No. 82
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
AUTUMN 1997
THE ART, LITERATURE, ADVENTURE, LORE & LEARNING OF THE SEA
FISHING AMERICA'S COASTS The Marine Art of Christopher Blossom The Cape Hom Road, Part XII Aboard USS Constitution-Under Sail!
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No. 82
SEA HISTORY
SEA HISTORY is published quarterl y by the National Maritime Historical Society, 5 John Walsh Boulevard, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY I 0566. Second class postage paid at Peekskill NY 10566 and additional mailing offices. COPYRIGHT © 1997 by the National Maritime Hi storical Society. Tel: 914 737 -7878. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, 5 John Walsh Boulevard, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566. MEMBERSHIP is invited. Afterguard $ 10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $1 ,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Friend $ 100; Contributor $75; Family $50; Regular $35 . All members outside the USA please add $ 10 for postage. SEA HISTORY is sent to all members. Individual copies cost $3 .75 . OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Alan G. Choate; Vice Chairmen, Richardo Lopes, Edward G. Zelinsky; President, Peter Stanford; Vice President, Norma Stanford; Treasurer, Bradford Smith; Trustees, WalterR. Brown, W. Grove Conrad, Fred C. Hawkins, Jakob Isbrandtsen , Clay Maitland, Karen E. Markoe, Warren Marr, II, Brian A. McAllister, James J. Moore, David A. O'Neil, RADM Thomas J. Patterson , Nancy Pouch, Craig A. C. Reynolds, Charles A. Robertson, Howard Slotnick, Marshall Streibert, Louis A. Trapp, Jr., David B. Vietor, Harry E. Vinall , III, Jean Wort FOUNDER : Karl Kortum (1917- 1996) OVERSEERS : Chairman, Townsend Hornor; Charles F. Adams, RADM David C. Brown, Walter Cronkite, John Lehman , Schuyler M. Meyer, Jr., J. Willi am Middendorf, II, Graham H. Phillips, John Stobart, William G. Winterer ADVISORS : Co-Chairmen, Frank 0 . Braynard, Melbourne Smith; D.K. Abbass, Raymond Aker, George F. Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, Norman J. Brouwer, RADM Joseph F. Callo, William M. Doerflinger, Francis J. Duffy, John Ewald , Joseph L. Farr, Timoth y G . Foote, Willi am Gilkerson, Thomas Gillm er, Walter J. Handelman , Charl es E. Herde ndorf, Steve n A. Hyman, Hajo Knuttel, Gunnar Lundeberg, Conrad Mil ster, William G. Muller, David E. Perkins, Nancy Hughes Richardson, Timoth y J. Runyan , Ralph L. Sno w, ShannonJ. Wall , Thomas We ll s AMERICAN SHIP TRUST: Chairman , Peter Stanford; Trustees, F. Briggs Dalzell , William G. Muller, Melbourne Smith, Edward G. Zelinsky NMHS STAFF: Editor, Peter Stanford; Executive Editor, Norma Stanford; Managing Editor, Justine Ahlstrom ; Contributing Editor, Kevin Haydon; Accounting, Joseph Cacciola; Membership Development & Public Affairs, Burchenal Green; Membership Secretary, Mari an York ; Assistant Membership Secretary/Merchandising, Erika Kurtenbach; Members hip Assistant, Irene Eisenfeld ; Advertising Assistant, Carmen McCallum; Secretary to the President, Karen Ritell ; Director of New York Operations, Willi am Becker; Education Coordinator, Patricia O' Rourke
AUTUMN 1997
CONTENTS 2 DECK LOG & LETTERS 4 NMHS NEWS 6 THE CAPE HORN ROAD, XII : The River That Led Around the World by Peter Stanford 10 NMHS 0PSAIL EDUCATION PROGRAM by Peter Stanford 12 SHIP OF THE ISSUE: The Danish Sail Training Ship Georg Stage by Kai Mortensen FISHING AMERICA'S COASTS 14 Fishing America's Coasts by Justine Ahlstrom 15 Harvesting the Inland Seas: Great Lakes Commercial Fishing by Jay C. Martin 18 "Fishing for a Living" at the Vancouver Maritime Museum by James P. Delgado with Duncan Stacey and Gina Johansen 20 Making Waves: Twentieth-Century Fisheries on Cape Ann by Sharon Worley 23 A Tale of Three Skippers by Michael Wayne Santos ~------------~
26 MARINE ART: The Sea World of Christopher Blossom by Dawna Daniel 30 Aboard USS Constitution-Under Sail! by Peter Stanford 32 MARINE ART NEWS 33 TRAFFIQUES & DISCOVERIES 34 The National Lightship Trust by Jerry Roberts 36 SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS 40 R EVIEWS 46 DESSERT: Through Holland in the Vivette by E. Keble Chatterton 48 P ATRONS COVER: Momentarily sheltered from the seas she battles daily f or a living, the graceful Atalanta of 1893 slips along quietly in Gloucester Harbor. Christopher Blossom takes a loving look at Gloucestermen of yore and other historic vessels on pages 26-28.
Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafari ng heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea History, from the ancient mariners of Greece, and Portuguese navigators opening up the ocean world, to the heroic efforts of seamen in World War II. Each issue brings new insights and new discoveries.
If you love the sea and the legacy of those who sail in deep waters, if you love the rivers, lakes and b ay s a nd th e ir workaday craft, then you belong with us . Stay in touchjoin us today! Mail in the form below or phone
1-800-221-NMHS Yes, I want to join the Society and receive Sea History quarterly. My contribution* is enclosed. (*$ 17.50 is for Sea History; any amount above that is tax-deductible.) D $35 Regular Member D $50 Family Member D $ I 00 Friend Mr./Ms. _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ __
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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
LETTERS
DECK LOG The last of the great hunter-gatherer systems by which mankind has sustained itself through most of its fleeting millenia on earth is, of course, the fisheries. The field of the hunt is wide; it covers most of Earth's surface, in the wild and unsubduable savannah of the sea. But the "industry"-if you can call it that-is intensely regional and fiercely independent. And it has played more than an incidental role in world history~witness the rise of the sea empires of England and the Netherlands, whose sea trades grew up nourished by the vigorous fishing cultures of great rivers. And these rivers became highways to the world, as recounted in this issue's installment of "The Cape Hom Road." Fishing cultures are changing in a changing world, but they have had so strong a hold that fishermen have carried their own boats and practices wherever they go. Look at the Italian feluccas and Chinese sampans that fished San Francisco Bay side by side-they embodied vastly different ideas of how to do things from as far afield as the China Sea and the Mediterranean! Looking at our American fisheries in this issue, we barely scratch the surface. One day in a future issue we'll pursue this quest further to track American Indian pi rogues and boats and ways of life even more distant in time and space. PETER STANFORD
NMHS AUTUMN EVENTS
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Fall Foliage Cruise
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Sunday, 19 October on the Hudson River aboard the MN
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Commander with a Buffet Lunch at the West Point Club leaving from Peekskill, NY $75 per person J,
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Annual Dinner Friday, 14 November A SALUTE TO USS CONSTITUTION at the
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New York Yacht Club $175 per person I
For reservations and information contact: NMHS
PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566 914 737-7878
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Member Recalls Steam, Sail -and Oar Power! I have just digested Sea History 79 cover to cover and I wonder why Capt. Ray Aker, my old friend, waited so long to bring it to my attention. I am an NMHS member now! NMHS founder Karl Kortum and I met some time ago when I presented a small library of sea-oriented books to the San Francisco Maritime Museum. His passing went unnoticed until I read your Autumn issue. Now Ray Aker has me writing letters regarding the future of the Pacific steam schooner W apama. I learned about steam schooners in my first sea voyage in 1943 as assistant to a cook and baker on the Liberty ship Samuel K. Barlow. The cook was a former West Coast steam schoonerman and told me about the old days in the lumber trade. All we have left from that wonderful era is the term "steam schooner" as an order for a real breakfast-a plate of three or four thick hotcakes, with butter leaking from every layer, flanked by two strips of bacon on port and starboard, topped with two sunny-side-up eggs, whites well cooked. Many old merchant mariners will recall this hearty fare and I wish my doctor would give me the OK to go back to eating that way. JOE RYCHETNIK
Palm Springs, California New member Rychetnik soon wrote again, as follows: The Spring/Summer 1997 issue really did serve me up dessert! "The Cruise of the Conrad" brought home to me after 54+ years the ten days I spent with the training crew aboard th eloseph Conrad. I was a 16-year-old kid from Chicago and the US Marine Corps had thrown me out when they discovered my age. So I joined the merchant marine. Their training ship Joseph Conrad was based at the old Vanoy Park Resort Hotel at St. Petersburg, Florida. We never did brace before a hurricane at Cape Horn but in the calm waters of Tampa Bay we did everything a square-rig sailor could do. The main truck was 127' from the deck and a few feet more from the warm bay waters. While setting sail one day we trainees decided to let go when the ship rolled to port. Down we went in a splash. The skipper had us on extra duty holy-stoning the deck and working the comers with the prayer book of stone all that day. We
tarred and caulked and soogied [scrubbed paintwork with sand or caustic soda]. The rite of passage was learning the marlinspike seamanship taught by oldtime bosuns. The most difficult test was being cast adrift in a longboat, ten or so of us, just after breakfast, and having to row after the Conrad had set sail. If you made her by lunch you ate, if not, by supper, and if not then, it started all over again the next day. It took our motley gang two days to get it all together. It was an experience in the old ways I would never have missed. Later on the Libertys and C-2s in the Pacific I thought fondly what fun it must have been to sai l the islands in such ships. Making several invasions with the Marines, I finally joined the Corps after the war and made it into Korea. But the Conrad was true romance! JOERYCHETNIK
Our Secret Weapon In response to Joseph Chomsky 's comments in "Letters," Sea History 81, the apparentoverstaffingof a WWII US Navy fleet oiler as opposed to a merchant tanker was an operational necessity . The merchant tanker usually carried a liquid cargo from point to point steaming at a constant speed. The primary mission of a fleet oiler, on the other hand, was to carry aviation gasoline, diesel fuel and Navy special boiler fueland to fuel ships while underway! Two oil fueling stations and a gasoline fueling station on each side of the ship made it possible to fuel two ships at once. This complex and dangerous process required deck winches, special booms and rigging and trained personnel. While fueling underway, stores, mail and personnel were transferred by a "high line" system requiring a cargo deck, more complex rigging and more personnel. A fleet oiler was required to operate as a tactical unit within a task force, and it was equipped with a combat information center, main and emergency radio shacks and a signal bridge for instant response to speed, course and formation changes. SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
The main battery of a fleet oiler usual ly consisted of director-controlled dualpurpose (surface and anti-aircraft) guns -a more complex system than the single-purpose, WWI-type gun mounted on the fantail of most merchant ships. The secondary battery consisted of director-controlled 40-millimeter and 20millimeter anti-aircraft guns. The gunnery department was probably smaller than the 15- to 25-man armed guard crew stationed on merchant ships. Damage control equipment and personnel were needed for fire fighting, battle damage repair, engineering casualty control and to provide a fire and rescue party that could be sent to other ¡ships. During fuel ing operations and general quarters the emergency fire pump was manned, as was the carbon dioxide smothering system, because of the danger of sparks in the event of a collision. Steady steaming merchant ships could use automatic boiler water level and boiler firing rate controls, but these controls could not be relied upon for the fast speed changes needed in task force operation; these functions had to be performed manually. An engineer was constantly required at the main engine throttles for immediate execution of speed change orders. Fleet oilers supplied fresh water to small craft and this often required the continuous operation of the distilling plant. Thus, a relatively large engineering watch was necessary. The fleet oiler had less liquid cargo capacity than a comparable merchant tanker because of the extra equipment and stores carried for other ships, not because of the extra crew required-this would be insignificant on a 30,000-ton ship. The WWII fleet oiler was our logistic secret weapon- no other navy fueled big ships consistently alongside underway. It permitted wide-ranging task force operations and the continuous presence of our carriers off the coast of Japan. This could not have been accomplished with a 43-man tanker crew. CAPT. LEO BLOCK, USNR (Ret) San Clemente, California Like Mr. Chomsky ("Letters," SH81), I was a merchant marine engineer on T-2 tankers in WWII and was impressed with the much larger crews of naval tankers-although their underway refueling did require a somewhat larger deck department than ours. Then consider, our T-2 turbo-electric propulsion plant was rated 7 ,240 horsepower, and our SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
merchant marine engineer department of 15 men included five licensed unlimited horsepower engineers. Now, 50 years later, Crowley Maritime operates a fleet of over 20 Invader class, 126' oceangoing tugs. They are rated 7,200 horsepower, and tow 730' unmanned, triple deck roll-on, roll-off vehicle carriers in liner service. They are certainly comparable to self-propelled ships of the WWII era. The total crew is 6 men, and the entire engine department is a single engineer. My son, a Fort Schuyler graduate, is one of them. DA YID E. Sw AN Jacksonville, Florida Progr ess in Knees I read with more than casual interest the
article about the restoration of USS Constitution in Sea History 81. In June 1939, having completed the course at MIT in warship design and construction, I reported to the Boston Navy Yard and was assigned duties as a ship superintendent for hull work and assistant docking officer. On the yard 's schedule was a drydocking of Constitution. This, I was told, was not a routine matter because the ship's hull had developed a substantial hog. While I was still studying the problem, the docking was indefinitely delayed. We were suddenly hard at work on the destroyers being turned over to the British in the Lend Lease program and then in the rush of new construction that followed US entry into WWII. In 1954 I reported to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, as Production Officer. I lived in Quarters Mon the bank of Seavey Pond. In the pond, arranged along one bank, were a number of strangely shaped logs completely submerged. They were live oak knees that had been sent up from the Carolinas to be available for making repairs to Constitution. I was to inventory them . It appears from the article that these knees were not used but replaced by laminated white oak timbers. I guess that is progress! RADM E. H. BATCHELLER, USN (Ret) McLean, Virginia Revolutionary Merchant Mariner s In Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, near the old Brooklyn Navy Yard, stands a monument to patriotic merchant seamen from American privateers who fought in the War for Independence but did not survive internment in British prison hulks.
The courage and enterprise of these men aboard the privately owned and privately armed ships helped ensure American victory in the Revolu.tion. They carried the new flag to all parts of the world and their prizes helped support the American cause. Fewer than half the privateers returned to the States after the war. Thousands of seamen were captured by the British and were offered the choice of joining the British Navy or going to prison. Many who chose not to fi ght against their countrymen were imprisoned under desperate conditions on ships moored on the Brooklyn waterfront. The remains of the men who died aboard the prison hulks were dumped into the bay. After the war the new US Navy set to work expanding the yard, and the remains of thousands of bodies were found in the muddy bottom as the bay was dredged to build new drydocks. Washington ordered the remains to be interred in a vault atop a nearby hill where they remain to this day. A hundred years later, a monument designed to resemble a lighthouse was built by publ ic subscription with matching funds from Congress. The monument still stands, but its light has been extinguished since WWII. On Saturday, 23 August, a memorial service rededicating the monument to the merchant mariners buried in the vault below will be held. A new eternal light, solar powered to insure that its beacon will shine fo rever, will be turned on as the focal point of the ceremony. If you want further information , or if you wish to attend, contact Frank Spinner, 718 499-7600 or John Gallagher, 718 499-9779. JOE CHOMSKY East Meadow, New York Q UERIES
Members of the Edgartown Yacht Club are looking for their former launch Helot, transferred to South Street Seaport in the 1970s but deaccessioned since. She is about 26' long with white topsides below varnished strakes with a lovely, wide, yellow-oak coaming, all of one piece, sweeping fro m her stem around her bows. The helmsman 's seat, its back against a towing bitt, is abaft the engine case. The wheel panel bears a bronze plate "Built by M. Swartz, Boatbuilder. " Collect calls regarding Helot will be received by Arthur Yorke Allen at (H) 212 289-6264 or (0 ) 212 661-3636.
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.NMHSNEWS NMHS Announces Student NMHS Plans Tall Ship Flotilla in Hudson River Essay Contest Nineteen ninety-eight marks the bicentennial of Rockland County, NMHS has been working with the David M. Milton Trust to develop an educational program in New York Harbor that draws students into the challenge of America's maritime heritage and the role of commerce and capital in the growth of our cities. With funding from the Milton Trust and the Mobil Foundation, we are sponsoring a national essay contest for high school students. The students will be asked to write an essay based on the topic "How Seaborne Trade Generated the Capital to Build the ," using the city of their City of choice. The prizes for the three winning essays will be $1,500, $700 and $500. All entries must be no longer than 2500 words, postmarked by 15 November 1997 and submitted through the student's teacher or a program director familiar with the student's work. For rules and information, contact NMHS , Capital Ship Student Essay Contest, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566. ,t
Historic Schooners at NMHS The oldest Gloucester fishing schooners, Lettie G. Howard of 1893 and Ernestina (ex-Effie M. Morrissey) of 1894, called at the China Pier at NMHS headquarters in Peekskill for a festival drawing 3,000 visitors to the ships on 21 June. Other visitors included the 1901 tug Urger, the 1912 lighter Ollie, the Ferry Sloops ' Sojourner Truth and the fantail launch William 0. Benson. The event, a joint project of the City of Peekski ll, local businesses and NMHS, took place to welcome the Ernestina on her voyage up the river to the historic whaling port of Hudson. The schooner, the official vessel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is based in New Bedford and was voyaging the East Coast to commemorate the 150th anniversary of New Bedford as a whaling community. ,t
New York, located across the Hudson River from NMHS headquarters in Westchester. The county plans to observe the anniversary by celebrating the role of the Hudson River in the development of the region. To recognize the historic link with the Hudson , the Rockland County Bicentennial Commission has asked NMHS to bring historic ships to the river over the Memorial Day weekend, 23-25 May 1998. Herbert Zlotnick, executive director of the Rockland Bicentennial Committee, hopes to see the river once again a sea of sails. At the invitation of NMHS, Governor George Pataki serves as Honorary Chairman of the "Tall Ship Riverfest" and has issued invitations to sail training vessels and historic ships. Thomas F. X. Casey, Rockland County historian and president of the Bicentennial Committee, commented: "When the tall ships clear the New Jersey border, sail the Tappan Zee and anchor in Haverstraw Bay, they will have traveled the magnificent river that encompasses so much of Rockland history." This event will help focus much-needed attention on the cultural heritage of the Hudson River. The environmental aspects of preserving and enjoying the river have been increasingly recognized in recent decades. Local government and corporate attention has been drawn to the importance of the Hudson as a cultural and commercial resource. Over the centuries the river has brought settlers, farmers, industry leaders, scientists, educators and tourists to the region. Regional events such as the Riverfest planned by Rockland County and NMHS will be precursors to OpSail 2000, an occasion which historically brings millions of people to New York Harbor to witness the Parade of Sail. NMHS expects that local events such as the Riverfest will bring an interactive element to residents' understanding of the Hudson that will help make OpSail and the maritime heritage part of everyday life rather than a grand ,t spectacle to be enjoyed only rarely.
NMHS Helps Save Historic Steamships NMHS has been leadi ng two drives to save threatened American steam vessels, one on the East Coast and one on the West. Both projects, initiated in 1996, have now been taken over by local groups, incorporated for the purpose of saving the steam schooner Wapama in California and the tug Catawissa in New York. In San Francisco, the newly incorporated Pacific Steam Schooner Foundation, chaired by RADM Thomas J. Patterson and Edward G. Zelinsky, has formed a working partnership with the National Park Service, which owns the Wapama. They plan to have the vessel open for visitation by August this year. For information , contact PSSF, PO Box 1043 , Tiburon CA 94920; 415 435-0413. In New York, the project to save the steam tug Catawissa is progressing under the chairmanship of Richard Anderson. Friends of the Catawissa plans to move her from the New York Barge Canal to a suitable location for berthing and repair; Erie Basin in Brooklyn is the best candidate at this date. (Richard Anderson Fine Arts, 132 West 22nd Street, 4th Floor, New York NY 10011 ; 212 463-0970) ,t At left, Wapama, with her new cover, remains on a barge in Sausalito CA. (Photo courtesy RADM Thomas J. Patterson) Above, Tank Master No. I (ex-Catawissa) in New York Harbor in the 1960s. (Photo: Frank Duffy)
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
"This is the most authoritative and highly literate account of these pernicious people that I have ever read." -
Patrick O'Brian
The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates
DAVID CORDINGLY "Captivating." - Esquire "Entirely engaging and informative ... A witty, spirited book." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
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"Plenty of thrills and adventure to satisfy any reader."- The Philadelphia Inquirer ''Wonderfully entertaining ••• a rip-roaring read."- Men's Journal
Under the Black Flag Exhibition Information: August 30, 1997 - January 4, 1998 The Mariner's Museum Newport News, VA 23606 February 6, 1998 - August 16, 1998 Independence Seaport Museum Philadelphia, PA 19106
New in paperback from
Harvefl Books Harcourt Brace & Company
THE CAPE HORN ROAD, PART XII:
The River that Led Around the World by Peter Stanford fter Francis Drake 's Golden Hind came home from her "famous voyage" around the world in 1580, Queen Elizabeth had commanded that the ship be brought up the River Thames to Deptford. Deptford was the naval base Elizabeth's father Henry VIII had built in a riverside village three miles south of London Bridge, where the city of London was rapidly developing as the epicenter of national wealth and power, as recounted in our last. By Elizabeth's time London was handling more seaborne trade than all ports of the realm combined. And there, on the city ' s doorstep in Deptford, Elizabeth ordered Drake 's ship drawn ashore "eternally to be remembered" as a memorial to what English seamen achieved in her reign, and also, we may surmise, as a challenge to English people of the future to sail forth to greatness on the far reaches of the sea. The Golden Hind lasted on, past Drake's death in 1596 and Elizabeth's in 1603. By 1618, over a generation after Drake's ship had been drawn ashore, a secretary to the Venetian Ambassador described the vessel as a "relic," looking "exactly like the bleached ribs and bare skull of a dead horse." That horse had been on quite a gallop! English defiance of Spain's drive for world dominance, epitomized by Drake 's sailing, earned a seemingly miraculous victory against the hitherto unstoppable Spanish in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Elizabeth played her risky hand against Philip of Spain to perfection. And she visibly took pride in her tough sailorman Francis Drake and his fellows, as she took pleasure in her independent-minded people, and they in her. Something like a wave of confidence swept over England, comparable to the Periclean Age in Athens two thousands years before. The sturdy English language supported a truly wonderful literary flowering; Shakespeare's plays of this era are re-enactâ‚Źd and John Donne 's poetry is read aloud in the English-speaking world and beyond today, not just in schoolrooms, but in live theaters and people's homes. This burgeoningrevivalof spirit generated a remarkable sense of national identity and purpose in what came to be called the Elizabethan Age. This showed in the language of Elizabeth, who said, speaking to her troops mustered against the threatened Spanish invasion , that
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she had the body of a woman but the spirit of a king, "and a King of England too." That spirit of shared purpose spoke unmistakably in Drake 's memorable call to the gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner and the mariner with the gentleman, a saying quoted (and acted upon) in ships of the Royal Navy today. Something that could be called an English settlement had allayed the fears of persecution by Catholic or Protestant, and the religious wars which had punished England and were still paralyzing France and setting brother against brother across Europe, seemed at last to be laid to rest in England. But the follow-up to the dazzling achievements of Elizabeth 's reign did not prove easy. Her successor James I, who soon came to be known as the "wisest fool in Christendom," had none of Elizabeth's common touch, or her respect for the beliefs and rights of her subjects that lay at the heart of the Eng1ish settlement. He made things so uncomfortable for Christians who wouldn 't to conform to the Church of England rites that the Puritans abandoned the realm for the freer air of the nascent power of Holland, across narrow sea that separates England from Europe. A famous party sailed on from there to found the Pilgrim colony in America's New England in 1620. James and his immediate successors were endowed with what proved to be the fatal flaw in the Stuart line-a bland and woolly-headed ignoring of the public temper. Elizabeth, wise ruler that she was, had courted and consulted her subjects constantly, from personal interest and inclination as well as policy. The strength of the English monarchy was that in a very direct and personal way it rested on the consent of the people, particularly that growing class of bankers, merchants, artisans and seamen who accounted for an increasing share of England's wealth and power. But in the development of English sea power, a glowing achievement of Elizabeth's reign, things stagnated as James and Charles proved more intent on pursuing the dynastic quarrels of European politics than in pursuing the oceanic opportunity opened by Drake 's voyaging. Cape Horn Revealed Drake 's dramatic discovery of Cape Hom, shown in a few maps of the day, had been obscured when Thomas
Cavendish, a wealthy, brutal and eccentric adventurer, came back from a globeencircling voyage in 1588 in the summer of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. He added to the general euphoria by unloading a rich haul of Oriental silks and spices from the Spanish transPacific Manila galleon.But he brought home no new knowledge of the world. Indeed, he brought back word that the "large and free scope" of sea below South America that Drake had discovered did not exist. Sailing south to reach that sea in foul Cape Hom weather, he raised high, rocky land ahead-and he turned back to go through the Strait of Magellan, thinking there was no way through. Map makers again showed solid land joining South America to the southward, with only the narrow Strait of Magellan in between. Drake and others sworn to secrecy about the great discovery of his voyage must have breathed a sigh of relief. Cape Hom and the free scope of open sea to the southward had kept its secret, for the time being. In January 1616, however, a stout, well-found ship named Eendracht ("Unity") came south along the coast of Tierra del Fuego. She was pressing forward toward the open water that her skipper, the veteran navigator Willem Schouten, believed to lie ahead. They found their way through the strait behind the barrier island that had scared off Cavendish, naming the gaunt land Staten in honor of the federated Dutch states from which they sailed. In poor visibility, they did not recognize the land as an island, taking it for a promontory of the great southern continent map makers showed. But as they left the island astern, fetching southward under reduced canvas, they felt the full weight of the southwest gale and the "mighty waves that came rolling along before the wind." For the first time, a sailing ship was about to make the east to west passage around the Hom, from the Atlantic into the Pacific. Battling his way against the mountainous Cape Hom seas that roll right around the world, Schouten worked his way westward. The great sailorman Felix Riesenberg, veteran of the Cape Hom passage in the wooden square rigger A . J. Fuller in the 1890s, describes the wild scene in his book Cape Horn: The water rose high, deeply blue between the cracking, combing seas; SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
Lieutenant Admiral Michie/ de Ruyter' s flagship The Seven Provinces is in her element here, in the Four Days' Battle of 1666 during the English-Dutch struggle for mastery in the Narrow Seas . (Painting by Abraham Storck)
their white tops broke across the decks of the ship. That day they held on to the south, then wore ship-that is, turned to the larboard tack by swinging away and back into the win~ standing landward in the dark. The two Schoutens were at their posts; the ship groaned in every timber as she took the pounding on her bow. It was icy cold, and hail mixed with the rainsqualls that assailed them, even though it was the height of the Antarctic summer. But she was a stout ship such as the Dutch had learned to build in their extensive carrying trade, ably officered and manned. Tack by tack, the ship worked her way westward, driving against the opposing weight of the unrelenting gale. That was how to beat the Hom, as later generations were to learn. The only way was to fight for every mile, never pausing for breath, for here the current runs constantly against the mariner, swallowing one or two miles from the two or three his ship might gain to windward in any hour. Schouten, of course, did not know this; but he knew how to fight his ship. Then, capricious as always, the Cape Hom wind hauled, swinging to the northeast. This was a fair wind! The ship leaned over under the canvas the Dutch piled on her, as she went rolling and pitching through the seas still marching in against them. Never mind! They had the power to drive through the seas with a fair wind in their sails. On the evening of 29 January, they stood in to fetch the land, as the ship, Riesenberg notes, "drummed through a cross sea and the wind whistled against her tilted shrouds, her glossy-wet and icy sails." When they sighted the formidable mountain island that marks the end of South America, they could see the significance of what they had found, for the land fell away on either hand to the northward. They named this southernmost island, here at the end of the world, for their native town of Hoom, or as we have it in English, Cape Horn. The Eendracht went on to gather a rich cargo in the Pacific, but on arrival in Dutch-controlled waters , ship, cargo and people were seized by the Dutch East India Company. This company had secured a charter guaranteeing them control of all trade to the Indies around the Cape of Good Hope or through the Strait of Magellan. Never mind that Schouten, sailing for the Dutch merchant adventurer Isaac Le Maire, had opened a new SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
route to the Pacific through ',._ the open sea; Schouten and his men were returned to Holland in disgrace. Le Maire eventually won full restitution for ship and cargo, but his company, deprived of its assets, had gone broke in the meantime. His ~.:i.....-- ~~¡ tribute remained in the naming of the Strait of Le Maire, the passage behind Staten Island. Where did Le Maire get his confident vision of an open sea below the continent of South America? He had read Hakluyt' s account of the English voyages, and had an independent, innovative mind. Hakluyt did not give away the secret of the open sea passage, but Riesenberg feels, as I do, that there were enough English seamen who knew of Drake's discovery for an ex perienced person with an inquiring mind to pick up the trail. Le Maire learned all he could of the ocean world into which he, along with other Dutch merchants , was pushing out aggressively in this period. A more basic question is how the Dutch came to play such an active, forward-leaning role in the ocean world. The Contest in the Narrow Seas The roots of the remarkable upsurge of Dutch sea power, which came to dominate world shipping in the 1600s, lie in developments in the Narrow Seas-the English Channel and North Sea that separate the British Isles from the continent of Europe. Here England and a newly independent Holland faced each other across shallow water covering what was land in recent geological time. The Thames in England, and the Rhine and lesser rivers flowing through the Netherlands, had once joined in a mighty river flowing northward across the bed of what is now the North Sea. The interaction of the cultures that grew up around the severed branches of the prehistoric river had been vigorous; Saxons from the Rhineland, and Angles from Denmark charged across the young, shallow, tempestuous North Sea to invade England and give it its name and Anglo-Saxon character. This, as we have seen earlier in our story, was overlaid on the Celtic population, whose spirited resistance under King Arthur produced a kind of settlement with the invaders.
The outlying counties had their own centers and their own regional character, but from Roman times onward, London, fifty miles up the River Thames, was the center of the realm. The Romans settled this marshy site as the lowest point at which the broad, meandering river could be forded (with sea levels then a good ten feet or more lower than today's) . But they soon built a wooden bridge, which, after many presumed rebuildings, was replaced by a medieval stone bridge under the Norman occupation around 1200AD. This bridge soon gathered houses on either side and became famou s throughout Europe. It lasted on through Elizabeth' s era and almost to Queen Victoria's, being tom down finally in 1832. Across the way stood the Lowlands, today 's Belgium and Holland. As regular trade by sea from the Mediterranean sprang up in the late 1200s, the local market in Antwerp became a great international mart where seagoing sailing galleys from Genoa and Venice unloaded fine goods from the advanced economies of the Italian city states and picked up wool and other raw materials, including precious amber from the Baltic and dried herring. The Hansa merchants built a commercial empire by importing, along with amber, quantities of grain farmed in Poland and floated down the Vistula and other rivers, in return bringing German manufactured goods from the Rhine7
land into these more primitive eastern lands. Their main pickup points fortrade from the south were Antwerp and an enclave called the Steelyard in Londonfrom which Elizabeth ejected the Hansa toward the end of her reign in 1600, as their trading empire came to pieces. The Unconquerable Dutch In the meantime, across the way, the separate provinces of the Netherlands made a good thing of fishing and packing dried herring. Amsterdam, on the great sheltered bay of the Zuyder Zee, born as a fishing port at the mouth of a minor river, also became active in the Baltic trades, moving into that busy traffic in increasing force as the Hansa power waned. The prosperous Netherlands fell under Spanish rule by inheritance in the early 1500s, and the wealthy merchant class soon began to chafe under the strict enforcement of Roman Catholic doctrine and the high taxes levied by Spain to maintain its armies, the mightiest in Europe. A long civil conflict began, with increasingly savage Spanish repression backed by a large army of occupation. The country itself was tom in half, with the southern provinces (making up today's Belgium) more ready to make peace than the intransigent Protestant provinces of the north. Antwerp became a focal point of the struggle, and its trade fell to nothing as the Dutch in the northern provinces cut off its access to the sea through the Scheide estuary. The population of this great center of trade and manufacture was reduced drastically by Spanish massacres and citizen flight. The resulting influx of businessmen and artisans to Amsterdam strengthened that city's leading role. Amsterdam finally led an independent union of the seven northern provinces which declared its independence from Spain in 1581. England's Queen Elizabeth sent a small army to support the rebels, who flooded their low-lying fields so painfully recovered from the sea and fought desperately-and ultimately successfully-against the heavy forces brought against them. A truce was reached only in 1609, but Dutch independence had become an accomplished fact long before that, and the Dutch, with extraordinary energy, had become a major shipbuilding nation, with the largest merchant marine in the world. Ironically, despite their intense patriotism, the Dutch were carrying Spanish cargoes throughout the struggle with Spain. With startling efficiency they 8
undercut carrying prices everywhere and sent expeditions to found colonies in the Portuguese territories along the coast of Africa and in Brazil. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope, within a few decades they effectively dismantled the Portuguese empire in the Far East, establishing their own uniquely Dutch empire in the former Portuguese imperium centering upon Java, and including the Spice Islands to the north. This empire lasted on with its vigorous blend of Dutch and native cultures until it was overthrown and occupied by Japan in 1942; after the Japanese surrender that ended World War II in 1945, the islands became the present nation of Indonesia. What a mark for one tiny nation to make! The era of Dutch dominance, known as Holland's Golden Age, was accompanied by great advances in law , self-government and democratic procedures, and in the arts where a stellar gathering of Dutch painters learned to celebrate, particularly in the work of Rembrandt van Riijn (of the Rhine), the lives of ordinary people, babies, young women and aged people, whose laughing or careworn faces glow with the splendor of unconquerable humanity . The ruling class was oligarchic, however, and not reined in by the ameliorating traditions so carefully preserved underthe English settlement. Dutch seamen were ill-paid, even by the abysmal standards of the time, and Dutch commercial dominance, particularly in the Far East, was maintained with what can only be called ruthless severity. The "famed freedom of the seas" set forth as a legal doctrine by Holland 's Grotius in 1610 was no deterrent to the Dutch massacre of ten Englishmen negotiating for a trading treaty at Amboina in the Spice Islands in 1623. The killings proved an effective deterrent, however, to English interests in the Far East. With this and lesser acts of violence the Dutch East India Company, having supplanted their Portuguese predecessors, shut the English out of the Far Eastern trade for decades to come. England Stumbles into the Lead In England, meanwhile, the Stuarts continued their feckless course. Charles I succeeded Jam es in 1625. Seemingly bent on wrecking the Elizabethan settlement, Charles emphasized the Catholic aspects of the Anglican Church. In a typical English "muddling through" resolution of an impossible problem, the national church was both Catholic (in its core beliefs and
rites) and Protestant (in rejecting the authority of the Pope in Rome) . No one was tortured or put to death to enforce this solution, which worked well when administered with a certain laxity in enforcement. Charles, however, chose to clamp down on the growing body of Dissenters, who rejected both Roman and Anglican rules. And he followed his authoritarian bent by imposing new taxes without authorization of Parliament. This brought about a short-fused situation leading in short order to armed rebellion. The population avoided the mass slaughters of the religious wars that had been raging in Europe, but Cromwell, leader of the Dissenters, was forced by extremists to put Charles I to death. Cromwell showed no moderation in going on to uproot Englishmen's ageold rights and liberties, extending from banning the traditional maypole dance to celebrate the first day of May, to smashing statues and stained glass windows in churches and allowing a kind of thought police to enter people 's homes to check up on how they were living. Enforcement was by fines and imprisonment, except in Ireland, where Cromwell's merciless slaughter of ordinary people is remembered to this day. The Lord Protector, as he styled himself, then broke his own rules by having his son succeed him . This led to the English people simply replacing the young dictator by restoring Charles's son as king, the well-loved, but pleasure-loving and indulgent Charles II. English-Dutch commercial antagonism had broken out in fierce battles in the North Sea in the first Dutch war in 1652. Under Charles II two more wars were fought between the English and their erstwhile allies. The English had developed a formidable navy in their Civil War, but in tackling the Dutch in the first war, they soon learned they had a tiger by the tail. The second Dutch war, launched in 1665, found the English dominating the scene, largely because of the powerfully armed three-decked line-of-battle ships they had learned to build-ships heavier and deeper than any the Dutch could sail out of their shallow estuaries. The indomitable Dutch admiral De Ruyter, however, spotted English weakness when Charles laid up the cream of his fleet in the Medway to save money once peace negotiations were under way. De Ruyter crashed through the defensive chain protecting the fleet and sailed away (we may imagSEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
In this 1746 view of the Pool of London , where shipping gathered he/ow the medieval London Bridge, landmarks include the dome of St. Paul' s Cathedral--designed hy Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the old city-and other buildings running east to William the Conqueror's Tower of London . Everything here still stands today , except the Bridge, replaced in 1832 , and the "dumb" barge rowed hy a single lighterman, which vanished from the river in the 1950s. (ÂŁ.ngraving and etching hy John Bowles from an original by Maurer)
ine gleeful! y) with the three-decker Royal Charles. Numbers of other ships were sunk, and still more were sunk by the English to keep them out of Dutch hands. But the English still won at the peace table , keeping the colony of New Amsterdam, which they renamed New York, along with other colonies they'd won earlier in the war. And then , five years later, Charles, who had allied England with France, fell upon the Dutch in a third war which was only halted by popular outrage that the English were fighting the wrong enemy. After Charles's death in 1685, his brother held brief tenure as James II, forcing through Catholic measures and pursuing pro-French policies that frightened and infuriated the people, including seamen and the merchant classes. William of Orange, by happy chance married to James' s daughter Mary , then came to England in another astonishing, almost bloodless turnaround, known as the Glorious Revolution of 1688. William got James to abandon the throne and then went on to lead England in what became the first of its long series of wars against France. The French drive to conquerthe Lowlands, led by the Sun King Louis XIV, had been frustrated by stubborn Dutch resistance even when the English briefly joined the French. The Dutch and English together proved victorious, leaving Louis XIV to die in 1715 still confined behind his own borders. Early on in these wars, we get an enlightening glimpse of the exiled James, at the head of a French army waiting to invade England as soon as the AngloDutch fleet is disposed of. But the other side wins, and a gaggle of French ships takes refuge by running themselves ashore under shelter of the army's guns at La Hogue. British sailors in longboats row in to bum the ships-and they succeed as horsemen sent in to capture them in the shallows are dragged off their horses by sailors with boathooks. The watching James says: "None but my brave English could have done so brave an action!" He had served as Lord High Admiral of England. He knew what others were going to learn about the Royal Navy as SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
it began its road to ascendancy. Neptune's Trident The seafaring imprint of the Dutch Ii ved on in enduring ways in the City of New York, named for James II when he was Duke of York. This is not just a matter of blue Delft tiles in fireplaces from Croton's Van Cortlandt Manor to the Wyckhoff farmstead in Brooklyn (the old Brueklyn of Peter Stuyvesant's day). It is a matter of a diverse and changing population, a passionate dedication to civil rights, and other things very evident today which were noted in Dutch days, when fifteen languages were spoken in the streets, where business and trade dominated conversation and drove the populace, and a boisterous, talkative society provided refuge for all sorts and conditions of people. The city most like New York in North America, in my opinion (as a person with a standing love affair with both cities), is San Francisco. San Franciscans, 3,000 miles across the country, walk faster, talk more like New Yorkers, and are far more boi sterous than the denizens of New York's neighboring cities of Boston or, heaven knows, Philadelphia. Why? Because San Francisco was founded and built from the sea by ships sailing round Cape Hom from New York with its Dutch heritage ... but that is another story. English-speaking people when I was young used to say when somebody pulled off some notable feat: "That beats the Dutch! " Well, as we have seen, nobody ever really beat the Dutch. But the contest for leadership in control of those fecund, immense! y productive narrow seas fed by the Thames and the Rhine was now over. Amsterdam was still a center of greater wealth than London, but that would change in coming years as insurance, banking and capital development, as well as manufacture, trade and shipping came to center
in London, brought in by ships coming up the winding Thames, or London River as it came to be known.
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That river, so enjoyed by Samuel Pepys, the brilliant clerk who built the Royal Navy to greatness and established the Board of Admiralty as a body fit to run such an outfit, was enjoyed as a convenient avenue and suave amenity in crowded city life, with gentlemen's mansions facing it in lawns running down to the water, interspersed with taverns, dockyards and warehouses in growing number. The river exerted that charm of jumbled-together purposes to a notable visitor in 1698, when the gawky, youthful Peter (later known as Peter the Great), Tsar of All the Russias, came to London after a stay learning modem practices across the way in Holland. William was still on the throne, a rather dourly practical but intensely competent ruler. In one of his conversations with King William, the ebullient Peter, who had quit the house he 'd been given in London to move into thediaristJohn Evelyn's house near the Royal Dockyard at Deptford, urged the King to move his pensioners out of the stunningly beautiful buildings erected by Christopher Wren for the Royal Na val Hospital in Greenwich, near Deptford, and give them quarters in the King' s palace at Kensington, above London Bridge. Where should the King go? To Greenwich, of course, to be on the river where the action was. Another notable act of Peter's was to send an order to his shipyard at Voronezh on the Don River, where he was building a fleet to beat the Turks in the Black Sea. The order was to dismiss all the Dutch shipwrights he 'd hired in his drive for modernity, as he was sending English shipwrights to build the new fleet. So Neptune's trident changed hands even on a distant Russian river. .t
9
ANNOUNCING THE NMHS OPSAIL EDUCATION PROGRAM:
How the Tall Ships Sail Today for Our Tomorrows ehind the romantic spectacle of the tall sailing ships that appear off our shores every ten years or so on great national occasions, there are powerful purposes at work-purposes deep-rooted in the shared past of humankind and deeply refreshing to our present experience. We propose to set about exploring these dynamic, shaping purposes as the tall ships make ready for their visit to our shores in OpSail 2000. One thing clear at the outset is that the ships and their young crews radiate adventure. There's no question but that is a leading reason why millions of people come to the water's edge to see the ships. More people have gathered
B
for past OpSails than for any other purpose, ever, in America. People are drawn by real ships sailing to high purpose. And we suggest that true adventure, the sort the tall ships are about, is involved with the fundamentals of life rather than sound-bite wisdom or pop answers to life 's big questions. From the Very Beginning In launching our NMHS Maritime Education Initiative five years ago Walter Cronkite said: Why don't we teach history from the very beginning ? We came out of the sea as the human race , and we have depended on the sea urgently in every sense ever since the day we came out of the water. He continued: And of course, much of our inspiration and the movement of peoples and the founding of new nations have come by way of the sea. It 's quite a challenge to interpret that kind of experience and to help people enter into it more fully. We are going at this challenge with everything we've learned from five
years of the Maritime Education Initiative, in which we ' ve studied many examples of maritime education that actually work with people. We ' ll need help from all our NMHS members to make this program work. There will be changes, but this is what we see ahead: • A book telling the lively story of how the ocean-going sailing ship opened up our world in the past thousand yearsa story informed by the actual experiences of people before our time, their goals , how they went about them , and what it was really like along the way. • A film presenting dramatic vignettes of this historic experience at sea, set against current sailing experience and current attempts to relearn our past in fresh perspectives. • Media seminars backed by film clips and special publications to get across to the media some elementary understanding of how the tall ships sail today and why. There have been occasional worthwhile media stories, but too many miss the mark. We want to see more informed and informative reporting, reaching millions of people. • Experiential classes for students ex ploring particular aspects of how the
Scenes from the NMHS "New York Is a Capital Ship" Program in action last summer From top left: Students discuss harbor activity with Lillian Borrone (Director of Port Operations) at the Port Authority ofNY & NJ and relate sites they have seen from the water to maps and charts of the harbor. Peter Stanford briefs students before visiting the National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan. Maximo "Junior" Faujul, Jr., waits to embark for a harbor tour aboard the tug W. 0 . Decker at South Street Seaport Museum .
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
sailing of the tall ships affected the development of America through diversity of peoples and their ideas and energies. This will include such vital aspects as the development of capital to build ships, transport people, disseminate ideas and create jobs and opportunity-a program we ' re now running in its second year in New York Harbor. • Classes for teachers with a similar curriculum that can be fed into school systems with vigorous encouragement and oversight, aiming always for the full historic experience in its challenging turbulence and unruly, creative variety. • A national essay contest for high school students on the fundamentals of the seafaring experience in which the tall ships sail. We believe developing one 's thoughts in writing·is a vital part of learning. A first version of this contest is being run this year, as reported on page 4. The Standard Bearer Our magazine-and it is ours , owned by the members-has a leading role to play in this historic venture. It's a venture that should benefit maritime heritage projects the length and breadth of the United States, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Anchorage, Alaska. Sea History readers contribute across the board to maritime heritage projects, from saving the schooner Ernestina for her educational voyaging from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to helping secure the funding that enabled the Liberty ship Jeremiah O' Brien to steam from her home port of San Francisco to the DDay beaches in France three years ago-under the command of NMHS Trustee Admiral Tom Patterson. Together we do more than talk about history-we bring new interests to it, and fresh life. It would be hard to think of a single thing more helpful to the cause of history than a bigger, betterand much more widely read version of Sea History. And that's what we're aiming for, a Sea History grown up to its full stature, to make its full message and import felt in support of the cause we serve, the cause of the heritage of seafaring. We invite NMHS members and prospective members to join us in this venture in the service of that priceless, still under-recognized and under-valued heritage, the voyaging experience of mankind. PETER STANFORD
President SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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SHIP OF THE ISSUE
The Danish Training Ship Georg Stage by Kai Mortensen Captain M . E. Malthe-Bruun of the Georg Stage was on deck and immediately changed course, he was unable to prevent a collision. The bow of the British steamer Ancona plowed into the Georg Stage about amidsh ips on her starboard side. She sank almost immediately, leaving no time to launch any of
heDanishsailtrainingshipGeorg of books about ships and the men who Stage was the result of the foresail them, spent a total of 44 years of hi s sight and generosity of Danish life at sea aboard a variety of ships sh ipowner Carl Frederik Gottlob Stage. including full-rigged sailing sh ips, Arab Coming from an old seafaring family, dhows, World War II landing craft, the Carl Stage wentto sea at an early age and nuclear-powered ship Savannah and the served as a seaman as well as an officer Mayflower II. On 29 August 1934, the old Georg Stage sailed out of Copenon large sai ling ships in all parts of the world. He eventually settled down in hagen for the last time with Capt. Copenhagen where he became a sueVilliers in charge, flying the Union cessful shipowner. Jack and bearing her new name, the Carl and his wife Dorothea (Thea) Joseph Conrad. Villiers had decided lost their only son, Georg , to tuberto name the ship after the author and culosis in 1880 when he was 22 years sailor from Poland. The christening of age. At that time, sailing ships ceremony was performed by Joseph Conrad's widow. Villiers sailed the spec ifi ca ll y dedicated to the training of young seafarers were unknown , Joseph Conrad for two years with a but Carl Stage saw the need and paying, amateur crew. Following the successfu l voyage purpose for such ships. He and his wife decided to pay for the construearound the world-and somewhat ti on and outfitting of a square-rigged short of cash-Villiers sold the Josai ling ship on which young men Carl and Thea Stage (From Dansk Skibsfarts sephConradlatein 1936toAmerican "could receive their first training in Remessance by H. C. R¢der (Copenhagen , l962 )) millionaire Huntington Hartford. The practical seamanship." In 1881 the Bur- the lifeboats. Twenty-two cadets lost new owner completely re-fitted the ship meister& Wain shipyard in Copenhagen their lives, either by being trapped below and, for the next two years, used her as was comm issioned to build the training or from injuries received from falling a private yacht. At the end of 1939, sh ip, which was launched on the 25th of spars. Because of the di scipline of her Hartford made the ship available to the May the following year. It was named crew and cadets, calm and order pre- US Maritime Commission, which used Georg Stage in memory of Carl and vailed throughout the rescue operation. her during WWII as a mainly stationary Thea' s beloved son. The ship was full This, and the fact that the collision took training ship in St. Petersburg, Florida. rigged with single top sails. She had an place so close to Copenhagen, with alAfter the war, the Joseph Conrad iron hull measuring l 03' at the water- most immediate assistance from pilot was decommissioned and, by an Act of line. Her beam was 25', her draught 12' boats and the Swedish steamer Irene, Congress signed in 1947 by President and she was rated at 203 gross tons. minimized the casualties. The subse- Harry S Truman, was turned over to Carl Stage also established The Georg quent maritime court hearings found Mystic Seaport Museum, where the Stage Memorial Foundation (Stiftelsen that the Ancona was at fault. proud old ship remains today. Thanks to Georg Stages Minde) to which he transGeorg Stage was rai sed and brought Mystic Seaport Museum, she continues ferred ownership of the vessel. Carl and to her builder's yard where watertight in her work as a stationary training ship Thea later bequeathed a substantial sum bulkheads were installed. The added where young people can get a feel for life of money to the new foundation " to weight required the removal of the aux- on a square-rigged sailing ship and a iliary steam engine-a loss which the practical introduction to sails and rigging. support the running costs of the ship." Over the next fifty-two years, Georg ship's officers shrugged off since they The New Georg Stage Stage-with three exceptions-made an rarely used it. In 1915 , a 50hp auxiliary Following the decision of the Georg Stage Memorial Foundation to replace annual five-month cruise. She carried a engine and a radio station were added. crew of ten with eighty cadets, and thus At about the same time the practice of the old vessel, the shipyard in Frederikstrained well over4000 young men . Voy- engaging officers from the Royal Dan- havn, Denmark (Frederikshavns Vaerft aging in Danish waters was followed by ish Navy was discontinued. Since Georg og Flydedok A/S), was commissioned visits to nearby foreign ports. The dis- Stage was a non-military vessel dedi- to build the new Georg Stage in 1934. tance logged in the course of a typical cated to training young people for ca- The new ship has a steel hull with double cruise was 3,000 to4,000 nautical miles . reers in the merchant marine, it was bottom and transverse watertight bulkThe Sinking of the Georg Stage decided that the ship's master should be heads. She is slightly larger than the old On 25 June 1905 a tragedy befell the a merchant mariner. one-298 gross tons , a waterline length of 124', 28' beam and 13 ' draught. She Georg Stage. After concluding her iniGeorg Stage Decommissioned tial training cruise, Georg Stage was In the early '30s the foundation decided is a three-masted, full-rigged ship carryheading north in the 0resund between that the time had come to replace the ing twenty sails with a total sail area of Denmark and Sweden. The night was Georg Stage with a more modem and 9250 square feet. The height of her main clear and the weather relatively calm slightly larger ship. The old Georg Stage top is 98 feet above the waterline. and she was carrying full sails. Shortly was offered for sale and in 1934 she was Unlike her predecessor, the new beforemidnight,asteamerwasobserved bought by the Australian-born Alan Georg Stage has double topsails, which approaching from starboard. Although Villiers. Villiers, a well-known author makes sail handling a good deal easier.
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
The "new" Georg Stage of 1934 meets her predecessor, the Joseph Conrad (ex-Georg Stage of 1882) at Mystic Seaport Museum in 1989. (Photo courtesy Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.)
She has a 200hp auxiliary diesel engine, a radio station, a small hospital and accommodations for a crew of ten with sixty cadets. The captain, chief officer and purser form the permanent staff, while the other members of the crew sign on for the season.
The Typical Training Cruise The cadets usually join the ship about the 20th of April. Training initially concentrates on handling oflifeboats and on acquainting the cadets with work aloft. During this period the ship always operates in a sheltered bay or firth and is anchored at night. After a month the cadets can carry out various maneuvers under sail, and they are then able to continue training in open Danish waters with visits to Norwegian and Swedish ports. The instruction comprises such practical subjects as seamanship, signaling, navigation , maintenance, first aid, physics, mathematics, Danish and English. It was until recently a tradition that the ship crossed the North Sea in July for a visit to a British port, usually Leith in Scotland, and returned to Danish waters in August, finishing the summer in Copenhagen around the 20th of September. After an inspection by the Board, the ship is unrigged for the winter. The crew and the cadets do this work as part of their training. Meanwhile, the cadets look for jobs. As a rule, all of the cadets find jobs at sea by the end of October. In the early '80s, the first female cadets were accepted and today they make up about 25 percent of the crew.
Sailing Toward New Horizons It was a major change in a one-hundredyear-old tradition when Georg Stage set
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
out from Copenhagen to cross the Atlantic for the first time in the spring of 1989. The cruise went via the Azores to the former Danish Virgin Islands (now the US Virgin Islands) and New York. After a brief visit at South Street Seaport, the ship headed through Hell Gate to Connecticut. With barely enough water under her keel, even at high tide, the new Georg Stage made her way slowly up the Mystic River to the Mystic Seaport Museum, where she met her predecessor, the old Georg Stage, now the Joseph Conrad. All who were there-including the author-felt that they were witnessing an historic event. Since this first transAtlantic crossing, the Georg Stage has been a relatively frequent visitor to our shores. In 1991 she participated in a race of tall ships from the Canary Islands to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The following year she returned to the Virgin Islands and New York where she participated in the celebrations marking the Columbus Quincentennial. That cruise also included her first visit to Canada where she called at Halifax and Shelburne on her way back to Denmark. On all her visits to the United States, the Georg Stage has stopped over at Kings Point, New York, where she has always received a special welcome from the US Merchant Marine Academy. Theserecentvoyages haveincreased the distance sailed during the annual cruise to almost 13,000 nautical miles.
remain strong supporters of the sailtraining program; a six-month cruise on a ship like the Georg Stage gives cadets an excellent understanding of ships, weather and the ever-changing sea-an understanding that it is difficult to get from other forms of training. They also believe that the hands-on, intensive program and the experience of working as an essential member of a team provide the cadets with a solid and valuable base from which to start a career in the merchant marine. A group in Denmark is currently working on a plan to send Georg Stage on a trip around Cape Hom. Plans forthe trip are tentative at this point. It is envisaged, however, that the voyage would start in March and go via the Canary Islands to the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. Once through the canal, the course would be set southwards along the west coast of South America, around Cape Hom and back to Denmark. To meet the requirements of the Cape Hom Association, the stretch from 40° South, round the Hom and back up to 40° South in the Atlantic would be " under sail only and with the ship's engine sealed." Also, the ship would carry some cargo, perhaps a specially distilled Cape Hom Bitter or Aquavit, sold in advance. The author wishes the project success and hopes that it receives all the support it deserves from people who appreciate sailing ships and their timetested traditions. !.
And What about the Future? Over the years many people have questioned whether training aboard a sailing vessel is relevant in today's world. Fortunately there are still many people who
Mr. Mortensen was a cadet aboard the Georg Stage in 1942 . He subsequently sailed with Maersk Line before joining the UN Secretariat. 13
Fishing Arrterica' s Coasts hile explorers, adventurers, ing through the winter and by the 1600s ment regulations and restrictions lead to soldiers, and priests pursued permanent settlements were established the recovery of fish stocks and will there glory, wealth and souls in to service the fishery. When the Pil- be experienced fishermen left to carry Central and South America in the 1500s, grims came to New England, they had on the industry if and when they do? What is clear is that the result of poor capturing the imagination of Europe and been preceded by fishermen who had management has altered the fishing inthe envy of nations lacking the ships and discovered cod on Georges Bank. armies to do the same, an apparently The cod fishery was, perhaps, the last dustry forever. Environmental, biologimundane industry slowly evolved a rich uniquely European fishery to take place cal, technological and political changes tradition of links between Europe and in North America. Fishermen, boats, have guaranteed that. Thus, efforts are tools, methods-all were European in being made to create new jobs and new North America. The trade in salt cod, also known as origin and were not shaped by the ideas methods that will allow the recovery and stockfish, bacalao, morue and poor john, or techniques of natives. However, as continuance of the industry. Sharon Worley's article on the Glouon the Grand Banks off Newfoundland explorers, traders and settlers moved began five hundred years ago. Scandi- south and west, they encountered native cester industry (pp. 20-21) concludes navian, Basque, Portuguese and Bristol fishing cultures. In most cases Native that Gloucestermen will always find a fishermen all have some claim to find- Americans fished close to shore. Euro- way to the sea. One of the strongest groups ensuring that is the Fishering the Banks, as well as the land to meh 's Wives of Gloucester. The the west, before Columbus and women publicize the problems of Cabot crossed the Atlantic. But then, the cod fishery, influence action as now, fishing was a secretive protaken to preserve and restore the fession, and who was going to tell a fishery, increase the appeal of unrival that an unlimited supply of der-utilized fish species and find that most precious commodity, cod, new jobs for fishermen. was there for the taking, just a few They follow in a long tradition weeks' sailing away? - of women actively involved in the Once the word was out, Basque, fishing industry. The wives of the Spanish, French, Portuguese and, men who sailed to the Banks had eventually, English boats could be domestic duties and families to hold found on the Grand Banks from together through the months their March to September. The sheer husbands were away, but they also abundance of the cod and improved Generations of East Coast fishermen spent long days at methods of preservation indelibly sea in small dories using baited hooks to bring in their had economic and political roles in the industry and in their communiaffected the diet and economy of catch. Photo: Alfred Stanford western Europe. ties. As you will note in the fishing But the cod was not the first fishery to peans took it into deep waters and in- articles in this issue women and families influence matters in Europe. The her- creased its scale dramatically, combin- were, and still are, involved in Great ring fishery in the Baltic was a principal ing their own traditions of boat design Lakes and Pacific fisheries as well. Fishing has always been, and remains, factor in the rise of the German Hanseatic and methods of fishing with newly one of the most dangerous professions. League-a trading network that domi- learned American techniques. nated western Europe from the 1200s Recently, maritime museums have In communities where most families through the late 1500s. The demise of begun to look seriously at local fishing were involved in the fisheries , a fierce the Baltic herring stocks contributed to traditions. The demise of the fisheries is storm could be devastating, wiping out the Hansa's downfall and opened new a worldwide crisis with devastating ef- nearly the entire male population of a trading networks that quickly incorpo- fects in many communities. Fishermen village, as you can read in E. Keble rated the new supply of American cod. and their boats are ashore-permanently, Chatterton's account of hi s voyage The cod fishery , perhaps even more in some cases, many say--creating eco- through Holland (pp. 46-47). Small than the gold and silver taken home in nomic dislocation for local businesses wounds caused by incautious handling of hooks, knives or fish could easily Spanish treasure fleets, tied Europe to and related industries. the new lands. Europeans, rich and poor, Museum exhibits are documenting become infected, leading to permanent relied on the cheap, high-protein salt fishing practices of the 20th century and disability or death. The dangers persist despite mechanicod, which eventually also became the drawing attention to the crisis. The Cape primary diet for slaves in the Caribbean. Ann Historical Association, the Wis- zation, increased vessel size and modem Through the 1500s the industry was consin Maritime Museum and the Van- navigation equipment-in June the Coast primarily mi gratory- men sail ed to couver Maritime Museum are featured Guard had to remove from a New Newfoundland in the spring, as soon as in this issue. We plan to cover others in Bedford fishing boat a crewman who had been struck in the throat by a large the weather allowed safe passage. They the future . Each of the accounts provides an hook. The Bureau of Labor Statistics set up temporary quarters on the rocky North American shores and sent dories overview of local fishing traditions but publishes a list of the most dangerous out to fish each morning, or anchored on guides us primarily through the age of jobs. For 1995, commercial fishermen the Banks. After a summer of fishi ng, mechanization and recent environmen- edged out loggers and airplane pilots for salting and drying , everyth ing was tal and political problems. This they all the highest rate of on-the-job fatalities at packed up and the Europeans went back have in common. What they also have in 105 for every 100,000 workers. JUSTINE AHLSTROM home. Gradually individuals began stay- common is uncertainty-will govern-
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
Harvesting the Inland Seas: Great Lakes Commercial Fishing In I991 the Wisconsin Maritime Museum received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to tell the story ofGreat Lakes commercial fishing. "Harvesting the Inland Seas" opened in March 1996 and will have been seen by more than 100,000 visitors by the time it closes. The video combining oral histories, historic photographs and scenes of modern commercial fishing has been featured on the History Channel. In 1998 "Harvesting the Inland Seas" will begin traveling to other sites.
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he Great Lakes of North America have a long history of fisheries harvesting. The five lakesOntario, Erie, Huron , Michigan and Superior-were scooped out of rock by glaciers advancing from the north as recently as 9,500 years ago. The resulting depressions filled with freshwater runoff from the retreating walls of ice and covered about 95 ,000 square miles. The lakes are one of the world's largest contiguous sources of freshwater and one of the most important habitats for freshwater fish. Native Americans harvested whitefi sh, lake herring, lake trout, chub, pike, walleye and yellow perch from the rivers and bays, primarily close to shore. They used dipnets, gill nets, spears and
by Jay C. Martin baited bone hooks to catch fish from canoes and stake-and-brush weirs and nets to capture fish in the many tributaries. When European explorers arrived, they noted the abundance of fish in the region. Pierre d 'Esprit, Sieur Radisson, claimed in 1658 to have seen "fishes in abundance," some as big as children two years of age.' The Great Lakes Fishery Native Americans establi shed the first commercial fishery, trading fish to European explorers and settlers, who soon began marketing the fish to others. This trade meshed well with the burgeoning fur trade in which manufactured goods were traded to Native Americans for the resources they harvested. The fur and fish trade was largely created by large companies like the Hudson's Bay Company (c.1766-1823), the North West Company (c. 1784-1821 ), and the American Fur Company (c.1834-1842), whose frontier outposts virtually monopolized trade in the region. The American Fur Company was the last to maintain control of the trade. After the financial panic of 1837, small fishing operations moved into the void left by the di sintegration of the parent firm. Independent fishing operations founded on the skills of French-Canadians and Metis were enlarged upon by later immigrants from Norway, Den-
Thefishtug Earl Bess displays a large catch in 1911 . By 1916 the commercial fishery of the Great Lakes would begin a long decline . All photos courtesy Wisconsin Maritime Museum.
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
mark, Iceland and Sweden. Many were built on kinship ties, creating family working units where men caught and cleaned fish while women and children made and repaired nets. The small commercial operations netted, dried or salted the catch themselves and then shipped it to markets in lake cities like Detroit and Buffalo. Early fishing was accomplished with seines that were drawn along the shores of rivers and bays during the spring and fall when the fish were in shallow water. Although seines were used as late as 1899, this method failed to meet the needs of a growing market and was replaced by gill nets and pound nets. Gill nets, reputedly introduced at Thunder Bay and Georgian Bay around 1835, consisted of a wall of net suspended from surface floats and weighted at the lower end. Pound nets were a long "lead net" that channeled fish into a large enclosure held in place by pilings. They were used on Lake Ontario around 1836, but were not popular before 1860. The smaller trap nets followed pound nets and were similar except that they were anchored in place, rather than secured to pilings. Early fishing nets were set from small rowing and sailing craft that combined stability with good sea-keeping characteristics. A number of types of boats were created to meet the needs of the Great Lakes fishermen. The most well known was the double-ended sloop- or schooner-rigged Mackinaw boat which had a small capacity for nets and fish, but was extremely seaworthy. Sail-powered fishing boats predominated until the late 1800s and continued as an important part of the fishery through the first decades of this century. The first use of steam-powered vessels remains unclear, but Captain A. E. Persons of Alpena claimed to have constructed the first steam fishtug at Buffalo and put it in service on Thunder Bay in 1875. 2 Early fishtugs were based on, or converted from, conventional tugs. However, the exposed bows and stems of these vessels were soon enclosed to improve sea keeping, safety and the comfort of the crew. Rounded "turtle back" enclosures were added to the bow and square houses with doors that could be opened for pulling and setting nets were 15
In 1870 Collingwood, Ontario, like many Great Lakes ports , had a large fleet of Mackinaws involved in the commercial fishery.
constructed aft. Eventually this design was streamlined until the entire deck was enclosed and the distinctive Great Lakes fish tug appeared early in the 1900s when internal combustion engines replaced steam. There was always a local market for Great Lakes fish, and from at least 1826 salted whitefish and lake trout had been shipped to eastern markets, but the development of the refrigerated railroad car in the late 1800s made the Great Lakes a primary supplier of fresh fish. Henceforth, the Great Lakes fishery supplied the fresh fish to New York and other large eastern and southern cities. By the 1940s the fish stocks of the Great Lakes were in decline and, despite attempts at restocking, a seemingly limitless resource was threatened. The decline of the Great Lakes fishery was the result of damage to spawning grounds through deforestation, dam construction, swamp drainage, port development and stream pollution, particularly from lumber and steel mills. Decades of overfish-
ing also took their toll. Another important problem was the importation of exotic species via the St. Lawrence River and regional canals constructed to connect the lakes for commercial navigation. The sea lamprey and the alewife apparently made it to Lake Ontario by the 1860s, but did not immediately spread to the upper lakes via the early Welland Canal (connecting Lakes Ontario and Erie). However, both species subsequently made it past Niagara Falls and caused the destruction of fish stocks throughout the upper Great Lakes by the 1940s. Methods to control the sea lamprey and the alewife were established and working by the early 1970s, but new exotics have continued to penetrate the lakes. The most recent is the zebra mussel, a small mollusk that came to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of oceangoing vessels. It quickly reproduces in shallow waters and filters nutrients out of the water column. As early as the 1870s a broad segment of the lakeshore community had begun to recognize that the fishery was in danger and required corrective action on the federal level. An editorial in the Manitowoc Tribune in 1875 advised: There is no doubt that the fish are getting the worst ofit and will soon be used up unless some law is passedfor their protection. So I would remark to our next Governor that he wants to tell the Legislature to tell Uncle Sam he must pass a law prohibiting all fishing from Oct. 1 to Jan . 1, or the little children he dandles on his knee while electioneering around will never Mrs. Mitchell LaFond, Jr., of Two Rivers WI knits a cargo net in 1944. Commercial fish ermen and their families made a variety of nets for the armed for ces during World War II.
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choke to death with a whitefish bone. 3 State and provincial governments began to regulate the commercial fishery of the Great Lakes during the 1870s and were soon involved in restocking efforts. Uneven state and provincial regulations led to the fishing wars, a decades-long struggle between regulators and fishermen who flaunted the law by pulling nets where the fishing was good --often American fishermen poaching in the Canadian waters of Lake Eriedespite local laws, and then ran across the border into the waters of states with more lenient regulations. As the fishery was depleted, and as recreational fishermen brought pressure on the commercial fishing industry, progressively stronger regulation was enacted. As a result of quotas and other regulations, commercial fishing continues on the Great Lakes at a more restrained pace. Most Great Lakes ports have been home to commercial fishing operations. Manitowoc, Wisconsin, can trace its commercial fishing back to 1838, when several independent fishing outfits began business in the area, while Wisconsin communities to the north, like Two Rivers, Algoma and Kewaunee, still support operations with a strong family focus. However, employment in today 's fishing industry has shrunk from a turnof-the-century high of over 10,000 to just a few hundred individuals. ..t Dr. Martin is curator at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum , 75 Maritime Drive, Manitowoc WI 54220; 920 684-0218. l. "Radisson and Groseilliers in Wisconsin: The Third Voyage of Radisson " in Reuben G. Thwaites, editor, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Vol. XI (Madison: State Historical Society of Wi sconsin, 1888), 70. 2. C.P. Reynolds, History of the Lake Huron Shore (Chicago: H. R. Page and Company, 1883 [Evansville IN: Unigraphic, 1976]), 208. 3. Manitowoc Tribun e, 9 September 1875, 2.
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
r------------------------------------------: Please mail by November 30, 1997. IThe Franklin Mint : Franklin Center, PA 19091-0001 :Please enter my commission for The International Meteorological 1Clock. authorized by the Nationa l Maritime Historical Society. I I need SEND NO MONEY NOW. I will be billed in 5 equal :monthly installments of $49" each, with the first payment due at :the time of sh ipment. ..Plus my state sales tax and a one-time charge of S4. 95 for shipping and handling.
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''Fishing for a Living'' at the Vancouver Maritime Museum by James P. Delgado with Duncan Stacey and Gina Johansen he Vancouver Maritime Museum has featured fishing in its exhibitions since it opened its doors in 1959, but little had been done to interpret the contemporary fishing industry , one of British Columbia 's major employers. In 1992, the Museum embarked on a new program of exhibitions-usually in partnership with maritime companies and organizations-that merged the past and present to look at 'how British Columbians have interacted with the sea. Fishing is the oldest maritime tradi-
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tion in British Columbia. For thousands of years, Natives used weirs, spears and dipnets to catch salmon in rivers and streams, and hooks, lines and trolling from canoes to catch saltwater fish such as halibut. Some fish were preserved by air drying or smoking with salmon playing an important role in culture, trade and ceremony. The Hudson 's Bay Company established a network of coastal forts linked by shipping on the Northwest Coast between Oregon and Alaska. When the HBC established Fort Langley, on British Columbia's Fraser River in 1827, it began an international trade in salmon using laborers to catch, salt and pack it for shipment to Hawaii. The fishing industry in BC languished in the 1850s and '60s, but the introduction of canning in the 1870s allowed BC salmon to be shipped around the world. Canned salmon was a cheap source of protein and the European working class was a big market for the fish. For nearly a century the fishing industry was the mainstay of the provincial economy , followed only by the lumber trade. In the 1890s, freezing technology allowed the fishing industry to expand into the halibut and other groundfish stocks. Frozen fish were shipped to eastern North America by rail and later to other parts of the world on freezer ships. Originally, fishing boats were
small oar or sail-powered gillnetters working in protected local waters like the Fraser and Nass rivers, or the Gulf of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the lower mainland. The introduction of the internal combustion engine in the early 1900s spurred the development of the mechanized purse seine fishery, which targeted salmon, herring and pilchards, and the mechanized salmon troll vessel. Mechanization also allowed the fishery to expand to the open ocean. The expansion of the fishery led to the establishment of dozens of small coastal settlements based around fish processing plants and canneries. Both the fishing industry and these communities were ethnically diverse. Natives dominated the industry , but Chinese workers entered the fishery around the time salmon canning began in the 1870s. The Japanese became part of the fishery in the 1890s, and, soon after, Europeans began to work in the fishery in larger numbers. Prior to the 1940s, racial divisions characterized the salmon fishery. Each cannery had separate quarters for European , Native, Japanese and Chinese workers. After World War II, the fishery changed. Most fish processing was centralized to the lower mainland around Vancouver and the Fraser River to the south and Prince Rupert and the Nass River to the north. This caused many of the smaller communities to disappear. Mechanization also introduced changes. By the 1960s, British Columbia had one of the world 's most efficient fishing fleets , thanks to the local invention of the gill net drum (circa 1930) and the seine drum (circa 1950). These devices hauled nets in mechanically, speeding up the cycle of setting and hauling. This and mechanized canning (a process begun in the late 1800s) reduced much of the fishery's labor force. Nonetheless, it retained, as it does today, its ethnic mix-
A hallmark of British Columbia' s fishing industry was the diversity of cultures found working side by side. Japanese immigrants became a vital part of the industry in the 1890s. Initially , their skills were used primarily in fishing and boat building. However, as the fishing industry became more centralized after WWII , there was less specialization among the immigrant groups. Above left, a Japanese gillnetter hauls in his day's catch of salmon, ca. 1930. At left, a Japanese fisherman repairs nets , ca. 1950. Photos courtesy Vancouver Maritime Museum.
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
Natives dominated the fishery throughout the 1800s. Here, two men are fishing the Fraser River with dip nets in the 1890s.
ture of Native, Chinese, Japanese and European expertise and experience. Today, there are about 22,000 people employed in British Columbia's commercial fishing industry, about a third of them Natives. Each year, the industry produces approximately $ 1 billion dollars (Canadian) in seafood products and fi sh with salmon accounting for half the total. Local products are sold around the world, but the key markets are in Japan , the US and Great Britain. The fishery is again in a state of change, due to a reduction in stocks, overfishing, and environmental factors such as El Nifio , pollution and a reduction of salmon spawning habitat. Fisheries management by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, supported by the fi shing industry, has reduced harvest rates by as much as 50 to 70 percent in recent years, while new techniques are targeting healthy fish stocks and avoiding weaker ones. The fi shery is an international issue, however, as recent contentious negotiations between the US and Canada for a new Pacific Salmon Treaty have demonstrated. International cooperation is essential to maintain a viable industry, not only in British Columbia but in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Public education and participation are also essential, which is why the Museum and the BC Salmon Marketing Council are working together as partners on "Fishing for a Living." After creating the first component of the new project-the Children 's Maritime Discovery Centre, which focuses on the working port of Vancouver-the Museum approached the Salmon Marketing Council for help in creating a new permanent exhibition on the contemporary salmon fishing industry, to which the Council enthusiastically responded. The first stage was to develop an SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
Women were typically employed in salmon canneries, like this one on the Fraser River in the 1880s. Today, women are involved in all aspects of the fishery; some fishing boats are owned and skippered by women.
interactive exhibit depicting fishermen at work, an exhibit advocated by those who know the industry best-professional fishermen and their families. "Fishing for a Living" explains each of the fishing gear types used in British Columbia's waters-troll , sei ne and gillnet-through actual working gear and mural s of boats. Working electronics (a simulated school of fish passes through the depth sounder's screen), panels of the five salmon species and salmon products, and a model of a salmon showing how a fish is processed join colorful graphics. The focal point of "Fishing for a Living" is a ten-segment video of contemporary fishing with 90-second segments linked to the exhibit. Visitors explore the "Life Cycle of the Salmon"; "BC Rivers"; "Kids at Sea" (many fishing families take their children with them during the season); "Generations" (many families rem ain in the bu siness for years-some for over a century); "Trolling"; "Gillnetting"; "Sei ning"; "Fisheries Management"; "Coastal Communities"; and "Cooking Salmon." The hi storic fishing wall features artifacts and rare scenes of the BC fishery. The wall emphasizes people and how they adapted to technological change and stresses how immigrants from differe nt cultures have worked side by side on the water and in canneries. "Fishing for a Living" has helped galvanize the fi shing industry to support the Vancouver Maritime Museum 'seducational mandate, not only financially but as active partners. It also brought in a rare and significant new acquisition, The historic seiner BCP 45 (boat number 45 for BC Packers Ltd.), built in 1927, is famous on the coast because it was featured on Canada's five-dollar bill until 1989 as a representative Cana-
dian ship. In 1996, BCP 45 was donated after her final fishing season. The boat is maintained as working school program vessel in the Museum 's Heritage Harbour. The BC Salmon Marketing Council and the Museum are now developing a program in which out-of-work fishermen are trained to become the working crew and interpreters who keep BCP 45 alive while taking kids out onto the water to learn about fishing first hand. ,t Mr. Delgado is executive director of the Va ncouver Maritime Museum, 1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver BC V6J JA3 , Canada; 604 257-8300. Mr. Stacey is a private consultant who has written extensively on British Columbia's fishing industry. Ms. Johansen is project manager of "Fishing for a Living," works for the BC Salmon Marketing Council and has fished local waters with her family . In this interactive display students in fishing gear learn from a model how a salmon is processed. Photo: BC Salmon Marketing Council
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Making Waves: 20th-Centmy Fisheries on Cape Ann by Sharon Worley
The Cape Ann HistoricalAssociation's exhibition "Making Waves: 20th-Century Fisheries on Cape Ann" traced the development ofGloucester'sfishing industry from the introduction of motor-powered draggers in the 1920s to the passage of Amendment 5 of the Magnuson Act in 1992, which sought to reduce fishing by 50 percent over five years. The exhibit highlighted the impact of immigration, technology, legislation and fisheries science.
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ince the tum of the century, many of Gloucester 's fishermen have been of Portuguese and Italian heritage. Portuguese immigrants first arrived in Gloucester around 1850, and by 1915 the city counted more than 900 residents born in Portugal and the Azores. Until the mid- l 950s, a large portion of the Gloucester fishing fleet was Portuguese owned. Italian immigrants began settling in Gloucester around 1900. Most were from Sicily and made their living as fishermen. Many of them began fishing on small gasoline-powered boats with baited trawl lines. The increase in production and prosperity during World War II enabled many Italian fishermen to build .new draggers to catch redfish. In the 1960s and 1970s the next generation replaced these vessels. At the same time, new Italian immigrants continued to arrive, providing labor on Italian-owned boats and building new ones. By 1980 nearly 50 percent of the Gloucester fleet was owned and operated by fishermen of Italian descent. 1 In the meantime, Gloucester fisheries were transformed from a labor-intensive industry to a highly mechanized one. Until the mid-1920s, most offshore fishing from Cape Ann was done with schooners powered by sail and auxiliary gas engines. Groundfish were caught with baited trawl lines set and retrieved by fishermen in dories. Technological developments in fishing gear, vessel and engine design, navigational and fishfinding electronics, and fish processing rapidly increased production. In the early 1900s, the innovation which had the most significant impact on the fisheries was the development of the otter trawl , a long conical net with wooden "otter" boards attached to both sides of the net's mouth. The net was lowered into the water and dragged along the ocean floor to scoop up groundfish. Otter trawling was safer for the men than fishing from dories, and it was far more efficient, lifting huge numbers of fish from the sea floor. 2 Dory fishermen and schooner owners opposed otter trawling, claiming it would deplete fishing grounds. In 1913, the Gloucester Master Mariner's Association voiced objections to otter trawling in its annual yearbook. Captain Lemuel E. Spinney said that otter trawling "destroys every kind of fish life, even in an embryo state" and "tears up the [ocean] bottom and destroys everything which the fish consume." Congress investigated the claims of hook and line fishermen. Studies completed in 1915 by the United States Commissioner of Fisheries found that otter trawling did destroy large quantities of young fish which were too small for market. It recommended that otter trawling be restricted to designated fishing grounds to prevent overfishing. The recommendations were not. enforced, however, because the regulators had no jurisdiction over other nations fishing in the North Atlantic. 3 After World War I, the introduction of the diesel engine made otter trawling feasible for the Gloucester fleet's small wooden draggers. In addition, a number of fishermen purchased WWI Navy submarine chasers for conversion to 20
fishing vessels. Because they were relatively inexpensive, many fishermen could purchase their own vessels for the first time. By 1930, the mackerel and swordfishing fleets were also being fitted with otter trawls to catch groundfish during the winter off-season. When the US entered WWII in 1941, the Navy purchased Gloucester draggers for coastal defense. To replace them , fishermen ordered new vessels and converted dory trawlers to draggers. During the 1940s, 75 vessels were built for the Gloucester fleet-29 in 1944 alone. Forty-one were built on Cape Ann at shipyards in Essex, Ipswich and Gloucester. The development of frozen food technology, together with the increase in food production required by WWII, contributed to a production peak.in the Gloucester fishing industry. Clarence Birdsell , the "Father of Frozen Foods" and founder
The Evelina M. Goulart was built in 1927 for Manuel Goulart as one of the Portuguese fleet. Here she is outfitted/or swordfishing. The Goulart is now at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. All photos courtesy Cape Ann Historical Association.
of the Birdseye Company, established a research laboratory in Gloucester to develop frozen food technology . Birdsell 's method for quick-freezing fish and his filleting machine revolutionized fish processing. The frozen fish industry continued to grow in the I 950s, but the New England fishing fleet did not benefit, because most of the groundfish was imported. From 1940 to 1952, imports of groundfish rose from over 9 million pounds to more than 50 million pounds. Imports were less expensive because foreign governments subsidized their fishing industries and because US tariffs on imported fish were low. In 1956 Gloucester's first woman mayor, Beatrice Corliss, formed the Gloucester Fisheries Commission "to investigate, advocate and recommend measures for the promotion, preservation and protection of the Gloucester fishing industry." The Commission lobbied for the passage of the I 956 Fish & Wildlife Act which created a separate Bureau of Commercial Fisheries "to aid in maintaining the welfare of the commercial fisheries of the United States and its Territories."4 In 1960 the Bureau of Commercial Fi sheries opened a research laboratory on the Annisquam River. The same year, SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
The Saint Joseph , built in Maine for Jerome Lovasco and . Joseph Orlando in 1937, was a typical Gloucester trawler. Jn this 1937 photo.family and friends are aboard for an outmg .
Russian factory trawlers made their first appearance on Georges Bank and by 1961 nearly 100 foreign factory trawlers, mostly Russian, were fishing on the Bank. The impact of foreign fishing on Georges Bank and southern New England was severe. In 1960 US fishermen harvested 90 percent of the catch from Georges Bank and all fish from southern New England. By 1972 American fishermen brought in only 10 percent of the catch from Georges Bank and only 12 percent of the catch from southern New England. The volume of fresh fish landings in Gloucester fell from 192 million pounds in 1960 to 69 million pounds in 1969, reflecting the sharp decrease in landings of redfish and whiting. 5 Federal aid in the 1960s was intended to provide incentives to modernize the fleet with the latest technological developments, but repeated requests by fishermen for increased tariff protection against imported fish were denied. In 1972 the International Commission for Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) set quotas for the most important species. The following year the ICNAF nations agreed to reduce the catch over three years without reducing the quota for American and Canadian fishermen. However, ICNAF was unable to enforce its regulations, and fishermen lost confidence in the system. The stern trawler Anne Rowe was one of the Gloucester vessels in the buy-out program.
PHOTO BY JAMES TA RATI NO, 1995
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As a result, the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act was passed in 1976, extending US jurisdiction to 200 miles out from the coast and setting up eight regional fishery management councils to develop managemen~ plans. The New England council implemented its first groundfish plan in 1977, based on quotas for particular fish species. After the 200-mile limit went into effect in March 1977, domestic landings of groundfish increased substantially, as did revenues. The increase in profits attracted new investment, and a number of new fishing vessels were added to Gloucester's fleet. By 1980, ten new vessels had been federally funded through the National Marine Fisheries Service, with the cost of building and outfitting new offshore draggers ranging from $500,000 to $1 million. The typical cost of communication, navigation and fishfinding equipment alone was $50,000. Rising interest rates and increased fuel costs created economic pressures on vessel owners, who had to land enough fish to cover their expenses. Typical annual expenses for large boats, in addition to mortgage payments, amounted to $486,000. The Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, implemented in 1986, was the first plan in the world to set biological targets for maximum spawning potential. The plan allowed the New England Fishery Management Council to meet biological objectives through increasing the minimum size of fish that could be taken. But in 1992 the Conservation Law Foundation sued the administrators of the Magnuson Act for failure to prevent the decline in fish. This led to the passage of Amendment 5 of the Magnuson Act, which seeks to reduce all fishing in the northeastern groundfishery by 50 percent over five years. 5 Amendment 5 makes it impossible for most offshore draggers to remain profitable, and many vessel owners will not be able to cover their mortgage payments. Without skills and job experience that can be transferred to other industries, many fishem'len may lose their homes as well as their boats. To alleviate the economic consequences of Amendment 5, the Fisheries Reinvestment Act, passed in 1994, provides $1.5 million for pilot projects such as the use of alternate fish species and fish by-products, and encouraging fish farming as well as hatchery programs to help restore depleted stocks. Several Gloucester vessels have been purchased in the vessel buy-out program of 1995. The Fishermen's Wives Association received federal funding to expand markets for underutilized species, and members of fishing families have received aid for education in fields other than fishing. The fishing community of Gloucester has always faced obstacles with great resiliance. While the nature of the industry will inevitably undergo drastic changes, Gloucester will very likely pursue other avenues to the sea. ,t Ms. Worley is curator at the Cape Ann Historical Association,
27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester MA 01930; 508 283-0455. l. Doeringer, Peter et al., The New England Fishing Economy: Jobs, Income and Kinship, Amherst MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1986, 55-60. 2. Mony Edwards, "The Fishennan 's Sea Tractor: Origins and Development of the New England Dragger," WoodenBoat, Vol. 79, (Nov./Dec. 1987). . 3. Donald J. White, "The New England Fishing Industry: A Study in Price and Wage Setting," Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1954, 9-11 . 4. Margaret E. Dewar, Indus fly in Trouble: The Federal Government and the New England Fisheries, Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1983, 43-80. 5. Doeringer, 17. . . .. 6.Charles H. Collins, Beyond Denial: The Northeastern F1shenes Cns1s: Causes, Ramifications, and Choices for the Future," March 23, 1994, paper provided by the Conservation Law Foundation.
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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TALE OF THREE SKIPPERS
by Michael Wayne Santos t was August 20, 1907, and Captain grim Monument, a tower commemorat- and by the time he got home, his wife Marion Perry was down at the wharf ing the Pilgrims' first landfall. Perry was was fit to be tied. Roosevelt joked about in Provincetown, Massachusetts, glad to have the waterfront to himself. it that night in a speech to the fishermen checking some new gear and rigging for What he didn ' t appreciate was that as at the Odd Fellows Hall. When the newshis schooner, the Rose Dorothea. Three the winner of the Boston fishermen ' s papers got hold of the incident, Perry weeks earlier, he'd won the Lipton Cup race, he was something of a local celeb- became a sort of folk hero. Indeed, it was in a race for Boston's Old Home Week rity. When Roosevelt met some 350 reported that Roosevelt had been tickled celebration. A quiet man, Perry had en- Gloucestermen who'd sailed in to see when his messenger conveyed the tered the race reluctantly, succumbing him, he was introduced around by James captain's reply to his invitation. to his wife's urging. When she'd seen a Connolly, who happened to mention that The incident points out the indepenpicture of the Lipton Cup, she had told Perry was in port. The President insisted dence of the fishermen. Like his colPerry how lovely it would look in their on meeting him and a messenger was leagues, Perry had little use for the nicehouse. He'd explained he had no inten- dispatched to find Perry. ties of polite society. If the President tion of racing for such a useless thing. Lost in thought as he wrestled with a wanted to see him, it made sense to Perry The fishing was too good this summer to rigging problem, Perry all but ignored that Roosevelt should come to him. waste time on a race, and besides, even the presidential envoy as he conveyed Of course, why he'd want to was if he won, the others who owned shares Roosevelt's invitation. Figuring he'd not anyone's guess. For Perry, winning the in the Rose Dorothea were entitled to been heard, the messenger tried again, Lipton Cup was no big deal. He'd raced their percentage of the Cup. No matter, only louder. Perry bit through his pencil to please his wife, no one else. Anyone she'd said. He could give the Cup to the and dropped the papers he was working with any sense knew that the Boston town as a gesture of his esteem. on. Turning to the man, he said, "All race had little to do with the business of Perry had gone to sea as a boy be- right, all right! Tell the President if he earning a Jiving. If Perry had gotten his cause he loved the simplicity of the life. wants to see me, he knows where he can way, he'd have been out fishing on AuYou worked hard, wore what you liked, find me! " With that, he went back to gust I , like so many of his colleagues, ate well, and fell asleep knowing you work. instead of racing for a cup that, as he told The story quickly made the rounds, his wife, you couldn't even drink from. were free. He'd never quite understood his wife's longing for nice things and her concern for society gestures, but he loved The Rose Dorothea, here racing to victory ahead of the Jessie Costa in the Lipton Cup Race of 1907 with a brokenforetopmast, was designed by Thomas McManus and built in 1905 by the James & Tarr yard her, and that was all that really in Essex. She was sunk by a U-boat in 1917 on her way from Portugal to Newfoundland with a cargo of mattered. salt. Photo from the Thomas Collection, courtesy the Cape Ann Historical Association, Gloucester MA. Still, it was amazing what a man would put up with for love. It had been bad enough dealing with the hoopla on T Wharf after the race, but the ovation that awaited him on his return to Provincetown had nearly been too much. The streets had been decorated and were packed with screaming citizens. He'd been forced to ride with the town's officials in a parade that snaked its way from the waterfront, up to the town, and eventually to his front door, while a full brass band Jed the way and a group of broom carriers brought up the rear. It had been the longest day of his life. As he worked on the quiet wharf, he probably thought back on all this and smiled. At least today the community was lavishing its attention on someone who knew how to deal with it. President Theodore Roosevelt was in town to lay the cornerstone for the Pil-
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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The schooner Henry Ford slips down the ways at the Arthur D. Story yard in Essex, April 1922. The enlargement of the group in the center, standing firm despite the vessel's rapid descent , shows young boys in caps and knickers and men in work clothes and jackets and ties. Photo by R. W. Phelps , Gordon Thomas Collection, courtesy Cape Ann Historical Association, Gloucester MA.
"I Must Go, They've Got Me" Some fifteen years later, a lot had changed for America's fishing captains. They still raced, but by the I 920s, they had significantly less control over the conditions under which they competed. This point became painfully obvious to Captain Clayton Morrissey, of the schooner Henry Ford, during the 1922 International Fishermen's Races. Pacing the deck of his vessel on the morning of Wednesday, October 25, he was filled with conflicting emotions and impulses. Like so many of his colleagues in Gloucester's fishing fleet, he was strong, self-confident and stoic. Hardened by a lifetime at sea, he understood that a man's efforts affected on! y a small portion of his success or failure. You did your best in this life, and accepted without complaint what came, because the rest was in the hands of God. On this particular morning, however, Clayt Morrissey's fate was not in the hands of God. No howling gale threatened his ship and crew. That, he could have handled. "Come ashore, Clayton," his wife pleaded. "Let someone [else] sail her. You 're sick, I'm sick, and my boy is sick to the point of death. Let's get rid of this miserable business." The captain was tom. A devoted family man, Morrissey had sacrificed a Jot in the name of patriotism and community pride in the last several days. Little had he dreamed, when theFordwas launched back in April, how complicated life would become. Back then, he'd anticipated her completion with what one contemporary called "a boy's enthusiasm." Now he regretted ever having raced her. The Ford had made a clean sweep of the American elimination races and had earned the right to face the Canadian flyer Bluenose for the Halifax Herald International Fishermen's Trophy. Much was riding on the outcome of the showdown. Since its inception in 1920, the fishermen's races had become an international spectacle. Pitting the finest fishing schooners of the American and Canadian fleets against each other in a best-two-out-of-three test of speed and seamanship, the Halifax Herald Races captured the popular imagination. Yachtsmen, public officials, average citizens and, of course, the fishermen were caught up in racing fever. At stake was national honor, civic pride, and money$3000 to the winner, $2000 to the loser. Only now, caught up in the hoopla of 24
the last several days, did Morrissey realize just how ludicrous the situation had become. The night before the first race, he was forced to supervise the cutting of the Ford's mainsail after it was judged too large. Despite this, Morrissey won the first race on October 21. Unfortunately, both skippers had ignored the postponement signal from the judges' boat, and the Sailing Committee ruled the contest "no race." They also determined that the Ford's mainsail was sti ll too big. Rather than submit to a further mutilation of his main, Morrissey vowed to go fishing on Monday, October 23. Secretary ofthe Navy Edwin Denby, President Harding's official representative to the races, saved the day with an appeal to patriotism that convinced Morrissey and his crew to race again. Winning the second race, Morrissey felt he had nothing left to prove and prepared to go fi shing. Jonathan Raymond, one of the Ford's owners, invited Morrissey and his crew to a late night dinner at hi s estate. About l lPM, after much talk and some illicit hootch, Morrissey asked his men what they thought. They unanimously voted to continue racing. For Mrs. Morrissey, none of this was relevant. She knew her husband, and these races were not good-for him, for her, or for her fami Iy. She begged Clayton to stand by his original decision not to race. The two huddled together that Wednesday morning, talking for a long time. Finally, Morrissey sadly shook his head and escorted her to the rail, telling her, "I must go, they've got me." With that, he took the Ford out to meet the Bluenose, and lost the second official race. The next day, Bluenose won the rubber match to take the Cup home for the second time. Many, both then and now, blamed the yachting set for the fiasco. The editor of the Halifax Herald, William H. Dennis, who first proposed the idea of racing, was apparently so infuriated by the brouhaha that he told reporters he wanted to see the races conducted "for the fishermen, by the fishermen, and in accordance with fishing practices." He went on to say that he would recommend that no yachtsmen be connected with the competitions in any capacity. The yachtsmen were convenient scapegoats, but they weren't the only reason for Morrissey's powerlessness. The Halifax Herald races were in many ways a last hurrah for the fishing schooners, a self-conscious effort to prove, as
the Halifax Evening Mail trumpeted in 1920, "that the age of sail is not ended." Such protestations reflected a change in the function and purpose of the fishermen's races from their inception in 1886. Earlier races were held infrequently , usually as part of a community celebration. They were kept simple, to accommodate the need of participants to get back to fishing. Interest in the event was localized, and thus the influence of the yachtsmen usually extended only to sponsorship and trophies. Fishermen raced for fun, for bragging rights, and for a little prize money. The stakes were low because the race organizers saw them mainly as an opportunity for a good time. They were, in large part, nothing more than a logical extension of the waterfront culture that produced them. As such, there was no symbolism in them, no sense that they were anything more than races. In the old days, fishing captains had boats built for them by fishing companies, many of them headed by avid yachtsmen like Gorton-Pew's Ben Smith. While Smith took pleasure in the occasional fishermen's regatta, he invested in fishing vessels to tum a profit. By the 1920s there was little economic motivation to build an all-sail fishing vessel except to race, because auxiliary schooners, draggers, and trawlers were proving their worth on the Banks. The new breed of racing schooner investor was in it simply for the sport. While this perverted the intention of the races, it was the only way fishing captains were going to get someone to build them an all-sail schooner in the 1920s. Morrissey wasn't stupid. If someone was willing to construct a high-quality craft for him, who was he to argue? The trade-off was giving up control to men with little or no vested interest in the fisheries. At a time when changing technologies were undermining a captain's ability for independent action, this was a significant fact. Clayt Morrissey might have opted to go fishing, like many of his predecessors during earlier races, but there were fewer economic incentives to do so. Because they usually weren't directly involved in the fisheries for their livelihood, owners of the racing schooners were less SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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interested in a good trip than in winning the Halifax Herald Trophy. Had they been, they'd have invested in the auxiliaries and trawlers that were undercutting the profitability of all-sail vessels. A Working Sport For all intents and purposes, international fishermen's racing ended in 1923. There were several attempts by Gloucesterto revive it between 1924 and 1929, but the Canadians weren't interested. Bluenose raced the Gloucester schooner Gertrude L. Thebaud in 1930, 1931 and 1938, but the Thebaud could hardly be considered a bona fide fishing boat. It therefore seems a fitting epilogue to our tale of fishermen's racing in the 20th century to conclude with the story of the 1923 series. When Bluenose was forced to forfeit its second victory against Gloucester' s Columbia because the Canadian champion rounded a buoy on the wrong side, Angus Walters, her fiery little skipper, was furious. As Clayt Morrissey had a year earlier, he declared his intention not to race. As far as he was concerned, Bluenose had won the series outright, and there was no need for a third contest. As Secretary Denby had in 1922, Premier Armstrong of Nova Scotia met privately with Walters, asking him to abide by the Sailing Committee's decision. In what turned out to be a poor choice of words, he added, "After all, it's only sport." Walters shot back that while it was "only sport," it was a "working sport," and if the Premier doubted it, he should join the Bluenose crew. And thatended that. Bluenose sailed for home. Walters's actions were a throwback to an earlier time, when fishing captains brooked no challenges to their authority, either on or off their vessels. No SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
skipper worth his salt did anything he didn't want to do, especially if it wasn't in his best interest, and he certainly didn ' t kowtow to demands from shore-bound businessmen or politicians . Indeed, Walters 's retort to Premier Armstrong was reminiscent of Marion Perry's answer to Theodore Roo.sevelt back in 1907. The implication of both statements was: polite society could play on the fishermen's terms or not at all. There's little doubt that Morrissey had wanted to say the same thing a year earlier. That he didn 't may reflect the symbolic importance that the races had taken on in Gloucester. With the entire community caught up in the throes of racing fever, the key financial backers of the Ford putting pressure on him to race, and even the Secretary of the Navy making it a matter of patriotism, Morrissey found it impossible to resist the pressures to continue, despite his better judgement. While Walters underwent similar pressure, technology in Canada had not yet turned racing into a last hurrah for fishing under sail. Because it was still a matter of "working sport," it was subject to fishermen's rules, and Walters was just the cantankerous son-of-a-gun to stand up and say so. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be long before technology caught up with the Canadian captains as well. Displaced by Efficiency International racing has long been regarded as a romantic epilogue to the age of sail in the North Atlantic fisheries , and to a certain extent, it was just that. But it was also much more. As the sto-
ries of Perry, Morrissey and Walters suggest, the changing significance of racing to the fishermen and the public reflected fundamental shifts not only in how fishing was done, but in the power and influence of fishing captains and the very nature of their work. The races highlighted a dramatic economic and social dislocation on a par with that being experienced by North Atlantic fishermen today. No one, either at the time or since, has taken note of that fact, because it is all too easy to become caught up in the romanticism of white sails gleaming in the sunshine. Still, the parallels are there. While the causes of change may be differentschoonermen displaced by more efficient technologies; trawlermen by the depletion of existing fish stocks-both experiences were the by-product of an all-consuming search for efficiency. And the results are clearly analogous-the elimination of a class of workers and their way oflife. If a study of this era has any value, it may be in learning from the experiences of men who faced challenges remarkably similar to those of our own time. .t
Mr. Santos is a professor of history at Lynchburg College in Virginia and has written extensively on the history of the fishing industry. 25
The Sea World of Christopher Blossom by Dawna Daniel Above: Port Blakely, on Bainbridge Island, Puget Sound, saw its first mill fo unded in 1863 and provided lumber to ships from all parts of the world. Here, it is late afternoon in !903 and the British steel ship Ardnamu rchan is warping in to very tight quarters. Today al/ that remains are a f ew rolling pilings and a deserted harbor overgrown with tall Douglas f irs. "Warping In," oil on can vas, 22 x 38 inches.
Th e Vesta, built at Gloucester in 1899 , is an excellent example of the sloops of th e tim e, and was probably built by the Bishop Brothers at Vincent' s Co ve. As fitted out here , she was used in the inshore fish eries, dory trawling. It is late aft ernoon and, with a full far e, Vesta heads home, while the crew on deck enjoy a mug up and a bit of a gam.. "Mug Up Aboard Vesta," oil on can vas, J 8 x 40 inches.
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he lazy sway of marsh grass, smell of salt air and refreshing breezes off Long Island Sound near Christopher Blossom 's home proved an appropri ate setting for our interview with one of America ' s fo remost marine artists. The boat in the fro nt yard di spelled any uncertainty about the artist 's address, and we were soon greeted by Blossom, a yo ung fa mily man in a T-s hirt and jeans. After a cup of coffee, we took
T
SEA HISTORY 82, AUT UMN 1997
Boston' s famed T-Wharf was the center of the city's fishing industry from the mid 1880s until 1913. Boston's prominence as a fish market was due in large part to her position as a transportation center, having regular steamer and railroad connections to points far and wide. Here , the schooner Pythian, built in 1894 , just in from the banks , drops her sails off T-Wharf and prepares to take a tow. "Taking the Tow," oil on canvas, 25 x 28 inches.
• a tour of Blossom's studio, which reveals his dual passions-art and sailing. His paintings rest near plans of sai lboats, and art supplies are stored next to sailing gear. Christopher Blossom was raised in Weston, Connecticut, though he spent summers on the beach at Westport or aboard hi s father's sailboat, where his love of the sea and ships was born. As a teenager, Blossom began hi s pursuit of an art career, a familiar vocation, since both hi s father and grandfather were illustrators. Blossom recalls passing by John Stobart's Westport studio on his way to the beach and lingering to watch the di stinguished artist paint, an experience
that further inspired him. He attended Parsons School of Design in New York, but chose to end his formal art education to follow his career as a freelance illustrator. His talent was soon recognized, and in 1977 he was awarded the Society of Illustrators Scholarship Gold Medal. Blossom eventually gave up illustration to focus on gallery work, which gave him the freedom to choose his own subjects. In 1976 he became involved with the Greenwich Workshop in Fairfield, Connecticut, a gallery
and print publishing business. Sailing and art are interdependent to Blossom, who remarked, "Maybe painting is a good excuse to spend time on boats." Many of Blossom's ideas flow from his experience on the water, then he researches his subjects through photos, film and builder's plans. Blossom experiments with different perspectives. One of his favorite works is of a Gloucester sloop, because it is done from a close-up viewpoint, leading viewers into the scene and allowing them to feel they are on deck with the boat's crew. Texture and light are consistent stylistic elements of Blossom's work, conveying the atmosphere and nature of the water. Blossom explained: "For an awful lot of arti sts, I think light is the thing that we're painting." In March of 1996 he was invited on a trip to Florida aboard the Coast Guard 's square-rigged training bark Eagle, the
The San Francisco fishery was long dominated by Italian immigrants. Their boats were identical to the lateen-rigged Mediterranean feluccas, ranged in size from 25 to 35 feet and were considered fast and seaworthy. Here , three fishe rmen have finished for the day and are heading home on a comfortable reach. "Reaching Home," oil on canvas, 34 x 18 inches.
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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The schooner Atalanta slips past Rocky Neck, where the marine railway still operates as it did JOO years ago. The large warehouse at right is now the site of the Coast Guard base. The Atalanta was built at Essex, Massachusetts, in 1893 . She sailed out of Gloucester under Capt. Richard Wadding from 1894 to 1917, then was sold to New Bedford interests for the Cape Verde trade. "A View from Smith's Cove," oil on canvas, 42 x 24 inches.
About 1820, American merchant ships began to frequent the West Coast to trade their manufactured goods for tallow and hides. Jn 1834 Richard Henry Dana left Harvard University to sail to California as a hand aboard the brig Pilgrim, returning two years later in the ship Alert, shown here at anchor with the old Customs House in the foreground. The Alert was captured and destroyed by the Confederate steamer Alabama in 1862 . "Ship Alert at Monterey, 1835," oil on canvas, 36 x 19 inches.
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ultimate experience for any sailing enthusiast. With plenty of space and time, Blossom was able to paint on board as well as gather ideas for future subjects. Although his first love is the sea, Blossom does not hesitate to go ashore for other subjects. His most recent projects involved trips to Colorado and Wyoming with fellow artists to observe and paint the dynamic Western landscape directly, traveling part way on horseback to capture the rugged terrain on canvas. Blossom continues to achieve artistic honors. He is a past president of the American Society of Marine Artists and a member of the Society of American
Historical Artists . His work has been ex hibited in numerous galleries including four comprehensive one-man shows. While hi s tone remains modest, his goal for the future is universal: "The best thing about being an artist, if you are successful, is that you are free to do what you want to do. So, if you ask me what I want to do in twenty years, I hope I'm able to do what I want to do-whatever that happens to be." J, Ms. Daniel graduated from Oberlin College with degrees in English and art history . She lives in New Haven and enjoys exploring the New England coast.
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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Aboard USS Constitution-Under Sail! It seemed as ifthegreatshipknewthis was her day, as she nodded graciously to the swell outside the harbor mouth, towing to sea on the gray morning of 21 July. Certain! ya glance ashore would have told her this, for the rocky shores of Marblehead
were thick with waving, cheering people. The ship the people were saluting was ordered by President George Washington and launched in 1797 to defend the rights of the young American republic at seaa ship that went on to astound the world.
She was built at the cutting edge of the technology of her day with heavier guns and more massive structure than any frigate ever carried and with speed enough to dance away from any hostile annada. And in twenty battles with Barbary Above, the oldest warship afloat looms over pleasure craft crowding Marblehead Harbor. She is a serious presence, challenging the skies with her lofty rig. Below and clockwise: The 21-gun salute; a veteran of the frigate' s 1934 tour, Hosiah Towery (left) with a voluntee r; the crew (regular navy, civilians and naval cadets) stows the jibs; center, Cdr. Michael Beck, captain of Constitution.
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
At right , Walter Cronkite signs one of the copies of his book A Reporter's Life, which crew members brought aboard in hopes of meeting him .
pirates and with the all-powerful British navy in the Warof 1812, she proved to be manned by officers and crews of unconquerable spirit and ability. As Secretary of the Navy John Dalton noted, quoting John Paul Jones : "Sailors mean more than guns in the rating of a ship." Aboard, Norma and I had a long yarn with Hosiah Towery, who had been in her crew under tow from San Diego to Boston in 1934. The skipper at the time had the choice to sail herfree but evidently feltthe responsibility was too great and declined. Not so our skipper, Cdr. Michael Beck. Last summer he took the ship under tow on successive harbor tours every weekend, with students and their teachers from all over America aboard so she would truly be America's ship. This year, at last, he got her under sail, "with the help of many, many hands," as this able skipper, recipientofour NMHS Distinguished Service Award in 1996, explained to us. Once under sail, there were cheers when the ship dropped her towline and sailed free for the first time in 116 years. Then, as guests took turns at the wheel, there was prolonged cheering at the announcement: "Mr. Cronkite at the helm." And we cheered again at the overflight of Historic, antique U.S. , . Coast Survey maps ~ from the 1800s Original lithographs, most American seaports and shores. Reprints, too. Unique framed , great gifts. Catalog, $1.00. Specify area.
Above right, Chief Joe Wilson, captain of the deck, and executive officer Lt. Cdr. Claire Bloom keep things running smoothly.
theBlueAngels squadron-a unified mass of hurtling metal screaming over our mastheads at350 knots. It was good to see the cutting edge is sti ll there. At that moment, we were making 3.5 knots under topsails, spanker and two jibs. Admiral Arleigh Burke wrote in these pages just fifteen years ago: "The old frigate is a living inspiration .. . she carries a message reaching out over the horizon. " That message sounded to all hands aboard, to thousands gathered on the shores and to millions of Americans who watched her on television, reminded once again what this ship had done for the nation that PS built her 200 years ago.
A thorny point about diagonal riders is clarified by Cdr. Ty Martin.former commander of USS Constitution who wrote the ship's standard biography-A Most Fortunate Ship. NMHS president Peter Stanford stands by making notes, while Mary Martin casts an observant eye over the proceedings.
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MARINE ART NEWS The American Neptune Enjoy the leading scholarly journal of maritime history and arts in the US . The American Neptune, a quarterly publication of the Peabody Essex Museum, is a great read for collectors, model makers, and all who love ships and the sea. We offer Sea History readers an opportunity to subscribe to The American Neptune for $33, a $6 savings over our regular subscription rate ($36 for non-US residents. Institutions: call for rates) . To start your subscription, send a check or money order to:
The American Neptune Peabody Essex Museum East India Square Salem, MA 01970 (508) 745-1876 You may charge your subscription by fax at (508) 744-6776, or e-mail dori_phillips@ pem.org. We accept VISA, MasterCard and American Express.
EX HIB ITS • Chesapeake Bay Maritime Mu- Portraits of Whalers and Whalemen and seum: 7 November-April 1998, Paint- Moby-Dick: The Movie (18 Johnny Cake ings by James Buttersworth (PO Box Hill, New Bedford MA 02740-6398; 636, Mill St., St. Michaels MD 21663; 508 997 -0046) 410 745-2916) • Peabody Essex Museum: 20 June• Cummer Gallery of Ar t: from No- 15 December, Views of the Pearl River vember, 11th National Exhibition of the Delta: Macao, Canton and Hong Kong American Society of Marine Artists (829 (East India Square, Salem MA 01970Riverside Ave., Jacksonville FL 32204; 3783; 508 745-1876, FAX: 508 744-6776) 904 356-6857) • South Street Seaport M useum: 25 • Independence Seaport M useum: October-1 February 1998, The Bard November 1997-April 1998, Mid-At- Brothers: Painting America Under Steam lantic Regional Exhibition of the Ameri- and Sail (207 Front St., New York NY can Society of Marine Artists (211 S. 10038; 212 748-8600) Columbus Blvd ., Philadelphia PA • Vasa Museet: October 1997-April 19106-3199; 215 925-5439) 1998, Shipmodels of the Royal Vasa • New Bedford Whaling M useum: (Box 27131 , S-102 52 Stockholm, Swefrom 13 June, Whaling Prints from the den; 8 666 4800) J, J, J, Museum 's Collection; from 27 June,
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
.:. .__ _;:_-=-
raffiques & Discoveries
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In which we share the joys of learning new things about the sea and seafaring, in the spirit of Richard Hakluyt's Principall Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, first published in 1589. Historic Testimony in Graffiti izes in restoring buildings, wrote of these discoveries in The Dukes County Intelligencer 33 (February 1992). He dated the carvings based on the date of the houses in which they were found , related them to residents who might have gone to sea, and compared them to illustrations from Howard Chapelle's
Historic graffiti cannot be discounted as a valuable ally in our hunt for the reality of past generations of seafarers. In restoring old houses on Martha 's Vineyard in the 1970s and '80s, builders found windows to our maritime past carved into interior walls, floorboards, and outer walls. Fascinating design detail enables us today to identify distinct historic ship types common in the 1600s and 1700s in local waters. Jonathan Scott, a professor of art and architectural history in Vermont and owner of a Vineyard company that special-
History of American Sailing Ships. (Subscription to the Intelligencer is available with membership ($30 for an individual) in the Martha's Vineyard Historical Society, PO Box 827, Edgartown MA 02539; 508 627-4441, FAX: 508 627-4436.)
This sketch (above) comes from a floorboard in the Han cock-Mitchell Hous e. While the house dates to the mid-1700s, Scott believes the board may have been part of an earlier house that was moved to the site and served as the foundation for the later construction. This supposition is supported by the fa ct that the sketch corresponds to a ve.ssel in Chapelle dating from 1720 (top right). It shows an early sloop with a high stern, a long waist, a dramatically raked mast and a high, vertically inclined bowsprit. A similar vessel (right) was found on a board at "Red Farm," a house dating to between 1680 and 1720.
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The (right) carvingcame of a sloop / · ·\ . ~ ' ... .., from a wide board in A{ , \..,,'"- \.. \\ the stairway of the ._. Baerld0 eunndho1u7s6e0, .bTuhilet ..r f ~''luf.: ... ~~ •..,... •!i...., author identiFies it \. · .• " .., · ':J• \\-· ·:'l with a Chapelle ._...,, sketch of a sloop of .;, the 1760s (far right). ~---------_.. _._.._.. J_·_·---~
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SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
33
The National Lightship Trust Defending America's Last Lightships by Jerry Roberts The National Lightship Trust is a notfor-proftt education foundation formed to serve as a national advocacy group for the last American lightships. It will work to raise public awareness and appreciation for the lightship's role in our maritime heritage, and the importance of preserving these historic vessels.
ightships were, in fact, floating lighthouses, anchored in waters too deep, too treacherous or too remote to allow construction of fixed beacons. From the stationing of the first American lightship in 1820 until the last was replaced by a large automated buoY. in 1983, these vessels marked the coastline of the United States, safely guiding ships of all flags to, from and along our shores for 163 years. Of the 179 American lightships built between 1820 and 1952 only 15 now survive. The rest have been lost at sea, scrapped, gutted or sunk. Unlike lighthouses which have long been admired and romanticized by poets, painters and just plain folk, lightships were stationed at sea, out of sight and out of mind except to those whose lives depended upon their beacons. Over the past several decades since their retirement, they have become the orphans of the maritime community and have been disappearing at an alarming rate. While thousands of Americans belong to dozens of lighthouse preservation groups working to save as many of the 800 remaining shoreside beacons as possible, only a handful of historians have been concerned that the num berof survi ving lightships has been growing smaller year by year. Incredibly, some ship preservationists say there are too many lightships to worry about. Too many lightships? Imagine if there were only 15 lighthouses or tugboats left. Each would be cherished and well funded. In the past four years alone we have seen the loss of two more lightships and a third has been mutilated. In December 1993, the Diamond Shoals lightship L V189 was sunk by the State of New Jersey as part of their artificial reef program. The maritime community was not notified. We were not given a chance to save her. As far as the program director was concerned she was just another hull. Just last year the vintage Winter Quarter lightship L V-107, built in 1923 and the last of her type, was bought by Liberty Landing Marina in New Jersey just
L
34
across the Hudson River from Manhattan, where the vessel's totally intact interior was gutted to provide room for the dockmaster's office, a bar, and showers for customers. The ship 's bridge was removed and replaced with a snack bar. Because the masts were left up and the hull was painted with a fresh coat of red paint, the owners think they have done something good. At about the same time, the Saint John's light vessel, LV-84, built in 1907 and one of the country's oldest surviving lightships, was allowed to sink from a summer' s worth of rainwater leaking through her wooden deck which had been partially removed for repairs . She still sits on the bottom in 30 feet of water at her berth in Brooklyn's Erie Basin with only her two light masts protruding above the black water. It is unlikely that the owners who allowed this to happen will have the wherewithal to raise her. Sadly, when she comes up, it will probably be as scrap steel and rotten wood in the bucket of a salvage dredge. And just this January LV-613 , this country's last light vessel to be built and the last to hold station , narrowly escaped destruction. The not-for-profit group Schools For Children that had inherited her from her previous stewards (who had been given the ship by the Coast Guard in 1984) decided to sell her to a ship liquidator for cash. This was a public trust vessel and should have been given to another not-for-profit. In any case, when I contacted the liquidator he said the613 's unique British-type tripod light beacon mast would be cut off the ship, and that I could have it for a museum. Like hell! I wanted the intact ship not the severed mast. So a group of us sprang into action and, just in the nick of time, we managed to find the money to buy the ship from the broker. This was ridiculous, of course, for the $60,000 we had to pay to the broker and the not-forprofit should have gone into needed repairs to the vessel. This incident sparked a call to arms . After establishing a definitive list of what ships are still out there, where they are, and in what condition both physically and economically, we decided to form an advocacy group to keep an eye on the 15 remaining lightships. The National Lightship Trust will work to iden-
tify which lightships are in jeopardy and to convince their owners to let us help find secure new homes for them with responsible organizations. We do not want to see them scrapped or gutted or turned into restaurants or artificial reefs . Aside from direct involvement to save individual lightships, we will also work to raise awareness within the maritime community of the need to value these ships before it's too late. We need their story to be told, and we will collect lightship plans, photos, artifacts and memorabilia toward the goal of eventually creating a national lightship museum , perhaps in conjunction with a national lighthouse museum. We also would like to establish a former lightship crewmen's association and collect living histories from the men who served aboard America 's last lightships. On February 28th our web site went on-line with a mission statement and information about each of the remaining lightships . We are now directly involved in four lightships and are working to build a strong relationship with organizations that own the others. Along with Friends of Nantucket Lightship 112 we are working to maintain the 112 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the 613 in Boston. We have been asked to become involved with the 612, also in Boston, and the 118 in Lewes, Delaware. We have been endorsed by ¡several major maritime organizations and will be building a national membership, fund raising and publishing a quarterly newsletter. To learn more about us or to get involved in lightship preservation, visit our web site at http://www.lightshiptrust.org or e-mail me at roberts@ interport.net, or write us at The National Lightship Trust, PO Box 778, Time Square Station, New York NY 10108. Whether it' s lighthouses or lightships, we need to work together to preserve our heritage, for when it comes to keeping the last lights shining, we're all in the ,t same boat! Mr. R oberts is senior curator of the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City.
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS SPUN YARN
Full information on these and other news items appears in Sea History Gazette, May/June 1997. Write and ask, and we'll send you this issue free. To subscribe to the bi-monthly Gazette for one year, send $18.75 (add $10 for foreign postage). Operation Sail 2000 has announced that New London CT is an Official Port and will host the tall ships from 12-15 July. The organization has also opened a New York office, operated by OpSail Vice President Greg Perrin, to coordinate logistics, activities, and fund raising. (OpSail, 100 Maiden Lane, Ste. 1032, New York NY 10035; 212 504-6409, FAX: 212 504-6666) ... Three months after committing thirteen of their ships to US-flag ownership and US crews, APL Limited, corporate parent of American President Lines, announced a merger/acqui si tion agreement under which APL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Singapore-based Neptune Orient Line, Ltd .... Kalmar Nyckel, the replica of the vessel that brought a Swedish colonial expedition to Delaware in 1638, is scheduled for a 28 September launch. (Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, 1124 East 7th St., Wilmington DE 19801) ... The Orange County Marine Institute's Pilgrim was transformed into a ghost galleon for the new Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie. The fee enabled the Institute to replace the 51-year-old vessel's main deck. (OCMI, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point CA 92629; 714 248-0503) ... The British tour of the replica of Capt. Cook's Endeavour can be followed on-line at http:/sydney .dialix. oz.au/-hmbark/. Schools can follow the voyage on the Buddy Crew project at http://owl.qut.edu.au/endeavour/. (The Crew Manager, PO Box 1099, Freman tie WA 6160, Australia; (09) 336 1399; email: hmbark@ibm.net) .. . The26-foot sailing vessel Dorjun, built on the hull of a surf-launched US Lifesaving Service rescue vessel of 1904, has joined the fleet at the Wooden Boat Foundation in Port Townsend WA. (WBF, 380 Jefferson St., Port Townsend WA 98368) ... The wreck of the tanker Montebello, sunk by a Japanese torpedo without fatalities two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, has been discovered off the coast of California.... The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (Continued on page 38.) 36
A Revolutionary Discovery in Lake Champlain A Revolutionary War gunboat from Benedict Arnold's fleet has been discovered in an excellent state of preservation in Lake Champlain. Researchers from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vermont made the discovery in June during a sonar survey begun in 1996 in an effort to find and document shipwrecks endangered by the recent invasion of zebra mussels. "This could prove to be the most significant maritime discovery in American history in the last half century," sai d Dr. Philip Lundeberg, curator emeritus of naval history at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History. Arnold's fleet of 15 vessels engaged the Briti sh in October 177 6 during the Battle ofValcour Island. AfA ling sits atop the sternpost of the gunboat. ter a nighttime retreat past the British blockade, Arnold sank five of his vessels and evaded pursuers by escaping overland to Fort Ticonderoga. Researchers have long believed that one of his gunboats went down during the retreat. Art Cohn, director of the maritime museum and the only diver to have visited the wreck, reported the gunboat was "sitting upright on the bottom, its mast still standing over fifty feet high and its large bow cannon still in place." The remains have been videotaped and photographed from a remote-operated-vehicle. The museum will be working with the Navy and the states of Vermont and New York to develop a management plan for the gunboat. The groups will have to decide whether to leave the vessel in situ or raise, conserve and exhibit it. (LCMM, RR3, Box 4092, Vergennes VT 05491; 802 475-2022) ..t
World War II Danish Rescue Vessel on Exhibit at Mystic At Mystic Seaport Museum on 5 May 1997, the 52nd anniversary of the Liberation of Denmark, the Museum of Jewish Heritage opened its inaugural special exhibition of Gerda II I, a Danish lighthouse tender that was used to rescue three hundred Jews during the Holocaust. The tender was built in Faborg, Denmark, in Gerda III at Mystic Seaport Museum 1926 by the shipbuilder Mi;;ller and, after WWII, she sailed as a buoy tender and supply ship for Farvandsvresenetuntil 1987. When she was phased out of the fleet, the Finance Committee donated her to the Museum of Jewish Heritage. During WWII Danish citizens ferried more than 7 ,000 Jews into neutral Sweden. In 1943, Gerda Ill' s four-man crew and the boat manager 's daughter conveyed groups of refugees over a period of several weeks. Although German soldiers regularly boarded the vessel, the Jews were hidden under gear in the cargo hold. The vessel has been restored to her wartime appearance by the J. Ring-Andersen yard in Denmark to coincide with the opening of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in JNew York City. Mystic will exhibit the boat until she goes on permanent display iin New York. (MSM, PO Box 6000, Mystic CT 06355-0990; 860 572-0711; MJH,, 342 Madison Avenue, Suite 706, New York NY 10173; 212 687-9141) ..t SEA
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HANDS NEEDED for IMPORTANT VOYAGE with GREAT REW ARDS! NMHS really does need more hands to make our voyage as it should be made. And the real reward is in better serving a vital heritage and involving more people · · in it. We ask your help to do these things. And why not have some fun along the way? If you send us $ 17 .50 to sign up a friend as a new member (doctor, marina operator, old school chum), the National Maritime Historical Society will rate you Able-bodied Seaman and send you Karl Wede's The Ship's Bell to help you strike SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
the time. For five or more new members, costing you $ 15.00 each, we'll rate you Coxswain and send you Erin Urban's lovely book, John Noble's Rowboat Drawings. For ten or more new members, costi ng just $12.50 each, we'll rate you Boatswain and send you Irving Johnson's classic Peking Battles Cape Horn. To learn more call Marian at 1 800 221-NMHS. We'd be delighted to hear from you, your friends will be rewardedand you will, too!
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SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE MUSEUM NEWS The American Merchant Marine Museum Foundation is sponsoring its first photo contest, entitled "The Camera's Nau ti cal Eye." Amateur photographers are encouraged to submit previously unpublished images that capture the museum's theme, "Ships Made America," and illustrate shipping and the world of the American merchant mariner today. Entries must be postmarked no later than 15 December 1997. The first, second and third place winners will receive, respectively, $200, $100 and $50. For complete information on prizes, rules and entry fees, send a written request to the American Merchant Marine Museum, US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point NY 11024. In August, the American Merchant Marine Museum, in cooperation with the American Financial History Museum in New York City, will open an exhibit of old sceamship company securities. The show is scheduled to run through September. Old stock certificates have long been popular with collectors. Not only are they an important part of American history, but many carry beautiful engravings that are in themselves works of art. In addition to well known companies like United States Lines and Moore McCormack Lines, the exhibit will include stock certificates from such 19th-century shipping companies as the Australasian Pacific Mail Steam Packet Company (1854), the Hudson River Company (1852) and the Maryland Steamboat Company (1869). The show will also feature a century-old stock certificate issued by the French company that first unsuccessfully attempted to build the Panama Canal. (AMMM, USMMA, Kings Point NY 11024; 516 773-5515) J, (Continued from page 36.) denied the State of California's petition for a rehearing in the case of Deep Sea Research, Inc., v. The Brother Jonathan. Deep Sea Research was given the right to salvage the Gold Rush-era vessel. Peter Pelkofer, representing Cali-
fomia, has said that if the Appeals Court's ruling stands it would wipe out the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act; he is rallying support for a Writ of Certiorari from the Supreme Court. (Peter Pelkofer, Senior Counsel, California State Lands Commi ssion, 100 Howe Ave., Suite 100 S,
Sacramento CA 95825; 916 5741850) ... The University of Hawaii at Manoa will create a Graduate Maritime Archaeology and History Certification Program built on its symposia and field schools in the maritime archaeology and history of Hawaii and the Pacific. (GMAHCP, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1000 Pope Road, #229, Honolulu HI 96822; 808 956-8433, FAX: 808 956-8433, x241 7; e-mail: mop@hawaii.edu) ... A second order bi-valve lens from the Little Gull Lighthouse off Orient Point NY, reportedly installed in 1868, is on permanent loan from the Coast Guard at the East End Seaport Museum. (EESM, One Bootleg Alley, PO Box 624, Greenport NY 11944; 516 477-0004) .. . Swann Galleries' second sale of material from the Barbara Johnson Collection on Whales, Whaling and Related Subjects wi ll be held on 25 September and will include ships' and merchants ' registries, correspondence and Japanese books and scrolls on whaling. (Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th St., New York NY 10010-2977; 212 254-4710) ,t Captain 's Clock of solid oak, cherry and mahogany. 3-year guar. on quartz movement. $45, ship'g incl. Also: Oldfashioned handmade dolls. Photos on request. Keeler & Olson Clocks 125 Hill St., PO Box 6, Whitinsville MA 01588 Tel: 508-234-5081
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CALENDAR Festivals, Events, Etc. • 27-28 September, "Rabble in Arms: Benedict Arnold's Gunboat Comes Alive!" (Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, RR #3 , Box 4092, Vergennes VT 05491 ; 802 475-2022) • 27-28 September, The Wooden Boat Festival in Madisonville LA (The St. Tammany Tourist Commission and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum, 1 800 634-9443, xl 11) • 28 September, Launch of replica Kalmar Nyckel (Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, 1124 East 7th Street, Wilmington DE 19801) • 4October,15th Annual Small Craft Festival (Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Mill Street, PO Box 636, St. Michaels MD 21663, 410 745-2916) • 4 October, Great Steamboat Race (Oregon Maritime Center & Museum, 113 SW Front Avenue, Portland OR 97204; 503 224-7724) • 4 October, Little Red Lighthouse Festival at Fort Washington Park, NYC (Selena Lee, 212 304-2365) • 18- 19 October, The Gulf Coast Wooden Boat Show (Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum, PO Box 1907, Biloxi MS 39533) • 1 November, 9th Annual Seafaring Celebration (The Navy Museum, Washington Navy Yard, Washington DC 20374-5060; 202 433-6897) • 11 November, Veterans Day Ceremonies at USS Pampanito (San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, PO Box 470310, San Francisco CA 94147-0310; 415 929-0202) • 16November, 10th Annual John A. Noble Art Auction (The John A. Noble Collection, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island NY 10301 ; 7 l8 447-6490)
J
Conferences & Lectures • 19-20 September, 2nd Annual Meeting of us·Life-Saving Service Heritage Association in Nantucket MA (USLSSHA, c/o Nantucket Life Saving Museum, 158 Polpis Road, NantucketMA 02554-2320; 508 228-1154, e-mail: mo72506@nantucket.net) • 1-4 October, 32nd Annual Meeting of the Historic Naval Ships Association in Honolulu HI (Channing Zucker, Executive Director, HNSA, 4640 Hoylake Drive, Virginia Beach VA 23462; 757 499-6919) • 16-18October1997, The Waterfront Center's 15th Annual International Conference (TWC, 1622 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington DC 20007; SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
202 337-0356, e-mail : waterfront@ mindspring.com) • 18-19 October, 22nd Annual Whaling History Symposium (Kendall Whaling Museum, 27 Everett Street, PO Box 297, Sharon MA 02067) • 30 October-2 November, 24th Annual Nautical Research Guild Conference in Boston MA (George E. Kaiser, NRG Conference, 23 Mermaid Avenue, Winthrop MA 02152) Exhibitions •from 3 May, Rowing on the River: Transport, Races, and Recreation (Hudson River Maritime Museum, One RondoutLanding, Kingston NY 12401; 914 338-0071) •from 6 May, The Schooner Life (Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington Street, Bath ME 04530; 207 443-131() • 9 May through 15 September, The Dutch in the Americas, 1600-1800 (John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Providence RI 02912) • 16 May-23 November, Before New England: The Dutch and Native Americans in the Connecticut River Valley, 1609-1650 (Connecticut River Foundation, Steamboat Dock, 67 Main Street, Essex CT 06426) •from 7 June, Waterman's Wharf, permanent hands-on exhibit (Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Mill Street, PO Box 636, St. Michaels MD 21663; 410 745-2916) • 21 June-6 September, Mare Island's River Rats: Home of the Brown Water Navy, 1966-1997 (The Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 734 Marin St., ValJejo CA 94590; 707 643-0077) •from 4 July, Cold Spring Harbor: Time Measured by the Tide (Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, Box 25, Cold Spring Harbor NY 11724; 516 367-3418) •from 11 July, SHIPWRECK! (Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1905 Ogden Avenue,VancouverBCV6JlA3,Canada) • from 12 July, Signal Flags and Code Books (Maine Maritime Museum, see address above) • through 28 September, Lighthouses and Keepers (The Mariners' Museum, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA 23606-3759; 757 596-2222; FAX: 757 591-7320) • 30 August-4 January 1998, Under the Black Flag-Life Among the Pirates (The Mariners' Museum, see address above)
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J ohn Cabot and the Matthew, by Ian Wi lson (Breakwater, PO Box 2188, St. John's NF AlC 6E6, Canada, 1996, 72pp, illus, biblio, ISBN 1-55081-1312; $14.20pb) This brilliant account of Cabot's famous voyage to America in 1497 opens with an interesting survey of the scanty and confused evidence of the voyage and the man who led it. The author then takes us through the origins of the continuing westward probe from Bristol across the stormy North Atlantic, an effort that may (or may not) have swallowed up the intrepid navigator and his crew in a second voyage in 1498. Incisive, cut-to-the-chase chapters take up the medieval seaport of Bristol, the opening of the Iceland trade in the 1430s, and the distinct but unproven possibility that Bristol ships had reached North America before Cabot's first voyage. Cabot started life as Giovanni Caboto in Italy. Identified at the time as "another Genoese like Columbus," he was also identified as coming from Gaeta, near Naples. Unquestionably, he became a citizen of Venice before coming to England in quest of a sponsor for his voyage. The impetus for a voyage to reach the Indies by sai ling west in a higher latitude than Columbus's famous voyage of 1492 probably came from Columbus's example. A John Cabot was working on harbor improvements in Spain when Columbus returned from the Caribbean in the storm-battered Nina in the spring of 1493. Wilson imagines that Cabot, who may have seen people of the Indies in Arabia, where he had searched for the origins of the spice trade, knew that Columbus had not reached the Indies because the American "Indians" Columbus brought home with him did not look like people of the Indies. But the author is careful to identify such speculations as what they areinformed guesses that " may not be stretching history too much." Other speculative conclusions in the book are mct're fundamental, beginning with the author's carefully demonstrated concept that Cabot 's landfall was not Newfoundland, but more likely Nova Scotia, or even Maine. An evidently well informed contemporary account affirms that "most of the land was discov-
ered after turning back"-back, that is, to the eastward and northward. This would fit Maine or Nova Scotia, but not Newfoundland. The name "Newfoundland," the author reminds us, was applied originally to all the northern part of the American coast. A still more startling theory advanced by Wilson is that Cabot's second voyage actually reached America. Wilson suggests that Cabot may then have sailed south to the Caribbean, where he could have met and been killed by the rogue explorer Alonso de Hojeda. The urgent concern of the Spanish to keep intruders out of their domain in the Caribbean is well documented, and feeding into Wilson's theory is the fact that Hojeda wa~ rewarded by the crown rather than punished after his piratical voyage. Add to this that Columbus's cartographer Juan de Ia Cosa was on Hojeda's voyage, and in the following year he produced a fascinating map which, as the author points out, shows the coast of North America (where no Spaniard had yet ventured) with remarkable accuracy. The map bears a notation that the sea to the north had been discovered by the English, and five English flags are ranged along the northern coast. It is a stretch to imagine Cabot staying out so long, one year from his last sighting, and over a thousand miles south along the coast, against the prevailing winds. But how had the Spanish acquired accurate know ledge of lands they ' d never seen? The balance of probability is that the source was English. The historian Navarette, writing in the 1800s, mentions Hojeda encountering "certain Englishmen" in his Caribbean voyage, an important event he would be unlikely to have based on thin air. Wilson deals fairly and clearly with this and with other ambiguities in the record, encouraging the reader to form his own judgment. His sure grasp of the beliefs and customs of the time, the conditions of seafaring, and the political background make this account vernacular history at its best, unpretentious, down to earth, full of common sense. Wilson brings Cabot and his times to life with a verve and authority that makes this book a treat to read. PETER STANFORD
SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, by Mark Kurlansky (Walker & Company, New York NY, 1997, 302pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 0-8027-1326-2; $2lhc) The mighty and voracious cod has led European and American fishermen, merchants and governments through a complicated reel across the ice- and fogridden Atlantic, to the azure Mediterranean, south to the African coast, and east again to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. The author guides us through each new turn in a narrative that convincingly ties political, economic , technological , social and gastronomic events of the last five hundred years to the cod. This fish is a common denominator in North Atlantic cultures and has worked its way into the diet and lore of much of the Western world as bacalao, morue, lutefisk, poor john, stock fish and salt cod. By the 1500s fleets of European ves sels- Basque , Spanish, French, Dutch , English and Norwegian-were following cod from the North Sea to Icelandic waters to the Grand Banks. This abundant, low-cost, high-protein , low-fat, appeti zing main dish transformed the diet and economy of Europe and its colonies. Fishermen had found an apparently limitless source, merchants grew rich on the trade, port cities flourished and people ate cod. But all good things must come to an end, and Kurlansky brings us to the 1990s, when the cod has been overfished into near extinction, the fishermen have been forced ashore, towns that relied on the trade are dying, naval vessels and fishing trawlers menace each other over the remnants of the cod , and governments are enacting ever more stringent regulations to try to restore what has probably been lost forever. This book is an eminently readable story about a seemingly mundane commodity and the influence it has had on the world we know today. The author touches on major themes-slavery , the American Revolution , and the European Union, to name a few-in an engaging narrative that does not shrink from controversy and the disastrous results of waiting too long before confronting the problem of man's relationship with the natural world . JA Liberty Ship: The Voyages of the John W. Brown, 1942-1946, by Sherod Cooper, Foreword by Peter Stanford (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 1997, SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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264pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 1-55750-135-1 ; $34.95hc) Launched in 1942 as one of more than 2700 Liberty ships designed to carry desperately needed supplies to Allied forces during WWII, the John W. Brown is a survivor. After serving out her time as a cargo carrier, she became a schoolship in New York City. Inspired by the rescue of the Jeremiah O'Brien in San Francisco, merchant seamen, former students and ship preservationists worked together to save the venerable Liberty and, today , she sails out of Baltimore through the dedicated work of a volunteer crew. Author Sherod Cooper is a member of that crew. He has served in the merchant marine and went on to a shore career as professor of history. In his book you will join the]ohn W. Brown on her first cruise across the war-tom Atlantic. He brings to life the day-by-day quality of life aboard the vessel. As you enter into this authentic account of the extraordinary service of a quite ordinary ship, you will see why people cheerfully give weeks and months of hard work to keep the John W. Brown steaming today, to deliver her vital message to coming generations of Americans. PS
The Schooner Pilgrim's Progress: A Voyage Around the World, 1932-1934, by Donald C. Starr (Peabody Essex Museum, Salem MA , and Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic CT, 1996, 380pp, illus, appen, gloss, biblio, notes, ISBN 0-913 372-79-X; $19.95hc) "There is no way to see the world, to my taste, that approaches in satisfaction a cruise in a sailing vessel, not too large. Instead of speeding over the earth's surface in a series of jumps from port to port in an ocean liner, one progresses in a leisurely fashion through the sea, never more than a few feet distant from the water. One's life is for the time being wholly occupied in adapting the ship and oneself to the forces of air and water, and in contemplating these in all their variety." So wrote Donald Starr of hi s voyage around the world. As John Rousmaniere points out in his introduction, this was "the voyage of a young man's dreams ... a story of hope, optimism and bright light" made in a very dreary time, the Great Depression. Starr was a 31-year-old former Assistant Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and an experienced cruising sailor. He had the schooner SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
designer of the day, John Alden, design him a plain but husky 85' schooner which was built in Maine. He assembled a remarkably competent and compatible crew of eight who had surprisingly little difficulty handling thi s large vessel with her heavy gear in those days before power assists and elaborate electronics. Leaving Boston for Panama, a serious leak resulting from faulty shipyard work held them in Panama forover five months and almost terminated the voyage. Surviving that cri sis, they set off for the Gal apagos, Tahiti, Fiji , Bali, Java, the Suez and the Med and many points in between, leav ing Boston "at the beginning of the ebb tide on the first day of summer" in 1932, and arriving back there on 5 Jul y 1934. Thi s was an extraordinary adventure for those times when transoceanic cruising traffic was not what it is today, and a most fortuitous one in terms of seeing a relatively undisturbed island world that disappeared fo rever in World War II. Starr is a skilled observer and a gifted writer with wonderful turns of phrase; explaining why they were so close to the start of the hurricane season when leav ing Boston , he writes: "Those things which ought to have been done, and those things which had been done as they ought not to have been done, reared their mocking heads ." He easily grasps the philosophical implications of what he sees, and avoids the romantic trimming so often found in cruise reports . Hi s details of life and the characters he met on the islands are informatively and entertainingly presented. After his return, he chartered and then sold Pilgrim and went back to the practice of law . Over many years he worked on this manuscript, which was published after his death through the efforts of hi s wife, Poll y Thayer Starr. Those who read this enchanting and fascinating book owe her a debt of gratitude for her vision . TOWNSEND HORNOR
The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, by Jaap R. Bruijn (University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC, 1993, 258pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 0-87249-875; $34.95hc) Thi s excellent compact study of the remarkable achievements of the Dutch Navy at its height, when the Netherlands was the greatest sea power in the world, provides an authoritative close look at SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
the organic development of the navy as fighting machine in the 1600s and its relative decline as the Neptune 's trident passed to England toward 1700. PS Spanish Naval Power, 1589-1655: Reconstruction and Defeat, by David Goodman (Cambridge University Press, New York NY, 1997, 305pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 0-521-58063-3; $59.95 hc) The Cambridge Studies in Earl y Modem History , a series devoted to the European story fro m the 1400s to the late 1700s, offers us a solid, deeply studied account of the functioning of Spanish sea power following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. That catastrophe effectively halted Spain's drive for world conquest under Philip II. Goodman pursues the difficult effort to keep the imperial show on the road to the end of the long reign of Philip IV. This sterling study pays close attention to matters of supply and adm inistration, and the day-to-day difficulties of keeping large fleets and large arm ies in being, based on resources never quite adeq uate to the task. Ship design and naval administration remained fai rly strong, and Spain won some battles, even against the combative, vigorous Dutch . But in this period Dutch shipping carried most of Spain's cargoes, depriving Spain of a vital arm of sea power. The author intelligently considers the state of the navy 's officers and seamen, that vital human factor too often overlooked in studies focused on the more readily quantified aspects of sea power. He notes that a rigid caste system led to a calcified officer class whose human product often lacked the initiative and drive of its Dutch and Engli sh rivals. For the men , the concl usion is perhaps even sadder. Goodman concludes that the Spanish seaman was little regarded and treated worse than sai lors in other navies by his military overlords. "It could well be," the author notes in a trenchant conclusion, "that in the end thi s counted more than anything else in Spain's disappointing naval performance over the decades that fo llowed the rebuilding of the fleet after the di saster of 15 88." PS The Wapping Group of Artists: Fifty Years of Painting London and Its River, edited by Trevor Chamberlin et al. (Heron Press, Blackheath UK, 1996, 7lpp, illus) Available from NMHS for $20 + $3s&h. "The most fascinating river in the
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world," is how this working artists' group sees its subject, from the houseboats at Putney to the great docks of the lower Thames, the seaman's river known in seaports round the world as the London River. The span of work shown begins back in the 1920s, before the formal foundation of the group in 1946. That was right after World War II when the artists picked their way through acres of bomb-wrecked warehouses to paint their often hauntingly evocative scenes. Color plates capture their work with great fidelity, and wonderful pen-and-ink sketches accompany a rich anecdotal history of the group, along with biographical sketches of its leading members. PS
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Our river scene is from a noble, largesize book of photographs of London 's historic river, Chris Ellmers's and Alex Werner's Dockland Life. The authors, based at the Museum of London , know the warp and woof of the life they write about and their eye for the telling image is truly wonderful. Here you 'II find wooden ships with carved stems, big steamers warping into narrow docks, ever-busy tugs and people of all descriptions , bargemen 's children and police, and firemen fighting the fires lighted by German air attack in World War IL The river-lover (as who is not?) will also find a rewarding experience in Gavin Ships of the Great Lakes: 300 Years of Weightman 's London River, a colorNavigation, by James P. Barry (Thun- fully illustrated work which traces the der Bay Press, Lansing Ml, orig 1973, river's story from Roman times on and, repr 1996, 272pp, illus, notes, biblio, interestingly, from different points of index, $24.95pb) Available from Part- view-the river as highway, as a barrier ners Book Distributing, Inc., PO Box to be bridged, as an avenue to cruise 580, Holt MI 48842. down or race oared boats on, and as "a The boats of the Great Lakes tell the strong brown god" capable of rising to history of the great watery highways wreck the works of man. Like the authat brought fur traders, soldiers, settlers thors of Docklands, Weightman clearly and industry leaders hundreds of miles knows river people, and gets sense out into the heart of the continent. Barry's of people of the past as well as the text picks up the narrative from the more present-that is, he evidently brings than two hundred historic drawings and enough good sense and grounding in the photographs of those boats-from ca- subject to understand what's said and noes , to Mackinaws, to steamers. JA what's meant, whether in an old document or a modem taped interview. Bacon's Last Captain: A Two-Ocean This is not by any means as easy as it Novel of World War Two, by R. H. sounds. Old documents are quite often Langley-Wood (Eloign Press, Elon VA written to deceive, and still more often 24572-3411, 1997, 342pp, ISBN 0- have non-explicit overtones carrying the 930845-06-4; $18.95pb) real song which only a deeply informed "There were times when it seemed that reader will catch. And, as the seamanthe navy defined our duty as whatever historian Karl Kortum warns us, it takes needed to be done that nobody e lse more than a bright, inquiring mind and a wanted to do." recorder to get the real testimony out of So the author of this novel of wartime oral histories--consciously or unconservice aboard an aged four-piper de- sciously the person interviewed will disscribed the work of the small destroyers tort his talk to flatter, insult, or deceive built for World War I which were re- the shallow, ignorant or uncaring, effeccalled to duty in World War II. Noting tively barring the intruder from his that the history of these ships has already hearthstone story out of a kind of natural been written in John D. Alden's Flush self-protection . Decks and Four Stacks, he tells us he Weightman gets things right, I feel , wrote this yam tying together all he and and, like our first two authors, he has a people he knew had gone through in the good eye for the picture that's alive. He hard service the ships were put to--and, includes some beauties , using conin a word, it is a knockout. Eminently temporary work where possible and, lively characters carry the action-packed where it's not, some very good later story-people of wide! y differing back- work, as in the depiction of the Roman grounds and attitudes, united by a com- city as it has been recovered for us mon feeling for the ship that takes them through archaeology. There is an asthrough hell and back in the Atlantic and tounding picture of the whole vast city Pacific wars. PS spread over the banks of the river, from SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
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Ship Paintings Restored . Museum quality restoration of old paintings. Damaged old ship paintings purchased. Peter Williams, 30 Ipswich St., Boston MA 02215. By appointment: 617-536-4092 Ocean liner memorabilia for sale, 100+ page catalog available $5. Website: http ://co llecting.com/shipshape/ Email: shipshape@collecting.com Mail : 1041 Tuscany Pl., Winter Park FL USA 327891017. Tel: 407-644-2892, fax: 407-644-1833. Olde Nautical Shoppe, Nautical Antiques, Artifacts, Ship Models, Clocks and Barometers, Scientific Instruments , Spyglasses and Telescopes, Nautical Furniture and Decor, Lighthouses, Harbour Lights and Lefton, Vintage Fishing Tackle, Buy and Sell!! 813441-3036, 25 Causeway Blvd., Clearwater Beach, Florida, "At the City Marina." Maritime Books-Used and rare. All maritime subjects. Free catalogs upon request. American Booksellers, 102 West 11th St., Aberdeen, WA 98520. 360-532-2099. Herreshoff Video Of Boats and Brothers: The Yacht Building Herreshoffs is an award winning 55 minute documentary on the lives of Captain Nat and John Herreshoff. Inspiring, beautiful , and educational. $34.95 post paid. (516) 728-3084.
A vanished way of life breathes again for us in wooden hulls, tarred rigging and sun-warmed brick on the foreshore at Wapping in 1856. The stout topsail schooner Express dries out her canvas as she awaits her cargo amid a gagg le of river craft. The spars of a tall deepwaterman lying upstream, just visible in the mist, remind one that this is, and will be until well into the 1900s, the world's greatest seaport. Its ships and people deal with traffics from all over in quantities greater than ever before imagined, wreaking unparalleled change in distant quarters of the world in the process. Photo courtesy of Museum in Docklands, London
1812, a remarkable Jate-1500s painting of shipping in the river (which, however, shows big ships above London Bridge, which is impossible) , and a delectably detailed drawing of the bridge itself done in 1600, when Shakespeare was walking across it to get to the Globe Theatre. The Tower Bridge, which does have a draw to let ships through, opened only a hundred-odd years ago, but soon became the image of London to the world. We get a splendid painting of the grand opening in 1894, with the Royal Yacht led in procession by a humble working tug, and all sorts and conditions of people gathered on the near shore, coal-grimed stokers and ladies in boldly striped dresses and chaps with tables and wine bottles set out-a moment to be alive! I report with some hesitancy that this fine work is based on a television series produced by Weightman himself. Please don't get the wrong idea from this; it's not that kind of non-book-it rather reminds one that a story can be told either way and be thoroughly worthwhile. Only debased practice makes us think otherwise. SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
From the imperial era of the Tower Bridge we get a fascinating reprint, The
Royal River: The Thames.from Source to Sea. First published in 1885 , this travelogue/history offers some evocative writing about shipping and the river, with a notable concern with the lives of ordinary people, fishermen , Jighterrnen and workingmen 's families, and with this , smashing steel engravings, full of the expressive vigor of the day . PS Dockland Life: A Pictorial History of London's Docks, 1860-1970, by Chris Ellmers and Alex Werner (Mainstream Publishing Company, Edinburgh, UK , 1991, 205pp, illus , biblio , ISBN l85158-364-5hc) London River: The Thames Story by Gavin Weightman (Collins & Brown Ltd , Mercury House, 195 Knightsbridge, London SW7 IRE, UK, 1990, 160pp, illus, index , ISBN l-85585-075-3hc) The Royal River: The Thames, from Source to Sea (Godfrey Caves Associates Ltd, 42 Bloomsbury Street, London WCJB 3QJ, UK , 1985, 371pp, illus, ISBN 0-906223-77-6hc)
Chart your course through New England's maritime heritage. Send for your free copy. Cubberley & Shaw Maritime MuseumNews , Box 607NM, Groton, MA 01450-0607 Old diving helmet-$985 , Sextant-$395, spyglass-$395. Nautical antiques. Clocks, barometers, telescopes, bells , binnacles , telegraphs, instruments, buoys, lights . We also buy nautical antiques. No catalog. Antiques of the Sea, Sunset Beach, CA 90742-0023 . Tel. 562-592-1752 Marinas/Boatyards on Chesapeake Bay, buy or sell. Call Wilford Land Company, PO Box 953, Easton , MD 2160 I. Tel: 410-822-4586, Fax 410-226-5205 Collection: Japanese diving helmet. Ship: wheels, paintings , models . President FDR model. Dollond Telescope. Books. Memorabilia. SASE, Bpx 231, West Covina, CA 91793. Fax 909-595-6655. E-mail: jimpinxit@aol. com. To place your classified ad at $1.60/word, phone Carmen at 914-737-7878. Or mail your message and payment to Sea History, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.
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'Ilirough :J{o[[antf
in the 'J/ivette by E. Keble Chatterton In July 1910, the author took his 25f oot (overall) Vivette, modelled on the Bristol Channel pilot cutters, from Hamble, England, to the Netherlands. The purpose was twofold: two summers of enjoyable cruising and an opportunity to study Dutch sailing vessels ofvariousrigsandtrades,aneffortwhich later led to the publication of Fore and Aft: The Story of the Fore and Aft Rig. Here he relates the fate of one vil/agea story all too common to those little communities strung along the shores of the world's oceans, where the main activity is fishing, an always hazardous occupa.tion, which today still has the unenviable lead in US industryfatalities. ven a small yacht ... is visited by the Customs officers when arriving at a French or English port. But though we kept our ensign flying as we first touched Ostende and Flushing, they don ' t worry about yachts in Belgium and Holland. The gates were closed when we arrived, but as they opened they let loose a perfect museum of Dutch craft. Out came a curious medley of hoogarts, Rhine-schiffs , klipper-aaks , tjalks, paviljoen-poms, and a clean, wellkept tug. There was something quite dramatic in the way this procession suddenly passed before our interested eyes. Heavy, bluff-bowed, apple-sterned craft with leeboards, massive rudders anci weather-vanes, the porns and tjalks with their short-curved gaffs and well-steeved bowsprits, and the shovel-nosed hoogarts with their sprit-sai ls presented a picture of sixteenth-century shipping emerging through the lock-gates of the past into the modern twentieth century. And as if to accentuate thi s idea the more, so soon as we had got into the lock there fo llowed in a Dutch Admiralty sai Iing yacht with varnished hull , hatchet rudder and gilded carvings that showed how little had been the alteration since the time when Van der Velde used to paint his pictures of Dutch yachts in Charles the Second's time. I don ' t know which party was the more interested,
E
46
In Veere harbor, hay is pitched from a horse-drawn wagon onto the waiting barge, while a fully loaded wagon waits its turn .
those on the Admiralty yacht or ourselves on the Vivette. It was a study in contrasts between tt>.e old and the new, the historic and the modem. Our dinghy still more amused and interested them. In fact, during our stay at Flushing the youth of the port continually came asking to be allowed to take her for a row. [The Vivette remained in Flushing for 24 hours and then proceeded to Middelburg, then to Veere .] We proceeded along the canal very leisurely, but we were in no hurry to leave Walcheren. Three or four miles of this easy progress and we came to Veere, one of the sweetest spots in Europe, which so far has successfully resisted all modernising influences. There is happily no railway, so only a few tourists get to know of even its existence, and the rest do not always consider it worth visiting in the funny little steamer which
runs up two or three times a day from Flushing. There is not very much to see if you are in quest of thrills, and you could probably conclude your tour of inspection under the hour. Veere is not a town , but just a village, and I only remember one shop. There is no life in the place; and there are some natures to whom Veere might seem very dull. But if you love colour-bright blues, and greens, and reds ; if you love old buildings and pretty cottages, quaint gables, delightful costumes, flaxenhaired children, peaceful meadows, an old-world fishing harbour with old-world craft . .. then Veere is for you, and is there to be enjoyed. I can hardly believe that Veere has any future, but it has a most interesting past. You can feel this instinctively, and there is a bewitching sadness in the place which I cannot easily describe . . . . Time was when SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
At left, hoogarts and their people at the Veere waterfront. Above, the fishing village of Bruinesse with its harbor "packed full of hoogarts, so that there was not a yard offree space." At right, hoogarts mussel dredging, as sketched by Norman Carr, who sailed with the author.
Yeere was a well-fortified town, a most prosperous port, with a considerable forei gn trade, especially to our island . . . . between Scotland and Veere there was a particularly bri sk trade in dried fi sh and wool. I have before me . .. a reproduction of an old print, which shows a fl eet of big ships sailing about off the town, as it then was. A strong, stubborn wall is seen to encircle the outside of the town, while inside a veritable forest of masts indicates how busy must have been the harbour. ... [At summers' end the author returned to England, the Vivette laid up in Amsterdam. The followin g year at the end ofher travels in September 1911 , the Vivette came to the fishing village ofBruinesse.] There were several hours to wait for the turn of the tide, so we walked over to the small fi shing village of Bruinesse, which we had just passed. Imagine to yourself a day of days- hot sun, blue sky , not a cloud anywhere, and a pleasant cooling breeze from the north. Conceive, too, a genuine fishing community with their little harbour packed full of hoogarts (fishing-boats) , so that there was not a yard of free space. Fronting the harbour were the rows of cottages belonging to the fishermen, and at the back, below the level of the sea, and behind the grassy dune which alone pre: vents the sea from flooding the land , came a fair stretch of meadows with bl ack grazing cattle and a few dykes di spersed here and there. At the back of the village rose the village church, from whose belfry the Angelus was ringing out across the water as I walked in. Some of the hardy old fi shermen were on board bu sil y mending their nets; others were yarning to each other in little squads ashore. I counted most of a hundred masts with their pennants waving at the tip like so many lances. There were a few more that I got tired of counting, and I went back happy at having seen an SEA HISTORY 82, AUTUMN 1997
ideal Dutch fi shing village, where everyone looked contented, where ships and men seemed to have been made of the right sort. Bruinesse made a deep impression on my mind, and I thought of it many times when I returned home . .. . Perhaps the reader may remember the very heavy gale which occurred at Michaelmas of 1911. October came in like a lion, and at that week-end there was one of the worst storms of the autumn and winter. There were disasters on most of the coasts of Northern Europe, but Holland and the neighborhood through which we had just passed suffered most. The Bruinesse fleet must have been out as usual, and the numerous tjalks, klippers, and other trading craft were certainly about in the Keeten Mastgat and other parts of the Scheidt, through which we had passed but a few weeks before. The following, however, which is taken from the Evening Standard of October 3, 1911, gives the first telegrams detailing the catastrophe: "Loss OF LIFE IN HOLLAND . . . . a Reuter' s message from Amsterdam [reports] that 120 vessels out of the fleet of 130 mussel-fishing boats belonging to the village of Bruinesse were lost or received considerable damage during Sunday ' s storm. The Queen will visit Bruinesse to-day . Forty-five inland vessels were wrecked on the waterways between Dordrecht and the North Sea. Most of the crews were drowned. It is reported that twenty-eight bodies have been washed up near Steenbergen." This was followed by a later telegram saying that in consequence of 120 Bruin-
esse fishing vessel s being wrecked in the gale, 240 families were destitute. . . . The following version appeared in the Daily Mail , and confirms the other announcement: "Rotterdam, Tuesday: Practically the entire fishing fleet, numbering over a hundred vessel s, of the village ofBruinesse, was destroyed in the week-end gale, and intense suffering has been caused to the inhabitants. "Queen Wilhelmina to-day visited the village to inquire into the extent of the disaster and to offer her sympathy to the bereaved families. "A large number of vessels were thrown against the dykes and wrecked in the .waterways of Zeeland, many lives being lost." ... It must have been a thousand hells in Hellegat in such a gale as that, but it is sad to think of so many fine fore-and-aft seamen, so many ships and neat little craft swept off, leaving Bruinesse, that had looked so bright and happy, now a village of widows and weeping mothers. [Back in England at the end of September, the author reflected on his voyage .] We had been into the ports of four countries, . . . seen many an out-of-theway place, . . . sailed past hundreds of miles of interesting scenery, viewing strange sights, shipping, and happenings. We had fraternised with the seamen of different nationalities, extended our knowledge and broadened our outlook . .. . The sons of the sea in every port had treated us as their own, and now it was all over and belonged to the things of the past. . . . ,t
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201 EDGEWATER ST., STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. 10305 â&#x20AC;˘ 718-448-3900
Pacific Tall Ships, a unique maritime gallery, is now offering hand-crafted wood sailing ship models. Our goal is to produce the finest limited ship model editions at a very reasonable price to ensure our customers a lifetime of enjoyment. The models are handmade exclusively for Pacific Tall Ships by highly skilled craft ~ men. Our craftsmen work with remarkable precision to create detailed replicas of the famous tall ships. Our models have brass and metal fittings and are completed with intricate rigging. Each hull is double planked with rare select woods.
Prices range from $650.00 to $13,000.00. For more information or to receive our free catalog call us at 1(800) 690-6601. 106 Stephen St. Suite 100, Lemont, IL 60439-4242 Email: 1Jts@i;\ .netcom.com, or browse our web page: http://www.pacilic-tall-ships.com. Kits not available. Other ships available but not shown: American Privateer, Astrolabe, Bejamin Latham, Chinese Pirate Junk, Flying Cloud, Flying Fish, Friesland, HMS Bounty, La Couronne, New bed ford Whaler, Pride Of Baltimorell, Rattlesnake, Roter Lowe, Royal Caroline, USS Constellation, USS Enterprise, Wappen Von Hamburg.
Literally hundreds of man-hours go into each individual model, ensuring scale and historical accuracy. We also have a variety of custom built display cases to accent the decor of any home or office. Our ships and cases are covered by a 30-day money back guarantee.
San Felipe
Flying Fish
Sovereign Of The Seas
Wasa