Sea History 104 - Spring 2003 by National Maritime Historical Society & Sea History Magazine

No. 104

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SPRING/SUMMER 2003

SEA HISTOR~

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

THE LEGACY OF THE LIBERTYS

The American Achievement by Sea, Part II Treasures of the European Conquest of the Oceans Figureheads in Miniature: Lloyd McCaffery MARINE ART: William Bradford SEA HISTORY FOR KIDS

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The

Greater T he H onor

N ew from William H. White, the author of the W ar of 1812 Trilogy Read this thrilling saga ofAmerica'sfirst encounter with the Corsairs of the Barbary Coast. Told by a 14-year-old midshipman who sails with Stephen Decatur in 1803 to fight the pirates of Tripoli, this carefully researched and crafted story is more than a "sea story"; it is a coming-of-age story of both a young man and the fledgling navy he serves. Sea battles, storms, duels, and more challenge his maturity and encourage his personal growth. Meet Stephen Decatur, Edward Preble, and other soon-to-become-famous participants in this littleknown conflict, th e "testing fires" for the new American navy. Available at www.Amazon.com, your neighborhood bookseller, www.ti.llerbooks.com or www.seafiction.net.

=~:t~~!~ (fa(( Sftips of tfte 21st Centu~ qnteractive ~[as Experience the majesty of the worlds sail ing ships with the Tall Ships of the 21st Century Interactive Atlas. With over 300 full color photos of 75 of the finest vessels afloat today, this digtal archive is a must have for the avid sailing ship enthusiast. Utilizing the latest digital technology, this interactive atlas combines ship specifications and history with rare onboard photos, providing a one of a kind reference guide to these giants of the sea.

Interested in Lighthouses and Maritime History? The United States Lighthouse Society is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the preservation of lighthouses, their history and lore. Members receive The Keepers Log, a quarterly magazine with detailed articles about lighthouses-past and present-and the people who operated them. Activities of lighthouse preservation groups are also covered. Between issues of the Log, the Society issues a quarterly Bulletin with updates on chapter activties, general lighthouse information and itineraries of upcoming regional and foreign Society tours. For full membership information, send a self-addressed, stamped business size envelope to: United States Lighthouse Society 244 Kearny Street - Dept SH San Francisco, CA 94108 415-362-7255 • http://www.USLHS.org

No. 104

sEA HI sTORy

SPRJNG/SUMMER2003

CONTENTS FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE 6 THE AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT BY SEA, PART II: From Two-Ocean Navy to All-Ocean Navy, by Peter Stanford

The idea ofprojecting a strengthened world presence by sea was new to Americam at the end ofthe 19th century, but events in the second decade ofthe 20th century and again twenty years l.ater brought American "sea power" to the fore. 11 Liberty Ships That Made History, by Peter Stanford

As the World Ship Trust honors two restored Liberty ships, we look at the role ofthe Libertys in WWII and how that legacy is maintained today. 12 How the O'Brien Returned to the D-Day Beaches, by T homas J. Patterson, RADM, USMS (Ret.) 13 The Three Lives of the John W. Brown, by Michael J. Schneider

15 Treasures of "The Boundless Deep .. . ": An Exhibition on the European Conquest of the Oceans, 14 50 to 184 0, by Norman Fiering

LLOYD MCCAFFERY

A superb collection of books and maps from the john Carter Brown Library chronicling the European exploration of the planet and the documentation of their discoveries goes on display at the Newport Art Museum. 18 SHIPCARVERS CORNER: The Romance of the Sea in Miniature, by Lloyd McCaffery

The phrase "exquisite detail" could have been coined specifically to describe Lloyd McCajfery's extraordinary miniature figureheads, informed by in-depth historical and artistic research. 22 MARINE ART: The Wide Ocean World of William Bradford, by Richard C. Kugler

The New Bedford Whaling Museum celebrates its centennial with an exhibition ofart by the local artist whose work demonstrates his appreciation for the vessels ofhis home port and for Arctic climes. 29 A Newly Discovered Memorandum Pinpoints the Start of the Trafalgar Campaign, by E. C. Coleman Instructions from Admiral Nelson to Captain Boyle ofHMS Seahorse in

NEW BE DFORD WHALING MUSEUM

January 1805 reveal one step in Nelson's search for the French fleet. 30 Where Sea Adventure Spreads Learning, by Joe Evangelista

Two sport sailors bring a passage under sailfrom Hong Kong to New York to life for students through a web site that introduces youngpeople to the modern voyage as well as the history ofthe clipper ships that made the route their own. COVER: Donald W Patterson recreated the scene of the Liberty ship Jeremiah O 'Brien leaving San Francisco boundfor Normandy for the commemoration ofD-Day in 1994, based on a photograph ofthe start ofthe voyage taken by Dan Maskell. See pages 11-13.

DEPARTMENTS 2 D ECK LOG & LETIERS 5 NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION 26 MARINE ART NEWS 36 SEA HISTORY FOR KIDS

38 SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT &

43 48

MUSEUM NEWS/CALENDAR REVIEWS PATRONS

25 SEA HISTORY (issn 0146-9312) is published quarrerly by the National Maritime Historical Society, 5 John Walsh Blvd., PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Periodicals postage paid at Peekskill NY 10566 and add'l mailing offices. COPYRIGHT Â© 2003 by the National 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

It was a long way up to the fiddley overhead. A shaft of spring sunlight shone through the gratings from the skylight over the engine room of the Liberty ship john W Brownasshesteamedinto New York harbor in 1994 to honor the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy. The sunlight wavered and shifted as the ship rolled gently to the harbor swell while a volunteer oiler (all the crew are volunteers) weaved and dodged to minister to the thumping triple expansion steam engine that drives the ship. The oiler is part of the machine, in a way that just isn't true of today's ships with their push-button controls. Of the 2,751 Libertys built in World War II, 200 were sunk by enemy action. Their engine-room crews were at their stations far below decks. It was a long climb up iron ladders to open sky and the ship's boats and rafts .... Just being aboard the Brown in New York on that spring day in 1994 was to step into a vanished world of human endeavor. The ship's steaming keeps alive our connection with that world. And while she was doing this good work, on the far side of the Atlantic her sister LibertyJeremiah 0 'Brien was lying off the Normandy beaches where she had been fired on by German guns as she delivered the American soldiers who liberated captive Europe. The O'Brien's volunteer crew had steamed the big ship all the way from San Francisco to keep this commemoration of her and America's rendezvous with destiny. In this issue of Sea History, as the World Ship Trust of London honors the Liberty ships john W Brown and ]eremiah O'Brien, we look at how veteran seamen, bolstered by young people learning from the old hands, keep these ships alive, to open a vital experience to coming generations. Our friend Admiral Tom Patterson tells us that the 0 'Brien crew are preparing the ship for the lOOth anniversaryofD-Day in 2044. They don't all expect to be there, but their ship will, pursuing her mission of educating Americans in the challenge of their seafaring heritage.

The American Achievement by Sea The brilliantAthenian leader Themistocles, victor at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, said: "He who commands the sea has command of everything. " In the light of history he has been proven right over and over. Today our own economic life is nourished by the ocean's commercial sea lanes, and our ability to project military power in defense of the nation relies heavily on naval power. These twin realities of modern life unfortunately are obscured in today's media babble and academic political correctness. That makes articles like Peter Stanford's "The American Achievement by Sea" in the Winter issue of Sea H istory uniquely valuable for those seeking a rational approach to our own times in relation to history. RADMJOSEPHF . CALLO, USNR(RET.) New York, New York

A National Message In this Sea History we also look at further aspects of "The American Achievement by Sea." Your views are invited on this exploration of the meanings and outcomes of the American experience at sea. Help us shape a national message worthy of the sailing of the Libertys! PETER STANFORD

Editor at Large The John W . Brown returns to New York, May 1994 with the editor-at-large in the engine room.

"The American Achievement by Sea" in Sea History 103 is great and founded on a great idea. One of my "missions" is to remind the American people of the contribution of our maritime heritage to national development. I applaud this good work and encourage you to continue your efforts. RAY H EITZMANN , PHD Vill anova University Villanova, Pennsylvania The United States is blessed with many maritime heritage museums spread across her fifty states. To toddlers and old seamen on the beach , they tell the story of how America came from the sea. Their models and displays teach visitors the importance of ships and crews to our global economy and defense. Now a new dimension is linked with our historic shoreside museums. These are the legacy ships. For many years historic sailing ships like USS Constitution and the US Coast Guard's Eagle have proudly carried the message ofour seafaring past. They have been joined by the memorial ships of World War II . These ships, provided by the Maritime Administration to qualified volunteer organizations, have gone back to sea to show their visitors how America's merchant marine preserved our liberty around the world alongside our other sea services. These legacy ships include the Jeremiah O'Brien of San Francisco,john W Brown

SEA HISTORY I 04, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

ofBaltimore, and Lane Victory of San Pedro in full operating status, and the American Victory in Tampa and Red Oak Victory in Richmond, California, are being developed for operating status. The legacy ships can be an arm of active education for the "American Achievement by Sea" program and can help assure that our m aritime heritage will have a future worthy of its inspiring past. THOMAS J. PATTERSON Rear Admiral, USMS (Ret.) San Rafael, California

Kudos from the West Coast Many thanks for more West Coast coverage . I have enjoyed reading your Columbia River Maritime Museum and Virginia V restoration articles. M y family and I have had memorable cruises on Seattle's last Mosq ui to Fleet vessel. It is a thrill to us to see this grand old steamer cruise by proudly. Also, thanks for the fine article on "The Sp irit of Atlantic Challenge," by Cate Cronin. Years ago I attended Atlantic Challenge competitions in Roslci lde, when we had a local participant. Ir was a marvelous regatta, and we were so impressed that we started our Pacific Challenge in 26' boats li ke the ones Captain Vancouver used to explore Pacifi.cNorthwestwaters from 1792 to 1794. I am enclosing a copy of Spray, Ahoy!, published by the Joshua Slocum Society International. Like NMHS we need new m e mbers and an opportuni ty to tell our story. The Society was founded in 1955 to honor the memory of Capt. Joshua Slocum, who first circumnavigated the world in the late 1890s as a solo sailor in his 37' Spray. Over the years, JSSI has honored 134 'ro und-the-world sailors with our Golden C ircle Award. Several years ago I presented the award to solo sailor Karen T horndike on rhe aft deck of the Was hin gto n State Ambassadorship Lady Washington. THORNTON THOMAS Bellevue, W ashington

Joshua Slocum Society International, Inc., 15 Codfish HiLL Road Extension, Bethel CT 0680 I; web site:joshuaSlocumSocietyi ntl.org Historic Ferry Seeks Contemporaries I am the operations manager of th e Millersburg Ferry Boat Association in Millersburg, Pennsylvania. We are a non-profit organi-

zation dedicated to the upkeep and preservation of two all-wooden sternwheel double paddle ferry boats. T hese are the only two of the type in existence in the United States. It is believed th at a ferry was established in the late 175 0s, but was probably relocated as the town grew. Written evidence indicates that the ferry system has been an on-going operation since 1817. We are the oldest transportatio n system in continuous operation in the state of Pennsylvania. We would like to know if there are any operations still in existence that are older than ours elsewhere in the United States. Can any Sea History readers help us out? I can be reached by phone at 7 17 692-3220 or by e-mail at hammaker@epix.net. If yo u want check us out online, our web site is www.millersburg.com/attractions/. Our history can be found online at avs.epix. net/ m bgferry/history. htm . DIANE H AMMAKER Millersburg, Pennsylvania

The Miffersburg Ferry Boats

A Derelict Lady in the Falklands am an admirer of the Lady Elizabeth, derelict at Stan ley in the Falkland Islands. She seems to have a uniquely graceful beauty that is beyond the abi lity of photographs to capture. Last March, I was again visiting the Falklands, and I enclose a photograph

Lady Elizabeth of her. Unfortunately, I was unable to ride a Zodiac to take a photo of her port side. T hough she seems still rugged and sound and her mas ts are upright, held solidly by her structure in spite of high wi nds and heavy seas, her list appears to have increased in the last two years. C lose inspection reveals considerable rust, and there may be one or two small holes rusted through, though they do not appear in the photograph. The Lady Elizabeth was built in 1879 by R. Thompson Jr. of Sunderland, England. She made frequent visits to Stanley, and even brought materials for the construction of Christ C hurch Cathedral. Unfortunately, approaching Stanley in 1913, she hit a rock, whi ch ended her sailing career. T hereafter, she became a floating warehouse in the harbo r until 1936 when she

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, 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, phone: 1 800 221-NMHS (6647) or visit us at: www.seahistory.org.

Yes, I wa nt 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 up as: 0 $35 Regular Member 0 $50 Family Member 0 $100 Friend 0 $250 Patron 0 $500 Donor 104 Mr./M s. - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Z IP _ _ _ _ _~

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

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

LETTERS NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Howard Slocnick; Vice Chairmen, Richardo R. Lopes, Edward G . Zel insky; Executive Vice President, Burchenal G reen; Treasurer, William H. White; Secretary, Marshall Streibert; Trustees, Donald M. Birney, Walter R. Brown, Sabata Catucci, Richard T. du Moulin, D avid S. Fowler, Jack Gaffney, Virginia Steele Grubb, Rodney N . Houghton , Steven W. Jones, Richard M. Larrabee, Warren G. Le back, Guy E. C. Maitland, Karen E. Markoe, Michael R. McKay, James J. McNamara, DavidA. O'Nei l, RonaldL. Oswald, David Platcner, Bradford D. Smith, David B. Vietor,Alexander E. Zagoreos; ChairmenEmeriti, Alan G . Choate, Guy E. C. Maitland, C raig A. C. Reynolds; PresidentEmeritus, Peter Stanford FOUNDER: Karl Kortum (1917-1996)

broke her moorings, probably in a storm, and drifted ashore in Whalebone Cove where she has lain ever since. (Incidently, the Cove is where the old battleship Canopus was grounded in December 1914 and fired the first shots at Admiral Graf von Spee's fleet, leading to the German loss to Admiral Sturdee.) The Lady Elizabeth is highly prized by the Falklanders, and it is unfortunate that the funds for her restoration are not available. For many years Isam bard Brunel's marvelous Great Britain languished and weathered in Stanley harbor. Built at Bristol, England, in 1843, she was the first oceangoing iron ship, and the first with a screw

OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM D avid C. Brown; Walter Cronkite, Alan D. Hutchison, Jakob Isbrandtsen,John Lehman, Warren Marr, II, Brian A. McAllister, VADM John R. Ryan, John Stobart, W illiam G. Winterer ADVISORS: Co-Chairmen, FrankO. Braynard, Melbourne Smith; D.K.Abbass, GeorgeF. Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, Norman J. Brouwer, RADM Joseph F. Callo, Francis J. Duffy, John W. Ewald,JosephE. Farr, Timothy Foote, William Gilkerson, Thomas C. Gillmer, Walter J. H andelman, Steven A. H yman, H ajo Knutrel, Gunnar Lundeberg, Joseph A. Maggio, Conrad Milster, William G. Muller, David E. Perkins, Nancy Hughes Richardson, Timothy]. Runyan, Shannon J. Wall , Thomas Wells NMHS STAFF: Executive Officer, Burchenal G reen; Director of Development, S. W illard Crossan, III; Director of Education, David B. Allen;Membership Cooidinator, Nancy Schnaars; Accounting, Jill Romeo; ExecutiveAssistant, Karen Ritell; SEA HISTO RY STAFF: Editor, Justine Ah lstrom; Executive Editor, Norma Stanfo rd; Editor at Large, Peter Stanford TO GET IN TOUCH WIT H US:

Address:

5 John Walsh Boulevard PO Box68 Peekskill NY 10566 914 737-7878; 800 22 1-NMHS Phone: Fax: 914 737-78 16 Web site: www.seahist0ty.org E-mai l: nmhs@seahistory.org

MEMBERSHIP is invited. Afterguard $ 10,000; Benefacto r $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $ 1,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Friend $ 100; Contributor $75; Fam ily $5 0; Regular $35 . All members omside the USA please add $10 for postage. SEA HISTORY is sent to all members. Individual copies cost $3.75. Advertising: 1 800 221-NMHS (6647), x235

The mainmast of the Great Britain propeller. She was large, 322 feet long compared to the 240-foot length (between perpendiculars) of the largest British naval screw ship of the line in 1848 . Her enormous two-cylinder steam engine had an 88-inch bore and 72-inch stroke. Stripped of her engines and hull sheathed in wood, she was condemned at Stanley in February 1886, then used for coal and wood storage for 47 years and abandoned. In April 1970, when the Great Britain was towed to England for restoration, not quite all was removed. The mizzenmast was left behind and is now on display in front of the Upland Goose Hotel. GENE CANFIELD

Jamestown, New York

Commending the USCG Auxiliary The National Maritime Historical Society's recognition at its Annual Dinner of the US Coast G uard's work in New York harbor after September 11th was befitting the enormity of the task they faced. Your members should know that much of the manpower and many of the vessels used in the effort came from the civilian volunteers of the Coast Guard Auxi li ary. In recognition of the Coast Guard Auxiliary' s post-9/11 support throughout the United States, the Commandant of the Auxiliary

awarded all the members of the Coast Guard unit a commendation with the urnt operational distinguishing device. H ERBERT L. JENSEN CG Auxiliary, 14th District Hilo, Hawaii Information on the US Coast GuardAuxiliary can be found online at www. cgaux. org or at the Chief Director's web site at www. USCG . millhqlgo!Cgaux/ocxindix. html. ERRATA

The short report, "NMHS Commemorates Naval Battle of the American Revolution" in Sea History 103 refers to the "replica British frigate HMS Bounty." However, the replica is of the armed transport HMS Bounty. A frigate is a rated vessel commanded by a post captain. HMS Bounty was not rated and her commander, William Bligh, was a Lieutenant Commander referred to as "Captain" only as a courtesy tide as the commanding officer. Bounty, a 230-ton merchant vessel of 1783 originally named Bethia, was purchased into the Royal Navy and fitted out as an armed transport for her voyage to Tahiti for bread-fruit trees which were to be transplanted in the West Indies. MIKE FLANNERY

Syracuse, New York

In publishing the above photograph from the NMHS Annual Dinner in SH I 03, p5, we neglected to name Capt. Craig E. Bone, Captain of the Port, USCG Activities NY (second from the right). And Norman Brouwer of South Street Seaport, who took the photo at right (SHJ 03, p2), notes that the man standing fourth .from the left on artist john Noble's studio barge was misidentified; he is Bill Lacy. Joe Farr, by the way, who was mentioned in the articles on john Noble, is reflected in the window on the top left. - ED.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

NMHS:

A CAUSE IN MOTION

NMHS "Weathering the Storm Thanks to Its Members; Dr. Ballard to Speak atAnnual Dinner The deteriorating economic environmenr of the past two years has created a difficult climate for nor-for-profirs, which depend on donations to cover their expenses. Your Society has not been an exception. Our membership renewals remain strong, with members raising the level of their memberships from Regular to Friend or Patron to Donor, and the response to our recent funding appeal exceeded expectations.Unfortunately, however, many major contributors have fo und that they are not in a financial position to provide their usual generous support. The serious nature of the resultingshorrfa lls forced the NMHS Board of Trustees to consider whether the Sociery could go forward as a viable educational organizatio n. No one wanted to step aside while a vibrant 40-year-old membership organization slipped away, but it was clear the Sociery could not go forward with "business as usual." Therefore, on 23 April 2003, the Board of Trustees voted to keep the Sociery going with a much reduced staff, maintaining only the most vital components of our mission while positioning

-----------------NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

NMHS to recover and flourish in its work when the economy rebounds. For our members, the most obvious result of this decision is that we wiII continue to produce Sea History, although the current issue covers both spring and summer, and the next issue, Sea History 105, is scheduled for autumn. The National Maritime Historical Sociery's education initiative will go forward using funds specifically earmarked for educational programming. For example, we received an enthusiastic response to our "Sea History for Kids" pages, which debuted in Sea History 103. This section of the magazine will continue in this (pp3637) and future issues, through a grant from the James A. Macdonald Foundation, thanks to NMHS advisor Walter Handelman. Education Director David Allen is also developing a series of maritime history courses at the State U niversiry of New York's Maritime College at Fort Schuyler with support from the David M. Milton Charitable Trust. The NMHS event schedule is being pared down as well. We greatly regretted

Annual Awards Dinner Wednesday, 5 November 2003 at the New York Yacht C lub New York, New York

Keynote Speaker & Distinguished: ServiceAwan{ Recipient

at Fort Schuyler 6 Pennyfield A venue Bronx, New York

DR. ROBERT B ALLARD NMHS Founder's SlleetAncfwr Award DAVID A. O'NEIL, NMHS Trustee

$50 pe r person For reservations and information contact:

• :

* * * * * Through the difficulties of the past year and a half, demonsrrarions of commi rm en t from the membership confirmed that this 40-year-old organ ization is sti ll making a mark in the preservation of our maritime heritage and has a viral role to play in the future . Your su pport, assistance and advice greatly increase NMHS' s abili ry to weather this storm. -BURCHENAL GREEN

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

•• 40th Annual Meeting •• (rescheduled) • Saturday, 13 September 2003 ••• •• at the • SUNY Maritime College 9AM: Registration & Coffee 10AM: Business Meeting lPM: Lunch 2:30PM: Tours

postponing our annual meeting at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where we were going to be hosted by the Naval Academy Museum. We are looking forward to getting to Annapolis next sp ring for the 2004 meeting, giving us the opportuniry to reschedule the full weekend of wonderful events being planned by friends and members in the local communiry. Our 2003 annual meeting (see below, left) will now be held on Saturday, 13 September, closer to home at the Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, a great venue we have visited before. We hope to see many of you there-your input is needed more than ever! The notice of the Annual Awards Dinner on 5 November 2003 is also below.

NMHS, PO Box 68 Peekskill NY 10566 phone: 800 221-6647, xO e-mail: nmhs@seahistory.org

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Reception at 5:30PM; Dinner at 7PM $300 per person For reservations: NMHS , PO Box 68 Peekskill NY 10566 phone: 800 221-6647, xO

e-mai l: nmhs @seahi story.org Seating is limited, so please reserve your space immediately. Black tie optional

Dr. Ballard ofthe Institutefor Exploration is renownedfor his discovery ofthe wrecks oftheTiran ic, USSYorkrown, and other ships, and, most recently, his work in the depths ofthe Black Sea.

THE AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT BY SEA: PART II

From Two-Ocean Navy to All-Ocean Navy by Peter Stanford merican attitudes toward the wider wo rld were stirring with new life as the nation stepped onto the world stage in the Spanish-American W arofl 898. T he simplistic view so widespread in academia today, that the encounter was an act of unbridled American aggression and dominance, does nor march either people's beliefs at the rime or the outcomes of the war. T hose outcomes included freedom fo r subj ect peoples in the Spanish colonies of C uba and , half a world away, the Philippines-results integral to the Am erican purpose, which did not aim at co nquest. And the strengthened US presence in the Caribbean led to rebuff of a threatened German invasion of Venezuela, while US ships in the Far East stabilized America's Open Door policy in China, then threatened with dismemberment by European powers. T he idea of a strengthened world presence by sea was new to a nation whose navy had avoided the ride "admiral" because of its imperial ove rtones, until rhe vasr expansion called for by the Civil War had made the senior rank necessary. And in the US naval expansion of the 1890s, designed to deter European military intervention in the Americas, the first battleships of the New Navy- as it was rightly called-were designated "coast defense battleships" to disclaim overseas ambitions. By what to the suspicious-minded might well seem a plot of a vast right-wing conspiracy, the decade of the '90s also saw th e publication of The Influence of Sea Power upon H istory, a weigh ty bur eminen rly readable tract setting fo rth the viral role of seafaring in securing the wealth and freedom of Britain, the most powerful nation in the wo rld. T his was wri tte n by 50-yearold Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, USN, who had a poetic gift of reaching pas t the everyday push-and-shove of international rivalries to a vision of how the Pax Britanni ca, under which the US Navy had come of age, had come about. What it rook to build wo rld trade and securi ty was what Mahan called "sea power. " By this he meant nor just wa r-maki ng naval power, bur the positive use of the sea lanes that generated wealth and hum an interco urse, backed by naval power to ass ure safe passage of the seas. Appearing in 1890, the book and its catch phrase "sea power" propelled Mahan

into unwonted international recognition , first in Britain, naturall y e nou gh , bur soon also in Britain's increasingly aggressive rival Germany. Before the decade was out the Kaiser ordered copies placed in the libraries of all warships in the rapidly exp andin g Germ an navy. And with Presiden r Theodore Roosevel r's accession as President of the U nited Stares, the rolling cadences of Mahan ' s tract virtually became Well might Commander Sims smile, happy in his work as Naval Aide to President Theodore Roosevelt. H ere they are seeing off the US naval policy-a Great White Fleet on its round-the-world cruise in 1908. policy that looked nor to passive coast defense bur active control of the sea by a building hi s career on a strikingly similar mix of concerns.) seagoing barrlefleer. Teddy Roosevelt believed that the US Fortunately for America and the world, this outlook did not end wi th an activist had a mission in the wo rld. He had worked president and visionary naval historian, for wonders to help C uba gain the infrastruca new generation of naval officers began to ture needed by a modern state after its think in terms of oceans ro be mastered liberation in the Spanish-American W ar. As President, he warded off German m ilira ther than coas tlines to be guarded . tary incursion close to home in South Sims: The "Cheer Up" Captain America, as noted above, and he negotiated When Theodore Roosevelt was Assistant the peace that ended the Russo-Japanese Secretary of the Navy in the late 1890s, W ar on the other side of the world. Bu r hi s grea t contribution to the reports from a yo ung naval attache in Europe showing Bri rish, French and G erman strengthened wo rld presence of the United gunnery to be more accu rate than rhar of States at sea was to send sixteen US warUS Navy ships caught his eye. Both were ships aro und the wo rld in 1908-09. T his in their late 30s when Roosevelt wrote a fo rce, which became famous as the G reat congratulato ry note to the naval attache, W hite Fleer, established that there was a Lieutenant William Sowden Sims, thus strong junior par tner rising within rhe Pax Britannica, one welcomed with enthusilaunching a remarkable friendship . Teddy Roosevelt (as he was uni ve rsally as m by the British Empire countries visited known) became President in 1901 , follow- by the fl eer, as it was by the omnipresent ing the assassination of President M cKinley. Royal Navy. Historians have tended to play down H e promptly made the US Navy a top priority-along with restraining predato ry this voyage as mere showmanship. But the business combin es and fos tering measures powerful new ships we re real, and so was to ass ure the welfare of the dispossessed in the Ameri can message they carried . T he American society. U naffected by doctri- voyage expanded American horizons and naire disputes, he saw social progress and the world's awareness ofwhatkind of co unnational defense as two sides of the coin of try Am erica was, perhaps more than any American purpose. (In Britain in the same single act before the outbreak of the world decade a young Winston Churchill was wars that would soon ravage the globe.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

A smiling Admiral Sims, under fire for his critique ofthe naval war, knows he is among friends on his way to receive an honorary degree from Cam bridge University in 1921. Sims was in the thick of this outwardlooking chapter in US history. He had vigorously pursued his concerns with US Navy gunnery, working with the Royal Navy's gunnery expert Percy Scott to make dramatic improvements in accuracy and rate of fire. He secured Roosevelt's direct support to achieve these reforms, and soon served as his naval aide. Under later presidents h e got established the office of Chief of Naval Operations to tie together the separate naval bureaus reporting to the Secretary of the Navy. He also got the Navy to adopt a merit-based system of promotion to replace advancement by seniority. T hese things meant bypassing the chain of command of admirals over him , but this did not slow him down . At the other end of the chain of command, Sims held no-holds-barred meetings with his junior officers. He was known to toss tennis balls at them to encourage them to react and speak up. His men called his last command, the battleship Nevada, the "Cheer Up Ship," in tribute to his strict but initiative-encouraging ways. Sims also tossed out a ball on the larger scene. In 1909, speaking in London in the year the Great White Fleet returned home from its wo rld parade, he stated his view that if the British Empire were menaced by a European coalition, it could count on "every ship, every dollar, every man and every drop of blood" from the US. For this he was duly reprimanded-a reprimand he hung up on his office wall. And when the US entered World War I on 6 April 1917, Sims was at sea on his way to England to coordinate US-British naval operations.

Sims's Three-Week Battle When Sims got to London, his friend Admiral John Jellicoe, First Sea Lord at the Admiralty, wordlessly handed him a report. It showed disastrous shipping losses fo llowing the revival of unrestricted German submarine war two months earlier. Over a million tons, 5 percent of available ships, had been sunk. Sims was stunned. "It looks as if the Germans were winning the war," he said to Jellicoe. ''They will win, unless we can stop these losses-and stop them soon," returned Jellicoe. And there was no solution in sight. Sims' s response was to get at the roots of the problem. He met with naval officers and

with Prime Minister Lloyd George. Why not try the convoy system, which gathered shipping into fleets escorted by warships? T his had ass ured Britain's lifeline in the wars of the age of sail bur had been rejected by the naval staff, chiefly on the gro unds that there weren't escorts enough for the 2,500 ships enteri ng or leaving British ports each week. Digging soon revealed that this included fishing crafr and oth er small fry: the figure for deepwater traffics was under 150 ships weekly! These could indeed be mustered into escorted convoys . Sims had already called for US destroyers to be hurled into the fray. T he first gro up arrived in Ireland with commendable alacrity on 4 May 1917 (see Sea H istory 99, pp7-10). Now Sims threw his full weight behind the co nvoy system. Crashing through institutional delay, in just three weeks he secured by 30 April British agreement to try the convoy system. And he demanded that all avai lable destroyers be rushed across the Atlantic to beef up the naval escorts, saying the ships sh ould be where the battle was, in the approaches to Britain, rather than held in reserve where, as he said, "there was no war." A reluctant President Woodrow Wilson, who had his own ideas about the battle, was dragooned inro agreement for an all-out convoy effort. So Sims got his way, and the submarine crisis was mastered before year-end, as more and more ships came in safely and U-boat losses mounted. Allied strategy counted on the transAtlantic flow of fresh American troops for the battle lines in France, a need made urgent

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

by the fact that Germany had knocked the Russian land behemoth out of the war. Germany came all too near to knocking out British sea power to pre-empt this strategy-a fact Sims would never forget. In postwar hearings on the naval war he maintained that there was no coherent US Navy plan for the war that had been obviously looming. H e cited the cos t in shipping and life incurred by the delays and factional disputes that had impeded swift and decisive execution of the convoy system. This made him no friends; cartoons appearedshowinghim belittlingtheNavy's role in the victory which the Navy and he had done so much to win. But clearly Sims was looking toward the future rather than refighting past battles. In fact he saw future needs with what seems almost uncanny prescience, calling for war plans directed to meet probable dangers, rather than abstract exercises. The USN avy was now the most powerful force to control the sea lanes vital to coalition war, and it had to grasp Neptune's trident firmly. Further to this extension of the conspiracy to get America reasonably armed and prepared to meet its oceanic responsibilities in a troubled world, Sims recognized as early as 1921 , based on Âˇw argaming conducted at the Naval War College, that the aircraft carrier, not the battleship, would be the capital ship of any future war. Typically, h e did not go to the extreme position of the flamboyant airman Billy Mitchell, who saw the aircraft carrier as a vestigial bit of navalism obstructing progress toward total concentration on air war. Sims saw the aircraft carrier as a vital instrument for projecting powe r on the oceans, where America's securi ty interests had to be met. And twenty years later, on 7 December 1941, it was a Japanese air strike at Pearl Harbor that pulled the US into World War II with a searing demo nstration of the reach and power of the aircraft carrier.

FDR and the Two-Ocean Navy In 1933, as one of the first acts of his administration, n ewly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered two new aircraft carriers, USS Enterprise and Yorktown. These fast, modern ships were funded as part of the Industrial Recovery Act to overcome the effects of the worldwide depression that afflicted America. They were to make up two-thirds of the three-carrier

President Roosevelt has a word with the irascible Admiral King, while General Marshall gazes offstage, eager to get on with the war effort which these three ran unevenly, but, on balance, very well. At one point Marshall taught King an important lesson in sea power.

task force that would later destroy a Japanese four-carrier force bent on following up the triumph at Pearl Harbor by rolling on to take the island of Midway six months later (see SH 102, pp8-l 2). The Battle of Midway, which broke the spearhead of Japanese aggression, thus depended on these two ships and their valiant crews. The ships were there because of the foresight of the second President Roosevelt, who like his cousin Teddy had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and had worked with Sims. Roosevelt's vision of national security in a troubled world inspired other measures critical to the outcome of the war which was soon to engulf the world. As war clouds darkened in both Europe and Asia, he announced a program to develop a "Two-Ocean Navy." This resonated well with the emphasis on guarding US coasts. But in fact it was to enable the US at once to contest the seas with Japan-which had been chewing away at China, having conquered all its seaport cities and built an airsea navy of formidable striking powerand simultaneously to weigh in on the vital Atlantic lifeline to the European alliance resisting Hider. When Britain and France went to war with Germany over its invasion of Poland in 1939, FDR established contact with Winston Churchill, then First Sea Lord. In the spring of 1940 Churchill was summoned as Prime Minister in Britain's hour of need. Following the fall of France, at Churchill's behest FDR transferred 50 World War I destroyers to the Royal Navy. He presented this to the nation as a fair exchange for bases in British-ruled islands off America's East Coast. It was greatly to

Britain's interest in the Battle of the Atlantic to have those bases in US hands, though this was presented by FDR as a prudent step in defending the US coast. Public opinion sympathized with Britain, undergoing all-out bombing of its cities as it stood alone against a conquered Europe occupied by the most powerful war machine in the world. In his year-end talk to the American people President Roosevelt said that freedom was at stake in this struggle and he announced the Four Freedoms America stood for: freedom ofspeech and religion, freedom from fear and want. And he called openly for America to become "the arsenal of the democracies. " Early in 1941 he put teeth in this by proposing Lend-Lease, under which war supplies would be loaned to Britain free of charge. This measure, he said, was like lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house was on fire, so the fire wouldn't spread to yours. In March 1941 this became law, and a flow of war orders got American factories and shipyards busy on a massive arms buildup. Also in March, US and British planners completed secret conferences for joint operations in case of war. The resulting Plan ABC-1 called for maximum effort to sustain the British in the European war, and for forces to be built up in the Pacific as a counterpoise to contain Japan. (The Japanese, meantime, having had observers on the scene when the Royal Navy devastated the Italian Navy with an air-sea attack on their base at Taranto, were developingshallow-drafr aerial torpedoes for their own attack on the US Navyat Pearl Harbor. Bur of course the planners didn't know this.)

An Oceanic Response These steps, revolutionary as they were, were only a beginning to FDR's response to evident peril. Roosevelt had engineered a Pan-American Security Zone beyond 60°W, roughly 200-500 miles offshore, from which Axis warships were banned. In April he extended the Security Z one from 60°W to 26°W, thereby claiming most of the North Atlantic and bringing America's oceanic border to within less than 500 miles of Britain and Britain's war. Three divisions of destroyers were assigned to the Neutrality Patrol guarding this far-flung sea frontier, and US troops landed in Greenland and later Iceland, much closer to Europe than the Americas. In the boldest step of all, Roosevelt and Churchill met in August aboard ship in Newfoundland to issue the Atlantic Charter, the foundation stone of the United Nations. This charter pledged liberation of captive peoples, foreswore all conquest and promised freedom and economic opportunity to friend and enemy alike. The generous terms of this brief document were not propaganda; they were the terms of engagement for a terrible but necessary war. A few weeks earlier, this war had been transformed when, on 22 June 1941, Hider launched his long-planned invasion of Russia. He said this would make the world hold its breath. And indeed the German Wehrmacht began sweeping all before it. But Britain and the US did not hold their breath. Instead both announced their support of Soviet Russia. Churchill led in this, though he had vigorously opposed the Soviet regime from its outset. The Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who had conceived a great admiration for Hider and his slaughterous ways, went into something like a catatonic state, as the shattered Soviet armies reeled back from the frontier. Stalin had executed over half the top Red Army leadership in recent years-and when he first recovered his grip, he again started executing generals who had succeeded in escaping the German juggernaut. He soon learned, however, to build new armies around those generals who practiced survival warfare, and did himself and Russ ia a great service by shedding his

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill meet for the first time in 1943, FDR in the middle, as he usually was in the troubled but powerful alliance of Russia, the United States and Britain in WWII FDR and Churchill worked hard to get along with their difficult partner "Uncle Joe. "(National Archives) C ommunist trappings (for rhe nonce) to become rhe avuncular leader of whar was called rhe G rear Parrioric War. Britain, as well as rhe US, sent muchneeded supplies to support rhe Russian effort, m ost of rhem delivered by rhe dan gerous Murmansk run , aro und Germanoccupied No rway to Russ ian pons in rhe White Sea. T his was a gamble, when most expert opinion was rh ar Russia wo uld collapse. Bur by a narrow margin- perhaps rhe margin of Allied aid-Russia survived rhe German onrush to come back fighting. T he Japanese arrack ar Pearl H arbor in D ecember 194 1 pulled the US into the war. Hider helped our by declaring war against the US to help his Japanese ally. U nder Roosevelt, wirh rhe support of the Army's General George C. Marshall and rhe Navy's Admiral Ernes t] . King, the US held to irs ABC -1 pl an to tackle Germany first. Sims would have cheered this decision, fruit of an oceanic view backed by sound planning. Admiral King failed to give protection to shipping in American waters the priority ir needed due to his p rofessional preoccupation wirh rhe great naval battles taki ng place in the Pacifi c-and to his innate disrrusr of the British, which led him to hold back forces in case of British collapse. It took General M arshall to straighten rhis out with a forceful memo saying char unless effective convoys we re instituted immediately America wo uld be unable to deliver the punch of its growing armed forces overseas, where the war was . Marshall at first thought rh e U S Army should be thrown as hore in Europe in 1942, but British authorities said no, rhe W ehrmacht would wipe our rhe strongest forces the Allies could land. It was th erefore decided to invade Africa, a BritishAmerican effort which despite many difficulties wirh ill-trained forces confronting Germany's bes t, liberated Africa by the spring of 1943 and opened the way for the invasion of Sicily and Italy. Stalin was furious at the delays in the big invasion, mocking the troops held idle in England. H e ignored rhe fact rhar rhey held an equal number of Germans facing them in France. And he did nor acknowledge

rhar elite panzer troops had to be withdraw n from Russia to meer rheAllied fronts opened in Sicily and rhen Iraly. German forces in Iraly suffered losses rhey could nor afford and America's citizen armies gained viral experience. So rheAllies cleared up Afri ca and fo ught rheir way up rhe Italian peninsula, postpon ing rhe invasion of France until June 1944 . T his decision d id nor sir well wirh rhe American planners, leading Adm iral King to cur back landi ng craft production on the gro unds that the Brits wo uld never make the channel crossing to France. T his lefr General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had led rhe Mediterranean campaigns, confro nting a shortage of sea transport to deliver rhe requi red puncha situation he discovered when he reported fo r du ty in London wirh little over three mo nths ro go till D -Day landings in France. T he northern landi ngs were delayed fo r a month to await more ships, and the landings in southern Fran ce, meant to be concurrent, were delayed two and a half months. D -D ay finally came off on 6 June 1944. T he landings incl uded French soldiers who had joined rhe Allies in rhe African campaign, together with Canadians and other volunteers from rhe British Empire. Once as hore rhey could nor be stopped , though rherewas a severe bump in rhe road in rhe Bartle of rhe Bulge in D ecem ber, when the Wehrmachr rhrew its las t heavy punch ar US fo rces in rhe hope ofinflicring such losses rhe Allies wo uld settle fo r a negotiated peace. Bur rhe now well-led and seasoned G ls res isted tenaciously, upsetting the German timetable and wrecking their attack- and then rolling on. T his was the culmination of rhe ocean ic effort made possible by rhe US Navy, while ir fo ugh t and wo n gigantic battles in rhe Pacific and

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

rhe home front buil r rhe Liberty ships char delivered the supplies rhar kept Russia in rhe war, thro ugh suppl y lin es ra nging from rhe Barenrs Sea to the Persian G ulf.

What Really Won the War? Soviet R ussia was rhe dominant parmer in grinding down rhe power of rhe hirhertoinvincible Wehrmach r. Two thirds of rhe German army was always on rhe Russian fro m unril rhe fi nal monrhs of rhe war, when Hitler deliberately over-concentrated against rhe West in his des perate gamble to make rhe "effete" democracies recoil. T he war was wo n by an oceanic coalition drawing the forces of the liberal democracies together. T har was rhe winning srraregy, which benefirred grearly from rhe grindingencoumer between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia- and also made it possible for Soviet armies to keep rhe field. D espite Allied di ffe rences Roosevelt, Churchill and their staffs perfor med admirably in executing their oceanic srraregy. In wa r rhe fo rces of freedom were nor found waming, and in peace rhe p ro mises of rhe Atlamic Charter were kept, except in lands under Soviet occupation. And rhar uni red resolve proved out again in the decades of rhe Cold W ar, which ended peacefully in rhe dissolution of the Soviet empire and the liberation, ar las t, of Eastern Europe. T he wo rld had no better guarantor of peace and freedom in the pas r stormy century rhan rhar oceanic coalition of free peoples, backed by rhe power of rhe US Navy. T har situation remains true today . .t Note: D iscussion is invited. Please write the author at NMHS for further information on the development of "The American Achievement by Sea, " of which these articles in Sea H istory are just a p reliminary sketch.

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SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

World Ship Trust Maritime Heritage Award honors

Liberty Ships That Made History The World Ship Trust, established in London in December 1979 with the participation ofthe National Maritime Historical Society, presented its Maritime Heritage Award to SS Jeremiah O'Brien and SS John W. Brown on 17 May, opening National Maritime Week in the US. Jacques Chauveau, chairman of the World Ship Trust, was with the Second Armored Division of the Free French in the D -Day landings. He presided aboard the O ' Brien in San Francisco as her award was presented by Gunnar Lundeberg, president of the Sailors Union of the Pacific. Maritime Administrator William G. Schubert presented the award to the Brown, a ship built in Baltimore, now her home port. Here is an account of the wartime careers of these ships, followed by reports from the chairmen of the two ship projects.

dmi ral, I think this ship will do us very well," said President Franklin Roosevelt. "She'll carry a good load. She isn't much to look at though, is she? A real ugly duckling." It was early 194 1, and Bri tain , standing alo ne against N azi Germany, urgently needed ships to make up for heavy losses to U- boats in the Battle of the Atlanti c. Emory S. Land, chairman of the Mari time Commission, was glad to hear these wo rds giving the go-ahead to a standard, 10,000deadweighr-ton ocean freighter capable of ten kno ts, bigger and a lirrle fas ter than the ave rage prewar freighter. Originally a British design for simple, rapid production, it was adap ted to make the Liberty ship . T he "Ugly Duckl ings" were built!argely by unskilled labor and manned largely by people who had never been to sea. In all, 2,75 1 of these ships were buil t in US yards. Of rhar huge fleer just two survive today.

SS John W. Brown T he j ohn W Brown, built in Baltimore by Bethlehem Steel, was born in a wo rld still threatened by Axis victory, with the sea lanes still dangerous. She set our on her first voyage from New Yo rk in October 1942, loaded with armaments bound fo r the Soviet Union by way of the Persian G ulf. She next went to the Mediterranean, where the need for personnel to support the Allied invasion of North Africa was so great that she was adapted to carry troops, going on

SS Joh n W . Brown puts to sea from New York, 15 October 1942, deep laden with tanks and aircraft for Russia.

US COAST GUA RD PHOTO

to shift troops and supplies around the Mediterranean theater. As Allied troops cleared Afri ca and embarked on the invasion oflraly, the Brown went on to support the breakth ro ugh arrack from the Anzio beachhead wh ich led to the liberation of Rome in early June 1944. She then we nt to the invas ion of southern France in August, a follow-up to the invasion of Normandy on the north coast. When the war ended the Brown was carrying her happiest cargo- Gis going home. In November 1946 she was turned over to New Yo rk C ity and served as a vocational high school fo r the next 36 years. This is how the writer knew her, in a time when yo ungsters learned aboard her in courses enriched by seamen who "passed the word" about these ships which had chan ged the course of history.

SS Jeremiah O'Brien T he Jeremiah O'Brien went down the ways in South Portland, M aine, in June 1943the 30th hull launched by the New England Shipbuilding Corporation, whi ch was set up at first to handle British orders for thei r Ocean-class ships. Ultimately 236 Liberrys were launched from this yard, enough to make a wall of ships over 22 miles long, or, more to the point, to shift some 2.5 million tons of cargo 3,000 miles across a dangero us ocean. T his was a substantial contrib ution to the "Bridge of Ships" President Roosevelt had called fo r in January 194 1 to help Britain sustain its battle against Nazi Germany while the US wasn't ye t in the war. By 30 Jun e 1943, when rhe O 'Brien was commissioned fo r service (less rhan two mo nths after her keel plates were laid), the US was in the war and turning defeat in to victory. T he turning point in the Barrie of the Atlantic had been passed, and, rho ugh sinki ngs continued till the las t day of the European war nearly two yea rs later, the purpose of getting more ships to sea was no longer to stave off imminent disaster, bu t

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

to pursue the offensives that led to victo ry. Surely the most important was the invasion of France in June 1944. O n her second voyage across the Arlantic, the 0 'Brien fo und herself part of the 5,000-ship armada that launched the greatest seaborne invasion in histo ry, arriving o n 10 June to land troops in the shambles of Omaha Beach. T hen it was back to England fo r more troops and tanks. In all, she made eleven shurrle trips to the beaches . T he crew was keenly aware of how narrow the margin of victory was and knew the importance of rushing more men ashore. As W alter Jaffee observes in The Last Liberty, "T he success of the whole great enterprise res ted on this unbroken stream of men and supplies." The 0 'Brien kept on steaming in the Bridge of Ships un til the war called her to the far reaches of the Pacific, then home to San Francisco at war's end. Volunteers saved her from scrapping, and when the 50th anniversary of D -D ay came ro und, they cared enough to steam her all the way back to No rmandy-of the original 5,000, she was the only ship that re turned to remind people how Americans had come there in war, to achieve lasting peace. PETER STANFORD

Gl s tramp ashore in Normandy, 1944, leaving the ships that brought them so fa r, the O 'Brien among them. (US Naval I nstitute)

How the O'Brien Returned to the D-Day Beaches by Thomas J. Patterson, RADM, USMS (Ret.)

The Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien was made ready for sea in 1979 by a dedicated group of volunteers who saved her from the scrapyard. In 1994 the 51-yearold ship steamed from San Francisco on an extraordinary voyage to revisit the DDay beaches in Normandy, where halfa century earlier she had landed US troops to liberate Europe from German occupation. Here Admiral Patterson, chairman and CEO of the National Liberty Ship Memorial, tells how this happened.

chored in the Solent fo r the Queen 's Review. Later Pres ident and Mrs. C linto n came aboard Jeremiah 0 'Brien to meet our crew, shake their hands, and give us a well done and thanks. On the morning of 6 June at anchor off Pointe du H oc we were invited by the Pres ident to join the sunrise service aboard USS George Washington. After the D-Day commemoration we called atmajorportsin England and France, receiving over 100,000 visitors. From LeH avre we sailed fo r Portland, M aine, Jeremiah's birthplace . T he city gave us a n the ea rly 196 0s, after th e US ten-day reception and we made two cruises Navy determined that the Libertys' aro und Casco Bay with original crew memslow 10-knot speed precluded them , - - - - - - - - - - - -- = - - - - - - - - - - , bers and shipyard workers who had ever being activated fo r defense, I surhelped build the ship in 1943. Just north of the Cape Cod Canal, veyed some 300 Liberty ships in the West Coast reserve fl eets in Cali fo rnia, on our way to the US M erchant M aO regon and Washington State for the rine Academy at Kings Point, New York, we had a rendezvous with our M ariti me Adminstration. A total of 800 were surveyed on all th ree coasts. sole sister Liberty, SS john W Brown, We ranked the ships fro m best to wo rst which was northbound to H alifax. and then sold them fo r scrap or nonEach ship sounded three long blasts as transport use, keeping the best fo r las t. the crews manned the rails. I first went aboard SS Jeremiah On 16 August 1994 we anchored 0 'Brien in our Suisun Fleet off San off Kings Point, where, in July 1943, Francisco Bay. She was built by the I had shipped out as a cadet midshipNew England Shipbuilding Corp . in man aboard the Liberty Jim Bridger, South Portland, Main e, in 1943 and sailing from Jersey C ity to N ewport, was operated by G race Line. She made South W ales, UK. In those days one the Normandy landings in 1944, with SS Jeremiah O 'Brien is j oyously welcomed home.from had a better than 50 percent chance of eleven shuttle runs from the UK to her two-ocean voyage to Normandy. She is named for drawing a Liberty.

c ur 0 maha an d U t all Beaches, nI en ro

Cantain Jeremiah 0 'Brien, who in 1775 catitured the r r larger HMS M argaretta. The US Navy has always had a destroyer bearing the 0 'Brien name.

voyages across the No rth Atlantic and three voyages to South America and the Pacific. When I fi rst saw her, SS Jeremiah 0 'Brien had been laid up for nearly 20 years. She had been preserved with coatings, with her machinery turned over peri odically, and was completely in her o riginal Wo rld War II co nfiguration . The cap tain's night order book fo r Omaha Beach was still in the chart desk drawer. Wartime posters, station bills and certificates still hung on the bulkheads. I made a mental note to do something to save this ship as an operating memorial to rhe US merchanr marine and armed guard of World W ar II. T he 2,75 1 Liberty ships deserved to be remembered . In 1969 I was promoted to W estern Region Director of the M aritime Administration. This made it easy ro prepare a recommendation to my superiors in Washington that we form a maritime industry 12

group in San Francisco of labor, management and government to save the Jeremiah 0 'Brien. I named this all-volunteer organization the Nation al Liberty Ship M emorial. And Grace Line gave us a vital $15,000 to kick off the fundin g drive. Maritime labor union volunteers activated the ship and we obtai ned a $537,5 00 matching grant from the National T rust fo r Hi sto ric Prese rva tio n, whi ch we matched to get a fi rst-class overhaul in the Bethlehem Shipyard in San Francisco. We steamed the shi p 45 miles to the yard with 500 people aboard, the firs t time underway in 34 years! We left the yard on 2 1 M ay

1980, looking like a bra nd-new Liberty for a recommissioning seaward of the Golden Gate with some 55 0 guests aboard. In 1987 we decided to take the ship to N ormandy for the 50th anniversary of DD ay in 1994. T his was a 5 1h -month, 18,000-mile voyage with a volunteer crew of 56 (many were WWII veterans over 70) and four midshipmen from Annapolis, Kings Point, and the C alifornia M aritime Academy. We were part of the U SS George Washington Battle G roup and were the only WWII ship in the commemoration . The U S Navy gave us a superb welcome, led by Admiral M ike Boorda, CNO , and supported us in every way, as did our friends in the W orld Ship T rust and the National M aritime Historical Society, who helped us secure support for the voyage. On 5 June the fl eet was precision an-

After a visit to N ew Yor k C ity, we

proceeded to Baltimore, Jacksonville and then the Panama C anal, San Diego and Los Angeles, where we were royally welcomed by our other West C ost memorial ship, SS Lane Victory. The Lane and her great crew gave us a welcome home banquet aboard their fully operational Victo ry ship . The next morning, 22 September, both ships got underway for San Francisco. As we passed through the Golden Gate, hundredsofvesselsgreetedus,andit seemed a ton of flowers was dropped onto our ship by well-wishers on the bridge. The ship had brought us back safely with no voyage repairs, ready to resume her career of edueating Americans in what their nation did at sea to win histo ry's most terrible war. ,t

National Liberty Ship Memorial, Pier 23, FortMason Center, San Francisco CA941J l; 415 544-0100; web site: www.ssjeremiah obrien.org

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

The Three Lives of the John W. Brown by Michael J. Schneider

he was born in rhe dark days of W orld War II . H er firsr cargo was arms for rhe Sovier fo rces beleaguered in Sralingrad by rhe Germ an W ehrmachr in !are 1942. The Sovier army prevailed and srarred rheir drive wesrward, which in anorher rwo and a half years broughr rhe Russians ro Berlin . She also served in rhe liberarion oflraly and Fran ce, rhen, ar wa r's end, cam e back ro New Yo rk ro embark on a new missio n. T he j ohn W Brown's second career began in D ecember 1946 when rhe vessel was loaned ro rhe Board of Educarion , C iry of N ew York, ro serve as a floaring maririm e high school. For 36 years, rhousands of hi gh school srudenrs srudied and worked aboard her learning and pracricing rhe maririme rrades-acri viries rh ar preserved rhe sh ip in an operarional condirion. In 1982 rhe Board ofEducarion rerurned her ro rhe M ari rime Adminisrrarion. Effo rrs ro save rhe Brown had begun back in 1978 when a seminar on Liberry ship preservarion was held aboard rhe rhenschoolship. Wirh rhe backing of rh e N arional Maritime Historical Sociery, a group was fo rmed ro work roward saving rhej ohn W Brown. \Vhen her career as a schoolsh ip ended, the group, called Proj ecr Liberry Ship, had been unable ro find a home fo r rhe ship in New York. T hey co uld only wa rch as she was rowed ro rhe Reserve Fleer in rhe Jam es River in July 1983. Bur rhe Proj ecr's volunreer sraff had accomplished imporranr sreps ro support rhe furure preservarion of rhe ship . A law was passed in Congress rransferring ride of rhe Brown from rhe Maririme Adminisrrarion ro Proj ect Liberry Ship . She was enrolled in rhe N arional Regisrer ofHi sroric Places, making her one of rhe few Narional Regisrer ships. Perhaps mosr impo rranr, rhis small group was able ro grow and keep alive rheir dream of saving rhe ship . In late 1987, rhe search for a new hom eporr shifted ro Balrimore, M aryland, where rhe ship had been launched some 45 years before. In January 1988, abou r for ry people artended a meering ar rhe Balrimore M useum oflndusrry ro discuss preserving rhe ship in rhar porr. T heir goal was achieved larer rhat yea r when rhe j ohn W Brown, srripped of much of her original operating equipmenr and srill wirh rhe inrernal modificarions made for her role as a high school, was rowed rriumphanrly back ro Baltimore.

Above, the Brown on 17 July 1999 with her decks crowded with supporters and well-wishers during one of her "Living Histo ry Cruises. " Major resro rarion wo rk was needed ro ger rhe ship operaring and resrored ro her WWII configuration. T his work was underraken by an enrhusias ric group of volunreers dedicared ro seeing the ship sailing again. Cargo gear was replaced and made operarional, defensive armamenr was found and reinstalled o n the ship, boilers and sea valves received much-needed repairs, and rhe rudder was repl aced with one from another Liberry in rhe Reserve Fleer. T he internal config urari on was gradually returned ro rhe original Liberry ship layo ur. T he resroration progressed and rhe volunreer wo rk fo rce grew, bringing a broad spectrum of maritime ralenr ro work on the Brown. While the experience and capabilities of the volunreers was diverse, rhe elemenr shared by all was their dedication to the ship. Finally in August 1991 , SS john W Brown gor underway on her own power fo r a sea rrial, al most 49 years after her original builder's trials. Like the first rrial, this one was successful. H owever, there was still a grear deal of work ro be done ro make her a museum ship and that efforr conrinued without pause. The mission of Proj ect Liberry Ship h as been ro preserve and opera re the j ohn W Brown as a museum ship and living memorial ro the men and women of American indusrry who built the great Liberry fleet and ro the merchanr mariners and naval armed guard who sailed and defended these ships on all the sea lan es of World War II. Mainraining the ship so it can sail ro other porrs and helping visirors experience a parr of living hisrory are major steps roward fu lfilling this mission.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

T he Brown has visited sixteen porrs on rhe East Coast as well as eighr porrs in rhe Great Lakes and co nducred 53 Living Hisro ry C ruises in Baltimore and elsewhere. T hese unique six- hour cruises rake passe ngers back in time fo r a glimpse of conditions on a merchanr ship during wa rtime. T he ship activelyeducares young people abour our merchanr marine and maritime hisro ry th rough ro urs, overnigh r visits, training in maritime skills, and rhe opporruni ry ro ralk with the ve terans in our crew. Project Liberry also makes the Brown available fo r organizations training maririme personnel in securi ry and anri-rerro rism. To make the ship and its museums more access ible ro the general public, iris essenri al rhat Proj ecr Liberry Ship find a suirable permanenr berth in Balrimore. While this is our primary goal for rhe near term, rhe Proj ect conrinues ro improve and expand the displays onboard and ro welcome a growing number of visirors. Mainraining a qualified operaring crew and attracting new volunreers are viral ro our mission and our abiliry ro sail ro other pons. In 2003 rhe Brown has visired No rfolk, Virginia, ro be parr of rhe naval armed guard veterans national reunion in April and N ew London, C onnecticut, in M ay ro parricipate in M aritime D ay ceremonies at the fo rmer merchanr marine rraining fac iliry at Fort T rumbull.

..t ..t ..t Mr. Schneider is chairman ofProject Liberty Ship. (PIS, PO Box 25846, H ighlandtown Station, Baltimore M D 2 1224-0546,Âˇ 4 10 661-15 50; web site: www.Liberty-ship.com) 13

FROM SEA HISTORY PRINTS LIMITED EDITION PRINTS BY

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During the Blockade of Brest in 1803- 05, the frigate Endymion and other vessels have been relieved from their round-the-clock vigilance off the French port and would normally take on stores in CawsandBay. The weather having been from the south'd, they opted for the peaceful anchorage of Torbay, but a change to a force six easterly, producing conditions known locally as "easterly haze," has exposed them to the hazard of a lee shore. They will possibly face a couple of hours of hard sailing to beat out of the bay. Image size: 17.5" x 25.5 "; sheet size: 23" x 30.75"

Coasting

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The Tamar barge Shamrock, with her boat in tow, stands across Start Bay, Devon, near the mouth of the river Dart. Shamrock was built in 1899 and had unusual features including a pair of drop keels. Her principal cargo was fertilizer and she later sailed in the stone trade. Having been abandoned as a hulk, she was eventually fully restored. Image size: 14" x 22.5"; sheet size: 19.25" x 28.5"

Spring 'Tide !Jreigfit

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John Chancellor lived on and sailed a Thames barge for eleven years . Here he has shown a typical creek in Essex or Suffok where barges could only reach on a high tide. The grass would be swamped in the areas called Saltings, and to prevent the barges going aground "withy sticks" were placed to aid navigation. Image size: 10.5" x 14.5"; sheet size: 16.25" x 20"

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,, Treasures of ''The Boundless Deep . • • An Exhibition on the European Conquest of the Oceans, 1450 to 1840 by Norman Fiering

he epic scory of European expansion across the oceans, beginning with Portuguese voyages down the west coast of Africa in the middle of the 15th century and culminating in the great scientific expedi tions of rhe 18th and early 19th centuries, made possible the geographical unification of the earth and the overcoming of human isolation in every corner of rhe globe. Judged simply in terms of sheer daring and human resourcefulness, rhe European venture inco the vast seas of rhe planer in the period from 1450 co 1840 surpasses the flights into outer space in the 20th century. Because we now rake for granted rhe interconnectedness of the world's peoples, it is easy co underestimate the powers of imagination and intellect needed co first conceptualize the geography of the earth and its oceans; the determined pioneering required co organize the great voyages; and the ingenuity and fortitude called upon co accomplish them. No earlier material achievements in the West, no Gothic cathedrals or Roman aqueducts, surpass the development of craftsmanship and the mastery of technical information that, taken as a whole, made possible, for example, the first circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition between 1519and1522. From the prodigious navigational fears of Christopher Co lumbus and Vasco da Gama co the information-gathering missions three centuries later of Captain Jam es Cook and Alejandro Malaspina, the European oceanic enterprises vasrly extended the reach

of Western commerce and culture, created permanent links between hitherto separated continents, and brought back substantial new knowledge. While often causing extraordinary and painful disruptions in traditional societies, it was the period when the foundations of global commerce and global culture, so evident coday, were first established. Ocean voyaging required specialized navigational skills, progress in astronomical understanding, advances in ship and rigging design, methods of maintaining the health of seamen, carcographic sophistication, sources of timber for shipbuilding, and always great courage. Before the 1400s, the necessary knowledge was in the hands of a few masters who passed on their heritage through the system of apprenticeships. Related trades were guarded jealously, and governments tried to control the spread of technical and geographical information in an effort co secure an advantage over their rivals. Bur the conquest of rhe oceans was a shared achievemen r of the European countries, with incessant exchange of technology and methods, driven by the impetus of intense competition. The Italian maritime city-stares, such as Venice and Genoa, and Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England, were all participants in this reciprocal purloining. No form of h uman endeavor in the early modern period was more cosmopolitan or internationalized than the maritime trades. Pon cities and ships' crews were typically microcosms of

** ·*·

Amerigo Vespucci's Perri F rancisi de Medicis Salurem plurimam, printed in Paris in 1503, included the earliest image of the Southern Cross, a boon to navigators in the Southern Hemisphere. Suma de geographia (Seville, 1519) by Martin Fernandez de Enciso was the first printed Spanish navigation manual.

A selection ofthe john Carter Brown Library's unparalleled collection ofmaritime books and cartographic materials is on exhibit in "The Boundless Deep ... ": The European Conquest of the Oceans, 1450 to 1840 at the N ewport A rt Museum in N ewport, Rhode Island, from 27April to 27July 2003. The more than 13 0 items on display have been chosen for their intrinsic beauty as well as their association with crucial human initiatives. For the lecture series at the N ewport Art Museum accompanying the exhibition check the web site www.jcbl.org. The john Carter Brown Library is an independently funded and administered institution on the campus ofBrown University. Since 1846, it has gathered books, maps, and other texts and graphic materials fro m the early modern era in Sp anish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch, English and German, into an archive that has few rivals. SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

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Jan Huygen van Linschoten 5 Itin erario (Amsterdam, 1596), a history ofhis travels in the Portuguese empire in the 1580s, helped open up the East Indies to Dutch commerce and conquest.

A landmark in the literature ofastronomy, Peter Apian 5 Astronomicum caesareum (Ingolstadt, 1540) is also one ofthe most beautiful and intricate examples ofthe printer 5 art in the sixteenth century, with dozens of movable parts to facilitate calculations.

This map accompanying "An account of the colony and fishery ofNewfoundland" (London, ca. 1678) shows the main fishing ports ofNewfoundland.

The first maritime book printed in the Americas was Diego Garcia de Palacio 5 Instrucion nauthica, published in Mexico City in 1587.

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N A V ·T H I C A; P A R A EL B VEN Vfo, y regimicmo <l~ las Naos, fu rra~a,y y gou1erno conformc a la .alcura de lvlcxi.::o. Copuelh por cl Doll:or Diegogarciade P.tlacio, dcl Cokjo de [u M;i;ellad, y fu Oydor en!. Real audicci• de la d1d10 CiuJad Dirigi~o, al .C1cc!1Ctili.imo Seil,or D~n AJu~ro Mannique,dc: ~umga, Marqucidc Villa m;:inrriquC", V1rrcy,Goucr- nador, y C:iriungcncral Jcllos Rc~nos.

Con liccnc:ia, En Mexico, En ca fa de Pedro Ochanc. Aiio de 1 J S 7.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

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The Seamans Secrets. How is the vfo of this llaff ?

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.l attb!• llatfe lllbcre tbe b1a1Te plate I• tallncb, mull be turnc~ to !bat &lllrt af tte ~aJfton IDbiclJ I• tram tbe ~unnc, t ID(t!J pout backe tamaro tf}c ji;l1111ne, bl? t~e lolDer ebgc of tbc bnlrc crorrc. t tbiangb fb• aitte or tbe platt 11ou mull 111re1t pout figbt onei!' to tl)e oifson, t then mamfng tbe cranruerra~ u otcPaan rc11ufret11, IJntill tl)e lllaoaw of pout bpp~r eO!Jc If tl)e tranruerrarp lloefall llfrettlp bpan tl)c rame lltttc a> lanll ~ale, ano alCo attte fametnltant pou rce tbe!Joiitan tl)iou.£!1 tb• llltte. anb tl)cn ~c fianruerCaQ! IJJetoet~ t~el)ei£11t ocareo.

rhe maritime peoples of rhe world. Seamen and navigarors sold rheir skills wirho ur regard ro "national" loyalries ar a rime when, in any case, rhe nario n-srare was not yer a full y form ed enti ry. Columbus him self is, of course, th e classic instance, migrating from G enoa, ro Lisbon, ro Seville; or Verrazzano, rhe Floren rine sailing under rhe flag of rhe king of France. Documentation of the science and rechnology and rhe skills and crafrs rhar were rhe precondirio n of rhe conquesr of rhe oceans is sparse before rhe adve nt of rhe modern techniques of printing rhar began in rhe 1400s. By rhe early 1500s printed books and maps conraining viral maritime information began ro proliferate. Such works were frequently rranslared inro several languages and crossed geographical boundaries . These documents of rhe European wo rld are viral ries ro the origins of rhe U ni ted Srates and can help Americans reco nnecr wirh rheir maritime heritage. For rhe firsr 250 years of European serrlement, co lonists primarily faced rhe fronti er ro rhe easr, rhe Arlanric O cean. Few people looked westward. W arer roures ro Europe, Africa, Asia, rhe W es r Indies, and Sourh Am erica,

j ohn Davis, Seamans secrers (London, 1633). Capt. john D avis is credited with inventing the back staff, the "back-sight " navigational instrument illustrated here. Back-sight instruments allowed navigators to make calculations based on the shadow ofthe sun, so they did not have to look directly into the sun .

trade up and down the coas t, and access ro rhe fi shing grounds do minated commerce. T he advenrure of the sea possessed rhe American imaginatio n, as exemplified by rhe sea novels of James Fenimo re C ooper, Richard Hen ry D ana's Two Years Before the Mast ( 1840), and Melville's incomparable Moby Dick (1 85 1). During rhe la re anrebell um period, however, and certainly followin g rhe C ivil War, the land-based wes tward expansion of rhe U nired Srares became the preoccupying theme of America n growrh, with rhe res ulr thar American s ro a grear exrenr lost their earlier orientatio n ro th e sea. In rhe 20rh cenrury, wirh rhe adve nr of rhe auromobile and rhe truck, wirh much developed rail lines, and wirh air rravel becoming the principal means of individual transportatio n for any long distance, rhe role of rh e ship has almosr vanished fro m rhe affairs of everyday life. Al though the U nited Srares has great pon s and still depends mighrily upon sea commerce, as ir always will, rhis acriviry, which now involves o nly a small percentage of rhe enri re population, has becom e more or less invisible. Yachring and boarmg are po pular recreatio ns, bur because

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

they are no r necessary ro li fe, rhey do lirrle ro impress o n popular co nscio usness rhe fi ve- hundred-year maritime heritage of the Americas, !er alone the cul rural heritage of rhree rhousand years rhar o riginates wirh H omer's Odyssey and extends ro Ernesr H emingway's Old Man and the Sea. "The Boundless D eep . . . ": The European Conquest ofthe Oceans is abo ur a period when rhe sea was a necessary and viral part of virtually all human exisrence and, as always, full of peril as well as promise. .t

Norman Fiering is the director and librarian ofthe john Carter Brown Library. An exhibition catalogue written by j ohn B. H attendorf the Ernest }. King Professor of M aritime H istory at the N aval War College in Newport, is availablefrom thejohn Carter Brown Library for $50 for the clothbound edition and $35 for the paper edition (add $4.50s&h). (The John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Providence RI 02912; 401 863-2725; web site: www.jcbl. org) The exhibition is on display at the N ewport Art Museum, 76 Bellevue Avenue, N ewport RI 02840; 4 01 848-2 1 81; web site: www.newportartmuseum.com.

The Romance of the Sea in Miniature by Lloyd McCaffery

Napoleons barge, a rare relic ofan age of excessive splendor, was built for the emperors visit to inspect the defences ofAntwerp in 1810 and is now preserved in the Musee de la Marine in Paris. The model is built to the scale of'!/'= 1 '. or 1h1 life size. It is based on the museums plans and on my own observations and photographs. The hull was built upside down on a .framework of templates. The port side was planked in degama, fastened with several hundred copper rivets and left natural. The starboard side is planked in apple, fastened with wood treenails, and painted. All planks are laid lapstrake or clinker fashion; the interior .fames were steam bent in two layers, and each .fame had to be notched over twelve planks per side. The interior ofthe coach house has a painted decoration on the ceiling and three Empire-style chairs for furnishings. It has an edging made ftom hand-bent boxwood arches, each halflapped at two places. This railing is topped with a boxwood molding and is mounted on 152 hand-turned pillars. The oars are turned and carved ftom degama or lance wood, with the starboard set painted and leathered and those on the port left natural. The carvings involved the greatest investment oftime on the model. The figurehead group represents Neptune with cherubs holding seashells, backed by dolphins. The house is surmounted by a huge crown supported by cherubs with drapery and garlands, all carved ftom box, while its sides are festooned with twelve drops, displaying crossed cannons, rigging details, and armor. The ends ofthe house have wreaths of oak leaves and wheat. A large badge on the stern bears the Imperial eagle surmounted by a crown with 32 hand-turned pearls and is supported by two figures, one holding a staff, the other blowing a turned trumpet of boxwood. The side badges on the house bear the LN cipher, and are supported by two cherubs with wings.

hip figureheads and other carvings with a nautical theme have always been objects offascination and interest. They seem magically charged with an aura of mystery and romance, perhaps because they have been to far-off places and exotic locales, and they are excellent subjects to recreate in miniature. My interest and activity in this area goes back almost forty years, to when I first began creating ship models to both large and miniature scales. Some of the figureheads have been less than 1/4" high, while others are almost two feet tall. And, as the photos show, the carving on a model can be very complex. Getting to the point where I can begin a carving is also a long process. First I gather as much information on the subject as possible, which may include taking measurements and making drawings of the original. Permission may be required if the original is in a museum. I then make up a sketch of what I want to create, usually just a side and front view, since figureheads are normally posed "foursquare" because of their position on the ship. I have also taken to reconstructing "lost" figureheads, and creating my own figure sculptures with nautical themes. The carving of the original figurehead of the frigate USS Constitution shows the result of much research and design, and the figure of Neptune is my interpretation of this ancient theme. To do this sort of work requires training as an artist and sculptor. The basic foundation courses, such as drawing, life drawing, and instruction in the principles and elements of design are essential to creating good work that is aesthetically pleasing. Ir is possible to make a bad carving of a beautiful figurehead. The material I use is that most excellent of woods Buxus semperverins, or common boxwood. Seen everywhere as the green clipped hedge plant along sidewalks, it has a secret life as the finest material for miniature carving. It has a dense, firm texture and lack of open pores that make it perfectly suited to fine detail and a handsome

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Our national ship, the.frigate Consri ru rion, was originally fitted with afigurehead quite different.from the billet and trailboards currently on the vessel. She had afall-length figure of Hercules, and we have good documentation on what this figure looked like. The figurehead designer William Rush wrote: ''.As the Constitution ofthe Empire is the result of the Union of the States and united begetts Strength it aught to be represented by an Herculean figure standing on the firm rock ofIndependence resting one hand on theJasces, which was bound by the Genius ofAmerica and the other handpresenting a scroll ofpaper, supposed to be the constitution ofAmerica with proper appendages, the foundation of Legislation. "An eyewitness description and a watercolor, possibly by Corne, confirm the figure's design. Drawings ofships of the period always had lines laid out on the stem which placed limits on the size and shape ofthefigure. The carving was not supposed to exceed this "space for the figure, "with exceptions for appendages such as extended arms, spears, and so forth. My figurehead is based on a tracing of the draught of the stem of the ship and two contemporary drawings ofHercules figures. The pose makes use ofbasic contraposto, with the leftfoot advanced and the right arm extended, a classicpose thatfollows the watercolor. The drapery and hanging ofthe flayed lion skin is based on descriptions andsculpture.from antiquity, as well as the watercolor. The figure is roughly to a scale of 'h "= I ; and is around 5 'h "high, exclusive ofplinth and base. It is carved.from boxwood and has a polished wax finish. The plinth ofBlack walnut is cut to the profile ofthe stem ofthe ship.

This is a group of miniature carvings based on old figureheads. The original Tecumseh, .from USS Delaware, and a casting ofit are on display at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. The midshipmen, who pitch pennies to him for good luck before exams, know him as the "god of 2.5, "the minimum passing grade average. The clipper G lory of th e Seas had a figure ofa Greek goddess that has been described as the swan song ofthe carver's art. Certainly she is a most attractive figure, and a great challenge to carve. The largest figure is inspired by one with especially well-designed drapery. Each figure brings its own particular challenges. The human face is the most difficult element to replicate, and a sound grounding in the foundation courses ofan art school is very help.fa! indeed.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

john Paul Jones is one of the more recognizable heroes ofthe American Revolution, largely because ofthe portrait bust by Houdon on display at the US Naval Academy and the numerous portraits ofhim. This miniature portrait bust, one in a series I am creating at "dollhouse scale" (that is J "= 1 '),follows the general form of the Houdon portrait, showing Jones in a naval officer's uniform and wearing L'Ordre du Merite Militaire. It is always a challenge to show a cut-off figure, with only the upper torso and head, in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Here is where study of such masters ofsculpture as Bernini and Houdon is valuable. The actual carving is, ofcourse, the fun part, and details present stimulating technical challenges. For example, the braid on the epaulets requires carefal use ofspecial tools. The ultimate challenge, however, is the face. Old mens faces are easier than those ofyoung girls, because ofthe extremely subtle and delicate shapes which must be carefally carved in order to convey beauty. I can generally just hack away at an "old salt" and he will Look the better for it!

Greek mythology is intimately connected with the sea. One of the major personalities in the Greek pantheon was Poseidon, known Later to the Romans as Neptune. I have created my own interpretation ofthis mythical character drawing on the sculpture ofancient Greece, as well as the Renaissance, particularly the Neptune by Gianlorenzo Bernini. I designed the figure to be very active in feel. The pose is deliberately off balance, stretching far forward from the base. The body, drapery, and trident use rising diagonals to emphasize the sense of motion.

This miniature portrait bust ofAdmiral Lord Nelson is done to what is commonly called "dollhouse scale, "that is J "= 1 '. I am creating a whole collection of them, based on my interest in certain historical figures. Material to draw on for a Likeness ofNelson includes a life mask in the Royal Naval Museum and portraits by Abbott, Fuger, Singleton, Hoppner and Beechey; there are many portrait busts as well, but some ofthem are quite bad. I incorporated a dress uniform coat with the four orders sewn to the left breast combined with the tousled hair and rugged features seen in representations of him. My approach to carving a likeness involves removing layers of wood from all over the figure, gradually approaching the final surface and using profiles to capture the subtle shape ofthe head and face. I have to sneak up on it, rotating the figure and examining the constantly changing profile to gauge where I am in relation to the shape I want.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

The stern ofthis barge, built in 1732 for Frederick, Prince of Wales, is one ofthe crowning glories of marine carving. The two-inch-high badge on the model required 34 different pieces in addition to the main structure. The three ostrich plumes, garter star, and so forth were carved separately and glued and pegged in place. The mermaids on the quarters are perhaps the Loveliest ofaLL the figures on the barge. Here, each ofthe I ' h -inch-Long figures, including the necklace ofpearls, the scales on the Lower body, and the ringlets ofhair around the face, was carved from a single piece of boxwood. The mermaids had to fit precisely with the stern badge, as the trailing arm ofeach was intertwined with the dolphins at the edge ofthe badge. Many other details are visible in this photo, such as the swags and garlands ofoak Leaves and the carved cornice railings. These had to be shaped in three planes and the pearand-dart frieze carved into the Lower edges. Since the rails tapered in width and thickness toward the stern, these details had to decrease in size and spacing to maintain proper proportions relative to the overaLL rail at any given point. As if this were not enough, the design had to be kept perpendicular to the waterline as the rails rose more steeply toward the stern badge! (Scale: 1h "=I ; 32" overaLL)

appearance. I am always looking for large logs of it. Since I srart with large pieces of wood, I need power tools such as a bandsaw and a jointer to bring the stock down to workable sizes with smooth surfaces and rectilinear shapes. The roughing out to general shapes is largely done with power tools, though a jeweler's saw is an excellent tool for working the wood down to close tolerances . Most of the actual carving is done with an extensive array of hand tools. These include carving knives, miniature gouges, tiny files, and chisels I make m yself. I derive great satisfaction in using fine hand tools, and indeed this is one of the major reasons I do this type of work. I may use magnification for rhe very finest derails and finishing rhe surface. I do rhe finishing with a variety of tools , including fine sandpaper, steel wool and smooth-cur mini ature files. A ve ry good technique for getting a smooth, hard fini sh makes use of single-edge razor blades to scrape and burnish rhe surface of rhewood, which gives a unique texture and "feel " to the surface . The techniques are those I have developed over four decades of working and thinking about wood and how to carve it.

Usually rhe entire piece is carved from a single piece of wood. Of course extended arms, spears and rhe like are added. I need to plan ahead to allow some wood to remain for protruding derails, such as buttons, flowers, and feathers. The procedure requires working from large masses to fin e details and a precise fini shed surface. The wood is taken off in layers, somewhat like peeling an onion. As I approach the final surface, more care is necessary to avoid going too deeply into the wood. I continually turn rhe piece to view the ever-changing profiles of rhe figure. This is a key technique to creating a convincing image. The whole process involves the proverbial "mind over matter" approach. I make it an exercise in problem solving. I enjoy tackling a proj ect with standards rhar seem impossible to reach. Going through the analysis of the requirements and formulating solutions is very absorbing. We hear much about rhe left and right brain, with each hemisphere dedicated to a particular way of thinking. I find ir necessary to use both in alternation to do these carvings. I.f something about the figure does nor feel right, I must shift to rhe analytical mode and ask myself just exactly what it is rhar needs to be addressed. I rhink

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

in terms of "is ir too long/short, thick/ thin ?" and make rhe required adjustments. T his gets down to the reaso ns why I create these carvings. A large part of it involves rhe processes of critical thinking and synthesizing solutions for complex three-dimensional sculpture. Bur most of all ir involves working with my hands to experience rh e simple satisfaction of creating something beautiful and meaningful our of a plain rho ugh challenging material. I have plans to create many more miniature carvings, as there are quire a number of figureheads rhar interest me. The reco nstructions are also a source of material for more carvings. HMS Bounty, rhe clipper Nightingale, and rhe US frigate President are all under way. I am leaving a very small legacy with my ship models and miniature carvings. If people enjoy viewing them half as much as I enjoyed creating them, I will be happy. ,t

Mr. McCajfery has been working as a professional model builder for 40 years. He works on commission as weLL as on speculation and his ship models have won awards at such prestigious shows as the Mystic International. An article on his model ofthe schooner yacht Coroner appeared in Sea History 97. 21

MARINE ART

Tlie

UCiam 'Bnulforcf by Richard C. Kugler

As the featured event of its centennial year, the New Bedford Whaling Museum/Old Dartmouth Historical Society (NBWM) in Massachusetts is presenting a major retrospective exhibition, William Bradford: Sailing Ships and Arctic Seas. The exhibition runs 23 May through 26 October 2003. s an artist, W illiam Bradford was a late starter, painting at age 29 a commissioned portrait of the whaleship Jireh Perry, lying at anchor in New Bedford harbor. He was born in 1823

on the opposi te side of the harbor in Fairhaven, where his father and an uncle were whaling merchants on a modest scale. Another uncle was the town 's most prominent builder of whaleships, while a cousin operated a shipyard in nearby Mattapoisett. Amid these surroundings, on the shores of America's largest whaling port, Bradford gained a yo uthful acq uaintance with the vessels that became his initial subj ects. Although he "early felt a desire to paint," he was put to work in the clothing trade, first as a clerk in a New Bedford dry-goods store, then as the proprietor of a store of his

Bradford s 1854portrait ofthe whaleship Twilight reveals the influence ofhis mentor Albert Van Beest in bringing a vessel to life in a choppy sea, here with a Nomans Land boat adding interest to the scene. That loosely painted boat, however, coming from Van Beests brush or coaching, presents an awkward contrast to Bradfo rd sprecisely detailed whaler. The difference in techniques was neverfu lly resolved during the three years oftheir collaboration. (Whaleship Twilight of New Bedford, 1854, 20" x 30'/s': oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left: "Wm Bradford/1854. ")

own. In 1852, when his business failed, he admitted, "I spent too much time painting to succeed." 1 From a makeshift studio near the New Bedford wharves, he painted the]ireh Perry and a succession of other whaleship portraits, then journeyed to Boston to paint the clipper ships of that port. Not unexpectedly, by 1854, "the broadside of a vessel became absolutely loathsome to me. " Realizing his need for instruction, he went to New York, where he met Albert Van Beest (1820-1860), recently arrived from Rotterdam and trained in the Dutch tradition of marine painting. In return for room and board, Van Beest came to New Bedford to share Bradford's studio on the Fairhaven waterfront. Under his tutelage, Bradford's techniques improved and his outlook expanded to include more complex compositions involving other vessels, small craft, background landscapes and human activity. Occasionally, Bradford and Van Beest collaborated on pai ntings, notably the New York Regatta off New Bedford (1856) arid Boston Harbor (1857). In the latter year, Van Beest returned to New York, where he died in 1860, leaving to Bradford an enlarged vision of the possibilities of marine painting and an improved ability to paint water and skies. A less direct influence came to Bradford from Fitz Hugh Lane, whom he probably knew from his days in Bosto n. His familiarity with Lane's great sunset views of Boston Harbor from the early 1850s can be seen in the small painting, Ships in Boston Harbor at Twilight (1859), which shares a similar preoccupation with the measured placement of vessels and the effects oflight at the end of the day. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Bradford painted a series of

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

With Van Beest's encouragement, Bradford undertook his first /,arge harbor view of New Bedford in 1854. On the left, at Fairhaven 's Union Wharf, a crew ofshipwrights replace the copper sheathing on a hove-down whaler, while across the way, a newly built vessel is ready for launching. An inbound whaler clews up her sails as she nears the wharfand, on the right, another heads for the New Bedford side ofthe

harbor. Two other whalers lie at anchor off Palmer's Island, while other craft go about their work. The small boat with figures in the right foreground is characteristic ofVan Beest and seems likely to be his work, as may the broadly painted hull ofthe inbound whaler. (The Port of New Bedford from Crow Island (1854), 24" x 42': oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right: "Wm Bradford/Fair Haven/1854. ")

He had gone to a little-known frontier of the continent and helped to enshrine it in the national vision ofour wilderness.

luminous views in the Bay of Fundy, but the qualities that define such works appear less frequently as he moved fa rther north. 2 Bradford first visited the coast ofLabrador in the summer of 1861. Five more voyages would follow, all in chartered schooners, on three of which he included in his party professional photographers who recorded on glass-plate negatives the rugged coastline, summer fishing stations, Inuit people, and above all, icebergs and ice floes. From these images and those in his sketchbooks and studies in oils, Bradford produced numerous paintings of the Labrador coast, mostly done in his rooms at the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York. Among them is his best known work, the six-by-ten foot Sealers Crushed by Icebergs (1866), which he sold for the large sum of $12,000.

Productive as Bradford found the Labrador voyages, the schooners he employed could not get him as far north as he wanted to go during the short season of summer navigation . His goal was the Arctic, and to reach it, he chartered a stoutly built sealing vessel, the bark Panther, equipped with auxiliary steam power. Departing St. John's, Newfoundland, on 3 July 1869, Captain Bob Bartlett took the Panther to the west coast of Greenland, then headed northward. Bradford's party included a veteran Arctic explorer, Isaac I. Hayes, two photographers and an aspiring artist, the sixteenyear-old Milton J . Burns. Pausing along the way for visits to glaciers, Norse ruins and scattered Danish settlements, the Panther was finally blocked at 75Â° North by the ice pack of Melville Bay. Forced to turn back, Bradford returned from the three-month

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

voyage with about eigh ty oil sketches, numerous pencil drawings and three to four hundred photographs. 3 For the remainder of his career, Bradford drew on these studies to paint the Polar wo rld with a realism never seen before. Like his fellow artist-explorers, Frederic E. C hurch in the Andes and Albert Bierstadt in the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite, he had go ne to a little-known frontier of the continent and helped to enshrine it in the national vision of our wilderness. In England, too, with its centuries-old quest for the Northwest Passage and its three-decade search for the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin, he touched a responsive chord and enjoyed his greatest period of financial success. With the patronage of Queen Victoria, he published in 1873 a tour de force of early photography, The

Bradfo rd's association with Van Beest came to fruiti on in the j ointly painted New Yo rk Yacht Club Regatta off N ew Bedfo rd (1856). Although only Bradford's signature is on the painting, Van Beest's participation can be seen in a preliminary wash drawing that each of them signed, as weLL as in their individual sketches. His hand is also

detecta ble, as a contemporary critic noted, in the seas on which the yachts are contesting. The smaLL boat with cheering.figures comesfrom Van Beest's repertoire and the diagonal tracks ofthe yachts that Lend animation to the scene may be his as well. (New York Yacht Club Regatta off New Bedford (1 856), 3 81/s "x 66 1!4''. oil on canvas)

Bradfo rd's awareness of Fitz Hugh Lane's great sunset views of Boston H arbor of the early 1850s can be seen in his own Ships in Boston Harbor at T wilight, with its measured p lacement of vessels, Luminous Light, and sense of stiffness under a radiant evening sky. A dmittedly, Lane might have fou nd Bradford's palette "modern, " but the inspiration for the work seems Likely to have dep ended on his own examples. (Ships in Boston H arbor at Twilight (1859), 11 "x 18 ''. oil on board; signed Lower right: "W m Bradfo rd, 1859. "

A rctic Regions, Illustrated with Photographs Taken on an Art Expedition to Greenland, with each volum e containing 14 1 tippedin albumen pho tographs. By 1880, Bradford's reputatio n had begun to ebb , along with those of C hurch and Bierstadt, as changing tas tes turned to younger artists and different styles of painting. W orking to the end, he suffered a stroke in his New York studi o and died at age 69. Few were to remember him until John W ilmerding's pioneering exhibition of 1969 attracted renewed attention to his works. Since then, many of his most important paintings have come to light and will be among the featured attractions in the N ew Bedfo rd Whaling Muse um's present retrospective. ,!, M r. Kugler is the director emeritus ofthe New Bedfo rd Whaling Museum and guest curato r of the exhibit Will iam Bradfo rd: Sailing Ships and Arctic Seas. The exhibition catalogue, W illiam Bradford:

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

One of the most fully realized of the paintings that resulted from Bradford's Arctic voyage in 1869, Ice Dwellers Watching the Invaders (cl 870s) contributed to his reputation as the Painter ofthe Polar Regions. The auxiliary steam-powered sealing bark Panther is shown among the icebergs andfield ice ofMelville Bay under the light

Sailing Ships and Arctic Seas, contaznzng essays on the artist's life and works, 78 color reproductions, 28 sepia-tones and 70 half tones, is available from the museum store for $50 he and $35 pb + $5 s/h. (New Bedford Whaling Museum, 18 j ohnny Cake Hill, New Bedford MA 02740; 5 08 997-0046; web site: www.whalingmuseum.org). 1 This and subsequenrquotarions from Bradford are taken from an inrerview late in his li fe and reco rded by F. H. Kasson in Leonard Boll es Ellis, History of New Bedford and Its Vicinity, 1602-1892(SyracuseNY, 1892) . Biographical derails of Bradford's li fe can be found in rhe author's catalogue essay, "William Bradford," in William Bradford: Sailing Ships and Arctic Seas (New Bedford MA, 2003). 2 For an informed discussion of influences on Bradford's style, see Eri k A. R. Ronn berg, Jr. , "Wil liam Bradford: Mastering Fo rm and Developing a Style," in the exhibi tion catalogue. 3 The basic source for rhe voyage is William Bradford, The Arctic Regions (London, 1873). See also Adam Greenhalgh, 'The Not So Truthful Lens : William Bradford and T he Arctic Regions," in rhe exhibition caralogue.

ofthe midnight sun. The "ice dwellers" ofthe title are two seals and a polar bear with her cubs, who observe the entry ofcivilization into a remote and hitherto pristine world. (Ice Dwellers Watching the Invaders (1870s), 34" x 52 ''. oil on canvas. Signed lower left: "Wm Bradford. ")

WHALING MUSEUM CELEBRATES CENTENNIAL T he New Bedford Whaling Museum is the wo rld's leading interpreter of the global whaling story. The museum relates this story on a broad canvas, tracing the triumphs and tragedies of the whaling trade when it was one of America's major industries and New Bedford was the wo rld's leading whaling port. Soon after its founding in 1903, the Old D arrmouth Historical Society es tablished the New Bedford Whal ing M useum, recognizing the vital role that whaling played in the community. For a century it has been a respected institutio n that preserves and presents the legacy of New England- based whaling in the age of sail. A recent m ajor expansion of the museum and its research center is making it possible to exhibit and house the most comprehensive collecti o n of artifacts encompassing seven centuries of Am erican and worldwide nautical art, history and culture. As the world's preeminent whaling institution, the museum invites visitors to reflect on the complex issues-past and present-that the whaling story reveals. In 2003 , the museum celebrates its centennial with new, interactive exhibitions, an expanded array of program s and collaborations, increased research opportunities, and state-of-the-art fac ilities. As the cultural keystone of the So uth Coast of Massachusetts and the anchor institution of the New Bedford Whaling National Histo rical Park, the museum is an important resource for understanding the profound influence of the whaling industry o n the region, the nation, and the wo rld. The New Bedford Whaling Museum is located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford MA; 508 997-0046; web site: www.whalingm useum .org. The museum is open daily from 9AM to 5PM. Admission is $8 for ad ults, $7 for seniors and $6 for children, ages 6 to 14.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

MARINE ART NEWS Marine Painting Leads Detroit Institute of Arts on a Quest for the Rightful Owner When the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) set about finding a marine work to augment its Dutch collection, the acquisition of a seascape by LudolfBackhuysen ( 16311708) initiated a quest for the painting's rightful owner-a Jewish collector who fled the Netherlands in 1942. The painting, A Man-0- War and Other Ships Off the Dutch Coast, had been purchased by Trafalgar Galleries as one "in the style or a copy of Backhuysen." When George Keyes, the DIA's curator of European paintings, examined the work, a cleaning revealed the artist's signature with the date 1692. The German-born Ludolf Backhuysen emigrated to Amsterdam, where he was influenced by the elder Willem van de Velde and where he, in turn, influenced the younger van de Velde. His works demonstrate an accurate understanding of the ships he portrayed, and he was successful in his lifetime. He produced his best work through the 1660s when he perfected a technique of luminous glazes resulting in dramatic effects in sky and sea. Once the artist and the date of A Man0-War and Other Ships had been identified, the DIA traced the ownership up through 1935 , when it was sold at Christie's in London to the art dealer Staal ofAmsterdam. At that point, the Art Loss Register

A Man-0-War and Other Ships Off the Dutch Coast by LudoIf Backhuysen (Courtesy Detroit Institute ofArts) (the largest private international database of stolen, missing and looted works of art) was engaged to investigate what happened after 1935. The research revealed that the Backhuysen had been one of a group of Dutch paintings owned by a Jewish collector. A decree in 1942 forced Dutch Jews to relinquish their material assets to the Bank of Lippmann, Rosenthal & Company, a Nazi-controlled clearinghouse for the administration of Jewish property. In October 1942, the painting was sold to Kajetan Muhlmann, the chief figure responsible for looting cultural property in Poland and

Coast Guard Class to Sponsor Murals of USCG Achievements The US Coast Guard Academy's Class of 1962 has embarked on a five-year program to commission artwork for the walls of a new reading room at the academy in New London, Connecticut. The murals are being designed by Tony Falcone of Connecticut and will depict significant missions and events in Coast Guard history from World War II to the present, including the sinking ofU-606 by USCG Campbell in 1943, the D-Day landings, rescues at sea, drug interdiction activities, September 11, 200 l , and the vessel types used to carry out such missions, including Danmark and Eagle. (For more information or to help support this project, contact the Alumni Association, USCG Academy, New London CT; 860 444-8237)

A study for a mural of the D-Day landings 26

the Netherlands during the war. The Art Loss Register traced the five heirs of the original owner and worked with the DIA and Trafalgar Galleries to negotiate the sale of the picture to the Detroit Institute of Ans on behalf of the heirs . The DIA set a precedent in the recovery of looted art work half a century ago when The Seine at Asnieres by Claude Monet was returned to its owner in 1950. The Detroit Institute ofArts, 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit Ml 48202; 313 8337900; web site: www.dia.org

MARINE ART EXHIBITS •Amon Carter Museum: 12 April-22 June 2003, Casting a Spell: Winslow Homer, Artist andAngler (350 1 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth TX 76 107; 8 17 738- 1933; web sire: www.cartermuseum.org) •Coos Art Museum: 1 Augusr-13 September 2003, 10th Annual Coos Bay Maritime Art Exhibit (235 Anderson, Coos Bay OR 97420; 541 267-3901; web sire: www.coosart.org) •Farnsworth Art Museum: 4 May-27 Ju.l y 2003, Eric Hopkins: Waypoints (16 Museum Street, Rockland ME 04841 ; 207 596-6457; web sire: farnsworrhmuseum.org) • The Mariners' Museum: from 8 March 2003, Reflections ofthe Sea: Paintings from The Mariners'Museum Collection (100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA23606; 757 596-2222; web sire: www.mariner.org) •The Metropolitan Museum ofArt: 3 June-1 7 August2003,Manet and the American Civil War: The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama (1000 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10028; 212 535-7710; web si re: www.mermuseum.org) • Michigan Maritime Museum: from 27 April 2003, Sailing Through Time: Great Lakes Maritime Art (260 Dyckman Ave., S. Haven MI 49090; 269 637-8078; web sire: www.MichiganMaritimeMuseum.org) • New Bedford Whaling Museum: 23 May-26 October 2003, William Bradford: Sailing Ships and Arctic Seas (18 Johnny Cake Hi ll, New Bedford MA 02740; 508 997-0046; web sire: www.whaling museum.org) •Noble Maritime Collection: 15 February-5 October 2003, John Stobart's World of Sail and Steam (1000 Richmond Terrace, Sraren Island NY 1030 I; 718 447-6490; web sire: www.noblemaririme.org)

SEA HISTORY 1041-, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

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The Black Ball Line 's packet ship Yorkshire passes Castle Garden and the lower tip of Manhattan's Battery Park as she sails out of the East River on her way to sea under the moonlight in 1854.

Ni9fit view from

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A Nelson Memorandum

Pinpoints the Start of the Trafalgar Campaign by E. C. Coleman

... -1

ts ink brown with age and its script in the unmistakable handwriting of Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, Duke of Bronte, a saleroom find has shone new light on the beginning of the most famous campaign in the history of the Royal Navy. Addressed to Captain the Honourable Courtnay Boyle 1, captain of the 38-gun frigate HMS Seahorse, the memorandum orders Boyle around the south of Sardinia in search of the French fleet. The order came in response to news brought to Nelson by the frigates Active and Seahorse on the morning of 19 January 1805. As commander-in-chiefof the Mediterranean Fleet, Nelson had been maintaining a distant blockade of the porr of 1 Captain the Honourable Co urm ay Boyle was a so n of the Earl of Cork and Orrery and had served as one ofNelson's midshipmen in HMS Boreas. When Boyle left the ship in July 1787, Nelson wrote ro Boyle's fath er about "our dear Courtnay," notin g that " he is aimiab le in the truest sense of rhe word; and I feel regret in parting from him. In his professional line he is inferior to none: his virr ues are superior to most." Boyle was promoted to lieutenanr in 1790, to commander in 1795, and ro captain two years later. H e was knighted in 1832 and died on 21 May 1844 as a v ice-adm iral.

Toulon-a tactic designed to tempt the French fleet under Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve to leave the safery of the harbor. Nelson-and the entire British nationwere desperate for Villeneuve to come out and offer battle. Villeneuve, on the other hand, was equally desperate to avoid a battle with Nelson. He had to try to get his fleet safely our of the Mediterranean and northwards to the English Channel where he could use his ships to protect Napoleon's projected invasion of England. Nelson, fully aware of Villeneuve's intention, knew that the outcome of the war against Napoleon depended upon him. The news he had been so keenly awaiting arrived with Active and Seahorse on a warm, but blustery January morning: the French had put to sea. Acting promptly and with his accustomed resolution, Nelson sent a memorandum across to the fastest of the frigates, Seahorse: Victory Sam Jan'ry 19th: 1805. Sir, Proceed without one moments loss of Time round the South end of Sard'n: as far as St. Peters and inquire if the french fleet has been seen, and return to join me. I shall make the best going I may with the

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

fleet the same rout, should you see the Enemy fleet upon your passage you will return & join me with all possible expedition making the signal with guns for seeing them. I am Your most Obt. Servant Nelson & Bronte Hon'ble Capt. Boyle Later that morning, Nelson noted in his journal: Sent Seahorse round the Southern end of Sardinia, to St. Peters, to look out for them (the enemy fleet), but to prevent the enemy, as much as possible, from seeing her; and the moment Captain Boyle discovered them to return to me. As Nelson fought to haul his blockadebattered ships around the south of Sardinia for the next three days in deteriorating weather conditions, Boyle searched ahead for signs of the enemy. On the 22nd, Nelson noted in his journal: We had in the morning very heavy squalls from the Westward; Seahorse in sight coming down. At half-past nine, she made the signal that she had been chased by the Enemy's Frigates; and at ten, that she had 'Intelligence to communicate.' At eleven, Captain Boyle informed me that

yesterday afternoon, at three o'clock, he had seen a French Frigate standing in for Pula, but it was so thick that he could not discern the French Fleet, and it blew a heavy gale of wind at S.S.W. Nelson was now in great difficulty. The enemy fleet was at sea and the French army was believed to be massing at Channel pores. If Villeneuve could reach the English Channel unmolested, Napoleon would be certain to mount an invasion. For a further three days Nelson ranged off the Sardinian coast in search of his quarry, but with no success. On the 25th he wrote: "I am in a fever. God send that I may find them!" After a few more days of fruitless searching he made up his mind to head eastwards. Once before he had chased the French fleet toward Egypt and destroyed it at the Battle of the Nile. Now, although such a move would have placed the enemy in completely the wrong direction for a passage to the English Channel, Nelson believed they had gone to the east yet again. He informed the Admiralty: On the 21st, a French Frigate was seen

-.'t · · -

off the South-end of Sardinia by the Seahorse: but the weather was so thick and the gale so strong that Captain Boyle could not see their Fleet, and he joined me the 22nd with the information. He continued: One of two things must have happened, that either the French Fleet must have put back crippled, or that they are gone to the Eastwards, probably to Egypt, therefore, I find no difficulty in pursuing the line of conduct I have adopted. If the Enemy have put back crippled, I could never overtake them, and therefore I can do no harm in going to the Eastward; and if the Enemy are gone to the Eastward, I am right. Unfortunately, upon his arrival offMalta on 19 February, Nelson learned that the enemy fleet had been damaged in the gales and had returned to Toulon for repairs. Far worse, however, was the news that, with Nelson and the British fleet out of the way, Villeneuve had taken his ships out of Toulon at the first possible moment and headed toward the West Indies to meet up

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with other French ships. With his fleet now strengthened, Villeneuve returned to Cadiz to join up with the fleet of his Spanish allies. There, at last, Nelson caught up with his enemy, and, on the 21 October 1805, he led his fleet to a stunning victory that, once and for all , put paid to any of Napoleon's hopes of invasion. The desperate search to bring the enemy to battle and destroy Napoleon's plan to invade England had begun with Nelson's memorandum to Boyle and ended with his death as his final signal to the British fleet flew from the halyards: "Engage the Enemy more Closely." .t Mr. Coleman served in the Royal Navy for 36 years and ledfour Arctic expeditions in search ofevidence.from the 1845 Sir john Franklin expedition. He is author of a biography of Capt George Vancouver (Caedmon ofWhitby, UK) and editor of an expanded version of The 1766 Navy List (Bishop Norton, Lincolnshire UK Ancholme, 2001). The Nelson memorandum sold at auction in February 2003 for over £6000.

Climb aboard America 's most decorated battleship, the former USS Ne w Jersey, and attend our first three day Naval Symposium. Presentations will be given by celebrated historians such Paul Stillwell, Director of History, U.S. Naval Institute, and other noted experts from the U.S. Naval Historical Center and Kean University. Attendees will enjoy special "behind the scenes" guided tours of both the battleship New Jersey and the world's oldest cruiser, the 1892 Olympia, courtesy of the Independence Seaport Museum. WH ERE: The Battleship New Jersey Memorial & Museum on the new Camden Waterfront, Camden, N.J. WHEN: Friday, June 13 (registration begins at 3 pm) through Sunday, June 15.

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SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

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'Where Sea. Aclventure s.,,recuJ.s Lea.ming by Joe Evangelista

eroes, champions, and all who leave cheir mark in cime and m emory hold forch whac Sir Walcer Scon called "an imperious challenge to che generacions to come. " Passed down in scory, held as examples, chey are che gifrs of ch e pasc chac prod che fucure. This year, rwo men inspired by such heroes are bringing challenge and adve ncure, and cheir lesso ns, inco che lives of some half-million schoolchildren ch rough sicesALIVE! , an educacional web sice. Rich Wilson, capcain, and Richard du Moulin, crew, are lifelong sailors who are caking che 53-fooc crimaran sailboac Great American

Richard du Moulin is a maricime induscry executive best known for his leadership a few years ago of Intercanko, an associacion of independent oil canker owners. The Adventure Sailing since his youch, he has parcicipaced Boch men are accomplished sport sai lors. in four America's Cup campaigns and rwo Rich Wilson, sailing since boyhood, has cransAdantic races, and he and friend Pecer been a mach ceacher, a defense analyse, a Rugg won cheir class in lase year's Newcechnical consulcant on wacer produccion port-Bermuda Ocean Race. He is currendy in Saudi Arabia, and a successful investor. che vice commodore of the Storm Trysail In 1980, skippering Holger Danske, he Club and serves on the boards of Seamen's became che yo ungesc overall winner of che Church Insricure and the National MariNewport-Bermuda Race, and in 1988 he time Hiscorical Society. Their goal is to beat one of che speed won his class racing a 35-fooc crimaran solo records set by che greac American clipper across che Adamic. ship Sea Witch. In 1849, laden wich 1,100 cons of cea, che 168-foot vessel made the trip from Hong Kong to New York via che Sunda Strait and Cape of Good Hope in 7 4 days, 14 hours-about one month fascer than the best expected rime. This remarkable feac of seamanship knocked news of the California Gold Rush off the front pages of the New York newspapers and inaugurated a decade of mania for speed under sail. Ir was the first permanent sailing ship record, which co this day no vessel under sail has beaten. Great American II is closely following the old trade route, weaving through the South China Sea out of Hong Kong, flying across che Indian Ocean on the southeast trade winds, and on to the creacherous Cape of Good Hope, where a graveyard of modern merchant ships tescifies to the ferocity of wind and wave. Rounding the Cape, the trimaran will head north in co the southeast trades, cross the equacor, continue northwest in che norcheas t crades, cross che Gulf Scream and finish, if all goes according to plan, ac che S catue of Libercy in New York. The trimaran Armchair captains, ex-s1eadogs, and tall Greac American II in ship romantics will note th;at it isn't exacdy New York harbor. a fair contest berween the wessels. They are (All photos courtesy very different, and work om different prinwww.sitesa!ive.com) II on a 15 ,000-mile speed race againsc hiscory-and, via newspapers and che Incernec, bringing scudents aboard.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SlUMMER 2003

Sea Witch Brief Glory, Long Victory by Joe Evangelista th great speed and imposing beauty, Sea Witch put "clipper ship" on everyone's lips from New York ro China in 1849. That year, she made it from Hong Kong to New York around the Cape of Good Hope in 7 4 days, 14 hours-a record for passage under sai l unbroken to this day. Over the decade between 1846 and 1856 she set some halfdozen major voyage records, becoming the first acknowledged member of a new breed of ship built expressly for speed: sha rpprowed, long and sleek, surmounted by a vast, complex orchestra of sail. Sea Witch was the brainchild of farsighted naval architect John W. Griffiths. Obsessed with ship motion and speed, for years he ran studies of existing vessels and made calcu lations on improved hull performance. Around 1840, he built a model rest tank to try rhese theories. Although Griffiths wasn't the only designer seeking to improve ship speed, it was in his theories that various elements of ship design affecting vessel speed coalesced into the overall concept of the clipper ship. Griffirhs exhibited a model of this radically new hull plan in 1843, immediately generating virulent debate because it floured a number of assumptions about ship design. "A cod's head and a mackerel's rail" was the sh ipbuilding maxim describing the rounded bow and narrow stern typical over centuries of merchant-ship design. The shape evolved for buoyancy when the ship pitched, bur also contributed to the problem it sought to fight, since the rounded bow tended to rise in the waves. To compensate, ships often set the foremast far forward, sometimes supplemented by square sails set our onto the bowsprit, to create a downward force pushing the bow against the sea. Griffiths proposed rheopposire: a sharp, concave bow to cur through the wavesexrending ideas from Baltimore clippers and early steam/sail vessels-with a flare outwards toward the top providing the saving buoyancy when the bow did plunge. Lengthening the hull, he moved rhe vessel's cemer of buoyancy backwards and, moving back rhe foremast, stretching the jib and foremast sraysails, gave lift to rhe bow.

The clipper ship Sea Wirch as depicted by a Chinese artist, coming to anchor at Whampoa (Courtesy the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (M5162)) Griffiths improved speed with the afterhull as well. No ring rhar high speeds tended to raise rhe bow and sink the stern, he filled in stern sections to avoid sucking the stern down and to keep rhe vessel running fast. Speed alone was nor deemed worthy of driving ship design until the War of 1812, when fast Baltimore clippers-most of rhem modified schooners-were developed as privateers. Their speed came at the price of diminished cargo capacity, so rhey faded from rhe postwar marker, bur some of rhe design elements survived in the packet ships rhar, during three postwar decades, established the first regular fre ight services across rhe Adamic. The Ad amic packers evolved as merchants pushed for timetable-driven shipping, which for them translated into less cap ital tied up as inventory. When trade with the Orient bloomed after the 1842 Opium Wars, especially in lucrative but perishable tea, speed became as important as reliability. Ir was rhe beginning of a shipping revolution based on the concept of express freight. In 1843, New York merchants Howland & Aspinwall decided it was worth the risk to try some of Griffirhs's unusual ideas on a China packer. Thar first ship, Rainbow, was so successful they !er him pull our rhe stops for the next. Launched in 1846, Sea Witch inaugurated the era of speed under sail, which gave a generation of talented designers, builders and seafarers the chance to show what men and ships could really accomplish . Clipper ships played a key role in three world-changing economic booms: the China tea trade and the California and

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Australian go ld rushes-not carrying dreamers to riches (clipper rickets reached $1 ,000), but to exp ress ship the cosdy supplies that made the real Gold Rush millionaires-merchants, not miners. But the clippers were extremely expensive to build and operate. Streamlined for speed, they had a relatively low cargo capacity, making their commercial survival dependent on high freight rates-for a whi le, rates were so high that a single voyage cou ld cover a clipper's cos t. Once the tea trade waned and steamship competition in other areas set in, clippers became liabilities. American clippers vanished afrer the 1850s; English clippers, like the famous Cutty Sark now docked in Greenwich, London, remained competitive against steam until the Suez Canal opened in 1869. The clipper story runs like an Ayn Rand scenario: An individualistic designer flours conventional wisdom and propounds a design revolution. A merchant with a problem to solve rakes him up on the offer. They build ships and succeed. Others follow, helping yet more entrepreneurs realize their own grand plans, speeding commerce as never before, moving people in vast numbers, and helping change the wo rldjust by doing good business. Perhaps the reason President Kennedy kept a scale model of the Sea Witch in the Oval Office was that she represented a stirring snapshot of an American idealcapiralism at its finest and individuals at their best. ,!,

Information on a project to build a replica of the Sea Wirch can be found online at www.seawitchrediviva.org. 33

Rich Wilson and Rich du Moulin are sailing the trimaran Great American II (shown at left during a stop in Sydney, Australia, on the way to Hong Kong) in the wake ofthe clippers.

While the contest is certainly about speed, it is also about seamanship, and sailors of the present taking on a challenge by sailors ofthe past.

ciples. Sea Witch was a traditional wooden ship, with a displacement monohull that drove through the sea. Great American II is a high-tech, multihull boat that rides the surface of the sea-by nature a faster design. The clippers were fully laden, working cargo ships, while the trimaran is a racing craft with a technical advantage. That said, beating the historic record is not a given. The performance of a vessel ultimately comes from the performance of her crew. Aboard the clippers, a crew of thirty to forty or so mariners strained to the limits of skill and endurance in the fiercest weather, driven by captains determined to make the best time home. Similar words could describe the trip aboard Great American II. Though the vessels differ substantially, the ocean of2003 is the same as the ocean of 1849-tough, unpredictable, and unforgiving. In addition, they have only one shot at the record, which is the best time among hundreds of voyages. And for a two-man crew, the voyage brings circumstances that, on the level of seamanship, even out the challenge a bit.

Great American II anticipated route from Hong Kong to New York. (www.sitesalive.com)

New York City FINISH

\ \

,. \

Cape Town

'........... ..... .,.... .... ____ .,,. ... -'*' ... , ,,,,,, ... "

_.,.

_,,/

So while the contest is certainly about speed, it is also about seamanship, and sailors of the present taking on a challenge left by sailors of the past. The trimaran carries five sails-reacher, spinnaker, mainsail, jib and staysail-with no replacements. It will be under full manual control the whole way. Each man is sailing single-handed in continuous four-hour shifts, while the other rests or works below. The only automation aboard is an autopilot that will keep the boat on course when their joint attention is needed elsewhere. In a way, the inherent speed potential of the trimaran acts as something of a handicap to the challenger. The trimaran can capsize if the wind puffs up suddenly and the sails aren't eased or reefed in time. This prevents the single-handed sailor from running her at maximum speed, adding a challenge in control and vigilance-over oneself and the vessel-to the sailor's contest. Such constant vigilance is the seasoned sailor's byword; still, remaining alert and sailing solo in top form for nearly three months nonstop is a tremendously taxing effort and closely links Great American If' s crew with their ghostly competitors.

Web Site for Adventure Each aspect of the voyage-geography, world history, science, mathematics, and sailing skill-becomes a lesson plan through Wilson's sitesALIVE! web site. The idea for sitesALIVE! grew out of an earlier race. While taking another trimaran across the Atlantic in 1988, Rich Wilson thrilled listeners of a Boston radio station with a series of daily dispatches from the boat. Their interest sparked the thought that live reports from a sailor at sea might capture the imaginations of schoolchildren and open a new avenue for teaching: living lessons linking learning to life. SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Great American II is closely following the old trade route, weaving through the South China Sea, flying across the Indian Ocean on the southeast trade winds, and on to the treacherous Cape of Good Hope, where a graveyard ofmodern merchant ships testifies to the ferocity of wind and wave. Combining his passions for adventure and teaching, Wilson founded O cean C hallenge Inc. in 1990 as a privately funded corporation organized to link adventures, expeditions, and events to classrooms and homes via newspapers and the Internet. With his recently purchased 60-foot trimaran Great American, he decided to trace the route of the clipper ship Northern Light, which for 135 years had held the speed reco rd for passage under sail berween San Francisco and Boston via Cape Horn . It was to be a rwo-man sail with fri end Steve Pettengill as crew. Ocean Challenge prep ared a curriculum and teach er's manual, and the sailors kept class rooms in touch via daily telephone calls from the boat. T he trip ended in near disaster when , on T hanksgiving Day 1990, the boat capsized in a horrific storm off Cape Horn and was thrown back upright an hour later-a first in the history of multihull craft; the men were rescued at midnight from 60foot waves by the crew of the containership N ew Z ealand Pacific. Visiting some of the classrooms that had participated in the experiment, Wilson found that the adventure had made exactly the impression he had hoped for. Said one fifth-grader: "It's the on ly thing we' re doing in school that's really happening instead of just pretending." Wilson pursued the proj ect and by 1993 had raised the money to buy the trimaran GreatAmerican II and undertake the same challenge from San Francisco to Boston, this time with fri end Bill Biewenga as crew. T hat year he founded the web site sitesALIVE! to turn all sorts of live experiences into teaching tools piped directly into subscribing classrooms. T he first co ntest had garnered enough attention so that, for the second attempt, rwelve major newspapers could be persuaded to publish an elevenpart weekly chronicle of the adventurewritten by Wi lson at sea-while the Prodigy computer nerwork agreed to link Great American II to its two million members. T his time, th e boat safely sailed into port and into the Guinness Book ofRecords, arri ving in Boston after 69 days, 20 hours, cutting six days off N orthern Light's timea small margin, all things considered, and testimony to how great th e clipper ships really were. Wilson later wrote a book about rhe

experience, Racing a Ghost Ship, which won an award in writing for yo ung readers from Scientific A merican magazine. To date, sitesALIVE! has produced seventy fu ll-semester, interactive, live, learning adventures, ran ging from sailing school ships at sea to wetlands, ocean and rai nfo rest research centers, and even bluegrass bands. T heir biggest program was PACT95: Young America D efends rhe America's C up, in which rhe science and technology of that syndicate's 1995 C up entry was used to reach 350,000 schoolchildren, as well as nineteen million newspaper readers through an eleven-part weekly series. The lesson plans based on rhe O cean C hallenge play off the fac t that offshore sailing makes use of rhe skills and sciences taught throughout grade school. Bur rhe lessons of greatest value may be those of self-reliance and perseverance, because they come from rhe example of Wilson's own life. He overcame the potentially debilitar-

ing handi cap of severe asthma to become a successful athlete and accomplished sailor. While Ocean C hallenge Live! is fundamentally a personal contest, with W ilson and du M oulin wagering skill and strength against rhe tireless sea, thro ugh siresALIVE! it brings a distant drama up close for a moment, offering students the chance to app reciate rhe past via living adve nture, and to pack some of its lessons for their own voyage th ro ugh life.

G reat American II left Ho ng Kong on 16 March 2003. Rich Wilson and Rich du M oulin hop e to reach New York before the end of May to beat Sea W itch record. Individuals or schools can fo llow such adventures by subscribing through Ocean Challenge on www.sitesalive.com.

fo e Evangelista is editor of Surveyo r, published by the American Bureau of Shipp ing.

COMPARISON S HEET

Clipper Sea Witch and the Trimaran Great American II Type of Hull Designer Builder Year Built Construction Length of Hull Displacement Draft of W ater

Rig Working Sail Area Sail Material C rew Number Food Supply Communications N avigation

Lighting Auxiliary Engines Best I 0-days' run Best C hina-New York Passage D eparted H ong Kong Sailing Season Arrived N ew York

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Sea Witch Monoh ull Cargo Vessel John W . Griffiths Smith & Dimon 1846 Wood 168 feet 1,110.9 tons loaded 16' loaded

Square-rigged ship 15 ,043 square feet Canvas Approx 32 Salted Meat, livestock Signal flags, flares Sextant, long line, lead line, chronometer, barometer, hour glass, magnetic compass Dead Reckon ing Kerosene, candles N o ne 2,634 nautical miles 74 days, 14 hours 9 January 1849 Norrh-Easr Monsoon 25 M arch 1849

Great American II Planing Trimaran Yacht Nigel Irens Seatec 1990 Fiberglass/Kevlar I Carbon 53 feet 7.5 tons 2' mainhull; 6' rudder; 9' dagger board Marconi /cutter 1,5 00 square fee t Spectra; D acron 2

Srd-C, Iridium , SSB C PS , sextant, nautical charts

12 V D C electric one diesel

16 M arch 2003 No rrh -Easr M onsoo n T BA

•••••••••••••

A Cargo of History Buried in a Kansas Field

Illustration by Gary Lucy

reg Haw ley and his family discovered a miss-

Ging steamboat, still loaded with 19th-century cargo, hidden 45 feet beneath a cornfield in Kansas. The steamboat Arabia disappeared from memory soon after it sank in the Missouri River in 1856. The entire vessel was washed over with

sand and silt until the ri the 171-foot steamboat years farm crops grew occasionally spoke of ship and her wonderful family went to search the local library, which ing newspaper artides tracked down the Ara of guns, wine, coins a Hawley family opened Museum in Kansas C nity to discover the st amazing cargo of artifo pioneering days.

ne of the most valuable paintings in history is missing! Christ in a Storm on the Sea of Galilee is the only seascape painted by the Dutch master artist Rembrandt van Rijn (Rembrandt) . Late on the night of 18 March 1990, a pair of art thieves recklessly slashed this painting and others from their frames and took them from fil" ~ the Isabella Stewart or Gardner Museum in Boston . Experts GJ believe the thieves "'a. stashed the "~ ~ Rembrandt in a ~ _§ vault or warehouse. g' The pieces taken g that night are worth as much as $300 million dollars and a large reward has been offered for information leading to their return . None of the paintings has yet been recovered but investigators believe that, although it may take many years, someday Rembrandt's maritime masterpiece will surface. (fJ

! ;:i

'11 he US Navy 's newest experimental sh ip looks more like a futuristic space sh ip than the wooden sailing vessels from which it evolved . Sea Shadow was designed to allow the Navy to test their stealth technology and state-of-the-art, satellite-guided weapons. It skims over the waves on an inverted-V-shaped hull. The Sea Shadow

can steer itself and even fire its own weapons usi ng it s artificial intelligence syst em . The ship was built in complete secrecy and is operated by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company. No wonder it looks like a spaceship!

Hauling a Ship Over the Mountains of New England

n 1776, during the Revolutionary War, General Carleton of the British military needed ships to fight the American gunboats on Lake Champlain . British soldiers in Canada Battle of Valcour Island , 11 October 1776 dismantled HMS Inflexible and two smaller ships Maria and Carleton and carried them in sections through the forests . It took the British months to build and transport the ships, but just 28 days to reassemble them. Carleton and his soldiers launched the ships on the shore of Lake Champlain just in time to fight the battle of Valcour Island against a small fleet of American gunboats in October 1776. This was the first t ime that American forces ........,..,,.......... ~oi~'.Zt·.:.r;t--!:'fi fought a British fleet. ,.,.._,,.)"--.fl.~

1E::~

#,;~~~

The schooner Maria was named after General Carleton's wife. The ship was 59 feet long and 20 feet wide.

J<JD~ N-A.l<J.N~

Sea History

Soon after leading a famous mutiny against the captain of the Bounty in 1789, Fletcher Christian was blessed with a son born on Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific. He couldn't think of a name for the baby, so Fletcher chose to call him Thursday October (I'll bet you can't guess the day and month that Thursday October Christian was born). Today, more than 200 years later, there are boys named Thursday October living on Pitcairn Island.

IS BLACKBEARD'S SKULL IN A MUSEUM1'

ome people believe that a drinking mug locked in the vau lts of a museum in Salem, Massachusett s is made from the sku ll of Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard the Pirate. Coated with si lver and wrapped in mystery, the artifact was handed over to the Peabody Essex Museum by the family of the celebrated writer Edward R. Snow. Snow claimed t he artifact rested on the mantle of an historic pub in Virginia after it was acqu ired from Alexander Spotswood, t he governor of Virgin ia who ordered Blackbeard's capture in 1717. Snow took possession of the skul l-mug while in Virgi nia, researc hing t he story of Blackbeard for a book . His fami ly donated it to the museum after the writer's death .

•••••••

Six-year-old Leif Eriksson lived on a farm in Greenland. His neighbor, Bjami, came back from a voyage with a story about a strange land to the west. When he got a little older, Leif bought Bjami's old boat and outfitted it to sail west to America where he established a colony, traded with the natives and explored parts of the East Coast-498 years before Columbus.

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS SPUN YARN hotel and museum, was launched in 1936 The Sausalito-built, 23-foot yacht Merry by John Brown and Company of ClydeBear of 1931 returned to the water in bank, Scotland, for the Cunard White Star November 2002 after a makeover at the Line. (QM, 1126 Queens Highway, Long San Francisco Maritime NaBeach CA 90802; web site: tional Historical Park. Merry www.queenmary.com) "k The Bear was the prototype for 69 South Carolina Maritime Bear-class sloops, and when Heritage Foundation is the Nunes shipyard released building the Spirit ofSouth their rights to the design in Carolina-based on the pi1938, the Bears became the lot schooner Frances ELimlargest one-design class in the beth of the l 870s-at a shipBay area. (SFMNHP, Buildyard in Charleston near the ing E, Lower Fort Mason, site of the Samuel]. Pregnall Room 26 5, San Francisco CA & Bros. Shipyard, where the 94123; 415 561-6662; web original vessel was constructsite: www.nps.gov/safr) "k ed. Visitors can view the conThe Queen Mary marked Relaunching of struction process. The schooher 35th year berthed at Merry Bear ner is scheduled to be launched Long Beach, California, in December in September 2004. (South Carolina Mari2002. The former Blue Riband-holder and time Heritage Foundation, PO Box 22405, WWII troop ship, which now serves as a Charleston SC 29413; 843 722-1030; e-

American Superliner to Return to the Seas The famed American ocean liner SS United States has gained yet another reprieve from the scrapyard. Norwegian Cruise Line announced in April that they had purchased the 50-year-old ship and have plans to convert the vessel to a modern cruise ship as part of a fleet of four US-flagged ships. As an American-built ship, the United States can operate between US ports without making the stops in a non-US port dictated for foreign vessels under the Jones Act. Designed by William Francis G ibbs and built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company for the United States Line in 1951, on her maiden voyage in July 1952 the United States crossed theNonhAtlantic in three days, ten hours and forty-twominutesan unbroken record that won her the Blue Riband. She was laid up in 1969 and purchased by the US Maritime Admin istration in 1973. The ship has been across the Atlantic to Turkey and the Ukraine for a proposed refitting by a development company, but those plans fell through after the ship was gutted, and she returned to the US in 1996. The venerable ship has awaited her fate in Philadelphia since then. Several preservation and development groups have proposed various uses for the liner, but none came to fruition. In February 2003 owner Edward A. Cantor died, resulting in renewed efforts by preservationists and a flurry of rumors regarding the United States. Engineers for NCL have concluded that the ship's hull is sound, and the company is determining the extent of renovations needed to convert her to a cruise ship. The refurbishment of the hull SS United S rares being towed through the Bosporus on her way and superstructure will be to Sevastopol in October 1993. (Courtesy SS United States done at US shipyards with the outfitting comPreservation Society) pleted overseas. NCL previo usly converted the North Atlantic liner SS France into the cruise ship SS Norway. (NCL web site: www .ncl.org; SS United States Preservation Foundation web si te: www.ssunitedstates.org) 38

Spirit of South Carolina under construction mail: SpiritofSC@SCMaritime.org; web site: www.scmaritime.org/index.htm) "k The Coast Guard National Museum Association has unveiled plans for the new $30-million Coast Guard National Museum, to be located in New London, Connecticut. T he planned four-story museum will incorporate interactive displays, an IMAX theater, and gallery spaces for memorabilia spanning more than two hundred years of Coast Guard operations. (Coast Guard Museum, c/o US Coast GuardAcademy, 15 Mohegan Avenue, New Londo n CT 06320-8511; 860 444-8511) "k The Mariners' Museum acquired the Arthur Piver Collection of plans for trimaran boats from the 1950s and 1960s, designed by Piver's company, Pi-Craft. Piver, an amateur yacht designer, created trimarans that amateurs could construct using readily available materials. (TMM, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA23606-3759; 757 596-2222; web site: www.mariner.org) "k The Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Co nnecticut, has introduced a new exhib it, PT 109: Courage Under Fire, featuring the famous boat which, under Lieutenant John F. Kennedy's command, was hit by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sunk off the Solomon Islands in August 1943. The display includes footage of Dr. Robert Ballard's May 2002 A torpedo believed to be from PT-109 was discovered offthe Solomon Islands on a National Geographic expedition Led by ExpLorerin-Residence Robert BaLLard. (Photo ÂŠOdyssey Enterprises/Institute for Exploration)

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

expedition to the wreck of PT-109, an original Packard engine, an interactive replica of the cockpit of PT-109, and artifacts from the Battleship Massachusetts, home of the largest collection of PT-boat materials. National Geographic Books is also releasing Collision with History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT 109, by Dr. Ballard with Michael Hamilton Morgan . (MAIFE, 55 Coogan Boulevard, Mystic CT 063551997; 860 572-5955; website:www.mystic aquarium.org) *The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston, Ontario, received a $220,000 grant from The Ontario Trillium Foundation for the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Centre Project. The grant will provide support for an interactive learning center for young people; the renovation of the museum's library and archive; and two new positions, a museum services manager and a part-time curator. (MMGLK, 55 Ontario Street, Kingston ON, K7L 2Y2, Canada; 613 542-2261; web site: www.marmuseum.ca) "k The Derry City Council in Northern Ireland received ÂŁ1.45 million ($2,291,000) from Britain's Heritage Lottery Fund for the proposed Armada in Ireland exhibition at the Tower Museum, conveying the story of La Trinidad Valencera. The vessel, which was one of the largest ships in the Spanish Armada, sank in Kinnegoe Bay after the failed invasion of England in 1588. The central features of the exhibit will be artifacts recovered from the wreck in the early 1970s. (Union Hall Place, Derry, Co. Derry BT48 6LU, UK; 011 +44 (28) 7137 2411; email: tower.museum@derryciry.gov.uk) "k The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall, which opened in December, features a maritime reference library, a collection of about 140 small craft spanning the last 150 years, and artifacts relating to Cornish maritime history. (NMMC, Discovery Quay, Falmouth, Cornwall, TRl 1 3QY, UK; 011 +44 (1326) 313388; web site: www.nmmc.co.uk) "k Eighteen sail train-

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The Art of the Sea Calendar for

2004

Orders now being taken

The glory and beauty of ships and the sea have inspired great works of art through the centuries and continue to inspire the artists of today. Brilliant images, from full-rigged ships and fishing schooners to grand ocean liners, workaday tugs and small pleasure craft fill this calendar and will brighten your days. Royalties from sales of this calendar benefit the National Maritime Historical Society. Calendar is wall hanging, full color, 11x14 inches; $11.95 ($10.75 for NMHS members)+ $4.00s/h. Send $15 .95 (or $14.75 for NMHS members) to:

NMHS, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566 Or order by credit card by phoning:

1-800-221-NMHS (6647) SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS Spend a Summer Immersed in MARITIME HISTORY at MYSTIC SEAPORT' S Munson Institute

LECTURES , SEMINARS, FJELD TRIPS Auditors Welcome ... Housing Available on Site••• contact: THE MUNSON INSTITUTE Mystic Seaport PO Box 6000 75 Greenmanvil le Avenue Mystic, CT 06355-0990 Phone 860.572.5302 x5049 EmaiI: m unson @mysticseaport.org

J . P. URANKER WOODCARVER AUTHENTIC MARITIME

*SEA CHESTS* HANDCARVED

DOVETAILED

ing organizations from Europe, Russia, Bermuda, and Canada have formed Sail Training International. T he organization publishes a magazine, Tall Ships and Sail Training, and is organizing and managing the Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races in the summer of 2003. T he fleet will assem ble in G dynia, Poland, to race to Turku, Finland, on 22 July, fo llowed by a cruise-incompany to Riga, Latvia, and a second race from Riga to reach Li.ibeck-Travemi.inde, Germany, by 2 1 August. (STI, Hortensiastraat 11, 2020 Anrwerpen 2, Belgium; web site: www.sa iltraininginternational .org) ;~ In August the National U ndersea Research Program of the National Oceanic andAtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) confirmed the final resting place of New England's most sought after and mysterious shipwreck, the steamer Portland, in NOAA' s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. All 192 passengers and crew aboard the Portland were lost in a storm on 27 November 1898. (NOAA, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW,

COURTESY MAINE H ISTORICAL SOCIETY

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An Irish Wanderer Arrives in US Ports After years of financial difficulties, the recreated Irish immigrant ship Jeanie Joh nston has reached American shores. The 123-foot three-masted bark was built in Tralee, Co un ty Kerry, Ireland , to celebrate the courage and success of the men and wo men who left Jeanie Johnsto n offthe coast ofIreland Ireland during rhe fai:nine of t~e 1840s an~ to commemorate Insh-Amencan contnburions to North Ame rica. Her builders came from North America, E urope and Ireland, North and South. Denis Reen, chiefexecutive of the Jeanie Johnsto n Co mpany, notes she "is an international monument to collaboration." T he original JeanieJohnston was built in Quebec in 1847 and carried more than 2,500 people to new lives in America, sailing to Quebec, Baltimore and New York. Although many of her compatriots were known as coffi n ships, the Jeanie Johnston made sixteen voyages wi thou r losing anyo ne to disease at sea. Even when she sank in mid-Atlantic in 1858, carrying a cargo of timber, everyone on board was rescued by a passing Dutch ship. T he ship's remaining ports-of-call on the Atlantic coast of North America are: Baltimore MD 3-9 June New Yo rk NY 3-14 July Philadelphia PA 12-23 June Port Jefferso n NY 14-1 7 July Trento n NJ 23-26 June Providence RI 18-21 July 26-30 June Boston MA 24 July-2 August Bristol PA As of press time, dares for additional visits had not been announced, but the vessel will proceed north to Canada before returning to Tralee in October. You can keep up with her travels on-line at www.jeaniejohnston.ie.

SEA HISTORY I 04, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

agreement in September 2002 with the US company Odyssey Marine Exploration to conduct archaeological exploration on the Mediterranean Sea shipwreck believed to be the Sussex. The 80-gun English warship, lost in a storm near the Straits of Gibraltar in 1694, is a potentially lucrative find because research suggests that she was carrying coins, probably gold, for the Duke of Savoy to persuade him to continue to fight France in the War of the League of Augsburg. (Ministry of Defence web site: www.nds.coi.gov.uk/coi/coipress .nsf; Odyssey Marine Exploration, PO Box 320057, TampaFL33679-2057; 813 8761776; web sire: shipwreck.net/index.html) 11f Archaeologists have discovered evidence that England's Poole harbor was a working harbor as early as 250 BC, indicating that the Romans did not establish the harbor, but rather rook over an already flourishing one. Divers have traced two jetties dating to the Iron Age, one more than 80 meters (262.5') long; both were reinforced with oak tree trunks sharpened at one end and driven into the sea bed. (Poole Maritime Trust, 6 Wes tern Road, Canford Cliffs, Poole, Dorset BH13 7BN, UK; 011 +44 (1202) 707 867; web site: www.poole maritime.org) 11f The Karl Kortum Endowment for Maritime History announced its fourth call for submissions of research in selected fields of the maritime history of the West Coast of the United States. The recipient of the $1,000 Award will be announced in February 2004. The deadline for submissions is 12 September 2003. For further information, write: David Hull, Chairman, Karl Kortum Endowment for Maritime History, Library, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Building E, Fort Mason, San Francisco CA 94123, or e-mail: mark_goldstein@n ps. gov. 1<1' The National Trust for Historic Preservation has awarded the Naval Historical Center its National Preservation Award, commending the Center's public and private partnering to raise the confederate submarine H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to successfully sink an enemy ship . (NHC, Washington Navy Yard, 805 Kidder Breese South, SE, Washington DC 20374-5060; web site: www.history.navy.mil) 11f A project to restore the Royal Navy's first submarine, Holland I of 190 l , has won Britain's premier conservation prize. Con-

servaror Ian Clark and the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport were awarded the Pilgrim Trust Award for Conservation 2002 for "placing conservation at the very heart of the museum. " The award carries a prize of £15,000 ($23,700). Holland I was built in 190l ;in 1913 shewas sold for scrap but sank under row and was not salvaged until 1982. (RNSM , Haslar Jetty Road, Gosport, Hampshire P012 2AS, UK; 011 +44 (23) 9252 9217; web site: www.rnsub BritainsHollandI mus.co.uk) ""i°'lf The Universiry of Kent at Canterbury Arts & Humanities Research Board is giving a £364,780 ($575,000) research grant to "The Ocean Steamship: A Cultural History of Victorian Maritime Power 1850-1900," a proj ect investigating the emergence of long-distance steamship lines, steamship co mmunities, and the ways in which they transformed the world by 1900. (UKC, T he Registry, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NZ, UK; 011 +44 (1227) 764 000) 7"'<: The 2002 recipients of the North American Society for Oceanic History's John Lyman Book Awards, which recognize outstanding books on the maritime and naval history of North America, are: CANADIAN NAVAL AND MARITIME HI STORY: Robert Malcomson, Warships of the Great Lakes, 1754-1834 (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press); US MARITIME HISTORY: Nicholas Dean, Snow Squall: The LastAmerican Clipper Ship (Bath ME: Tilbury House and Maine Maritime Museum); US NAVAL HISTORY: Kathleen Broome Williams, Improbable Warriors: Women Scientists and the US Navy in World War II (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press); SCIEN CE AND TECHNOLOGY: Gary E. Weir, An Ocean in Common: American Naval Officers, Scientists and the Ocean Environment (College Station TX: TexasA&M Universiry Press); BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY: John H. Schroeder, Matthew Calbraith Perry: Antebellum Sailor and Diplomat (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press). (NASOH, PO Box 18108, Washington D C 20036; web site: www.ecu.edu/nasoh)

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Festivals, Events, Lectures, Etc. •Boats, Books & Brushes with Taste: 5-7 September 2003 (345 State Street, New London CT 06320; web site: www.sailnewlondon .com) •Center for Wooden Boats: 4-6 July 2003, 27th annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Fes tival (1010 Valley Street, Seattle WA 98109; 206 382-2628; web site: www.cwb.org) •Gloucester Schooner Festival: 30-31 August 2003 (Cape Ann Chamber of Co mmerce, 33 Comme rcial Street, Gloucester MA 01930; 978 283-1601; website: www.capeann vacat ions.co m/schoon er) •Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival: 10- 12 October 2003, in Alpena MI (phone: 800 4ALPENA; web site: www.gllf.org) • MaineMaritimeMuseum:23August200 3, Antique and Classic Boat and Engine Rendezvo us (243 Washington Street, BathME04530; 207 443- 13 16; web site: www. bathmaine.com) •Michigan Maritime Museum: 12- 13 Jul y 2003, 22nd annual Classic Boat Show (260 Dyckman Avenue, South Haven MI 49090; 269 637-8078; web site: www.Michigan M aritim eM useum .org) •Tall Stacks Festival: 15- 19 October 2003 in C in cinnati OH (phone: 866 497-8255; web site: www. tallscacks.com) • Victoria Real Estate Board & Monday Publications Classic Boat Festival: 29-3 1 August 2003 (3 035 Nanaimo Street, Victoria BC, V8T 4W2, Canada; 250 385-7766; fax: 25 0 385-8773; web site: www.vreb.org) • Wilmington Nautical Festival: 25-27 Jul y 2003 in Wilmington NC (910 34 1-3237; web site: www.ci.wilmington.nc.us) • WoodenBoat Show: 18- 20 July 2003 in Rockland ME (800 273-7447; web site: www.woodenboat.com)

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• AmericanNavalHistorySymposium: 1315 June 2003 (Battleship New Jersey Museum, 62 Battleship Place, Camden NJ 08 103; 856 966-1652; web site: www.battl eshipnew jersey.org) • Canadian Nau ti cal Research Society: 1316 August 2003, Annual Conference, "Ships: Their Lives, Work and Peo ple," in Vancouver BC (Dr. William Glover, fax: 613 546-8428; e-mail: williamglover@sympatico.ca) • Congress on the History of Oceanography: 8-14 September 2003 in Kaliningrad, Ru ssia (Muse um of the World Ocean, Naberezhnaya Petra Welikoga,l, Kaliningrad, Ru ssian Fed eration , 236 006 ; we b site: www.vitiaz.ru/congress) • International Commission for Maritime History: CALL FOR PAPERS: 4-10 July 2005, Quinquennial Co ngress in Sydney, Aus-

tralia (Send 500 word proposal with a CV to Secretary General, ICMH, M erseyside M ari tim e Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool 13 4A W, UK; e- mail : adrian.jarvis@nmgm.org) • International Symposium on Boat &Ship Archaeology: 22-26 September 2003, in Roskilde, Denmark (The Viking Ship Museum, Vindeboder 12, DK 4000 Roskilde, Denmark;Oll (45)4632 1600;fax: Oll (45) 4632 2477; e-mail : isbsa lO@isbsa.com; web site: www.isbsa.com) • Scientific Instrument Symposium: 30 September-4 October 2003, sponsored by the Internatio nal Union of the History and Philoso phy of Science (The Mariners' Museum, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA 23606; 757 59 1-7707;web site: www. mariner .org/SIC2003)

Exhibits • HerreshoffMarineMuseum: from 27 May 2003, Reliance: The Greatest ofAll America's Cup Boats (1 Burnside Street, PO Box 450, Bristol RI 02809; web site: www. herres hoff .org) • Hudson River Maritime Museum: from 3 M ay 2003, The Hudson River Day Line (50 Rondout Landing, Kingston NY 12401; 845 338-007 1) • Maine Maritime Museum: from March 2003, The Portland Gale: Storm of Infamy (243 Washin gton Street, Bath ME 04530; 207 443- 1316; web site: www. bathmaine.com) • The Mariners' Museum: from 8 March 2003, Battle of the Ironclads: Eyewitnesses to History; from l 7 May 2003, Intern ational Small C raft Center, a new perm ane nt exhibit (100 Museum Drive, Newport News VA 23606; 757 596-2222; we b site: www .mariner .org) •National Maritime Museum, Greenwich: 1 May-14 September 2003, Elizabeth: Woman, Queen, Empire-1603-2003 (London SElO 9NF, UK; web site: www. nmm .ac.uk) •Newport Art Museum: 25 Ap ril-27 July 2003: "The Boundless Deep . .. ''.·The European Conquest ofthe Oceans, 1450 to 1840, a John Carter Brown Library exhibition (76 Bellevue Avenue, Newport RI 02840; 401 848-2787; web site: www.newportanmuseum.com) • Portland Harbor Museum: from 19 April 2003, A D ay in the Life of Portland Harbor (Fort Road, So uth Portland M E 041 06; 207 799-3862; web site: www. pordandharbor muse um.org) • South Street Seaport Museum: from M ay 2003, "The Wine Dark Sea''.· Maritime Treasures of the Aegean (207 Front Street, New York NY 10038; 2 12 748-8600; web site: www.southstseaport.org)

SEA HISTORY J 04, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

IEWS Fighting Sail on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay: The War of1812 and its Aftermath, by Barry Go ugh (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD , 2002, 264pp, illus, ch ro n , appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 15575 0-3 14- 1; $32. 95hc) T he titl e of this book is slightly misleading: there we re no ship-to-ship duels or fleet actions on Lake Huron during the War of 18 12. W hat Barry Go ugh's book ac tually ch ronicles is more interesting-an amphibious war waged over vast d istances under extremely difficult conditio ns. Accustomed as we are to think of amphibious campaigns as possible only with clear naval superiori ty and massive logistical support, this book offers a useful corrective. Lake Huron was not of decisive strategic importance during the W ar of 18 12. But the lake and the lands around it did see substantial military action, in the fo rm of active p etite guerre. The British and Canadian forces were heavily outnumbered, and the fac t that Gough writes from a British perspecti ve makes the book all the more valuable, as the British faced more difficulties than the Americans. In the end, they succeeded , thanks to improvisation, commanders who rook risks and showed creati viry and imagination , and, it must be said, some less than brilliant perfo rmances on rhe part of the Americans. Mr. Go ugh is himself a sailor on the waters he describes, and his familiari ty with them adds realism and local interest to what is already a first-rate piece of histo rical research. WILLIAM

LIND

Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500, by Susan Rose (Routledge, London UK & New York NY, 2002, 155pp, illus, gloss, biblio, index, ISBN 0-415-23977-X; $8 0hc, $23. 9 5pb) Dark Age Naval Power: A Reassessment of Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Seafaring Activity, by John H aywood (Anglo-Saxon Books, No rfolk U K, orig 199 1, rev'd 1999, 2 l 9pp, illus, glossary, biblio, index, ISBN 1089828 1-22-X; ÂŁ 14.95 pb) T hese first-class studies open new perspectives on the long stretch of rime between rhe fall of the Roman Empire and rhe organizatio n of modern states and naval

power in the last 500 years. Rose's wo rk covers the challenging period when oar power gave way to sail and guns began to dominate ship-to-ship combat, setting the stage for the modern era. In the earlier period sea warfa re had been almost entirely a matter of hand-to-hand struggle across the decks of ships. She traces this transition carefully, and wisely seeks out the causes of sea fighting as well as its mechanics. One co uld wish a li ttl e more attention to the ultimate outco mes of the crusades, which had impo rtant repercussions beyond the Levant- for instance in the English support for Portugal, which ass ured the independence of that dough ty country and led to the world's longest-running permanent alliance, lasting through W orld War II. And one co uld argue some points in her descriptions of battles, which are admittedly difficult to disentangle from the highly conventionalized descriptions offered by contemporary chroniclers. But that is only to say that interesting discussions can arise fro m this well researched and illuminating book! H aywood's wo rk on the preceding period , known as the D ark Ages, co nfronts quite different challenges, led by the fact that the Frankish and Anglo-Saxon peoples whose navigation he assesses were largely illiterate, so most of what is kn own about their seafaring is known through archaeology. But archaeology has made enormous strides in recent yea rs, including experimental archaeology involving the building and sailing of actual ships. T his las t development, interestingly, has done much to confirm H aywood's initial fi ndings on the nature of D ark Age seafaring and led to the revised edition of his work, which was first published in 199 1. However it is from the ch roniclers' records that he established that sail figured more promin ently in this nav igation than the existing archaeological reco rd suggested-as early as the first century AD fo r the Celts, and only a li ttle late r fo r the Germans farther to the east. T hese peoples' achievements by sea, he poin ts our, were considerable, and the Viking revolution perhaps not the to tal revolution that had been supposed. Ir is also interes ting to find his confir-

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

mation that C harl emagne had things well in hand in rebuffing Viking and Muslim raids and mas tered the uses of sea power under his own command; it was the failure of later leadership , no t th e failure of C harlemagne's systems, that res ulted in the collapse of the stro ng, remarkably civilized empire he ruled in 800 AD. H aywood makes a stro ng case for th e ability of Dark Age ships to carry sail, bu t in looki ng at the proofs in living archaeological experiments, it is well not to get carried away. W ith knowledge of the possibilities of sail , it's possible to sail a bathtub to windwa rd, but it's not very effective to do so until the bathtub gets a keel and fined-down ends. T he Viki ngs, who apparentl y develo ped th ese innovatio ns shortly before 800 , made swooping voyages their predecessors hadn't dreamed of, from the Americas to the Black Sea, fo unding cities like Dublin in Ireland and Kiev in U kraine along the way. I would call that revolutionary; but again, that leads to a good discussion arising our of a fine work. P ETER STANFORD, Editor at Large USS Constellation: From Frigate to Sloop of War, by Geoffrey M. Footner (Naval Institute Press , Annapolis M D , 200 2, 392pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISB N 155 750-284-6; $39.95 hc) In 199 1 the reviewer and other US Navy investigators prepared an official report which examined available historical and technical evidence and concluded that the 1797 frigate USS Constellation was broken up by rhe Navy in 1853 and replaced by a modern sloop-of-war bearing the same name. T he new sloop-of- war Constellation is displayed in Baltimore today. This recent volume stridently attempts to di scredit the Navy report and substitute a much more complicated and tenuous old proposal showing how the sloop Constellation emerged from a navy yard in 1855 with onl y modifications to her hull lines, incorporating substantial timber fro m the 1797 fri gate. T he book declares that Constellation was rebu ilt th ree times before 1853 and her hull was transfo rmed incremental ly from fri gate to sloop. M idway th ro ugh the volume the author relates disappointedly that the di rec t h isto rical documentary evidence required to support the book's conclusion is "miss ing." Whil e reco rds of most other

REVIEWS BOOK LOCKER HIGH STRATEGY AND LOWLY LIBERTYS "Those far distant, storm-beaten ships, upon which the Grand Army never looked, stood between it and the dominion of the world." Wanting to verify this line ofAlfred Thayer Mahan' s, I looked for it in his classic The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 (Boston MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1890). This comments on the Napoleonic Wars after 1783-but no luck. So I tried The Influence ofSea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1783-1812 (Boston MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1892) and in Volume II found a note I'd made many years ago, at age 14: "118-good quote." And there it was! To show me an easier way to find quotes, my wife Norma made an Internet search, which turned up nine citations of the lines, ranging from a "Military Quotes" site to a Parliamentary debate in 1998, which cited the line using "domination" rather than Mahan's "dominion" (which is actually the stronger word-though it sounds more polite). The debate included a restatement of the Royal Navy's role as "an effective force that is capable of power projection and of being a force for good in rhe world." Hurrah for Mr. Spellar, who made these remarks five years ago to bring Europe up to a better level of working with American and British defense forces! So Mahan lives . And his oft-quoted, sometimes misquoted line is invariably stronger in his own original words. "Storm-beaten," for example, is not just poetic fancy but caps an appreciation of Britain's policy of keeping ships continuously at sea. This batters ships and men bur applies sea power's grip rigorously-and also produces a force that can win against odds. W. D. Pules ton's Mahan: The Life and Work ofAlfred Thayer Mahan (New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 1939) brings the man and his times brilliantly to life. Ir's our of print, and I've suggested that the Naval Institute Press reissue it, along with a biography of Admiral William S. Sims. Sims, a Mahanite who adapted to changing conditions, is well remembered in Elting E. Morison's Admiral Sims and the Modern American Navy (Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1942). Both works capture the era of democracies confronting the challenge of European militarism, as well as details of naval reform . For a panoramic view of rhe years leading up to the US Navy's role in World War II, get Samuel Eliot Morison's The Two Ocean Navy (Boston MA: Little, Brown & Company, 1963). This is based on his fifteen-volume official history, US Naval Operations in World War II, but, as Morison observes, the shorter book gives a fuller picture of the scene before the war. His reporting on what happened at sea is matchless. He served in eight US warships to get a true feeling for what was going on. He shows how close-run were the D-Day landings, even with total air-sea superiority. On the fleet actions in the Pacific, his personal knowledge of the commanders and their ships offers a vivid picture of that scarifying war in which the Americans had to learn a lot in a hurry. Learn they did, and Morison shows how.

The Ships that Did the Job Mahan's great gift was to see the positive side of sea power in developing the resources that build a nation's strength and its ability to mobilize that strength in defense of freedom-his great concern. This took ships that move people and cargoes through oceans transformed into battlefields. And more than any other vehicle, the Liberty ship was the ship that did this in World War II. The story of these "ugly ducklings" is set forth in Peter Elphick's Liberty: The Ships that Won the War (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001). Cap rain Elphick's own experi ence at sea gives the tale the realism it deserves. The Jeremiah 0 'Brien's story is well told in Walter Jaffee's The Last Liberty (Palo Alto CA: The Glencannon Press, 1993) and the john W Brown's quite different story in Sherod Cooper's Liberty Ship (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997). We are fortunate to have these ships-and rhe ships fortunately found the right authors to tell us of their varied and challenging service in far oceans. PETER STANFORD, Editor at Large

warships are relatively exrant, supposedly rhe archival drawings, calculations, and correspondence (probably dozens of items) detailing Constellation's alleged pre-18 5 3 hull form changes are lost or stolen. The book overlooks what this peculiar coincidence likely means: The ship's lines were not altered before 1853. Those familiar with rhe "Constellation Question" that fumed and occasionally overboiled between 1948 and 1995 will recognize that the book's general hypothesis is the same idea the supporters of the 1797 origin of rhe ship fanatically asserted decades ago. This volume simply applies a new coat of paint, reissues rhe same old argument, and employs the same stale evidence, or lack of evidence. Despite the book's authoritative tone, readability, handsome technical drawings, and many end notes, the author is a selfdescribed novice historian on a zealous crusade, and the result bears many marks of inexperience. The operational history of Constellation before 1845 is well presented. However, in the areas of ship design and construction the book ventures into unfamiliar waters. Successfully promoting rhe complex argument requires technical expertise and reasonable conformance to historians' principles. The endeavor fails here. Resurrecting the cold corpse of rhe "Constellation Question" without adequate understanding or significant new evidence muddles the issue and promotes a disservice to the struggling Baltimore ship. DANA M. WEGNER Naval Surface Warfare Center

From Annapolis to Scapa Flow: The Autobiography of Edward L. Beach, Sr. , by Edward L. Beach, Sr. with Edward L. Beach, Jr. (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2003, 344pp, illus, index, ISBN 155750-298-6; $34.95) In 1896, a young Ensign Edward L. Beach appeared before an engineering examining board to seek promotion to lieutenant. His final question was: "Translate a short chapter from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables"-one of many anecdotes in this page-turner amply illustrating that it was a different navy during a different era. What makes this an important book is Beach's documentation of the transition from the wooden sailing navy of the 19th century to rhe new steel navy of the 20th.

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Museum-Quality, Three-Dimensional Cutaways Born in Toledo in 1867, Beach grew up in the fi nal years of the age of sail. He trained at the Naval Academy on the sloop-of-war Constellation and then served on Richmond, a Civil War-era, wooden-hulled steam-sail warship with smoo th bore guns. His nextto-las t to ur of d uty wo uld be as commanding officer of the dreadnought New York. He retired with the rank of captain in 1922. Interwoven into this tale of technological change is the story of a growing American role on the wo rld scene from the perspective of an increasingly senior naval officer. T he Battle of M anila (which he dubbed "the Battle of Irwin's Boots" as that was all he could see looking up from his engine roo m post on the cruiser Baltimo re ), the slaughter of Arm enians in Asia Minor, American intervention in M exico, U S actions to stabilize H ai ti and San to Domingo, and W orld W ar I are covered. M any of his accounts had been incorporated into thirteen novels he wrote from 1907 to 1922. T his auto biography, written mostly in the 1930s, however, lay do rmant fo r m ore than sixty years un til his son, Edward L. Beach, Jr. , brough t it to the attention of the Naval Institute Press. The junior Beach, having had an outstanding career with the submarine fleet, is also well known as an author of such works as Run Silent, Run D eep and Salt and Steel: Reflections ofa Submariner. In bringing his fa th er's memoir to the Naval Institute's attention for publication , Beach agreed to provide commentary, which places many of the passages in context. Sadly, the junior Beach passed away a mon th befo re the book's publication. W ith their overlapping life spans covering 13 5 years of American naval history, the publication of From Annapolis to Scapa Flow is a fine tribute to these two men and a tes timonial to how far we have come in a mere two generations. DAVID F. W INKLER, PHD Naval Historical Foundation

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Cross-Grained and Wily Waters: A Guide to the Piscataqua Maritime Region, edited by W . Jeffrey Bolster (Peter E. Randall, Ponsmouth N H , 2002, 2 14pp , illus, ISBN 0-9 14339-65 -6; $25pb) T he Piscataqua region, the meeting place of Maine, New H ampshire and the Atlantic, is an estuary with maritime heritage and ecological diversity. Cross-Grained and W ily Waters is a guidebook to the historical SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

Nautical

the deck of a cargo s hi p , you w ill fi nd thi s book inform ati ve & interestin g. Vis it exotic ports of South America , the Panama & S uez Cana ls, the Med ite rra nea n, the M idd le Eas t, th e fa r-flun g ports of the Pac ific . T here a re many adventures and humorous inc ide nts. E mbark on the voyage o f a li fetime ! T he book w ill inform yo u how to do so, the c ost and w ha t to expect in te rm s of food & acco mmodatio n. Illu strated , m aps, L40 pages, 8112 x LL " , Special Price $19.95 (Li st $24.95)+ $5.00 S/H. Money back guarantee. Direct from die author: Geor ge H. Archer, Marine Art & Publishing 3186 B Bear Mountain Rd., N. Troy, VT 05859

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Association of modelers and researchers formed to pursue the mutual interest in ships of all eras and types Membership includes the quarterly Na utical Research Journal with articles by know ledgeable writers fea turing shi p model bui ldi ng and research of all periods, merchant . nava l and maritim e hi sto ry. Book rev iews, q ueri es, replies. and shop notes are other featu res, including technical draw ings and photographs. Other services include the Maritime Institution Su rvey, Shi p '~odel Repair & Restoration Service and the Technical ~s i stan ce Network.

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REVIEWS

CLASSIFIED ADS Model Restoration/Construction, Captain Norman Smith, Great Island Model Shipyard, 106 Lombos Hole Road, Harpswell, ME 04079, 207-833-6670, E-mail: dysmith @gwi.net Peter Williams I Museum Services. New England's premi er reso urce for the restoration of maritime paintings. 30 Ipswich St., Boston,MA02215. By app't: 617-536-4092. See our website: www.peterwilliams.org Fancy Knot-work including knotboards for Home, Office, or Boat. Nautical knot-work for small boats or yachts: Steering Wheels, Railings, Pulpits. Practical knot-work: Indoor and Outdoor mats. Traditional Knotting: Fenders for your boat. Send for brochure at: KNOTWORKS UNLTD, Box 416, Nottingham, NH 03290 or e-mail rjsalvag@rcn.com. Art Prints. NYC Fireboats 16x20", $18 each. Also available for commissioned work. Call Steve White 718-317-5025, E-mail: fdnyartist@aol.com Diving Helmets and other related gear wanted. Marc Cohen 954-565-9754

To place your classified ad at $1.60 per word, mail your complete classified message along with payment, to Sea History, Attn: Advertising Desk, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

THE GLENCANNON PRESS MARITIME BOOKS Books on ships and the sea. NEW!

The Glencannon Encyclopedia. Also the complete Mr. Glencannon stories, and more. For info and a Free Catalog, call 800-711-8985. P.O. Box 633, Benicia, CA 94510 www.glencannon.com

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and environmental riches found there. The compendium is frustrating, alternating between short essays concerned with the history of the region, its ecosystems, geographic and industrial history, as well as its maritime history. The rocky isles of Shoals, the seaports of Portsmouth and Kittery, the river ports of Exeter in the south and Rollingford in the north were commercial ly linked by access to water. Bolster's book is a historical peripatetic waterborne stroll through a region that starts our as the junction ofsix small rivers/ creeks that empty into Great and Little Bays and out into the sea via the tidal Piscataqua River. Its maritime history includes the building of the frigate Ranger under the supervision of John Paul Jones in Portsmouth, the vast coastal artillery defensives ofsuccessive wars, and local watercraft-the Hampton and Isles of Shoals boats, the Piscataqua wherry and the ubiquitous gundalows. CrossGrained and Wily Waters is an appealing, well-illustrated menu describing the abundance of historic sires found along the byways of the Piscataqua, bur it is only a literary appetizer to the feast of its rich legacy. Lours ARTHUR NORTON Fatal Passage: The Story of] ohn Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot, by Ken McGoogan (Carroll & Graf, New York NY, 2002, 336pp, illus, maps, biblio, index, ISBN 07867-0993-6; $26hc) In May 1845 the British navy exploratory ships Erebus and Terror sailed from London in a new quest for the fab led Northwest Passage. The commander, a plump bumbler in his sixtieth year, had got the position because of energetic lobbying by his wife, the redoubtable Lady Jane Franklin. Two whaling captains spoke the ships in Baffin Bay on 26 July, and after that the expedition vanished. Two years of silence later, Lady Jane began lobbying for a search to be mounted. The campaign inevitably involved Dr. John Rae, physician and factor to the Hudson 's Bay Company, a remarkable man who already had an impressive record of Arctic exploration, having managed to cover huge distances and overwinter several rimes because he was flexible enough to imitate the survival methods of the native Inuit. In May 1854, he came across Inuit parties who not only had relics of the

doomed expedi rion to sell him, but tales to tell of starving men reduced to cannibalism . Returning to London, Rae delivered a letter to The Times, announcing his find. Unfortunately, his report to the Admiralty, which included a mention of the cannibalism, was published at the same time. Scandalized, Lady Jane Franklin initiated a smear campaign which effectively destroyed Rae's image and credibiliry, and transferred his greatest accomplishmentthe discovery of the Northwest Passageto her husband. Consequently, Dr. John Rae and his astounding exploits have been lost to history, a chasm that Ken McGoogan bridges with this engrossing and enlightening book. Fatal Passage is a marvelous biography, wonderfully well written; the character of Rae-staunch, strong-minded, resourceful, courageous, and disastrously undiplomatic-leaps to life from the pages. JOAN DRUETT Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny, by Mike Dash (Crown Publishing Group, New York NY, 2002, 381 pp, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 0-60960766-9; $25hc) In 1619, two ships bound forrhe Indies, commanded by Frederick de Houtman, suddenly came upon an uncharted reef off the coast of Western Australia. Houtman calculated the latitude and named this dangerous patch of land Houtman' sAbrolhos. He commented: "One should stay clear of this shoal, for it lies most treacherously for ships that want to call in at this land [Australia]. " Ten years later, the45-mile-long stretch oflow-lying coral reef claimed the Batavia -the largest ship built by the VOC (United East India Company) of Holland for its spice trade in the Indies. On her maiden voyage to the town of Batavia (modern Jakarta) on Java, capital of the Durch possess ions in the Indies, she struck Abrolhos reef and was quickly smashed by the fierce surf pounding her on the coral. Before the ship struck, a mutiny was already raking shape. Marooned on a few inhospitable spits ofland incapable of sustaining the survivors with either food or water, the commander, along with fortyeighr crew and passengers, took the ship's longboat to search for water and a possible

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

means of rescuing the 268 other so uls left behind. In the commander's absence, the small spark of mutiny begun earlier burst forth into a conflagration, resulting in the massacre of 125 men, women and children. Batavia's mutiny was extraordinary in two ways. It was history's bloodiest mutiny and its bes t documented. Using the surviving primary material, author Mike Dash recounts this gruesome tale in his latest book, Batavia's Graveyard. Carefully and methodically, he lays the groundwork for an understanding of how the forces acting upon a nation in search of wealth in the spice trade, as well as the political and religious structure of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, influenced the individual players in this story. Dash could easily have chosen to dramatize events. Instead, his narrative unfolds in an unhurried, almost placid manner; the result is a heightening of the grotesque horrors that rook place on Abrolhos. Batavia's Graveyard is a well-written and finely structured account of the mutiny supported by copious notes and an extensive bibliography. My only disappointment (a very small one) is that the author, after introducing the subject ofa reconstruction of the Batavia built in Lelystad fails to recount the unfortunate events following its launch in 1995 . Perhaps Dash is saving that story for a seco nd volume on Batavia. If so, I eagerly look forward to reading it. DONALDS . JOHNSON All Available Boats: The Evacuation of Manhattan Island on September 11, 2001 , edited by Mike Magee, MD (Spencer Books, New York NY, 2002, 140pp, illus, ISBN 1-889793-11-6; $19.99pb) Shortly after the second plane struck the World Trade Center on 11 September, the working people ofNew York harbor heard a Coast Guard call for all available boats to head to lower Manhattan. The response was immediate and sustained: hundreds of boats, from yachts to tugs and ferries, evacuated more than 300,000 people to safety, then brought in needed supplies and ferried rescue workers to and from the site. With photographs and interviews of those involved, this little book captures the drama of the event and th e courageo us response of the harbor's often unnoticed maritime community. NORMA STANFORD

Heart of Oak: A Sailor's Life in Nelson's Navy, by James P. M cG uane (W.W. Norton,NewYorkNY,2002, 19lpp,ISBN 0-393-04749-0: $49.95hc) This rich and sharply detailed photographic survey of artifacts relating to the daily lives of ordinary seamen and officers in Nelson's time encompasses historical treasures in museums and private collections, from instruments of navigation, sails and deckgear to uniforms, food and drink, and a gravestone inscription. Nelson's Ships: A History of the Vessels in Which He Served, 1771-1805, by Peter Goodwin (Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg PA, 2002, 3 l 2pp, illus, appen, biblio, glossary, index, ISBN 0-8117-10076; $49.9 5hc) This volume is a beautifully produced, highly detailed account of the more than twenry-five ships in which Admiral Nelson served in his rise through the ranks of the Royal Navy, by the keeper and curator of HMS Victory. Profiles of each vessel, from design and construction through service history and fate, are accompanied by sketches, information on her captains, and commentary from ship's logs. NEW&NOTED Advance Force Pearl Harbor, Burl Burlingame (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2002, orig 1992, 504pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 1-55750-211-0; $27.50pb) Captain Abby and Captain John: An Around-the-World Biography, by Robert P. Tristram Coffin (Blackberry Books, Nobleboro ME, 2002, orig 1939, 392pp, a ppen, index, ISBN 0-942396 -86-3; $ 14.95pb) Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy: The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke, edited by George M . Brooke, Jr. (University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC, 2002, 320pp, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 1-57003-418-4; $39.95hc) Fighting Finish: The Volvo Ocean Race Round the World, 2001-2002, by Gary Jobson (Nomad Press, Norwich VT, 2002, l 68pp, illus, gloss, biblio, ISBN 0-96592587-0; $44.9 5hc) Verschollen: World War I U-Boat Losses, by Dwight R. Messimer (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2002, 360pp, illus, appen, biblio, index, ISBN 1-5575 0-475X; $36.95hc) J,

SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003

"OS ELVER" irca 1600- 1870 In 1750, 2 brothers from Os, Norway built boats in a boot house on the Os river, hence name 'Oselver'. S11iled in Norwegian regattas today. Instructions. Kit is wood plank on frame construction. Sc11le: 1 :15, Length 16 .3 ' #W90 ..... $72.99 pl us $6. ship .hand.

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Pilotage Under Sail and Oar Pilot boats were unique among the working craft. Their task was to transport small numbers of men to ships, in any season, in whatever weather came their way. All aspects of this previously unpublished maritime tradition are considered. Both books were edited by Tom Cunliffe. Volume 1, hardcover, 344 pp. , $69.95 Pilot Schooners of North America and UK Volume 2, hardcover, 347 pp., $69.95 Schooners and Open Boats of the European Pilots Order one of each oay just $124 90 The WoodenBoat Store, PO Box 78, Brooklin, Maine 04616 1-800-273-7447 www.woodenboat.com

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