Sea History 061 - Spring 1992

No. 61

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SPRING 1992

THE ART, LITERATURE, ADVENTURE, LORE & LEARNING OF THE SEA

"There Came to Us a Canoe"

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST: The explorers, their craft, and the enduring native canoe

A Series of Three Outstanding Limited Edition Prints of Original Oils by:

J. Franklin Wright & Ely Kish Two North American artists, combining their diversified fields of expertise to create a truly Commemorative Collection for the SOOth Anniversary Year of the Voyage of Christopher Columbus to the Americas

J. Franklin Wright has painted The Discovery of America and San Salvador (Guanahani) in exact detail with information supplied from the Columbus log and blueprints of the replica ships now sailing to various ports in and around the United States.

Those of you familiar with the ships and seas of J. Franklin Wright, may find it interesting that Mr. Wright, himself, feels that The Columbus Collection includes a reproduction of one of his greatest works to date.

The Ely Kish print, entitled The Island of Isabela, has been painted from the perspective of a native inhabitant observing the three Spanish ships and Columbus' first approach to the shore of the island named for the Queen of Spain.

T he Island of lsabela

The Columbus Collection, encased in an elegant portfolio is ideal for the collector, the home, the office, and makes an excellent gift. We will ship direct to any destination.

The Columbus Collection $49.5.00 PRINTS MAY BF.

PUR C l-IA~EO

SEPARATR l...Y

For Ordering Information and More Details

Call Toll Free COLUMBUS PRINTS INC. Article 15 of the

1-800-531-1492

235 SOUTH SEVENTH STREET

P.O. BOX 1492

LEWISTON, NY

cw York Ans and Cultural Affairs Law requires written disclosure ofcenain information related to prints which arc sold for more that $100.00. T his information will be supplied upon request or at the time a print is delivered. Purchasers may be entitled to a full refund if chis disclosure infonnation is not provided.

This offer is void where prohibited.

ISSN 0146-9312

No. 61

SEA HISTORY

SEA HISTORY is published quarterly by the National Maritime Historical Society, Charles Point Marina, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

Second class postage paid at Croton-on-Hudson NY 10520 and additiona l mailing offices. COPYRIGHT © 1992 by the National Maritime Historical Society. Tel: 9 14 737-7878.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea Hi story, Charl es Point Marina, PO Box 68 , Peekskill NY 10566.

MEMBERSHIP is invited. Plankowner $ 10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Sponsor$ I ,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Friend$ I00; Contributor $50; Family $40; Regular $30; Student or Retired $ 15. Al l members outside the USA please add $ I0 for postage. SEA HISTORY is sent to all members.

Individual cop ies cost $3.75.

OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Acting Chairman, Alan G. Choate; Vice Chairmen, James Ean, Edward G. Zelinsky; President, Peter Stanford; Vice President, Norma Stanford; Secretary/Treasurer, Richardo Lopes; Trustees, Karl Kortum , George Lamb, Brian A. McAllister, Nancy Pouch, Ludwig K. Rubinsky, Marshall Streibert, Samuel Thompson . Chairman. Emeritus, Karl Kortum OVERSEERS: Charles F. Adams , Townsend Hornor, George Lamb, Clifford D. Mallory, J. Willi ain Middendorf, II, John G. Rogers, John Stobart

SPRING 1992

CONTENTS 4

EDITOR 'S LOG LETTERS

7

MISSION: MARITIME EDUCATION INITIATIVE: THE CHALLENGE

8

THE MIGHTY MOSHULU: A SHORT HISTORY, PART II,

OF HISTORY, Walter Cronkite Karl Kortum 14 1992 INTERNATIONAL MARITIME BICENTENNIAL 16 NORTHWEST MARITIME REVIVAL: CELEBRATING THE ROLE SMALL CRAFr, Gregory Foster 20

THE ENDURING NATIVE CANOE: PRIDE OF THE NORTHWEST

SEAFARERS, Leslie Lincoln 24 MARINE ART: HISTORICAL MARINE ART OF THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC, Kevin Haydon 28 MARINE ART NEWS 32 AMERICAN SAIL IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST: ROBERT GRAY CROSSES THE COLUMBIA RIVER BAR, J. Richard Nokes 33 SPANISH AND BRITISH SAIL MEET IN THE NORTHWEST, 1792, Lucille McDonald 36 SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS OPERATION SAIL '92, SAIL BOSTON 1992 & GRAND REGA TTA 37 COLUMBUS QUINCENTENARY MARITIME EXHIBITS 40 REVIEWS 46 DESSERT: THE LADY IS CHANGEABLE. CATCH HER WHEN SHE IS

ADVISORS: Co-Chairmen, Frank 0. Braynard, Melbourne Smith; D.K. Abbass, Raymond Aker, Robert Amon , George F. Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, Dav id Brink, William M. Doerflin ger, John S. Ewald, Joseph L. Farr, Timothy G. Foote, Thomas Gillmer, Richard Goold-Adams, Walter J. Handelman , Steven A. Hyman , Conrad Milster, Edward D. Muhlfeld, William G. Muller, David E. Perkins, Richard Rath , Nancy Hughes Richardson, Timothy J. Runyan , George Salley, Ralph L. Snow, Edouard A. Stackpole, John Stobart, Albeit Swanson, Shannon J. Wall , Raymond E. Wall ace, Robert A. Weinstein , Thomas Well s, Charles Wittholz AMERICAN SHIP TRUST: Chairman. , Karl Kortum; F. Briggs Dal zell , Wi lli am G. Muller, Richard Rath , Peter Stanford, Edward G. Zelinsky SEA HISTORY STAFF: Editor, Peter Stanford; Managing Editor, Norma Stanford; Associate Editors, Kevin Haydon; Membership Secretary, Patricia Anstett; Membership Assistants, Bridget Hunt, Grace Zerell a

ANGRY, Hobe Kyter COVER: "There Came to Us aCanoe,"by Mark Myers, is one in a series of paintings

by Myers who is featured , among other Northwest artists , in thi s issue 's "Marine Art" section . (See pages 24-27)

Don't miss the Tall Ships!

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Join us on the water for just $50 per person aboard the ferryboatlohn F. Kennedy.

Operation Sail tickets usually sell out long before the event, with tickets at least $150 each, including Iunch. We've left out lunch to keep our pre-season price at $50, so that all our friends can join us for this event of a lifetime. You may bring your own lunch or buy directly from the ship ' s refreshment stand. The ferry will embark St. George terminal , Staten Island , at 8 AM (shuttle from Manhattan leaves Join us on this July 4th!

7 AM) and will debark Staten Island at 3PM. To: National Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68, Peekskill, NY 10566 Yes, I will be with you on July Fourth. Please send me _ _ tickets at the pre-season price of $50 each. My check for$ _ _ _ made out to " NMHS-Ferry" is enclosed:

ADVERTISING: Norma Stanford; West Coast, Mr. Val Ely, 1638 Placenti a Drive, Costa Mesa

CA 92627 , Tel: 7 14 642-5410; Southeast , Mr. Richard Dalley, PO Box 418, 307 South Morri s St., Oxford MD 2 1654, Tel : 301 226-5059

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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LETTERS

DECK LOG Three hundred years after Columbus reached the Americas in 1492, ships of three nations converged on the Pacific Northwest to complete the opening of North America to the world, in 1792. So we commemorate the opening of the Pacific Northwest in the same year we observe the 500th anniversary of the first lasting contact between Europe and the Americas.

What, one might ask, are we commemorating? The new nations of North and South America have developed only imperfect solutions to the quandaries of the human condition. And we have much to learn from the native peoples whose way of life was grievous ly hurt in the encounter of two worlds.

But, as Walter Cronkite observed at the Society's Annual Dinner last fal l, "the encounter of diverse peoples is a signpost in the Age of Discovery." It is that diversity that we celebrate in this Pacifi c Northwest issue of Sea History.

Mr. Cronkite concluded; "It's going to be a great celebration, because this time we' re going to get the story strai ght. " That is our endeavor in Sea History.

With the help of dedicated people working in the field to this high purpose, we aim to get the story straight, and we mean to move on from this year's commemoration into a full revival of history, as proposed by Mr. Cronkite on page seven.

To Sea, To Sea! Two cruises NMHS members are making together thi s summer deserve mention here. The first is a day cruise aboard the ferry John F. Kennedy to observe Operation Sail 1992 in New York Harboron the Fourth ofJ ul y. Details for this unforgettable day afloat are given on the "Contents" page.

The second is in more distant waters, a two-week Mediterranean cruise from Nice touching at Italian and Greek ports, ending at Venice, 13-23 August. These are the seaport towns that bred up the Western seafaring tradition, leading to the ultimate breakout into the ocean world and Columbus's voyage of 500 years ago. A cruise through these waters we sponsored in April was sold out before everyone who wanted to go could be accommodated, so we suggest early reservations. (See page 31.)

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4

MacArthur's Small Ships

Blame Enough For Everyone

"Petrol for the Navy PTs" in the Autumn 1991 issue made exciting reading and I tried to find out more about the little ships involved. But it was not easy.

Jane Morehead, built in 1860 by convict labour in Tasmania and " probably the oldest American-flag ship in World War II," turns out to be Jane Moorhead built in 1885 in New South Wales; and carved into her main beam was not 1860, but her British official number 89388.

Hildanoring (a good aboriginal name) was more difficult, because she was built in 1940 on the lines of those lovely Tasmanian ketches, and lost, as described in the article, before finding her way into the Mercantile Navy list; but her real name was Hilda Norling. She was built

by Peter Locke in Victoria. The last fully rigged ketch for the B ass Strait crayfishery, planked with jarrah, she looked like a yacht.

It was good to see the artic le on Columbus 's Caribbean cruise and other material dealing with the Quincentenary in Sea History 59. But I must take issue with the implication of one remark in the Columbus artic le, where on page 14 you refer to " the ex ile, conversion or killing of all Spain's Jewi sh population" The real choice given to the Jews of Spain in 1492 was to convert to Christianity or to leave. The same choice that England and France had given to their Jewish populations over a century earlier.

Although the Spanish monarchs said that unconverted Jews who remained would face death, that was not something the crown expected, or wanted, to happen .

JoHN

v. BARTLETT

London, England I too served a six-month period in "MacArthur's Navy," first aboard the Mongua, then Volunteer S93, before transferring to Corrimal and leaving New Guinea in December 1943.

Mr. Denni s refers to a vessel called Hildanoring. I take it that he means Hilda Norling. Before being requisitioned for the US Small Ships, Hilda Norling had at one period been used on the wheat run in Spencers Gulf, South Australia.

To illustrate further the hazards facing the small ships, afew months before Mr. Dennis ' s accou nt of the Hilda Norling, she had been involved in a very unfortunate incident-she had been blown off course in bad weather and the extra di stance travelled meant they didn ' t know the daily code. When challenged by an Allied plane and asked for the code, the skipper naturally didn ' t have it. The plane then roared in and strafed them. The cook had an arm blown off and died later. The engineer was hit between the eyes.

FREDERICK B. FI NCH Kyogle, NSW, Australia SAIL THE MAINE COAST The Classic Windjammer Vacation SCHOONER MARY DAY Outstanding Sailing

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CARLA RAHN PHLLLIPS

Professor of History Un iversity of Minnesota

Press on, Regardless Jim Delgado ("Taking the Initiative," Sea History 60) is obv iously an enthusiastic and capab le member of the maritime preservation community. He is fortunate in now being in the marvellous maritime area of Vancouver BC and connected with a fine museum.

I must take issue, however, with his basic premise, that "the past six years have seen a tremendous gain in the cause of maritime preservation." Would that were so! But, unfortunately, maritime preservation is swimming against the tide and, at best, barely holding its own. Most museums, such as South Street, Norwalk, and others, have almost overwhelming financial problems-in some cases barely able to meet the payroll, in spite of drastic staff and expense reductions. The toll on restoration programs is immense.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation (Maritime Division) has, to put it bluntly, not succeeded. It began with funding from the proceeds of OpSail '76. The Trust tried to sustain the momentum but was ultimately unable to do so.

A principal factor was the Reagan adm ini stration' s elimination of almost all Federal funding for these purposes (with which I agreed). The Trust tried in vain to replace this support with state/city-orga-

Official "Spain 92" Cohunbus 500-Year commemorative mode1s of the Santa Maria , Nifia & Pima. Plankon-frame in maho&,any & pine; also ships in bottles. Conta<t J.G. sanford In.fl 32 Overlook Rd, Mountain Lakes NJ 07046 Tel: 201263-0070 Fax: 201-263-4063

SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

nized efforts, and while some modest success has been made, the overall picture remains one of decline. There are three basic problems. One, the good Lord did not know about fiberglass when he invented wood, which rots; two, inflation; and three, the lack of local programs, whether it be the Wawona in Seattle, the Martha's Vineyard ferry, or hundreds of others. Without the Arons there would be no Peking, and withoutJakobisbrandtsen, there would be no Waver tree in South Street. The efforts ofNMHS to sustain its work and publish Sea History is Likewise a case in point.

Success stories are encouraging, heartwarming, and helpful in spreading the word. They must not, however, get in the way of realism, which dictates that we must be extremely selective in our targets of opportunity, and that we must Press on, Regardless!

ROBERT W. HUBNER, Vice Chairman Operation Sail New York, New York

Thank you, NMHS! On behalfofReginaMaris, the 144-foot wooden barkentine, built in Denmark by R. Andusen in the year 1908, I am happy to inform the members of NMHS that she has a home port in Greenport, New York, largely because of the help from the Claudio family in giving herdockage in front of their restaurant, the longest single family-owned restaurant in the country. Through support from the East End Seaport and Marine Foundation, from the GreenportChamberof Commerce, along with many area businesses , and the help from the ever increasing volunteers, Regina Maris now sits proudly at the end of Main Street for everyone to come and see.

She owes a special thanks to NMHS. Through what was to be a very difficult year for the ship, the Society truly proved to be her Guardian Angel.

HAJo KN UTTEL, President Save the Regina Maris, Ltd. I have a folder marked "Do Something For the Ship"-which came right out of Sea History. So, after working part time at the Nau ti cal Heritage Society as a staff volunteer for the past six years, I'm now semi-retired and am able to be here fully three days a week. It's great fun to work with a lean HQ crew to try to make a difference-not a nostalgic look at the past, but a practical concern for the future and especially for our young people.

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

Thanks for your part in setting my course in this direction.

ROBERT A. NrcHOLS, Volunteer Nautical Heritage Society Dana Point, California

Maritime Education Initiative We appreciate your work in helping Americans understand the significance of the maritime industry and the importance of the national stake in seafaring.

The program you have planned for Walter Cronkite's participation is certainly a fitting and exciting approach to recognizing Maritime Day 1992. I wish you every success in this endeavor.

In response to your concern for a strengthened maritime policy, Secretary of Transportation Andrew Card, Jr., stated at his confirmation hearing that he would like to see our maritime industry able to compete viably for world commerce and also meet the national security needs of this country. He has advised me that he wants to focus on maritime reform, recognizing that it presents many challenges.

ROBERT E. MARTINEZ Acting Maritime Administrator US Dept. of Transportation I was given a copy of Sea History which contained an article on Christopher Columbus (Summer 1991), called "Under Indian Eyes." I enjoyed the article very much and am wondering if it would be possible to obtain copies of the previous articles in that same series? My students and I are reading everything we can get on Columbus, and the point made in "Where does humanity fit in .. . " is a most important one: "Let us be responsible for today. History gives us a second chance at truth. " Articles such as yours are helping our future citizens take another look-and develop a different view.

CATHERINE HOLMES Rhinebeck Central School Rhinebeck, New York We are seeking support to publish the "Rediscovering Columbus" series as part of our Maritime Education Initiative (see "Mission," page 7). In the meantime, we send out magazines and photocopies covering the seven parts published to date for $28. The volunteered interest of teachers in this series is very encouraging.-ED.

Moshulu The uncredited painting of the Moshulu printed in Sea History 60, p.13, was done

in 1927 by A.V. Gregory, an Australian painter, for Capt. McDonald. The original hangs right now in my office over a model of Moshulu which was done by Captain Jar! Mattsson about twelve years ago.

CAPTAIN HAROLD D. HuvcKE Seattle, Washington ERRATA It was refreshing to see mention of the vesselEdwinFoxintheSpring 1991 issue of Sea History. However, there was an unfortunate mistake in the title and once in the main body of the text. The vessel is named the Edwin Fox and was never in her career known as Edwin B. Fox. The staff at the Wellington Maritime Museum always enjoy reading copies of Sea History and finding out what is happening with our North American and indeed our world counterparts.

KEN SCADDEN, Curator Wellington Maritime Museum Wellington, New Zealand In SeaHistory60, Maryland-based shipbuilder Peter Boudreau was incorrectly described as the builder of the Lady Washington. The vessel was, of course, the Lady Maryland. Also in the same issue, the recently restored brig Niagara was incorrectly described as a Revolutionary War brig-an awful gaffe. She is a veteran of the War of 1812.

QUERIES Edward Sloane is seeking information on the Marchioness of Clydesdale, a bark based in Glasgow in the transatlantic trade. Lloyd 's 1849 Index reports nine ships named Marchioness of a Scottish place; probably there was a Marchioness Line in Glasgow. Mr. Sloane seeks information and a picture of that ship and her master in 1849, John Ferguson. Edward Sloane, Box 25999, Greenville SC 29616-0999.

Some time in the last decade, Roman Polanski made a motion picture called The Pirates. The film was not well received by the critics or the public and it was withdrawn days after its release. However, Polanski had specially built for the film a full-sized copy of a Spanish battleship of the early 18th century. To all outward appearances in the film, says member John Fitzhugh Millar, the ship had a high degree of historical accuracy. If any readers know what has become of that ship, please contact Mr. Millar at 710 South Henry Street, Williamsburg VA 23185.

5

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John Stobart is the foremost marine artist of our time, a marine historian addding significant new insights, and a successful entrepreneur marketing his own work with great skill and care.

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If you purchase the book for yourself or as a gift, Yankee Accent will provide a certficate crediting the full purchase price toward any current, full-color limited edition print which you choose through the end of this year.

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6

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

THE MARITIME EDUCATION INITIATIVE:

THE CHALLENGE OF HISTORY

by Walter Cronkite Americans are shockingly ignorant of their own history. When college students can't tell what century the Civil War was fought in , we've got to know that we' re losing our national self-awareness and our grip on things.

And that's a price we simply can't afford to pay. How can we pretend to understand problems long simmering in our national experience, or hard-won opportunities that have taken generations to develop, if we never look at the experience that gave these things their present shape?

The truth is that history can do a lot to awaken young people 's curiosity and stretch young minds to new concepts and different ways of seeing life. It can challenge people to think of their own role in the stream of time-for history goes on, and we' re all part of it. Proper! y presented and opened up to people, there simply is no substitute for the roughand-tumble, the color, contradictions and unending challenge of history. We need history with its difficulties, agonies and exultations, not to develop pat formulas, but to develop what William Wordsworth called "man 's unconquerable mind."

Toward Far Horizons The state of history is a matter we can do something about. In my hometown, New York, people are working today to put across to our young people the marvellous story of the clipper ships that sailed from our waterfront only a century and a half ago, breaking records in all oceans and making our waterfront street, South Street, famous around the world. These young people are rediscovering the thrill of voyaging, and learning about the venturesome efforts that opened the ocean world in the five hundred years following Christopher Columbus's epic voyage of 1492.

They are learning the difficulties of these ventures too, and the injustices done to native peoples, and the hardships and exploitation of the sailors. They are learning the essential idea of making a voyage, of sailing toward far horizons.

What more can we do? Well, we can make a beginning to carry history's message further. We're proposing a new venture, the Maritime Education Initiative. The Initiative invites teachers and all who work with young people to get them involved in active, innovative pro-

grams to encounter history.

We are inspired to do this by such innovators as the upstate New York teacher who had his class build a complete cardboard model of Mystic Seaport Museum a few years back-a model including ships, chandler's and cooper' s shops, all that went into the community effort to outfit and sail ship in long voyages. We are inspired by the Pilots, a citizen supporting group at Mystic Seaport, who had this whole class and teacher brought to Mystic to encounter the real thing! We may safely bet they got a lot out of this trip-they had prepared, studied and worked for it.

We have made up a collection of such case histories, including a teacher who brought his Pennsylvania high school class to Baltimore to visit the Baltimore clipper Pride of Baltimore-a class which now keeps in touch with the crew members as they sail distant watersand including an Ohio professor of history who takes volunteer students to the British Isles each summer to study and analyze medieval shipping records .

Going for the Real Thing We admire these efforts that get students close to the historical experience we ' re concerned with. And we're helping to support such efforts by guiding teachers and youth group leaders to suitable resources, particularly museum resources, as listed in Sea History's Guide to American and Canadian Maritime Museums.

They can also join the National Council for History Education, and they can join our National Maritime Historical Society and get the magazine Sea History to keep up with a fast-developing field.

And they can go out into the field to encounter some of history's realities, such as can be found in America's museums. Edward H. Able, Jr. , Executive Director of the American Association of Museums, recently wrote: "In a museum, the ' real thing ' can light a spark that will bum for a lifetime."

He went on to point out that museums "can develop and test innovative program strategies that, when proven, can be utilized in the schools."

In this first year we are concentrating particularly on New York harbor and its

MARITIME INITIATIVE PAC KET To try innovative approaches to history education, send in for this valuable packet including: Case Studies--direct application of history instruction in actual situations.

Resource Books-Sea History' s Guide to American and Canadian Maritime Museums, and the American Sail Training Association directory Sail Training Ships & Programs (total retail value $29.50).

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

environs, with the encouragement and cooperation of the Seamen's Church Institute of New York & New Jersey , the Marine Society of New York and the South Street Seaport Museum in New York-using the museum as a base.

For today's distracted and hassled school children, the museum can be benison to troubled minds and spirits, and challenging-in constructive ways.

When the museum was founded just twenty-five years ago this spring, one of the founders, Norma Stanford, expressed this purpose in words that I believe make very good reading today. She wrote: "The South Street Seaport ... should be a place where children can walk on wooden decks and look up at towering masts-or peer into the engine room of a modem tug-and feel a sense of the time and human effort that built the world around them."

Outreach beyond this beginning in New York will be supplied through an information packet available to all who, inquire for a modest sum. And we'll continue working with such promising initiatives as the "Wake of the Explorers" program in the Pacific Northwest, as described in this issue of Sea History. It is good to know that native people's canoes will join in this rediscovery of the channels behind Vancouver Island, which were first charted by English, Spanish and American small craft in the not-so-distant summer of 1792, just 200 years ago.

Color, Authenticity, History Never underestimate the power of history to serveprogress.Iftestimonyonthisisneeded, listen to Vaclav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia, speaking of the regime that had held his nation captive for over fifty years: "It was defeated by a revolt of color, authenticity, history in all its variety and human individuality against imprisonment within a uniform ideology."

Who can resist that "color, authenticity, history?" The massed tanks of the Warsaw Pact could not, and I do not feel we are stretching a point too far in saying that ignorance, prejudice, apathy, all the enemies of real progress that deprive our young people of opportunity today, will not endure against history 's challengenot if we do our job as supporters of history 's cause. D

"Breaking the Ring," a study packet (including original source materials) on efforts to improve the sailor's lot in America 's gateway harbor, New York. And more-a guidance sheet prepared by museum staff, and supplementary materials useful in different situations.

Send $20 for packet or $35 for the packet and a year's subscription to Sea History: NMHS, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

7

Unmooring the fou r-masted bark Moshulu in Newcastle, New South Wales , Australia . A hand straddles a jibboom guy to pass a messenger in through the hawse pipe; the towline fro m the tug in the f oreground will then be hauled aboard. The other towing vessel, a paddle tug, is already secured alongside. Moshulu was a frequent visitor f or coal cargoes, particularly during her years as the Kurt.

The Mighty Moshulu: A Short History, Part II

by Karl Moshulu 's special importance as perhaps the ultimate square rigger-and surely the most beautiful ofthe big four-ma sted barks that closed out the era ofdeep water sail-is underlined by the interest sailors always took in her. Over a quarter century ago, in December 1964, Karl Kortum, then director ofthe San Francisco Maritime Museum, was urging the San Francisco Port Authority to take on the Moshulu-"a real sailing ship, a ship with a history of her own."

Here Kortum, Chairman Emeritus of the National Maritime Historical Society, continues his history of the big, graceful four-poster and her varied career-a career now in suspense as she sits docked in Camden, across from Philadelphia, awaiting what fate holds in store for her.

As the shipping industry sank ever deeper into the Depression, Moshulu, now laid up at anchor near Seattle since her last lumber passage in 1928, was in luck. She had a rescuer. The most remarkable figure in the fin al era of the sailing ship was Gustav Erikson, the Finni sh shipowner headquartered in Mariehamn in the Aland Islands . He kept the last large fl eet of square-rigged ships on earth operating in the Cape Hom trade.

His vessels continued sailing up to World War II-and three of them sailed after the war.

Erikson had fo und a source of profi t in manning his vessels with lads, fo r the most part in their teens, and sending the ships

8

Kortum out to Australia in ballast to load wheat. The wheat was carried eastward, around Cape Hom and up the South and North Atl antic to European destinations. Thi s annual circumnavigation of the world became famous as the "grain race." Among his vessels were the Grace Harwar, Herzogin Cecilie, Olivebank, Archibald Russell, Pamir, Pommern, Killoran, Winterhude, Hougomont and Lawhill, as well as other great sai ling ships. They gained the world's attention by their beauty and longev ity (and the fac t that they were still making money).

It was the Australi an-born sailor and sea writer, Alan Villiers, who made the grain race celebrated with his books, movies taken at sea, and articles in National Geographic Maga zine.

In 1935 Gustav Erikson sent Captain Gunnar Boman, late commanderofthe Grace Harwar, to Seattle to size up the long laid up Moshulu. Boman crossed by ferry to Winslow and ex haustively surveyed the ship, which was then tied up to trees. In the end he recommended buying her, although after seven years of di suse the Moshulu was understandably in rundown conditi on. The big fo ur- masted bark was the 48th vessel purchased fo r Erikson (once a sailing ship captain himself) since he turned to shipowning in 19 13. The price settled on for M oshulu was $ 12,000. She joined a flo tilla of twenty-four of the world 's best and largest surviving sailing vessels.

The frugal and ship-wise Erikso n sent fo urteen men fo r the ship, mostl y lads, from Mariehamn via New York and from SEA HISTORY 6 1, SPRING 1992

All this was excitedly observed from the shore . ... such a ship as hadn't been seen in decades. This was long after the great days ofNorwegian sail, but it was a coast inhabited by many of the old sea captains. there to Seattle by cross-country bus. From England he sent large lighthouse at Lista. People reported a ship heading easttwenty tons of rigging wire and five tons of paint. Captain such a ship as hadn ' t been seen in decades. This was long after Boman rerigged and refitted Moshulu and then proceeded to the great days of Norwegian sail, but it was a coast inhabited sail the big four-master to Australia with only twenty people by many of the old sea captains.

The big vessel sailed before a fresh breeze from the northall told-a total of twelve deck hands, six sailors to a watch.

Each fo'c's'le, port and starboard, was designed as quarters for west, deep laden. What was the meaning of the ship? It was the exactly twice that many sailors in her German days. day following the German invasion.

On arrival in Australia, Moshulu took her place as a regular Finally she came close enough that the name could be in the grain race and circled the world four times in this trade. read-Moshulu.

She proved her mettle against her celebrated fleet mates.

The German army, occupying Norway, soon ordered the Under Captain Michael Sjogren she won the grain race for unloading of the grain cargo, a valuable one in wartime.

1939, reaching Queenstown, Ireland, in 91 days from Spencer's Captain Sjogren put a stop to this and protested vigorously Gulf, Australia. Aboard was the writer Eric Newby from (and one would think at some risk)-he declared the cargo was Britain, who wrote a book about the voyage. destined for Denmark. He finally elicited a receipt from the The outbreak of World War II in all its fury on September German commandant and was able to report making the best 3, 1939, had an immediate effect on Captain Erikson and his of a bad situation to Gustav Erickson in Mariehamn in the remarkable fleet. Most of the gallant ships were laid up, except Aland Islands (Finland). for one more grain cargo for Moshulu-not a world-circling On May 22, the discharge of cargo began at Kristiansand voyage as was the style in the Australian grain trade, but an where the ship had been moved. TheMoshulu was then laid up Atlantic Ocean voyage down to Buenos Aires. During her in Movig, near Kristiansand, a favorite anchorage in southern absence, Denmark, the destination for her cargo, fell to the Norway since the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, Movig Germans. A letter by Captain Michael Sjogren, who took over was used by the Baltic (grain) fleet; as many as forty ships command in 1938 from Captain Boman, describes her return dropped the hook there awaiting a favorable wind.

For two years after her return , the Moshulu lay undisturbed, into the dangerous, war-tom waters off North Europe, fighter planes circling the ship and cannon fire within earshot: but in July of 1942 she was taken over by the German military "Then I asked the pilot, who appeared to be nervous, why to be rigged down. J. Ferrell Colton wrote in Windjammers there were so many German planes. He answered that the Significant: "Knowing that this move would be the beginning of the end Germans had invaded Norway last night and that there is total war. 'You must get away from Norwegian territorial for this magnificent barque, Sommarstrom (Erikson's repwaters, otherwise you are sure to be sunk.' I then started to resentative) objected violently in the interest of the owner. think-Norway is a land at war, so we shall continue the The German authorities threatened to have him hanged, voyage to Denmark. The pilot left us and we continued the whereupon he realized the futility of further endeavors to voyage. The wind was light and we made 4-5 knots. maintain the vessel and soon returned to Aland."

"At noontime I heard the news. Then it was reported that In November Moshulu was towed to the navy yard at even Denmark was occupied by the Germans. Then I did Horten, outside of Oslofjord ... "und dort abgetakelt" (rigged not know what to do. Denmark was also at war! We decided down) . She was then towed north, as a barge, stationed at then to try to getto some Swedish port. We continued After being laid up in Seattle from 1929to 1935, Moshulu was purchased our sailing. The wind was still weak from southwest by the Finnish shipowner Gustav Erikson and took her place as a regular and we still made about 4-5 knots. in the grain race, circling the world four times in this trade . Moshulu is "At about 7 hours in the evening I again heard pictured here in 1937 in The Sound near Kronoberg, Sweden . news on the radio. The minefields were given.

Skagerack was blocked with mines from Hirthal to Lindesnes. Also, the Swedes had laid out mines around their coast. Now good decision was expensive. We had about 15-20 nautical miles to the minefields and those ;:2 we could not get past. ~ "There was now nothing else to do than to try to ;;:r;; get in to some close port in Norway ."

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Captain Sjogren picked up a pilot who could guide ~ him into a snug anchorage behind an island in the little ~ port of Lotshamnen, but the wind was wrong to sail ~ around the island to get there. Moreover, the pilot, a ~ steamship man, didn't understand what a sailing ship 8 could and could not do. Studying the chart, Sjogren ~ discovered a narrow back-door passage behind the ~ island-the Moshulu might just make it but she would have to douse sail and drop anchor the moment she emerged.

It worked. The ship was physically safe.

All this was excitedly observed from the shore. The vessel had made landfall north of Egersund, on April 10th she was observed west ofRekefjord, at noon off the SEA HISTQRY 61 , SPRING 1992

9

1904-Built in Glasgow, Scotland, for G .J.H. Siemers & Co., Hamburg, Germany. She was named Kurt upon launching.

1905-Kurt entered the Chilean nitrate trade up until World War I. She would carry coal out around Cape Hom to Chile and return with a cargo of potassium nitrate.

1917-Astoria, Oregon. Kurt was taken as a war prize; renamed M oshulu

by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson.

1927-Moshulujoins the last great gathering of West Coast windjammers to carry lumber to Australia. Capt. P.A. McDonald was her last US skipper.

1935-Purchased by Gustav Erikson, Mariehamn, Finland, enters the Australian grain trade.

1939-Moshulu wins the last grain race.

1942-Moshulu seized by German military in Norway, rigged down and used as a storage hulk.

1970--Moshulu becomes a restaurant ship at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1989-Restaurantdestroyed by fire, ship undamaged.

1992-Moored in Camden awaiting preservation.

The Moshulu is in her element here, her deep-laden hull driving forward through surging seas. Moshulu is an early and lasting favorite of marine artist Carl Evers.

Marine artist Thomas Wells met Moshulu in 1936 in Mariehamn, Finland, himself shipping aboard as a young sailor for the grain trade in another Erikson vessel, Passat.

"Very lofty, her long yards and tall masts with all their rigging, toweredproudly above the warehouses and stacks of lumber and made pygmies of all other craft lying in the creek."-Capt. Peter Mathieson

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SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

"A vessel with beautifuJ lines, a clipper bow, and a fine run aft."

Lofoten for a while, and then taken all the way up to Kirkenes at Arranmore, then known as Vindicatrix, a retired school ship, too the head of the Varangerfjord near Finland. Here she was a depot far gone for the purpose. ship for the German submarine fleet attacking the Murmansk But now Wallace had found another candidate: "I stopped the car and asked the local people, but they convoys. A German navy veteran came aboard the ship in Philadelphia some twenty years later and told Ted Miles, deckhand did not speak my language and I did not speak theirs.

Finally I hit on the idea of asking the younger generation; and historian aboard, that the Moshulu was used as a mine they may have been taught English in school. Some kids storage depot. She was in the path of the Russian advance to came along and I gestured towards the ship and made plain recapture Norway from the Germans that began as early as 1944, that I wondered what her name was. with aid of Norwegian and British contingents. The Moshulu herself survived the assault, which undoubtedly involved aerial '"Moshulu,' they said. I asked who owned her. They attack, but her masts and rigging, unstepped and stored in pointed towards some grain elevators in a comer of the harbor. I drove over there and found enough English southern Norway, were destroyed by other bombing.

Moshulu was found to be in Narvik in May-June, 1945, spoken that I could make inquiries. The hull was in deep according to an official Allied document. In 1947 she broke draft because she was full of grain. She was a floating her moorings and went seriously aground; for a time it was felt warehouse. Did they want to sell her? Well, yes. As a matter that she would be a total loss. of fact they were thinking of scrapping her. "'How much?"'

But the resilient old vessel survived the stranding as she "'ÂŁ25,000.' "(The pound was then about two dollars and survived a hard war. With the end of hostilities, all German property in Norway passed to the Norwegian government. Miss a half.)

David Tallichet has an historical bent; as an avocation he Gisken Jacobsen of Narvik now purchased the ship, reportedly planning to turn Moshulu into an out-and-out motorship. These has preserved dozens of vintage airplanes, including the M emplans did not materialize and Moshulu was sold to Trygve phis Belle. His firm, Specialty Restaurants Co., operates sixty Sommerfelt of Oslo. He took her to Bergen. (A photograph of restaurants in the United States.

Wallace got in touch with Tallichet, who now took a gallant Moshulu, looking hard-worked with only fore and jigger masts still standing, appeared in the Bergens Tidende newspaper in plunge. He became a shipowner. He authorized Wallace to January ofl 948.) Sommerfelt operated the vessel as a granary in purchase Moshulu; she was to be restored as a museumStockholm, Sweden, forfour years. His net profit was reportedly restaurant and located at South Street Seaport, New York.

Following an exhaustive visit to major shipyards in Europe, 12 kroner per ton per year, about $2.00.

In the summer of 1952, the Moshulu, now Oplag (Norwe- Wallace contracted with a small yard in Scheveningen, Holgian for "laid up"- a name the ship carried during this period land, to fabricate masts, yards and standing rigging as merely in her life) was sold to Heinz Schliewin of Lubeck, a German, a "show" rig, of the same dimensions but much lighter than her who put the four-masted barks Pamir and Passat back to sea original rolled, riveted and tapered spars.

Moshulu was towed across the Atlantic to New York. Peter (they were on the verge of being junked) as training/cargo ships. Oplag was given the name of Moshulu again, but as it Stanford and his wife Norma are the founders of South Street Seaport; Norma was dubious about the addition to the scene of turned out, never rerigged.

The two other vessels, bought from a Belgian scrap metal the mass and black color represented by the great hull that Peter dealer, still retained their masts and yards and represented a had already welcomed with appropriate correspondence.

He couldn 't leave his office on the day Moshulu arrived and less costly refit. Finally, the Finnish magazine Navis Fennica says that the Finnish government bought the Moshulu in The Moshulu as she appears in Camden today moored at the old New 1961-the price was 3,200 tons of Russian rye. (The York Ship Company pier. Ship rigger JohnBilhuber worked on Moshulu author is indebted to Olaf Engvig and the Norsk when she was a restaurant ship on the Philadelphia waterfront and Sjofartsmuseum in Oslo for following the vessel's trail reports her being in need of a new deck but in tip-top condition in terms of ¡her riveted steel hull. Unfortunately, the topgallant masts through the war years.)

It was in the small and picturesque bay of Nantali were recklessly sawn off rather than sent down to get her under the Ben under Kuparivuori Mountain that Ray Wal lace, an expe- Franklin Bridge and over the Delaware River to her current mooring. rienced American seafarer since an early age and by profession a movie set/restaurant designer, suddenly encountered a great strong hull, riding to anchor, deeply laden with grain. Wallace was on an automobile tour along the Finnish coast from Helsinki to Turku.

Memories were stirred. As the result of a suggestion by the author to David Tallichet some years before, Wallace had been sent to Europe by the restaurant developer to look at a large steel hull , also without mast and rigging, like the ~ one he now confronted. (Tallichet had been pressing us to ~ send the Balclutha down to his Ports-of-Call Village in "'~ San Pedro to add color "during the off-season for the ship ;..~ in San Francisco"). I had called Tallichet to tell him that "' another Scots-built square-rigger, known as Arranmore ~ back when she was a contemporary of Balclutha's in the 8 San Francisco grain trade, was being scrapped at a small port on the Bristol Channel. However, Wallace found the IE'---------------------~~-~~

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SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

11

The Redoubtable Captain Schutt -Master of the Kurt In my time in German ships, 1905 to the spring of 1908, Schutt was skipper of the Kurt, later called the Moshulu, and a tough nut he was. I do not consider all German skippers to be paragons of vir tue, even though I happened to strike two good ones in Gerdes in the ship DH. Watjen and Koester aboard the fourmasted bark Anna. But that guy Schutt should have been in charge of a hardcase down-easter. He was as bad as those birds, or would have been if he could have got away with it.

It is true that he made fast passages.

And also that he paid some of his men well.

Schutt was born at Darser Ort, a place on the peninsula ofZingst just south of the island of Rugen in the Baltic. Our "steuerman" (mate) on the Anna, Gau, was raised in the same place and he told me about him. Gau knew Schutt very well, also his father and his family. Quite a few seamen hailed from Zingst and Dars and Darser Ort. In those days it belonged to the Prussian province of Pommem.

Schutt's first voyage was in his father's small vessel in the Baltic trade.

Schutt was one of those who pushed things to the limit. If it worked-that is, if.Auck was with him-the ship made money and he made money .

There is the case of Kurt in Newcastle, Australia. You need so much coalstiffening-to keep the empty vessel from capsizing while tugs are moving her around the harbor. Well, a certain amount of stiffening was available immediate! y. But not enough. One skipper turned it down as insufficient for his vessel-he would rather wait for the right amount. But Schutt took it, although he should have taken in two hundred tons more. It was risky , but he took a chance. The result was that he got quicker despatch, the tugs moved him to the loading berth and he got a cargo of coal sooner than anyone else. The harbor was full of ships anxious to get to the loading berth. It is that kind of man who makes fast passages, too.

It was risky, but Schutt didn 't make any bones about it. It was gossip when I was there. The mates knew there wasn ' t enough stiffening in her for a ship that size, and the sailors knew it-there are tables aboard. It was the common talk aboard the ships.

Stiffening kept the vessel upright-it may be ballast, it may be cargo. When I was mate of the Star of Poland and we had arrived in Manila and were dis12

charging, I mentioned to Captain Larsen that we were getting pretty high out of the water.

"Tell them to quit until they give you 800 tons of cargo," he told me.

We were due to load sugar and when they had put 800 tons of bagged sugar on board , I started to discharge cargo again.

This sugar was not secured-you don ' t secure stiffening in harbor.

In the Anna, in Brooklyn in 1906,

~

was towed up the bay; Norma went instead to greet the ship. She returned starryeyed and enthusiastic, the vessel was not a slab-sided warehouse: "She's a symphony of curves. There isn 't a straight line in that ship."

But due to unrelenting pressure from New York City's Planning Department to make expensive and unwanted changes to the South Street Seaport development plan, Tallichet pulled out his ship and moved the Moshulu to Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. And so she entered the latest role in her kaleidoscope life-she became a floating restaurant.

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Captain Schutt, master of the Kurt, renamed Moshulu in 1917. they came along with a couple of barges of case oil as stiffening while we were still discharging the cargo of chalk from France. We then shifted to Bayonne and loaded a full cargo of case oil.

Schutt cut comers in the Kurt again when he discharged his coal cargo on the West Coast. He was taking in ballast at one of those nitrate ports as the coal went out. He had reached 1200 tons, but he knew he was still short several hundred tons. Now he learned that he would have to wait a few days to get the full amount, probably 1600 tons. There were some Catholic holidays coming up and the lancheros would not be working.

That did not suit Schutt at all. He was bound across the Pacific for Newcastle, New South Wales. So he simply sailed short of the amount of ballast required to give Kurt adequate stability. All went well in the southeast trades; he carried all sail; all the yards were crossed. But nearing Australia the weather turned bad. The ship was plainly too tender and he got cold feet.

There was danger of capsizing.

Schutt ordered all three royal yards sent down and stowed in the hold and the same with the lower topgallants. Anything of any weight around the decks, tanks and so on, was put down below. He got that four-masted bark safely into port and . . . once again he was ahead of the game.

--CAPT. FRED KLEBINGAT

Two Americans, J. Ferrell Colton of Flagstaff, Arizona, and John W. Albright of Long Beach, California, who are still alive and well at this writing, took part in the 1936 grain race. Colton was moved to start his book, Windjammers Significant, about the Moshulu and her sister Hans while still aboard. Although out of print, this informative and illustrative publication, complete with plans of the vessel, may be found in maritime museums and libraries. In addition to Colton's special work about the ship, we have, as mentioned, the good fortune that one of the best of the present-day British travel writers made the voyage in the Moshulu in 1939 and wrote a book about it. The Last Grain Race ( 1956) is a bit of a sea classic in that Eric Newby retains his sense of humor amid the alien circumstances of being the oddball Englishman amongst a crew of taciturn Finns. Newby published a second volume consisting of the photographs he took on the Moshulu voyage.

In addition to these books about the ship, three salty chapters in Master of the Moving Sea (published by J. Ferrell Colton, 1959) by Captain Peter Mathieson are given over to his command of the M oshulu in 1922-23. The captain, who first wentto sea in 1885 in the Norwegian barkNorma, 575-tons, his father's command, describes Moshulu as he first encounters her in Oakland Creek and takes command: " A vessel with beautifullines, a clipper bow, and a fine run aft. Very lofty, her long yards and tall masts with all their rigging, towered proudly above the warehouses and stacks of lumber and made pygmies of all other craft laying in the creek."

Her magnificence, her many-ocean career, and the tributes of her admirers makeMoshuluoneofthemostcelebrated ships in the world. D

Karl Kortum is ChiefCurator, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

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1992 International Maritiflle Bicentennial Two hundred years ago, men ofdifferent nations converged upon the Pacific Northwest in pursuit of a Northwest Passage and the fur trade, and encountered a thriving maritime culture among the coast's native inhabitants. Sea History joins with the States ofWashing ton and Oregon, and the Commonwealth ofBritish Columbia, to commemorate their maritime bicentennial. Special thanks to Garry Schalliol of the Washington State Historical Society and Thornton Thomas of the Bicentennial Commission.

Major Voyages Vancouver Expedition

Northwest Exploration Chronology

Captain Robert Gray

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1543 Bartolome Ferrer claims to reach 44 degrees North

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1792 Dionisio Galiano and Cayetano Valdes explore east coast of Vancouver Island

1775 Bruno de Hezeta lands in Washington and sights mouth of Columbia River; Bodega y Quadra sails into Alaskan waters on the little Sonora

Spanish briefly establish first non-Indian settlement in Washington at Neah Bay

1789 Estevan Jose Martinez establishes Spanish base at Nootka and seizes property belonging to Englishmen, precipitating the Nootka Controversy 1790 Britain and Spain almost go to war over Nootka Controversy Robert Gray/Columbia completes the first American global circumnavigation and returns with tea from China 1791 Alejandro Malaspina seeks the Northwest Passage at Yakutat Bay Francisco de Eliza and Jose Maria Narvaez explore the San Juan Islands and the Strait of Georgia George Vancouver/Discovery& William Broughton/Chatham leave Britain

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John Kendrick/Columbia and Robert Gray/Lady Washington sail from Boston 1788 John Meares establishes camp at Nootka

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1769 Spanish establish outpost at Monterey

Charles W. Barkley sights and names the Strait of Juan de Fuca

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1741 Vitus Bering, commissioned by the Tsar of Russia, explores Alaska

1786 Comte de la Perouse explores Northwest for France

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1725 Account of Juan de Fuca's supposed voyage published

1784 Publication of Cook's journals reports the lucrative sale of sea otters in China

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1579 Drake lands on the California coast, claims it, names it "New Albion"

1783 Treaty ends American Revolution

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(Gray wintered in Clayoquot Sound)

1513 Balboa crosses Panama to sight Pacific Ocean

1779 Spain joins America against Britain and sends third Northwest expedition

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Galiano Expedition

1492 Columbus sails for Asia and finds Caribbean islands

1776 James Cook explores the Northwest and seeks Northwest Passage

1792

George Vancouverexploresandnames Puget Sound and meets with Bodega at Nootka to implementthe agreement between Britain and Spain ending the Controversy Robert Gray sights, enters and explores Grays Harbor and the Columbia River 1795 Jay's and Pinckney's Treaties settle American differences with Britain and Spain British and Spanish withdraw from Nootka Sound 1803 Maquinna' s people capture the American trading ship Boston, killing all the crew but two 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition begins

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The Lady Washington is a 112-ft replica of the ship Capt. Robert Gray sailed to the Pacific Northwest in 1788. As the bicentennial flagship she will take the public sailing throughout the Northwest all summer. For schedule contact Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, PO Box2019,Aberdeen WA 98520; 206 532-8611.

1811 Astoria established 1819 Spanish relinquish rights in Northwest to United States 1824 Russia agrees to a southern boundary of its North American territories at 54 degrees 40 minutes 1844 Polk runs for President with party slogan of "fifty four forty or fight" reflecting American claims and the 1774 voyage of Perez to that latitude 1846 Settlement between Britain and the United States sets boundary at49 degrees 1867 US purchase of Alaska from Russia 1872 Kaiser Wilhelm awards the San Juan Islands to the United States, primarily because of the Spanish explorations

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

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Calendar of Events 1992 Present-June 28, Seattle, WA. "Indians of the Plains, Plateau, and Northwest Coast: Paintings by Bill Holm" exhibit at the Burke Museum, University of Washington. Contact: 206 543-5590.

April 16, Port Townsend, WA. Launching of Jefferson County's replica of Captain George Vancouver's yawl, Townshend. Built by the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building and operated by the Wooden Boat Foundation. Contact: 206 385-0539.

Aboard replica longboats, participants can retrace the path of the first Spanish and British explorers in Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands in the Wake of the Explorers program this summer.For schedule and information contact the Discovery R eenactment Society, Whaler Bay, Galiano Island BC Canada VON 1P0;604 539-2923.

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May 1-3, Vancouver, BC. "Great River of the West" conference on the Columbia Basin at the Red Lion at the Quay. Contact: Center for Columbia River History, 206 737-2044.

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May 11-November 30, Astoria, OR. Opening of"This Noble River" at Columbia River Maritime Museum. Contact: 503 325-2323.

May 16-17, Anacortes, WA. "Wake of the Explorers" participate in Anacortes Waterfront Festival. Contact: 206 293-3832.

May 21, Seattle, WA. Opening of permanent "Canoes of the Northwest Coast" exhibit at the Burke Museum, University of Washington. Contact: 206 543-5590.

May 30-31, Bellingham, WA. "Wake of the Explorers" participate in the Bellingham Maritime Festival. Contact: Whatcom Maritime Historical Society, 206 647-5232.

June-July, Nanaimo, BC. "The Eulachon: A Fish to Cure Humanity" from the University ofBritish Columbia, Museum of Anthropology. Exhibit deals with the theme of early maritime trade. Contact: 604 228-6031.

June 20-21, Cathlamet, WA. Heritage Boat Display and Festival at Columbia River site passed by William Broughton in 1792. Contact: 206 795-8705 .

June 21, Lummi Reservation, WA. Stornish canoe races, a celebration of the spirit of competition and the ancient canoe tradition. Contact: Lumrni Business Council, 206 734-8180.

July 4-5, Seattle, WA. Lady Washington, flagship of the 1992 International Maritime Bicentennial, and Californian, on Year ofReDiscovery Voyage, on exhibit for the 17th Annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival at the Maritime Heritage Center. Contact: Center for Wooden Boats, 206 382-2628.

August 8, Tacoma, WA. Opening of "Exploration and Cartography of the Northwest" exhibit at the Washington State Historical Society Museum. Contact: 206 593-2830.

August 27-30, Vancouver, BC. Vancouver Wooden Boat Festival at Granville Island.

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May 9, Port Townsend, WA. Third Annual Pacific Challenge, including a gathering of ships, longboats and Native canoes. Contact: Wooden Boat Foundation, 206 385-3628.

May 10, Port Hadlock, WA. Festival of Tsetsibus, the ancient traditional gathering

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May-September, Vancouver, BC. "Explorers and Natives in the Inside Passage" exhibit at the University of British Columbia, Museum of Anthropology. Contact: 604 822-5087.

May 7-9, Westport and Aberdeen, WA. Discovery Days reenactment by the Lady Washington of the first crossing of the bar into Grays Harbor by Robert Gray in 1792.

Contact: Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, 206 532-8611

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April 23-26, Vancouver, BC. "Vancouver Conference on Exploration and Discovery" at Simon Fraser Univ. Contact: 604 291-4441.

May 1, Seattle, WA. Resolution, launched at Ga.s Works Park. Replica longboat will join Wake of the Explorers. Contact: 206 567-5111

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April 16-December, Vancouver, BC. "Vancouver's Mariners: Captain George Vancouver and the Charting of the Northwest Coast," exhibit at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. Features a 28-foot replica section of HMS Discove1y. Contact: 604 737-2211.

place of the Native nations of Puget Sound: Canoe and longboat races, and cultural exhibits/games. Contact: 206 385-3628.

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Interior of Maquinna' s house at Tahsis , Nootka Sound. This sketch shows the chiefhimself, dressed in a large sea otter robe, performing a dance during the visitofBodegayQuadraandVancouver in the autumn of 1792 .

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

15

Northwest Maritime Revival Celebrating the Role of Small Craft in the Age of Exploration and Encounter

by Gregory Foster When the tiny British fleet under Captain George Vancouver abreast the Ship, haul'd our wind for itt, observed two sand arrived on the Northwest Coast of North America in 1792, bars making off, with passage between them to a fine river. little did anyone suspect the curtain was about to rise on the Out pinnace and sent her in ahead and followed with the Ship longest and most intricate charting expedition ever underunder short sail . .. the River extended to the NE as far as eye taken . Over the ensuing three years, Vancouver's quest for could reach, and water fit to drink as far down as the Bars, at the legendary Northwest Passage took his ships and boats the entrance. We directed our course up this noble river in into waters mysterious and baffling beyond all expectations, search of a Village. The beach was lin'd with Natives, who as he probed every strait, inlet, passage and sound between ran along the shore following the Ship . . . the Indians Oregon and Alaska ... the world's last temperate coastline informed us there was 50 villages on the banks of this river." to give up its secrets.

Seven days later, Captain Gray named this waterway the It would have been an impossible mission, but for the superb Columbia's River, after his ship. Perhaps it should have been skills ofV ancouver' s mariners, assistance from the native people named "Columbia's Pinnace River." Three weeks earlier, while along the way, and the services of eight small open boats at his wintering base at Clayoquot Sound, in present-day British propelled by oar and sail. Indeed the launches, cutters, yawl and Columbia, Gray had experienced a midnight surprise attack by jolly boats carried on the Discovery and Chatham-together a large number of natives, local tribes with whom friendly with their counterparts from the Spanish explorations being relations had existed all that winter. When, however, the forces conducted at the same time-are perhaps the real heroines of the of Chief Wickananish realized the Americans had been alerted, epic. While the mother ships groped their way up 2,000 miles of they retreated. Gray did not forget what he evidently considered perilous seaboard in roughly linear fashion, the ship 's boats a betrayal . On his departure from the encampment a month later, covered 10,000 miles exploring every nook and cranny of this Gray destroyed the unoccupied native village of Opitsat, in challenging coast, virtually without mishap. retaliation for the threatened attack. On this occasion Boit The record of this amazing voyage is probably the greatest recorded with regret this very different kind of boat duty: small craft saga in the annals of seafaring, worthy to be "I am sorry to be under the necessity of remarking that this compared with the 3,600-mile open ocean odyssey of Captain day I was sent with three boats, all well man'd and arrn'd, Bligh with eighteen loyal seamen in a 23-foot ship's launch to destroy the Village of Opitsatah it was a Command I was following the mutiny on the Bounty. Yet for two hundred years no ways tenacious of, and am grieved to think Capt. Gray the achievement has gone unnoticed . shou ' d let his passions go so far. This Village was about half In the International Maritime Bicentennial currently ina mile in Diameter, and contained upwards of200 Houses, volving Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, the modgenerally well built for Indians every door that you enter' d em maritime world is paying tribute for the first time to these was in resemblance to an human and Beasts head, the valiant little vessels which routinely were expected to sound passage being through the mouth, besides which there was unknown channels ahead of the mother ship, tow her in calms, much more rude carved work about the dwellings some of carry out and retrieve her anchors, fill her water barrels, which was by no means innelegant. This fine Village, the provision her larder, fetch firewood for her galley stoves, ferry Work of Ages, was in a short time totally destroyed." passengers and cargo to and fro, conduct charting and fishing expeditions, and, in the event of shipwreck or Captain Secundino Salamanca, ofthe Galiano expedition of 1792, exploring in a men overboard, be called on for lifesaving duty. launch at the head of the inlet the Spanish named after him, later renamed At the same time, the Bicentennial is focusing re- Loughborough Inlet by the British. The Spanish were nervous at the massed newed attention on the superb Northwest Indian dugout approach of canoes, but the natives left without incident. (Drawing by Jose canoes and the seamanship of the native mariners, which Cardero, 1792, courtesy Museo Naval, Spain) reached their highest development on this magnificent coast. When the planked boats of the explorers encountered the dugout canoes of the Coast Indians, two of the world's important boatbuilding traditions met face to face in their heyday, and the splash of the oar and the dip of the paddle have been a basic rhythm in the music of Northwest waters ever since.

Looking Into the Journals Stirring episodes illustrate the capabilities-and sometimes the tragedies---ofboth the boats and canoes during the Age of Exploration and Encounter. When Captain Robert Gray 's fur-trading ship, the Columbia Rediviva out of Boston, became the first vessel to cross the treacherous bar of the long-sought River of the West in 1792, her pinnace was out ahead sounding the channel.

Fifth mate John Boit's log revives the scene: "This day saw an appearance of a spacious harbour 16

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

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It is important to contrast the methods practiced by many captains in the maritime fur trade with those of the exploring expeditions in dealing with the native people, since both were visiting this long-hidden coast for the first time in the late 18th century.

In one of destiny 's coolest ironies, on the very day the American captain Robert Gray was firing the ancient village in future British Columbia waters, the Briti sh captain George Vancouver was sailing up the Two hundred years later--a replica a/Discovery's yawl sounds the same channel future Oregon/Washington coast on the Northwest Coast charted by Capt. Vancouver in his original yawl of 1792 . past the mouth of the yet unnamed (and unclaimed) Columbia River. His journal comments on the opening with its "river coloured water," but continuous breakers on the bar rendered it "not . .. worthy of more attention," and he sailed on past and ultimately out of the running for possession-taking.

When Vancouverreturned in October after his first summer's meticulous survey of Puget Sound and the labyrinthine coast inside Vancouver Island, the 65-foot brig Chatham succeeded where the larger 100-foot Discovery failed , crossed the bar, and sent her cutter and launch almost 130 miles upriver under William Broughton to chart the Columbia for the first time.

During thi s remarkable 12-day exploration the Chatham' s 22foot cutter and 19-foot launch were almost constantly under surveillance or actually accompanied by local Indians, who vastly outnumbered the explorers (23-25 canoes). Yet no hostile actions resulted on either side; on the contrary , the first navigation of the Columbia River by explorers is a model of friendliness and cooperation. In fact, si nce the boats were only provisioned for one week 's journey, the hospitality of the Discovery's launch on Lake Union, Seattle, with f olksinger Pete natives was largely responsible for the success of the mission. Seeger manning an oar.

On other occasions the explorers were not so well received.

Seacoast landings in particular sometimes involved perils in The excitement of the original exploration is recaptured by high addition to the challenge of the surf. The first recorded European school students sailing a Spanish longboat replica. landing on the present Washington coast(atPointGrenville) was made by eight Spanish mariners in the 15-foot "bote" from Bodega y Quadra's schooner Sonora in 1775. Sent ashore for water and firewood, the boat party was overwhelmed in the surf by three hundred Indians who suddenly appeared out of the forest and seized the boat and took the lives of several sailors. This incident, which left the Sonora boatless and undermanned, and others like it, suggest that the Northwest Coast natives' mastery of the dugout canoe did not preclude a keen appreciation of planked boats, from the earliest contact.

Jacks of All Trades Hundreds of old paintings show ships towing their boats, but very few illustrate what became an even more common sight in the arduous first navigation of the Northwest Inside Passage-boats towing their ship. Vancouver' s journal abounds ~ with references to this practice: ii: SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

17

"The tide now making against us, we were constrained to rest our sides against the rocks, and by hawsers fastened to the trees to prevent our being driven back . .. "-from Vancouver's journal which time we had traversed "At nine ... it being calm, all upwards of 700 geographic our boats were employed in miles, without having advanced towing us round the west point our primary object of tracing of this opening, which, though the continental boundary more not more than a mile from our than 20 leagues (60 miles) from anchorage, was not affected the station of the vessels. Such until one o'clock in the afterwere the perplexing, tedious, noon." and laborious means by which And on another occasion: alone we were enabled by de"The tide now making against grees to trace the northwestern us, we were constrained to rest limits of the American contiour sides against the rocks, nent. " and by hawsers fastened to the It is not surpri sing that the boats trees to prevent our being should have inspired affection driven back .... In the afteras well as esteem from their noon . . . with the assistance crews. During the three years on of our boats and an eddy tide the Northwest Coast, Discovery ... we advanced by slow degrees. In this tedious naviga- Greg Foster working on the ji¡ame of a British yawl. Some did not lose any of her boats. tion, sometimes brushing our twenty replicas of ships' boats and as many native canoes Only on the trip hom e, back sides against the rocks, at oth- have been built in the Northwest in recent years. in the Atlantic, Captain Vancouver's yawl was smashed ers just keeping clear of the trees that overhung them, we had advanced at midni ght to pieces against the ship's side in hoisting her aboard. The about four miles." incident brought tears to his eyes , and he never forgot it: Of the varied services performed by the boats, however, it "S he was the boat I had constantly used; in her I travelled very many miles and repeatedly escaped from danger; she was the charting expeditions sent out from progress ive analways brought me safely home. " chorages which tested the mettle of these gallant little packets (and their crews) and which in turn gave us this unprecedented Too Common To Lose saga from the Age of Exploration.

Vancouver was a particularly hands-on captain and accom- What were they like, these 18th-century launches, cutters, panied many of the boat expeditions in Discovery's yawl. It yawls and jolly boats exemplified so nobly by Vancouver's was during the longest of these excursions, in hi s second year survey craft? Fortunately their portraits were painted in every imaginable pose by the old mason the coast, that Vancouver's party ters who knew their small boats as well suffered an attack from Tlingit Indians as their ships. Museum archives preserve which left two of.his men wounded. On the I in es of many, and early works on naval this occasion Vallcouver himself barely / architecture contribute valuable details on escaped the fate which had befallen hi s mentor, Captain James Cook, in Haconstruction and rigging. For we are not talking about mereI ya few little boats from waii . As a matter of fact, the attacka backwaterof maritime history. Research Vancouver'sonly instance of armed conindicates th at during most of the 18th flict in nearly one hundred encounters and I 9th cen turi es, roughly ten to fifwith natives on the coast-was only one teen thousand of these boats were in of the innumerable hazards which conJolly boat from Discovery, 16 '!2-feet long service at any given time among the fronted every charting expedition, innaval and merchant fl eets of the world, cluding the world's most challenging with up to one-fifth of the total being coastal geography , strong currents and replaced by new boats every year. tidal rapids, commonly incl e me nt Common they may have been, but weather, fog, storms, hunger and fathey were not cheap and unlovely like so tigue. Vancouver's journal on his return many products of mass production toto the ships evokes the character of these day. Captain Vancouver's yawl serves to heroic voyages in open boats: illustrate the general characteristics "Our provisions being now so nearly shared by most of the ships' boats clan, exhausted that we each dined this 1 Spanish boteji¡om Sutil, 18 12-feet long although Bounty' s launch would do as day on half a pint of peas, we were well. At 26 feet long, she was about midunder the necessity of keeping on our oars, or under sail , all ni ght; and size range for the boats of her time, and her beam of just under 7 feet typifies the about seven in the morning Friday moderate sleekness required by craft the 16th we arrived on board [the which must row and sail extremely well. parent ship Discovery], much to the The modest dead ri se and gently rounded satisfaction of all parties, as we had bilges of her mid-section provided adnow been almost entirely confined to Discovery's yawl, 28-feet long equate stability without compromising the boats for twenty-three days; in 18

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

•

the grace of her movements in a seaway, and her afterbody tapered to a fairly narrow upper and lower transom. When loaded she would draw perhaps 18 inches.

She had no keel, as modem sailors understand the term, yet she possessed remarkable windward ability.

In plan view, she was rather fullbowed and parallel-sided at the gunwale, as were most of the ships ' boats, providing unhesitating buoyancy fo rward (and dryness), together with maximum room for rowers. Inside were four rowing thwarts for eight men pulling one oar each, a mount for the swivel gun forward, and a captain's seat near the stem with a steering cockpit behind .

Besides the eight oarsmen, the boat normally carried two or three in the captain's party and a helmsman. Her sai ling rig cons isted of fore and main dipping lugsails and, possibly, a standing lug mizzen. These sails were set on unstayed masts stepped through thwarts.

In addition to her lines, anchors, oars and sails, she carried food supplies, grog, water, tents, muskets, ammunition, and a chest of trade goods/presents for the Indi-

ans.Navigational and chartmaking equipment included sextants, artificial horizon, compasses, chip log and reel , half-minute glass, telescope, and sounding leads, along with paperanddrafting implements. However, her most valuable aid in surveying was the experienced eye of the master, and Vancouver had the best England could provide in men like Vancouver himself, Joseph Whidbey, James Johnstone, Peter Puget and William Broughton.

Reviving a Tradition With the approach of the Maritime Bicentennial, Northwestemers have not been content to let this subject rest as a purely academ ic concern . Impromptu workshops have sprung up in museums, school s and communities throughout coastal British Columbia, Washington and Oregon to recreate the boats of the explorers and canoes of the natives. Already, 24 replicas of the British, Spanish and American survey boats have been completed, with more coming, and almost as many cedar dugout canoes.

All of the ships ' boat replicas have been built with design and construction

assistance from the Discovery Reenactment Society, a non-profit group of researchers, traditional boatbuilders, and small craft mariners who are spearheading the Wake of the Explorers Reenactment Expedition. During the summer of 1992, hundreds of crew members of all ages will retrace many of the original charting expeditions in the replica boats and canoes, under paddle , oar and sa il ... from the bottom of the Puget Sound to the top of Vancouver Island and up the Columbia River.

The largest hands-on maritime heritage event ever staged in the Northwest, Wake of the Explorers is being coordinated with community events along the route, exhibits and special publications.

Greg Foster is director of Wake of the Explorers. For information contact the Discovery Ree na ctm ent Society, Whaler's Bay, Galiano Island, British Columbia VON I PO , Canada.

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THE ENDURING NATIVE CANOE PRIDE OF THE NORTHWEST COAST SEAFARERS

by Leslie Lincoln sons, so approximately 20,000 ca- and a lucrative trade in China stimulated noes plied the waves when the many more voyages. As the Aleuts' refirst European explorers arrived. sources were exploited, the Russians Canoes gave the mariners a pushed southward, ultimately challengfreedom to travel in the otherwise ing Spain's claim on "Alta California." mountainous and isolated areas The French, Spanish, English and Ameriwith the ebb and flood of local cans soon voyaged to the Northwest currents. Indigenous people ap- Coast in quest of the same sea otter pelts preciate the gift of the canoe and and to lay their claims on the land. the cedar from which it is hewn.

During the early encounter and Cedar is the sacred tree, the great thereafter, the European and American Life Giver which provides its traders introduced a most ruinous aspect roots, wood, branches, bark and of civilization. They brought diseases, leaves forthe benefit of the people. particularly small pox and measles, in They understand that the spirit of epidemic proportions. Tragically, in the the cedar tree lives in the canoe next 100 years, 80 to 90 percent of the Painting by Bill Holm,from his current exhibit at and they respect that spirit. original population died.

Burke Museum , University of Washington Native peoples kept their own histoWhole villages in large cerhe first founders of the Pacific North- emonial craft voyaged to social gather- ries of these encounters in their oral west coast fished and gathered here ings , dances , and generous potlatch tradition . The Tlingit have recorded a forat least nine to twelve thousand years. feasts. This extensive water travel cre- story of their first encounter with La Archaeological remains offer convinc- ated a lasting social fabric of marriages Perouse in 1786: "Yeahtlh-kan, the wise man was carving ing testimony for the early development and related families which continues towhen suddenly the wolf-cry came-the of their dugout watercraft. In these rug- day. In the fall , the vessels were loaded ged coastal waters, indigenous seafarers to the gunwales with tons of dried and sign of great news. 'Yeahlth is coming; hunted sea mammals, including the por- smoked salmon , halibut, cod, smelt, herYeahlth is coming. He comes from the poise, and occupied the isolated Queen ring, seal and eulachon oil, shellfish, western horizon. He is aU white. His Charlotte Islands 9,000 years ago. seaweed, berries and roots . The sixtywings turn this way and that way as he moves across the water. ' Canoe-borne, they lived on nutritious foot Northern sty le canoes could carry as "AU prepared for the Coming of the resources from the sea, inland waters much as six to eight tons of freight.

Yeahlth, the Great Creator. This strange Offshore whale and sea mammal and rivers. The hardy dugouts made their vision turned slightly and headed directly marine lifestyles possible, indeed highly hunting, slave raids and retaliatory warsuccessful. Their carrying-capacity al- fare demanded further lowed for seasonal migration from pro- performance from the The war canoe ofTlupannulg, as depicted by Jose Cardero of the Galiano expedition, 1791. (Museo de America, Madrid) tected winter settlements to summer seaworthy craft and salmon fishing camps. Salmon blessed their crews. The arrival the coastal rivers and over time the Na- of Russian , European tives developed great skill in catching and American explorand preserving the fish. Though hunger ers challenged the Nalurked behind a poor fish run, the usual tives ' sea hunting skills bountiful catch gave them a ready and and rewarded them reliable food source. TheNorthwestcoast with new-found wealth became the second most densely popu- and untold difficulties. lated area in North America.

In 1741, Vitus BerThe Smithsonian Handbook estimates ing first opened the the pre-contact population for the whole North Pacific for EuroNorthwest Coast culture, extending from peans. His expedition Yakutat Bay in Alaska toward the present reached as far south as California-Oregon border, at 200,000. It Sitka, a Tlingit area in is reasonable to estimate further that A laska. Reports of there was one canoe for each ten per- plentiful sea otter pelts

T

20

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

The sixty-foot Northern style canoes could carry as much as six to eight tons offreight. across the water towards them. When well within the harbor, YeahJth 's wings were folded; a harsh grating sound drove terror into the hearts of the wicked.

"At last Yeahlth-kan, said, 'I will go out in my canoe and meet Yeahlth.' He paddled and then prayed to greet the ship with his arms outstretched; 'E-shan, Oohan, Yeahlt---have mercy upon us, Yeahlth !' When he approached the ship, the crew lowered ropes and hoisted him and his canoe on deck. To those who stayed on shore it seemed as if he had been taken to the bosom of the Creator.

'ThewiseNative man sawthecrew's white faces and feet, their blue or grey eyes andcurlyhair. 'Can this be Yeahlth?' he thought. One of these strange men all dressed in white carried and beat upon a bell. Yeahlth-kan reached out to touch it.

As he did, the bell carrier reached out to touch the Native man 's sea-otter cap.

Yeahlth understood, all his hopes and fears of the Great Creator vanished. He was in the presence of human strangers, ' People-Who-Come-From-The-Hori zon. ' "(Alaska Magazine 1927: 151 ).

La Pe rou se observed th a t o th e r Tlingits in 1786 were " well acc ustomed" to trade and " bargained with as much skill as any tradesman of Europe. " Tatoosh, Chief of the Makah on the western tip of what is now Was hington State, traded sea otter pelts with numerous sea captains, though he favored the Spaniards. When Captains Galiano and Valdes entered hi s bay in 1792, Tatoosh agreed to go aboard and serve as pilot. He directed the Spaniards to safe anchorages and profitable trading villages. Tatoosh 's two wives both refused to board the Spanish schooner though they travelled alongside in their own large ceremonial war canoe.

The spectacular craft, with a magnificent eagle carved in the prow, kept pace with the two 55-foot Spanish vessels.

In the first fifty years after encounter, the magnificent, though perhaps menacing, war canoe fl eets disappeared. Th is is due in part to the intentional warfare of British and American g unboats who arrived to affirm their claim on the land and suppress Native upri sings .

Yet there was a profusion of other wha ling, seal hunting and voyaging style dugouts. During the 1800s, greater access to steel tool s spurred he ightened skill s in woodworking. In fact, in thi s period , the Northern style canoe emerged as a new type, replacing the more cumbersome war craft for the Tlingits, T s im shi a ns, Haidas, and Kw akiutl SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

peoples. The Northern style craft fea tures a hi gh sweeping sheer and graceful ri se in bow and stem . Archival photographs reveal that these sophisticated dugouts were crafted to exacting standards.

The ongoing nin eteenth-century Native culture continued to depend upon the dugouts for fi shing, trading, inter-tribal gatherings, indeed, for survival.

However, the art of canoe carving almost di sa pp ea re d , a lon g with other losses of Native ways, this last century. Native life c han ged drastica ll y with the coming of the autom obile . Canoes were no longer necessary. Countless gen-

Canoes gather at the culmination of the Paddle to Seattle in 1989.

gillnetting and beach seining at acc ustomed sites.U nfortunately, some of these were seized by the government during the "fi sh wars" until the courts upheld Indian fi shing rights in the late 1970s.

With all this change one type of dugouts has continued to be paddled right up to thi s day . Thi s is the sleek 50-ft racing craft pulled by those in the Central Coast Salish area of southern British Columbi a

sion .

After the invention of the outboard gas engine, many equipped their river dugouts with the kickers and then became dependent upon a dominant economy for gasoline and parts. Yet the Native marinersgreatly appreciated the ease and speed of this noisy propul- Kwakiutl sailing canoe races, 1912. (Un iversity ofWashingtonArchives) sion. A motorized dugout racing circuit continues today on the W as hington coast.

These twenty-six-foot river dugouts with a built-in planing board reach speeds of twenty knots, with only the last 6-ft in water. When they get planing and skim the ri ver currents, ~ it's quite a thrill!

5 u More mod e rate 'i motorized cedar dug- ui out fi s hin g canoes ~ have been used for ~ 21

''We are one people ti.ed together through our ocean-going canoe'' and northern Washington State. In the past, the canoes kept the people strong in the face of northern aggression. Today they keep the people strong in preserving their identity in an increasingly nonIndian world.

As many as twenty-two of these stilletto canoes compete during the weekend events. Pullers, as the Native paddlers refer to themselves, vie for championships in the one person "singles," two-person "doubles" and six-person 42ft wooden craft. Women and buckskins (or teenagers) compete as well as the men. It's a family sport and a way oflife for individuals such as Bill Jefferson .

He explains that racing has worked well for him because he met his wife during the annual racing circuit.

Though racing canoes continue, few traditional voyaging canoes remain and most of these are the captured heritage of museum collections. Clear cutting has left few old growth cedar stands available for the remaining canoe carvers.

Bill Reid, a renowned Haida artist remarked sardonically that "It's getting

the outside world .

In Washington State, a resounding canoe revitalization movement began in 1988. With sponsorship from the State Centennial Native Canoe Project and grassroot enthusiasm, more than seventeen tribes became involved in rediscovering their own arts of carving and voyaging in the ancient watercraft. The United States National Forest recognized the tribes' right to red cedar and so the tribes regained access to the valued old growth stands in remote mountain areas.

Thousands participated by carving, restoring, racing, voyaging and welcoming back traditional craft at an unprecedented gathering known as the "Paddle to Seattle." A flotilla of more than thirty voyaging and racing cedar dugouts converged in Indian country. This was the culmination of a 34-mi le pilgrimage the Quileute began in the Pacific Ocean and the Bella began 500-miles to the north. The canoe became both a provocative focus for cultural renewal and a popular symbol of a vital Native American coastal identity.

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central coast. What I've learned over these last five years is that ifwe can 'tleam from our old people, we have got to go out and do it. And we see why our ancestors did what they did. And we take it and we recreate our culture because we are a living indigenous culture. We are one people tied together through our oceangoing canoe. We invite aU the tribes to come to our village because [of] what we've experienced over the last 470miles that we've paddled to get down here ... it was an Odyssey. We've passed through twenty tribes on our way down.

And we're challenging you in the next stage. In 1993 we want you to come up to BeUa Bella and we're going to host an encampment of ocean-going canoes."

Today the tribes are preparing for this thousand-mile round trip voyage during the year of indigenous people. Paddle clubs from more than thirty tribes are raising money, training their youth and taking water safety and survival classes.

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hard these days to find a tree big enough to make just one large Haida canoe." The scarred islands around his Skidegate village explain this. Yet the Haida' s efforts in 1986 to rediscover their lost art of canoe carving was a testimony-a powerful way of showing respect for a single tree, a respect the Haida are trying to communicate, with mixed success, to 22

best expresses the story behind this canoeing resurgence. At the extraordinary Paddle to Seattle gathering, Frank Brown, expedition leader for the Bella Heiltsuk, challenged the other canoe nations: "The ocean-going canoe is what binds us all together because we are an indigenous maritime culture. The canoe has sustained us for the last 10,000 years on the

Leslie Lincoln

good ways: "To pull out your paddles and set on a good course." D Maritime anthropologist Leslie Lincoln has written numerous articles on Northwest native canoes, is currently working on a book in conjunction with the Center for Wooden Boats, and is an organizerfor the Pacific Challenge series.

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

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Historical Marine Art of the Pacific Northwest

By Kevin Haydon

The Imperial Eagle sailing for the Northwest Coast in 1786, by Steve Mayo The Imperial Eagle was acquired by officers of the Honorable East India Company for their own private fur-trading venture to America. Under Austrian registry, she sailed for the Pacific Northwest with an all-English crew in command ofCapt a in Charles Barkley in 1786. Accompanying the captain was his courageous seventeen-year-old wife Frances, who kept a delightful journal which is, today, in the Provincial Museum, Victoria BC. The 120-ft 400-ton trader is shown here nearing the Northwest coast in a gale with double-reefed topsails and single-reefed foresail . The topgallant sails with their yards have been lowered to the deck and stowed.

The Northwest has always held a distinct maritime identity. It rises out of an experience with the fierce seas and rugged shores along the Pacific coasts of Oregon and Washington that is in tum balanced by the sheltering straits, islands and inlets of the north . Etched in deep by the vitality of the nineteenthcentury lumber and whaling trades, the maritimecharacterofthe region continues today in its thriving fisheries. To make art from this heritage is to find bold clear images and viewers who can appreciate them.

Nicolas Kirsten, partner in Kirsten Galleries of Seattle, described his first introduction to Northwest hi storical maritime art as one of complete astonishment. Called to Seattle from Santa Fe in 1976 to join his brother Richard 's gallery business, he remembers walking in to find something he had never

seen in Santa Fe galleries: a completely sold-out exhibit. "I knew then," says Nicolas, "that there must be something to all this marine historical art!"

It happened to be one in a series of near panic sellout shows by artist Steve Mayo of Bellingham, Washington. "I was impressed," recalls Nicolas. "The demand for Steve 's work became so great that we had to sell it by lottery. It is this kind of energy that is responsible for fostering so many great historical maritime painters in the Pacific Northwest. It is not just that the paintings sell that creates a need for this kind of art, but it is also a reflection of the rich heritage of the many ports and maritime jobs in this region. There is a natural fascination with these activities throughout the region 's history which provides both inspiration for the artist and an appreciative audience."

HMS Resolution, off the Northwest Coast in March of 1778, by Steve Mayo HMS Resolution reflects extensive research of old journals, ships' plans, and numerous historical accounts. On this, his third and last voyage, Cook was commander-in-chief of the expedition consisting of his ship, the Resolution, and another bark, the Discovery.

Their mission to the Northwest coast was to locate the mythical "Northwest Passage."

Sailing master of the Resolution was William Bligh and also among the 108 men on board was young George Van couver, a midshipman.

When Cook actually landed at Friendly Cove on March 29, he became the first European to stand on the shores of British Columbia. Realizing that, he raised the Union Ja ck and claimed this part of the coast for Great Britain.

24

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

"At twelve o'clock we fired a gun" the Hope and Hancock at Cunneyah ' s Harbor, July 4, 1792 , by Mark Myers

â&#x20AC;˘ Steve Mayo, who grew up in the logging town of Longview, Washington, where his father owned a cannery on the banks of the Cowlitz River, speaks vividly of this kind of inspiration: "We had a boat which I sailed as a boy," he remembers. "The river was only a short distance from the Columbia [River] .

Longview was a deep-water port, so there were sea going freighters and tankers from all over the world, as well as all the various river craft: tugs, barges, and fishing boats. Huge freighters with their propellers thumping and thrashing water sometimes passed on both sides of my little boat. You could even smell them after they'd passed-the smell of foreign cooking and diesel.

"I dreamed of going to sea, of joining the merchant marine perhaps."

From age eight, Mayo began to sketch the ships he saw, noticing the differ-

"Both vessels were very fou l, and Captain Crowell and I ag reed to haul on shore and grave . . . Next morning was the anniversary of American Independence .

In order to celebrate it in the best manner our situation would admit of, I had-as on my last voyage-a hog of60lbs weight roasted whole on the beach and invited Capt. Crowell and his officers to dine with me. At 12 o'clock we fi red a gun , hoisted our colors , and gave three cheers,

which the Hancock returned. As the Hope was on careen, we dined on shore under a tree near the beach. Old Cunneyah was one of our g ues ts. " - from Jo seph Ingraham' s journal of the fur trading voyage of the brigantine Hope ofBoston.

The Hancock, another Boston brig, had come along by chance while Ingraham was lying in a cove in the N. W. Queen Charlottes , nearChiefCunneha' s Haida village of Tadents.

"A most horrible drumming ," the captured Boston in Friendly Cove , March 22, 1803, by Mark Myers

l

On March 22 , 1803 the ship Boston was lying up Nootka Sound, her Captain l ohnSalter and the Nootkan ChiefMaquinna engaging in swift trade. After dinner at midday , the chief led his warriors to slay the captain and crew, sparing only the sh ip ' s armorer, J ohn J ewitt.

Maquinna knew the value of a blacksmith to a people who craved metal but could not work well with it. Jewitt records: "Maquinna then ordered me to get the ship underway for Friendly Cove . . .. We were received by the inhabitants of the village, men, women and children, with loud shouts of joy, and a most horrible drumming with sticks upon the roof and sides of their houses , in which they had stuck a great number of lighted pine torches to welcome their king's return and congratulate him on the success of his enterprize."

Jewitt spent three years in captivity at Nootka .

SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

25

Falls of Clyde and Emma Claudina off the Fara/Ions , by Tom Wells.

In June of 1579, Drake sailed north along the Pacific coast, perhaps as far as Vancouver Island, before turning south. Bill Ryan has here pictured the Golden Hind 150 miles down the Oregon coast passing Tillamook Rock.

26

ences between the various types of vessels. "As it turns out," he says, "being interested in these details was very important, but at the time it seemed to me to be helpful only as a way to better ' know ships."' This attention to details is reflected in the extensive research of old journals, ships ' plans and historical accounts that now goes into the production of his superb watercolors.

Mark Myers is an internationally known artist who has a similar story.

Kirsten recalls his good fortune meeting Myers at the third annual ASMA show in New York City, where Mark informed him that his original inspiration for depicting the maritime tradition was founded in his upbringing on the West Coast, from San Francisco to Alaska, where he was inspired by a vast and visible history. Now a long-time resident of Cornwall, England, where he does most of his work centering on the historic vessels and historic events of his new homeland (see Sea History marine art feature Fall, 1991 ), he returns to paint in the Northwest and has a solo show at the Kirstens' gallery every three years.

He recently produced a series of oils of immense narrative power which depict the early encounters of Europeans and native Northwest Indians.

Experiences under sail, which include a Cape Horn passage on the Passat in 1936, continue to be the well-spring of the long painting career of the Seattle-based artist Tom Wells. An artist with an international reputation, Wells is acclaimed for his representations of large sailing ships, which lived an extended life on the Northwest Coast carrying cargoes of lumber well into the 1930s and even the 40s.

Described as the artist young painters look to for advice, Bill Ryan works in both oil and watercolor using both mediums to capture one of his continuing inspirations- the beauty of the Northwest. Ryan says quite simply, "I paint what I love," and in that realm of possibility he describes the Northwest as "limitless." The Bellevue, Washingon painter has been exhibited widely as part of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest painters, but his work is not bound to the region. He has received numerous commissions for commercial maritime work thoughout the United States and is also a Navy combat artist- a capacity that gives him ample sea-going opportunities. To talk to Billi Ryan is to feel his excitement for histOJrical material , but more than historicall accuracy Ryan says he tries for SEA. HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

what he calls "the romance of the sea."

A relative newcomer to the scene is Cooper Hart. Not unlike other artists of the area, Hart draws on his own unique sea experience. In his mid-twenties he travelled the Inside Passage aboard a fishing boat on delivery to Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska, the first of many journeys on such vessels. Since that time he has worked in shipyards in Seattle and painted. "I try to keep a mix of both historical and contemporary vessels in my work," he explains, "I think the contemporary boats are often as fascinating as the old ones," and in the case of fishing vessel s, he appreciates a working hi story , often overlooked, that offers a bridge between past and present: "Some of these people," he adds, "are on the same vessels as their grandparents."

Nicolas Kirsten is impressed by the fine illustrative quality of Hart's work, which he considers "catches the feeling of the atmosphere here"-a maritime atmosphere apparently well suited to inspired marine art. D

Tug Magic and British bark Gladys in Puget Sound, 1890s, by Cooper Hart

Fish tender Victory in Seattle, one of many power scows built during World War II to aid the Aluetian campaign.

Described by artist Cooper Hart as "miserable to go to sea in."

Seen in Northwest waters in the late 1800s were the steam barks of the Arctic whaling fleet . In this painting by Bill Ryan, the steam bark Belvedere is pictured offthe coast of Alaska. She was among the whalers shut in by ice near Point Barrow at the end of the whaling season in 1897. Three of the fleet were crushed by the Arctic pack ice as they tried to escape west of Point Barrow. The Belvedere survived.

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

27

MARINE ART NEWS Sculpture: a Vital Marine Art

"It is impossible to detach the form from the idea,for the idea only exists by virtue of the form ." - Flaubert Sculpture has long been a major component in American marine art and continues to contribute to the ever-growing interest in, and appreciation of marine art today.

American marine sculpture has come a long way from its Colonial utilitarian origin in ships' figureheads and sailors' decorative carvings of ivory or bone. By the mid-1800s, American sculptors had won renown both in the traditional Europeanbased monumental sculpture and in the newly emerging naturalistic sculpture which drew inspiration from the life and history of their native land.

The newer movements in sculpture, since World War II, have included the adopting of contemporary materials , metal s and plastics rather than marble or bronze, and in marine sculpture, the very great interest in environmental works: marine mammals, birds and fish. The proliferation of monumental environmental sculpture for municipal , corporate and public attractions and organizations has been tremendous.

main element, the leaping sailfish, is 36-ft high, 150-ft long and weighs 10,000pounds, while on the sides of the fountain are other sports fish, bottle-nose dolphins

"The Strike," by Jim Gray

and the Ridley sea turtles, representing Florida's endangered marine mammals.

Ullberg, a native of Sweden, is a Full Academician with the National Academy of Design, a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, a member of the American Society of Marine Artists and gold medal winner from numerous other art societies.

The second illustration, a heroic scale figure "The Strike," is a nine-foot bronze ~-..........-.................................................__.........,.....,.........,.....-.i recently fini shed by JimGray,ofPigeon Forge, Tennessee, as a private commission. He has been painting as well as sculpting most of his life, and a good deal ofitmarinesubjects.

Gray 's work is included in many corporate, public and private collections and has been featured in many publications. A board "Sailfish in Three Stages of Ascending," by Kent Ullberg member and officer A pioneer in this type of work has of the American Society of Marine Artbeen noted sculptor Kent Ullberg, who ists, Gray operates galleries in Pigeon innovated the sculpturing of whales, dol- Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. phins and fish and has completed nearly DENNIS B EAUMONT 30 monumental sculptures worldwide. Dennis Beaumont is an artist and curHe has also been an innovator in the use rent President of the American Society of modem metals- including extremely of Marine Artists. Sea History is dedifficult-to-work stainless steel. lighted to welcome him as a regular Newly installed in the Brouward Con- contributor to "Marine Art News." vention Center for the City of Ft. Lauder* * * * * dale, Florida, Ullberg's "Sailfish in Three Worthy of note is a retrospective of the Stages of Ascending," created in bronze, work of William Partridge Burpee ( 1846took three years to complete and is the 1940), the Maine native noted for his world 's largest wildlife monument. Its coastal New England paintings. Burpee ' s 28

work in watercolor, oil and pastel is described as linking the traditions of Fitz Hugh Lane to the post impressioni sm of Rockwell Kent. "William Partridge Burpee; American Marine Impressionist" can be seen: • May 3-July 4 at The William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum , Elm Street, Rockland ME 04841 •July 22-0ctober 6 at The Philadelphia Maritime Museum , 321 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19106.

A companion catalog and biography (96pp, 60 color and 22 b+w; $29.95hb), published by Northeastern University, is available from Chi ld s Gallery, 169 Newbury Street, Boston MA 02116.

Exhibitions • April 25-0ctober 11, The Great Age of Sail: Treasures from the National Maritime Museum at the San Diego Museum of Art, comprises some eighty paintings, including works by Canaletto, Turner, William Van de Velde, Hogarth and Copley (see "Marine Art" section, SH60). San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego CA 92101. Other venues: November 21January 17, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk VA; February 28, 1993-J une 2, 1993, Peabody Museum, Salem MA. • April 26-September 20, 3rd Annual Mystic 100, an invitational exhibition of 100 of the country's top artists. Mystic Maritime Gallery, Mystic CT 06355 .

•May 1-31 , First Annual International Martime Art Exposition, includes a selection of work from ASMA and Royal Society of Marine Arts members. Vallejo Galleries, 1610 West Coast Highway, Newport Beach CA 92663.

• May 3 through October, The Maritime Art of A. De Clerck, an exhibit of the late 19th-century Belgian pierhead painter who worked in Antwerp and Liverpool painting anything that visited these ports-from Maine "Downeasters" to English Channel crossing half-brigs and snows. Maine Maritime Museum , 243 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530.

•May 22-September 21, 10th ASMA National Exhibition of Marine Art, at the R. J. Schaefer Gallery, Mystic Seaport Museum , Mystic CT 06355.

• June 17-September 8, Marine Art Show, the Canadian Society of Marine Artists in conjunction with the North American Marine Arts Society will open a juried show of contemporary marine art. Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver BCV 6J 1A3.

SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

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American Sail in the Pacific Northwest Robert Gray Crosses the Columbia River Bar

by Dick Nokes When Captain Robert Gray returned to Boston with the Columbia Rediviva on August 10, 1790, he was greeted as a hero. While the voyage he had begun with Captain John Kendrick three years earlier--thefirst American fur-trading venture to the Pacific Northwest Coast-yielded little profit, due to damage to the cargo of China tea, Gray's accomplishments were hailed as the greatest yet by a mariner of a young nation.

Gray was the first American captain to take his ship around Cape H orn,first of any nation to land on the coast of what is now Oregon, and the first to explore the Strait ofJuan de Fuca in any depth. He blazed a watery trail for future American fur traders across the Pacific to China. But what brought Gray the most acclaim was his circumnavigation ofthe globe. Magellan's ship had done it in 1519-22, and some ten English ships over the centuries followed Drake around the world. Still, it was a great triumph in its day for the United States. The Yankees now realized that they could do anything on the seas that anybody else could.

On his second voyage, Gray would help the young American nation grow from its Atlantic Coast beginnings to the far Pacific shore. The following excnptsfrom Columbia 's River: the Voyages of Robert Gray 1787-1793 , the new book by Richard Nokes published by the Washington State Historical Society (reviewed on page 44), describe some of the events of the summer of 1792 that would allow the United States to later wrest claim from England for the Northwest states: It was a summer in which five nations-Spain, England, Russ ia, France and the United States- had their sailing vessels prowling the waters of the Pacific Northwest, some to trade, others to explore. Spain, despite its diplomatic defeat by England in the Nootka Controversy, still regarded itself as the queen of the seas in the Pacific. Russia was ruthlessly subjugating the native people as it attempted to extend its empire in the north and even later to erect forts in California and Hawaii.

England had trading ships in northwestern waters and felt that under the Nootka Convention it had equal rights with Spain.

The Frenchman Etienne Marchand brought the Solide on a trading mi ssion into the area and obtained several hundred otter furs, which he took home to France. Gray in the Columbia and Kendrick in the Washington, by now operating independently of one another, carried the Stars and Stripes along the coast and were joined by two other Boston ships, the brigs Hancock, commanded by Samuel Crowell, and Hope, commanded by Joseph Ingraham , who had been chief mate of the Columbia on her first voyage. Also on the coast were the Yankee ships Margaret, Jefferson and Eleanora.

There was now a veritable maritime traffic jam of European and American ships compared with the summerof 1788, when Gray first arrived. To protect its empire, Spain had built a fort named San Miguel at Nootka, and the ships of His Catholic Majesty under Francisco de Eliza and Jose Narvaez (the San Carlos and the Santa Saturnina) widened Spain 's explorations of the Northwest Coast. Earlier, Juan Perez (1774) had cruised as far as the north end of the Queen Charlottes and Bodega y Quadra, separated from Hezeta, had reached 58 degrees (1775).

Spain now turned to investigate other sectors, particularly the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Eliza believed, as did Gray and John Meares, that what is known today as Vancouver Island was indeed separated from the 32

Capt. Robert Gray's ship Columbia Rediviva meets Capt. George Vancouver's two vessels HMS Discovery and Chatham off the Washington coast, 6:00AM Apri/29, 1792. (Painting by Steve Mayo)

Capt. Robert Gray crossing the ColumbiaRiveronMayl 1, 1792 in his 212-ton ship Columbia Rediviva.( Painting by Steve Mayo)

American mainland, but he left it for Dionisio Alcala Galiano and Cayetano Valdes and George Vancouverto prove in 1792.

Eliza investigated other waterways inside de Fuca's strait, including those around the San Juan Islands and the Strait of Georgia. He thought that if there were a Northwest Passage, its western entrance must lie within the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Just south of the strait on April 28 the Columbia spoke HMS Discovery under the command of Captain George Vancouver, and the tender Chatham under Lt. William Broughton.

Vancouver was exploring the Northwest under orders of the British admiralty, covering some of the same coast that Captain James Cook had cruised in 1778 , and was headed for Nootka Sound to negotiate with the Spanish commander over the property rights of each nation outlined by the Nootka Convention in 1790.

Vancouver sent two offficers, Archibald Menzies, ship's naturalist and doctor, and Lieutenant Peter Puget, to interview SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

"Had either Meares or Vancouver entered the river ahead of Gray, the entire course of the western expansion to the Oregon country by the young United States might well have been aborted."

Gray because Vancouver believed he might have been the captain of the Washington, which was reported by John Meares to have sailed through the straight in 1789. Gray admitted that he had been the captain of the Washing ton, but he said that Meares was in error-he had not sailed the sloop through the strait. He did say he had penetrated some seventeen leagues (fifty-one nautical miles), then, because native furs seemed scarce, he had turned and come out the same way.

Neither John Boit [diarist for John Gray] nor Menzies mentions it in his journal, but Vancouver reported that Gray also told Menzies and Puget that he had sighted two capes with a strong current as though from a great river flowing between them into the sea at46° 10' latitude. Vancouver said he agreed with Meares that no large river existed there because the surf line extended continuously from cape to cape. He was more interested in exploring the Strait of Juan de Fuca, discovered (or rediscovered) by another Englishman, Charles William Barkley, sailing under an Austrian flag in 1787.

How the British Admiralty later must have regretted that Vancouver had accepted Meares' opinion concerning Hezeta' s Bahia de Asuncion instead of making a close examination himself when he sailed past on April 27, only two weeks ahead of Gray's discovery. Had either Meares or Vancouver entered the river ahead of Gray, the entire course of western expansion to the Oregon County by the young United States might well have been aborted.

Gray provided full information to Vancouveron the Americans' several entries into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Then Gray accompanied HMS Discovery and Chatham as far into the strait as Neah Bay, where he traded for furs before turning and

rounding Cape Flattery, again sailing to the south. Menzies speculated that Gray followed Vancouver into the Strait of Juan de Fuca because he secretly suspected that Vancouver was a fur trader and not an explorer representing the British Navy. Ironically, Vancouver believed that if such a strait existed, his hero, Captain Cook, would have found it in 1778.

Notwithstanding that, Vancouver went on to hi s glory exploring Puget Sound and circumnavigating the island that bears his name, and Robert Gray to his: the discovery of the River of the West.

* * * * *

Some historians of poetic bent have said the Columbia crossed the bar "with all sails set." That was not the case. Gray approached with due caution, as Boit noted.

So it came about that an obscure fur trader from Boston found his way into the River of the West-so long sought by mariners of the principal European nations. This was not the Northwest Passage, nor the Strait of Anian, nor the Strait of Admiral de Fonte that some thought might be connected to the River of the West. But it was a great discovery.

Yet, it was a later encounter with the Spanish representative at Nootka Sound that would assure the American claim to the land of the West. In late August, Gray gave Bodega y Quadra a copy of the chart of his entry and voyage into Columbia's River. Quadra in turn gave this to Vancouver who accepted Gray's entry. The chart itself, thought lost, was discovered in 1961 among the papers ofGeorge Vancouver. Gray' sfeat was supported by the Lewis and Clark expedition that reached the mouth of the river in 1805 , and hy the founding of Astoria by John Jacob Astor of New York in 181 1. 0

Spanish and British Sail Meet in the Northwest, 1792

by Lucille McDonald

f

The Spanish schooners Sutil and Mexicana anchored at Point Grey on June 21, 1792. Early the next morning the Spanish Commanding officer, Dionisio Alcala Galiano, observed a boat rowing out from the opposite coast. To Galiano 's surprise, it was commanded by Captain George Vancouver, who was heading for the point of land to have breakfast. Galiano invited him aboard, along with Lieutenant Peter Puget and a midshipman, to share the Spaniards' meal. Vancouver affably explained that on seeing the schooners in the distance he had first thought it was Lieutenant William Broughton with the Chatham coming to meet him.

The British commander told Galiano that he had been absent from his own vessel Discovery for the past 12 days and had explored channels to the north and east. When he exhibited his latest maps, the Spanish officers bent over them with interest. Vancouver also produced maps of his discoveries in Admiralty Inlet, where the Spanish intended to explore the previous year, and showed the Spaniards a new chart showing a large body of water which he had named Puget Sound.

As Galiano knew English, they had no difficulty conversing with each other. Galiano, for his part, explained that the Spanish expedition was a detachment of Commander Malaspina's enterprise and that the latter was then surveying the Philippine Islands. Galiano said the Sutil and Mexicana were completing the examination of Rosario Strait in search of a Northwest Passage. His countrymen had partially surveyed SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

The Spanish schooner Santa Satumia explores the Straits ofGeorgia, near Puget Sound, on July 6, 1791. (Painting by Steve Mayo)

this area the previous year.

Vancouver was astonished at the small size of the 50-ft Spanish vessels that attempted so ambitious a project and learned that the Spaniards had used the same Port Discovery, where he had refitted. In his journal he admitted: "I cannot avoid acknowledging that on this occasion I experienced no small degree of mortification in finding the external shores of the gulf had been visited and examined a few miles beyond where my research had extended." D

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ANNUAL AUCTION OF MARINE ART: JULY 29-30 BOOKS (July 29th) : Important collection relating to English & American naval history, Adm. Nelson, ship building , Marine Research Soc., Hakluyt Soc., Capt.

Cook, Naval Records Soc., ship models, merchant ships & shipping, whaling seamanship. Fine whaling & other logs. Over 400 cataloged lots; nearly 1,000 books. MARINE ART (July 30); Paintings by D. McFarlane, C.S. Raleigh , T. Birch, W.R. Davis, C. Drew, A. Jacobsen, J.G. Tyler, W. Webber, B.V. Durfee & more. Scrimshaw, whaling gear, lrg collection ship models; cased, bottled, shadow box & half models. Instrument, lrg collection of prints & paintings relating to shipwrecks , as well as other fine marine prints. This sale is still being cataloged & will include much more. Call or write for catalog information.

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35

SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS Only two months remain before New York City is once again set upon by a sailing force of over 200 sailing ships and a landing force of thousands of cadets and sailors. Is New York ready as it was in 1986, 1976 and for the first time in 1964, to entertain the largest gathering of international tall ships ever? In a recessionary period, OpSail officials have found it difficult to raise the millions of dollars necessary to stage the event.

Given this problem, the question arises: Why are events like these important and necessary? Peter Stanford, president of the National Maritime Historical Society, makes this comment: "Obviously NMHS has an axe to grind in the success of OpSail, but so does the whole marine community. This is the one day every so many years, between OpSail events, that the nation's eyes genuinely tum to the sea and Americans contemplate the history it has wrought and the culture it supports."

As a spectator event it is unsurpassable. It is simply the biggest assembly of human beings for one day for a single purpose in human history. New York City is a natural theatre.

In 1986 an estimated sixteen million people watched the parade up New York Harbor, and some 32,000 spectator craft filled the harbor. The numbers might seem fantastical if the Coast Guard itself hadn't confirmed them with aerial photography, counting each vessel and estimating the onshore crowds by actually counting the number of heads in selected areas and extrapolating. But despite its obvious popularity, sponsorship for the event has lagged behind expectations.

Sea History met with OpSail treasurer George L. Peirce to discuss the problems OpSail faces in not meeting its original multi-million dollar budget. But we were reassured to learn that such is the importance of the event in the eyes of its supporters that the innumerable in-kind donations of services and goods received will allow the program to be carried off in typical style. Of course, donations are needed and can be sent to Operation Sail, 2 World Trade Center, Suite 2164, New York NY 10048.

But getting beyond the numbers, Peter Stanford talks also about another special role that NMHS members and other maritime groups have to play in the success of OpSail. "We need to get across this message: 'It is not just a parade-these are working ships! '-working ships that are equipping young people to cope with the sea, to learn to live with themselves and to learn to live with people of other nations. What could be more important than that?"

KH If you 're staying at a hotel in Boston in July and are served a

Basque seafood dish, it may be because the 370-ft four-masted topsail schooner Juan Sebastian de Elcano is in town.

Sail Boston '92 is emerging as a successful public-private partnership. One of the many programs linking the tall ships to the host community is a hotel host program which will dress seventeen hotels in the 36

colors and culture of ships of different countries. In the maritime mix of events, there will be things both old and new. On Saturday, July 11 , the stout and stately USS Constitution will make one of its rare dock departures to greet the parading tall ships, while later that week 10 of the world's 15 maxi yachts, those sleek, super-modem 25m racing vessels rarely seen in American waters, will duke it out in the Maxi Yacht Regatta.

The Grand Parade of Sail itself will feature more than 125 tall ships from 30 countries. "We have vessels coming from as far away as Japan, India and Australia," says veteran Sail Boston director Dusty Rhodes, " . . . and we 're expecting two to three million visitors and an estimated 8,000 spectator craft." The numbers don't faze Port officials however. "The Port of Boston has 360 years of experience in handling vessels ranging from schooners to the world' s largest container vessels," says Alden Raine, Executive Director ofMassport. The tall ships will be open to the publicfreeofchargefrom Sunday, July 12 through Wednesday, July 15. The primary berthing areas are the EDIC/Marine Industrial Park, the World Trade Center and the Charlestown Navy Yard. Other cultural and music events will be spread throughout the waterfront. For information write Sail Boston 1992, 250 Summer Street, Boston MA 02210 or call 617 330-1992.

KH

GRAND REGATTA

COLUMBUS 92Ql ÂŤNCE~TENARY

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL 16April 23April 29April 11 May 10 June 3July 10July 10August

HARBOUR Genoa Lisbon Cadiz

ESTIMATED DEPARTU RE 19April 25April 3 May 13 May 14 June

Canaries San Juan Puerto Rico New Yo rk 7 July Boston 16 July Liverpool 15 Augu st

KEY Race Leg-- Cruise in company - -

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The sight of the departing Grand Regatta fleet off the coast of Cadiz, Spain on May 3rd, the sail of over 250 sailing vessels spreading out for miles and miles, will have no modem comparison. We would have to go back 400 years in these waters to find a fleet of this size-back to the Spanish Armada of 1588. It will be a scene in contrast to the departure of Columbus's trio of tiny vessels 500 years ago, but not out of all proportion, not if we consider the thousands upon thousands SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

't

of sailing vessels that have taken the Atlantic passage to America since Columbus, each transithelpingto build the Americas as we know them today.

With this vision in mind, it could be maintained that the most meaningful commemoration of this quincentenary year will take place out there in those waters, aboard these ships. Men, women and youth of over 40 countries will be making their own historic passage to America, like millions who went before them. You can share this spring of international fellowship and sailorly comradeship, in ports along the Eastern seaboard.

While many of the tall ships will be participating in the Grand Regatta as one of the annual Cutty Sark Tall Ship Races, thereby limiting their time of stay, many others will break from the fleet and remain in American waters.

Two of the world's newest tall ships, Canada's Polish-built 185-ft threemasted barquentine SN Concordia , and the Polish brig Frederick Chopin, will make their maiden Atlantic voyages in the fleet. Recent news is the inclusion of the Boa Esperanza, a replica of the

caravel in which Bartholomew Dias, the Portuguese navigator, rounded the Cape of Good Hope four years before Columbus set sail in 1492.

The Grand Regatta is organized by the Grand Regatta Columbus 92 Committee in Madrid, Spain. For a list of vessels scheduled to participate in the Grand Regatta, send $3 and a stamped self-addressed envelope to NMHS, Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

KH

bring her back to New Bedford in April.

The Ernestina' s future will depend upon the state rethinking it's responsibility for the vessel, says coordinator Joe Cardozo. In the meantime, the Friends of the Ernestina have reorganized as the new non-profit Ernestina/Morrissey Historical Association to assist the vessel.

To renew your support for the vessel contact Austin B. Colgate, E/MHA, PO Box 40333, New Bedford MA 02744.

Ernestina Voyage Off:

New Home for Oldest Shipwreck in the Americas Artifacts from the Molasses Reef wreck, the oldest shipwreck discovered in the Americas , are the central exhibit in the new Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum. Excavated and conserved by staff of Ships of Discovery, a Dallasbased non-profit research institution, the Molasses Reef wreck may be that of a caravel and is thought to have been in the service of an entrepreneurial explorer operating out of Santo Domingo in the early 16th century . Artifacts identified as from Lucayan Tainos, who were believed extinct by 1513, indicate an early

Friends Rallying The Atlantic training voyage of the schooner Ernestina out of New Bedford (reported SH 59) ended prematurely when she encountered Hurricane Grace last October as severe behavioral problems brokeout among a number of her trainee crew. Captain Greg Swansey brought the schooner through Hurricane Grace and safely into San Juan, Puerto Rico, but there the six-month job training voyage for 24 low-income, underperforming youths was terminated. The vessel has been in Miami since and her owners, the State of Massachusetts, will

(continued next page)

COLUMBUS QUINCENTENARY MARITIME EXHIBITS • The Year of Columbus, a series of events and exhibitions at the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum in New York. Includes International Fleet Week '92, May 20-26, featuring naval ships from the seven European founding nations. Intrepid Square, West 46th Street & 12th Ave, New York NY 10036; 212 245-2533.

• A Thousand Years of Voyages of Discovery-Exploring the Ocean from Surface to Seabed, September 16, 1991 , through Spring of 1993, examines historic explorations of the sea' s surface and current efforts to understand the ocean 's depths. Includes such topics as the far-flung Pacific explorations of the Polynesians and the North Atlantic Voyages of the Norwegian Vikings. The Hart Nautical Galleries of the MIT Museum, 55 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02139; 617 253-4444 •Columbus Quincentennial Series, three slide/lecture/music programs scheduled in recognition of Columbus 's Voyages: May 21 , anniversary of his death; August 3, day he began his voyage; October 12, day he made landfall. North Carolina Maritime Museum, 315 Front Street, Beaufort NC 28516; 919 728-7317.

• Hall of Exploration, through 1992, featuring exhibits on navigation and a full-size longitudinal section of the Spanish schooner, Sonora, portraying 18th-century shipboard life. Oregon Historical Society, 1230 S.W. Park, Portland OR 97205 ; 503 222-1741.

• Mapping the Northwest, selections of SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

maps documenting the early exploration and political evolution of the Pacific Northwest.

Museum of History and Industry, 2700-24th Avenue East, Seattle WA 98112.

• Currents of Time, a new exhibit at the National Rivers Hall ofFame chronicling the exploration of America through America's rivers. NRHF, 400 East 3rd Street, Dubuque IA 52004-0305; 319 557-9545.

• Great Voyages, Apri 11-December 31, an exhibit using ship models that describes the great voyages of the world . Custom House Maritime Museum , 25 Water Street, Newburyport MA 01950; 508 462-8681.

• Discovering America, June 15 through March 1993, an exhibition exploring the many and fascinating theories concerning the discovery of America by a variety of early civilizations, including Vikings, Egyptians, Welsh, Phoenicians, Druids, Chinese, Japanese, and American Indians. Jamestown Settlement, PO Box Drawer JF, Williamsburg VA 23187; 804 229-1607.

•We Claim these Shores; Native Americans and the European Settlement of Massachusetts Bay, an exhibit of artifacts, paintings and photographs telling the story of two groups of people who desired to carry out their lives on the same land. Peabody Museum , East India Square, Salem MA 01970; 508 745-1876 •The Columbus Legacy, January through December, an exhibit featuring Columbus and the explorers who followed in his foot-

steps to settle Florida. Includes artifacts from contact sites. Pensacola Historical Society, 405 South Adams Street, Pensacola FL 32501 ; 904433-1559.

•Columbus Quincentenary and Cabrillo Anniversary Exhibits at the Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego CA, January through December. Themes changing monthly : Age of Exploration: Portuguese Explorers and the Art of Navigation; 1492: Setting the Stage for Discovery; Precolumbian America; Native Americans of Southern California; Role of Religion in the Encounter; Cabrillo : Activities in Mexico and Centroamerica; SeedsofChange:PartI; Seeds of Change: Part II; Cabrillo; History of Columbus Day; San Diego's Hispanic Experience; United States Voyagers. Cabrillo National Monument, PO Box 6670, San Diego CA 92166.

• "Age of Exploration" Gallery, a permanent exhibit opening March 21 , 1992, showing how scientific and technological developments in shipbuilding, ocean navigation and cartography made the explorations of the 15th-, 16th-, and early 17th-century possible.

The Mariners ' Museum, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA 23606; 804 595-0368.

•New Worlds: North Atlantic Seafaring in the Era of Discovery, an exhibiton of rare world maps and nautical charts, early navigation instruments and archaeological material.

Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530; 207 443-1316.

37

SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS date. The exhibit includes remains of the ship's hull and a large collection of ship 's ordinance. (Turks and Caicos National Museum, PO Box 188, Grand Turk, BWI) Russian Replicas in Northwest For several months Northwest coastal communities have played host to an unusual trio bf Russian sailing vessels. The St. Peter,St.PaulandSt. Gabriel are 55ftreplicas of ships sailed by Vitus Bering in his trans-Pacific journey to Russian America in the 18th century. The threemasted vessels, built last year, sailed from Vladivostock on June 1, 1991 , to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Bering's discovery of Alaska. To assure authenticity, no power tools were used on the hulls of untreated pine.

The plan to continue on a 3-year circumnavigation of the globe has been upset by recent problems with Russian currency. Project organizer Michael

Greek War of Independence, was sunk by the Greek government which cited financial considerations.

The oldest cable layer in the world still in operation with its original engines and the oldest vessel entered in the Greek Shipping Register, Milissios was slated for scrapping in 1991. But public opinion reacted strongly against destroying what Dracopoulos calls a " unique historical monument," and now the vessel is safely in the hands of the museum as a donation of the Greek Telecommunications Organization. Built in Newport News , Virginia, the 5 l .26m vessel was given to Greece by the American Government after World War II and used for 40 years laying cable in the Aegean Sea.

Charles Cooper Ordered Out The deteriorating wreck of the Charles Cooper has been ordered out of the harbor at Port Stanley by the Government of the Falklands. The vessel is the last surviving North Atlantic packet ship and the earliest intact, unrestored hull of an American-built deepwater sai ling ship.

Until a year ago, the Cooper was owned

by South Street Seaport Museum which had sent a number of expeditions to the Falklands to help stabilize the wreck.

Poboronchook explained to Sea History that the money he needs to finish changing engines in Seattle is trapped in a Russian bank account and can't be got out. To help Mr. Poboronchook get on with the next part of his trip to San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and down the coast of South America, contact Ross Lavroff, 2727 Fair Ave. E., Seattle WA 98172; 206 329-9453.

Greek Ship Save Triumph Echoing the sentiments of the late great British ship saver Frank Carr, who upon seeing the HMS Implacable sunk in 1949 swo re never again, George Dracopoulos , director of the Aegean Maritime Museum, described the recent save of the 1909 steamship Thalis o M ilissios as arising out of grief from past losses. In 192 l, the Aris, a veteran of the 38

Canadian Schooner Colony The replica 1802 Great Lakes wooden schooner Perseverance, built five years ago at Old Fort William, Ontario, has joined company with another schooner replica, Bee, at Historical Naval and Military Establishments at Penetanguishere, Ontario. The 60-ft Perseverance and 49-ftBee will soon be joined by the 70-ft Tecumseth, a replica of an 1815 Lake Erie-built schooner that sank at Penetanguishere in 1827. The three ships will be used for sail training and educational activities.

Getting Around the Ships This year's summer months will see an unprecedented movement of sailing vessels in American waters. US vessels will be venturing further than usual from their homeports to participate in quincentenary

parades of sail and to meet their international counterparts. The brig Niagara of Erie PA will make her first sortie out of the Great Lakes since her restoration. Expect to see her in Washington DC, June 11-14, AnnapolisMD, June 18-21 , andPhiladelphia, June 25-28, before arriving in New YorkonJuly 1 forOpSail. Thereafter, she will make stops all along the East Coast, including Sail Boston, returning via the St. Lawrence to Erie by late August.

In Pacific waters, the Nautical Heritage Society's 19th-century revenue cutter replica Californian will sail out of San Francisco May 11 for Hawaii, before making a passage to Vancouver and

Seattle for joint sail training cruises with schooners Zodiac and Robertson II. Another vessel providing opportunities for on-the-water encounters with the international sail training fleet is the full-rigged ship HMS Rose. She will be among the Grand Regatta fleet when it reaches San Juan and will board trainee/ participants May through July on a dayrate basis. After the AST A rally in Newport, July 11-16, she will depart for San Francisco or possi bly Liverpool. Also accompanying the Grand Regatta fleet will be the 110-ft schooner Harvey Gamage which is offering an educational cruise for high school girl s departing Bar Harbor ME June 21, and also ending in Newport.

The big Polish full-rigged ship Dar Mlodziezy (357-ft LOA) will be visiting the US and Canada this year with the enviable sponsorship of Cutty Sark Whisky, the long time sponsor of the European tall ship races.

Missed this year at Op Sail will be square topsail schooner Anne Khristine, lost October 28 about 200 miles off the Carolinas to the 100-mile per hour winds of Hurricane Grace. Khristine had departed New York four days earlier for Bermuda. All the crew were rescued from the vessel, which was swamped in 40- to 50-ftseas.Builtin 1868asajakt,she was engaged in the same trade as her surviving SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

near sister Anna Kristina. Norman and Mary Anne Baker, herowners since 1982, operated her as a charter and sail training vessel.

The February 10 auction for scrap of the liner SS United States was forestalled when owner Richard Hadley put the company that owns the vessel into bankruptcy. The fastest liner ever built, the United States has languished at Pier 15 in Newport News since 1980.

Hadley ' s original plan to refurbish her for service proved unfeasible. Meanwhile, other possibilities are being investigated. The SS United States Preservation Society (1816Mt. Pleasant Drive, McLean VA 22101) has introduced a bill to Congress and is seeking further support for preservation efforts.

Yet another lightship, making a total of three, has found safe harbor in New York City after a checkered past. L V 115 No. 537 was brought up from Philadelphia last year and is making her way as a "party" boat while her owners undertake restoration. The 1930-built vessel is presently moored at Pier 59 and West 18th Street.

ThereplicaofHenryHudson'sHalf Moon is now homeported on the waterway that made the original vessel famous. In August 1991, the replica was brought up from North Carolina to New Jersey's Liberty State Park, on the Hudson River opposite New York City's Battery Park. Here staff and volunteers are attempting to establish a Half Moon Visitors Center/New Netherland Museum. (Holland Village, Inc., Liberty State Park, Jersey City NJ 07305) The four-masted Japanese sail training barks Nippon Maru and Kaisow Maru have a new and smaller sail training sister. According to Mariner's International magazine Windjammer, these government owned vessels will be joined by the 120-ft steel brigantine Kaisei, launched as the topsail schooner Zew in Gdansk in 1990 but refitted in the same yard last year. The Kaisei was acquired by private interests on behalf of a new Sail Training Association ofJ apan. TheKaisei will join the Grand Regatta fleet from Cadiz to New York where she will continue on to her new homeport of Misaki.

An accord between three different parties will have the 1896 steam tug Tankmaster give its life to save its life.

Friends of Nobska, the Massachusetts group restoring the 1925 steam ferry Nobska, have been donated the Tankmaster (ex-Catawissa and New York) by current owner Furst Marine SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

Shipyard in Staten Island NY. But the tug will be immediately towed to Sandusky, Ohio, where the Sandusky Marine Preservation Society will strip and restore her pumps and motors for use on the Nobska and restore Tankmaster for its own museum. The Tankmaster was in steam up until two years ago, although by this time her steam pumps were simply being used to clean the bottoms of other large vessels at Furst Marine. (Friends of Nobska, PO Box 1210, Edgartown MA 02539) Underwater News ThewreckofthePersian, a 115-ftschooner which sank in Lake Huron's Hammond Bay in 1868, has been found.

The Great Lakes newsletter Lake Log Chips reports the vessel sitting upright and intact in 168 feet of water.

In the spring of 1992, the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia will sink the Canadian destroyer HMCS Chaudiere to create an artificial reef in the vicinity of the Gulf Islands.

According to Robert Simper, reporting in WoodenBoatmagazine , twotenthcentury ships were found in the Buss Creek, South wold, Suffolk, England. The ships were buried under 0.8m of silt in a freshwater creek that had once been a channel leading to the North Sea and are apparently well preserved.

Museum News The Maine Maritime Museum in Bath ME has acquired its largest floating artifact. The fifty-seven foot wet-well lobster smack, built in Maine in 1916, was donated by Perry Duryea, Jr., of New Jersey.

The vessel will be used to interpret the Maine lobster industry. (MMM, 243 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530) The burden of bearing the massive timbers of a 105-ft vessel built to withstand Arctic packs, no longer supported by water, can be a bit much. The Canadian Parks Service and the City of Vancouver are working to replace the cradle holding the historic Arctic RCMP patrol ship St. Roch, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its epic Northwest passage this year. The cradle has proved inadequate to the task, causing some of the vessel's timbers to twist, warping the hull and stretching planks and beams. (Vancouver Maritime Museum Society, 1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver BC V6J 1A3) The Maritime Trust, keepers of the Cutty Sark, have launched a £2 million fundraising appeal to finance a ten year

restoration project for the vessel. The project includes restoration of the fore-mast, re-rigging of the main and mizzen masts, relaying of the poop and main decks, and major structural repairs to the ship's keel andbow.(TMT,2GreenwichChurchStreet, Greenwich London SElO 9BG) British sources also report efforts to establish a Museum of Yachting at Cowes, England.

Conferences and Seminars • August 4-6, People of the Sea, triennial conference of the Association for the History of the Northern Sea, at Kootka, Finland. Enquiries: Dr. Yrjo Kaukianinen, University of Helsinki, Aleksanterinkatu 700100 Helsinki, Finland.

• August 11-15, International Conference of Maritime History, at Liverpool, England. Enquiries: Prof. Lewis R. Fischer, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada AlC 5S7.

Calendar • May 17, 23, & 31, Cruise a Liberty Ship, five-hour cruises aboard Liberty ship John W. Brown. Contact Project Liberty Ship, Box 25846, Highlandtown Station, Baltimore MD 21224-0846.

•June 12-14, Mystic Sea Music Festival, Mystic Martime Museum, PO Box 6000, Mystic CT 06355-0900.

•June 19th-Sunday 28th, American Sail Training Association (ASTA) Rally in Chesapeake Bay. ASTA, Box 1459, Newport RI 02840; 401 846-1775.

•July 11-Sunday 19, ASTA Rally, Boston to Newport, Rhode Island.

• September 19-27, ASTA Rally, Southern California (Los Angeles-San Diego).

•October 10-18, ASTA Rally, San Francisco Bay. •October 15-18, 1992, Tall Stacks '92, Cincinnati OH, featuring 15 riverboats.

Contact Tall Stacks '92; 513 721-0104.

INVENI PORT AM CAPT. HEINZ BURMESTER

Capt. Heinz Burmester, a veteran Cape Homer and author of a number of books on the history of German sail, died last October, at age 82. He was a lecturer in navigation at Flensburg, and also worked in the navigation department of the German Hydrographic Institute. His first book recounted his Cape Hom voyages aboard Pamir in 1929 and his book on Rickmer Rickmers, now restored in Hamburg, is considered the definitive history of the vessel. D 39

Nautical·Maritime· Naval I&tory Out ofprint & Collectable Books

REVIEWS

Malaspina and Galiano. Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast, 1791 and ERIC FREEMAN, B OOKSELLER 1792, by Donald C Cutter (Douglas & PO Box 97516, Raleigh, NC 27624 Mcintyre, Vancouver{foronto and Uni919-846-7545 versityofWashingtonPress, Seattle WA, 1991 , l 60pp, maps, illus, biblio, index; US and Canada) $34.95hb r NAVAL-MARITIME-MILITARY~ Malaspina's "Political-Scientific ExpeAVIATION BOOKS dition around the World" (1789-1794) Send only $5.00 for a 1-year subscription consisting of 4 was inspired by Spain's desire to emuquarterly catalogs. Each contains 48 pages & includes late, perhaps even surpass , the three great approximately 1,500 book listings of out-of-print & new books. scientific expeditions of Cook (1768.MTHEIL BOOMELLERS 1771 , 1772-1775and 1776-1780)andof ~177(SH) Isabelle Ct.• No. Bellmore, NY 1171~ Laperouse (1785-1788). Not only would such an ambitious project bring Spain international prestige, it would illustrate - Large selection of dramatically the stimulus given the natu1 out-of-print NAUTICAL ral and physical sciences by the enlightnautical books 5 catalogues/year ened monarch, Carlos III. BOOKS from our stock "'~ - · ;;.. ~ ....~ Alejandro Malaspina, a young experiof 10,000 books OPEN SHOP enced naval officer, embodied the spirit 504 Main St (Rt 6A) atthe corner of Meadow Lane and characterof the Enlightened Navy, as West Barnstable, MA 02668 (508) 362-8966 Spanish historians call the new Navy resulting from the reforms introduced by Old & Rare Maritime Carlos III and the Age of Enlightenment itself. His expedition was staffed by handBooks picked young and promising naval officat reasonable prices ers like himself, as well as civilian scienSend for free catalogs tists. An enormous amount of information was collected in the fields of ethnology, ten pound island book co. botany and other disciplines in the realm 3 Center St. Gloucester, MA 01930. of the natural sciences. Particular impor(508) 283-5299 tance was assigned astronomy and cartography, using state of the art navigational We are also eager to purchase instruments. No less important was the old books of all kinds, especially expedition's task to report on the political maritime. Please call or write. and economic condition of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the Pacific.

Unfortunately, the great dream of scientific acclaim was not to be realizedComplete PLANK-onat least not until today. No sooner did FRAME and SOLID HULL Malaspina return home a public hero to PLANS by P. TAKAKJIAN be welcomed at Court and promoted to All frames, details, sail & rigging plans Brigadier (Commodore), than he fell 32-gun Frigate Essex (1799) victim to an intrigue to replace the Chief $35.

4 sheets, 3/16" scale Minister who was also the Queen's faHMS Sultana (1768 vorite. He was arrested, tried, condemned $25.

2 sheets, 1/4" scale and imprisoned for eight years and then Royal Yacht Fubbs exiled to his native Parma. All his papers 4 sheets, 1/4" scale $35. and the massive amount of data obtained 15th Century Caravel 2 sheets, 3/32" scale $20. by his scientists, their collections, maps and diaries as well as the work of his RIV Vema ex-Hussar 2 sheets, 1/8" scale $20. artist, were impounded. Dr. Cutter does Hudson River Sloop Victorine not attempt to settle definitively the con2 sheets, 3/16" scale $15. troversy over Malaspina's guilt but beShip's Boats (1794) lieves that his "fall from grace was in $8.

2 sheets, 3/16" scale some way associated with his liberal Add $3.50 shipping & handling in the US, political ideas and his popularity as a or $5.00 for foreign orders . Send check or money order to: returned hero, and complicated greatly Pier Books, Inc. by his political inexperience."

PO Box 5, Piermont NY 10968 The author, who is Professor EmeriTel: 914-268-5845 tus of the University of New Mexico, has CATALOGUES ISSUED

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40

spent a lifetime researching and writing about the Spanish maritime explorations in the Pacific Northwest The Malaspina and the Alcala Galiano-Valdes expeditions have been the object of his special study. His Malaspina in California ( 1960), unfortunately Jong unobtainable, and California in 1792: A Spanish Naval Visit ( 1990) as well as numerous articles in learned journals evidence his extensive interest and knowledge.

The author served as advisor and honorary curator of a major exhibition organized by the Vancouver Maritime Museum in 1991 entitled "Enlightened Voyages: Malaspina and Galiano on the Northwest Coast, 1791-1792." Though this volume is a companion book to the exhibition and includes splendidly reproduced illustrations of many of the items it contained, it is also a significant continuation of the author's Malaspina in California.

An introductory chapter gives much new information on the background to the Malaspina expedition, but the body of the book deals with the expedition's North American leg. Nearly a month was spent in YakutatBay,Alaska, where Malaspina ascertained that the mythical Strait of Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonaldo did not exist in that latitude as believed by some geographers. Two weeks were also spent in N ootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island where the small Spanish settlement had been the cause of serious difficulties with England.

At the time of the expedition 's visit, relations between the infant settlement and Maquinna, the Nootka chief, were at a low ebb, but by patient diplomacy Malaspina and his officers were successful in obtaining confirmation of the great chief's willingness to grant Spain the right to occupy the site of their settlement in Friendly Cove.

The author draws extensively on Malaspina's own papers, the journals of his officers, scientists and artists, from which extensive extracts are woven into his narrative. In this way, he not only gives depth to the account but he also gives the reader a heightened sense of presence.

Few of the extracts quoted have been previously published in English.Just which aspects of this richly documented volume will appeal will depend on one's particular interests, but to the present reviewer, the extraordinary perceptiveness of the officers and artists who detailed their observations of the life and culture of the Tlingit at Yakutat Bay and the Nootka in SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

l

Nootka Sound, despite the pressures of time and difficulties of communication, are especially interesting for themselves and for what they reveal of each observer.

The drawings of the artists are a particularly precious legacy.

A full chapter is devoted to the "sub-expedition" carried out in 1792 by two of Malaspina's officers detached from the main expedition to command it: Dionisio Alcala Galiano and Cayetano Valdes. This was the last major attempt

by Spain to find a western exit for the Northwest Passage. It was also the first circumnavigation of Vancouver Island in one continuous voyage and, with the survey that Captain George Vancouver was carrying out at the same time, it put an end to further speculation about a navigable passage across North America in that latitude.

This publication is a major contribution to the efforts of contemporary historians in Spain, Canada and the United States to make better known Spain 's brief presence in the Pacific Northwest and the achievements of the Malaspina and Galiano expeditions. Its non-academic style makes reading it a pleasure.

FREEMAN M. TOVELL Retired from the Canadian foreign service, Mr. Tovell isworkingonabiography of Captain Juan de la Bodega y Quadra.

Tango Round The Horn, by Lawrence Barber (Oregon Maritime Center and Museum, Portland OR, 1990, 254 pp, illus, index , glossary; $13.95pb) Wartime censorship and restrictions of waterfront activities somehow misfired along the sawmill dock at St. Helens, Oregon, when Lawrence Barber walked freely around the big steel six-masted schooner Tango as she loaded a full cargo of lumber for Cape Town, South Africa. The time was late April 1942.

Barber, a waterfront reporter for the Portland Oregonian, took many photos of the rerigged sai ling ship and her crew, which have emerged nearly a half century later as one of the best collections of World War II-vintage pictures of sailing ships activated on the Pacific Coast.

Forty-eight years after his first encounter with the ship, Mr. Barber has brought together hi s fine photos and the diaries of two of the last survivors of the crew, able seaman Archie McPhee and donkey-man Fred Bitte, both deceased.

The book, or books, offer a sort of one-two punch. The first edition of the book was published in late 1990. Copies SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

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- The Los Angeles Times Book Review* " [A] riveting narrative .... Lively, dramatic."

- Kirkus Reviews Because of its dramatic nature, Trafalgar has often been viewed as an isolated feat on the part of the legendary Lord Ne lson. But as Alan Schorn shows, th is apoca lyptic showdown was actually the result of a strategy laid out by the Bi :tish two yea rs earlier to thwart Napoleon's plans to invade England. Schorn fashions a brilliant and gripping reinterpretation of the events leading to the famous battle.

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Boarders Away cold steel in combat under fighting sail.

by famed nautical artist and author William Gilkerson This exciting and colorful book tells the armchair sailor or prospective buccaneer everything he needs to know about hand-to-hand combat on wooden ships. Nautical buffs will recognize author Gilkerson as the artist w ho created the many inspiring John Pau l Jone s paintings at the U.S. Naval Academy , Annapo lis. And in ~~~ Boarders Away he illustrates his detailed text with accurate drawing s a nd paintings whic h bring the weapons , wa rriors and warships of the past alive . Surviving re lics are also shown in expert photos . If you have } ever wo ndered what combat at sea was really like in the days of yore , Boarders A way is for yo u. 184 (8.5"x11 ") pages in large format , hardcover with dustjacket and color plates.

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trickled across the country and were exposed to survivors and survivors' families, which then prompted Mr. Barber to re-issue the book with minor editing and one new chapter based on the remembrances of radio operator Gene Luce.

Tango had a varied career prior to her resurrection as a sailing ship in 1942 and she and her famous sister, Moshulu, now wasting away in the Delaware River, have been well documented in books and magazines over the years as amongst the last survivors of a bygone era.

Between the two World Wars, the steel four-masted bark Mary Dollar, ex Hans , lay idle in Mexico and the Alameda Estuary, a near valueless hulk in the midst of the Depression until she was sold for conversion to a gambling ship.

Renamed Tango, the mastless hull earned her keep many times over, until the gambling ship fleet in Southern California was put out of business in 1938. The ship was sold in 1941 to a New York company and drydocked in Los Angeles harbor for the first time in more than a quarter of a century. She emerged rerigged as a six-masted schooner and was towed to the Columbia River to load at St. Helens , where the crew was embarked for the coming voyage.

Generally speaking, the ship and forecastle gang were West Coasters, but the owners, the captain and the mate were East coasters. Dissension began to grow almost as soon as the tow line was dropped off Astoria. Captain Carl Gundersen of New York had had a long career in sail, but had not encountered a typical union crew. He had been raised in Norwegian square-riggers, sailed American schooners and, during the worst of the Depression years, was shipkeeper and master of the idle full rigger Tusitala, tied up in New York.

The two diaries provide the main text of the book, from the time the pilot and tug were dismissed off Astoria, until the very end when the ship was sold to the Portuguese in 1944. Spliced together in chronological order, the diaries follow the progress of the voyage on a day-today basis. They describe the daily work, weather conditions, and growing feeling of discontent, frustration and some conflict between the after-guard and the forecastle crowd. Supplemental letters which Barber obtained from these two surviving contributors provide an imbalanced view of the qualities and capabilities of the officers and even some of the other unlicensed crew.

Unfortunately, there is practically no SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

evaluation of Captain Gundersen as an experienced shipmaster and the reader is generally left to conclude that he was virtually incompetent.

Tango had her share of heavy weather rounding Cape Hom in the southern latitudes' winter months with the insufficient gear and sorely tried crew.

ShearrivedinCapeTown 105 days out and spent weeks discharging part of the lumber cargo and then more time in Durban finishing the out-tum. Some of the crew asked to be paid off and were replaced by foreigners. Yet, one of the most militant, Joe Kaplan, remained by the ship though it was he who had confronted the captain at every tum, roused the crew to action at sea, and documented the shortcomings of the ship and owners.

Fed up with the delays and costs, the owners in New York finally accepted a very large offer to sell the ship for a price in excess of $400,000 and the Tango passed to Portuguese owners in 1944.

The story of Tango reveals the inevitable collision between old traditions and changing times. Captain Gundersen, as noted, had never sailed with a union crew and the agreement struck by the Sailors Union of the Pacific and the Transatlantic Navigation Company of New York left him in the bight of the wire. Lawrence Barber has described the literate crew, who could comprehend and interpret shipping articles and union agreements-and write letters abouttheir''conditions.''His narrative is the epitaph to this last gasp of the sailing ship era of nearly a half century ago.

CAPTAIN HAROLD D. HUYCKE

Gray Raiders of the Sea: How Eight Confederate Warships Destroyed the Union's High Seas Commerce, by Chester G. Heam (International Marine Publishing, Camden ME, 1992, 351 pp, 87 b+w illus, appendix , notes, biblio; $24.95hb) This book is a definite candidate for honors in several categories: maritime history, naval history, and commercial history, to suggest a few. Heam's text not only provides interesting and fluent reading, but it is destined to become a landmark reference for the Confederacy's high seas raiders: Sumter, Nashville, Florida, Tallahassee, Chickamauga, Alabama, Georgia, and Shenandoah, which did indeed destroy the Union's maritime commerce.

But this is a book about people as well as ships. Hearn brings to life John Newland Maffitt, Raphael Semmes, SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

Gideon Welles, James Dunwoody Bulloch, and John A. Winslow, in exquisite biographic detail , and to an appropriately lesser extent, Steven R. Mallory, John Mcintosh Kell, Lord John Russell, Charles Francis Adams, Charles M. Morris, Arthur Sinclair, and James Evans. A host of other characters catch rays of biographic illumination in appropriate settings also, bringing together a breathtakinglyclearpictureofmen,ships, and destruction on the high seas.

The tale of James D. Bulloch's struggle against the political might of the United States of America, as he operates in a foreign land , and his ultimate success against enormous odds to bring the raiders into being, is spread through the pages of Gray Raiders of the Sea. While the Union Navy is not overlooked, this is primarily the story of the raiders and their victims. One shudders at the chillingly narrated scenes of destruction. Beautiful clipper ships put to the torch, flames leaping up the rigging, until the charred remains slip beneath the sea. The appended list of Union merchantmen captured and destroyed, or ransomed, provides awesome evidence in support of the effectiveness of the Confederate warships.

The pace ofHeam's narrative is rather slow through the opening chapters as he relates the cruises of Sumter and Nashville. It is as though they were there and tales must be told. But the author hits and maintains his stride with Alabama, giving a construction to destruction narrative of Raphael Semmes's ship in prodigious detail from her birth at Liverpool in 1862 to her death off Cherbourg two years later.

The policy of Gideon Welles, Lincoln's navy secretary, to ignore the ocean in favor of manning the blockade, receives a telling critique, especially relative to the decline of the American merchant marine. Those eccentric scientists, Charles Wilkes and Matthew Fontaine Maury, who became such impersonal and thoughtless leaders of men, deservedly gamer their own share of Heam' s criticism.

The book is written from an unusual Civil War perspective-an international one. In an underlying fabric, Heam weaves the tale of the Confederacy itself, particularly in terms of its popularity as a cause celebre in foreign lands. He relates how exaggerated domestic and overseas newspaper tales of piratical acts begin to work against the Confederates. Great Britain begins to realize she may have overstepped the bounds of prudent international rela-

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COLUMBIA'S RIVER The Voyages of Robert Gray , 1787~ 1793

By J. Richard Nokes "An enthralling story of maritime voyages"-The Boston Globe

The exciting tale of the first American voyages to the Pacific Northwest, the Hawaiian Islands, Japan , around the globe, and back to Boston ... explorations of rock-clad , mist-enshrouded coasts . . . conflict and trade with Indian peoples .. . and the entrance of Captain Gray of the Columbia into the mighty river he named after his ship and claimed for America 200 years ago.

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tions and may have to pay a future price.

Ports begin to close; coal, the raiders ' life blood , becomes more difficult to obtain, and the demise begins.

While Heam frequently assumes too much knowledge on the part of hi s readers, he fails to make some obvious connections, i .e,, the long naval traditions of the Barron and Sinclair families of Virginia. But these are minor criticisms.

Throughout this hi story, Heam ski llfully relocates the readers perspective from the omniscient observer, to the view from the captain 's cabin, to the decks of the merchantmen the Confederates preyed upon.

Gray Raiders of the Sea is, above all , a story of the meteoric rise and slow decline of the Confederate high seas navy.

Hearn 's book joi ns other recent scho larship on blockade runners, and biographic studies of Stephen Mallory, the Confederate Navy Secretary, in bringing the naval hi story of the Confederate States of America into modem perspective.

DR. W.M.P. D UNNE Long Island University Southampton NY Columbia's River; the Voyages of Robert Gray, 1787-1793, by l Richard Nokes (Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma WA 1991 , 352pp, illus, appendices, biblio, index ; $24.95pb) On September 30, 1787, Captains Robert Gray and John Kendrick and their ships the Lady Wa shington and Columbia Rediviva departed Boston Harbor bound for an historic rendezvous off the NorthwestPacificcoastof America. The American fur traders found themselves in the midst of a turf fight that would push Spain and Britain to the brink of war. However, Captain Robert Gray's subsequent discovery of the River of the West, which he named after the Columbia Redi viva, would later provide a basis for theU nited States's claim to the same territory.

J. Richard Nokes, retired editor of The Oregonian, has done an impressive job of marshalling primary sources for this absorbing study. Using ships' logs, diaries , documents and letters, Nokes di I igently follows the progress of Gray ' s voyages and outlines their contribution to American history. In addition to providing an international context for the voyages and a view of the earliest encounte.rs between Europeans and Native Indiarns in the Northwest, Nokes also tells a Hively story of sea voyaging, trade and exjploration, parts of which are exSEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992

cerpted for the article " American Sail in the Northwest" on page 39 of this issue.

Minute of Silence, by Larry Reiner (lntegraPress , Phoenix AZ, 1990, 268pp; $18.95hb) In his first novel, Larry Reiner, an AB with 40 years in the merchant marine, mostly on tankers, has interwoven a terrifying tale of the high seas with a searing expose of a looming national disasterthe decline and fall of the once-predominant US merchant fleet, and the tightening grip of "Big Oil" on our economic life.

Reiner's riveting three-part story brings the reader into the forecastle, and onto the bridge, as he profiles the life of his main character, Al Stacey- fust as a young ordinary seaman who has gotten his break into the merchant marine as an undercover union organizer in the 1950s, then, 34 years later, as a tanker company fleet commodore in Alaska and, finally, as captain of a casualty in the " tanker war" between Iraq and Iran in the Persian Gulf.

.'

Steel Ships and Iron Men; A Tribute to World War II Fighting Ships and the Men Who Served on Them, photos

by Bruce Roberts, text by Ray Jones (Globe Pequot Press, Chester CT, 1991 , 150pp, illus, large size; $22.95) A colorfully written pictorial account of 30 surviving World War II warships, interspersed with such wartime memories as Christmas underwater in a submarine, Navy chow, and on-deck accounts of the ships in action.

Marine Painting; Techniques of Modern Masters, by Susan Rayfield (Watson-Guptill Publications, New York NY , 1991 , 14 pp, illus color; $29.95hb) As J. Russell Jinishian sagely observes in his foreword , "listening to other artists ' talk shop ' about their systems and their work can provide specific and practical solutions to common painting problems." This handsome volume presents the work of fifteen of today ' s leading artists with close-in discussion of ideas and techniques by the artists themselves.

It meets Jinishian ' s desideratum admirably , and makes fascinating viewing and reading for the non-artist as well.

A Sailor's Odyssey; At Peace and at War, 1935-1945, by Alvin P. Chester (Destroyer Escort Sailors Association, Orlando FL 32868-0085 , 1991, 288pp, illus; $10.95 plus $2.50 s+h) A Sailor' s Odyssey is about ships and SEA HISTORY 61 , SPRING 1992

those who sailed in them in the Armed Services and the Merchant Marine. This biographical account of the author' s adventures begins in pre-war steamers plying the high seas with passengers and cargo bound for exotic ports around the world. Shortly after World War II began, Chester shipped over to a career in the US Navy. His adventures continued as he rose from Ensign to war time command of a destroyer escort. As this story unfolds we see how those who sailed in these "magic ships" experienced a bond- between ship and shipmates-that will remain until they too have passed away.

This odyssey comes to a climax as the crew of Cofer repels kamikaze attacks in two critical battles in the Philippines.

GINGER M. MARTU S

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Shipbuilding at Cramp & Sons and John Lenthall, Naval Architect, by Gail E. Farr and Brett Bostwick (Philadelphia Maritime Museum, Philadelphia Administration / Marketing: BBA Group Inc. PA, 1991, 64pp, 31 b+w illus; and 52pp, 205 \<\brcester Court 23 b+w illus , respectively ; $5.00 ea.)

Falmouth, MA 02540 plw11e 508 540 6899 - telex 413701 - fax 508 540 4956 Archivists Farr and Bostwick have done an admirable job producing two recent ...yours lo count on research volumes for the Philadelphia Maritime Museum . Shipbuilding at Cramp and Sons is a history and guide to collections of the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company (1830-1927) and the Cramp Shipbuilding Company (1941-46). The contents include an interpretive essay on shipbuilding at Cramp, descriptions of holdings in the Collection, histories of the Cramp-built vessels including technical data, and discussion of Cramp's role pioneering the transition from wood to by iron shipbuilding.

John Lenthall, Naval Architect is an Susan equally comprehensive and valuable guide Rayfield to plans and drawings of American naval and merchant vessels 1790-1874. Included A breathtaking is a bibliography of Lenthall ' s personal volume filled with over 100 collection ofbooks on shipbuilding printed reproductions of today's most outin Great Britain, France and the United standing marine paintings. Magnificent States between 1707-1882. This publicascenes of sailing, yacht racing, hartion illuminates the world of shipbuiding bors and maritime history illustrate the at the first Philadelphia Navy Yard. Here in-depth commentary and painting Lenthall assisted with the construction of techniques from the artists themselves. numerous vessels in the early ninteenth144 pp. 81 /4 x 11. 105 full-color illus. DRZB0392 century American sailing navy, among Please send me _ _ copy(ies) of Marine them the 120-gun Pennyslvania, launched Painting (030067) at $29.95 each, which in 1837. Lenthall ' s work introducing steam includes postage and handling. I have enclosed my check for--~¡ (Please add appropriate propulsion into the US Navy vessels Mississippi and Princeton, his interest in in- 1I sales tax in CA, DC, IL, MA, NJ, NY, PA & TN.) Send to: novations in ordnance and his enthusiasm 1 I WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS for surveying historic ships are also well : DEPT. FT, 1515 BROADWAY, NY, NY 10036 detailed. D L---------------------------~

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45

DESSERT

The Lady is Changeable. Catch Her When She is Angry.

by Hobe Kytr The exhibits at the Columbia River Maritime Museum resound with tales of the infamy of the Columbia bar. Yet, for visitors who come here during fair weather, this can be quite confusing. To offer an illustration, a cruise ship full of passengers embarks on a tour of the Columbia River valley during an exquisite Pacific Northwest Indian summer. Just before they come to the Museum , they go out to see the bar, and it is well marked, smooth as glass, picture perfect. Ah, but the lady is changeable.

Catch her when she is angry . See her when breakers bigger than boxcars stretch from shore to shore, and you will understand.

Consider these entries from Pacific Coasts of Central America and United States Pilot (Eight edition, 1975): "14.6 Pilotage across Columbia River bar . . . is compulsory.

"14.11 Landmarks. The entrance of CoThe French bark Colonel de Villebois Mareuil crossing Columbia bar under tow . lumbia River is difficult to make in bad weather, Photo taken from the steam tug Goliath, Captain 0. Beaton, master, October, 1912. as there are few well-defined landmarks.

"14.12 [2nd paragraph] South Jetty extends for a distance of about 5 1/2 miles from Point Adams ... the Two hundred years ago , Robert Gray, by dint of courage, outer half is submerged ... Shoal ground extends NW and W felt his way through the breakers south of Cape Disappointfrom the outer end of Clatsop Spit along the N side of the South ment and found his way into a great river. His passage jetty; due to spring freshets and NW storms there is a tendency crossed what is now dry land. Broughton, entering the river with Gray's chart six months .later, found the features so for the shoal to grow in a NW direction.

"14.13 Cape Disappointment ... [6th paragraph] Seen different as to question Gray's veracity. In 1841, the ill-fated from S, Cape Disappointment appears as three low knobs, Peacock of the Wilkes ' expedition ran aground on the sandy separated by low, flat ridges . .. From W the cape is not spit which has since borne her name. That spot, faithfully prominent .. . From NW the cape appears as a flat island, with charted by the US Exploring Expedition, is today on the main a slight depression in the centre and a wooded knob at either end; channel range. (Peacock Spit, which once swung around "Bar. Caution. [2nd paragraph] Tidal streams. The bar is seasonally with the prevailing current and wind, has been said to be very dangerous because of sudden and unpredictable anchored by the north jetty.) In 1899, Lightship No. 50 was changes in the tidal streams, often accompanied by breakers .. . swept off station and driven ashore at the foot of McKenzie "[3rd paragraph] On the flood , there is a dangerous set Head . But, where once the fury of the open ocean pounded towards Clatsop Spit ... Heavy breakers have been reported the face of this headland, fami lies today go camping on dry as far inside the entrance as about 3 mile E of the outer end of land inside Ft. Canby State Park.

And what of this moody cape, named for disappointment? the S jetty ... " What makes the entrance to the Columbia so formidable is In 1775, the Portuguese Bruno Heceta, sai ling for the viceroy not just that conditions can change abruptly, but that the bar is of New Spain in the Santiago, found what he believed was the so long. Compounding the matter, it is far from a straight run. entrance to a great river in this latitude. Pushed back by a A vessel negotiating the shipping channel between the outer tremendous outflow of river-colored water, he was unable to end of the south jetty and Point Adams must make a minimum gain entrance. Standing offshore, he drew a chart, labeling of three course corrections. And thi s is with modem navigation what he saw Baya de la Assumpcion and the Rio San Roque. improvements. The crossing used to be much more difficult. To the south was Cabo Frondoso, and to the north, Cabo San It is no wonder that large vessels under sail, especially square- Roque. Thirteen years later, John Meares, late of the British riggers dependent on a favorable wind , found this bar treach- Navy, pursuing the fur trade in the vessel Felice, arrived with erous. The mouth of the river is lined with the bones of vessels a Spanish chart and immediately recognized "Heceta 's whose masters trusted to the whims of the winds and tides.

Entrada." Creeping around the northerly cape, he found the The old-timers spoke of phantom shoal sands that changed water to shoal alarmingly and viewed a solid line of enormous with every tide. Many is the master who came to grief by breakers extending as far as the south shore of the supposed trusting an old chart for safe passage. This great river carries bay. Before he departed , he reasserted a new set of geographic the largest fresh-water outflow entering the Pacific Ocean in names reflecting his own sentiments: Cape Disappointment the Western hemisphere. And the vast area of western North and Deception Bay. It remained for the American, Robert America it drains is volcanic country. Great quantities of sand, Gray, to disprove his opinion. But the name of the cape had volcanic ash, and pumice are borne downstream until they persisted, and so it remains to this day. meet the might of the North Pacific. The world 's two longest sandy beaches extend to the north and south of the mouth of the Hobe Kytr is a museum educ{{Jtor at the Columbia River Maritime Columbia. Sand accretion since jetty construction began over Museum, and editor of the miuseum' s quarterly Quarterdeck, from a hundred years ago is measured in miles. which this article is reprinted/.

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