Sea History 067 - Autumn 1993

No. 67

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

AUTUMN 1993

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

JOHN STOBART'S "WORLDSCAPE" How the Royal Navy Beat the U-Boats Old Ships & Ways in Sydney The 6th Century BC Wreck of Giglio Island

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TWO SPECTACULAR NEW LIMITED EDITION PRINTS by marine artist William G. Muller "View from South Street, New York in 1892" In this moonlit view, we look over the East River and Brooklyn Bridge from South Street at Fulton Ferry, as the full-rigged ship Largo Law sets sail with the tide on a September night in 1892.

In a limited edition of 950 signed and numbered prints at$175. 00 Image size: 20 1/2 "x 29 1/4" Sheet size: 27"x35 1/4" Printed on 120 lb. acid-free stock.

"New York Harbor during the height of the great steamship era, 1935" The legendary liner Nonnandie steams out of port, past the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty, as the venerable liner Aquitania arrives from Europe amid the bustling harbor traffic on a late afternoon in September, 1935.

In a very limited edition of just 450 signed and numbered prints at $150. 00 Image size: 18 1/s" x 28" Sheet size: 23 3/4" x 33" on 100 lb. acid-free stock.

Available through:

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY 5 John Walsh Blvd., PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566-0068 For credit card orders phone 914-737-7878 Artist's proofs and remarqued prints also available. Please inquire.

Please add $12.50 for shipping & handling. New York State residents add your local sales tax.

ISSN 0146-9312

No. 67

SEA HISTORY

SEA HISTORY is publi shed quarterly by the National Maritime Hi storica l Society, Charles Point, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Second class postage paid at Peekski ll NY I0566 and additional mailing offi ces. COPYRIGHT © 1993 by the National Maritime Hi storical Society. Tel : 914 737-7878.

FEATURES - - - THE B ATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC---

10 How the Royal Navy Beat the U-boat

by Paul Quinn

12 A View from the Bow Torpedo Room Otto Giese recalls life aboard U-405

by Harry Cooper

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, Charles Point , PO Box 68, Peekski ll NY 10566.

16 The Search for the Etruscan Wreck of Giglio Island In August 1982, a 6th-century BC wreck was discovered and Oxford University MARE was born

by Timothy Dingemans

MEMBERSHIP is invited. Plankowner $ 10 ,000; Benefactor $5,000; Afterguard $2,500; Sponsor $ 1,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Friend $ 100; Contributor $50; Family $40; Regular $30; Student or Retired $ 15. All members out si de the USA please add$ I0 for postage. SEA HISTORY is sent to all members. Individua l copies cost $3 .75.

26 John Stobart's "WorldScape" America's premier marine artist sets out on a new tack

by Peter Stanford

OFFICERS & TRUSTEES : Chairman, Alan G. Choate; Vice Chairmen, Richardo Lopes, Edward G. Zelinsky; President, Peter Stanford; Vice Presidelll, onna Stanford; Treasurer, Nancy Pouch; Secretary, Donald Derr; Trustees, George Lamb, George Lowery, Warren Marr II , Brian A. McAllister,JamesJ. Moore, Ludwig K. Rubinsky, Marshall Streibert, Samuel Thom pson, David B. Vietor; Chairman Emeritus, Karl Kortum

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OVERSEERS : Charles F.Adams, Walter Cronkite, Townsend Hornor, George Lamb, John Lehman, Clifford D. Mallory , J. William Middendorf, II, Graham H. Phillips, John G. Rogers, John Stobart.

William G. Winterer ADV ISORS: Co-Chairmen, Frank 0. Braynard, Melbourne Smith; D.K. Abbass, Raymond Aker, George F. Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, Dav id Brink, Norman J. Brouwer, William M. Doerfli nger, Francis J. Duffy, John S. Ewald , Joseph L. Farr, TimothyG. Foote, Thomas Gillmer, Richard Goold-Adams, Hajo Knuttel, Walter J. Hande lm an, Charl es E. Herdendorf, Steven A. Hyman , Conrad Milster, Edward D. Muhlfeld , William G. Muller, David E. Perkins, Richard Rath , Nancy Hu ghes Richardson, Timothy J. Run yan, George Sa ll ey , Ralph L. Snow, John Stobart , A lbe rt Swanson, Shannon J. Wa ll , Raymond E. Wall ace, Robert A. We in stein , Thomas Well s

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AMER ICA SH IP TR UST: l nternationa/Chairman, Karl Kortum ; Chairman , Peter Stanford; Trustees, F. Briggs Dal zell , Willi am G. Muller, Richard Rath , Me lbourne Smi th , Edward G. Zelinsky SEA HISTORY STAFF: Editor, Peter Stanford; Execurive Editor, Norma Stanford; Managing Editor, Kev in Haydon; Curator!Assistam Editor, Justine Ahlstrom ; Accounting, Joseph Caccio la; Membership Secretary , Patricia Anstett; Membership Assistants, Erika Kurtenbach , Grace Zerella ADVERTISI G: Te lephone 9 14-737-7878.

AUTUMN 1993

31 Exploring Maritime Sydney Explorers, settlers and seafarers left their mark on Australia' sfirst city

by Kevin Haydon 46 Cimbria-Ship of War? A small Maine seaport beholds an unheralded guest

by Stephen A. Schoff

DEPARTMENTS 4 4

6

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Deck Log Letters Mission Society Co-Publishes Norm.an Brouwer' s new edition of the International Register of Historic Ships, by Kevin Haydon MEI Marine Archaeology Experts

23 34

38 48

Bring their Science to Schools,

by Mark Wilde-Ramsing Marine Art News Shipnotes, Seaport & Museum News Reviews Patrons

COVER: In John Stobart' s account of how he f ound his way back to open air painting a few years ago, he describes how he walked through Venice f or three days before this scene stopped him., enchanted him., and was captivatingly rendered by his brush. See John Stobart' s "WorldScape ," pp. 26-30.

Our seafaring heritage comes alive in Sea History Sea History brings to life America 's seafaring past. It is the quarterl y journal of the National Maritime Historical Society, a national non -profit membership organiza-

tion, established in 1963 , that works to increase maritime awareness and educate the public in our nation ' s maritime heritage.

Come aboard with us today!

To: National Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68, Peekskill, NY 10566 Yes, I want to help. I understand that my contribution goes to help the work of the Society and that I'll be kept informed by receiving SEA HISTORY quarterly. Please enroll me as:

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DECK LOG

LETTERS

I never met Phillips Melville, but he painted one of the finest paintings of the Kaiulani- the bark our Society was founded to save-that I have ever seen, and when I became president of NMHS (good grief, 23 years ago), he would drop me a courteous line from time to time to encourage or spur on the work.

In one of these letters, which I hope yet to recover from our files (now that we at last have an office big enough to unpack them in) , he said the Society should take the lead in forming an American Society of Marine Artists, along the lines of the Royal Society of Marine Artists in England-whose constitution he had procured a copy of, which he thoughtfully included with hi s letter.

A little later, Bob and Maryanne Murphy came to me with the same idea, and I showed them Phillips's letter(which I hadn 't yet lost in the huge drifts of paper that mulch the vineyard we labor in). The rest, as they say, is history.

ASMA was duly founded, and in this issue we salute a new departure in the work of one of the founders, John Stobart.

But about Col. Melville-no one I know was more determ ined to save the Kaiulani than he. When we failed to do that, he urged us on in our wider mission , in which marine art plays a large role. So does it with that other ship-saver, Karl Kortum, actual founder of the Society.

Was It the Most Important Battle?

I' m sure you 're aware of the perception of those outside the New England area that New Yorkers have a self-centered view of the world, both currently and historically. Usually this is tolerated with amusement. The otherwise excellent article "The Battle of the Atlantic," however, call s for some comment.

The caption on page 11 refers to the "mosl important battle of World War II." Military experts who know far more about such matters than you or I have argued that there are several candidates for such a dubious " honor. " The onesided battle of Pearl Harbor is a possibility because it consolidated a divided America and brought us into the war, which became the determining factor in the outcome. Another possibility often mentioned is the Battle of Britain. The reasons are similar to those you give for yo ur candidate. My point is, while the Battle of the Atlantic certainly was of dramatic importance to the war's continuation , it takes some Eastern chutzpah to give it such a superlative title.

"This brought the war to an end. " My oh my. There are those who believe the atomic bomb had something to do with that. Or perhaps Easterners think that there were two wars with no relation to each other. " Without which World War II would have been lost with utter certainty." Several books have been written specu lating on what would have happened if Hitler had invaded England. Whether the British surrendered or not, America was sti ll invulnerable to bombing and invasion.

Our factories were spewi ng out war materiel with no interruptions. We had most of Italy and all North Africa for supply depots. Therefore, the consensus is that the war would have lasted some months longer, but with a similar outcome. To say what you did doesn't give much credit to the America I knew. Such defeatist talk was severely frowned upon and even today, 50 years later, doesn 't sit well with those of us who made a contribution.

Sea History is a thoughtful magazine.

If you consider that there is life anywhere west of the New York state line, I'd like to read your comments.

DONALD A. LANDAUER , President Institute for Marine Information Honolulu, Hawaii

We will return to our urgent business of ship-saving in a special communication to NMHS members later thi s year.

But before we go into action on that, let me here salute Col. Melville, who abode with us in trying times, and urged us not to narrow but broaden our mi ssion, in accord with our business in great waters.

We have no photograph of him , so I offer this shot of your president stand ing beside Phillips's portrait of Kaiulani. The man is gone now, as is the ship-but both are with us in very real ways.

PETER STANFORD

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There's room for argument. We shall discuss our thesis further in future articles and would be glad to hear from others on this.-ED

Demise of an Industry To "New York-Sall y Port of Victory" I can add that as a youngster the thrill of the port activity in WWII was mindblowing. Some plants around the waterfront were so lit up by welding activ ity that daylight at night was possible. The scene at the local beaches was gruesome-you could actually hear depth charges and see burning vessels o ut at sea. Although only a child at the time I knew something terrible was going on.

None the less, I went to sea for 35 years and recently retired. I do lament the demise of thi s industry but believe it to bean ultimate victory of globalization.

Meanwhile, I enjoy reading what I consider a " living" hi story.

DANIEL KAN E Huntington , New York

Steaming the Great Lakes First, a rather belated compliment on Sea History 65, particularly the artic le "Steam & Speed." However, I'm distressed that you seem to ignore the Great Lakes, even though for a hundred and fifty years close to a third of our nation 's merchant marine has sailed these fresh water seas.

I think the article a bit premature in announcing the demise of steam. Among the steamers still operating on the Lakes is thecementcarrier Medusa Challenger.

In addition , the car ferry Badger is now operating a cross-Lake Michigan passenger serv ice. Granted, she's powered with Skinner engines but they are upand-dow n steam. Until a year or so ago, the BobLo boats were still operating out of Detro it. These are, of course, absolute ly typical steam excursion vessels.

Though it 's most doubtful , there's some hope th at at least one of these might again see passenger service.

What you really missed, though, was the museum ships. A by-no-means inclusive li st would include the Meteor at Superior, Wisconsin , the Valley Camp and the Kewatin at Sault Ste. Marie and South Haven, Michigan, and the WilliamG . Mather at Cleve land, Ohio. Also, potentially, the Milwaukee Clipper at Gary , Indiana, and the car ferry City of Milwaukee at Frankfurt, Michigan. A bit of publicity in Sea History might help in getting these projects off the ground.

Fi nail y, don't forget our Canadian neighbors and the wonderful Segwun on Lake Muskoka.

Again, all of the above is intended to be instructive rather than critical. I really SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

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think you 're doing a great job.

W. C. COWLES Bellaire, Michigan "Steam & Speed" was devoted to ocean navigation-we should do a Part Ill on lakes and rivers.-ED

Orontes Memories Fascinating issue of Sea History (65) .

How startled I was to spot the painting of Orantes on page 24. After a three-week crossing from Newport News to Oran in the Liberty shi p Samuel Ashe, Aug ustSeptember 1943, we steamed to Bizerte and were transferred en masse (infantry replacements) to the P&O liner Orantes in which we had a delightfu l, by contrast, voyage to Naples, where we were the first ship to send troops ashore after the harbor was cleared.

Well , my Orantes, accordi ng to Lloyds, was built in 1929, 20,000 tons, and I suppose was the successor to the magnificent steamer pictured in the Thames.

That fa ntastic triple expansion (page 35) engi ne rev ived for the Libertys recalled further memories. I can hear and fee l the th robbing now, and the bouncing of the whole stem when the propeller breached each tro ugh in the Atlantic ga le . . . . I dubbed our great old Liberty Samuel' s Ass. Wonderful iss ue!

JOSEPH E. GARLAND

G loucester, Massachusetts

What Happened to the Ships?

Bob Redmayne' s letter brings back memories of working off demerits painting over the side of the Emory Rice way back when I was a Kings Point cadet-midshipman. A duplicate of her engine can be fo und at the Smithsonian. Her actual engine is now on display at Kings Point.

Back when firs t sailing on license, I noted that the charts fo r the West Coast of Mex ico were from original surveys by USS Tuscarora, later re-named Emory Rice. Years later, when I was aga in transiting the West Coast of Mexico, these fine old charts had been replaced by new ones based on aerial surveys. They were no do ubt more accurate but I could never get the bearings on mo untai n peaks and shore features to cuttrue. Later sti ll, with SatNav, nothi ng agreed.

I should again like to do thi s ru n with GPS but, alas, there are no US-fl ag vessels ro utinely operating in the area. When I firs t went to sea in the mid- l 950s, eight companies operated intercoastal ly and five liner serv ices ran fro m the US East and SEA HISTOR Y 67, AUTUMN 1993

Gulf Coasts to the Far East, not to mention all the tankers. Now there are the North Slope tankers, nothing e lse.

The Rice was indeed a worth y candi date fo r restorati on. When scrapped, she was in better condition than many later efforts but there were rumors of holes at her waterline patched with the skin off the top of an aged paint can. Used thi s technique to good advantage on some of the old Calmar Libertys .

JIM L ARSEN

Wilmington, Delaware

Making Cape Horn In Sea History 64, Thomas Well s writes tha t Ca pta in Pa ul Somme rl a nd of Mari ehamn , age 87, is the world 's onl y remaining Albatross-in layman's terms thi s means that he had command of an engineless windship around Cape Ho m .

But there are others.

Captain Raul Bennewitz of Chile is still alive and hale and hearty. In 1943, the Calbuco, under hi s command , made Cape Hom as a full -rigged ship bound out to Brazil. It was to be her last such voyage. In February 1992, I met Captain Bennewitz at his home in Valparaiso and he told me of hi s time in the Calbuco, the Nelson, the Guaytecas and the Condor.

Thi s last vessel, a 4-masted schooner lengthened to become a 5 master, was, without doubt, the last of her class to make Cape Hom. Bound fo r Greece with a cargo of rice in 1946, she put into Montevideo in di stress, and was later abando ned on fire off that port.

Captain Bennew itz was the master of both the Calbuco and the Condor at the time of their roundings and has been accepted as an Albatross in the AICH. As it happens, I visited Chile after ro unding the Hom in square rig myself, then traveled South America taking stock of the remains of a great era.

C HRI S R OC HE

Surrey, England

Did We Miss the Boat?

In the second part of Mr. Stanfo rd 's series "Steam & Speed" (SH 65) he mentioned Hipparchus, now part of a breakwater at Punta Arenas, and Amadeo, on the beach nearby, as "the only two known survivors of the 19th century steamer."

Doesn ' t Mr. Stanfo rd consider the Great Britain a survi vor? Launched in 1843, the hulk was brought fro m the Falkland Islands to the same Bristol dock in which she was built 127 years earlier and where she is be ing rebu ilt to the

original config uration.

R OSWELL B OTIUM

Van Nuys, Califo rnia The article did discuss the Great Britain at some length! This reference was to the compound-engine steamer that effectively replaced the sailing ship in longhaul routes.-ED

Queries Info rmation about the 4-masted schooner Reine Marie Stewart, which sailed from New York on 1 April 1942 under the Panamanian fl ag with a crew of Americans and Scandinavians, possibly sai ling to Freetown, Sierra Leone. On 2 June she was sunk by the Italian submarine Da Vinci. The crew was landed in Cape Town. W ho was the owner, captain , cargo shipper of this vessel? Write Capt. Huycke, 18223 84 Pl. W., Edmonds WA 98026.

Sources for a picture of the foll owing vessel or a simil ar one: the full -rigged ship Active, built ( 1790) and registered in Philadelphi a, sailed between NY and PA, and Li verpool, described as having two decks, 83'9" long, 26'4" abeam, 13 '2" draft, 252 to ns. Write Robert Mi lbank, One Sweet Briar Rd ., Summit NJ 0790 1.

Errata Regarding the most interesting article on "The Battle of the Atl antic" in Sea History 66, I have a coupl e of comments. On page 10 in the center, the ship depicted is definitely not the fo rmer USS Foote. No US ship ever resembled thi s typical RN destroyer design. The label in the photograph identifies the vessel as HMS Wolverine. In addition, on page 12, the description of the sub chaser incorrectl y refers to the "flying bridge" as a "crow's nest. " C HARLES F. ADAMS Lex ington, Massachusetts Mr. Adams is correct. The ship in the picture is HMS Wolverine. The text mistakenly identifies the vessel twice--the second time as USS Foote.-ED Our subheading fo r the article "Four Brave Men" about the chaplains aboard the ill-fated USAT Dorchester incorrectl y refered to the men as Navy Chaplains-they were, in fac t, Army Chaplain s, as the author stated in the article.

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MISSION

Society Co-publishes International Register of Historic Ships

arrival at the museum: "We immediately found that he had a vast store of information about historic ships of the world. It was a tremendous windfall." Brouwer was volunteereditorof SeaHistoryfrom 1973 through 1976. In various issues throughout this period, different segments of the list were published. "We got immediate responses," says Stanford . "People wrote back to say ' No, you have this wrong,' or ' this is destroyed,' etc. It was very valuable." With each piece of information the Register was slowly taking shape.

It wasn ' t until 1976 that Brouwer could realize his long-held ambition of visiting the Falklands. The National Endowment for the Humanities funded his proposal to survey American wrecks in the Falklands. It would be the first of

A 40-year Enterprise of South Street's Ship Historian and Longtime NMHS Member Norman]. Brouwer

by Kevin Haydon The International Register of Historic Ships, the expanded second editon of which is being released by NMHS this fall, is one of those rare works, like Web ster's Dictionary or Frederic Goudy's typeface library, that represent such a monumental investment of one person 's energy that in the end it seems quite strange to package itand put a price on it at all. There is only one book like the Register, and there is quite likely only one man with both the singular devotion to the subject and scholarly persi stence to have written it. First published in 1985 , it is the most complete survey in print of the world's historic ships, wherever they may be-in museums, in continued service as merchant vessels or saiI training ships, or as wrecks forsaken and abandoned on some distant lonely shore. It is the life work of maritime hi storian Norman Brouwer.

Brouwer is the Curatorof Ship Restoration and Maritime Historian at South Street Seaport Museum in New York City, a position he has held since 1972.

His office, on the second floor of the Museum Galleries is one large airy room which houses the bulk of the museum 's library. Here he spends much of his time overseeing the library and consulting on the Seaport's ship restoration program , that is , when he is not fielding innumerable telephone and written inquiries and ass isting maritime hi story researchers by appointment. By those who seek him out regul arl y, he is known for his calm , thoughtful manner and measured, wellinformed responses. But a discussion of the Register reveals more of hi s profound, soul-sustain ing interest in ships and some justifi able pride in the Register.

Although Brouwer grew up in Michigan, far from the seacoast, there were ship connections in the family. His father had worked on ships in the Great Lakes and as a boy he read everything he could get hi s hands on about ships. His interest was cemented by a passage, at age 13, on the liner Washington to England.

His father was an exchange teacher for a year near the port of Bristol. He returned on a US Lines cargo ship, as one of nine passengers. "From that point on," says

6

Brouwer, "it was nothing but ships."

The Register is a natural outgrowth of his early fascination . In its earliest form, it was a letter sent in 1962 to the English monthly Sea Breezes from the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, where Brouwer was in his final year of studies.

The letter, containing a list of historic ships being preserved around the world, was published. Responses and corrections were then received and recorded and Brouwer entered a worldwide network of ship enthusiasts concerned for historic vessels.

From the beginning, Brouwer felt the need to not just research the vessels, but to also seek them out. One trip in the mid- l 950s took him to a lonely stretch of Highway 101 in Puget Sound, where a roadside tourist trap called "McNeil's I 01 Attractions" consisted solely of a beached ship, the pirate ship "Black Shield." The true identity of this ridicu- z lous caricature was the schooner C. A. ~ ¡ Thayer, now restored at San Francisco. ~"' A six-month vacation from the merchant 0 marine in 1967 led to a grand tour of ~ Europe, which turned up some 30 square- 1:J rigged ships. ~ The impetus to ship preservation and ~ museum work for Brouwer came in 1970 :i: during a stint aboard the Antarctic re- o.. Brouwer inspecting the timber skeleton of the search vessel Hero, based at Punta Arenas American downeaster St. Mary on a beach in in the Straits of Magellan. Once again he the Falklands in 1976. was keeping his eyes open. He knew that the 4-masted bark Andalucia was there, three trips . To Brouwer, whose special but on arrival he discovered three other area of interest is the period of transition sai ling ship wrecks in the harbor, and 100 from wooden hulled , deepwater sailing miles east in the Straits he found a further ships to wrought iron and finally steel, wreck, that of the tea clipper Ambassador. these distant and forbidding islands are He had hoped to get to the Falkland hallowed ground, strewn as they are with Islands, but this would have to wait until the wrecks of large, gallant vessels morafter his arrival at South Street in 1972. tally wounded and abandoned after their Work at South Street Seaport, after clash with Cape Horn.

Clambering over the Falklands' graduate studies in Cooperstown, New York, provided another opportunity to wrecks of the St. Mary and the Vicar of publish his growing list of vessels. This Bray are vivid recollections for Brouwer, time, it was in the early issues of Sea as is finding the Olympian in the Straits History magazine. Peter Stanford, then of Magellan in 1978. Thwarted in 1970 president of South Street Seaport Mu- by bad roads and a dwindling supply of seum, who was also president of the spare tires for his borrowed vehicle, nascent National Maritime Historical Brouwer didn ' t pursue the Olympian Society headquartered at South Street where it lies 50 miles further out on the from 1970 to 1976, recalls Brouwer's Straits from the Ambassador wreck. But

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SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

"It was like looking at an elephant graveyard."

Brouwer, on his first sighting of the Olympian wreck

on this trip some local guidance took him off the main road onto a rutted track to a hi gh bluff above the Straits. Below lay the Olympian. "What a sight," recalls Brouwer, "one of my greatest ex periences of these ships. Here is the full length of this giant-sized steamboat that went up on the beach in 1906, just sitting in the sand, far up the beach. Right in the center of it is this complete, giant walking beam engine with huge shafts sticking out into massive 30-ft paddlewheels. It was like looking at an elephant graveyard."

It was after this trip that Norman seriously thought of putting his list into a book. His continuing research and extensive travels, which include Australia, New Zealand, Scandanavia, Europe and Eastern Europe, provided the information.

When the World Ship Trust appeared in

Brouwer standing on the bow of rhe sreamer Earns law during a cruise on.Lake Wakaripu in New Zealand in 1989. Eamslaw is the las/ coal-burning steamer in conrinuous opera/ion in rhe solllhern hemisphere.

1979 with just such a book as a stated goal, there was, through NMHS, an instant matching of author and publisher.

Peter Stanford describes Brouwer's work "as a foundation of learning about the ships that also strengthens the network of people who care about these ships." The second ed ition of the International Register adds to that fou ndation with the inclusion of 1200 vessel li sti ngs , some 600 more than the 1985 edition, and the fact that many of these historic vessels have a more secure future is at least in some part due to the Register's publication. Other valuable additions to the new edition are a list of significant vessel remnants throughout SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

the world and a li st of ships Jost si nce the Register's last publication.

Over the years, Brouwer has sat on various committees of the National Trust and served as volunteer consultant on numerous restoration projects. A NMHS trustee until 1985 , he now serves on the society's Advisory Council. He has seen a tremendous growth worldwide of organizations and publications devoted to ship preservation, and a change in approach from the time when, as he wryly recalls, "most sailing ships were being kept as pirate ships." But he sti ll remembers some of the unfortunate losses in hi s lifetime: bodies of water that lost the last of akind of vessel that reall y should have been saved, like the steamboat Alexander Hamilton. fo r the Hud son and th e Sprague, the biggest steam towboat on the Mississippi , with tows larger in area than the Queen. Mary; the many missing chapters in the evolution of the warship, including the Hartford, the last US Navy steam frigate, the Emory Rice, the ironhulled sail and steam gunboat scrapped in 1959, and the Wolverine (ex-USS Michigan), the US Navy 's earliest iron-hulled warship, a side-wheel gunboat that was the only US warship on the Great Lakes for a century, finally cut up around 1950; the last downeaster, the Benjamin F. Packard, and every example of an East Coast coasti ng schooner.

What does the immediate future hold fo r our dean of ships? In November, Brouwer plans a visitto Asia. He expects to take in Canton, China, parts of Thailand and perhaps Burma-further travels for the Register. 1Included in rhe 280 pages of the new International Register of Historic Ships are 16 pages of color and over 600 black and white photographs. The appendices include a full listing of museums , organizations and commercial operators owning historic ships.

It is jointly published by Anthony Nelson Ltd in Shropshire, England and the National Maritim e Historical Society, in association with Mystic Maritime Museum and South Street Seaport Museum , and is available from NMHS for $37.75 ($34.00 for NMHS members) plus $4.50 shipping. "'~"·•Jl>'<.>e-

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MARITIME EDUCATION INITIATIVE â&#x20AC;˘'

Marine Archaeology Experts Bring their Science to Schools

instill an appreciation for lifestyles dependent on the sea; to explain technologies that have made the ocean accessible to humankind; and to introduce underSEA HISTORY Profiles Three Innovative Projects water archaeology as a means of discovering and protecting our maritime past.

by Mark Wilde-Ramsing A variety of activities is presented to campers, aged twelve to sixteen. Video presentations, such as the popular movie An annual project, called "Baker's Kids" students had fo und an historic treasure!

During the fo ll owing three years, new "The Deep" and a slide show called after its energetic instructor, Charlie Baker, is a key part of the North Carolina groups of youths studied the remains of "Paddles, Sails and Propellors," serve to Underwater Archaeology Unit's (UAU) two derelicts and a marine rai lway along interest and instruct the campers in marieducational efforts. Each year, ten to the Wilmington waterfront. While these time tenninology and concepts. Field acfourteen 8th-graders from a rural public sites were not as glamoro us as the tivities reinforce classroom learning. For school system are introduced to under- Waccamaw wreck, the students were instance, after the lecture "Where in the water archaeological methods and re- ex posed to a well -rounded program in World Are We?" which includes exersearch techniques , presented a previ- underwater archaeology and actually pro- cises using maps and navigational instruously unexamined shoreline site, and vided a more realistic view of hi storical ments, campers find themselves in a cataught how to learn as much as they can and archaeological research, which is noe on a local lake testing their ability to navigate with a compass. about it. Over the course of the school often tedious and frustrating .

Much of the week is spent focusyear, the students spend four days ing on hi storic shipwrecks: what away from the classroom: one day of they look like, how they are found, instruction , one in the field , one doand how they are studied. The proing hi storical research and a final gram relies heav ily on Florida' s unday of analysis and conclusion s. derwater archaeology program , both The UAU 's commitment to this their personnel and faci lities. At the project has been due, in large part, to state 's Research and Conservation the great success of the first year's Laboratory , students learn about the project, which focused on the wreck handling and treatment of waterof a wooden steamboat, the identity logged artifacts. A visit to the state 's of which had puzzled state archaerepository of underwater archaeoologists for years. In the field , staff logical data instill s the importance members' uncertainties as to what the students could do, how they North Carolina eighth graders examine an unknown of record keeping. The high li ght of wreck on the shoreline. They were later able to identify the week is the examination and would adapt, and what could be ac- it as the steamer Waccamaw. recording of two shallow water sites: complished seemed to melt away as the day progressed. In the end, prethe steamboat Madison near the cise measurements were recorded, Suwannee River and a late 19thcentury fishing boat, Pricilla, in the and everyone coped well with the stinky, muddy shoreline environment. tidal zone of a nearby island.

On the other side of the country, Success continued during the hi san innovative program tackles the torical research phase as the stuproblem of locating a shipwreck that dents visited the local libra ry and museum in search of clues to the sludents can see and feel, as well as one that is reachable and in a safe wreck 's name. By first di stingui shenvironment. Marco Meniketti, ining poss ible candidates and then , searching through newspaper acstructor at the California Academy of counts, they positi ve ly identified In Florida , students record the remains ofthe steamboat Sciences in San Francisco, decided their wreck. The students not onl y Madi son in the Suwannee River. the answer was to create his own found out that it was the steamer shipwrec k- in the classroom!

Furnishing an experience fo r pre-col- Meniketti describes the initial stages of Waccamaw , which had twenty years of active service in the Wilmington area, legiate students in underwater archaeol- his program: but also that it was originally built as the ogy is not unique to North Carolina; as a "Students arrived on the first class day to see a large aquarium tank in the Nuestra Senora de Reg/a fo r use as a matter of fact, there are several we!Iferryboat in Havana, Cuba. On its maiden established programs around the country. front of the room , and beside it, a ship voyage from New York to Cuba in 1861, A prime example is a summer promodel. Following preliminary disthe vessel was first captured by the Con- gram offered by the Museum of Florida cuss ion , the ship was picked up and federate Anny in Georgetown, South History entitled "From Dugouts to Doulowered into the tank. There she Carolina, released, and then detained and bloons: The Maritime Heritage of floated for a gloriou s 40 seconds, and confiscated by Union forces for use as a Florida." In the words of program super-then began to li st steeply to starboard.

US Navy gunboat. Considering that der- visor KC Smith, the objectives of the There was a shudder, and then in a elicts are seldom positively identified, the week-long "Dugouts" program are to blink she sank. The resounding squeal ~

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SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

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of the children was sheer delight, justifying all labor on the vessel. The class was able to observe the gradual break-up of the ship during subsequent classes a week apart. Owing to the material s [wood, matt board, glue, staples and masking tape] , the ship broke apart easily. Decks separated from beams, masts collapsed, planks came away from the stem post, and light material floated off. The deposition of silt on the site was accomplished pouring sand over the model.

Loose items that might have been carried off by storm or currents were carried off by the instructor. In three short weeks the ship had been transformed intoa400-year-old shipwreck."

Throughout the program the students, age eight through thirteen, are exposed to archaeological methods and theories through video productions, take home exercises and games, and open discussions in the classroom. Eventually the wreck site is "di scovered," and the students develop research questions in preparation for excavation, during which the tank is drained and the site is gridded with strings . Teams consisting of excavators and a notetaker are ass igned excavation units. Their focus is primarily on recording the content of the wreck, which consists of scale-model cannon, anchors, dishes, and the like, that were a vital part of the ship before its sinking. As each team transfers information from their unit to a master ship map on the chalkboard, the picture of the shipwreck emerges.

In thi s way Meniketti is able to acquaint students with the principles of archaeology and provide them with a conceptual model of aspects of the archaeological process such as si te formation, chronology, and association of material. He accomplishes this in a way that is inexpensive and safe, but most important, exciting for hi s students.

These educational programs reveal the potential of underwater archaeology to stimulate classroom learning and to enhanceacampexperienceforour youth .

For underwater archaeologists, these programs also provide an opportunity to present their views and concerns to a young audience, which should pay significantdividends in terms of the protection and appreciation of submerged cu ltural resources in the future . J, Mark Wilde-Ramsing is Staff Archaeologist at the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Unit in Kure Beach NC. SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

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Th e Wh ite Ensign f loats over a convoy in a World War II poster.

THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC

How- the Royal Navy Beat the U -boat

by Paul Quinn

The Royal Navy dUI not accomplish this most vital task of World War II alone, of course, as the British historian Paul Quinn makes clear in this report. But care/ul checking with USN avy sources confirms that nearly three quarters of the U-boats sunk by ships were sunk by British or Canadian ships, and two out of three sunk by aircraft were sunk by British aircraft. A dmiral Ernest J. King, whose attention was focu sed on the Pacific War, clearly underrated the needs of the Battle of the A tlantic-a problem recognized by the A merican Generals Eisenhower and Marshall, and

by President Roosevelt during the war.

The problem is touched on in this British view of the battle which Looks at the ships and men that bore the brunt of the battle on the A llied side.

The battle aga inst the U- boat was showIO

ing signs of going Britain ' s way when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

American entry into the war reversed the trend, as the fo rces the US Navy had devoted to protecting British shipping in the so-called "Neutral Zone" in the Atlantic were sent to the Pac ific. It is rarely remembered that the British Navy then as ked for long-range US Liberator or Lancaster aircraft to be deployed on the US East Coast and fro m Iceland as an anti-submarine patrol. For reasons that make little sense, neither the US Navy nor the RAF considered this possible. The US Army Air Force felt differe ntly, and provided these invaluable patrol planes, often complete with crews. The process of modifying them took all too long, but when they entered service they were crucial to the winning of the battle, closing the midAtlantic gap in the air patrols.

Invaluabl e as the air intervention

proved, the brunt of the battle fell on the ships. T he first reinforce ments were the " Flower" class corvettes. Intended only as coastal escorts, they were quick to build , and came into service before the ocean escorts could be built, so they were empl oyed on the Atlantic. They were fo llowed by 425 other and more capable escorts bu ilt in British yards and others in Commonwealth yards, mainly Canadi an. Also laid down were a number of escort carriers-in British yards and seven on order in the USA (later deli vered under Lend-Lease). There were stopgaps here too, with the Merchant Aircraft Carriers (ordinary merchant ships with a fli ght deck laid overtheir hull s) and conversion of suitable merchant hulls to true escort carriers. The first of these was HMS Audacity, converted from the captured German blockade-runner Hannover, and she quickly established the usefulness of the type in 1941 . This success prompted the USN to build many of these excellent vessels fo r themselves.

The British escort vessels took the fo rm of the friga tes , the sloops, the " Hunt" class escort destroyers and conventional destroyer types. The fri gates were designed fo r building in merchant yards and used two of the engines used by the corvettes, giving them a better performance. The others were turbine warships. The " Hun t" cl ass were not really suitable fo r ocean deployment, and the other destroyers were general purpose. The sloops, however, were outand-o ut U-boat killers.

T he US Coast Guard cutters did yeoman service in the Atl antic War, but the sloops out-classed alI other escorts. They sank mo re than one submarine per ship deployed. This fig ure was never even approached by any other escort vessels.

British escort bu ilding influenced the USN . Captain E. L. Cochrane of the USN Preliminary Des ign Board had followed British developments. He be lieved in destroyer-escorts of the " Hunt" type, and by early 194 1 had submitted no less than six designs fo r an American version. T hese were a ll rejected by the Navy Board (in reality Adm iral King) on the grounds that they were weak in terms of fleet actions, and therefore not needed.

Admiral Darl ing of the British Supply Council, charged with obtaining ships for the Royal Navy, knew of these designs, and persuaded Frank Knox , Secretary to the USN, to get the President to allow an order of I 00 to be purchased for the Royal Navy. The President agreed to 50 in the SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

approaches the target subm arine so slowly that it is not aware that an attack is developing until it is too late to take evasive maneuvers or deploy SBTs (submarine bubble targets, that show up as a submarine on the sonar of the escort .

During the attack, another vessel holds the submarine on sonar from a distance, and directs the attacker. Walker had previously been the commanding officer of the sloop HMS Stork (an example of a pre-war class of sloop) until she was damaged ramming a U-boat. While in her he disposed of three U-boats.

HMS Starling is credited with taking part in 17 successful attacks on U-boats, in line with the credits given in the German and British assessments made in the 1980s. A very recent assessment by the Royal Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence (Navy), reduces this to 14 on the ground that although she was group leader and present at all these attacks, she was only the directing or attacking vessel in 14.

Whatever assessment is used, Starling was the top anti-U-boat vessel by a wide margin , and Walker was the top skipper. The sloops as a class sank more than one submarine per ship deployed.

No other type of vessel approached this success rate, either Allied or Axis, the nearest being some classes of British frigates at about 0.4 submarines per ship deployed. HMS Wild Goose was also an "ace," taking part in eight sinkings , and HMS Woodpecker took part in five. One can only conclude that these were incomparably the best anti-submarine craft of World War II, and that the crews were also unusually well trained and led.

Walker argued long and loud with the Admiralty Directorate of Naval Construction for improvements in the sloop, successful as they were. In particular, he wanted more robust hulls and higher speeds so that the emerging schnorkel ' and Walter boats could be pursued at Captain J ohn Walker, RN whatever speed was necessary in the corts for ocean deployment. They were worst North Atlantic weather.

Interestingly, Walker's death on 9 July constructed on a fleet destroyer hull but with reduced engine power and less ex- 1944 only served to prove that it was his treme speed potential. They were more methods and the characteristics of the robust than the Hunt class destroyers , · ships that counted, not his personality. His but followed the same basic philosophy. ship and his 2nd Support Group continued Ideal though they were, they were too to produce the same results after his death, expensive in money, material and war- sinking about one submarine per month ship-building capacity to be built on the until the unconditional surrender of Nazi same scale as the Hunts and the frigates. Germany just under ten months later-a Commander Walker was the anti-sub- victory that owed much to Walker's methmarine specialist who devised the "creep- ods, nis men and the ships they fought in ing" attack , where the attacking vessel with such determination. .t first instance, and a seventh design was prepared to British requirements by September 1941. These ships were on the stocks at the time of Pearl Harbor, and were taken over by the USN to become the "Evert" and "Buckley" class DEs. These were all that the "Hunt" class should have been, and late in the war the Royal Navy acquired 78 of them under Lend-Lease to replace the four-pipers and some of the Royal Navy "V" and "W" class destroyers of World War I vintage which were rapidly disintegrating after hard driving in the bad North Atlantic winter of 1942-3. The Royal Navy used them without torpedo tubes, which resulted in them being a little over-stable and almost as lively as the corvettes. Consequently, some of the men forsook the bunks provided and slung traditional hammocks! The ships are fondly remembered by their crews, gave excellent service and accounted for about 30 U-boats.

Commander Walker and HMS Starling The leading skipper in the anti-U-boat war was Lt. Commander John Walker, RN, who commanded HMS Starling.

Starling was an improved "Black Swan" class sloop, laid down at Fairfield, 2 1 October 1941 , launched 14October1942, commi ssioned 1 April 1943 . These sloops were built as anti-submarine es-

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THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC

A Vie\ÂĽ frotn the Bo\ÂĽ Torpedo Rootn

of WWI , "Den Wir Fahren Gegen Engelland." Then there were "Hip! Hip! Hip! Hoorays!" which our men on deck returned, and soon we were on our trip to the North Sea island, Heligoland, for trim and diving trials.

For a short while we ca ll e d at Trondheim, one of our bases in Norway, and then off we went on our first trip north . We soon got used to meeting our dai ly Eng lish friend, the Liberator.

One man got angi na. Oh, God! He soon sme ll ed so bad out of his mouth that we had to heave him on board a destroyer. Nearly everybody had constipation due to lack of motion and with the good food we actually felt like fattened geese. Of course we swallowed castor oil by the liter. There was only one toilet or head avai labl e for the 45 men and one had to be an engineer to serv ice the different levers in order to pump the nuggets outboard.

As far as I can remember, about 25 men had to live in the bow torpedo room with two men to one bunk. In other words , when one man left, the other man slid into the still warm blankets and candid odor. It was a way ofU-boat life and we felt good about it. When you had bee11on watch for four hours with heavy seas over the bridge, you were wet to the bone-wet heavy underwear, wet woolen pullovers and wet leather jackets and pants, wet rain jacket and pants and sou ' wester and wet neckerchief! All this did not dry much within the next eight hours, of course, and then you had to put

Otto Giese Recalls Life Aboard U-405

by Harry Cooper

Otto Giese , a native of Bremen, joined the North Atlantic and into the northernthe merchant marine as a cadet in 1933. most hunting grounds along the pack ice The outbreak of war found him serving between Iceland, Jan May e n and as a junior officer aboard Germany's Spitzbergen.

There was about a week 's timefor me third largest ocean liner, SS Columbus, in Caribbean waters. An abortive attempt to get introduced to the nature of a Uby the liner to reach safe haven resulted boat and to the duty expected of me with the able help of the in her scuttling 200 Chief Watch Officer. miles off Baltimore He simply ground me, and the internment of so to say, to death, Giese and fellow mentall y and physicrewmembers in the cally, and he made me United States. An esbite the bullet and spit cape to Japan in 1940, blood in order to be however , allowed welded into unity with Giese to continue war the hi g hly trained service aboard blockcrew. I wanted to show ade runners. But life them that they could aboard U-boats was not break or reject me. what appealed to him, To be one of them was and his return to EuOberlewnam 0110 Giese what I wanted to be. rope aboard a merchantman provided him the opporI was made the boss of the bow torpedo room , which, with my twenty-eight tunity to join the elite U-boat corps. years of age, I was anyway. The others In the North Atlantic we rendezvoused were between sixteen and eighteen , just with von Ersine 's gallant U-boat, which kids who would soon become men under was to escort us to the Spanish coast. fire when the icy breakers of the northern One morning, I recall , we baked fresh Atlantic were al I over the boat and the seas rolls for the U-boat crew and they gave crushed them onto their knees Atlantic U-boat, Type VII, World War II us some bottles of schnapps via heaving On the bridge, Often breaking 1. Superstructure 2. Pressure hull line. When I saw those bearded and their bones and teeth--or when 3. Main deck 4. Forward hatch happy fellows on the bridge of the boat the Slurping nOiSeS Of attacking ~: ~!~~~r~~~~"..':~~~nt cutting through the heavy seas, my mind destroyers, corvettes , frigates was set to leave the blockade runs and to and sloops would prepare them ~: ~~~~:riscope join the U-boats. deep down underwater for the ,g: ~:;:~~ P:::~~~~.

After I spoke to the commanding Ad- incredible and nerve-racking ~~: :~:::::~~~:~: ~~~~ ~~~7~~.) miral in Bordeaux, South France, about detonation of depth charges. ~~: ~~=~~~droplanes and twin screws In Kiel we loaded up with ~~: ~;~~;i'r~~';;, and aft torpedo tube my request of transfer, he did everything possible to get me landed on an Atlantic greasy torpedoes 00 Which the ~~: ~::!?o~t7:e~s~sqh~:~~s and Battery I boat. Early in 1942, my great chance had men scribbled many a formi - ~~: ~~~~~~ 1 1 ~~~(1 ~;~ :i~a;n~u~~~,~~t tank s) come: U-405, Korvetten Kapitan dable joke. Provision s and ~~: ~~~~~o!~~os~u"nnddr::'or;:rd bulkhead Hopmann . Thi s was a VII-C boat, one of stores came on board for eight the wolf pack boats. weeks. They were the best of the It was a cold and wintry morning best, and I may as well admit here when I reported on board as " metrosa that I gained about seventeen asch," an "Engl ish sai lor ass hole," or as pounds on the first two trips.

Soon we left, pushing our bow we called new recruits in the merchant marine, " Moses. " I brought with me through ice using our electric moalready some decorations for the suc- tors and then shifting to diesel. We cessful blockade run , some sea legs and passed the liner St. Louis from which some good seafaring experience, bu there throngs of people watched our passage. was a U-boat ready to go on action into The band played the famous U-boatsong 0

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that still moist and stinking garbage on, only to soaked agai n by the icy waters.

Life in the torpedo room was a happy one, though. At the beginning of the trips, when all torpedoes were still on board, those "torps" resti ng on the floor of the compartment were covered with large wooden boards evened to the same height as the lower bunks. The little space left was usually absorbed by hammocks in which the torpedo mechanics slept. There were clothes a ll over. One morning, when all the others still slept, I watched the always witty little Schtepke from Cologne, who for that week was our steward, coming into the compartment with a full bucket of oatmeal porridge. As he stooped deep under the hammocks, a woollen sock fell into the hot porridge. Thi nking all were asleep, hequietly fished out the sock and dropped it down between the greasy torpedoes.

That morning I passed on my share of breakfast to somebody else.

In their free time, the men pl ayed all sorts of card games, especially what they called "Seventeen and Four," and wagered for imaginary money to be spent next shore leave. Sometimes games ended in a free-for-all, using blankets and pi llow wedges as projectiles. Some imitated auto racers, using nautical and ships technical express ions. Others imitated opera stars, preferably women singing in their highest voices. Every newcomer of the crew had to sing three songs over the intercom. The worse he sang, the more he was liked.

Otto Giese' sfirst boat, U-405

Of course, reading hot stuff was a favorite pastime. There was music from all sorts of records all day long, preferably English jazz or Western. This, however, was on ly part of the free time. One must not forget that potatoes had to be peeled and the entire boat had to be kept as clean as possible. Furthermore, lessons and studies had to be attended.

There were constant fresh-up maneuvers and alarm diving and trim by the clock, where split-seconds meant the difference between life and death .

Real sleep could on ly be found in good weather on the surface or when the boat was submerged. In heavy weather the boat rolled and pitched like mad and the boys were often thrown out of their bunks onto the floorboards and into the bunks on the other side. Sometimes, all the upper bunks unhooked and sailed back and forth on the floor boards li ke torpedoes and the cases ~ _ of vegetables, which had been ~ stored up forward , got loose and -.. . . . _\!3) landed wi th a swoop of coffee 15 from the coffeepot. There was pandemonium, cursing, yelling and constant clatter.

Back at our base at Trondheim, we went skiing with skis borrowed from the Norwegian Highland Police against cigarettes and a favorite GerCaptain 's nook Battery II below deck man fullgrain bread, a speChief Warrant Officers' quarters Forward washroom cialty of the German forces Bow compartment and men 's qu arters Four torpedo tubes and spare torpedoes which opened all sorts of below deck Forward hydroplanes doors, even those to the Outer torpedo tube doors sweet Norwegian girls .

Also there were often military drills, boat maneuvers,

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SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

lessons, etc.

One evening, we were watching a film show in town when suddenly the film stopped; lights went on and a voice said , "All soldiers of fieldpost number M35435 to report immed iately back at base." This was at 2200 hours. Later that night we loaded up the boat with stores and provisions and before the early rays of the sun were up, we had left the fjord.

We called shortly at Narvik and headed back into our northern hunting grounds, boxing against heavy seas from the spring storms and with a watch out for floating mines.

Soon we were at the pack ice and the sea got calm under the most brilliant Polar sun. The sudden alarm dive-a dive for a destroyer-sent the boat down .

Since there was no propeller noise we took a good look at our destroyer and, lo and behold, our destroyer proved to be a miniature iceberg at which we had nearly fired a torpedo.

On this trip in the Barents Sea and Kola Bay, we were in contact with a mammoth convoy. But extremely bad weather, constant British destroyers and planes (even Russian bombers!) pressed us constantly down.

Running west aro und the North Cape at Hammerfest, fierce mountainous seas as high as at Cape Hom overrode the boat from the stem. For days we stood on the bridge with our heavy belts strapped to the periscope mountings to avoid being washed overboard. It happened on U-boats that the entire bridge watch had been washed away without those down in the boat knowing it. Since then, the officer on watch had to report every half hour through the speaking tube to the 13

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central command room that all was , or wasn' t, well above.

One time, a massive wave swept over the boat. For minutes it seemed we were under a green dome of water. When we finally came up, spitti ng and cursing, I fo und my other rear lookout friend down on his knees, wail ing "Where are my teeth? " There was blood all over. We sent him down for a check up. Indeed, all hi s upper and lower front teeth were gone and upper and lower jawbones broken and bent inwards.

Running into Narvik fjord at high speed, we looked with awe at the many wrecks of German destroyers whi ch had gone down in battle with a more numerous enemy. There were wrecks of ships all over! We took quarters on the Stella Polaris, the former yacht of the King of Norway. There was a big welcome party with plenty of liquor. And before we went to our cabi ns we sailed all the white commandant caps, which we fo und on hooks on the promenade deck, into the icy waters. Of course, they made us dive overboard and get them back. There were ice floes all around us.

We got sober right quick before we took a hot bath in a tub and dozed off into deep sleep on the flowery white linen. Who says that U-boatmen don ' t live like "the god in France"-as we say. There were decorations and a short leave home to the dear ones-unforgettable and beautiful days when the hearts were beating highest. But there were heavy bomb attacks, too, and they dropped leaflets saying that the life of a U-boatman only lasted an average of 60 days.

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Giese left U-405 in November 1942; a year later, almost to the day, U-405 was lost with all hands in a fierce duel with the destroyer USS Borie. The Borie was herselfso badly damaged during the encounter that she was abandoned with the loss of one third of her crew. .t

This excerpt is from Otto Giese' s oral account of life aboard U-405 and U181, adapted by Harry Cooper. Cooper is president ofSharkhunters, recognized as the leading research source in the Wes tern hemisphere for information pertaining to German U-boat activities in World War II. For information about Sharkhunters , send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Sharkhunters, PO Box 1539-ACl , Hernando FL 32642.

SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

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The Search for the Etruscan Wreck of Giglio Island

by Timothy Dingemans

In August 1982, a 6th century BC wreck was discovered and Oxford University MARE was baptized. learn more he would have to talk to the wreck' s discoverer, Reg Vallintine, whose name was well known to Mensun.

Mensun Bound realized that if this find was indeed from a wreck, rather than an isolated item of rubbish thrown overboard from a passing ship, then this would be a site of major archaeological importance. Only a few remnants had ever been found from ships of the Archaic period and, if any major assemblage of timbers remained , this wreck would represent the oldest deepwater hull ever found.

Mensun and Reg met in the But the story really goes back to 1961 when Reg Vallintine (then a summer of 1981 at Reg's London home. An examination of Reg's young man fresh out of the army, old photographs confirmed a cargo now a famous figure in the underfrom at least three different parts water world) was running a diving of the Mediterranean. Reg agreed school on the island of Giglio, a that Mensun should mount an exsmall sun-drenched atoll some 11 pedition to try to locate the wreck miles off the coast of Tuscany, and establish whether any mate-¡ North Italy. It was here, while leadrial survived. Reg was to be the ing a group of holiday divers, that Chief Diver and Mensun the Reg first happened upon the wreck that was later to be billed as the Project Director.

On his return to Oxford, "Oldest Deep-Ocean Hull in the World."

Mensun went to the Lincoln Professor of Classical Art and ArOn the northwest coast of the chaeology, Sir John Boardman, island, a short distance offshore, and showed him the photographs. there is an underwater " island," Instantly understanding their imwhich rises to within a couple of portance, Sir John offered his help, meters of the surface; it was at the base of this reef that Reg and his An artist's depiction of the 600nc Giglio wreck. When and indeed has been of immeasurable support to MARE ever since. companions found scattered am- discovered, it was the oldest deep-ocean hull everfound.

The project was given the full phora remains and other treasures Mensun Bound was working. One day support of the World Ship Trust, thus from antiquity.

News of the discovery spread and he and his associate (now wife) Joanna making the undertaking a collaboration soon divers began to arrive on the island Yellowlees had to make a visit to a between the Trust, the University and intent upon plunder. In these early days, person living in the south of England. the Superintendency of Archaeology for maritime archaeology was still strug- Unbeknown to Mensun and Joanna, he Tuscany. gling to establish itself and the authori- had been one of the divers taking antiqThe participation of the World Ship ties were powerless to act. Reg, how- uities from the wreck back in the early Trust gave the project badly needed credever, aware of the destruction being sixties. On the top of his bookshelf at ibility; but many important figures in the wrought, carefully noted, and where pos- ceiling level , Mensun spotted a fragment ' British archaeological establishment resible photographed, the artifacts that the of pottery that he immediately recog- mained unconvinced of the vessel's exdivers were taking. He even tried to set nized as the handle of an Etruscan am- istence. So Mensun and Joanna returned up a museum on the island, starting with phora. Aware of its potential signifi- to Reg Vallintine 's logbooks and notes a couple of mysterious copper objects cance, Mensun inquired as to its origin. in search of clues to the often very cold that, for want of a better word, he called The fragment was brought down from trails to more information and actual "shields." Unfortunately , this initiative the shelf and for the first time in his life artifacts from the 1961/62 pickings. failed: on his return to Giglio the follow- he heard about the island of Giglio. He One major piece, however, continued ing year for the start of the new diving was told, however, that if he wanted to to elude them-a beautifully decorated They had been swimming for a long time. Soon they would have to head back to the sunshine above. It looked like another frustrating, unsuccessful dive.

Then they saw it: a spread of pottery consisting of no more than four or five amphora fragments. It was not much, but it was the evidence they had to have ifthe project was to continue. Proof!

It was August 1982. The Giglio Project had begun and Oxford University MARE (Maritime Archaeological Research) had been baptized.

16

season, he found that only the "shields" remained-the other artifacts had all disappeared. His dream , as quoted in London Diver magazine, of a place where "after nearly 3000 years, the work of ancient potters and artists could be seen again" would have to wait. In fact, it took almost a quarter of a century.

Our story now moves to Oxford University, where the young archaeologist

SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

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Corinthian bronze helmet. A spectacular find , which is now the central motif on the MARE crest. The helmet was known to have been taken to Germany in 1961 by a diver named Hans.

Eventually, afterthree years of searching and many fal se leads, a German diver, who was crippled from the bends, remembered the surname, and the correct Hans was found. After legal agreements had been signed, he allowed Mensun and Joanna to view the helmet.

It was a work of outstanding artistic and technical achievement. It had been beaten into shape from a single sheet of bronze and then beautifully engraved with wild boars on the cheeks and curled snakes along the brows. This was an object that not only functioned as an essential item of armor, but also served to proclaim the wealth of its owner wherever he went (figures 1 & 2).

By August 1982, they had amassed enough evidence to prove the vessel's ex istence, and its archaeol0gical value.

The wreck certainly warranted an expedition tot.he site to establish what remained.

Search for the Site Divers had repeatedly spoken of a cave in the underwater cliff face, and Mensun hoped that once it had been located, the wreck itself would soon be di scovered.

Also, the presence of Reg, even after many years of absence, increased the team 's confidence of finding the site. It was not long before the cave was spotted, but the wreck itself proved more elusive. Days passed without any clue to its whereabouts. Team morale began to evaporate.

Fate had left it to Mensun and Reg to rediscoverthe site. While diving together at 50 meters of depth , they came across the four or five smal I amphora fragments mentioned at the start of thi s article.

With enthusiasm again soaring, the team began systematic searches with a metal detector. Thi s, they hoped, wou ld pick up one of the " bronze shields" or some other metallic object beneath the sand at the foot of the reef. Two days later a pair of exc ited divers returned , having rece ived registrations on the detector that indicated a large metallic presence just beneath the surface of the seabed. Mensun and Dr. David Corps dived to investi gate, and, by brushing back the sand layer by layer, di scovered a large iron concretion. Imbedded in its side was an Etruscan amphora handle identical to the one first seen in England. As Dr. SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

Joanna Yellowlees holds an elaborately painted Greek arybal/os recovered from the Giglio wreck. The wreck carried an astounding range of objects; under the guidance ofits merchant owner, the vessel had tra veled to a wide range of ports, trading as it j ourneyed.

After 2 ,600 years underwater, the neck of an Etruscan amphora is lifted to the swface, below right. At bottom left, divers tie a copper "bun" ingot to a tray to be raised to the swface.

Corps photographed the find in situ, Mensun moved several meters away and began hand-fanning the sand. Almost immediately the tiny mouth of a small vase appeared. Dr. Corps photographed the emerging pot, and then together they fanned back the sand to reveal a black glazed Corinthian aryballos of the "segment class." Although broken in two parts, each half fit together perfectly.

The nex t day Hami sh Hay found a

mug from the Greek city-state of Sparta.

By the end of the season the team had raised an astounding range of objects: an intact "Ionian" bowl , two lead ingots, a wooden stopper, pieces of Samian and Etruscan amphoras and many fragments from various Cori nthian pots that had been e laborate ly painted with animal fri ezes.

It was left to the inhabitants of the island to reveal the " bronze shields" that 17

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OXFORD UNIVERSITYWORLD SHI P TRU ST and SOPRIN TENDEN Z A ARCHEOLOGICA per la TOSCA NA Island of GIGLIO rofil e of off-shore reef & site

A profile of the wreck site at the base of a small submerged "island." The considerable depth of the site required divers to take precautions.

Reg had found in 1961 . One day Mensun, Reg and Joanna met a local resident in one of the portside bars, who, upon hearing the story of the "shields," took them to a nearb y government storeroom.

There, under a pile of boxes and other rubbi sh, were Reg ' s original "shields."

As Mensun had suspected, they were copper " bun" ingots.

Several of these ingots were later excavated by the team. One example recovered from under a rock slide was particularly interesting because it had a large "lug" on one side. This was the mould of the channel down which the molten metal had poured on its way into the receptacle. At one time the site had been littered with these ingots, but, because they were so large, they were easily visible, and thus, one by one, they had been taken by clandestini.

The presence of so much unworked metal highli ghted the importance of northwest Italy 's mineral deposits. Itwas metal which first attracted the other nations of the Mediterranean to Etruria and made the Etruscans wealthy and powerful.

In effect, it was these mundane lumps of metal that were paying fo r the wide range of exotic luxury goods that the Giglio ship carried.

The excavation continued for five summers. During the final months the team came upon the remains of the vessel itself. This was an exciting find that made news around the world , for it was, after all, the oldest deep-ocean merchant hull that had been found by archaeologists up to that time. (An older wreck , discovered by George Bass in Turkey in 1984, has since come to light.)

18

Figure I Figure 2 This helmet, shown before and ajier conservation , was takenfrom the wreck in the 1960s. The helmet had been beaten into shapeji·om a single sheet of bronze and then engraved with wild boars on the checks and curled snakes along the brows.

The clandestini It was, however, never an easy excavation. First there was the depth , and , because of thi s, the ever-present spectre of the bends. But even more worrying was the constant threat posed by the looters , or clandestini as the Italians so co lorfully call them. Mensun , whose whole career has been a crusade agai nst them, is more vivid in hi s choice of metaphor; he has said of them that "they are to wrecks what death-watch beetles are to timber-frame houses, or maggots are to a carcass."

Strong stuff, but then one day on Giglio it was the activities of such vandals that almost cost Mensun , and hi s wife Joanna, their lives. They were on the first dive of the day , and , as they slowly fell through the water, and the bottom came into focus , they were horrified to find themselves looking down into what they later described as a bombcrater in the middle of the site.

Overnight the looters (or "jackals" as some of the Italian papers called them the nex t day) had gone in with portable air-lifts and woofed up a large portion from the very heart of the site. At least three intact painted Greek pots of enormous value, on which the team had been working, were stolen; and no doubt much more was taken from lower levels where excavation had not yet penetrated. And everywhere were strewn fragments of painted pottery which , when later assembled, turned out to be from a large wine-mixing crater decorated with ani mals and dancing men. Obviously, while the looters were trying to rip it free from the seabed, the delicate container had come apart in their hands.

The emotions raised by the discovery of this devastation caused Mensun and Joanna to "gulp" their air without realizing it, so that first Mensun, and then Joanna, ran out of air. Holding his breath Mensun scuttled across the seabed to the emergency air supply . He just made it.

But by then Joanna was almost out. The onl y other emergency air station was on the ship-line 40m above. Once again they made it by the skin of their teeth.

The find s After the bronze helmet, the most spectacular finds were the painted pots from Corinth (figures 3 & 4 ). These consisted of decorated craters, jugs, cups, table amphoras and aryballoi- the latter being small , round-bodied pots, about the size of a small orange. Because of thei r moderate dimensions they were easily missed by the clandestini. They were decorated with animals, battling warriors, and beasts from the mythologies.

The presence of so much Corinthi an pottery on a wreck of this date is not surprising because the ship sank just a few years before Athens took over the Corinthian ceramic markets. In fact, at the time the ship sank, Corinth was sti ll the cultural center of the Mediterranean world.

Fro m E truri a there came small bucchero bowls and a series of bucchero kantharoi (or drinking chalices). There were also Etruscan aryballoi, of which the most spectacular had two wi ld boars painted on it in a manner imitative of contemporary Corinthian styles.

The vessel was also carrying a number of painted pots from ancient Sparta.

One of these, a miniature aryballos, had been found by Mike and Beryl BroomSEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

Archaic Greek script on the sides. The remain s of an in scription in Archaic Greek makes it almost certain that the tool is of Greek, rather than Etruscan, manufacture. f

r Figure 3 Many painted pots from Corinth were found , including the 01 y bal/oi sho wn above. On the right , a conservator cleans a reconstructed Corinthian pot.

shooft in the 1960s. They thought it was an Etruscan door knob! After seei ng a BBC documentary on the 1983/84 season they contacted Mensun to inquire regarding the sign ificance of their find.

As a result it can now be found in the archaeological museum at Florence along with all the other find s from the wreck. It would be encouraging if more divers had thi s attitude towards material they had taken from ancient shipwrecks.

The metal finds included copper nuggets, fishing weights, arrowheads, ingots, and some small items of ship ' s eq uipment. As the wreck predates coinage, the nuggets may well have been used as money, espec iall y in view of the ir size (I Imm by 5 lmm). The numerous iron bars that were fo und wou ld also perhaps have functioned as money.

The arrowheads all had a single spine down one side. Many arrow heads of this type have been found on the sites of the battles fought by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. These of course were foug ht about the same time that the Giglio ship sank. The role of the arrows was probabl y defensive. Such a rich cargo certainly needed protecting and battles at sea during this period are well attested to in art. Two Etruscan vases, one at the British Museum and one at the Louvre, show ships locked in battle.

Olive pips were also much in evidence. The olive in antiquity provided a cheap and abundant food source, and its oil was used to cook and to fuel lamps.

The presence of so m any olives in Etruscan amphoras suggests a thriving oli ve oi l industry in Etruria. This might ex pl ain the exemption given for o li ves

by Solon of Athens , when he imposed his ban on the ex port of Attic agricultural products. Perhaps he feared a burgeoning overseas o live industry that was already threatening Athens' traditional dominance in this area.

SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

Figure 4

Pitch was also fo und in ab undance.

This was hard ly surpri sing considering the many uses it had in antiquity. It was, for instance, used for temple and house construction , shipbuilding, waterproofing amphoras, fl avoring and preserving food and manufacturing paints and makeup.

Although the pitch was difficult to excavate, its blessing was that it served to protect many de licate wooden artifacts that otherwise would have perished. For instance, it was due to the pitch that a series of musical pipes survived. The Etruscan fo ndness for pipe music was noted by the anc ient writer Athenaeus and, indeed, pipe players can be seen on many of the Etruscan tomb paintings . Scho lars from the Conservatory of Music in Florence have replicated these pipes; the first rec itals were held last year.

Also from the pitch came a wooden writing plaque, part of an inlaid couch leg and an elaborate ly carved wooden stopper or lid of remarkable detail and skill. Thi s stopper illustrates just how much wood carving, as an art form, had come to be valued ; it is a great pity that so very little of it has survived.

One of the most fasc inating and ex traordinary pieces to have survived was a pair of boxwood calipe rs. No calipers from antiquity had ever been found before . The shape of the heads was almost identical to those on a pair being used by the team draughtsmen. Their design and the quality of their workmanship was superb. The heads locked together for transport, and there was a small retaining stud at the extreme end of the beam to stop the mobile head from sliding off when full y extended. Simple thumb pressure was used to lock the head whi le measuring. Two bron ze pins at the base of each head gave greater accuracy and could be used for scoring. There was

The hull: the GBG method of construction To many, the most exciting arti fact was the hull itself, the remains of which were raised in a spec iall y designed box in August 1985. The image of the keel in its box rising through the water was beamed around the world. As the team motored their precious timbers around the point and into the town of Campese where they had their headquarters and conservation lab, it appeared as if the entire island was there on the quayside cheering what the papers were calling " the completion of the 2600 year voyage. " The most remarkable feature of the hull was the manner in which its timbers had been joined. There were no meta l fastenings , nor was there any evidence of the morti se-and -te non technique which is so well known from later antiquity. On the Giglio ship the planks were laced together. On the inboard side of the planks, on e ither side of the seam, had been chiseled little triangular notches into which holes had then been drilled, in diagonal direction s, to emerge on the actual interface of the seams (fig 5). The lacing was then passed through these holes which were then made watertight On the Giglio ship ,planks were laced to gether in a construction technique only f ound on two other vessels of a later date.

Figure s

with small cy lindrical plugs . A lmost identi ca l construction techniques have been fo und on two other wrecks of slightl y later date, one from Bon Porte off the South of France, and the other from off Gela in Sici ly. For thi s reason the technique has become known as the GBG method of construction (i.e. Giglio, Bon Porte, Gela).

The ship 's keel represented the ultimate rewa rd fo r MARE ' s labors. For 19

The MARE team struggling up the beach at Campese with one ofthe stone anchor stocks.

many, its recovery was the emotional high point of many years of effort and commitment.

Is the ship Etruscan or Greek? The construction suggests that it is Etruscan.

The mortise-and-tenon method was common on deepwater vessels in the Aegean at thi s time. In the north central areas of the Mediterranean, however, the stitched method was still in frequent use. Etruria fal ls into a geographical area of less developed ship construction. The fact that the ship is there at all is also suggestive of Etruscan origin. The wreck site is in the middle of Etruscan waters at a time

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when the Etruscans were at the height of their power and closely guarding their waters.

The cargo is of mixed source. The ship under the guidance of its merchant owner had traveled to a range of ports trading its cargo as it journeyed, enabling the ship to be run on a commercial basis. The ship probably came to Giglio as part of its continuous trading run , for found close to the wreck (and more had been seen in the 1960s) was a halffinished anchor stock. It was made of a stone that matched the quarry on Giglio.

This quarry was only 244 meters from the shore, and so we can conclude that the wrecked ship had stopped to take on these half-finished stocks and sell them further on in its journey.

In conclusion, this wreck is providing a wealth of material to different disciplines. At the same time, it helps to increase our understanding of a very successful group of people, particularly some of the intricacies of Mediterranean trade in that period. -1 Timothy Dingemans worked as a volunteer diver on the Mary Rose project and has been active in MAREfor several years.

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Maritime Archaeological Research (MARE) is currently involved with the followin g projects: • a wreck in Greece • a Byzantine wreck off the prison island of Gorgona in Italy • a British frigate on a coral reef in the Caribbean • a cannon site off Gibraltar (believed to be one of the siege gun-ships from the Great Siege of Gibraltar) •a survey in Wales of hulks in Rhyl harbor • underwater surveys of Liverpool Bay and the Thames Estuary • a 17th century Swedish vessel off the Shetlands • an Elizabethan wreck off Alderney in the Channel Islands (found last summer) An interim report on the Giglio project has been published by the Hellenic Institute of Archaeology, Athens as a supplemental issue of the journal Enalia. To order, send a check or money orderfor £5 50 to "OxfordUniversityMARE," 4ButtsRoad, Horspath, Oxford OX9 JRH UK.

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MARINE ART NEWS Exhibitions Present a Contrast of Styles and Approaches Two trips early in the summer provided opportunities to view two marine art exhibitions quite different in content. It was a stimulating contrast. One was close to home in Mystic, Connecticut, the other in distant Sydney, Australia. Mystic Maritime Gallery's "Modem Marine Masters" was another top drawer exhibition of outstanding American marine artists, the sort of event we have come to expect from Gallery director Russell Jinishian. The gallery appeared as a grand emporium, brimming with product. Watercolors and oils large and small hung in clusters about the walls, here and there interspersed with some startling sculpture and displays of finely detailed scrimshaw.

There were too many excellent examples in the best tradition to detail here. But two oils worth immediate mention are Don Demers 's "A Racing Wind, Gloriana and Quickstep, 1891 ," (24" x 30") and John Stobart's "Louisville, Water Street in 1870." "Gloriana and Quickstep," which was featured prominently in the exhibit and graced the cover of the catalog, deserved the special attention. The scene was similar to Demers' 1991 work, "Navajo and Valkyrie!/," but the colors are wanner, the texture of sea more true and the play of light on the great spreads of canvas is an irresistible draw for the eye. Stobart's " Loui svi lle" is a much smaller, more delicate piece, just 12" x 16", that has extraordinary luminosity. Early morning light streams over the horizon and across the waterfront to reflect brightly off the starboard side of a river packet.

Deft brushwork and layering allow the light to infuse and penetrate the scene.

To imagine the exhibit at the Australian National Maritime Museum, we have to leave the idea of traditional marine art behind for a moment. Rather than calling on marine artists to depict the ir special subject, the P&O Art A wards , with its high purse, attracted a broad category of artists to paint marine subjects, spec ifically the ports and waterfronts of Australia. The results , displayed in the museum 's modern and spacious Mazda Gallery, were impressive: mixed media pieces and paintings on large canvases, often abstract, with unusual and dramatic perspectives. They might not make a traditionalist happy , but, to this viewer, they represent a fresh and appealing use of familiar im-

agery. The winner of the $15,000 opencategory prize was David Bowers with "Dockside," a 31" x 42", three-dimensional work in paint on heavy plywood depicting a port scene of bulk coal loading. Bower screwed together shaped layers of plywood as a base for his bold brushstroke sketch of waterfront activity. The winner in the prints and drawings category was Peter Yeomans, with "Pilot Boarding" (32" x 23"), which shows a nighttime boarding scene from a pilot boat deck.

-

K EVIN HAYDON

Exhibitions • 26 September-8 November, The Fourteenth Annual Mystic International brings together paintings , drawings , sculpture and scrimshaw by leading artists from all over the world . Judges for this event are Stephen Doherty, Editor-

in-Chief of American Artist Ma gazine, and George Plimpton, founding editor of Paris Review. Mystic Maritime Gallery, Mystic CT 06355-6001 ; 203 572-8524.

• 1 October-6 November, Seascape and Landscape Paintings by Howard A. Curtis (American, 1906-1989). Quester Gallery, On The Green, Stonington CT 06378; 203 535-3860.

• 5 October-March, 1993, Ironclads and Paddlers, an exhibition of watercolors

by Ian Marshall that were used by the artist to illustrate his new book of the same title. The Navy Museum, Washington Navy Yard, 901 M Street Southeast, Washington DC 20374; 202 433-4882.

• 20 November-31 December, Four Distinguished Artists features a collection of 60 new pieces from artists Mark Myers, Marek Sarba, David Thimgan, and Kent U llberg. Mystic Maritime Gallery , Mystic CT 06355-6001 ; 203 572-8524.

David Bowers's "Dockside," aC1yliconply(3J"x42" ), winner in the open category of the 1993 P&O Art Awards at th e Australian National Maritime Museum. Bottom left, "Pilot Boarding" , charcoal and conte drawing (32 " x 23" ), winner in th e prints and drawings category.

PHOTO: JENNIFER CARTER. ANMM

Donald Demers' soil "A Racing Wind, Gloriana and Quickstep, 1891" (24 " by 30" ), was featured at My sti c Maritime Gallery's "Modern Marin e Masters" exhibit this past summer.

PH OTO: JENNIFER CA RTER . AN MM

SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

23

John Stoba rt's

WORLDS CAPE ~ xperience the joys of painting outdoors with John Stobart, renowned artist.

Join John as he travels the globe, painting directly from life, and demonstrates the simplicity of the method that has made him the foremost living

Montserrat (VHS) A British crown colony, this "Emerald isle of the Caribbean" remains largely unspoiled by tourism and retains its Irish heritage. Known for lush greenery, _black sand beaches, _and the friendliness of its people; and dominated by two volcaruc peaks that "manufach!re" clouds, Montserrat is the perfect setting for Stobart to teach us his technique for painting skies, a skill for which he is widely recognized.

Show #5904 $19.95 + 4.50 S&H

maritime artist.

Laguna Beach (VHS) Simplifying Outdoor Painting (VHS) This video presentation shows the simplicity of the method John Stobart has developed during his 35 year painting career.

It is an overview of the basic requirements the aspiring artist needs in order to be prepared for painting from nature.

Included is a lesson on drawing and perspective, and instruction on preparation of a canvas, and a look at the materials needed for a field trip.

Show #5983

$24.95 + 4.50 S&H

VIDEOS OF OUR THIRTEEN PART SERIES JOHN STOBART 'S WORLDSCAPE AS SEEN ON PBS:

St. Barthelemy (VHS) On this exquisite island in the French West Indies, John Stobart shows us how to select a subject that will make a classic composition . As he mingles with the locals on the exotic St. Jean's beach, Stobart provides an example of how outdoor painting can be a dynamic experience.

Show #5901

Show #5905

$19.95 + 4.50 S&H

Savannah (VHS) As we ride with Stobart in a horse-drawn carriage through its famous squares, the charm and history of Savannah are brought to life in his painting of Madison Square, as he talks about th_e importance of continuing the tradition of old masters who tram stildents in the basics of drawing and painting.

Show #5906 $19.95 + 4.50 S&H

Honfleur (VHS) One of the most paintable places on earth, this quaint town on the coast of France attracted some of the greatest painters who ever lived. It is here that Boudin, Monet and Corot met and formed the school of impressionistic art. Stobart paints a scene of the historic harbor and the Lieutenance, a building dating back to the sixteenth century that once housed the King's Lieutenant, and served as a gateway to the town.

Show #5907

$19.95 + 4.50 S&H

$19.95 + 4.50 S&H

Maui (VHS) In this tropical paradise, Stobart shows us how to find lost treasures in unlikely places. Even in this tourist haven, Stobart discovers serenity at the site of Charles Lindbergh's grave. At the end of one of the most winding roads in the world, Stobart paints a little Hawaiian church in this remote part of the island.

Show #5902

Stobart visits this vibrant southern California artists' community and tells us about his initi?-1 fasc_ination with ".'-merica, and California in particular. From his position overlooking the expansive ocean and colorful beach, he c_reates a. s~mple landscape painting that demonstrates the basics of _=mg colors, seeing the subject as a series of shapes, and his own style of painting figures .

$19.95 + 4.50 S&H

Greenwich (VHS) This program follows the progress of one of Stobart's studio paintings over a three month period. Beginning at the Greenwich Historical Society where he gathers his reference material, moving to his on-site compositional painting, S_tobart reveals the process of retrospective painting combined with experiential observation. We also get a rare glimpse of Stobart at work in his Boston studio as he brings to life this scene as 1t existed over a hundred years ago.

5908

Lyme Regis (VHS) Embracing one of the most ancient harbors in the world, Lyme Regis sits on the southern coast of England and protects small boats from the rough seas of the English Channel. Here in Cobb's Harbour, Stobart is joined by English watercolonst Bert Wright. The artists paint the san:e scene, while ~iscussing their different techniques, demonstrating how two artists can arrive at different interpretations of the same subject.

Show #5903 $19.95 + 4.50 S&H

$19.95 + 4.50 S&H

Martha's Vineyard (VHS) The location of his summer home, this island finds Stobart painting a classic landscape subj~ct, and we fe_el the inspiration behind his encouragement of artists to pamt directly from nature. We learn about who John Stobart is as he talks about his childhood in England and the forces that propelled him toward his career in oil painting.

Show #5909

$1 9.95 + 4.50 S&H

BOOKS

Jersey (VHS)

•

Located ten miles off the coast of France, this island in the English Channel offers some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere in Europe. Sitting up high on a narrow road that leads to the famous Orgueil Castle, he paints a typical Jersey countryside scene of a hillside rolling down to Gorey Harbor.

It is in this serene setting that Stobart reflects on his life as an artist . He encourages young artists to take up painting as a way of life that can offer endless opportunities and rewards .

Show #5910

The Pleasures of Painting Outdoors-A Diary of the thirteen part PBS WorldScape series.

This companion piece to the PBS series follows John Stobart's progress throughout the making of the series. It contains anecdotes and painting tips for the aspiring artist, and provides some background and research information on the scenic areas visited throughout the series. (soft cover $19.95, hard cover 29.95 + 4.50 S&H

$19.95 + 4.50 S&H

Hilton Head (VHS) On this island in South Carolina, Stobart paints a scene of a little shrimp boat nestled in a quaint harbor along the intracoastal waterway. A conversation conducted with Joe Bowler, a well known portrait artist, includes a provocative discussion of the sta-t:e of art education in America today. Both artists, although different in their concentrations and styles, agree that art education must revive the teachings of the masters, or else their knowledge will be lost.

Show #5911 $19.95 + 4.50 S&H

Westport Point (VHS) It seems that around every corner and up every driveway there

is a subject to be painted here in this charming community on the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border. Here we learn the critical lesson of vanishing perspective and simple composition.

The stunning painting of this scene exhibits the elements and fundamental concepts of drawing and painting.

Show #5912 $19.95 + 4.50 S&H

This 224 page book comprises the story of the artist's early development and his fascination with the ports of the 19th century. With sixty superbly reproduced paintings, this definitive work represents the culmination of years of work by the artist. $95.00 + 9.00 S&H

American Maritime Paintings of John Stobart A marine art gallery; a concise survey and important new perspective on American maritime history; a lively and intimate biography from boyhood days to the present. More than 70 color plates of major paintings with extensive commentary, plus numerous halftones and drawings. Oversized 12 x 15 1/i inch format, 237 pages. $95.00 + 9.00 S&H

TO ORDER VIDEO TAPES OR BOOKS

call 800-915-9595

Beer (VHS) In this charming English town, Stobart paints alonside internationally recognized English artist Trevor Chamberlain. Mr. Chamberlain is the author of a book on oil painting designed to teach painters the basics of outdoor painting. The two artists tackle the same subject, but have totally individual approaches to the subject. This show stresses the individuality and personality that defines the "signature" of each painter.

Show #5913

Stobart: The Rediscovery of America's Maritime Heritage

For every purchase of $100 or more prior to May 31, 1994, Yankee Accent will provide a certificate crediting $100 toward any current or rare, full-color limited edition Stobart print which you choose by December 31, 1994.

$19.95 + 4.50 S&H

The Complete WorldScape Series (VHS) Follow John Stobart through the entire series as seen on PBS. All thirteen shows, each with its own unique location, painting tips, and anecdotes.

Series

$129.95 + 4.50 S&H

TO ORDER STOBART PRINTS contact our Osterville gallery

•

YANKEE ACCENT® 23 Wianno Avenue, Osterville, MA 02655 Telephone 508-428-2332 FAX 428-0009 For every current or rare, full-col or limited edition print purchased prior to May 31, 1994, Yankee Accent will provide a $100 certificate of credit good toward purchase of any videotapes or books you choose to December 31, 1994.

Yankee Accent has been a john Stobart print gallery since 1974 among his first ten American dealers

MARINE ART

John Stobart's ''WorldScape'' America's premier marine artist sets out on a new tack, twentyeight years after arriving in New York

by Peter Stanford " I didn ' t know he had it in him ," I said , as the closing credits rolled up on the screen over a West Indian beach scene , where we had watched John Stobart dab, stroke and brush into be ing a vibrant recreation of that scene in oil paints, in hi s own idiom. I was frankl y stunned. What an incredible thing to d ~x pl a inin g on camera what is happening in a picture, while you are bringing it into being !

"I didn't know that anyone had it in them," said Norma, who actually is a painter herself. We were exalted (there is no other word for it), caught up in the splendor of the creation , and made aware of man 's mi ssion to re-create it, joyfull y, all of it-in this case, sailboards with the ir bright striped sail s, waving palm fronds, sea-smoothed sand and strolling people, and clouds, and sky, and a mountain hunched over the scene like a tutelary god overlooking it all , the swarming, busy happy life on the beach.

The Subject Finds You "W ell , actually, it wasn 't as tough as I thought it would be," said John a few days later, when other business brought me to Boston and I decided to stop by his studio on Union Wharf. "I was terrified , of course. The worst part was that we had to find a subject, and then paint it.

But that isn' t what really happens.

What really happens is the subject finds you. You ' re wa lking down a street and something reaches out to you. The nex t thing you know yo u get out yo ur paint box , you've had it, you ' ve got to paint it. " The video of John painting a beach scene in St. Barthe lemy which Norma and I had watched with suc h fasc ination , actua ll y shows that process. One sees John

"Though Venice is crammed with subjects, I spent three whole days in endless searching before I came across a view that jolted me into action."

26

framing and rejecting scenes , talking of balance, of fo reground and background , and always of seeking simplicity, espec iall y for the beg inning artist-who he is most interested in reaching in hi s new series of v ideos named " WorldScape."

He walks by tantalizing scenes, distant is lands, graceful boats with underbodies exposed on the beach, noble headlands.

He talks about what' s good about them .

Then suddenl y he comes on something that gets to him-a curving beach, the palm trees, the pass ing people. And he says: "T hi s is it. Thi s has it- it' s magic."

And fro m that po int, gentle viewer, you too are hooked , and you will feel the force that pull s the artist toward the scene and makes hi s brush dab, check, and push forward again to translate salt air and sunlight (" light bounci ng all around the place," Stobart says at one point) and the haze of distant hi Ils and the immediacy of rustling palm trees-al I this-into paint laid on stretched canvas.

John Stobart brought some special equipment to this scene, equipment in the fo rm of artistic experience he had gone to some pains to acquire. When he arrived in the United States in 1965 , he had behind him years of training at

London ' s Roya l Academy School s and of o utdoor painting of nature from the life, a nd painting ships commi ssioned by steamship companies. And he had hi s heroes, the heroes of his kind of painting, in a proud lineage reaching bac k from the remarkable expressive work of Edward Seago (whose work also reached and astonished this writer in the years fo llo wing World War II) to the hay wains, wate r meadows and wet East Ang lian skies of John Constable a century earlier-with other paladins along the way like the French Eugene Boudin, a grand painter of ports and shipping on the Frenc h coast of the English Channe l, and Con sta ble's contemporary, the French landscape painter Jean Baptiste Corot- whose " View ofYilleneuve- lesA v ig non" Stobart remembers in his latest book, The Pleasures of Painting Outdoors, left him " absolute ly o ve rwhe lmed" when he first encounte red it in 1952, just over forty years ago.

What Corot and Boudin, Constable and Seago taught Stobart was not to copy their work, but to work as they did , painting the outdoor world outdoors, from nature. And in doing so , he began to fi nd out how he rea ll y saw that world , and what he had to say about it. In other words, he was developing his own style, or"signature. " And when you come to think of it, isn' t thi s what draws you to an arti st and makes you seek out his wo rk- that you are sharing in his vision, hi s way of seeing the world?

An Artist's Studio I had been in Boston for the National Maritime Alliance Confe re nce in mid-September this year and stopped off to consult with

" Riodel/e Torresel/e," by John Stobart, o il on can vas, 16" x 12"

SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

"He just puts down the paint, no hesitancy, and the picture he sees comes bursting throughall vibrant, alive. "

â&#x20AC;˘

"Spring Creek" by Mi chael Karas , oil on panel, 9" x 1 J "

" ... I distinctly recall being impressed by the amount of light that was reflecting off the beach onto ... all surfaces above it. "

"BaieSt. Jean,St.Barthelemy." The young woman on the beach with child in hand entranced him. So he painted her into the piclure, bringing her to life with a few brush strokes. Oil on canvas , 16" x 12 "

SEA HI STOR Y 67, AUTUM N 1993

27

MARINE ART

The English town of "Beer, A View ofthe ChalkCliffs ,Looking East," by John Stobart, oil on canvas, 12" x 16"

Sandra Heaphy, John Stobart's lively aide and endlessly patient business manager, about a few dates in the artist's career and also to secure the photos of the paintings that illuminate this report.

I had been in the studio before, but this time I had my Sherlock Holmesian glasses on. I have always agreed with the

28

idea that you can tell more about a person by the books he keeps handy on hi s shelves than almost anything else.

So I romped through John 's library while awaiting his arrival. It was Old Home Week , beginning with MacGregor's Merchant Sailing Ships, a classic in its field. Next to thi s stood

Underhill's Masting and Rigging, another classic. And there was Fred Way 's Packet Directory, listing the steamboats that plied the Ohio, Mississippi and Mi ssouri river systems, in a culture that Stobart has entered into as full y as he has into the sagas and lore of the sailing deepwatermen. Oh, and here was Irving Johnson 's Peking Battles Cape Horn, published by our Sea Hi story Press, sandwiched between two quite di ss imilar classics, the late Gordon Thomas 's Fast and Able, an account of the Gloucester fishing schooners which he grew up with but was forbidden to sail in due to the loss of lifeamongfami ly members in that sternly demanding trade; and on the right T. H. White's England Have My Bones, a personal memoir of the vanishing yeoman England which the author of The Sword in the Stone and The Ill-Made Knight wrote to record its ways in unsentimental but highly evocative prose.

I paused at Samuel Eliot Mori son 's Maritime History of Massachusetts, in wh ich in the earl y 1920s he flung down the gauntlet to challenge general historians with the largely overlooked maritime dynamics which built the Bay Colony and ultimately America-the work of a real sailorman who was as close to the rockbound ports and twi sting channels that led Americans to sea from the places they ' d come ashore as T. H. White was to hi s English hedgerows and the country lanes down which the yeoman archers marched to win at Crecy and Agincourt. And I practically lost myself, not for the first time, in Mary Black's marvelously evocative Old New York In Early Photographs. How I wish that blithe spirit, since departed this earth, had consul ted with someone who knew the salt water side of her storied city, a city washed by the diurnal Atlantic tides.

I had reached thi s point in turning the pages of these well-thumbed books when John burst into the room with a young artist in tow, Bill Suys, Jr. of Racine, Wi sconsin. The two men paused just a moment to look out at Boston Harbor, where sailboats were racing in the damp, shadowed evening light. John then seized the original oil painting of Michael Karas' s "Spring Creek" (reproduced here SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

â&#x20AC;˘ "\

and in Stobart 's The Pleasures of Painting Outdoors) and said to Bill : " Look at that! Just look- it 's marvelous. He just puts down the paint, no hesitancy, and the picture he sees comes bursting through- all vibrant, ali ve. Thi s was one painting I had to have. " And here's another, Bill ," he added.

"It 's in quite a different tone." He picked up a delicate watercolor, of two fi shing boats on the beach in heavy mi st. " Isn' t it wonderful the effects Trevor gets?

There 's no one like him. " Trevor Chamberlain is another of John 's heroes, perhaps the best known open-air landscape artist in England. John invited him to share in the video he made of pai nting the beach and c li ff at Beer, Devon, in which the two artists talk about their work while they are painting their quite different pictures of the same scene and celebrate together afte rward.

And it is obvious from the word go that John deeply admires Chamberlain ' s work and asked him to show hi s own approach to painting because of that admiration.

"The Cobb at Lyme Regis," by Bert Wright , watercolor, JO" x 14"

"Lyme Regis, a View from the Cobb Looking East," by f ohnStobart, oil on canvas , 12" x 16"

An Offshore Tack Stobart 's "WorldScape" series is a new departure in art education. It 's unlike anything I 've seen since I watched the late Leonard Bernstein show li steners of all ages how Beethoven' s mu sic was put together and how its components worked to bring into being an experience infinitely greater than the sum of its parts.

Stobart sho ws equal passion in de livering hi s message, making discoveries with the viewer, sharing questions and the joy of getting something ri ght.

And what a performance it is! Thirteen intensely realized, utterl y distinctive film s made in less than a year, while John was also running hi s ga ll eries in Boston, Martha 's Vineyard and Hilton Head and overseeing a flouri shing fine art business which in recent years has reached out to include the work of arti sts like th e Engli sh watercolorist Bert Wright and the yacht portraiti st Ri chard Loud- people whose work is quite different from Stobart ' s, but which he finds admirable, as evidently Stobart collectors do, too.

The gall eries and the prints make money , but it would really be a oneSEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

John invited his friend, the noted watercolorist Bert Wright, to join him on a painting visit to Lyme Regis, Dorset, on England's South Coast. The contrast between the two mediums is apparent here. John writes: "The purist watercolorist would refrain from using opaque white, but this presents technical difficulties .. . for instance, when a mast reaches up into the sky. The white highlight will need to be carefully avoided while the sky is being washed in .... The oil painter has no such pressures.

For this reason I raise my hat to the accomplished watercolorist; the medium requires true virtuosity."

29

MARINE ART

,

/

"If you look at the world differently, it becomes a different world."

-WALTER CRONKITE

"Martha's Vineyard, Hart Ha ven," by John Stobart, oil on canvas, 12" x 16"

legged mistake to think that is the only driving force. The other leg is Stobart's desire to reach people and to improve public appreciation of good art. Not so modest a goal , when you come down to it!

This educative side of Stobart's concerns, which he talks of feelingly but awkward ly, was visible early on in his American sojourn. When he was reading up on things for hi s great series of set-piece historic port scenes in the South Street Seaport library (adjourning quite often to argue out what he' d been learning with the various seafaring types who gathered in the nearby Square Rigger Bar) , he talked of founding a kind of school in South Street, where young artists could encounter the disciplines he had been trained in. We whiled away more than a casual hour or two on thiswhich I still think a totally good idea.

In these di scussions, which now and then actually developed into sketching sessions to illustrate a point in ship gear or handling, or how the northwest wind sat in a square rigger's foresail on a mad March day in 1895, I came to see the artistic process (whatever that is! ) not as something generated by the enigmatic utterances of sibyline prophetesses, nor yet by people seized with the desire to make a statement by driving a bicycle across open tubes of paint- but rather by the forces that make the visible world work as it does, which in tum makes human understanding grow and work within that world.

In other words, the kind of thing you can actually argue about into the night and actually get somewhere!

30

This vision of art was clearly Stobart's.

It shouted with the winds blowing across Nantucket Harbor in one scene painted in this period; it held a kind of breathless hush in the arched sky above the whisper of wind in the rigging and murmur from the streets in his famous "South Street by Gaslight." And these paintings were very popular with people, who kept ordering the prints he made of each painting.

When in l 976 Robert and Maryanne Murphy founded the American Society of Marine Artists as a committee of the National Maritime Hi storical Society (it has since become a distinguished independent body), John readily came in to serve as vice chairman at the invitation of Charles Lundgren, the founding chairman .

Stobart's educational miss ion did not stop there. He spoke and wrote on marine art, not infrequently in the pages of Sea History. And recently he launched hi s Stobart Foundation, which sends young artists to Europe to learn the traditional disciplines he finds in short supply today in the United States, and to the Rocky Mountains to paint directly from the wild. And he continues to argue the case for the traditional di sciplines on which he feels young artists can build, and through which talent can express itself. Recently he wrote: "With the majority of art educational institutions no longer offering the time honored, classic courses in drawing and painting, it has become almost incumbent on the older generation of artists who have experienced an aca-

demic education, to accept the responsibi lity to get involved in whatever way they can to influence change, before too much more latent young talent is lost to the edicts of the current vogue."

*****

As we walked out to dinner through the rainy streets of downtown Boston on my recent visit, we talked a bit about the need for tough artistic disciplines to achieve real artistic freedom of expression, and the need for studio painters to get out and paint from nature and meet the challenge of the original creation. I remember say ing that thi s held in writing, too-good writing strives to get at the actual object, the thing it 's about; bad writing is content with making a splash, or a scene of some kind .

And the test remains the non-elitist but very tough one: What really stops people and draws them into the creative act in ways they will remember; what touches them where they live and becomes part of their lives and the way they see the world?

Walter Cronkite, in the introduction to the video series states the case clearly.

He quotes John, say ing that the vital learning is not in the hand (a matter of technique), but in the eye-how you learn to see things. To thi s Walter added: "If you look at the world differently, it becomes a different world." That about sums up what Stobart's offshore tack in "WorldScape" has to offer-and what a fresh, vivid offering it is!

J,

J,

J,

SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

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MARITIME TRAVEL

Exploring Maritime Sydney The female passengers of the oceanweary vessels looked a sorry, tattered lot as they stumbled ashore from longboats.

After six months at sea their feet were unsure, and their senses reeled with the intoxicating effects of open space. About them lay a small patch of land cleared by their male counterparts in the preceeding six weeks. Beyond that lay unbroken , inhospitable land, unsuitable for agriculture and bereft of water. All about, girding the pri stine harbor, a dense green cover, broken in places by sandstone cliff faces , ran down to the water's edge. This was Sydney Cove on 7 February 1788, some 15,000 miles di stant from these people 's homeland in the British Isles. The deep cove and its immediate environs would be home for the complement of officers, sai Iors, marines and convicts that comprised Australia's "First Fleet" of E uropean arrivals . Little could they imagine the loneliness, hunger and despondency that would soon be upon them as they labored for survival, and, in the case of the prisoners , freedom, in England's farthest colony.

Two hundred years later, modern Sydney sprawls outward from Sydney Cove. But the image of Sydney Harbour as the coloni sts saw it is not entirely erased. The history of settlement in Australia is a short one, and for visitors fascinated with the history of beginnings, the trail is stil l fresh .

The vantage point for my first excursion on Sydney Harbour was from beneath square sails on the deck of the Bounty, a replica of Bligh's famous vessel. Under the stewardship of our captain , John Sorenson, we sailed eastward out of Sydney Cove, first rounding the blinding white arches of the Sydney Opera House. On our starboard side lay Farm Cove and the Botanical Gardens, the site of the colony's first farm; on our port side, once-active Careening Cove.

Further along we passed the sandstone ramparts of the early island fortifications on Fort Denison, one of the original lookouts for the fledgling colony. Many of the sites possessed names which stirred up memories of early settlers ' encounters on a foreign shore: Rushcutter's Bay, where First Fleet convicts' hard labor consisted of thrashing reeds for the roofs of Sydney Cove's first houses; Mrs. Macquarrie 's Chair, a finger bluff dedicated to the memory of a homesick governor's wife who waved from thi s SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

Explorers, settlers, and seafarers left their mark on Australia's first city

by Kevin Haydon

Sydney Cove's Circular Quay from an 1886 engraving by J. R. Ashton .

point to each homebound vessel; Collins Flat Beach, where First Fleet Commander Arthur Phillip was injured by an Aboriginal spear during an early reconnoiter of the harbor's coves and inlets.

As a matter of record , Phillip was actually very pleased with Port Jackson.

He jubilantly described it as "the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of line may ride with the most perfect security." What's more, it was a vast improvement over the first anchorage he led his 11-ship fleet to, Botany Bay- next on my itinerary.

Botany Bay enters the Pacific Ocean some 12 miles south of Sydney Harbor.

It can be reached overland by a twenty minute bus ride south and east of Sydney Cove. This wide oval bay is the site of Captain Cook 's only landfall on the eastern coast of Australia. Cook's survey was tentative, his estimation of the fertility of the land inaccurate. Nevertheless, it was the record of his visit that put into motion the chain of events that lead to British colonization. Here, as in Sydney Harbour, the headlands have been thoughfull y preserved as greens pace. On the southern headland is Captain Cook's

Landing Place, a part of Botany Bay National Park , where time travelers can explore the sandy beach and campsite of the exploration party, visit the stream Cook used to replenish his ships' water, and view the anchorage buoy marking the spot where the Endeavour laid to.

It was to this frightfully little known or understood location on Cook's chart, that Captain Phillip brought with temerity his fleet of ships stuffed with the raw materials needed for colonization.

Within six days he recognized the potential folly of establishing his community in sandy soil that could only support low heath and open woodland in a bay that was not favorably sheltered. He would discover and depart for Sydney Cove presently. But before he cou ld , the colonists were thunderstruck to see, far out on the c loudy horizon , two large and clearly European ships trying to beat into shore.

They were the ships of Laperouse.

The story of Laperouse is, by a tragic twist of fate , as much a part of Botany Bay as that of the British colonists. The intrepid French explorer was two-anda-half years out of Brest on a celebrated voyage of Pacific discovery. This meeting, by weird coincidence, of two nations so very distant from European shores remains the last record of Laperouse's bold expeditionary force.

After a six-week stay, his ships, La Boussole and L' Astrolabe, sailed towards New Caledonia, never to be seen again.

The new Laperouse Museum on the north headland of Botany Bay is a mustsee for the nautical traveler. It occupies the former Tasman Sea Cable Station, built in 1881, on a gentle, grassy slope that runs down to Frenchrnans Bay, where Laperouse camped. Moving through the museum's small rooms furnished with antique maps, early navigational instruments, prints and records of the careful provisioning of the Laperouse expedition, I was struck by the remarkable fortitude of the early explorers; it was a vocation that presented risk to life far and away more menacing than 20th century expectations could imagine. The French captain had already lost 21 men in a boating accident in the Pacific Northwest, and 12 more to natives in the Samoan islands. The complete loss of Laperouse, his ships and men deeply shocked the French public. Interest in the fate of the expedition never waned .

Louis XVI, the patron of the expedition, 31

This view of Darling Harbour shows the new Australian National Maritime Museum. Th e museum' sjleet includes such unusual vessels as an Indonesian perahu and a Vietnamese refugee boat. On the left, behind the historic Prymont Bridge, can he seen the red masts and bowsprit of the 1873 hark James Craig, under restoration by the Sydney Maritime Museum .

as he climbed the steps to the guillotine on 21 January, 1793 , is known to have inqu ired once more: " At least, is there any news of Monsieur de Laperouse?"

In the last room can be found relics taken from the wrecks located at last in 1958 on the reefs of Vanikoro, Vanuatu .

Back in Sydney Cove, at tiny First Fleet Park , my shoreside prospecting began in earnest. On the east side of the cove is the spectacular modem Sydney Opera House. On the west side, in a face off with modem archectiture, is the old, infamou s sector of town called The Rocks. Here convict work gangs were sent as hore to clear the ground and erect tents and bark she lters to house the fledgling co lony on the sandstone outcrops which gave The Rocks its name. From that time on The Rocks grew haphazardly up the rugged slopes, whi le the fores hore area became the hub of Sydney's wharfside trading life with warehouses, bawdy taverns, flophou ses and seafarers from around the world.

Vi sitors were warned not to linger in these quarters after closing time.

Today , billboards urge touri sts to " Walk the Wicked¡ Waterfront" for a haunting reminder of the area 's turbulent past. But The Rocks is also Australi a's finest example of a restored colonia l di strict. Fronting onto Sydney Cove is Campbell 's Warehouse, built between 1839 and 186 1, which now houses restaurants with spectac ul ar harbor vi ews.

It is typical of the many historic sandstone bui ldings now made over as shops, restaurants, bars and office buildings. But the ambience of the area is still maritime, from theshoreside Mariner's Church built in 1856 up and over the hill to the venerable Lord Nelson Hotel , Sydney's oldest pub, licensed in 1842. Here also, on the water's edge, is Sydney's oldest surviving house, Cadmans Cottage, built in 1816 to accommodate the coxswain and crew of the Governor's boats.

Not preserved in the same spirit is the dockl and di strict of Darling Harbour, immediately up harbor from Sydney

Cove. For many thousands of years before the British settlers arrived this bay was vital to the li ves of its Aboriginal inhabitants. They called it Tumbalong.

It provided them with seafood and sheltered waters on which to launch their bark canoes.The British newcomers of 1788 in tum dubbed it Cockle Bay, and were gratefu l fo r its she llfi sh when food was scarce in the new colony. As the colony's trade and shipping rapidly outgrew nearby Sydney Cove, the bay 's edges were gradually filled with berths. The harbor is sti ll an active port but little trace of the jumble of wool stores, warehouses, finger jetties and rai 1way wharves remains.

Nevertheless, maritime travelers must make the ferry ride around The Rocks and beneath the broad single span of the Sydney Harbour bridge into Darling Harbour to visit the imposing new $ 100 million Australian National Maritime Museum.

A surprise for the American vi sitor is the museum' s USA Gallery . As sailors have always known , an ocean is more of a hi ghway than a barrier, and under the theme " Linked by the Sea," the USA Gallery records the numerous instances of maritime contact, competition and collaboration between the two countries.

While the exhibiti on of artifacts, some lent by the Smithsonian Instituti on, the US Navy and the Mystic Seaport Museum , is modest, it is powerfully en-

hanced by an audio-vi sual di splay. Director Kevin Fewster was keen to point out to me the centerpiece of the gallery, a touch-screen, computer-based time line that plays over 80 stories of US-Australian maritime contacts.

From this little box I learned that the first fore ign trading ship to reach the new settlement at Sydney was the US brigantine Philadelphia in 1792. The vessel's shrewd captain recognized a cornered market in the starvi ng coloni sts and the vessel 's cargo of meat and rum was sold at a good profit. Another more controversial visit was made to Melbourne by the Co nfederate pri vateer CSS Shenandoah in 1865. The welcome and exten sive refitting she received during a stay that lasted six weeks was a breach of British neutrality-reparations for the loss of Union vessels sunk by Shenandoah and other Admiralty-assisted raiders cost Britain millions of dollars after the war.

The box tells all-from American whalers to the visit of the Great White Fleet and American serv icemen on liberty during wwn (the caption reads "oversexed and over here! ").

How does the average Australian relate to his nation 's maritime heritage?

The ranger at the Laperouse Museum lamented that they " Don ' t yet see the story of Laperouse as Australian hi story. " But to understand a large part of the Austra lian connection to the sea, says Kevi n Fewster, we have to appreciate that 90% of Australians live within 30 min utes of the coast. Contrary to the notion of Australians as outback heroes, Fewster believes they relate more readiI y to the water. The archetypes for Austra-

At points throughout the harbor, Sydneysiders can be f ound restoring and operating historic harbor vesels. Below, volunteers load coal on the restored Vice-Regal s/eam yacht Lady Hopetoun while thef ormer harbo1jerries Protex andBerrimasilent/y await their resurrection .

PH OTOS: DESMOND KENNARD. SYDNEY MA RITIM E M USEUM

32

SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

•

" .. a penchant for polished brass, steam boilers, hemp and holystone." lians are surfers, lifesavers and sailors.

This interest is reflected in the ANMM's tallest gallery, where Australia II, the 1987 America 's Cup winner sail s in the air above the viewer. Other smalle r recreational craft, including Sydney harbor' s swift 1919 18-footer Britannia , are also suspended from roof trusses throughout the galleries.

Australians are, however, experiencing a deepening of interest in their maritime past.The national museum was itself opened for the nation 's bicentennial in 1988. The arrival atthemuseum nex t year of the Endeavour replica, currently under construction in Perth , will no doubt heighten that interest.

The soul of Sydney 's loca l maritime heritage interest, resides not at the national museum , but barel y a hundred yards away where workers can be found riveting iron plates to the frames of a 19th century bark, the James Craig . Restoration of the 1873 Sunderland-built Craig is top priority for membe rs of Sydney Maritime Museum . Here, and at othe r points throughout the harbor, Sydneysiders can be found lavishing attention on the museum 's outstanding collection of heritage vessels .

Across from the Craig is the museum' s headquarters, itself aboard a classic vessel, the 75-year-old retired commuterferry Kanangra. Three more vessels, the steam tug Waratah , the steam yacht Lady Hopetoun and the yacht Gretel II, moored fortouring at the national museum 's docks, also attest to the volunteers ' penchant for polished brass, steam boilers, hemp and holystone. The approach is exemplified by the words of Craig restoration supervisor Geoff Emanuel: "Our life would be a lot easier if we just dollied it up and left it at the wharf, but that' s not the point, is it?" He had recently spent some quality time caulking the new decks of the Craig, rolling cotton and oakum and plastering hot black pitch into the gaps.

Unfortunately, the delight of stumbling across old-world craftsmanship on yesteryear vessels may not long be found in Darling Harbour. The Sydney Maritime Museum 's presence there is threatened by public confusion and official indifference.

Uninformed citizens are asking why Sydney needs two maritime museums.

The distinction between national and local heritage, and that between hands-on experience and a hall of exhibits, is not clear. Harbor officials want to tum the small but visible space it occupies into a marina for boat auctions. All this at a time SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

when the Museum is being asked to also move its remaining collection-a large number of Sydney skiffs, yawls, engines, shipmodels and even a couple of large steam vessels in storage on piers upharbor- to another location.

There were venues that cou ldn 't be reached on this trip, like Admiralty House, established 150 years ago on Kirribilli Point, and the old Quarantine Station inside North Head. But I was curious about one last destination-a small island three miles upstream from Sydney Cove, in the mouth of the Parramatta River. It is hard to get to; private harbor ferries only drop visitors at Spectacle Island twice a week.

Once ashore, wh at they will find inside the island's old Navy storehouses is Australia's largest co llection of naval memorabilia, the Naval Historical Collection. A wi ldly eclectic array of items, it includes upside-down compasses, wheels of ships, ship 's bells, telegraphs, steam winches and every other conceivable naval shipboard item from rum ration equipment to early submarine picnic baskets, all crammed into neat rows on floors and over the walls of the mostly Colonial-era buildings. "At least one of everything from the Navy office," says curator Graham Thurston, who is still accessioning items at a tremendous rate and shows no sign of stopping. Size is no object eitheron top of his wi sh list is a 5-ton steam crane from the abandoned shipyard on nearby Cockatoo Island.

It is because of Sydneysiders like Thurston, and some good-sense, preservation-oriented public policy , that a precious maritime heritage is holding its own in Sydney. There are lapses-the Sydney Maritime Museum needs support. When that happen s, the result for travelers will be a nearly unbroken trail from early explorer to modem sailor.

"'I have not yet begun to fight! "

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IL is t11e work of British SC!llplor Alru1 llru1ner who spent many hours stud)ong contempom1y artistic impressions mid thol'Oughly researching t11e life or Jolm Paul J ones in his quc.sLLO capture noLouly rut accurate likencs.s bul also Lhc powertitl ru1d inu·iguing chrunctcr or tl1is greaL lighting sailor.

Each hru1d pl'Oduced piece, measuring 6'/, inches in heighL \\ill be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity personally sibmcd rutd numbered by iJ1e creator, who says of his \\Qrk "fl is the cow1le11a11ce of a courageoiis and resource/id sea wanior and a b1il/iant tactician. fl is also a face of' lwmour and mischief' with a I.winkle in the eye t.lwl conquered the hearts of' 111c111y w1 adoring lady!"'

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33

SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS International Protection Sought for Underwater Sites Growing international concern about increased exploitation of underwater cultural sites has led the International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICOMM) to adopt new standards for the ex ploration of sites and the acquisition of artifacts recovered. In announcing the new standards, !COMM President Richard Foster, the Director of the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside in Liverpool , stated that "due to the rapid advances in underwater exploration technology, numerous cultural heritage sites have been destroyed. These standards establish additional international guidelines for the protection of these sites."

The re so lutions adopted require ICOMM member museums, which include 323 museums in 37 countries, to "not knowingly acquire or exhibit artifacts which have been stolen, illegally exported from their country of origin, illegally salvaged or removed from commercially exploited archaeological or historical sites" since 1990. Members are also asked to recognize that artifacts from underwater sites are integral parts of archaeological assemblages, which should remain intact for research and display.

A campaign by American maritime museums last year failed to prevent the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Quebec from displaying Titanic artifacts obtained through commercial salvage.

Legislative Effort Seeks $5 Million Annually for Maritime Preservation In an effort to preserve maritime history for future generations , Representative Thomas H. Andrews of Maine, on I 5 September, introduced the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1993 to Congress. Congressman Andrews worked closely with the National Maritime Alliance (NMA), an umbrella organization of maritime heritage groups, to author the bill. If passed, the bill will provide $5 million an nually in funding until the year 2000 for maritime preservation and education projects nationwide. Citing a backlog of more than $80 million in unmet preservation needs alo ng the nation' s lakes, rivers and seashores, the NMA is calling on supporters to write the ir congressional representatives in support of the bill. The NMA considers the measure necessary to redress the current imbalance in federal funding whereby tens of millions of doll ars are provided each year to land-based preser34

Led by the Providence ofNewport, Rhode Island, the brigantines St. Lawrence II of Kingston , Ontario , and the Fair Jeanne of Otta wa, Ontario, salute the watching crowd of 25,000 spectators at Put-in Bay, Ohio, as part of a commemoration of Oliver Hazard Pen y' s victory on Lake Erie in 1813 . (Photo courtesy of Harry Foster.)

Battle of Put-in Bay Draws Crowds and Ships Guns blazed and colors flew high when a fleet of Canadian and American replica vessels sai led together to mark the 180th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie over the weekend of I 0-12 September. The commemorative event, staged by the community of Put-in Bay, Ohio, in the Bass Islands and the US Park Service, involved the tall ships " HMS " Rose and the US Brig Niagara. To join with their American counterparts in marking the event, the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa also organized a " Royal Navy Squadron" consisti ng of the Canadian vessels Fair Jeann e (brigantine), St. Lawrence fl (brigantine), Bee (schooner) and guest American vessel Providence (sloop) which sai led to Put-in Bay to represent the British squadron of Captain Robert Barclay in the original battle.

Crewed by 120 seamen and fifty marines , all in correct 1812 dress, the "British Squadron" sailed from Amherstburg, Ontario, early on Saturday morning , fought a mock sea battle with itself on the approximate site of the 1813 battle, and then, to the sound of fife-and-drum music, made two firing passes in Put-in Bay harbor in salute of the watching crowd of25,000. The squadron, commanded by Canadian War Museum director Victor Suthren, then went a longs ide to join the Rose and Niagara for dockside visitation. The Canadian vessels sailed for Canada the next morning, pausing only to lay a wreath in company with the Brig Niagara to the American, Canadian and British losses in the war.

Suthren described the event as demonstrating the growing comm itment of the Canadian Sail Training Association to early naval and maritime heritage. Coparticipants in the event were the Canadian Parks Service, the Province of Ontario and Brigantine Incorporated of Kingston , Ontario.-KH

vation while maritime preservation has received little more than $ 10 million in all its history.

Proposed fundin g for the Maritime Heritage Act will come from scrapping obsolete vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, which is currently owned and maintained by the Maritime Administration. The bill also calls for the establi shment of a National Maritime Trust, modeled after the National Trust for

Historic Preservation, that will set policy and adm ini ster, in cooperation with the Nationa l Park Service, a competitive grants program to qualified maritime heritage organizations. The bill will go before the House Subcommittee on the Merchant Marine sometime in October.

Information about the bill and how to support it can be obtained by writing NMA at 229 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530; 207 443-4550.

SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

Administration Delays Maritime Legislation The Clinton Administration is withholding action on a Department of T ransportation proposal to revive the American merchant marine. The proposal consists of two bills introduced on 19 May , National Maritime Day, by members of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. One of the reasons g iven for the delay by the Admini stration was that it wished to await the conclusion of a Department of Defense study due in August on the role of American-fl ag shipping in the nation 's security plans.

According to Seafarers log, HR 2 15 1 would amend the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 by creating a "Maritime Security Fleet" of privately owned US-flag vessels engaged in international trade that would meet the country' s security and defense requirements. Its companion bill, HR 2152, seeks to establi sh new financial and tax policies to create investment in new US-flag vessels.

In a related move, Representati ve Gerry Studds has also introduced legislation asking for a moratorium to prevent US shipping companies from reg istering their ships under foreign flags until January 1995. Studds says the moratorium is designed to give Congress, the shipping industry and the Clinton Administration a chance to come up with a plan to save the country's maritime in-

dustry. Two large companies, Sea-Land and American President Lines, recently sought permi ss ion to put 20 ships under foreign fl ags. That would not be allowed if the Senate and the Administration approve the meas ure, which passed in the House 382 to 40.

Lake Union Vessels Get Help In Seattle, the North west Seaport on the shore of Lake Union is forging ahead with restoration of the 1897 sailing schooner Wawona. Over the summer, the shape of the vessel was accurately doc umented and the unusually large timbers necessary to replace fo rward structura l members were fa bri cated and fitted. The Seaport ex pects the restoration to take fiv e years and $3 million . (NWSeaport, 1002 Vall ey Street, Seattle WA 98 109) Efforts to preserve anothe r Lake Un ion-based vesse l, the steamer Vi rginia V, also received a boost thi s past summer. A $ I00,000 priv ate grant to the Steamer Virgini a V Foundation allowed the vesse l to be drydocked in Apri l for repairs on her port bow, and a pe1manent berth has been provided at Chandlers Cove on South Lake Union, close to the Center for Wooden Boats and North West Seaport. Built in 1922, the 11 6-ft Virginia V is the last woodenhulled steamboat with rec iprocating engines on Puget So und . (VVF, 9 11 Western , Seattle WA 98 107)

World War II Destroyer Escort Returns to US On 27 August, the USS Slater, a Battle of the Atl anti c veteran destroyer escort, arrived at New York 's Intrepid Museum under tow from a Russ ian towboat. The 306-ft vessel was recently acquired by the Destroyer Escort Hi storical Foundation (DEHF), a non-profit veterans group. It was given as a gift to DEHF by the Greek Navy, which received the Slater in 1951 from the US Navy. For 41 years, under the name Aetos, the vessel patroled the Greek Isles and operated with other NATO navies throughout the Medi terranean . Her retirement from the Greek Nav y in August 1992coincided with DEHF efforts to find a suitable DE to preserve.

Some 565 DEs were built in the US , yet, before the return of USS Slater, none were afloat in North America. The Intrepid Museum has agreed USS Slater arriving at the Intrepid Museum in New York. to provide a site for the ship while the DEHF continues to provide support and raise funds for her maintenance and preservation. (IM, W. 46th Street and 12th Ave, New York NY 10036) SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

Site Work Reveals 18th-Century Shipyard in Maryland Two long trenches, covering approximately one thousand square meters, have provided investigators with the first artifacts from the site of Stephen's Shipyard.

The site, located on Maryland 's West River, was uncovered by assistant state underwater archaeologist Bruce Thompson in mid-1 99 1 and is of considerable interest to colonial and maritime historians.

Archival records show that the shipyard operated from at least 1753 to 1780 and was capable of building three ships a year of up to 200 tons di spl acement.

The owner used the ships to transport hi s goods to England , where both the goods and the ship were sold. During the Revoluti onary War, the shipyard built armed vessels until the British burned it to the ground in 178 1. Thi s year ' s land dig at the site was conducted by the Archaeological Society of Maryland and the Maryland Hi storical Trust.

Getting Around the Ships Hi storic replicas continue to be popular throughout the world , the latest addition being the Russian two-masted Volchita of St. Petersburg. The replica of an 18th-century Baltic schooner was seen in Hamburg this past spring. And in northern Japan , the British magazine Ships Monthly reports a replica of an early 17th-century vessel with a unique history being built in Sendai. The vessel is of European style, the original said to have been constructed in Japan in 161 3 to carry to Europe an ambassador from the local Christian community.

Res toration of th e 1925 coastal steamer Nobska in Providence RI has "turned a comer," say project organizers. In May, Friends of Nobska contracted out resto ration work for the first time-the overhead (ceiling) on the main deck was removed and restored. By the end of the summer, half of the $ 100,000 needed for drydocki ng had been rai sed.

(Friends ofNobska, PO Box 3034, Providence RI 02906) NMHS member Hajo Knuttel, who is directing the refitting of the barkMoshulu in Camden, New Jersey, reports work on the vessel has been suspended pending reorganization of the California-based company that owns the vessel. Up until this time, approximately 20 tradesmen had been working on the ship to refurbi sh her once again fo r use as a restaurant.

Word from Estonia about another former cargo carri er fro m the last days 35

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of sail , the Kruzenshtern , has it that the 320-ft sail training bark, buil t in 1926, has been laid up without prospect of a return to service any time soon.

In the mid-Atlantic states, maritime museums have been caring for and adding to their collections this year. In July, th e Calvert Marine Museum ' s 1889 converted bugeye William B. Tennison returned to serv ice making cruises from the museum 's docks after extensive repairs.

(CMM, PO Box 97, Solomons MD 20688) New to the North Carolina Maritime Museum 's vessel collection is an 1887 shad boat. The 28-ft Tom Dixon is one of four known ex isting shad boats constructed by boatbuilder George Washington Creef of Roanoke Island. (NCMM, 3 15 Front Street, Beaufo rt NC 2851 6). In the water at the C hesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, the 89-year-old 40-ft tug Delaware is nearing completion of an extensive restoration. (CBMM , Navy Point, PO Box 636, St. Michaels MD 2 1663) Underwater News The wreck of a well-known tran satlantic liner, the Collins Line paddle steamer Pacific , is reportedl y found off the coast of Anglesey, North Wales. The Pacific was one of fo ur paddle steamers owned by the Coll ins Line and built by William Brow n of New York in 1849. Thesalvor, Anglesey res ident Peter Day, pl anned to make recoveries from the wreck thi s past summer. As yet, no materi al ev idence has been presen ted to support the fin d.

In the northern Aegean, the wreck of an ancient Greek cargo ship , laden with hund reds of amphoras once filled with wine, has been located off the island of Alonisos. The ship is thought to have sunk between 400 and 380 BC, and be lieved to have been 85-ft long and 35-ft wide.

People The Mariners' Museum has named John B. Hightower, director of planning and development fo r the arts at the Uni versity of Vi rginia, as its new president and CEO . Hightower's considerable museum experience includes serving as executi ve director of The Mari time Center at Norwalk, Connecticut, fro m 1984 to 1989, as pres ident and d irector of the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City from 1977 to 1982, and as director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from 1970 to 1972. (TMM , 100 Museum Dri ve, Newport News VA 236060-3759)

The recipient of thi s year 's National Rivers Hall of Fame Achievement A ward is Captain Clarke C. " Doc" Hawle y, mas te r of th e s tea mboa t Na tchez. The award was presented on 29 May in Dubuqu e, Iow a. Ha wl e y 's steamboating days began in 1951 as a ca lliope player and popcorn popper on the tramping excursion boat Avalon.

INVENI PORTAM J. M ORAN USNR (RET.), ( 1897- 1993) Rear Admiral Edmond J. Moran, USNR (Ret.), died on 15 Jul y, 1993 at 96 years of age, at his home in New Canaan , Connecticut. He had spent some 69 years in the family firm of Moran Towing, founded by his Irish immigrant grandfather in 1860.

Admiral Moran had worked in every position in the company's office, including president and chairman of the board. He retired from the company in 1984, turning over the chairmanship to hi s oldest son, Thomas E. Moran, the fourth generation of the famil y to run the company.

He served in the US Navy Reserve in World Wars I and II and was appointed Rear Admiral in 1953 . During World War II he spent time in Washington with the W ar Shipping Admini stration in charge of small boat procurement.

He is best known, however, for hi s work in planning the to wing of the manmade harbors of Mulberries and Gooseberries for the in vas ion of France in 1944. Hi s experience in the towing industry made him an effective leader in organi zing the multi-national tug and barge fl eet. For his part in the Normandy invasion he received the US Legion of Merit, and Frenc h and British decorations.

R EA R ADMIRAL EDMOND

A no ted afic ionado of marine art and mari time history, Admiral Moran was a fo unding trustee of South Street Seaport Museum a nd was active in other maritime cultu ra l and educational projects.

FRA CIS D UFFY

Valley Stream , New York SEA HISTORY 67 , A UTUMN 1993

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REVIEWS "She Was A Sister Sailor"; The Whaling Journals of Mary Brewster, 18451851, Joan Druett, ed. (Mystic Seaport Museum , Mystic CT, 1992, 449pp, illus, appen, biblio, index; $39.95hb) Mary Burtch of Stonington, Connecticut, was eighteen when she married her sea captain, William Brewster, in 1841.

During the first four years of the marriage, they would be together only five months. For this reason, despite local disapproval , Mary broke with tradition and on 4 November 1845 , embarked with Captain William on a courageous two-and-a-half year whaling voyage to the Pacific.

Her diary, rather than being a private journal, was meant to be a source of future pleasure for herself and her husband and, no doubt, to justify her decision .

Joan Druett has placed Mary's journals in the context of the time, interspersing excerpts from journals of others, "sister" sailors as well as brother. She tells us that "New England women of the time were encouraged to be passive, demure, patient, hardworking, and religious to an extreme." Well brought-up women were expected to keep a diary of their accomplishments and spiritual condition.

And so, Mary 's account of her life on the whaleship Tiger, a life often boring, tedious, plagued with weeks of wretched seasickness, is filled with housekeeping details. She tells of the washing and ironing, the making and mending of clothes for herself, her husband and sometimes for the crew, and of nursing· the sick.

Sundays were observed with devotional readings, remembering her dear ones in Connecticut, berating herself for being a backslider. One 's grip on life being more tenuous in those days, and under those circumstances-in fact, there were several deaths on board the TigerMary dutifully reminds herself that each sunset brings her closer to her Maker.

Mary Brewster 's diary is the earliest publicly held journal by a sea-go ing whaling wife. Written for the approval of others, it omits any account that might put her husband in an unfavorable light.

There are no mentions of the frequent discord among the officers, the flogging of a thief and the beating of the cook, which we learn of through Druett 's interspersing technique. We see Mary's two voyages from the different perspectives spelled out in the diaries of boatsteerer Luther Ripley, Jr., and crewman John Perkins, an unfortunate young man who was killed when a whale struck

his boat and whose perceptive diary was returned to his family with certain pages tom out.

Nothing is so dull as a becalmed ship or a whaler with no quarry. For six whaleless months in the Pacific, faces aboard the Tiger grew long.

When the trypots are fired up for the first time, Mary notes: "All hands look happy and greasy. " Also, "husband on deck and to work all day in good spirits and well, and I am perfectly willing to be along when whaling is the business."

Butdays werenotalwayshappy. Sickness spreads among the malnourished crew in the cold, damp and close quarters. Sailors jump ship, storms are destructive, seawater crashes through the skylight into Mary 's cabin, its contents tossed a bout as she huddles in her bed.

Each time a boat is lowered with her husband aboard, Mary knows he might never return . And she is aware of how widows aboard ship were particularly vulnerable-far from family and friends.

She hears that one wife, whose husband had died since the two women gammed at sea, had thrown herself from her cabin window after borrowing passage home.

At Pacific island stops, the ship takes on recruits and Mary is entertained by mi ssionaries. Herself a product of the time and its prejudices , Mary finds most of the natives "far from the state of civilization which they were represented to be," wishing them to be Westernized as much as to be converted.

The Tiger returns to Connecticut a full ship. Despite its slow beginning, the voyage had been successful. But Mary is not content to remain at home and socialize. In less than four months, she sails again, this time to become thefirstAmerican whaling wife to enter the Arctic Ocean. Surrounded by enormous ice floes, the Tiger manages to exit through the Bering Strait without damage.

Mary's journals, brought vividly to life by Joan Druett's editing, provide proof to today 's reader, as they must have done to her contemporaries, that despite her hardships during two voyages aboard the Tiger, she had no regrets.

CAROL CARRICK

Excerpted by permissionfrom The Dukes County Intelligencer (May 1993), Dukes County Historical Society , Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

The Jeffersonian Gunboat Navy, Spencer C.Tucker (University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC, 1993, 265pp, SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

illus,appen, notes, biblio, index; $39.95hb) This latest offering from South Carolina's excellent Studies in Maritime History series presents the first comprehensive study of President Thomas Jefferson's gunboat program. Concentrating on the construction, characteristics and service of these gunboats instead of policy analysis, Spencer provides a highly detailed , scholarly overview of this crucial period in American naval history.

Beginning with the construction and description of the 170 gunboats built during the first decade of the 19th century through the War of 1812, a chronological history of their employment is then presented with chapters on the Mediterranean, Embargo, War of 1812, the Great Lakes, and the vessels' use after I 8 12.

Spencer's conclusions about this controversial program are summarized in the last chapter where he determines that it "was not a triumph of a weapon system nor a total failure." Indeed , they represented a major line of coastal defense, provided some training for nascent naval officers and were not, as is sometimes asserted, complete ly responsible for the fai lures of the Navy during the War of 1812. Despite the views of naval historians of this period, gunboats performed useful sev ice in a number of locations and actions .

Sources used for thi s study include manuscripts, letters, personal papers, and the secondary literature of the period. In many respects the most valuable aspect of thi s book are the appendices which provide a service record of individual gunboats and their design, construction and equipment.

HAROLD N. BOYER

..

An Island's Trade; Nineteenth Century Shipbuilding on Long Island , by Richard F. Welch (Mystic Seaport Museum , Mystic CT, 1989, 153pp, illus, maps , appen, biblio, index; $20hb) Thi s excellent work of regional hi story fits nicely with William N. Petersen's "Mystic Built" : Ships and Shipyards of the Mystic River, Connecticut, 17841919, produced by the same publisher three years ago.

Initially , the author reso lv es the anomal y presented by Brookl yn, Long Island, by classifying it with metropolitan Manhattan, rather than the rural communities covered by An Island's Trade.

He al so establishes the effect of the Island's geophysical properties on the SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

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location of its shipyards: "Topography, not any special advantage in talent possessed by North Shore residents, dictated the North Shore orientation of the business. The Sound shoreline of Long Island is blessed with several deep fjordlike harbors gouged out by the retreating glaciers."

Welch's conclusions are convincing, especially as they are accompanied by an appealing description of the social and cultural traits of the people and communities supported by that industry, its inclusive trades, and peripheral suppliers. An investigation into the different woods essential to shipbuilding, and an evaluation of their local availability or the need to import non-native species, helps to illustrate some of the advantages enjoyed, and obstacles overcome,

by Long Island shipwrights.

While the author 's concentration on Port Jefferson and, to a lesser extent, Northport, is supported by hi s own data, hi s virtual dismissal of the East End with scant notice pai d to Southold a nd G reenport, is questionable. There were, for example, at least three functioning shipyards in Sag Harbor during the War of 18 12. When the British blockade succeeded to a great extent in shutting down the Chesapeake Bay builders, some Bal- · timore privateersmen had new vessels constructed on Long Island.

Welch 's book is an essenti al read for antiquarians, historians, maritime enthusiasts and ship modelers, and underscores a gap in the lore of shipbuildingthe need to repl ace John H. Morrison ' s History of New York Ship Yards (New York, 1909) with a modem examination of the New York City industry.

W. M. P. DUNNE Music of the Sea, by Dav id Proctor (HMSO, London UK, with the National Maritime Museum , 1992, 150pp, illus, notes, biblio, index; £ 12.95pb) In this concise but well-researched and documen ted book, the author clearl y demonstrates that, although shanties and work songs were unique to the sailor, they were only part of a much larger picture of the type of music found at sea, which included the broad spectrum of popular, sacred and even classical music.

This work covers alot of ground , beginning with ancient references to music at sea as far back as earl y Egypt, with special attention to the proliferation of trumpets and other early band instruments on shipboard during and after the

Renaissance. Other sections include the use of military bands and later liner orchestras, popular music and instruments that appeared before and abaft the mast, the official and unofficial use of mus ic to raise morale aboard ship, and even music as a diplomatic tool in the hands oftheearlyoceanicexplorers who made first contact with new, unknown cultures. Shanties and work songs are wel l-handled, and the book ends with a chapte r on composers who were influenced by or wrote about the sea--or who were actually naval officers such as Rimsky-Korsakov. The on ly detai l I found puzzling (nay, astounding) was a report of the remains of a concertina found aboard a shipwreck from the Spanish Annada. The concertina was invented in 1825. The instrument probably came from a later wreck on the same site.

The book is not a collection of songs, and sometimes I wish the often tantalizing verse or two of a song would go on to compl etion with the music thrown in , but that was not within the intended scope of the work.

This excellent volume shows just how far the stud y of music at sea has come.

JOHN TOWNLEY

John Townley is a maritime music historian and pe1former, and is founding president ofThe Confederate Naval Historical Society.

Samuel Walters, Marine Artist; Fifty Years of Sea, Sail & Steam, by A.S. Dav id so n (Jones -S and s Publi shing , Upton , Wirral, England, 226pp, illus, appen, biblio, ref, index. $85hb postpaid) Samuel Walters (1811-1882) was born in London , the son of Miles Walters, shipwri ght and marine painter. When the famil y moved to Liverpool, Samuel continued hi s study of painting and soon launc hed his remarkable career, surrounded by the acti vities of the North Atl anti c trade in thi s booming seaport.

The author has thoroughl y researched his subject, and thi s lav ishl y produced vo lume presents every imag inable detail of the life and work of Samuel Walters. In addition, the careers of the author ' s fa ther and son, both artists, are also covered.

The format is generous with maps, charts, photos (even reproducing the fami ly' s business cards and sketches from an uncle's sea journal), and paintings-114 of them in color. Most of these reproduce the work of Samuel Walters, but his contemporaries are well repreSEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993

sented. All of it is fasc inating, and one easily 'becomes immersed in the look and feel of the era.

NS Radar at Sea; The Royal Navy in World War 2, by Derek Howse (Naval Institute Press, Annapoli s MD , 1993 , 383pp, 63 b&w photos, gloss, biblio, appen , index ; $26.95hb) The author, a Royal Navy navigator throughout World War II, a curator at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, 1963-1982, and latterly Clark Library Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, is uniquely qualified to hold forth on the subject of naval radars. The Naval Radar Trust, an association of surviving Admiralty scientists and naval officers who were concerned with the development of radar, commissioned the book to record their achievements. They also provided considerable technical assistance to Howse.

Throughout World War II, radar had a greater impact on the strategy and tactics of naval warfare than any other deve lopment since the changeover from sail to steam and wood to iron and steel.

In effect, radar did away with darkness.

This electronic ranging and detection device gave early warning of approaching enemies, aircraft carriers could direct their fighters to intercept incoming enemy squadrons, and fire control was revolutioni zed.

Concentrating on British developments, the volume-an immensely detailed account supported by a wealth of detailed research materi als-is the Bible of World War II Royal Navy radar.

AMAZING INVENTORY!!!

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Wooden Walls to Distant Shores; A Maritime Concoction and the Regina Maris Saga, by Captain John Aa. Wilson (The Book Guild Ltd, Sussex UK, 1992, 375pp, illus , index; £16.95hb + £4.50s&h) Available through Save the Regina M a ri s Ltd. , PO Box 645 , Greenport NY 11944, $40.

Through Captain Wilson's collection of maritime hi story and personal logs, the reader enters a sea captain's mind and soul , sharing the experiences of thi s Norwegian merchant fleet owner as he traveled the seven seas.

In the first section of the book, Wilson shares his thoughts on subjects that range from the ships, voyages and dreams of the early explorers to the ancient seafarin g cultures of the Phoenicians and Polynesians, to navigational aids, mapSEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

M a ine Antique Digest. Ap · "if you value marine art... t take your 1?reatt;.

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making, and the steam ships on which Wilson himself sailed. In many of the chapters in Part I you can almost envision this hard-driving , salty captain sitting in hi s bunk penning notes and ideas for thi s pot-pourri of sea lore.

"The Regina Maris Saga" follows in Part II. Captain Wilson found theRegina Maris as a grain hulk in 1965 and converted her into a very successful barkentine. He sai led her through storm-tom seas, several dismastings and a mutiny.

The "Saga" includes extracts from the Captain's log as well as from diaries of mates and crew from July 1966- 0ctober 1969 with captain and crew planning the vessel's historic re-enactment of Captain Cook's voyage of discovery to Australia for the Bicentennial celebration in 1970.

I sailed on the Regina Maris in 1971 , just after Captain Wilson sold her. She changed my life then , and even now , as I stand on her deck and work to restore her sagging bones in Greenport, New York , I can sense the history and joy John Wil son fe lt sailing the seas.

JOHN A. KERR

part translates the diary of the ship ' s original owner, in which he records the construction of his ship, and illustrates that process with watercolor sketches in somber browns and blues.

Thi s book should enchant any young reader interested in hi story, ships or diving and it makes clear the importance of underwater archaeology. The author explains that no one knows the preci se details of how a caravel was constructed.

We must conclude that this is why he has left out of his drawings the meticulous and engrossing detail found in hi s other works, such as City and Cathedral, and for which he is world renowned. One hopes Mr. Macaulay will take up more maritime subjects in the future!

NS Timelines: Ships, Sailors and the Sea,

by Ri chard Humble with David Salaria (Franklin Watts, New York NY, 1991 , 47pp, illus , index; $13.95hb) Richly illustrated with colorful drawings, this picture book for younger children has much to offer as it describes ships through the centuries and around the world. Perhaps because it tries to cover so much, there is a hit or miss quality about it. Still it offers a wealth of information and is an NS excellent primer.

A Ship's Log Book II, by Frank Farrar (The Sextant Press, PO Box 51-0131, Melbourne Beach FL 3295 1, 382pp, i11 us, gloss; $ 19.95pb + $2.50s&h) Captain Farrar epitomizes John Noble ' s remark about retired sailors: "They represent true culture, they have seen the world."

Add to that rich background of a widely voyaged man , the gifts of a born storyteller and the encounters of an eventful life, and you have before you the present work, a very good read , and all true.

Some of these yams appeared in Sea History, where our readers recognized a true talent coming to light of day, and a first edition of this book was well received where it matters most-among sailormen . Thi s edition, considerably expanded and reworked , is pure magic and also reality seen through the hopeful PS eyes of youth.

Battleship Texas: Text and Contemporary Photographs, by Hugh Power (Texas A&M University Press, College Station TX, 1993, 14lpp, illus, biblio, index; $29.95hb, $9.95pb) From the starkly bare, cage-masted ship of 1914 to the heavily rebuilt ship that bombarded the Normandy coast in the Allied invasion of 1944, the career and changi ng profile of this last surviving dreadnought, now on exhibition just outside Houston, is meticulously recorded in this authoritative study. With fascinating photos of the ship herself, views of her men and scenes aboard record the life of the one ship that survives to epitomize the PS dreadnought era.

Ship, by David Macaulay (Houghton Mifflin Co. , Boston MA , 1993, 93pp, illus; $19.95hb) This fictional book is in two parts, of which the first follows a group of nautical archaeologists as they locate, survey and research the wreck site of a l 6thcentury Spanish caravel. Thi s section is illustrated in black and white pencil sketches and is whimsically enlived by mixing charts, personal notes and action sketches in one illustration. The second

18th Century Shipbuilding: Remarks on the Navies of the English & Dutch from Observations made at their Dockyards in 1737, by Blaise Ollivier, Master Shipwright of the King of France, edited and translated by David H. Roberts (Jean Boudriot Publications, East Sussex UK, 1992, 382pp, illus, appen, index;$ IOOhb)Theresultof 18thcentury industrial espionage, thi s French report on Engli sh and Dutch shipbuilding methods is a boon to researchers who SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

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despaired of finding written accou nts of earl y shipbuilding technology. Blaise Ollivier, son ofa prominent French shipbuilding clan , left behind an invaluable treasury of techniques and plans gleaned from his undercover sojourns in foreign dockyards, which have been enriched by biographical and hi storica l background, and additional drawings of ships and facilities provided by the editor.

JA

Send check or rrioney order payable to:

The Journal of Nautical Antiques & Collectibles

American Maritime Documents, 17761860, Illustrated and Described , by Douglas L. Stein (Mystic Seaport Museum , Mystic CT, 1992, 158pp, illus, appen, biblio; $20pb) Forty-two categories of maritime documents are illustrated and meticulously descri bed in thi s guide to government and c ivil records (Navy records have been excluded). The documents come from a time when the US government was forma li zing its regulation of coasta l and international trade, requiring owners and masters to register logs, articles of agreement, crew li sts, customs certificates and forms , I icenses, oaths, ships' registries and a host of other documents. It provides a researcher with a clear path to follow in seeking out the minutiae that build a full picture of our seafaring past.

JA Merchant Sail, by William Armstrong Fairburn (Ten Pound Island Book Co., Gloucester MA , 1992 , 6 volumes, 4211 pp, appen, biblio, index; $600/set, limited edition of 100 sets) A reprint of the 1945-55 set, this collection is essential to anyone requiring basic information about American merchant sailing vessels. The author intended to leave a record of America ' s early mar itime success to counter what he termed "a low ebb, . . . economically, technicall y, and morally" in earl y 20th-century shipbuilding. He focused on the more popular vessels and gathered most of hi s information from publi shed seco ndar y sources. Recent research has brought to li ght some errors in Fairburn 's conclusions, but this work remains of significant JA value to researchers.

They Built Clipper Ships in Their Back Yard , by Admont G. Clark (Clark Imprints, PO Box 146, Denni s MA 12638, 1993, 32pp, illus, appen, biblio, index ; $7.95pb + $ls&h) Thi s monograph , reprinted with additions from The American Neptune, is a drama of great, world famous ships built in a little port by the Shivericks of East Dennis, Massachusetts.

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45

Cimbria-Ship of War? A Small Maine Seaport has an Unheralded Guest: an Ocean Liner with Passengers of a "Military Mien"

by Stephen A. Schoff When the sun burned through an earl y morning fog one day in the late spring of 1878, res idents of South west Harbor, Maine, were astoni shed to see, riding quietl y at anchor in the ir roadstead, the we ll -known German tran s-Atl anti c passenger liner Cimbria.

Built by Caird & Co. in Greenock, Scotl and , Cimbria, gross tonnage 3025, was 330 fee t in length with a 40 foot beam. Brig-ri gged with a single screw engine generating 500 horsepower, she had a maximum speed of 11 - 12 knots.

Manned by a crew of 120, her accommodati ons housed 58 first class passengers, 120 second class and 500 third cl ass.

Cimbria left Hamburg on her maiden voyage on 13 April 1867, bound for Southampton and New York. Over the next decade she remained on thi s route.

How, then, did th is popul ar German vessel appear unheralded in a small Maine port far to the northeast of her usual American destination?

Earlier in 1878, Czari st Russia and Ottoman Turkey signed the Treaty of San Stefano. Turkey agreed to pay a very large indemnity, cede parts of Armenia and Dobruja to Russia, recogni ze the independence of Rumani a, Serbia and Montenegro, and make Bulgaria an autonomous principality. These terms materi all y modified the prov isions of the Treaty of Pari s of 1856, which ended the Crimean War, between Russia and a European coaliti on headed by England and France. The signatori es of the Treaty of Pari s were outraged at the great increase in Russ ian influence in southeastern Euro pe brought about by her new treaty. War between Russia and England in concert with other European nati ons became a distinct poss ibility.

If landl ocked South west Harbor was indeed a strange port-of-call for a German ocean liner, the passengers of "guttural speech and military mien" were even stranger, fo r they were almost 700 officers and men of the Russian Imperial Navy. Cimbria was under charter to the Emperor of Russ ia. With cables ready to slip, she lay at anchor, seeking no other port, awaiting word that war had been decl ared between England and Russia.

The " passengers" would then convert Cimbria into a Russian military vessel to prey upon the commerce of England 46

along the American and Canadian coasts.

It was rumored Hammonia had left Hamburg on a simil ar mi ss ion for some other Ame ri ca n port a nd th e Thurin gia, Fra nconia and other liners, under simi lar charters, were soon to fo ll ow.

Closer inspection of Cimbria reinfo rced these fo rebod ings . The reporter fro m Frank Leslie' s Illustrated Newspaper, having been ferried to Cimbria by Mr. Clarke, a deputy custom-house officer, noted that her warlike appearance be-

"The deck was holystoned to a nicety while every yard, block and rope told a tale of deft and skillful handling.

Never did we behold a vessel whereupon there was less appearance of passenger work. Again did the man-o-war appearance smite us mightily." spoke stem discipline. "The deck was holystoned to a nicety while every yard, block and rope told a tale of deft and skillful handling. Never did we behold a vessel whereupon there was less appearance of passenger work. Again did the man-o-war appearance smite us mightily."

June busted o ut all over Mt. Desert

Island. The " passengers" came ashore in libe rty parties of 100. The Russian officers hired whatever transport they co uld locate and made hastily for Ell sworth or Bangor. The enlisted men went for walks in the woods, played strange card games and overwhelmed Southwest Harbor's tiny post office with outgoing mail. Perhaps they also engaged in other activity.

Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, the US Navy 's foremost historian and this writer's favorite author, in The Story of Mt . Desert Island, speculated that some of the members of these shore parties may have made a few amorous conquests and that there might be some Russian bloodlines on the " backside" of Mt. Desert. Admiral Morison classified Cimbria as an auxiliary Russian cruiser which he declared to be the last warship to reple nish her water supply at Man-0War Brook.

Meanwhile, the Congress of Berlin was convened with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck mediating as "honest broker."

Only after war had been repeated! y threatened did Russ ia agree to modify the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano more to the liking of England, France, Austri a- Hun gary a nd Italy . Alek sandr Gorchakov signed the Treaty of Berlin on behalf of Russia and Lord Beaconsfield , Benjamin Di srae li, for England ; England also managed to acquire the island

C imbria , enjoying one of her pleasant sailing days as a passenger liner. Illustration

courtesy Hapag-Lloyd AC , Hamburg with the assistance of Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum .

SEA HISTORY 67 , AUTUMN 1993

of Cyprus in the proceedings.

Th e threat of war thus abated , Cimbria, together with the passengers of guttural speech and military mien, quietly slipped her cables in the dark of night and departed Southwest Harbor as furtivel y as she had appeared some weeks earlier. Once again she became a popular German transatlantic liner on the Hamburg-Southampton-New York run.

But not for too many years . Cimbria tt left port on 18 January 1883 with 402 ~ passengers. Having approached Bork um ~ Island by the following evening, the Hull § & Hamburg Line steamer Sultan s ud- ~ denly loomed up out of a dense fog and :i: gashed Cimbria's iron hull abreast the ~ foremast. Sultan, with an immense hole E: forward, drifted off into the ni g ht. Southwest Harbor's mackerel fl eet about the furn of the century-the same wate1front seen Cimbria, li sting to starboard , rapidly by the Russians during th eir l 878 visit. Cimbria would dwmf any of these gaff-riggers. settled by the head and sank. Although seven lifeboats got away, there were m ys teriou s visitor four summers earlier. Michigan where she was finally abanonly 54 survivors and 437 fa talities.

This Cimbria went into service between doned in 1922. !, The name Cimbria did not, however, Bangor and Bar Harbor and also ran disappear from Lloyd ' s Registerof Ships down the Penobscot to Be lfast and way Stephen A. Schoff, a retired PepsiCo forever. In 1882 the Barbour Steamship landings. She was both profitable and international vice-president, has writCompany launched a Penobscot River popular until railroad and highway com- ten non-fiction articles for Yankee, steamboat at Brewer, Maine, and chris- petition killed off marine traffic east of Downeast, and Naval Hi story, among tened her Cimbria in honor of Maine's Bangor. Cimbria mi grated to Lake other publications.

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