Sea History 072 - Winter 1994-1995

No . 72

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

WINTER 1994-95

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

ON THE WEST COAST: Lumber Schooners, Pilot Schooners ... and Downeasters !

CROSSING THE LINE IN '44 REVISITING THE ERIE CANAL A MERCHANTMAN FOR SALEM

ISSN 0146-9312

No . 72

SEA HISTORY

SEA HISTORY is publi shed quarterl y by the National Mariti111e Hi stori cal Society, 5 John Walsh Bou levard , PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Second class postage paid at Peeks ki ll NY I0566 and addi tional 111ai ling offi ces. COPYRIGHT © 1995 by the National Mariti111e Hi storical Society. Tel: 9 14 737-7878.

FEATURES 13 The Cape Horn Road Part 111: Mediterranean Origins

by Peter Stanford 16 Re-opening the Doors of History at Erie House A l 9th-centuty Erie Canal hotel becomes a center for canal history

by Tom Prindle

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, 5 John Wa lsh Boul evard , PO Box 68, Peekskill Y I0566.

19 Bringing Home the "American Ship" A recollection of Carl Cutler and the pioneer efforts to save our ships

by Karl Kortum

MEMBERS HIP is in vi ted. Pl ankowner $ 10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Afterguard $2,500; Sponsor $ 1,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Fri end $ I 00; Contributor $50; Fam il y $40; Regul ar $30; Student or Retired $ 15. All 111e111bers outside the USA please add $ I0 for postage. SEA HI STORY is sent to all 111embers. Indiv idual copi es cost $3.75 .

24 Rediscovering the Pacific Trade The Maritime Paintings of David Thimgan

by Marcus De Chevrieux 28 Schooners of the Northwest Two former pilot schooners, Adventuress and Zod iac, sail Puget Sound

by Erni Bennett and Ross Anderson

OFFICERS & TRUSTEES : Cha irman, Alan G. Choate; Vice Chairmen , Ri chardo Lopes, Edward G. Zel insky ; President, Peter Stanford; Vice President, ormaStanford ; Treas11rer, Bradford S111ith; Secret(ll)', Donald Derr; Trustees, Walter R. Brown, W. Grove Conrad, George Lowery, Warren Marr II , Brian A. McA ll ister, James J. Moore, Douglas Mu ster, Na ncy Pouch, Cra ig A. C. Rey nolds, Ri chard W. Scheuing, Marshall Streibert, Dav id B. Vietor, Jea n Won ; Chairman Emeritus, Karl Kortu111 OVERSEERS: Charles F. Ada111s, Walter Cronki te, Townsend Hornor, George Lamb, John Lehman, Schuyler M. Meyer, Jr. , J. Willi am Middendorf, II , Graham H. Phillips, Joh n Stobart, Wi ll iam G. Winterer ADV ISORS: Co-Chairmen, Frank 0 . Braynard , Melbourne S111ith; D. K. Ab bass, Ray mond Aker, George F. Bass, Francis E. Bow ker, Oswa ld L. Brett, David Brin k, No rm an J . Brouwe r, Wil li a111 M. Doe rflin ger, Fran c is J . Duffy, John S. Ewald , Joseph L. Fa rr, Ti moth y G. Foote, T homas Gill111e r, Ri chard Goo ld-Adam s, Wa lte r J. Handel111 an, C harl es E. Herdend orf, Steven A. Hyman , Hajo Knutte l, Co nrad Mil ste r, Edward D. Muhlfeld , Will iam G. Mull e r, Dav id E. Perkin s, Ri chard Rath , Nancy Hu ghes Richard so n, Timoth y J. Run yan, Geo rge Sa ll ey , Ra lph L. Sn ow , John Stoba rt , A lbert Swanso n, S ha nno n J. Wall , Raymond E . Wall ace, Robert A. Weinstein, Thomas We ll s AMERICAN SHIP TRUST: International Chairman, Karl Kortum ; Chairman, Peter Stanfo rd ; Trustees, F. Bri ggs Dalzell , Willi am G. Mul ler, Ri chard Rath, Melbourne Smith, Edward G. Zeli nsky SEA HISTORY STAFF: Editor, Peter Stanford; Exec11tive Editor, Norma Sta nfo rd ; Mana ging Editor, Kevin Haydon ; Assistant Editor, Justine Ahl strom ; Accounting. Joseph Cacciola; Membership Secretal)', Patri cia Anstett; Membership Assistants, Erika Kurtenbach, Kim Pari si; Advertising Assistant, Carmen McCa llu111 ; Secretary to th e President , Karen Ritell ADVERT ISING: Telephone 800 22 1- MHS.

WINTER 1994-95

32 Friendship Promises New Life for the Salem Waterfront A replica 1797 merchantman to be buit at historic Salem

by John Frayler 46 A Tarheel in King Neptune 's Court Crossing the line in the Pacific in 1944

by Frank B. Turberville, Jr.

DEPARTMENTS 4 8 9 30

Deck Log & Letters NMHSNews NMHS Mission Marine Art News

34 Shipnotes, Seaport & Museum News 41 Reviews 48 Patrons

COYER : " Galatea and Sea Foam." The Northern Cal(fornia coast is often shrouded in fog,

but when the fog begins to burn off, scenes of striking beauty emerge. This detail of a painting by featured artist Da vid Thimgan (see page 24) shows Sea Foam, built by Thomas Petersen al Mendocino in 1873, just in.from San Francisco, waiting to load under a lumber chute. The stern of Galatea, built by Petersen in 1875,.frcunes the mid-morning scene.

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafaring h e ritage com es a li ve in the p ages of Sea History, fro m the a n cien t m a rine rs of Egy pt, a nd Portug uese navigato rs opening up the ocean world , to th e he roic efforts of seam e n in World War II. Each iss ue brings new ins ig hts a nd new di scoveri es.

If you love the sea a nd the legacy of those w h o sa il in d eep waters , if yo u love the 1i vers, lakes a nd bays a nd the ir workaday craft, the n yo u be lo n g with u s. Stay in to uch- join u s today! Mail in the form be low or phone

1-800-221-NMHS

Yes, I want to join the Society a nd receive Sea History qu a rterl y. M y contributi o n* is e nc losed. (*$ 15 of each contributi on is for Sea History; any amount above that is tax-deductib le.) $30 R egu lar Member $40 Fam il y M e mber $ I 00 Friend

Mr./Ms._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 72

-------------------~·Z I P _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ational Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566

NATIONAL MARITIME IDSTORICAL SOCIETY

GRISWOLD INN There is a very spec ial place in Connec ticut called the Gri swold Inn . It is so lovely that o ne wo uld think a poet designed and built it.

Ope ned at Essex on June 6, 1776, its longev ity gives wi tness to genuine New England hospitality; fi ne overnigh t acco mmodations, smili ng wai tre sses, . heavy- ha nded ba rte nde rs, homemade sausages, meat pies, prime rib, and local seafood.

W odd-famous marine paintings and brass bells and binnacles will seemingly transport you to another world.

Ring 203-767-1776 and we shall tell yo u even more about the ' Gris.'

Marinas I Boatyards on Chesapeake Bay Buy or Sell

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call Wilford Land Company PO Box 953, Easton MD 21601 Tel : 410-822-4586

Fax: 410-226-5205

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~REMEMBERING ...

At last, an encompassing tribute honoring the brave men and women who have served our country in the United States Merchant Marine.

The tribute "In Peace and War" is a beautiful arrangement of skillfully drawn pen and ink illustrations of fi ve signifi cant monuments dedicated to the Merchant Marine nationwide.

Added to this unique work of art is the 1946 U.S. Postage Stamp issued in honor of the MerchantMarine, in a mint block of four .

The art is impressed on heavy, fin e printing paper, image size 10" x 14" . This two-color print comes ready to hang, und er glass with a doubl e mat, juniper green and white, in a go ld-edged walnut fram e 18 1' x 22 ".

Signed by the Artist

"IN PEACE AND WAR"

in Limited Editi on •••

$150.00

Shippin g included. (MA residents please include 5% sales tax - $7 .50)

TO ORDER, SEND PERSONAL CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:

A portiQfl of the prqceeds from the ,ale of this "tribute" will go to tlie Seaman 's Church Instllute, NYC

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

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Ornaments of Land & Sea 105 South Street Hingham, MA 02043 1-61 7-749-5115

Your satisfaction is gu3r3 n teed . Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.

3

DECK LOG Years ago, when the Argentine full -ri gger Libertad came into South Street, Museum Chairman Jakob Isbrandtsen was delighted to hear the officers' accounts of weathering a severe summer thunderstorm off Rockaway Beach, coming into New York Port. Wet o il skin s, I remember, still hung in the passageway to the ornate mahogany after cabin and there was that feeling in the air of a hard turn come through in proper styl e.

In hi s welcoming remarks Jakob had this to say about the museum ' s miss ion: "Our purpose here is not just getting back to what is old. It is to get back to what isfundamental."

Our educational mission is best carried out with historic ships and active seafaring. Through history and hi stori c experiences we can ex tend our hori zons beyond our own lifespan. Thi s abi lity, indeed , is vital. A civilization that forgets where it came from and how it got where it is will one day coll apse like a house built on foundati ons that have crumbled away.

History matters. And its messages must reach each corning generation with a sense of fresh challenge, for indeed the challenge is new to each new person arriving on the scene-new, and vitally important.

So, just to be clear about what we ' re doing, we' re not looking at "old" things but at things yo ung in their time and criticall y important to what we've built on our predecessors' fo undation. We may only hope to build with the same attention to people coming aftero urtime.

NMHS members interested in pursuing this interest in an active way are invited to consider our report on the hi storic ships movement in the "NMHS Mi ss ion" pages 10-1 2, and the Campaign for Sea Hi story whi ch we are considering to strengthen and refresh the hi storic scene, in "NMHS News" on page 8.

Co me join us at our An nu al Meeting here in Peekskill on 29 April if yo u can.

Those ofour 12,975 members who won' t be abl e to-write us, or let us otherwise know yo ur thoughts and commitment to thi s effort!

PETER STANFORD PS : There's no wrapper on thi s copy of yo ur magazine. The wrapper message is now in side our covers. We' d like to know what yo u th i11k of this change. And fo r the gift memberships yo u generous me mbers keep sending us, please see "Sign Up A Friend! " on the last page of thi s magazine-a good parting thought !

4

LETTERS Building the Choir We are deli ghted with your proposal to enroll our se11ior class as members of the National Maritime Historical Society. I have discussed this with the leaders on campus and they are not onl y de]jghtedthey are enthusiastic about the proposal.

As a member of the National Maritime Hi sto1ical Society myself, I applaud your efforts to increase maritime awareness.

Certainly, exciti ng our Cadets through Sea History magazine is a positive step.

RADM FLOYD H. MILLER President, SUNY Maritime College Fort Schuyler, Bronx, New York Enrolling SUNY Maritime cadets is a major step forward in our campaign to carry the seafaring message to more Americans. We couldn 't ask for better message bearers than these dedicated young people committed to the sea services. See "NMHS News," page 8.-ED

Saint N icholas Among the Fishermen Readers of Sea History 7 1 captivated by the story of the Seame n's C hurc h lnstitute ' s "floatin g chapels" may also be interested in the Ru ss ian version of faith upon the water.

In 1910, just as the last of New York' s floating chapels closed down, a floating church was consecrated in Tsarist Russia to meet the needs of Orthodox Christians among the fishermen of the Astrakhan region . Originally the Volga steam tug Pirate, the rebuilt Saint Nicholas the Wonder Worker carried a seven-domed church on its foredeck, big enough to accommodate 100 people standing to worship in Orthodox fashion. Plying the waters of the Volga delta and the north coast of the Caspian Sea, the floating church also carried medical personnel who offered help to all the people of the region, whether or not they were Orthodox, or even Russian.

The Saint Nicholas served for several years, until her upkeep proved too expensive in a country faci ng the massive costs of World War I. She was sold in 19 16 and dismantled. Her hulk reportedly still can be seen near a fi shery in Astrakhan .

NICHOLAS 0 UJMOVIC Sterling, Virgini a

"Unfortunate Error of Judgment" Anthony Nicolos i' s detailed and thoughtful story, "The Battle off Samar," in Sea History 7 1 was particularl y interesting to me. When I was transfeJTed fro m the Atlantic Fleet Staff I was fo rtunate to be included with Adm. Hustvedt's Battleship Divi sion 7 Staff aboard the new battle-

ship Io wa in February 1943.

Nico losi fe lt the divided command structure contributed to Adm. Halsey 's notorious action in leaving San Bernai¡dino Strai t uncovered during hi s das h to the north . Hal sey's orders also seem to havecontributed to the situation . The Third Fleet led by Hal sey was directed by Adm. Nimitz to support Adm. Kinkaid 's Seventh Fleet (which was under General MacArthur), to assist in the seizure and occupation of objectives in the central Philippines, and to destroy enemy naval and air fo rces which might threaten the area. Hal sey's instructions further provided that if opportunity for destruction of a major portion of the enemy fleet offered, or could be created, such destruction would become hi s primary task.

Hal sey was fru strated to be sitting around while MacArthur was stealing all the headlines and even waded ashore for the news cameras. The lure of the Japanese carriers was too much for him and he took the mi ghtiest fl eet in all history in hot pursuit without even pausing to ascertain that Adm. Kurita had left the scene. San Bernardino Strait was left unguarded by both Killkaid and Halsey. This was a serious mi stake orrly saved from being a major di saster by Adm . Sprague's light forces which caused Kurita to retreat.

Navy Hi storian Adm . Samuel Eliot Morison called Halsey's action a blunder.

When Halsey complained, Mori son said that in the future he would refer to it as an unfortunate eITor of judgment.

Today we can reflect on the extraord inary bait offered to Halsey to lure him away from Leyte Gulf-nearly all the carriers the Japanese had left. Why would the Japanese deliberately send out these vessels, knowing Halsey would sink them?

The reason is that Adm. Spruance's aviators had spl as hed all Japan 's experienced pilots and so they could not use the carriers to give air support to the fl eet. The ships were thus expendable, and they fe lt that if Hal sey's fl eet was lured away from the strait, Kurita would be able to wipe out our landing effort. If Spruance's fl y-boys had not destroyed their air arm, no doubt the Japanese carriers would have been at Leyte Gulf and Halsey wou ld not have made hi s unfortunate error of judgment.

JOHN R. NORRIS, Cmdr. USNR (Ret) Pinehurst, North Caro lina

There But for the Grace ...

I appreciated reading Mr. N icolosi's fine review of the Battle off Samar. Thi s criti cal epi sode often appears as incident to the SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994- 95

larger telling of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Mr. Nicolosi states that Kamikaze attacks officially commenced on 20 October 1944. I have read in The Divine Wind

by Imoguchi , Nakajima and Pineau a schedule showing that the first classifiable Kamikaze attacked the Franklin on 13 October and the second Kamikaze attacked the CL Reno on 14 October.

I must say that we on the Reno wondered why thi s foo lhardy foe did not pancake and save hi s life. As it happened, his decision was fo rtuitous for Reno men. In land ing on our fantail the Japanese "Jill" went over the side and carried our towing reel with it. Ten days later thi s loss of reel obliged us to refu se to tow the bombed out carrier Princeton. The Birmingham fill ed in . As she went alongside, a magazine on the Princeton exp loded, ki llin g and wo unding over 400 Birmingham crew.

There but for the grace.... But we were not entirely spared. Ten days later the Reno was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.

Sea History is of constant interest and I trust that its circulation is growing.

H AROLD T. B ERC, PC Chicago, Illino is

A Kaiulani Tale I read your editori al about the loss of the Kaiulani to the museum world . It is trul y sad that the ship itself is gone but the story it tells Li ves on. Back in 1947, I sailed on a T-2 tanker and the onl y competent seaman was a Finn, Hjalmar "Ole" Lindberg.

He had been transferred to the Star of Finland (ex-Kaiulani) in South Africa and stayed with it all the way to Manila, where he said the masts were removed. He was angry about that. Soi t must have been in pretty good shape then.

I sailed the Great Lakes as well, but couldn ' t stand the monotony, although there was always a job availab le from April to December (and the food was as good as my mother' s). The Great Lakes freighters had short runs and a plentiful supply of coal (a week was a long trip), so fresh food was always available and good.

In I 954 they served fresh Maine lobsters to the crew of the Adam E. Cornelius.

Compare that to the belly-robbing stewards on the ocean before labor unions. The crews came from the conservati ve rural areas of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and, surprisingly, Ohio, where there were facto ry jobs as an alternative. Anyway, there was no union, no fights, no drinking, and off at the next port if there were.

MARTIN D . H OLLAND Tilghman , Maryland SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

In a Turkish Port Sea History' s Autumn 1994 images of Ian Marshall ' s magnifi cent antique warship paintings brought back memories.

It was June of 1948 at a tin y obscure Sea of Marmara Turkish military port called Derince or Deringe. I was sailing aboard theLibertyshipSS George Uhler, and would see my sixteenth birthday in abo ut two weeks . Since there was no wharf, Derince was hardl y a cargo handling port; the unloading of a few WWII tanks, civilian trucks and crates onto barges from the anc hored Liberty took a week. Consequently, there was time for local exploration. The Uhler' s radio officer ("Sparks," naturally) and I rented bicycles and proceeded along a dirt road for may be fifteen miles to the port town ofizmit.

Although a small town with a populati on of a few thou sand, Izmit did have somedockingfacilities, although no merchant vessels were in port. At one of the few docks I was stunned to view at least two ancient iron-hull naval ships. The larger ship to my inex perienced eye rese mbl ed the battl es hip Maine. Th e small er ship-of-war was an early destro yer-type vessel. Both were unmanned, but seemed to be painted, maintained and in reasonable condition- not rusting, li sting hulks. It was like being in a time-warp . I wonder if those fascinating ships are still afl oat.

JOSEPH CONRAD SWARTZ

Washington, DC It is almost sure from your description that the larger ship you saw was the Torgad Reis ( ex-Weissenburg), an 1891 battleship. She was bought from Germany in 1910 and served in the Bulgarian and Greek wars. She becameaschool hulk in 1928 and was sold out ofthe navy in 1938 but was not broken up until 1956.

The destroyer-type vessel was most likely one of three French destroyers built in 1907- 8 namedTasoz, Samsun and Basra.

They were not stricken until 1948.

- / AN M ARSHALL

A Day on the Water Ju sta note to say how much I enj oyed the spectator cruise fo r the New York Yacht C lub 's New York Harbor Regatta in September. What a splendid day! The commentator, Lou Carretero, was very ski Iled both as a sailor and as an observer of the action. The skipper of the Mystique pl aced us in some spectacul ar locations to watch every aspect of the race. I especially loved those upwind legs with

the tacks co ming close aboard. I fo und myself dashing from port to starboard, not wanting to mi ss any of it. New York harbor, of course, provided a wonderful and historic backdrop. What a great pl ace to sail! I found the who le event renewing and in vigorating. Thanks to the Society fo r the opportunity to enjoy such a day on the water.

JOSEPH F. MEANY, JR .

Senior Hi storian New York State Museum

Sea History 's Schedule I finally received my Summer issue of Sea History (#70) on 7 September, when the summer was practicall y over! I have no comp laint about NMHS or Sea History itse lf, but I do think that yo u do yo ur readers, adverti sers and others a di sservice when yo u erratically publish the magazine. Can yo u get a more consiste nt and time ly method of publication and let the membership know the schedule?

P ETER H ORNE

Trenton, New Jersey Sea History is printed on or close to schedule, but the schedule is later than most seasonal periodicals. Subscribers should receive the Winter issue in midFebruary, Spring in mid-May, Summer in mid-August, and Autumn in mid-November. -ED ERRATA In Sea History 7 1, through a typographi cal error, the byline for "The Battl e off Samar," by Anthony S. Nicolosi , was incorrectly attributed to Robert Nicolos i.

Anthony Nicolosi is director of the Naval War Co ll ege Museum in Newport, Rhode Island.

Naval architect and author Thomas C. Gillmer was sole designer of Pride of Baltimore-a ro le incorrectly attributed to the vessel' s builder, Melbourne Smith, in our artic le on the Amistad.

In Sea History 70, in "The Stuff of Dreams," Walter Jaffee wrote that when President C linton boarded the Jeremiah 0 'Brien he was the first Pres ident in modern times to board an active merchant ship . Pablo A. Wedel of New Orl eans points o ut, however, that in April 1978, Pres ident Jimmy Carter board e d th e D e lta Steamship Co. Freighter Delta Paraguay in igeri a, West Africa.

The two excellent photographs of crew in the rigging of the frigate Rose (SH 70, pp 20 and 2 1) were taken by 1 marine photographer Starke Jett.

5

OPINION: cent surveys indicate that 72 percent of the graduates of the past twenty years are still serving the maritime and defense needs of the United States. Based on Standard and

by Donald R. Yearwood, President, USMMA Alumni Association Poor's data, the United States Merchant Marine Academy is the sixteenth top unWe were puzz.led and alarmed to learn gree as bachelor of science. They incur dergraduate college in the country in perthat the Federal government was mov- obligations to serve in the armed forces centage of graduates holding executive ing to close the US Merchant Marine for a period of eight years, commit to the positions in US industry.

The record is outstanding and yet the maritime industry for nine years and Academy at Kings Point, while at the maintain their merchant marine license educational cost per student is forty persame time placing increased emphasis covering a period of ten years. During cent less than that at the nation 's top on our foreign trade, carried by ships. their year at sea, midshipmen from the twenty-five universities.

The MerchantMarineAcademy clearly Others felt as we did, and here an Acad- Academy have served in all armed conemy graduate, president of a major US flicts from World War II through the Gulf is a remarkable educational success. However, success may not lead to contishipping company, sets forth the PHOTO: MIKE YAMAS HITA nuity for the Academy, and indeed case for the Academy. for the other federal academies as well. In 1993, the National Performance Review, in an effort to The fine corrunercial sailing ships "reinvent" government at the federal which grace the pages of Sea History level, launched a recommendation to were largely crewed by hearty seaclose the Academy. An intense efmen who learned their profession fort by concerned citizens convinced through the apprentice system. The legislators that this great federal sucmasters of such ships were known cess story should not be destroyed fortheir sailing and commercial tradand that young men and women ing skills. who desire a career at sea, and in Today the foc us has changed. service to their country, should have Nautical education is largely a forthis national resource available. malized process. No longer is the Maritime skills are increasingly master responsible for the commerA Kings Point cadet on a training cruise important in an environmentally sencial sale of his outbound cargo and the acquisition of a back haul. Modem War which tested United States commer- sitive world which communicates at the communications have shifted the com- cial maritime ability with a pipeline of speed of light. More than 80 percent of mercial functions to shore personnel. ships spaced 200 miles apart between the modem day marine casualties result from human error. The international maritime But the skills required of seagoing United States and the Middle East.

Students entering the Academy are community has expressed concern about personnel have broadened immensely. Exthe worldwide need for pertise is now required in electronic navi- uniqu e in academic enhanced maritime skills gation, machinery operation and mainte- achievement and motiva"When a ship's officer and a shortage of qualjnance, satellite communications, water tion. They embark on a assumes a sea watch fied seafarers. Internaand fuel chemistry, computer systems and rigorous program placing a host of other high technology areas for high demands on their time on a dark winter night tional training standards have been established and all vessels from commercial fishing boats for academic and regimenin a North Atlantic tal activities and will be doubtlessly will be exto the largest tankers afloat. panded in the future.

Maritime education in the United States required to serve their storm, that ship, its The United States, as has kept pace with the increasing de- country. They will also cargo and its entire the largest trading nation mands and has frequently set the standard have the opportunity to despite the decline of the US-flag mer- work in their chosen field crew rely on the broad in the world, must continue to be in the forefront during their year at sea. chant marine. based skills of that The United States Merchant Marine The intensity of the proof this effort. The United officer for a continued States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, gram, which includes milisafe passage."

Academy provides leadoffers entering students an inten sive, ac- tary training and a year at ership to sea officers to credited and well rounded four-yearmili- sea, prepares the graduate tary college education with program well for the fu ture. give reality to that effort.

The Unjted States merchant marine majors in marine transportation and/or When a ship's officer assumes a sea engineering leading to a license as a has had a cyclical existence and is in the watch on a dark winter night in a North Mate and/or Engineer. During each of trough of another cycle. Yet, in spite of its Atlantic storm, that ship, its cargo and three years, students spend eleven months weakness, graduates of the Merchant its entire crew rely on the broad-based at the Academy in academic session . Marine Academy continue to find em- skills of that officer for a continued safe One year is spent in an apprentice system ployment in their chosen field. Indeed, passage. t sailing aboard a wide variety of com- virtually all of the graduates of the Class of mercial ships. Graduates earn a commis- 1994 are engaged in qualifying maritime For information contact Ma rtin Skrocki, sion in the armed services, a license as a employment with the majority serving on Public Information Officer, USMerchant maritime officer and an accredited de- US-flag vessels and in the military. Re- Marine Academy, Kings Point NY 11024.

America Needs Kings Point!

,-.-~-.-~~~~~

6

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7

NMHSNEWS:

Toward a Campaign for Sea History Sea History is not just the name of thi s magazine-it is the cause to which the National Maritime Hi storica l Society is dedicated! T he magazine has moved to the center of our concerns because it binds together our members, who give our Society both its sense of purpose and the support needed to carry out that purpose.

Therefore, we 've been looking at a poss ible "Campaign for Sea History." The first goal of this would be to ach ieve a membership of 30,000 peop le dedicated to our shared purposes and vis ion, and by the e nd of this century, perhaQS 100,000. We believe there are thi s many Americans who care about the heri tage. Our task is to bring them together into an aware and acti ve constituency. If we can sign them on , we' ll certainl y ensure the future of the heritage we serve. So-can we do it?

We start with certain assets that we should all th in k about.

•First, our membership is grow in g. W e' re on track to achi eve our initial goal, 15 ,000 members by May J 995. Membership grew by 25 percent last year.

• Second, our national Membership C hairmen Nancy Pouch and Dick Scheuing are launching an innovative program to e nroll whole c lasses of the maritime acade mi es as members of NMHS. T hi s effort is beginning with the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point (see page 6), whose 200 firstclassmen will be enroll ed in February, as you receive this Sea History.

• Third, our Charles Point Counc il in Peekskill NY, led by Harry and Caro l Vinall , with Norman Carathanasis as Membership C hairm an, has contributed mi ghtil y to active me mbership program and me mbership grow th . T his year we hope to establish regional counc il s in other citi es.

• Fourth, a bequest of some $225,000 has recently been left to NMHS from the estate of the late Walter J. Pettit of Los A ngeles. This gives us start-up fundin g fo r a major campaign to build a large me mbership base.

NMHS hi stori call y has raised more money for outside projects than for the Society 's ow n growth and development. But if we ca n match the fund s from the Pettit estate on a two-for-one basis-that is, raise $450,000 to matc h the bequest of $225,000-thi s will assure reaching our goal of 30,000 me mbers in the next two or three years.

Achi ev ing such a goal wi ll bring into being a most productive asset for the nation 's heritage in seafaring and ass ure the future of our work.

W e invite all ha nds to jo in in thi s most worthwhil e effort, e ncouraged by progress to date a nd c hall e nged by the great work before us.

G. CHOATE Chairman

ALAN

P ETER STANFORD

President

Retired Coast Guard tug Tamaroa (former Navy tug USS Zuni) has been acquired by the Intrepid Museum in New York C ity. NMHS member Walter Hoyes ki , who was co ncerned fo r the preservation of the 1944 tug after hearing of its deco mmi ss ioning, and NMHS pres ident Peter Stanford brought the vessel to the attention of the Intrepid Museum in 1993 , which in 1994 stepped in to prevent it being sunk as a diving reef and now plans to make it avail- -· _::_:_~~~iiiiiiiiiiiii~~=:_:_::_ _J able as a fl oating headquarters fo r the Hudson River Park Conservancy.

o_

USCGC TAMAROA {WMEC 166) NEW CASTLE. NH

8

Three Honored at NMHS Annual Dinner An enthusiastic host of members and friends gathered at the NY Yacht Club on 18 November for the NMHS Annual A wards Dinner. Guests were serenaded during the reception in the Model Room

by X-Seamen' s In stitute chanteyman Frank Woerner. After feasting, we got about the business of honoring several people who have contributed greatly to the maritime heritage and to NMHS. Elizabeth E. Meyer received the American Ship Trust Award for her dedicati on to the restoration of the J-Class yachts Endeavour and Shamrock V and for her most recent enterpri se-the creation of the International Yacht Restoration School, whose first project will be restoring Coronet. (See story on page 9) Walter J. Handelman, Esq. , was the recipient of our Founders' Sheet Anchor Award fo r hi s continued support of NMHS . And Schuyler M. Meyer, Jr., former chairman of NMHS , received a Distinguished Service A ward fo r hi s dedication to the State Council On Waterways, an organi zation he helped found which operates educational programs on New York's inland waterways. (See story on page 16)

Gazette Receives Award for Excellence At the 6th National Maritime Heritage Conference in Boston, 14- 17 September, severa l maritime organi zations and mu se um s rece ive d awards for exemplary work in carrying out th eir ma ritim e mi ssions. The Nationa l Maritime Historical Society rece ived a n A ward fo r Excellence in Marine Publications, with spec ifi c menti on being made of Sea History Gazette. The USS Editor KevinHaydon Constitution received acceptsNMA Award the Award for Exce l- for Exce ll ence in le nce for Ships a nd Marine Publications.

Large Vesse ls wh ile the Museum Small Craft Association won in the Sma ll Craft category. The NMA recogni zed the South Street Seaport Museum 's presentation of Maritime Art, with a reference to the "Ship, Sea and Sky" ex hibit of James Buttersworth 's paintings. The Maritime Museums Award went to the Kendall Whaling Museum.

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

NMHSNEWS:

Remarks of Elizabeth Meyer on a New Yacht Restoration School It is with the greatest pleas ure and exci tement that I receive the A merican Ship Trust A ward for the International Yacht Restoration Schoo l. You all know my personal background-it' s the basic girl meets boat story-but I want to take this opportunity to introduce to yo u the In tern at io nal Yac ht Resto ra ti o n School- known to all of us as IYRS and Spinnakers bloom on the dueling Endeavo ur and Shamrock V. pro nounced " iris."

IYRS was fo unded in 1993. We have a 25-member board of trustees and a 24- the past, the importance of preservation of yachting and education to stand as an member board of advisors, we have raised and the necessity for doing good work. If irreplaceable repository of America's I 9thnearly $500,000, of which $66,836.25 has a student fakes or cheats as he puts a new century history. Because of thi s, we feel been put into our endow ment fund, we plank on the bottom of a boat, the boat will the restoration of Coronet will attract the have purchased a site on the waterfront in sink with him in it. The message-do highest level of interest. downtown Newport and have beI am extremely encouraged and The results of pleased by the response to our gun design work on a building. Our teaching program will begin in the proposals we have received. I Elizabeth Meyer's am happy with the amount of fall of 1996. Wealso haveourmajor efforts are two of the restoration project, the 1885, 130money we've raised and am in world's most foot schooner yacht, Coronet. vigorous and constant pursuit of I started my first yacht res toramore money. We would be destunning yachts, tion schoo l in 1988, when I was on lighted to receive any help sugEndeavour and the board of the M useum of Yachtgestions, or fi nancial support.

Shamrock V ing in Newport. The first group of In clos ing I wish to thank students incl uded a computer prothe National Maritime Hi stori ... now she is cal Society for their earl y recgra mm e r, a n airlin e pil o t, a boatbuilder and two "bad" kids helping to establish ognitio n and encouragement of a yacht restoration who had been enrolled in the class the In ternational Yacht Restoby their parents. These kids were rati on School. We hope IYRS school. very alienated, they hated the idea and the National Maritime Hi sof doing anything, hated people and were honest work or yo u' ll get wet. torical Society will be able to work toessenti all y very difficult kids. My first There are many ways in which !YRS gether for many years to come.

- ELIZABET H MEYER instinct was to throw them out of class pl ans to work with the education commusince they were so di sru ptive . nity. Local elementary schools, hi gh Luckil y, we didn ' t throw them out of schools, vocational train ing schools and the class because they taught us a lot colleges have expressed interest in having about the potential of teaching restora- their students take classes for credit at tion. Al though these kids hated peop le, IYRS. We intend to have a regular apthey did become interested in the 60- prenticeship program to allow a student to year-old sa ilboat the class was restoring. go fro m apprentice to master in six years.

They graduall y came to see the beauty of Our interchange with fore ign boat buildthe boat and to feel as if they were sav ing ing schools indicates that we will have no a life of a priceless antique. One of these trouble fi nding fellow institutions which kids is a boatbuilder still , six years later. would like to exchange teachers, students I do n' t have the idea that we can and restorati on projects with us. redeem all the world' s problem kids In addition to the progress IYRS has through teaching restoration, but I do made with planning, fundraisi ng, site acthin k the help we can give some ki ds quisition and bu ilding desig n, we have lends additional meani ng to historical also fully stabilized the 1885 schooner preservati on of vessels. yacht Coronet, our premier restoration The !YRS building planned fo r Newport 's Restoring a beautiful historical artifac t project. Coronet will be coming to IYRS downtown wate1front. For information, connot only preserves the object for fu tu re and to Newport permanently in the sum- tact !YRS, 28 Church Street, Newport RI generations, it teaches values: respect for merof 1995. Coronet transcends the fields 02840; 401 849-3060.

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

9

NMHS MISSION:

"Challenging, Beautiful, Noble Ships ... "

by Peter Stanford "Challenging, beautiful, noble ships," Alan Villiers called the great sailing ships he'd served in, "in whose service there were tremendous compensations and satisfactions gone quite beyond achievement now." He wrote these words in his preface to The Wavertree: an Ocean Wanderer, a book about the big full riggerof 1885 which we brought into South Street Seaport in New York twenty-five years ago this year-a ship which still lingers unrestored and not fully developed for public enjoyment and education.

There is new interest in things maritime stirring today, however, and in this ferment of fresh interest in our subject we look to see ships like the Wavertree restored to deliver their message to today 's world and to coming generations.

A Surging Interest

Hard work aloft under the open sky is needed to keep a big ship sailing. Such skills must be learned anew in each generation. Here Joe Stanford, editor of the NMHS Museum Guide, secures the main upper topsail of the bark Sea Cloud, December 1994. tory made a similar, more limited West Coast tour. Happily ,

as it fell out, all three ships were on duty reaching vital new audiences in two oceans.

These great steel ships, vastly larger than any other museum ships in the world, were officered and manned by volunteers, mostly in their seventies and eighties, withimportant point-young apprentices in company to learn how they did it!

There is the secret of the active steaming of these shipsthe force of human desire to keep a marvelous thing in life.

This desire was expressed also through the US Congress, which authorized money from the sale of scrapped Reserve Fleet vessels to provide matching funds for the contributed dollars, hours, oil and materials that flowed in to restore these great industrial structures , each over half a century old.

The State of Connecticut, as reported in "S hip Notes" in this issue, has appropriated $2.5 million to build the replica Amistad- the slave ship that became a ship of freedom. The ship, to be built by Mystic Seaport Museum with the Connecticut Afro-American Historical Society, will be actively campaigned according to the dream of NMHS Trustee Warren Marr, II, fulfilling his twenty-year Amistad campaign.

New life, this time on a commercial basis, is flowin g into the restoration of the bark Moshulu in Philadelphia, another project in which NMHS has been involved under the leadership of Ray Wallace of Los Angeles, with Hajo Knuttel and other aficionados of this great ship, winner of the last Australian Grain Race in 1939.

And where it was feared that we would lose the last The Ships that Brought Us So Far working skipjacks in Chesapeake Bay (where local laws With all these stirring interests in ships, we in our Society look encourage oystering under sail) the shipwright Allen Raw l to a revival of the maritime awareness of the American people, and his wife Liz have founded a Chesapeake Heritage Conser- to some real sea learning and understanding of what it took to vation Foundation, which rebuilt the skipjack Martha Lewis build thi s republic from the sea. to topflight condition in the spring of 1994, and ran her with The seafaring heritage will be celebrated in the year 2000 in educational tours on non-oystering days. And in this issue Dan a new Operation Sail. And this, with young people of all nations Stetson reports on how the brig Pilgrim earns her way through coming to America in tall ships, may prove to be the most educational programs alone! important and memorable marking These varied income sources of that millennial milestone.

"My life is a continuous learning curve," says Richard show how historic ships (or ships Brannon, volunteer chief engineer of the historic steamLet this rising tide of public that sail to historic purpose) must ship Jeremiah O'Brien on her trip from San Francisco to interest float not only the new Normandy, France, last year. Here, aboard Sea Cloud, he maketheirlivingtoday.Butwaitships, important as they indeed picks up some pointers on square rig from Captain you haven't heard it all! are, but also bring new life and Richard Shannon.

The inspiring success of the understanding to the ships that three World War II ships involved survive out of an earlier era. For as in the Normandy Convoy last year our founder Karl Kortum has provides new dimensions to hispointed out, these ships of our toric ships preservation and provoyaging past are profoundly edugramming. Only one, the Jeremiah cational. For broad numbers of O'Brien of San Francisco, made it people they send out "emanations to Normandy (as recounted in of lore, humanity, history, advenextenso in these pages last year) , ture, geography, art, literature . .. ." but the other Liberty ship John W. A feeling for these things is esBrown made a brilliantly successsential to the good life in any civiful (and strategically important) lization, and makes a good foundaEast Coast tour, and the Lane Viction for any center of learning. .t

10

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

NMHS MISSION:

tional and historical aspects oflifeaboard the Pilgrim (a full size, 1945-built replica of Richard Henry Dana's brig immortali zed in Two Years Before the Mast) , the In stitute was not only able to purchase the vessel and build a new Living History Education Benefits Ships and Ports historic pier at which to moor her, but also operates her profitably.

by Daniel T. Stetson During the 1993-94 school year, there Every responsible individual and orga- to be astonishingly effective at energizing were over 250 overnight programs. As nization entrusted with the care of an students' interest in hi story while equip- there are only 180 school days per year, hi storic vessel must continually grapple ping them with essenti al life skills. many teachers and students give up weekwith certain fundame ntal questions: lmportant to the question "How can ends, vacations and other personal days to PHOTO: BOB GRIESER be able to participate. To date, more What is the best use for this vessel today? How can we best preserve than 100,000 students have particiher for tomorrow? How can we pated in the overnight program. The give her meaning for present and program is fully subscribed with a substantial waiting list. future generations?

Our few remaining historic vesTo accommodate the demand, sels stand as tribute to the vision of the overnight runs "rain or shine" the designers and craftsmen who seven days a week, attracting the participation of both public and pricreated them and the indomitable spirit of the crews who sailed them. vate schools, as well as scouting They were sailed by ordinary people organizations and ma ny other who, in the improved light and pergroups from all over Southern Calispective of history, lived extraordifornia, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. nary Lives. Endangered, the survival It is so popular that some teachers have been corning for more than ten of the few remaining vessels now The Pilgrim sails once a year. For the rest ofthe year she offers depends on our extraordinary re- shoreside programmingfor school children at Dana Point CA . years! In addition to overnight programs, the brig is also utilized dursourcefulness, our ability to adapt, our ability to integrate them back into the we best preserve hi storic ships?" the ing the day for a number of shorter profabric of American consciousness. There vessels also directly benefit from the e grams ... the Pilgrim is often in use 24 is no single answer. And, clearly, not programs. New revenue sources become hours a day. available through program fees, as well The Orange County Marine Institute every vessel can be saved.

Today, quite simply, America is no as added grant opportunities, and tradi- receives no federal, state or county fundlonger the seafaring country we were in tional seafaring ski lls are preserved and ing. OCMI is financially self supporting the past. While we span a continent that passed on. Even though the programs and fundamentally entrepreneurial in nature. All program staffing, overhead, inborders two great oceans, as a nation we surance and the Pilgrim's considerable have lost touch with our waters, our The Pilgrim receives no maintenance and sailing expenses (she vessels, our ancestors and their spirit. government funding. She is Unless we can reverse thi s trend and sails every summer) are paid for by revenues generated by her educational proreconnect these vital links, these ships financially self supporting. wi ll never again have relevance in Revenues generated by educagrams. These funds generally come from America's collective consciousness. It PTAs and other student fund raising activities, not tax dollars. Supplementary is a tremendous challenge, but unless we tional programs cover all proincome and promotional benefits are also are able to develop a stro ng community gram staffing, overhead, and ved from such varied projects as dracapable of direct support and vigorous vessel sailing and maintenance. deri matic plays, symphony concerts, and an lobbying efforts, many more wi ll be lost. annual Tallship Festival celebrating the The Orange County Marine Institute Pilgrim's return home from her summer in Dana Point, California, has developed It demonstrates that this model cruise. Expansion plans are on the drawa unique approach to these challenges . ing board and fund raising is already welJ Establi shed in 1977, OCMI has attained can be adapted to other historic underway to build a new, state of the art, . national recognition as a model of a vessels with similar results. multi-million dollar community-based successful experimental teaching laboratory. Annually, more than 100,000 stu- are conducted pi erside, the ships are marine educational facility .

Over time, these programs help to dents from preschool through college being used much as they were originally participate in the Institute's 42 award- intended. In effect, the vessels go through weave the ships back into the essential wi nning programs in mariti me history, daily exercise as the student crews prac- fabric of the community. And in the long tice their newfound seafaring ski ll s. They haul, the very survival of our historic science and environmental studi es.

The most successful of the Institute's hoist sails, move cargo, poli sh brass, vessels will depend upon how successofferings are the living history educa- swab the decks with sal twater, and per- fully their guardian organizations can adapt tional programs. Modeled after the con- form numerous other basic maintenance to changing times and continue to maincept pioneered by Dave Netell at the San activities that help to keep up the vessels . tain strong community support. In Dana By develop ing a busi ness and opera- Point, the Pilgrim has become the city's FranciscoMaritimeNationalHistoricPark in the 1970s, these programs have proven tional plan capitalizing on the educa- defactoflagship. She is strongly supported

How an Old Wooden Ship Earns Her Living

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

11

Living History Education, continued

COMPASS ROSE BOX he des ig n motif w hi ch in spired our Compass Rose Box, is deri ve d from an I 7 19 nautica l artifac t found in th e It alian city of Li vorn o. Precisely incised w ith the ordinal point s of th e compass, and decorated neur-de-les indi ca t in g tru e no rth , thi s box w ill mak e a treasured add ition to your nautical co llecti on.

T

M eti culou sl y creat ed in New Hamp shire, o f man - mad e fa ux i vo ry, eac h mu se um q ual it y reproducti on is hand tinted, just as th e ori ginals were, to bring out th e intrica te carved des ign.

M easuring 3.5 inches in di ameter and 2 inches hi gh. our Scrim shaw Compass Rose Box w ill make an unusual and long treasured gift.

In c lud ed w ith eac h co mpass rose box i s an authe nti ca tin g doc um ent desc ribin g th e o ri g in and lore of these magnificent histori ca l pieces.

T o order send $24.95 plus $4.60 shipping, insurance & handling to:

The Kenyon Collection Francesto wn, New Hampshire 03043 For Vi sa & M C call toll free:

1-800-289-9679

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12

by its citizens and is even bonds have been estabfeatured on the city ' s offili shed that will provide impetus for the contincial seal. This process, however, does not occur ued preservation of these overnight. A well convessels. In time, a new ceived and carefull y exgeneration will develop a ecuted plan of action over sensiti vity and a personal a number of years is necconnection for these ships essary to cultivate strong and what they represent. community support.

Historic vessels are a valuable and limited reOver many successfu l years, the educational and source. Unfortunately, operational components of today's bleak economic Pilgrim Overnight have horizon puts many at risk. become highly refined.

Every guardian organizaLate in 1990, this working tion must address what is model was taken back to the best course to safeSan Francisco. Maritime Drama plays a role in shipboard guard the resource. As rePrograms, the San Fran- education. Here, Pilgrim 's Cap- ported in the 8 December cisco di vision of OCMI, tain Chris Pecharka berates Jst issue of the San Diego Mate McLarenforbringing aboard was created.

Union Tribune, museum a cre w of greenhandfarmers.

Working in cooperamanagement entru sted tion with the S.F. Maritime National His- with theStaroflndiais movingquicklyto torical Park, the Marine Institute devel- adapt to the difficult times: oped programs for the lumber schooner The museum , whose mission is to preC.A. Thayer and the grain ship Balclutha. serve San Diego ' s rich and romantic By highlighting San Francisco's 1ich marilegacy, finds itself at a critical juncture time history, culture and the contributions as 1994 turns into 1995. Attendance these vessels made to the development of fell off nearly 30% . .. . "Locals comthis area, program enrollment has skypri se onl y about 10% of annual visirocketed, bringing the city's history and tors," said Joe Ditler, Director of Demaritime culture to life fo r a whole new velopment. "And .. . prospe1ity lies in generation. This year, between Dana Point the area of increased attendance." and San Francisco, more than 25 ,000chi1Toward that end, the museum is dren will participate. (See Sea History, on the verge of in augurating an ambi Spring ' 93 , "Maritime Ed ucation Initi atious ed ucational program for area ti ve Profile") schoo lchildren, Ditter said. The proMaritime li ving hi story experiences gram would e ither be modeled after are also bringing a whole new focus to the the hi ghl y successful one at the Orships. New publicity opportunities beange County Marine In stitute or ac tucome available as television and newspaally be provided by that facility , which pers regul arly carry features on the prois located in Dana Point. grams and the renaissance for the shjps While in her heyday, the Star of India and traditional seafaring ski ll s they are sai led around the world 2 1 times and helping to preserve. Increased public survived tremendous storms, a horrenattenti on stemming from the educational dous colli sion and even a mutiny. Yet benefi ts has also been used to he lp se- today, she too is challengea by tempestucure other funding as well. Grants such ous economic conditions. There is no safe as the "Sightline Grant," funded by the cou rse; no single answer. The future of National Park Foundation, ensure the vessels like the Pilgrim, CA. Thayer, participation of physically challenged Balclutha and Star of India rests with the and learning disabled children in the Bay visionary efforts of the guardi an organi zaarea. Maintenance and repair grant op- tions to build a community support sysportunities, buttressed by the value of tems. Maritime hi story education provides the education programs conducted ship- an excellent fo undation upon which to board, move up on the priority ladder. begin . .t The programs are also generating entire communities with strong attachments Mr. Stetson is Director of Maritime Afto historic vessels. Over the years, stu- fairs at The Orange County Marine Instidents often return many times to visit. tute. OCMI is the 1995 recipient of the First with their parents, later with friends, NMHS Maritime Education Initiative former students are now even beginning Award. For more information, contact to return with their own children. Strong OCMI, PO Box69, Dana Point CA 92629.

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994- 95

The Cape Horn Road: Part III: Mediterranean Origins

by Peter Stanford

Where did the Cape Horn road begin?

After thousands of years of deep water sailing and exploration of our water planet, this storm-beaten track ultimately took voyagers right around the world. Itthus played a unique and deeply important role in the development of mankind, as the path by which the different races of mankind finally connected up with each other. It provided the means by which mankind can be said to have finally met itself, in its infinite and challenging variety.

Casting back along this trail to its discernible point of origin might tell us things that really matter about ourselves and perhaps even the destiny ofa newly self-aware humanity on this globe.

I trace the Cape Horn road back to the Mediterranean Sea, though it's true Norsemen who coursed the bitter northern seas, Iberians who faced out on the Dark Ocean that lashed their rocky shores (interspersed with the occasio nal delight of sandy beaches, as at Vigo Bay), and Arabs who learned their seafaring in the vast Indi an Ocean each brought vita l contributions to the tabl e at which we all sit today- the table of a world united by the ocean voyaging which made its criti cal breakthrough in small ships battling their way round Cape Horn just over 500 years ago.

"The reality is better than the dream," said Joseph Conrad . Conrad , the "Sea Dreamer" as hi s French biographer JeanAubry call ed him, sought out hi s ow n reality in service under the Red Duster, sai ling in the British merchant marine of the last century. He went on to forge what he' d experienced into matchless prose in novels and essays in w hich li fe 's eni gmas lead always to fresh cha!lenge. He had one of hi s characters say, once, in a confused didactic way (as Shakespeare had hi s fools speak wisdom), that you mu st " make the deep, deep sea keep yo u up, . . ." and so Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeni owski, exiled from a Poland that did not even ex ist on the map of Europe in hi s day , mapped out for himself a new ho meland in the rugged glori es, the squall s, and banked clouds and sudden clearings of the English language.

I offer Conrad ' s counsel, which he SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

puts in the mouth of Lord Jim ' s advisor, the morally ambi guou s Stein, because it so precisely ex presses how I feel we must come at hi story. To leap for quick conc lusions is sure destruction. The only way to make one ' s way is to immerse oneself in the experience, so that it will bear you up. We sha ll be coming back to Conrad in thi s ta le, at certain turningpoints, and thi s is the first one: Let' s not grab at quick, g lib, easy an swers that sound right, in ex ploring this experience of man.

Let us go, then, as Conrad went, through the heait of the experience (as near as we can) and see what happened on this long sea road. Let' s look fo r the groundswells that tell of distant, long-past developments over the curve of time' s horizon--or augur, sometimes, things to come. And let's refuse easy answers!

It' s easy to say, for example, that going to sea at first upon a log, which he soon learned to ho llow out, man soon fashioned paddles that sped him on his way better than bare hands-and soon after that undoubtedl y learned to hoist some kind of sail. Easy, but dead wrong.

That last "soon after," the develop,,, ~

~ ~ ~

~

~ ~ ~ ~

~

:::; ~

"'u. ~-------------~ The earliest picture we ha ve of vessel under sail, above,froman Egyptian wall drawing of ca. 3100 BC. Below, a Mesopotamian model of a vessel fitted for mast and shrouds, possibly a skin boat, ca. 3400 Be.

ment of sail , apparentl y took so mething over 5,000 years.

Learning to Sail The earliest evidence we have of sea passages is the di stribution ofobsidian (a hai-d volcanic glass that takes a sharp edge) from the Greek island of Melos through mainland communities, dating back some 12,000 years-before there was any extensive agriculture, or cities, or much real social organization. It'sgottotell us something abo ut the vital ro le of seafai·i ng in human development, to find extensive seaborne trade so earl y in the tale.

And it also tells us something of how long it took to develop the idea of harnessing the wind to drive a ship, for the earliest evidence we have of sail is a clay modelperhaps a child 's, perhaps a priest's--of what appears to be a small sailboat, found in Mesopotamia where two great rivers nourished a civilization that began to keep records of its doings as early as 3400 BC. In another few hundred yeai·s, wall paintings and other clay models of boats appeai·ed in Egypt, a little before 3000 BC. So it' s 5000 years from the earli est ev idence of systematic nav igatio n to the earliest ev idence of a sailing vesselabout the span of time from that vessel to the supersonic aircraft of today.

A nd when yo u begin to look a.I"O L111d , confirming ev idence flood s in . In all the Americas , when the E uropeans came upon the m 1000 years ago in the Norse voyages, and 500 years ago fo ll owing Columbus's voyage of 1492, there was no sign of a sailing vessel, though there were grand seagoing canoes, and river canoes serving trading systems so we ll developed that the European goods (and, alas, European diseases) had penetrated far inl and long before the Europeans themselves did.

When Co lumbus arrived in the Lesser Anti ll es, he encountered thorough ly maritime peoples w ho had never seen a sail , or, ev idently, conceived of such a thing. These peopl es regarded the E uropeans as gods because their ships mo ved on the power of the wind. Later explorers encountered the same reaction wherever they went, up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the A mericas .

But by 3000 BC three Middl e Eastern civili zati ons had sailing ships and 13

sic Greece, around 430 were bound together in a trading network BC. Herodotus conextending thousands signs King Minos to of mile s, from th e the attic of pre-history, Indus river in India to saying in Book III of the Nile in Egypt. In his History that Polybetween, and initi all y crates of Samos was more advanced than "the first to plan the either of these other dominion of the sea, civilizations, was the unless we count Minos Mesopotamian civiliof Knossos and any zation , whi c h was other who may possiclearly linked to the bly have ruled the sea other two by seaborne With sails lowered, paddlers drive Minoan ships in ceremonial parade to Akrotiri, at a still earlier date." trade . In a co untry 3500 years ago, as sportive dophinsfrisk about. The reconstructed detail (below )from He goes on to say without tin or copper, this wall painting in a house in Akrotiri shows a keel-less, long-ended craft about 80 Polycrates was cerfeet overall, of basic Egyptian design. But Minoans, not Egyptians, carried the the Sumerians, first of deepwater commerce of the Eastern Mediterranean in this era, picking up Egyptian tainly the first in "ordithe great Mesopota- cargoes f rom entrepots like Byblos. nary human hi story," mian civili zations, destrongly suggesting the veloped an advanced Bronze Minoan navy was mythical.

Age culture, based in seaport Thucydides, a less goscities on the Euphrates. sipy historian than Herodotus, The obscure pre-Indic civifoc used on the history of his lization on the Indus has now own times in classic Greece. been lost to us through deSuprisingly, he accepted the structive floods and alien conreality of Minoan sea power, sayin g: "The first person quest, but the Egyptians went on to ever-growing power and known to us by tradition as glory expressed in monumenhaving established a navy is tal pyramidsandin a richrecord Minos." He observes: "He of the dynasties, their wars and trading Semitic people who conquered the Sum- made himself master of what is now called expeditions. Their trading network ex- erian s, adopted thi s legend as their the Hellenic sea . . . ." tended down the Red Sea to Arabia for own . In the fullness of time it was picked He goes on to describe how capital gums and spices, and into the Mediterra- up by Abraham, leaving the Assyri an accumul ated among seaports and island nean for the invaluable Lebanese cedar, city of Ur for Isreal, and the mythical towns as Minos cleared away piracy and needed for shipbuilding in their treeless kingdom of Dilmu n has been brought opened up trade routes, providing recountry. down to us in the Jewi sh Old Testament sources enough to build walls aro und the The ancient name of a small port in as the Garden of Eden. emerging Mediterranean citi es.

Lebanon, Byblos, survives today in the Thi s legend may have grown from an Curi ously enough , preci sely the opmodern root word for "book," fo und in actual civilization, a proto-civilization posite process took place-we know toEnglish in the words "Bible" and "bibli- preceding those in Mesopotamia, or on day that the Minoan sea imperium was ography." Byblos was the exchange port, the Nile or Indus. The history and logic so stro ng that Minoan cities did not have or entrepot, where paper for written of myth development would seem to walls aro und them ! It was the Mycenean records, made from the Egypti an papy- indicate that this was so. Thi s question of Greeks who built walls around their citrus reed, was distributed to the trading questions may be answered relatively ies, and who seized the Minoan empire peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean. soon by further archaeological discov- about 1500 BC, probably through a split People have wondered that these three ery , lingui stics and probability theory. in the royal household, as suggested in civilizations, the Sumerian, Egyptian and Out of these streams of development, the legend of Theseus. Theseus, a young Indu s River, seem to have hit the ground at any rate, a remarkable maritime civili- prince of the Greek mainland, was deli vmore or less together in the centuries zation began to take shape on the island of ered fo r contracted service in Knossos, leading up to 3000 BC. It also seems Crete toward 2000 BC, a literate civiliza- capital of Crete, and overthrew King remarkable that they were linked to each tion evidently deriving fro m Mesopota- Minos in what seems to have been a other by sea trade. mian and Eygptian strains and dependent palace revolt, aided by the king' s daughThe Sumerians, in their legend of the for its very existence on seaborne trade. ter, Ariadne. hero Gilgamesh, looked back to an earOf Theseus it is said he taught the li er, ideal civilization in a land called The First Sea Empire Greeks to plow the land and plow the sea Dilmun, which has been identified with This Cretan civili zati on, called Minoan (or as we would say, advanced agriculthe present-day island of Bahrein in the after its King Minos (undoubtedly the ture and navigation). But he could not Persian Gulf. Gilgamesh left thi s land of name of a dynasty as well as one hi stori c teach the Myceneans how to govern innocence and immortali ty to adventure king), was remote even when Herodotus, themselves or the sea empire they' d taken in thi s world and seek out a friend in the whom the Romans called "the Father of over. The Mycenean Greeks, much like kingdom of death. The Assyrians, a History," was writing his History in clas- the Vikings of 2,000 years later, traded 14

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994- 95

Thera's civilization is so vital it speaks to casual tourists thousands of years after its citizens and ships have vanished widely but fo ught each other constantl y.

In the great national epi c of the Troj an War, the Iliad, written by Homer 400 years later, we get a pi cture of colorful heroes who consult the gods by examining birds' entrail s, and practice human sacrifice to pl ease them. They are full of deeds of derring-do and wiliness (characteristics, again, much admired by the Vikings!) , and so little understanding of commerce that in the Iliad Troy's role as a nex us of trade is hardl y mentio nedthough it was trade that made the city far-famed and rich ! To these Mycenean Greeks, it was just a repos itory of booty, and once they' d looted it and carri ed off treasure and women, they left it destroyed.

The fall of Troy was about 1200 BC. Soon after, disaster overtoo k the conquering freebooters. Over the next two hund red years waves of Dori ans from the no rth wes t m oved in o n th e Myceneans, leading to mass fli ghts of people ac ross the eastern Mediterranean and the complete disruption of trade.

Thi s ushered in a period called the Dark Ages, which last on until around 800 BC. By then the Dorians, dominant in Greece, had begun the rapid development that led to the ex tensive maritime co mmerce, wealth , high literacy, and supreme creati vity of class ic Greece. Homer, writing of the deeds of the conquered M yceneans around 800 BC, could be compared to a bard singing of past wild Celtic glories to the Anglo-Saxo n overlords in conquered England .

Interestingly enough, whi le Herodotus and Thucydides in classic Greece both despaired of sorting fact from fi ction in Homer's work, present-day archaeology has shown that Homer, anachronistic in some matters, preserved and presented accurate ly some of the techniques of boatb uildin g a nd wa r- m a kin g of Myceneans 400 years before his time- so strong was the tlu¡ead of continuity in the sung and chanted tales of the Myceneans.

But what of the people they had learned from- the Minoans of Crete?

The Remarkable Minoans We have learned startling facts about the Mi noans' maritime civili zati on thro ugh the excavations begun in 1967 at Akroti ri , on the island once know n as Thera (today's Santorini), a city buried by the eruption of the vo lcano which hollowed out the middl e of the island, fo rming today 's impressive crescent-shaped natura l harbor. The explosion spread havoc SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

and destructi on throughout the Aegean , leav in g traces as fa r away as the Greenland ice cap. Through those traces it has now been dated to 1628 BC. The inhabitants of Akrotiri must have had warning of the eruption, since no bodies were fo und or any evidence of inte1rnpted acti viti es. The inhabitants evidently took to the ships whose trade sustained this major city on a small island.

And what a civilization it was! It speaks to a modern traveler with a distincti ve voice. The lifestyles, art and social order of this Bronze Age city frozen in time three and a half thousand years ago seem closer to us today, in impo1tant ways, than those of medieval cities of less than a thousand years ago, when the fa bric of European life was pinned down by stone fo rtresses, and cities were onl y just beginning to find new freedoms beyond those fo rtified walls.

For the most noticeabl e thing about Akrotiri is that it has no wa lls around it!

Thi s tells us unmi stakably of a civil order so well establi shed and so securely defended by sea, that no fortification s are needed or even thought of. You don ' t see any pictures of forts in the colorfu l wall paintings of the houses of Ak:rotiri .

And that brings us to the second most noticeable thing: where Egyptian art shows, along with peaceful pursuits, the warlike conquests of the Pharaohs, and later Assyri an art positi vely wallows in procession s of prisoners and heaps of slain enemies , Theran art in Akrotiri shows us festi val s, and maritime scenes with boats decorated as in a wedding procession , and giddy octopu ses and sportive dolphins, with wildfowl of all kinds dipping and swooping about.

One paints on one's walls what is important and current in one's time ! And Thera 's civilization is so vital and valuable that it speaks to cas ual tourists thousands of years after its c iti zens and ships have vanished, in ways that stir people to joy and laughter today.

The third noticeable thing is perhaps the mo st startlin g o f all : th e rich merchant's house (possibl y a captain 's house) on the island ofThera is right in the middl e of town , sitting cheek by jowl with far humb ler establi shments, on a narrow, winding lane leading up from the waterfront, just wide enough, as the site archaeolog ists like to point out, to permit two donkeys to pass. There are no broad lawns, no triumphal arches, no grand ascending stairs. And no guardhouses. Here was a ruling class that did

not seek to overawe and felt no need to arm itself again st its people.

Thus you cl early had, at this very e arly date, a democratic , wea lth y, unthreatened and unthreatening society that did not li ve by conquest, but by its freely pursued maritime trades. And , oh yes-wo men are shown in prominent roles as pri ests and , presumably, lawgivers. No other culture that we know of achieved what the Minoans did- the solid achievements of a liberated peopl e who portrayed in the ir art blue monkeys brought in fro m their trading partners in Libya and hilarious octopuses caught in surrounding seas, tran sformin g them in their imag ination s to celebrate the ethos of their li ves.

One just has to fee l that these people were not led by dour soldiers plotting conquest or magnates pursuing paper profits at the expense of real-work acti vities, but people who placed high value on work, sport, art and religion-in all of which, not so inc ide ntally, we find women playing an equ al role. And we see no processions of slaves or people differenti ated from citizens doing the day's essenti al work. C learly these marine people carried their own cargoes.

Their boats in the festival parades they portray are working ships fitted with false protruding stems for the occasio n.

The Minoan maritime empire survived the destructi on of Thera. Until quite recently, most scholars maintained that the deadl y hail of ash produced by the explosion (re me mber, traces of it were found in Greenland) and the accompanying tida l wave reaching perhaps 100 feet as it smashed into the nearb y seaport c ities of Crete, must have wiped out the Minoan civilizati on. But more precise and certain dating, achieved onl y in these las t fe w years, has shown that the civili zation recovered and went on to greater glories in the next 125-odd years, despite a blow equi valent to being hit with several nuclear bombs. The force of c ivili zation res ides, after a ll , in peop le's minds and spirits, not in their bui ldings-or even their ships.

It took man to destroy this earl y budding of an incredibl y promising and producti ve maritime society-whether by outside agg ression, which certainly took place, or intern al decay, which is indi !, cated by surviving legend.

15

Re-opening the Doors of History at Erie House

By Tom Prindle The Van Detro brothers stand on the porch of Erie House, a canal-side hotel operated from 1894 to 1917.

eople dri ving east on the New York State Thruway may g limpse a gray stone structure standing off the shoulder just east of the Port Byron Travel Pl aza. Though it looks like the work of ancient Druids, a sign identifi es the impos ing maso nry as "Site of O ld Eri e Canal-Lock 52 ."A full 130 years before the Governor Dewey Thru way was built, Governor DeWitt Clinton built the Eri e Canal and, though Lock 52 is actuall y a reli c of the first enlargement of the Erie Canal, it stands as a spl endid monument to the vision of past generati ons-those who opened transportati on to the Weste rn frontier and " builded c iti es and peopled plain s." I like to think that Lock 52 prompts singing from the backseat about low bridges and a mu le named Sal, and rekindles motorists' memories of hi to ry lessons learned long ago. Belated thanks are offered to the enli ghtened minds who saved Lock 52 during constructi on of the Thru way in the 1950s and to the Thruway Authority fo r maintain ing the site as a visual history lesson fo r trave lers of today. Legacies of cana l heritage are too often obscured fro m view or simpl y overl ooked. Nevertheless, many thousands who pass by Lock 52 are unaware that camoufl aged in the trees the canal heritage of the Empire State is richl y preserved in the setting of an o ld upstate vill age with the ro mantic name of Port Byron.

In its heyday, Port Byron ri valed Syracuse in commercial importance, as visitors taking the time to explore will di scover. The center of the vill age is lined with class ic canal-era buildings anddomi -

P

16

nated by aramblingwhitestructure which was once a grand hote l. The antique shop on the corner, where Rt. 3 1 takes a sharp turn, was the scene of celebration in 1825 when DeWitt Clinton came through town aboard the Seneca Chief on his way to New York Harbor. Remains of his famous ditch and its successor, the EnJ arged Erie Canal, undulate thro ugh the village, still pointing toward Lake Erie. Remains of Original and Enlarged Erie Canal aqueducts that spanned the Owasco Creek Feeder, can still be seen on either side of the Rt. 31 bridge.Visitors to Pott Byron learn of past residents who went on to fame and fortune li ke Henry Wells of Wells Fargo and Brigham Young.

Port Byro n's best preserved and most interesting site stands next to Lock 52 in a cover of trees, its backs ide barely visibl e from the Thru way. To motori sts it appears to be j ust another ru ral upstate

house, yet, to boatmen pass ing th ro ugh Port Byron at the turn of the century, thi s was the Erie Canal' s equi vale nt to a Thru way T ravel Plaza.

The Erie House of Port Byron If yo u were travelin g th rough Port Byro n in 1900 on the Erie Canal, yo u wo uld have co me upon a clapboard bu il ding with a tall , narrow, storefront facade.

Two large windows looked out over the canal towpath which passed by the fro nt door. A sign perched high above the entrance proc laimed in fancy lettering that yo u had arri ved at Eri e House, a fa mili ar and well-frequented canal-s ide saloon and hote l. Erie House was a respectable establishment owned and operated by Peter Van Detto an Italian immi grant who, with his brother Salvatore, made hi s way to America and central New York in the 1880s. Mr. Van Detto built

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

L:>ck 52 at Port Byron is the most visible example of a 19th century Enlarged Erie Canal lock.

At right, the canal boat Chas. N. White sits in Ta nner's Drydock, circa 1900. Erie House can be seen at left in the distance.

â&#x20AC;˘

At fa r right top, Lock 52 is shown in operation passing through westbound canal boats. At bottom, the lock structure bridges the canal. The lock house can be seen atop the structure and the towpath is visible on the left.

Erie House in 1894 and opened its doors as a public emporium for the serving of spirits, dining and lodging.

Mr. Yan Detto could not have chosen a better spot. One hundred yards west of the Erie House, Lock 52 passed boats night and day while, just across the canal, Tanner' s Drydock operated as a facility for the construction and repair of canal vessels. Guests of the Erie House included canal boatmen, travelers passing through town and local habitues of the saloon.

At Erie House, customs of the day prevailed, and only men were allowed to enter the barroom. Ladies were welcome but entered a back dining room through an entrance on the side porch. An antlered deer head advertising Buck' s Beer stared out over the barroom at patrons who could sit on benches made by Mr. Yan Detto. The guest rooms upstairs were small, comfortable and clean. Each was appointed with an iron bed, a dresser and a wash basin. It is difficult today to imagine a full registerof guests, the Yan Detto family and a dog named Maude all under one roof.

Peter Yan Detto 's business was a success . He later opened a stable, blacksmith shop and ice-house to compliment his saloon and hotel. In 1903 , however, Port Byron's days as a canal town were numbered. The people of New York voted to approve fund s for the construction of the Barge Canal System. The Barge Canal System replaced the antiquated 19th-century canals and towpaths with a state of the art inland waterway which foll owed "canalized" natural water courses for much of its length. The Erie Division of the Barge Canal was to follow the Seneca River through central New York, nearly five miles north of Port Byron. Consequently, many of the SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

old canal towns from New London to Montezuma were detached from the line of the new Barge Canal.

The end of the canal era in Port Byron came in 1917. Navigation opened on the improved Erie Canal and the old canal with its dusty towpath passed into legend.

Segments of its channel were either de watered, filled in or abandoned to private ownership. With the closing of the canal and the passage of a temperance ordinance rendering Port Byron a "dry town," the Erie House shut its doors to the public.

P01t Byron and neighboring Weedsport and Montezuma in time adapted to change and ass umed new roles as satellite communities to Auburn and Syracuse. Others disappeared altogether from the map of New York.

The Erie House became a private residence for Mr. Yan Detto, his wife Adelina and two daughters, Marie and Theresa. The Yan Detto daughters , who never married, became school teachers and much respected citi zens of the community. The Erie House property remained in the Yan Detto family for 77 years until Marie' s death in 1993 at age 97. Fortunately, the ladies realized the historic significance of their home and donated furni shings from their father' s saloon into the safekeepi ng of the Canal Society of New York State. Craig Williams, canal scholar of note, interviewed Marie Van Detto and obtained her remembrances of a ch ildhood growing up along the Erie Canal. It was Ms. Van Detto's hope that the Erie House would be preserved as a cu ltural resource, after her passing.

The Erie House today sits at the center of a unique cluster of historic canal sites.The 1.7 acre Erie House property consists of two buildings: the hotel it-

self, a two story wood frame structure, and an outbuilding which was configured from the 19th-century mule barn and blacksmith shop . The towpath extends across the length of the property.

Nearly a full acre contains the well defined de watered channel of the Enlarged Erie Canal and a segment of Tanner' s drydock, where local legend states that the last boat on the old canal was launched and sent east as the canal drained behind.

The site of the drydock, which was filled in after the canal closed, is located across from the Erie House on county land.

Lock 52, which adjoins the Erie House property, is the most splendid and visible example of a 19th-century Enlarged Erie Canal lock in the state. The lock, which was completed in 1855 , had a lift of 11.2 feet and its double chambers allowed for the simu ltaneou s passage of boats in either direction . The south chamber was lengthened in 1887 to accommodate a double tow in a single lockage.

The Erie House and Lock 52 are but a ten minute walk out of downtown PortB yron and within a ten-mile radius there exists an amazing array of 19th- and 20thcentury canal sites such as the Richmond Aqueduct, the Villages of Weedsport and Montezuma, and Barge Canal Lock 25 at Mays Point.

Re-Opening Doors of History

In March 1994, Marie Van Detto's wish was fulfilled. The Erie House property and many artifacts of the saloon were sold at auction to the State Council on 17

Erie House, continued

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POCKET

Waterways (SCOW), a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, revitalization and promotion of New York's natural and man-made waterways.

Past SCOW activities included the 1992 Urger Educational Voyage aboard the historic 1901 canal tug Urger that visited communities along the Hudson River and the Canal, an event co-sponsored by the National Maritime Historical Society.

SCOW seeks to develop Erie House as a permanent home for its educational programs, in the setting of an interpretive park. SCOW will also work closely with the schools in Port Byron to use Erie House as a classroom where educational and interpretive programs focusing on the town and its relationship to state canal history will be developed. From this, a teaching model for other schools and communities will arise. Erie House will also serve as headquarters for a Mini-Grant scholarship pro gram introduced by SCOW in 1993 to encourage local schools to undertake community service projects that foster pride of place and stewardship among young people living along the canal system. SCOW will continue this program and invite the State University of New York and area colleges to guide and assist young people in the prudent use of community treasures. Studies in archaeology, anthropology, economics, sociology, botany, architecture and other subjects will be possible.

The story of the Erie House presents the last chapter in the history of the l 9thcentury Erie Canal and the impact its closing had on a family , on a community and on the state. Local knowledge and talent will be combined to interpret and enhance the Erie House and surrounding sites as destinations of tourism where visitors may discover New York's story of inland navigation in an authentic canal environment. Erie House will once again become a gathering place for people. They will come to exchange information and ideas and learn about Port Byron and other historic canal communities across the Empire State. t For more information about SCOW, contact Tom Prindle at The Erie House, 32 Maiden Lane, Port Byron NY 13140; 315 776-9060 (membership is $25/year).

EDITOR 'S NOTE: SCOW founder, Schuyler M. Meyer, is the recipient of the National Maritime Historical Society's Distinguished Service A ward, presented at the NMHS Annual Dinner on November 19 (see story page 8).

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

Bringing Hotne the "American Ship" Shipsaver Karl Kortum recalls Carl Cutler and the pioneer efforts to save our ships

The Kaiul ani approaches Sydney Heads in late 1942- the last time sail was set on a Yankee square rigger: "Jn worsening weather the steam tug James Wallace began to run out of coal. They signaled us to make sail-we set staysails, topsails and the rnaintopgallant and spilled the Old Man out of his bunk. The Kaiulani managed to get into port just in time-the Sydney pilot said that only 'once in an age' did lhey have such a gale. "(KK photo)

by Karl Kortum n September 25 , 1941 , I put out from Grays Harbor, Washington, signed on before the mast in a sai ling shi p bound round Cape Horn with a cargo oflumber. It was a boyhood ambition fu lfilled; by the time it was done we had rou nded "both storm y Capes" and were presently two-thirds of the way aro und the world .

The bark was the Maine-bui lt Kaiulani. The follow ing year I had the painful honor, as acting chief mate, of taking charge of getti ng the canvas off her for the last time-this was the final in stance in hi story of a Yankee square

O

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

rigger taking in her sails. We were off Sydney Heads, having towed the600 miles from Hobart behind a steam tug. Not long before, in the face of the worst gale in fifty years in the Tasman Sea, the tug had signaled that she was running out of coal and could we assist by making sail? We cheerfully set jibs, spanker, staysails, upper and lower topsail , and the main lower topgallant. The bark was soon abreast of the tug, the towline an arc between us, alternately dipping beneath the surface and then rising out of those tremendous seas. We were rolIi ng so that the star·board lifeboat, swung out as a wartime precau-

tion, dipped under the surface, filled , and on the return roll snapped off both dav its, like a couple of can·ots.

Capt. Ron Wayling, whom I met in Sydney years later (l 97 4 ), was then mate on a co lli er, a "sixty miler," trying to make it up to Newcastle because Sydney itself was getting low on coal. The co lli er had to g ive it up and turn back, but whil e they were out there the Kaiulani loomed out of the storm wrack.

"God , the Flying Dutchman! " said the capta in .

Three-hundred year·s of American square-ri gged seafaring came to a close

19

that dark afternoon, October might be of some purpose to go 12, 1942, when we furled the over with you once more the heavy canvas on the yards. story of the early days of the museum, its founding and the I mention this becau se less struggles of the first few years ." than six weeks after we de\ \ parted Grays Harbor to begin The asperity of hi s remarks our voyage (the last American reflects the anger that I encounsquare-rigged merchant ship) tered the year before when I another vessel, the Charles W. first met Carl Cutleron a visitto his home in Mystic . Jim KleinMorgan (the last American square-rigged whaler), deschmidt took me to see him . parted New Bedford on an But as he continued his address equally historic traverse. The at the Annual Meeting, Cutler reached for the peace pipe, and Morgan was bound for salvawent back in time. He told the tion . . . a hundred mj]es away Carl Cutler made a voyage from New York to Auckland, New Zealand, at Mystic, Connecticut. The in the bark Alice in 1898. She is seen here in Mystic, Connecticut, in membership gathered under the man who was saving her was 1907, where she was converted to a four-masted schooner.

Seaport marquee the circumCarl C. Cutler, the author of a stances under which the Charles famous book on clipper ships called in the record" at an Annual Meeting at W. Morgan was saved.

Mystic of the Marine Historical AssoGreyhounds of the Sea. "I remember very well the situation Cutler was one of the three founders of ciation that he had co-founded. Carl had whenlreportedinJune 1941 to the ExecutheMarine Historical Association at Mys- been estranged from the Seaport Mu- tive Commjttee in New York that the ship tic, Connecticut, in the 1920s. But as time sewn for a decade. He resigned when the was available if we wanted her, and that I went on he had a larger vision than collect- Board of Trustees created a "bu siness had secured an offer from a New England ing and displaying srup models and log manager" out of a local jeweler and contractor-the same one who put the books and scrimshaw; he wanted to as- moved this person up to Cutler's level in Morgan in her berth at the Green estatesemble some actual ships and create an the organization-a not uncommon con- to biing her down from Mystic for $7,500, fusion of the visionary and the so-called wruch was a very low price. The only old-time New England seapo1t.

Years before, Harry Neyland, a New practical that Boards of Trustees some- other offer I had was $40,000.

Bedford marine artist, had persistently "When I reported this to the Committried to wake up that community to the tee, it developed that opinions were diimportance of saving the Charles W. vided. You will recall that this was 1941 Morgan, the last whaling vessel surviving and Pearl Harbor was only a few months in the old whaling port. He had success, away. England and France were fighting finally , when Col. Edward H. R. Green, a with their backs to the wall and several wealthy man, preserved her at his estate, of the Directors felt that instead of spend"Round Hills," across the Acushnet River. ing more money bringing the ship to Col. Green's mother was Hetty Green , Mystic, we ought to fold up for the "The Witch of Wall Street." It was said duration. There was considerable disthat her son lost a leg to infection because cussion pro and con, but finally Mr. she was too money-conscious and penuri[Clifford] Mallory said, 'Well, I am goous to call in a doctor. Her father, Edward West meets East. Shipsavers Karl Kortum of ing to stick my neck out. I' 11 put up the "Black Hawk" Robinson, was principal San Francisco, Left, and Carl Cutler of Mys- $7 ,500 to get the ship to Mystic and trust tic meet in Mystic in 1960. owner of the Charles W. Morgan from others to carry on from there.' That is the 1849 to 1859. times stumble into. real, inside story, and if Mr. Mallory had The hurricane of 1938 struck and At the end of the decade of estrange- not taken the action he did, the Morgan shifted the ship in her sand berth , swept ment, Carl was asked to make an ad- would never have come to Mystic." away the carved golden eagle on the dress. He began: In his address, Carl Cutler then cast transom (never found), and did other "You will recall also that Franklin back even further and described a meetdamage. Col. Green had died not long Cole (then president of Mystic) said ear- ing in 1928 with Kurt Stillman, of local before and, unfortunately, left no money lier in his remarks that he would wel- family, a distinguished New York docin his estate for her continued preserva- come any kind of constructive criticism. tor, by then retired, and with Ed Bradley, tion. It was Carl Cutler who stepped into I ought to warn you to take that with a a manufacturer who as a lad had sailed the breach. He went up to look at the grain of sa lt. I offered him some very around Cape Horn in the Stonington whaleship ; she was "cocked up on her fine constructive criticism and he clipper Mary Whitridge. The three of bow, her stern high in the air, broken wouldn't even listen to it. Why he de- them formed the Marine Historical Asyards on deck, and her deck rotten and cided that I should come here and talk to sociation and set out to gather like minded full of holes." (A new deck had to be laid an audience like this after ten years in people as members. Dr. Stillman, in parbefore she ever left New Bedford.) retirement without a chance to address ticular, was a stalwart in the early years.

Twenty years after she had come to an audience of even half a dozen in the Clifford Mallory, soon recruited, left the Mystic, on July 21, 1961, Carl Cutler meantime, I couldn't understand. But as bu si ness world in New York once a had an opportunity to make a "correction I thought of it, it occurred to me that it month and never failed to attend the 20

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

Cutler's museum vision caught on in San Francisco in the late 1940s.

"

meetings. There were, in time, others told him there were two of them, wooden Cutler, the president of the upcoming who joined the work. built and still bark-rigged in San Fran- world' s fair on Treasure Island, urging Buildings were donated (hi storic, but cisco in my day , Emily F. Whitney and that the splendid old downeaster St. Paul, run-down), land was donated, and col- Pactolus, and another, the Charles B. the last of her kind left afloat and rigged on lections .... Carl describes a scene w hich Kenney, an unused tow barge. The masts this coast, be brought here for the Exposiis fa mili ar: of the Pactolus and Whitney were fe lled tion . Neither effort worked. At the Golden " ... there was no heat and it was hard by ship breakers in 1939 and the Pactolus Gate International exposition, when it hapto get an opportunity to paint and fix the was immediately burned for her metal; pened, I lamented all the "plaster" and a building up. It took a long time to do it. the Whitney survived until December of splendid little harbor there unused.

Mrs. Cutler and our children used to come 1940 before being put to the torch. Like Diary, at the fair, March 1, 1939: up and we would scrnb and paint by the the Packard, they made it to the end of the "My idea of an exposition here would hour. There was a lot of floor to cover and decade-barely. Cari told me that he had be less plaster and land structures and a lot of wall to go over, and we had to put made a voyage to New Zealand in 1898 in instead a lagoon running into the heart of two coats on everything. After that was one of these vessels, the wooden bark the island with a dozen historic ship types done I began to get our ship half-models Alice, built in Weymouth, Massachusetts, anchored in it, San Francisco bay scow and ship pictures on the walls." schooners running expeditions in beAll maritime mu seums start out tween the mighty windships and each the same, it seems. Or most of them. day the majestic ceremony of a little I have photographs of my wife Jean paddle tug passing the line aboard a busy with the paint brush amongst different ship, the crew manning the our vo lunteers. I recall Norma capstan with a chantey sung out across Stanford busy with the brush at South the waters, the anchor rising ... and Street Seaport in 1967. the sh ip getting under way and being The Charles W. Morgan made towed to a replica of a picturesque old Mystic famous, and after the war CutSan Francisco dock .... " ler added another square 1igger, the It was appropriate that Mystic was one of the levers I used in 1949 Joseph Conrad. In California I was enormously stirred by all this, and to get the San Francisco museum Carl Cutler and I corresponded about project in motion . Reprints of an illustrated article about Mystic in the retrieving theKaiulani, by then a barge in the Philippines, for his harbor scene, Saturday Evening Post became my but it was not to be. At other times we selling tool. After tries with a society weighed the Star of India, then lanfigure, Mrs. Spreckels, and with the guishing without much hope in San Mayor failed, I tried once again. Third Diego, and the Constellation. time ' s the charm , as my grandmother Cutler told me in 1960 that the used to say. Third time was Scott vessel that he would really liked to New hall , an ed itor at the San Franhave saved was the Benjamin F. cisco Chronicle, and his response Packard, a full-rigged American ship was mag nificent. He not only enbuilt in Bath, Maine, in 1883, and until After working to save the C harl es W. Morgan, Cutler dorsed the idea, but, year after year, the year 1900 engaged in the Cape told Kortum that he really wanted to save the Benjamin supplied his own brains and energy F. Packard, but there was "too much wood" in her. The Horn trade. By 1939 she was in use as truth ofthat statement is evident in this photo ofPackard 's to get the project properly launched . a dance ha!I in Long Island Sound, the shapely transom and stern taken at the Todd Dry Dock But then, he was a sailor. His brother last intact "downeaster" wi thin reach in Seattle in 1921.

Hall Newhall had been in thefo'c's ' le and close to being the last one anyof the Kaiulani with me.

We had a similar success with the where. But Cutler said that he had to back in 188 1. In his letters he would mention away fro m her-he was obliged to be his time as a sailor with some pride. restoration of the Balclutha and used it as practical and not overly stretch the reCutler's museum vis ion caught on in an example to widen ship preservation sources of a small museum. There was San Francisco. Back in the mid ' 40s worldwide. Over the decades we have "too much wood" (that perishable sub- when I first learned that he had acq uired successfully urged ship preservation in stance) in the 2 156-ton Packard. a second square rigger, the little Joseph Honolulu, Bristol, Melbourne, Sydney, The Morgan' s tonnage was 3 13 .

Conrad, on the way toward creation of New York and Galveston. Each place So the Packard was short! y afterward an old-time New E ngland seaport, my now has a vessel with square yards crossed. towed out into Long Island Sound and juices were set to flowing .

The widening of interest in such scuttled . She was the last " American On the West Coast I had been similarly projects is like rippl es from a pebble cast ship" (in the old formal usage) but one, distressed by the passing of the sailing in a pond-and the pebble was Carl St. Paul. Both had the ship rig sti ll largely ship. In thesummerof 1937 I tried to trade Cutler' s (and Harry Neyland 's and Col. in place. "Downeaster" is a more catchy our Petaluma Sea Scout barge for the Green ' s and Clifford Mallory ' s) whalelabeling than "American ship" and I barkentine City of Papeete out of the sh ip. But it is more than a pebble; the have always liked it, but I gather that it is pages of Robert Louis Stevenson, with an granite of New England is to be fo und in coll oq ui al and akin to slang. We talked idea to preserve her. The previous year I Carl C utler' s fa ith that America was at that day in Mystic about downeasters ; I had written a six page letter to Leland its best when it was upon the sea. t SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

21

Karl Kortum on Downeasters have mentioned the Emily F. Whitney, Pactolus, and Charles B. Kenney surviving in San Francisco Bay until the late 1930s. But there were others of their venerable class, the downeaster, still in existence elsewhere.Throughout that same decade, the notable ship St. Paul could be fo und in Seattle. She was purchased in 1930 by the tugboat proprietor C. Arthur Foss to save her from being "burned fo r her metal," a common fate of wooden vessels. The expression means that destruction by fire allowed recovery of the ship' s iron fasteni ngs which were then sold fo r scrap. The St. Paul, 1824 tons, was built by Chapman & Flint at Bath, Maine, in 1874. She made fifteen Cape Horn voyages to San Francisco. Foss held off fate for the worth y old vessel for a dozen years-she was preserved on public display as a tribute to her class.

By the earl y 1940s the ship was increas ingly woebegone, however; Gordon Jones reports seeing her afl oat at Seattle with lower yards sti ll crossed in 1942. She was soon after towed to Vancouver Island and run ashore as a breakwaterfo r a log boom. Winter gales sweeping up the Straits of Georgia broke her up in the next few years. Her trail boards are on display in the restaura nt at Mystic Seaport, the big fl ywheels fro m her wheel pumps are to be seen in the tween decks of the Balclutha .

The last downeaster afloat anywhere was the Grandee, 1255 tons, built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1873 .

She had earl y been made into a coal hul k and she was in use throughout World War II at Halifax, Nova Scoti a.

Th e Jennie S. Barker, 1065 tons, built at Freeport, Maine, in 1869, survived as the Louise, beached on South Georgia Island, South Atlantic, un til 1987 , deteriorated, but a potential ex hjbiti on proj ect for this nation. She was the equi valent, in her way , to the "cog" at Bre men, the Viking ships at Roski lde, Denmark, or the Vasa at Stockholm . However, it was discovered in December of 1987 that she had been burned to the waterline. Thj s was during the Falklands war; the officer in charge of the South Georgia garrison said that "during a firing practice, a tracer round ricocheted off a rock and entered the hull. " They tried to put the fire out, he says, but it fl ared up again .

Draw yo ur own conclu sions.

I have always been attracted by the downeasters. In effec t, they constituted ourforeign-going American merchant ma-

I

22

Originally rigged as a ship by her builder Abiel Go ve in East Boston in 1879, the Emil yF. Whitney was 1,318 gross tons, 193.5 f eet in length, with a 37. 8 foot breadth and 23 foot depth.

For her firs t 17 years she was in trade to San Francisc o and also made voyages to Australia and the Orient. On one occasion, she beat Donald McKay's med ium clipp e r Glory of the Seas in a Cape Horn voya ge to San Francisco. She was laid up in 1924.

I

[ \ I

Kortum recalls the Whi tney as a mecca fo r him throughout the latter part of the 1930s. " We f requently stayed overnight on board, and once stayed a week while rowing across Richardson's Bay each day to restore a square-sterned wo rkboatfrom the cod-fishing schooner Lo ui se. " Th e Whitney was burned by Herb Madden, boatbuilder, bootlegge r, and mayor of Sausalito, purportedly to clear a channel to the waterf ront, in 1940.

rine for decades when thjs was not notably a steamer nation. In the latter half of the 19th century, the downeaster set the standard fo rmerchant ship "smartness" across the world- once in a while at the hands of an overzealous bucko mate, it must be adrrutted. They were the admiration and envy of seafaring men of alJ nations.

The late John Lyman, maritime hi stori an, estimated their numbers fo r me one time- 975 ships and barks built after the Civil War. In not a very exact parallel, I point out that there were only something like 83 real clipper shjps, that is, extreme c lippers, la un c hed in all. Yet th e downeaster type remains strangely unknown. This may be because they did not have a catchy nickname like "clipper."

The term "downeaster" (it is spelled in slightly different ways) as nomenclature apparently had spotty use until thi s century when it began to be more widely (and retroactively) applied to these vessels.

A model ofa downeaster "really looks li ke a ship," yet models are seldom encountered. The best description of the type ai¡e the first two chapters of Basil Lubbock ' s The Downeasters; the book subsequently becomes diffuse and less special . I wrote a 29-page afterwai¡d to Fred B. Duncan's book Deepwater Fam-

ily- a channing account of a boyhood on the decks of his father's ship Florence, publi shed by Pantheon Books, New York, in 1969. My account may be a useful introduction to thi s slice of maritime Americana.

Harold Sommer, restorer of the Elbe pilot boat Wander Bird here in San Francisco and a skilled hand with wooden craft, feels that the nation should have a look at the bottom ofElliotBay, part of the Seattle waterfront. Down there lies the A. J. Fuller, 1782 tons, built at Bath, Maine, in 188 1. In 1918, at anchor, she was run down and sunk by a Japanese steamer.

F. C. Matthews, the chronicler of the downeasters, puts it that the Fuller was sunk "in deep water" and Harold thinks that depth and co ld have gone a long ways towards inhibiting the teredo and preserving the vessel.

Could she be saved? Something about thi s particular ship to keep in mind is that she is the subject of Feli x Ri esenberg' s sea cl assic Under Sail- the equivalent in many ways to Two Years Befo re the Mast writte n earli er in th e 19th ce ntury .

Rjesenberg' s book masterfull y, and in wonderfully human terms, describes a voyage around Cape Horn to Honolulu and back in the A. J. Fuller in 1898. .t

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994- 95

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Rediscovering the Pacific Trade The Maritime Paintings of David Thimgan

by Marcus De Chevrieux

0

n a rocky promontory overlooking the Mendo cino River on California's scenic Redwood Coast, marine artist David Thimgan sits watching the morning begin. Beside him are a few ofthe tools of his trade: sketchbook, camera, topographical maps, binoculars and a tape recorder. He is recording his impressions of the shimmering low-angle light and diffiising mists that linger where the river merges with the sea. His gaze grows more intense as he merges a mental overlay of a scene from a hundred years ago against the modern backdrop. He knows where the old lumber chute once was and where the coasting schooners would have anchored to load their cargoes of timber. Months of research have given him all the historical details to compose the scene. Now he must get the setting and atmosphere exactly right. Evening will find him still there 24

seeking precisely the right time of day to capture the most dramatic elements of light, shadow and form.

The multi-faceted challenge of creating historically accurate and visually appealing portrayals of long forgotten ships and vanished harbors is David Thimgan 's lifelong passion. He combines an hi storian 's zeal with hi s artistic skills to create paintings of great beauty that also present an accurate vision of a fascinating but artistically neglected era-the maritime trades of America's Pacific coast.

In the world of marine art, portrayals of the Pacific coastline of 19th-century America and its coastal commerce have to a great extent been conspicuous ly absent.

With the exception of the major ports such as San Francisco and Seattle, precious little published mate1ial or visual documentation exists on the rich maritime

legacy generated by the expanding commerce of the new west. The unique schooners, brigs and barkentines produced by west coast builders such as the Hall brothers, Matthew Turner, Hans Bendixsen and the elusive Mendocino builder Thomas H. Petersen exist today only in memory and the occasional faded photograph. From the brush of David Thimgan these obscure vessels sail again along the rugged westemcoastlineandintothe tranquil bays and harbors as they did long ago.

Karl Kortum , founder, director and now chief curator of San Francisco' s National Maritime Museum, is one of David 's admirers. Commenting on the artist's work, Mr. Kortum remarks: "I am enormously impressed with his artistry and technique and particularly delighted that he brings these talents to bear on the more minute details of our West Coast maritime heritage and some SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

, l

Above, "Alice Kimball, " 16 " x 20'', oil on board. The schooner Alice Kimball makes her way north from San Francisco as a loaded steam schooner, a vessel of the type that replaced working schooners like the Kimball, makes her way into the port. The Kimball was built at Little River by Thomas Petersen, a Dane who came to California in 1857 and became the most prolific ship builder on the Mendocino Coast.

At left, "Maxim at San Francisco, " 15" x 24 ", oil on board. In this 1880 view, the 117-grosston coastal schooner Max im is shown getting underway off the Vallejo Street Wharf in San Francisco with Nob Hill in the background. Maxim was built by Hans Bendixsen at Fairhaven in J876. Owned by the Caspe r lumber Company, she made numerous voyages along the Pacific Coast until 1907, when she was reported missing on a voyage from San Francisco to Eureka.

of its more spectacular vistas." Surveyor, The research that goes into one of reports dealing with maritime commerce author and maritime historian Captain David's paintings is as time consuming of the period looking for references to Harold Huycke of Seattle concurs with as the actual painting process. His cur- Petersen and the ships he built. It became Kortum: "He is serious about his studies rent focus is on the little "mast and a evident that the builder was virtually of history, especially of the Mendocino half' lumber schooners that braved unknown , but the schooners he created Coast. This includes the shipbuilders, had a wide reputation among seafarthe structures of the sawmms, logging ers for the ir speed and beauty. It Thimgan is a painter of light scenes and, of course, the ships. He has seemed high time for someone to pay -from the warm mellow light of tribute to this forgotten master builder. done some fine research."

"Getting the story right is an absoDavid was able to compile a list of early morning, to the intense lutely essential part of my work," David every vessel Petersen built, some explains. "I sort through numerous old sparkle of a mid-afternoon ocean. twenty-three on the Mendocino Coast -Russell Jinishian photographs finding images of absoalone, and to piece together their saillutely gorgeous vessels. Many of the ing histories. Two Petersen flyers , names are unknown, but the attraction is California' s treacherous "dog hole" an- Galatea and Sea Foam, became the fothere. It is kind of like falling in love with chorages. The vessels built by an ob- cus for his latest painting. a beautiful woman and not knowing any- scure Mendocino builder named ThoBorn in Southern California in 1955, thing about her. I have to find out all I can. mas H . Petersen have particularly im- David has been painting most of his life.

The many hours spent in sorting out his- pressed David with their beautiful lines Both his mother and father were amateur torical puzzles and occasionally solving a and hard working simplicity. Beginning artists who influenced his early interest small mystery is a painstaking process with photos, David began unraveling a in painting. As a child, his talent shone maze of old newspaper and commercial through in watercolors and pencil that can be immensely rewarding."

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

25

"C.A. Thayer at Hoquiam, Washington, " 22 " x 36 ", oil on can vas. The Thayer and her near sister Wawona are the only two surviving West Coast-built merchant sailing vessels. Both are 3-masted bald-headed schooners built by Hans Bendixsen on Humboldt Bay. Designed to carry deck loads of Northwest lumber, they were much larger than the little "mast and a half" schooners that operated in the exposed anchorages. These ships loaded at mill site wharves in less threatening harbors such as Hoquiam on Grays Harbor, shown here on a rare sunny day. Jn this painting, the Thayer is towing out behind the little 1886 harbor tug Traveler and passing the slightly smaller Bendixsen schooner Lucy built in 1890.

sketches that hinted of the precision that was to follow . After attending public schools in San Bernardino and furthering his education at California State College at San Bernardino, David decided to embark on a career as a full time artist. With no formal art training, his approach was to paint what he loved best- ships and the sea.

Over time, his work has been well received by both the historical and fine art communities and he has ex.hibited widely.

Russell Jinishian, art critic and former director of the Mystic Maritime Gallery, is one who recognizes some special qualities in Thimgan' s art: "Very few artists have devoted themselves to recreating the rich maritime history of the American West Coast, and ce1tainly no one with the purpose and skill of David Thirngan. But in addition to the forgotten vessels and harbors Thimgan researches and portrays, it's the spectacular, shimmering light his paintings contain that make them so unique. For, in the end Thimgan is a painter of light-from the warm mellow light ofearl y morning, to the intense sparkle of a mid-afternoon ocean."

Today, David Thimgan ' s paintings are represented nationally by the Vallejo Gallery in Newport Beach, California.

The gallery has dealt exclusively in pe26

riod marine paintings by 18th- and l 9thcentury artists since it opened in 1972, but, for Thimgan , gallery director Joseph Vallejo has made an exception: "David is, in fact, the only living artist we have ever represented. He is a versatile and talented painter, energetically endeavoring to improve the quality of every painting he creates. He is an artist who, I believe, will be long remembered."

Back in his Northern California studio David assembles all of the components necessary to create his new painting. Carefully laid out are his photos, maps, charts, notes and sketches. Unlike many artists, he does absolutely no sketching on the canvas but begins applying paint directly to the sutface using broad brushes for background, building layer upon layer to create the sometimes soft, sometimes brilliant, light qualities that set his paintings apart. Light is the single organizing principle of a Thimgan painting and the one constant aspect in all of his work.

When, after applying layers of background color, he f eels the light is consistent, he draws the vessel outlines directly into the scene with a detail brush. Using finer andfiner brushes the image is tightened until the subjects emerge rich in detail. On the canvas Galatea and Sea

Foam sway at their moorings beneath bluffs covered with giant, twisting cypress and Bishop pines. The sea is translucent, fluid and forceful. The mid-morning fog rises and embraces the entire scene, and everywhere the warm resonant light transforms the painting and captures a single

David Thimgan at his easel.

moment in time with great poetic beauty.

The point is finally reached when David can look at his painting and realize he has done all he can.

Art for Mr. De Chevrieux 's ruticle was provided by Vallejo Gallery,1610 West Coast Hwy., Newport Beach CA 92663; 714 642-7945.

SIEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

Education and Adventure . • • •

aboard the American Tall Ship ROSE .

ROSE offers a variety of sailing adventures for young people and adults including youth camp programs, college credit, corporate team building, and general admission voyages for all ages.

"Learn the Ropes" and a whole lot more.

In 1995 ROSE sails the New England Coast, Chesapeake Bay and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

The only Class A size sailing vessel under the US fl ag upon which the public may embark-all who sail aboard her participate to the best of thei r abil ity. Come alone or with fam ily or friends-s ign on for a few days or a few weeks . No prior experience is necessary, nor is extraord inary fitness req uired. Reasonable rates.

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ROSE is a US documented vessel, inspected and certified by the US Coast Guard. Safety standards for Sailing School Vessels d(lferji"om those of passenger vessels on a comparable route, because persons aboard training ships are not passengers but participants who share in the ship's operation. ROSE m.ee/s or exceeds all safety requiremenlsfor a vessel of her size and class.

Schooners of the CJY.qrthwest Former Pilot Schooners Set Sail in Puget Sound Two large classic schooners operate today as sail training vessels on Puget Sound, each offering its own unique blend of sailing instruction, environmental study, recreation and good old-fashioned fun. They are the B. B. Crowninshield-designed Adventuress and the William Hand-designed Zodiac.

Both were built as luxwy yachts and both came under the ownership of the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association, which put them to use as pilot station schooners-a period of indentured service that saved them from loss.

Parallels between the two ships don't end there, however, because they both possess one other important characteristic-a power of enchantment that has compelled extraordinary dedication in those that have set out to preserve and sail them, most of whom do so on a volunteer basis.

A dventuress, "Queen of Puget Sound"

place like a sailing ship to teach basic values-values which may determine how you live the rest of your life.

1974 was a year of decision . Monty Morton had decided to sell the ship. But the yo uth progrru11 seemed so promising that I hated to see it tenni nated. My husband and I agreed that we should satisfy Morton's financial requirements and I should continue the program. There I was with a vessel, about which I had leru11ed enough to know it needed a monumental amou nt of mai ntenance and extra work to be certified for continued operation. Captain Kru·l Mehrer and his great volunteer "support group" rose to the challenge vali antl y. By 1976, the vessel had met Coast Guru·d requirements as a small passenger-cru-rying vessel and the program conti nued and expanded.

Each year we have taken another step toward restoration of the vessel's original design and condition. Of course we were bound by limited resources and the constrictions of the progranl. For instance, the below deck ru·ea needed to be rurnnged to sleep and feed 35 persons-allowing little oppo1tunity to restore past luxury! Adventuress is now restored to neru· her original design on deck . She is gaff 1igged, as in 1913, and received a complete new suit of sails in 1989 for her role as a flagship of the Washington State Centennial.

We have had over20,000 you ng people and "youth of all ages" in six- to eight-day progran1s plus many more in day long sessions. After more than two decades of di.rectingAdventuress and her programs, I am sti ll excited abo ut the possibilities fo r her continued work with youth. lam grateful to have been one of the few women involved with ships as early as the 1960' s and with the first youth sail training vessel in the Northwest.

In 1992 Adventuress went under new management. We passed the helm to Sound Experience, a non-profit group dedicated to saving Puget Sound through education.

They continue sai l training, safety and personal growth programs, as well as an "Ecological Water Quality Study Progrlli11." What a great combination!

chooner Adventuress, LOJ feet of and adventurer, struted on her first voysailing beauty, is called "Queen of age. She sailed from East Boothbay, Puget Sound," and she wears her Maine, ru·ound Cape Hom to Seattle. Here crown proudly. At8 l years, she stiII spends she was outfitted and ventured fo r Alaska her days sharing the magic of sailing. to collect specimens for ru1 eastern natural Adventuress graces the waters of Wash- history museum. Arrival in Alaska was ington State's Puget Sound and the San late in the season and only a few speciJuan Islands with sails set smartly by her mens were collected before ice forced a dedicated trainees. In sessions from a day retreat. Dwing the winter of 1914-15, to a week long, her crew teaches tradi- which Adventuress spent in Victoria, Brittional skills of navigation , ship and sail ish Columbia, Borden turned hi s attention handling, safety and timely practices for to building another vessel and accepted a responsible care of our waSan Francisco Bru· Pilots ter environment. Thesh01ter offer to purchase Adventursessions, primarily for preess. She was converted to teenage youth, concentrate stand duty in the challengon water quality studies plus ing waters off Golden Gate. a taste of ship operation to Stripped of her tall gaff rig intrigue them enough that and her bowsprit, she was they want to return for the rigged to carry steadying longer session when they are sai ls onl y and was used as a 14 orolder. Ad ults have their base fo r pi lots who guided tum on weekends and Fall vessels in and out of harbor. weeks when younger sai Iors '--~=-"'=CL.--~""" Her service is reported to ru·e back in school.

Adventuress as a pilot have been admirable. ReI'm sure many speak as schooner in 1947 tired in the eru·ly 1950s, she glowingly about programs on their sai l- was brought to Puget Sound a few years ing vessels as I do about the past 20 years later by a ship broker. on Adventuress. However, I believe our Adventuress was ultimately purchased story is uniq ue, mainly because Adven- by a group of Sea Scout adults led by turess has been owned and operated by Monty Morton, to be used in their youth dedicated volunteers-wonderful people programs. In 1963, my high school Girl who have other vocations but are very Scouts in Oregon, where I lived at that willing to share "avocation" time with time, heard of Adventuress and the Boy Adventuress and her yo ung trainees. Scouts who sailed aboard. They asked, if Volunteer time and talents have made it the boys could sail , why couldn't they poss ible to operate on a sound financial also? Why indeed! It was aJTanged and a basis and modest budget. Trainees con- week each summer was spent on board for stantly commend the crew for the ir pa- several years. I moved to Seattle in 1970 ti ence, knowledge and understanding and offered to develop and expand the sail approach to teaching. training progranl on board as a volunteer.

In 1913,Adventuress, designed by B. B. I didn ' t know a lot about ships, but I did Crowninshield and built as a luxury yacht recognize the potential of this kind of for John Borden, Chicago businessman program for teenage people. There' s no

Erni Bennett is a long-time director ofthe American Sail Training Association. For more about Adventuress, contact Sound Experience, 2730-D Washington Street, Port TownsendWA98368; 206379-0438.

28

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

S

-ERNEST! E (ERNl) BEN ETT

For over 30 yea rs, the 101-foot gaff-rigged schooner Adventuress has been taking young people to sea in Pugel Sound.

The schooner Zodiac boasts the largest gaff-rigged mainsail on the West Coast- a full 4,000 square feet.

Hull Speed on the Schooner Zodiac

A

40-knotgust ofwintry North Pac ific air whistles down Juan de F uca Stra it, over grey waves capped with frothy spindrift, and into the sail s of our ta ll ship .

Two- inch-thick lines are drawn tight as violin strings. The schooner Zodiac, its 70-year-old oaken bones growling under the torque, heels gently to leeward until its varnished port rai l g lides mere inches over the tops of the waves .

"We' re past hull speed," skipper Tim Mehrer says matter-of-factly. He nods over the stern , where the ship leaves a concave sw irl of seawater.

Twenty middle-aged landlubbers pause at their sai ling stations , gloved hands gripping windward rai ls, marveling at sea and sai ls and the ancient forces that drive us silently toward the distant peaks of the Olympics.

Those peaks might as well be Neverland, or Bali Hai. On this blustery spring day, we are being transported forward in space and backward in time into pages of Joseph Conrad or Herman Melville .

Our spri ng voyage was the romantic brainstorm of a mutual fr iend, Seattle journalist Jo hn Balzer, who spotted the Zodiac at its Bellingham mooring and , like dreamers for centuries past, was compelled to sail that ship . All he needed was 20 fe ll ow travelers willing to spend $500 a head for a week. I was his first recruit: no Shanghai necessary.

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

The 127-foot Zodiac was built in Maine 70 years ago. Since then it has charted an odd course-s ix years as a yacht for Robert Wood and J. Seward Johnson, of the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune, who entered her in the 1928 TransAtlantic Race fro m New York to Spain, then 40 years of distinctly unromantic service as an offshore base for San Francisco Bay pilots.

After fo ur decades of unre lenting battering in the open Pacific, the ship had lost its sail s and was reduced to the statu s of a motorized barge.

Then came Karl and Tim Mehrer, Seattle fat her and son who make their living installing and repairi ng marine boilers, and spend it being obsessed with bi g, wooden sailing ships. They already had poured more than a decade of sweat into the 101-foot schooner Adventuress (which also sails Puget Sound). But the oldest traditi on afloat compelled them toward something bigger and better.

In 1972, they bought the battered but well-preserved hull and went to work.

Over the next decade, they gutted and rebuilt the shi p-new engines, decks, rails, masts, spai·s, rigging and hai·dwai·e, all subject to the seemingly confli cting constraints of economy and authenticity.

There is hai·dly a piece of plastic or nylon to fo und aboard the Zodiac. The Mehrers and their friends haunted marine antique stores and junk shops, scavenging

a bronze fitting here, some cleai·-grain fir there, all in the interest of restoring the I 9th-century character of their mi ssion.

Their mi ss ion was and is fu eled by their single- mindedness and an evergrowi ng cadre of dedicated volunteersa da ta manager from Bellingham, a concert publi cist fro m Seattle, a timber broker from E ugene, a congressional aide from Everett ....

In 1982, the Zodiac was listed on the National Register of Hi storic Places and made ready fo r sail. But for what? Too big and costl y fo r a fami ly yacht, it was ideal for chartering-except for restrictive legislati on which made it impossibl e for her to carry paying passengers.

That obstacle was eventually removed a few years back by a special act of Congress . It looked like clear sailing ahead.

But the Zodiac is no fixture on Seattle's landscape. It seems the Mehrers are far more comfortable restoring and sailing tall ships than they are at mai·keting them, and the ship needs customers to stay alive.

The schooner ha wo n the hearts of dozens of Northwest mariners, and even played a role in a cable TV mov ie. It's ideal fo r a class reunion , a corporate retreat, or a voyage with friends-for a day, a week, or anything in between.

- Ross ANDERSON

Ross Anderson, a Seattle journalist, is a former member of the board of the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. For more on the Zodiac, contact Vessel Zodiac Corporation, PO Box 322, Snoho mish WA 98291; 206 483-4088.

29

MARINE ART NEWS Poster Art Collection Carries Aura of Liner Age "Good old fashioned ships built of steel and pimpled with rivets .... The ir colors proclaiming their pedigrees-black hulls for the Atlantic, lavender grey for south of the Equator, or snow white for India or South America," wrote ocean liner hi storian Kenneth Yard. This is how he remembered a boyhood spent on the docks and shipyards of Belfast under the shadow of ocean Goliaths.

Yard, like so many others, was swept by their aura of glamor and majesty.

With it came the suggesti on of escape to exotic places and to the good lifequaliti es never better pictori ali zed than by poster art. A magnifi cent co llection of poster art on display recently at Elli s Island is proof. The posters are from the Stephen Barrett Chase Collection, over 300 steamship posters donated by Barrett to the Steamship Hi storica l Society of America just before the iI lustrators death earl y in 1994.

The posters may have been produced as low-born advertisements, most of them in the 20s and 30s, but they are also unique examples of the art styles of their era. Some of them, such as the famous bow-on poster of Normandie, dating from the mid- l 930s, have become recognized as arti sti c cl assics in their own ri ght.

Other class ics in the co llection are the co lorful Cunard Line posters by Kenneth Shoesrnith, featuring such proud lin ers as Caronia , Mauretania , Berengaria andAquitania. Shoesmith is a personal favorite, and a favorite of many Sea History readers, judging by their response to hi s oi l painting "B lue Funnel in Shanghai," reproduced on the cover of the Spring l 993 issue.

The exhibition closed on 29 January, but the good news is that the SSHSA is

Posters from the Stephen Barrett Jones Collection.

The Late illustrator donated over 300 posters to the Steamship Historical Society of f9'1flllllA-T"+~irw..â&#x20AC;˘ America.

Sculptor Thomas Krebs crafts his model tugs, yachts andfishennen in bronze. It is a material that Krebs believes brings fort h the "true character of iron ships" in a way that "paint, plastic and wood cannot portray."

The hulls are metal plates formed with fi re and ri veted and welded together. The hardware is cast in bronze, using molds madefi'om carved wax. Other details are machined or engraved. Krebs, who studied classical sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, gave up work as a commercial artist fifteen years ago to produce his extraordinary one-of-kind models.

Metallurgic Marine, 882 Rogers Street, Downers Grove IL 60515.

(Shown, the German sea-going tug Neptun)

Still o n the subject of Jacobsen, here is a curious-and serendipitous-item. On a December night in 1992, maritime histo1ian Frank 0. Braynard was enjoying a concert of five brass musicians in the Community House, Ocean Beach, Fire Island, New York. At the intermission , one of the musicians, his son David, came down from the stage and told Frank: "I think there is a Jacobsen painting in the changing room to the left of the stage."

Frarik says: "I leaped up and ran into the room and I saw the painting. It was in sad conditio n. Someone had even scrawled in black grease pencil a new name. He (or she) had " humorously" renamed the ship the "Miss Fire Island." Frank was irate: "Whoever did it should have been drawn and quarte red, or better yet keel-hauled," but he accepted the charge and had the painting lovingly restored by Jonathan Sherman for exhibition at the American Merchant Marine Museum. The pi cture was of the 12,000-ton Logan, originally a passenger liner owned by J.P. Morgan and run by the fa med Atlantic Transport Line unde r the name of Manitoba.

With the publication of recent issues of The A merican Society of Marine Artists quarterly news letter ASMA News , the Society is truly hitting its stride. The newsletters have the usual items-regional events and upcoming exhibitions, and the likebut growing in content are the number of contiibutions by individual members. Insight into painting technique, promotional strategies and lots of updates on the work of members-it' s all there. In the 15-page Fall issue Tony Thompson gives advice on how to pack and use a basic photography "travel kit" and Pete Eagleton speaks

30

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

planning more venues. The first of these is li kely to be the Rhode Island School of Design, tentatively scheduled for June through December. If you can ' t wait, get a copy of the Summer 1994 issue of the SSHSA ' s Steamboat Bill, which has a first ever co lor centerfold featuring 15 Barrett posters. Back issues are $6.25, including shipping, and dues for SSHSA begin at $25. (SSHSA at H.C. Hall Bldg., 300 Ray Dri ve, Providence RI 02906)

Art Notes In this column in the last issue, The Mariners ' M useum retrospective of the prolific Danish-American painter Antonio Jacobsen was feat ured. With that exhibition scheduled to close on 19 February, a quick enquiry revealed that it will not now disappear back into the vaults. Rather, Mariners' will be sending it to the Phil adelphi a Maritime Museum , for di splay from late 1995 to early March 1996, and to South Street Seaport Museum in late 1996.

of some unexpected (Fauvist?) palette variations. Hats off to editorial team Robert SemJer and Denis Beaumont. Incidentally, non-aitists need also apply: ASMA has a non-aitist membership category at $35 per year. Write ASMA, 1461 Cathy' s Lane, North Wales PA 19454.

«_..~-"tt!-,~

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Today the Pinky Schooner, V:i::;,; ~ - .. ~ Summertime, offers three and six "' day cruises of the breathtakingly beautiful waters of Coastal Maine.

Exhibitions • 18 September to 30 June, Etched in Idle Hours, a scrimshaw exhibit of 100 pieces from a private collector. It includes several pieces purchased from the renowned Barbara Johnson Collection. Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, Cold Spring Harbor, New York; 516 367-3418.

• 24 October to 19 February 1995, AntonioJacobsen'sPaintedShipsonPainted Oceans. TheMariners' Museum, lOOMuseum Drive, Newport News VA 23606; 804 596-2222.

• 17 November to Labor Day 1995, A Window Back: Photography in a Whaling Port, an exhibit of 150 images of New Bedford, from daguerreotypes to early 20th-century photos, recently published in a book of the same name by Nicholas Whitman. New Bedford Whaling Museum, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford MA 02740; 508 997-0046.

• 10 January to 2 April, Ship, Sea and Sky: The Marine Art of James Edward Buttersworth at the Terra Museum of American Art, 666 N . Michigan Avenue, Chicago IL 60611 ; 312 664-3939.

• 19 January to 2 1 May, Ram Bows & Ironclads: Warship Paintings of Ian Marshall at the Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530; 207 443-1316.

• 18 March to 8 April, Claus HoieMaster of Marine Watercolors. Paintings and calligraphy depicting life aboard a 19th-century whaling ship. Accent Gallery, 576 Boston Post Road, Darien CT 06820; 203 655-6633.

• 7 April to 14 January 1996, The Evolution of Marine Painting 1800-1940 at Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530; 207 443-1316.

• 9 April to 10 September, Modern Marine Masters. Mystic Maritime Gallery, Mystic CT; 203 572-8524 • 17 June to 28 October, Scale Ship Model Competition and Exhibition, held by The Mai·iners' Museum. It is recognized as the nation ' s premier ship model competition. For information on exhibiting, contact Alan Frazer, The Mai-iners ' Museum, lOOMuseumDrive,NewportNews VA 23606; 804 595-0368. t

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31

Friendship Promises New Life for the Salem Waterfront

by John Frayler

F

or a few heady years when the nati on was young, Salem 's name was synonymous with the overseas luxury trade. Merchants of the Massachusetts port took great risks and reaped greater rewards, sending the ir ships on one- or two-year voyages " to the fa rthest ports of the ri ch East," in the words of the city's motto. Salem's trade in exotic goods earned fo r it a reputation as the "Venice of the New World" and in the three decades between the Revo lutionary War and the War of 1812, the port flowered as a New England maritime center second only to Boston.

Thi s period of growing fortunes was brought to an abrupt halt, however, by Jefferson's 1807 embargo on shipping to and from England and France, imposed to counter those countries ' attacks on American neutral carriers during the Napoleonic Wars. The embargo was meant to save American vessels, but most of the fl eet was put out of commi ssion by the closing of fore ign trade.

Smaller ports like Salem never recovered from the blow, and the War of 1812 again depri ved them of markets.

Today, Salem's waterfront retain s some of its early 19th-century appearance in hi storic wharves and buildings.

Many of these comprise the National Park Servi ce's Salem Maritime National Historic Site, and the Park Service has recently embarked on a fresh initiati ve that will enli ven the waterfront with the sights and sounds of old . Their plans include the ongoing restorati on of the wharves and, as a centerpiece, the building of a replica 1797 merchantman.

The building and operation of a working ship at the histori c site has been a long-held vision in the Salem commu32

In Salem 's heyday, warehouses, stores, wagons and people filled the narrow, congested space of Derby Wha1f with commercal life. Ship 's crews unloaded cargoes from voyages to the Far East, Europe and Africa, while Customs Se1v ice officials weighed and measured the cargo to assess duties. The Customs House, which is still standing, can be seen in the background.

nity. In late September, the dream came closer to reality, when a joint HouseSenate comm ittee commited $4.3 milli on in federa l funds for construction of the Friendship , a replica of a ship of the same name built in Salem in 1797.

"We 've been waiting for this boat. This is agreatcoupforus," said An nie Harris, executive director of the Salem Partnership, noting that the origin al plan for the NPS maritime si te included construction of a shi p. The paitnership has been pushing for construction of the Friendship for the past several yeai·s.

Design plans for the reconstruction of the wooden, three-masted sailing vessel ai·e nearly complete, based on a tenfoo t-long model of the origi nal Friend-

The sketch above shows the Salem wate1front and Derby Whaif with the proposed additions. At right is a crosssection of the interpretive area.

ship in the Peabody Essex Museum and other documentary evidence. The original Friendship was built by Enos Bri ggs (builder of the frigate Essex) at hi s Stage Point, Salem, shipyard in 1797. She was registered to carry 342 tons of cai·go and was slightly more than l 02 fee t on deck.

Her appearance was typical of larger Salem merchant vessels of the period, bluff bowed with fine lines aft. The log indicates she frequently cruised long distances at ten knots with a maximun speed of twelve knots. Built for the merchant firmofWaiteandPeirce, the Friendship is reported to have made seventeen voyages to ports worldwide, including the West Indies, Europe, Sumatra and China, before it was captured by the British in 18 12.

SECTfON

\_ FLOATIN G VESSEL EXHIBIT

DERBY WHARF INTERPRETIVE AREA

SEA I-HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

The centerpiece of a revitalized Salem waterfront will be a replica of the 1797 merchantman Friendship.

As early as 1937, the National Park maritime history enthusiasts, Salem's Serv ice believed that a sailin g vessel visiting public, and , best of all, school appropriate to the period , in conjunction children. An educational initi ative, called with warehouse-style structures housing "Building Friendship," supported by the exhibits on Derby Wharf, would be the National Park Service and the Essex highlight of a visit to the park and pro- Heritage Ad Hoc Commission, has alvide a comprehensive experience of ready in vo lv ed fifth-grade students Salem ' s earl y maritime heri tage. The county wide. They have contributed plan was cut short by World War II but many hours preparing poster illustrarevived in the late 1980 's under the di- tions interpreting their feelings on the rection of then Site S upe rin te ndent "Building Friendship" theme.Twelve of Cynthia Pollack. the students and their teachers made a The Friendship is onl y one of a series trip early this year to Washington, DC , of projects made feasible now by a recent thorough repair a nd strengthening of the Site's three \ wharves. Dredging a berthing area for the Friendship and potential visiting vessels is also underway and wharf exhibit structures have been designed.

Why the Friendship? Foll owing an exhaustive search for an extant vessel of the correct type, it was determined that a reconstructed vessel would be the onl y way to tell the story of Salem 's very specialized world trade in an authenti c setting. The late 18thcentury American merchant vessel was designed specifically fo r the function it was to perform: the open ing of new and highly lucrative trade ro utes ; transporting huge quantities of high quality , low-bulk goods cheaply and efficiently in This model of the Friendship of 1797 at the Peabody competition with the British East Essex Museum, built by crewmen in 1803- 1804, is India Company; and having the serving as a design model for the new Friendship. sailing qualities necessary to outrun British and French privateers and to display their entries and meet Senamen-of-war, who paid no attention what- tors Edward Kennedy and John Kerry soever to the concept of American neu- and Representative Peter Torkildsen to trality during the Napoleonic Wars . request their support for the Friendship No plans are known to exist for a project. They also sail ed a 4-foot-long Salem East India.man; however, the model model of the ship, built by the children of of the Friendship at the Peabody Essex the Pheonix School in Salem, in ConstiMuseum is very close to pe1fect in all tution Pool to emphasize their point.

Bay Marine, Inc. ofBarrington, Rhode respects. The model, built by Thomas Russell with the aid of the ship's carpen- Island, is preparing the plans and speciter, while aboard the Friendship at sea fications of the new Friendship. The during 1803- 1804, is a carefully crafted vessel will be as historically accurate as representation of the actual vessel. Be- possible, within the restrictions mansides owning the model, the museum has dated by the US Coast Guard, and will be a great deal of documentation for the ab le to put to sea as did its predecessor. vessel including business records of the The cost to build her is in the vicin ity of owners, logbooks, personal papers men- five million dollars. As federa l funds tioning incidents occuning aboard or while require a 25 % local match , the next step outfitting, and the home of Jerathmiel will in volve drumming up all the national and regional support we can. .t Peirce, partner in Waite and Peirce.

Current Site Superi ntendent Steve Kesselman is confident the vessel can John Fray/er is historian for the Salem initiate a total learning experience for National Historic Site.

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994- 95

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33

SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS Cabot/Dedalo in Desperate Straits In 1989, the WWII light carrier USS Cabot (CVL-28) was secured from the Spanish Navy, which she had served for 22 years as the Dedalo, and brought to New Orleans, Louisiana, to become a veteran ' s memorial and touri st attraction . Hopes were high but short-lived.

Now, without a dramatic turn-around in her fortunes, the 1943-built vessel is headed to the scrapyard.

A $2 million appropriation from the Department of Defense allowed the ship to be dry-docked for sandblasting and painting, renovation and asbestos removal. The ship's management then became the responsibility of the American Legion Post 377 in nearby Kenner. But maintenance and operations have proved too much for the group, and claims of poor management abound. Now the Legion Post appears only interested in scrapping the vessel for the estimated $150,000 it would return to its coffers.

USS Cabot in 1945

That is a low value to place on a veteran of two wars that has served two navies, says Louisiana State Naval Commi ss ion membe r Denve r Mullican.

Mullican believes the best solution is to get the vessel out of New Orleans and out of an ambiguous and onerous ownership and management si tuation .

Channing Zucker of the Historic Naval Ships Association informs Sea History that his organization is doing everything it can to see this ship saved. " She is the last of her kind," says Zucker. "S he has an impress ive fightin g record that includes Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations and, what's more, she is a vessel of manageable size compared to many post-war vessels." For information about the Cabot, Mr. Zucker can be contacted at 804 499-6919.

Saving the Cape Breton-a Canadian Equivalent to a Victory A group of Canadians have started an initiative to save the recently decommi ssioned Cape Breton, the las t survivor of the World War II Park class , the Cana34

USS Salem Comes Home The only remaining heavy cruiser in the world, the USS Salem (CA- 139), has returned to its birthplace, the Fore Ri ver Shipyard in Quincy MA. On 30 October, over six hundred people lined the decks of the 17,000-ton displacement, 7 18-foot vessel for the short tow from Boston to Quincy, where the sh ip was built in 1949 and will now be installed as the centerpiece of the new United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum. The Salem served eight years as flagship of ~--------------~ the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and was decomm issioned in 1959.

The museum will open in the fall of 1995 on a I0-acre leased site at the shipyard. According to Museum Executive Director William MacMullen, special features of the museum , apart from the Salem, will include the new Massachusetts Military Research Center and Archives, which will contain hands-on USS Salem returning to Quincy in October. exhibits of artillery, tanks, and other equipment dating from the Revolutionary War through Operation Desert Storm, and three exhibit halls with displays on shipbuilding in Quincy, naval history and life, and ship design. (USNSM, 1250 Hancock Street, Suite 105N, Quincy MA 02169) dian equivalent of the Liberty and Victory ships. Built in 1945 at Burrard Dry Dock, in Vancouver, for the Royal Navy and commissioned as HMS Flamborough Head, she returned to Canada in 1951. As HMCS Cape Breton, she served as an escort maintenance, fleet support and apprentice training ship. Organizers of the Cape Breton Project fear she is in danger of being lost. To them she represents the great role played by Canada's Navy, merchant navy and shipbuilding industries in World War II. The group also views the ship as a cost effective opportunity to assist Canada's technical

HMCS Cape Breton

trades and apprenticeship training efforts. She has facilities aboard that would allow training for over 20 trade or technical disciplines. (Cape Breton Project, 21 Erie Street, Victoria BC Y8Y 1P8)

William G. Mather Gets Reprieve The steamship William G. Math er, a 618-ft restored 1925 Lake freighter museum ship docked in Cleveland OH , has won a reprieve from its threatened ev iction by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority (see story page 7, Sea History 71). The Port will grant the Mather until l March to present a new pl an for the museum and new commercial entertain-

ment activities. The Port maintains that the Mather in its present use represents lost opportunities for additional visitor attractions and amenities in the Cleveland harbor area. It has asked the Mather's owners, the Great Lakes Hi storical Society, to re novate the ship 's unused hold areas to include public restaurants and increase museum attendance. To do this , the GLHS will be giv ing possession of the vessel to a new non-profit group, the Harbor Heritage Society, in mid-1995 .

The group will work to make the Mather a combined maritime museum and en- ¡ tertainment complex. (Steamship William G. Mather Museum, 1001 E. Ninth St. Pier, Cleveland OH 44114) Getting Around the Ships A Mary land group is planning to build a replica of one of the US Navy's first ships, the schooner Enterprize. The non-profit Hi storic Fell 's Point Foundation seeks to build the replica by 1998, the 200th anniversary of the US Navy.

The organization has described the shipbuilding and maritime trade of Fell's Point as the unseen force behind Baltimore's reputation as a major port city--over 600 ships were built there during the colonial period. After the American Revolution , the Navy's first ships, including the Enterprize, were built at Fell's Point. (HFPF, 960 Fell St., Rm 416, Fell ' s Point MD 2 123 1) A Hudson River landmark, the schooner Bwccaneer, is no more. In July, the remaims of the 254-ft, five-masted barkenttine were broken up and removed SEA HIJSTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

from the Hastings-on-Hudson shoreline, where it had been sunk in 1937 as a breakwater. It's an unfortunate end to a ship that NMHS has tried find a home for on a number of occasions. Launched in 1918as the City of Beaumont, she was one of 12 sailing vessels built in Texas during WWI to transport tonnage to Europe.

Renamed the Buccaneer in the 1920s, the wooden ship was successively used as a speakeasy, a cruise ship and a showboat.

The first and last of the New York Barge Canal motorships, the MV Day Peckinpaugh , passed out of the canal system in September for what may have been her last time. She traveled to Erie PA where she will be laid up. Tom Prindle, of New York ' s State Council on Waterways, compared her last run to the last day a mule towed a boat on the Barge Canal. No plans exist for adaptive reuse of the Peckinpaugh , which was the prototype Barge Canal motorship. Prindle and others hope this is not the end for the longest serving motorship, which also did convoy duty along the East Coast during WWII. (SCOW, 32 Maiden Lane, Port Byron NY 13140; 315 776-9060) That "Flying Dutchman," the replica Half Moon, has returned to its home port in Liberty State Park, New Jersey, after a

Sea Festival-Bristol Fashion Bristol, England, is preparing itself for what is billed as Britain ' s largest ever gathering of ships and small craft. The International Festival of the Sea-Bristol '96 will take place over four days, from 24 to 27 May 1996.

Bristol itself will be celebrating a 500 year history of looking seaward. The city is currently building a replica of John Cabot's Matthew, which set forth on 2 May 1497 on a voyage of discovery that brought Cabot to ., ~ Newfoundland. Organizers are seeking registrations from boats, exhibitors and musiciansAL_d__..:.:¡:... _ " ""'--C-b~'-M_t_h_ _ ___, 0 for the event. (The International Festival of rawmg 1 a ot s a t ew the Sea, PO Box 496, 59 Prince Street, Bristol BS I 4QH; 117 922-1996) 6,500 mile odyssey that took it to 38 different sites and culminated in starring roles in two movies: "Pocahontas: The Legend" and "The Scarlet Letter," which features actress Demi Moore and actor Robert Duval. New Netherland Museum director Nick Burlakoff described participation in Sail Toronto, Tall Ships Erie and Georgian Bay 1994 and a visit to Holland MI and the training of over 60 volunteers as highlights of the April to October campaign. (NNM, Liberty State Park, Jersey City NJ 07305; 201 433-5900) The replica of Captain Cook's En-

deavour, built in Freemantle, Australia, headed out for Sydney in September. She will remain on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum until 1996 when she will complete her circumnavigation of Australia and return to Freemantle for an overhaul in preparation for a journey to England and a circumnavigation of the world. (HM Bark Endeavour Foundation Pty. Ltd., PO Box 1099, Freemantle, WA 6160 Australia) The World Ship Trust, located in London , sends the following ship-related news : TS Queen Mary II, now a

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SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

Far Traveling in 1994 Two heritage vessels that c/!x ked up the miles in 1994 were the square topsail schooner Tole Mour and th e Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien. Tole Mour completed a trip from Ha waii to the Great Lakes, returning to Miami , that covered over 14 ,000 miles. Owned and operated by Hawaii-based Marimed Foundation , the ship carried a total of 80 trainees during its voyage, all adjucated or emotionally impaired youths. Th e Liberty ship Jeremiah O' Brien racked up 25,000 miles on her commemorative voyage to the beaches of Normandy, where she had served on D-Day, and back to her homeport , San Francisco. Photographer Thad Koza captured Tole Mour in the Great Lakes, and the Jeremiah O' Brien in Rauen , Fran ce.

floating restaurant moored on the Thames near Waterloo, is on the market for $750,000. The Carrick (ex -City of Adelaide) was moved in September 1993 to the renovated sli pway in the Ayrshire Dockyard, formerly the Irvine Shipyard.

A replica Portuguese " nau" built by Trengganu boatbuilders has become part of the Malacca Maritime Museum , Malays ia. She was built without a single nail in her construction, at a cost of Malay Ringgit 3.8 million . From Peru comes word of the loss of the Inca . The 1906-bui lt steamer was recentl y sold for scrap and broken up. Inca was prefabri cated in England and transported to Lake Titicaca and reassembled there. (WST, 202 Lambeth Road , London , SE I 7 JW) In Portugal, the Dom Fernando II e Gloria , the last frigate under sai l to serve the Portuguese Navy, is undergoing restoration . Built in Damoa, Portuguese India, in 1843 , the ship was partially destroyed by fire in 1963 and for the past three decades has been lyi ng hee led over to port on mudflats in the River Tagus.

Now the Navy has undertaken her restoration with the backing of the National Commi ss ion for the Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries.

A ward Given For Arrest of Wreck Looters In November, the Federal Government awarded a check fo r $500 to the Confederate Naval Hi storical Society for its part in uncovering the looters of the CSS Florida and USS Cumberland. The reward is the first of its kind to be g iven to those helping with the arrest and conviction of looters under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Kev in Foster of the National Park Service estimates that the top fo ur feet of .both shipwrecks were disturbed in an illegal collaboration between watermen and antiques dealers who sold pieces of the wrecks by mail order. (CN HS, 710 Ocran Road , White Stone VA 22578)

Brown Sails Clear It was a great year for the Liberty ship John W. Brown. The restored vessel steamed I ,700miles up and down the East Coast, stopping in Halifax, Boston and Greenport NY, attracting 15, 100 visitors along the way. The profits from the trip plus the 24 September Bay Cruise paid off the vessel's outstanding bills, including

International Shipwreck Protection In the uncertain world of maritime law, two international conventions may increase our ability to protect underwater c ultural resources. In Jul y, the US signed a revised agreement regarding deep seabed mining provision s, included in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The ag reement clears the way for

36

those recently incurred to retube both boilers-however, there are sti ll plenty of opportunities for givi ng! The Brown is taking a well deserved winter break, but it is not too soon to look forward to the spring. Spaces for the Bay crui ses-3 June and 23 September-are available and other events are being planned for April. (Project Liberty Ship, PO Box 25846, Highlandtown Sta., Baltimore MD 2 1224-0846; 410 661-1550)

the US to sign the entire convention and the Senate wi ll probabl y consider the matter in 1995. The convention on ly touches upon cultural resources, but it does set forth three principles: that nations have a duty to protect underwater archaeological resources; that archaeological resources located beneath the hi gh seas should be managed for the benefit of mankind ; and that nations may control underwater sites within their contiguous zones as if they were within their sovere ign territory.

A more effective agreement, if ratified , may be the Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, written by the International Law Association 's Committee on Cu ltura l Heritage Law. A fin al draft was approved at the 66th Conference of the ILA in Buenos Aires in August. Under the convention , nations wou ld be able to declare cultural heritage zones and control underwater archaeological resources within them.

Underwater News Who does the Lusitania belong to? A lawsu it fi led in federa l court by Scituate MA res ident Muriel C. Light contends that her late husband, a former Navy diver, bought rights to the wreck 27 years ago for about $2,400 from a British insurance company. The lawsuit challenges a claim made in February by millionaire businessman F. Gregg Bemis, Jr. of Santa Fe NM. According to Associated Press, Bemi s says he hopes to salvage about I00 tons of copper from the ship. "I'd rather leave the wreck alone," says Mrs. Light.

"Thi s is an hi storic wreck."

The National Maritime Initiative of the National Park Service and the Naval Hi storical Center are preparing a management plan for the wreck of the USS Tecumseh. The Tecumseh is a Civi l War ironclad located 300 yards off Fort Morgan at the entrance to Mobile Bay, Alabama. The site is a war grave and a val uable historical resource, and the vessel itse lf is considered the best preserved examp le of a Civil War ironclad.

An East Indiaman wreck has been found off Malacca, Malaysia. The 350ton Diana struck a rock and foundered in 1817 on a passage from Macau to Calcutta.

The World Ship Trust reports that the possibility of raising the 100-ft hull for ex hibiition is being considered by her salvors, ~Ma l aysian Hi storical Salvors, but it is fearred that her condition may not allow it. Herr cargo consisted of alum, tea, cloth, SEA H-I ISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

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Ironclads and Paddlers, by Ian Marshall. Watercolors and pencil sketches help trace the evolution of ironc lads. HC: $34.95 + $3.75 s/h.

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Around Cape Horn. In 1929, during the last great days of commercial sai l, Irving Johnson went to sea aboard the massive bark Peking.

Capt. Johnson's narrative describes shipboard life as he filmed it, including spectacular footage of a storm off Cape Horn. A classic!

37 minutes, black and white, VHS. $29.95 + $2.80 s/h .

NMHS T-Shirts, same as above. Childrens Adults S - XXL. $12. sizes 6- 16, $9.

Please add $2.80 s/h .

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New Tall Ships Foundation to Provide Funds for Ships Capt. Howell G. "Pete" Hall of Alexandria, Virginia, director of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation and skipper of the schooner Alexandria, has taken the helm of the newly created Tall Ships Foundation . The aim of the fo undation , which is funded by Cutty Sark Scots Whi sky , is to help preserve America 's tall ships. That assistance wi ll begin with an award, to be announced soon , of $25,000 to one worthy vessel. It will be the first of five grants totaling $ 125 ,000 that the foundation wi II make over the next five years to five different historic ships. (Tall Ships Foundation, PO Box 11023 1, Stamford CT0691 I ) AST A Ships and Members Converge in Bridgeport Wooden spars and masts made crisscross patterns in the sky and the atmosphere was heavy with the talk of ships and sailing when 200 sail-trainers and several of their ships converged on Captain 's Cove, Bridgeport, Connecti-

Joshua Slocum Centennial Designed after early 19th century period walking sticks, this unique cane combines dignified elegance with operative purpose. Artfully concealed within the barrel of the Admiral's Walking Stick is an 8 power, high resolution hand held telescope featuring a state of the art five element magnesium fluoride coated lens assembly with a 5/8" aperture. The scope is 12-1/4" long at full draw. Both cane and telescope are constructed of black and winewood or ebony lan1inated birchwood, polished to a glowing finish. All fittings are turned from solid brass bar stock and lacquered for lasting brilliance. The knob of each walking stick comes engraved with the owner's monogrammed initials. The cane comes disassembled into its five component parts and nestled snugly in its own presentation gift box. The Van Cort name incised on the telescope eyepiece assures you of the uncompromising quality of this instrument $270.00 plus shipping, handling and tax where applicable.

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On 24 April 1895, Captain Joshua Slocum departed the port of Boston to begin an historic 46,000-mile journey in his sloop Spray-the first single-handed circumnavigation of the world. Slocum 's epic voyage has made him the patron sai nt of small-boat voyagers, navigators and adventurers the world over, and centennial events have been planned fo r 1995 to honor the legendary sailor.

Commemorative events include: • On 22 April, at 6:30PM, the Joshua Slocum Society (US) will hold a reception at the USS Constituti on Museum with Spray replica builder Edwin Davis as speaker. The follow ing day, 23 Apri l, at 1PM , a re-enactment of Slocum ' s departure will be held. For reservations contact Ted Jones, 15 Codfish Hill Road Ext., .Bethel CT06801 ; 203 790-6616.

•The Slocum Society (Europe) is planning a rendezvous in England, Portugal, the Azores and G ibraltar during the summer of 1995 .

Contact Andrew Bishop, 24 Kings ley Road , Wimbledon, London SW19 8HF; 0 11-448 1-543-7245 .

• The New Bedford Whaling Museum will open a Joshua Slocum exhibit on 24 Apri l.

Circumnav igator Bill Pinkney will be the speaker. Contact Judy Lund, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford MA 02740; 508 997-0046

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

& MUSEUM NEWS

Amistad Will

S~il!

Receives $2.5 Million State Grant

A new chapter has been opened in the story of the schooner Amis tad. In early October, the State of Connecticut committed some $2.5 million in state bonding funds for the construction of a replica of the historic 1830s Baltimore schooner. In 1839, under Spanish ownership, theAmistad was taking 53 Africans into slavery in Cuba when the captives revolted and took over the ship. The ship and its fugitive crew came ashore on Long Island, New York, and, in a landmark Supreme Court case, eventuaJly won their freedom to return to Africa (see full story Sea History 71).

The replica project, under the title " Amistad America," will be run by the Connecticut Afro-American Historical Society and Mystic Seaport M useum, which will construct the vessel-the first built from scratch in the Mystic shipyard. Construction will begin in 1996 and young people will be involved from the start. J. Revell Carr, president of Mystic, said, "Every young person who comes to the museum should be able to take a plane and work on a piece of wood that will go into the Amistad."

When completed, the ship will spend time at Mystic and New Haven, but will also travel extensively. From the beginning, Amistad Affiliates President and NMHS Trustee Warren Marr, II, envisioned the replica as a sailing museum exhibit-a vessel crewed by inner-city youth who will learn the skills and discipline of sailing the ship and teach minority history to visitors. Khalid Lum, president of the Connecticut AfroAmerican Historical Society, which will be primariJy responsible for educationaJ programs and exhibition development, reports that, aJthough the state has provided funds to build the ship, the continual work of programming and operations still needs funding . (Amistad America, c/o CAAHS, 444 Orchard St., New Haven CT 06511) cut, in November for the Annua l American Sail Training Association (AST A) Meeting. Attendees came from as far away as the UK and Australia to talk their trade under the conference theme " Points of Convergence: Building Support for the Tall Ships."

AST A itself had good news to report: organizational members have grown by 50% to 138 in the last year, it was finally found not liable by the court in the sinking of the brig Marques in 1984 (a development that might allow AST A to once again organize races), and it has produced a new 1995 edition of its Directory ofTall Ships and Sail Training Programs.

Naturally, the conference program focused on the benefits and methodology of taking students to sea. But this year's conference also gave emphasis to shoreside partnerships-how members can work together with public and private resources to improve the public waterfront and enhance their own facilities and programs. The examples given show that in recent years local school boards, local governments and developers have been attracted to the presence of sail training ships and programs on their waterfront.

One of AST A's first events in 1995 will be the AST A Pacific Regional Meeting in San Francisco, 24-25 February.

Representatives of all the West Coast member vessels will be present. (ASTA, PO Box 1459, Newport RI 02840; 401 846- 1775- the 1995 AST A Directory is $5 plus $3 shipping) SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

The Mariners' Museum Sets Course for Year 2000 The Mariners ' Museum has set course on an ambiti ous long-range plan for the years 1994 through 2000. The plan draws on the strength and depth of the Museum's collections. Six to eight special or temporary exhibitions and two permanent gallery installations during this period (one on naval power and another on small craft of the world) are the focus of the plan. The increase in exhibitions is expected to generate publications , lectures, seminars and educationa l events and activities that wi ll enliven the Museum's program. The plan also calls for putting the library on-line and making it accessible through the Internet, producing a catalog with every major special exhibit and publishing The Mariners' Museum Annual of the best maritime articles worldwide. (The Mariners' Museum, I 00 Museum Drive, Newport News VA 23606-3759)

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(1905-1994) Artist-carver August F. Crabtree, creator of the Crabtree Collection of Miniature Ships at The Mariners ' Museum , died in October. His Collection includes 16 vessels representing the development of sai ling ships, each built as the original was, with the hull framed and planked and operational rigging. As a modelmaker and carver, Crabtree had few peers.

Your gift of a MacPlus, SE 30, or Mac II will be of great help to the Society and is also tax-deductible . Laser printer especially needed!

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"From the age of lOor 12, he was always fiddling w ith a knife. It proved to be useful ," says h.is wife Winifred. Crabtree was nearly 20 before he became seriously interested in carving ship model s.

The mini atures took 28 years to complete, at whi ch time, rathe r than sell the models, he toured, ho lding exhibitio ns throug hout the country for several years.

Thomas N. Hu·nnic utt, trustee and past cha irman and preside nt of the museum board, recalls Mr. Crabtree dri ving up to the museum one day in the 1950s with a panel truck full of models. The mu seum bought th e collection for $75,000, and Crabtree began a career as artist, carver, lecture r and guide for the mu seum . " I remember the first ex hibit, and the models have been a focal point of the museum ever since," says Hunnicutt.

Crabtree gave hi s last lecture on the Crabtree Collection of minitature shi ps four years ago. His most recent visi t to The Mariners ' was on 14 August, 1994, for a cele bration of his 89th birthday.

M ariners ' Curator Alan Frazer recall ed helping to lift the a iling arti st fro m hi s wheelchair into the car after the party: "Whe n we had go tte n him into the passenger seat, hi s ri g ht hand hung limpl y on the door sill, so I picked it up and laid it in hi s lap. He gave me a little smile and I said, 'Happy Birthday.' Turning away , I felt a mi xture of awe at having held the hand of that great crafts man , and of sorrow that the hands could no longer lift themselves. He w ill be remembe red , of course, for the power and skill that once passed through the m ."

THOMAS CROWLEY, SR.

(1915-1994) Thomas B. Crowley, Sr., chainnan of a 400-vessel maritime empire and a fixture on the San Francisco wateifront, died in July at theageof79. He was known as the tugboat king for hi s fleet of Red Stack tugs, and owned the Red and White fleet of 10 s ightsee ing boats and ferries that dominates passenger service on the Bay. Tn 199 1 he closed the last two big shipyards on the Oakland Estuary, maintaining that they were no lo nger profitable and that there were too few tugs and barges to keep the yards o pen. Crowley was the recipient of the National Defense Transpo rtation Award in 1970 and of the Coast Guard Foundation's Disting ui shed SerJ; vice Award early in 1994.

Exhibitions • 7 October- 2 Apri l, John P. Gardner Model Exhibit, featuring more than a dozen of Maine modeler John Gardner's works. (Maine Maritime Museum , 243 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530; 207 443- 1316) • 15 October- 22 March, Nantucket and the China Trade. (South Street Seaport Museum, 207 Front Street, New York NY 10038; 212 748-8600) • 19 Nove mber- September, Rhythm of the Oars: Stories of Rowing in America (Mystic Seaport Museum, 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic CT 06355; 203 572-07 11) • 18 November- 12 March, Chesapeake Country . A collection of Cibachrome prints hy photographer Lucian Niemeyer, examining the hi story and ecology of the Chesapeake Bay area. (The Mariners' Museum , I 00 Museum Dr., Newport News VA 23606 ; 804 596-2222) • 7 December- April , Moments in History: 200 Years of Coast Guard History and, through September, The America's Cup. (San Diego Maritime Museum, 1306 N. Harbo r Dr., San Di ego CA 92 101 ; 619 234-9 153) • Throug h June, The Civil War and the Texas Coast. (Texas Maritime Museum , PO Box 1836, Rockport TX 78381 ; 512 729-1271)

Conferences • l 0- 11 M arch, Canal History and Technology Symposium. Hugh Moore Hi storical Park and Museums, PO Box 877 , Easton P A l 8044-0877; 6 10 250-6700.

• 16-18 March , North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) Annual Meeting on the theme "The South and Maritime Hi story." Contact Dr. Harold D. Langley , Armed Forces Hi story Division, Smithsonian Instituti on, NMAH, Washington DC 20560.

• 17-19 March , Yachting History Symposium . Mystic Seaport Museum , 75 Greenmanvi ll e Ave., Mystic CT 063550990 ; 203 572-5350.

• 23- 24 March, " The Operational Art," 21st Mi li tary History Symposium at the Royal M ilitaryCol legeofCanada, Kingston, Ontario. Contact Dr. McKercher, Dept. of History, RM CC, Kingston ONT, K7K 5LO Canada; 613 541-6000.

• 3 1 March- 2 April , Fourth An tique Motorboating Symposium. The Ma1iners ' Museum , IOOMuseum Dr., Newport News VA 23606 ; 804 596-2222.

• 18- 19 M ay , 1995 Council of American Maritiime Museums Annual Meeting at Mysti c ; Seaport Museum. CAMM, cl-President, \Wi sconsin Maritime Museum , 75 Maritinme Dr. , Manitowoc WI 54220.

SEA HUSTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

REVIEWS Cogs, Caravels and Galleons : The Sailing Ship 1000-1650, edited by Robert Gardiner (Conway Maritime Press, London UK and Nav al Institute Press , Annapo li s MD, 1994, l88pp, illus, bibli o, g loss, index; $42.95hc) Mark Myers' evocati ve painting of a cog of 1400 setting out in to w fro m a snowbo und North European port as the hands winch up the great sing le main sa il promi ses a revealing look at the murky period of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. And thi s book fulfill s that promi se brilli antl y, bring ing to life the dim, half-remembered shapes of the ships that seem to haunt the E uropean imaginati on, appearing in strange, fa ntas tic fo rms in old prints and paintings and children 's fa iry tales.

Thi s excellent addition to the projected 12-vo lume seri es , "Con way ' s Hi story of the Ship," covers the vita l period of transiti on from the medi eval ship of coasta l trades to the modern ocean-go ing sa iling ship . Twe lve di stingui shed authors carry the tale in chapters covering the Viking boats, the ri se of the cog, Mediterranean ro und ships, the development of the carrac k, carave l and galleon, and the pro Iife ration of spec ialized types centering on the Dutch tluit.

Supplementary chapters cover M editerranean coastal nav igation, gun s and gunnery, ship constructi on, shipbuilding treati ses, and the interpretatio n of ship illustration. Such studies prov ide valuable insights into the governing ideas and actual conditions that affected ships and shipping and offe r guidance fo r the student trying to understand period images of these almost mythica l ships.

In truth such he lp is needed , and ad vances in scholarship and marine archaeol ogy in the last three decades have fundamentally altered the pictu re we have of the ships that brought mankind into the modern era. The 1962 recovery of a nearly complete cog of 1380 from the Weser riverbed led to answers fo r m any hitherto unanswerable questions abo ut thi s crude dinosaur of a ship . Archaeologists have now been able to ide ntify other ships as cogs fro m such mini sc ule detail s as the type of fas te ning fo und o n recovered fragments. And , in Brem e rhaven, a sailing replica of the ship, w ith lost elements fill ed in from pi ctures of ships now recogni zed as cogs , has ta ug ht us much about the ir sailing and handling qualities .

Larger questi ons are answered a uthoritatively by O wain T. P. Robe rts SEA HISTOR Y 72, WI NTER 1994-95

writing on the Vikin g trad ition in shi pbuild ing (whi ch vani shed fro m the high seas nearl y a thousand years ago, but survived in working small craft we ll into thi s century) and Detl ev Ellmers writing on the cog. The dramatic di sappearance of the Viking boats soon after 1OOOAD, and their repl acement by the cog, accompani ed by the sudden halt to Viking forays and the rise of the Hanseatic Leag ue are much more comprehensible when yo u get a clear picture of the kind of shipping conducted b y the two quite different northern commerc ial empires, and the vehicles used to carry the new, expanded sea commerce. E llmers al so clarifies how the hulk suddenl y grew in size and di splaced the cog before 1450.

The chapter on the galleon, by Carla Rahn Phill ips, is an admi rabl e sorting out of the orig in s of the class and the diffe rent trends in deve lopment among Veneti an, Spani sh, Portuguese, Engli sh, Dutch and French varieties of the type.

An excellent se lecti on of illustrati ons documents the characteri stics of the type as it evo lved.

In general , illu strations are a strong point of thi s work, prov iding fasc inating and authenti c detail. Occas ional picture choices are unfo rtunate, as in the selection of a print to illustrate Columbus ' s caravels which appears to be at least half a century out of period-a bi g jump in thi s era of rapid change.

Consultant editor Richard Unger assigns the Dutch tluit, developed just before 1600, the leading role in developing concepts fo r tramp shipping into the 1700s. T he narrow, under-ri gged , slowmo ving vessel tra nsported heavy cargoes with great effi c iency (achiev ing tons-carried-per-man ratios of up to 20: I ) and dominated Euro pean shipping for the better part of I 00 years. One may question whether he doesn' t push the role of the tluit too fa r. While the tluit indeed gained a dramati c ascendancy in the 1600s, the ma in line of ship deve lopment veered back to broader-beamed , more heavil y can vassed vessels. Perhaps Dutch financing, shipbuilding and manning practices had a good dea l to do with the success of the type, whose leading characteri sti cs were, in fac t, not carried over into succeeding centuries.

The work does have scattered errors.

A startling error in definin g ship types occurs in identifying a ship illu strated on page 56 as a cog, where she is very visibl y a hulk- a point inte resting ly borne out in the correc t iden tification of

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REVIEWS The plans of the great Henry Ford, possibly his greatest design, are published for the first time here.

Dunne 's energetic research apparently left no stone unturned and his naval architectural abilities permitted competent design analysis. He detail s his story with extensive anci ll ary text and annotated notes. His well-styled, highly documented prose absorbs readers in the professional and family lives of McManus and many other contemporary maritime luminaries. Hopefully thi s book wi ll inspire others to deliver us into the worlds of great naval architects: Dunne sets a Thomas F. McManus and the Ameri- rigorous example.

ROB NAPIER, Editor can Fishing Schooners, An IrishNautical Research Journal American Success Story, by W. M. P. Dunne (Mystic Seaport Museum , Mystic CT, 1994, 416pp, illus, plans, appen , The Tancook Schooners: An Island and Its Boats, by Wayne M. O'Leary index; $39.95hc) In a long-awaited, broad, powerful (McGi ll -Queen 's University Press, Bufvolume, William Dunne engagingly falo NY, 1994, 290pp, illus, photos, weaves his three title subjects into a plan s, notes , appen , biblio, index ; deep, readable narrative. He introduces $44.95hc, $ l 7.95pb) In January of 1966 I bought (for$ l 75) us to prosperous McManus forebears in Ireland, follows their emigration to Bos- and restored Wind, a 16-foot, wineglass, ton, and establishes them along the wa- clipper-bow double-ender with long outterfront in the maritime businesses of side rudder, built in 1922 by Archibald sailmaking, fish brokering, vessel own- Fenton. Fenton was a Nova Scotia transplant from Mahone Bay to Gloucester ership and, finally, naval architecture.

Feeling a gift for vessel design , Tho- who, in 1901 , built Howard Blackburn 's mas F. McManus (1856-1938) , Dunne 's immortal sloop Great Republic. For some nominal subject, shrewdly observed the mad reason , in October of 1966, I also successes and failures of the closely re- succumbed to the 35-foot "Bluenose" lated fishing schooners, yachts and pilot schooner Bandit that was attributed to a boats that surrounded him while he was Mr. Mason of Mahone Bay in 1938.

I did not connect the two until I read a Boston fish broker. At an early age McManus proficiently carved half-hulls with total fascination Wayne O 'Leary's as design tool s and worked in Dennison smartly researched and written classic J. Lawlor's mold loft. McManus ad- on the Tancook schooners. I knew Wind dressed his lack of drafting sk ill s by was Fenton 's adaptation of that lovely , attending, in hi s thirties, America's first wonderfu l, seakindly fi sherman , the courses offered in ship design and build- Tancook whaler, and that my schooner ing. He then left the brokerage and began was a sort of miniaturized Bluenose of creating vessels. The first attributed com- Lunenburg and Fishermen 's Races fame.

But that my schooner was the direct pletely to him was the 1891 James S. Steele. Over the next 45 years he was descendant of my little sloop, wh ich he responsible for roughly 450 more, a fig- calls "the preeminent small craft proure estimated to exceed the combined duced in the Maritimes during the first totals of all other contemporary design- half of the twentieth century?"-that was a bit of a mind-boggle. ers of comparable vessels.

An historian at the University of In the quest for safer fishin g vessels, McManus labored with the eternal com- Maine, O ' Leary confirm s Chape lle ' s promises of speed, capacity, handiness, scholarship in tracing the Tancook whaler weatherliness, seakindliness, and aes- clear back to the small inshore sailing thetics to develop the knockabout, or " whale r" of Hampton, New Hampshire, bowsprit-less, schooner. Helen B. Tho- inspired by the New England whaleboat. mas was the first knockabout, and others He thlen reveals how the yachting cra:(':e followed. Like his father before him, that S>truck Mahone Bay in 1885 metaMcManus was involved in American morpihosed the " wha ler," clinker-built and international fishing schooner races. on Tam cook Island , into a shoaler, carve Ithe same ship as shown in a simplified drawing on page 45! And the definition of "pinnace" in the otherwise excellent glossary unaccountably overlooks the most common version of the type, a fairsized pulling boat towed behind a bigger ship, or sometimes carried in knockeddown form in the hold.

Such lapses are rare, however. Overall the book is an admirably clear and cogent survey of the development of evolving ship types in the confused but intensely creative centuries in which the PS modem ship emerged.

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

planked, spoon bow, counter-stem schooner with oval transom for fishing and pleasure-the classic Tancook schooner.

I'd unwittingly made the same transition from Wind to Bandit in ten months.

The volume is inclusive, scholarly and delightfully written, with first-rate photographs, plans, notes and appendices; in short, the works-a model of contextual maritime and regional hi story and a gem of the genre. As an "overlapping" writer I ani bursting with admiration.

JOSEPH GARLAND

Gloucester, Massachusetts

The Heavy Frigates, EighteenPounder Frigates: Volume I, 17781800, by Robert Gardiner (Conway Maritime Press Ltd. , London UK, 1994, 127pp, illus, notes , biblio, index; ÂŁ25hc) Following The First Frigates: Ninepounder and Twelve-pounder Frigates, 1748-1815-his first book as an authorformer editor Robert Gardiner goes from strength to strength with his second. Once again he demonstrates his encyclopaedic knowledge of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson 's "eyes of the fleet. " Gardiner devotes this work to the large singlydecked cruisers armed with 18-pounder long guns that the Royal Navy introduced during the later stages of the American Revolution. With the passing decades these warships grew rapidly in size, number and importance, and ultimately became the typical frigate of the Napoleonic Wars. The Admiralty Surveyors turned out so many classes during the lifetime of the 18-pounderfrigate that Gardiner has divided his study into two volumes.

In addition to dividing his topic into two volumes, the author has subdivided this first volume into two parts. Part I, which traces the application of 18-pounders to sh ips rated at 38-, 36- and eventually even 32-guns, provides a design history from the genesis of the type to the radical improvements of the 1790s, particularly as evinced by the populous Leda and Lively classes. Part II addresses the general aspects of 18-pounder frigates, including the Admiralty's shipbui lding policy, the Surveyors ' design concepts, armament, fittings, and a strong section on the sh ips' performance under sail. As with his first book, Gardiner has profusely illustrated this volume with drafts from the National Maritime Museum , as well as photographic illustrations from that institution ' s vast ship model collecSEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

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43

REVIEWS tion, many of which have not been on public d ispl ay fo r decades. The a uthor' s writing strategy succeeds in providing a fluentl y contig uo us read.

On the negative side, the author does not include specific deta il s of the fri gates that were important to American maritime history, such as the Leda and Lively class vessels, man y o f w hi ch served in large or small roles on the North A merican Station from Hali fax to Bermuda, in acti on, oron blockade along the coast of the United States .

As was the case with Th e First Frigates, the author ass umes too much knowledge on the part of hi s readers. He is, therefore, writing to that narrow band of society which is deepl y fa mili ar with the subject of fr igates in genera l, and Royal Navy fr igates in partic ul ar. Nevertheless, once agai n, Gardiner' s command of hi s subject matter has provided an invaluable working tool fo r the naval hi storian, ship mode ler and maritime antiquari an.

W . M . P. DUN E Long Island University Southampton , New York

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44

1

To Die Gallantly: The Battle of the Atlantic, edited by Timothy J. Run yan and Jan M. Copes (Westview Press , Boulder CO, 1994, 375pp, biblio, illus, index; $55hc, $ 17 .95 pb) The North American Soc iety for Oceanic History (NASOH) is to be commended for sponsoring in 1992, with the he lp of the US Naval Hi storical Center, a conference devoted to the pivota l battle of World W ar II , the six-year Battle of the Atlantic. Professor Run yan and hi s able aide Ms. Copes are to be thanked for bringing the confe rence papers before us with full illustra tions, tabl es, and scholarl y notes to he lp further investigation.

The papers range from an insightful appreciati on of Hitler' s and Roosevelt ' s utterl y different perspecti ves on the struggle to the role of codes and codebreaking. Included is a shrewd appreciation of Allied stra tegy re lated to class ic naval strategy as set fo rth by Mahan and hi s di sciples. Mahan died in 19 14, the yea r World War I broke o ut, opening the first Battle of the Atl antic. The question of how hi s princ iples , fo rmul ated on the ex perience of sailing battle fl eets, related to the new horri bly effecti ve form of the guerre de course waged by the German U-boats in both World Wars prov ides food for thought. Run yan and Copes offer a sound judgment on the

hi stori an s ' wo rk on these questions in the ir preface: "A half-century of scho larship h as prov ided insight but not the las t word on thi s terrible yet dec isive struggle ."

PS The C hampla in Canal: Mules to Tugboats, Captain Fred G. Godfrey (LR A Inc., Mo nroe NY, 1994 , 12 lpp, photos, maps, g loss, index; $25hc) Fugitive Deckhand: A Novel of the Canalway of New York State, Captain Fred G. G odfrey (Empire State Fiction, Mo n roe NY , 199 0 , 19 0pp , illu s: $ 18.95 hc) Fred G . Godfrey makes learning about New Yo rk State's canalways an evocati ve pl eas ure in these two books. The first chrono log icall y traces the hi story of the Champl ain Canal from its opening in 18 19 (fo ur years prior to the opening of the Erie Canal). Drawi ng on hi s own rich ex periences ga ined liv ing and working on New York State canals for over 54 yea rs, Captain Godfrey weaves a va ried tapestry that transports the reader to anothertirne in hi story, with vivid in-depth descriptio ns of tugboats, canal boats, to wing techniques , locks, canal towns and their people. Numerous photographs, many take n by the author, enhance the reader' s e njoyment.

If yo u like yo ur hi story mi xed with a littl e fi c tio nal intrigue , the cana l-based nove l, Fu gitive Deckhand, is fo r your enjoyme nt and ed ificati on. The yo ung Vermont farm boy Torn McEwen, running away from home , reaches Waterford , Ne w York, a thri ving maritime hub just north of Albany at the junction of the Erie and C hampl ain Canals and the Hudson Ri ver. There, he find s a re fu ge from hi s tro ubled pas t and a brand new career aboard the Sa lly 8 ., an anc ient steam tug skippered by a crusty o ld cana ler. Tom soon deve lops into a firs t-class deckhand and becomes part of a vani shing mari time scene . When the canals close at the end of the summer, the Sa lly 8 . steams down the Hudson to winter in New York C ity, prov iding the reader with a unique descripti o n of the canalboat community that fl o uri shed in lower Manhattan.

H ERBERT K . SAXE C roton-on-Hudson, New York That Others Might Live: The US LifeSaving Service, 1878-1915, by Denni s L. No bile (Naval Institute Press, Annapo li s MD , 1994, l 98 pp, illus, g loss, notes, bJ iblio, index ; $27 .95hc) For 37 years tHle "storm warriors" of the US SEA HII STORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

CLASSIFIED ADS Life-Saving Service accomplished heroic rescues using small pulling boats.

Changing technology , increasing numbers of recreational vessels, low pay and the absence of a retirement system eventually put the Service out of business as its duties became part of the US Coast Guard. Noble resurrects the history of the Service, exploring the full national scope of its activities, bringing to life a dimly-remembered aspect of our maritime history.

Speed on the Ship!: A Centennial History of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, 18931993, by William duBarry Thomas (SN AME, Jersey City NJ, 1993 , 205pp, illus, appen ; $30pb) A Half-Century of Maritime Technology, 1943-1993,edited by Harry Benford and William A. Fox (SNAME, Jersey City NJ, 1993, 616pp, illus ; $45hc) Both volumes can be purchased for $60. The first volume is a chronologically organized study of the evolution of the Society of Na val Architects and Marine Engineers, its role in the growth of the art and technology of shipbuilding and the people who effected that growth. For a more in-depth exploration of recent technological advances, turn to A Half Century of Maritime Technology, a collection of historical essays written by leaders in the field, covering the design and constuction of naval, merchant, fishing , pleasure and small working craft.

Old Marine Engines: The World of the One-Lunger, 2nd edition, by Stan Grayson (Devereux Books, Marblehead MA, 1994, 235pp, illus, appen, index ; $29.95pb) Recent renewed interest in the old marine engines prompted this new edition of Grayson's work. New material is to be found primarily in appendices listing marine engine builders in the US and Canada and marine engines in museums.

1994 Inventory of Historic Light Stations (National Park Service ' s National Maritime Initiative, Washington DC, 1994, 430pp, illus , appen , biblio, index; $25pb) Available from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington DC 20402. Thi s first comprehensive inventory of hi storic light stations in the US lists 631 existing lighthouses , providing information on the location , dates, ownership, current use, and historic significance of SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

each, along with illustrations for most of those on the National Register of Historic Sites. Appendices also include owners ' addresses and former light station sites.

Superstitions of the Sea: A Digest of Beliefs, Customs, ¡and Mystery , by James Clary (Maritime History in Art, 201 N. Riverside, St. Clair MI 48079, 1994, 360pp, illus, biblio, index ; $40hc) This is a collection of sailors' superstitions about such disparate topics as animals, bells, dreams , ghosts, icebergs, knives and knots , names, tattoos and Vikings. The folklore and anecdotes are accompanied by illustrations by the author and his brother Ben Clary.

The Defeat of the German U-Boats: The Battle of the Atlantic, by David Syrett (University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC, 1994, 344pp, notes, biblio, index; $39.95hc) A highly focused study of the battle between Uboats and Allied shipping in the Atlantic, this book examines the combat to show the varied uses of tactics, intelligence, electronic devices and weapon systems.

Escort Carriers of the US Navy: The CVE's Illustrated History, by David Polk (Turner Publishing Company, Paducah KY , 1993, 144pp, illus ; $49.95hc + $5s&h) This view of WWII escort carriers provides a brief history of the carrier and its role in the war, as well as a listing of the vessels and their sailors and airmen, supplemented by military and personal photographs of life on board.

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by UweSchnall (Ellert& Richter Verlag, Hamburg GER , 1994, 96pp, illus, gloss ; DM19,80hc) This German addition to the literature on lighthouses provides a brief history of the use of the structures with dramatic photographs of more than 30 German towers .

Les Clippers Francais, by Claude and Jacqueline Briot (Le Chasse-Maree , DouarnenezFR, l 993,466pp, illus, biblio, index; 590Fhc) A marvelously illustrated, densely packed study of the French contribution to the clipper ship era.

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A Tarheel in King Neptune's Court Or, How I Became a Shellback

by Frank B. Turberville, Jr. mong the many traditions of the sea that date back to Admiral Nelson and before, there is one that recognizes the sovereign areareigned over by Neptunus Rex. This realm is known to navigators as the great circle equidistant between poles; or Latitude 00째 00' 00". Lubbers and young sailors who are off soundings for the first time (Polly Wogs ), know it as the equator, and as often as not admit to feeling a characteristic little bump, as the ship crosses the Line. Navigators and Shellbacks know that they are approaching these Royal Waters as the North Star backs off closer to the northern horizon each night and finally disappears, and the Southern Cross climbs higher in the southern sky, where it can bear witness to the sovereign proceedings soon to be convened.

As a ship approaches the Line, all of the "Shellbacks" in their loyalty to King Neptune, and in accordance with Poseidon's Law, become very busy interviewing all of the Polly Wogs aboard. The first question asked of course is always, "Have you ever crossed the Line?"

As my ship-the USS Hidatsa (ATF102), southbound for missions of war in late June 1944--approached the line, I was interviewed, and my answer to that question was: "Yes, I have crossed the equator a number of times." While it did not show in Poseidon 's court records, this was true. Possibly from having lived for so long and from such an early age in the Canal Zone, just 09째 north of Neptune' s Realm, I was not properly impressed with the approaching sovereign proceedings.

Besides having served for the previous three years with the Naval Degaussing Unit in the Canal Zone-the Navy thought I had some proficiency in the calibration of electrical instruments-I had been making three orfourflights a year from Panama down to the Galapagos Islands to pay my respects to giant tortoises, tropical penguins, the old whaler's whisky-barrel post office, and a few naval electrical instruments hiding in the bushes. These trips were made in a Navy twin-engine PBY patrol plane, which, by today's standards, flew low and slow. It seems, however, that this was high enough and fast enough to escape the reconnaissance efforts of King Neptune' s Shellbacks.

So it happened that after the Royal

A

46

Na vi gator examined the charts in the area of the Galapagos Islands, the question was raised as to whether I had actually crossed the Line, or just nudged it a bit in a disrespectful manner. It was also observed that in none of my visits to the Galapagos Islands had I taken the opportunity to post

... the question was raised as to whether I had actually crossed the Line, or just nudged it a bit in a disrespectful manner . ...

The upshot of all this was that I was arrested by several of the Royal Shellbacks, hauled into King Neptune's Court and charged with "claiming to be a Shellback when I was nothing but a lowly Polly Wag." a proper greeting to King Neptune from the whaler' s whisky-barrel post office.

The upshot of all this was that I was arrested by several of the Royal Shellbacks, hauled into King Neptune 's Court and charged with "claiming to be a Shellback when I was nothing but a low 1y Polly W og." Few sea lawyers have ever been so bold as to plead a case in Neptune' s Court. I doubt if even Daniel Webster would have tried, under Poseidon's Law, or any other law. King Neptune was quite busy that 30th day of June 1944. It seemed that every Polly Wog on the USS Hidatsa had committed some ridiculous crime, including Captain C.F. Johnson, who had done all of his previous sailing in northern waters.

The sea had calmed that morning, apparently in deference to the presence of Neptunus Rex . Several white albatross soared in the sky around the ship, always swooping down to inspect the back trough of those waves that ventured into the area, yet careful never to flap a wing. I have forgotten what Captain Johnson's crime was ; he had not shot any albatross or keelhauled any Shellbacks. I remember, though, that he was sentenced to cook dinner and serve it in the ward-

room for all of the Shellbacks. I later heard a Shellback comment that even Charlie Noble had never witnessed a better meal prepared at sea, and that it was far better than the fare in Davey Jones ' locker.

My case was heard immediately after the Captain's. King Neptune sat high up on his throne attended by several mermaids, which I thought to be a bitfishythough I would not have dared to say so in those Royal Waters. He had a long hemp beard, a golden crown on his head (maybe it was copper) and a royal harpoon in his hand. Occasionally he would rap the deck with the butt of the harpoon staff demanding "order in this Royal Court" if a Polly Wog were so bold as to open his mouth intending to speak.

As each Polly Wog prisoner was brought before him, he listened to the charges, shook his royal head in exasperation, pronounced sentence and called for the next case. Since my case was heard immediately after the Captain' s, I followed immediately behind him in the initiation exercises. This meant that I was immediately behind him in the canvas wind-shoot, through which we were expedited with a saltwater fire hose. When I came out of the wind-shoot, I was quite salty and wet, but a full-fledgedShellback.

My "Certificate of Membership" read: "To all Good Sailors of the Seven SeasGreetings-Know ye, that Turberville, Frank B. Jr. ; U.S . Navy, USS Hidatsa (ATF-102), has this date been initiated into the mysteries of the deep in keeping with the traditions of my realm and has been acclaimed a true and loyal son of Neptune. Given under my hand and seal, in Latitude 00째 00' 00" and Longitude 98째 33 ' west. Captain C.F. Johnson Commanding, Under the direction ofNeptunus Rex, this 30th day of June 1944."

As I recall, there were at least two other Tarheels who became Shellbacks that day: Leo V. Lewis from New Bern and a 19-year-old named Rigsbee from Creedmore. Rigsbee was a fireman and stood watches on the ship 's evaporator, which distilled about 500 gallons of fresh water per day. The Royal Court charged him with casting covetous " coups d'oeils" at: the ship' s evaporator and commentirug " that if he could just get that evapor:ator home and established in a thickly w1ooded area near Creedmore, SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95

Glossary great circle: a circ le formed on the surface

The Royal Party watch the initiation of the Polly Wogs: Queen Amphitrire (C.A. Andrews, SJ C, USN), a Royal Slave and King Neptune (Chief Machinist T.J. Doyle, USN). A Royal Mermaid smiles in the foreground. (Photo courtesy US Naval Institute)

of a sphere by the intersection of a plane th at passes through the center of the sphere; such a circ le on the surface of the earth, an arc of which constitutes the shortest di tance between any two terrestrial points the Line: general reference to the eq uator (as "crossing the Line") off soundings : water too deep to get bottom with a lead sounding line, co mm on ly recogni zed as beyond the co ntin ental she lf Shellback: a sailor who has previously crossed the Line Charlie Noble: sailor's term for the flu e to th e ship's ga lley range Polly Wog: a sailor who is approaching the Royal Waters of Neptu nus Rex for the first time Neptunus Rex: the Roman god of the sea who, in trad iti onal nautical mytho logy, has sovereignty over the doldrum areas adj acent to and on the equator Poseidon: th e Greek god of the sea; Greek grandfather, shall we say, of Neptunus Rex, giver of law of the sea The Golden Dragon: the drago n who, in nauti ca l mythology, claims jurisdi ction over the in ternational date line

The USS Au gusta crosses rhe line in 1936 and the Polly Wogs go from the barber 's chair to the tank. (Photo courtesy US Naval Institute)

hi s fortune would accrue at the rate of 500 gall ons per day."

Several weeks later, thi s Shellback had an encounter with "The Go lden Dragon" at 180° (east or west-your choice) Longitude; that, however, is ant, other story.

Top right, aboard a Coast Guard-manned assault transport somewhere in the Southwest Pacific in 1944, the Jolly Roger fli es as the ship crosses the equator and King Nep tune holds his court. Th e hardy buccaneer, complete with a knife in his teeth, is Coast Guardsman William B. Odekirk, seaman.first class, who, on becoming a "shellback, " immediately took to rhe yardarm.

Those who survived the rigors of initiation may now join The Shellback Association, recently organized by Philip Pearlmutter, 57 Parcot Ave., New Rochelle NY 10801.

Bottom right, a Polly Wog gets tarred as he crosses the line aboard the USS Valley Forge (CV-45), 21January 1948.

SEA HISTORY 72, WINTER 1994- 95

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