the Mariners Museum, others are in the collection of Mr. Charles Sachs, who furnished this photo. He welcomes further news and inquiries at PO Box 8797, Universal City CA 91608. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
Miranda, Britain's first full-time trawler support ship, has been laid up in Hull, following the co lla pse of the country's deep-sea fisheries. At one time she mothered 80 fishing vessels off Iceland. Built in Sweden in 1942, as the Albatross, she carried timber between Scandinavia and Britain, sailing as a fourmasted auxiliary schooner. Later known as Donna, then Dorothea, she was acquired by the Board of Trade in 1970.
TYNE PRINTS
Announces a limited-edition of 1,000 signed and numbered full-color lithographic art prints of Charles Darwin's Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle from a painting by the marine artist
RAYMOND A. MASSEY A.S.M.A.
The sailing ketch Cailach is another victim of the demise of Hull 's fishing industry. When the Hull fi shing vessel owners' association was wound up recently their training ship was sold to Hull Steel Craft Ltd. Her new owners would like to quarter her out and invite youth clubs and groups interested in sail training to be in touch with them. The company operates on Hull 's Victoria Dock.
Wingfield Castle, built for LNER in 1934 , this steamer paddled across the Humber Estuary for 40 years, until British Rail so ld her to the Brighton Marina Company for £30,000 in 1974. She's up for sale again. Lincoln Castle younger sister_pf th e Wingfield Castle, was at the time of her withdrawal from the Humber Ferry in 1978 the country's last coal-fired paddleship operating a year-round serv ice . Now owned by Francis Daly , proprietor of Hull' s Waterfront Club, she is to be converted into a restaurant muse um and toward s the end of 1980 she will be taken to a permanent berth near the Humber Bridge .
·~ --~ In 1832, the Admiralty assigned Captain Robert Fitzroy to explore and map the dangerous waters surrounding Tierra del Fuego. Charles Darwin, a young, unknown naturalist accompanied this historic five year voyage of the Beagle. From his notes and observations of this adventure, Darwin published his Origin of the Species in 1859 and rocked the civilized world. Print image size is 25" x 20". Signed print, $40 . Signed and remarqued print, $85. Order from:
TYNE PRINTS 112 Walton Drive, Buffalo, New York 14226 716~839-0185
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Information Wanted: The triple-expansion steam engines of the research ship Discovery were removed in 1941 and fitted to a tug which is believed to have been lost in the North Sea. The Discovery is now being restored by the Maritime Tru st and they would like any information about the tug.
1980 America's Cup full color print by Kipp Soldwedel Limited First Edition of 835
.
Parade of Nations
SHIP LORE,PUBUSHER 470 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, N .Y. 10022
Sales Stand: To help fund-raising activities Mrs. Esther Beadle is appealing for old postcards, used postage stamps, anything that can raise money at a bazaa r. BOOK SHELF
Paddle Steamers, by Richard Walker. A complete visual guide to all the major types of paddle steamers which sailed from British and Irish Ports and inland waterways in the years before the first World War I, with 122 illustrations available in Britain from Batsford Mail Order Sales, 4 Bakers Mews, London WIM IDD. UK Price £8.70 including postage. Anymore for the Skylark? by David Chalk. An illustrated story of Bournemouth's passenger boat services, particularly J. Bolso n & son and Croson. Their busin ess grew from hiring rowing boats to becoming the last operator of a Class Ill excursion sh ip. Available from the author at 4 Moreton Road, Bournemouth BH93PR. UK Price £2.25 including postage.
Price: $100.00
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Please send news, notes, comments and inquiries to Mr. Beadle, 39 Newland A venue, Hull H0583E, Uniled Kingdom.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State _ _ _ _ _ _ Z i P ' - - - - - - SHIPP IN G COST: Prepaid . New York residents add 8% sales tax. Foreign orders add 25% to cost .
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Origins, Orient and Oriana, by Charles F. Morris (Brighton, England, Teredo Books Ltd., New York, Mccartan& Root, 1980, 500 pp., 220 illus., 9 color, ÂŁ22.80). A plethora of books in recent years has dealt with large passenger ships, mainly on the transatlantic run, with repetitious photographs and prints of famous vessels, their saloons and menu cards, written from the viewpoint of a passenger or enthusiastic observer. Origins, Orient and Oriana brings us a new and welcome slant on the subject - that of the designer and operator, which puts it into proper perspective. The author Charles F. Morris, as naval architect to an old established passenger ship company, the Orient Line, tells us a story which covers famous sailing ships, clippers and luxury liners in an easily readable and often humorous manner, with a pleasing lack of pedantry in handling technical detail. The opening chapters deal with the development of ships from the earliest days before scientific principles were evolved . The art of shipbuilding, as the author notes, is a combination of art and science and rarely can the product be called the work of one man. Nevertheless, it is an injustice that one may see architects' renderings of large buildings in art academy displays, but never a scaled drawing of a large ship, which is equally a work of noble art and much more exacting in its call on the imagination of its creators. The first vessel acquired by the company, which gave the line its name, was the sailing ship Orient, in the emigrant passenger trade to Australia. The company at this time was J. Thomson & Co., and then Anderson, Green & Co. in 1878, the Green name being associated with the well known Blackwall Frigate Company. We are reminded of many famous names
in the sailing ship era of the company, such as Heather Bell, Coonatto, Borealis,
Argonaut, Godiva, Red Riding Hood, Witch of the Wave, Hesperus and Harbinger, some of which are illustrated by rare and interesting photographs. A transitional period of sail and steam culminated in the iron screw ship St. Osyth, which in 1878 established the Orient Steam Navigation Co. on the Australian run. This was a period which can be quite confusing to anyone trying to trace the precise history of the company as they took over as managers four steamships, the Lusitania, Chimborazo, Cuzco and Garonne from the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. The latter vessel was the first to carry the OSNC flag. The first vessel actually built for the company was the Orient in 1879, which had electric lighting and refrigerating facilities. From here the author traces the history of the more familiar steamships with names commencing with "O" or "Or," including the Ophir, which is enjoying a present popularity in a new book, a facimilie of an illustrated diary by a petty officer recording a cruise with the Duke and Duchess of York aboard. The combined OSNC and PSNC ships were joined in 1901 by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., who had purchased the PSNC ships. The company name changed from Orient Pacific to Orient-Royal Mail until in 1909 the original and present title was assumed. There follows a description of operating costs, considerations in design with conflicting opinions, wind tunnel experiments for funnel designs, and similar problems with their fleet up to modern times. The deterioration of standards of tidiness in cabins occupied by both passengers and crew after the introduction of one-class travel im noted. One can doubt the eliminaSEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
tion of class being the root reason for this, however, as it seems to be part of a worldwide deterioration of standards and disrespect for property. My own experience, borne out by many old-time stewards, is that in prewar and immediate pastwar years the untidiest cabins at the end of the voyage were found in the first class section for reasons on which it is interesting to speculate. Third class and emigrants were afraid to defile their accommodations or appear uncivilized aboard an imposing ship and consequently kept them tidy! The author also goes into the problems encountered with new, untried materials, and new accommodation designs based more on transient fashion than on seagoing utility. Years ago it was the prac_tice for shipbuilders to custom make the ship's furniture which had its own distinctive style. In more recent years, the practice has been for the interior decoration and design to be put entirely into the hands of domestic architectural designers without supervision given in the past by an experienced ship man. As a consequence one now finds potentially harmful design on ships - sharp corners and badly placed furniture, etc. Similarly, the exterior profile of a large passenger vessel is often given to a domestic designer who can produce happy results if supervised, but otherwise creates useless compartments in prime positions or tortured structural details. Too often we read that a company has one or two hundred years' experience in a certain field, shipbuilding included, when the reality is often confined to the experience of the current staff, many of whom come from other concerns. Unless there is an ongoing continuity in the personnel with a good proportion of old hands, many of the lessons of the past are lost, especially with younger enthusiastic members anxious to create new ideas. With the increasing trend toward things nostalgic, we may yet see a return to old styles aboard ships. Personally, as a passenger on a recent transatlantic voyage in a large ship, I was bored stiff with the modern decor which can be found anywhere ashore. The latter half of the book deals in an absorbing way and in depth with the technical aspects of designing a large ocean liner, with emphasis on the pride of the fleet, their last vessel, the Oriana. The structure is analyzed with drawings explaining the development of superstructure, from the days when long houses on the boat deck cracked their windows due to the flexing of the ship, as happened to the Olympic, to the introduction of expansion joints and latterly light alloy superSEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
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The Sea-craft of Prehistory Paul Johnstone Sean McGrail, Editor A rare combination of nautical experience and archaeological expertise made Paul Johnstone the ideal writer for this wide-ranging account. His ingenious reconstruction of man's early maritime migrations and the craft that made them possible - the rafts of log and reed, the boa ts of bark, skin, and plank - takes on the proportions of a great detective story. At once definitive, readable, and profusely illustrated, the book draws on all the evidence, from cave drawings and radiocarbon dating to the boatbuilding techniques of today's primitive societies. "A work of such great scope and depth that it is likely to be around and admired for a very long time." - Kirkus Reviews The Sea-craft of Prehistory, 226 halftones, 10 maps $25.00
Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 49
BOOKS
MARITIME CLASSICS Presenting the most authoritative and renowned works ever published NORTH ATLANTIC SEAWAY, by N.R.P. Bonsor The most complete history of the transatlantic passenger service ever published, from 1816 to present. Three volumes, 1,386 pages, rare photos, specifications, profiles-$73 POSTPAID AMERICAN CLIPPER SHIPS 1833-1858, by Howe & Matthews The histories of 350 clippers. Two volume boxed set, 780 pages, 113 plates-$40 POSTPAID THE LAST OF THE WINDJAMMERS, BY Basil Lubbock The swan-song of the mighty iron and steel Cape Homers, 18701928. Two volumes, 34 foldout plans, 966 pages, 300 il/ustrations$70 POSTPAID
structures without expansion joints. Compartmentation is explained sufficiently to impress a casual passenger that the ship is much more than a hotel, but has to provide such things as chapels, mortuaries, padded cells, general and isolation hospitals and operating theaters, printing rooms, laundries, shops, etc. - a better description would be a floating city. Physically this book is an excellent product, well illustrated, pleasing to handle and up to high standards of printing and presentation. Some readers may know the original, encyclopaedic Orient Guide published by the company at the turn of the century. Mr. Morris's book is a very worthy successor, carrying forward the tradition of thoroughness and interest in examining this refreshingly democratically run shipping company. GEORGE F. CAMPBELL, AMRINA
IMMEDIATE DELIVERY PROMISED
Mr. Campbell, naval architect, historian and artist, designed alterations to steamers and the restoration of the Cutty Sark and Wavertree. Author of China Tea Clippers, etc., he now lives in Brighton, England.
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"IT WAS A GRAND SPECTACLE" wrote Harry Price when, at the turn of the century, the Duke and Duchess of York (later George V and Queen Mary) toured the British Empire aboard the H.M.S. Ophir. Petty Officer Price, a self-taught watercolorist and writer; commemorated the . -~ epochal 45,000 mile !{I voyage in his own ¡ handwritten log which he
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illustrated on every page.
No official document could match Price's below-decks, personal accountreproduced here in exact facsimile, every illustration in full colorof royalty in its heyday, of the often arduous seamanship of the times, and of Britain's distant colonies celebra' \ ting a royal visit at the Empire's zenith.
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ROYALTOUR
1901-----
0R THE CRUISE OF
H.M.S. OPHIR Petty Officer Harry Price
lllustrated in six colors throughout
~=========================================:; William Morrow SW.% l1ll ~--------------------~
50
105 Madison Ave . NY. NY 10016
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A Most Fortunate Ship, by Capt. Tyrone G. Martin, USN (ret.) (Chester CT, Globe-Pequot Press, 1980, 390 pp., illus ., $17.95) . Captain Martin of the USS Constitution takes us on an unforgettable trip aboard the most famous ship in our history. His diligent research reveals interesting new incidents in the career of the new model 44-gun frigate of 1797, which wrote imperishable pages in US and general naval history. From her first commander, Captain Samuel Nicholson in 1798, through to Captain Martin himself in 1978, we get to know her many masters in her role as defender, mediator, ambassador and schoolship. We tread her decks with the likes of Preble, Decatur and Hull, founders of US naval traditions, and later with presidents and a Pope who came to visit her, as the public can today in Boston. Being a ship model builder, I appreciate Captain Martin's diligence in seeking out accurate information on the great frigate, and in bringing life to her story. MICHAEL A. SERENSON Shipcraft Guild Standing Into Danger, by Cassie Brown (Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Co., 1979, 391 pp., illus., $12.95). Here is a well documented account, admirably written, which chronicles one of the greatest disasters in US naval history. Perhaps because it was a "non-battlerelated" incident taking place in the midst of World War II (18 February 1942), it has received little recognition-until now. The SIEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
incident involved three waylaid ships that ran hard aground in bad weather on the rugged Newfoundland coast, resulting in the loss of 203 sailors and two ships, the four-stack destroyer USS Truxton and the supply ship USS Pollux(the destroyer USS Wiles was refloated). Brown's book goes beyond the court of inquiry and the courts-martial that took place during the war. Much to her credit, she managed to contact 26 of the 185 men who survived the disaster, including some who were not allowed to testify at the time of the inquiry. In addition to many acts of heroism that accompanied the grounding of the ships, both by crewmembers and residents of the nearby town, Brown' s book tells the story of one officer (Lt. Grind ley, navigator on the Pollux) whose career was ruined, yet who appears vindicated with the new material published in the book. MICHAEL GILLEN Navies of the Napoleonic Era by Otto von Pivka (London, David & Charles, New York, Hippocrene Books, 1980, 272 pp., illus., $24.95). The author's hope that "even old sea dogs may glean the odd fact or two of interest from this necessarily compact book" is well born out in highly organized factual presentation of the ships and men, the engagements, and the standing of the national navies of Europe from 1792 to 1815 . Crammed with orders-of-battle, diagrams, and the minutiae of a complex struggle at sea which was grasped in its essentials by only a few inspired leaders (mainly British) at the time, the work also offers forthright conclusions on the efficient development and use of naval force - with every one of which this reviewer happens to agree. It is of interest that the rise of Russia to front-rank standing in naval power dates from this tumultuous era, by the end of which she stood second only to her tutor, Great Britain. PS The American Flying Boat, by Capt. Richard C. Knott, USN (Annapolis MD, Naval Institute Press, 1979, 202 pp., illus., $29.95). Compared to man's five millenia of recorded sea history the development of powered aircraft spans a scant 77 years. Captain Knott's excellent book describes one area of that development: the flying boat. Before World War I very few airports existed and the creation of an airplane capable of operating from the water's surface was a logical development. Ach ievement of this goal did not come easily as planing hull design was a new science, but in 1912 Glenn Curtiss built the first practical flying boat. He was operaSEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
THREE FASCINATING ASPECTS OF SEA HISTORY MARITIME LAW AND TECHNICAL BOOKS FOR THE SHIPPING AND EXPORT INDUSTRY SEND FOR OUR FREE CATALOG
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• 19th-Century Reforms • Yachting History • Early U-Boats OUR SEAMEN· AN APPEAL By Samuel Plimsoll, MP ReprodiLCed from the original edition of 1873. A reprint of one of the most impo rtant maritime books ever pub lished. Plimsoll 's appeal caused a sensation, revealing the sca ndalous practices of shipown ers a nd insurance companies, a nd changed t h e course of maritime histo ry. I !Opp., illustrated, large format, cloth, $ 16.50
AN INTRODUCTION TO YACHTING By L. Francis Herreshoff An illustrated history of yachting from 6000 BC to the era of the great steam yachts. Reissue of the 1963 edition. 189pp., illustrated, large format, cloth, $30.00 P 0 Box 630 Fairhaven · Massachusetts 02719 · USA
Luxury Liner Row by
William Miller 96 pp. • soft cover • $8.95 + 50<!: postg.
Just a few short years ago, New York's piers were hosts to man 's biggest mechani cal creations, the great ocean liners. There were names like Queen Mary and United States, Nieuw Amsterdam and Michelangelo. There were gatherings of 8, 10, even 12 of these ships at one time. There were bon voyage baskets and afternoon teas, mileage pools and midnight sailing. Memories of this grand era are sparked in this new boo k available in October from :
QUADRANT PRESS 19 West 44th Street, Room 707 New York, NY 10036 NY State residents add local tax
THREE BEFORE BREAKFAST A true and dramatic account of how a German U-boat sank three British cruisers m one desperate hour. By Alan Coles A viv id account of one of the fir st U-boat battles at the beginning o f World War I. 192pp., illustrated, cloth, $13.50
-and an American classic SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD By Captain Joshua Slocum With original illustrations by Thomas Fogarty and George Varian. IntrodL!Ction by Walter Magnes Teller. 294pp., illustrated, cloth, $8.50 SHERIDAi.'l' HOUSE INC. Publishers 175 Orawaupum St. White Plains, NY 10606 51
BOOKS rom the hollowed-out tree trunk to the nuclear powered sub ... from before Columbus to after Cousteau - this panoramic hook covers every dimension of life :::::.:...__"' at sea: exploration, navi1 _ gation, warfare, types ~ ~---_l . of ships, great men of --- "f· the sea, and much ~ • .j more . Authoritative ,;-·--,,,...-.- · and complete. More =J.'. __ ,'--- than 200 stirring -...-r::-:--.-,,."'lll':'TW'""-~T-~ photographs and . '' --:..,... 50 original drawings, 80 of them in color, complement the text.
F
4
Encyclopedia of
Ships andedited Seafaring by PETER KEMP Size 8 1/2" x 11 ". A Crown / Herbert Mich elman Book. $15. 95, now at your bookstore, or send check or money order to Crown Publishers, One Park Ave., N.Y., N.Y. 10016. Please add Sl.50 postage and handling charge . N.Y. and N .J. residents. add sales tax . CQO*N
Our Advertisers are our Standing Rigging
A Sea Workshop Weekend will be held at Camp Freedman, Falls Village CT, Oct. 10·13, featuring sea chanties, macrame, tall tales of tall ships and much more, led by X Seamens Institute and England's David Jones. Apply Sea Heritage Foundation, 254-26 75 Ave., Glen Oaks NY 11004.
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ORIGINS, ORIENT AND ORIANA by Charles F. Morris A rare event in maritime publishing ; a unique blend of the development of passenger ships, the history of the Orient Line and the design and construction of the last great liner. "An e legantly presented and eminently readable book .... Everything about it is excellent. " Th e Seafarer Over 500 pages; 7 1/2x9 1/2"; 220 illus. including 9 color plates and 30 diagrams. Price $56 .00 (includes postage).
THE PASSAGE MAKERS Michael K. Stammers This story of the famous Black Ball Line , including the service to Australia and the development of the clipper ships. "This is a magnificent achievement on behalf of both author and publisher. " Topsa il Over 500 pages; 7 1/2x 9 1/2"; 120 illus. including 22 color plates. Price $50.00 (includes postage). Enclose check or money order to:
"Give them enough rope"
McCARTAN & ROOT PUBLISHERS Dept. L, 325 E. 57th Street New York , NY 10022
52
ting a flying school for naval aviators at the time and the success of the Curtiss "F" boat did much to lay the foundations of the naval flying boat service. TheAmerica, Curtiss's next design, was to have transatlantic capabilities. An era had begun . Chapter by chapter Captain Knott tells of the war boats, the postwar passenger and freight lines, and the establishment of Pan American. Participants in the historic NC-4 flight were interviewed to add a very human quality to this story. The "Golden Age of Aviation" ( 1928-1941) is covered in detail. The expansion of the Navy's flying boat service, where Capt. Knott began his military flying, is in some contrast to the great clippers which offered the airborn equivalent of luxury ocean liner travel. The exploits of the flying boat aviators of World War II are told in detail. Many now almost forgotten aircraft are described and one chapter is devoted (deservedly) to the Consolidated Catalinas. Sadly, the wartime developments of large long-range land planes and airports were to spell the end of the flying boat for all but a few special uses. Captain Knott tells of this with the respect and eloquence possible only for one of the participants in this era. ln a time when much aviation history is blurred by cheap nostalgia, this book is most welcome. While not every flying boat is covered, the more significant ones are described in detail. The text is complemented by a fine selection of photos, renderings, and 3-view drawings as well as a complete bibliography. The book is also the story of 60 years of dedicated people involved in what is now history. One of them, 86 years young and still active as a consultant, returned the book, smiled and said: "I knew quite a few of the people he mentions. At the time it was all fun for most of us." One hopes Captain Knott will turn his perceptive talents to the . flying boats as the Europeans and British developed them. DON MEISNER The Mariners Catalogue Volume 7, edited by David Getchell and George Spectre (Camden ME, International Marine Publishing, 1980, 188 pp., illus ., $8.95). These grand compendia of marine lore and information need no introduction to those who've encountered one of them . This seventh effort is, the editors confess, the last for a while. So go ahead and enjoy this latest collection of nautical trivia, hard-to-find yachting and boating hardware, and bits of learning and advice from such masters at the late R. D. (Pete) Culler, or the very-much-alive John Gardiner of Mystic's Small Boat Workshop. This volume also carries reports on books, magazines and other printed sources of inSEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
terest to the reader with a bent toward the traditional side of boating, canoeing or sailing. TM Heavy Weather Cooking, by Jan Silver (Camden ME, International Marine Publishing, 1980, 184 pp., illus, $10.95). A diversity of recipes, safety hints, anecdotes, and preventive approaches for dealing with seasickness make this book a comfort to any sea cook who has ever had the queasy feeling while the boat is rolling in unrelenting seas and the crew (a species the author classifies as "merchantus marinas vulgaris") is clamoring for grub. Through talk with her colleagues and personal experience cooking in tugs in the Northwest, Alaskan, and Arctic waters, Ms. Silver has made up an invaluable collection of recipes, menu plans and preparation suggestions, particularly focussing on what one can prepare quickly and ahead of time in anticipation of bad weather, and how to overcome the obstacles of working in the galley at such a time. NP The Skipper and the Eagle, by Capt. Gordon McGowan, USCG (ret.) (New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1979, 214 pp ., illus., paper, $5.95). Here is a welcome reissue of a seagoing classic, the story of the fitting out and first voyage under the American flag of the former German training bark Horst Wessel, which became the US Coast Guard's Eagle after World War II. With Captain McGowan we get to know the chaos that was Bremerhaven in 1946, with everything in short supply and outfitting a sailing ship coming rather low on the priority list. He introduces a succession of interesting people who worked on the project: the gallant and charming German captain and devoted crew members who volunteered to stay with their ship and teach the Americans how to sail her. Then there is the voyage itself, a voyage of relearning and rediscovery, in which the Eagle continues to educate Coast Guard people today. TM
Provident and the Story of the Brix.ham Smacks, by John Corin (Tops'! Books, England, dist. USA International Marine Publishing, Camden ME, 1980, 65 pp., illus., $5). A well told account of an active museum ship, the ketch-rigged sailing trawler Provident, one of the fleet preserved by England's Maritime Trust. Brixham trawlers are a unique breed, as are the men who sailed them. Here we learn how they fished, and how the men lived, with fine photographs and drawings to illustrate fishing methods. The book is a gem. TM SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
The New, Illustrated History of
USS Constitution by Tyrone Martin, Captain of "Old Ironsides" 1974-1978
$17.95 416 pp. 115 illustrations ISBN: 0-87106-033-7
Fully illustrated with 115 pictures in color and black and white this book is the complete and exciting history of USS Constitution from its building in 1797 to today. She is perhaps the most famous vessel in the history in the US Navy. And here, for the first time in one place is her unabridged story, masterfully told by a seaman who knows her from billethead to eagle's crest. A Most Fortunate Ship is a selection of The Dolphin Book Club, division of Book-of-the-Month, and by the United States Naval Institute Press.
Bibliography • Index • Glossary
300yearsof brutal splendor surge to life ... in "the most complete picture yet of the Viking age!'* • 224 pages • 130 magnificent color photographs • 80 black-and-white photographs • 149 illustrations• Maps
~~~The Viking
_,_-·.
World
by James Graham-Campbell s2s. published by TICKNOR&. FIELDS A Houghton M.iffiin Company
* Chrislian Scien ce Moniwr 53
BOOKS
Boating's Best Books Excellent selection on history by Chapelle, Lubbock, Underhill and others. Send for catalog of over 500 titles-history, boatbuilding, design, navigation, cruising, fishing, cooking, etc. $2 refundable with first order. Books reviewed by SEA HISTORY are available at a 10% discount.
Tradewinds Press P.O. Box 29H Hillsdale, NJ 07642
0
Probably the largest marine bookstore in the country-over 3,000 sea titles including many imported from overseas. Write for catalog. WORLDWIDE CHART AND CRUISING GUIDE SERVICE. DMA, NOAA & Canadian Hyd. Agents.
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Armchair Sailor Bookstore "H" Lee's Wharf Newport, Rhode Island 02840 Tel: 401-847-4252 (Between the Pier Restaurant & Newport Offshore)
From My Old Boat Shop, One-lung Engines, Fantail Launches, & Other Marine Delights, by Weston Farmer, (Camden ME, International Marine Publishing, 1979, 356 pp., illus., $20). This book starts with a bang (or more precisely a "ka-zoomph") and continues through 30 more chapters and an appendix. Some of the material was published in The National Fisherman over the last decade. It is here updated a nd expanded to make a book that is indeed a marine delight. Mr. Farmer describes "boat noodling" as a hobby that becomes a quest for knowledge. This book is an enjoyable way to add to one's store of information on materials and methods, history dating from the first gas powered launches, and many subtle aspects of boat design. Technical chapters discuss propeller selection , aluminum and steel construction and the relationsh ip of waterp lane area to displacement. There are biographical chapters on C.G. Davis, Ralph Winslow, Sam Rab! and William Atkin whose designs are worth as much consideration and study today as when published 40 or more years ago. The section on practical, home built flotation models and towing tests is invaluable for both new designs and modifications to an existing hull. By intelligently following Mr. Farmer's directions it is possible to build a model that will provide a surprisingly accurate check on one's design. Mr. Farmer was editor of the first 48 issues of Modern Mechanics and Inventions magazine (today's Mechanics Illustrated) and thecompanion20Boatsand Flying Manuals. His writing style is pure pleasure to this reviewer. Especially now when jargon and pseudo technicalities too frequently masquerade as English. There is much more, including plans for some desirable small launches, but it's best enjoyed as told by Mr. Farmer. DON MEISNER
SHIP MODELS We have on hand a huge selection of over 200 ship models and half-hulls. These nautical items are either antique or the work of some of the finest craftsmen in the United States. If you wish to obtain a particular ship model or type, please write and let us know. We also custom build, lease, restore and appraise ship models.
LANNAN NAUTIQUES 2 Edgemere Road, Quincy, Mass. 02169 Tel: 617-471-6849
R.H. JOHN CHART AGENCY Salutes the
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Old and New
MARINE CHRONOMETERS
Galveston Historical Foundation
BOUGHT AND SOLD
and the
J.P. CONNOR AND COMPANY
Elissa
P.O. Box 794, Devon PA 19333
DIRECT FROM THE SHIPBREAKERS A LARGE SELECTION OF SHIPS' LANTERNS, BINNACLES BELLS, PORTHOLES AND MANY UNIQUE PIECES For further information & photos: 85 Whitfie ld St. Dept. SH
Guilford, CT 06437
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yards (weighing thousands of pounds each) and the spanker boom to synchronize, and 22 sails to trim, with dozens of people working lines everywhere throughout the vessel. In a storm at night this can be interesting ... it is complex and hardy stuff. Eagle is run by cadets, supervised by officers. Senior cadets take command in key positions. A cadet officer will have his orders followed to the letter, with regular officers standing by to see that the ship is not placed in jeopardy. Mast stations compete with each other to see who is smartest in sail evolutions. The cadre is always present to teach, judge and supervise. Obviously, each cadet gains selfdetermination merely by surviving! The master of the Eagle, Captain Paul A. Welling, USCG, has been with the ship for five years. He holds a master's degree in International Affairs, and is a widely recognized figure in the sail training movement in this country and abroad. From this cruise he will go to the National War College in Washington. He called us guests together for a heart-to-heart talk on the poop as the cruise got underway. He's a big man, of sturdy build. He has a penetrating glance, and usually speaks very quietly. There's humor there! He suggested we all stand watches, so we could be part of the effort that sails the Eagle. "Watches? At night?" We were aghast. We stood watches. We learned to enjoy it. A sailing ship is driven, she doesn't drive herself. Under Paul Welling, Eagle was pressed day and night. On our first Sunday out, a rest day for all but the twenty cadets on watch, we sailed so hard we almost steamed. All 22 sails were set, the course full and by, with lee ends of the yards braced against the shrouds. We smoked along at 15 knots-this was flying! On one roll we logged a 36° heel. Spray exploded over the bow as the ship surged forward. Seas cascaded over the lee rail, gushed out the scuppers and swamped those nearly. In the calmer airs that followed we crawled along. The Captain set up three fishing poles, but got nothing for his trouble. Ultimately we had to resort to Elmer, the ancient 750 hp 16 cylinder diesel the bark was built with, to push southward on our course until we found wind again; Eagle has a schedule to keep. But when the wind blew, that was the time to be alive. One night, about one o'clock, being wakeful, I decided to stay up to see the dawn. Eagle was snorting along at 11 knots, heeled slightly. Spray lifted over the bows as she sliced into the seas, vaporized and blew away to leeward. The bow watch, unaware of my presence, sang loudly to himself and to the wind, which was roaring through the sails and rigging. The squaresails overhead cut sharp dark arcs in the star-studded skies. The heavens lit up, cumulous clouds on the horizon caught muted colors, and dawn was upon us, all too soon. On our second Sunday out, 550 miles north of St. Thomas, we hove-to for swimming. Everyone jumped from the rails in gleeful celebration of being alive, while a chief, armed with an M-16 rifle, sfpod shark watch . The Captain's only regret was that we did not have a cannon to fire, in the general jubilation. The last night out the cadets and guests put on individual skits poking fun at shipboard ways. The ship's company appeared to enjoy the general kidding. And then, on June 20, at 9 AM, we came into the peaceful tropical harbor of St. John's. It was sad to leave the ship. I had made friends with her people. I learned that they are proud of their ship and of themselves. There is something special about the style, character and daring of a sailing ship which her people come to share, and aboard Eagle there is an evident spirit and elan. She is the lovely teacher of our young. For short time I became one of them, and that is the greatest thing a landsman could ever hope for at sea .
Above, the Eagle driving hard, Capt. Paul Welling at right. Below, keeping up with the work in a quieter moment. All photos by the author.
.t .t .t Mr. Burgess is a board member ofFriends ofHistoric Ships at the National Maritime Museum, San Francisco. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
9
LETTERS ~
The Slippen leaves St. Agnes to look for Lawson survivors, 1907, above, and at sea June 12, 1980 in the Isles of Scilly. Photos copyright Frank E. Gibson Š .
The Lawson: Gone But Not Forgotten The seven-masted schooner Thomas W. Lawson made history in one respect overlooked by Simon Watts in his informative article (SH 16:24-5)-but not by those concerned! Her loss was one of the first tanker disasters. Oil from her wreck covered the beaches and forshore of the beautiful Isles of Scilly, and apparently some of mainland Cornwall as well. Outside this area the damage to the environment was forgotten. Having presented the facts Mr. Watts is correct in trying to make some judgment on the disaster, but he is a little guilty I think of the modern fashion of piling all blame on "the management." Mr. Lawson and his associates back in Boston had attempted a bit of technical advancement in building a giant seven-master. No one should be criticized for attempting a new concept. I also think that a great many ship's masters would have done the same as Captain Dow and stayed at anchor. He probably mistrusted the Scillonian lifeboat men's offer to guide him to a safer anchorage. It all smelt strongly of salvage and he knew that his schooner was far too clumsy for beating about through the rock-strewn channels. My own verdict is that the St. Mary's inquest got it right. The Lawson was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but it was just one of life's unfortunate incidents rather than deliberate negligence on anyone's part. While the huge Lawson had a short and famous life, the boat which rescued one of the survivors was already about 77 years old and is still actually in use. This is the Scilly gig Slippen. They're taking her out for a row the day after tomorrow, and that great photographer Frank Gibson says he'll try to get a picture of her for you. Small is beautiful, when working round the rocky outcrops of Scilly. ROBERT SIMPER Woodbridge, Suffolk, Great Britain
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How the Liberty Got Her Belt In Origins, Orient and Oriana (see "Books"), Charles Morris refers to discussion in SEA HISTORY of Liberty Ships cracking at sea. It should be made clear that the steel belts fitted around the hull to overcome this were crack arresters, not preventers. Cracks usually begin across the deck, thence down the side. Lloyd's at first proposed to cut a long slot over 314 the length of the ship, through the deck close to the edge, to prevent the crack going any further, the slot to be covered by a thick rivetted plate belt. Bollards, eyeplates, gooseneck vents, air pipes, etc., along the edges of the deck made this impractical. So Lloyd's agreed we could cut the slot along the side, close to deck level, then cover it over with the familiar thick plating strap, treble rivetted. I supervised this on six Libertys, and it worked. GEORGE F. CAMPBELL, AMRINA Brighton, England
You Can Help Save the Whale! This year, more than 20,000 highly intelligent warm-bodied whales will be killed - needlessly - by the whaling vessels of only a handful of nations. While responsible nations have given up the dead-end whaling industry, ten nations contin ue to ignore scientific argument and public outcry for a whaling moratorium, and are killing whales at a frightening pace. Unless we halt the slaÂľghter immediately, we will, within a few years, succeed in killing off these magnificent creatures which took millions of years to evolve. The Whale Protection Fund has worked tirelessly to stop this short-sighted destruction; and we are achieving positive results. We invite your members to join us in this campaign. DR. ELLIOTT R. MORSS, Chairman The Whale Protection Fund 1925 K Street NW Washington, DC 20006
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~ Seven Ways from Sunday Vol. II, No. 2 of the Mystic Seaport Museum Log (Spring, 1959) gives a nice summary of the naming of the Lawson's seven masts: 1. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 2. Fore Main Mizzen Driver Pusher Jigger Spanker Spanker 3. Fore Main Mizzen No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 Driver Pusher Spanker 4. Fore Main Mizzen Jigger 5. Fore Main Mizzen Jigger Pusher Spanker Driver 1. The (probably) apocryphal story often heard. 2. Samuel N. Gross of E. L. Rowe&Sons, Boston, theLawson'ssail-makers; held also by a former shipmate of Capt. Crowley's who claimed the Captain so held. 3. Capt. Crowley so listed them in a letter to the Boston Globe. 4. Son of a rigger on the first fitting-out of the Lawson. 5. Some claim that the only new name is Pusher, which should, therefore, come just before Spanker, as the traditional last mast of a multi-masted vessel of any kind. Further, that a 4-masted schooner's masts would be Fore, Main, Mizzen and Spanker; a 5-masted schooner's masts would be Fore, Main, Mizzen, Jigger and Spanker; a 6-masted schooner's masts would be Fore, Main, Mizzen, Jigger, Driver and Spanker. To my mind-though I never sailed in any large schooners-No. 5 would be the logically correct one. ROBERT G. HERBERT, JR. East Northport, New York SJEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
At Port Lincoln, Australia, February 1939 the Passat in half-ballast dwarfs the two men on her fore royal yard. Photo, Jack Randall.
A Cape Horn Odyssey By Thomas Wells, AICH, F/ ASMA
Harry Anderson, a lad from the Aland Islands, Finland, who bunked in the starboard foc' sle with me and eight other men Harry once asked me in broken English and Swedish: "Wells, why did you go to sea, in the Yankee country it has it so good? We in Aland had to either work on the farm or go to sea. That is why I am here." Although difficult to explain I knew why I was there, even though the money was only ten shillings (two and a half dollars) a month. I love ships, and I knew that someday they would bring a return for me. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
You might say my parents were responsible for my success in doing what I enjoyed most. My brother Bill and I grew up in Menominee, Michigan on the shores of Green Bay, Lake Michigan. It was beautiful summer sailing country with many islands and inlets, and we always had boats in the family. Dad had sailed on his father's yachts and also on the Lakes in lumber schooners. He was not about to deny his children any of those experiences. While we were in high school, we had a45-footschooner, Tom Bill, moored at the dock right in back of our home. We sailed all summer, and
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Passat weathering the hurricane of 1938 in the North Atlantic. The author-artist was aboard.
in the winter we ice-boated. But I really got the deepwater fever when I read Alan Villiers' account of his voyage in the Grace Harwar, and I hunted up his books about his sailing in the Herzogin Cecilie, and finally with Captain Reuben de Cloux when they bought the Parma. And who can forget Anton Otto Fischer's ilillustrations in the Saturday Evening Post? How I would study his work and try to paint water such as his! My parents sent me to the best art schools, though I was far from the best student. The depression of the thirties was upon us, and Dad would say: "What are you going to do? There is no way you are going to make it in art." In 1936, in my first year at the Yale School of Fine Arts, it could be seen that I was floundering. My parents got me a paid-for student berth in the Effie M. Morrissey, an old Gloucesterman, 108 feet, clipper bowed, built in Essex, Massachusetts for Clayton Morrissey. The Morrissey was purchased by the Explorers Club of New York and other financiers for Bob Bartlett so that he might continue his Arctic explorations. This particular voyage was to capture two musk oxen for the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, in addition to taking oceanographic specimens, readings and other studies. I photographed, I sketched, I learned to handle the heavy rigging of Gloucester schooners. And in the watch below I read everything about square rig. Carl Cutler's Greyhounds of the Sea became my Bible. Returning to Yale that fall, I was a new man . I talked in sea jargon and joined the Yale gymnastic team to get in shape. The following summer, 1937, I missed a chance to go to the Arctic as galley boy in the Gertrude L. Thebaud under Commander MacMillan, because I was out fishing in the Teazer under Johnny Placanica at the time. I stayed three trips in her and then got a site 58
in the Grand Marshal, a big knockabout schooner. Her Old Man was Albert Grimes. I learned a lot that summer, and I felt I was ready for the big Cape Homers. Through Villiers' books I wrote to H. Clarkson and Company, Bishop's Gate, London, agents for Gustaf Erikson's fleet, for information about signing on. I also wrote to Alan Villiers who was living at 72 McKay Street, Brooklyn at the time. Villiers told me to sign in Passat, that she was the best in the fleet, now that the Herzogin was gone. I was lucky, and my request was answered. So, in the summer of 1938 my mother and I took the Vulcania on a Mediterranean cruise over to Italy, where we visited all the archives, cathedrals and galleries that I had studied for three years at art school. I then signed on in Passat on September 20, 1938, for a voyage in the grain trade to Australia and return via Cape Horn. The average age of the crew was 21, my age at the time. She carried 31 hands in all: ten in each foc'sle, the Capt. Linus Lindvall, three mates, a steward, a cook, galley boy, sailmaker, carpenter and a donkeyman. The crew, mostly Finnish, except for three Yanks, Sheathed against ice, and short-rigged for Arctic sailing, the Effie M. Morrissey in Muske Fjord, 1936. Photo: Tom Wells.
(
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"Strandvik 's Starboard Passat 1938-39.
Watch"
aboard
one New Zealander, one Limey, one Estonian, and a Dane. Passat 's name is the German for ''Trade Winds." She is an allsteel, four-mast bark, approximately 350 feet long, 48-foot beam and 26-foot draft. Built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany for F. Laeisz Co., she was the sister ship to Peking, which now lies at South Street Seaport Museum, New York. They were hulls205 and 206, built in 1911 for the nitrate trade. All of the F. Laeisz ships were named with a "P." Back in 1860 Mrs. Carl Laeisz, the owner's wife, had curly hair like a poodle dog. They called the first ship Pude/after her, and every ship thereafter has had a name starting with a "P" right up to the super cargo vessels of today. Passat, Peking, Padua and Priwall were the optimum of sailing ship design in those days. They were designed to be handled by a minimum crew for the most efficient sailing, carrying the largest amount of cargo. They made the yards longer to include the stunsails of the clippers, and then split the topsails to make them easier to handle with fewer men. In my paintings you will notice how the trim of the yards follows the gull's wing, the topmost braced closest to the wind. And how the foresail bellies out when running free! While Sam Hort was once standing watch in Hougomont on passage to Australia, the Old Man said to him: "Do you see those foresail sheets pulling ahead? They express some 40 tons of lifting power to keep her head up while she is running before the wind .'' The canvas is heavy triple-0 Irish flax, all hand sewn. The sailmaker will make sails for one mast in a year with a sailor's help. Economy was the order of the day. They couldn't pay much of a wage on board - it averaged $10 a month. The crews were SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
recruited from Germany and the Scandinavian countries, where you had to have two years before the mast before you could go to mate's school. These kids had to go in a square rigger to get their licenses. I was there for other reasons. Soon after the start of our voyage, 500 miles off the coast of Ireland, we ran into the hurricane of September 1938 - a hurricane well remembered in New England to this day, and said to be the worst to hit that coast in this century. Eleven of our strong, stout sails were blown out, but the ship was never in trouble. The Old Man hove her to, with only half the fore lower topsail set the last sail to come off a ship. That scrap of goosewinged topsail helped to hold her to her work, but she made 70 miles sideways in this brief, violent encounter. Funny tales are told when the men are in the foc'sle after a big blow. During the hurricane, Strandvik and Anderson were at the wheel. She had a double wheel, at midship, and the two men were tied down with straps over their shoulders secured to padeyes on the deck. Anderson said: "I couldn't talk to you, Strandvik, because every time I opened my mouth, the wind would blow my cheeks out." Strandvik was obviously to weather! As the ship settled to her voyage, I had the usual experiences of life aboard an Erikson grain ship. I cleaned up the pig sty. I was sconceman, and had to clean the foc'sle, wash dishes, and chip rust in the hold. I had jobs like crawling through the limbers in the bilge, mopping up muddy water. This job occurs frequently after picking up the hook. The mud on the anchor chain runs down the turn of her stem into the bilge, and clings there. They take splen59
The ultimate sailing ship, the Passat loafs splendidly before the wind in 195 7, sailing as training ship and cargo carrier under the West German flag. With the loss of Pamir thefollowingyear, in a recurving North Atlantic storm which also damaged Passat and sent her into port for repairs, the sailing of these great ships ended, except for the Padua, which continues in sail training today as the Russian Kruzenshtern. Passat survives as a museum ship in Travemunde, Germany. Photo courtesy F. Laeisz.
did care of these ships and they do not rust because they do everything to keep them strong with a minimum of men. What we had aboard was really only a skeleton crew; no power, no weather predicting instruments. When the glass fell, the mates would send us aloft to furl sails, long before any storm was around. We wondered why we were up there. Why aren't we sailing this hooker? But a storm was coming, in eight to ten hours, and it took us almost that long to take in her canvas. Being shorthanded, we took great precautions. The return voyage brought us home from Australia by way of Cape Horn - an uneventful rounding as noted in my log for April 17, 1939: "Cold, overcast, wind about a number five out of the southwest. Word has it that we are somewhere below the Horn, from the Atlas in the foe' sle, and that the only chart we ever see.'' But the next day, Easter Sunday, brought some excitement. It was aclear day, beautiful cumulus clouds and sunlight when I came on deck from the watch below. I went aloft with my movie camera, to take colored pictures on a big four-masted bark down below the Horn. And then somebody spotted ice! The Old Man got a glass on it and found that it was another square rigger, off to the southeast. She was too small to find on my camera. We thought she was Pamir, which sailed out the same day we did, 31 days before. Seventy days later, when moored in Falmouth Harbor, we found it was Moshulu, which made the fastest passage, 91 days, of that year. The Old Man suddenly realized we were in a Grain Race. The Mate blew three whistles, all hands came out, we unfurled her upper top-gallants and her royals and we set her cro'jack. Moshulu, I know, did the same.* We soon lost sight of her in a rainsquall to the south. *The reaction aboard Moshulu, which had left Australia three days later than Passat, is described by Eric Newby in The Last Grain Race: "The Captain was delighted. His glass had already told him that she was carrying topgallants, but the cro'jack was furled. 'We'll set the royals,' I heard him say to the Second Mate, who at once sent threejungman aloft to cast off the gaskets.. .. " The Moshulu, Scots built seven years before Passat, is a little finer-lined, and on this voyage, sailed harder. ED.
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As you remember, we always got her sail shortened down, being in no hurry and not wanting to wear any rigging. After losing eleven sails in that hurricane the year before off the coast of Ireland, the Old Man did not want to lose any more canvas. His whole profit for that year was already lost. He was bringing home a cargo of grain for no real profit for Gustav Erikson. Easter Sunday dinner was celebrated by slaughtering the first of the eight pigs we had in the styes. The Old Man probably had pork chops. We had pig's blood pancakes and we got the fatty flesh off its back. Actually those ships were good feeders. There was quantity. You had to have quantity, you needed the energy. This is the fuel that runs the ship. Feed the men and they do the work. So we had barrels of salt meat and lots of potatoes and those dried vegetables, and fruit, soup, and lots of groats and bread and margarine. Nothing fancy, but energy producing. So after sailing on a course east by south from Australia for over a month, the vessel begins to swing up north. Soon we will be heading again into the tropics, where we can take off our shirts, bask in the sun, wash in rain water and begin to enjoy living again . So goes the life of men at sea in sail. Men like Strandvik, Lindqvist and Saionmaa, and many others who live in my mind forever.
* * * * * *
I paid off from Passat in Belfast, Ireland, in July 1939. War clouds were beginning to cover Europe. After a quick visit to London to see the National Art Gallery again, I came back by the liner Statendam, and re-enrolled in Yale. I finished out my last year, after the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into war. Having only an art degree I could not become a naval officer, but enlisted upon graduation and was given the rating Quartermaster 2nd Class. After serving with Admiral Ingram, Cominch 4th Fleet, South Atlantic, I was made an Ensign and went to the Western Sea Frontier as communications officer in USS Vega, a 155-foot steel schooner which held station between San Francisco and Pearl Harbor. It was great to be in sail again, but this did not last long. I was transferred to salvage school in New York, and was then assigned as salvage officer to the USS Sarsi in the Aleutians, SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
Some of Passat's international port watch on the upper topsail yard, bending on ligh t tropic canvas, October 1938 in the Northeast Trades. From left, Karl Stark of Canada, Howard Eddy of Connecticut, Holger Stromson of Finland, Tor Lindqvist of Australia, Edvin Johanson of Finland. Below, some of the starboard watch off duty, from the left: Leif Strandvik, retired master mariner; Tom Wells, artist; Tauno Saionmaa, who became a judge in Finland, now deceased; Alf Nyland, killed in the winter war with Russia, 1940; Erling Huppe from the port watch, on duty with chipping hammer in hand. Photos, Tom Wells.
where we did some interesting towing in heavy seas. I mustered out in '46, partly because I wanted so see some sunshine again. But the real reason was a girl I knew long before the war, the sister of my college roommate. Wanda Zallinger and 1 married in '46 and we have two children, Tom Jr. and Jean. I worked as an illustrator in Navy underwater ordinance for twenty years or more. Wanda would say to me: " You are always talking about Cape Horn. Why don't you paint it? Paint the ships you sailed in." And that is finally what I did . What Became of the Ships? A few of the grain ships continued in sail training work, also carrying cargo, after World War II, Passat among them. This came to an end with the loss of the Pamir in 1958. Passat survives today as a national monument in Travemunde, Germany. Her sistership Peking, which was never taken up in the grain trade, is preserved at South Street Seaport Museum, New York. Of the other big barks, Pommern (1903) is a museum ship at Mariehamn, home port of the Erikson fleet, in the Aland Islands, Finland: Moshu/u (1904) is berthed in Philadelphia as a restaurant ship with a notable museum of the sailing era in her Liverpool house; Viking (1907), serves as a youth hostel in Gothenberg, Sweden; Magdalene Vinnen (1921), renamed Sedov, has been sailed by the Russians and was last seen laid up in Leningrad; Padua (1926) last of the great Laeisz four-posters, sails today as the Russian training ship Kruzenshtern, and was seen by millions when she took part in the Tall Ships parade in New York in 1976 . . . . and What of Their People? Cape Horn : that not-so-lofty mountain is represented in every sailor's soul. She still lies there accepting the waves of time on her beaches. I am no longer a young boy, but Cape Horn has become my business. So in 1972 Wanda and I took the cruise ship Monterey to Australia. I wanted to. show her where we sailed years before in Passat. In the little harbor of Port Lincoln, down Spencer Gulf, we saw my old friend the photographer Jack Randall, who
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
Cape Hornersforegatherat the Greenwich Congress, 1978. From the left: Lance Potter, Australia, who sailed in Moshulu, 1936; Ron Ti/brook, Australia, Archibald Russell, '37; Tom Wells, USA, Passat '39; Karl Gerisch, West Germany, Pamir '34, '36. Photo: Tom Wells.
The Moshulu , now a restaurant/ museum ship at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia.
The "Lucky" Lawhill, not a particularly fast vessel, earned her nickname making profitable safe passages under Captain J. C. B. Jarvis.
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SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
IN MEMORIAM: JOSEPH WALTER COOPER, LOST OVERBOARD FROM THE VIKING OFF CAPE HORN, MARCH 22, 1938. "// was 7:30 in the morning and we of the free watch had just been called," writes Cooper's shipmate David James. " There was afresh beam wind, with the ship doing 9 knots under all sail. Suddenly there was a shout f or all hands, f ollowed by a frantic scuffling of feet on the deck above.. .. 'All right there; back the main yards!' Figures in oilskins and figures in pyjamas rushed to brace windlass to heave-lo the ship and sa ve life, for we know there must be a man overboard. ' Who is it? ' we asked. 'Cooper,' came the ans wer. 'Has he a chance?' 'Not a hope in hell,' said one of the older hands." Captain Una Morn's log shows that the boat was launched in seven minutes, in rough seas. She struggled back an hour later
with the life jacket that had been thro wn to Cooper as he struggled to get out of his heavy sweaters in the water, but Cooper had not been found. He had been reeving a ne w weather f ore-sheet through a sheave in the bulwark, hanging over the side in a bo wline, when a chance sea caught him and washed him away. "Joseph Walter Cooper was barely seventeen," notes Mr. James, "but he had spent two and a half years in British coasting schooners and eighteen months in Viking." In this same period the Admiral Ka rpfanger went missing with all hands in these waters, but to our knowledge Able Seaman Cooper was the last man lost off Cape Horn . Commissioned by David James, this painting hangs in his home, Torosay Castle, Isle of Mull - open to visitors May 15-Sept. 30 and reachable by boat from Oban, on the West Coast of Scotland.
recorded all the grain fleets in the thirties. I was made a member of the Cape Homers of Australia. The Cape Homers was started in St. Malo, in Brittany, in 1936, by some French captains of square riggers who had sailed around Cape Horn. Other captains from other countries, Germans, Scandinavians, and English joined in - there are now twelve nations represented. But the old captains are dying off. No one has been captain of a big square rigger around the Horn since Pamir last went around in May 1949. So the rules were changed to admit anyone who had sailed in a big square-rigged cargo vessel with a purposeful load going around Cape Horn. (Lately the British have set up a section for yachtsmen who have gone this way.) We all wear the badge with the albatross on it. It's the symbol of the dead seaman's soul. The albatross fly and soar down in the lower latitudes with their beady eyes of steel never staring any way but straight ahead ; and they represent all the lost seamen from the days of Magallen up until the last. When you see these men getting together, they are the lucky ones, the ones who went around the Horn and came home again. w
Mr. Wells, sailor and artist, is a member of the Amicale Internationale des Captaines au Long Course-Cap Horniers (A/CH), Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists (FlASMA), and Advisor to the National Maritime Historical Society. His work and 75 other paintings will be on display at the Third Annual Exhibition of the American Society of Marine Artists at Grand Central Art Galleries, Biltmore Hotel, 43rd St. and Madison Ave., New York, December 2.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1980
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Photo: James Dion
Molding of C h arles Cooper stem carving
Dow Corning salutes the National Maritime Historical Society for their participation in the World Ship Trust-a vital link to our seafaring heritage. This heritage is exemplified by the stern carving of the South Street packet ship Charles Cooper. A replica of the carving, created through a gift of moldmaking silicone rubber, and a pictorial history of seafaring ships will soon be displayed at New York's World Trade Center and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Dow Corning is also proud to sponsor the film "Ghosts of Cape Horn," which captures the saga of the 19th century clipper ships. The film will be shown on television worldwide. Information on the film and stern replica is available from the National Maritime Historical Society. Risk, challenge, investment, success and pride are traditions apparent in our sailing history. This story needs to be told and supported. We invite America to join us in enjoying and sÂľpporting these ventures.
DOW CORNING 1.m 1;,n,11.1+
Training on the ship's control syste ms simulator at the Maritime Institute of Techn ology and Graduate Studies.
American Master Mariner 1980. In the tradition of the American seamen who commanded the once preeminent clipper ships, today's ships officers bring new shiphandling and management techniques to today's high technology vessels. Members of the Masters, Mates & Pilots, comprising more than 90 percent of deck officers who serve U.S . flag ships, regularly sharpen and enhance their professional skills at MM&P's Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies . The 50-acre campus near Baltimore , largest and most advanced facility for advanced nautical training in the world , stands as a symbol of the goal of professional excellence shared by MM&P and the American flag shipping companies in their joint Maritime Advancement, Training, Education and Safety (MATES) Program . LLOYD M. MARTIN
ROBERT J. LOWEN
International Secretary¡ Treasurer
International President
ORION A. LARSON
ALLEN C. SCOTT
Chairman, MA TES Program
International Executive Vice President
International Organization of
Masters, Mates & Pilots 39 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10006/(212) 425-3860 / Cable: BRIDGEDECK/Telex No.: 12-5858