Sea History 092 - Spring 2000

No. 92

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SPRING 2000

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

An Introduction to Operation Sail Schooner Race in the Chesapeake A Lone Ship Attempts a Mission to Malta

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No. 92

SEA HISTORY

SPRING 2000

CONTENTS FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE 9 THE CAPE HORN ROAD: ENVOY. by Peter Stanford A message to the future about what these Cape Horn sailors did, and the echoing consequences of their sailing 12 Schooners, Schooners Everywhere: The Tenth Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, by Alix Thorn e

The participation of44 schooners-historic vessels and replicas- is happy evidence that this most beautifal of rigs is enjoying a welcome revival to match the growing numbers ofsquare riggers.

17 ''Wisky" Aground: Inter-Service Can-Do Saves the Day!, by David Winkler, PhD

The grounding ofa battleship in the Hudson River, which could have embarrassed the US Navy and Led to the relief ofcommand, became instead an example of Leadership and cooperation.

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20 MARINE ART. Working with the Medium, by Bill Mearns

The artist delves into his own family smaritime roots to bring the ships ofour past to Life in watercolors.

NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER

SPECIAL: INTRODUCTION TO OPERATION SAIL, PAGES 1-16 25 THE OPSAIL 2000 OFFICIAL PORTS, PART VII: Portland Hosts OpSail Maine 2000, by Nicholas Dean

The historic city ofPortland, Maine, which has looked to the sea throughout its long history, will welcome the OpSail 2000 fleet.

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29 A Lone, Slow Ship: The SS Parracombe Attempts a Mission to Malta,

by Capt. Peter Efphick This is the story ofone ofthe ALiies' attempts to reach the strategically vital island of Malta, isolated from the rest ofthe world by Italian and German forces.

B!LL MEA RNS

33 America's Worst Maritime Disaster: The Ill-Fated Sidewheeler Sultana,

by Nicholas F. Starace II

A forgotten tragedy at the end ofthe Civil War brought about the deaths ofmore than 1,700 people, most of them soldiers returning home from the horrors of Confederate prison camps.

COVER: Replicas of two historic ships that became renowned for different purposes-Capt.

James Cook '.r E ndeavour (foreground) and the Royal Navy Frigate Rose-meet in Long Island Sound in the summer of1998, carrying young people engaged in the challenging lessons ofthe sea. (Photo: Connecticut Post; See the special insert, "Introduction to Operation Sail," beginning after page 24)

DEPARTMENTS 2 6 23 37

DECK LOG & LETTERS NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION MARINE ART NEWS SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

39 AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE MUSEUM NEWS 40 CALENDARIOPSAIL SCHEDULE 42 REVIEWS 48 PATRONS

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SEA HISTORY (iss n 0146-93 12) is published quarterly by the National Maritime Histo ri cal Society, 5 John Walsh Blvd., PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Periodicals postage paid at Peekskill NY 10566 and add'! mailing offices.

COPYRI GHT © 2000 by the Na tional Maritime Historical Society. Tel: 914-737-7878.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG

LETTERS

As I write, ice armadas move slowly on the winter water outside our windows, on their way south from a hundred miles inland to reach New York City at the rivermouth, where the Hudson meets the sea. Spring gales will soon set whitecaps dancing across the green-banked waterway. And come the Fourth of July this summer, these historic waters, New York's highway to the world, will have still another story to tell as the white-winged ships of Operation Sail, sail training ships from the world's four corners, stream into the great seaport of New York and New Jersey.

Leading that fleet will beAmerica's tall ship, the US Coast Guard Barque Eagle.

And aboard her will be our NMHS crew of fifty students from every state across America-thanks to your support and interest. These young people will have had a week's rigorous sail training at sea, prior to this marvelous sail-in, and will have had additional training at the New York State Maritime College at Fort Schuyler.

Thus they will not come as strangers to their duties aboard Eagle and, as we know from past experience, they will carry home a message to awaken America's heartland to the importance of American seafaring, past, present and future.

What better spokesmen could we have than these young people who have met and lived in the grand, deep-seated rhythms of seafaring life and played their part in moving a great ship across the unforgiving sea?

In this Sea History we've included an "Introduction to Operation Sail" (following page 24) which gives an idea of how seafarers opened up the world's waterways, the rivers, lakes and seas which make up over two-thirds of our planet.

Their sailing ultimately brought all the branches of humanity in touch with each other. This introduction also presents the tall ships of Operation Sail that will touch at eight American ports this spring and summer to honor a nation born of the sea.

And it reports what young people discover, sailing in the wake of the old navigators.

Contributions of the Ugly Ducklings It is always refreshing to see the pages of Sea History graced with an article reflecting the heroism of our WWII merchant seamen and "An Ugly Duckling Turns Warrior" did an admirable job. (SH 91, pp. 32-34) While Ensign Kenneth M. Willett received a well-earned Navy Cross for his gallantry in the battle, it should be noted that six merchant seamen of the Hopkins crew were decorated with the US Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal, the highest honor of that service: Captain Paul Buck (Posthumous) George S. Cronk-2nd Assistant Engineer (the only surviving officer) Joseph E. Lyman-2nd Officer (Posthumous) Richard Moczkowski-Chief Officer (Posthumous) Edwin]. O'Hara-Cadet midshipman (E) (Posthumous) Ford Stilson (Chief Steward) Capt. Horst Gerlach had had a previous taste of doing battle with Americans when he attacked and sank the Stanvac Calcutta, which put up a courageous fight and which was to become another of the nine Gallant Ships of World War II. IAN A. MILLAR Kernersville, North Carolina

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We look to history as a living resource, as I endeavor to explain in the Envoy to "The Cape Horn Road" in this issue. History shapes us willy-nilly- will we be awake to history, and shape it to what we dream and hope for in our time? This is one of the great questions lined up in the World Marine Millennial Conference, which we co-sponsor with the Peabody Essex Museum this spring.

Active seafaring and academic studies, and the informed, challenging, and, as many readers find, refreshing conversation that holds us together and sustains our dialogue with history-these define our work together in NMHS and our discourse in Sea History.

A sympathetic observer told me once that these wide-ranging concerns do not fit in any convenient cubbyhole. I do hope that is true! And I hope that it continues to be true throughout the time remaining in my watch on deck here.

Thinking outside of the box is vital to our purposes. We thank our supporters who made this possible. Our venture is ever toward far horizons, to bring home the unconfined lessons and joys of voyaging and, perhaps, a little wisdom.

PETER STANFORD

President 2

I entered [the US Merchant Marine Academy at] Kings Point in February of 1943 and that summer was a cadet aboard a small-ex-coasrwise-passenger ship. We had one 4" gun aft, similar to that on the Hopkins, plus six 30-caliber machine guns on the bridge. By the time I returned to school, the Main Hall had been re-named "O 'Hara Hall." Everyone knows the story of Edwin O'Hara. What he did was truly amazing. From my own experience with the Armed Guard, those old 4" guns were not easy to operate.

HUGH VAUGHAN LEWIS

Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina Although I have gone to sea for 38 years, I had never heard of the Liberty ship Stephen Hopkins or its battle with the German raider Stier, on the 27th of September 1942.

At that time, I was second mate aboard the Silver Sword, and we had just left Archangel. She was one of the lucky eleven ships remaining from the heavily attacked convoy PQ-17 to Murmansk. Twenty-two ships

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

had been sunk, shortly after 4 July 1942.

Homeward bound the Silver Sword was the first vessel torpedoed. Both ends of the vessel were badly damaged. T he rudder and propeller were blown off. We rowed to a rescue vessel close by, as a destroyer sh elled our ship to finish her off.

Three years ago, with help from The Mariners' Museum, in Newport News, Virginia, I was able to contact survivors of the submarine that torpedoed us, U-255 . I have been corresponding with her first officer and, until recently, her captain. I have a copy of U-255's log sheet for that day, giving the name of our ship, time of attack, and exact location where it happened.

JOHN BEHNKEN

Newport News, Virginia

"Sailing Vessels Have Been My Life" It has been a pleasure to read your article about the voyage of the Joseph Conrad in the latest Sea History ("Cape Horn Road," SH 91). I read everything I could find that Villiers wrote, but an obdurate father fought my efforts to go to sea. I fo ught back as long as he lived, and have no regrets . A business career was not for me.

A group of Sea Sco uts in Vermont led me to taking a position as mate and then captain aboard the schooner Brilliant. From that I went into researching, writing three books about schooners I'd sailed and a list of all the three-masted American coasting schooners built on the American East Coast.

Sailing vessels have been my life.

After 37 years at Mystic, I now volunteer at the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort. There I tell the story of the four-masted schoone r Anna R. H eidritter, which was wrecked on Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks, on 2 March 1942. She was carrying dye-wood from Haiti for Chester, Pennsylvania. I was aboard the four-master Herbert L. Rawling, just a few days astern, also with logwood from Haiti. We made it to Baltimore.

Then I went into steam. Illness forced me ashore in December 1943, but Brilliant drew me back to salt water and an estimated 4,000 Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and adults, who became crew during four- and five-day trips out of Mystic Seaport Museum. I only had one man to help me; the kids were the crew.

George Moffett is a great man to operate Brilliant. He is taking h er to Europe

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

next summer. H e will run down to the Canaries, after the European tall ship events, down the Trades to the West Indies, sail those waters during the winter and come north in the spring.

I'm glad I never had such a schedule. I not only had a beautiful

Picton Castle awaits her new mizzen topmast in Lunenburg, 1997.

vessel to sail but seldom was away from my family over rwo weeks. That's like having your cake and eating it too .

FRANCIS E. "BIFF" BOWKER

Sea Level, North Carolina Captain "Bijf'' Bowker, as he is known wherever schooner men gather, became a seamanauthor like Villiers, and our editor-at-large tells us it was Schooner Valhalla when these two sat down together-ED.

has black and yellow paint rather than the gleaming white in the picture of her departure from Cape Town.

We were delighted to read about "our big ship," and learn about her voyage around the wo rld and safe return to Nova Scotia.

We had often wondered about her. Enclosed is the picture we took that day, as it might be of interest to your readers to see the refitting work in progress.

ERIC ERICSON

Tracking the Picton Castle In late June 1997, while on a visit to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, my wife and I saw a large topmast being carried through the streets. Following along on foot we saw it delivered to a wharf where a large ship was being fitted out. Your article about the Picton Castle (SH9 l) sent us scrambling for our picture albums. The dates were right, and surely only one ship of that size had been in Lunenburg while we were there.

Right enough, it is the Picton Castle in the photo, her name is clearly visible. She still

Loomis, California

History-at-Sea Makes an Impact Sailing on the Rose with the NMHS History-at-Sea Program last summer was, I can honestly say, the best thing I have ever done. I got used to doing things I normally wouldn't, such as hovering 130 feet above the deck on a steel wire, not being able to hold on because I had to use my hands to furl the sail. Sailing also required teamwork. When something needs to be done, it gets done, and I learned a lot abo ut just

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafaring heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea History , from the ancient mariners of Greece to Portuguese navigators opening up the ocean world to the heroic efforts of seamen in this century's conflicts. Each issue brings new insights and

new discoveries. If you love the sea, the rivers, lakes and bays-if you love the legacy of those who sail in deep water and their workaday craft, then you belong with us.

Join today! Mail in the form below or phone

1-800-221-NMHS (6647)

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.) Sign me on as: D $35 Regular Member D $50 Family Member D $100 Friend D $250 Patron D $500 Donor 92 Mr./Ms. - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----------------------~¡ZIP______~

Return to National Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS & TRUST EES : Chairman, G uy E. C. Maitland; Vice Chairmen, Richardo Lo pes, H oward Slocnick, Edward G . Zeli nsky; President, Peter Stanfo rd; Executive Director, Patrick J . Ga rvey; Vice President, Norma Stanfo rd; Treasurer, W illi am H . W hite; Secretary, Marshall Streiberr; Trustees, Walter R. Brow n, Ri chard T. du Mo ulin , F red C. H aw kin s, Ro dn ey N. H o ughro n , J ako b Isbrandtsen, Steven W. Jones, Robert La Banca, W arren Leback, Karen E. Markoe, Warren M ar r, II , H arry W . Ma rshall , Brian A. McAllister, D avid A. O'Neil , Craig A. C. Reynolds, Charles A. Robertson, Bradfo rd D. Smith , John T albot, David B. Vietor, H arry E. Vinall , III , Jean W ort, Alexander Zagoreos; Chairman Emeritus, Al an G . C hoate FOUN D ER: Karl Kortum (19 17-1 996) OVERSEERS: RADM David C. Brown, Chairman; Walter Cronkite, John Lehm an, John Stobarr AD VISO RS: Co-Chairmen, Fran k 0. Braynard , Me lb o urne Smi th ; D. K. Abbass , Raymond Aker, Geo rge F. Bass, Francis E. Bowker, O swald L. Brett, Norman J. Brouwer, RADM Joseph F. Call o, W illi am M. Doerfli nger, Francis J. Duffy, John Ewald, Joseph L. Farr, Timothy G. Foore, W ill iam G il kerson, Thomas Gillmer, W alter] . H andelman, Charles E. H erdendorf,S teven A. H yman, H ajo Kn uttel, Gunn ar Lundeberg, Conrad M ilster, Wi lliam G . Muller, D avid E. Perkins, Nancy H ughes Richardson, Tim othy J. Ru nyan, Ralph L. Snow, Shannon J. Wall , T homas Wells SEA HISTORY & NMH S STAFF: Editor, J ustineAhlstrom; Executive Editor, Norma Stanford; Contributing Editor, Kevin H aydo n; Editor-at-Large, Peter Stanfo rd; Assistant Editor, Shell ey Reid; Executive Director, Patr ick J. Garvey; ChiefofStaff, Burchenal Green; Director ofEducation, D avid B. All en; Membership Coordinator, Nancy Schnaars; Membership Secretary, Irene Eisenfel d; Membership Assistant, Ann M akelainen;Advertising Secretary, Carmen McCallum ;Accounting, Jose ph Caccio la; Secretary to the President, Karen Ritell

To GET IN TOUCH WITH US: Add ress:

5 John Walsh Blvd., PO Box 68 Pee kskill NY 10566 Phone: 9 14 737-7878 Fax: 9 14 737-7816 Web sire: www.seahistory.org nmhs@sea hisro ry.o rg E- mail:

MEMBERSHIP is invited . Afterguard $ 10,000; Benefacror $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $ 1,000; Donor $500; Patro n $250; Friend $ 100; Co ntribu ror $75; Fam ily $50; Regu lar $35. Al l members outside the USA please add $ 10 fo r postage. SEA H ISTORY is senr to all members. Individual cop ies cost $3.75.

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doing something. I gained the motivation and initiative needed to do anything, and I know I can .

AUDREY H AZZARD C uba, Illinois

Close Encounter with Danmark I first sighted SV Danmark when I was a submarine school student in February 1943, making my first dive in an 0-class training submarine offNew London, Connecticut.

I dove the sub to 100 fee t, got a reasonable trim, and was ordered to surface. I brought her up to periscope depth to have a quick visual check before surfac ing, quite pleased that nothing had gone wrong.

"Up periscope," about a thousand yards away was a square-rigged ship under full sail, headed righ t at us! I didn't wait to admire this stunning sight. D own we went in a hurry. Surfacing as tern, I read Danmark on the co unter. W hen we both returned to New London, I called on her master, C apt.

H ansen, and confessed that I had just inspected his bottom.

Twen ry-o ne years later I called again on Danmark's master in his cabin : same impressive man in command, same beauriful ship . It is so fitting that, after so many years of superb service, she was presented with the Sociery's Ka rl Kortum American Ship T rust Award at the N MHSAnnual Awards Dinner. Well done!

RAD M ROBERTW. MCNITT, USN (RET) An napolis, Maryland "NMHS Chronicles it All" My father began at sea in D ecember 193 0.

T he ships we re Danish (Mae rsk) merchant marine ships, Danmark (two back-to-back training cruises), a schooner and Liberty ships, and he spent 20+ years maintaining USS Constitution, as well as other acti ve Navy ships.

H e was in the No rth, Mediterran ea n, Black, Red, Baltic, Caribbean and the majority of East Asian Seas. World War II saw his ship get attacked by Japanese Zeroes on the Irrawaddy River at Rangoon in D ecember of 194 1, and in late May of 1945 in the battle of O kinawa in Nakagusuku ("Buckner") Bay, his Li berry ship, the William B. A llison, was to rpedoed . I' m grateful that NMH S chro nicles it all.

W. ANDY MEIER Eas t Chatham, New Yo rk

Thespian Sea Routes in the Baltic?

In Shakespeare's lifetime (he died 16 16), English actors and English plays traveled to the Baltic by sea, where they played at Elsinore, Gdansk (then Danzig), Elblag (then Elbing) and Kaliningrad (Konigsberg) traveling south to places such as Warsaw.

In G dansk they are rebuilding a" Shakespearean" theater, claim ed to be built in the early 1600s on the lines of London's Fortune (built a year after Shakespeare's Globe) .

For the celebratio ns of the rebuild in 2004, we'll sail a period ship with acto rs on board from London to the Baltic. Bur what ro ure did ships take to the Baltic in about 1600?

W h at com pany was involved ?

ANTHONY CHURCHILL Londo n, England Answers to Mr. Churchill's query can be directed to him at 1 Craven H ill, London, W2 3EN, England, or via e-mail at churbarry@aol. com.-ED.

ERRATA Yo ur wo nderful article, "H ere ... All Men Mattered ," ("Cape Horn Road, XXI" in Sea H istory 9 1) caused me to sit down in the middle of the holiday rush and enj oy a good read . I sailed with Irving and Exy Johnson and their son Robert when I was a Mariner Sco ut, and this is part of what led me to my curren r work with the barkentine Gazela.

T here's one small co rrection in yo ur sto ry that I hope yo u'll note-Alan Villiers sailed with the Portuguese, not Spanish, fishing fleet, in the schooner Argus (now the Polynesia) . T he volunteers who now maintain and sail Gazela are proud of her Portuguese heritage.

GAY L. BURGIEL Volunteer Coordinator Gazela ofPhiladelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Our author apologizes! He spotted his incredible gaffe calling the Portuguese barkentine Gazela Spanish reading the magazine on the way back from the printer-after 25, 000 copies had been run off- ED.

Many alert readers noted that the bark Kai ulani was off the coast of H awaii in the William Alexander Coulter painting on page 24 of Sea Histo ry 91, and not off San Francisco, as noted in the caption. The editorial staff regrets the error.-ED.

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

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In August 2000 sai l a 2-week voyage from Boston to Nova Sco tia and ea rn 4 credits in History 225 from Boston Uni versity. Detail s on our webs ite: www .ta lls h ip rose . o rg /bu / ind ex. htm I For registration materials: BU Summer Term, 755 Commonwea lth Ave., Boston MA 02215 ; tel: 61 7-353-51 24; emai l: tdwalker @ bu .e du

The o nl y C lass A size sailing vessel und er the US fl ag upo n w hich th e public may embark . All w ho sail aboard participate to the best of the ir ability. Come alo ne or with fa mil y o r fri ends-sig n o n fo r a few days o f a few weeks. No prior experie nce is necessary, nor is ex trao rdinary fitness required. Reaso nable rates .

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ROSE is a US documented vessel, inspected and certified by the US Coast Guard. Safety standards fo r Sailing School Vessels differ from those of passenger vessels on a comparable route, because persons aboard training ships are not passengers but participants who share in the ship ' s operation. ROSE meets or exceeds all safety requ irements for a vessel of her size and class.

NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION Guy E. C. Maitland Succeeds Craig Reynolds as Chairman C raig A. C. Reynolds, chairman ofNMHS's E. C. Maitland, principal of International Board of Trustees since 1997, has stepped Registries, Inc. H e has been a trustee since down from that position due to press of April 1997 and has served as chairman of wo rk; he remains active on the Board. the Development Committee and of the Reflecting on the past few years as Chair- Annual Dinner and as vice chairman of the man, Reynolds is "pleased to note that our Board. When Maitland was awarded the Mari time Association efforts to strengthen of the Port of New and expand our SociYork/New Jersey's Inery have been successful. Thanks to o ur ternational Maritime Hall of Fame Award thousands of members and the unending efin 1999, his presenter forrs of dedicated volcalled him the conunteers and trustees, summate joiner, remarking that there NMHS is stronger than ever before. " Citwasn't a maritime oring the Sociery's eduganization of which cational programs for he wasn't a member.

OpSail 2000 and the Craig Reynolds and Clay Maitland He brings this pasWorld Marine Millen- aboard USCG Barque Eagle in 1998. sionate enth usiasm nial Conference this for maritime interests sp ring as major undertakings critical to and his far-reaching involvements and NMH S's growth, he reports: "Neverthe- friendships to the chairmanship. "History less, our work has just begun . . .. Our has shaped who we are, and NMHS both message is clear: NMHS is the standard teaches that history and advocates the lesbearer for our country's maritime origins, sons of the sea, " Maitland stated. "I am history and traditions ." Taking up this delighted, if daunted, to try to fi ll Craig's .t challenge for the new millennium is Guy shoes."

NMHS Welcomes Pat Garvey as Executive Director Brigadier General Patrick Garvey has joined the National Maritime Historical Sociery as Executive Director, with primary responsibiliry for administration and fund raising. A Marine Corps Reserve officer, he most recently served as Ciry M anager of the Ciryof Peekskill, where NMHS ' s headquarters is located. He has extensive experience in the public service and non-profit arenas, having been Director of Canal Business Enterprises for the NY State Canal Corporation, commander of New York's Camp Smith, Legislative Assistant to the Adjutant General of New York, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at The Rockefeller Universiry in New York Ciry and a Vice President with the Foreign Policy Association and the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction. As an Patrick Garvey, then with the NYS Canal Corporation, speaks at the dedication of a park and historic pier in 1995, as Peter Stanford and Bernadette Castro, NYS Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Look on.

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active member of NMHS, he has participated in a number of projects and has served as co-chairman of the Sociery' s Project Experiment, the effort to build a replica of the historic H udson River sloop Experiment.

Peter Stanford continues as President of NMHS and Editor-at-Large for Sea H istory magazine. "It is good to have Pat at the helm," he says. "Asa longstanding member and supporter, he knows the ropes and brings us needed strength and vision for the challenging voyage ahead. " .t

"The Good Work'' as Members See It Part of the adve nture of history is always learning something new, and this winter we learned more abo ut our members. The wrapper on Sea History 9 1 invited yo u to share yo ur thoughts on Sea History and the direction we've been taking-and more than 250 respo nded!

The overwhelming majoriry of respondents gave us a chorus of"Keep up the good work! " Readers were grateful to have been invited along on Peter Stanford's journey down "The Cape Horn Road, " were inspired by the marine art world, go t caught up in the romance of the age of sail, and we re heartened to see the exploits of America's merchant marine in print.

In fact, the predominant word of criticism among our readers was: "More! " Yo u'd like to see more on American rivers and the West Coast, more articles about steamand motor-driven vessels, more on the merchant marine contribution to our military efforts and developments in peacetime mari time commerce. We are indeed working to include more of these topics which interest so many and are a vital part of our maritime heritage . "The challenge," says NMHS President Peter Stanford, "is to gain the extra pages we need for fuller coverage. A larger Sea History coming out every other month will take a capital investment we' re not yet in a position to make-but we' re looking into prospects of a capital campaign to achieve that goal in the near future ."

The Sociery of co urse does more than bring out a magazine. With members' help and support we work to save historic ships and to promote the seafaring heritage. And members enthusiastically welcomed the Sociery' s growing "History-at-Sea" program, through which we send yo ung people to sea for hands-on history and life lessons aboard sailing ships. Thanks to yo u, it's growing by leaps and bounds.

We'd like to thank all of our members who responded for sharing with us their experiences and their input. T he praise was encouraging, the criticism was taken to heart, and like the prayer, "Let me be as good a man as my dog believes me to be, " we will continue to work to produce a magazine wo rthy of the strong, vibrant interests our members bring to us.

-SHELLEY REID

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

NMHS Annual Meeting to be Held 29 April 2000 at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia Once again, it is time for the National Maritime Historical Society' sAnnual Meeting. This year we will gather at the Independence Seaport Museum on Philadelphia's waterfront overlooking the Delaware River as it wends its way to bay and sea. A major seaport for the past 300 years, despite being 90 miles from the ocean, Philadelphia's maritime heritage runs from commerce to pleasure craft and fishing to internationally important shipyards.

All this and more can be fo und at the Independence Seaport Museum, opened in 1961 as the Philadelphia Maritime Museum. While emphasizing regional maritime heritage, the museum also explores the history of underwater exploration and the development of the oil industry. Educational programs for students and adults and the Historic Ship Zone round our the experience.

Of particular interest is the current exhibit, "Life of a Sailor: A Collector's Vision," featuring the private collection of founder J. Welles Henderson's nautical artifacts. Photographs, paintings, prints, written accounts and objects highlight aspects of a sailor's life aboard ship and ashore from 1750-1910.

The Historic Ship Zone NMHS members will nor want to miss tours of the museum's historic naval ships, the cruiser Olympia of 1892 and the sub Becuna. Olympia, one of the USN avy' s first steel ships, served in the Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean. At the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, she was Commodore Dewey's flagship. In World War I, the cruiser es-

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corted Allied vessels and patrolled off the Atlantic coast. Jusr before retirement in 1922, the venerated ship brought the body of the Unknown Soldier from France to the US. Commissionedin 1944, Becuna was submarine flagship under General Douglas MacArthur and "Dancing the Hornpipe, "from the J Welles Henderson Collecwent on to sink thousands tion, currently on exhibit at the Independence Seaport Museum. of tons of Japanese shipping. After serving in the Korean and Viet- fax us at 914 737-7816 to sign up for the nam wars and training personnel in New Annual Meeting and lunch. Ir helps us in London, Connecticut, she was decommis- planning if you reserve early. You sho uld sioned in 1969. also indicate when yo u make your reservation if yo u prefer a vegetarian meal or have NMHS Business any other dietary requirements.

Coffee and registration begins at 9AM, and Please let us know if yo u would like a the Business Meeting starts at lOAM. Project brochure of hotels and attractions in the reports in the morning will include the 50 area by calling us or by checking the approState Sail-In and other OpSail Education priate box on the registration form . We Program activities as well as NMHS plans recommend reserving early as there is a for 2000 and beyond. This will also pro- city-wide event that week that will make vide an opportunity to meet Patrick Garvey, accommodations scarce. the new Executive Director (see p6).

The Independence Seaport Museum The gathering will then move to the can be easily reached by public transportadockside ballroom beside the historic square tion from within Philadelphia and the outrigger Moshulu, restored as a restaurant lying areas . If you are driving into Philadelnear the museum, for lunch and a cash bar. phia, rake I-95 (North or South) to Exit After lunch, we will return to the Indepen- 16-Columbus Blvd./Washington Ave. dence Seaport Museum for tours of the Turn left onto Columbus Blvd. T urn right under the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge. exhibits and the ships.

Public parking for a fee is available at the Penn's Landing Waterfront and other Meeting Information Cost of the meeting and lunch is $45 per nearby lots. For additional information person. Use the form below, call us at 914 from the Independence Seaport Museum, 737-7878or 1800 221-NMHS (6647), or you may call 215 925-5439. .t

D D

NMHS 2000 ANNUAL MEETING REGISTRATION Yes, I/we will attend the Annual Meeting and the luncheon. Please reserve ___ places at $45 each.

D Please send me information about hotels, restaurants and area attractions in Philadelphia.

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Mail to: NMHS, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Or callNMHS at 914 737-7878 or 1 800 221-NMHS (6647) SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

7

FINE LIMITED EDITION PRINTS by ROBIN BROOKS

Captain James Coot "Son of the Land, Master of the Sea" For over a decade English marine painter Robin Brooks has specialized in scenes from Captain Cook's three famous voyages of discovery. His carefully researched paintings show Cook's vessels in scenes from the Antarctic to the romantic beauty of the Pacific.

These two images are the first of a series and are limited to 850 each.

"The Triumph of the Navigators" In this stunning depiction of Endeavour's return to England on the 13th July 1771 the artist dramatically captures the final few hours of Endeavour's triumphant circumnavigation of the world as she runs briskly through the Dover Strait under a southwest gale.

"I was searching for an account from Cook's first voyage which would somehow capture the triumph of his achievement. I read and reread the journals: there were so many incidents crying out to be put on canvas.

In the end it was the title that suggested the painting."

-

ROBIN BROOKS

"Farewell Old England" July 13th 1772 It was these poignant words written in large letters in the journal of Lieutenant Richard Pickersgill as he left Plymouth aboard Resolution that inspired Robin Brooks to paint this picture.

Just a year after Endeavour's triumphant return, Cook set sail again on another great expedition. The picture shows Resolution and Adventure hove to off Rame Head after leaving Plymouth, England.

"Robin Brooks' paintings bring to life familiar incidents known only in the written word. I think his paintings are superb."

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ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET LORD LEWIN, KG, GCB, LVO, DSC

AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH SEA HISTORY PRESS These two superb limited edition prints are individually embossed by the Fine Art Trade Guild of London, their independent guarantee of the highest standards and limitation of the editions to 850 each. Images are are 669mm x 446mm (26 3 / 8 x 17 7 / 8 inches) printed on 300gsm Huntsman Silk paper using lightfast inks.

Each print is signed and numbered by the artist.

Price each print: $155. Remarques available on request: $350. Shipping/handling: $12 USA, $15 foreign.

Order from: NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY PO Box 68, 5 John Walsh Blvd., Peekskill NY 10566, USA To order by phone with credit card: 1-800-221-NMHS (6647)

THE CAPE HORN ROAD: ENVOY

A Message to the Future about What These Cape Hom Sailors Did and the Echoing Consequences of Their Sailing

by Peter Stanford n an old form of poem called a ballade it was customary to call upon a Prince to think about what the poet had said, in a concluding address called an envoy. But an envoy in its first and older meaning was the act of sending something forth, pursuing a mission. As we end this voyage, the mission continues.

We have perhaps come to see this mission as one of mankind discovering its world and something of its purposes in that world-naming its parts, sounding its seas, and developing the music of its meanings. Aren't those the kind of things that, in the end, all this long voyaging was about?

Not that a sailor would sign onto such articles at the ti me for any given voyage, but there are glimpses of these things one catches in the record, like distant patches of sunlight on a storm-wracked sea. One such would be the joy the Minoan artists took in playful dolphins and giddy octopuses 3,500 years ago; another surely is Francis Drake's calling on the gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner-moments when the qualities needed to make the voyage were emblematic of ends greater than the occasion.

Still another, surely, were the achievements of African Americans who found opportunity at sea or in maritime trades in our polyglot seaport cities, like William Lloyd Garrison, who mastered the skilled trade of caulker in Baltimore, and went on to buy his own freedom and help achieve freedom for others.

I

Toward an Unknown Shore In 1970 the seaman-author Alan Villiers, whom we met in our last, visited Captain Robert Miethe on his farm near Valparaiso on the coast of C hile. The 93-year-old Miethe had sailed as master in the big German barks that fought their way from Hamburg around Cape Horn to Chile for nitrate to make fertilizer for German farms and explosives for the booming munitions industry. Villiers walked out with the stocky, four-square captain along pathways lined with grape clusters ripening under the Chilean sun. They did the morning rounds, looking after things about the well-ordered farm, with Miethe greeting the ducks by name as he did all the animals except the rabbits-they bred too fast to keep proper track-straightening out the young mechanic working on a well pump, and the like.

"Every now and again ," notes Villiers, "the old man burst into a fragment of sea so ng, always in English , the sort that used to be sung in limejuice ships years ago when sailors made their own dogwatch recreation."

Villiers had met Miethe two years earlier at a gathering of the Cape Horn Master Mariners in Hamburg. He could talk with these captains, because he was one of them. So Villiers went to Chile to have a proper yarn with the erect, keen-eyed German, and after their morning walk Miethe gave him a full accounting of his career at sea, including wonderful passages in the Scots-built Pitlochry, which under his command outsailed the mighty fivemasted Preussen. "She listened to the wind better than any ship I ever had, " said Miethe. And Villiers learned the problems of the big five-masters , which Miethe was reluctant to dwell on, but

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

which he said asked too much of God and man.

In his work to record a vanishing way of life, Villiers was interested in the ships, yes-but primarily it was the captains who drove the great ships in the Cape Horn trade and the men who served in them whose stories he sought out. In revisiting what it took to drive a ship through a storm, Captain Miethe spoke of going aloft himself to help the hands stow a foresail that was getting away from them-they were inexperienced, only two days out. "When you take that on you have to win," he said. "I don't know how long it took. There are lulls. Up on the yard the wet heap of the great sail finally came ... the work was done, the sail saved. Down and aloft again to the next sail!"

As the two men parted, Miethe said that the captains rarely thought of their job as a way to make a living. "To us it was living, a profession of tremendous satisfactions comparable to none."

Flying back to England, Villiers saw below him the anchorages once crowded with sailing ships that had fought their way to get there by way of Cape Horn, now empty of any mast or sail, and he thought of the ship's people and ship masters he had known, who, he said, "had defeated every force and twist of stormy treachery that headland could bring against them, and, in the long battle, had enriched the quiet nobility of worki ng man."

As Villiers more than once pointed our, the sailing ship voyage was never from, say, Cardiff to San Francisco, it was "toward, " not "to," that ultimate goal. T his was never an excuse for not making the destined port. It was a recognition, rather, of uncertainty, of the realities of wind and wave for the sailing ship, which had to make her way on the interface between the ocean of water she sailed through, and the ocean of air that gave her her motive power. So our own long voyage, from the warm muddy waters of the Euphrates and Nile rivers five-thousand-odd years ago to the icy seas off Cape Horn, did not change much in its essential challenge. But meeting that challenge changed mankind.

The polyglot cultures of the world's seaports, from our earliest awareness onward, served as seedbeds for new ideas, new ways of doing things and of seeing the world-even of human purpose. So in that great voyage, the subject of this "Cape Horn Road" series, surely the word "toward" is a good word to use, as Jawaharl al Nehru used it in writing his autobiography Toward Freedom.

A Common Language Builds a Community We've noted earlier that Nehru's passionately reasoned book on his long quest for India's freedom from English rule was written in English. He knew that the best hope for Indian independence lay in making the case for independence in the English -speaking community. And he believed that independence could be achieved without war or vio lent revolution, fo llowing the non-violent philosophy of the spiritual leader of the cause, Mahatma Gandhi.

When Nehru's dedicated work for independence began in the early 1900s, the British Empire was at its height, enfolding something like a quarter of the world's population. Nehru went to school in England at Harrow and, despite some annoyance at the

9

British class system, he found the English climate of ideas to his liking and went on to college at Cambridge. There he spent long nights arguing socialism and independence as vital needs for India. Returning home, he became swept up in working for the nascent Indian Congress Party and spent a total of sixteen years in British jails for resisting British authority. But he never gave up on the goals toward which he was steering or the peaceful, cooperative course he had always planned to follow. When World War II broke out in 1939 in Europe, spreading to the Far East in 1941 when Japan attacked American protectorates and French, Dutch and British colonies in the Pacific, Nehru never even considered supporting Japan's vaunted Co-Prosperity Sphere. He saw Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as threats to world civilization and considered British survival and ultimate Allied victory as essential to mankind's hopes for a decent future.

The most remarkable thing in this story is simply that Nehru was right in his idealistic hopes. For the first time in the history of the world, a worldwide community existed which could reform itself, admittedly not without pain, failures and backslidings along the way, to meet its own ideals. That community of Englishspeaking peoples, even as its empire was dissolving in the midl 900s, had achieved something far more important than empire-a comity of independent nations able to act together without compulsion and to achieve fundamental change by peaceful and cooperative means.

A community dedicated to such ends, however imperfectly, should be recognized as something new under the sun. But there were signs along the sea road we have been traveling that such a new community of sentiment and principle was coming into being.

During the American Revolution, some 160 years before Nehru's Toward Freedom was published in 1940, the conservative leader Edmund Burke had remarked that Americans were fighting for Englishmen's rights in America. It took heroic effort and a bitter war to achieve those rights, but when full independence was achieved, people in England knew that the new American power spelled good news for English rights and freedom-in England.

We've seen how, acting on this recognition, the English signed a peace treaty with the new United States of America giving the young republic borders far more extensive than America's allies in the War of American Independence wished to see, in particular opening the Ohio and Mississippi river system to American control and navigation, thus assuring the nation's ability to expand into what became America's heartland. Napoleon's sale of western lands to America in the Louisiana Purchase 20 years later, bringing the nation to the Pacific Coast, was characterized by his foreign minister Talleyrand as a recognition that the Americans "will achieve a destiny that we can no longer prevent." But that had been the policy, to confine and crib up American growth so that France might become a power in the Americas.

Napoleon used the money he got from the Louisiana Purchase to crank up his war machine. He went on to subdue most of Europe, crowning himself emperor on the way. For years only England stood against him, keeping the seas around Europe so that the French Empire was contained. Those "far-distant, stormbeaten ships upon which the Grand Army never looked, " in the American Admiral Mahan's memorable phrase, did indeed stand 10

between that all-conquering army and the dominion of the world.

Those few hundred slow-moving wooden ships had the insatiable emperor in a box. To break out, Napoleon turned east and invaded Russia. This was a bad mistake, for he lost most of his army in the Russian winter-and he'd left the English unconquered behind him. The English, with revived European allies, finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.

A new danger soon arose in the formation of the Holy Alliance.

Led by the restored French monarchy, this crew of despots, including the Russian Tsar, German princelings and the Austrian Emperor, was pledged to use armed force to crush popular uprisings-leading a Tsar to rise from his dinner table on one occasion, crying: "Saddle your horses, men, there's been a revolution in France!" Comic opera gestures aside, this instrument of oppression was a real threat to liberty, backed by the world's most powerful armies.

The English response to this threat, advanced by the conservative foreign minister Castlereagh and his successor the liberal Canning, was to look seaward again and bar European intervention in the Americas, where Central and South American republics were breaking away from European rule. The United States was asked to join in this undertaking and did so, leading to Canning's famous remark that he had summoned the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old. This compact was announced by the US alone as the Monroe Doctrine for domestic political reasons-but what put teeth in it was the Royal Navy, dominant in all oceans in these early years of the century-long Pax Britannica.

We have seen how in that hundred years, 1815-1914, parliaments, railroads and other English expons girdled the world, along with the ever-changing and evolving English Common Law and language. There were fallings-away and betrayals of the cause of freedom, which perhaps I have left understated in this account.

But the over-arching achievements of this accidental empire were impressive, and the world is living with its heritage today.

A little-noticed aspect of this phenomenon was that the active interplay of the highly varied cultures involved a major achievement of the empire and its most important contribution to the world we live in.

Trial by Fire Europe exploded in World War I in 1914. England had striven to stay aloof from the intricate alliances that seamed the continent, but came in to support France against the powerful German war machine that threatened to sweep all before it. America came in in 1917, tipping the scales of battle to ensure German defeat. A humiliating and punishing peace was then imposed on Germany, over the protests of America's President Woodrow Wilson and a Liberal English politician, Winston Churchill.

The inevitable resurgence of Germany was led by a twisted veteran of what was then called the Great War named Adolf Hitler, who preached and carried out a policy of German racial superiority. The German Wehrmacht soon proved itself the most powerful army in the world, having precipitated World War II by invading Poland in 1939. France fell in a lightning campaign spearheaded by tanks and dive bombers, and Winston Churchill, who had warned the world about Hitler and his Nazi creed before

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

The well-named big three-decker HMS Victory, Nelsons flagship, led the fleet that frustrated Napoleons drive for domination and subsequently contained European militarism for the hundredyears ofthe Pax Britannica, 1815-1914. Drydocked in Portsmouth, she served as flagship of the Channel Fleet in World War II and suffered battle damage from German bombs. After that war ended in Allied victory, the Allies observed Nelsons prayer of140years earlier, that "humanity after victory be the predominant feature ofthe British fleet. "

the former corporal came to power, led an England that once again, as in Napoleon's day, stood alone against a conquered Europe.

The decision to fight on was not taken easily. The Western democracies had been riven by the horrors of World War I, and confidence in democratic society was shaken by the worldwide depression of the 1930s. The totalitarian creeds of Communism and Fascism and their most virulent offspring, Nazism, had taken their toll-even in the US. The situation in England, where the decision to fight on against Nazi Germany had to be taken to have any chance of averting what Churchill rightly called a new Dark Ages, was bleak. As John Lukacs points out in a fine new study, Five Days in London (reviewed in this Sea History, page 45), the decision was not easily achieved. In the end it was taken on faith, and on determination that the fight must continue.

But England won the battle for the skies over the island, frustrating German invasion plans, and somehow held on for a year, alone against the German Colossus. A large part of that "somehow" was President Franklin Roosevelt's determination that Germany must first be quarantined in captive Europe, and then, somehow, defeated. Churchill had said at the outset of the war,"We are fighting to save the whole world from the pestilence of Nazi tyranny," and slowly the world came to accept that view, heartened by England's stand.

Roosevelt interpreted American neutrality in distinctly unneutral ways to get vital supplies to England, including the establishment of a Neutrality Zone that extended most of the way across the Atlantic. He took an unprecedented step in meeting with Churchill offNewfoundland, in the summer of 1941, to sign a document of war aims called, significantly, the Atlantic Charter.

By then, Soviet Russia had been dragged into the war. Hitler explained to his generals that the invasion of Russia, his erstwhile ally, was necessary because of England's refusal to surrender. So he made Napoleon's mistake, leaving an unsubdued England behind him. Japan then rashly attacked the United States, bringing the most powerful nation in the world directly into the conflict.

So in the great crisis of our age, and in the ensuing Cold War with Russia, the democracies prevailed. The English-speaking countries had come of age, and in declaring their own identities free of the empire, had saved the values the independent members of the comity had come to cherish and contribute to.

The system was imperfect and ofren abused-but it survived, like a ship always raising her head after a boarding sea sweeps the decks, to resume the forward struggle. It is yet to be seen how this gathering of peoples and purposes, surely a major achievement of mankind on the Cape Horn road, fares in the changed world before us now. ,t

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

In August 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill stands at the rail ofthe Royal Navy battleship Prince of Wales, watching the departure of"my great andgoodfriend" President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the US Navy cruiser Augusta. They met to sign the Atlantic Charter in Argentia Bay, Newfoundland. The British battleship would be sunk by Japanese warplanes four months later. just under three years later, the American cruiser would serve as command ship in the AngloAmerican invasion of France which culminated in the liberation of Europe from Nazi tyranny, enforced by the once-invincible German Army. In victory, all the promises ofthe Atlantic Charter would be kept.

11

Schooners, Schooners Everywhere The Tenth Annual G

e Bay Schooner Race

by Alix T. Thorne

t all began in Baltimore's historic Fell' s Point, several days before the race with the gathering of the fleet, and the carefully orchestrated jockeying for prime dock space. Old friends gathered at the bars and restaurants, particularly the Whistling O yster, officially designated as the Message Center and Race H eadquarters. A blackboard listed the expected vessels and as each arrived , a check mark went by its name. Photographs of pas t participants lined the walls, and Captain Lane Briggs of the T ugantine Norfolk Rebel welcomed the new arrivals.

The first race was born from a challenge issued by Cap tain Briggs and the Norfolk Rebel to the newly launched Pride ofBaltimore !Jin 1988, a renewal of the old rivalry between the cities of Norfolk and Baltimore in the days when commercial schooners raced to deliver their cargoes to C hesapeake ports. Since then, 85 different schooners have participated, ranging from 6 in 1990 to this year's huge fleet of 44. T he The spoon-bowed A. J. Meerwald was built start this year was on Thursday, 14 Octonear the end of the heyday of the oystering industry on Delaware Bay, the culmination of ber, at the C hesapeake Bay Bridge at Ana century of boat design. Today she sails the napolis, and the race fini shed for the larger waters for which she was built, teaching envi- vessels at the Thimble Shoal Light 127 ronmental stewardship and the preservation nautical miles down the Bay. The smaller ofour maritime heritage. (Photo: Thad Koza) vessels raced to Windmill Point Light, 80 nautical m iles away.

H ard-core yacht racers take note: Protests are not encouraged-acco rding to the regulations "they shall be heard for a man-

I

Tacking like crazy!

12

datory $5 00 filing fee . . . aboard the

Norfolk Rebel on New Year's Day 2000 from 1200-1205 , wherever the Norfolk Rebel may be located." Handicaps are based on the 1974 Off Soundings Club Racing Rule which results in "rated length in feet"; of course the Race Committee reserves the right to make adjustments to keep any vessel from dominating its class, which makes for interes ting discussions around the fleet.

The course reco rd was set in 1994 when Adirondack, the newest vessel in the race that year, finished in an elapsed time of 13 hours, 45 minutes, 58 seconds, in perfect mostly downwind conditions. Other years have not been so kind to the fleet. In 199 5, 29 vessels started and only 10 finished before the Saturday, 1OAM deadline, as gales, headwinds and calms confounded the participants. That year featured the maiden outing of the new schooner yacht America, which won Class AA, but los t out on line honors to Woodwind in a photo fini sh. Both Adirondack and Woodwind, in the 75' LOA range, were built in the early '90s at the Scarano yard in Albany, New York, as was America. In 1997, Scarano built Imagine . .. !, a 76' LOA speedster who won in her first outing and was seco nd the following year as well as this year.

Scarano-built vessels have co nsisten tly placed very well and are very fast boats.

The Wednesday night before the race, over 650 crew members gathered for a

The Kathryn B charges down on a couple ofschooners fighting it out close-hauled. (Photo: Thad Koza)

SEA HISTORY 92 , SPRING 2000

dinner organized by the Baltimore sponsors. The evening ended with sea chanteys on the dock next to the Norfolk Rebel, where the beer and rum flowed freely. A sudden rainfall scattered the diehards to the shelter of the nearby pubs or back to their own vessels.

Among this year's fleet were several noteworthy vessels. The 100-year-old Ram schooner Victory Chimes (l 70' sparred length) , had just arrived from Maine to spend the winter at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and at the last minute decided not to race, but she joined the prerace parade around Baltimore Harbor and accompanied the fleet to the starring line in the morning.

Class AA includes two vessels over 150' sparred length: the Thomas Gillmer-designed Pride ofBaltimore II of 1988, and a first-time entry, the 1924 Starling Burgess-designed, Essex-built Highlander Sea (ex-Pilot, Star Pilot) , which has been beautifully restored by its Canadian owner, Secunda Marine Services. These two raced against each other for the first rime at the G loucester Schooner Race over Labor Day weekend and were eager to m eet again.

While neither won their class in the Chesapeake, they are now even on a head-tohead basis, with the Highlander edging out Pride in this race.

There were other historic vessels, each with its own story of restoration and a

Wing on wing, the venerable fishing schooner Lettie G. Howard, with her National Historic Landmark status and the presence on board ofnine Licensed captains, took pride ofplace as the oldest vessel in the race. (Photo: Thad Koza)

modern mission. The Delaware Bay oyster schooner A.}. Meerwald, built in 1928 and relaunched in 199 5, sails now as part of a marine and environmental education program. The Lettie G. Howard, owned and operated by South Street Seaport Museum in New York as a sail training vessel, was the oldest vessel in the race, built in 1893 as a Fredonia-srylefishingschooner in Essex, Massachusetts, and restored in the early 1990s. The Lettie participated for the first time and had the distinction of carrying nine licensed captains-not necessarily an advantage, as she finished third out of seven in her class.

The largest schooners always seem to gar-

ner the most attention, and this race was no exception. This year one of the local favorites, the Lady Maryland, a full-size replica of a Chesapeake Bay pungy cargo schooner built in 1986, was the Class AA winner with an elapsed time just over 15 hours.

Lady Maryland is owned by Living Classrooms Foundation, which runs educational programs for over 7000 students each year in the Bay and along the East Coast.

Another educational vessel was the Harvey Gamage, sparred length 130', a replica coastal schooner built in Maine in 1973. This year she carried 22 students from the Long Island University SEAmesrer program and an educator from the Chesa-

The century-old Victory Chimes, built narrow and Long to transit the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, for the Last half century has sailed as a cruise boat ofdistinctive appearance and proven seagoing capability. (Photo: Thad Koza) SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

13

Protests are not encouraged- "they shall be heardfor a mandatory $500 filingfee ... aboard the Norfolk Rebel on New Year's Day 2000 from 1200-1205, wherever the Norfolk Rebel may be located." peake Bay Foundation, to enhance the race experience with lessons on the ecology and history of the area. Gamage detoured from her route out of Boston to the Caribbean in order to be a part of the festivities, and a last place finish did not dampen the enthusiasm of her crew or students.

Liberty Clipper, sparred length 125', designed by Thomas Gillmer and built in 1983, rounded out Class AA. She carried paying passengers who participated in the sailing of the vessel and they did very well, finishing second in class.

There was drama, excitement and history among the smaller vessels as well. Two of the oldest boats were John G. Alden designs: Adventurer (LOA 65') built in Mystic in 1926, one of the Malabar series, and Glory (LOA 54') built in 1929 at Goudy and Stevens, East Boothbay, Maine, which won her class.

Designer Merritt Walter was represented by five schooners, including the Norfolk Rebel. The Rebel, with red sails flying, may not win the race, but she sets the fleet standard for enthusiasm, family participation and old-fashioned fun. This year, all four Briggs sons, professional captains of

vessels around the country, were on board with their own families-about four people for each bunk!

Tom Colvin had four vessels, including Kathryn B (LOA 105'), a three-masted passenger schooner which sails in Maine in the summer and joined the race festivities on her way to winter in the Caribbean.

Eleven schooners were built before 1938, and seven were built in the last eight years, covering 100 years of A. J. Meerwald foots it fleetly on a port tack under the rig she was born with. (Photo: Thad Koza) schooner design and history.

The award ceremony and party on Saturday afternoon included local oys- one end of the bay to the other, it will be a ters and whole pigs roasting on portable magnificent sight. 1grills. Prizes were donated by local companies and a very good time was had by all.

The proceeds from entry fees and dona- Alix Thorne sailed up from Maine to Baltitions go to promote "public awareness of more in Victory Chimes, sailed the race on the Chesapeake Bay's maritime heritage Lettie G . Howard, and, being President of and to encourage the preservation and im- the Harvey Gamage Foundation, was rooting provement of the Chesapeake's natural re- the while far the Gamage. sources." This year, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation was the beneficiary of over Kathy Hill, Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner $7,500, as well as an enormous amount of Race, PO Box 8155, Norfolk VA 23503; publicity and goodwill. This year's race is 757 480-RACE; web site: www.Southern scheduled for 18-22 October 2000. From Branch. com/SchoonerRace

The rakish Pride of Baltimore II holds her own in her home waters ofthe Chesapeake, though she is equally comfortable traveling the world, including voyages to Europe, most recently in 1996, and Asia in 1998. (Photo: Thad Koza)

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SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

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''W'ISky''Aground: Inter-Service ¡ Can-Do Saves the Day!

by David F. Winkler, PhD

0

ne of rhe US Navy's mosr embarrassing episodes, rhe grounding of USS Missouri (BB-63) ar Hampron Roads, Virginia, on 17 January 1950, led ro rhe relief of rhe commander.

In rhe mud off rhe Army Officers Club ar Fortress Monroe, efforts over two weeks ro free the hisroric battlewagon drew national attention. Having ro live down this incident, the Navy could have faced even greater ridicule with the grounding of Missouri's sisrer, USS Wisconsin (BB-64). This happened on the morning of 22 August 1951 in the Hudson River, overlooked by midrown New York-but actions taken by members of the Navy's sister sea services saved Wisconsin from infamy.

Wisconsin had been decommissioned and placed in mothballs on 1 July 1948, then recommissioned on 3 March 1951 in response ro the Korean War. "Wisky," as she was affecrionarely known, had picked up 800 midshipmen at Norfolk, Virginia, for a trip ro Halifax, Nova Scotia. Returning from Halifax on 21 August, Wisconsin passed through the Verrazano Narrows ro moor in the Hudson River ro give the crew some liberty before returning ro Virginia.

The commanding officer was Captain Thomas Burrowes, USN. Joining Burrowes for the reactivation was Commander Charles H. Becker, who served as the executive officer. The navigaror, Lieutenant Commander Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., was a more recent addirion ro the crew, having relieved the firsr navigaror.

Burrowes, Becker and Zumwalt had hoped to have Wisconsin pierside for the New York stay. However, the only space that could accommodate the 860-foot-long warship was occupied by the liner Queen Mary. The Port Authority did provide an option: a buoy moor in the Hudson River.

This was acceptable ro Burrowes's immediate superior, Rear Admiral Clarence E. Olsen , Commander Battleship Cruiser Division Two (ComBatCruDiv Two).

RADM Olsen wanted the "middies" ro have some good liberty and the proximity to Times Square and the attractions of mid-Manhattan assured increased time on the beach. He directed Burrowes to accept the Porr Aurhoriry's proposal.

Zumwalt and Burrowes, however, were not convinced that the buoys could hold the pull of the massive battleship. Zumwalt sent an advance party out, and they confirmed the buoys were properly anchored to the bottom. Still Zumwalr felt uncomforrable. Burrowes agreed, and again requested an anchorage assignment. ComBatCruDiv Two responded: "S uggest you carry out previously directed orders."

Accordingly, with the help of eight tugboats, Wisconsin !arched herself to two buoys, one forward, one aft, headed downstream. At 1030, Captain Burrowes assumed duties as Senior Officer Present Afloat.

Captain Francis E. Blake, USMC, commander of the Marine Detachment, returning to the battleship from a stint at legal school, reported aboard at 1040. He spoke with several more experienced deck officers during the evening meal about the possible hazards of the current moor. In the meantime, Captain Burrowes departed to overnight ashore with friends and family.

After a hectic first day, all was quiet on the battleship on the evening of the 2 lst.

When Capt. Blake assumed the watch as in-port Officer of the Deck on the aft quarterdeck, only boiler 6 remained on line to provide auxiliary steam. As dawn broke over Manhattan on the 22nd, the Junior Officer of the Deck QOOD) told Blake that the anchor watch had reported the port chain securing the ship to Buoy A, the upstream buoy, to be under heavy strain. Blake directed the JOOD to have the duty boatswain inspect the forward , downstream moor, and within minutes,

received a report that the wires were taut.

He sent his messenger to contact the duty commander and rhen called the XO' s stateroom ro inform Becker. While talking to Becker, Blake received a report that the stern was swinging to starboard; a glance out the porthole confirmed the bad news.

The upstream mooring was dragging!

Back on the aft quarrerdeck, Blake ordered LCMs (landing craft) assigned to Wisconsin to take position on the starboard quarter and start pushing. Meanwhile, word spread through the messdecks that the ship was adrift. Many of the middies, blearyeyed after liberty in the big city, treated the scuttlebutt with skepticism, until the squawk boxes announced "station the special sea detail" and called all hands topside to quarters. As the crew and middies streamed out to their mustering stations, the watch was shifted to the bridge. Blake remained on the aft quarterdeck while Zumwalt and Becker assessed the situation from above. At 0656, Zumwalt informed Becker that the stern was approaching shoal water. As the stern swung thirty degrees off center, the bridge team took every action they could conceive of. Wisconsin's remaining boats were called away. Passing tugs and additional LCMs from the landing ship dock Lindenwald responded to signals for assistance. Down below, the engineers lit off boilers l , 2 and 5. At 0705, with the forward moor, downstream, beginning to drag, the signalman sent up the international distress signal. Becker ordered the starboard anchor dropped . That helped ro hold the bow, but at 0710, Zumwalt received so unding reports indicaring rhar rhe

jg$

L CMs and tugs team up to keep the ship '.r stern from swinging into the New Jersey shore.

(Photos courtesy Naval Historical Center)

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

17

Wisconsin 5 skipper, Captain Burrowes, delivers his accolade

to Marine Corps Captain Blake-whose prompt action saved the ship from damage, and her officers from humiliation.

stern had come into contact with the Hudson's muddy bottom. On a positive note, the grounding eased pressure on the forward, downstream moor.

The tide was low, with high ride scheduled at 1349. These tidal conditions bode well for refloating. Unfo rtunately, the engineers reported a slow loss of vacuum on turbo generators 5 and 6. Lacking circulating water due to the intakes resting on the mudflats, the engineers shut down the power plants at 0715. Power was lost throughout the ship.

By this time six tugboats had joined the gaggle ofLCMs on the starboard quarter in a seemingly futile attempt to move 45,000 tons of steel. But these efforts kept the battleship from moving farther toward the New Jersey shore. Over on the New York shore, Wisconsin's gig headed toward the 79th Street pier to pick up Captain Burrowes and the chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander G. Gardner.

At 0727 a message was dispatched to the commander of Naval Base New York to "expedite" sending additional rugs and a pilot. With the after emergency diesel generator coming to life, lights throughout the ship began to flicker. However, attempts to restart generators 5 and 6 using circulating water cut in from the firemain fai led and the lights again went out at 0755 when the after emergency diesel had to be shut down due to overheating.

By this time both Burrowes and Gardner had returned. Heading down into the darkening engineering spaces, the Chief Engineer fo und out that the feed water supply in fireroom three was running critically low. He approved the transfer of reserve feedwater from fireroom four so that boiler 6 could continue steaming. With electrical ventilation systems shut down, the heat below became nearly unbearable as the boilermen rotated in on five-minute shifts.

Four men suffered heat exhaustion.

18

Up above, more tugs responded to Wisconsin's pleas for aid. And at 0844, the Coast Guard icebreaker W-91 rook position on the starboard quarter and began pushing. The icebreaker's powerful thrust proved decisive. At 0855 the sounding of the depth of water aft, which had been reading 23 feet four inches, deepened to 25 feet. Wisconsin's stern began to swing back into the main channel of the Hudson.

A few min utes later, lights and ventilation came on as the forward emergency diesel generated power to the main switchboard.

Along the New Jersey Palisades, thousands watched the drama unfold.

Still, "Wisky'' faced the predicament of being latched to two buoys, and there were concerns of fou ling one of the battleship's four screws in the wires. Burrowes cut loose the wires from Buoy B, aft, and the port anchor chain latched to Buoy A and raised the starboard anchor to get underway. With a pilot aboard and rugs alongside to guide the way, Wisconsin tested her engines. At 1057 she was under her own power, making her way down to an anchorage at Gravesend Bay near Coney Island.

Aware of the calamity of the Missouri grounding and the subsequent investigations and hearings, Z umwalt began drafting a chronology of events leading to the grounding. He never got to send it. As he readied the message for transmission, a message arrived from ComBatCruDiv Two. Z umwalt recalled that Olsen wrote: "Regret the report of your incident but I am delighted to note there was no command error involved."

After four days of liberty, the mighty

Wisconsin once again raised her anchor and headed out to conduct gunnery practice and further training at Guantanamo, prior to her return to the Pacific for action off Korea. Eventually on 15 January 1952, while on the gun line off the Kosong area of Korea, Captain Burrowes recognized Marine Corps Captain Blake with a letter of commendation, crediting him with actions that were "measurably responsible for the prompt return of this vessel to safe waters."

Unlike the Missouri grounding, there were no courts-martial, boards, hearingsnot even a standard JAGMAN investigation. RADM Olsen, by accepting immediate responsibility for his error, shielded the battleship from unnecessary scrutiny and protected the careers of her officers.

RADM Olsen was relieved as ComBatDivTwo shortly after the incident, but went on to serve the Navy for several more years with a final posting in Norway. Both Burrowes and Zumwalt attained Flag Rank.

The recently deceased Zumwalt served as Chief of Naval Operations, 1970-74.

As for the cause of the grounding, the weather was blamed. Heavy summer downpours in upstate New York had flooded the Hudson's tributaries, leading to an unusually strong downstream current rushing up against Wisconsin's stern. The battleship's sailors clearly learned a lesson that remains valid today-that the true danger may arise from well beyond the horizon. !,

Dr. Winkler is an historian with the Naval Historical Foundation and author of Cold War at Sea: High Seas Confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union,

due May 2000 from the Naval Institute Press.

The lithe form and power.fol armament ofUSS Wisconsin, here offjapan in 1353, were of little avail when failed moorings let her drift into danger.

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

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MARINE ART

Working With

by Bill Mearns y interest in ships and rhe sea has been lifelong. G oing back to my earliest memories I can recall being fascinated by rhe activities of my paternal relatives, fis hermen our of Montrose on rhe east coast of Scotland. I was raughr rhe rudiments of sailing a small lugsail beach boar by my grandfather when I was ten years old.

M y fa ther, D avid M earns, took me to see vessels being built or under repair in dry-dock and taught me to row in the River South Esk, rhus whetting m y appetite for things maritime. H e had settled in Dundee, where there was a well established ship building industry.

M y grandfa ther, also D avid Mearns, was rhe mas ter of the steam drifter South Esk, regisrrarion number M E 19 5, which carried our a rescue in a fi erce three-day storm in the N orrh Sea saving rhe crew and their vessel, rhe steam drifter Yarm outh. As a result, he was awarded rhe RNLI Silver M edal in 19 13, in due course left to me.

M y uncle, Andrew M earns, was also a fisherman, harbour pilot and lifeboat coxswain ar Montrose. His son Andrew rook

M

The Gravesend shrimper M arigold goes about her business, close-hauled in moderate weather.

As it occasionally must happen amongst the fishing fleets, the steam drifter So uth Esk, skippered by the author's grandfather David Mearns, went to the rescue of a fellow fisherman, the steam drifter Yarmouth, during a fierce storm in the North Sea in 19 13. Both the crew and the vessel were rescued, for which Captain Mearns was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal.

20

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

the Medium

me on a trawling trip where I gained experience of fishing life.

As time went by I took increasing interest in the movement and texture of the surface of the sea, all the while trying to improve my drawing skills. I didn't seriously consider that I should make a career of marine painting and I studied to become a mechanical engineer.

My wife and I left Britain in 1970 with three yo ung sons, traveling by sea to Australia, where we settled in the beautiful port of Hobart, Tasmania.

About 1975 I returned to painting seriously. Six years later I was invited to hold a solo exhibition of my work and thereafter have had annual exhibitions. Since 1981 we have traveled extens ively through Australia and to New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe to make studies of vessels from small work boats to large sailing ships. We attend traditional wooden boat festivals and make the occasional trip on sailing ships when possible. * * * * * I paint predominantly vintage sail or wo rking craft. However I also do commissions for naval ships, commercial vessels, and fo r pnvate owners.

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

My work is almost exclusively watercolour-a medium whi ch suits the subj ect of sea and sky very well. Ir is also very adaptable for fine detail. My" ideas drawer" contains notes and sketches of subj ects for a future date. I also take photographs, primarily to remind me of details of the subject.

My paintings are generally a combination of observation and imagination, since

A seagoing East Anglian fishing smack makes her way under ideal conditions on a broad reach in an easy sea.

This clinker-built work boat captured the artist's eye in a small harbor in southern Tasmania.

21

Aurora Australis was built in New South Wales, Australia, in 1990. She is Australia's p rimary research and service vessel in the Antarctic and is capable ofbreaking ice 2 meters thick at a speed of3 knots. She is ftequentfy seen in her home port ofHobart, Tasmania, between October and April each year. as the work progresses I feel that it is important to be aware of the way in which the medium is helping to develop the work almost unexpectedly. The completed painting is a result of my own intentions and exploiting the sometimes unexpected results of watercolour.

I do not feel , nor ever want to feel, that I have mastered the medium. Consequently, although I draw my subject carefully, use photography, maintain consistency with the direction of light and effects of wind, preserve the harmony of the subject with the elements, and keep in mind the basic ideas and mood of the painting, all of which inspired me in the first place, there is excitement in knowing that the finished painting always varies somewhat from these beginnings. ,!,

This painting of the modern racing sloop Sailabiliry in the Sydney-to-Hobart race captures the excitement ofocean racing.

Mr. Mearns Lives with his wife Sheila in Hobart, Tasmania, in a home overlooking the harbor. They and their three sons enjoy sailing and traveling. Biff is a member ofthe Australian Society ofMarine Artists and has exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artists in London.

22

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

MARINE ART NEWS

Grants Available to Conserve Public Marine Sculpture Mariners are the subject of almost 300 public sculptures in the United States. Unfortunately, 52 percent of our nation's bronze, steel and stone sailors are in need of conservation treatment, and many of them require urgent attention. Save Outdoor Sculpture! is proud to announce the availability of cash awards for such treatment.

T hanks to generous support from Target Stores and the National Endowment for the Arts, communities can preserve public sculpture as a lasting gift for the next generation.

Through 30 November 2000, at leas t one sculpture in each state plus the District of Columbia will receive partial support to cover costs of professional conservation. These awards are competitive and available nationwide, so do not delay. SOS! urges interested parties to call immediately-assessments take time and are the first step for any application for funding. For more information and application s, visit SOS! at www. heritagepreservation.org or call SOS! at 1-888-SCULPT (888 767-7285).

- ANNIE SUGAR, SOS!

Admiral Perry Monument of 1916 in Buffalo, New York, before and after treatment (Photo: Nancy ]. Parisi)

"A View ofMt. Desertfrom Somes Cove, c.

1870," by john Stobart (Courtesy Maritime Heritage Prints)

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

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Marine Art Calendar • American Society of Marine Artists: 10 March- 11 April 2000, "Southern Waters": First Regional Art Show of the ASMA Southeast Region at the Art League of Manatee Coun ty Gallery, 209 N inth Street West, Bradenton, Florida (Robert Semler, President, ASMA, 33 08 56th Terrace East, Bradenton FL 34203-5226; 941 75 1-01 83); I August-30 September 2000, Western Region Juried Exhibit of ASMA (Ven tura County Maritime Museum at Channel Islands Harbor, 2731 S. Victoria Avenue, Oxnard CA 93035; 805 984-6260; fax: 805 984-5970; e-mail: VCMM@aol.com) •Kendall Whaling Museum: 23-25 June 2000, Scrimshaw Collector's Weekend (27 Everen Street, PO Box 297, Sharo n MA 02067; 781 784-5642; we b site: www .kwm.org)

Janus Lithographs

• The Mariners' Museum: from 25 Jan uary 2000, "America's Cup: There Is No Second Place"; 10 June-28 October 2000, Scale Ship Model Competi tion (100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA23606-3759; 757 596-2222; web site: www.mariner.org) •Milwaukee Art Museum: 26 May-30 July 2000 , "Currents 28: H iroshi Sugimoto"seascape pai ntings (750 North Lincoln Memorial Drive, Milwaukee WI 53202; 414 224-3200; web site: www.mam.org) • National Maritime Museum, England: 17 February-6 June 2000, "Beside the Sea: The British Coast in Art" (Greenwich, London SElO 9NF; 20 8858 4422; fax: 20 8312 6521; web site: www.nmm.ac.uk) •Peabody Essex Museum: 28 Jan uary-7 May 2000, "Suggestive Curves" : Boat Design as a Visual Art; 17 March-11 Jun e 2000 , "Images of Paradise: Views from the Age of Exploration " (East India Square, Salem MA 01970-3783; 978 745-9500; web site: www.pem. org) •Penobscot Marine Museum: 2 July- I October 2000, "Ports and Passages": An Exhibit of John Stoban's Work (5 Church Street, PO Box 498, Searsport ME 049740498; 207 548-2529; fax: 207 548-2520 ; email: PMMuseum@acadia.ne t) • Seamen's Church Institute: 26 Jan uary30 May 2000 , "Woolies: Sailors' Embroidered Folk Art" (24 1 Water Street, New York NY 10038; 212 349-9090)

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Celeb_rate the Fourth of July 2ooO w~th NMHS and OpSail in New York Harbor!

We've chartered the Staten Island ferryboat John F. Kennedy to view OpSail's Parade of Sail in New York Harbor. Join fellow members to watch this historic event and hear our commentator discuss the tall ships from around the world as they pass. Bring your binoculars and camera!

We'll board at Slip 6 at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, from about 7 to 8AM and will leave for our assigned station in time for the Parade of Sail, now expected to begin at 10AM. Our return to the terminal depends on the time the last ship of the parade passes our station, probably about 3PM. All times are approximate and will be confirmed when we send out the tickets. The Coast Guard will

have the final say on harbor traffic.

Transportation and parking information will be mailed with the tickets.

Tickets are $125 for members of NMHS or $150 for the general public. * There will be a concession stand selling a variety of breakfast food, snacks and luncheon food along with hamburgers, hot dogs, coffee, soda and other fare. Passengers may bring their own lunch, but alcoholic bev-

erages may not be brought aboard.

There will be a cash bar from which drinks may be purchased.

Souvenirs of OpSail, NMHS merchandise and books will be for sale on board.

There are no reduced rates for children and tickets are non-refundable. Tickets will be mailed to you and will not be held or sold at the gate, so please order early.

To order by credit card call: 1-800-221-NMHS (6647) Or send your check or money order made out to "NMHS" to:

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY-Ferry PO Box 68 Peekskill NY 10566

* $50 is the cost of the event; the rest of the price is a tax-deductible contribution.

There is limited handicap accessibility; please let us know in advance so provisions can be made.

An Introduction to

Operation Sail 2000

"The National Maritime Historical Society is to be saluted for putting young people into the sail training programs can-ied out aboard the fleet of traditional sailing ships, led by the US Coast Guard Barque Eagle. What can be more important than giving our children the challenge of voyaging in a tall ship driven by the wind in her sails, and driven, too, by the hearts, minds and willing hands of the ship's young crew?"

Chairman NMHS Maritime Education Initiative

-WALTER CRONKITE,

The Ships That Took Us to the Far Reaches of the World The Work of Operation Sail The Tall Ships Are Not Just for Show Eagle: America' s Tall Ship A Glimpse of the World's Class A Fleet What Ship Is That? A Primer of Ship Rigs

page 2 page page page page

8 9 10 12

Hanging Out on the High Seas History at Sea in the Tall Ships

page 13

Tlie Ships tliat Took Us to tlie Far Readies

by Norma and Peter Stanford ow appropriate that the nations of the world will come together to celebrate the year 2000 with gatherings of tall ships in sea festivals! It was sailing ships that first encircled the globe and eventually brought all the families of mankind into awareness of each other.

Recent research indicates that early Homo sapiens needed two important inventions to make the gigantic leap from simple hunter-gatherers limited to a small area of the globe, to culture-making travelers who could adapt to new climates and conditions and ultimately populate the entire world .

The all-important invention was language, which allowed the communication of complex ideas. Even before the development of writing, memorization enabled early Man to carry ideas, techniques, stories and history over space and time.

This led to an explosion of advancesart, tools and more complex systems for everything from hunting, agriculture and the domestication of animals , to dwellings adapted for varying environments.

And, of course, it led to the building of increasingly sophisticated boats.

The ability to build watercraft is now credited with accelerating mankind's early travels to every corner of the world, including the far-flung islands of the Pacific. And recent evidence indicates that the Americas may have been populated by sea travelers from both the Pacific and the Atlantic, in addition to those arriving via the northern land bridge from Asia.

Navigating Without Instruments .Many people underestimate the abilities 'of these early navigators. We have no record of what kinds of vessels our stoneage ancestors built, but we can guess that they were able to create craft of considerable size and strength, much like the Polynesians' double-hulled canoes or the whale-hunting canoes of the tribes along Am-

H

This clay model of a boat made around 3400 BC has a mast step and holes for stays to support the mast-the first evidence of sail.

Our earliest picture of a vessel under sail is from an Egyptian wall drawing of 3100 BC.

Soon after our ancestors developed language, they learned to navigate.

This drawing of a Minoan boat from a wall painting of about 1630 BC shows the sail furl ed and paddlers dri ving the vessel along during a f estival.

erica' s Pacific Northwest, or the great river boats of Africa, vessels made with simple tools, but with much learning and understanding in their design and construction, learning passed on from generation to generation.

The compass would not come into use until much later. Probably originating in China, it appeared in Italy by the 1100s.

But our early ancestors traveled across the vast spaces of the Pacific, and they did so using the night sky as an immen se chart from which they could tell how far they had traveled from their point of origin and how to return when needed.

A 50-oared galley pursues a merchantman on this Athenian cup from 540-500 BC. The galley uses both sail and oars, the merchantman, dependent on wind alone, is at a distinct disadvantage. From The Ancient Mariners,

by Lionel Casson.

The Polynesians were building and sailing canoes across vast stretches of the Pacific as early as 1100 BC.

2

INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

of tlie Worfd . • • The system is based on memorizing the stars and their positions in the sky. Difficult, yes, and almost lost to history, but for the work of a Caroline Islander, Mau Piailug, who in the 1970s recorded this method used by the islanders.

Hopping Along the Shore Yet for most of our prehistory, ocean travel was limited to coastal waters, hopping from headland to headland, rarely out of sight of land. One reason for this was that paddling or rowing is very labor intensive, and the crew size must increase with vessel size, leaving little space for supplies or passengers, perhaps wives and children, or cargo. Stopping frequently for food, water and rest ashore meant more room for those items you needed to bring with you.

And merchandise for trade was an early aim of our navigation. We have evidence of this in ancient sites that yield materials such as obsidian or copper that could only have come from distant locations. Obsidian, a hard volcanic glass that takes a sharp edge, has been found in mainland Greece in excavations of sites dating back some 12,000 years. The closest source of obsidian was the island of Milos, about 70 miles offshore. This is before there was extensive agriculture, or cities, or much real social organization. It tells us something about the vital role of seafaring in human development to find seaborne trade so early in the tale.

Learning to Sail The advance from paddle or oar to sail was not a simple intuitive step. The earliest evidence we have of sail is a small clay model, perhaps a child's toy , which appears to be a sailboat. It was found in Mesopotamia and dates from about 3400 BC, or 5,400 years ago. By 3000 BC wall paintings and clay models of sail boats appeared in Egypt and elsewhere. So the earliest evidence of a sailing vessel is over 6,600 years after the earliest known seafaring.

Out of the developing civilizations a remarkable maritime empire was taking shape on the Mediterranean island of Crete in the years before 2000 BC. The Minoan civilization (so named after its king Minos) grew to wealth and security, deriving both from the sea. Crete was a trading empire and its ships brought it wealth. And Minos was said by tradition to be the first man to build a navy, which gave the sea empire its security. Much INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

The Norsemen followed the age-old practice of using sail and oars together. With these relatively small open boats, very vulnerable to an angry sea, they established trading routes from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean and westward to Greenland and Labrador about I 000 AD. A cog of the late Middle Ages leaves a German port around 1400 AD. Ships such as these of the Hanseatic League effectively barred Mediterranean vessels from their waters.

From a painting by Mark Myers.

This map shows the earliest known voyages before the Christian era. The Mesopotamians traded to Jndia, perhaps as early as 3500 BC. The Phoenicians and Greeks ventured outside the Mediterranean. Older voyaging may well come to light as science discovers new tools for research.

AFRICA

3

These vessels, kn.own as n.aos, were th e common carriers of the mid- 1400s. The Santa Maria was such a ship. She could deli ver the goods but was bulky and ill suiredfor the work of exploration.

Th e seaworthy and windward-going caravel was the European adaptation of an Arab fish ing boat. Its sleek hull made it easier to drive to windwa rd, but the lateen sails proved too cumbersome for the changing winds encountered on voyages of exploration. It should not surprise us that Columbus favored the caravel Nina over the Santa Mari a. But he alte red the Nina 's lateen. sails to square rig.

-

Chinese vessels reached enormous size and commanded Asian waters for centuries.

Jn 399 AD, a Chinese monk, Fa-hsien, traveled to India by land and return ed to Chin.a by sea in 4 14. A thousand years later, Cheng Ho sailed a large fleet from Ch ina through the East Indies to India, then to the Persian Gulf and on to th e east coast of Africa. The large No rth Ch ina junk shown here was mo ving cargo as late as the 1960s using a design that had not changed much in a thousand years.

4

like the Briti sh Isles 3,000 years later, Crete's ships were its " wooden walls," so its cities and its seaports scattered about the Mediterranean didn ' t need defen sive wall s around them. Minoan paintin gs depict e nchanting scenes of sea life and festivals with women participating in the scenes in important roles. The absence of battl e scenes and depressing parades of captured e ne mies leads one to ex pect that this was a cheerfully free and freedomloving peopl e.

Hi stori ans long thought that the Minoan civilization was brought to an end by the cataclysmic explosion of the volcanic island of Thira in 1500 BC-an event so powe rful that the resulting tidal wave may have reached 100 feet in height, enough to destroy most of the Minoan seaport cities. But more precise dating has shown that the explosion too k pl ace earli er, in 1628 BC. The Minoan s recovered and went on to greater glories in the next 125-odd years. The force of civili zation res ides, after all, in peopl e's mind s and spirits, not in their buildings and their belon g in gs.

The destruction of Minoan ci vi 1ization was the work of man , not nature, probably the result of a split in the royal household th at may have weakened the dynas ty enough to a llow the M ycenean Greeks the opening they needed for conquest.

The Mediterranean World In the centuries that followed, the Greeks took over the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, driving before them the "sea peoples," as they were called by the Egyptian s a nd the people of I s rael and Phoenicia. The Phili stines were one of these ex il ed peoples. Regarded as barbaric by the more settled people of the middl e east, their name came to mean a person who is arrogant and indiffere nt to cultural values. But as the newcomers settled in , they began to pick up what the older cultures had to offer.

The Phoenici ans, the great sea traders from today' s Lebanon , reopened trade with the Greeks aro und 1000 BC and then went on to set up trading posts in North Africa. The Phoenici ans eventually broke out into the Atlantic to begin trading along the coast of Spain for tin mined in England. The tin was needed to make bronze and , as was customary for trading in those early days, was brought down Europe 's coast probably in small hops by local craft, each community trading with its neighbors for the desired goods.

INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

Hawiian Islands

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Polynesians

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Islands

7\

Society Islands

Easter Island

1-1400 AD. Known sea voyages that opened new routes are shown here. Note that sea trade routes opened earlier, such as those shown in map one, were still in use. Not shown are the extensive land routes that brought gold from Africa and silks, spices and other goods from India and China; nor are the extensive land voyages of Marco Polo and the little known Moroccan lbn Battuta. The movement of goods, both by land and sea, was mostly region to region, and goods changed hands frequently from point of origin to destination.

Still, the most important advance the Greeks learned from the Phoenicians was their written language, which the Phoenicians borrowed from the Hebrews, who had developed an alphabet for consonant sounds. By this system, we would write our word "building" as "bldg." This comparatively easy system gave them flexibility and speed in writing, which they used mainly for trade.

By 800 BC the Greeks had added vowels to produce the modern alphabet that you are reading right now. Homer wrote his Iliad about 750 BC. Soon after 700 BC, Hesiod wrote his Book of Days, from which we learn the sailing season of Greek cargo ships. From that point on, the written record blossoms, giving us a wealth of information about these distant people.

By 500 BC the Greeks had been masters in their seas for centuries. In the years that followed, the Greek city-states entered a Golden Age, producing democratic government, philosophy , poetry, art and architecture that are unsurpassed today . But it all came apart, not through natural di saster or conquest by outside force, but by the excesses of the Peloponnesian War. In this conflict, initiated in 431 BC, the democratic ideals of Athens were battered and their politics corrupted by war-driven opportunism. The Athenians lost to the Spartans in 404 BC. In 338 BC the Greek states again fell to quarreling, and Philip of Macedon in northern Greece conquered them all, unitINTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

ing them at last as Hellenes. Hi s son Alexander went on to conquer Persia and Egypt, ushering in what has been called the Hellenistic age, which spread Greek language, ideas and tradition as the dominant culture of the Mediterranean and Middle East.

The force of civilization resides ... in peoples' minds and spirits, not in their buildings and belongings.

But, the Greeks never achieved their former greatness, although great works were written in this later era by, among others, Plato, Aristotle and Demosthenes.

The conquests of Alexander allowed these ideas a much wider field of influence, eventually giving them the life and resilience to influence all Western thought through the ages, including, of course, our own.

The small city-state of Rome on the east coast of Ital y, meanwhile, had devised a new system of government, the republic. This followed years of suffering the excesses of the Etruscan King Tarquin . The Romans revolted, threw out

Tarquin in 509 BC and devised a twohouse system of government with the Senate made up of patricians and the Assembly of plebians, led by two chief magistrates or consuls. The idea was that with two annually elected consuls the danger of slipping into kingship would be reduced. The Romans called this system libera res publica, "freedom in public affairs," from which we get "republic".

Beginning in 197 BC, the Romans began their era of conquest. They conquered the Carthaginians, Greeks and ultimately everyone else around the Mediterranean world and ran an essentially closed system in which piracy was wiped out and commerce flourished.

Along the way they learned how to win sea battles when they had to, whether against Carthaginians, Egyptians or the fierce Veneti in the English Channel. But in the main , it was the ships of peoples conquered by Roman armies that carried the empire's trade.

Within the Roman Empire, trade rose to new hei ghts. Merchandise moved unmol ested from the Caspian Sea and Mesopotamia in the east to the Atlantic coast of Spain in the west, and from Egypt to the British Isles. Cargo vessels grew to great size, essentially unarmed, and propelled by sail alone.

When the Roman Empire came apart toward 500 AD, the eastern half of the empire survived, with its capital at Constantinople, ancient Byzantium. The Byz-

5

An English galleon ofthe latter I 500s. In a vessel like this named the Golden Hinde Francis Drake circled the globe and challenged Spain's domination of the seas.

antine Empire was strong enough to push back the Germanic tribes which had overrun the Roman Empire, and they even set up an administrative capital at Ravenna on the Adriatic not far from Venice. B yzantimn lasted for another 1000 years, falling to the Turks in 1453- by which time Christopher Columbus had been born.

His voyage to the Americas was to shift the focus of sea trade to the Atlantic.

The Italian Maritime Republics With the fall of Constantinople, Genoa and Venice became the leading maritime trading centers in the Mediterranean. A new spirit was sweeping over the Italian cities in this time, a classic revival of culture, learning and progress-the Renaissance, meaning "rebirth." And it was in fact a rebirth of Greek and Roman ideals. The Renaissance was based on the revival of seaborne trade, the stimulation of ideas and energies, and the creation of new wealth which that seaborne commerce breeds.

Venice and Genoa led in the expansion of Mediterranean sea trades into the ocean world outside the Mediterranean.

As early as the latter 1200s, Genoese and Venetian ships were running on regular schedules to the markets in the English Channel and as far north as Antwerp.

This trading nourished the northern traders of the Hanseatic League in the North Sea and the Baltic, from which the Mediterranean ships were barred.

These people of the north had long traditions of seafaring, from the ships that carried goods to the Phoenicians on the coast of Spain, to the fierce Veneti, 6

This Dutch merchantman is the type of vessel that was trading from Europe to India and the East Indies in the early I600s. In 1642 the Dutch East India Company sent Abel Tasman to explore Australia; he discovered Tasmania and New Zealand.

whose powerfully built and seaworthy sailing ships had astounded the Romans, to the Vikings, who ranged trading and raiding from their homes in Scandinavia to Russia, the Mediterranean, Greenland, and even Newfoundland.

Opening the Ocean World But the opening of the oceans, the encircling of the globe by crossing oceans in single leaps-that was to come from the learning being gathered along with the wealth of the trading cities of the Mediterranean. Genoa in particular led in financing and organizing the Portuguese and Spanish voyages that opened the ocean world.

As early as 1291 , two centuries before Columbus's first voyage, Genoa sent the Vivaldi brothers out into the Atlantic to find the sea route to Indi a. The brothers never returned from thi s voyage, but a long-lived tradition maintained that they had settled in Africa, and by the early 1300s, one of the Canary Islands, 100odd miles off the bulge of West Africa, had acquired the name Allegranza, after one of the ships in the Vivaldi voyage.

Genoese merchants went on to set up trading stations along the African shore as their Phoenician predecessors had done more than 2,000 years before them.

Portugal's Henry the Navigator Born in 1395, Prince Henry devoted himself to the study of navigation and exploration, while his older brother ruled Portugal. His school for navigation and exploration at Sagres on the southwest corner of the Iberian peninsula was a gathering place for the study and instruction of

navigation and geography.

Henry 's initial achievement was to settle the Atlantic islands reconnoitered by the Genoese. Madeira and the Azores became productive settlements and the Portuguese sailors learned to sail the open Atlantic. They were soon pushing ever farther down the African coast toward the Cape of Good Hope, the Indian Ocean and the riches that lay beyond.

Renaissance knowledge and energy were now expanding at an increasing speed. Wealth in the hands of a growing middle class produced informed individuals able and eager to make breakthroughs in invention, trade and discovery. In Portugal the emphasis was on discovery.

In 1434 Gil Eannes sailed past Cape Bojador on the bulge of West Africa, proving that the forbidding Cape with its cross currents could be passed safely. By 1444 Portuguese explorers discovered the Cape Verde Islands and by 1470 they were round the western bulge of Africa at the Niger River. In 1487 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope. Then Christopher Columbus made his startling discovery sailing westward across the Atlantic for Spain.

The news that Columbus brought back was that land to the west was within reach of the European explorers. The fact that it was not the fabled Indies was hardly noticed in the scramble to see this new discovery and to make the most of it.

The Columbus voyages, so noteworthy when the first was made in 1492, were followed in rapid succession by other breakthroughs. Only 5 years later, in 1497, INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

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Abel Tasman NETHERLANDS

1624-44

1400-1650. The Portuguese we re determinedly working their way down and around Africa when Columbus brought back his news of land to the west. Only major voyages are shown here, but the global door burst open in the last decade of the 1400s.

the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama rounded the continent of Africa and made his way to India. That same year John Cabot sailed from England to the coast now known as New England. In 1500, just eight years after the Columbus discovery, Pedro Cabral sailed from Portugal to the east coast of South America, then on round Africa to the west coast of India. And in 1519 Magellan sailed for Spain in the first expedition to circumnavigate the world.

The lands and wildlife, people, languages and customs, raw materials and possibilities brought to light in the following centuries were to have an impact on virtually every pocket of humanity on the planet. Sadly, included in this impact were the exchange of diseases, warfare, the spread of slavery, disruption of cultures and environmental repercussions.

place in our future?

It is a daring thing to venture across the unpredictable sea with only your knowledge, will power, the wind and your ship to keep you alive. You cannot park the thing and walk away when the going gets rough, and you cannot make it without your shipmates-you depend on them and you know they are depending on you.

Sailing has not lost its age-old attraction! Nor has the sense of accomplishment one feels having worked as part of a team to drive a windship to its destination been diminished. The

young, and the not so young, who have done this have found it is a life-changing experience.

These ships have much to teach us , which is why there are more large, traditional sailing ships today than there were in Operation Sail 1964, when we thought we were seeing the last gathering of the great ships of sail. How fortunate that we ,!, were mistaken!

** ***

Five centuries separate us from the Age of Exploration. For four of those centuries, the world was connected by sailing ships and traditional craft.

Now as the 21st century begins, the people of the world are linked by television, the jet plane, the cell phone and the internet-communicating to a degree that our grandparents could not have imagined. Indeed, we can imagine even more breakthroughs in the next decades.

Where does that leave the sailing ship?

What do we make of this marvelous creation of mankind , and does it have any INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

The rebirth of interest in maritime history has led to the recreation of numerous ships of our past. This is a replica of Capt. James Cook's ship Endeavour in which Cook explored the world's oceans from 1768to1771, studying the wind systems, currents, people, plants and animals of the areas he traveled. The ship draws admirers wherever she goes because of her meticulous reconstruction.

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THE WORK OF OPERATION SAIL

The Tall Ships of Operation Sail Are Not Just for Show

by Peter Stanford

O

ver the past five thousand years the deepwater sailing ship opened our water-girded pl anet to worldwide trade and hum an intercourse. And so, humanki nd fo r the first time encountered itself in its fu ll , glori ous variety.

Thi s encounter led to co nflicts and suffering, but also to new insights , and understandings and visio n.

Something more was in vo lved in thi s epochal voyagin g as mankind mastered its ocean planet: the actu al experience of seafarin g, of traversin g the allurin g, changing and sometimes implacable sea.

Seafaring demands integrity of purposethat what yo u say yo u are doing, yo u are actu ally committed to doing- bringing with it such qualities as honesty, resolution, ini tiative, cooperation and indi vidual responsibi lity.

Today people around the world are dedicated to relearning these primal lessons of the sea ex perience as they were learned in the first pl ace- thro ugh the need to obey orders instantly, to do things on the run , not to consider a j ob done unl ess it is well done, and to think fo r oneself while fun ctioning as part of the greater whole. You may well see contradi cti o ns in these ideals. If so, yo u' ve spotted a key ingredient in the fo rmula for a good ship 's company: the ability to reconcile the contradiction s from the gut, in the best interests of the ship. You' ve just got to cope with the tensions of seafaring instincti vely, as generations of seame n dri ving unwieldy woode n ships th ro ugh an unforgivin g e nviro nm ent learn ed to do in ages past.

As the long, millennial era of the sail in g ship died out early in this century, so me nati ons began puttin g tra in ees aboard cargo-carrying sailing ships. Thi s helped the ships survive economi cally and prov ided important lesso ns in seamanship . In such matters as sensiti vity to wind and sea, the learning experi ence in a sa iling ship was felt by many to still have a place. And as the existing trades in sailing ships died out, differe nt nations began building sail training ships-big wind ships devoted solely to training yo ung sa ilors in how to sail them. ''Too Important for the World to Lose" In the rapidly changing societies of developed nati ons after World War II, however, one by one the nations eliminated experi ence in sail as a requirement to gain 8

an officer's license to navigate a propeller-dri ven ship . Humankind had more powerful ships, less subject to the vagaries of wind and sea, equipped with sensory apparatus that read the bottom of the sea with its hidden reefs and channels, and read the sky and its developing conditi ons as well , seeing right thro ugh fog and storm. Why confro nt the elements directly when yo u had instruments to do the job for yo u?

But a fe w determined soul s fe lt otherwise. They saw values Ambassador Emil Mosbacher, Jr. , reads the prospectus that extended beyond the prac- for Operation Sail to President John F. Kennedy in May tical needs of steamship opera- 1963. Between them stands Frank 0. Braynard, impresators, embrac ing a visio n in rio of the unprecedented scheme to bring the world's tall w hi c h , as th e Ca pe H o rn ships together, with the IBM scientist Nils Hansell, whose idea the project was, looking on over the President 's sailorman Lincoln Colcord once shoulder. President Kennedy was killed before this imput it, the sailing ship stood fo r possible dream came true in 1964- but it never would "things too important fo r the have happened without his wholehearted support. (Photo : world to lose."

John F. Kennedy Library) And so the Sail Training Association in Britain ran its first ocean race chairman of Operation Sail ' 76, '86 and of big square riggers from England to '92, pointed out, there were twice as Portugal in 1956. This me morable event many ocean-going square-rigged ships in attracted the attention of all who revered the world in 1992 as there had been in the the traditions of sail. But these aficiona- first OpSail. He commented : "What had dos alone could not save the active ocean- been thought of as an outworn way of life turned o ut to be a vigorous and fu ndagoing sailing ship.

A real turnaro und situ atio n took place mentall y useful phenomenon." So the in 1964, however, in the first Operati on last gathering of the tall ships turned o ut Sail. This was co nceived by the maritime to be a renaissance of the breed, with new publicist and hi stori an Frank Braynard sailin g ships being built and old ships and hi s fri end Nil s Hansell as a last gath- adapted to serve as sail trainers. ering of the tall ships to commemorate It is surely a good thing that people the passing of the deepwater sailing ships. reach back in time to find fresh challe nge With practically no advance notice, the in fund amental values humanki nd has arri val of the ships in New York Harbor learned over generations. Shipping leader took not just New York but all America and sailor Jako b l sbra ndtsen once said of by storm, leading to new interest in the the sail training movement: "We are not values of sail trainin g-values which just concerned with getting back to the don' t relate to technical proficiency but past here, we' re getting do wn to fu ndato character, the ability to cope with de- mentals."

And those fundamentals do count, even manding situations, and to respond wholein thi s age of the qui ck buck and the idea heartedly to chall enge.

"A Vigorous Phenomenon" that anything yo u can get away with is The successive OpSails in 1976, 1986, okay . The sea does n' t let you get away and 1992 went fro m strength to strength, with much; it's a medium in which no with public interest running so hi gh that artful dodging will make up fo r failure to major American seaport cities were in- do the j ob ri ght. The tall ships, having spired to rebuild their waterfronts due to opened up the world to humankind, have the attention foc used on them by the a second great serv ice to do, and that is to coming of the tall ships. And the move- bring to life for co min g generations just how they did what they did-and what it ment itself, naturally, benefi ted hugely .

As Ambassador Emil Mosbacher, Jr. , took to do it. j:, INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

USCG Barque Eag le heads into San Juan in 1992. (Cou rtesy US Coast Guard Historian 's Office)

...........'s Taff Ship

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US Coast Guard Barque Eagle will lead the Parade of Tall Ships in Operation Sail Inspired by the vital assistance rendered by the Danish sail training ship Danmarkto the United States in World War II, the US Coast Guard accepted the German bark Horst Wessel as war reparations in 1946. Her first voyage under the US flag, from Bremerhaven to New London, Connecticut, joined an experienced German captain and crew and a neophyte American captain and crew, who pulled together to sail the ship .

In the 54 years since then, Eagle has served as the flagship

of the United States Coast Guard and as "America's tall ship ."

She co ntinually demonstrates her value as a symbol of American good will and our maritime heritage at events throughout the world, but her primary mission is to give the cadets of the US Coast Guard Academy a fundamental understandin g of seaman ship ski lls in a vessel that makes full use of wind and water and does not rely on instrumentation through a tough, character-building ex perience.

Originally named Horst Wessel and built in 1933 as a sail training vessel for the German navy by the shipyard Blohm and Voss , she is one of five sister ships still sailing today. The Sagres II sails for the Portuguese Naval Academy while the Ukraini an Tovarishch is being restored in Germany. A fourth sister ship, Mircea II, was built for Rom ania, and in 1958 the Germans built the fifth sister ship, Gorch Fack II. When the world ' s fleet of tall ships sail s into each of the eight official ports of Operation Sail 2000, it will be led by the gleaming, white-hulled Eagle. In her Dean of American ne wsmen crew will be students from each of the Walter Cronkit e, Honorary 50 states, in a unique exercise called ChairmanofOperationSail, will the "50 State Sail-In." Organized by report the event to the world. the National Maritime Historical SoHere he is shown aboard USCG ciety, this effort celebrates youth and Eagle sailing with two students the sea, and is designed to spread the in anNMHS program. (Courtesy USCG Academy) good word further. ,t

INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

9

THE WORK OF OPERATION SAIL

A Glimpse of the World's Class A Fleet of Tall Ships

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Belem-France Built in J896 for the cocoa trade from South America to France, this 190-foot bark became a British yacht in the 1920s, then served as a stationary exhibit in Venice until restored to take part in Operation Sail 1986. She sails regularly in sail training events in Europe.

Dar Mlodziezy-Poland This handsome new 358-footfull rigger was built in 1982 to the design ofZygmunt Chorenfor the Polish Merchant Marine Academy at Gdynia. Five sisters followed her, now sailing for Ukraine and Russia, in a remarkable rebirth of big sail training ships.

Guayas-Ecuador

COUR T ESY HOWARD SLOTN ICK

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A sister ship of Colombia 's Gl ori a, this 213-foot barkentine was built in Spain in 1977. Guay as serves as a sail training ship for the cadets and junior officers of the Ecuado rian Naval Superior School at Guayaquil, on the river Guayas, for which she was named. Here, she sails into New York Harbor during OpSail 1986, her crew manning the yards and the rails.

Danmark-Denmark This 243-footfull rigger of 1933 was in Florida when Germany invaded Denmark in the spring of 1940. She went on to serve in the US Coast Guard to train American seamen for World War fl. She is famed for her smart ship handling with rigorously trained Danish cadets.

Gazela ofPhiladelphia-USA This Portuguese Grand Banks fishing barkentine, built in 1883, sails today from Philadelphia. The NMHS American Ship Trust was dedicated on her decks in 1979 by Capt. Irving Johnson, dean of American sail training.

INTROD>UCTION to OPERATION SAIL

THE WORK OF OPERATION SAIL

MAX WWW.TALLSH IPR OSE.ORG

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Kruzenshtern-Russia Built for the famous Laiesz "Flying P " line in 1926/or service in the Cape Horn trade to Chile, this 372-foot fou r-masted bark was taken over by Russia after World War 11. She sails worldwide, training young people for the Russian Fisheries Board.

"HMS" Rose-USA This 135-foot replica ofan English frigate which fought in the American Revolution was built in Nova Scotia in J970. She sails today training youth of all ages for sea and is used by NMHSforour "Histo ry at Sea" programs.

Gloria-Colombia A 213-foot bark built in Spain in.1969 to the same general design as US Coast Guard Eagle and other training ships from German ya rds, the Glo ri a sails to train cadets for the Colombian navy.

Sagres /I-Portugal This 267~foot bark, a sister ship of US Coast Guard Eagle, was built in Germany in 1937. She trains cadets for the Portuguese navy and is named for the cape where Prince Henry's college trained sailors for the famous Portuguese voyages of discovery of the 1400s.

Royalist-Great Britain

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Built in.1971 to Colin Mudie 's design, this tough little 92-foot brig sails for the British Sea Cadet Association and has gained a reputation.for fin e shiphandlin.g in all weathers.

INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

11

THE WORK OF OPERATION SAIL

What Ship Is That?

The rig of a ship, or the atTangement of masts and yards (which hold the sail s), and the shape of the sails themselves, can help you identify the vessels that will be participating in Operation Sail. These eight basic ri gs and the brief list of some of the vessels that carry those rigs will get you started.

TOPSAIL SCHOONER Name Length Juan Sebastian de Elcano (Spain) 370' Oosterschelde (The Netherlands) 165 ' Californian (USA) 140' Pride of Baltimore II (USA) 108' Amistad (USA) 85' BARK Name Length Kru zenshtern (Russia) 378' Cuauhtemoc (Mexico) 297' Gorch Fack II (Germany) 295' Sag res II (Portugal) 293' Simon Bolivar (Venezuela) 270' Eagle (USA) 267' Guayas (Ecuador) 213' Gloria (Colombia) 213 ' Picton Castle (USA) 148'

SLOOP Name Clearwater (USA)

FULL-RIGGED SHIP Length Name Mir (Russ ia) 359' Dar Mlodziezy (Poland) 357' 345' Libertad (Argentina) Amerigo Vespucci (Italy) 333 ' Cisne Branco (Brazil) 275' Danmark (Denmark) 252 ' 135 ' Rose (USA) Kalmar Nyckel (USA) 97'

Length 77'

BRIG Name Niagara (USA)

Length 123'

SCHOONER Name Length Capitan Miranda (Uruguay) 198 ' Victory Chimes (USA) 140' Bat 'kivshchyna (Ukraine) 89' Brilliant (USA) 62' )

BARKENTINE Name Length Esmeralda (Chile) 371' Dewa Ruci (Indonesia) 191' Gazela of Philadelphia (USA) 150' 131 ' Pogoria (Poland)

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BRIGANTINE Length Name 120' Fair Jeanne (Canada) INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

High above the deck of the frigate Rose, students from New York City in NMHS 's "Sail of Two Cities" program fu rl a sail as they end their voyage from Boston back in New York; th e follow ing week, Boston students sailed out as trainee crew.

History at Sea on the Tall Ships

by David B. Allen Touch the sea and you've touched all the seas. Each drop of water in the oceans is coupl ed to th e drops surrounding it and thereby to a ll the world's oceans. It is the same with hi story. Each moment in hi story is linked to the seconds before and after it. Connect with a single moment and you are joined to all time. So whe n we explore our maritime heritage, our sea hi story, we are connecti ng to a ll times and all places. We are touchin g the story of all hum ankind.

Thi s is part of the reason for our fascinati on with our maritime hi sto ry and how it has shaped us as a people.

The touchstone for thi s sea hi story is the world 's fl eet of historic sailing craft, the tall ships. These magnifice nt vessels are the physical link to our maritime heritage. The ships deli ver us the past and

carry it into the future. An hi stori c sailing ship is, therefore, the idea l platform for teachjng the lessons of hi story to students who will take those lessons into the future. Learning aboard a tall ship is an experience that includes being quite literall y surrounded by maritime hi story and by the sea. As educators, we ' re just beginning to use the potenti al of these ships.

The Revolution at Sea Last summer a class of hi story students wrote about the role of nav ies in the American Revo lutio n after hav ing spent the afternoon in vo lved in a roaring sea battle between two Revolutionary Warera square-riggers fi ghting, firing , and maneuvering through Long Island Sound.

"The cannon s made so much smoke we could hardl y even see the other ship and we were ri ght on top of it!" exclaimed Mike, a student from South Boston High.

"B ut if we' d been firin g real ammo we' d have taken out their mainmast. I know it!"

The mock sea battle is hard work, like any soccer game as hore-but the hi gh point of the game is when the opposing crews meet and get to hear what was going on aboard the other ship .

Last spring, a hi gh school American literature class read aloud chapters of Captains Courageous in the evening light on the deck of a 100-year-old Gloucester fishing schooner anchored off the Massachu setts coast.

"I Iike to have them read Chapter Three by lamplight in the hold below decks," said the captain . "There you can really empathi ze with Kipling 's characters."

And this fall , students from a school in the Midwest explored the perils of docume ntary film-making while scrambling about on the crowded decks and in the

During the National Maritime Historical Society's "History at Sea " program, these students from New York and Illinois worked with the archaeologists from the Rhode Island Marine A rchaeology Project to examine the Revolutionary War-era wreck of the frigate HMS Cerberus while aboard the replica frigate Rose. The original Rose patrolled the waters off Rhode Island during the Revolution. Adult mentors on the NMHS program included Vincent Roberts (top right), Operation Sail New York's Deputy Director for Community Affairs and Planning, retired Navy Reservist Walter Foster (jar right), an educator who runs maritime history programs in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kathy Smysor (third from right), a history teacher from Illinois who brought her students aboard the Rose.

INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

13

Students aboard the reconstruction "HMS " Rose in NMHS 's program met with archaeologists from the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project and divers from the Navy Underwater Warfare Center, tested their equipment and communicated with divers as they surveyed the wreck of the historic HMS Cerberus.

14

rigging of HMS Bounty, the ship built for humans to meet and trade goods and filming the Oscar-winning 1962 MGM ideas more efficiently than any other inmovie Mutiny on the Bounty. vention. And if cultural exchange is the Recently a class of art students spread catalyst for progress then there are few out their sketchpads on the foredeck of places more conducive for that exchange the Elizabethan galleon Golden Hinde to than aboard an historic vessel. In a tall practice the techniques of marine paint- ship's complement of regular crew, stuing while drawing the other ships an- dents, and their teachers perhaps a dozen chored in Charleston Harbor. creeds and almost as many cultures and And, after sleeping on a hard wooden lifestyles will be represented. Each perbunk in a tiny crew compartment with 12 son learns to respect the others for what other schoolmates for two weeks, a class they add to the team. of composition students wrote a series of These ships teach us lessons of the short stories about living aboard an im- wars that have shaped so much of our migrant vessel. seaborne history, as well as lessons of While swimming next to the ship an- peace. Captain Walter Rybka of US Brig chored in a shallow bay for a routine Niagara studied the firepower of the ship' s propeller inspection, one group of stu- large cannons to determine the killing dents was introduced to an impromptu potential of a warship of the early 1800s. lesson in the physics of sailing-ship hull Through carefully controlled experimendesign . And the sea life. They di scovered tation the ship's authentically-built guns that some of the most interesting sea were aimed and fired. The findings were creatures can be encountered while snor- sobering as the team discovered that splinkeling around an anchored tall ship. "Half ters blasting from the oak walls of the the things we caught we didn't know targeted hull would kill many more seawhether we wanted to study 'em or eat men than the cannonball itself. Later that 'em," said Adam, a high school sopho- year students aboard the same ship carmore from Connecticut. ried out a mission of international underAn Adventure Machine standing and friendship during its annual These large sailing ships offer students visit to ports in Canada and the US. Truths One Learns for Oneself and teachers incredible opportunities for academic challenge and success across Students learning aboard a tall ship disthe curriculum. cover personal truths of lasting import.

And a tall ship is a machine for making These are things students learn for themadventure. New faces, new places, high selves and, so, are not likely to forget! masts, high seas and hard work come After a week aboard these vessels a stutogether to stir the soul and excite the dent is a changed person with a fresh imagination. Students come to appreci- perspective on himself and others. Unate their world and others in it from a sure of meeting academic standards, inwhole new perspective. secure about living with strangers and Working and living aboard a tall ship, worried that the university environment each learns to support the others and, in might prove more of a challenge than he turn, to trust fellow shipmates with their could meet, one high school senior had very lives at times. This type of interac- been doubtful about attending college. tion leads to the breaking down of stereo- After living as a student-trainee aboard a types and to the building of friendships. square-rigger for a week he was ready to After a particularly active sailing day in take on the world. rough weather, a teacher on the midnight "Man, that first day, all these new watch heard singing coming from deep people living in those little bunks in that within the ship. Opening a hatch he dis- little compartment! Doin ' homework by covered four girls huddled in the cramped flashlight and the watch leader wakin ' us but cozy rope locker sharing secrets and up to furl sails in the rain and yellin' stuff harmonizing show tunes. like ' Ballentine those coils after you sheet "We go to the same school but we in the fore! ' Man , if I can handle that, come from different neighborhoods. For college is gonna be cake." He is currently three years in the same classrooms we finishing his second year at the university hardly ever talked to each other. Now, with very good grades. after what we went through today, I feel And it is not only the students who like we' II be best friends," explained one. learn from the experience. A biology Ships throughout history have allowed teacher from the Midwest was struck by INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

New faces, new places, high masts, high seas and hard work come together to stir the soul and excite the imagination. the quantity of marine life surrounding the ship as the students helped secure the mooring lines to a pier along New York's waterfront.

"I've been telling my students that big city harbors are dead seas. I thought that marine animals were supposed to be pretty much extinct in these polluted waters. I can see now that I'll have to rewrite my lesson plans," he said, laughing as he pulled aboard a bucket of harbor water filled with sea creatures.

The value of the tall ship experience as a venue for teaching the lessons of history and the lessons of life cannot be overrated. These ships are to sea history what the great medieval cathedrals are to architecture. Each historic sailing ship is a working artifact to be best used as a tool for helping students to comprehend the value of their maritime heritage.

A Many-Splendored Thing The educational experience ranges over a wide variety of programs aboard ships at sea and at dockside. The stationary exhibition ship can play a vital role, witness the whaleship Charles W. Morgan, built in 1841, which voyaged to distant seas in pursuit of the whale for some 80 years.

This year the National Maritime Historical Society will assist in presenting the World Ship Trust Award to that noble INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

vessel, which is on permanent display at Mystic Seaport Museum, the Museum of America and the Sea, in Connecticut.

This ship has undoubtedly done more to inspire interest in the seafaring heritage than any other merchant ship. The frigate USS Constitution, launched in 1797, has done the same for the naval heritage in receiving the public aboard at her berth in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Bostonanother ship recognized with the World Ship Trust A ward.

The NMHS has recognized activist educational programs aboard ships both at dockside and seagoing. The NMHS Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Maritime Education has been presented to a range of vessels illustrating the surging vitality and variety of shipboard experience available today.

The brig Pilgrim, a reproduction of the vessel that the seamen's advocate Richard Henry Dana sailed aboard in a trip round Cape Horn to the American West Coast in the 1830s, received this award for the outstanding elementary school programs run on her decks, where she lies at the Orange County Marine Institute in California. After extensive preparation in the local schools they come from, the kids pile aboard to launch the ship's boats, stow cargo, set sails and

The students throw themselves into the daily working ofthe ship, using the capstan to raise an anchor, hauling on lines to set sail, and plotting the ship's course.

Aboard South Street Seaport Museum's fishing schooner Lettie G. Howard, a student examines the marine life in New York Harbor's waters.

15

"Man, that first day ... the watch leader wakin' us up to furl sails in the rain . . . If I can handle that, college is gonna be cake."

John Paul Jones's

;;;;;;;;;;::;.;;=:=-.:::=-:-:;; --=-- Bonhomme Richard, -

by William Gilkerson

Jn the mock battle between the fri gate Rose, in home waters in Long Island Sound, and the Australian challenger Endeavour, the fig ht was make-believe, but not the sense of competition and pride among the young crews of these two sailing ships.

cook their own meal s on the wood stove in the galley-all under the rapid-fire orders of hard-driving mates. The youngsters love it! And they learn much of the maritime culture that built Americawithout ever leaving the dock. The ship also makes an annual cruise to keep the crew in practice and to take a small number of youngsters to sea.

Another Cronkite Award Winner, the Sea Education Assoc iati on (SEA) of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on the other hand, keeps its two great schooners, Westward and Co rwith Cramer, co ntinuously at sea, ranging the length and breadth of the North Atlantic in college-level courses in marine biology and maritime history.

Under the direction of SEA President Rafe Parker the Association has built up a substantial campu s ashore to support

16

and augment the sailing of the two schooners. Another Cro nkite A ward went to Captain Jim Gladson of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, which sails the topsail schooner Swift of Ip swich with at-risk city youngsters aboard. This program has achieved deserved recognition, leading to the building of two brigantines at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum to do more of thi s vital work. The bri gantines will be named for Irvin g and Electa Johnson, leaders in the sail training movement who sailed their two schooners named Yan kee seven times around the world in the 1930s through the 1950s.

Ali x Thorne of the Schooner Harvey Gamage Foundation, which sponsors an Ocean Education program in schooners ranging the East Coast fro m Maine to the Caribbean, has also received the NMHS

Walter Cronkite A ward . Starting out with one ship, these very successful shipboard learning programs have now draw n other ships into the program. And in thi s OpSa il year, the Cronkite Award will be presented in Mi ami to Captain Knud Hansen of the Dani sh sail trai ning vessel Danmark, which trained US sail ors in World War II while Denmark was under German occupati on, and whi ch continues to offer some of the finest cadet training in long transoceanic crui ses whi ch have proved to be life-changing experiences fo r many young Dani sh as pi rants. The award to Captain Hansen marks a first award to a non-United States program.

This seems particularly appropriate in this OpSail year and underlines the message that "the sea is one."

Operation Sail 2000 opens the world ' s eyes to the maj esty of the tall ships and the heritage they represent. The National Maritime Hi storical Society is working to acquaint teachers and others to the educati onal value of these cathedrals of the sea. We endeavor to bring new life to histori c vessels and to ensure that we can entrust this valu able portion of our past with the most important part of the fu ture, our children.

We fi nd that teachers are often amazed to learn that they can take an entire class of kids aboard a tall ship for a fu ll day of educati onal programming at about the same cost as a schoo l trip to the local amusement park. We are working to get the message to educators from all disciplines and geographic locations to use these versatile teaching tools that are essentially lying a.round in their backyards.

And our message is being received.

One teacher bro ught her high school hi story class to study underwater archaeology for a week while crewing aboard a fu ll -s ize replica that was almost a copy of the 24 1-year-old sunken vessel they were surveyi ng. After a busy day of helping the archaeologists and divers as they explored and mapped the wreck site, she exclaimed "Thi s has got to be the most incredible experience I've had in my sixteen yea.rs of teaching! These kids will !,. never be th e same."

INTRODUCTION to OPERATION SAIL

THE OFFICIAL PORTS OF OPERATION SAIL 2000, PART VII

Portland Hosts

OpSail Maine 2000

by Nicholas Dean There are some wonderful prints on display in various parts ofPortland, M aine, which show sailing ships tied up along the waterfront with their bowsprits overhanging Commercial Street. It's an intimate setting which we will recreate this summer with the city's first gathering of tall ships from around the world, OpSail Maine2000.

The focal point of Maine's premier salute to the millennium will be Portland. But OpSailMaine 2000 is only one aspect of a broader celebration of the maritime heritage of Maine, whether this brings to mind the vast stocks of codfish on Georges Bank, giant timbers marked with the King's Broad Arrow for the Royal Navy, stately Down Easters weaving a web ofglobal commerce, stateof the-art warships built in Bath, or the wooden boat builders ofBrooklin, Maine.

This article by Nick Dean offers a brief glimpse at the great tradition we will celebrate.

With the rich heritage, beautiful harbor and intimate setting, we invite the American public to visit with us during OpSail Maine 2000.

RADMRICHARDL RYBACKI, USCG (RET.) President, OpSail Maine 2000

0

ver the weekend of 28-3 1 July 2000, Portland, Maine, will host a parade of rail shi ps in one of the mos t beauti fu l deepwater ports in the Uni ted States. T he event will celebrate not only the port itself, but also the maritime he ritage of all Maine. Located at the somhwestern end of Casco Bay and only three miles fro m the Atlanti c, Portland is the co mmercial and popul ati o n center of Maine.

T he backbone of th e port is the Fo re Rive r, flanked by the city of Po rtland to the north and the city of South Portland to the somh . Although the river has been the foc us of commercial activity th ro ughout the city's histo ry, the po rt also embraces a hos t of maritime activities spread in neighbo ring Cape Eliza beth and Falmouth and among the islands of Casco Bay- called the Calendar Islands because there were once thought ro be 365 of them.

T he first settlers in the region were fis hermen who encamped on Richmond Island, off Cape Elizabeth. In the 163 0s, settlers began moving onto a peninsular saddle lying between the Fore Rive r and Back Cove. T he Abnaki called the place M achigonne (Great Knee), while the English knew it as Falm outh Neck. T he W est

In summer of 1999, the Bounty passed below the Revolutionary War-era Fort Allen, on Portland's Munjoy H ill, at the mouth ofthe Fore River. (Photo: Mike Leonard)

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

The Pordand Observatory, shown nearing the completion ofits restoration, was built to speed up communications between incoming ships and merchants, stevedores and agents along the Fore River. (Photo: OpSail Maine 2 000)

End of the peninsula ends on a high cliff which faces the White M ountains of New H ampshire. T he eminence called Munjoy (originally M ountj oy's) Hill, to the northeast, rises fro m the shores of Casco Bay. D ominating the skyline fro m atop Mun joy Hill is the Portland O bservato ry, an octagonal signal rower erected in M arch 1807 under the auspices of Captain Lemuel Moody. W ith their commanding view of the harbor entrance, the rower keepers co uld signal news of arriving ships to the merchants and stevedores on the waterfron t, an innovation that is credited with helping make Portland one of the leading seaports of nineteenth-centu ry America. A two-yea r restoration of the 193-year-o ld rowe r has just been completed.

English sailors first explored the coas t of southern M aine in the early 1600s, rwo centuries before the construction of the Observatory. Ir was nor until 1632 tharrhe first settlers arrived to farm, harves t lumber and trade, among other pursuits. Exports included fish , furs and "sassafras enough to 25

Beyond the Portland Yacht Service marina, at the end ofthe season, a freighter anchors in Diamond Island Roads in Portland Harbor near the Civil War-era Fort Gorges. (Photo: OpSail Maine 2000)

cure all the gout in England." Falmouth Embargo Act of 1807, prohibiting trade prospered until 1676 when the Abnaki with Britain and her colonies. This, and burned the village. In 1689, Abnaki attacks the British blockade during the War of wiped out all European settlement east of 1812, were economically devastating for Wells, Maine, including Falmouth, which the port. was abandoned.

Portland came back fighting, however, Revival was slow, but by the 1720s there and came into its own when in 1820 it was were 50 families in Falmouth, and in 1727 made capital of the newly formed State of the village was made a center of the Royal Maine. Until then, theDistricrofMaineNavy's mast trade. Trees four feet in diam- a holdover from Britain's colonial admineter and marked with the King's Broad istration-had been administered as part Arrow were manhandled down to Stroud- of Massachusetts.

Maine became the country's premier water, at the head of navigation on the Fore River, and floated down to waiting ships shipbuilding state in the mid- l 800s. In anchored in the deeper stretches of the 1848, Maine launched 90,000 tons ofshipriver. Other timber products and fish were ping, more than New York and Massachusold abroad. Imports included finished sens combined. Of the 428 ships built that goods, sugar and molasses, the latter used year, Maine furnished 248 while all the for making rum, which is still bottled in other states combined launched only 180.

Lewiston. The mast trade came to an abrupt However, for want of waterpower for sawhalt with the Revolutionary War, and on mills, Portland itself never became a major 18 October 1775, the British burned the center of shipbuilding. city and many merchant vessels in the harbor.

Perhaps the most important developIn 1786, the "Neck" became the Town ment in this period was the opening of the of Portland, and during the Federalist pe- Grand Trunk Railroad to Monrreal in the riod merchants flourished on the proceeds 1840s. Canadian grain, stored in huge elof the lucrative trade with the Baltic and evators on the Portland waterfront, went Caribbean. It was against this backdrop of across the Atlantic while a tide of immicommercial enterprise that Capt. Moody grants arrived, headed for Canada by railbuilt his Observatory in 1807 to speed up road. Much of the commercial prosperity communications with incoming ships. of these years was lost by the 1860s, and Portland's importance in the 1800s can be during the Civil War Confederate raiders seen in the array of forts that ring the main devastated the United States merchant approaches from the sea. Named for native marine, sinking scores of ships and forcing son Edward Preble, regarded by many as hundreds more to seek refuge under forthe father of the USN avy, Fort Preble was eign flags. In] une 1863, Confederate raidbuilt in 1808. Among the larger batteries ers led by Lieutenant Charles W. Read, at built over the next century were Fort Gorges the end of a northern cruise that panicked (named for a seventeenth-century English the coastal population, actually came into promoter of Maine settlement, Sir Ferdi- Casco Bay and hijacked US Revenue Curnando Gorges), begun in 1861, and Fort ter Caleb Cushing, which the raiders burned Williams (1877). the next day to prevent its recapture.

But the same year Moody built his After the war, in a peacetime disaster on Observatory, Thomas Jefferson signed the the Fourth of July 1866, Portland was 26

devastated by a fireworks display gone awry.

The Great Fire destroyed nearly two-thirds of the city, including most of the public buildings, half the churches and hundreds of houses. As a result, a large portion of the city was rebuilt with brick. Among the few survivors of the pre-fire period are the Observatory and the 1750 Stroudwater House of George Tate, the Royal Navy's mast agent.

Living up to its motto, Resurgam (May I rise again), Portland rebuilt. By the turn of the century the port's prosperity was again threatened, this time by a Canadian rail route to Sr. John, New Brunswick.

Response to this new challenge was slow, but Portland gradually began to foster its tourism industry, albeit at the expense of commercial development.

While Portland's primary exports were Canadian agricultural goods, the port was also a center of distribution for coal and, by the 1930s, fuel oil. Oil imports boomed following the construction of a pipeline to Montreal in 1941. Originally designed as a wartime emergency measure to mm1m1ze tankers' exposure to German U-boats, the Canadian pipeline has played a dominant role in Portland's economy throughout the second half of the twentieth century. During the war, Portland also became an important staging area for Atlantic convoys, and South Portland shipyards launched 30 Ocean-class freighters and 236 Liberry ships. One of the latter, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, is now preserved as a museum ship in San Francisco.

Portland was slow to adapt to the development of containerization and other innovations iru merchant shipping, and by the end of the 1970s the port was all but closed to any-thing save fish, fuel and tourism. The port's most recent revival began m 1980, when Bath Iron Works (BIW)

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

opened a drydock facility at the base of Munjoy Hill. At the same time, Merrill's Marine Terminal opened at the head of navigation on the Fore to handle such items as forest products, scrap metal, salt and tapioca. In recent years, an increasing number of containers have passed through the International Ferry Terminal, which in summer months is also home to the Scotia Prince, a passenger ship that runs between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. By the end of 1999, Portland was the largest port in New England in vol ume of goods.

Plans are currently underway to prepare the port of Portland for the future. The overall goal is to expand cruise ship capacity on the site of the BIW dry-dock, which is scheduled to be closed, thus freeing the current ferry terminal for expanded container operations.

As the economy has rebounded, so too has interest in reviving the Victorian charms of the city's Old Port and other historic districts. As it enters the new millennium, Portland once again throngs with a wealth of shipping-not just tankers and container ships, but cruise ships and passenger schooners, fishing and lobster boats, parades of island ferries, Coast Guard vessels, pilot boats, and yachts big and small. There is no more fitting way or place for Maine to host its premier millennium celebration or for OpSail 2000 to conclude its turn-ofthe-millennium port schedule. -i

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The Wait is Over!

Sea History Press is proud to announce the third edition of

The International Register of Historic Ships

by Norman J. Brouwer This new edition is the most comprehensive listing of surviving historic ships ever published, featuring nearly 2,000 historic ships from over 50 countries. Not only does the Register catalogue these historic ships, but it provides updates on restoration projects and lists the remains ofhistoric ships preserved in museums, and contact information for all of the vessels. All of this is introduced by a new Preface by NMHS President Peter Stanford.

TH E I N TER NA TIO

:<\ L

~EGJ S T E R O F

HISTORIC SHfPS Norma~¡; B;ouwer

"Norman Brouwer has sought out these ships where they live, from the choppy, windswept waters of San Francisco Bay on the US West Coast, to the still tidal pool of hilly Bristol in England, the shallows ofRussia's oft-embattled city St. Petersburg, the golden creeks of the Parana above Buenos Aires, or the muddy, busy purlieus of Myanmar's Irrawaddy. " -PETER STANFORD

Price: $75 for the hardcover edition; $46 softcover, plus $5 each shipping and handling in the USA. Foreign shipping varies. * Members of the National Maritime Historical Society may use their 10% member's discount ($67.SOhc; $41.60sc + $5s&h) *For foreign shipment, please fax us at 914 737-7816 or e-mail us at nmhs@seahistory.org.

To order by credit card, just call 800 221-NMHS (6647). To pay by check, mail your order to:

National Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

A Lone, Slow Ship The SS Parracombe Attempts a Mission to Malta

T

he fall of France in June 1940 resulted in the loss to the Allied cause of the greater part of the French fleet; more important, it altered the strategic situation in the Mediterranean, a situation made even graver for the Allies when in that same month Italy entered the war on the German side. Despite the fact that Britain still held Gibraltar at one end and controlled Alexandria and the Suez Canal at the other, the Mediterranean was no longer dominated by the Royal Navy. Lying abo ut halfway between the Britishcontrolled ends of that sea lay the isolated outpost of Malta. The island's position made it of vital strategic importance, sitting almost astride the Axis supply routes to North Africa. From the British point of view the island had to be held at all costs, and ships carrying aircraft, munitions, oil, food and everything else a beleaguered fortress needs had to get through.

Throughout the many months of the siege of Malta, during which the island became an exceedingly sharp thorn in what Churchill later called "the soft underbelly

by Peter Elphick of the Axis," getting those supplies through proved to be extremely difficult and hazardous. The 980-mile route from Gibraltar and the 820-mile one from Alexandria were within reach of German and Italian aircraft based eith er in Sardinia and Sicily to the north, or in Libya to the south, not to mention the forays that were made from the Italian island of Pantelleria, which was actually on the route from the west. Sections of the western route were also in range of motor torpedo-boats based at Cagliari, Sardinia and Augusta, Sici ly, and as the military front in North Africa pushed first one way and then the other, torpedoboats could from time to time also threaten the eastern route. On top of all that, in the background and so always to be taken into consideration by British naval planners, was the threat posed by the Italian Navy lurking in its homeland bases. It was all very well for British wartime propaganda to denigrate the Italians, but no one knew better than the Royal Navy's commander in the Mediterranean, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, that the Italian fleet was

The western Mediterranean (Map courtesy The Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin) 8 .

North A!lantic

Ocean

Ionia

Sea

Med Bang

1 ALGERIA

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

equipped with faster battleships armed with longer-ranged 15 " guns than the British.

The Royal Navy had its work cut out in keeping both routes open, especially the more important of the two, that from Gibraltar. (Supplies coming from the other direction had first to be sent ro und the Cape of Good Hope, adding weeks to the journey.) As the Axis increased its pressure and Malta's situation grew more and more perilous, the British tried every conceivable way to get supplies through, even resorting to sending in small quantities by submarine. Merchant ships in some of the most heavily protected convoys of the war made the run. A famous convoy, codenamed Operation "Pedestal," in August 1942, included the saga of the tanker Ohio (an American ship but manned by Britons) which, on fire and seriously damaged and with Royal Navy ships lashed to port and starboard, managed to reach the island in its darkest hour. At other times single fast merchant ships were used to run the gauntlet, relying on speed and the very fact they were alone to get them through . Of much lesser renown was the attempt to reach the island made by a slow blockade-running steamer belonging to Stanhope Shipping Company. She was called the Parracombe.

Parracombe was built in Hartlepool in 1928 and took her name from a pretry village on the edge of Exmoor in Devon.

Maybe the ship had once been considered attractive-looking herself, but no one would have used any complimentary adjective to describe her appearance as she lay in Imperial Dock, Leith, in April 1941 . By then the better days of the 10.5-knot, 4,700-ton coal-burning vessel had long since passed her by. Rusry and salt-streaked, she had recently returned from a winter voyage to St. Jo hn's, Newfoundland, and there had not been time for much in the way of maintenance or for sprucing her up. On top of that, on 19 March, she had sustained minor damage when a mine exploded close to her off Southend. She had bunkered recently and was covered in coal dust. All in all Parracombe looked expendable, though that was not the reason why she had been selected by the Admiralty to attempt the dangerous task ahead.

29

Some ofthe crew were warned by dockers-a section ofBritain's wartime working community which always seemed to glean or deduce information no matter how secret-that they were going somewhere dangerous.

When the "Parracombe Plan" was first moored by the Admiralty earlier in the year, it was decided to co-opt shipowner Jack Billmeir as adviser to the project. If any shipowner of that era had swashbuckling characteristics, then Jack Albert Billmeir was the one. Born in 1900 and embarking on a career as a ship broker at the age of fourteen, he was a shipowner by the age of twenty-eight and had formed Stanhope Shipping in 1934. He made a huge fortune during the Spanish Civil War by concentrating his fleet of ships on running the blockade which General Franco had thrown around the Spanish coast to prevent food and supplies reaching the lawfully-elected Republican Government and the other factions fighting against the Fascists. Written evidence seems to be lacking, but it is almost certain that some of his ships ran in consignments of arms for the anti-Franco forces, perhaps with the connivance of the British Government.

It was probably Billmeir himself who recommended the Parracombe for the blockade-running task to Malta, for the ship could easily be disguised as one of the rather old neutral ships still trading in Mediterranean waters despite the war. Ar the time of the ship's selection, and up to 24 March 1941 , Parracombe's master was Captain David Edward Jones, who in Billmeir's Stanwellhad run the Spanish blockade more than once; on a single day at Barcelona in 1938 his ship had suffered damage during three consecutive Fascist air raids. Personages high up in the British Admiralty apparently erred in thinking, because of the similarity in names, that the master they had got in the deal was another, even more expert blockade runner, named Captain D avid John Jones, known as "Potato" Jones from a cargo of potatoes he successfully ran in for the starving populace of Bilbao. So famous was he, and so open about his opposition to the Fascists, that Franco put a price on his head, dead or alive. That having been said, Captain David Edward Jones was relieved of his command after the incident with the mine off Southend, and his place was taken by Captain David Llewellyn Hook.

David Hook, a forty-year-old Welshman from Lampeter in Cardiganshire, was also a veteran of Spanish blockade-running, having several rimes run ships into Alicante and Valencia. Captain Hook was

30

quite proud of his new command; she might be old, slow and dirty, but for the coming voyage she was to sail under Royal Navy orders and had in effect become a naval auxiliary, although she only carried the usual guns for self-defense.

Whilst loading at Leith, Captain Hook found himself short of three sailors and after signing on a local man, Able Seaman Stanley Sutherland, asked him to snoop around the port to see if two more could be found. Stan found them easily enough, one of them being his stepbrother, Jimmy Mcintyre. Hook advanced all three the sum of ÂŁ5 which reportedly did not go very far when they went ashore on a spree that night.

The ship's cargo was solely military, and included 21 crated Hurricane aircraft urgently required in Malta, although except for Hook himself, the crew were as yet unaware of the ship's destination. The boom-defense equipment stowed on deck raised suspicions in some minds, bur no one knew for sure. The crew was aware, though, that the authorities attached no small degree ofimportance to the cargo, for as Stan reported, "It was loaded and shifted around a few times by big nobs of the Army, Navy and Air Force." Just before the ship sailed some of the crew were warned by dockers-a section ofBritain's wartime working community which always seemed able to glean or deduce information no matter how secret-that they were going somewhere dangerous. It was not news designed to put anyone's mind at rest, especially as it was linked with a dire warning that should the ship go down, she would do so with a big bang, a reference perhaps to the ammunition in the cargo.

After loading, the ship steamed north about Scotland making for Ohan, the gathering point for many outward-bound convoys. At Ohan Spanish sea captain Luis Diaz de Lassaga boarded the ship, and when the news got about that he was to sail with them, there was much tongue-wagging. Diaz was one of a handful of Spanish captains who, finding themselves in British waters during the Spanish conflict and being opposed to the Fascists, elected to remain there. He had made his home in Belfast and was now 46 years of age. Six RAF ground crew also joined the ship.

They "signed on" as supernumerary deckhands at wages of a shilling a month.

Parracombe sailed from Obarr as part of

a large convoy, but a few days later was ordered to detach from it. 'With no fewer than three destroyers as esc<0rt, course was set for the Strait of Gibralra1r. A day or two later, still out of sight of the Rock, the escorts left and Parracombe s.sailed on alone.

It was then that Hook assermbled his crew and told them the ship's de~stination . That night, a cold one which made the job uncomfortable, the ship stopped, stages were rigged over the side and the Spanish flag and a Spanish name were painted on each side of the hull.

The following morning, with a Spanish ensign flying at the gaff, the ship passed through the Strait keeping well south toward the Spanish Moroccan side. With Captain Diaz conning the ship, Parracombe made steady progress eastward keeping well inside Spanish territorial waters and passing so close to the port ofCeuta and, on the following day, to Melilla that the crew was able to see clearly the details of ships in both harbors. On one occasion a signal lamp winked at them from the shore, but a flashed answer from Diaz seemed to satisfy the shore signaller. The night before the ship entered the territorial waters ofVichyFrench Algeria, the ship was stopped once more and the Spanish flags on the hull pai nted over with wartime gray. The next day, and now flying the French flag, she was buzzed by a large Italian aircraft, but the pilot flew off, apparently satisfied by the tricolor.

As the ship approached Cape Bon on 2 May, Hook explained the plan of action to his officers. After rounding the cape, course wo uld be set south into the Gulf ofSirte to give the impression that the ship was making for the Tunisian port of Sfax. Then, when night fell, the stokehold crew would be doubled, maximum steam raised, course altered to port, and the run made over the final 200 miles to Malta.

Hook was well aware of the chances being taken. Even flat out the ship's speed was nothing to write home about and, on top of that, the engines were old and unusual strain on them might cause something to blow. Of much greater concern to him, however, was the fact that the waters between Cape Bon and Sicily had been mined by both sides to such an extent that the area had the reputation of being among the most heavily mined in the world. Hook had charts to show him where the British

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

SSParracombe was built in 1928 by Wm Gray & Co., West Hartlepool, for Pyman Bros. of Newcastle and sold to Stanhope Shipping of London in 1940. The ship's semi-clipper-type stem shape was considered unusual at the time. (Image by Lawrence Dunn)

mines were, but had only the barest information on the Axis ones, and for all he knew the French might have been at it as well.

All that was hypothetical, for Parracombe never reached Cape Bon. Suddenly, with a huge explosion, the ship struck a mine in a sea area where no mine was supposed to be. Stan Sutherland was working with other seamen on the deck when it happened and, after picking himself up, ran with the others for the boat deck. After reaching it, Stan looked towards the bows, and, all seeming well in that direction, made another run for the fo 'c'sle to rescue some of his personal possessions. It was an act that probably saved his life. While he was still rummaging around the accommodation, there came a series of large explosions as some of the cargo blew up, just as those Leith dockers had warned it would.

"It tore the bottom out of her," wrote Stan, "and carried away the bridge and killed those left on the boat deck."

Debris was flying everywhere and Jimmy Mcintyre saved his own life only by having the presence of mind to dive into a potatolocker until the worst was over. After that he threw himself over the side, not realizing until later that one of his legs had been broken in three places and that he had lost two of his toes in the blast. In the fo'c'sle meanwhile, Stan and a few others were struggling to get out of the compartment as the sea flooded in. They made it at last and began making their way aft over a deck covered in wreckage and looking, as Stan described it, "like a knacker's yard." They were climbing uphill too, for by the time the group reached the stern it was high in the air. There was nothing for it but to jump, which Stan did. He went down so deep he thought he would never surface again. When at last he did, he swam away from the sinking ship as fast as he could. He paused to look round and saw the ship about to take the final plunge.

"She went down with a screaming crowd hanging on her starboard rail aft. Our appeals for them to jump were all in vain.

They went down with her. " Thirty officers and men went down with the ship, leaving 18 survivors in the water, including both Captain Hook and

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

Captain Diaz. There had been no time to launch boats, but two rafts must have broken loose as the ship went down, for they soon burst to the surface. As some of the survivors began climbing aboard, Stan noticed his brother was not amongst them.

He yelled out, and hearing an answering shout, soon found Jimmy clinging to a piece of timber. With considerable effort Stan took the injured Jimmy in tow and made for a nearby boom-defense tank which had floated clear from the ship. The second mate, John Wilson, his right arm hanging off at the shoulder, and a gunner with an injured ankle, were already in it, and there was no room for four. After depositing Jimmy in the tank and telling the others he would swim over to one of the rafts and bring it back, Stan set off.

"I misjudged the distance," he wrote later, "and could feel a seizing in my heart.

I slipped off my lifejacket, also my dungarees, and swam a bit easier." When he finally reached the raft, he and the men already on it attempted to paddle across to the tank but found the current too strong.

It was 30 hours before the survivors, all suffering from exposure and six of them, including Captain Diaz, suffering from injuries sustained on the ship, were picked up by Vichy-French seaplanes and flown to the naval base at Bizerte. There, except for one Arab seaman who died later, they recovered from their ordeal.

A few days after the loss of the ship London received the following communication from the American Embassy.

The American Charged'Affaires presents his compliments to His Majesty's Principal Secretary ofState for Foreign Affairs and, with reference to Mr. Winant's notes RBI1059 and RBl-1122 of May 13, 1941, concerning the survivors of the SS Parracombe, has the honour to set forth below excerpts from a despatch dated May 8th, 1941, from the American Consulate at Tunis: On the 6th May the Consulate received information from the Residence General, Tunis, ofthearrivalatBizerte of eighteen members of the crew of ss Parracombe, 4, 110 tons, which struck

a mine on the 2nd May, about 1PM and sank within two minutes. The Consulate was asked to send someone to Bizerte as the crew was British and several survivors neededfinancial aid.

Vice Consul L Pittman Springs, of this office, proceeded to Bizerte the following morning, where he learned the explosion took place about five miles from Cap Bon and immediately afterwards the French naval station at Bizerte sent out naval planes which succeeded in rescuing eighteen members of the crew. At first the French naval authorities thought the ship to be French as it was flying the French flag.

However, it was subsequently stated by the crew that the ship was proceeding from a British port to the Eastern Mediterranean, with a British crew of forty-seven. "[including Captain Diaz, it was forty-eight.} The American message ended with a list of the survivors.

Churchill, who had been aware of the blockade-running plan from its inception, sent a strongly worded note to Admiral Sir Dudley Pound: This is surely a pretty humble role for the Admiralty to play. I should like to know the reason why merchant seamen in a poor little tramp steamer carry out Hurricanes vitally needed by Malta, while the Royal Navy has to be kept far from these dangers. I never thought we should come to this.

Later he minuted, "I was never an enthusiast for this project. I trust 'Po tato' Jones is saved." One wonders what the great man said when he learned that "Potato" had not been involved in the project at all and that he, Churchill, had not been informed. ("Potato" Jones lived to be ninety-two, dying at his Swansea home in August 1962.)

After recovery in hospital the Parracombe survivors were shifted to Tunis.

Stanley Sutherland says that he and his companions were marched barefoot through the town and were spat upon by Italians. They were lodged in a flea- and rat-infested jail and later sent inland to a fort at El Kef, where they spent many long

31

Hook was well aware of the chances being taken. Even flat out the ship's speed was nothing to write home about and, on top ofthat, the engines were old and unusual strain on them might cause something to blow. and weary months under heavy guard. Of that period, Stan reported, "the only cheery bit was the sing-songs, which the skipper led, as he had a good voice and was a regular guy and well liked."

As the months passed, the fort became crowded with other merchant seaman prisoners, so crowded that eventually all were moved to another and larger camp. T hey managed to get in touch with the Red Cross, and it was that organization's food parcels that kept them alive. A Scottish padre named Dunbar based in T unis was allowed to visit the camp occasionally, and he brought gifts of food and organized church services.

Sutherland and some of his mates did not make model prisoners; in fact they went out of their way to give their gaolers as much irritation as possible. On one occasion Stan and two fellow Scotsmen caused a riot and were punished by being sent to a special camp in the desert. The regime there was so hard they went on their best behavior until they were sent back to join their mates. Soon after that all the prisoners were moved to Sfax which, being on the coast, was a much more pleasant and

healthy place. Later, as their Italian guards grew ever more jittery because of the push being made in their direction by the British Eighth Army, the seamen rook over the camp. Some of them, including Stan and Jimmy, stole a train normally used to bring phosphate down to the port from an inland mine. They stayed at the railhead for a few days before making for Merlaoui which by then had been taken over by Free French sympathizers. Fi nally they made for Tebassa in Algeria, where they fell in with British troops who sent them on to Algiers. Some twenty months after losing their own ship, they joined up wi th the other survivors to board the troopship Orantes for home.

On arriving at Greenock the Parracombe survivors were met by the managing director of Stanhope Shipping, Jack Billmeir, who presented each with a new suit and ten pounds to get them home. At an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 9 February 1943 Captain David Hook and Second Officer John Wilson were decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, and Stan Sutherland and Jimmy Mcintyre with the Distinguished Service Medal. The awards were naval instead of civilian be-

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cause Parracombe had been sailing under direct Admiralty orders.

The names of members of the Merchant Navywhowerelostatsea in WWII, including those who died on the Parracombe, are engraved on the Merchant Navy Memorial near the Tower of London. Estimates indicate that 32,000 British merchant seamen were killed during the war, close to one in four of the total number of seamen who served on merchant ships during the war.

The relevant Lloyd's Confidential Sheet, a contemporary document covering the loss of Parracombe, is endorsed in red: "SECRET. Not to be mentioned in any return." It seems that by keeping the matter under wraps the Ad miralty left the door open for other similar voyages. However, no other attempt to reach Malta with a lone, slow ship was ever made. 1Captain Elphick is a British master mariner who came ashore and was involved in the construction and operation ofcontainer terminals and served as a port consultant on projects worldwide. This article is extracted from his new book, Life-line: the Merchant Navy at War 1939-1945.

A spirit of hard work, enterprise & cooperation sailed the tall ships of yesterday & the Liberty Ships of World War IL.. and that's what makes things move today!

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AMERICA'S WORST MARITIME DISASTER The 111-fated Sidewheeler Sultana

by Nicholas F. Starace II r was devas tating ... first, the explosion, then the ripping and rearing of wood and metal as the entire superstructure surrounding the boilers shattered, flinging charred bodies and material in ro the night sky. T he intens ity of rhe explosion drove live coals and splintered timber like shrapn el through the upper decks. The massive smokes tacks roppled like felled timber. Scalding steam and boiling water burned, killed and maimed passengers beyo nd recognitio n . T his was the horri fying scene that envelo ped Sultana at two in the morning on 27 April 1865 just north of Memphis, Tennessee.

T he wooden-hulled sidewheel steamboat Sultana was built in 1863 at the John Lirh erburg Boar Yard in Cincinnati, Ohio.

T he fast packer was 260 feet long with a 4 2foor beam and a hull depth of 7 feet, drawing slightly less than 3 feet. She was fitted with four tubular boilers, each measuring 18 feet long and 46 inches in diam eter. On the d ay of the disaster, the Sultana, registered to carry 376 passengers, was crowded with 2,400 Un ion soldiers, plus civilians and crew, bringing the total to over 2,500 people. Most of the soldiers had been released fro m rhe infamous Co nfederate prison camps at Andersonville, Georgia, and Cahaba, Alabama. More than 1,700 of them died, making it the wo rst maritime disaster in US history and one of the worst of all rime. Thus, the Sultana shared a similar fate to fo ur earlier steamboats with the sam e name. Among the five vessels there were three accidents with fatalities and three fires.

I

Mason and Wintringer that two plates on the boiler needed to be replaced. H e further stared that if he were nor allowed to make rhe permanent repairs he thought fir, he wo uld have nothing to do wi rh rhe boar.

T he captain, concerned abo ut the rime required to replace rhe two plates, eventually persuaded Taylor to limit his repairs to a parch measuring a mere 11 " x 26".

D uring the repairs Taylor rold the chief engineer that he first needed to force back the bulge on the boiler before applying the parch. T his he was nor allowed to do; the parch was fitted direcrly over the bulge.

Even so, it rook over 20 hours to complete rhe process. Winrringer hastily approved Taylor's work, staring that rhe repairs were adequate to continue upriver. Taylor, however, is on record as staring that all of the boilers on Sultana appeared to have been burned by rhe rime rhe boar reached Vicksburg. Ironically, just weeks earlier, on 12 April 1865, an inspection certificate had been issued at her home port certifying that the Sultana, including her boilers, was structurally so und and fir for employment without peril to life.

While Taylor was making rhe repairs, the captain and rhe local agent for his company, rhe Merchant's and People's Line, were purring considerable pressure on local federal authorities to obtain as many prisoners as possibl e for the Sultana

to take homeward. T he end of the C ivil War was going ro provide an opportun ity for wi ndfall profits for steam boat operators, and the cap rain wanted all rb e men bis boar could carry for rbe upriver trip. When told rhar only 300 men were ready ro depart, Mason reissued his claim for mo re prisoners and made ir known rbar competing lines were being awarded the business of shipping troops rbar contractually belonged to his line; one boar had won 1,300 men, while another had received 700 .

Finally, after so me skullduggery and alleged bribery ir was agreed that all the prisoners rhen ar Vicksburg and nor assigned to other boars were robe shipped on Sultana on 24 April, an estimated 1,300 to 1,400 men . The military, however, had nor accurately ascertained rhe ro ral number of prisoners remaining at Vicksburg and at a nearby parole camp. T he miscalculation was partly due ro the fai lure of the military to prepare accurate rolls in advance and partly due to rhe mass confusion stemming from termination of the Civil War weeks earlier. To make matters worse, one trainload of 400 prisoners boarded Sultana wirhour being counted; the officer who was assigned to count boarding passengers had inexplicably left his post.

An other steamer belonging to the Merchant's and People's Line, the Lady Gay, with a greater capacity than the Sultana,

The dangerous overcrowding aboard the Sul tana is apparent in this photograph taken at H elena, Arkansas, on 26 April 1865, the day before the explosion. (University of Wisconsin)

The Sinking: Ingredients for Disaster T he vessel had a known history of boiler problems. The bo iler had been parched or repaired at Natch ez and Vicksb urg on two previous trips. When the Sultana was ten hours south ofVicksburg on her final trip, rhe chief engineer, Nathan Winrringer, discovered steam escaping from a small crack on the port inboard boiler. T he leak was serious enough for him to refuse to go any farther than Vicksburg unless the necessary repairs were made. When the Sultana docked at Vicksburg on 23 April, local boil ermaker R . G. Taylor inspected the crack and discovered a bulge on the port inboard boiler. He raid Captain J. Cass

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

33

arrived in Vicksburg the morning of 24 April. With Mason and the Line's agent convinced the Sultana could carry the expected 1,400 passengers, the second vessel was ordered to leave Vicksburg that day without a single released prisoner on board.

Similarly, the Pauline Carroll of the Atlantic and Mississippi Line steamed north on 24 April as well, with only 17 passengers.

Surrounding these events were the persistent allegations of bribery. During investigations that followed the loss of the Sultana one army officer informed the court that he had taken a bribe. He suggested that bribery was widespread throughout the loading of the Sultana. It was public knowledge that competing lines were offering 15 to 50 cents per head to agents for the Army's contract to carry prisoners.

As the last detachment of men boarded the Sultana, the major who was in command of the soldiers on board complained that there were too many men on the boat.

Captain Mason replied that he could not help it, all the men had to go on the Sultana, and insisted that his boat had carried more men in the past. Another officer later rationalized it by saying "there was great interest in expediting the departure of these brave fellows to their homes."

With its human cargo extending as far as the forecastle, conditions were appalling. There was no room to lie down, nor a place to attend to the call of nature. Men were packed on the main, boiler and hurricane decks as thick as they could stand.

The hurricane deck was sagging despite the extra supports that had been installed in many places. After all troops had been loaded, the major in charge was shocked at the terribly overcrowded conditions. When he approached Mason to voice his concerns, Mason assured him that the men "would go through comfortably and safely."

The actual number of passengers on board will never be known; the best estimate has it at over 2,400 soldiers, 100 citizen passengers and a crew of SO. At 9PM on 24 April, Sultana slowly backed away from the wharf at Vicksburg, her passengers thankful to be on board.

In Harm's Way The prisoners aboard the Sultana were more than willing to suffer the crowded conditions, believi ng they were out of harm 's way. Ahead lay families, homes and finally good food. The excitement generated by the prisoners, however, could not 34

alleviate the hardships endured on board.

Chronic diarrhea, scurvy, malnutrition and a host of other diseases plagued the troops.

On the main deck and between the waterwheels lay a battery of four boilers.

On the port inboard boiler was the small patch Wintringer had eyed closely. He must have been aware that this patch could fail at any moment, especially in view of the fact that the patch was of thinner metal than the boiler plate it covered. His concern was justified. On the morning of 27

Captain]. Cass Mason went down with his ship. This photo was discovered in a private collection in 1994 and was published in an article about Mason by Gene Eric Salecker in The Egregious Steamboat Journal, No. 27

door those who werefortunate enough to live, though worse than a dozen deaths in the "damnable death pens" at Andersonville. We had faced death day by day while incarcerated there, but this was far more appalling than any scene through which we hadpassed From all accounts the explosion ripped through the decks above the boilers, spraying hot coals and splintered timber into the night. Huge chunks of the superstructure, including the pilothouse, were propelled clear of the boat. Smoke and steam were everywhere like a thick fog. Scores of passengers were hurled into the air. Most estimates indicate that the entire boat was in flames within 20 minutes of the explosion.

By 3AM the steamboat Bostonia II had arrived on the scene and began rescuing as many as possible from the water. The Sultana carried only 76 life jackets, one yawl and one lifeboat. Some passengers, clinging to floating objects, drifted safely to the riverfront, which by this time was teeming with people anxious to help. On the levee, scores of men lay suffering from injuries; many fell victim to hypothermia or exposure before dawn that day. Shortly before sunrise the Sultana scraped bottom at Chicken Island just north of Mound Ciry, Arkansas. Finally, flames engulfed the forecastle area. Soon thereafter the hull disappeared into the river in a cloud of steam approximately one hour and 15 minutes after the explosion. The exact number of deaths will never be known. The best and most recognized estimate has it at more than 1,700 soldiers, civilians and crew.

April, with the Sultana steaming north at her normal speed of eight to nine knots, these four boilers were generating steam at 135psi. Without warning at about 2AM three of the four boilers exploded. AccordHow Could It Happen? ing to most reports the patched port in- Shortly after the incident two military board boiler blew first. The impact of that boards of inquiry were commissioned to explosion caused shrapnel to puncture the investigate the loss. Both commissions conadjacent boilers (outboard port and in- cluded that insufficient water in the boiler board starboard) causing them to explode was the primary cause of the explosion.

However, while the exact cause was never immediately after the initial explosion.

Of all the accounts I have read in re- fully determined, further investigation consearching this tragedy, the following by cluded that one or more of the following Arthur A. Jones of the 115th Ohio Volun- may have contributed to the explosion: â&#x20AC;˘ Sultana was fitted with newly introduced teer Infantry best describes the horror: tubular boilers. While more compact and What a crash! My God! My blood curdles efficient, they also needed frequent cleanwhile I write and words are inadequate; no ing to remove scale that rapidly formed tongue or writer's pen can describe it. Such with the use ofsilt- and mud-laden water. hissing of steam, the crash of the different Lack of proper cleaning and the resultant decks as they came together with the tons of scale formations may have caused tube living fteight. The falling of the massive smoke stacks, the death cry ofstrong-hearted overheating and rupture. men caught in every conceivable manner. â&#x20AC;˘ In efforts to maintain maximum speed, the boilers were being pushed to their The red-tonguedflames bursting up through pressure limits and perhaps beyond. The the mass ofhumanity and driving to death's

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

Line drawings illustrate the devastating impact of the explosion. (Courtesy Gene Eric Salecker) repaired patch may have been the Achilles' heel by letting go due to metal fatigue.

• The Sultana was driving against floodwaters, crossing from one side of the river to the other when the explosion occurred.

I twas reported that the vessel listed slightly as soldiers moved from one side to the other to view passing traffic and river towns. This may have exposed tubes to direct heat withour water on the outside of the tubes. As the boat righ ted itself water would have come in contact with red-hot tubes, causing a sudden spike in steam pressure. Repetitive actio n of this sort may have ruptured tubes, causing an explosion .

In summary, lowwater level, excessive steam pressure and poor maintenance were probably all contributing factors.

Findings regarding responsibility for the selection of the Sultana and for overloading her suggested that culpability rested with the combined action of fo ur men.

However, during the proceedings three of the four were exonerated, leaving a Captain Frederic Speed, in charge of prisoner transfer and shipment, to face the music.

Speed requested a trial almost immediately to have his name cleared. His military court-martial convened 9 January 1866 in Vicksburg. He stood accused of "Neglect of duty to the prejudice of good order and military discipline." Speed entered a plea of not guilty and made known his feelings that the government was using him as a scapegoat. Six months later Speed was fo und guilty and faced dishonorable discharge.

When the verdict reached the Judge Advocate General of the US Army, the top man at the Bureau of Military Justice, he ruled the sentence be disapproved because Captain Speed's role was wholly subordinate and, further, that he be exonerated of all charges which had been made against his character as an officer. Secretary of War Stanton confirmed the judge's reversal and on 1 September 1866 Speed was honorably discharged with a clear record.

Although the judge mentioned two of the previously mentioned three officers as more responsible for the overcrowdi ng, he did not recommend court action. The case of Sultana was officially closed. Other than the one army officer who admitted to having taken a bribe, there was no eviden ce or allegations of bribery against anyone else.

No one would be tried again, and no one would ever be punished for the loss oflife.

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SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

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into the loss of the steamer gave any credence to support rumors of a plot by Confederate guerrillas to sabotage the Sultana .

Q uite apart fro m the culpability of military personnel, I fo und practically no info rmation or discussion regarding the question of culpability on the part of the owners of Sultana and more specifically that of Captain Mason. In the fi nal analysis it must be sai d that he is, as is any mas ter, fully responsible for his vessel and the activities pertaini ng thereto. It follows, therefore, that Captain Mason must be held acco untable for allowing conditions to develop that led to the sinking. However, the point is moot as he did not survive the sinking.

A Rightful Place in History T here were only four Civil War battles with greater loss oflife than that associated with the loss of Sultana, but the tragedy passed almost unnoticed into the pages of history, partially because of the tum ultuous events that rocked America at this time. Newspapers across the nation were still full of the C ivil W ar which had ended only weeks before the loss of Sultana. President Lincoln had been assassinated nearly two weeks befo re, and John W ilkes Booth

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was killed 26 April, the day before the disaster. With so much to report, the Sultana's tragic tale was relegated to an editorial back seat. People were desperate for good news. M oreover, the tragedy occurred in the West, far removed from the large newspapers in the East. U nderlying all of these peripheral reaso ns was the smell of cover-up. Everything I have read suggests concerted efforts on the part of those responsible to cover-up the greed, neglect and sheer stupidity that led to the disaster.

Clearly this was not a pro ud chapter in American histo ry. A monument commemorating those lost with the Sultana was not erected until 3 1 years later. Proposed legislation to compensate survivors and their families was never returned to the H ouse of Represen tatives fo r action after it got through com mi ttee. T he last survivor died in 193 1. W ith his death, the Sultana and her passengers became a mere footnote in the pages of American history. ,!,

This article is excerpted from a presentation at the 1998 Nautical Research Guild 50th Anniversary Conference. Mr. Starace is a member of the N R G and p resident of The Ship Model Society ofNorthern New j ersey.

35

ComeSailWith Us! 11

J.

She is one of the last of her breed, truly a "Grande-dame" of the seas. For thirty-eight years as the SS Rotterdam, she served as both a transAtlantic liner and cruise ship. Stylish and lovely public rooms, gleaming wood paneling, etched glass, grand staircases and incomparable artwork grace her interior. In 1997 she was acquired by Premier Cruises and now sails on proudly as their flagship, the 30,000ton Rembrandt.

Join us for either 7 or 14 days this autumn as we sail north on 24 September from New York to Bar Harbor, Halifax, Saguenay River, Quebec City and Montreal, where the first segment ends. Or travel southbound on 1 October from Montreal to New York with visits to Quebec City, Sydney, Portland and Newport. Best of all, sail the complete two-week round trip!

On the northbound trip, join our trustees and President Peter Stanford, who will speak on "The Cape Hom Road, 5,000 Years of Maritime History," and give an annotated showing of the film "Ghosts of Cape Hom." We will also be scheduling cocktail parties, and other special events and excursions open only to members of our group.

Rates Northbound, New York to Montreal (24 Sept. - 1 Oct) Outside double: $860 pip Inside double: $730 p/p Upper/lower double: $660 pip Single occupancy: 150% of double rate 3'd/4th person in room: $349 Port charges: $139 p/p Air add-on to/from Montreal: $ 149 + $24 tax.

Deposit of $100 p/p each way.

New England/Canada Cruise Northbound, 24 Sept. - 1 Oct. 2000 From New York to Montreal Day Port Arrive Depart Sun New York 4:45pm Mon at sea Tue Bar Harbor 7am 5pm Wed Halifax 9am 6pm Thur at sea Fri Saguenay Fjord noon 6pm Sat Quebec 7am 6pm Sun Montreal 7am Southbound, 1 Oct. - 8 Oct. 2000 From Montreal to New York Sun Montreal Spm Mon Quebec Sam 5pm Tue at sea Wed Sydney Sam 6pm Thur at sea 7am 3pm Fri Portland Sat Newport lOam 6pm Sun New York Sam

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SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS SPUN YARN T he Rhode Island Economic D evelopment Corporatio n has approved the proposal to moor the Forrestal-dass supercarrier USS Saratoga (1 955) at the old Carrier pier in the fo rmer Q uonset Point naval base in North Kingstown, where the ship will be the centerpiece of the proposed Air, Land and Sea H erirage and T echnology Park.

T he USS Saratoga Reunion Association

â&#x20AC;˘

The supercarrier was to wed to its current home in Rhode Island in 19 9 8. (Photo USS Saratoga Museum Foundation)

has pledged $2 million to the p rojecr and a Greenwich, Connecticut, investment banking firm has agreed to finance another $5 million. (USS Saratoga M useum Foundation , Inc., PO Box 28581 , Providence RI 029 08; 401 83 1-8696; e-mail: Saratoga M useum@aol. com; web sire: www.wbwip .com /saratoga/index.html) ... Secretary of the Navy Richard D anzig announced on 20 J anuary 2000 that the city of Camden, New Jersey, has been chosen as the new homeport of the battleship USS New Jersey. T he Navy received applications from The US Postal Service's commemorative submarine stamps (Courtesy USPS)

~-J.~

¡-...___

OHIGClRSS

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

PATRICK O'BRIAN

1915-2000 Wo rld- renowned author Patri ck O ' Brian died in Dublin on 2 January 2000. With his passing, we also mourn the loss of two of the most enduring maritime characters created, Capt. Jack Aubrey, RN, and physician/spy Stephen Matu ri n. T hey first appeared in O 'Brian's M aster and Commander, published in England in 1970, and co ntinued their adventures in relative obscuriry th ro ugh the fi rs r 13 books of the series, until W . W. No rton edi tor Starling Lawrence read The Reverse of the Medal and Norton took up the publication of rhe entire series in the US. In a self-fulfilling prophecy, O 'Brian had stated in recent years that he hoped to finish 20 books based on the two men-that installment, B lue at the Mizzen, appeared in late 1999. Patrick 0 'Brian touches ojfa canPatrick O 'Brian made his home in the French non aboard the frigate Rose in fishing village of Coullioure, where he lived with his April of 1995. (Photo: George wife Mary, who died in 1998. T he author created a pas t Chambers,www.Tal/ShipRose.org) fo r himself as skillfully as he created the characters in his novels. His stories of an Irish Carholic childhood withstood public interest until 1998 when his skyrocketing populariry broughr his own origins under scrutiny and journalists found that he was born in London with the name Richard Patrick Russ.

Over the pas t decade, the adventures of Aubrey and Maturin through the N apoleonic Wars awakened a fascination with all aspecrs of our maritime heritage for an international audience. O 'Brian was admired for the detail of his nautical language, and a companion book, A Sea of Words, was published jusr to help readers with the terminology. But even rhe well-read fo und themselves keeping a dictionary handy fo r the occasional obscure wo rd used to describe plant life, insects, medical procedures or even a He is Committed to the Deep. starry sky.

The Tide ofhis Talent carries him now.

But O' Brian' s imagery and his graceMay his Memory be Committed to his ful use of language are whar attracted beloved Su rp ri se '.r foremast crosstrees Where, with jack and Stephen, after a breakfast many and will give his wo rk longevity. oftoasted cheese and coffee, Whether describing the heat and horHe continues to raise new adventures and sink ro r of battle, the power and beauty of new adversaries a sunset at sea, or the sickly calm before Under a broad blue pennant of his own weave. an oncoming storm , the phrasing is a joy and almost poetic. In addition, his It is comforting to know, my dears, that We can happily sign on again characters, while amply flawed, create By simply opening a book. a society in which purpose, honor and -DEXTER D. WHITTEMORE fri ends hip dominate.

M inn eapolis, M inn esota -N. STANFORD & ] .AHLSTROM

both rhe USS New Jersey Battleship Commission in Bayo nne and Camden's Home Port Alliance. (Battleship New Jersey Foundarion, 1715 Highway 35, Middletown NJ 07748; 732 67 1-6488) . . . T he US Postal Service will observe the lOOth anniversary of the US Submarine Force in a "US Commemorative prestige booklet" with images of the stamps, based on paintings by Jim G riffiths, text and photographs. Representing the century in sub-

marines will be: USS H olland, the first sub purchased by the Navy in 1900; the "S"class subs that followed; the Gato class of WWII subs that co ntributed to American naval superiori ty in the Pacific; rhe nuclearpowered Los Angeles atrack subs; and the T rident-equipped Ohio class . ... A number of museums plan to celebrate the centenary of the submarine force, which is marked by the US Navy's purchase of] ohn P. H olland's submarine in April 1900 and

37

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT &

SEA CHESTS

U.S. Brig NIAGARA, 1813 square rig sailing ship, has openings for professional and volunteer crew for the 2000 season, May - October. No experience required fo r volunteers - three week minimum sign-on.

Inquiries and/or resumes to Lisa Benson,

Museum quality, handmade/painted, customized, personali zed choice of image/l ettering, size, style & colors. Info packet, $2.00 refundable.

Flagship Niagara League,

169 Albert Ave., Edgewood, RI 02905-38 11 Tel: 800-4 14-7906 VISA/MC

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38

its commissioning in October of that year.

The Smithsonian will open an exhibit focusing on the submarine force in the Cold War. In "Prepare to Dive," the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City, home to USS Growler, will highlight the period of submarine development from Bushnell's Turtle through Holland's submarines with an overview of the US Navy's submarines since that time.

On the West Coast the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum will present "US Navy Submarines: A Century Beneath the Sea." And the finishing touches are being made to the 14,000-square-foot addition to the Submarine Force Museum and Library in Groton, Connecticut. (ISASM, Pier 86, West 46th St. & 12th Avenue, New York NY 10036-4103; 212 245-0072; web sire: www.intrepid-museum.com; VNHM, 734 Marin Street, Vallejo CA 94590; 707 6430077; SFLMA, Box 50 l, Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton CT 06349) ...

The American Maritime History Project Inc. (AMHP), based at the US Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point NY, is developing the first comprehensive history of water transportation's impact on America's growth and economy from 1600 to the present, under the supervision of Dr. Alex Roland of Duke University, past historian of NASA. (AMHP, Babson Center, USMMA, Kings Point NY, 11024; 516 773-5654) ... The barkentine Windy II, under construction at the Detyens Shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina, will soon join the schooner Windy I on the Great Lakes for educational voyages. (Capt.

Robert Matthai, Windy of Chicago, Ltd., 600 East GrandAvenue, Chicago IL606 l l; 312 595-5472) ... Berths are available on Mystic Seaport's schooner Brilliant' s European voyage in 2000. (Mystic Seaport, 860 572-5323; e-mail: suzanne@mystic seaport.org; web site: www.mysticseaport .org/Brilliant) ... The Schooner Ernestina Commission opened its new office and museum in the former F. A. Sowle's Steam Woodworking Factory (1884) at the entrance to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. (SEC, PO Box 2010, New Bedford MA 02741; 508 992-4900) . . . The Institute for NauticalArchaeology' s early excavations of a site atTektas Burnu in Turkey indicates that the 5th-century BC wreck will reveal much about the Classical Age. Thus far they have recovered one

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

MUSEUM NEWS American Merchant Marine Museum News The SS United States, the famous American speed champion that symbolized an era in transAtlantic ocean travel, still inspires today. With her sleek looks, fifty-five foot tall red, white and blue funnels, and famous aluminum superstructure, the 53,000-ton former flagship of the American merchant marine was the ship of America's dreams. However, in November 1999, the United States celebrated a rather unwanted anniversary: 30 years in lay up. In early November of 1969, the United States was abruptly pulled from service by her operators, United States Lines. She has not sailed since. For the past three years, the United States has been berthed at Pier 82 in Philadelphia. She has many friends, admirers and supporters, not least of which has been the American Merchant Marine Museum.

Displayed with a replica of the Hales Trophy, symbol of the ship's record crossing in 1952, is a full hull model of the United States, over three feet in length, which had been built for the chairman of United States Lines, John Franklin, in 1954. Such models, showing the underwater configuration of the propellers, were never seen by the general public as the arrangement of her machinery and propulsion were classified top secret by the US government. Perhaps the most significant items from the history and career of the United States reside within the museum's archives. When the New York office ofU nited States Lines closed, all the public relations, technical, and financial files were donated to them useum. These files contain information about the United States and all of the famo us liners that sailed for United States Lines, including the Leviathan, Washington, Manhattan and America.

The museum is in the opening stages of planning an exhibit on the United States for sometime in 2000. In addition, the museum is currently archiving and cataloguing the United States Lines files. Once it is completed, the public will finally have access to oncesecret information about the golden years of America's merchant marine history in the 20th century. Whatever the future holds for the United States, the American Merchant Marine Museum will be at the forefront of the ongoing effort to keeping the spirit of this great ship alive and her legacy intact.

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(AMMM, US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point NY 11024; 516 773-5515) of the ship's marble "eyes," the earliest known metal anchor, and collections of black-glazed, cooking and coarse wares.

(INA, PO Drawer HG, College Station TX 77841-5137; 409 845-6694) ... The stacks of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's J. Porter Shaw An artifact recoveredfrom the 5th-century BC shipwreck at Tektas Burnu (Photo: INA)

Library have been enriched by the recent donation of the distinguished library of maritime book collector Donald V. Reardon, gathered during his career as a naval architect with Gibbs and Cox, then as the Coast G uard's only naval architect on the West Coast and finally as a consultant for American President Lines. (National Maritime M useum Association, PO Box 470310, San Francisco CA 94147) ...

Thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has begun digitizing and indexing their collection of 6,000 historic images. (LCMM, 4472 Basin Harbor Road, Vergennes VT 05491 ; 802 475-2022) For additional information about these stories and others, subscribe to the eight-page, bimonthly Sea History Gazette-$18.75 for members of NMHS, $28.75 for non-members (plus $10 shipping for addresses outside the US). Call us at 914 737-7878or 1 800 221-NMHS (6647) or send a check to NMHS, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

RARE, ORIGINAL ANTIQUE SEA CHARTS &MAPS 17th - 20th Century

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39

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS CALENDAR Festivals, Events, Lectures, Etc. • Brick Store Museum: 16- 17 June 2000 , "Songs of Sail, 2000 " (1 17 Main Street, Kennebunk M aine 04043; 207 985-4802; bricksrore@cyberto urs.com) • Center for Wooden Boats: 1-4 July 2000 , 24th Annual Lake U nion W ooden Boat Festival (1 010 Valley Stree t, Seattle WA 98 1094468; 206 382-2628; e-mail: cwb@cwb.org; web sire: www.cwb.org) • Erie Maritime Museum: 27-28 May 2000, Small C raft Weekend (1 50 Eas t Fro nt Street, Suite 1, Erie PA 16507; 8 14 452-2744; web site: www. brigni agara.org) •Kendall Whaling Museum: 23-25 June 2000, Scrimshaw Coll ecto r's Weekend (27 Eve rett Sr. , PO Box 297, Sharo n MA 02067; 78 1 784-5 642; web site: www.kwm .org) •Mystic Seaport, Inc. : 3-4 June 2000, Small C raft W ee kend ; 8-11 June 2000, Sea M usic Festival (75 G reenmanville Ave nue, PO Box 6000, Mys ti c CT 06355; 860 572-53 15; web site: www.mys ri cseaport.org) • Sail Boston 2000: 11- 16 July 2000; 11 July, T all Ships Parade (SB2000, One Design Center Place, Boston MA 022 10; 61 7 439-7700; 61 7 439-7701 ; e- mail: ships@sailboston.com; web sire: www.sail boston. com) • San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park: 4 July2000, Waterfront Festival (Fort Mason, Bldg. 201 , San Francisco CA 94 123; 41 5 556-1 65 9; web site: www. nps.gov/safr) • Seattle Maritime Festival: 11-13 May2000 (S MF, 165 1 Bellevue Avenu e, Seattl e WA 98122-201 4; 206 292-8028) • Tall Ships 2000 Bermuda: 9-12 June 2000 (Suire405, International Centre, 26 Bermudiana

~7tTORY GAZETTE A Bi-monthly Digest of Maritime Heritage News

OPSAIL 2000 CALENDAR

Road, H amilton H M 11 , Bermuda: 44 1 2964696; e-mail: info r@rallships2000.bm; web site: www.ral lships2000.bm) •Tall Ships 2000 Nova Scotia: 20-24 July 2000 , in H alifax (T ourism Nova Scotia, 800 565-0000; web site: www.tallships2000ns.ca)

Exhibits • The Bostonian Society: through 15 July 2000, "Pi rates on Trial in Puritan Boston" (206 Washington St., Boston MA; 6 17 720-3290) • Dennos Museum Center: 12 M arch- 11 June 2000, "Fish for All: T he Legacy of Lake Michigan Fisheries Policy and Management" (No rthwestern M ichi gan College, 1701 East Fro nt Street, Trave rse C ity M I 4968 6; 23 1 922- 1029; web site: www. dm c. nm c.edu) • Hampton Roads Naval Museum: from 6 Ma rch, "A Hundred Years of Silence: The US Submarine Force" (One Waterside Drive, Sui te 248, N orfolk VA 23 510-1607; 757 322-2993; web site: www. hrnm.navy. mil) •The Mariners' Museum: 25 February- 1 May 2000, "T aking the Stars: Highlights fro m the Peter W. Ifland Collection of Navigati on Instruments"; through 5 September 2000 , "It's about Time" (100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA 23606-3759; 757 5962222; web sire: www.mariner. org) •Naval Undersea Museum: February- May 2000, "Women in the Military" (601 Dowell Sr., PO Box 408, Keyport WA 98345; 360 3964 148; fax: 360 396-7944) • The Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum: 22 January-2 Septem ber 2000, "US Navy Submarines: A Century Beneath the Sea" (734 Marin St., Vallejo CA 94590; 707 643-0077)

J~ MARITIME

BOOKS 1806 Laurel Crest Madison, Wisconsin 53705-1065 (608) 238-SAIL FAX (608)-238-7249 Email: tuttlebk@aol.com http:I I tuttlemaritime.com To: NMHS , PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566

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• 19-29 May 2000, Puerto Rico Regatta 2000 (PMB 335, 202A San Justo Street, San Juan PR 00901 ; 787 723-9845 ; fax : 787 723-779 1; e-mail: dwhiring@wo rldnet .arr.net; web sire: hrrp://www.regatta2000pr .com) • 7-10 Jun e 2000, OpSail Miami (1015 N orth America Way, 2nd Floor, Miami FL 33 132; 305 372- 1950; we b site: www .opsailmiami2000.com) • 16- 20 June 2000 , OpSail 2000 Virginia (Norfolk Fesrevents Ltd. , 120 West Main Sr., No rfo lk VA 23510; 757 44 1-5 168; fax: 757 441-2947; web site: www .opsail virginia.com) • 23-29 June 2000, OpSail 2000 Baltimore (200 West Lombard St., Baltimore MD 2120 1; 4 10 742-8632, fax: 4 10 3850361 ; web sire:www.sailbaltimore.org) • 23-29 June 2000, OpSail 2000 Philadelphia (Pier 36 South, 80 1 Columbus Blvd., Second Floor, Philadelphia PA 19147; 215 218-0 110) • 3-9 July 2000, OpSail 2000 New York (1 Wo rld Trade Center, Ste. 2121, New Yo rk NY 10048; 212 435-2665; fax: 212 435-2664) • 12-15 July 2000, OpSail 2000 Connecticut (18 1 State Sr. , New London CT 06320; 860 448-2000, fax: 860 447-797 1; web site: www.opsail2000ct.org; e-mail : opsail2000@cr.org) • 28-31 July 2000, OpSail Maine 2000 in Portland (Maine International Trade Center, 5 11 Co ngress Street, Portland ME 04 101 ; 207 54 1-7400; e- mail: opsailmaine @mi te.com)

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A Shipyard in Maine, by Ralph Linwood Snow and Capt. Douglas K. Lee (Tilbury House, Gardiner ME, and the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath ME, 1999, 39lpp, illus, appen, biblio, index, ISBN 0-88448193-x; $49.95hc) This book is a magnificent history of the Percy and Small shipyard in Bath and the great schooners built there.

The site, now occupied by the Maine Maritime Museum, saw 7 sixmasted, 15 five-masted, and 19 four -masted schooners built between 1894 and 1920, along with many smaller craft.

The yard also built and operated vessels for its own account, and so the book includes many revealing details of the vagaries of making money afloat. The yard and vessel histories are elegantly narrated by Snow, with copious photographs and excellent line drawings by Capt. Lee. M uch of this material will be of considerable interest to model builders as well as to maritime historians.

Included in the vessels built by Percy and Small was the Wyoming, one of the most famo us of the great six-masters ever built, and the Annie C. Ross, a four-master that survived in trade until 194 1. John A. Noble, the lithographer of Staten Island fame and chronicler of the end of working sail, went to sea in her and ultimately owned her yawl boat from which his "Rowboat Sketches" were made.

T his is a beautiful and monumental work, telling the story of this very significant shipyard and its ships in wonderful detail. It is truly a joy to own and should be in every schooner buff's library.

TOWNSEND HORNOR Osterville, Massachusetts The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts,

by Bruce Hampton Franklin (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 1999, 174pp, illus, biblio, appen, index, ISBN 1-55750280-3; $39.95hc) In June of 1941 England requested that the US design and manufacture a ship for oceangoing convoy escort. The plans were finalized by Gibbs and Cox, the same marine architects who did the drawings for

the American Liberty ships and designed the liners America and United States. Construction began in early 1942 and a total of 565 units in many different configurations and classes were completed, of which 154 were Buckley-class DEs, and England received 46 of these.

The book covers this history and deals with the many variations in armament and other fearures.

All the ships were 306 feet long and had turboelecrric propulsion. There the similarity between ships ended. The most varied alterations were to the armament. The vessels lent to England had some of their armament installed by the Royal Navy. The biggest change in armament was the elimination of the torpedo rubes and the replacement of the 3" 150 main battery with 5"/38 closed mounts.

The book continues to discuss the careers of the DEs after World War II, and concludes with a detailed description of armament, modifications, etc. and photographs of each of the 154 Buckley-class vessels including information on the namesake and significant operations. Perhaps one of the most spectacular performances by a DE was the location and sinking of five Japanese submarines in twelve days by USS England (CDE-635).

This book will make great reading and a treasured memento of days long ago for all DE sailors.

DAVIDE. PERKJNS Sebring, Florida Spain's Men of the Sea: Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the Sixteenth Century,

by Pablo E. Perez-Mellaina, translated by Carla Rahn Phillips (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD, 1998, 289pp, illus, notes, index, ISBN 0-8018-5746-5; $29.95hc) The author provides a portrait of the daily life of seamen and officers serving Spain's Atlantic fleets on their voyages ro the New World in the century after its discovery by Columbus. These fleets sailed the Atlantic during Spain's sixteenth-century Golden Age bringing human and material cargo to the New World while

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

enriching Europe with shiploads of silver.

This portrayal of Spain's men of the sea is indeed bleak. Conditions aboard a ship of this time would shock contemporary sensibilities. Cramped quarters, spoiled food, little or no medical care, brutal discipline, vermin, and possibly death awaited those choosing the sea as a means of earning their daily bread. Yet there were many reasons why men sought this employment.

Many came from a worse poverry on land, hoping to achieve quick riches. Others sought relief from monotony and isolation at home. Some followed a fam ily tradition of the sea while the chance of upward social mobiliry drove others to the ships. Many signed on as an illegal means of immigration, hoping ro desert upon reaching the New World.

Perez-Mallaina examines many of these voyages beginning with a description of the port of Seville and the ships that made up these fleets . The emphasis remains, however, on the human element in all its variery. No aspect of the life of a Spanish seaman of the 1500s is left untouched. The social structure of the crews beginning with pages, apprentices and seamen and ending with pilot, master and captain is dealt with in detail. Fascinating information on topics such as the men's food, clothing, games, reading habits and pay is given to the reader. Issues such as sexualiry, religion and other social concerns of the men are treated as far as the historical evidence permits.

This excellent social history uses case studies and available statistics to reconstruct an important element in the rise of Spanish power in the sixteenth century.

The notes contain many primary Spanishlanguage sources with a few well-known English-language secondary sources. Period plates and illustrations bring the text to life. An important aspect of this highly recommended work is the fact that it brings a Spanish perspective to the English-language historiography of the Atlantic world.

HAROLD N. BOYER

Aston, Pennsylvania Salt and Steel, by Edward L. Beach (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD , 1999, 299pp, illus, index, ISBN: 1-5575 0-054-1; $32.95 hc) This book, although subtitled "Reflections of a Submariner," which it clearly is,

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

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covers the technical history of ships and boats, their uses, and the lives they touch. Its forum links builders of the highest quality ship models, marine artists, writers, and nautical collectors. The international Guild supports annual Conferences and provides special services for members including ship model analysis and model building assistance by experts. US$30.00.

Hard cover, 360pp, photos $21.95 incl s/h. NJ res. add $1.20 For a signed copy, order directly from the author by sending check or money order to :

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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION SHIP PLANS CATALOGS 1) Ship Plans List: merchant sail, steam, small craft and fishing vessels from the 18th-20th centuries. 250 pp.

2) The Maritime Administration Collection of Ship Plans 1939-1970: Liberty and Victory Ships, SS United States, etc. 79 pp.

3) Warship Plans: early US sail and steam navy, ordnance, mid-18th century-1900, including Civil War. 125 pp.

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NEW RELEASE NAVAL HISTORY and MARITIME STRATEGY

by John B. Hattendorf

Orig. Ed. 2000 294 pp.

ISBN 1-57524-127-7 Cloth $29.50 In a series of 16 collected essays, John A."iD Hattendorf provides MARITIME STRATEGY , insight into the WiiiU<n '-'~" ' interrelationship between naval J..... . history and maritime strategy. The essays span a 25-year period of the author's association with the U.S. Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island.

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TAKING THE STARS: Celestial Navigation From Argonauts to Astronauts

by Peter lfland Orig. Ed. 1998 240 pp.

ISBN 1-57524-095-5 Cloth $59.00 Copublished with the Mariner's Museum Newport News, Virginia 'This book is a tremendous addition to nautical history. .. The experienced navigator will gain new insight and the novice will undoubtedly be awed by the beauty of the instruments and lf/and's lucid explanation of the process of navigating by the stars."

- Twain Braden, Ocean Navigator.

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REVIEWS

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PC Patrol Craft of World War II A History of the Ships and Their Crews Wm. J . Veigele, PhD, USNR, Ret. Includes a list of every PC, how they were bui lt, details x . : . _ of their design, 150 photos ·" ',,;;;;~ and drawings, 33 tables on · design, construction,battles, losses. Read about their exploits and what happened to them after the war. Hard cover, 400 pages. Send $39.95 + $4.75 s/h. (Add $ 1.75 for each add ' ! book to same address.) CA orders add $3.10 tax.

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The American Neptune Enjoy the leading scholarly journ al of maritime history and arts in the US. The American Neptune, a quarterly publ ication 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 fo r $33, a $6 savings over our regul ar subscri ption rate ($36 for non-US residents. Institutions: call fo r rates). To start your subscripti on, send a check or money order to:

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The Visolette Loupe is a un ique combination of condenser and 2.7X magnifier. Its ability to bundle ambient light makes the reading within the glass easier. This 65mm (2 .5") diameter lens is precision grou nd and polished, mounted in a solid brass ring with anti-slip bottom and enclosed in a solid walnut case. It makes a stunning addition to any chart table or desk and a beautifu l and useful gift for any flat piece collector.

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is much more than another submarine story. The book is written as a loose autobiography and as a com panion piece to his United States Navy, 200 Years. It starts with Beach's upbringing as the so n of a distinguished battleship commander, his life at Annapolis and then his various duty posts as he worked his way up the promotional ladder and into nuclear submarines. Along the way he covers in some detail an interesting collection of naval happenings unknown to most of us.

His description of and comments on events in the Pacific starting with the aborted relief of Wake Island and ending with the loss of Ho uston and almost all the other ships in the combined Allied command are most interesting. His take on Admiral Chester Nimitz and his management of the Pacific war at sea are fascinating as an educated commentary of those well-chronicled but not-so-well-commented-upon times. His chapter on the 1949 " revolt of the admirals" and th e role played by Admiral Arleigh Burke, then a captain on Pentagon duty, is a treasure in itself, with details of the events that are certainly new to me.

All through the book Beach's incisive mind and judgment tempered b y h is long experience present new insights and ideas.

It is a very readable and most personable chronicle of a distinguished career.

TOWNSEND HORNOR Osterville, Massachusetts

Peel<Sl<ill, NY 10566 914-736-1034 • Fax: 914-736-1217

Annapolis MD, 1999, 185pp, illus, notes, inde x, biblio, ISB N 1-55 75 0-845-3 ; $32.95hc) This book offers highlights of the history of Alexander Hamilton's Revenue Cutter Service from 179 0 to the rwenrieth century. The reader travels to Alaska and its purchase from Russia in 1867, when the first patrol of the new territory was done by the Revenue Cutter Lincoln to Sitka and then westward to Unalaska setting the pattern for future patrols that wo uld last for almost a century. With little or no communication possible over a vast area of land and sea, the cutters were, for all practical purposes, the US government. They carried out law en forcement, provided trans-

Continued on page 46

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

EDITOR'S BOOK LOCKER Five Days in London, May 1940, by John Lukacs (Yale University Press, New Haven CT & London UK, 1999, 236pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 0-300-08030-1; $19.95hc) Winston Churchill became prime ministerofBritain on 10 May 1940. That same day, Nazi Germany launched an overwhelming attack, spearheaded by tanks and dive bombers, which speedily overran Holland and Belgium and soon led to total defeat of the French Army and ensuing occupation of most of France by German forces . As this disaster unfolded under the eyes of a stunned and frightened world, it was widely expected that France's ally Britain would be compelled to come to terms with the Nazi aggressors-a development which C hurchill said would "lead to a new D ark Ages. " C hurchill had recognized Hider's menace even before Hider came to power in Germany in 1933, warning of his threat not just to Britain but to the worldwide cause of freedom . He now set out to convince his colleagues in government, his countrymen, the English-speaking peoples and the world, that Hider and Hiderism had to be fought-and that Britain would stay in that fight regardless of the odds.

Professor Lukacs offers a lucid and insightful account of how the decision to fight on was made, and made to stick. He rightly challenges the perception , all too common today, that Hitler had started "a wa r in which he was bound to fail. " This certainly was not apparent in 1940. Soviet Russia and Fascist Italy were allied to Nazi Germ any. After the fall of France, a woefull y under-armed and ill-prepared Britain stood alone against Axis-dominated Europe and the German war machine, which Lukacs correctly describes as "awesome, the wonder of the world."

In setting this scene for us the author deals with carefully researched facts assembled in a sure-footed narrative.An overarching fact he carefully limns into the picture is that the Western world, bled white in World War I, battered by the international depression of the 1930s, was suffering from a loss of faith. In the US, for exam ple, the American hero Charles Lindbergh actually celebrated the Nazi cause in his book, The Wave ofthe Future.

Today we know the immediate outcome of this seemingly hopeless situation.

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

Britain held out alone against Axis-dominated Europe for a year, with growing US support, until Soviet Russia was attacked

by Germany, bringing it into the war, and the US was attacked by Japan. Then the unlikely British-American-Russian alliance came into being which won the war. And subseq uendy Soviet Communism collapsed in the ensuing Cold War. But no one knew these gigantic and improbable developments at the time.

England's decision to fight on , which was vital to Allied victory, had to be based on faith rather than fact. Churchill's vision was simply that the cause of freedom could generate unpredictable resources-but only if the fight continued.

Lukacs has chosen five days of cabinet meetings held in London, culminating on 28 May 1940, as the crucible in which the decision to fight was forged. C hurchill skimps chis story in his war memoirs, recounting only the final meeting on 28 M ay, when even his opponents supported his resolve. It seems clear that he avo ided telling the whole story in order to shield others, who wanted peace with Germany because they thought Hider was indeed riding the wave of the future or, like the widely respected Lord Halifax, felt that there was no rational basis for continuing the bloodshed in a lost cause.

Lukacs has scouted far afield and dug deep in memoirs, letters, and public opinion surveys as well as official records to give us his picture of the discussions of responsible people seeking the responsible thing to do in an agonizing situation. H e does this with a real gift for recreating the scene.

One com es to understand even Halifax's resentment of C hurchill's rhetoric in co uncil, and of what he called Churchill's "emotionalism ."

We may be glad th at Halifax came round at the end. And we may be thankful that C hurchill's rhetoric was based on undaunted resolution , as well as a deep-seared love of freedom and the time-honored institutions in which freedom lived, and ultimately survived.

In this finely wrought story, Lukacs rises to the level of the events he writes about, giving us a fresh, vivid account of free peop le rising to meet an ultimate challenge .

PETER STANFORD

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45

REVIEWS portation for doctors and priests to serve the native population, the crews of whalers and sealing personnel on the Pribilof Islands, and conducted explorations of rivers and searches for the lost polar exploration vessel Jeanette. A specially designed cutter, the Nunivac, operated on the Yukon River as much as a thousand miles from the sea.

All who have done Bering Sea patrols with the Coast G uard will enjoy reading abo ut how our predecessors in Alaska dealt with the same problems today's Coas t G uardsmen face. This book, along with two other books, Robert Erwin Johnson's Bering Sea Escort and Sea ofthe Bear: Jour-

nal of a Voyage to Alaska and the Arctic, 1921 by M. A. Ransom and Eloise Katherine Engle, form quite a record of this little-known work.

DAVID E. PERKINS

The Royal Navy in European Waters during the American Revolutionary War,

by David Syrett (University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC, 1998, 213pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 1-57003238-6; $23.95hc) In this volume in the "S tudies in Maritime History" series, Syrett provides an operational history of the Royal Navy in European waters during the years 177582. Much has been written about the operations of the Royal Navy in American waters (see, in fact, Syrett's The Royal Navy inAmerican Waters, 1775-1783) ; this book briefly describes actions on the other side of the Atlantic.

Syrett boldly claims that, had the Royal Navy been able to prevail over Britain's enemies in European waters, then the American Revolution may have had a different outcome. He places rhe blame for this failure on Lord North's ministry, describing North as a brilliant parliamentary tactician but unsuited to lead a government at war. British strategy during the American Revolution is described as a series of contradictions and paradoxical responses to events.

The year 1777 found the Royal Navy totally unprepared for a war that would eventually see France, Spain and the Netherlands ranged against Great Britain. Disparate and sometimes conflicting needs faced the Royal Navy in the years of the Revolution. Munitions to the American colon ies had to be both supplied to the 46

British army and kept out of reach of the American forces. Britain's merchant shipping had to be convoyed and protected while American privateers had to be hunted down. Traditional naval power projection had to be employed to prevent a FrenchSpanish invasion of Britain, the Durch fleet had to be contain ed, and Gibraltar had to be regularly supplied if it was not to be lost to Spain. All of this and more had to be accomplished in the face of naval unpreparedness due to the failure to promptly mobilize the fleet in the face of French and other challenges. That the Royal Navy accomplished most of its tasks in the years 1775-82 was a tribute to British ingenuity and steadfastness in the face of nearly insurmountable odds.

Syrett has written a fine political and operational history of this neglected aspect of the American Revolutionary War. Of particular interes t are his descriptions of the Industrial Revolution's first effects on the Royal Navy in the form of copper sheathing of ship bottoms and the introduction of shipboard carronades. While the major personalities of this period are amply described, more attention to some of the technical and social aspects of the Royal Navy would have provided a more balanced view of this transAtlantic struggle.

HAROLD N. BOYER Reading the Sea: New Essays on Sea Literature, edited by Kevin Alexander Boon (Fort Schuyler Press, Bronx NY, 1999, 211pp, index, ISBN 0-9670328-1-4 ; $29.9 5hc) This scholarly new look at some of the more well-known literature of the sea explores the relationship between the sea, the characters in the stories, and the human race. T he thirteen essayists strive to explain the underlying significance in selected passages and texts and their relevance to our twentieth-century existence. Attitudes expressed by H erman M elville, Elizabeth Bishop, S. T. Coleridge andAdrienne Rich and demonstrated by their characters in this rich seagoing collection have a bearing on our own attitudes on cultural exchange, race relations and politics. Indeed, these attitudes and a relationship with the sea have often shaped our own reactions and ability to understand each other.

T he writers draw a fine parallel between the inescapable mys teries of the sea and our

own existence-and our determination to understand ourselves. One particularly memorable essay deals with the fascination we hold for the disaster of shipwreck and the subsequent loss of life as detailed in Sebastian J unger' s The Perfect Storm. T h e loss of the swordfishing boat, a literal event, parallels closely the idea of "human co ntention with the natural forces of existence" -a fact with which, sooner or later, we all must deal.

Reading the Sea provides the reader with insight and thought-provoking comparisons of a subject as close to us as the meaning of our own lives. A worthy addition to any scholar's library.

WILLIAM H . WHITE Rumson, New Jersey Sailing Alone Around the World, by Captain Joshua Slocum (Sham bhala Publications, Inc., Boston MA and London UK, 1999, 445 pp, illus, ISBN 1-57062498-4; $6.95pb) The book that is truly small enough to fit in a pocket-a real miniature-was common in the 1800s but has been forgotten in this century. H ere it is revived in a 3" x 4 1/z" edition ofJoshua Slocum's classic acco unt of his circumnavigation in the Spray. Type size is adequate, the charming steel engravings of the original are included, and the artist William Gilkerson adds a lovely color painting and a lively and perceptive introduction.

PETER STANFORD PC Patrol Craft of World War II: A History of the Ships and Their Crews, by William J. Veigele (Astral Publishing Co., Santa Barbara CA, 1998, 400pp, illus, appen, notes, index, isbn 0-9645867- 1-1 ; $39 .95hc) Veigele sets out to give the PC patrol craft their due. The PCs, often sent off with a modest launching ceremony budget of only $25, were the omnipresent workhorse vessels of the Second World War. A total of361 PCs were built at 16 shipyards from New York to Oregon. The author covers the length and breadth of their careers: design and construction, training, life aboard ship and achievements and adventures of individual PC crews. The text is accompanied by a generous selection of photographs, drawings and other illustrations.

SHELLEY REID

SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000

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G EORGE R. ATTERB URY W1LL1 AM F. B ACHMAJER R1 c HARD W. B ESSE JERRY BLYDE & Co. JEssE M. BoNTEcou F RANK 0. B RAYNARD RADM D Av 10 C. BROWN H ENRY B URGESS A LAN B URR OUGH MR. & MRS. NICHOLAS C AR LOZZI D AVID D. Ci·IOMEAU TIM COLTON C APT . JAMES C. COOK STANLEY R. C OWELL H A RLAN CROW D OM INIC A. D ELAURENTIS, MD EDWARD A. D ELMAN REY NOLDS DUPONT, JR. B ARBARA EVERTON JULES C OMPERTZ FLEDER WILLI AM FR ANK F umsu- lcL SYSTEM S. I NC.

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H ARRY W. G ARSC HAGEN JOE R. GERSON VIRGI NIA STEELE GRUB B C ARL W. H EXAMER, II H OWARD E. H IGHT I NTREPID M USEUM FOUNDATION W ERNER V A LEUR- JENSEN CH ESTER W. KJTCHINGS ELIOT S. KNOWLES C APT . W ARREN G. L EBACK CLIFFORD D. M ALLORY D IANA M AUTZ Jo ZACH MILLER, I V WILLIAM G. M ULLER R USSELL & ELLEN NEWBERRY JOHN H . PAES M URIEL H. PARRY THOMAS PATCH MRS. G ODWIN L. PELISSERO C APT. D AVID E. PERKINS H UG H M. PIERCE MR. & MRS. L AWRENCE R. R ACH LIN MR. & MRS. LENNARD K. R AMBUSCH, ESQ. O GDEN R EID SAI LORS. U NION OF THE PAC IFIC JOSEPH & JEAN SAWTELLE KI MBALL SMITH M ELBOURNE SMITH ALFR ED TYLER. [[

L AURENCE URDANG

US I 'DUSTRIES, [ NC.

CHARLES J. VADALA

SHELL EY REID COL. G EORGE A. R E TSC HLER STOLT PARCEL T AN KERS. I NC. D AN IEL R. S UKJ S

V ENTURA C OUNTY M ARITIME M USEUM

T ERR Y W ALTON

H AVEN C. R OOSEVELT JOHN B. TH OM PSON, JR

MRS. WILLI AM F. WI SEM AN

W OODSON K . W OODSON

PATRONS

JAMES D. ABELES RAYMOND AKER RHODA AMON ROBERT ARMES MICHAEL & CHRISTINE ATTARDO ELLEN M. B ALAGUE R PAUL B ALSER PETER B ARTOK STEVE B. B ATTERMAN ALAN B EARDEN CDR JAMES F. B ENSON B OSTON M AR INE SOCIETY KARL L. BRJEL T HE BRESSLER F OUNDATION PETER J. P. BRICKFIELD C APT . EDWARD M. B URNES l. M. B URNETT J. F. C ALLO D E NIS M cALLISTER CAMPION WILLIAM J. CANAVAN NORMAN CARATHA 'AS IS G EORGE W. C ARMANY, Ill C APT. NED CHALKER M ARK D. CHASE SHARON E. C OHEN D R. CHRISTIANE. CRETUR MR. & M RS. JOHN D AR ·llN P. S. D EBEAUMONT DR. FORBES D ELANY JAMESON D ENAGEL E VAN DILLON B ERNARD D ONNELLY ANDRES D UARTE R. H . D UPREE JOHN D USENBURY H OWARD H . EDDY EKLOF M ARINE C ORPORATION ]OJ-JN W. ELDER MR. & M RS. ROBERT S. ERSKINE, JR. JAMEs P. F ARLEY JERRY FINGER B ARRY & CAROLL. FI SHER F. S. FORD. JR. TIMOTHY G. FOOTE M R. & MRS. W.W. FRAZIER. IV PATRI CK H . F ULM ER

D ENNIS G ALLAG HER

TH OMAS C. GILLMER FREDERIC H. H ARWOOD R OBERT L. JAMES

DR. & MRS. D AVID H AYES

WI LLIAM JETT

ELLEN B. K URTZMAN

BRIG. G EN . PATR ICK

LCDR B . A. GILMORE, USN ( R ET)

G ARVEY. USMC ( R ET)

WI LLIAM H AZELETT

MRS. B ERNICE B. JoHNSTON

NORMAN Li ss

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B RUCE G ODLEY

L EO A. LOUBERE

A. D ALE H EMMERDINGER

CHARLES R . K ILBOURNE

JEAN L UCY

EDWARD E. G ASPAR

ROBERT W. H AGEMEYER

NICHOLAS S. M AKAR

PETER P. G ERQUEST

WINTHROP H ALL,

JR.

MR. & M RS . D AVID H ENWOOD

R OGER T. K ORNER KATE M ANNING

D WIGHT G ERTZ

WI LLIAM & K ERSTI N G ILKER SON

C APT. WILLI AM H. H AM ILTON

EMORY W. H ARPER

M R. & M RS. CHARLES HILL Tow SE• D H ORNOR

MR. & MRS. G ORDON K NUTSON M ARI NE SOCIETY OF B OSTON

CHUCK K OSTEL

B ENJAMIN M ARTI '

l<.JELL KRI STIANSEN

JOSEPH F. M EANY.

JAC K & M ARCIA M OORE PETER A. MORGAN l. A. MORRIS MR. & MRS. ROBERT G. MORRIS RICHA RD M AURER NATIONAL LI BERTY SHIP M EMORIAL. INC. JOYCE & H ARRY NELSON, D EAN R . NOYES CLIFFORD B. O ' H ARA MR. & MRS. RICHARD K. PAGE JAMES E . PALMER R A DM THOMAS J. PATTERSON ALLEN H. PEASE H ON. D ONALD R. Q UARTEL, MR. & M RS. JACO B JAMES G. SARGENT

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REID M URCHISON-CAPE F EAR C OMMUNITY FOUNDATION D USTY S. RH ODES R oss E. ROEDER SEA H ERITAGE FoUNDATION, I NC. SEAREEF CH ARTER ING, I NC. PETE SEEGER SHORELINE M ARINE C o .

JR. JR. JR.

PETER Row TREE SANDY H OOK PILOTS, NY &NJ M ARGARET SIECK & B oe B ALDWIN C ESARE SORIO

SPIRIT & SANZONE DI STRIB UTORS, INC. JULES V ERNE STEINHAUE R JOHN P. STEVENSON MR. & M RS . D AV ID W. SWETLAN D MR. & MRS. JAMES S YKES TH OMSON INDUSTR IES. I NC. CARL W. TIMPSON, JR. R ALPH N. TH OMPSON WILLIAM R. TOWER, JR. R OBERT J. T YD GILBERT VERNEY FOUNDATION MRS. R AYMOND E. W ALLACE [AN W ATT JOHN DI X W AYMAN R AYNER W EIR

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