Sea History 126 - Spring 2009

No. 126

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL S

THE ARJ', LITERAT RE, ADVENT

SPRING 2009

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY PO Box 68, Peekskill, NY 10566 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), xO www.seahistory.org NYS residents add applicable sales tax. For orders sent outside the US, call or e-mail nmhs@seahistory.org for shipping.

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No. 126

SPRING 2009

CONTENTS 12 Hisroruc SHIPS ON A LEE SHORE: SOS for the Nantucket Lightship ILV-112

by Robert Mann ino Jr. and Donald Whitehead Between 1854 and 1983, the lightships on station at Nantucket Shoals served as primary aids to navigation for oceangoing ship traffic. One ofthe most exposed lightship stations in the world, it was the last American lightship station to be discontinued. The Nantucket Lightship LV-112 served there from 1960-75 before being retired.from the USCG. A National Historic Landmark, LV- 11 2 today is in dire need ofa new home and new steward. Berthed in Oyster Bay, NY, for the last several years, the ship has been served its eviction notice by the town administrators.

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16 The El Estero Fire and How the US Coast Guard Helped Save New York Harbor, by William H. Thiesen, PhD In 1943 the El Estero, an ammo ship nearly fo lly loaded with fael bombs, and rockets, burst into flames at the pier in New York harbor. Only the immediate, selftess, and heroic efforts of the Coast Guard's Explosives Loading Detail and USCG and local firefighters saved the New York and New Jersey Hudson River waterfronts from a potential massive explosion. Their success meant that this near-disaster was unknown to many at the time, and even fewer today.

22 Let Go and Haul! Lessons to Take Home from the Brig Niagara

by Captain Walter Rybka Captain Walter Rybka shares the details ofPennsylvania's US Brig Niagara sailing program and the broader lessons that sail trainees take away from the experience.

28 Through the Hawsepipe-Marshall Johnson's Path From Fo'c'sle Hand to Master Painter, by Alan Fraser Houston In 1870, a 2 0-year-old Boston youth signed aboard the square-rigger Sunbeam, bound for Chile. That voyage ended in shipwreck, but the experience hardly quashed his ambition for farther voyaging. In time, Marshall Johnson did move back ashore, studied under the masters ofa different sort, and became one of our country's p remier marine artists.

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34 Maritime History on the Internet, by Peter McCracken

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Cover: Lightship Nantucket Sunk by RMS Olympic

by Charles Mazoujian, oil on canvas, 25" x 30" On 15 May 1936, the Nantucket Lightship LV-11 7 was struck by the 45,342-ton RMS Olympic in heavy fog and sank immediately.

H er successor, LV-112, survived nearly four decades on station, but today is an "historic ship on a lee shore." See on pages 12-15.

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DEPARTMENTS 4

DECK LOG LETTERS NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION

5 8 36 Sea H istory FOR Krns

40 SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT 49 CALENDAR 51 REVIEWS

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MUSEUM NEWS

Sea History and the National Maritime Historical Society Sea History e-mail: edicorial@seahiscory.org; NMHS e-mail: nmhs@seahiscory.org; Web site: www.seahiscory.org. Ph: 914 737-7878; 800 221-NMHS MEMBERSHIP is invited. Afterguard $10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $1,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Friend$ I 00; Contriburor $75; Family $50; Regular $35.

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG The Maritime Heritage Survives the Difficult Times 009 is upon us, and it looks to be a year of great financial challenges. The eco nomic downturn is a great concern for the maritime heritage community; budget cuts are fo rcing major cutbacks in programs and the up keep of our historic ships, sites and artifac ts. In times of economic uncertainty, however, we can and will draw on those elem ents which h ave built this community and keep it strong: passion, dedication, vision, hard work, long hours, cooperation, and creativity-these are the driving forces behind so many projects and programs serving our country's maritime heri tage.

Witness the hours of reElf search by boat builder John Brady. At the Workshop on the Water at Philadelphia's Independence Seaport Museum, Brady painstakingly compared old designs of the 1888 high gaff topsail cutter Elf to restore it accurately.

Consider C arolina Salguero , a lovely young woman with an engaging manner, who is restoring the 70-yearold 172-ft. retired tanker Mary A. Whalen in the Atlantic Basin in Brooklyn, New York, and working aboard in the harsh N ew York winter to do it. When I asked her about her greates t chalMary A. 'Whalen lenge, sh e replied: "heat."

In previous issues of Sea History, we have reported on the peril of the Falls of Clyde at the Bishop Museum in H awaii.

Now, the new Friends of the Falls of Clyde in Hawaii have taken on the enormous responsibility of the 170-year-old historic ship and her restoration, knowing they are faced with the herculean task of raising millions of dollars to save her from being towed out and scuttled in deep water.

America is made richer by her not-for-profits, and there are so many ways that you, too, can participate, support, and give back. Are you planning a day trip with the family? Your local-or not-so-local-maritime museums would love to welcome you for an afternoon's journey into the past. Would yo u like to feel more connected to history? Are you fam iliar with tools, or would yo u like to learn new skills?

Ship restoration projects thrive on volunteers. Do you want to spread the word to the greater public? M any museums and other programs are always in n eed of docents and guides to better educate their visitors. And in tough times, more than ever, we remember how very valuable are the philanthropists, whose generosity is one more key to most proj ects' success, right there with that passion, dedication, and vision, h ard work and long hours, cooperation and creativity-the attributes we need to encourage and remember. Trust me, every maritime heritage project, NMHS included, would welcom e your generosity in whatever form it takes as we tackle the challenges in this year of austeriry. -Burchenal Green, President

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

P U BLISH ER'S C IRC LE: Peter Aro n, W illiam H . W hi te OFFICERS & T RUSTEES: Chairman, Ro nald L. O swald; Vice Chairman, Ri chard o R. Lo pes; President, Burchenal G reen; Vice Presidents, D eirdre O 'Rega n, Na ncy Schnaars; Treasurer, H. C. Bowe n Smith; Secretary, Thom as F. D aly; Trustees, C harl es B. Anderson, Walrer R. Brow n, James Ca rter, D avid S. Fowler, Virginia Steele G rubb, Ka ren H elmerson, Steve n W. Jones, Roben Ka mm, Ri chard M . Larrabee, G uy E. C. M aidand, John R. McDonald Jr., Jam es J. M cNa mara, Ri chard Scarano, Philip J. Shapiro, Peter H .

Sharp, Howard Slorni ck, Brad ford D . Smith, Cesare So rio , Philip J. Webste r, D aniel W. W halen, W ill ia m H. W hite; Chairmen Emeriti, Walter R. Brown, Alan G. C hoate, G uy E. C. Maidand , C raig A. C. Reynolds, H oward Slomi ck; President Emeritus, Peter Stanfo rd FOUNDER: Ka rl Korrum (1 917-1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM D avid C. Brown; Walrer Cro nkite, C li ve C ussler, Richard du Mo ulin, Al an D . Hutchi so n, Jakob Isbrandtsen, John Lehma n, Warren Marr, II, Brian A. McAl lister, John Srobart, W illiam G. W interer NM H S ADVISORS: Chairman , Melbourne Smith; D . K. Abbass, Geo rge Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Bren, RADM Joseph F. Callo, Francis J. Duffy, John W Ewald, T imothy Foo re, William G ilkerso n, Thomas G illmer, Walrer J. H andelman, Steven A. H yman, H ajo K.nurtel , G unn ar Lundeberg, Joseph A. Maggio, Co nrad Milster, W illiam G. Mull er, N an cy Hu ghes Ri chardso n

SEA H ISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Chairman, T imo th y J. Runyan; Norman J . Bro uwe r, Ro b err B row nin g, Wi lliam S. Dudley, D ani el Finamo re, Kevin Foster, John O din Jensen, Joseph F. Mea ny, Lisa No rlin g, Ca rla Rahn Phillips, Walter Rybka, Q uentin Snediker, W illiam H . W hite NM H S STAFF : E x ecutive Director , Burchenal G ree n; Membership Director, Nancy Schnaa rs; Marketing Director, Steve Lovass-Nagy; Communications Director, Juli a C hurch; Accounting, Ji ll Ro meo; Store Sales & Volunteer Coordinator, Jane M auri ce

SEA HISTO RY. Editor, D eirdre O' Rega n ; Advertising Director, We nd y Pagg iorra ; Editor-at-Large, Peter Stanford; Sea H istory is printed by The Lane Press, S. Burlingron, VT

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

LETTERS Who Gets to Fly the White Ensign?

As one who has put in a certain amount of sea time in no rthern Euro pean, as well as Mediterranean waters, my hat is off to anyo ne who can confine himself to such a smal l vessel for an extended period of time, with no companionship and under what, at times, wo uld be the most frightening of co ndi tions. Sir Robin Kn ox-Johnston's accolades are more than deserved. There is o ne ho nor, however, that confuses me. I couldn't help but notice in o ne of yo ur article's photos (Sea H istory 125, p. 11 ) that Sir Robin's vessel is flying the whi te ensign .

I am privileged to have served under that Aag in the Royal Canadian Navy and was under the impression that o nly naval vessels were allowed to fly it. H as that privilege also been extended to him ?

D oN MACMI LLAN O akville, Ontario, Canada From Sir Robin Knox-Johnston: Members of the Royal Yacht Squad ron (RYS), based at Cowes, Isle of Wight, are the o nly nonnaval people allowed to fly the Wh ite Ensign under a warrant. There are 400 members of the RYS, plus a few N aval m embers and very few of us hono rary members to whom this right is allowed . Although I am only an honorary mem ber of the RYS, they changed the rules to allow ho norary m embers to fly the White Ensign after I skippered their entry in the Atlantic C hallenge in 1996 or 1997.

The Last Slavers In the las t issue of Sea H istory, readers bro ugh t our artention ro the fac t that the Clothi!de was the las t slave ship to arrive in the US Ouly of 1860), no t the Wanderer, which landed at Jekyll lsland, GA, in November of 1858. The American ship Erie m ay no t have been the last slave ship to arrive in the United States, but its capta in was the first and only one to be h ung fo r the crime of transpo rtin g slaves. Acco rding to Hugh Thom as in his book, The Slave Trade (1997), in August of 1860, the Erie, wi th 900 slaves on board, was take n into custody by USN San Jacinto off th e Congo coast. The Erie was esco rted to Liberia, where the slaves were released, befo re proceeding to New York. The Erie's captain , Nathaniel Go rdon, was co nvicted and sentenced to death by hanging.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

President Abraham Lincoln signed the order and Captain Gordon was h ung at "The Tombs" on 21 February 1862.

MONTELLE L. SMALL Portland , M aine

Treasure Hunting and Arch aeology rook the op porm niry to read the lates t Sea H istory (125) fro m cover to cover, at leisure, fo r a pleasant change. Ir now resides, as do previo us volumes, in my waiting room , where it is appreciated by the wide range of visito rs we receive each year.

For an organization which exists "ro preserve o ur seafaring heritage"-Burchenal G reen's words, no r mine-I was very disappointed to read the "Sea H istory for Kids" sectio n on treasure hunters. W hile what was written is undo ubtedly true, it is, disappointingly, neither complete nor bala nced. Very few in the treasure hunter field operate to p rese rve o ur seafarin g heritage. Far from it, theirs are predominan tly our-and-our commercial ventures. While an as tute reader co uld have extracted this fro m the sentence, "Treasure Hunters believe that any historic shipwreck they find belongs to them ," a section aimed at kids ought to have been rather m ore direct as to the m essage being co nveyed, which is somewhat co ntrary to the objectives of the Sociery. Al tho ugh it might seem pedantic and nit-picking to criticize one sentence in such a fi ne p ublication, ir is the principle and objective "ro preserve o ur seafaring heritage" that's at issue and which clearly needs to be reinforced. We on this side of the po nd are

fin d ing that, no m atter what legislatio n we have in place and despite our very best effo rts to preserve our heritage, sadly, it co ntinues to be stolen fro m under our waters.

So, I would urge yo u to be more forthri ght in your penmanship.

CAPT. PETER G ILL Exe, FRIN, M N I H arbour Master, Registrar of British Ships and D epury Receiver of Wreck.

St. Peter Port, G uernsey Thanks for the great fo rmat and presentatio ns in Sea H istory m agazine. As I read this issue, I felt I must comment o n part of the articl e o n page 41 o n treasure hunrers.

1here certain ly have been cases where treasure humers have found and plundered shipwrecks. U nfo rtunately, the commem s in the article made ir sound like all treasure ex plo rers/salvagers are like that. There are at least rwo companies that I know of specializing in deep-ocean salvage (greater than 1,5 00 fee t), which try to determine wreck ownership, possibly buy rhe ri ghts to the ship from insurance companies, wo rk with countries of ow nership (s uch as G reat Britain); and they retain professio nal archaeological and scientific co nsultants as part of the search, evaluation and recovery project. O dyssey M arine Exploration, Inc. (OMEX) is one of the companies and is publicly traded. OMEX has successfu ll y recovered treasure from a C ivil War-era wreck nea rl y 1,700 feet deep. The other compan y is the C olumbus America Discove ry Gro up, which successfu lly located

Join Us for a Voyage into History O ur seafarin g heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea HistOJy, fro m the ancient mariners of G reece to Portu guese navigators opening up the ocean world to the heroic efforts of sa ilors in modern-day conflicts. Each issue brings new insights a nd discove ries. If you love the sea, ri vers, lakes, and

bays- if you appreciate the legacy of those who sail in deep wa ter a nd their wo rkaday craft, then yo u belong with us.

J oin Today !

Mail in the form below, phone 1 800 221-NMHS (6647), or visit us at: www.seahistory.org (e-mail: nmhs@seahistory.org)

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LETTERS and salvaged the SS Central America in 8,000 feet of water. I hope this will clarify the new era of treasure hunters, who nor only seek rhe treasure but also consider rhe archaeological and scientific aspects presented by these special projects.

DoN CABLES

Birmingham, Alabama

From NMHS President, Burchenal Green: The National Maritime Historical Society and Sea History are active members of rhe Council of American Maritime Museums (CAMM), and, as such, follow strict guidelines regarding shipwrecks and artifact retrieval. Developing the policy for CAMM rook hours and days, years really, of discussions. Ir is rough on a museum to rum down artifacts char rhen go into private hands and thus away from public viewing forever. We try to promote char position in the pages of Sea History.

Far Away But Not Forgotten When I received my issue of Sea History (125) and saw on the cover that it included an article on "Hawaii's Whaling Shipwrecks," I said to myself, "Whaling in Hawaii? No! Ler me read the articles." The article started off discussing shipwrecks off Kure Atoll, just to rhe northwest of Midway. From 1966-1967, I was stationed on Kure Island, Hawaii; it was a United Scares Coast Guard Loran Station rhen. I was rhe Electrician's Mare, 2nd Class-length of duty was a full year. The only shipwrecks and/or airplanes we knew about under rhe water were from World War II. Just reading these articles brought back memories. Please thank Deirdre O'Regan, Hans Van Tilburg, and Kelly Gleason.

be the island in question. In December, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston led a BBC crew to Cape Horn to assist in a documentary. One of his personal goals was to get ashore at Cape Horn Island and see for himself if the descriptions left by Drake and, p;micularly, by his chaplain, Francis Fletcher, seem reasonable as a match.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston: Back from a very enjoyable ten days with Skip Novak aboard Pelagic and have learned that there is a problem with Cape Horn Island as a candidate for Drake's Elizabeth Island. Parson Fletcher talked about landing and gathering wood and water. It is possible to land, there is a small anchorage in the southeast corner where the Chileans land supplies. There is wood-you can find plenty of dry branches in the little fissures where trees grow.

But, according to the Chilean Navy perry officer who mans the lighthouse and radio on Cape Horn Island, there are no streams.

I saw none while I was there, although I did not explore the whole island-there are minefields, which discourage such exploration anyway! I did find pools of peaty water bur am nor sure that would have been acceptable for filling barrels. So, where does this leave Drake's Elizabeth Island? Henderson Island, which I thought might be a candidate, is our. Ir is only some fifteen miles northeast of the Islas Ildefonso group, which would have been clearly visible. That leaves the Ildefonso group as a candidate, but I am afraid I did not get close enough to chem to establish whether they had vegetation. It would need 2-3 months with an exploration ream to sort this out-not a ten day trip as I had!

THOMAS ToRKELSEN

Woodstock, New York

Where is Drake's Elizabeth Island?

A Sailor's Perspective In 1578, Sir Francis Drake dropped anchor in rhe lee of an island he named Elizabeth Island. Drake's coordinates and descriptions, however, don't march up with modern maps-the coordinates place it well to rhe west where there is no land and where the ocean is very deep. Ir has been assumed by many Drake historians and geographers that what we now call Cape Horn Island, the southernmost island in South America, must

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Peter Stanford: I agree that the landing place, the abundance of wood, and the presence of fresh water all match your findings . I am satisfied with the pools of fresh water, chinking char men drinking months-old water from oak casks would find standing water potable-particularly as rhe standing water when I was there was nor stagnant, bur had apparently been refreshed by recent rains. Mind you, my examination was brief and nor methodical, and I am very glad indeed to have your solid testimony on rhe state of affairs there.

During my visit to Cape Horn, I confess,

my rime was much taken up simply with picturing Drake's reaction to rhe prospect before him, where he saw that "the Atlantic Ocean and the South Sea meet in a most large and free scope"-a terrific discovery upsetting the accepted geographical conceptions of the day. The Ildefonso Islands remain a possibility, as you point our. One of them rises to 450 feet, and you could stand on that headland and see no land to the south, for sure. But where Cape Horn stands at 55°59' south, and Drake has it at "neare 56 degrees," the southernmost Ildefonso is about 55°50' south. A nine-mile error seems a lot for Drake, and there is nothing to fulfill his observation that the southernmost visible land lay three miles to the north. The other Ildefonsos trail off to the northwest from quire close by. Also, from the Ildefonso group, there seems to be no low-lying islands a two-days' sail westward, a passage Drake recorded in his log. Drake did land on such islands to rake birds and seals. The northern Ildefonso Islands do fit into that narrative, if taking one's departure from Cape Horn. Given all this, I still find Cape Horn Island the last man standing; that is, each alternative proposed seems to present greater difficulties than Cape Horn. I concede this is short of proof positive and that your conclusion that more "on-the-scene" study is needed is indisputably sound.

In an earlier conversation on early modern navigation, I had learned from Sir Robin to think better of my idea that the astrolabe was nor suitable for determining longitude at sea. My view was based on Columbus's way-off-rhe-mark findings the one time he tried to use his astrolabe on his first voyage to the Americas in 1492.

One look at some examples of these instruments, developed for travel across deserrs, had convinced me that they would be very difficult to use from a rolling ship's deck. Sir Robin told me he had tried an astrolabe at sea and calculated longitudes accurate within one or two miles. This has led me to my conclusion, above, that if Knox-Johnston feels more investigation is needed, I wholeheartedly agree!

PETER STANFORD

Editor-at-Large, Sea History Yorktown Heights, New York SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

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NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION Inaugural NMHS Washington DC Awards Dinner

A new tradition will begin on 11rnrsday,

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16 April 2009, when the maritime community will gather at the Army and Navy Club on fifarragur Square in Washington, DC, one block from The White House, to honor rwo maritime luminaries at a glittering Awards Dinner. For years, the Society's Annual Awards Dinner every autumn has filled the New York Yacht C lub to capacity. This year, the Board ofTrusrees determined rhar NMHS should reach our to more of its members and friends outside of greater New York for a second Awards Dinner event in rhe spring.

Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, will receive the NMHS Bravo Zulu Award, and renowned Chesapeake Bay maritime artist John M. Barber will receive the Society's Distinguished Service Award. The Dinner will feature distinguished sailor and yachting commentator (and past NMHS award recipient) Gary Jobson as Master of Ceremonies. The US Coast Guard Academy Cadet Idlers ~ill travel from New London, CT, to perform under the direction of Dr. Robert Newton. There will be a silent auction of items, such as a Potomac cruise for 49 persons on rhe Presidential Yacht USS Sequoia, and a museum-framed, remarqued and signed limited edition print of John Barber's newest work, "Chesapeake Bound." Proceeds from rhe event support rhe work of the National Maritime Historical Society.

Admiral Thad W. Allen Originally from Arizona, not one of your biggest warerbound states, Admiral Allen assumed the duties of the 23rd Commandant of the US Coast Guard on 25 May 2006. He leads some 91,000 men and womenacrive duty Coast Guard personnel, civilians, reservists and volunteer Coast Guard auxiliarists. The Coast Guard is America's oldest continuous seagoi ng service, Army and Navy Club on Farragut Square saving lives and property at sea, ensuring maritime safety, protecting our ports and maritime infrastructure from terrorism, securing our borders, maintaining navigational aids, protecting our maritime environment, maintaining shipping routes and responding to natural disasters. In his 38 years of service, Admiral Allen has held a myriad of operational commands both at sea and ashore. He served as the Principal Public Official for response and recovery operations for hurricanes Katrina and Rita. NMHS chairman emeritus and Coast G uard Foundation trustee Howard Slotni ck said of Admiral Allen, "because of his leadership during hurricane Katrina, the whole world saw what rhe Coast Guard does on a daily basis, but usually 50 miles out at sea. His dynamic leadership brought to the forefront of American minds the work of this effective and important organization. Admiral Allen doesn't have failure in his vocabulary."

John M. Barber Artist John Barber has painted the Chesapeake Bay and the Eastern Seaboard for three decades. Although he has also become known for his cityscapes and architectural arr, Barber is renowned for his maritime subjects, primarily the Chesapeake and its vanishing way of life. We often find in his oils and prints the Bay's few remaining oyster dredging skipjacks and other traditional vessels . Calling Barber the "premier chronicler of Chesapeake Bay life," ]. Russell Jinishian, the nation's leading authority on contemporary marine art, praised the artist's technical skill and painstaking attention to detail. "Many artists paint skip jacks," he explains, "bur John's emotive depth puts him on another level entirely." Barber is a Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists and author of john M. Barber's Chesapeake. His love for the Chesapeake Bay is reflected not on ly in his art but also in his environmental and philanthropic endeavors. Through donations of his art and copyrights, nearly half a million dollars have been raised for non-profit conservation groups concerned with preserving the Chesapeake Bay. Reservations for the Washington Awards Dinner-$200 per person or $5,000 Sponsor Table for 10-may be made by telephoning 800-221-6647, ext. 0 or emailing nmhs@seahistory.org, or from the NMHS web site at www.seahistory.org. Seating is limited.

-Philip J Webster, Washington DC Awards Dinner Chairman & NMHS Trustee

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SEA HISTORY I 26, SPRING 2009

Mystic Seaport and the National Maritime Historical Society present:

Voyages to America: What We Left Behind A tour of Ireland and England returning on the deluxe Queen Mary 2 April 24 to May 8, 2009 Join fellow NMHS and M ystic Seaport members for a memorable journey through time as we retrace the path of early immigration to America from the e merald green land oflreland, to the mighty port of Southampton and the ocean voyage culminating in views of E lli s Island.

Travel with us on this once-in-alifetime adv en tu re of discovery!

We begin in beautiful Shannon, Ireland , and travel to Cork, home of the famous Blarney Castle.

Then we ' ll learn the history of the thousands of Irish emigrants who fled from fam ine and poverty at the port town of Cobh. The journey continues along the scenic south coast with its fishing vi ll ages to the world renowned Waterford Crystal Factory.

Contrast G lenda lou gh ' s spe llbinding beauty and history with a visit to the three-masted sailing ship , Dunbrody, in New Ross , which brought emigrants to America during the Great Famine. We pass the Wicklow Mountains on our way to Dublin for a guid ed tour that

includes St. Patrick ' s Cathedral, Trinity College and the " Book of Kells ."

After our flight to England, we learn about the Pilgrims with a visit to Austerfie ld. Next it's Scrooby, and then to Babworth, w here Separatism took root.

We ' ll v isit many historical sites in London , including the Magna Carta at Norman Castle.

Next it' s on to Southampton's port with its U.S. connections, including the Pilgrims' 1620 voyage , the RMS Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912 and the Allied invasion ofNormandy .

Finally we board the Queen Mary 2 for the journey home with a specia l en route viewing for our group of seldom and never before shown images from the Mystic Seaport' s Rosenfeld and Carleton Mitchell photography collections.

We hope you will join us on this unique and memorable vacation.

Please reserve early to avoid missing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to peer back into history that shaped our nation.

Rates starting at $5,439 (per person, double occupancy)

For reservations or further information, please call ABC Destinations toll-free at 800-227-5858.

To receive your discount, please mention that you are an NMHS member, and be included in our party.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

9

California, Here \Ve Come!

National Maritime Historical Society Joint Conference with the North American Society for Oceanic History and the Steamship Historical Society 14- 17 May 2009 in Vallejo, California

W

e won't have to work hard to entice as many of our members overlooked wide range of West Coast maritime heritage and scholas we can to join with us, the North American Society for arship. It demonstrates why this ann ual conference moves around Oceanic History and the Steamship Historical Society, for North America each year." a joint conference this 14-17 May 2009; it will be a There is so much more to do in the Bay Area for the most interesting program at a great location. We will maritime heritage community than could ever fit into meet at the California Maritime Academy, CSU, in a 4-day event, so while you are in town, take the oppicturesque Vallejo, California, for three and a half portunity to visit the Vallejo Naval Historical Musedays devoted to "Pons, Fons and Spons: Maritime um , Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Richmond's Rosie Economy, Defense and Recreation through Time the Riveter National Historical Park, and the hisand across Space." toric ships SS Jeremiah OBrien, USS Pampanito, USS Lectures and panel discussions will be held all Hornet, USS Iowa, and presidential yacht Potomac. day Thursday and Friday, 14-15 May, and in the mornThe academy is providing a number of dorm rooms ings on Saturday and Sunday, 16-17 May. On Saturday afterfor the use of conference participants at the daily rate of $40. noon the gro up will be transported to San Francisco for a tour of Contact Diane Rawicz for more information at drawicz@csum.

Hyde Street Pier, San Francisco Maritime Museum, and the collec- edu. The official conference hotel is the Courtyard by Marriot tions of the J. Porter Shaw Library at the San Francisco National Vallejo Napa Valley, voted the best hotel in the Vallejo area for Maritime Historic Park. Later, back on the campus, conferees will 2008. The conference rate is $79 a night and can be booked, gather in the evening for an awards banquet, featuring keynote while rooms last, at Vallejo Napa Valley, 1000 Fairgro unds Drive, speaker Robert Eric Barde, of UC Berkeley, author of Immigration Vallejo, CA 94589; Ph. 800-321-2211 or 707-644- 1200 using at the Golden Gate: Passenger Ships, Exclusion and Angel Island (see the review in Sea History 124, p. 50) .

For Thursday and Friday, continental breakfast, snacks, lunch, and evening receptions provide ample opportunity for our members to get to meet the speakers and presenters, who'll be representing colleges, museums, historical societies, government agencies with maritime programs, and like-minded individuals from around the country. On Friday, participants will be treated to the extraordinary one-man play by Ian Ruskin, "From Wharf Rats to Lord of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges."

(See info and reviews at www.theharThe California Maritime Academy is a specialized campus of the California State University. In rybridgesproject.org). For Sunday afview is the 500-ft. training ship Golden Bear. ALL cadets take at Least one two-month cruise before ternoon, an optional winery tour has graduation, during which they run the ship under supervision offaculty and staff been arranged.

Conference speakers from all three organizations will par- California Maritime History Conference as the code. You can ticipate in sessions organized according to topic and theme, and book online at the $79 a night rate at http://www.marriott.com/ conferees will have a good assortment of presentations from which sfovl using code MHCMHCA fo r a king bed or MHCMHCB for to choose. Featured speakers include Dr. Hans Van Tilburg, who'll rwo queen beds. be discussing the history and archaeology of USS Saginaw, which To make your conference reservation, send in the form wrecked at Kure Atoll in 1870 and was discovered by a team of printed on the inside cover wrapper, reserve online through our NOAA archaeologists under his leadership in 2003. Dr. Raymond web site at www.seahistory.org, or call NMHS at 800 221-6647 Ashley, President of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, will ext. 0. Total registration fee is $200, which includes meals, retravel up the coast to discuss the museum's plans to build a full-size ceptions, the banquet, and tours. Individual day reservations are historically accurate replica of Cabrillo's flagship from his 1542 available at $75 per day and $25 for Sunday morning. This will be voyage of discovery. Victor Mastone, 2009 NASOH conference a great opportunity to meet the leadership and fellow members of program co-chair, notes, "This year's program is an exciting one for NMHS and the maritime heritage community at large. its location, the variety of presenters, and the focus on the often -Burchenal Green, President 10

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

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S.O.S. for the Nantucket Lightship I LV-112

by Robert M annino Jr. and Donald Whitehead or 39 years, the N antucket Lightship, LV-112, guided intern atio nal transAtlantic shipping to and from U S East C oas t ports, through som e of the busiest and most treacherous shipping lanes in the world. For thousands of im migrants, her bright red hull was the first symbol of America they encountered . M any fam ous vessels, such as SS United States, the Queen Mary, N ormandie, as well as lesser-known naval and cargo vessels, depended on her as a navigational aid to steer them clear of the infamo us Nantucket Shoals.

LV-112 was built in 1936 at the Pusey & Jones Shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware, and her $300,956 bill was paid by the British Government as reparations afrer RMS Olympic rammed and sank LV117 in dense fog two yea rs earlier. At 1,050 to ns displacem ent and nearl y 150 feet lo ng, LV- 112 was the largest lightship ever built. She was put on station at Nantucket

F

On station in February 1975. LV-11 2 was decommissioned a month later and was replaced

by WLV-6 12. Between 1979 and 1983, two lightships (WLV-612 and WLV-61 3) alternated duty at Nantucket Shoals. In 1983, the Coast Guard replaced them with a Large N avigational Buoy (LNB), and so ended the lightship service in the United States.

"One scary night in, I believe, 1958, we broke our anchor chain and did not know it. We wound up offthe coast of New Jersey the next day with our radio beacon still going. I remember going on the bridge that night and watching the ship through the porthole going up walls ofwater that looked like five-to ten-story buildings high, then taking a nose dive straight down." - Bob Gubitosi, 2nd VP, USCG LSA, LV-112 Commissaryman 1957-61 Shoals in 1936 and served there without incident until 1942, when she was temporarily replaced by a lighted bell buoy fo r the durati on of World Wa r II. For those years, the ship was painted battleship gray and used as an examination vessel, armed with one three-inch gun and serving at Portland, M aine. She returned to lightship duty at her old station in 1945 and wo uld keep watch there fo r thir ty more years wi th

one exception: from 1958-60 she was withdrawn and assigned to "Relief" du ty at other east coast stations. Before she returned to Nantucket Shoals, she was sent to the Coast G uard yard at C urtis Bay, M D , for a m ajor refit and modernization. LV- 112 was retired fro m active du ty in 1975 and replaced by WLV-612.

In retirem ent, L V- 112 has served as a museum ship and traveled to New York

C ity to participate in the 1986 celebrations marking the 1OOth anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York; in 1989 she was designated a National Historic Landm ark. Today, despite her long history of service and the relatively good condition of her hull and systems, the N antucket Lightship LV- 112 stands at grave risk of being sent to th e scrap yard. Though she stood in harm's way for decade afrer decade The Cunard-White Star limited liner RMS Olympic, sister to the Titanic, passing close aboard the LV-l 12's predecessor, LV- 11 7, on the Nantucket station in early April 1934.

Nan tucket Shoals was particularly hazardous because many ofthe large steamers, using the beacon as a navigating aid, steered directly toward the lightship. A month after this photo was taken, on 15 May 1934, LV- 11 7 was rammed by Olympi c. Nearly 75 times larger than the lightship and traveling at about 2 0 knots, O lympic struck the lightship broadside in heavy fog and drove it to the bottom.

Boats .from the liner were immediately put over, but the lightship sank within minutes, killing seven of the eleven crewmembers.

12

SEA HI STORY 126, SPRING 2009

to protect our shipping-and the people and valuable cargo in those ships-from danger, she now relies on all of us to save this historic and venerable vessel from being reduced to scrap. With the help of the general public-who are responding with gifts of all sizes-an em ergency fundraising effort is underway to move LV-112 to safe harbor and return her to her former glory for everyone to appreciate.

Lifelines on the Sea Lightships were stationed at the most dangerous areas along the US coast and in the Great Lakes in places too deep or too dangerous to build lighthouses. These flo ating sentinels served as part of a lifeline that played an important role in the development of our country.

Lightship duty for crewmembers was extremely hazardous, especially on the Nantucket Shoals station-considered the most dangerous lightship assignment

(above) Replacing navigational lights on the forward mast. (below) Soviet fishing trawler.

It was not uncommon during the Cold Wtir for the ever-present Soviet fisherman and the lightship crew to trade items, such as coins, cigarettes, etc. for boxes of frozen fish. "The fisherman were our only neighbors. " These photos were taken by crewman Rich Racicot between 1964 and 1966

Radio room. In 1936, LV-112 put to sea equipped with a radio, radiobeacon, and short-range warning radiobeacon; in 1943, she was equipped with detection radar. Until 1960, the Nan tucket was propelled by a steam-compound reciprocating engine. As part ofher 1960 refit, her stack was removed and she was repowered with Cooper-Bessemer 900 HP diesel main engine.

Aloft, a 500mm lens lantern was mounted on the foremast; her mainmast was equipped with high-intensity light consisting oftwenty-four locomotive headlights mounted in groups ofsix on each face ofa four-sided revolving lamp housing. in the USCG and the wo rld . During the winter months, Nor'easters could las t for days. Howling winds and mountainous seas tossed lightships so violently, even the most seasoned sailors succumbed to seasickness.

The ever-present diesel fum es didn't help them any. If ear protection wasn't worn on deck, the ship's piercing and incessant fog signals caused intense ear pain and even deafness. A lightship station at night was a profoundly lonely and dangerous place to be, especially during foul weather. Located over the horizon in the pitch-black isolation of night at sea, the ship's only contact with civilization was the ephemeral passing of ships.

Nantucket Shoals' thick fog is infamous, and while the lightship was stationed there for the very purpose of alerting ships to the dangers ahead and of their location, its position in the shipping lanes put her at real risk of being rammed by huge freighters, tankers, or ocean liners trying to navigate in poor to zero visibility. Numerous accounts of near misses and actual

collisions involving "the Nantucket" paint a grim picture of the dangers of lightship duty. On 25 July 1956, for example, the ill-fated Andrea Doria passed within one mile of the lightship's station. On that day, LV-112 was not on station-she had been temporarily relieved by "Relief," LV-114 I WAL 536. (LV- 11 4 later became the "New Bedford" but was scrapped in 2007 after she sank at the pier after a long period of neglect. More than $200,000 of taxpayer money was spent ra1smg her, only to have her sold to a salvage

The Coast Guard began replacing lightships with Large Navigational Buoys and "Texas Towers, " like this one (right) which replaced the Ambrose Lightship in 1967 SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

13

Then and Now: (left) 14 September 1936 under steam power; (right) her current location in Oyster Bay, New York.

company for just $10,000.)

In all, 179 lighrships were built in rhe United States between 1820 and 1952. Ar one time, fifty-six lightships were stationed at various locations around the US coast.

In the 1970s, the US Coast Guard began replacing lightships with "Texas Towers" (structures resembling an oil rig) and large navigation buoys (LNB). In 1983, LV-l 12's successor, WLV-613, rhe "Nantucket II," was rhe last lightship to be decommissioned. Today, only seventeen lightships still exist; eight have qualified for National Historic Landmark srarus for "possessing unique characteristics of historic significance" and are currently operated as public museums.

Moving and Rescuing the Ship The Nantucket Lightship presently sits idle ar an unsecured public pier in Oyster Bay, New York, where she has been berthed for several years. The ship has fallen victim to

varying degrees of vandalism and is rapidly deteriorating from neglect while she awaits a new steward. Oyster Bay town officials have been patient and accommodating during the search for a new owner, bur ultimately they want LV-112 to vacate. If a new owner is not found to transport rhe ship to an alternate port soon, she faces rhe real possibility of being scrapped.

Since LV-l 12's decommissioning in 1975 ar rhe Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, rhe historic ship has been used as a museum and has changed ownership and ports several rimes. Past owners were well intentioned, bur LV-112 repeatedly fell victim to politics, lack of adequate marketing and media coverage, and most importantly, funding. The current owner, rhe National Lighthouse Museum, is searching for a qualified non-profit organization to adequately implement a strategy rhar includes LV-112's continuation as a non-profit 50l(c)3 lightship museum with a primary

focus on showcasing rhe remarkable history of this ship and rhe broader history she represents. Forrunarely, rhe transfer of LV-l 12's ownership includes a covenant intended to prevent rhe ship from being sold for scrap or used for anything other than a non-profit museum. Nonetheless, she appears to be at rhe end of her historic lifespan-unless ownership can be transferred ro a committed and adequately funded organization that will provide rhe perpetual stewardship she deserves.

As a result of rhe nation's current economic crisis, early fundraising prospects for this non-profit initiative have hir rough seas. Some private donors who initially had come forward to fund rhe ship lost most of their pledged donations in rhe recent stock marker decline. Nevertheless, there are other options. A grass-roots effort is underway ro raise money via thousands of small donations, which would add up to rhe total needed to stabilize and move

s

Then and Now-On the Bridge. Most of LV-112 working equipment is in place and intact. Clearly everything on board needs attention after years of neglect, but, overall, her hull, systems, and equipment can be cleaned up, tuned up, and put back in working order.

14

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRfNG 2009

the ship. Once those seed funds are in hand, private and government grants and endowment funds will be garnered to keep LV-112 a perpetual beacon of our nation's seafaring history. An estimated $175,000 to $250,000 is needed to begin restoration and stabilize the ship from further deterioration. Additionally, as a long-term goal, an $8-$10 million endowment will secure the ship's future.

L V-112 has tremendous potential and could be converted into a successful income-producing educational institution and museum. If LV-112 is re-established as a new museum, she has high potential for receiving private, federal and state grants .

LV-112's Restoration There is cause to celebrate. LV-112 appears to be in nearly original intact condition.

After several years of neglect, she obviously needs some attention, but the hull is sound and much of what she needs most are a thorough cleaning throughout the ship and below the waterline, plus painting and miscellaneous repairs. Until a marine survey is conducted in drydock, the full extent of her repair needs is unknown.

In the engine room, the main eightcylinder 900 HP Cooper-Bessemer diesel engine has not been operated for four years, but it appears to be in good condition and can be restarted. Of the six other smaller GM 3-71 diesel engines (three electrical generators and three air compressors that start the main engine and operate the navigational fog signal), rwo are currently in running condition. The others need varying degrees of repairs, and rwo of the electrical generators need extensive repair and restoration. The repair list is manageable, and what it will take to get her running again is a far cry from the price tag many other historic ships require.

Throwing the Ship a Lifeline One organization being considered as a new steward for LV-112 proposes to bring the ship home to Massachusetts waters.

They already have found a berth in Boston Harbor, arranged through the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). An alternative site is the famous fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts , where the mayor and business leaders have expressed strong interest in providing a homeport for the ship. The Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center offered dock space, bur it was determined that the dock is nor strong enough for LV-112, so another berth is being sought. The organization's next step is to find funds to stabilize LV-112 and to assume non-profit ownership.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

Chart table and navigation station-today Federal and state authorities have recognized the historical value and significance of former lightships and have awarded generous grants to these historic landmarks.

The Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation in Lewes, Delaware, is one example of a successful lightship museum that has received substantial federal and state funding.

Unlike the Nantucket Lightship, it is not registered as a National Historic Landmark, although an application for this designation has been made.

LV-112 could be more than just an institution that draws only the interest of maritime history buffs. It could include a cooperative membership program that shares information with other lightship museums. It could involve weather and marine science and historic maritime programs affiliated with a wide range of educational institutions and foundations.

The immediate goal of ra1smg $175,000 will provide necessary seed money and buy the time to apply for more comprehensive and time-consuming grant applications. If everyone who reads this article would donate even a small amount of money, that goal could be reached.

The USCG Lightship Sailors Association International, Inc. (USCG LSA), a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization, has offered to accept donations specifically for LV-112 until another qualified non-profit organization can assume ownership. At that point, the USCG LSA would transfer the funds to LV-112's new owners.

Donations may be made to: Nantucket Lightship I LV-112, c/o USCG Lightship Sailors International, Inc., 1107 E. Saguaro Drive, Globe, AZ 85501. For more information and to send donations via the internet, visit the web site www. nantucketlightshiplv-112.org. J,

Robert Mannino Jr., of South Hampton, NH, is spearheading the effort to save the Nantucket Lightship, LV-112. He is a marketing communications and public relations consultant, specializing in development programs for non-profit organizations including maritime museums, historical societies and shipbuilding preservation projects. His experience also includes chairing municipal historical commissions. Donald Whitehead is an author and underwater photographer from Salem, MA. They would like to thank the USCG Historians Office, USCG Lightship International, crew members ofLV-112, USCG Art Program, and Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation for their assistance in preparing this article.

Lightship Museums in the United States • LV-83 • LV-87 • LV-101 • LV-103 • LV-112 • LV-116 • WLV-604 • WLV-605 • LV-118

"Swiftsure," Northwest Seaport, Seattle, WA "Ambrose," South Street Seaport Museum, New York, NY "Portsmouth," Naval Shipyard Museum, Portsmouth, VA "Huron," Port Huron Museum, Port Huron, MI "Nantucket," (inactive/closed) Oyster Bay, NY "Chesapeake," Baltimore Maritime Museum, Baltimore, MD "Columbia," Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, OR "Relief," Lightship Relief, Oakland, CA "Overfalls," Overfalls Lightship Museum, Lewes, DE

Two other "Nantucket" lightships, LV-613 and LV-612, are still in existence and privately owned.

15

The El Estero Fire and Ho~ the US Coast

by William H. Thiesen, PhD

T

he terms "Pearl Harbor," "9-11," and "Katrina'' conjure up disastrous images for most Americans.

Bur, how many have ever heard rhe name "El Estero"? To New Yorkers in particular, this term should strike a chord. Ir was the greatest man-made disaster in American history rhar never happened.

engine room. As rhe hear of rhe fire grew and smoke billowed into rhe ship's passageways, the engine room crew, armed only with hand-held fire extinguishers, gave up the fight and fled the space.

Everyone at the barracks understood that volunteering might result in a fiery death for any one of them. Most of them were

A member of an Explosives Loading Detail monitors the loading of high explosives and the work of carpenters as they construct the bombs' wooden framework in the ship's hold.

Ir was spring of 1943, a rime when the outcome of World War II was still in doubt and port facilities around New York harbor and northern New Jersey stowed convoy vessels ro capacity with thousands of troops and millions of tons of war material destined for Europe, North Africa, and rhe Pacific. Ar 5:30PM on 24 April , rhe call went our ro Jersey City's Coast Guard barracks, "Ammo ship on fire! They want volunteers!" The burning vessel was SS El Estero, an antiquated 325-foor Panamanian freighter pressed into service with the urgency of the war effort, and it was moored at Caven Point pier in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Members of the Coast Guard's Explosives Loading Derail had just overseen rhe last load to top off El Estero's holds with 1,365 tons of ordnance, including huge "blockbuster" bombs, depth charges, incendiary bombs, and anti-aircraft and small-arms ammunition. The fire had starred minutes earlier when a boiler flashback ignited fuel oil floating on bilge water under the 16

aware that in 1917 the French ammunition ship Mont Blanc, loaded with 5,000 tons of TNT, blew up in Halifax harbor in Nova Scotia, instantly killing 1,500 residents,

wounding 9,000 more and leveling a large part of the city. Ir was the largest man-made explosion in history before the atomic bomb blast witnessed ar Hiroshima.

The Coast G uard seamen also knew that the potential for catastrophic devastation around New York harbor was far greater than tiny Halifax. An explosion of this magnitude could obliterate nearby ships, the port, portions of local cities and thousands of residents. Two other ammunition ships, flying rhe red Baker flag for "hot," were tied up near El Estero, and a line of railroad cars on the pier held a shipment of hundreds of tons of munitions, for a rota! of over 5,000 tons of explosives located close enough ro fuel a potential blast. Add to rhis the nearby fuel storage tank farms at Bayonne and Staten Island-massive destruction appeared likely for the nation's largest population center, including swaths of Jersey City, Bayonne, Staten Island and New York City.

Soon after the smoke began pouring out of El Estero, officer-in-charge Lt.j .g.

Francis McCausland arrived on scene. He sent out the call ro the Coast Guard barracks and signaled two tugs to move the other munitions ships away from El Estero.

He also helped organize initial firefighting efforts with over a dozen Coast Guardsmen already working on the pier. Meanwhile, army soldiers responsible for the railroad shipment set to work moving rhe ammunition boxcars off the pier. By 5:35PM, two ladder trucks and three pumpers from the Jersey City Fire Department arrived, as did two thirty-foot Coast Guard fireboars, which all began pouring water into the smoking vessel. Shortly thereafter, members of rhe Coast Guard Auxiliary mobilized and li eutenant commanders John Stanley and Arthur Pfister arrived by fast boar from rhe Coast G uard Caprain-ofthe-Porr office, located near the Battery, and rook command of operations. Pfister, a retired battalion fire chief in New York C ity ~nd officer-in-charge of Coast Guard fireboars, assumed overal l responsibility for (left) Although no photographs exist to document the El Estero fire, the smoke from the conflagration must have resembled this picture ofthe black cloud that resultedfrom the Halifax explosion in 1917.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

Guard Helped Save New York Harbor firefighting activities, while Stanley devoted his attention to activities within El Estero.

It was Stanley's first day on assignment!

The timing of the call to the Coast Guard barracks couldn't have been worse.

April 24th was the day before Easter, and members of the Explosives Loading

on board, but the oil fire continued to gain ground. Flames co uld be seen escaping through El Estero's skylights, hatches and scoop-like ventilators while the heat cooked deck plates, blistered paint and scorched the soles of the seamen's once-shiny shoes.

The fire's intensity spread the conflagration

Stanley's recommendation, the Coast Guard Commander of the Third District and New York's Cap tain of the Port, Rear Admiral Stanley Parker, ordered El Estero scuttled. But it was too late for that. The sea cocks and overboard discharge valves necessary to flood the ship were located in

'~pril 24th

was the day before Easter, and members ofthe Explosives Loading Detail had been anticipating liberty for quite some time. They had already donned their dress blues and pea coats and many hadjust .finished shining their shoes. But when the call came down for volunteers, sixty Coast Guardsmen steppedforward, eager to fight the fire. " D etail had been anticipating liberty for quite some time. They had already donned their dress blues and pea coats and many had just finished shining their shoes. But when the call came down for volunteers, sixty Coast Guardsmen stepped forward, eager to fight the fire. The men scrambled for the barracks door and two awaiting trucks. Witnesses described the scene in almost comical terms, with twenty dressedup servicemen climbing into a pick-up truck designed for no more than ten, while the other forty clutched any open space available on a larger military truck. With men hanging from cabs and riding fenders, while red lights flashed and horns blared, the trucks sped down the eight-mile stretch of road to the waterfront, passing longshoremen and dock wo rkers marching in the opposite direction to escape the fire. The trucks screeched to a halt at the pier and the men hustled to the burning ship to join their shipmates already fighting the fire.

By 6:30PM, New York C ity fireboat john j. H arvey and the City's new mammoth firefi ghting boat Fire Fighter arrived on scene and ran dozens of high-pressure hoses into the ship for the Coast Guardsmen to douse the burning vessel. The fireboats pumped a tremendous volume of wa ter

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

from the bilges to all flammable surfaces, including the extensive wooden framework and staging encasing the ammunition and securing it in the hold.

Lt. Commander Pfister noticed that the fire's black smoke began to show yellowish-whi te streaks, indicating that water from the hoses, fireboats and local fire trucks had begun to reach the fire's source.

The danger of catastrophic explosion was far from over, however, and in fact had only just begun as the smoke returned to its oily black consistency. On Lr. Commander

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the engine room underneath the blaze and remained inaccessible.

El Estero's bombs, explosives and ammunition grew hotter by the minute.

Oil fires have to be fought with chemicals, bur the fire's smoke and flam es were far too intense for the firefighters to get anywhere near the source of the conflagration.

All the seamen could attempt to do was cool the amm unition with water, flood the ship's holds as fas t as possible and try to extinguish rhe fire later with chem icals if wa ter failed to wo rk. Lt.j.g. McCausland had led firefighting efforrs inside rhe ship and suffered injuries, burns and smoke inhalation afrer rescuing a man in the hold. H e had to be evacuated to the local hospital where he remained for the next three weeks. As one Coast G uard seaman remarked, "Ir was one hot fire!"

El Estero's deck cargo proved as dangerous as that stowed in the holds. Anti-aircraft amm unition for the ship's deck guns was located perilously close to the blistering decks. Coas t Guard fire fighters broke open (left) D uring the early stages of the firefighting, two ofthese water jet propelled 30-foot fireboats arrived at the El Esrero, and began pouring water into the ammo ship along with local fire trucks and pier-side fire hoses.

17

the ammunition lockers and slid the hot ammo ready boxes down a greased plank to the pier below. In addition, numerous drums of high-octane fuel sat stacked on the ship's deck. Nothing could be done with the fuel barrels because El Estero had to be towed away from the waterfront to prevent the pier, stored ammunition, and local fuel storage tanks from going up in smoke. Lt. Commander Stanley and tugboat skipper Ole Ericksen quickly examined harbor charts and selected an anchorage for the ship in the Upper Harbor.

of the ruptured barrels and ignited the water's surface near the blazing freighter; but the fire fighters had averted the threat ofigni ting a massive fuel explosion on El Estero's top side. As the tugboats towed the burning vessel into the harbor, El Estero belched black clouds that could be seen for miles and an orange glow above the boiler room illuminated the smoke. The authorities in New Jersey and New York warned residents by radio and through local air raid wardens to prepare for an explosion and braced for a detonation.

The next morning, thousands of New Yorkers participated in the annual Easter Day Parade, many never realizing how close they had come to a major disaster. A few months after the fire, the navy raised El Estero, still full of ammunition, and towed it out to sea for target practice.

The El Estero fire had taught military and civilian authorities the perils of loading live ammunition near a major metropolitan area. Not long after the disaster had been averted, the navy began construction of a weapons depot on a section of rural

El Estero resting harmlessly on the bottom ofNew York harbor near Robbins Reef, the red "Baker"jlag still flying.from her mast.

Once Coast Guard officials made the decision to move El Estero, Lt. Commander Stanley asked for rwenty volunteers to stay on board with him and Pfister to fight the fire during the transit to the Upper Harbor. Far more men volunteered than the number necessary, and many had to be ordered off. One seaman, who was engaged to be married, volunteered to stay on board, but the ranking boatswain's mate yelled, "You're getting married in a few weeks. Now get the hell offi" The chances of survival for those remaining on board the ship seemed slim indeed, and the men that stayed passed their watches, wallets, and personal effects to their departing shipmates.

By 7:00PM, the seamen aboard El Estero had managed to secure a steel hawser to the ship's bow and the tugboats began pulling it out into New York harbor.

The Coast Guardsmen on board the burning ship managed to push the cooking fuel drums off the deck. Fuel leaked from some

18

Eventually, the convoy of tugboats, fireboats and El Estero reached the target area and the Coast Guard crew successfully anchored the vessel in forty feet of water near the unmanned Robbins Reef Lighthouse. At a little past nine o'clock in the evening El Estero finally filled with water and settled to the bottom . The flooded vessel rumbled and belched smoke and steam as it cooled in the cold water of New York harbor. Meanwhile, floating fuel drums exploded on the water's surface and fires continued to burn on the ship's exposed superstructure. By 9:45PM, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia arrived by police launch to inspect the freighter and reported that it was still burning. As Lt. Commander Pfister later described the fire, "It was touch and go at all times." But by 10:00PM, Rear Admiral Parker broadcast by radio the all-clear announcement and by 11: 30PM, the Fire Fighter and john]. Harvey had finally extinguished the remaining surface fires and returned to their docks.

waterfront property near Sandy Hook, New Jersey. In December, the navy commissioned Naval Weapons Station Earle, named for former naval ordnance bureau chief Rear Admiral Ralph Earle, which soon became a hub for the region's explosives loading operations. The Coast Guard moved the Explosives Loading Detail from Jersey City to Earle when operations began at that facility.

Early in the war, Coast Guard personnel serving in the New York area had come to be known rather derisively as "subway sailors" and "bathtub sailors," because many came from the greater New York area. The men that fought the El Estero fire came to be recognized as the heroes they truly were. Some experts later estimated that Manhattan's skyscrapers could have suffered severe damage and as many as one million residents could have been affected had the El Estero fire touched off nearby flammables and explosives. For his efforts, Lt. Commander Stanley received the

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

Members of the Coast Guard's Explosives Loading Detail received special training in the handling, loading, and proper stowage of explosives and ordnance.

Legion of Merit, while Lt. Commander Pfister received the Navy & Marine Corps Medal for his role in fighting the fire. The City of Bayonne threw a parade and huge ceremony recognizing the Coast Guard Explosives Loading Detail and the City's firefighters, which included speeches, radio broadcasts and the presentation of specially-struck medals to each member of the Detail. In addition, some of the Detail's personnel received a letter of commendation from Rear Admiral Parker.

In an unfortunate epilogue to this story, disaster struck a year later at the US Navy's weapons depot at Port Chicago, California, thirty-five miles northeast of San Francisco. The navy had located this munitions facility in an isolated area far away

(right) A US Navy photograph later published in the New York Times shows the El Estero after re-floating. Notice the cofferdam built around the deck to help pump her dry.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

from the local population center; however, it failed to implement proper oversight and safety procedures at Port Chicago. In an effort to speed up shipments of munitions to Pacific combat zones, navy personnel ignored Coast Guard safety guidelines and bypassed the assistance of a Coast Guard Explosives Loading Detail for loading operations. In June 1944, a mishap in the

hold of an ammunition ship touched off over 4,600 tons of ammunition, atomizing the ship and another ammo ship, leveling the loading facility, killing over 300 navy personnel and seriously wounding 400 others in the area. While not quite as powerful as the Halifax explosion, it was the worst such disaster in Navy history. J,

William H. Thiesen is the Atlantic Area Historian for the US Coast Guard. He is the author of Industrializing American Shipbuilding: The Transformation of Ship Design and Construction, 1820-1920 (University of Florida Press, 2006) and is a regular contributor to Sea History. Dr. Thiesen dedicates this article to the men and women of the US Coast Guard-past and present. For more information on USCG history, visit www.uscg.mil/historyl or contact: H istorian's Office, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, 43 1 Crawford Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704; Ph. 757-398-6643.

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US Coast Guard Veteran Seymour Wittek Awarded the Coast Guard Commendation Medal for his Heroic Effort Fighting the El Estero Fire

by William H. Thiesen, PhD

he story of the steamship El Estero fire is one that has been told in the pages of such popular periodicals as the Saturday Evening Post and Reader's Digest. As time passes, however, fewer and fewer eyewitnesses are still with us who can recount what really happened that day in April 1943. As part of the United States Coast Guard's Explosives Loading Detail, veteran Seymour Wittek responded to the fire; he provided advice and criticism for Sea History's article.

Wittek moved to New York City as a child and grew up in the Bronx, participating in Boy Scouts, sports and debate clubs and he even served as a volunreer disc jockey at local community center dances. After high school, he began training to become an electrician. But events in 1941 changed the course of Wittek's life. First, he met his future wife, Anne Cooperman, and

T

Seymour Wittek was a member of the US Coast Guard's Explosives Loading Detail in 1943. He was stationed at Jersey City, NJ, when the call came for volunteers to fight the El Estero fire, burning out of control at a Bayonne, NJ, pier.

20

Vice Admiral Robert J Papp, Commander ofthe United States Coast Guard's Atlantic Area, presents NMHS volunteer Seymour Wittek with the Coast Guard Commendation Medal on Veteran's Day, 2008, on board the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. became involved in her uncle's trade in the fur business. Wittek would prosper in this line of work for the rest of his career.

World War II also had a lasting influence on his life as he would serve in the Coast Guard, and both his fiancee and mother would serve in defense-related industries.

In October 1942, Wittek enlisted in the service and began basic training at New York's Manhattan Beach Coast Guard training center. By 1943, he began serving with the Explosives Loading Detail stationed at Jersey City, New Jersey.

On that fateful day, when the call came for volunteers to fight the El Estero fire, he answered it along with nearly sixty other Coast Guardsmen, despite the obvious danger. After the fire, the grateful citizens of Bayonne, New Jersey, threw a citywide celebration to honor the Coast Guard, its Explosive Loading Detail, and local firefighting personnel. It was only at this point that Mr. Wittek disclosed to his family the specific nature of his service and the danger inherent in it.

Today, at the age of eighty-eight, Mr. Wittek can reflect on a satisfying life, including a fifty-year career in the fur business and, together with his late wife Anne, raising a close-knit four-generation

American family. Today, he remains active with his synagogue, his family, and as a volunteer with organizations, such as the National Maritime Historical Society. Mr. Wittek is a regular volunteer at NMHS headquarters, coming in each week to assist the staff; in 2002 NMHS honored him with the Volunteer of the Year Award. He has also told the story of the El Estero fire and his personal recollections of the event at a 2003 NMHS seminar, to an enthusiastic response.

Mr. Wittek also remains faithful to the memory of those "subway sailors" who helped save New York harbor from near destruction due to the El Estero fire. On 11 November 2008, Coast Guard Vice Admiral Robert]. Papp awarded Mr. Wittek the Coast Guard Commendation Medal.

Mr. Wittek admits his pride in receiving the recognition not just for himself, but also in the memory of those Explosives Loading Detail personnel who long ago answered the call to fight the El Estero fire with little regard for their own safety. After the war, Wittek and the rest of the Explosives Loading Detail personnel went their separate ways, but Seymour Wittek hopes that some day he may meet members of his old unit once again. ,!,

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

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21

Let ยงo and '1-(auLJ Lessons to 'fake '1-Come from the 'Bria Niagara

by Captain Walter Rybka ailing from the Erie Maritime Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania, US Brig Niagara has been serving the dual roles of museum ship in port and training ship underway since 1991. A long article could be written on the history she represents, and another on the various re-buildings undergone over the years, culminating in

sailed with sixteen professional crew and up to twenry-four volunteers who needed to be trained. We have been permitted to charge tuition the last three seasons, but we have been teaching people to be useful members of a square rigger crew since 1991.

As a museum ship, Niagara interprets the naval history of the War of 1812 and particularly the Battle of Lake Erie, fought

Sailing in through the Erie channel, north pier light immediately astern, at the end of a tenday passage from Chicago. On this occasion the crew had been together long enough and the wind just right, so Captain Wes Heerssen sailed her into her slip.

Melbourne Smith designing and, through subcontracting Bill Elliott of Bay Ship & Yacht, building the present version of the ship in 1988, but those stories will have to wait. This article wi ll focus on the sailing operation of the ship.

Until 2005 Niagara sailed as an uninspected vessel, earning revenue only as an attraction vessel in port. After modifications, such as watertight bulkheads, partial re-wiring, and numerous additions to safery equipment, Niagara obtained a Certificate of Inspection from the USCG to operate as a Sailing School Vessel (SSV). We have been sailing as an SSV for the last three years, but in all the years prior Niagara

on 10 September 1813. Two of the bestknown phrases in US naval history are "Don't Give Up The Ship" and "We have

met the enemy and they are ours," both associated with this battle. The interpretation also includes the technology of the wooden square rigged sailing ship, and this is a much larger story spanning hundreds of years . As a sailing school vessel, we teach the naval history, but far more emphasis is put on that larger story of learning the seafaring craft, and the more important personal lessons that are not so much taught by us but grow out of the trainees' experience.

Sailing ships were the original space stations, isolated communities beyond reach of the rest of humaniry, engaged on missions to learn of distant places. Erie was founded as a port ciry and remains one to this day. The shoreline that is seen as the barrier to travel by the land-bo und is but the starting point for those who see the whole world as connected by the sea.

The Great Lakes are the "Inland Seas," the route from the world's oceans into the heartland of North America. The seas have always been a place of sublime beaury and dire peril, a shifting stage whereon endurance, toil, skill, and courage, are the prerequisites for any chance of success. Despite our nation's maritime roots and continued dependence upon maritime trades, our maritime heritage is barely visible, especially the lessons we can draw from it to improve our future.

We preserve only what we appreciate, appreciate only what we understand, and that understanding is incomplete without

(right) Hauling out a topsail reef earring.

Niagara is one of the very Jew vessels where tucking a reef into a square topsail is a regular occurrence. It's the single most difficult job routinely done but very necessary.

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SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

experience. The most fragile aspect of maritime heritage is not corroded iron or rotting wood, it is human experience. Corry Cramer, the founder of Sea Education Association, used to say "heritage preservation is attitude preservation." Attitudes are acquired over time and through experience.

The Sailing School Vessel program of US Brig Niagara has the vision, hope, and belief that by learning "the way of a ship," our students will grow through accepting the challenges posed and in the process become better human beings. We provide an immersive experience in rhe life and work of a seaman in rhe Age of Sail, which offers lasting lessons in three important areas: seamanship, history, and citizenship.

Practice of the first is the means to accomplishing the other two. Our most immediate goal onboard is to instill the idea that competent seamanship is required for the safe navigation of the vessel. The essence of seamanship is doing a difficult job safely. A parallel goal is preserving the art and the craft of traditional seamanship as a living part of our culture.

Participation in the ship's work confers the same benefits on students as would team sports, orchestra, or any other serviceoriented activity that gives them a chance to belong to something much bigger than themselves. A ship, however, creates this sense of solidarity to a great degree due to isolation from the shore. Combined with rhe inherent hazards of the sea, the environment imposes a greater demand for individual responsibility for the safety of all.

Men and women haul away at the Jore braces. Note the sweeps (30-foot oars) on the gallows frame amidships. Niagara has on a Jew occasions been maneuvered under oars.

Students may go home at the end of the day from a ball game or a recital, they live in the ship for several weeks.

As a result, a ship is a special place for being the scene of so many people's best efforts, which Karl Kortum described as " ... making use of that ancient phenomenon which makes anybody with any exposure to seamanship of any sort at any point in his life always proud of it."

There are few places as good for bringing home our own vulnerability in the immensity of nature as standing on a swaying, lurching foorrope a hundred feet above a rolling deck, the ship but a tiny sliver of wood below, and nothing but broken water as far as the eye can see in all directions. The experience is exhilarating and profoundly

humbling at rhe same time. Like the desert, and the skies, the sea is a place humans don't naturally belong. Those who venture into such places are utterly dependent for survival upon the technology and skills brought with them. We don't need to artificially create a "boot camp" environment to instill discipline. The demands of the sea and the needs of the ship do it for us.

What is the validity of such anachronistic seafaring to academic education?

Our understanding of maritime history and literature, of the seafaring culture, is so much deeper if we have experienced some of the same conditions and problems which confronted seafarers in the past. No amount of reading about the crowded conditions oflife in a sailing warship brings it home so much as living our of a duffel bag and sleeping in a hammock in the tight confines of a berth deck. The bewilderment of the green hand is hard to convey without having been there. Not only is the environment strange and complicated, bur most of the instructions are in what amounts to the foreign language of nautical jargon.

Yet over rime, this environment does make sense, and the student becomes their (left) Offwatch and in hammocks on the berth deck. Trainees must stow all personal items in the large du.Ifie bags hanging outboard. Mess tables are stowed before hammocks can be strung. Trainees have to be taught how to eat, sleep, and stand up, before we get started on sailing the ship.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

23

Launching "Cutter !!"for a rowing drill. Niagara is one of the very few SSVs large enough to carry traditional boats in side davits. Integrating small-craft handling into the training scheme is an important part of the program. own "first-person document." They gain an appreciation of the limits and options that our predecessors were confronted with. I once had a professor of history and nautical archaeology tell me that, after seeing the rockbound shores of the lower St. Lawrence from onboard Niagara, he had gained a completely new understanding of the difficulties confronting the British invasion force in 1758-9.

The sail training course is not a substitute for academic study, but provides the filte r of firsthand knowledge to enhance comprehension and analysis of the historical record. Our world is the consequence of decisions made by our forebears. Our understanding of the problems they confronted, the choices open to them, the good or bad decisions reached, and the veraciry of the records, is greatly enhanced by having lived for a time with som e of the sam e conditions.

The highest value of learning history is to foster good citizenship. Learning both the bright triumphs and the dark errors of our pas t contributes to an informed electorate, which is inseparable from the maintenance of a viable democracy. The United States is a nation of vast cultural and ethnic diversiry. The only

fastenings that hold this country together are a set of shared ideals, val ues, and laws, the understanding of which is dependent upon some knowledge of history.

H ow does learning the ancient skills of seamanship, enhanced by histori cal perspective, contribute to the goal of fostering good citizenship? One of the outstanding lessons of seafaring is not only how selfrelianr we must be, but also how interdependent the members of a ship's co mpany are. The highest value of sail train ing is fo r participants to learn through experience that the greatest resource they have onboard is each other. Ir is through mutual

trust, carefully nurtured competence, and unceasing vigilance that a ship's company survives in a small fragile structure, suspended over an abyss of water, isolated in the immensiry of a hazardous environm ent. Each ship contains its own sociery which in large m easure is based on trust.

Actually, trust is at the heart of any sociery, bur at sea the need for it is starkly apparent. Trust by the officers that the crew will do their dury. Trust by the crew that the officers know what they are about.

Trust by all in an ancient tradition of skills and responsibilities. The learning is not so much abo ut the ship as from the ship.

The usual result is greater respect for self, for shipmates, for the craft of seamanship, and the marine environment.

Another powerful theme of the sail training experience is empowerment.

Historically there is a great dichotomy between the shoreside and shipboard view of sailors. Released after a long voyage from the hardships of the sea, the seamen ashore were seen by landsmen as drunken, licentious, indolent, morally reprehensible specimens ofhumaniry, and there is ample supporting evidence for the truth of this view. At sea, however, the stark demands of survival put the emphasis on attention to du ry and fortitude in adversiry. Seeing the ship through heavy weather, especially if called upon to jury-rig repairs afterwards, instilled pride, an attitude of" ... of course we can do this (insert hard dangero us task)-we're seamen! " Getting a ship

(right) Every year approximately 3 0-40 % of Niagara's crew, both professional and trainee, are women. These four are hauling bunts and clews at port main pinrail.

24

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

underway, crowding on sail, and feeling her roar along like a freight train under your feet puts a broad grin of accomplishment on rhe faces of rhe whole crew.

On an intellectual level, this much may be inferred from reading, bur the feel and the grasp of it are so much deeper if it has been experienced. This is especially true since learning traditional seamanship is a necessary part of navigating Niagara safely in rhe present. The val ue to the future is an understanding of social skills and attitudes which were vital to survival then and remain so now.

US Brig Niagara offers the public several programs . When in port, visitors to rhe Erie Mari rime Museum may take a guided tour on board. On m any summer weekends there is a special opportunity to enroll as a day-sail student for a five-hour sail. D aysail students may help haul on lines, bur are primarily observers in an introductory program, they get a glimpse into the world of rhe sailing ship.

For rhe full immersion in the sailor's life there is rhe multi-week Seamanship program . Up to twenty live-aboard trainees spend two- to four weeks onboard under the tutelage of seventeen professional crew m embers. When trainees join Niagara they enter the wooden world of the sailing ship.

They must learn to harness the wind by the combined effort of many hands, which requires learning an ancient language, as (above) Furling the flying jib. 1he end ofthe flying jib boom is 60 feet ahead of the stem and well as meeting the physical challenges of 25 feet over the water. Looking back at the ship charging along with a bone in her teeth is hard wo rk at myriad tasks . The sound of quite a thriff. (below) LET Go AND HA UL! Trainees and professional crew at the fore braces. rushing water at the bow, the feel of a moving wooden deck underfoot, the smells of wood smoke from the galley stove and pine tar from the rigging, the cadence of comm and and response as willing hands haul coarse line in working sail, all are rhe senso ry elements of Niagara underway.

The live-aboard trainee experience is essentially an accelerated apprenticeship, an immersive experience in the sailor's life during the centuries of working sail.

Upon enrollment, trainees are sent a crew handbook and seamanship manual. The handbook is history, standing orders, job descriptions, the policy and procedure guide to the ship. The seamanship man ual is entirely practical pull-rhis-line-to-makerhis-happen. Upon arrival, trainees are assigned a duffie bag and a hammock, followed by several hours of orientation on

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

25

stowage of gear, setting up the hammock, use of heads, mess tables, safety briefing on location of all fire extinguishers and other safety equipment, instruction on wearing a PFD and immersion suit, launching a life raft, and review of the station bill, etc.

Going aloft is required of the professional crew, of course, but is voluntary for trainees. For the willing, the first time is in port, instruction in the use of a safety harness, and individually escorted climbs to the tops and back down. Out on the yards or higher than lower mast comes on successive climbs. Next comes learning the pinrails, nearly two hundred lines.

To the green novice we might as well be speaking in tongues while gesticulating at a bowl of spaghetti. It really helps to read the manuals before coming onboard. Getting underway for the first time, the trainees learn they are in the middle of a machine, a large engine that runs on wind and muscle power. One of the first lessons is that the biggest myth in sailing is " ... the wind is free!" Yes, free in that its use is open to all, but far from cost-free, in that considerable investment is needed in equipmenr, knowhow, and ongoing effort to make use of it.

Sailing ships got around the planet without burning fossil fuels, but they carried an expensive "fuel" bill in terms of men, rope, and canvas.

Learning the drills for fire, man overboard, abandon ship, setting sail, maneuvers, steering, reefing, taking in sail, furling, anchoring, mooring, launch and recovery and rowing and sailing of the ship's boats is not an instant process. A daysail student gets a tiny glimpse into the wooden world.

Because of the ship's complexity, one-week programs do not work well on Niagara.

Even two weeks is barely feasible, but we recognize it may be the limit of many people's schedules. Our experience over many years is that trainees are uncomfortable and bewildered the first week, it starts to make sense after two, and they don't want to leave after three. To encourage longer terms on board, our current policy is that the third and fourth weeks are tuition-free.

In the near future this may change to a reduced rate rather than free, but the point is that longer terms are much better on this kind of ship.

Niagara's schedule varies over the

26

"Cutter I" is the engine driven rescue boat, here seen in a drill scenario of recovering a victim in an immersion suit with simulated injuries. course of the summer. Some weeks we are sailing several day sails out of Erie. It doesn't sound like much, until you realize that day sailing a square-rigger involves running all the events of a voyage nonstop and fast-forward, an intense amount of concentrated maneuvering and sail handling. Three or four sailing days are followed by two or three in-port days with classes, expeditions in the ship's boats, and maintenance work.

This last item is both part of the curriculum, in that maintenance is where the majority of a sailor's work time is spent, and also nee-

essary for keeping Niagara shipshape.

Some weeks are spent on voyages to other ports. Niagara may be underway continuously for three- to twelve days at a time between port visits. These visits are typically festival events and Niagara is a major attraction. Port events are hard work; the crew will have about a third of the time off, but when on duty, all the normal shipkeeping routines go on, as well as the task of welcoming thousands of visitors for eight hours a day for two to four days at a time, often followed by an

"Cutter II" sailing with dipping lug rig. A once common rigfor naval ship's boats it is now nearly unknown in the US. The other pulling boat sails with a sprit rig

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

Sailing before the wind in the moonlight. Niagara is underway for several days at a time when making passages to other ports.

The ship carries a Large rigfor her size and is very fast in Light air. Royals and flying jib are first in when a breeze picks up. evening reception. All hands are expected other eager green hands, in a centuriesto learn enough of the ship's history to be old tradition. More than in the memories able to answer the basic questions. The ship of adventure, the real value is in the lesis freighted with history and all hands have sons learned that will serve them well in a share in its delivery. This aspect of serving any future endeavor. the ship is very important because rr----r----ir-r----inlT"Tl"T""r:'.'"1~ the port event income enables us to set a much lower tuition than would be the case otherwise.

So picture a young crewmember high aloft, or confidently standing on deck awaiting the last orders of a passage. A few weeks ago, the commands, now instantly jumped to and the tasks so routinely accomplished, were not even remotely understood. All too soon, Niagara will once again be welcomed back to her homeport of Erie. Much of this crew will disperse, to be rep laced by

"Spanker Outhaul Haul-away!" The first reefhas been taken in the Loose-footed spanker, and the sail is being re-set on a wet day. This is the most complicated sail on the ship, set up for both hoisting gaffand brailing into the snow mast.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

US Brig Niagara is owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and administered and operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, with the assistance of the Flagship Niagara League, a private non-profit. For more information reference www. brigniagara.org. ,!,

Captain Walter Rybka is the Site Administrator of the Erie Maritime Museum and the Senior Captain of US Brig Niagara. He has 36 years experience in every facet of restoring, maintaining, and operating traditional sailing ships, and he developed the Niagara's sail training curriculum.

He serves as an active member on Sea History's editorial advisory board and is an expert in the field ofhistoric ship preservation. In 2008, the American Sail Training Association honored him with the ASTA Lifetime Achievement Award. US Brig Niagara and the Erie Maritime Museum, 150 East Front Street, Erie, PA 16507; Ph. 814 452BR!G (2744).

27

Through the HawsepipeMarshall Johnson's Path From Fo'c'sle Hand to Master Painter

by Alan Fraser Houston n 1900, four Boston marine artists were at the peak of their careers. In the new century, few artists would ship before the mast and work square-rigged ships, as had three of the four. The Boston Daily Globe commented: "Marshall Johnson was one of the last of a great group of American marine painters who specialized in the picturesque square-rigged vessels for which America was famous." 1 Along with most of the square-rigged ships, these artists were gone by 1922.

The best-known of this group was probably William Edward Norton . Born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1843, he died in New York City in 1916. The second to pass was British-born William Formby Halsall, in Massachusetts. The third of this close group of artists was Hendricks A. Hallett, also born in Charlestown, who died in his Tremont Street studio in 1921. At the burial two days later, "several asked for Marshall Johnson, who was at the moment lying dead in his own house." 2 Johnson grew up in Boston when schooners and great square-rigged ships were regular features along the waterfront, and seamen and maritime artisans walked the streets in neighborhoods all about the city. As did many waterfront youths of his time, after clerking for a shipping firm , Johnson opted for the sea

I

and shipped out before the mast in the ship Sunbeam.

When the Sunbeam cleared Boston harbor's Highland Light, late in the afternoon on 14 October 1869, all signs pointed to a routine voyage for the 798ton trader. The weather was fair, barometer steady, temperature 48 degrees, with

Marshall Johnson a light westerly wind. The Sunbeam was a relatively new ship, coppered only two months before sailing, and had been recently surveyed in Boston. Built in 1865 at nearby Chelsea, Massachusetts,

Minot Lighthouse, Boston Harbor, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

for A. (Augustus) Hemenway & Co., Sunbeam was one of that firm's eight vessels that plied the waters between Boston and Valparaiso, Chile. At the latter port, Hemenway had established his own warehouses and stores, and his ships frequently returned from Chilean waters with cargoes of copper ore, nitrate of soda (saltpeter), wool, and hides.

Five months later, Sunbeam's captain Joseph Chadwick ordered his crew to ready the ship for sea as he plotted a course for home. The Sunbeam left Iquiqui, Peru, on 13 March 1870, bound for Tome, Chili, as the first leg of their homeward voyage via Cape Horn. On 31 March, Sunbeam was underway in fine weather, approximately eighty miles off the coast of Talcahuano, Chili, when the second mate entered the paint locker "to draw off some varnish ... taking with him an open light . . . an explosion fo llowed, scattering the burning varnish in all directions about the hold and over the sacks of saltpeter stowed therein." Within minutes, the entire ship was ablaze and her desperate crew jumped into the sea and clung to anything that would float. Just one ship's boat survived, in which thirteen, including the captain and his young son, first mate George Abbott, and Johnson, "a boy," took refuge.

Thankfully for the remaining crew, the whaleship Charles W Morgan was in sight at the time of the fire. The Morgan's log, which survives, as does the ship itself at Mystic Seaport, is succinct: "6 men lost, 1 boat w 13 men, Capt. & son, 2nd mate, cook, 9 men . Burned to the water in 20 minutes." 3 The Morgan called at Talcahuano two days later and remained there until sailing on 22 April.

On 10 May, Captain Chadwick and his son arrived in New York aboard the steamer Arizona. It is not known how Marshall Johnson returned to Boston; he was not mentioned with the Arizona's arrival and a fare would have been unaffordable. Sunbeam's mate, George Abbott, made it back home in July, having secured passage in another New Bedford whaleship, the Sappho. It is possible that Johnson took that route, also. (facing page) Coasting Schooners Rafting oil on canvas, 18 x 14 inches

28

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

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Ships in a Stiff Breeze, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches Who was seaman Marshall Johnson?

His life before he established himself as an artist is largely undocumented. We do know that Marshall Johnson III was born at 54 Fayette Street, Boston, on 13 May 1850, the son of Marshall Johnson Jr. and Caroline Tileston. His life in the decade after the Sunbeam disaster is obscure; he never married, and no journals or correspondence have surfaced. In his obituaries published in Boston newspapers, a few more details of his life were revealed. The Boston Globe noted on 22 March 1921: "He made several voyages before he began to seriously study painting with W. E. Norton. He also studied in France & Holland." The Boston Dai!J Evening Transcript reported: "He studied under William Edward Norton, the artist. He was a quiet man who had few close friends ... "4 An obituary in the Boston Herald, almost verbatim of the Transcript's, read: "He studied under ... Norton, the famous artist, and abroad." 5 30

A 1923 exhibition of Johnson's paintings in the famous Vose Gallery in Boston was reviewed by the Herald: [Johnson] was a well trained artist as well as marine painter . . . he was of the classes of the Lowell Institute, which prepared so many boys [including Norton & Halsall] of about 1870 for the artistic professions.... One remembers to have heard of certain Marshall Johnson journals or letters descriptive of his sea voyages in search of material for his paintings. If these are extant they ought to be preserved for future publication. 6 Eighty-five years later, we can do no better than say that Johnson went to sea at least one more time, studied at the Lowell Institute and with Norton, and went abroad, in 1887, to England, Holland, and France.

Johnson first appeared in public records as an adult when he was 22 in

the Boston City Directory of 1872, as "jr. clerk at 65 Congress [Street]." Beginning in 1878, he is listed as "marine artist at 12 West St." That was the address of the Amory building, home to many artists' studios, including Norton's. The first press mention of Johnson's work and developing career appeared in the 26 October 1881 Transcript.

Mr. M. Johnson, Jr., has made considerable progress in marine painting within the past six months. He has in hand a large picture entitled Beating to the Windward, which is good in composition and general effect. Several sketches made on the New England coast during the past season show that he is getting right ideas, and will ultimately succeed. 7 By early 1883, newspaper critiques were increasingly favorable, with reviewers noting thatt his recent paintings showed

SEA !HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

"a decided advance on the former work of that artisr." 8 An 1885 notice read: Marshall Johnson, Jr., has blocked in an important subject on a large canvas. It presents a stirring bit of history in his own life. When but a boy . .. he shipped on A. Hemenway's ship Sunbeam, .. . the ship caught fire and burned .... It was midday and the sun was shining hot, and the contrasts of the lights of the burning ship and the sun's rays were very effective. Mr. Johnson wi ll doubtless make a strong picture of this exciting subjecr. 9 In the next ten years, his reputation as an artist of note was solidified, and prestigious galleries exhibited his latest works regularly. After Johnson's work was exhibited at the National Academy's Annual Exhibition, a Transcript reviewer hit the mark: Marshall Johnson, Jr.'s Beating up the Bay deserves mention. It is a charming picture, with live water and a windy sky, with several small craft and one big ship; schooner, brig, brigantine,

tacking or veering or jibing in the strong wind. The painter knew the name of vessel and the thing she is doing, so would any sailor; but I, being unlearned in such matters, do not venture to designate the class to which the ship belongs, or the thing that she is doing; only venturing to affirm that I have seen just such a ship doing just such a thing in a windy day on Boston Bay. 10 On the centennial of the launching of USS Constitution, a photogravure from a Marshall Johnson painting was published on a large scale, and today is still a popular image reproduced on prints, cards, and other merchandise. In that scene, the las t of a British squadron of seven that had pursued the Constitution for three days is visible on the horizon . USS Constitution was one of his favorite subjects and he created various versions of her in other paintings.

Johnson painted what he knew from personal experience, both from his young adulthood under square rig and throughout his life cruising in his yacht. In 1899,

Frigate USS Constitution oil on canvas, 18 x 14 inches the artist's summer plans for a cruise along the Maine coast made the papers, where it was reported that he "[would] make a number of stops along the shore, with Monhegan as a final goal." 11

Marshall Johnso n in his studio.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

31

Marsh all Jo hnson was a m ember of the Boston Art C lub (fo unded in 1854) and served on vario us committees within that organization . H e exhibited there from 1880 to 1896 (the year of his father's death) as M arsh all Johnson Jr. , and fro m 1897 to 1909 as Marshall Johnson .

It appears he m ay have signed his paintings in that pattern as well- perhaps a ro ugh dating of his frequ ently undated canvases. H e also exhibited at the Natio nal Academ y of D es ign in the years 1886-87 and 1890-9 1, at th e Pennsylvania Academ y of Fine Ar ts in 1887, and at the Art Institute of C hicago in 1900-02, 190 5, 1909, and 19 11.

Johnson often portrayed a story or an action of significance in his art. His painting of the Josiah Quincy is a good example. This ship is likely the Josiah Quincy, owned by Curtis & Peabody of Boston , that m ade a famo us run fro m San Francisco to Shanghai in thirty-six days, beating the rest of the clipper Beet by three weeks. Johnson depicted a scene where the ship is scudding, or running before the wind in a heavy sea, carrying m ost of her sail on her fo remast to m inim ize chances of broachi ng. H ands are

Ship Josiah Quincy oil on canvas 24 x 36 inches

COURTESY OF THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY/o LO STATE HOUSE: OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM CO LLECTION

m anning the main topsail yard, about to tuck in a reef or take in sail.

In The Sunburst-Picking up the Pilot, a barque heaves-to, ready to board a pilot. The pilot is shown sitting in the stern of a cutter with rwo oarsmen app roaching the ship from leeward. M eanwhile, the pilo t schooner is head-to-wind, with headsails hauled down but not stowed . The sky and water are saturated with gray from the cloud cover overhead, with the exception of the sunburst itsel f, pushing through the clouds and illuminating the scene.

Another painting, England's Warship

Bellerophon, Napoleon's Home after Waterloo Colliding with Ship Cygnet in Gibraltar Harbor, represents a complicated story. In this scene, the ships have collided. Cygnet's jib-boom is broken off and is dangling fro m what's left of the spar, and her headstays are parted . M en are gath ered on her fo redeck and on Bellerophon's port quarter.

The tug trails smoke-a steam er.

With one exception- the tug-this painting depicts a true story. Napoleon surrendered to the Bri tish on the wes t coast of Fran ce on 15 July 18 15 and was conveyed to Portsmo uth, England, in the

The Sunburst-

Picking up the Pilot oil on canvas 3 0 3Is x 44 inches

32

SEA HllSTORY 126, SPRING 2009

England's Warship Bellerophon, Napoleon's Home after Waterloo, Colliding with Ship Cygnet in Gibraltar Harbor oil on canvas, 23 x 35 inches Bellerophon. After three weeks there, he was transferred to the Northumberland, which ultimately transported him to St. Helena. In this scene, however, the existence of a steam tug in 1815 (or 1805 when Befferophon last visited Gibraltar) is unlikely. Befferophon was broken up long before Johnson's 1887 visit to England. 12 The second Befferophon, originally Waterloo, built in 1818 and renamed in 1824, was retired as a hulk and became a receiving ship in 1856. Author and former curator of Greenwich Museum, David Cordingly, wrote that this ship "was frequently mistaken for the more famous "Billy Ruffian" [first Befferophon] and the locals would tell rourists visiting Portsmouth that she was the ship which had taken the surrender ofNapoleon." 13 Despite the anachronistic tug, Johnso n painted a highly detailed, compelling and rare, nighttime scene.

Marshall Johnson died of heart failure in 1921; he had been dead for some time when his body was found on 21 March. He left no survivors except a cousin. Johnson had been in poor health for some time, and his neighbors

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

"considered [him] a hermit." Ultimately, a light constantly on and unretrieved mail aroused suspicion and neighbors called the police. Apparently, only one room and a bathroom at his residence had been used since the death of his sister in 1917. The living room furniture, "of fine quality, had not been moved, but was overlaid with a powdery film of dust, so thick and even that the pattern of the upholstery and the carpet could not be distinguished." 14 The medical examiner estimated he had been dead several days. The examiner also ordered Johnson's 15 India Street studio closed. At the time of his death, more than 125 paintings, most unframed, were in his possession. Two bear notice: USS Constitution and Ship Afire at Sea. These two paintings, the first universally recognized and the second little known-an image seared inro his memory as a yo ung man-are bookends to his life's work.

Quite appropriately, they remained with him to his end. ,!, Afan Fraser Houston, a graduate of Amherst College and Boston University Schoof of Medicine, served in the US Navy from

1970 to 1972. He and his wife, Jou rdan, are devotees of the Boston Art Club's founding members. Their articles have appeared singly and jointly in American Art Review, Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Cal ifornia History, and other historical publications. They currently reside in Durango, Colorado.

NOTES 1 Boston Daily Globe, 22 March 1921 , p3.

2 Boston Daily Evening Transcript, 17 March 1921, and Globe, March 22, 1921 .

3Log 147; Journal, Charles W Mo rgan, 1867-1870, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport.

4 Transcript, 22 March 1921.

5Boston Herald, 22 March 1921.

6 Herafd, 25 March 1923.

7 Transcript, 26 October 1881 , p 7.

8 Transcript, 9 February 1883, p6.

9 Transcript, 11December1885, p6.

10 Transcript, 9 April 1886, p6.

11 Gfobe, May 5, 1899, p8.

12 Passenger List, Boston, 13 Sept. 1887.

13 David Cord ingly to A. F. Housto n, personal communication, 14 April 2004.

14 Gfobe, 22 March 1921, p3.

33

MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

Online Resources at the National Maritime Museum Britain's National Maritime Museum (NMM) prepares build a new library and will be having to limit access to any of their print resources during renovation, it's a good time to take a look at the electronic resources they offer to anyone, anywhere, and without a visit to Greenwich. The site for the Museum, Observatory, and Queen's House is http://www.nmm. ac.uk, and the web site for researchers begins at http://www.nmm. ac.uk/researchers/. Together, the collections and library sites offer a great deal of information about what is available at the NMM. The NMM site-or at least sections of it-is available in an impressive eleven languages, from major European languages to Welsh, Japanese, Hindi, and others.

For maritime researchers, the most valuable parts of the NMM 's web site are their research guides, at http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers /library/research-guides/. The NMM library offers more than 70 guides, covering topics from uniforms, medals, music, or animals at sea, to the Titanic and the Spithead and Nore Mutinies. They give instructions on how to access charts, maps, ship's plans, photographs, and illustrations within the library's and the museum's collections. The guides provide brief information on the topic in question, then fo llow with an overview of the sources available at the NMM or at other institutions. Other guides offer directions on searching for information about ancestors, shipping companies, using Lloyd's Lists, and much more.

In addition to the traditional library services, the NMM library is exploring a variety of new technologies. One interesting new project is the addition of more than 150 images to Flickr (http:// www.flickr.com/photos/ nationalmaritimemuseum/) , where anyone can view and annotate them. Many illustrations are added as sub-sets of the entire NMM set and in connection with related exhibits. Individuals can add comments, tags, links, and other media to these images. In several examples, including an 1854 image of a church in Greenland, a contributor named "art_traveller" has

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added a contemporary photo of the same location. This contributor, who also works at NMM but contributes to Flickr as a personal project, referenced the NMM images before taking the photos; the results make valuable contributions to the presentation of the historical images.

On the museum side, the "Collections Online" site at http:// www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/ describes features that the staff have made available online. For example, the museum has posted detailed images of more than 200 ship models from their collection, as well as photographs of numerous other items: navigational instruments, globes, coins, medals, clocks, chronometers, uniforms, and much, much more. Several recent exhibitions have online components. After the exhibition closes, there's no need to take down the web site related to it, so these often remain long after the exhibition is over.

The museum has a particularly interesting "Collections Blog" at http://www.nmm.ac.uk/blogs/ collections/, where curators, exhibitors, and others within the institution describe recent acquisitions, research they are pursuing, items they discover in the collection, NMM-related trips they take, and other topics. The blog is authored by many different individuals, and it's a nice way of highlighting a varied collection of events and topics that the museum staff are pursuing.

The library's blog at http://www.nmm.ac.uk/library/ shares information about conferences that staff have attended, and particularly information about changes to their delivery plans while the library is being renovated. Closure of any library for any amount of time is bound to cause concern among the institution's patrons.

The NMM is no exception, as one will see from comments added to various posts regarding changes in access hours.

Suggestions for other sites worth mentioning are welcome at shipindex@yahoo.com. See http://www.shipindex.org for a compilation of over 100,000 ship names from indexes to dozens of books and journals.

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Buoys are floating aids that are anchored to rhe seabed. Boaters interpret what they m ean by their shape, color, and the characteristics ofli ghrs and sound signals. Beacons are fixed to the earth's surface (nor flo ating) and can be anything from big lighthouses to a sign nailed to some pilings . Lighted beacons are simply called lights; unlighted beacons are called daybeacons and have shapes or colored signs to distinguish them from other beacons. '" ..,..,.~ 1(, • , !<'IJ...1· ~~~ ' M ariners can determine which beacon or buoy they are looking at by how they are m arked and then comparing them to rhe chart. Buoys com e in diffe rent shapes and colors and m any are m arked with numbers. Lighthouses are painted in different patterns and colors so th ey can be distinguished from one another. The characteristics for all ATON m aintained by the Coast Guard are noted on charts and published in the USC G Light List. Ir is important rhar m ariners don't confuse one navigational aid with another one.

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:. Lightships were floating aids ro navigation that were stationed in places where it was either too deep, too far fro m shore, or too dangerous to build a lighthouse. These vessels carried the sam e aids to navigation as lighthouses . The Coas t Guard doesn't use lightships anymore. In 1983, rhe N antucket Lightship, rhe las t lightship in service as an ATO N, was replaced with a Large Navigational Buoy (LNB). 1h ese "monster buoys" are up to 40 feet in diameter. Different 1rypes of rowers are now built in som e of the stations rhar used to be m airked by lightships.

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NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has ships that take scientists to sea to collect oceanographic, atmospheric, hydrographic, fisheries, and coastal data. These ships are run by officers in the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. (The others are the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.) NOAA Corps officers must be American citizens and have a college degree in science, math, Last summer, Fionna was a ship's officer on the or engineering.

NOAA ship Hi'ialakai, based out ofHawaii.

When Fionna Matheson was growing up in Florida, she spent a lot of time playing and exploring at the beach and estuaries near where she lived. When she was in high school, she did whatever she could to learn more about marine science, including taking summer classes and joining her school's marine science club. In college, she majored in biology and went to sea for the first time on a Sea Education Association (based in Woods Hole, MA) sailing research ship for a semester. One summer, she worked as an intern at an aquarium.

After college, Fionna learned about NOAA online when she was searching for government jobs in marine science. In addition to operating ships, NOAA officers are also scientists and engineers who, when not assigned to a ship, work in labs or offices all over the country and around the world. There is even a NOAA Corps officer who serves as station chief at the South Pole.

Fionna was accepted into the Corps and was sent to Basic Officer Training for three months, where she learned all about NOAA, basic seamanship, and navigation. Because ships at sea need to be totally self-sufficient in case of emergency, all NOAA officers are trained in firefighting and first aid as well. Fionna was then sent to her first ship LT Fionna Matheson on watch on Hi'ialakai's bridge. for two years, where she continued her training in ship operations, but she also learned about the scientific instruments and equipment that the scientists use to collect data and conduct experiments. Today, NOAA assigns officers to their first ship for three years and then sends them to a job ashore for two. After that, they rotate between land and sea assignments approximately every two years. Fionna's assignment right now is ashore in a fisheries research lab in California that studies dolphins and sea turtles. She spends one day a week in a small boat with two or three other scientists, All NOAA Corps officers are trained firefighters. taking photos of bottlenose dolphins-to try to identify specific ones-and assists other scientists in collecting biopsies and acoustic, or sound, recordings. Back in the lab, she analyzes the data they've collected, organizes the photos, writes reports, and works on their web site.

If Fionna stays with the Corps for her career, she'll work towards becoming a ship's Operations Officer, Executive Officer, or Commanding Officer; and ashore, she can advance to various research and management positions within NOAA. If you like science and ships and the sea, the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps might be the place for you.

See www.noaacorps.noaa.gov/ recruiting/. ,!, GLOSSARY: oceanography-science that studies the ocean; hydrography-science that studies the characteristics of a body of water, including charring bodies of water; atmospheric-relating to the mass of air that surrounds the earth.

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ver 450 years ago, the Swedish writer Olaus Magnus wrote about enormous lobsters that would catch swimmers and squeeze them to death with their claws. About 140 years ago, the novelist Jules Verne wrote in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870) about giant lobsters that crawled along the floor of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Verne's main character, Professor Aronnax, describes walking underwater: "My blood would curdle when I would see a huge feeler blocking my path, or hear frightful pincers snapping shut in the shadows of some hollow! Thousands of luminous spots shone in the midst of the darkness. They were the eyes of giant

shellfish hidden in their lairs, huge lobsters drawing themselves up like soldiers and moving their claws with a metallic clanking noise."

Are there really giant lobsters?

Lobsters are crustaceans, like crabs and barnacles. They live underwater, breathe through gills, and have a hard outer shell. Dozens of species of lobsters crawl about the seafloor all over the world, but you can divide them into two major types-those with smooth shells and large claws, and those with spiny shells, without significant claws.

Though there are accounts of spiny lobsters in the Pacific that can grow quite large, it seems that the lobsters that grow to be giants are the clawed species found off New England and Nova Scotia, known as the American lobster-the most common lobster

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served in restaurants. The American lobster has a powerful pair of tools: one claw is thick and wide, for crushing prey like clams or mussels, while the second claw is more narrow with little teeth, better for tearing or grabbing seaweed or soft prey.

They feed at night and will eat just about anything, living or dead, unless it's really old and disgusting.

The majority of American lobsters caught today weigh between 1-2 pounds, about the weight of a jar of pickles, and are about a foot long. But when William Wood arrived in Massachusetts in 1630,

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SE1A HI STORY 126, SPRING 2009

Nautical Word Search

he wrote: "Lobsters be in plenty in most places, very large ones, some being twenty pound in weight." In 1911 a scientist named Francis Herrick also found several individuals over twenty pounds while he was checking out people's claims about giant lobsters. The largest he identified was a 34-pounder, captured off Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The New York Times wrote of this mammoth creature: "He measures nearly four feet and a half in length from the tip of his formidable claws to the end of his tail. If he could stand erect he could clasp an ordinary man about the waist. His claws are strong and big enough to crush the wrist bones of a strong man." Since then, fishermen have dragged up a few lobsters weighing over forty pounds. Today, you can see a forty-two pound specimen at the Museum of Science in Boston, and just last month a restaurant in New York City took a 20-pounder, nicknamed _ "George," off its menu and released it back into the ocean. Though -,, these giant lobsters don't match the man-eating sizes described ' ~ by Magnus and Verne, they ;'# come pretty close. Biologists think ' that lobsters could live to be over \ one hundred years old, Tf>..I L. fUf P6~S but they don't yet have foR S\,/J \MM IN b a reliable way to tell for • ~P..C\(.\}JP\ \?-t) S sure.

In the next issue we'll look at another crustacean, one known for being tiny, yet provides food for the biggest mammals on earth. -!,

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f>sHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS The Massachusetts Maritime Academy training ship Enterprise got underway in January for the annual Sea Term semester under a new name-USTS Kennedy. The name change was made to honor the Kennedy family's maritime and public service legacy, according to Admiral Richard G. Gurnon, the college president, and a rechristening ceremony took place at the Academy's campus along the Cape Cod Canal just before they got underway. The 540-foor Kennedy was built as the Velma Lykes in Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, LA, for Lykes Brothers Steamship Co. in 1967. She served Lykes until 1986 when she was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleer. Renamed Cape Bon, she saw service in Operation Desert Storm in the Arabian Gulf in 1991. Afterwards, she was converted to a "public nautical schoolship" and delivered to the Academy in 2003. The Academy renamed her Enterprise after the school's first training ship, USS Enterprise, which served as a floating classroom and dormitory in Boston from 1893 until 1909.

USTS Kennedy

(MMA, 101 Academy D ., Buzzards Bay, MA 02532; Ph. 508 830-5000; WWW. maritime.edu) .. . The Massachusetts Historical Society will offer approximately twenty short-term research fellowships for 2009-2010. These grants provide a stipend of $ 1500-$2000 for four weeks of research at the Society sometime between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2010. Shorr-term awards are open to independent scholars, advanced graduate students, and PhDs or the equivalent, with candidates who live fifty or more miles from Boston receiving preference.

Application deadline is 1 March 2009.

(For more information on how to apply: contact Jane Becker, MHS, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215 ; Ph. 61 7 646-0518 ; email: fellowships@masshisr. org; www.masshisr.org/fellowships/) ...

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Captain Walter Rybka of the Erie Maritime Museum and the US Brig Niagara will host the 2009 Council of American Maritime Museums (CAMM) conference in Erie, Pennsylvania, on 29-30 May. In US Brig Niagara

addition to papers, presentations, and receptions, conferees can expect some time on the water, both sailing on Niagara and sailing and rowing Niagara's small boats (see article on Niagara's sailing programs on pages 22-27 of this issue). Derails and updates will be available at CAMM's web sire: www.councilofamericanmari rim emuseums.org/ pages/Meetings.hrml) . . . The Marine Technology Society Scholarship Program is a great opportunity for students interested in pursuing a career in marine engineering or science. Scholarships are targeted to students with an interest in marine instrumentation , technology, engineering, and related subjects. Applications for the 2009/2010 academic year must be received no later than 15 April.

Derails and applications are available at: www.mtsociery.org/ education/ scholarships.aspx. The Marine Technology Society is nor-for-profit professional society comprising ocean engineers, technologists, policy makers, and educators. (MTS, 5565 Sterrett Place, Suite 108, Columbia, MD 21044; www.mrsociety.org) ... This summer, Old Dominion University's history department will sponsor "Maritime History Adventures," a day camp for kids, ages 6-10. Campers will learn about ships, navigation, famous mariners, nautical archaeology, life on the sea, and more through a variety of activities, crafts, and field trips.

(History Dept., Old Dominion University, Batten Arts & Letters, 8000, Norfolk, VA 23529; Ph. 757 683-3949; http:// al.od u .ed u/ history/ mari rime_hisro ry _ camp.shrml) ... Use a nautical-theme business card? Maine Maritime Museum is collecting business cards with nautical logos, terminology, and/or symbols for their exhibition, "The Sea Within Us: lconically Maritime in Fashion and Design." Exhibition is now through 19 April 2009. Any and all business cards welcome.

(Send to Chris Hall, Curator of Exhibits, Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington Sr., Bath, ME 04530; email: hall@ maritimeme.org) ... The Age of Sail Maritime Alliance is a newly established organization formed to "accurately recreate the culture, people, skills and trades of the seamen, mariners, and boatmen in North America during the period 1739-1815." Ir was established to serve in an administrative capacity, bringing together similar maritime elements of the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. TI1eir mission is to support historical education through living history events, educational programs, and public demonstrations using historic boats and maritime resources to portray and reach this facet of our history.

(For more info: contact johnaraylorl @ yahoo.com or damian@privareermedia. com) ... Looking for work in shipping, transportation, or the engineering industry? Check out www.MaritimeJobSearch.com, an internet job board for employers, recruiters, and job seekers.

. . . Two weeks before leaving office, President George W. Bush designated three areas of the Pacific Ocean as marine national monuments. The Marianas Trench, The Pacific Remote Islands, and The Rose Atoll Marine National Monuments cover areas that span 195,274 square miles. Destruction or extraction of prorecred resources within the boundaries of these monuments will be prohibited, as will commercial fishing in the coral reef ecosystem areas of the monuments. Scientific and recreational activities may be

SEA HlSTORY 126, SPRING 2009

MODEL SHIP RESTORATIONS NEW YORK MUSEUM CONSERVATOR NOW ACCEPTING PRIVATE COMMISSIONS

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permitted consistent with the care and management of the protected resources of these monuments. In designating the marine areas, the President made explicit that nothing in the proclamations impairs or otherwise affects the activities of the US Department of Defense (DoD). Among other things, the DoD is ensured full freedom of navigation in accordance with the law of the sea, and the navy can continue effective training to maintai n its antisubmarine warfare and other capabilities.

The President also announced America's first new UNESCO World Heritage Sire nominations in 15 years. The rwo sites are the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and Mount Vernon.

Only two sites can be nominated each year. ... The New Bedford Whaling Museum has started conservation of three 19th-century Alaskan kayaks from the museum's collection, funded by a grant from ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations).

Working in the shadow of the Lagoda, the half-scale model of a 19th-century whaleship, Art Conservator Alexandra Allardt

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

....:>

R!!m!!mb.,ring North Am!!rican lighthouo!!o through th., Fin!! art of count!!d crooo-otikh Md historical n!!o!!arch.

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41

will be cleaning and stabilizing the kayaks (made from animal skins, primarily walrus, seal and caribou) in full view of visitors. The goal is to stabilize the kayaks and preserve as much of the original construction materials and methods as possible, as opposed to restoring them to their origi nal pristine state. (NBWM, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740; www. whalingmuseum.org) . . . The American Historical Association is now accepting nominations for nineteen different prizes and awards, including The James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History, an award for historical writing that explores the integration of Adantic worlds before the rwentieth century. Awards are given for written works, contributions to a given field, achievement in editing of historical sources, and other media, such as film and video. The application deadline for each is 15 May 2009. Application instructions and further details on each award criteria can be found online at http://www.historians.org/prizes .... Dr. Richard Price, a Post-Doc in Philosophy at Oxford, has recently launched a new web site, www. academia.edu, which displays academics around the world structured in a 'tree' format, displayed according to their departmental and institutional affiliations, and allows academics to view news on the latest research in their area.

Academics are encouraged to add their departments and themselves to the tree by clicking on the boxes. Independent researchers not associated with a universiry can add themselves to the "Independent Researchers" portion of the tree at http:// independent.academia.edu. As of this printing, more than 27,000 names and nearly 90,000 papers have been added to the site . ... Admiral James L. Holloway III announced his retirement as chairman of the Naval Historical Foundation in November. Holloway, who had a distinguished naval career that concluded with a tour as the 20th Chief of Naval Operations (197 4-1978), led the Foundation for 28 years. Admiral Bruce DeMars has been elected as the new chairman. Holloway was recruited to serve as the Foundation's 4th president in 1980 by Admiral Arleigh Burke. Meanwhile, the Naval Historical Foundation's collection at the

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

CRUISE ABOARD THE WWII LIBERTY SHIP JOHN W BROWN

featuring music of the 40's by a live "Big Band!" See reenactors demonstrating military equipment and vehicles. Watch an exciting air show with flybys by several WWII aircraft !weather permitting). Enjoy a continental breakfast and a great all-you-can-eat buffet lunch. Tour the whole ship, including the engine room, museums, cargo holds, crew's quarters and bridge.

OUR2009 DAY CRUISES May 23, June 13, Sept. 12 All cruises depart from Baltimore, Maryland

Cost for each guest- $140. Inquire about Group Discounts.

Restrictions & penalties apply to cancellations.

Mail ticket orders to P.O. Box 25846, Highland Station, Baltimore, MO 21224-0546.

(Please include name, address and phone number.)

Phone Orders: (410) 558-0164 â&#x20AC;˘Fax Orders (410) 558-1737

www.liberty-ship.com We accept VISA, MasterCard and Discover. Cruise profits maintain this Liberty Ship Memorial. A portion of your payment may be tax deductible. Officers and crew licensed and documented by the U.S. Coast Guard.

!HERE IS AWORLD TO EXPLORE rsviding programs of sea education and adventure aboard

eschooners HARVtY GAMAGE

PIRIT OF MASSACHUStTTS WfSTWARD.

43

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT, & MUSEUM NEWS Library of Congress continues to grow. A caralog published in 1974 lisred 337,000 irems fro m 254 collecrions, making ir "rhe largesr body of personal papers in a single repository relari ng to ,American naval history." Some norable paper collecrions include rhose of David G . Farragur, W illiam F. Halsey, Ernesr ]. King, and W illiam S. Sims. (www. navyhistory.org) ... Princess Taiping, the first Chinese non-powered junk to sail to America and back, is homeward bound after stops along the West Coast of the United States and Hawaii. The projecr was conceived and creared by rhe Chinese Maririme Development Sociery to educare Chinese citizens

Princess Taiping

(below) NOAA maritime historian/archaeologist and NMHS member Hans Vtm Ti/burg (right) welcomes Capt. Liu Ning-sheng (red shirt) and Angela Chao of the Chinese junk Princess Taiping to H onolulu, in January.

and rhe resr of rhe wo rld on C hina's rich ma ririme herirage. (www.chinesevoyage. com) . . . This winter, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is constructing a "living shoreline" to show museum visitors the ecological and aesthetic benefits of a natural shoreline. Living shorelines are shoreline management p racrices rhar provide erosion control by prorecring, restoring, and enhancing narural shoreline habirar. By placing plants, stone, sand fill, and orher srrucrural and organic ma rerials along a shoreline in place of hardened

44

marerials such as bulkheads, living shorelines help maintain im porrant coasral processes occurring on narural shorelines.

Relared programs for middle school srudents and adul rs are scheduled in February and March . Contacr rhe museum fo r derails. (CBMM, 2 13 N. Talbor Srreer, Sr. M ichaels, MD 21663; Ph. 4 10 74529 16; www.cbmm.org) ... The America's Cup Hall of Fame will induct John Longley and the late Thomas Ratsey (1851-1935) at the New York Yacht Club on 30 April 2009. The ceremony will also honor the late John Biddle (1936-2008) for his 2008 induction into the Hall of Fame. The America's Cup Hall of Fame was creared to h onor rhe challengers, defenders, and legendary personages of rhe wo rld's mosr disringuished sparring comperition. The H all of Fame, operared by rhe H erreshoff Marine M useum, is locared in an historic building on rhe gro unds of rhe former H erreshoff Manufacr uring Company m Bristol, Rhode Island, where yachrs were consrrucred for eighr consecurive America's Cup defenses between 1893 and 1934.

Candidares eligible fo r considerarion include skippers, afterguard, crew, designers, builders, organizers, syndicare leaders, managers, supporrers, chroniclers, race managers, and orher individuals of merir.

The America's Cup Hall of Fame is dedicared to preserving and demonsrraring rhe influence of America's Cup comperirion fo r rhe purpose of educarion and rhe inspirarion of excellence in rhe world of yachring. (H erreshoff Marine M useum, PO B 450, One Burnside Srreer, Bristol, RI 02809; Ph. 40 1 253-5000) ... The "Voices from the Fisheries" Oral History Project recently launched a new web site:www.voices.nmfs.noaa.gov. The projecr consolidates exisring an d furure oral history interviews and interview collections relared to rhe human dimensions of marine ecosystems and of rhe G rear Lakes region. O n rhe web sire, yo u'll find informarion abour rhe project, di recrions on how to parricipare, and links to relared collecrions. If you have a digiral collecrion and are interesred in parricipating, email voices@noaa.gov for more informarion .

The web sire carries insrrucrions on how to set up an acco unt and upload audio files.

continued

... Camper and Nicholsons Marinas has discovered the wreck of a SO-ft. Cuban fishing vessel during their ongoing clean-up of Port Louis Marina in Grenada (West Indies). Ir is rhe second wreck rhe yachr company has found and donared to rhe Gren ada Scuba Diving Associarion for use as a recrearional dive sire. In borh cases, rhe wrecks were moved to al rernare

locarion s off Grenada's beach es in snorkeling and SCUBA diving deprhs. (Camper and Nicholsons: www.cnconnecr. com ; SCUBA info in Grenada: www.grenadascubadivingassociarion .com) .. . Bay Ship & Yacht Co. of Alameda, CA, recently started work on the restoration of the historic three-masted ship Balclutha, one of the fleet of historic ships at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. After rhe hull repairs are com plered in drydock, rhe shi p will undergo topside work ar rhe shipyard's main pier.

By sprin g, the ship will be towed back to the museum's Hyde Srreer Pier in San Francisco where she will resume her role as a museum ship. Balclutha is a sreel-hulled, square-rigged ship built in G lasgow, Scorland, in 1886. In her 17 trips aro und C ape Horn, she carried bulk cargos between

Balclutha

continued on page 46

SJEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

Fiddlers' Green Colin Saunders White (1951-2008) Colin White was Director of the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth, and he sailed large as an author, lecturer, historian, and friend to those who seek the lessons taught by the sea. His untimely death on Christmas Day 2008 was marked by president emeritus of the National Maritime Historical Society Peter Stanford: "The role of the Royal Navy in the defense of freedom worldwide is now more generally and more accurately understood thanks to Colin's imaginative and tireless efforts on this broad theme."

Colin's special interest was Admiral Lord Nelson , and he was chairman of Britain's Official Nelson Celebrations Committee, which coordinated the p rojects that culminated in the many bicentennial events of 2005 marking the Battle of Trafalgar. He also led the Royal N aval Museum's N elson Letters Proj ect, begun in 1999, which discovered more than 1,400 previously unpublished N elson letters.

As Director of the Royal Naval M useum from 2006-2008, he initiated impo rtant new directions for that globally respected institution.

Among Colin's numerous recognitions are an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Porrsmouth and the Distinguished Book Prize from the Society of Military History. Perhaps his m ost valued honor was his recent commissio n as H onorary Captain, Royal Naval Reserve.

In the United States, Colin was cochairman of the annual New York C ity Pickle N ight Dinner and chairman of the newly established American Friends of the Royal Naval Museum. His New York City visits invariably included a service at the historic Episcopal Church of St. M ary the Virgin. M any in the U nited Stares interested in maritime history considered Colin the person to turn to with questions and parti cularly on the subj ect of N elson .

Colin W hite made histo ry vivid and relevant, and he will be remembered fo r exceptional knowledge, wit, and energyand ultimately- fo r his signature feature: his smile.

A voyage ends; the mission con tinues.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

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45

continued from page 44

CLASSIFIED ADS NEXT VOYAGE WILL BE DIFFERENT

by Captain Thomas E. Henry. Acco unts from my 37 years at sea. Available through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Also available, CRACKING HITLER'S ATLANTIC WALL. Call 772 287 5603 EST or email: Arcome@aol.com.

"San Francisco's Little Boat that Could."

The hisrory of the beautiful Monterey fishing boats of Fisherman's Wharf is available at Barnes and Noble.

Thousands century old ship postcards, ephemera - in San Francisco; Ph. 4 15 586-9386, kprag@planeteria.net.

Elegant Ship Models. Individually handcrafted custom scale model boats. Jean Preckel: www.preckelboats.com or call: 304 432-7202.

John Stobart Prints "Maiden Lane in New York in 1800" $5 , 100 framed, "Packett Orpheus Leaving East River 1835" $2,300. Thaddeus Myslak Phone 434 384-8337; email: sookie24503@comcasr. net.

CUSTOM SCRIMSHAW on antique ivo ry. Made by hand in the USA by me, Peter Driscoll. www.scrimstore.com. Free brochure chipsmay@aol.com; Ph . 336 998-0459.

Jonesport Nautical Antiques. We offer wo rld class nautical antiques & nautical gifts (old & new); 800 996-5655 or on the web at www.nauticalantiques.com.

Custom Ship Models Half Hulls. Free Catalog. Spencer, Box 1034, Q uakertown, PA 18951.

BOOKS: It Didn't Happen on My 'Watch and Scuttlebutt by George E. Murphy.

Memoirs of forty-three years with United States Lines aboard cargo and passenger ships. Anecdotes of captains, chief engineers, crew members and the company office. Web site: www.gem urphy.com; email: gemurphy@carroll.com.

1812 Privateer FAME of Salem, MA Sails Daily May - October. Ph. 978 7297600; www.SchoonerFame.co m.

IN THE WAKE OF WINDJAMMERS, Maritime Artwork printed on Canvas or Fine Art Media and signed by th e artist. www.frederickleblanc.com.

EXPERIENCED MODEL BUILDER. Ray G uinta, PO Box 74, Leonia, NJ 07605; www. modelship sbyrayguinta. com.

FREIGHTERCRUISES.COM. Mail ships, containerships, trampers ... Find the ship and voyage that's perfect for yo u.

Ph. 1-800-99-Maris.

Advertise in Sea History--advertising@seahistory.org; Ph. 914 737-7878, ext. 235 Historic, antique U.S. Coast Survey maps ~ from the 1800s ,¡

For Sale, Legendary German Master rigger JACK DICKERHOFF'S personal rigging tools . Enough to keep one rigg ing gang busy. These tools were used to rig

Original lithographs. most American seaports and shores.

Reprints , too . Unique framed ,

PAMIR, BALCLUTHA, FALLS OF CL YOE, and many other historic vessels. $2000.

For pictures and more information e-mail lndrek Lepson, ilepson@juno.com , or call 919-496-7601 , 9 to 5 EST

great gifts . Cata log , $1 .00 .

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Nautical

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Association of modelers and researchers formed to pursue the mutual interest in ships of all eras and types Membership inc ludes the quarterly Nautical Research Journal with articles by knowledgeable writers featuring ship model building and research of all periods, merchant , nava l and maritime hi story. Book rev iews, queries, replies, and shop notes are other features, includi ng techni cal drawi ngs and photographs. Other services include the Maritime Institution Survey, Sh ip tfodel Repair & Restoration Service and the Technical~ i s tan ce Network.

Yearly Membership $ 35.00 USA

$ 40.00 Canada $ 43.00 O verseas

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46

Europe and the West Coast of North America. Bay Ship & Yacht operates one of the Bay area's major shipyards, providing services to commercial vessels, yachts, and traditional sailing ships. Two years ago, the shipyard completed a $9.6 million restoration of the 219-fr. wooden lumber schooner C. A. Thayer (1895) , one of the park's other historic vessels. (www. nps.gov/safr) ... Zeb-Schooner Life, a film documentary produced by Detrick Lawrence Productions of Edgartown, MA, has won the prestigious Best-ofShow award from the California-based Accolade Competition. The film explores the life and times of Captain Zeb Tilton

¡

Schooner Life and his schooner Alice S. Wentworth, in which he kept alive a way of life-moving freight under sail, long after others had moved on to power vessels. The film includes mo re than thirty interviews with Tilton's contemporaries and schooner experts and historians from aro und New England. Zeb-Schooner Life is based on the book, Zeb, Celebrated Schooner Captain of Martha's Vineyard, by Polly Burroughs. (Book ISBN 9780762738427; order the DVD and learn more about the film at www.zebtilton .com) ... Keep your eyes peeled for a new book, Caddell Dry Dock: 100 Years Harborside, on the history of the company by the Noble Maritime Collection's Executive Director, Erin Urban. When the company turned 100 in 2003, the Noble Maritime Collection did a show abo ut it at the museum.

Photographer Michael Falco, whose spectacular images are reproduced througho ut the book, spent three weeks at the shipyard documenting the dry docking of a

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

tugboat for the museum exhibition. Proceeds of che book's sale will go to the m useum, which recently got hi t with an 85% cut in funding from the C ity of New York.

The museum had been receiving money

Caddell Dry Dock

since 2001 to mai n tain their building, a national historic landmark. Then-Mayor Rudy G iuliani was so impressed with their volunteer effort to restore the building that he granted them a "permanent" line of $250 ,000 in the city's budget to maintain it. Permanent, in this case, is a relative term. The Noble Maritime Collection and Study Center could use yo ur support, and sales from chis new book will certainly help. (NMC, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Building D , Staten Island, NY 10301; Ph. 7 18 447-6490; www.noblemaritime.org) ... As the repository of the world's largest collection of whaling prints, the New Bedford Whaling Museum is staging a "Classic Whaling Prints" exhibition, showcasing the benchmark masterpieces in the museum's permanent collection.

Organized and written by Dr. Stuart M. Frank, the m useum's senior curator, the exhibition opens on 27 February and will run thro ugh the end of the year. The exhibition traces highlights of the genre from

D utch and German fo undations in the 17th century to French and British. The prints are supplemented and placed into a broader, international context by a sam ple of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, influential American book illustrations, Native Alas kan ceram ics, and works on paper and other artwo rks from the permanent collection, including some of the original oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings on which the prints were originally based. (NBWM, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedfo rd, MA 02740; www.whaling museum.org). .1,

Ways to Contribute

by Thomas F. Daly, Trustee, N ational Maritime Historical Society In this difficult economic climate generosity of our members is integral for the success ofthe Society, a 501 ( c) 3 not-for profit organization dependant on member support as the foun dation on which is built all of our work for the maritime heritage. Both the Board of Trustees and the staffare often asked what op tions are available to best support the Society. -Burchenal Green, President

Please consider one of these giving vehicles.

Outright Gifts

IRA Gifts

O utright contributions, often consisting of cash or appreciated securities, are the most direct way of ass isting N MHS.

Recent Federal legislation enables persons 70.5 years or older to continue to make donations up to $ 100,000 in 2009 fro m an IRA without incurring a tax on the withdrawal.

Appreciated Securities A gift oflong-term appreciated securities, ei ther publicly traded or from a private company, m ay p rovide greater tax advantages th an gifts of cash .

Restricted Gifts A donor may choose to design ate his gift for one or more of the specific needs of the Society.

Gifts of Cash The donor can receive full tax benefits on a cash contribution if he itemizes deductions.

Other Gifts Life Insurance Donors who own a life insurance policy chat the family no longer needs can get a tax deduction of the cash val ue if they donate it to the Society.

Bequests M embers are requested to please remember to include the National Maritime Histori cal Society as the beneficiary of their will or trust or retirement plan.

Sustaining Gifts

Matching Gifts Many companies will match or mul tiply do nations made to the National Maritime Historical Society by their employees and, in some cases, by employees' spouses.

A Sustaining Member supports NMH S at a higher level than migh t otherwise be conve nient. A sustaining gift may be at any amount, and it can be charged each mon th or quarter fro m a credi t card acco unt directly to NMH S.

Donors should have their own counsel review their donations. For more information from NMHS, a donor or his or her adviser may contact the Society's President, Burchenal Green, at 9 14 737-7878.

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

47

Organized by Sail Training International (STI) and the American Sail Training Association (ASTA), tall ships from around the world will participate in a spectacular odyssey around the North Atlantic ocean of more than 7,000 nautical miles.

Host ports in mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, Bermuda, the USA, Canada and Northern Ireland will welcome the fleet and their trainee crews. Whether you are an experienced sailor or have never been to sea before, whether you are young or just young at heart, sign up for one or more of the five race legs

â&#x20AC;˘

or cru ises-i n company or visit one of the host port

.... ........

festivals and enjoy the fun . To find out more go to:

tallshipsraces.com/atlanticchallenge

-

--

.! !.,.. _..-

Sail Training International

FESTIVALS, EvENTS, LECTURES, ETC.

•Classic Whaling Prints, mas terpieces

•Ghost Ships Festival, 20-2 1 March in M ilwaukee, WI. Films, seminars, p resentations about G reat Lakes shi pwrecks. Sponsored by Great Lakes Shi pwreck Research Foundation (www.ghost-ships.org) •"The Nanticoke: Portrait of a Chesapeake River," a presentation by David H arp and Tom H orton, 26 March at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime M useum . Also, "The Future of the Chesapeake Bay: Do We Have the Courage and Will to Prevent Its Collapse?" on 22 April, a presentation by Gerald W inegrad. (CBMM, Navy Point, POB 636, St. Michaels, MD 2 1663; Ph. 4 10 745-29 16; www.cbmm.o rg) •The Tall Ships®Atlantic Challenge 2009, 30 April thro ugh 16 August. Traditional sailing shi ps will travel more than 7,000 nautical miles and will visit the following host ports: Vigo, Spain; Tenerife, Canary Islands; Bermuda; Charleston, SC; Boston, MA; Hali fax, NS, Canada; Belfast, Ireland.

Sponsored by the American Sail Training Association (240 Thames St., 2nd Floo r, POB 1459, Newport, RI 02840; Ph. 401 846-1 775; email: as ta@sailtraining.org; www.sailtraining.org) •30th Annual Sea Music Festival, 11- 14 June, at Mystic Seaport. (MSM, 75 G reenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT 06355; Ph . 860 572-533 1; www. mys ticseap ort.org)

fro m the New Bedford W hal ing M useum's permanent collection, 27 February thro ugh 2009. (NBWM, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedfo rd, MA 02740; Ph. 508 997-0046; www.whalingmuseum. org)

ExHIBITS

•Coastal ~ters: Looking Back at Paintings by David Thigman, thro ugh March at the Ventura County M ari time M useum.

(273 1 Victoria Ave., Oxnard , CA 93035; Ph. 805 984-6260; www.vcm m.org)

•To Texas ... the Story of Edward Percy Howe and the Wreck of the George Lincoln, thro ugh March at the Texas Maritime Museum. (TMM, 1202 Navigation C ircle, Rockport, TX 78382; Ph. 866 729-AHOY; www.texasmaritimem useum.org)

•Illuminating the Sea: The Marine Paintings of James E. Buttersworth, 18441894, th ro ugh March 2009 at Mystic Seaport (MSM, 75 Greenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT 06355; Ph . 860 572-5331; www. mysticseaport.org)

•Treasures of a President: FDR and the Sea, at South Street Seapo rt Museum in NYC. (SSSM, 12 Fulto n St., New York, NY 10038; Ph. 212 748 .8600; www.so ud1-

•Net Worth: The Rise & Fall of Maine's Fisheries, 1 May - 30 August at the Mai ne Mari time M useum (MMM, 243 Washingto n St. Bath, ME 04530; Ph. 207 4431316; www.mainemaritimemuseum.org)

•Jamestown and Bermuda: Virginia Company Colonies, 1 March - 15 Oct. at the Jamestown Settlement in VA. Qamestown-Yorktown Foundation, POB 1607, W illiamsburg, VA 23 187; Ph . 757 2534838; www. historyisfun.org.)

CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIUMS

•Paul Cuffe Memorial Fellowship APPLICATION DEADLINE is 30 M arch (Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies, Mystic Seaport, POB 6000, 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, CT 06355; Ph. 860 572-5359; munson@mysticseaport.org) •Sea Literature, History & Culture, 8- 11 April in New O rleans, LA. The 2009 Confere nce of the National Popular C ulture and the American C ul ture Associations (Prof. Stephen C urley, Dep t. of General Academics, Texas A&M Unive rsity at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77553; email: curleys@tamug.edu; Ph . 409 740450 1) •Maritime Education Summit: Trending & Pedagogy for the Future, 15-17 April at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

(Info: email: educati onsummitin fo@ marit ime.edu. MMA, 101 Academy Dr., Buzzards Bay, MA 02532; www.maritime. edu) •37th Annual Walker Maritime History Symposium: Fisheries, Past, Present and Future, 25 April at Maine Maritime M useum. (Info: contact Nathan Lipfert at lipfert@ maritimeme.org; Ph. 207 44313 16, ext. 328. MMM, 243 Washington St., Bath, ME 04530; www. mainemaritimemuseum.org) •"Ports, Forts & Sports: Maritime Economy, Defense and Recreation through Time and Across Space," the 28th Annual Conference of the North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) co-sponsored by NMHS and the Steamship Historical Society of America,

14-17 May at the Califo rnia Maritime Academy in Vallejo, CA. (www.naso h.org) •Rethinking the Maritime Museum: Developments, Potential, Challenges, 20-22 May in Denmark (Chief Curator Asser Amdisen, Museum of Southern Jutland, H.P. Hanssens Gade 33, DK-6200 Aabenraa; asam@museum-sonderjylland. dk) •Loyalism & the Revolutionary Atlantic World, 4-6 June at the University of Maine (Info: Liam Riordan, History Dept., Univ. of Maine, 5774 Stevens H all, Room 275, Orono, ME 04469; Ph. 207 581-19 13; email: riordan@umit.maine.ed u) •30th Conference on New York State History, 4-6 June at SUNY Plattsburgh (www. nyhistory.com/ cnysh/ cfp2009 .h tm) •Music of the Sea Symposium, 12- 13 June at Mystic Seaport. CALL FOR PAPERS deadline is 13 March. (Info: Dr. Glenn S. Gordinier, M unson Institute, 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, CT 06355; email: glenn.gordinier@mysticseaport.org) •"Waterways and Byways, 1600-1890," The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, 13- 14 June in Deerfield, MA. (Info : Peter Benes, Director, D ublin Seminar for New England Folk.life, Boston University Scholarly Publications, 985 Co mmonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 022 15; email: dublsem@bu .edu; www. bu.edu/dublinseminar) •American Tropics: Towards a Literary Geography, 4-7 July at the University of Essex (UK). (www.essex.ac. uk/li fts/ American_ Tropics/Confe rence. h tm) •"Maps, Myths and Narratives: Cartography of the Far North," The International Conference on the History of Cartography, 12-17 July in Copenh agen, Denmark. (For info : ichc2009@bdp.dk; www. ichc2009. dk) •12th North Atlantic Fisheries History Conference, 19-22 August at O ld Domin ion University in Norfolk, VA. Conference theme: "Fisheries Management in a Historical Perspective." (Info : www. hull .ac. uk/nafha/) •Historic Naval Ships Association Annual Conference, 2 1-23 Sept. in Mobile, AL, at the Battleship Alabama. CALL FOR PAPERS deadline is 15 May. Confe rence theme: "Back to Basics." (Info: HNSA Exec. Director Jeffrey Nilsson, POB 40 1, Sm ithfield, VA2343 1; email: hnsaOl@aol.

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SEA HISTIORY 126, SPRING 2009

Reviews Champlain's Dream: The European Founding of North America by David Hackett Fischer (New York, Simon & Schuster, 2008, 834pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-4165-9332-4, $40hc)

both remarkable achievements and many failures and defeats, errors rhar sometimes cost lives. Yer he managed to keep peace berween a wide range of disparate factions (religious, social, racial, and economic) not by force, but by reason. Although criticized by his rivals, Champlain was widely respected for his temperament, rectitude, and leadership style.

This is an extraordinary book, very well written-scholarly, yet fast paced. Fischer's extensive appendices and rhe derailed history of eastern Canada are worth the price of rhe book alone. I highly recommend Champlain's Dream as an excellent addition to any maritime historian's library.

Louis A. NORTON West Simsbury, Connecticut

Eight Thousand Years of Maltese Maritime History. Trade, Piracy, and Naval Warfare in the Central Mediterranean

David Hackett Fischer's Champlain's Dream is a fascinating biography of the person who established "New France" on the shores of North America, in the place we now call eastern Canada. Samuel de Champlain, a mariner, explorer, and cartographer, rose through the ranks to command a fleet of vessels engaged in colonizing the New World. Berween 1599 and 1633, he made rwenty-seven Atlantic crossings and hundreds of North, Central, and South American coastal and riverine explorations-without losing a ship. Champlain lived during rhe nine violent French Wars of Religion, which produced unspeakable atrocities. Remarkably, Champlain strove to achieve peace among the Indian nations by living among rhem and working to create a lasting basis for peace, even in rhe face of incredible acts of inhumanity. His leadership was based upon an unusual principle he called prevoyance-roughly, meticulous preparation for the unexpected in rhe face of uncertainty. Champlain's most lasting achievement was populating New France and establishing rhe francophone Quebecois, Acadien, and Meris that echoed Champ lain's world. During his life he had SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

by Ayse Devrim Arauz (University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 2008 , 379pp, notes, maps, tables, appen, biblio, index, ISB N 978-0-8130-3179-8; $69.95hc).

One can argue rhar rhere is no place more central to Mediterranean maritime history rhan Maira. Srraregically located near the geographical center of rhar historic sea, Malta is at the division of irs eastern and western basins. The Phoenicians claimed Malta from their base in Carthage, then rhe Romans, Arabs, Normans, Genoese, the Knights of St. John, and the French under Napoleon, who we re forced out by rhe British in 1800. Malra became a srare within rhe British Commonwealth in 1964, and in 1974 ir became a republic wirh irs own president.

My own awareness of Malta derives, as it probably does for many people, from the association wirh the Order of St. John, founded at Jerusalem in the eleventh century to care for pilgrims. Unlike the Knights Templar, who came to a disastrous end in rhe early fourteenth century, rhe Order of St. John continued after rhe fall of Jerusalem on island bases ar Rhodes and rhen Malta. A good friend, Professor Lionel Burler, principal of Royal Holloway College, was librarian at St. John's Gate in London.

His enthusiasm to invesrigare the history of rhe Order prompted his many trips to Valletta to explore rhe archives . We discussed

the maritime history of Malta and what important historic resources might be found beneath Maltese waters.

The prospects would appear excellent for the discovery of significant archaeological finds submerged off the coasts. Nautical archaeologist Ayse Arauz undertook a survey of rhe submerged cultural resources, primarily shipwrecks, focused around the islands of Malta and Gazo. The work was done with the support of rhe Institute of Nautical Archaeology ar Texas A&M University. Surprisingly, rhe results were disappointing.

While rhe historical literature suggests numerous shipwrecks, few were discovered after three seasons (1999-2001) of remote sensing surveys using a magnetometer and side-scan sonar, an ROV, or scuba diving. The meager results can be explained by rhe facr rhar shipwrecks might be buried, or are located in deeper water. For Arauz, a further explanation and review of Maltese history was in order. This thoroughly researched book is rhe result of rhat investigation.

Ara uz concludes that Maira is indeed important, bur rhar "rhe inflated importance of rhe islands in modern history is largely an ourgrowrh of rhe exaggerated importance amibured to rhe Order of St. John on the world stage." Of rhe islanders themselves, she concludes that "[r]he indigenous Maltese people are nearly absent from rhe historical record and are nor recognizable as a co hesive gro up having a national identity until rhe rime of rhe British rule in rhe !are nineteenth and early rwentierh centuries." This fresh analysis of Maltese maritime history from rhe perspective of a nautical archaeologist challenges conventional interpretations or impressions. Thar said, rhe author does nor relegate Malta's historical significance to rhe dust bin. Several well-documented chapters (there are sixty pages of notes)

51

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are included on ancient and m edieval M alta, and three ch a pters o n the governance of Mah a by the Order of St. John from 1530 to 1798 .

The Order's attention to naval organization and fun ctio ns is full y discussed. There is much useful in formation on Beers and ship construction , and the rexr is nicely supplem ented by info rmati ve tables. Of special note is an eight-page appendix that provides a summary of major naval undertakings and naval fo rces of the Order of St. John.

There is also an appendix on the mys terio us G rand Carrack of Rhodes rhar was used to rransport personnel to M alta when the Order was forced from Rhodes . Archaeological work done beyond the surveys undertaken

by Atauz is no ted , including rhar by a French team in 1993 that located ceramic remains fro m a shipwreck on Malta dated to the 4 th6th centuries .

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and Wang, New York, 324pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-8090-95 124, $26hc) The real story of the "submarine boat" Hunley has eluded writers for years. While there have been any number of vo lumes written on the subject, most have been woven with conj ecture, suppositio n, and popular myth . Tom C haffin's new book details the facts of the undertaki ng: the pl ayers, the politics, and, impo rtantly, the current condition of the conservation /archaeological work being performed on the recovered vessel.

The author states at the o utset that there is precio us little information available to a research er, but by som e relentless detective wo rk, foll owing threads as they appeared and visiting some unlikely reposito ries, he was able to piece together the facts and build o n them a credible and fasc inating tale of determination, failure, and frustratio n, culminating in a success that was, in itself, a bittersweet and pyrrhic victory.

C haffi n"s wo rk is derailed and annotated to a fau lt; any g uesses about the historiography he make:s are called just that, and no ted.

The notes of :s o urces, interviews, and the like

SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

are all-inclusive and his bibliography is likewise most complete. Photographs and drawings, both contemporary and current, complete a fine volume.

There are a few instances where Mr. Chaffin misuses a nautical term or phrase, a flaw that also exists in his Sea of Gray (2006) , but they are not overly distracting and do not shade his meaning. I was a bit surprised that he elected not to include comment on the amazing technology, well ahead of its time, that the designers/builders of this craft discovered and implemented. During my own visit to the Lasch Center in Charleston, South Carolina, ro talk with Maria Jacobson, chief archaeologist and conservator, I found those "modernday" features of the time to be quite remarkable and, at least in my mind, worthy of note. He did discuss in some detail the forensic efforts underway seeking ro identify the remains of rhe crewmen found in rhe wreck and rhe success rhe ream has enjoyed in unraveling some of the stories that sank wirh the craft in February of 1864.

There is still much to be fo und in the details of the vessel-some may be uncovered, some may not-but the work continues, and I dare to hope that Mr. Chaffin might, in the future, offer an update of his book with those revelations incl uded .

Whether or not he does, this volume can stand as the best available to date.

WILLIAM H. WHITE Rumson, New Jersey

l-aka Moana, Voyages of the Ancestors: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific edited by K. R. Howe (University of

The book contains a large amount of specialized knowledge summarized by major scholars in the field. K. R. Howe and Geoffrey Irwin present chapters on global migration and the archaeo logical evidence of voyaging and settlement, for what is truly "the last original human migration, and tire first to require technology." Ben Finney and Sam Low provide much data on the technical aspects of voyaging canoes, as well as a well-written outli ne of non-instrument navigation, told through the personal stories of Mau Piailug, David Lewis, Nainoa Thompson, and many others. Rawiri Ta0tmi and Roger Neick and Anne Salmond expand upon Polynesian oral traditions, voyaging after the exploration period, and the biography ofTupaia, a high priest of navigation who sailed with Captain Cook. This tome is a wealth of information.

Vaka Moana does several things well.

The book maintains a clear acknowledgement of the cultural importance of the Pacific renaissance in voyaging. The canoe remains the vehicle on which the reader travels through this text. Vaka Moana raises an important point to consider: voyaging revival is not the precise replication of what might have been, but a blending of technologies and techniques, both new and old, into something unique .. . and useful. As K. R. Howe puts it, the voyaging epic is the "ultimate expression of human curiosity, innovation, and daring." He is not speaking in the past tense. The body of knowledge summarized in this book is still very much a part of what is taking place today.

Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2006, 360pp, b/w and color plates, maps, charts, notes, index, ISBN 978-0-8248-3213-1; $59hc)

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Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors

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features the comprehens ive story of the original discovery and settlement of the Pacific Ocean-no small task. Initiated by an exhibition of the same name, the book is much more than just a companion product. Winner of the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Award for history, it is a scholarly yet accessible work, including full-page color photographs, which blend art and artifact, many useful maps, and short essays well-suited to expanding the range of each chapter. It is at once informative, accessible, and beautiful.

Captain Thomas E. Henry, USNR (Ret.) (Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, IN, 2008, 426pp, illus, gloss, ISBN 978-1159858-627-5; $32.95hc) Wish your father or grandfather was still aro und to tell you about his career at sea and the adventurous stories that went with it? Wish your father or grandfather had better stories to tell?! Fret not, pick up this memoir of Captain Thomas Henry's thirty-three years on ships, as he rose from maritime academy cadet to master mariner, and yo u'll have more than you

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New&Noted bargained for. Capcain Henry's career began, as did so many others of his generation: as a teenager, he lefc school in the last year of World War II to join the navy.

He served for a year and a half and then wenc home to finish high school. Wich diplomas in hand, 1homas Henry and his younger brocher Pac sec off for che town of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, home of the Massachusetts Maricime Academy.

Then, che Academy had only one building ashore and che US Training Ship Charleston, a recencly recired "Erie" class naval gunboac, which served as classroom, dormitory, and, of course, as an active craining vessel char wenc to sea wich che Academy cadecs for chree months every wincer.

So began his seagoing career and so scares his book. Whac follows are advencures, some dramacic and many amusing, char took him across che wo rld's oceans, visicing pores and lands far fcom hom e and exocic, to say che least. His story, retold quire candidly, cakes him from his ceens to his eighciech birchday and covers his experience in che navy, as a merchanc marine cadec, and evencually as mascer. He sailed wich che Uniced Scares Lines, including rime spenc on che bridge of che famo us SS United States, and advanced to mascer, commanding massive sh ips across deep oceans and navigacing in cighc harbors.

Capcain Henry shares his perspeccives on different cypes of ships, protocol, rourines, his shipmaces, and comparing cargo ships to passenger ships. Noc only does chis man have a story to cell, buc he recouncs ic with honescy, humor, and whole loc of respecc for che sea, seafaring, and shipmaces. A Joe of octogenarians have greac stories to cell, and we should cake che cime to liscen. If you don'c know any, gee your hands on Capcain Henry's book and you won'c regrec ic.

DEIRDRE O'REGAN Cape Cod, Massachusetcs

John Prentiss Benson: American Marine Artist by Nicholas Baker and Margarec M. Bens (Baker Marine Publicacions, 2009, 136pp, illus and color places, biblio, index of paincings, ISBN 978-0-98211761-0-8; $65hc) The name John Prenciss Benson (1865- 1947) may be a lesser-known one in the world of marine arc, yet his skillful

54

rendering of ships, boats, the seaside, and particularly the sea itself, make his work hauntingly fami liar to anyone who's ever spent time on the water. Whether leafing through the color places or doing a more careful scudy, you are lefc chinking, "I must have seen this painter's work before." This affeccionacely wriccen and beautifully illuscraced book is a welcome incroduccion to chis calenced American artisc.

A pair of authors virtually awash in Benson's work and history-Mr. Baker's lace wife, Joan Prenciss Benson Baker, was John Benson's granddaughter, and Ms. Betts also holds family ties to the artist and his work-Baker and Beccs ably incroduce the story of chis son of Salem, Massachusects, who sec aside a successful career in architecture in his 50s to become a full-time arcist. In addition to this vividly descriptive overview of Mr. Benson's marine arc, the authors have compiled a three-volume catalogue raisonne, 1he Artistic Legacy ofJohn Prentiss Benson.

This book, a complemencary piece to char larger compendium, includes 43 pages of incroductory material on che artisc, chronicling his life and work. The aucho rs' admiration and devotion to the artist becomes apparenc in the charming narracive of Benson's life and the rich descripcions readily lavished on his lovely canvases.

Some of the most incriguing images are of che artist in his various scudios and his meticulous logbooks cracking his 750 or more original works. These personal images in the introduction lend concext to Benson's arc, as much as the text surrounding ic.

The arciscic commentary by John G. Hagen also adds scope and depch to the color places char follow, 92 in all.

Benson painced concemporary crafc chat he would have seen near his wacerfronc residences in places such as Salem, New York, Bermuda, and Maine. His canvases are all che more remarkable when yo u discover char "[e]very paincing came ouc of [his] visual memory. He never worked oucdoors." His command of capturing a range of sea scares and abilicy to depict vessels from history from inside his scudio is genuinely impressive, and this richly illustrated book lives up to the cask of reproducing chem and his story.

CATHY GREEN

Alpena, Michigan

Cape Cod Bay: A History of Salt & Sea

by Theresa Mitchell Barbo (The History Press, Charlescon, SC, 2008, 128pp, ISBN 978 1596295025; $21.99pb) Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2008, 336pp, ISBN 9780743260800; $30hc) From Colony to Superpower: US Foreign Relations Since 1776 by George C. Herring (Oxford Universicy Press, NY, 2008, l,035pp, IS BN 9780 195078220; $35hc) "The Gulf Stream" Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic by Scan Ulanski (University ofNorch Carolina Press, 240pp, ISBN 9780807832172; $28 hc) Gustavus l-asa Fox of the Union Navy: A Biography by Ari Hoogenboom (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2008, 387pp, ISBN 9780801889868; $40hc) Harnessing the Trade Winds: The Story of the Centuries-Old Indian Trade with East Africa, Using the Monsoon Winds

by Blanche Rocha D'Souza (Michigan State Universicy Press, East Lansing, 2008, 208pp, ISBN 97899667 12325, $29.95hc) Pirate Hunter: The Life of Captain Woodes Rogers by G raham Thomas (Pen & Sword Books, South Yorkshire, UK, 2008, 176pp, ISBN 978 1844158089; $30hc) The Pirates' Pact: The Secret Alliance Between History's Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America by Douglas R. Burgess Jr. (McGraw Hill, NY, 2008, 30lpp, ISBN 9780071474764; $26.95) Ships' Graveyards: Abandoned l.liatercraft and the Archaeological Site Formation Process by Nathan Richards (Universicy of Florida Press, Gainesville, 2008, 304pp, illus, no tes, biblio, index, ISBN 97808 1 3032573;$65h~

When Fortume Frowns, a novel by Willi am H. Wlhite (Tiller Publishing, Sc. M ichaels, lw1D, 2008, 343pp, ISBN 978188867 1:247, pb) SEA HIISTORY 126, SPRTNG 2009

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by Benford A co ll ection of six practical and love ly crui s ing catboat de s igns; 17' to 22 ', with many detailed drawin gs. 8Yi" x 11 ", 128 pages, softcove1; $26 postpaid US & Ca nada, $38 Int '/. airmail.

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TH OR TON D. & ELIZABETH S. HOOPER FO UNDATIO IN MEMORY OF Do ALD C. MCGR AW, JR .

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SEA H ISTORY 126, SPRING 2009

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