Sea History 105 - Autumn 2003

No. 105

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

AUTUMN2003

SEA HISTORY.:

75

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

THE BARBARY WARS: A BICENTENNIAL LOOK ASTERN Joan Druetts In the U!ake ofMadness The Patrols ofU-995 under Captain Hans Georg Hess USCG Eagles Figurehead and Sternboard Restoration MARINE ART: Exhibits Coast-to-Coast in 2003 SEA HISTORY FOR KIDS

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or many people, the go lden age of shipping was the 1950s and 1960s, when thousand s of hand so me sh ips graced the world's sea lanes. Now yo u can re live these glo riou s years with the work of acclaimed marine arti st Robert Lloyd. Paintings of over 50 British passenger liners, cargo liners, tram ps and tankers are reproduced in full color. Atmosph eric scenes show each in its element - wheth er bound across the Atlantic or be ing tucked into a berth in New York. All are painted with an eye for intimate detai l that will satisfy the most demanding viewer; yet with an artist's feel for the sea and the way a ship 'sits' on it.

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Detailed yet personal Complementing each painting is a detailed text tel ling the story of each ship and its owner, plus a photograph of the ship.

Woven into the narratives are the memories of those who knew the ships intimately, from the master of the Queen Elizabeth 2 to the fireman in a tramp steamer, from a purser in Oriana to a marine superintendent. Whether humorous, wry, tragic or poignant, these personal reminiscences help complete the picture of shipping in the 1950s and 1960s, and explain why those at sea then often speak of it as 'the best time of my life'. This sentiment echoes resoundingly from the foreword by the well-known writer and seafarer Captain AW. Kinghorn.

From ladies to tramps Many of the ships featured will be as familiar in American waters as off the UK: Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2, Sylvania of 1957, Mauretania of 1939, 'the green goddess' Caronia; P&O-Orient's Canberra and Oriana, Furness' Queen of Bermuda, Canadian Pacific's Empress of Britain and Beaverglen, Pacific Steam's Cotopaxi, Booth Lin e's <Ii'"· " •• Amazon trader Hilary, Blue Star's Paraguay Star, Royal Mail's Amazon, Lamport & Holt's Raphael; Port Line's Port Pirie and Great Lakes trader Manchester Mariner. ~'

A lasting record The British Merchant Navy: Images and Experiences reproduces 55 of Robert Lloyd's paintings to full-page size, with a further I 0 reproduced as smaller ::~~~====:=::::r....;::::==~::::::~J cameos, plus 45 black and white photographs. I 12-page, landscape-format, clothbound with a full-color dust jacket, the book is a delight to look at. If you like ships the way they used to look, this book is one you will return to again and again.

THE BRITISH MERCHANT NAVY: IMAGES AND EXPERIENCES Available in USA and Canada at $40 including postage. Checks or Visa/Mastercard details to Richard C Faber Jr., 230 East 15th Street, New York NY I0003

SEA HISTORY

No . 105

AUTUMN 2003

CONTENTS FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE

CLOUGH FAMILY, MARTHA'S VINEYARD

9 The Barbary Wars: America's First Encounter with the Countries of North Africa, by W illiam H. W hi te This year marks the bicentennial ofAmericas conflict with the Barbary States in northern Aftica. Some ofthe US Navys most famous figures combined to fight for American interests in the Mediterranean, at the same time establishing the fledgling US Navy as a force worthy ofrespect.

15 Rough Justice: Extract from In the Wake ofMadness, by Joan Druett Druett's latest book sheds new light on a legendary murder on board the whale ship Sharon in 1842.

15 NATIO NAL ARC HI VES AND RECORDS ADM I N ISTRATION

18 The Patrols of Germany's Captain Hans Georg Hess: Youngest Combat U-Boat Skipper of World War II, by H arry Cooper At age twenty-one, Hans Georg Hess was given his first command when his own captain failed to accomplish an important mission. The descriptions of his patrols on U-995 disclose the formidable circumstances under which these crews operated in the final chapters of World War II. 21 Keeping Maritime Traditions Alive: Woodcarver Joseph Uranker Restores Eagle's Figurehead and Sternboard, by Mark Alan Lovewell When the US Coast Guard's flagship Eagle went into dry dock for a major refit last year, Martha's Vineyard woodcarver Joseph Uranker was called to restore the ships figurehead and craft new sternboards.

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Fresh Water and Salt, Under Steam and Sail Take a tour ofthis summers marine art as exhibited in museums coast-to-coast.

MARINE ART:

34 Star Clipper Races in the First Tall Ships World Peace Cup during Antigua's Classic Yacht Regatta, by Burchenal G reen NMHS Executive Vice President Burchenal Green reports on sailing aboard a modern sailing cruise ship during the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta.

T H E MARINERS' MUSEUM

36 National Maritime Museum, Cornwall, by Robert & Patricia Foulke Robert and Patricia Foulke take us through the newly-opened museum in Falmouth, England. The facility combines high-tech interactive stations with more traditional exhibits displaying its extensive small boat collection.

COVER: The stranding and surrender of USS Phil adelphia dealt a serious blow to American naval forces fighting the Barbary Wars. Months later, Stephen Decatur and his crew slipped into the harbor at night, overpowered most of the ships Tripoli tan crew, and set the ship ablaze. (Artist Unknown, T he Burning of th e Frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor; courtesy The Mariners ' Museum, Newport News, Virginia) See pages 9-13.

DEPARTMENTS 2 D ECK LOG & L ETTERS

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6 NMHS: A CAUSE IN M OTION

24 SEA HISTORY FOR K IDS 33 MARINE ART N EWS

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT

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M USEUM N EWS/CALENDAR

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REVIEWS P ATRONS

29 SEA H ISTORY (issn 0146-93 12) is p ublished quarterly by the National Maritime Histo ri cal Society, 5 Joh n Walsh Blvd. , PO Box 68, Peekski ll NY 10566. Period icals postage paid at Peekskill NY 10566 and add'I mai ling offices.

COPYRJGHT © 2003 by the National Maritime Histo ri cal Society. Tel: 914-737-7878 .

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

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

LETTERS

DECK LOG Change of Command Justine Ah lstrom has worked for the National Maritime Historical Society for a dozen years, as editor of Sea History for the last five. There are not enough accolades for her work here, as those who have written for these pages or are avid readers well know. Justine has also been curator of the NMHS library, produced our invitations and programs, and edited Sea History Gaz ette. Ready to expand her horizons, she has moved on to new and different work. We are sorry to lose her and congratulate the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History on their good fortune.

Our advisor, Dr. Timothy J. Runyan, Director of the Maritime Studies Program at East Carolina University and a long-time friend of NMHS , recommended Deirdre O'Regan as our new editor. A licensed, professional mariner, Deirdre left the quarterdeck to work as adjunct instructor for Southampton College's SEAmester Program, where she teaches Maritime History and Literature ofthe Sea on board ship for an ine-weekcollege semester.As a mariner, instructor, and traditional sailmaker, she has shipped out on the schooners Spirit ofMassachusetts, Ernestina, Californian, and Harvey Gamage and the brig Niagara.

Deirdre has an MA in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Caro lin a University. She wrote her thesis on Sailmaking in Nineteenth Century Southern N ew England, tapping on her professional experiences as a mariner and sai lm aker and adding them to her academic studies at ECU. Her undergraduate degree is from Cornell University. In addition to her academic work, Deirdre documented a number of shipwrecks through field schools in nautical archaeology.

She is also the Sally Kress Tompkins Maritime Fellow working with the Council of American Maritime Museums and the National Parks Service to survey historic structures and fishing vessels at work along the Gloucester, Massachusetts, waterfront . She is married to Brian Andrews, a sailing ship captain and marine geographer, and is the moth er of two young children. She lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Justine and Deirdre have co-edited this issue, after which Deirdre wi ll take the helm. On behalf of the Board ofTrustees and our members, we welcome her aboard.

Tim Runyan has agreed to chair a Maritime Advisory Committee for the Society, which should give us greater depth and resources in maritime history. Deirdre will work closely with, and help create, this board.

We are scheduling receptions around the country as we can to get a chance to meet our members. In addition, we are excited to be working on three very different and compelling cruises for 2004. First, our program chair Ronald Oswald chose a cruise to Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falkland Deirdre 0 'Regan at the helm ofthe Islands aboard the 106-guest Orion. Next, NMHS topsail schooner Cali fornian members Philip and Irmy Webster recommended we sail on board Star Clipper for the Tall Ship Race in Antigua next April, after having sailed on five cruises themselves to recognize the opportunity it could provide other members. Finally, our "Maritime Seminars at Sea" transAtlantic cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2 in her inaugural season features sem inars by our president emeritus Peter Stanford and the president of Mystic Seaport, Douglas H .

Teeson. We are voyaging with several maritime organizations, affording the opportunity to travel with many other knowledgeable maritime enthusiasts. A cruise affords an excellent opportunity to meet other members of your Society, and I hope you make the time to take at least one.

BURCHINAL GREEN

Executive Vice President 2

I read with great interest Peter Stanford's article "From Two-Ocean Navy to AJlOcean Navy" in Sea History 104. I was especially interested in the relationship between Admiral Sims and President Theodore Roosevelt. Admiral Sims was not the on ly US leader in World War I who was first recognized, and whose career was greatly affected, by Roosevelt.

General ofrheArmiesJohnJ. Pershing, Commander of rhe American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France in World War I, first mer Roosevelt in 1898 when Lieutenant Pershing of the 10th US Cavalry was the regular army officer assigned as an "advisor" to rhe Rough Riders; Roosevelt was greatly impressed by Pershing's abilities. Pershing's post-war activities in the Philippines subduing the Moros came to Roosevelt's attention , as did Pershing's service as a military observer to the Japanese army in the Russo-] apanese War. By 1906, when Pershing was still a captain, President Roosevelt had him promoted to brigadier general over the heads of 862 senior officers (having a father-in-law who was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee didn't hurt either!).

Thus , both top combat leaders of US forces in Europe in WWI wer.e recognized and influenced by Theodore Roosevelt.

SIDNEY L. SALTZSTEIN, MD El Cajon, California I have just read your article "The American Achievement by Sea: Parr II" in Sea History 104. Ir is very difficult to cover such a broad stretch of historical turf in so few pages, and I admire your abi lity to explain rhe conrriburions of key historical figuresparticularly Admiral Sims.

I do rake issue with the statement that Admiral King failed to give protection to shipping in American waters the priority it needed and that it took General Marshall to straighten this out. King believed rhat a convoy system wirh destroyer escorts was the best way to protecrAJlied shipping, bur escort ship construction was limited due to rhe need for ships for a proposed landing in Europe in late 1942. King had also tried to get the Army Air Corps to assist the N avy in its A.SW patrol work but was not getting sufficienr help from General Arnold.

In 1942, King wrote to Marshall requesting help for land-based air support, and it was in reply that Marshall sent a

SEA HISTORY I05, AUTUMN 2003

Admiral Ernest j. King memorandum express ing his co ncern over shipping losses. King replied stati ng what had been done and what help was needed.

T hese actions are discussed in King's autobiography Fleet Admiral King and the the biography by T hom as Buell entitled Master ofSea Power. The navy and Adm iral King may have fai led to protect Allied shipping in the Atla ntic in early 1942, bur I do not think that it was due to his preoccupation with rhe naval battles raking place in the Pacific (the Coral Sea battle did not occur until May 1942) or to King's di strust of the British.

If you plan to write a more derailed book on "The American Achievement by Sea," I think a shift in emphas is on rhe reasons for the failure to stop Allied shipping losses would be in order.

HENRY C. MINER III Brooklyn, New York In World War I, I was one of rhe yo ungest shipmasrers when appointed, at age 24, to command of the SS Charles Carrol/named after a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Now at the age of83 , I have lost interest in the numerous maritime publications in the marketplace. But the article on John A. Nob le and Sailors' Snug Harbor in Staten Island in Sea History 103 attracted my attentio n.

My grandfather, Cap tain Christopher Marsden, died at Sailors' Snug Harbor in the 1930s fo llowing a stroke rhar rendered him speechless . A British master of sail and steam, he served as executive officer of the New York sail training ships St. Marys and Newport berween 1903 and 1909. He was my ro le model. I determined to be an shipmasrer from age fourteen. I visited him often as a teenager, raking the Staten Island

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

ferry from Manhattan. I told him of my ambitio n. He talked to me with his eyes.

I am an alumnus of the US Merchant Marine Cader Corps created by the US Maritime Commission in 1938, the predecessor organization to the US Merchant MarineAcademyarKings Point, New York.

I am claimed as a graduate of the C lass of 1942, although the academy was not formally recognized as such until 1943.

My extensive search for "lost classmates" of rhe C lass of 1942 was most revealing.

There was no commencement-we graduated a day at a rime and our diplomas were mailed to us. We were a compression of classes by virtue of reduced sea and shore rime requirements to man the rapid expansion of the war rime merchant marine fleet.

CAPTAJN GEORGE M. MARSHALL Castine, Maine

the trimaran, is essentially a raft supported by hydroplaning canoe-like hulls and carries only enough supplies for the crew.

Moreover, the multi-hull has the enormous technological advantages ofGPS positio ning, global weather reports, and rapid rescue in case of difficulty. Until another cargo- and/or passenger-carrying commercial sai ling vessel goes from Hong Kong to New York in less than 74 days, 14 hours, the record wi ll remain Sea Witch's. The second-best time is also hers at 77 days, as well as the fastest passage (82 days) against the monsoons of the C hina Sea (the 74and 77-day passages were with a favorab le northeasterly monsoon).

LARRY J. SECHREST Professor of Economics Sul Ross State University Alpine, Texas

I am associated with the Sea Witch Project to build a replica of the historic American clipper and am completing a 900-page manuscript on sai ling ship performance. I was therefore interested in the article in Sea History 104 (Spring/Summer 2003) on the attempt to march the Sea Witch's recordbreaking 74-day voyage from Hong Kong to New York on the trimaran Great American II. There can be no comparison of the two. The merchant sai ling ships of the 19th century had deep, displacement hulls and often carried cargo in excess of their registered tonnage. A multi-hull yacht, like

I read Joe Evangelista's article on the Sea Witch and clipper design (Sea History 104) with great interest. However, I would like to qualify his remark that "English clippers ... remained competitive against steam until afrer the Suez Canal opened in 1869 ."

In fact, sa iling vessels we re deliverin g Australian grain to Scotland into the late 1920s.

C lipp er develop men ts were still being buil r on the C lyde into rhe earl y 1900s.

Ir was the development of high-quali ty steel plate, some twenty years after Suez opened, that signalled the end for clippers.

Boilers were built which had an operating

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafari ng heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea Histoiy, 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 yo u love the legacy of those who sail in deep water and their workaday craft, then yo u belong with us.

Join today!

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_ _ _ _ _~ Return to: National Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68 , Peekskill NY l0566

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LETTERS

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OFFICERS &TRUSTEES: Chairman, Howard Slomick; Vice Chairmen, Richardo R. Lopes, Edward G. Zelinsky; Executive Vice President, Burchenal Green; Treasu rer, W illiam H . White; Secretaiy, Marshall Streiberr; Trustees, Donald M. Bi rney, Walter R. Brown, Sabata Catucci , Th omas F. Daly, Richard T. du Moulin , David S. Fowler, Jack Gaffney, Virgini a Steel e Grubb, Rodn ey N. Houghton , Steven W. Jones, Richard M. Larrabee, Warren G. Leback, Guy E. C. Maitland , Karen E. Markoe, M ichael R. McKay, James J. M cNamara, David A. O 'Neil , Ronald L. O swald, David Plattner, Bradford D. Sm irh, David B. Vieto r; Chairmen Emeriti, Alan G. Choate, Guy E. C. Maitland, C raig A. C. Reynolds; President Emeritus, Peter Stanford FOUNDER: Ka rl Kortum (1917- 1996)

OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM David C. Brown; Walter C ronkite, Alan D. Hutchison, Jakob Isbrandtsen,John Lehman, Warren Marr, II, Brian A. McAl lister, VADM John R. Ryan, John Stobart, W illiam G. W in terer AD VJSO RS: Co-Chairmen, Frank 0. Braynard, Melbourne Sm ith; D.K.Abbass, GeorgeF. Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, Norman J. Brouwer, RADM Joseph F. Callo, Fran cis J. Duffy, John W. Ewald, Joseph E. Farr, Timorhy Foote, Wi lliam G ilkerson, Thomas C. Gillmer, Walter J. Handelman, Steven A. Hyman , Hajo Knuttel, G unnar Lundeberg,Joseph A. Maggio, Conrad Milster, W illiam G. Mu ller, David E. Perkin s, Nancy Hughes Ri chardso n, Timothy J. Runya n, Shannon J. Wal l, Thomas Wells

press ure of 150psi (compared with th e 60psi of the wro ught iron boilers of th e 1860s) and that, together with th e tri p leexpansion engine, halved the rate of coal consumption and really made the steamship economically co mpetitive.

Even then, the square rigger co uld sail faster than the steamer with a fair wind.

They found these winds thanks to the work of Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN. Between 1847 and 1851 he pub lished his analysis of oceanic winds and currents, which were of enormous benefit to the sailing master. Using Maury's directions, the 12,000 mile journey from the UK to Australia, via Cape of Good Hope, was reduced from aro und 120 days to 90-of course, the clipper hull design contributed ro this. The distance from Britain to Australi a via Suez was only 850 miles shorter than the Cape trip, and w ith speeds of 14 knots the square riggers marched the steamers' passage times. And there was no need to stop at coaling statio ns!

Sailing ships continued to improve in eco nomic efficiency through the las t decades of the 19th century. Steam winches

were applied to the working of yards, sails and anchors, and ton-for-ton crew numbers were reduced by twenty-five percent. T he introduction of steel masts and rigging redu ced running costs, and with the acceptance of steel for hulls the sailing vessel became larger. The typical dead weight of an 1890s square-rigged ship of 2000 tons was roughly double that of the wooden clippers of the 1860s.

All of these changes helped sail resist the in evitable advance of steam but it had to fall back on a restricted range of specialized commodity trades. rt became the carrier of choice for Europe's export of coal and its import of th e cheap bulk cargoes oflndia's jute, Australia's wool and grain, and Chile's nitrates and Cali fornia's wheat.

Rat her it was th e opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 that drove the square rigger from the seas . The route from the Atlantic to Pacific became thousands of mil es shorter by cutting our the Cape Horn passage and sailing ships could no longer compete on the trades to the west coast of America.

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N MHS STAFF: Executive Officer, Burchena1 Green; Director of Education, David B. Allen; Membership Coordinator, Na ncy Schnaars; Accounting, Jill Romeo; Director ofAdvertising and Merchandise, Lisa DiBenedetto SEA HI STORY STAFF: Co-Editors, Ju stine Ahl stro m a nd DeirdreO'Regan;Editoratlarge, Peter Stanford TO G ET IN TOUC H WITH US :

Address:

5 John Walsh Boulevard PO Box 68 Peekskill NY 10566 Phone: 914 737-7878; 800 221-NMHS Fax: 914 737-78 16 Web site: www.seah isto1y.org E-mail: nmhs@seahistory.org

MEMBERSHIP is invited.Afterguard $ 10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponso r $ 1,000; Donor $500; Parron $250; Friend $ I 00; Contribu to r $75; Fam ily $50; Regular $35. All members outside rhe USA please add $ 10 for postage. SEA HISTORY is sent to all members. Individual copies cost $3.75.

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Visit our web site at www.navyhistory.org or contact the Navy Museum Gift Shop in Washington, DC Phone: 202-678-4333 • Fax: 202-889-3565 • Email: shopsa les@navyhistory.org

CALL FOR PAPERS The 7th Maritime Heritage Conference will take place in the historic southern seaport of Norfolk, Virginia, on 27-30 October 2004. The 5th International Ship Preservation Conference will be included. Conference hosts include the Hampton Roads Naval Museum with the Battleship Wisconsin, The Mariners' Museum, NauticusThe National Maritime Center, the Old Coast Guard Station, the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse and the Portsmou th N Naval Shipyard Museum. The conference will be headquartered at the Sheraton Norfol k Waterside Hotel overlooking the harbor. For updates on the conference program and accommodations, see the Nauticus web site at www.nauticus .org.

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The Conference Program Committee invites abstracts for individual papers (15-30 minut es in length) and session proposals (three or four papers in 1.5 hours). Papers may address a specific subject or aspects of the broader themes of the conference noted below: , Oceanic Trade • Admiralty Courts • Shipbuilding • Small Craft • Lighthouses & Lifesaving Stations • Underwater Archeology • Ship Preservation • Sailors' Life Ashore • Maritime Museums • Mercantile & Naval Port Operations Abstracts should be typed on a single page and be accompanied by a curriculum vitae. Session • proposals should provide a brief summary of each paper and include a CV for each presenter. They s are due by 1 M arch 2 004. Send them to Conference Program Chair Joseph C. Mosier, Maritime Heritage Conference, Chrysler Museum of Art, 245 West Olney Rd, Norfolk VA 235 10-1587 tel: 737 664-6205; fax: 757 664-6201 ; e-mail : jmosier@chrysler.org .

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Groups wishing to conduct business meetings on Monday, 31 October 2004 can reserve facilities by contacting Conference Chair Capt. Channing M . Zucker at the Historic Naval Ships Association, 5245 Cleveland Street #207, Virginia Beach VA 23462-6505 tel: 757 499-1044 ; fax : 757 499-6378; e-mail: hnsa01 @aol.com.

Co-hosts of the Conference American Lig hthouse Coordinating Committee, the Council of American Maritime Museums, the Historic Naval Ships Association, the N ational Maritime Alliance, the National Maritime Historical Society, the Museum Small Craft Association, the National Park Service, the Nava l Historical Center, the Naval Historical Foundation, the North American Society for Oceanic History, and the US Lifesaving Service Heritage Association and the US Lighthouse Society.

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

5

NMHS:

'

A CAUSE IN MOTION How NMHS Got One New Mem ber Our reco rds no lo nger go back rhis fa r, a sad commenrary for a historical sociery. In 1991 when our paper files were digirized, we did no r keep rhe old paperwork, and we have been sorry ever since.

I wo uld have no way of kn owing how Gene Olsen cam e robe a member had he nor ro ld me. On rhe passage back fro m Bermuda o n rhe QE2, which NMH S did wirh our members in Seprember 2002, Ge ne ro ld us his srory.

In gale winds and mouming seas of a develo pings rorm on rheafrernoon ofJanuary 14, 1970, rheAmerican Presidenr Lin e SS PresidentJackson had been wirhour comm un ica rio n since losing all radi o am enn as befo re dawn. Abour 4 PM, rhe ship reesrablished H F communi cario ns rh ro ugh a ju1y- rigged anrenna. Ir immediarely received a US Coasr G uard AMVER disrress message ro aid a sinki ng schoo ner app roxim arely 120 miles NNE of Bermuda.

Eugene Olsen was m as rer of rhe President Jackson. T he schooner Tina Maria D oncine lay 75 miles away wirh less rhan rwo ho urs ro sunser. T he LORAN and radi o rel eph o n e were o u r, bu r rh eir deadrecko ning was good and rhe radar was wo rking. H eading toward rhe Tina Maria Doncine, rhe President Jackson pi rched and roll ed violendy, cras hing in ro each swell , sendin g cominuous sheers of wa rer well above rhe bridge. As rhe wea rher dereriorared and nighr fell , rhe President Jackson crew heard rhar rhe USCG fi xed-wing aircrafr losr co nracr wirh rhe schoo ner. T he Canadian Coas r G uard C urre r Baffin had already made a valiam ane mp r ro save rhe schooner's crew bur had susrained hull dam age and crew inj uries and was unable ro m aneuver. A U SCG aircrafr dropped by parachu re rwo po rrable gas- powe red pumps, bur rhe schooner's crew never fo und rhem in rhe heavy seas.

Eugene Olsen heard rhe schoo ner's caprain radio rhe U SCG aircrafr rhar she wo uld no r sray afloar rhrough rhe nighr. T heir power-dri ve n pumps had fai led, and rhey were using m anual pumps and buckers.

T he President Jackson was o nl y able ro locare rhe schooner because of rhe radar ra rger of rhe circling USCG aircrafr. W hen Caprain Olsen sighred rhe schooner, he rhoughr rhe siruarion hopeless, and planned ro hold srarion during rhe nighr, hoping for

6

an improve m em in rhe wea rher. The schooner's caprain replied rhar rhey had ro abandon ship immediarely sin ce his vessel co uld no r sray afloar much longer.

COURTF..SY CAPTAIN EUGENE O LSEN

Wirh every avail able line, ner, and lighr rigged ro srarboard, Cap rain Olsen approached rhe sinki ng schoo ner from rhe sourh wes r ro creare a lee. T he President Jackson reacred like a peanur in a was hing machine as he neared, ar which rime rhe chief engineer no rified him rhar rheir cargo had come adrifr. H e brough r rheJackson in line wirh rhe schooner onl y few feer away.

His crew lined rhe bulwa rks holding li nes, ladders, and ners over rhe side wairing for rhe schooner's crew ro make rh e deck. For

nine full minures Caprain Olsen kepr his ship alongside while rhe schoon er's crew secured lines ro rhemselves and were each hauled aboard. One smashed head firsr inro rhe deck and an older crewman was hauled up by a line ried to his waisr.

All seven men made ir aboard safely. As rhe Jackson veered inro rhe sea, rhe schooner sank. Only rhirry minures larer rhey had ro srop engines, and in swells roll ing rhem fifty degrees for four hours, rhe ch ief engineer locared and plugged a condenser leak ro ger rhe ship underway.

For rhis courageous rescue ar sea, rhe SS President Jackson won rhe G allanr Ship Award, and Caprain Olsen was awarded the Am erican M erchant Marine Seamanship T rophy and the Meritorias Service M edal. As a result of being given these hono rs fo r his valor, Caprain O lsen was also gifred a membership in the National M aritim e Hisrorical Society. Thar is how we go r o ne more member.

B URCHENAL GREEN

Vice President

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Annual Awards Dinner Wednesday, 5 November2003 at the New York Yacht C lu b New York, New York

Keynote Speaker & Disti119uished Service Award Recipient DR. R OBERT B ALLA RD

NMHS Fournfer1s Slieet Ancfwr Award D AYID A. O 'NEIL, NMHS Tru stee Recepti on at 5:30PM ; D inner at 7PM $300 per person

For reservations: NMHS , PO Box 68 Peekski II NY 10566 phone: 800 22 1-6647 , xO e- mail : nm hs@seahistory.org

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Dr. Ballard ofthe Institutefor Exploration is renownedfor his discovery ofthe wrecks ofthe T ira n ic, USS Yo rkrown, and other ships, and, most recently, his work in the depths ofthe Black Sea.

SEA HISTORY 105 , AUTUMN 2003

New from Sea History's Art Gallery

LIMITED EDITION LITHOGRAPHS

by Paul Garnett A native of Boston, marine artist Paul Garnett releases two new limited edition images one of the USS Constitution as she originally apeared in 1798, and one of His Majesty's Armed Vessel Bounty.

Paul's work has been seen in Nautical World magazine, Marine Art Quarterly, and Sea History magazine. His paintings have also been featured on A&E Sea Tales as well as the History Channel's series History 's Mysteries.

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Paul Garnett's limited edition lithographs are signed, numbered and presented with signed and numbered parchments detailing the historic significance that inspired each painting.

"Defeat at the Hom " shows the Bounty in exactly the conditions that Bligh described so vividly in his Log; mountainous seas, a leaden sky and "lightening crackling down!"

In "Shakedown Cruise" Paul Garnett wanted to show the viewer what the USS Constitution looked like when first in commission. This painting shows her on the evening of her departure from her mooring near Castle Island.

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New from William H. White, the author of the War of 1812 Trilogy Read this thrilling saga ofAmerica'sfirstencounterwith the Corsairs of the Barbaty Coast. Told by a 14-year-old midshipm an 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 conilict, the "testing fires" for th e new American navy.

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8

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

The Bar6ary Wars America's First Enrounterwitli tfie Cowttries ofNortliAfrica

by William H. White

While the Bar6ary States, Morocco, Tunis, A~iers and Tripo[i, had giv~n headaches to the trading worU since the l~th century, America'~ro6[ems with them 6egan shortty after the American War of Independence. Nava[ confrontation was sparse and ine ective unti[ Edward Pre6le and his "6oys" arrived in 1803, the year that is genera[ty thought of as the start of what as 6ecome k.nown as the "Bar6ary Wars.I' This yealj 2003, marks the 6icentennia[ of that confCict.

COURTESY USS CONSTITUTION MUSEUM, BOSTON

T

h e Barbary Stares lie along Africa's northern coast, begin ning at the Straits of G ibraltar and extending eastward to the border of Egypt. They form rhe south coast of the Mediterranean Sea and are only a short sail from Gibraltar, Italy, and Spain, and slightly fart her from the important trading countries of Greece and Turkey. In order for British, American, Spanish or Ita li an ships to pursue commerce in the area, they h ad to sail through waters, from Gibraltar to Turkey, wh ich were virtu ally contro ll ed by the fleets of corsairs sent out by the rulers of the four Barbary nations.

For generations, the rul ers of the North African states had demanded payment of "tribute" and protection from any nation whose vessels wished to pass through the Mediterranean.

"Blowing up ofthe fire ship Intrepid, commanded by Cap 't Somers in the harbour of Tripoli on The penalty for non-payment was atthe night of4th Sept 1804. Before the Intrepid had gained her destined situation she was suddenly tack, caprn re, slavery and, ofcen, boarded by I 00 Tripolines when the gallant Somers and the Heroes ofhis party (L ieuts. Wadsworth death. The sh ip s taken, alon g with and Israel and I 0 men) observed themselves surrounded by 3 gun-boats, and no prospect ofescape, their cargo, were usually ransomed determined at once to prefer Death and the Destruction ofthe Enemy to the Captivity & torturing back to their owners, frequently along Slavery, put a match to trains Leading directly to the Magazine, which at once blew the whole into with the crews. Spain and England, the air. " [Author '.s Note: the original caption is incorrect in its surmise of the cause ofthe blow. the primary traders sailing those To this day, no one knows what happened to cause Intrepid to prematurely explode.} dangerou s waters, tried on severa l occasions to secure safe passage through military action. Not only did thousands of men. A hurricane struck the to secure the safety of their merchant fleet they fail, their attempts were, especially anchored fleet, destroying most of the ships, throughmilitaryactionin 1630, 1637,and in the case of Spain, some of the grea test and the soldiers and sailors who had al- 1655. After each foray against the Algerinaval disasters in history. ready landed were killed or captured or ans, the Dey (the ruler of Algiers) went to Charles V of Spain launched a great starved to death during their effort to re- treaty only to later abandon it in the hope armada under the joint leadership of Cap- turn to the remnants of their fl eet. Spain of upping the ante. Each time, England tain Hernando Cortez and Admiral Andrea agreed to pay for the future safety of its paid and peace ensued until the greed of Doria in 1541 with the intent of bringing trading fleet. the Dey once more bubbled to the surface.

Algiers to heel. He lost 150 ships and England had tried, with limited success, In 1775, Spain again launched a huge armada against Algiers with results similar Tfie flecfgling US Navy tfiat fougfit tfie Bar6ary Wars was macfe up of men to their 16th-century effort. This time, it wfiose names woulcf jiff tfie annals of American naval history: Stepfien was not a storm that destroyed their fleet, Decatur woulcf later commancf tfie American frigate United States in lier it was the corsairs of the Barbary Coast. single sfiip victory over HMS Macedonian; it was James Lawrence wfio The soldiers, without the benefit of naval later utterecf tfie immortal "Don't give up tfie sfiip"; Thomas Maccfonougfi support, suffered ashore from both the founcf fiis glory in tfie Battle of P[atts6urgfi on Lake CfiampCain against tfie unseemly conditions and the fierce fighters British; Wiffiam Bain6ricÂŁge captainecfUSS Cons ti tu ti on in lier victory against of the Dey. An interesting sidebar to this HMS Java. saga is the role played by Joshua Barney,

SEA HISTORY l 05, AUTUMN 2003

9

• Algiers MOROCCO

•

ALGERIA

•

Deme Alexandria LIBYA

EGYPT

Strategic sites in the Barbary Wars later a hero of the American Revolution and the W ar of 181 2. At age 16, he was mas ter of a merchant ship heading from the M editerranean to Baltimore when he stopped fo r provisions in Spain . Barney and his ship we re pressed into service to ferry troo ps to the African coast. H e survived the experience with little ill effect.

America Joins the Fray Before the American War of Independen ce, the limi red Am eri can trading interes ts in the Mediterranean were, for the most part, pro tected by the Royal N avy.

America had no navy of any kind and wo uld have been unable to protect h er merchant traders in any case. A different situation wo uld prese nt itself following the Revolution.

Newly independent of, amongst other things, British trading res trictions, postrevolutionary American merchants sought trade on a global scale. T hey we re encouraged by the new government, struggling to res tore eco nomic health to a debt-ridden

treasury, a result of six years of pursuing independence. T raders from New England, N ew Yo rk, and the C hesapeake Bay set out to seek trading partners among the rich M editerranean co untries. Like their predecessors, they, too, soo n ran afoul of th e corsairs of the Barbary Coast.

American ships were, of co urse, no longer under th e pro tective wing of King G eorge III's Royal Navy. T he British, in fact, were now encouraging the corsairs to harass their new trading rival. In 1784 one ship was lost to pirates; in the following year, rwo. By 1793, fo urteen merchant vessels had been taken by one or another of the Barbary States. In some cases, the ships we re recovered . Mos tly, they joined the corsairs' fleets.

T he seizure of American merchant ships provoked Congress to recognize a need for naval vessels, and, in January 1794, that body authorized funds to provide a naval fo rce sufficient to pro tect American commerce fro m the Algerine corsairs. The

American government was divided on how to proceed agai nst the other Barbary Coast states. Thomas Jefferso n wa nted to figh t.

Frugal John Adams felt paying the tribute was cheaper than building a navy. T he navy bill passed, nevertheless, and was signed into law by Pres ident Washington in M arch 1794. Th e bill allowed fo r the construction of five fri gates, three of forryfo ur guns and rwo of thir ry-s ix guns. As a condition of its passage, the bill stip ulated that, should a peace rreary with Algiers be signed , constru ction wo uld stop.

By March of 1796, and in spi re of the "protective policies" of th e English, the U nited States had successfully trea ted with Algiers at a cost of noticeably over one mi ll ion dollars including the ransom of the captive American sailors. Pres ident W as hington sent Congress a note sugges ting that, while the original bi ll had called for a cessation of the shipbuilding (by then, several of th e ships we re well underway, their builders having overcome a number of difficulti es with design, supply, and construction ove r the two yea rs previous), it would make sense to fini sh and launch the three closes t to completion .Washington believed th at maintaining a "peaceful neurrali ry" and securing respect fo r a neutral flag would require a naval force. Congress agreed.

While relationships in the Mediterranean seemed stabl e fo r the rime being, difficulties we re appearing in the American/ Fren ch relatio nship and Am erican trading ships in the Caribbean bore the brunt of the French ambition to dominate trade in that theater.

Demands fo r bribes and, when unful-

Tfie Bar6ary War: Piracy) Politics and Power In June, tile USS Cons ti tu ti on Museum in Boston opened its newest exfii6ition, The Barbary War: Pi racy, Poli tics & Power, to commemorate tile 200tfi anniversary of USS Co nstitution's d'epfoyment to tile Mediterranean Sea. Duri119 tfiis period, Con stitution and US Navy squadrons took an active rofe. in tile cfefense ofAmerican trade a:1ainst tile Bar6ary "pirates"-corsairsempfoyed 6y their 9ovemments in NortfiA_frica to attack enemy sfiippi119.

Great wealtfi coufd' 6e made tfirou:Jfi tile Mediterranean trade, despite da119ers of stonns, wars, and pirates . Even witfiout a nary to protect it, tile American mercfiant jfeet saiW into tile Mediterranean reaay to risk a[ in pursuit of wealtfi and commerce. Wilen, in 1793, A~erian corsairs captured eleven American mercfiant sfiips and their crews, tile US Co119ress voted to create tfie new United States Navy to cfefendAmerican commerce. Tile Bar6ary War exfii6it takes visitors ri9fit to tile fieart of tile complex story of sliifti119 European affiances, Jfffi9lin9 dipComacy 6y US consufs, and tile 9rowtfi of tile military mi9fit of tile US Nary.

Visit tile USS Constitution Museum to see The Barbary War: Pirac y, Poli ti cs & Power and fea.m Ft.ow, in tfiis near~for9otten war, USS Constitution and tile action on tile "sfiores of Tripoli" stre119tftened America's _presence on tile world stage. Tile USS ConstitutionMuseum is in tile Cfiarlestown Nary Yard, Boston, Massacfiusetts, and offers free admission. Visit tile museum's we6 site at www.ussconstitutionmuseum.or9 or tefe.pfione (617) 426-1812.

10

SE A HISTORY I 05 , AUTUMN 2003

ship owners to persuade Congress to pass a law permitting traders and citizens of coastal cities to fund, build, and man warships to protect their fleet, thereafter donating them to the federal government in exchange for stock at six percent interest. These ships would augment the existingthreeNavyfrigates, built by the federal government, but unable to cover the huge area they were supposed to protect.

The town of Newburyport, Massachusetts, launched the first of these ships, followed by five more, each named for the city that built it: Merrimac, Essex,

Philadelphia, New York, Boston. Thus, by late 1798,

"The Most Bold and Daring Act of the Age, "Burning ofthe Frigate Philadelphia 16 February 1804

the young republic had, with the US Frigates Constitution (44), United States (44), and Constellation (36), along with a few smaller vessels, the beginnings of a navy. The maritime hostilities with France (the so-called "Quasi-War") ended with a treaty signed in Mortefon taine, France, in the fall of 1800. A brief peace ensued.

Back to the Barbary Coast Abandoning the "Treaty of Peace and Friendship" signed with America in June 1797, Tripoli declared war against the US 10 May 1801. Tripolitan forces cut down the flagpole at the American consulate, which had been established shortly after the 1797 treaty was ratified. The US took the matter so seriously that it sent John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson to England to negotiate a new treaty with the emissaries from Tripoli.

Their efforts were expanded to include Barbary powers Morocco and Tunis, but all their attempts to negotiate failed. It become apparent that, to protect the ships sailing the trade routes of the Mediterranean, American force of arms would have to be brought to bear.

The American navy, tiny as it was, had proved its mettle in the short, but sharp, conflict with F ranee. In June 1801, a fourvessel squadron set sail from Norfolk under the command of Commodore Richard Dale SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

to take on the Dey' s fleet. Dale, who had been John Paul Jones's first lieutenant in BonHomme Richardduring her famous fight with Serapis in 1779, was one of six captains appointed when the new navy was established in 1794. His ships included his flagship, US Frigate President (44), US Frigate Philadelphia (36), US Frigate Essex (32), and the schooner Enterprise (12).

The commanders of Dale's ships were men whose own careers would make naval history. James Barron captained the flagship; hi s brother, Samuel Barron, the Philadelphia; William Bainbridge was master of the Essex; and Andrew Sterrett the schooner. While they saw some action, nothing of substance was achieved. The squadron was prohibited from taking prizes and only Sterrett succeeded in "disabling and releasing" an enemy polacca.

In February 1802, Commodore Morris arrived with six vessels ranging from the 36-gun frigate Constellation and her sister ship, Chesapeake (36), to the newly refitted schooner Enterprise. One significant action occurred when Constellation took on a fleet of eight Tripolitan gunboats; they escaped with minor damage by sailing into water too shallow for the frigate to follow.

Commodore Morris was more interested in "showing the flag" than in pursuing a blockade or other enemy contact and was

relieved by Edward Preble during the summer of 1803. Preble's squadron included the frigates Constitution (44) and Philadelphia (36) and two new brigs, Argus (18) which sailed from Boston, and Syren (18) ourof Philadelphia. Two additional schooners joined Enterprise which had remained in the theater. Recognizing that deep-draft frigates were oflimi ted use, the navy brought home with Commodore Morris the frigates New York, john Adams, and Adams.

Preble, a native of Maine (then part of Massachusem), was a feisty, well-ordered officer with a sense of mission. Initially he was dismayed at the youthful officers assigned to his squadron and referred to them as "his boys"-which he did not intend as a compliment. According to his letters, the commodore taught his inexperienced officers and quickly developed a real affection for them as they grew into their jobs. By the time Preble and his "boys" arrived in the Mediterranean, the sobriquet had become a badge of honor and would remain one into history.

Preble's squadron had not attained full strength (each ship sailed from various ports in the United States as they were ready) when one of his frigates, the 36-gun Philadelphia, commanded by William Bainbridge, ran aground on an uncharted reef off the coast of Tripo li . She had been

11

chasing several gunboats which sought the protection of shallow water. Bainbridge tried to refloat hi s vessel. He jettiso ned most of his armament and chopped off the foremast at the deck. Even so, within four hours, the frigate had been taken and the crew and officers made prisoners. T hat was on 3 1October1803.

The following February, under the cover of darkness, Stephen Decatur, with a crew of 70 vo lunteers-offi cers, midshipmen , sailors, and marin es-entered the harbor at Tripoli in a captured trading vessel that Commodore Prebl e had renamed Intrep id.

In less than halfan hour, th ey overpowered the Philadelphia's Tripolitan crew, set fires and explosive charges throughout the ship , and escaped. D ecatur's raid was reported to have been called by Admiral Lord Nelso n "the most bold and daring event of the age." [There is no documentation that Nelson ever said or wrote the wo rds. This story seems to have been invented in the 1840s by A. S. Mackenzie for his biography ofStephen D ecatur. Regardless, it was surely a "bold and daring act. "] Satisfying as it was, the raid did not change much. The bombardment and acti o n aga in st the co rsa irs co ntinu ed throughou t the year with little result. August 1804 saw the heaviest bombardment with no less than five significant forays against the ciry of Tripoli, the fortress, castle, and galleys. Finally, in September, COURT ESY USS CONSTITUTION MUS EUM, BOSTO N

and facing imminent relief by Samuel Barron, Preble ordered Intrepid, the little ketch that had carried Decatur and his crew to the attack on Philadelphia, to be turned into a fl oati ng bomb and sa iled into Tripoli harbor under the command of Lt. Richard Somers acco mpanied by a crew of thirteen .

So mers's mission was to sail, undetected, close to the quay-wall where the enemy fleet was secured and then blow up his vessel, the crew having escaped after lighting the fuses . Unfortunately, the several tons of exp los ives aboard Intrepid ignited prematurely. The Intrepid and all hands were lost without a single enemy casual ty.

To this day, no one knows what caused the disaster. A monument, placed at the U ni ted States Naval Academy, in Annapol is, Ma1yland, by their fellow officers, honors the co mmitment of So mers and the other officers who lost their lives in the Barbary Wars.

The Conflict Ashore T he ruling Bashaw of Tripoli, o ne Yusuf Karamanli , was not (according to the United States) the legal ruler of the co untry. T he US recognized his brother Hamer, whom Yusuf had forced in to exile. Hamer, at the time, was living in Alexandria, Egypt, more than one thousand miles away. During the fall of 1804, in an effo rt to remove the belligerent Yus uf, a small force headed by former US consul to T unis, William Eaton, was dispatched to Egypt to find

Stephen D ecatur H amer and rai se an army of Arabs.

The American p lan was to put H amet on the thron e by transporting the Arabs to Derne by navy ships, marching the army overland to Tripoli, and storming the city.

T he US would support them with a naval bombardm ent. Marine Lieutenant Presley O 'Bannon, two naval officers, and some eighteen enlisted marines and sold iers made up the force that left M alta in the brigA rgus on 17 November 1804 and arrived in Alexandria ten days later.

Eato n, after a lengthy search and dealin gs with both sides in a local civil war, found Hamet. The party returned to the coast, on ly to be denied permission to board Argus by th e Turkish admiral and governor of Alexandria. French interests th ere had convinced the Turk that the Americans were, in fac t, British spies.

Eaton and O'Bannon decided to make it overland to Derne, a distance of more than five hundred mi les. After enormous hardship and trial, the parry, now swelled by the addition of H amet's Arab troops, attacked and carried the city on 27 Apri l 1805 .

The Argus, under command of Isaac Hull, and the schooner Nautilus were waiting there as arranged and supported the land assault with a naval bombardment.

Marine Lieutenant O'Bannon co mmanded

"The attack made on Tripoli on the 3rd August 1804 by the American Squadron under Commodore Edward Preble to whom this Plate is respectfally dedicated by his obedient servant Joh n B. Guerazzi. " 12

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

his eighteen marines, now augmented by twenty- four cannoniers, and thirty-s ix Greek mercenaries. Hamer Karamanli commanded an Arabian cavalry.

During the batde, one marine was killed and two wounded, one mortally; a total of eleven Americans, including Eaton, were wounded. (It was from this action that the US Marine Hymn includes the words, " ... to the shores ofTripoli ... " Of course, there also were Marines on most all of the ships that participated in the blockade and bombardment of the harbor at Tripoli .)

The fight was not over, however. Yusuf Karamanli promptly sent his army to retake Derne. They attacked several times and, each time, were repulsed by the combined Christian andArab forces. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. During the fighting, however, Eaton received dispatches telling him that treaty negotiations were underway and, in all likelihood, the Americans would have to evacuate the city.

On 11 June 1805 , the USS Constellation arrived with orders to that effect and YusufKaramanli's troops seized the opportunity to eliminate all the remaining residents of the city for their disloyalty to the ruling Bashaw. While the action had little direct impact on the outcome of the war, most historians feel that the threat of an overland attack combined with a naval

bombardment provided further inducement to the Bashaw to treat for peace.

The treaty with T ripoli 's Bashaw was signed on 5 June 1805. Among its provisions was the release of the officers and men who had been cap tured with the frigate Philadelphia to Commodore Barron, whose flag flew in Constitution. The Danish consul, Nicolas C. Nissen, who had been instrumental in protecting those officers and men during their captivity, again proved his worth by assisting in the n egotiations that led to the treaty, including the payment of a $60,000 ransom. The Philadelphia's crew returned to the United States in September of 1805, nearly two years after their capture.

A subsequent visit to the Barbary Coast states became necessary in 1815, after the War of 181 2 had concluded. Both William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led squadrons across the Atlantic to "show the flag" along that problematic coast after the Dey of Algiers rattled his saber. No shots were fired and the D ey agreed to follow the conditions of the earlier treaty.

America's Allies During the American involvement in the Barbary W ars, the United States needed the support of countries that had a physical presence in the area. England provided logistical support through her bases in

What Happened to Hamet Karamanli?

After the fall of Derne and the subsequent treaty between the America and Tripoli, Hamer Karamanli more or less disappeared from view. Was he abandoned by the United States after it achieved its goal? Did he ascend to the throne of Tripoli? Was he reunited with his family, as required by article three of the treaty, who had been held hostage in Tripoli by his brother Yusuf to ensure Hamet's non-

Gibraltar and Malta, and the King of the Two Sicilies (now Italy) loaned Commodore Preble nearly a dozen gunboats and mortar ships as well as some 65 Italian sailors. These vessels proved th eir crucial importance during Prebl e's bombardment of the Tripo li tan coast.

It was in these American squadrons and the liaisons provided by American allies in the Mediterranean Basin that the United States Sixth Fleet had its genesis and have since helped, in conjunction with the Royal Navy, to provide open trade routes and safe passage during most of the ensuing two hundred years. American trade flourished along with that of the other nations that chose to sail those waters in pursuit of co mmerce. A peaceful co-existence, the Pax Britannica, endured for more than one hundred years, ending with the start of World War I. It is fitting at this time in our history to acknowledge those who have gone before and faced the dangers presented by those who would wish us ill . They are the early heroes of American naval history: James Lawrence, Stephen D ecat ur , William Bainbridge, David Porter, Isaac Hull, Edward Preble, Richard Somers. Countless others remain unknown except to historians and researchers, but their contribution was no less valid. They made the waters of the Mediterranean Sea safe for American, as well as other, ships to trade and contributed to the beginnings ofour current global economy. With this bicentennial ann iversary of our co nflict with the countries of North Africa, let us hope that future conflicts of that nature will become moot. L

intervention ?

Colonel Lear, who negotiated the treaty with Yusuf, included a secret article unknown to the US Department or Congress, which gave the Bashaw four years to implement the third article relating to Hamet's family. Hamer, once agai n living in exile (though this time in Syracuse and on a US government stipend), knew of the article restoring his family ro him, but, of course, not the secret provision giving his brother, the Bashaw, an inordinate amount of time ro carry it out.

When Dr. George C. Davis, who had been charge d'affaires in Tun is, reached Tripoli ro assume his new role as American consul in May 1807, he demanded of the Bashaw that article three of the treaty be fulfilled, and then learned that an additional two years was allowed to accomplish this. He prevailed upon Yusuf to restore Hamet's family without further delay, and they were re-united in October of that year. In December, che US House of Representa tives recommended an increase in Hamet's all owance, which was approved directly.

In 1808, the Bashaw made arrangements for Hamer and his fam ily to sh ift their residence to Morocco with a pension paid by the government ofTripoli. (Of course, at chat time, the US pecuniary ai d ended. ) The following year, Dr. Davis, now comfortable in his position as consul , influenced the Bashaw to appoint Hamer co the government of Derne. Sadly, two years after assuming his new responsibilities ch ere, the brothers had a subsequent falling out and Ham et again fled ro Egypt (this time with his family) where he ultimately died . -W.H. W.

SEA HISTORY 105 , AUTUMN 2003

Mr. White is a maritime historian specializing in age ofsail events in which America was a participant. H e lectures ftequentLy on the impact ofthese actions and has written four historical novels: A Press of Canvas, A Fine Tops'! Breeze, andThe Evening Gun, which comprise the War of 1812 Trilogy, andThe Greater the Honor, a Novel of the Barbary Wars. H e is a trustee ofthe National Maritime Histo rical Society, USS Consrirution Museum, and the D efense ofFreedom Foundation as weLL as a consultant to the 1812 reproduction privateer schooner Lynx. Mr. White has recently been named a Fe/Low of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Further information on the author and his books may be found atwww.seafiction.net.

13

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SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

Rough Justice Maritime Historian Joan Druett)s Inquiry into a 160-Year-Old Murder at Sea

by Joan Druett A new book by Joan Druett (author of She Was a Sister Sailor and Hen Frigates) plunges the reader into the lives of crew members of the Massachusetts whaleship Sharon, whose captain was brutally killed in 1842 by three of his own men. As she reveals, this was more than a case of mutiny and murder. belong to a country that is known as "the Polynesian capital of the wo rld," where every Maori tribe can trace irs origins to one of rhe seven huge canoes that colonized the uninhabited islands of New Zealand. As a ch ild, I inherited Polynesian legends and superstitions; like my school mares, I readily believed in kehua, 'atuaancestor ghosts-and knew about tapu and sacred ground . I was raised in the ambience of O ceania. That's why, when I first began research on the grisly fate of Captain H owes Norris of the whaleship Sharon, who was hacked to death on his own quarterdeck by three Pacific Islanders in 1842, I knew that most of the story had not been told.

According to the first newspaper that published the acco unt, Captain No rris had been massacred while almost all the ship's crewmen were off in the whaleboats chasing their prey. Norris had been left alone on board with a Portuguese boy and three Pacific Island natives, savages, who, while the boats were more than a mile away, grabbed the chance to slaughter the captain and run away with the ship . Stranded seven hundred miles fro m the nea rest habitable land, the whalemen in the boats faced a protracted and ghas tly death . Nevertheless, both crew and ship we re saved by the gall ant third mate, who swam on boa rd afte r dark had fallen and singlehandedly defeated the three mutin eers. Two were killed. All by himself, the third mate recaptured the Sharon .

It was a gripping story, thrilling enough to be reprinted many times in the years that fo llowed . In my mind, however, questions were clamoring-why did rhe three kill Norris? W hat was their motive? For 160 years it has been ass umed that the "savages," bei ng "savage," were perfectly capable of mindless violence. But, havi ng been raised in the Pacific myself, I co uld not accept, as generations of writers and readers had, that savages do not need a

I

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

reaso n to commit murder. No r only did I feel certain that they had some motive for the crime, but I also felt that it was an overwhelmingly compelling one. Because the ship was so far out of sight ofl and, the murder must have been unpremeditated and sudden. So mething major must h ave sparked the fa tal confli ct- bur what?

The morning after the murder and rhe recapture of th e ship , rhe surviving native was discovered hiding in the hold. Shackled and questioned , the only excuse he gave was "that the captai n was cross"-an enigmatic statement that none of the reporters bothered to inves tigate. I wo ndered , as I read those first newspaper acco unts, could

this be the key to the forces that had driven this viol ent drama? Did the answer lie with the victim himself?

Captain Howes Norris was an experienced and successful whaling master, something that counted for a great deal in his home island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. From humble origins, he climbed to the top of the social ladder through his efforts on distant whaling grounds. H andsome, well-dressed, and suave, Captain No rris was respected as one of rhe elite whose voyaging in far-off seas brought wealth to the island. At home, he was a lovi ng husband and caring parent. At sea, he was a consummate mariner and a coura-

geo us and lucky whaleman. He might rule his crew with an iron hand, but that was part of the popular image of a whaling captain-a man with a fist like a rock but a heart of gold, who disciplined his men as necessary, bur regarded them with the affection of a father. Was it possible that this paragon had don e something to trigger his own ghas tly fate?

I found the answer in three journals and a long letter written on board the ship . The first was a journal that had been written by Captain Howes Norris himself. Though formal and uncommunicative, it provided valuable hints about the frustrations he had been enduring prior to the murder. The second was the journal kept by the ship's cooper, Andrew White. M y heart hammered as I read his misspelled descriptions of some of the most violent events on board. His grim revelations were too horrifying to believe at first, but opened up awful possibilities. Then, through the generosity of the third mate's descendants, I read the private journal kept by the hero of the singlehanded recapture himself-and uncovered the details of the tragedy of the Sharon.

Captain Norris was not the man he showed himself to be on land. As the journals vividly testified, he had tortured and killed one of his own sailors-someone those natives had know n well, a man who had been a shipmate, and had shared the decks and the forecas tle with them. Like the res t of the crew, they had watched in horror as that sailor was slowly beaten to death. Now, I understood the frightful background to the native's statement "that the captain was cross, " and realized that Norris's murder was nothing more or less than rough justice, a horrific but full y deserved vengeance, delivered by terrified men. As Melville said, "There is ve ry little that separates the enlightened man from the savage," and when the man who is supposed to be civilized commits horrible cruelties, the retribution of the so-called "savages" becomes inevitable. ,.!.

In the Wake of Madness, by Joan Druett (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC, 2 003, 292pp, appen, notes, index, ISBN 1-56512-347-6; $24.95 he)

15

ROUGH JUSTICE

Extract from Joan Druett's In Rebellion on the Sharon "On the Eleaventh day of December 1841 I was in the Ship Sharon Capt Howes Norris in the Lattirude of 1 Degree South and longitude of 150:33 East. The sun arose in great splendour and the day was most beautiful," wrote Benjamin Clough in his journal. "And passed away with the usual work on board ofA Whale ship at sea.

Such as looking out for whales steering the Ship at work in the rigging &c. " Thar idyllic late afternoon, Benjamin Clough was engaged in a domestic task. Having done his laundry, he was standing in the slung larboard boat at the stern quarter, hanging two pairs of pantaloons on a line he had stretched between the davits. Then, as he recorded, "I overheard the Capt. floging the Steward [George Babcock] in the Cabbin."

There is no explanation for the whipping, though Captain Norris was shouting, "Will you lie ro me?" Then Clough heard him yell, "Let go of that!" Evidently Babcock had grabbed the flailing end of the captain's rope, because Clough heard the steward's voice scream, "But you will kill me ifI do! " Then there were the sounds of a struggle.

Thomas Harlock Smith, the first mare, had overheard the shouting, too. Clough heard him go into the cabin and grapple the rope our of the steward's desperate clutch. Then Norris came up the stairs, and ordered Nathan Smith and Benjamin Clough to "seize up" secure - Babcock " in the larboard side of the

~ke

Mizzen rigging," ready for a flogging.

"Ar 5 PM the Capron seased up the Steward in the riggen and flogged him, " wrote Andrew White. Such scenes must have been highly unpleasant for greenhands like William Weeks. Norris hadan unusual style of flogging, too. Usually the victim's shirt was removed, and he was lashed across the bare back, but according to Benjamin Clough's journal, once Babcock had been tied up in the rigging by the wrists and ankles, Norris "rook down his pantaloons, " exposing his naked buttocks. Then, as Clough recorded, Captain Norris "gave him 2 dozen" with a thick, doubled rope.

After letting him down, Norris ordered the steward to go back to his work in the pantry. Instead, the instant the officers and captain were safely out of sight, George Babcock fled to the forecastle-o r, as the cooper phrased it, "went forid."

George Babcock did not belong in the forecastle: as a steward, he did not have a berth there. On most ships the men who did live there would have told him in no uncertain terms to take himself back where he belonged. Usually the steward was a despised member of the crew, the foremast hands considering him nothing better than the captain's lackey. On this occasion, however, the off-duty hands broke tradition by giving Babcock a refuge.

For a while, the officers in the after quarters did not realize what had happened. As Clough recorded, all seemed peaceful. He and first officer Thomas

The Whaling Barque Sharon

16

the

ofMadness

Captain Howes Norris Harlock Smith were on duty on the quarter deck, passing away the rime by strolling up and down in the coolness of the descending night, telling each other yarns. Then, down in the cabin, the bell rang for the steward.

There was no reply. Ir rang again. Still no answer. Clough and Smith looked about the shadowy decks, bur Babcock was nowhere to be found. So Thomas Harlock Smith "s ung out" loudly, demanding to know if the steward was in the bows of the ship. He was answered by the seaman from Newburyport, William Smith, who was called out from the forecastle, "Aye, he's here. " The defiance in William Smith's tone was a warning. With Benjamin Clough close beside him, Thomas Harlock Smith hurried forward. Arriving at the top of the ladder that led down into the forecastle, he called out for Babcock again, to be answered by a chorus of determined voices, saying that the steward "was not comeing up until! he was used better. " The foremast hands had had enough of the captain's brutal treatment of the young black man and were determined to defend him.

This was open rebellion. Unless it was countered swiftly and decisively, control of the ship could be seized by the men.

Clough, instinctively understanding the danger, ran back to the quarter deck. Meeting Norris, he "raid him how things stood."

Norris, white-lipped, his fists clenched, strode grimly forward, yelling the steward's name. Again, the men answered for likewise, was "assisted aft" by the captain and put in handcuffs. After that, it was the turn ofThomas Williams, another New Yorker, who, like Baker and William Smith, was a qualified seaman. Ar the sight of him Captain Norris flew into a paroxysm of rage,

SEA HISTORY I 05, AUTUMN 2003

This was open rebellion. Unless it was countered swiftly and decisively, control ofthe ship could be seized by the men. shrieking that he "co uld hardl y keep his hands off him. " Clough, horrified, saw Norris grab up a hamm er, swing it, and smash it into the sailor's left cheek.

Dazed and bleeding, one hand cradling hi s crushed upper jaw, Tom Wi lliams staggered the rest of the way to the quarter deck, where he, like the others, was shackled. T hen Sterling Taylor, a 21-year-old green hand from Connecticut, was grappled.

T hat done, Captain Norris com manded C lough to "fetch Sam A Negro." T hough Sam uel Leods denied having anything to do with the rebellion, he was handcuffed too.] o hn Moore, a 19-year-old greenhand from N ew York, was the last. T hey had run out of irons, so "the captain gave him A slap in the face and said ti e him up with A piece of spun yarn ."

Nine men were lined up by the mizze n mast, o ne spitting teeth and blood , another hun ched over in dreadful pain: Sam uel Leods, John Witcher, John Allen, John Moore, Jack Baker, Sterling Taylor, William Smith, Thomas Williams, and Geo rge Babcock.

Behind his violent rage, Norris must have been rhinkingclearlyand coldly. F rom his experience on the London Packet, he knew how swiftly control of the crew cou ld be lost. Obviously, Wi lliam Smith had headed the rebellion. He was the man who had co nfronted him with his fists raised; he had been the one with the loudest demands. If William Smith had been ab le to summo n th e crew with his cry of, "lf th ere are any men among you, com e aft!" Norris would have been forced to fl ee ro the safery of his cabin . If he tied up Wi lli am Smith and fl ogged him , though , it co uld trigger a rush to seize the quarter deck, despite th e leveled muske ts . So Norris need ed a scapegoat-a substitute for Wi lliam Smith, who was not, like William Sm ith, a natural leader. Thinking he knew how to find o ne, he turned to the first mate, and said , "Put the steward in the ri gging."

Geo rge Babcock began to blubber. Despite his cryi ng and pl eadin g, he was seized up again-a nd cowardice proved hi s un doing. Cross-examined, he screamed our that it had been Jack Baker who had promised that the men would protect him if he took refuge in the forecastle-Jack Baker!

"And ," wrote C lough, "when he said he was advised by Baker the captain said let him go and Bakerouroflons. " So Babcock

SEA HISTORY l 05 , AUTUMN 2003

was released, and Jack Baker was seized up in his place. The sai lor's pantaloons were taken down , and his buttocks exposed, ready fo r a whipping.

Norris had yet anot her age nda.J ud ging

by Clough's account, the on ly officer who had acted with resourcefulness in the face of rebellion had been Clough himself, the

man yet another twelve lashes.

That done, Norris addressed the others, asking if th ey wanted to pl ea for pardo n"beg off." Utte rl y intimid ated, prepared to go to any lengths to avo id the pain and indigni ry of a flo gging, they all caved in and craved his forgiveness. No rris grud gingly consented-b ut not befo re they had sign ed a written promise that they would "do better for the future. " .t NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: For th e pas t

third mate. Both the first and second mares could have been mu ch less resolute than Norris wo uld have liked, a good reaso n for involving them in th e brutal pun ishment ro come . So Nor ri s ordered Thomas H arl ock Sm ith to ca rry our the flogging.

"The captain ro ld the mate to put it onto him where there was the most fl esh," C lough reco rded. Accord ingly, Thomas Harlock Smith "gave him 2 doze n with 8 part of ya rn, " whi le Jac k Baker shrieked and begged, "Ofering to take his Oath on the Bible that he did not start Mutiny, calling the lord to have mercy o n hi s so ul and promising to d o better. " Norris then ordered the mares to put Witcher in th e rigging. T his time it was Nathan Sm ith's rum. Norris gave the order, "And the Secont Mate gave him A doze n. " T hen, turning to T homas Harlock Sm ith, Captain Norris inquired whether he would like to deliver the next half of the punishm ent, and the first officer took the doub led rope, and dealt the moaning sea-

162 years the derails of this rebellion and its violent aftermath have remained a well-kept secret, confided by third mate C lough to his private journal, and never made public. Yet, when I first read his lon g description, I experienced a nagging sense of deja vu-a strong feeling that I had already read this "secret part of the tragedy" in H erman Melville' sMoby-Dick. Trawling through the great novel, this gut feeling was co nfirm ed. In chapter 54, "The TownHo 's Story," a similar uprising is described, in which Steelkilt, a seaman from Buffalo, New York, is hit on the cheek with a hammer. Indeed , I began to wo nder if so me part of Melville's insp iration for this chapter was gossip he had hea rd about the failed revolt on the Sharon.

T he timing is right. In December 184 1, when this rebellion rook place, Herman Melville was crew on the Sharon's sister ship, Acushnet. Four months later, in April 1842, when the Sharon made her next landfall, at the island of Rorum a, William Smith, the ringleader of the fa iled rebellion, and Thomas Williams, his face scarred forever from the blow of Norris's hammer, ran away from the ship. In 1843, when Melville was sailing the eastern Pacific on the whaleship Charles & Henry, Williams and Smith were sailing out ofTalcahuano, Chileand, according to "The Town-Ho's Story," the narrator heard the yarn in "the thick-gilt riled piazza" of a South American inn. Ir is also likely that Melville heard the tale on board ship , during one of the mid-sea visits that whalemen called "gamming."

Ir is impossible to prove that he was inspired by the tale, of course, but nevertheless it remains a most intriguing speculation .

17

The Patrols of Germany's Captain Hans Georg Hess Youngest Combat U-Boat Skipper of World War II

by Harry Cooper y the time ofU-995 's launch at the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Hamburg in September 1943, the era of formidable U-boat attacks had passed. Before it had even been commissioned, the submarine suffered its first hits during air strikes by Allied bomber Aight squadrons.

Forthenextsixmonths, U-995 ran through sea trials in the Baltic to prepare both vessel and crew for action in the Atlantic theater.

The Allied invasion of France, and Germany's resulting loss of U-boat bases on the Bay ofBiscay, made it necessary to send U-995 to the Arctic Ocean instead, using Narvik, Norway, as a submarine base.

The U-boat sustained its first serious attack in Norwegian waters. A British aircraft Aew out of the clouds at dawn, passed the forecasing and dropped bombs on the moving target below. Surprisingly, U-995 remained fit to submerge and escaped to a safe depth. Enemy planes followed the submarine's track for hours, but she managed to make Christiansand's outer harbor without further incident. After repairs, U995 put to sea in July l 944 to take part in the last big group activiry between Greenland and Jan Mayen Island against an Allied convoy bound for Russia. More than twenry-five German submarines were assigned to patrol, detect, and attack the ships.

This plan failed. Strong Allied aerial observation forced the boats to stay underwater, only emerging for short times to charge batteries and ventilate. The U-boats never found the convoy. The group suffered heavy losses, and the surviving submarines limped to base with considerable damage to their fleet. U-995 put in for repairs at a Trondheim shipyard, and it was soon ready for sea.

This time U-995 set an easterly course carrying mines instead of torpedoes. Its task was to mine the Barents Sea, south of Novaja Semlja, which was free of ice only during the summer months. In waters too shallow to submerge and dangerously close to Russian bases on both shores, the crew pushed their deadly cargo out through torpedo rubes. After completing its assignment, which lasted a fortnight, the U-boat returned to its Norwegian base unscathed.

Enemy planes and warships made things difficult for U-995 on her next mission, which lasted only a few days. When the sub returned to Narvik having failed to locate

B

18

her targets, the captain, Walter Kohntopp, was relieved of dury. Deemed insufficiently aggressive, he was busted from Kapitanleu mant (Lt. Commander) to ordinary seaman. He was reassigned as an anti-aircraft gunner on a minesweeper. Oberleutnant Hans Georg Hess rook command. He had just turned twenry-one.

U-995 was positioned near the Barents Sea in mid-October 1944. A target to the

Captain Hans Georg Hess in 1944

north gradually came into view, a convoy en route to Russia. It was guarded by an aircraft carrier, and possibly a heavy cruiser with more warships on its southern flank.

Aircraft flying above the ships could be seen easily from the submarine. Hess navigated U-995 five miles ahead of the convoy and, having reached a good position for an attack, submerged. At its top speed underwater, the submarine tried, unsuccessfully, to come within torpedo range. The surface ships changed course, removing themselves from danger of imminent attack, and left the submarine far astern. Hess, monitoring nearby wireless traffic, had to submerge his vessel when airplanes flew overhead. The following day the Germans saw the smoke trails of distant ships against the horizon for a short time, but they could not get in range of the convoy a second time.

Two weeks later, U-995 was en route to Murmansk when the wireless operaror detected radar emissions and the hydrophone operator reported screw noises . Through darkness of night, the silhouette of a destroyer came into view within three thousand meters-then one, two, three more.

An Allied fleet searching for the U-boat had apparently detected it on the surface by radar. Parachute flares shot up, then slowly descended, illuminating the night sky. The destroyers could not ferret out U-995 , and

An Allied.freighter begins her descent to the bottom after a U-boat torpedo strikes amidships.

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

when an armed coastal freighter followed rheir rrack wirh loaded guns, irs escort joining rhe hunt. Before rhe freighter could fire, U-995 gor off a torpedo which splir the ship in rwo.

In February 1945, Hess led a daring attack in rhe Finnish harbor of Kirkeness, occupied by Russia. During the night, he entered the fjord with flooded tanks and only the conning tower breaking the surface. Silently, he held station, resting on the sea floor, beside the shipping lane. In an attempt to gain the harbor during daylight, U-995 touched bottom in shoal waters . Wirhour identifiable damage, but listing hard to one side, rhe sub stayed aground close to shore, delica rely balanced on rocks wirh a steep dropoff. In serious dangerofslidingdown and damaging screws as well as rhe hydroplanes, Hess could free rhe boar easily if he Coast Guardsmen on the deck ofthe USCG Cutter Spencer watch surfaced. Bur directly exposed to harbor in the explosion ofa depth charge in the hunt for U-boats in 1943. gli rrering sunshine, depth charges until morning and remained rhis acrion would have been suicide. He nearby for days. Meanwhile, the convoy U- waited until dark. The boar rhen carefully emerged underecred and torpedoed rhe 995 was seeking escaped.

Their next tour offered the chance to only ship ar rhe pier, visible ar a distance of attack a small combat convoy. In sighr of rwo thousand meters. Afterward, rhey land, U-995 sank one freighter and dam- slipped away to rhe open sea and relative aged rwo others. At Christmas, it rescued safety. Only a few days larer, Hess was rwo Russian mariners from the icy waters awarded rhe Knights Cross and learned of after their vessels were destroyed. The crew rhis decoration by radio communication.

Hess spied his next victim ar the enand survivors developed a mutual affection, and many on board felt uneasy about trance to Murmansk-an escort vessel of a putting them ashore as prisoners of war to squadron of ships on patrol. This hit was followed by a long depth-charge pursuit, face an uncertain future.

The submarine crew nearly brought on especially dangerous in shallow coastal watheir own demise during this same cruise. ters. The German submarine maintained An acoustic torpedo's steering mechanism an advantage because of the inherent inacfailed as rhe U-boat arracked an escort east curacies of ASDIC (Anti-Submarine Deof Murmansk. Instead of heading for the tection Investigation Committee) . Allied enemy, it turned, setting a course for rheir es co rt vessels relied on AS DI Cs, also known own vessel. The crew watched its path in as sonar, during the war for underwater horror under stopped engines until, after detection .

On 14 March 1945, U-995 set out for several stressful minutes, the torpedo traveled in big circles and exploded at the end its last patrol, with orders to strike a convoy of its run , a safe distance away. U-995's approaching from the west. Hess posisailors narrowly escaped another close call tioned U-995 in range of the ships' course their plan backfired as flares now exposed rheir own positions. The first torpedo left U-995's Tube 5 ar midnight; immediately afterward, a second shot. Alarm! Dive!

The hard crash of a powerful detonation boomed throughout the submarine -a torpedo hir! The hydrophone room reported screw noises of just three destroyers. Two more explosions followed. They could assume that the other rin fish reached its rarger. After a short pause to ger rheir bearings, rhe rest of rhe destroyers dropped

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

ro rhe east and engaged just east of Murmansk, close to shore. The German torpedoes struck rwo Liberty ships, destroying one. Following this tour, the boat pur in to shipyard at Trondheim to be equipped with a snorkel (an air funnel which allowed the use of diesel engines while submerged). Thus, when Germany surrendered, U-995 was not ready to set course for England with the remaining Uboat arm in "Operation Deadlighr." After 113 days in command and 5 patrols, Hess finally surrendered his vessel to Norway in May 1945. He and his crew were interned until their return to Germany. Captain Hess spent a year in Norwegian captivity.

Today, U-995 rests on shore, open to the public, in Laboe, Germany, as a memorial to all those who shipped out and did nor return. .:t

U-995 's final berth in Laboe, Germany

COURTESY HISTORIC NAVAL SI lll'S ASSOCIATION

Captain Hess is a member ofShark hunters, the world's only multinational submarine history organization. Harry Cooper is Executive Director. Along with dozens ofother Uboat veterans, US Navy submarine vets and veterans ofother submarines share their memories in the monthly KTB Magazine published by Sharkhunters. For information about this group, send a self-addressed envelope to Sharkhunters, PO Box 1539-A C20, Hernando FL 34442; e-mail them at: sharkhunters@earthLink.net or visit the web site www.sharkhunters.com.

Captain Hess visits his former command

19

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Keeping Maritime Traditions Alive: Woodcarver Joseph Uranker Restores Eagle's Figurehead and Sternboard

by Mark Alan Lovewell

T

he US Coast Guard Barque Eagle may not hail from Martha's Vineyard, but she carries a fine example of Vineyard craftsmans hip on her stern .

Last year, she underwent a significant refit in a Baltimore drydock. While shipwrights strengthened her hull, the Coast Guard also recognized a need to refurbish her more aesthetic qualities. They commissioned a traditional woodcarver to replace the stern board and restore her figurehead.

Joseph Uranker is a Martha's Vineyard woodcarver and last year comp leted his work on the famous ship .Today, her name "Eagle" is prominent, visible and legib le, carved in a large mahogany timber. T he brass letters that spelled out her name before were too similar in color to the varnished mahogany background, making them virtually illegible at any distance.

Today, ten-inch high letters of gold leaf contrast against black. Hand cut and carved

small, coal- mining town in rural Pennsylvania, Uranker, 53, tooktowoodcarvingas a boy. H e started by making linoleum cuts to make Christmas cards. Carving cam e early; his affection for the sea cam e later. In high school, he recalls whir rling relief carvings of local scenery on drawers and gun cabinets. "I did it in the basement of o ur house in Moon Run. I had quite a few little hand tools. I kept them in a cigar box.

There wasn't a lot going on in my town; no television, no shopping. I spent a lot of my rime by myself developing my skills. "

While attending Carlow Co llege he worked, at times, as a carpenter an d framer.

In 1978 he worked as a union carpenter fo r Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh restorin g quality-built furniture-a job he held until 199 1. H e lea rn ed wood restoration from the best, wo rking o n fu rnirnre crafted by the late Geo rge Nakash ima, an artist and craftsman , internationally acclaimed for his work in hardwoods such as black walnu t.

In 1984, UrankerandhiswifeFra ncesca An n e srarted spe nd ing summ e rs on

Eagle's sternboard - a whole new look

by a ski ll ed craftsman, they display the talents of a man who has earn ed hi s reputation as a traditional maritime artist.

Urankercut the new letters in reliefand coated them with go ld leaf to stand o ut against a high-gloss black stern board, measuring ten feet long and weighin g more than 150 pounds. The ch isels that carved them are nearly as old as the ship itself. "I am willing to wage r that the original German artisans who carved the srernboard used the same era tools I used," Uranker says.

Uranker also restored and gilded the large gold-leaf figurehead at the bow, much deteriorated after years of exposure to the sea and weather. Ir had years-ago dulled bur now shimmers in the sun light.

Born far from the sea in Moon Run, a

SEA HISTORY l 05, AUTUMN 2003

Uranker at work in his Martha's Vineyard wood shop 21

Eagles gilded figurehead now shines brilliantly after Urankers handiwork

COURTESY JOSEP H URANKER

Martha's Vineyard. T hey loved the ocean and immediately rook to the island communiry. In June 1991, they moved permanently to the Vineyard so that he could dedica te himself entirely to woodcarving and wood-related crafts. Righraway, people rook an interest in Uranker's carved eagles and other carved wild animals. He made sophisticated sea chests, following patterns that dare back to the age ofsail. His first big job was for the Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven, where the maritime heritage of the communiry is kept alive in many ways. Black Dog's owner, Robert Douglas, built and operates the 108-foor topsail schooner Shenandoah and a 90-foor pilot schooner, Alabama. Uranker carved the wi ngs for the Alabama's transom .

Meanwhile, orders for Uranker's carved eagles came from across the co untry. His exhibitions at a Cape Cod gallery, Kahn

An example ofone ofUranker's popular goldleaf carved eagles

Antiques in C hatham, is where Uranker Uranker's woodshop is a converted believes his work came to the artention of single-car garage next door to his house. both collectors and those responsible for H e and his wife live in Oak Bluffs, a fivethe US Coast G uard flagship's restoration. minute drive to the water and to the East Most anyone can whirrle- ir's easy to C hop Lighthouse on Telegraph Hill. Cusget a piece of wood an d a Eagles figurehead before Uranker's restoration sharp knife. Uranker's gifr as an arrist, however, stems from fortyyears of effort. H e would sooner carve a fresh piece of wood than watch television.

Ir is quiet work. T he chisels in his shop are so sharp Uranker can shave hai r off the back of his arm without effort.

"I rarely use a mallet. Before I start, I am big on using drawings. You have to visualize what yo u want," he explains. He never plunges his chisels into th e wood. "I don' t take our romers and tourists frequently pull into the large pieces, " he says. Watching Uranker drive way-dropping by to see how work is like watching a perso n play a mu- Uranker's projects are progress ing. sical instrument. He holds his chisel with In the shop, rows of German and Swiss two hands. One hand holds the handle, the steel chisels are displayed inside a handsecond applies pressure on the blade. H e somely crafted case. Gold-leafed eagles, creates rhythm with each cur, and at rimes wooden signs, and a recently completed sea each shaving looks alike. "You learn pa- chest deco rate the room . Wood shavings tience when yo u do this. You hear it often cover his cable and floor, bur Uranker said, always keep your tools sharp. It is a confides he is usually persnickery about dull blade that will cut you, not a sharp cleanliness. This suits the small workspace one. When yo u have a dull blade you lose well. "I can work for hours without a control," he says. break," U ranker says. His wife often brings

PHOTO BY MA RK ALAN LOVEWELL

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SEA HISTORY 105 , AUTUMN 2003

him food when he becomes so absorbed in his craft rhar he forgers ro ear.

Uranker resrored a 19th-century figurehead for rhe Edgartown Yacht C lub a few years ago. In 2001, Eunice Kennedy Shriver commissioned him ro carve an eagle for her son-in-law as a Christmas present. The recipient, of course, was her daughter Maria's husband, Ar nold Schwarzenegger.

Lasr year, the US Coast Guard contacted Uranker regarding the Eagle's ship carvings. He was recommended by the National Woodcarvers Association. "They contacred me on June 18, 2002. I was asked ro go ro Fon Lauderdale ro survey the ship. My wife and I went down for the weekend. The ship was in port," he recalls.

"I wrote up a report of what was wrong.

T hey wanted me ro recarve rhe srernboard, rope and dolphins rhat run along the srern."

Builr in 1936 at the Blohm and Voss Ship yard in Germany, the ship was launched wirh carved dolphins adorning her rransom-a sign of luck from rhe god Poseidon . Uranker scarred work Ocrober 2002. Eagle was in drydock in Curtis Bay, near Balrimore. H e retrieved the pieces of rhe old sternboard, much of ir rorten and decayed . A good portion was patched with body filler.

Uranker started with a huge piece of laminated mahogany measuring ten feet long and six-ro-eight inches rhick. A lot of wood had robe raken off, for rhe stern board wraps around the curves of the transom . In retrospect, Uranker feels he did nor give himself enough time for the job. Ofren he worked 14-hour days-curring, rhen sanding. He and his wife recall how even in the winrer's cold , much of the work was done ourdoors. He used a sander ro bring much of rhe wood down ro rhe proper dimensions ro march the old one. Snow in the yard around the woodshop became discolored bythesenlingsawdust, taking on the color of mahogany.

Uranker finished resroring the twentyfoot-rall figurehead in December at the Baltimore shipyard. He completed all the pieces for the stern by late January 2003 SEA HISTORY 105 , AUTUMN 2003

will be on her. When yo u do something like rhis, ir is a great privilege. " ,.!, For more information on Joseph Uranker's work, see www.jpuwoodcarver.com.

His work is displayed at Willoughby Art Gallery and Edgartown Scrimshaw, both in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard and at Kahn Nautical Antiques & Maritime Works of Art in Chatham, Massachusetts.

USCG Barque Eagle and installation rook two days the nexr month. Assisted by a team of shipyard workers, Uranker climbed fifry feet up the scaffolding ro posirion himself directly under rhe counter. The work was secured to the transom , bolted to the bulkhead from inside.

"This is a great honor. I know that many years from now, the vessel will be sailing and representing our country, and my work

USCG Barqu e Eagle's homeport is at the USCG Academy, New London, CT. At 295feet in length and carrying over 20, 000 squarefeet ofsail, Eagle serves as a training vessel and ocean-going classroom for USCG cadets. For more information, see www.cga.edu or call 1-800-883-USCG. Mark Alan Lovewell is a Martha's Vineyard writer and photographer. A fall-time journalist for the Vineyard Gazette, he has been covering the waterfront for 2 0 years.

Sendyour 9reetif19S in true nauticaf So/CeJ with NMHS's 2003 fw(iday card!

This scene by marine artist William G . Mull er shows a 2-stack tug on the Rondout Creek, Hudson River, NY. 1923.

Greeting: "With every good wish for the Holidays and for the coming year."

Also available as a blank note card.

Sales of these cards benefit the National Maritime Historical Society.

Box of 10: $ 13 .95, or $ 12.55 for NMHS members. All orders add $4 s/h .

Specify greeting or plain cards. Send check or credit card information to :

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

1-800-221-NMHS

(6647) ext.

o 23

ave you ever wanted to own your very own boat? You could take it down to the water on a warm summer morning and paddle it out to go fishing or to explore islands. The Six-Hour Canoe is designed for you to build in one day and take out on the water the next. This step-by-step book shows you how to construct a 16-foot plywood craft, seal the seams, paint it your favorite color and even how to make your own paddles . Thousands of kids across America are building these boats in schools (and at home in the garage) and then paddling them out onto the water. So get ready to saw, hammer, paint and paddle with your fami ly and friends. Oh, and ALWAYS wear a PFD. Find Building the Six Hour Canoe at www.tillerbooks.com

The Titanic's Other Survivors en of the lifeboats that provided some of Titanic's passengers the only refuge on that cold dark night of 15 April 1912, might still exist, overlooked and neg lected, in a dusty warehouse in Brooklyn, New York . The lifeboats were delivered to Manhattan by the SS Carpathia, the sh ip that rescued the Titanic's survivors . After the boats were un loaded Photo shot from Carpathia April 15, 1912

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from Carpathia, the US Coast Guard inventoried the contents . Then the Lane Lifeboat Company towed them to a ware house in Brooklyn, to be resold for use on other ocean li ners. Apparently, ship owners showed little interest in purchasing a lifeboat from the ill-fated Titanic (sai lors are a superstitious lot) and the boats were never sold.

According to John Eaton, author of numerous books on the Titanic and former president of the Titanic Historical Society, twe lve lifeboats had been salvaged by Carpathia. A thirteenth lifeboat, discove red adrift with three dead passengers, was retrieved and then re leased agai n at sea .

One of the twelve acqu ired by Lane Lifeboat Company may have been used as a floating duck blind for a hunting club on Long Island, and one may have been displayed in a dingy Brooklyn tavern in the 1930s. The rest of these historic boats might still be collecting dust in the upper floors of the former Lane Lifeboat Company's warehouse in Brooklyn .

A Blast from the Past cannon from the wreck of a Civil War gunship nearly fired the final shot of the Civi l War... 100 years too late. In 1863, the Union gunship USS Cairo was sent on a mission to seek out and destroy Confederate mines anchored in the Yazoo River near Vicksburg, Mississippi Instead of destroying the mines, however, the Cairo struck two of them simultaneously and sank in less than 15 minutes. The hull of the gunship was uncovered in 1959, after having been buried for nearly 100 years on the muddy river bottom. Sa lvors retrieved one of her well-preserved cannon and brought it to the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg, where it was carefully cleaned, oiled and put on display. For more than ten years, th ou-

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trave ling time bomb in the muse um . Th en curators examin ing the can non discovered that it was sti ll loaded and ready to fire enough active black powder to blast a hole through the

America Invaded in 1942!

Some of the incendiary devices buried by the German invaders.

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uring the early months of World War U German THIS IS YOUR RE'lPONSIBILITY raiders landed on American beaches in New York and %..ltltbnaMnU..lilltJWrpla«oflNll-kto...U,,.. ud •MMf that TOTAL blacbut c-n boi ac:i:ompllet.ed Florida to attack America's capacity to make war. Armed oa wUW. lilllts aad #UCh lulilt llslilll 11 IN "111Y. fro. IN with innovative weapons and detailed maps, they buried TRIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY ~~~JI!!~~~~ chests of supplies on the beaches and then set out to destroy All U,-hll1.ad.S,na•11.UbllMMIOl/l.TE LYWackff011l munitions and aluminum factories across the country. ..,-Uefwarlllnr•lru.L Around the same time, Japanese warships attacked the Ellwood fuel storTHIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY By i:A.RLRILEY, Mayer. age depot near Goleta, California (the craters are still visible), struck a military post and launched a plane on a bombing raid near the town of U.S. Army warning Port Orford, Oregon. The German commandoes and the Japanese aircraft December 23, 1941 had been shipped to America aboard submarines specially modified for these missions. Much of the information about such attacks was classified "secret" during the war so as not to alarm American civilians. la ONE MINl!l'E

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Was Squanto an English Sailor?

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y many standards, Squanto (Tisquantum), the native Pawtucket Indian who helped the Mayflower's Pilgrims survive their first year in the New World, was more English than some of the Pilgrims. While some of the Mayflower's Pilgrims (Separatists} had never lived in England, Squanto had spent a good deal of his life in Plymouth, England, a port city southwest of London. In 1605, Squanto, then a young teenager, had been taken from his tribal home in America to live as a servant in a castle in Plymouth. Squanto worked for the castle's owner and acted as an interpreter for English sea captains .

He finally returned to his native village in America just months before the Pilgrims arrived there in 1620. And having made ocean voyages to and from England, Spain, Newfoundland, and Maine, Squanto could claim more sea time than many of the sailing crew aboard the Mayflower.

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ave you ever wanted to just stroll out onto a calm pond, amble over to an island, run cross a river, or just w alk to shore from your boat? Some innovative students are trying to invent a way to do just that. Walk-on-Water contests challenge students to design a means to al low people to wa lk across w ater in a safe and timely manner. The contestants are judged on speed and in novation . If you thin k you could invent a better w ay to march over a marsh or strut across a stream then get going and contact: Dr. Leonard Perry at laperry@sandiego.edu

Columbus Crosses the Ocean Again?

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panish scientists from the University of Granada hope to use our newest science to solve one of maritime history's greatest mysteries. Two bronze boxes buried under the floor of a church in Seville, Spain, might contain the bones of Christopher Columbus and his brother Hernando. Before he died in Spain in 1506, Columbus requested that he be buried in the New World and in 1537 his body was moved to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean . It was moved to Cuba in 1795 and then back to Spain in 1898. However, a box of bones inscribed with the words " Illustrious and enlightened male Don Cristobal Colon " was discovered under the altar of the cathedral of Santo Domingo. Is it possible that the wrong bones were sent to Spain and that the body of Columbus still rests in the New World? DNA testing of the remains in Seville and of those in Santo Domingo should prove conclusively where Columbus's body ended its travels.

Scientists also hope to determine whom his parents might have been and even if Columbus really was Italian.

he Mississippi River brings to mind the endured a terrifying descent over rapids, was threatened by a war party from the Chicksaw tribe image of majestic steamboats rolling lazily along from town to river town. Yet the very and then, before dawn on 16 December 1811, they first steamboat ever to attempt a passage on the awoke to the sound of the earth lite ra lly being torn apart. The main force of the largest earthquake ever Miss issippi almost didn't survive its remarkable voyage. The 116-foot-long recorded in craft, named the New America was conOrleans, was designed in centrated almost 1811 by Robert Fulton with directly under the funding from Robert spot the New Livingston. Four years earlier Orleans had chothese two men had coopersen to anchor for ated on a project that prothe night. Large duced the first successful islands, sma ll steamboat on the Hudson towns and comRiver. Their attempt to test a plete forests disapMississippi peared down the River steamOne of Robert Fulton's early Mississippi steamboats river as the New boat was a trial indeed. Under the Orleans rode out the tempest in midstream. After the quake subsided and the river settled on its eerie glow of a comet, the builders launched the experimencourse, the steamboat continued to feel its way on tal craft in August of 1811 , near down the Mississ ippi. On 10 January 1812, the Pittsburgh . Nicholas Roosevelt, New Orleans pul led up to the public wharf at New Orleans, Louisiana. Fulton, Livingston, and ancestor to two presidents, commanded the New Orleans Rooseve lt had conquered the Mississippi River "---'--"""'--'"" throughout its 2300-mile voyage. with their fire-powered craft and opened a new era The great quake was cen- Roosevelt's pregnant wife insistof trade, travel and exploration in the American tered near New Madrid. ed on making the entire journey West. Plu s, during the voyage, the captain's wife with him. In just the first few weeks the crew delivered a baby boy!

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hat did humankind's very first watercraft served as platforms for science and discovery and have rescued countless survivors from shipwrecks, look like? The first rustic vessel confloods and deserted islands . structed by our prehistoric ancestors The passe ngers and crew of the ship Medusa, was probably made of tw o logs lashed toget her by a vine (one log wou ld be a log, not a boat) . Th is wrecked near the coast of Africa in 1816, contwo-log craft could be called a raft, and each addi- structed a ma keshift liferaft from parts of the ir vestional log las hed on wou ld lend stability and offer sel. One hundred fifty hopefu l people boarded this more room for passengers and their goods . Rafts crude raft but only ten men survived the two weeks of storms, violence, and even cannibalism have continued to serve as some of our most functional (although not always prettiamong the castaways. l'r~~-..:.:-_;; In 1947, Thor Heyerdah l, a est) w atercraft, and have contributed to all Norwegian explorer, built a balsa w ood areas of our maritime heritage . raft, named Kon-Tiki, and sailed it Rafts carried America's early settlers across the Pacific in an attempt to (with their goods and animals) along the prove that ancient peoples in South rivers throughout the frontier. Before the America could have populated the arrival of the Europeans, Inca kings transported their hordes of gold Polynesian Islands.

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Courageous Calvin Seaman First Class Ca lvin Graham, stationed aboard the battleship South Dakota during World War 11, earned the respect of his shipmates, a reputation for bravery under fire, and a Purple Heart medal during the Battle of Santa Cruz in the South Pacific on 26 October 1942. Though wounded by enemy shrapnel and still under attack by Japanese aircraft-(the South Dakota was fending off kamikazes while the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown was sinking nearby)-Graham fearlessly stayed on deck and pulled other wounded sailors from danger. However, he was soon stripped of his medal, thrown in the brig, and then discharged from the Navy' What happened? His commanding officers discovered something his shipmates didn't know-Calvin was only 12 years old .

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Kid Adventurer Are all Arctic explorers grizzled old guys, bent to the wind, struggling against a blizzard, determined to stand on the North Pole or die? Not David Putnam. In the summer of 1926, 14-year-old David was invited to join the crew of a wooden sailing ship, the Effie M. Morrissey, for an expedition to explore the islands near the coast of Green land above the Arctic Circle. Part of his job on board was to keep a detailed journal of his adventures and to then publ ish it as a book when he returned . Late one night the ship ran hard aground upon an unchart........ ed rock ledge and David was tossed from his bunk.

After repairing the sh ip, the crew encountered icebergs and walrus'--+----'-.----'-=-!'= es as well as abandoned stone and whalebone ig loos more than 1000 years old. They stumbled upon one sma ll island inhabited only by dogs. This "Dog Island" was where the local people kept their "work dogs" during the summer months. For David, the best part of the t rip was getting to meet local Green lander teenagers (both Inuit and

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Danish kids) and exchange gifts. By t he end of the voyage he had two comp lete outfits of Eskimo clothing . True to his task, David returned home to write a series of very popular books about his adventures. He learned to fly from the famous aviator Ame lia Earhart (his stepmother) and went on to command a bomber during WW II. The Effie M. Morrissey still sai ls today with kids and adults, continuing her voyages of discovery. The ship (now called the Ernestina) sails from New Bedford, Massachusetts with students just like David . Read David Goes to Greenland and then contact: www.ernestina .org

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Ocean Liner Mystery on the Prairie

Rushing home from school, 13-year-old Jared Allen decided to cut through an old cemetery near his home in rural Illinois. As he dodged among the gravestones and headed toward the back gate, he litera lly ran into a fascinating piece of maritime history. An old stone in one corner of the graveyard had been inscribed with the words, "In memory of Frank B. Tesson and his wife Alice who were lost when the Lusitania was submarined in the Irish Sea May 7.

1915." The couple were two of the 128 Americans drowned when the British liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat, near Ireland, during World War I. But what was this gravestone doing out here in a midwestern prairie "' town? Jared began to investigate ~ the lives of the Tessons. He is ,g '----=----..:: studying old newspaper accounts at the local library and he thinks he may have located the house where the Tesson's lived. W hy did they need to travel to England from Illinois during wartime? Why did they specifica lly book passage aboard RMS Lusitania, a ship that was sched uled to steam directly throug h an area known to be patrolled by German submarines?

What kind of cargo had been loaded aboard this luxurious passenger liner that caused the ship to be targeted by the German Navy? Jared is determined to uncover the answers .

Sea History for Kids is sponsored by the JAMES A. MACDONALD FOUNDATION, Questions? Write to: David Allen david@seahistory.org.

~~ THE

HISTORY CHANNEL

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MARINE ART

join us for a tour ofthis summer's marine art exhibits from the West Coast, to the Great Lakes, and on to Virginia. Some museums focused on their own collections, while others brought together historic or contemporary art from distant places and times. We are merely giving you a taste of some of the great exhibitions marine art buffs enjoyed through the summer. Two ofthe exhibits can still be seen (Michigan Maritime Museum and The Mariners ' Museum), while the others are already history.

Mariners and Mandarins: Seafari119 and the Arts of the China Trade

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he Kelton Foundation provided a rare look at some of the superb paintings and artifacts in its collection this summ er. T he exhibit b rought visitors to rwo San Diego museums-the Maritime Museum 's tall ship Star of India and the downtown gallery of the Museum of Co ntemporary Art. Arti fac ts at the maritime museum foc used o n the histo ri cal and maritime aspects of the West's merchant trade with C hin a, from the 16th century to the era of the tea clippers, feat uring trade cargoes, ship portraits, charts and navigational instruments. M eanwhile, the art museum featured the mo re delicate cultural and artisti c as pects of th e exchange, including decorative and fine arts designed specifically for th e Ame rican and European markets-paintings, furniture, procelain, silver, textiles, games and ivory carvings . ln additi o n to its major co llections in maritim e art, nautical instruments, Australian Aboriginal art, C una Indian culture, and South and Central Pacific cultures, the Kelton Fo undation funds and parti cipates in maritim e-related scientific expeditions with archaeo logists, entomologists, o rnithologists and marine bio logists.

An ornately carved dragon urn, c. 1800 (Š2003 The Kelton Foundation)

THE KELTON FO UNDATION, 27 16 Ocean Park Blvd., Ste. 3006, Santa Monica CA 90405; MARITIME MUSEUM OF SA DIEGO, 1492 North H arbor Drive, San Diego CA 9210 1; M USEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, 1001 Kettner Blvd., San Diego CA 92 101

Portrait of the American Ship Vancouver Entering Hong Kong. This 1851 painting shows the Vancouver

crossing skysails above royals. This is an early example ofa packet-ship-type hull with the experimental taller rigs that would soon power the great clipper ships made famous in the China tea trade. (Š2003 The Kelton Foundation) SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

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San Francisco A Sesquicentennial Commemoration by john Stobart, The Gold Rush Harbor as Deserted Vesssels Began to A mass of!Yerba Buena Cove in 1849. (oil, 30x5B ': 2003)

lothAtmua( Coos Bay MaritimeArt Exhi6it To mark irs l Orh year, rhe lOrh Annual Coos Bay Mari rime Arr Exhibir, held ar rhe Coos Arr Museum , fearuredJohn Stobart alo ng wirh eighr of rhe previously fearured artisrs. A total of forty-five West Coast artists displayed fifty-seven juried works. The opening festivities included a receprion ar rhe Coos Arr Museum, followed by a banquet, an artists' breakfast, a rugboat ride in the Coos Bay harbor area, and an arrisrs' picnic. During the picnic several of the artisrs were asked rheir view of marine art and art in general.

"Maririme art is alive and kicking and very successful and parricularly acrive on rhe Wesr Coasr," scared John Srobarr. Bur mosr agreed rhar inreresr in and sales of art in general have been affecred by a negarive economy. Bill Lowe, an arrisr associared wirh the Vall ejo Gallery in Newport Beach, California, sees "keen interest in clients seeking the work of deceased maririme artists" as investmenrs but feels that the republic may be missing opporrunities for quality work by contemporary artisrs . Louis Srephen Gadal, a successful watercolorist from West Los Angeles gives credir to currenr artisrs, including Stobart, Don Demers, Christopher Blossom and the !are David Thimgan, for keeping maritime history alive through rheir work. He also credits organizations such as the American Society of Marine Artists and museums such as Mystic Seaport for focusing on our marine heritage, and those that have built historic ship replicas or rescued and restored h istoric ships.

Stobart feels strongly rhat basic skills in art musr be provided the nexr generarion of artists-one of rhe reasons he supports rhe Lyme Academy College of Arr in Connecricur-and rhar on-site painring should be a primary pan of each artisr's own unique "signarure" Overall, there was much optimism and excitemenr surrounding rhis exhibir. The camaraderie of rhe Coos Bay group, reflected in the excellence of the exhibit does make ir appear rhar maririme arr will indeed be an importanr and continuing presence on the Wesr Coasr. Many will be attending rhe American Society of marine Artisrs meerings ro be held for rhe firsr rime on rhe Wesr Coasr, 24-26 Ocrober 2003 in Carmel, California.

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SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

The artist, Abijah E. Ketchum, captures the mood ofan 1880s summer sunset at South Haven, Michigan . The Lighthouse was constructed of wood in 1871. A number of Local people ofthe period are represented. The woman fishing on the pier is the artist's wife. Captain James S. Donahue, US Lighthouse Keeper at South from 1874 to 1909, is the man with crutches visible in front of the Lighthouse.

The schooner sailing out ofthe piers is Jessie Winters and the passenger steamship arriving from the southwest is C ity of Kalamazoo, built in South Haven. The Reverend Ketchum was a Methodist minister in South Haven, Michigan, from 1881 to 1884, and a painter known for his Lakescapes. (oil on canvas, courtesy, Michigan Maritime Museum)

SaiCiJl9 Tliro"91i Time: Great Lakes MaritimeArt The Michigan Maritime Museum is offering a panoramic view of the evol ution of G reat Lakes ships and how they have been depicted in art over the years. T he art and artifacts, selected from the museum's own collections, included oil paintings, watercolors, lithographs, sketches, wood carvings, ship models, rope wo rk and even fab ri c art. T he artists whose work is on exhibit include Bertha Jacques, Remy C hampt, James C lary, David Hamburg, Dave Davis, Frank Irey, Steve French, Patrick Kelly, Howard Sprague and Mary Lou Ridley-Richards. The exhibit will be open through March 2004.

MICHIGAN MARITIME MUSEUM, 260 Dyckman Aven ue, South Haven MI 49090; 269 637-8078; web site: www.MichiganMaritimeMuseum.org.

This historic promotional painting produced by the Meyercord Co., Chicago, features the Graham & Morton Line sidewheel passenger steamship City of C hicago, c. 1905. This vessel was built in 1890 for passenger and freight service between Chicago and St. Joseph, Michigan.

After a mid-Lake fire in 1914, she was rebuilt and renamed City of Sr. Joseph, retiring in 1929. (Courtesy Michigan Maritime Museum)

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

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The work ofFitz H ugh Lane (1804-1865), described as America's "first native marine painter of real stature " by historian j ohn Wilmerding, is distinguished by the artist's accuracy and detail, and often encompasses his fascination with the cool, radiant atmosphere of

ReJTections of tlie Sea

the New England coast. This detailed view of Gloucester's inner harbor is an example of Lane's iconic work in luminism. (Inner H arbor, G loucester, Massachuserrs, 1850, oil on canvas, by Fitz H ugh Lane. The Mariners ' Museum)

The wooden paddle steamer Esco rt dominates historic Castle Clinton as she forges past into New York harbor in this painting that combines a straightforward ship portrait and a luminist seascape. (The Steamboat Escort off the Battery, 1863, oil on canvas, by James Edward Buttersworth. The Mariners' Museum)

T he Mariners' Museum is showcasin g its rich collectio n of American and international marine arr. T he exhibit foc uses on three major sryles of marine paintingship porrrairure, narrative painting, and seascapes-by artists who demonstrate powerful co nnections ro rhe strength and majesry of rh e sea coupled with an understanding of rhe ships men built ro cross rhe oceans. The exhibit runs through the end of 2003.

T HE MARINERS' M USEUM, 100 Museum Drive, Newport N ews VA 23606; 757 596-2222; web sire: www.mariner.org

32

SEA HISTORY 105 , AUTUMN 2003

MARINE ART NEWS

The Caniera's Coast

BUY - SELL FREE BOOK CATALOG

•Nautical Books •Ship Models •Marine Art & Antiques

On Line Catalog: www.columbiatrading.com 1 Barnstable Rd ., Hyannis, MA 02601 (508) 778-2929 Fax (508) 778-2922 nautical@capecod.net

"Ho wdee" Onshore, Briar N eck, Gloucester, circa 19 00.

Photograph by Martha H ale H arvey (1862-1949) T he Cape Ann Historical M useum and the Society for the P reservation of N ew England Antiq ui ties are presenting "The Cam era's Coast," an exhibi tion feat uring seventy historic mar itime photographs fro m SPNEA's collection including views by Na thaniel Stebbins, H enry G . Peabody, and Baldw in Coolidge-as well as a selectio n of fo rty pho tographs

by M artha H ale H arvey from the Annisquam Historical Society Collection and the CAHM . M artha H ale Harvey was bo rn to a family involved in bo th seafaring and publishing. In 18 84 she married local artist G eorge W ainwright H arvey, a self-taught marine and landscape painter. T hey traveled throughout Europe where M artha photographed a great many shi ps, fis hermen , and coas tal sce nes . Return ing to Cape Ann , she and her husband opened adj o ining studios in An nisquam .

H arvey's photograp hic negati ves exist primarily as glass plates, m o re than 600 of whi ch are in the CAH M collection ; ano ther 300 or so are m aintained by the AH S. Mos t dare fro m the 1880s to 1920s and provide an artistic and technically proficient po rtrait of Cape An n coastal subjects. (CAHM, 27 Pleasan t St. , G lo ucester MA 01 93 0)

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Clipper Sails the Tall Ships World Peace Cup in Antigua

by Burchenal Green

T

his is Matt's fifth sail on

large sailing ship demands skills that he works to maintain as he trains crew and passengers participating in the sailing experience. in between hauling lines On board, crew and "apprentices" learn to hand, reef, and steer. last April. He used to own a Captain Pruesse and his crew introduce basic seamanship such as sailboat and always dreamed of knot tyi ng, helmsmanship, piloting, and celestial navigation, all making a transAtlantic crossing. while racing other sailing ships.

He admitted, however, that his T he international make-up of crew and passengers adds to the boat was too small and his off- experience. Captain Pruesse's homeport is in Germany. His shore experience inadequate. officers hail from the Ukraine, India, Switzerland, England, Italy, When he learned that a modern and Scotland. Passengers embark from countries aro und the sail ing ship transits the A tlantic in 21 days, h e signed on for his wo rld to take advantage of this unique opportunity. Public first Star Clipper cruise. Underway, he fell down a f1 igh t of stairs announcements are made in English and German. and broke two ribs.

Captain Pruesse is building interest in the Tall Ships Undaunted, he was Race and he anticipates that it will establish itself as a tended to by a ship's yearly event. The race last year only attracted one other physician , allowing tall ship, but he is hopeful other ships will make it a regular him to recover in time part of their spring schedules once it becomes more to return for the Tall known. Of course, the backdrop for the Tall Ships Race is Ships Race and the the famed Antigua Clashands-on sailing. The sic Yacht Regatta-one sailing crew proved exworth a from row seat in cell ent, patient inany year. T he easy odds structors and readily hardly diminished the shared their passion ffi passengers' enthusiasm. ~ for sailing with their ~ Twoshipmatesweremarnew trainees. With each cruise, Matt increases his 3 ried on deck one after;: ,.. noon, and later the bride knowledge and has developed a camaraderie with the :'.l other passengers who return each year. "It is the only ~ won the knot-tying convacation I take," he stated.

8 test making her a double It was Lynn's first vacation in the Caribbean and on Captain Uli Pruesse explains sail tactics. wmner. a sailing ship. From England, armed with a willing In addition to comattitude, she actively participated in most sail operations. The task peting in the races, Star Clipper island-hopped between Antigua, proved more strenuous than she had anticipated, hoisting sails Isles des Saintes, Barbuda, Montserrat, and St. Barts. Our stop larger than she had imagined. "O ne of the best b its, aside from the at Montserrat was a sobering one. Star Clipper was the first ship sailing was in making new fr iends outoffellow to bring tourists there afte r the volStar C lipper heeled to starboard cano erupted in 1995. Today, less shipmates," she said at the end. Sailing on a ship of this size gives you a great feeling. More than half of the 11 ,000 inhabi tants still reside on the island after having so, it gives you a better perception of seagoing life during the age of sail, albeit without the evacuated the capital city of Plymouth hard tack, forecastle berth, and floggings! to safety in the north. Montserrat's volcano still blows rourinely-coatStar Clipper is a 360-foot four-masted barquentine, wh ich sets 36,000 feet of sail. ing the southern half of the island with ash and smoke. From sea you This modern, steel luxury ship with 85 staterooms preserves the spirit of the great clipper can, at times, see the red, burning embers shooting from the volcano's ships that raced across the oceans during the age of sail. Its captain, Uli Pruesse, dedicates crater at night. Montserrat was a fascinating port of call, although each himself to keeping these traditions alive. year Star Clipper changes her itinerHis was the inspiration to include a tall ary. In addition to Antigua, the 2004 ship race as part of the Antigua C lassic Yacht cruise plans to visit Virgin Gorda, Regatta held out of Falmouth Harbor one week each April. Captain Pruesse hopes to Norman Island, Jose Van Dyke, and promote the best of sai ling ship life: character Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, development, discipline to the ship, and cacransit the famo us Si r Francis Drake maraderie amongst shipmates of different naChannel, then alter course for Sc. Martin/St. Maarten and St. Barts. ,t tionalities working toward a common goal. A

34

Star Clipper, he told me

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

NMHS Members, Sail aboard

Star Clipper for the Tall Ships Race & Caribbean Cruise with Captain Uli Pruesse at the

2004 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta April 11-19, 2004 Join fellow NMHS Members and other international voyagers for an incomparable week-long sailing experience. Star Clipper, a modern, fourmasted barquentine, will compete in two races as part of the Tall Ships World Peace Cup at Antigua's 2004 Classic Yacht Regatta. National Maritime Historical Society n1e111bers have the opportunity to participate in sail operations and maneuvers while being part of the scene at one of the world's most revered classic yacht regattas.

Participants work the lines, hoist sails, man the helm, and learn navigation and tactics from the crew and captain. Of course, unlike the salts of days gone by, our members can also soak in the luxury of Star Clipper's elegant dining roo111, library, piano bar, on-deck tropical bar, and two swimming pools.

NMHS i11e111bers may choose to add the April 9-11 weekend to their itinerary in beautiful Marigot, the picturesque seaport on French Saint Martin. This weekend provides the opportunity to develop new seamanship skills participating as deck crew in the St. Maarten 12-Metre Challenge between Dennis Connors's Stars & Stripes, Canada II, and True Nort~vintage An1erica's Cup yachts from the 1968 campaign.

'Tortofa

Contact Bert Klein:

Orleans Tours, 176 Route 6A, P.O. Box 2774, Orleans, MA 02653 1-800-938-8820 or (508) 225-7763 Rates are from $1, 795 upper/lower berth inside cabin to $3,990 for the owner's cabin, per person, based on double-occupancy

National Maritime

S

ome strategically-located ports have loomed large in the memories of seafarers throughout the ages. In the world of ancient Greece, Corinth bridged the narrow peninsula leading to the Pelopennese, with access eastward through the Aegean and westward through the Sea of Corinth . In later centuries, H ong Kong and Sydney each opened the doors to the China and Austral ia trade. A smaller port tucked near the Atlantic edge of the English Channel gained rhe same prominence as a gateway to Britain. In the first millennium B.C., Phoenicians sailed to Falmouth in quest of Comish tin. Later, Romans used it to colonize southwest Britain.

For British sailors, Falmouth was often the port of departure or landfall. Its large harbor became a natural stopping point during the era of commercial sail, when outbound ships went to "Falmouth for orders." Many homeward-bound vessels sailed into Falmouth

36

after months at sea, either to discharge their cargoes, or more frequently, ro awai t new instructions from owners or charterers.

In the 1880s rhe port ranked seco nd in pilorage fees throughout Britain and was rhe base for 25 foreign consuls.

Falmouth is still an important center for shipping bur, today, primarily a mecca for yachtsmen as a starring and finishing point for yacht races and voyages aro und the world. In 1968-1969 it served as both the departure and landfall of Sir Robin KnoxJohnsron' s single-handed circum navigation-the first eve r completed without a port stop. In 1997 Falmouth was the departure for rhe replica of Captain Cooke's Endeavour in its round the world voyage.

Falmouth' s long maritime heritage has been recently enhanced by the construction of the massive new N arional Mari rime M useum in Cornwall, a complement to the National Mari rime Museum in Greenwich. The new museum pools The indoor flotilla is the core ofthe museum '.r exhibits the collections of the Cornwall Maritime Museum with a large number of boars from the National Maritime Museum of Greenwich.

The flotilla, which includes canoes, yachts, rowing boars, dinghies, and power boars, form the core of the museum's exhibits.

Royal involvement starred with rhe Duke of Edinburgh 's unveiling of the foundation stone in 1999. In 2002, Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee Tour made it her first stop while rhe museum was still under construction . Finally, on 14 March 2003, the Duke of York officially opened the museum .

Outside, rhe museum emerges directly from the harbor, set on massive piles and moored in a rower that has wi ndows both at the top and below the water. We headed

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

Museum

'

Cornwall

a tour by Robert and Patricia Foulke down the cower srairs co peer out, spotting some shrimp and crabs igainst the glass. Inside, visitors walk through a large doo r and see four boats suspended from the ceiling and more on th e fl oor, all visible from va rio us angles-there is a ramp climbing up a curved wall resembling a shi 's side. T he design and sec-up of the buildin g itยงel provides an effective atmosphere for visitors co learn the story of boats, their impact on people who used chem , whether for work or pleasure.

T he concept of a museum, located on land chat was once sea, was a challenge welco med by M.J. Long, che architect. A small-boat sailor herself, she immediately felt committed to the proj ect: "It is a belief of mine chat good buildings come out of complicated situations with a lot of co nstraints.

Yo u can settle for a boring building limited by the co nstraints. Or yo u can say chis is an opportuniry to invent something." Planners add, "As well as the main galleries, smaller, intimate spaces house exhibits which explain the mysteries of navigation, boat co nstruction , and cell the stories of Cornwall's marriage to th e sea. Inside visitors can sail model boats whil e outside, the real thing is moored off their pontoons.

From th e tower we enjoyed a wide view of Falmouth H arbor and its various bays. Our trek cook us up and downstairs (th ere is an elevator) to see a number of gal leries. In the Waterfront gallery pool yo u can sail model boats 39cm (1.3 ft) long. They tack and jibe against a fan-generated wind, so yo u can begin learn ing sail theory here.

Yo u can use an interactive couch-screen in the Boacbuilding Gallery to learn why a very heavy mast will make a small boat capsize. Ocher gal leries deal with every aspect of the wo rld of boats, from hydrodynamics to epicsmall-boacvoyages. Workshops on weather, oceanography, and other maritime topics are conducted in the Learning Center.

The Robertson Packet Ship Gallery cells the older story of Falmouth seafaring. In 1689 packet ships started carrying mail to Falmouth, and the port remained dominant in communications with the British Empi re throughout the 18th and halfof the 19th centuries. Most packets were brigantines, and there's a replica of a packet ship 's cabin in the gallery.

T he famo us boats keep arri vin g. Prince Philip donated Blue Bottle co the collection. T his Dragon class yacht was a bronze medal winner at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and then served for forty yea rs at the Royal Naval Coll ege in Dartmouth.

Fricka, an 18 95 ]-class racing yacht designed by William Fife, now resides in the Sec Sail Gallery. Outside Robin KnoxReflecting on the inspiration of the museum itself, we sensed overtones of nauti cal Johnscon 's wo rld-circling Suhaili is on classics such as Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat and Kenneth G ral1ame's loan as a floating exhibit-except when The Wind in the Willows, which Graham wro te while living in Falmouth : "The she and her skipper disappear for a cruise.

Rat said nothing, but stooped and unfastened a rope and With its genero us inventory of boats hauled on it; then lightly stepped into a little boat which co rotate in and out of exhibits, the the Mole had not observed. It was painted blue museum was designed to change and outside and white within ... and the evolve from the outset. That conceptMole's whole heart went out to it at combined with a harbor-front location once, even though he did not yet and commitm ent co innovation-almost understand its uses. " That quotaguarantees chat it will become one of the tion expresses the wide appeal mupreeminent maritime museums in the seum planners seek, noting chat world .

Grahame "understood that even .t people who don't know a luff from a Robert and Patricia Foulke have written lugger are seduced by the romance of boats. They have a universal appeal, three travel booksfor the Day Trip Series by stretching back to a childhood fascination with water and things that float, the Globe Pequot Press. Robert Foulke also why and when of the tides, or how sailors know where to go ." - R.F., P.F. wrote The Sea Voyage N arracive reviewed on page 47 ofthis issue.

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

37

9smP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS SPUN YARN

O cean C lassroom Foundarion purchased SSV Westward rhis sum mer fro m the Sea Education Association. Westward joins OCF's other two vessels, schooners Harvey Gamage and the Spirit ofMassachusetts, carrying srudents in their sea education programs . T he 125-fr steel-hulled schooner was builr in Germ any by Abe ki ng and Rasmussen in 196 1 as a private yacht.

Westwardbecame SEA' s first vessel in 1972 and has acquired a distinguished place in the hisrory of Ame ri can sa il train ing, having ca rried more rhan 3,400 students over 500,000 miles. Her fi rst voyage under the Ocean C lassroom flag recently departed inSeptember with 2 1 high school students.

(O CF, PO Box 446, Co rn wall N Y 125 18; 800-724-SAIL(7245); e-mail: mail@ocean class room.org; web sire: www.oceanclassroom.o rg) .. . T his summer the World War II amphibious vessel LST 325 made a memorial voyage up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers from its home port of M obile, Alabam a, ro Evansville, India na, where many LSTs were built. T he shi p caught the world's attention rwo-a nd-ahalf years ago when a veteran crew sailed her 6,5 00 miles fro m Crete to Alabama.

(LST Memori al, 9 1 H ard woo d La ne,

LST 325 on the New Orleans waterfront.

C hi ckasaw, A L 366 11 ; 25 1-452-3255; www. lstmemorial. org) . . . The Mariners' Museum's impress ive collection of small craft opened in the International Small Craft Center in May. More than 75 boars represent rwo centu ries of small crafrfrom birchbark and d ugo ut canoes, sampans, and kayaks, ro Chris-Craft an d racing shells. (TMM, 100 Museum D rive, Newport News VA23606; 757 596-2222; web sire: www. mariner.org) . .. T he Texas Seaport Museum, which operates the

38

barque Elissa, is acquiring the wooden shrimp boat Santa Maria of 1937. O nly fo ur boa ts of th is vintage su rv ive in Galves ron. H er owner fo r the past 50 years, Joe Grillo , has always co mbined the shrimping industry with preservation and documentatio n of th e trade; now he has parred with the Santa Maria knowing that she will be used as an educational vehicle in her home waters. (TWM, Pier 2 1 - No . 8, Galves ron TX 7755 0; 409 763- 1877; web sire: www. tsm-elissa.org) ... After rwelve years of planning and construction, the new fi ve-acre cam pus of the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium opened in June. As the lead project of D ubuque's $ 188- million riverfront redevelopment effort, the museum highlights the river's cultural and natural hisrory. T he m useum and aquarium and its National Rivers Hall of Fame have been accepted into rhe Smi thso ni an Institu tion Affil iations Program . (NMRMA, 350 East 3rd Srreet, Port of Dubuque, Dubuque IA 52 001 ; 8 00 226-3369; we b sit e: www. riverm useum.com) ... T he Ocean Liner M useum has rransferred its collection-hund reds ofi rems ranging fro m ship models ro ocean liner memorabilia-ro the Sourh SrreetSeaportMuseum in New York.

(SSSM, 207 Front Street, New Yo rk NY 100 38; 2 12 748 - 8 600 ; we b sire: www.so u thstseaport. org) ... T he US Navy has made the pasr 80 years of irs All Hands magazine available online. Every issue prinred since Augusr 1922 is now available. (www. news .navy. mil) ... The Library of Congress has completed the $ 10-m ill io n purchase of the only known copy of rhe 1507 world map by Marrin Waldseemi.iller. Long thought lost, it was rediscovered ar Waldburg-Wolfegg Casde in somhern Germany in 1901. T he map will be previewed in the exhibition Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis and Clark and the Revealing ofAmerica, which opened in July 2003. T his map was rhe first to incorporate Amerigo Ves pucci's determination rhat rhe land across the Atlantic was a separare conti nent, and used the name "America" to identi fy that continent. O ne rhousand copies were repo rtedly printed and sold, bm no other copy is known ro have survived . . . T he remains of a w reck believed to be the Russian barkentine Kadi'ak has been located in Mo nk's Lagoo n near Spruce Island, off Kodiak Island, Alaska.

The 500-ro n vessel was bound for San Francisco wirh a cargo of ice and lumber fo r a new ice house in March 1860 when it struck a reef. ... Building began on rhe new schoo ner Virginia, a recrea tion of a rwo-mas red 122-foor-long pilo r boar of 191 7, wirh rhe arrival of 42 rons of lead ballas t. The Virgi.nia is expected to be launched in 2004 and commissioned in Richmo nd, although her homeport will be N orfo lk. phoro by Gail Fisher. (Schooner Virginia Shipyard, 184 ParkAvenue, N orfolk VA 23 510; 757-622-5 925; web sire: www.schoo nervirginia.org) ... Schooner Fame, a recreation of a W ar of 18 12 privateer from Salem , wenr d own rhe ways in June. Built ar rhe Essex Shipbuilding M useum

by H arold Burnham, Fame joined the fleet of schooners competing in the Gloucester Schooner Race over Labor D ay weekend.

(Pennant Enterprises, Inc., 54 Martin Street, Essex MA 01929; 978 729-7600; web site: www.Sc hoonerFame.com ... On 14 November, 20'h Century Fox will release

Master and Commander: The Far Side ofthe World. Inspired by Patrick O 'Brian' s popular Aubrey-Maturin series, the screenplay srems from the 10th book of th e 20 novel series . Russell Crowe plays Captain Jack Aubrey in his hunt for the French fri gate Acheron around C ape Horn ro the Pacific. D evoted O 'Bri an fa ns may take issue with departures from the book, as screenwriters Peter W eir and John C ollee used considerable poetic license in their adaptation. Others may appreciate their efforrs ro portray the spirit of rhe book se ri es .

The screenplay, for example, borrows characters and in cidents fr o m other O 'Brian novels.

The ability of H o ll yw ood p ro du cers to recreate the hisrorical derail for which O 'Brian was so famous remains ro be

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

• ANTARCTICA. SOUTH GEORGIA AND THE FALKLANDS Aboard the New 106-Guest Expedition Ship Orion February 18 - March 11, 2004

Next winter, National Maritime Historical Society invites you to experience the passionate quest of Sir Ernest Shackleton, and other hallowed names in the field of exploration, on a journey to one of the world's last frontiers-Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands.

Rates from $ 11 ,995

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: •Cruise aboard the new, 106-guest Orion, the finest expedition vessel to sail the waters of the Great White Continent, amidst a breathtaking landscape of dazzling white glaciers and snowcapped mountains.

•Follow in the legendary footsteps of Shackleton and his 19141916 Endurance crew on Elephant Island and South Georgia.

•See the abandoned steam whale catchers and coaling hulks, Dias, Albatros, and Petrel as well as the wrecks of the storied 19th-century ships jhelum and Egeria.

•Discover an extraordinary breadth of wildlife, including king, rockhopper, and Magellanic penguins; elephant, fur, and Weddell seals; humpback and minke whales; and grey-headed black-browed and light-mantled sooty albatross.

For further information, please contact Travel Dynamics International toll-free at 800-257-5767 or 212-517-7555.

6SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT T & MUSEUM NEWS AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE MUSEUM NEWS Jusr a month after its launching, the Liberty ship SS ]. Pinckney Henderson was in a convoy bound ro Liverpool. On 19 August 1943 it collided with a ranker offNova Scotia. Each carried highly flammable cargoes and exploded. Of the 67 aboard, only four survived. Among rhe dead was Cader-Midshipman Robert].

Derick-one of 142 US Merchant Marine Academy undergraduates who died at sea during the war.

Almost 60 years later, a bulldozer widening a road near the Academy's waterfront struck what turned our robe an 800-lb. granite grave marker. The inscription reads: "US Liberty Ship]. P. Henderson, September 3, 1943 . Here lie the remains of officers and crew members, naval and merchant, who lost their lives while serving their country. All members buried with full naval honors."

How did this reminder of a 1943 tragedy come robe buried on the grounds of the Academy? No record could be found, bur I believe this is what happened: The bodies were buried in Nova Scotia, under the grave marker found at the Academy. After rhe war, their bodies were returned ro their families in rhe US. In rhe 1960s, the marker was offered ro the Academy. Assistant Superintendent Vicror Tyson accepted it, planning ro erect it as a memorial. Academy superintendent RADM Gordon McLinrock objected. He had it srored in the "paint locker" near the waterfront.

Some years later, another superintendent, RADM Arthur Engel, decided ro clear our the "junk" in the Academy's many srorerooms. He approved the disposal of the grave marker, bur what do you do with an 800-lb srone marker?

Move it as little as possible and bury it!

Now that this artifact has been unearthed, the Academy views it as an imporranrparrofWWII maritimehisrory, especially for its connection ro a cadetmidshipman lost at sea. Ir plans to erect it as a memorial ro the brave seafarers who made the supreme sacrifice for their nanon.

-CAPT. CHARLES RE ICK President Emeritus (AMMM, USMMA , Kings Poim NY, 11024; 5 1G 773-55 15; e- mail: ammmuse um@aol. com)

40

was so famous remains robe judged by the public. Weir's screenplay places HMS Surprise underway in 1806. Aubrey's adversary in the original text was an American frigate, bur the film 's producers feared rhar making

< ~

<

z

2 ~ ~

~~.... ~

::; g

"HMS" Rose tis the HMS Surprise the US the enemy would nor sir well with American audiences. Characters from other books in the series appear in the plot, including Aubrey's gruff servant, Killick, and Barrer Bonden the coxswain. Direcror Peter Weir shot most of the film in Baja California using the "HMS" Rose for scenes underway and a full-scale replica of rhe ship constructed in the same rank for the movie Titanic . ... Steel from the World Trade Center is being used to build the US

Navy's VSSNew York, named in honor of those who died in New York City on 11 September 2001. New York is the fifth of twelve amphibious assault ships in the San Anronio class and is expected to enter active dury in 2007 .... Peter McCracken, webmasrer of "Ma ritime History on rhe Internet" (http: // ils.unc.edu/maririm e/ home.shrml), has created "Index to Ships in Books" at http://www.shipindex.org.

It indexes approximately 85,000 sh ips mentioned in more than 60 books and journals. Researchers will find this simple web page useful-just type in the name of a vessel and the results page will show if it is mentioned in any of the reso urces on the database. These range from classic literature to recently published reference books.

The first 50 years of American Neptune, regional hisrorical society publications, index ro Fairburn s Merchant Sail and Newells Marine History ofthe Pacific Northwest are also included. Another new free web resource is Bill Whearon's internet sire www.shiplogmapper.com, which all ows people rouse geographical coordi n.ares from a ship 's logbook to track its progress. -1

The American Neptune Enjoy the leading scholarly journal of maritime history and arts in the US. The American Neptune, a quarterly publication of the Peabody Essex Muse um, is a great read for collectors, model makers, and all who love ships and the sea.

We offer Sea History readers an opportunity to subscribe to The American Neptune for $33 , a $6 savings over our regular subscription rate ($36 for non-US residents. Institutions: call for rates). To start your subscription, send a check or money order to :

The American Neptune Peabody Essex Museum East India Square Salem, MA 01970 (97 8) 745-1876 You may charge your subscription by fax at (9 78) 744-6776, or e-mail dori_phillips@ pem.org. We accept VISA, MasterCard and American Express.

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NORTHPORT, NY 11768

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

OBITUARIES LESTER ROSENBLATT, NA, PE, a long-rime member and supporter ofNMHS, died in ] une at rhe age of 83. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the City College of New York, he held an Honorary Doctor of Science from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and was past president of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME). In 1947 he co-fo unded with his father the naval architectural firm ofM. Rosenblarr & Son, des igning vessels as diverse as the Spruance class of destroyers, hydrofoi ls and oceanographic vessels. Even in retirement he maintained an interest in ship preservation , serving as a valuable resource ro those recording the hisro ry of boat and ship design and hisrory. Rosenblarr was elected ro the International Maritime Hall of Fame in 1995 and was an Honorary Member of the Marine Society of the C ity of New York.

-BOB WALLSTROM RAY AKER (1920-2003) was presid ent of the Drake Navigarors Guild and an advisor ro the National Maritime Hisrorical Society. He went ro the Cali fornia Nautica l Schoo l (la ter the California Maritime Academy) and was a deck officer on Marson ships during World War II, later working as a draftsman for Westinghouse Electric in Cal ifornia. His major contributions ro the G uild's research on Francis Drake included work on Drake's ships, navigation, shiphandling, careening, ca rrograp hy, and hydraulics, archaeology of Drake sites, and unceasing efforrs ro ge t recognition for Drake's Cove in California as the harbor the English navigaror visited in 1579.

STANLEY ROSENFE LD (1913-2002) , with his fathe r in the company Morris Rosenfeld & Sons and later on his own, recorded the full scope of the world's maritime heritage in th e 20th century, leaving a remarkable legacy in phorographs-nearlya million of which are held in the Rosenfeld Collection at Mystic Seaport in Con necticut.

A career in co mmercial phorographs for blue-chip co mpani es was supplemented by a personal devotion royachringand theAmerica's Cup races.

JACK AUBREY COMMANDS An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian

By Brian Lavery Foreword by Peter Weir #144035/$34. 95

NELSON'S NAVY The Ships, Men, and Orga nization, 1793-1815 Lutine, 1951 (below) and Stanley Rosenfeld at work (ŠMystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Co!Lection, Mystic CT)

BAS IL GREENH ILL (1920-2003) was the third direcrorof the National Maritime Museum, London, and worked tireless ly ro broaden and deepen its mission and its collection ro encompass "man's encounter with the sea" beyond Britain's much vaunted naval power. After his retirement from the museum in 1983, he continued researching and writing, chaired other hisroric organizations and committees, and traveled widely.

Veteran seafarer EDWARD "JOE" FARR died in April in Vicroria BC, at age 94.

H e sailed as chief engineer in freight and passenge r ships until 194 1 and, as a maritim e labor union leader, was instrumental in improving co nditions for merchant marine seamen. Throughout his life he recruited graduates from the Maine Maritime Academy and contributed ro its development. After retirement he rook an active role in the refurbishment of the South Street Seaport Museum's sailing ship Wavertree. ,!, SEA HISTORY 105 , AUTUMN 2003

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CALENDAR F ESTIVALS, EVENTS, LECTURES, E TC.

EXH IBITS

• Gales ofNovember: 7-8 N ovember 2003, 15rh annual evenr (Lake Superior Marin e M use um Associarion, PO Box 177, Dulurh MN 55801 ; 218 727-2497; e-mail : november gales@LSMMA.com; we b sire: lsmma.com) • Noble Maritime Collection: l 5 Nove mber 2003, l 5rh annu al John A. Noble Arr Aucrion ( 1000 Ri chmo nd Terrace, Sraren Island NY 1030 1; 7 18 447-6490; web sire: www.noblernari rime.o rg)

•Australian National Maritime Museum: 6 June 2003-28 January 2004, Siglas de Pescadores-Signs of Fishermen (2 Murray Srreer, Darling H arbor, Sydney NSW 2009 Ausrralia; web sire: www.anmm.gov.a u) • Library of Congress, Thomas J efferson Building: 24 July-29 ovember 2003, Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis &Clark and the Revealing ofAmerica(I Ol IndependenceAve.,SE, Washingron DC 20540; 202 707-8000; web sire: www. loc.gov/exhibirs/lewisandclark) • The Mariners' Museum: rhro ugh 2003, Battle of the Ironclads: Eyewitness to H istory; Reflections of the Sea: Paintings from The M ariners' M useum; Chris-Craft: The Affordable D ream; fro m 17 May 2003, Inrern ari o nal Small Crafr Cenrer, a new permanenr exh ibir; fro m 27 Seprember 2003, Scienrific & Naviga rio nal Insrrumenr exhibi rio n ( I 00 M use um Drive, Newporr News VA 23606; 757 596-222; web sire: www. marin er. o rg) • Michigan Maritime Museum: 27 April 2003-3 1 Ma rch 2004, Sailing through Time: Great Lakes Maritime Art (Michiga n M ari rime M use um, 260 D yckman Ave nue, Sourh H ave n M I 49090; 800 747-38 10; web sire: www. michiganmaririm emuseum .o rg) • Musee National de la Marine, Paris: 29 May 2002-2 February 2004, Queen Mary 2: Naissance d'une Legende (Palais de C haillor, 17 Place du Trocadero, 75 11 6 Paris, France;; web sire: www. musee-marin e.fr) •Naval Undersea Museum: fro m 16 Augusr 2003,AngeLr Came at Dawn (610 D owell Srreer, Keypo rr WA 9834 5; 360 396-4 148; web sire: nu m.kpr. nuwc.navy. mil) • PortlandHarborMuseum: L9 Apr il-November 2003, A Day in the Life ofPortland H arbor (Fo rt Road, Sourh Porrl and M E 04 106; 207 799-3862; we b sire: www .porrl andharbo rm useum .org) • South Street Seaport Museum: O cro ber 2003-February 2004: Portrait of America: Africans in the New World-from Captive Passage to Cultural Transcendence (207 Fro n r Srreer, New York NY 10038; 2 12 748-8600; web sire: www.so urhsrseaporr. org) •Texas Maritime Museum: fro m 1 August 2003, La Salle Odyssey (1202 Navigario n C ircl e, Rockporr TX 78382; 36 1 729-127 1; we b sire: www.rexas maririmemuseum.o rg) • The Whaling Museum: 30 Seprember 2003-Labor Day, 2004, Robert Cushman Murphy: Ambassador to the Penguins (PO Box 25, Cold Spring H arb or NY 11 724; 63 1 367 -34 18; we b sire: www .cshw h alin g museum .org)

CONFERENCES

International Maritime Economic History Association: 23-27 June 2004, Fou rrh Inrern arional Congress of Ma ririme H isrory in Co rfu, Greece (Dr Gel ina H arlafri s, Associare Professor, Ionian Un ive rsiry, Deparrmenr of H isro ry, 72, I. T heo roki srr. , 49 100 Co rfu , G reece; 30-266 10 87300; fax : 3026610 35 197; e- mail: gelin a@ io nio.gr; web sire: www. ivcongressofm aritimehisrory.com) •Society for Historical Archaeology: 711 Janu ary 2004, "Lewis and C lark: Legacy and Co nsequences," 37rh An nual Meering in Sr. Lo uis MO (1 9 Manrua Road, Mr. Royal NJ 0806 1; 856 224-0995; e-mai l: hq@s ha. org; web sire: www.sha.o rg) • St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum: 11 - 14 November 2003, "So You Wanr ro O wn a Lighrhouse: Parr [" (8 1 Lighrhouse Avenue, Sr. Augusrine FL 32080; 904 8290745; e-mail: srauglh@aug.co m; web sire: www.s raugusrinel ighrhouse.co m) •Western Ship Model Conference and Exhibit: 29 April-2 M ay 2004, ar Long Beach CA (web sire: www.s hi p-modelersass n.o rg; Mo ni ca C haban , Regisrrar, 3 10 2 16-7885) C ALL FOR PAPERS

•Maritime Museum of San Diego: 24-26 Seprember 2004: "Spain's Legacy in rhe Pacifi c d uring rhe Age of Sail" (S ubm ir proposals fo r individ ual papers or for 90- min ure sessions by l 5 January 2004 ro: Co nference, MMS D Lib rary, 1492 N. Harbor Drive, San D iego CA92 J 16; e-mail: ediro r@sdmaririme .o rg; web site: www.sd mari rime.o rg) • Maritime Heritage Conference: 27-30 O crober 2004 in N orfo lk VA (Send absrracts wirh CVs fo r indi vidual papers or sess ion proposals by I March 2004 ro Joseph C. Mosier, Marir ime H erirage Conference, C hrysler M useum of Arr, 245 W es r O lney Rd. , N orfolk VA 235 10-1587; 737 6646205 ; fax: 757 664-620 1; e- mail: jmosier@ ch rysler. o rg)

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUM N 2003

__.

I

Yankee India: American Commercial and Cultural Encounters with India in the Age of Sail 1784-1860, by Susa n S. Bean (Peabody Essex Museum & M apin Pub!. , Salem MA, 2001 , 288 pp , notes, index, fSBN 81-85822-83 -2; $40h c) Yankee India is that rares t of co ffeetable books-equally at home in th e library as the living room . It is a well told, fasc inatin g read-also a joy to skim for the images, many rendered in full color.

S usa n Bea n , cur ato r of So uth As ian and Korean Art and C ulture at Salem 's Peabody Essex Museum, has plumbed the depths of th at institution's vast collection of ships' logs and captains' journals to piece together the story of American maritime commerce with India between 1784 and 1860 . T old chronologically through five time periods, Bean introduces each with a general historical overview and an introduction of the captains and supercargos (agents who purchased and sold goods, representing the business side of the ship's mission) whose journals she scrutinized.

Why America-India in the Age of Sail ?

States Bean, "In the first decades after Independence, this commerce played a significant role in American life. [It] generated federal tax revenue, helped relieve wa r d ebts, and raised capital to build up nascent industries ." That trade, socially and culturally, provided the young United States "a w indow beyond the world of Europe."

Bean no tes that in the years surrounding the turn of the century, American trade with India exceeded that of all continental E u ro pe pu t together.

Historic development of maritime comm erce can be better understood and perso nalized through journals written by individuals on board these trading vessels. Bean includes excerpts from Massachusetts supercargos Benjamin Carpenter (b. 1751 ) and William A. Rogers (b.1 792), who provided first-hand details of Indi an coastal p ilo ting and business practices. Carpenter, for example, revealed the value of whale oil in Calcutta compared to American prices and advised fellow traders regarding pro toco l to ga in favo rabl e relationships with fo reign co ntacts . Rogers' s journal is a commercial guide and travel log strewn with bitin g geopolitical analysis. In his writings,

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003

he takes the English to tas k for their rule of Ceylon and India.

Bean reminds readers of Yankee India, "America's encounter with India in the age of sail brought wealth , adventure, and experi ence of cultural difference," whi ch impacted both societi es. She sketches a macrohistory, while her journalists fill in the details. T he book also reminds us of a remote pas t with implica tion s fo r th e imm edi ate prese nt to uching everything from what constitutes ethical behav ior in internati onal trade to the pitfalls of "nation building."

Regatta Press

P ETER SORENSEN

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Atlantic: The Last Great Race ofPrinces,

by Scott Cookman Qohn Wiley & So ns, Inc., N ew York NY, 2002, 298 pp , illus, notes, appen, index, ISBN 0-47 1-4 1076-4; $24. 95hc) It is the dawn of the ce ntury, the Dow Jones Industrial is nearing an all-time high, and a dictator is challenging for world domination. T he yea r is 1905; the stock exchange is about to break one hundred, and the wo rld leader is Germany's Wi Ihelm II. This is the backd rop for Scott Cookman 's A tlantic: The Last Great Race ofPrinces that brin gs to life the sto ry of the Kaiser C up.

In the early 20th century, the head of the G erman Empire wished to prove his nation's maritime superiority. H e had already challenged the British by constructing the super liner Deutsch/and and was preparing to enter in to a naval arms race.

To show off the skills of th e Germ an mariner, he proposed a trans-Atlantic sailing race. Cookman brings to life the characters involved in the event, including the first woman to participate in an ocean race, and some of the greatest yacht skippers in history, particularly the colorful C harlie Barr.

Also, a secondary cas t of characters makes each of the eleve n vessels partaking in the race umque.

A tlantic is beautifully written and engrosses the reader by using the race's narrative to portray the world on the eve of the First World W ar, the 1929 stock market crash, and the Great D epression. For maritime enthusiasts the book is a must-read, and for histori ans it provides a unique perspective into the world of the early 20th

by William L.H Scarratt $49.95 ISBN 0-9674826-8-2 This book traces the careers of two merchant mariners and a t}pical "tramp" sailing vessel of the late 19th and early 2Qch centuries. Drawing upon numerous primary sources, the author presents a methodical yet altogether personal history, which is further enhanced by the inclusion of maps and period photographs.

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REVIEWS century. While there are some distractions, in particular a chapter on mountain climbing that breaks up the Aow of the text, Atlantic is, nonetheless, capti va ting.

The book is handso mely illustrated with photographs of the participants (both boats and captains), lin e drawings of the vessels, and technical specifications. Scott Cookman brings the race to life and the reader will become immersed in the event and anticipating the end of the book to discover who is the true winn er of the C up.

SALVATORE R. M ERCOGL!A 0 Bui es C reek, N orth Carolina

The Road to Russia: Arctic Convoys 1942,

by Bernard Edwards (Pen & Swo rd Books, Barnesley UK, 2002, 2 10 pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 0-85 052-898-4; $32.95 hc) As a merchant mariner with over fo rty years of experience, Bernard Edwards is intimately aware of the dangers fac ing ships at sea. In this co mpelling tale of Arctic convoys to and from Russ ia berween March and N ovember 1942, he offers a detail ed, day-by-day acco unt of three "M urmansk runs" durin g a particularly low point in Allied fo rtun es. Although the story has been told many times before, Edwards relates th e experi ence of merchant ships in the Arcti c with precision, describing the dangers of sto rmy weather, enem y ac tion and Soviet indi ffere nce in a co ncise and readable style.

The Road to Russia is not cutting-edge history. Written as a straightfo rwa rd narrative, the book relies entirely on secondary sources and is unsurprisingly co nve nti onal as a result. Larger issues relatin g to th e Battle of th e Atlantic, such as the intelli gence wa r or shipping logisti cs are passed over with little analysis. The German side of rhestotycould have been told with more detail if Edwards had consulted Germany

and the Second World War: The Global War (O xfo rd U niv. Press, 2001 ). Read with those caveats in mind, however, the story is cogentl y w ritten and full of th ose little details reminiscent of a Patrick O'B rian tale. O ne wishes Edwards had spent more rime on th e little-known derails, such as where to get a beer on Loch Ewe or the implications of failing to sail with enough antifreeze fo r powered gun mounts, which provide th e book with its only originali ty.

DR. TIMOTHY FRANCIS

Naval Histo rical Center

44

Gifts from the Celestial Kingdom: A Shipwrecked Cargo for Gold Rush California , by T homas N. Layton (S tanfor d U niversity Press, Stanfo rd CA, 2002, xv+ 269 pp, illus, maps, ap pen, biblio, index, ISBN 0-8047-4 175- 1; $2 1. 95 pb) In the openi ng chapte r of th is attracti vely produced book, T homas Layton, an anth ropologist at San Jose State U nive rsity, describes an incident that impelled a sea-change in his career. In 1984, during a ro utine dig at a late-prehistoric Pomo Ind ian sire, his students un covered fragments of porcelain . The M ito m Pomo were a basket-making-not a pottery-makin gpeople, and so this ra ised an intriguing anomaly. Layto n fo und that the shards had come from the Frolic-a Baltimore-buil t opium clipperthat, in 1850, wrecked no rth of San Francisco with the total loss of its cargo of Oriental goods-and became engrossed in unraveli ng the mys tery.

To do it, he metam orphosed into a maritime hi sto ri an, carrying with him not just a new perspecti ve, bur remarkable energy as well . T hat same year, he laun ched the highl y acclaimed Frolic Ship wreck Proj ect. Fo ur museum exhibi ts fo llowed, along with an h istorical dramatization, a program fo r T he Learning C hannel, a fo urth-grade curri cu lum , and a raft of awards. T his passion fo r the story behind the wreck also led to the publication of Gifts from the Celestial Kingdom-a sequel to an earlier volume, The Voyage of the Frolic (1 997).

T his posed a p roblem fo r me. It did nor seem fair to review the second without having read th e first, but Frolic is not available in New Zealand. A plea posted on an internet maritime history discussion list led to fo ur off-list replies, all fro m respected maritime histo rians, who ass ured me that The Voyage ofthe Frolic is a "major co ntribution to maritime histo ri cal writing." Also, mos t unexpectedly, the autho r sent me a copy, having learned thro ugh the grapevine th at I wanted one.

I am pleased that he did so: not onl y did it mean I co uld wri te a balanced review, but I enj oyed The Voyage of the Frolic immensely. In this ini tial volu me, Layton describes the building of the ship, New England's in vo lve ment in th e opium trade, and, fi nally, the wrecking. T he book is then ro unded off with a discussion of the histori cal, ethnological, and preservation

issues involved. T hough strictly informati ve in style, the enthusiasm that imbues every page makes it as readable as a novel.

In Gifts, Layto n develops the story furth er, by explorin g the origi ns of di rect commerce berween C hi na and Cali fo rn ia, and discuss ing the implications of transporting artifacts from one culture to another. Inescapably, there is a lot of repetition, but the style of tell ing is diffe ren t.

W hile Gifts is ch aracterized by the same drive and enth usiasm that makes Frolic noteworthy, it is more consciously novelistic: the participants in the drama are given center stage, along with fic tional dialogue.

It is a curious experiment, the novelty of which may appeal to some, while others might find that the dramatization distracts from Layton 's impressive scholars hi p, despi te three substa ntial appendices and fifteen pages of detailed notes. I do strongly recommend that anyone who reads Gifts from the Celestial Kingdom read The Voyage ofthe Frolic as well, so that a well-founded personal judge ment can be made. ] OAN D RUETT

Wellington, New Zealand

The Way of A Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days ofSail, by Derek Lundy (Ecco, New York NY, 2003, 450 pp, ISBN 0-06-621012-7; $25.95 hc) No t to be confused with Alan Villi ers's 1953 book of the same ride, in thi s book Derek Lu ndy, a proven mas ter of the maritime sto ry, has p rod uced yet another win ner! Hi s curiosity was piqued by fami ly tales of a great-great uncle, Benjami n Lundy, who had em igrated from Ireland, shipp ing out as a deck hand on a fourmas red steel colli er in th e 1890s. The exact details of that passage, fro m Live rpoo l to th e C hilea n coast byway of Cape Horn, are long lost, bur Lundy did an admirable job of recrea ti ng it fo r today's reader.

As a sea story, complete with a Bay of Biscay ga le, wall owing in the doldrum s, a kn ock-down that dangerously sh ifts cargo, a coal fire, a hard-driving captain abetted by h is to ugh Ya nkee mate, and the relen tless fury of"Cape Stiff'' storms, it rivals any of the best. More than a story, however, The Way ofa Ship is the product of meticulous research. Lundy weaves historical facts th ro ughout th e tale, providi ng a disturbing acco un t of the magnitude of men and ships lost in that era. By the end, he has taken us SEA HISTORY J05 , AUTUMN 2003

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The Sea Voyage Narrative, by Roberr Foulke (Taylor and Francis, Inc., New York NY, 200 1, 244 pp, notes, bib li o, ISBN 0-41593-8945; $ 18.95pb) Robert Foulke's The Sea Voyage Narrative rekindles any fl agging inreresr on the part of long-term fa ns of sea literature an d encourages the beginner or casual reader to explore more thoroughly that Ii terary field .

One of a series of books published by Taylor and Francis, each reviews a specifi c lirerary genre. Foulke is careful ro distingu ish "sea voyage" from rhe general "sea lirerature" field, whi ch covers a much wider range of topics. H e analyzes the sub-ca tegories "oral tradirion" (Homer's The Odyssey), "voyages of discovery" (Columbus and Cook), "sea quest" (Melville's MobyDick and H emingway's The Old Man and the Sea), and "voyages of enduran ce" (Conrad's Nigger ofthe Narcissus).

Foulke explains the defining characteristics of the genre as a whole and within each sub-caregoty and provides some co mmentary on authors-i.e. the Phoenicians may have deliberately added exaggerations on the perils of the Western Mediterranean in their ve rsion of The Odyssey ro discourage Greeks from enrering rhar rrading area; Conrad co mmented on rhe ugliness of mororized vessels long before the ar rival of co ntainer ships.

Possibly the most val uable pan of this book is the long bibliographical essay on sources and their locations in librari es, archives, and museums throughout rhe wo rld . Readers will find here all the informarion they need ro follow up on a particular area of interest.

ROBERTS . BARRETI

C harleston , South Catrolina

46

SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMNJ 2003

NEW&NOTED

A Good Boat Speaks for Itself: Isle Royale Fishermen and Their Boats, by Timorhy Cochrane and Hawk Tolson (U niversi ry of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis MN, 2002, 208pp, illus, appen , notes, gloss, index, ISBN 0-8 166-31 19-0; $ 19.95pb)

Transatlantic Triumph and Heroic Failure: The Galway Line, by Timorhy Collins (The Collins Press, Ireland, 2003, 266pp, illu s, appe n , ISBN 1-90 3464-2 0-X; $23.95pb) Distributed in the US by Dufour Editions, Inc., C hester Springs PA.

Fury Beach: The Four-Year Odyssey of Captain John Ross and the Victory, by Ray Edinger (Berkley, New York NY, 2003, 298pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 0-45118845-0; $22.95 hc)

The Straits of Malacca: Gateway or Gauntlet, by Donald B. Freeman (McGillQueen's University Press, Montreal QC, Canada, 2003, 288pp, illus, m aps, biblio, index, ISBN 0-7735-25 15-7; $39.95hc) Distributed in the US by Cornell University Services.

One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864, byGaty Dillard Joiner (Scholarly Resources, Wilmington DE, 2003, l 98pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 0-8420-2937-0; $ l 7 .95pb)

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The Art ofthe Sea

Steel Ships and Iron Pipe: Western Pipe and Steel Company of California, the Company, the Yard, the Ships, by Dean L. Mawdsley (Associates of rhe National Maritime Museum Library, San Francisco CA, and the Glencannon Press, Benecia CA, 2002, 204pp, illus, appen, biblio, ind ex, ISBN 1-889901-28-8; $29.95hc) Wooden Steamers on the Great Lakes, by Rodney H . Mills (Great Lakes Historical Society, Vermilion OH, 2002, 229pp, illus, bibli o, rSBN 0-940741-00-8; $24.95hc)

Puget's Sound: A Narrative of Early Tacoma and the Southern Sound, by Murray Morgan (Univers ity of Washington Press, Seattle WA and Lo ndo n UK, 2003, orig 1979, 360pp, illus, notes, index, [SBN 0-295-98303-5; $22.50pb)

Stanton's American Steam Vessels: The Classic Illustrations, by Samu el Ward Sranto n (Dover, Mineola NY, 2002, 255pp, illus, ISBN 0-486-42330-1; $24.95pb) ,t SEA HISTORY 105 , AUTUMN 2003

Calendar for

2004 The g lory a nd beauty of ships and the sea have inspired great works of art throug h 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 thi s calendar and will brighten yo ur days. Royalties from sales of this calendar benefit the National Maritime Historical Society.

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SEA HISTORY I 05, AUTUMN 2003

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07 Day I 6 Night Cruise Inaugural Season Trans Atlantic Crossing including all gratuities aboard 05 Days I 4 Nights in London with Superior 1st-Class Accommodations and a Full English Breakfast daily 0Return Airfare from London to New York City included (or deduct $300 if you provide your own return airfare) 010 Special Maritime Seminars at Sea presented by Peter Stanford, Pres. Emeritus of the National Maritime Historical Society and Douglas Teeson, Pres. of Mystic Seaport with discussions led by Dr. John B. Hattendorf, Pres. of the North American Society of Oceanic History 0Comprehensive Customized Tours Included: Portsmouth Royal Naval Museum, Historic Dockyard, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, Mary Rose, Hampton Court Palace, National Maritime Museum, Imperial War Museum, and Churchill's Underground Cabinet War Rooms 00ptional Sightseeing Tours to choose from: Normandy & Paris (4 Days/3 Nights), Bletchley Park/Enigma Museum, Dover (Museum, Castle, & Secret Wartime Tunnels), Windsor Castle & Runneymede, Stratford-On-Avon, Stonehenge & Bath, & Full Day London Tour, Theater Tickets , etc.

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Peter Stanford, President Emeritus of the National Maritime Historical Society, is currentl y on the boards of the American Shi p Trust, World Ship Trust, Black Pearl Trust, American Merchant Marine Library, and the Tug Pegasus Preservation Society.

Thi s well known author has twice crossed the Atlantic under sail in a small craft.

• • • Doug Tecson is President ofthe Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT. A retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard, Teeson served as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He holds Masters Degrees in ocean engineering and management science. A lively and entertaining speaker, Teeson is known for his passion for American maritime history.

Post Lecture Panel Discussions will be led by Dr. John B. Hattendorf, President of the North American Society of Oceanic History. A fonner naval officer with combat experience in Vietnam, he is author or editor of more than 30 books, Caird Medal ist of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime

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