Sea History 140 - Autumn 2012 by National Maritime Historical Society & Sea History Magazine

No. 140

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

AUTUMN 2012

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

NMHS Ship's Store Embroidered items ready to ship -

Tree Ornament 22" Cape Cod Catboat Gift #050 $239.00 + $13.00 s/h Developed for the fishing and lobstering conditions along the cape, the catboat was the boat of choice of fishermen in the region because of its ability to work in shallow waters with a strong tide. Our model features accurately rigged main sail and individual coaming boards, and like our other models, it is made of wood planked on bulkheads. Red bottom paint with white topsides. Formal display stand. Model size: 25" L x 36" H x 9" W.

Knit Hat with Cuff Gear #053 $12.00 + $6.95 s/h Black, Brown, Navy, Spruce, Royal.

Gift #094 $15.00 + $5.00 s/h Our Classic "Woody" tree ornament is sure to dress up any nauticalthemed Christmas Tree or the perfect gift for any wooden boat enthusiast. Made of solid wood with laser-scored deck, and double cockpit. Complete with chrome cleats, silver-painted windshield, steering wheel and running light. Red bottom paint with white boot stripe. Size: 4.5" L x 1.5" W x 1.25" H.

Fleece Blanket Gear #009 $15.00 + $7.95 s/h 50" x 60" whip stitched Navy fleece blanket is cozy & warm, and includes canying straps.

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Gift #023 $64.95 + $16.80 s/h A Solid Brass and Aluminum sextant with precision calibrations in Mahogany box with brass inlay.

Gear #001 $20.00 + $6.95 s/h Adjustable leather strap. Colors available: Cactus, Chamois, Charcoal, Forest Green, Denim, Nautical Red.

10 Yz" General Ships Marine Lamp Gift #053 $129.95 + $16.80 s/h A Solid Brass clear lens oil lantern used to light cabins, cargo-holds and as general purpose lighting on many sailing vessels.

7" Solid Brass Spyglass Gift #015 $42.95 + $9.80 s/h Solid brass chrome plated spyglass in Mahogany box with nautical inlaid brass. Excellent optics for real viewing. Objective lens is 20mm. Mag: 12X.

Gift #098 $25.00 + $7.95 s/h, add $4.00 2XL or $8.00 3XL ComfortBlendÂŽ EcoSmartÂŽ 50/50 Fleece Crew patented low-pill, high-stitch density fleece; ribbed cuffs and waistband; double-needle stitching on neck and armholes. Ash, Black, Carolina Blue, Forest, Deep Red, Royal, Denim, Navy, Stonewash Green, White. S-3XL.

To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, or visit our website at www.seahistory.org. Allow 2 to 3 weeks for delivery. Shipping within USA only. Satisfaction guaranteed!

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Celebrate our maritime heritage this holiday season with NMHS greeting cards Based on a painting by renowned marine artist William G. Muller, a McAllister Company steam tug skims along past Brooklyn pierheads on a winter afternoon in 1900. This year's holiday card was selected in honor of the 2012 NMHS Distinguished Service Award Recipient Captain Brian A. McAllister. Greeting reads, "Wishing you fair winds for the holidays and calm seas for the New Year." Box of 10: $ 14.95, or $13.46 for NMHS members. Add $4 s/h for one box and $2 for each additional box. Please indicate your

choice of holiday or blank cards. Visit our website www.seahistory.org for other selections: choose "Store" then "Gifts." East River Traffic, 1900.

To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, or visit our web site at www.seahistory.org. Order now for October delivery.

2013 Calendar NEW! The Down to the Sea 2013 Calendar features the paintings of maritime artist Don Demers. Demers learned sailing as he learned painting, inspired by the deep Atlantic waters that sweep the rugged coast of Maine. His experience of sailing on traditional ships ensures that the details are always right. In Down to the Sea Demers paints both historic full-rigged behemoths and small boats sailing through rocky inlets rimmed with blasted pines. Calendar is wall hanging, full color 11 " x 14". Gift #011 $14.95 Add $5.50 for s/h within the US (please call for multiple orders or international postage rates).

To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, or visit our website at www.seahistory.org. NY State residents add applicable sales tax.

SEA HISTORY

No. 140

AUTUMN 201 2

CONTENTS 10 A Forest of Assassins: The US Merchant Marine Under Fire During the Vietnam War, by Salvatore R. Mercogliano, PhD You won't find the names of US merchant mariners on the Vietnam W'tlr Memorial in W'tlshington, DC, but their presence and participation-and loss oflife-had a significant impact on the events in Southeast Asia from beginning to end. 14 The War of 1812: The Burning ofWashington, and the "Star-Spangled Banner," by Wi lliam H. Whire In August of 1814, British troops marched into W'tlshington and set fire to the White House and the Capitol. They sets their sights on Baltimore next, but first they had to get past the "star fort" at the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. Holding them offat Fort McHenry would save the city and ultimately provide the United States with its National Anthem.

20 The National Maritime Historical Society Annual Awards Dinner, 2012 This year's awardees are Sir Jo nathon Band GCB DL; Captain Brian A. McAllister; Captain Don W'tlLsh, USN (Ret.), PhD; and Thomas F Daly. Read about their contributions and achievements and about how you can join them at this annual gala event this autumn. 22 HMS Victory Update, by Professor Dominic Tweddle This spring, ownership ofNelson's famous flagship was transferred from the Royal Navy to the National Museum ofthe Royal Navy. The move will better serve the preservation needs ofthe ship and the mission ofeducating the public about Victory's important role in world history. 24 From Weather Deck to Easel: Oswald Brett's Sea Paintings, by Bruce Srannard Nonagenarian Oswald Brett is still at his easel interpreting ships and the sea through his art. He's spent a lifetime studying maritime subjects by going to sea himselfand then transferring his experiences to canvas so that the rest of us can share in the adventure. 28 Uncommon Companions-A Rat, A Seal, and Miners on San Francisco Bay's Blossom Rock, by Alan Fraser Houston Clearing shipping lanes ofhazards to navigation is critical to the growth and survival ofa port; local and federal governments have worked together to make harbors and shipping lanes safe for navigation. Blossom Rock in San Francisco Bay was a challenging example that was overcome through persistence and hard work, not to mention a whole lot ofexplosives.

Cover: Running the Easting D own, The Ship Joseph Conrad, Cook Strait, New Zealand, January 1936 by Oswald B rett, oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inches (See pages 24-27 for more abo ur rhe arrisr and hi s arr.)

DEPARTMENTS 4

DECK LOG AND LETTERS

8 NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION 32 SEA HISTORY FO R Krns

36 38

MARINE ART NEWS

40 49

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

51 56

REVIEWS

CALENDAR

PATRONS

MARITIME HISTORY ON THE I NTERNET

Sea History and rhe National Maritime H istorical Society Sea History e-mail: editorial@seahistory.org; NMHS e-mail: nmhs@seahistory.org; Web sire: www.seahistory.org. Ph: 914 737-7878; 800 221-NMHS

MEMBERSHIP is invited. Afterguard $I 0,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $1,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Friend $100; Contributor $75; Family $50; Regular $35.

All members outside the USA please add $10 for postage. Sea History is sent to all members. Individual copies cost $3.75.

SEA HISTORY (issn 0146-9312) is published quarrerly by rhe National Maritime Historical Society, 5 John Walsh Blvd., POB 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Periodicals postage paid at Peekskill NY 10566 and add'! mailing offices. COPYRIGHTÂŠ 2012 by the National Maritime Historical Society. Tel: 914 737-7878. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY I 0566.

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG Thank you Captain Kimberly ... ''A Real Game Changer"

aptain Arthur M. Kimberly was of that rare breed of great sailing masters who kept the art of sailing a tall ship alive by passing along the skills and traditions to the generations that followed and was the individual who taught many of today's traditional sailing ship captains their craft. In 2008, the well-respected ship captains Bert Rogers, Walter Rybka, and D aniel Moreland, along with Sea Histo ry editor Deirdre O 'Regan, nominated him and, posthumously, his wife Gloria for the coveted NMHS Karl Kortum American Ship Trust Award, which was presented to "Skipper" that autumn at the NMHS Annual Awards Dinner at the New York Yacht Club. The story of his life at sea and that of his legendary brigantine Romance was featured in Sea History 123 and 124 (you can read it on our website, www.seahistory.org). The Kimberlys purchased the brigantine in 1966 and for the next 23 years lived aboard and sailed throughout the Caribbean, So uth Pacific, and around the world, teaching hundreds of aspiring sailors the lessons of the sea, creating a legacy of generations of people prepared for the challenges of sailing a tall ship. Romance was the Kimberlys' mission and the "marineros," what they called the Romance crew, were the beneficiaries of their legacy-training for a seafaring life using methods nearly lost with the tide. Some of their trainees and crewmembers have stayed with the sea as a profession; others threw their anchors out but the lessons they learned at sea under the Kimberlys' guidance have served them well wherever they landed. The Kimberlys' reputation as hardworking and masterful mariners and, just as importantly their role as mentors, is well known in the maritime community, from admirals to foremast hands. At the NMHS awards night in 2008, many of Skipper's Captain Arthur Kimberly shoots L.A.N former shipmates gathered at the event to from the deck of his brigantine, Romance. honor him and spoke of their time aboard Romance with the greatest reverence. Captain Kimberly crossed over the bar last September, and we wrote about him again in Sea H istory (137), but this was his obituary. Early this year we were astonished to receive a legacy from his estate, the largest bequest the Society had received to date. We share his estate with his sister and three other maritime organizations. When I spoke to a colleague at one of the other organizations, he stated, "This is a real game changer for us." We agreed it was a game changer for all of us, institutions struggling to keep our maritime heritage alive with limited resources. If members had any idea the kind of work we could accomplish with a gift like this, we would all write some form of bequest into our wi lls. Even small gifts from many individuals could give us the wherewithal we need to further our mission. During his lifetime, Captain Kimberly sailed the seas in a tall ship with crews who would move on to other ships and pass along this knowledge to the next generation of mariners. His generous bequest at the end of his life preserves and promotes our maritime heritage, once again, so that the traditions, knowledge, lessons, and skills he mastered and taught will continue. - Burchenal Green, President 4

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLISHER'S CIRC LE: Peter Aron , G uy E. C. Maitland , Wi lliam H. White OFFICERS &TRUSTEES: Chairman, Ron ald L. Oswald; Vice Chairman, Ri chardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal Green; Vice Presidents, Deirdre O 'Regan, Nancy Schnaars; Treasurer, H oward Slotnick; Secretary, Jean Wort; Trustees: C harl es B. Anderson; Walter R. Brown; RADM Joseph F. Callo, USNR (Rer.); James Caner; Thomas F. Daly; William S. Dudley; D av id S. Fowler; Wi lliam Jackso n Green; Karen Helmerso n; Robert Kamm; Richard M. Larrabee; G uy E. C. Maitland; Capt. Brian McAllister; CAPT Sally Chin McElwreath, USNR (Ret.); Jam es J . McNamara; Michael W Morrow; Timothy J. Runyan; Richard Scarano; Philip J. Shapiro; Bradford D. Smith; H. C. Bowe n Smith; Cesa re Sorio; Philip J. Webster; D aniel W W halen; Wi lliam H . Wh ite; Trustee Elect: Richard Patrick O 'Leary Chairmen Emeriti, Walter R. Brown , AJan G. C hoate, G uy E. C. Maitland, Howard Slotnick; President Emeritus, Peter Stanford FOUN DER: Karl Kortum (1917- 1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM David C. Brown , USM S (Ret.); C live Cussler; Richard du Moulin; Alan D. Hutchison; Jakob lsbrandtsen; Gary Jobso n; Si r Robin Knox-Johnston ; John Lehman; John Sro bart; William Winterer NMH S ADVISORS: Chairman, Melbourne Smith; D . K. Abbass, George Bass, Oswald Brett, Francis J. Duffy, John S. Ewald, Timothy Foote, Wi lliam G ilkerso n, Steven A. Hyman, J. Russell Jinishian, Hajo Knuttel, Gunnar Lundeberg, Joseph A. Maggio, Conrad Milster, William G. Muller, Stuart Parnes, Lori Dillard Rech, Nancy Hughes Richardson, Bert Rogers, Joyce Huber Smith SEA HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD : Chairman, Timothy J . Run ya n; No rman J. Brouwer, Robert Browning, Wi lliam S. Dudley, D aniel Finamore, Kevin Foster, John Odin Jensen, Joseph F. Meany, Lisa No rlin g, Ca rl a Ralrn Phillips, Walrer Rybka, Quentin Snediker, W illiam H . White NMH S STAFF: Executive Director, Burchenal Green; M embership Director, Nancy Schnaars; Communications Director, Suzanne Isakse n; Marketing Director, Steve Lovass-Nagy; Accounting, Jill Romeo; Volunteer Coordinator, Jane Maurice; Executive Administrative Assistant, Kelley Howa rd SEA HISTORY: Editor, Deirdre O'Regan ; Advertising, Wendy Paggiotta; Copy Editor, Shel ley Reid; Editor-at-Large, Pete r Sta nford

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

LETTERS Discovering NMHS and Sea History I am a 1963 graduate of the m aritime curriculum aboard the schoolship john W Brown, a Worid War II Liberty ship now berthed in Baltimore, M aryland, and maintained (after an impressive restoration effort) by the talented and dedicated volunteers of Project Liberty Ship (PLS) , and the JWB Alumni Association . During a visit aboard the Brown in 2008, I was given the mailing address of my junior year (1962) deck instructor, Luigi Tibaldi, by Capt. Rick Bauman, as he had contact

information for former faculty members. I thank th e good captain for this every chance I get. Luigi moved to Italy years ago after many years as a john W Brown faculty m ember, and, for the past four years, Luigi and I have enjoyed a correspondence of mutual admiration and reminiscences that go back almost a half century. We exchange letters, handwritten (!) because Luigi does nor have email and his hearing loss does nor allow fo r telephone communications. In a March 2011 letter, my old instructor asked me to find him a current address for NMHS. I went online to honor the request and found my interest was peaked when I surfed your websi re, as I have had almost a lifelong attachment to all things having to do with ships and seafaring (I was a deckhand aboard oil rankers). Sea History looked like something I would like to get (I now know it to be the best periodical for my interests), and I could see why Luigi wo uld want a membership-once again the reacher found a good resource for the student. So I applied for rwo memberships, one for Luigi as a

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

gift and one for mysel( Luigi wanted an address and so he got it with an additional benefit. I have no doubt that these rwo memberships will continue for some time to come. Thank yo u. RrcHARD J. LAr Copper Hill, Virginia

Painted Lady I think it is just fine for the United States Coast Guard- and for coast guards around the world-to make good use of an emblem to make themselves more rec-

ognizable to the public in the course of their duties policing, rescuing, and patrolling the coasts, bur the training ship Eagle is not involved in those duties. She is a training ship first, bur her role as an am-

USCGCEagle

bassador ship representing the US abroad is a close second. How anyone could think that tattooing the skin of a graceful and dignified lady would be a good idea is beyond me. Eagle is a spectacular example of square-rig sailing ships from an era long past. Her lines and sail plan make her a sight of genuine beauty. Removing tattoos from the skin is difficult and painful; bur removing Eagle's tattoo would only require a few coats of paint. If they need a hand, I'd be happy to bring along my paintbrush and some white paint. I commend our Coast Guard for the hard work and profess ionalism with which they do their important mission, but the decision to paint a garish red stripe on Eagle was a poor one-but one that can be easily remedied. THOMAS A. MouREAu Bryn M awr, Pennsylvania

Why Another Ship? I read with concern, or rather a fair bit of rolling of the eyes, when I read in the last issue's "Ship Notes" section abo ut the p lan to build another rail ship in Rhode Island

Join Us for a Voyage into History Ou r seafa rin g heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea History, from the a ncient mariners of G reece to Portu guese navigators opening up the ocea n world to the heroic effo r ts of sailors in modern-day conflicts. Each issue brings new insights a nd discoveries. If you love the sea, rivers, la kes, and

bays-if you appreciate the legacy of those who sail in deep water a nd their workaday craft, then you belong with us.

Join Today ! Ma il in the form below, phone 1 800 221 -NMHS (6647), or visit us at: www.sea history.org (e-mail : nmhs@seahistory.org)

Yes, I want to join the Society and receive Sea History quarterly. My contribution is enclosed. ($ 17.5 0 is for Sea History; any amount above that is tax deductib le.) Sign me up as: 0 $35 Regular Member 0 $50 Fam ily Member 0 $ 100 Friend 0 $25 0 Parron 0 $5 00 Donor

140

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----------------------~ZIP ______ Return to: National Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68, Peekskill, NY 10566

We Welcome Your Letters! Please send correspondence to: editorial@seahistory.org or by USPS to: Editor, Sea History, 7Timberknoll Road, Pocasset, MA02559.

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(SSV Oliver Hazard Perry). Don't we have enough Class B tall ships already? As far as I understand it, we have not been able to support the ones that already exist. How many non-profit sail training organizations are barely keeping afloat (pun intended) ? How many historic ships desperately need attention and funds? There always seems to be momentum to build them and keep them going the first few years, but then these ships seem to be tied to a pier somewhere because money and interest dies out. Need we name names? Ir would be great if we could take care of the ships we already have before we add more to the fleet. BRIAN SKELLEY

Norfolk, Virginia Patriotic Songs and American Tradition When I was a young girl, my grandmother would say that there wasn't a subject in the world she didn't know a song about. We made games of trying to stump h er and, in the process, learned a good many American fo lk songs. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about the patriotic songs and music of the 19th century in the last issue ("War Reporting in 1812, Through Song") . Dr. Hildebrand's article brought me back to a time and a family tradition I had not thought about in a very long time. If I can tear my own grandchildren away from their iPods, I will try to share som e with them . Perhaps I should hunt down some recordings and put them on their iPods when they aren't looking. I am not so sure I'll have success, but thanks for reminding me of a treasured time from my youth just the same. GLORIA MITCHELL

Danvers, Massachusetts Chilling Photo I am always drawn to Titanic stories, even the romanticized ones, but the photo you ran in the last issue of the boot and coat lying on the shipwreck site was somehow very sobering and disturbing. Ir was a good reminder that after the blockbuster movie has gone to DVD and the stories of the whole saga have been told, that individual people by the hundreds died a horrible death that night. Let's leave them alone. ]OHN BELK

Manhasset, New York

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

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NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION The War of 1812-No Longer the Forgotten War

The spectacular commemorations of the bicentennial of the War of 18 12 have enco uraged a w ide array of resources that are considerably enhancing our understanding of the importance of this war, which forged a sense of nation and identiry and proved the necessiry for a strong American N avy and Coast G uard. Boston, Fourth ofJuly, 2012 The Society has been an early and strong advocate in encouraging comm emorative activiti es; our trustees, overseers, and advisors have been active all over the co unry. The commemorative Parade of Sail began in N ew Orleans in April, traveling to N ew York; N o rfolk, Virgin ia; Baltimore; Boston; and New London , C onnecticut. The gray hulls then m oved on to the G reat Lakes whi le the international sailing ships returned home. NMHS Trustees were active participants in this great parade of ships up the Eas t Coast; three of them h ave shared tho ugh ts with us.

- Burchenal Green, President

New Orleans (17-23Apri l) April 201 2 in New O rleans: Tall ships, US and foreign navy ships, bands, Blue Angels, and fa ntastic foo d! We celebrated with a wo nderful reception on boa rd USS Wasp (LPD l); we were enterta ined by the USO Liberty Bel ls' delightfu l tunes both fro m the Bi g Band era and today, a presentation of the colors (magnificent) and prime viewing for a firewo rks spectacular! Visits to New O rleans eateries and a gala at the World Wa r II mu seum capped a glor ious week of patriotism, pride, and ma king new fr iends both fo reign and domestic. - William H. White New York (23-29 May) O n 23 May, the Grand Parade of Sail and Flee t Week warsh ips, preceded by the histo ric fireboat john J H arvey with its spectacular sprays of red, white and blue water, entered New York H arbor under the Verrazano Na rrows Bridge. Following the j ohn J Harvey were the Class A tall ships Juan Sebastidn de Elcano of Spain, Guayas of Ecuador, Mexico's Cuauhtemoc, Cisne Branco of Brazil, Colombia's ARC Gloria and KR! D ewaruci of Indonesia. Followi ng the international tall ships, the USCG barque Eagle led the parade of naval vessels. Fly-overs by historic ai rcraft and the Blue A ngels add ed to the spectacle. - j ean Wort (above) Cadets aloft on Guayas ofEcuador in New Orleans

Baltimore (13-19 June) O n 13 June, N MHS trustee Phi l Webster and his wife, Irmy, my wife, Donna, and I watched the parade of the international tall ships and gray hulls entering Baltimore's Inner Harbor aboard the Spirit of Baltimore. We then moved on to view the fab led redoubt of Fort McHenry fro m the Patapsco River. The scene was enthralling; the US Navy, OpSail, and Maryland's Star Spangled 200 conveyed the message that the War of 1812 is no longer "the fo rgotten war," and that those who served, suffered, and sacrificed deserve recognition and remembrance for what they did to preserve the nati on in those early days. -Dr. William D udley (l-r) Mexico's Cuauhtemoc and Cisne Branco ofBrazil in Baltimore

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

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A Forest ofAssassins:

The Merchant Marine Under Fire During the Vietnam War by Salvatore R. Mercogliano, PhD n escalation of armed support to a pro-American regime has angered the opposition, and they focus their rage on a highly visible symbol of United States military power and intervention-a US aircraft carrier. Such an assault would require intense planning, preparation, and extreme hazard , but the image of one of the most revered vessels of the US Navy sunk whi le in the harbor of the Americans' erstwhile ally might succeed in undermining support to the government and, perhaps, curtail shipments of arms and materiel. How does one go about sinking such a vessel? The terrorists constructed an improvised explosive device, a composite ofTNT and C4 affixed to the hull of the ship, and planned on using the non-compressibility attributes of water to focus the force of the explosion (much like a shaped-charge) into the carrier's engine room while the crew and vessel were in a relaxed condition-meaning the watertight doors and vents would be open throughout the craft. Early one morning, two men entered a warehouse in the commercial sector of the port where the American carrier had arrived the previous day. As rhe terrorists moved towards a small boat, common along the waterfront and specifically chosen for its innocent appearance, a maritime patrol espied the men and stopped them to ascertain their intent. Fortunately for the terrorists, the local police were underpaid and not of the most sterling virtue. The men explained that they were heading toward the city to buy new clothes at the market. Their story-delivered along with a bribe and a promise of more upon their return-motivated the constables to turn their backs on rhe insurgents and let them pass .

landing, and it served as a concealed avenue of approach. The men entered the pipe, nearly blinded and choked by the fumes, and maneuvered on a memorized layout of the labyrinth. They eventually appeared at a secondary discharge, where before them loomed rhe gray hull of their intended target. The men quickly attached the devices and hooked up the detonator, batteries, and rimer, allowing them enough time to escape. After another trip through the maze of tunnels and waste, they embarked in their boat and headed back to the warehouse. As they neared the end of their passage, the local police boat reemerged and headed towards them, intent on gathering the second half of their bribe. On board the carrier, crewmembers went about their duties. On the quarterdeck, Raymond Arbon had just arrived after inspecting the mooring lines, while in the engine room John McDonald monitored the boiler control panel. Neither was prepared for the explosion that rocked the ship at 5: 15 that morning. Out on the river, as the police cutter hailed the terrorists, a bright Bash, followed by a pair of dull explosions, resonated across the river. Arbon was dowsed by a geyser of water that inundated the starboard side of the carrier, while McDonald was hurled upwards against a vent blower and then thrown into darkness as the ship lost power and the sound of motors and engines was replaced by a torrent of water entering the splintered

(below) USNS Card in her navy days. The Card would be the first maritime casualty of the Vietnam Wtir. (right) The sinking of the American carrier drew Little attention in the United States but became a rallying cry for the VC and North Vietnamese.

Clear of the police, rhe two men quickly loaded their imple- hull. The cutter reversed its engines and headed straight toward ments of destruction, crossed the river, and tied up a few berths the stricken American ship. By the time they arrived, the carrier away from their target. While guards patrolled the dock and the had taken a pronounced list to starboard and begun to settle. massive carrier, the spot where the two insurgents landed was not As water flooded the boiler, engine, machinery, and generator covered. A large discharge for the city's sewer system dumped its rooms, along with shaft alley, nothing could prevent its sinking. noxious waste into the river next to the pier, and its fumes made While these events may sound like the plot to a movie or a this an ideal site as it ensured that no one would challenge their novel, this attack has already occurred, yet the story is lost in the

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

larger narrative of a complex conflict in America's recent past. The two terrorists, Lam Son Nao and Nguyen Phu Hung, were members of the 65'h Special Operations Group of the National Liberation Front, more commonly referred to as the Viet Cong (VC). The ship in question was an American aircraft carrier, removed from front-line duty and relegated to a secondary role as an aircraft transport. H er original naval crew of 900 sailors had been replaced by seventy-four civilian merchant mariners. While she had earned accolades in wartime, including a Presidential Unit Citation for sinking eight German U-Boats during World War II , those events were years before, and on the morning of 2 May 1964 in the port of Saigon, Republic ofVietnam , USNS (United States Naval Ship) Card became the first merchant marine casual ty in the Vietnam War, predating the events between the destroyer USS Maddox and three People's Republic of Vietnam patrol torpedo boats in the G ulf of Tonkin by three months. The attack on USNS Card was not the initial instance of American merchant m arine involvement in Southeast Asia, nor was it the first time that a US merchant ship found itself the target of hostile action. In 1950, SS Steel Rover sailed from San Francisco bound for Vietnam. A C-3 Isthmian Lines freighter, sh e was the first cargo ship loaded with Muma! Defense Assistance Program goods for the French in their fight against the Viet Minh. As she departed Hong Kong on 6 August, she was fired upon by a shore battery of the new People's Republic of C hina. A single shell, out of a total of five fired, struck the vessel, but it was enough to persuade her master, 0. A. Preble, ro return to port and await an escort by the Royal Navy the following day. The arrack did not deter American involvement in Southeast Asia. As the French found themselves immersed in a war that they associated with the spread of communism, the United States expanded its support. Eventually, the US contracted with the Waterman Steamship Company of Mobile, Alabama, to provide a fleet of freighters ro support its ally in the First IndoC hina War. Even with massive aid and support, the French met their end in the valley of Oien Bien Phu in 1954. In compliance with the Geneva Acco rds and with the French withdrawal, Vietnam was divided into two countries, with the comm unists in the north, and the pro-American government of Ngo Dinh Diem in the south. To assist in the relocation ofVietnam ese forces, equipment, and civilians, the US Navy orchestrated Operation Passage to Freedom. A flotilla of 39 merchant and sealift vessels participated in the relocation of nearly 70,000 tons of equipment, more than 8,000 vehicles, and 3 10,848 personnel. With the establishment of rival governm ents, the United States continued to support the Republic of Vietnam for a decade, culminating in the arrival and bombing of USNS Card. This event, along with the incidents in the Tonkin Gulf, assaults on American aircraft at Bien Hoa and Pleiku, the bombing of the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, and the decision by the US to ini tiate an air offensive against the North-Operation Rolling Thunder-led to the introduction of American gro und forces to protect the airfields, and then to target Viet Cong and North Vietnamese military units in the South . SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

USNS General Nelson M. Walker prepares to disembark troops at Vung Tau, Vietnam, on 16 April 1967. The Walker is the subject of a study titled "Vietnam Graffiti: Messages from a Forgotten Troopship, "which can be viewed online at www.vietnamgrafliti.com. The commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACY), Ge neral William C. Westmoreland, devised a three-stage plan to introduce American ground troops, stabilize the situation , and then transition the war back to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Westmoreland, a World War II artilleryman , believed in the ''American Way of War." He envisioned a large and robust military supported by a massive logistical infrastructure, taking the effort from a total of 23,000 Americans in the region in 1964 ro a troop level of more than a half million in country five years later. This big-unit style of fighting required a logistic tail stretching 7,000 miles across the Pacific. The concept of the American military projecting itself far across the Pacific was not new. In 1898, the United States fielded an expeditionary force to take the Philippines from Spain, and during Wo rld War II, the nation fought all the way to the shores of]apan. A few years later, when Korea erupted into a Cold War battlefield, the US once again bridged the Pacific. To achieve the goals set out by Westmoreland, the military called upon a new entity to manage and orchestrate the sealift of troops, materiel, and petroleum-the US Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS). Created in 1949 by merging the Army Transport Service with the Naval Transportation Service, this organization used government-owned , civilian-manned vessels in a "nucleus" fleet under its direct control. Next, it chartered ships from the commercial fleet to ass ist and support its needs. Finally, and if necessary, it co uld call upon a large fleet of surplus ships from the Maritime Commission's building program of

the Second World War, maintained in eight anchorages around the country, known as the National Defense Reserve Fleet. In the case ofVietnam, MSTS would draw upon all three components, the 201 ships in the nucleus fleet, as many of the 965 ships in the US merchant marine whose owners were willing to contribute, and 172 reserve vessels. By 1967, MSTS possessed a fleet of 527, yet numbers alone did not alleviate the situation. A study of the logistical infrastructure stated, "ten first class ports ... are shipping materiel to South Vietnam as fast as they can, [yet] we have four second class ports to receive." A large-scale program to develop facilities in Saigon, at a location known as Newport, and to construct piers and docks in Qui Nhon, Cam Ranh, and Da Nang helped alleviate the backlog of shipping by 1967. With the deployment of the American military into Vietnam, including the last use of troop transports-sixteen ships carried over fifty percent of all troops in 1965, but by 1968 they were phased out as the military adopted a policy of individual replacement and had begun using commercial aircraft-MSTS maintained the oceanic lines of communication. From 1965 to 1972, 85.7 million tons of cargo, 16 million tons of fuel, and 232,400 troops arrived in Vietnam by ship; this equated to a ton-and-a-half of cargo, per month, for every American soldier. Building on rhe success achieved against Card, the VC aimed ro harass, disrupt and, if possible, interdict the flow of goods. Yer, in rhe entire history of rhe war, there was only one instance of Vier Cong success. On 23 August 1966, SS Baton Rouge Victory of States Lines, a VC-2 freighter activated from rhe reserve fleet, struck a Soviet-b uil t mine in rhe Long Tau River. The explosion tore a 35-by-45-foot hole in the port side of rhe ship, flooding the

Victory. Along rhe Rung Sat, 138 vessels came under harassing gunfire and rocker arrack, particularly in rhe latter half of 1968 and into 1969. To co unrer rhe escalation against merchant shipping, the military instituted a policy of deforestation to denude the banks of the Long Tau of all concealment and improved harbor and port secu rity. The development of ports and countering VC combat operations were only a portion of the shipping bottleneck. To move goods and personnel inrra-theater (along the Vietnamese coast and rivers), MSTS contracted with Alaska Barge & Transport Company (AB&T) to provide a fleet of tugs and barges to augment rhe nucleus fleet of World War II-era Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs). MSTS LSTs andAB&T assets were favorite targets for the VC. While navigating rhe Rung Sar, MSTS T-LST 550 lost a man to enemy action on 20 April 1967 and on 7 April the fo llowing year, the rug Michael was hit by gunfire and rockerpropelled grenades, killing rhe mas ter and one other crewman. AB&T would remain until rhe last days of Vietnam. It was rhe introductio n of Sea-Land container ships, the brainchild of North Carolina trucker Malcolm McLean, that finally allowed for the full-scale deployment and sustainment of forces. Conceived as a m eans ro shorten loading and in-port rimes, containers provided rhe solution to move goods quickly, and in a large quantity. Container facilities were developed in Cam Ranh and Da Nang, and Sea-Land container ships, initially seven in 1967 and later expa nded to twelve by 1969, allowed for the return of reserve ships and rhe ins ti tu ti on of regular liner service between rhe US, Vietnam, and the Far East. Following rhe Tet Offensive ofJ anuary 1968 and the policy of Vietnamizarion, US military involvement declined, as did its logistical support. With co ntainerization , and the decision of many shipping companies to switch to this new technology, older-style freighters became available in larger numbers, so the MSTS, renamed Military Sealift Command (MSC) in 1970, chartered entire fleets, such as rhe fourteen Cha ffenger-class freighters of US Lines and a dozen cargo ca rriers from Searrain Off-Loading of Sea-Land vans at Cam Ranh Bay

SS Baton Rouge Victory beached after striking a mine in the Long Tau River, resulting in the deaths ofseven members ofits crew. It was the Largest single Loss by the merchant marine due to enemy action in the Vietnam Wt'zr.

engine room and hold #3. The mine ruptured one of rhe boilers, scalding to death seven engin eers. Captain Konrad "Snooze" Carlson conned the ship our of the channel and beached her to prevent his vessel from blocking access to Saigon. The US and South Vietnamese intensified their efforts in rhe region bordering the Long Tau, known as rhe Rung Sar (Forest of Assassins), by adding additional minesweepers and inserting ground forces to clear rhe banks. While rhe VC succeeded in stopping Baton Rouge Victory, a total of 6,798 other voyages proceeded. The enemy managed to sink a total of twelve ships with rhe use of mines or improvised explosives, including Card and Baton Rouge 12

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

Lines, ro replace the aged cargo ships of its nucl eus fleet, while instituting a policy of build-and-charter with several commercial firms ro replace its Maritime Commission T-2 tankers. As the MSC fleet transitioned, Vietnam introduced a new mission for th e agency by adopting some of its ships ro direct fleet support. In 1972, the Navy transferred the oiler Taluga ro the MSC and manned her with a civilian crew. Later that yea r, she arrived off the coast of North Vietnam ro ass ume duties as the on-station refueling ship for carri ers o n Yankee Station during the final airsrrikes against North Vietnam-Operation Linebacker. By 1975, nine other ships had joined Taluga in MSC and swapped their naval crews for m erchant m ari ners. With the Paris Peace Accord in 1973, the American military withdrew from Vietnam, but ships of MSC and th e American merchant marine continued ro deli ver goods and supplies, albeit in fewer numbers. In late 1974, the Viet Cong and the

This barge, overflowing with Vietnamese refugees, is being towed out to the anchorage in Danang where they'll board SS Pioneer Contender in April 1975 to flee the country.

The Cambodians decided ro release the m ariners after a show of force, but not before Marines srormed Koh Tang Island and a rota! forty-o ne US servicemen lost their lives . 1he names of these m en are the las t on the war's timeline engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washingron, D C. Nowhere on that memorial wall of 58,272 names wi ll one find the name of Raymo nd Barre tt, the first assistant engineer aboard SS Baton Rouge Victory; or James Almony, m ate on the tug Michael; ordinary seaman Ruben Bailon, w ho went missing off SS Express Baltimore on Christmas day 1965 while in the port of Qui N hon ; or Ern ie Goo, killed on board SS Transglobe on the las t day of August 1968; or the twenty-six crewmen of SS Badger

USNS Taluga was the first in a fleet ofex-naval auxiliaries transferred to MSC to provide direct fleet support.

North Vietnamese tested the waters and launched an attack ro conquer the south . At home, with the Watergate crisis, a new president, and Congress limiting th e powers of the executive, the US srood by as the Republic of Vietnam crumbled, except for MSC and the US merchant marine. As So uth Vietnamese cities and ports fell along the border, American ships loaded refugees and moved them further southwards. When Saigon itself came under attack and as heli copters lifred Americans off the roofs of buildings in the capital, over a dozen ships loaded refugees for evacuation ro th e Philippines and G uam-1 79,080 people were loaded on MS C and merchant ships. SS Pioneer Contender, licensed ro carry just a doze n passengers, sailed off with 16,700 Vietnamese crammed onboard, in an operation reminiscent of Passage ro Freedom twenty years earlier. From the beginning of the Vietnam War, MSTS/MSC and the merchant marine were there (SS Steel Rover in 1950). They were a target at the moment of American intervention (USNS Card in 1964), and the m erchant marine was the object for the last battle of the Vietnam War. On 12 May 1975, just two weeks after the fall of Saigon, the Sea-Land container ship SS Mayaguez sailed from Hong Kong en route ro Thailand, but she was seized by Cambodian forces. They removed h er crew and the American military mounted a hasty rescue operation. SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

Some ofthe rescuers ofthe seized Sea-Land container ship SS Mayaguez would become the last casualties of the Vietnam war. State that perished when the ship foundered on 26 December 1969 after a cargo of bombs broke loose and deronated on board. At leas t forty-four Americans and three foreign nationals died on board merchant ships during the Vietnam War; the records are not complete. While serving in a merchantman does not equate ro a combat rour in a rifle plaroo n, risks We re ever-present for the mariners who supported them . The American merchant marin e and MSTS/MS C played a vital role in the conflict, from its first shots ro its last. ,!, Salvatore R. Mercogliano, PhD, is an Assistant Professor ofH istory for Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. H e is a former merchant mariner and presents and writes on the role ofthe merchant marine in national defense. D r. Mercogliano is currently a council member for the North American Society for Oceanic H istory and is completing a booklet on military sealift during the Vietnam war for the Naval History and H eritage Command and Naval H istorical Foundation.

1he War of 1 I

The Burning of

by William H. White

n the spring of 1814, the British reprised their visit to the Chesapeake Bay of the previous yea r and were agai n successful in demoralizing much of the population. Their warships sailed with impunity, and the Royal Marines reestablished a base fifty miles up the Chesapeake on Tangier Island. The British found very little resistance from the local citizens, who remembered all too well the cruelty they suffered when they resisted the year before. The only bright note for the America ns would be found in Joshua Barney,

who had convinced the War Department that a fleet of gunboats would be the most efficacious form of defense in the region and personally oversaw its construction. His squadron sailed the shallow waters of the Bay, sheltering in tidal flats and river mouths, with orders to attack British warships as the opportunity presented. His efforts were so successful that during the summer of 1814 the British dispatched a squadron under Captain Robert Barrie, with the sole purpose of catching and destroying these marauding boats.

,, .

US Navy Secretary William Jones correctly feared that this year's visit would prove more disastrous for the Americans than the previous year's and, with that in mind, authorized Barney an additional ten gunboats. He also took Barney out of the navy's chain of command , directing him to report only to the secretary. Unlike the year before, the British had a specific agenda for their return in 1814. They also had a new commander in the person of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, who had replaced the elderly Admiral Warren. Cochrane held a burning hatred of Americans, the reason for which has never been fully explai ned-it could be because his older brother was killed in 1781 at the Battle of Yorktown (the concluding battle of the American War for Independence). This change in commanders marked a significant change in the original plan. Cochrane, based at the Royal Navy Dockyard in Bermuda, remained there until August, giving Admiral Cockburn free rein to wreak as much havoc as he could, and Cockburn did his level best to comply. Cochrane suggested that burning the American capital in Washington City would be a fitting retaliation for the Americans' burning of York (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada, the previous year. In contrast, Cockburn had been chastised by the Admiralty for his rampage up and down the Bay the year before, when Admiral Warren had assigned him simply to blockade the entrance. Cockburn , an aggressive and proven leader, must have reveled in the change of commanders and the resultant change in his mission! Once again, the British did everything they co uld do to disrupt life on the Bay: liberating a nd recruiting slaves (encouraging them to join ranks with the British and fight aga inst their former masters) , burning vi llages, stealing crops, and attacking coastal trade. Slaves who joined up were trained at Tangier Island and became the "Colonial Marines." They saw their first action on 30 May when they were used to attack Pungoteague, Virginia. Whilelittleofvaluewasdestroyed or taken, Cockburn saw it as a publicity coup and made sure everyone heard that SEA HISTORY 140,AUTUMN 2012

Washington, and the ''Star-Spangled Banner''

Admiral Sir George Cockburn his Colonial Marines-former slaveshad risen in armed combat against their former owners. After several skirmishes with Joshua Barney's gunboats in which the British suffered some notable losses, Cockburn joined his Beet with Barrie's at the mouth of the Patuxent River and ordered Captain Joseph Nourse in HMS Severn to chase Barney's boats up the rive r. The gunboats had taken refuge in St. Leonard's Creek, a tributary of the Patuxent River, where they had fought successfully against the deeper-draft British warsh ips. (See Sea History 137, Winter 2011-12, for our previous coverage on the First and Second Battles of St. Leonard 's Creek). Cockburn, having dispatched a fast schooner to Bermuda to fetch his boss, waited for Admiral Cochrane to arrive and then in August made haste up the river. Nourse, however, did not just sail his ships up the river; he stopped frequently, carrying out lightning raids on coastal communities and farms along the way SEA HISTORY 140,AUTUMN 2012

while still keeping pressure on Barney's boats. He knew well that, ul timately, there was nowhere for them to go. Behind Nourse came Cockburn's fleet, now including the troop transports, which had come from Bermuda with Admiral Cochrane. The two admirals determined that Benedict, Maryland, would be the ideal place from which to stage their attack on the capital. The attack would be led by British Army Major General Robert Ross. The American general in charge of the defense of the capital was William Winder, commander of the lO 'h Military District. General Winder was a political appointee who had been captured by the British at the Battle of Stony Creek in Canada in 1813. His first major confrontation with the enemy had not ended well, and he had languished for nearly a year in a British prison before being exchanged. The Madison administration thought that by appointing the nephew of Maryland's governor to this important post, he could sway the governor, Levin Winder, to release some militia troops for the defense of Washington. While the lO 'h Military District sho uld have consisted of some 93 ,000 mi litiamen from fifteen states, Winder was able to muster only about 5,000 men, with 3,000 of them from Maryland and a relative handful from Virginia and Pennsylvania. And because Secretary of War Armstrong disagreed with the appointment ofWinder in the first place, he refused to cooperate in providing arms and supplies for the defense of his own capital! General Winder was a dynamo of motion; unfortunately, none of it was directed at the problem. He spent all his energy running around, shuffiing paper and calling meetings. He failed to direct his subordinates to see to the training of his soldiers, leaving militia and regu lars alike as essentially raw recruits. He had no plan for the defense of the capital and, further, he was quite convinced that the British would use Annapolis as a staging area for the attack when it came. Hence, he ordered no fortifications around Washington, nor did he place any troops in defensive positions around the capital to ward off an attack. He was quite unable to grasp the big picture and focused on min-

utiae that accomplished little. Nevertheless, politics would reign supreme, and at his subsequent court-martial he was exonerated of any blame for the sacking of our nation's capital! When it became apparent that the British would not be coming th rough Annapolis but rather from Benedict and through Bladensburg, Winder tried to muster militia to stop the advance at the bridge over the Eastern Branch of the Potomac at Bladensburg. Commodore Barney received orders from the secretary of the navy to abandon his gunboats in the Patuxent as close to Bladensburg as he could get and have his sailors and Marines drag as many of his cannon to Bladensburg as possible, there to assist in the effort to stop the British regulars before they could attack Washington City. Barney scuttled his Beet off Pig Point in the Paruxent River' after landing most of his armament on shore. His sailors and Marines marched onward, hauling the heavy guns overland to Bladensburg and taking positions to defend the bridge against the British advance. Militiamen were stationed in supporting positions on the roll ing terrain. Barney's cannon were sighted in on the bridge from the Washington side of it, and when the British tried

Joshua Barney

to cross, his men provided a wirhering fire direcrly inro rheir orderly line of m arch. Wirh a dererminarion rypical of Brirish officers, rhe Royal Marines and Army repearedly ar racked rhe bridge, ulrimarely making ir across afre r suffering a huge number of casualries and marching over rhe bodies of rheir fa llen comrades. To more acc urarely pur rhis efforr in perspecrive, consider rhar rhese tough, commirred soldiers had marched more rhan rwenry miles from Benedicr in Maryland 's Augusr hear, in wool uniforms, dragging arrillery pieces-each man carrying, in addirion to his own pack and rifle, rwo iron cannonballs of eighreen pounds! Almosr as many fell from hear prosrrarion and exhausrion on rhe march as were losr in rhe Barrie of Bladensb urg. Small wonder rhe unrrained, undisciplined miliria was no march for them. Only Joshua Barney's sailors and Marines held rheir gro und. As soon as rhe enemy had crossed rhe bridge, rhe defending miliria broke and ran, sca rrering like field mice under a circl ing h awk. Barney's Marines, however, remained ar rheir posrs, conrinuing to fire and evenrually fighring h and-to-hand. The teamsrers whose wagons carried rhe powder and shor ran from rhe fighr, raking the loaded wagons wirh rhem and leaving Barney's men unsupporred . When Barney himself took a ball in rhe leg, he ordered his men to disperse and rry to ger to Was hi ngton ahead of rhe Brirish to help defend the ciry. He rhen sar down under a rree, where rhe Brirish di scovered him and took him prisoner afrer providing him wirh medical arrenrion. While rhe Brirish complimenred Barney for his bravery and skill- his was rhe only unir rhar did nor rum rail and run- rhe newspapers of rhe rime, especially rhose of a Loyalisr benr, referred to rhe rour as "rhe Bladensburg Races." Apparenrly a very apr descriprion! Whar is curious abour rhis conresr was rhar rhe Brirish suffered many more casualries rhan did rhe Americans and were very nearly defeared . In fac r, General Ross is reporred to h ave told Commodore Barney rhar, unril rhe miliria ran, his own rroops were abour to surrender! None rheless, by nighrfall, Ross, Cockburn, and rheir men had marched inro Washington. The cirizenry and mosr of rhe poliricians, including Presidenr Madison, h ad

deparred , unwilling or unable to face rhe an editorial rhe fo llow ing d ay-fro m invaders. Secrerary Armsrrong had issued anorher venue-praising rhe Brirish for orders to Capr. Thomas Tingey, comman- rheir resrrainr! W hile orhers castigared danr of rhe Washington Navy Ya rd, to burn rheir brurish beh avior, rhe editors of rhe ir rarher rhan let rhe ships and rhe ropewalk National Intelligencer offered rhar more of fa ll into enemy hands. In rhe shipyard rhe losses were rhe resulr oflocal plunderers were several as-yer-uncommissioned ships and opporrunisrs rhan En glish soldiers. The Brirish rroops remained in Washawairing final firring our along wirh rhe old frigare New York, one of rhe so-called ington, conrinuing rheir work rhroughour "Subscriprion Frigares" from rhe Quasi rhe nighr. Fires burned across rhe ciry, War2 againsr France, and Tingey's men pur illuminaring the skyline. The fo llowing rhem and rhe ropewalk to rhe torch. On ly day, 25 Augusr, a fero cious srorm-some rhe warerlogged New Yo rk, rorring ar rhe even labeled ir a hurricane-broughr fi erce pier, remained unscarhed, as she was too winds and heavy rains rhar pur our rhe fires wer to burn. The Brirish took care of rhe and , in one case, acrually knocked down resr of rhe Navy Yard. a building, killing a number of Brirish They also successfully burned mosr soldiers raking shelrer inside. 3 Having of rhe public buildings in rhe ciry: rhe accomplished whar rhey ser our to do, Capitol, including the Library of Con- rhe Brirish lefr rhe ciry larer rhar day and gress, rhe Treasury, and rhe repository of rerurned, unopposed, to Benedicr, where Srare and War D eparrmenr records. The rhey arrived on 30 Augusr to re-embark unfinished Presidenr's House came under on rheir ships.

British Troops torched the Capitol and the White House on 24 August 1814.

Cockburn's personal arrenrion; he enrered rhe empry building wirh his guard and, finding dinner ser and ready to ear, helped h imself, enjoying some "fine wine" wirh ir, according to his personal diary. Afrer remov in g som e so uve nir s, Cockburn and his men lefr rhe mansion and pur ir to rhe torch . No personal properry in the ciry suffered rhe depredarions of rhe Brirish forces save rhe offices of rhe semi-official National Intelligencer newspaper, wh ich Cockburn personally ordered burned. Surprisingly, rhe edirors published

When word reached England of rhe success enjoyed by Cockb urn and Ross, rhe people rejoiced, celebraring rhe superioriry of rhe English rroops, rhe embarrassmenr of rhe Americans, and rh e successful reraliarion for rhe depredarions broughr by American rroops on Canadian soil the previous year. General Ross was officially commended for his brillianr Chesapeake Campaign and, in celebrarion of rhe asyer- unfinished operarion, rhe guns in rhe Tower of London were fired ar noon on rhree successive days. Their celebrarions

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

would be premarure, as ir rurned our. Approximarely ren days larer on 11 Seprember (rhe same day rhar Master Commandant Macdonough was fighting Caprain Downie's ships on Lake Champlain), rhe Royal Navy sailed into the Patapsco River. Fort McHenry, some seven miles up rhe river, would h ave ro be silenced before rhe fleet could proceed on ro Balrimore irself. The star-fort, so called because of its shape, was com manded by Major George Arm istead and contai ned a garrison of abour 1,000 men. Armistead had run a huge American flag (32 feer by 40 feer) up rhe flagpole in rhe center of rhe fort, a flag thar would remain flying throughout rhe engagement. Of cou rse, thar same flag can be seen roday at the Smirhsonian Narional Museum of American Hisrory in Washingron, DC.

~~.-Y ~~British Fleet

• • • • • • • British Troop Movements

Fort McHenry, the "star fort. "

The Brirish rransports anchored near the mourh of rhe river, off North Point, while rhe bombardment fleet, bomb ships, and gun barges continued up rhe river ro place McHenry wirh in range of rheir guns. The bombardment was to srarr as soon as General Ross had led his troops ashore on North Point and was poised ro invade Balrimore by land. On board Cochrane's flagship, HMS Tonnant, anchored farrher up the river jusr inside where rhe Key Bridge on Rt. 695 into Dundalk now srands, 4 were three Americans who mosr assuredly did nor want ro be rhere: Dr. William Beanes; Lr. Col. John Skinner, who was rheAmerican agent for prisoners; and a Georgetown lawyer and amareur poer named Francis Scott Key. Skinner and Key had sailed out to the fleer as the Brirish worked rheir way up rhe Bay ro negoriate the release of Dr. Beanes, who had been caprured at Bladensburg, while he had been rreat-

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

.:•..

Main British Fleet •

ing both Brirish and American casualties from rhe barrle. Presumably, rhose aboard Cochrane's ship cou ld hear the signal guns firing and see rhe fire beacons along rhe shore as the citizens tracked the fleet approaching Balrimore. Admiral Cockburn had refused the two Americans an audience, bur his superior, Cochrane, had agreed ro talk with Skinner (norably nor wirh Key) and was persuaded ro release rhe docror. Ir would have ro be after rhe reduction of Balrimore, Cochrane stipulated, as he could nor risk serring rhe rhree of rhem ashore ro reveal the Brirish plans. So aboa rd Tonnant they remained, as the ship anchored between the bombardment fleet and the troop transports awaiting the signal ro land the soldiers. Unlike rhe residents in Washingronand perhaps, because of whar happened in Washingron-the good cirizens of Balrimore were well prepared. Samuel Smith, a US senaror and major general of the militia, was in ch arge of the Committee for Safety and , thus, the defense of the city. To his credit, he enlisted rhe aid of] ohn Rodgers, Commodore, US Navy, and Captain David Porrer, who had recenrly rerurned from a successfu l cruise against British assets in rhe Pacific, 5 and Commodore Barney's sai lors and Marines ro augment his own rroops. They hastily built earthworks and barricades and sank decrepir ships in key

+ ++ • +

++ +

North Point British Land

Chesapeake Bay

British ship HMS Tonnant with Francis Scott Key aboard locations ro preclude an attack from the water. Additional barteries we re built at straregic locations near Fort McHenry with Barney's sailors and Marines manning naval guns and tasked with preventing any vessel from slippin g by McHenry. O n North Point, General John Stricker set up his miliria in defensive positions with fallbacks designed ro srop the British invasion before ir got ro rhe city. At 3AM on 12 Seprember, Ross's army, accompanied by Admiral Cockburn (who was surely looking fo r a reprise of the Washingron debacle), began rhe march up North Point, expecting ro take Balrimore, some fourteen miles away, quickly and wit h minimal res istance. Halfway to rheir desrinarion, rhey met a force of 3,200 of Srricker's American miliriamen. Afrer softening the lines a bir, rhe British launched a full-on frontal assaulr which forced the Americans ro retreat. The Americans losr some 215 men, but the British had casualties of over 340; regardless, and perhaps unfairly, the Barde of North Point went into rhe record books as a win for the British, due mainly ro the fact they managed to ger within striking range of rhe city. In addition ro rhe loss of men, rhe Brirish also lost rheir commander, General Ross, who was killed by snipers (reputed ro be a pair of farm boys named Wells and McComas-rhere's a monument

to their deed on North Point). His successor, Colonel Arthur Brooks, led the troops to within sight of the city and halted to awa it Cochrane's successful bombardment before moving on to cake the city. The bombardment of Fort McHenry began at once and went on for 25 hours over 13 and 14 September, expending some 1,500 shells and Congreve rockets. Approximately 400 of them found their mark but did minimal damage to the fort, killing only four Americans. It was fortunate, indeed, that none of the shells struck the fort's magazine or the outcome might have been somewhat different! Francis Scott Key, from his vantage point on HMS Tonnant, watched the fort throughout the rainy, foggy night and, as a weak sun filtered through the retreating clouds, he saw Major Armistead's huge Bag still flying over the ramparts. He was so moved by the sight that on the spot he wrote a poem, "Defence of McHenry" and set it to an old English drinking song, popular in gentlemen's clubs of the time-"To Anacreon In Heaven." He "tuned it up" some when he got himself ashore and showed it to some friends. His brother-in-law had it printed onto a broadside the following day and a week later, an actor opened a theatrical performance with a vocal rendition of it. Key's effort became an instant hit, popular with everybody; eventually the US Navy adopted it as its unofficial song. The nation, however, would not take it for the national anthem until Congress approved it under President Hoover in 1931. Realizing their attack h ad fai led, Colonel Brooke led his army back down North Point and re-embarked on the transports. Cochrane's Beet left quickly, leaving behind a cacophonous celebration by the citizens of Baltimore. The Barrie of Baltimore marked the end of the British Chesapeake Campaign; Cochrane ordered his ships to sea and sailed south to join up with the British Caribbean Beer in Jamaica. It was a firring offset to rhe disaster some fifty miles to the south the month before and, with Macdonough's simultaneous victory on Lake C h amplain , contributed noticeably to the ultimate balance in the treaty talks then underway in Ghent, Belgium. 6 It would be about three months later that the Treaty of Ghent was

signed; primary among its provisions was a return to the status quo ante bellum, due at least in part to the two critical victories in September of 1814. ,!, NOTES 1 The US Navy is currently excavating what they believe is Barney's flagship, Scorpion, in the river. 2 Quasi-War: undeclared bur active war 1798-1800 fo ught mosrly over trade issues in the Caribbean. 3 According to most records, these were the only British casualties of the invasion of our capital (excluding the Battle of Bladensburg, of course). 4 In the river a red, white, and blue buoy marks the presumed spot where HMS Tonnant was anchored for the siege and from where Key watched the bombardment. 5After rounding Cape Horn in late 1812, Porter, in USS Essex, laid waste to the British whaling Beer in the Pacific until

captured in March of 1814 by two British frigates sent specifically to stop him. 6 Belgium did nor become an independent country until 1830; at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, 24 December 1814, the city and surrounds belonged to the Netherlands. William H. White is a maritime historian and award-winning author who specializes in the history ofthe US Navy during the Age of Sail. A trustee of the National Maritime Historical Society, Mr. White serves on the Bicentennial of the Wtir of 1812 and The Star Spangled Banner Advisory Group. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the USS Constitution Museum in Boston, on the Board of Trustees to the LYNX Educational Foundation, and as a consultant to the reproduction 1812 privateer Lynx. White has also been named a Fellow ofthe Massachusetts Historical Society. For more about the author and his other books, visitwww.seafiction.net.

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

ME R ICA 'S PR IVA T EE R

tells the story of Lynx, a ship with two lives that sailed in two different centuries. Woodson K. Woods, an entrepreneur and lifelong sailor, brought the 1812 Lynx back to life as a modern privateer in 2001. The first square-topsail, wooden schooner built in Rockport, Maine, since 1885, Lynx sails America's coasts, teaching young people about the craft of sailing a tall ship and about the War of1812. J. Dennis Robinson captures the drama in the true story of the swift vessel, it s stealthy origins, its heroic missions, and its amazing reappearance. An infor mative a nd moving "sea yarn" fo r a contemporary audience, this engaging account, accompanied by over 190 color photographs, maps, and pai ntings, is for every reader, sailors and landlubbers alike.

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National Historic Landmark Ii National Memorial to Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives during WWII through Vietnam. • Awarded two Naval Presidential Unit Citations for her service during Vietnam. • Credited with sinking U-Boat 626 during convoy duty in the North Atlantic. Don't miss the opportunity to tour this ship. learn about its remarkable history. the recently completely underwater re-fit and the current work being done restoring her topside. USCGC ING HAM is located in Key West on the Truman Waterfront. You Can Visit ...You Can Help The foundation seeks donations to continue restoration of this important vessel. Please send your tax-deductible contributions to: ~ USCGC INGHAM Memorial Museum I z P. 0. Bax186. Key West. Florida 33041 •Phone: (305)-219-6600 f www.uscgcingham.org j "-

SEA HISTORY 140,AUTUMN 201 2

The National Maritime Historical Society Salutes Leaders in Maritime Heritage at the 2012 Gala Annual Awards Dinner, 10 October 2012 Each fall, the National Maritime Historical Society gathers in the Model Room of the historic New York Yacht Club to honor service and contributions in the many fields that promote our maritime heritage: Coast G uard and Naval history, marine archaeology and ship preservation, sail training, maritime museums, and so much more. Through these gala events, not only do we have the opportunity to spotlight the important work that is being done, but we also hope to inspire others to get more involved and make a difference. To mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812, Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., Commandant of the US Coast Guard, will speak on the role of the US Revenue Cutter Service in the War of 1812. The honored speakers, the musical program of the USCG Academy Cadet Chorale, led by Dr. Robert Newton make it a stimulating and entertaining evening! The NMHS Distinguished Service Awards, given in recognition of service promoting and protecting our maritime heritage, will be presented to Sir Jonathon Band GCB DL, Captain Don Walsh, USN (Ret.), and Captain Brian A. McAllister. NMHS trustee Thomas F. Daly will be presented with the David A. O 'Neil Sheet Anchor Award, given to recognize extraordinary service and support to the Society. Award-winning yachtsman Richard T. du Moulin, himself a previous recipient of the NMHS Distinguished Service Award, will be Master of Ceremonies. We hope that you can join us for what will surely be a memorable evening.

Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB DL Jonathon Band joined the Royal Navy in 1967 and, having trained at BRNC Dartmouth , underwent Fleet training in ships in the Far East. Early in his naval career, Sir Jonathon served on exchange with the United States Navy in USS Belknap. His commands in the Royal Navy include the minesweeper HMS Soberton in the Fishery Protection Squadron, the frigate HMS Phoebe, operating in the NATO area, and HMS Norfolk in the first Type 23 Frigate Squadron. His last sea command was the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, berween 1995 and 1997, supporting United Nations, and then NATO, operations in Bosnia. Promoted to Rear Admiral in May 1997 and to Vice Admiral in 2000, Sir Jonathon became the Deputy C ommander-in-Chief Fleet in May 2001. H e was promoted to Admiral on 2 August 2002 on becoming Co mmander-in-Chief Fleet and Commander Allied Maritime Co mponent Command Northwood. H e was appointed First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff in February 2006, a position he held until July 2009, a time dominated by the Afghanistan campaign. After retirement from the navy, Sir Jonathon took on positions with Carnival Corporation/PLC, Lockheed Martin, Babcock International and MooD International. He is chairman of trustees of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, and oversaw the successful campaign to save HMS Victory, the oldest navy ship in commission and the flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson. H e is also president of The 1805 Club, an organization promoting the study of the Royal Navy of the Georgian period. The recipient of honorary doctorates from Exeter and Portsmouth University, he is a visiting professor at Reading University.

Thomas F. Daly 1homas F. D aly will be honored with the David A. O'Nei l Sheet Anchor Award, in recognition of his years of service and the many ways he has contributed to the Society's wo rk. Mr. Daly's efforts and wise counsel have been inval uable to the Society over the years. A trustee since 2003, he has served on the executive committee and Awards Dinner committees for both the New York and Washington annual events. As chair of the audit committee, he served as NMHS secretary from 2005 to 201 2. H e arranged for his law firm, McCarter & English, to serve as a host site for NMHS Board meetings and has advised the Society in various legal matters. H e invi ted trustees aboard the Sandy Hook Pilots' cutter New York for an inspection of New York Harbor. In 2007 Mr. Daly was the featured speaker at our Charles Point Council seminar, sharing his extensive knowledge about the history of piloting. A graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, PA, Mr. Daly served in the US Army and then went on to work for the Intergovernmental Co mmittee for European Migration, where he was stationed in Madrid. He then earned his law degree from Georgetown University and joined the law firm of McCarter & English, LLC. He retired from the firm in 2009 but continues to serve as Of Counsel. A graduate of the Advanced Ship Handling program at the Massachusetts M aritime Academy, Tom Daly has held a merchant marine master's license with an unlimited radar observer endorsement. H e has been a member of the New Jersey Maritime and Docking Pi lots Commission since 1991 , investigating and reviewing maritime incidents occurring within the Port of New York and New Jersey.

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

Captain Brian A. McAllister Captain Brian A. McAllister is the principal owner and president of McAllister Towing and Transportation Company, Inc., a company fo unded in 1864 by his great-grandfather, Captain James McAllister, with a single sail lighter. Today, McAl lister Towing is one of the oldest and most diversified marine cowing and transportation companies, operating an extensive fleet of tugs, barges, and ferries in the major ports on the US East Coast. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Captain McAllister graduated from SUNY Maritime College at Fort Schuyler in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science degree in marine engineering and a 3rd assistant engineer's license. From 1956-1958, he served in the US Navy, including the position of executive officer aboa rd USS Lake County (LST 880). H e then went on co sail deepsea with American Export Isbrandtsen Lines as 3rd Assis tant Engineer. In 1959, he joined the fam ily-owned tugboat company, sailing aboard McAllister tugboats and ferries, obtaining a master's license with unlimited pilornge for many of the ports serviced by McAllister. In 1964, Capt. McAllister came ashore and became the company's port captain. In 1974, he and other members of the fami ly's fourth generation purchased the company from the elder generation; the company has since expanded into an additional eight ports and modernized its fleet, which now consists of over 75 tugs. His two sons, Buckley and Eric, continue in the family business as vice president and general counsel, and CFO , respectively. Throughout his career, Captain Brian McAllister has used his position in the shipping community co promote America's maritime hisrory; he was an early and vocal advocate of recording the hisrory of New Yo rk H arbo r. In addition co his service as an NMHS trustee, he has remained an active supporter of the South Street Seaport Museum and the Maritime Industry Museum at Fort Schuyler.

Captain Don Walsh, USN (Ret.), PhD Lieutenant Don Walsh made hisrory in Jan uary 1960 when he and Swiss ocean ographer Jacques Piccard dove the bathyscaphe Trieste ro the deepest place in the world's oceans, the Mariana Trench. Designated USN Deep Submersible Pilot # 1, Lt. Walsh was also the first submersible pilot in the US and the first officer-in-charge of the Trieste at the Navy Electronics Laboratory in San D iego. 1l1eir ground-breaking descent stood unmatched for 52 years, until Jam es Cam eron piloted his D eepsea Challenger to the trench in March 2012. Promoted to commander, Walsh went on to serve as Special Assistant (S ubmarines) to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and D evelopm ent, and later as D epu ty Director of Navy Laboratories. His 24-year naval career included service in both the Ko rean and Vietnam wars. In 1975 Dr. Walsh retired as a captain to be a professor of ocean engineering at the University of Southern Ca li fo rnia; he was the founding director of the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies. He then founded the Oregonbased consulting company, International Maritime Inc.; he continues to run that business today. Since 1959 Dr. Walsh has participated in diving operations with over two dozen ma nned submersibles, piloting seven of them, and he has participated in over 50 polar expeditions. Dr. Walsh has dived to the MidAdantic Ridge nea r the Azo res, to the wreck of RMS Titanic, and to the World War II German bat tleship Bismarck. He has also been active in the design, manufacture and operation of manned and unmanned submersibles . In recognition of his fo ur decades of work in the design, construction and operation of undersea vehicl es, Dr. Walsh was elected to the National Academy of Engi neering, a nd the Explorers C lub has awarded him their Lowell Thomas Medal and Explorers Medal. The Jules Verne Adventures orga nization awa rded him its L'Etoile Polaire medal. In 2001 he was also named as one of the great explorers in the Life magazine volu me The Greatest Adventures ofAll Time. Dr. Walsh was awarded The National Geographic Society's highest award, the Hubbard Medal, in 2010. J,

Yo u are cordially invited to the NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER Wednesday, 10 October 2012 This affair is traditionally sold out and seating is limited, so early responses are recommended. Reservations are $400 per person; $7,000 sponsors a table for ten- plus a feature ad page in the dinner journal. Black tie optional. Call 800-221-6647, ext 0, or email nmhs@seahistory.org to make your reservation or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Be sure to visit us online at www.seahistory.org for more information. SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

n 1812, HMS Victory retired from active service, to be moored in Portsmouth Harbor as a living, tangible monument to Nelson's crushing victory over the French at Trafalgar. One by one, the other wooden warships which lay near her were quietly taken to the breaker's yard as they reached the end of their natural lives, but Victory, protected by the aura of Nelso n, lived on, untroubled, except for a near-death experience in 1903 when HMS Neptune broke her row and crashed into Victory's side. Emergency repairs were made, and in 1905 Victory had pride of place at the centenary of the Battle ofTrafa lgar. It was o nly after the centenary that their Lordships at Admiralty decided that Victory would be broken up. An inevitable outcry and a public appeal, led by Admiral Sir Doveton Srurdee and supported by Ki ng George and the Society for Nautical Research (SNR), succeeded in getting the decision reversed. The ship was brought into drydock, and a plan was made to restore her and open her to the public. This grand plan was all achieved by 1922, and the Royal Navy continued to use Victory as its flagship, paying for her maintenance and collecting admissions money from her many visito rs. The remaining funds that had been collected for the restoration were invested (by the SNR) and the in come devoted towards Victory's upkeep. All looked well for the historic ship's future. Recently, however, with deep cuts to the Royal Navy's budget, Victory's role as a naval vessel has come under scrutiny. The ship needed major repairs, but the resources to pay for them were simply not there. Even if it had had the funds, the navy came to the conclusion that it was not the proper custodian of such a national icon. HMS Victory needs conservation and archaeological specialists, as well as shipwrights possessing traditional wooden ship building skills-skills not present in a 21 "-century naval force. Then came the creation of the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in 2009, wh ich drew together the navy's four service museums. It seemed a perfect partner-an organization created to tell the story of the Royal Navy and possessing the sought-after skills. Of course, the $64,000 question became not just how this venture

would be funded but, importantly, how the White Ensign could continue to fly over Victory if she was transferred from the navy. The financial question was solved by an offer from the Gosling Foundation of an endowment of £25 m ill ion (US$40 million), provided that the Royal Navy would match that sum, whi ch it did. W ithout the intervention of Sir Donald Gosling, now the Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom, Victory's future might have been very bleak. With a core endowment of £50 million, the trustees of the NMRN felt able to accept the gift of Victory and take on the burden of her maintenance. This they did on 29 March 2012. The fundraising task is not over. Victory's condition is bound to be more complicated once shipwrights start their work; and her

new stewards anticipate they will need to raise another £25 million to augment the endowment and secure Victory's future forever. Work has already begun on that daunting task. The first £5 million has been raised, but there is still a long way to go. The NMRN's vision for HMS Victory is to restore her as she was at Trafalgar in 1805, to learn and record the details of the ship's construction , to open new areas to visitors, to add to the public enjoyment of Victory, and, importantly, to keep the White Ensign fl ying over her. While HMS Victory is now officially owned by the NMRN, the Navy main rains an agreement for her use, which keeps her in commission. Long may it continue! J, -Professor Dominic Tweddle, Director-General, NMRN

New York City Pickle Night Dinner Every year on 4 November, the Royal Navy Warrant Officers' mess and Chief Petty Officers' mess mark the Battle ofTrafalgar with a special dinner to commemorate the date in 1805 when news of the battle (and Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson's death) reached England in HMS Pickle. On that date in 2004, a group of Americans interested in the historic career of Admiral Lord Nelson hosted an event at the New York Yacht C lub in anticipation of the bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar. Nine years and nine events later, the New York City Pickle N ight Dinner is now well established as an annual tradition, with attendees coming from across the country and overseas. Nelson is the focus of the event, as well as the special relationships between the US and Great Britain and between their navies. The American Friends of the Royal Naval Museum hosts the event, with support from The 1805 C lub and the Nelson Society. The 2012 gathering will be held on Friday, 9 November, in the New York Yacht Club's spectacular Model Room. UK Naval Attache Commodore Eric Fraser will be the guest of honor and the event's main speaker. Fox News National Security Analyst KT McFarland will speak on the special relationship between our two countries. (For more information, contact: sallymc79@verizon.net.)

The Helen McAllister, built 1900, in NY Harbor. Painting by Oswald Brett McAllister Towing is one of the oldest marine towing and transportation companies in the United States. Founded by Captain James McAllister in 1864 with a single sail lighter, McAllister continues to this day as a thriving family business.

From Weather Deck to Easel: Oswald Brett's Sea Paintin9s by Bruce Stannard

Australia's preeminent marine artist, Oswald Brett, recentfy celebrated his 9l't birthday with the publication ef his autobio9raphy, a beautifulfy illustrated account ef a life dedicated to ships and the sea. swald Longfield Brett is that rarity in the marine an world, a painter with a profo und person al understanding of ships and the sea. H av ing spent much of his long life voyagi ng across the oceans of the wo rld, he has an intimate firsth and knowledge of the power of wind and water and their subtle and sometimes savage influence upo n the ways of a sailing ship . John Stobart, the doyen of American marine artis ts, descr ibes Brett as "one of the fines t marine painters of the 20'h century." "Os Brett's ships," Stobart says, "always look as if they're about to sail righ t off the canvas. I salute him, no t only as a stau nch friend and distinguished fellow artist, but also as an able bodied seaman of the old school, one who h as a natu ral affini ty with all the elements that animate the li fe of a ship." I co uld not agree more. Oswald Brett's paintings never fa il to se t my heart racing. W hether he is portraying a noble squarerigger running fu ll and by or a gritt y coastal steamer punching into a lumpy head-sea, he inva riably captures the moment with

authority and accuracy, giving us a vivid glimpse of a way oflife ch at has now vanished from the oceans of the wo rld. Oswald Brett, who turned 91 in April, is still busy at his paint-spattered easel. In his ship -sh ape studio in an upstairs room at his home in New York, Brett is surrounded by the kind of nautical treas ures one expects to find in a great maritime museu m . Pai ntings by some of the mos t revered figures in American marine art, C harles Robert Patterson, Anton O tto Fischer and John Allcot, h an g in a library that contains thousands of books- all of chem dealing with ships and the sea. Although he has lived in the U nited States for the pas t 66 years, Brett is inten sely proud of his A ustralian ancestry, a fa mily heritage that goes all the way back to the First Fleet in 1788. H e grew up on Sydney Harbour, paddling about W atsons Bay in a tiny cedar canoe, mooching around the towering hulk of the great mid-nineteenth-century emigrant clipper Sobroan in Berry's Bay and always keenly observing and sketching the magnifi cent ocean liners and the cargo ships that in the pre-war yea rs made Sydney one of the busiest port cities in the world.

The whaler

Joseph Starbuck of Nantucket off the coast of Hawaii, 1850. Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches (1973)

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 201 2

Running the Easting Down. The Ship Joseph Conrad, Cook Strait, New Zealand, January 1936. Oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inches (1983)

The tiny full-rigged ship Joseph Co nrad was built at Copenhagen in 1882 to the order ofFrederick Stage, a Danish shipowner who intended her for service in the Baltic and the North Sea. H is aim was to train Danish youth in preparation for a career in their country's merchant marine. H e named her Georg Stag in memory of his son, who had died at an early age. Jn 1905 the vessel was run down and sunk by a steamer, killing twenty-two ofher crew. She was raised and repaired and, after a long career of52 years, she was replaced by an almost identical vessel ofthe same name. In August 1934, the old ship was bought by the sailor-author Captain Alan Villiers, who then made an adventurous circumnavigation of the globe in her over the next two years. Villiers renamed the ship Joseph Conrad, in honor of the famous novelist who had been a shipmaster in square sail in the 1880s. Late in 1936, returning to New York after a recently comp leted Cape H orn passage, Captain Villiers sold her to the American yachtsman H untington H artford. She served as a training ship fo r the US Maritime Commission during the Second World ~r. In 1947, in poor condition, she was acquired by Mystic Seaport Museum at Mystic, Connecticut, where she has been meticulously restored. In this painting, the Conrad's cadet crewmen are shortening sail in heavy weather as she passes through Cook Strait between the No rth and South Islands ofNew Zealand. The heavy sea she shipped here stove-in the galley door on the starboard side.

In December 1935, when Captain A lan Villiers sa iled into Syd ney in his full-ri gged ship,]oseph Conrad, the la nky 16-yearold Brett immediately got aboard a nd was quite prepared to run away to sea in her. Captain Villiers, who was to beco me a life-lo ng fri end , would have taken the boy, had hi s pa rents not balked at th e idea of their only son emba rking on so perilo us a voyage as a C ape Horn passage in sail. 1 h e sea had , in a sense, already claimed yo ung Brett's mind . A talented child with a natural gift fo r drawing, he discovered ea rly that he could ma ke easy mo ney pai nting the sh ips he saw in t he harbo r. W hen he flun ked out of high school, his fa ther, a serving army offi cer and strict disciplinarian, insisted that if he was to pursue a career in art a nd not end up in a garret, he h ad better undertake some fo rm al ua in ing. Bret t enrolled in an art course at the East Sydney Tech a nd never looked back. He becam e a close confidant and disciple of

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

John A llcot, the English seam an/anise who settled in Syd ney in the 1920s and becam e the most successfu l m arine painter Ausualia has ever had . U nder A llcot's tutelage, Brett completed the fi ve-yea r a rt co urse in three yea rs, a nd at age eighteen signed a rticles aboard a freighter bo und fo r the fa bled islands of the South Pacific. It was the beginning of a lifetime of voyaging that sent him to sea aboard the mi ghty C una rd liner Q ueen Elizabeth throughout the Second W o rld War when, in her drab gray livery, the ocean monarch took Australia n t roo ps to the Middle East and Am erica n soldiers to England fo r the eventual liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. In England, young Brett was not backward in coming fo rwa rd where hi s sea heroes were concerned . H e wrote to the Poet Laurea te of the Uni ted K ingdom , John M asefield , who wro te back inviting h im to visit him at hi s hom e in O xfordshire. Brett, who spent a m emorable day w ith the great m an, sti ll recites 25

ream s of M asefield 's immortal sea poetry. The illustrious British wa r artist and m arine painter C ha rles Pears was a nother who invited him hom e, this time to Falmouth, the historic Cornish seaport where, in the nineteenth century, so m any of the great windships h ad anchored for orders. During the wa r years Brett often fetched up in N ew York, bu t instead of ro istering in waterfront bars with his shipmates, he took himself to Manhattan's antiquarian bookstores, where he started collecting books on m aritime history. His highly specialized personal library must now rank as one of the finest of its kind in the world. Other great t wentieth-century m arine ar tists such as C h a rles Robert Patterson and A nto n Otto Fischer invited him to their studios. The paintings he bough t off their easels still grace his walls in New York. It was in M anhattan during th e war yea rs that he m et and m a rried the New York fashion des igner Ge rtrude Steacey. They se ttled on Long Island, where they ra ised a son and a daughter. As he h ad no formal qualification s, wo rk was h ard to come by in the immediate post-wa r yea rs, but Brett was and rem ains a highly talented calligrapher, a skill whi ch was to land him a job

as a graphic designer in a M adison Avenue advertising age ncy. H e continued to paint, and gradually a series of highly signi ficant commissions cam e his way. N ew York's Seam an's Bank fo r Savings ordered ships' portraits for its bra nches; the fa m o us New York tugboat operators, M cAllister Brothers, commissioned portraits of their m any tugs. D ouglass Cadwall ader Fo nda, a wealthy Na ntucket collector, commi ss io ned eight historic ship portraits. O ne day there ca me a telephone call from the US State Department: President Macapagal of the Philip pines wa nted to present the U nited States w ith the iro n hull of the square rigger Kaiulani, the las t sa iling ship built in A merica. Could he paint her portrait fo r the presentation cerem o ny to give to Pres ident Lyndon Baines Johnson ? Yes, he could. Th at splendid painting now h angs in the LBJ Library in A ustin, Texas. In 197 1 C olumbus Line came to him w ith the kind of pro posal that any red-blooded ma rine a rtist might kill fo r. H e was told he could travel the wo rld whenever and wh erever he liked as a gues t in the owner's cabin on Columbus ships in rerurn for a painting of each of the vessels in w hich he voyaged. O s Brett m ade twenty such voyages in over t hirty-one yea rs, in which he logged well over 240,000 miles at sea.

The McAllister Brothers' Steam Ferry Nonowantuc on Long Island Sound, 1883.

Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches.

The 12 0-Joot No nowanruc was steam driven and used staysails to help dampen her roLling as she p lied across Long Island Sound. Built in 1883, No nowantuc carried 350 passengers and a crew of six. She pioneered the route between Port Jefferson, New York, and New London, Connecticut, serving until 19 02 . McA Llister Towing and Transp ortation continues to op erate ferries on the same route today.

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 201 2

His ocean voyaging came to an end in 2002, but at the age of 91 he thinks nothing of travelling by air, down to Florida to spend time with his old friend, John Stobarr, and out to Australia, where hi s paintings hang in the major public museums and art galleries, and where he still h as a legion of frien ds and admirers. Oswa ld Brett's life serves as a beacon for all those with a dream of the sea. "Don't wait for yo ur ship to come in," he says firm ly, "swim out after it." .:t Bruce Stannard is an awardwinning author and journalist with a lifetime interest in maritime heritage. He haspublished ten books on maritime subjects from marine artists to the America's Cup; his latest is Oswald Brett: Marine Artist, published by Maritime H eritage Press and available online at www. maritimeheritagepress. com.

The Barque James Craig in a stiff southerly breeze off Sydney, Australia, c. 1920. The 1874 iron-hulled ship was acquired and restored by the Sydney Heritage Fleet in the 1980s and '90s and today operates as a fully operational sailing ship.

The American Brig Philadelphia Outward Bound from Sydney towards Norfolk Island, 1792. Oil on canvas (1975) The Philadelp hia was the first American ship to visit the newly established British colony at Sydney Cove in Australia. She brought muchneeded supplies and was chartered by Governor Phillip to take government surveyors to Norfolk Island.

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

Uncommon Companions-a Rat, a Seal, and Miners on San Francisco Bay's Blossom Rock y 23 April 1870, a small group of miners had left their home out in the middle of San Francisco Bay, located just feet above the Bay's tide-swept waters. Their wood-frame residence was also occupied by a rat and visited daily by a seal. The miners, a typically superstitious lot, cared for and fed the rat and welcomed the seal's inquisitive behavior. After four months of determined work, at precisely 2:00PM on a very pleasant Saturday afternoon, an electrically detonated charge of nearly twenty-two tons of blasting powder ripped their mine apart. Tens of thousands of spectators as hore and afloat witnessed the towering geyser of rocks and seawater, 20 0 feet across, rise almost 300 feet into the air before raining back down to the Bay. Just 1,500 yards from the port of San Francisco and midway between Alcatraz and Yerba Buena Islands, Blossom Rock was ground zero for the explosion. At only five feet below

mean low water (MLW), Blossom Rock was the most notorious of San Francisco Bay's "bedrock knobs." The first European vessel known to have entered San Francisco Bay was that of Capt. Juan Manuel de Ayala. Days before departing San Blas, Mexico, for northern waters, de Ayala had accidentally shot himself in the foot. Of necessity, he delegated surveys of the bay to his first sailing master, Jose de Canizares. Thus, the first maps of the bay, dated 1775 and 1776 (the second visit), bear Cafiizares's name. Their ship, the 193-ton San Carlos, was nearly lost as it was exiting the Bay. The ship's rudder, pinde, and gudgeon were damaged on a submerged rock inside the Golden Gate. The officers and crew escaped alive and were able to save their vessel, thanks to anchors and good holding-ground. 1 Repairs consumed te n days. The distinction of naming (and charting) Blossom Rock fell to English explorer Captain Frederick W. Beechey

by Alan Fraser Houston

(1796-1856) , during h is two months of survey work late in 1826. Beechey's map, published in 1833, clearly marks the rock, named for his ship, HMS Blossom. It has been suggested that Blossom struck the rock, but solid evidence is lacking. 2 The same cannot be said for nearby Southampton Shoal, which Pacific Squadron Commander Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones (1780-1858) "discovered" in 1849-when he grounded the storeship USS Southampton on it. The same ship honored another obstruction, also by striking it, during Commodore Matthew C. Perry's 1854 visit to Japan: "Southampton Rock" off Shimada, Japan. 3 In 1841, Lr. Cadwalader Ringgold, USN, of the United States Exploring Expedition, explored and surveyed the Bay area from Aug ust to November. With the US Coast Survey-still years away from working on the Pacific coast-business and shipping interests brought Ringgold back for more definitive surveys in 1849. DurJU"IO'

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Page 26 and 27 images published in Report upon the Removal of Blossom Rock in San Francisco H arbor, California, 1870. GPO: 187 1. ing the Gold Rush, there were shipwrecks aplenty through the Golden Gate, the Bay, and adjacent waters. In late December 1849, the Alta California noted the problem, highlighting Blossom Rock in pa rticular: Blossom Rock is the on ly truly serious obstacle to the navigator in this harbor, and as measures were some time since adopted by our authorities for its buoying, we ca n on ly account for its present existence as a terror to the shipmaster ... already we have had m arine disasters , occurring through fea r or ignorance of this rock, sufficient to injure the reputation of much better harbors tha n the excellent harbor of San Fran cisco. 4 Ringgold also buoyed South ampton Shoal and several other h azards a nd had completed his task by mid-Ja nuary 1850. With increasing sectional a nd political di visive ness, the Panic of 1857, a nd ultim ately the C ivil War, further remedies were postponed. The first "Act to Improve Ri vers and Harbors" was passed by Congress in 1824, and subsequent legislatio n in 1826 authori zed combined surveys and projects, supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) under the auspices of the War Department. Following congressional authorization in June of 1866, Major R. S. Williamson, COE , received orders on 21 July to survey

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

Blossom Rock. The Coast Survey schooner Marcy was used to take soundings, and experimental surface blas ting of the rock began in February of 1867. At twenty-fo ur feet below MT W, the rock measured about 105 by 195 feet; the est imated volume to be removed was 5,000 cubic yards. Surface blasting of the non-homogeneous metamorphic sa ndstone acco mpli shed very little. It was clear that not just a bigger hammer, but a n innovative approach, would be required . A key lay in an a rea, thirty-four fe et by twenty-two feet, of the rock 's top that was "comparatively level," making it well-suited for the placement of a cofferdam. Estimated to cost $45,000, the project was put out to bid- deadline: noon, 15 April 1869. There were no takers save one, the contractor who had reduced Boston harbor's Tower and Co rwin Rocks, astride the (then) m ainshippingcha nnel, several yea rs before. George W. Townsend proposed to remove 900 cubic yards of rock, reducing Blossom Rock to 13 Y2 feet below MLW for $45, 000. His proposal was rejected, and a month later he offered to do the job for $ 125 per day, all mate rials except explosives included (his Boston work had been per diem). The Corps of Engineers wo uld ultimately contract with a civil engineer who served as a colonel in the California militia (commissioned by Governor Leland Stanford in 1862), Col. Alexis Waldemar

von Schmidt. Von Schmidt (1821-1906) was the son of a Russian Army general and aCali forn iapioneerwhowas known for his "aptitude for mechanical and constructive problem s." 5 He had undertaken a number of California engineering projects: moving water from Mountain Lake and Spring Valley in San Mateo County to San Francisco; embarking on asimilar water project atLake Tahoe (not completed) -he was accused of being the grandest water-thief in the West; and building (using underwater blas ting) the dry dock at Hunter's Point, deemed at the time as one of the world's largest. In 1872-1873, vonSchmidtsurveyed the hotly contested California-Nevada boundary and those states' corner with Oregon. Von Schmidt's bid of $75 ,000 a nd a $5,000 bond, w ith guaranteed completion in eighteen months, was accepted by the C hief of Engi neers (US Army Corps of Engineers) in Washington in June 1869. Von Schmidt accepted all risk: there would be no payment until the project was "satisfactorily" concluded. Notable is an additional sheet of boilerplate in von Schmidt's contract: "no member of Congress, officer, or agent of the Government, or a ny person employed in the public service, shall be admitted to a ny share herein, or a ny benefit which m ay arise herefrom."6 In October, Colonel vo n Schmidt commenced operations. After a fa iled attempt to moor an 80-foot-by-30-foot scow 29

over the rock for a drilling platform, von Schmidt built a 32-foo t-square crib w ith an inner 10-foot-square cofferdam . It was floated into place; 200 tons of rock ballast were added. The corners were ch ai ned to anchors, and the crib's edges were secured with steel-pointed piles . More ballast with sa nd and cement was added to the space between the crib ballast and the dam. Water wi thin the coffer dam was then pumped out a nd a six-foot wide by fourteen-foot high iron cylinder was placed in the center and cemented. The a rea of the crib and cofferda m was pla nked over, twenty feet above the rock, and a shed was built on that to accommodate the miners. On 7 D ecember the miners, working within the iron cylinder and with space for only one, began sinking a shaft into the rock. D ebris was initially removed by hand, later by steam hoist. By early January, the shaft reached 30 feet below MLW and tunneling bega n in both the long and short axes of the rock. Eight miners were soon at wo rk; by February it was sixteen. The rock was eas ily "picked off" and little blas ting was necessary. The roof of the excavated cavity averaged 14V2 feet in thickness, supported by a dozen or so rock pillars, later replaced by timber posts and sills. Ir was fearsome , perhaps, in the eyes of the public, bur it mattered little that the project was sub-

marine- any roofcollapse would have been instantaneous and dead ly, under rhe water or not. In April, "quite a heavy earthquake shock occurred," but no damage resulted. As completion neared, several miners, working with picks about the periphery, encountered gravels imbedded in a bluish clay, draining water as well. J us ti fiably, some spooked and left the works; finally, excavation ceased on 20 April. Now the wo rk of placing and fusing 43,000 pounds of powder in rhirtyeighr ale barrels and seven iron tanks began; everything waterproofed, the explosives awaited electrical detonation. The mine was flooded and was rworhirds full by noon , 23 April 1870. By replacing compressible air in the cavern with incompressible water, the explosion's force would be concentrated and strengthened. From a small boar, several men, including von Schmidt, paid our insulated wire for some 800 feet and carefully connected one pole to a battery, the other pole to a wire in the water. The explosion, "of unprecedented magnitude," and muted considerably by the sea, instantly followed a single turn of rhe battery-crank.7 A problem presented itself: the rock was 14 feet below MLW, nor 24 feet. Ir was ascertained that the rock-crib ballast and entwined timbers had collapsed upon the rock following the blast. After inspection of the debris by his diver, von Schmidt

designed a rock-rake attached to a scow, towed bya steam tug, to remove the remaining tangle. The result was almost, bur nor quire, 24 feet MLW. Here ensued several months of difficult engineering. The government's tide gauge at Fort Point lay inconveniently fo ur miles from Blossom Rock, while von Schmidt's gauge at Cozzen 's Wharf, directly across from the sire, was much closer. The gauges were initially ass umed to be on the same plane, bur the water between sloped 0.33 feet, even wi th quiet water. Of necessity, an instrument was constructed to properly reference depth m easurements over the rock to those distant. Finally, ack nowledging the government's measurements as correct, von Schmidt apologized and resumed work. By 6 December his crew removed a n additional 700 cubic yards of rock-seven inches down to the requisite 24 feet depth. The rock was re-s urveyed-1,80 0 soundings during only fourteen days of smooth wa ter in three months. Seven "lumps" above 24 feet MLW were found. The diver was aga in dispatched, working quickly at slack water. Several of the "lumps" we re loose piles of sm all rocks, which were easily dealt w ith . Others were "sinkers" - placed as anchors for buoys that had pa rred. Several lessons were learned : the mine should h ave been full of water ar explosion, not two-thirds; nor all debris

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

was swept clean away; and the mine's floor should h ave originally been carried lower. Nonetheless, Mechanics Magazine pronounced the project "very ingenious, and ... so far as [they were] aware, entirely novel." 8 Scientific American later noted the 1876 Hell Gate, New York, explosion, and attributed "the plan" there to "A. W. von Schmidt." 9 The government praised von Schmidt's achievement: His daring character is shown by his accepting a contract in which he was to receive no money until the completion of an experiment, the success of which could only be decided by the United States as the sole arbiter. The energy with which he pushed forward the work until the explosion took place, and the renewed energy with which he pursued his labor under such discouraging circumstances, deserves the success he attained. 10 The fate of the rat, likely carried to the rock in a bag of coal, is clearer than that of the seal. The New York Times of 4 March 1870 reported: "[The miners consider the rat a] lucky omen, for as rats never remain in a leaky vessel, the men feel quite secure in their house on the water, and say that when the hour of departure arrives the rat shall not be left to peri sh, but shall be safely landed on the wharf." 11 The Times also mentioned the seal: "... who paddles about the scaffolding all day, and appears to regard with interest the operations of the [rock] dumping machine." The pinneped likely lost interest after the work ceased, the miners left, and the structure was dismantled . Even fish were fortunate: after the blast, boats rushing to reap an anticipated "rich piscatorial harvest found themselves terribly disappointed." 12 Very few were found floating. Vessel drafts continually increase, as does the volume of rock removal (read: money) required to maintain safe clearances. It is a perperual game of catch-up with local and federal governments less forthcoming with funding. Blossom Rock was later lowered to 30 feet below MLLW (Mean Lower Low Water, the new datum) in the early 1900s and to about 40 feet below MLLW in the 1930s. Fellow bed-

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

"Explosion ofBlossom Rock" by C. E. Watkins, 1867. rock knobs-Arch, Harding, and Shag Rocks-were also lowered. All are close to or adjacent to the Bay's busyshippi ng lanes. Today's vessels are orders ofmagnitude larger than in the mid-nineteenth century and the rocks become exponentially larger in volume with depth. Blossom Rock, now with a flattened top, has an area over 100,000 square feet at the 55 -foot contour. To lower Blossom Rock further would require tens of millions of dollars-for all four rocks, hundreds of millions. Scientists, statisticians, harbor safety committees, shipping companies, and insurers have studied and analyzed risks and scenarios of mishaps. Notable is the cleanup cost of the Bay's 1996 spill of 8,000 gallons of oil-approximately ten million dollars. The cost for Alaska's 1989 Prince William Sound oil spill of eleven million gallons is in the billions of dollars. A risk model assessing the chance of a deep-draft tanker striking one (of three rocks studied) was one accident in 658 years. 13 Probability theory, of course, never reveals which year that accident will occur. Resulting ecological disas ters and severe financial losses, unimaginable over a century ago, are not behind us. Advances such as radar and GPS navigation allow navigation at night and in diminished visibility, but risk from strong tides and currents, sudden and shifting winds, rocks and shoals, loss of steering or propulsion, and human error (MV Cosco Busan-2007) will always remain . Blossom Rock and the other bedrock knobs are just one face of a multi-faceted problem. ,!,

NOTES 1 ] oh n Galvin, ed. , The First Spanish Entry into San Francisco Bay 1775 (San Francisco, John Howell Books, 1971), pp. 71, 85. 2 Historian Hubert H . Bancroft, Beechey himself, and others make no mention of Beechey's ship striking the rock. 3 Samuel Eliot Morison, "Old Bruin:" Commodore Matthew C. Perry 1794-1858 (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1967), p.383. 4 Alta California, 22 December 1849, p. 3. 5Alta, 24 April 1870, p. 1. 6 R. S. Williamson and W. H. Heuer, Report upon the Removal of Blossom Rock in San Francisco Harbor, Califo rnia (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1871), p. 24. 7 Scientific American, 25 June 1870, p. 416. 8 The Mechanics Magazine and journal of Engineering, Agricultural Machinery and Shipbuilding, London, 20 May 1870, p. 367. 9Scientific American, 7 Oct. 1876, p. 226. 10 Report, p. 40. 11 New York Times, 4 March 1870, p. 2. 12 Alta, 24 April 1870, p. 1. 13 US Army COE, San Francisco District and California State Lands Commission, San Francisco Central Bay Rock Removal Project, Feasibility Study & Reference Report, November 2003, p. 57-8. Alan Fraser Houston, a graduate of Amherst College and Boston University School of Medicine, served in the US Navy from 1970 to 1972. This is his second article for Sea History. H e and his wife, Jou rdan, have published articles in American Art Review; Montana: The Magazine of Western History; California History; and other historical publications.

n 1814 as che War of 1812 raged on, che Bricish made a plan to attack Washington and Bahimore. On 24 Augusc, Bricish soldiers marched into Washington and sec fire to che Capitol and che Whice House, and in Sepcember, che ships of che Royal Navy sailed up che Pacapsco River towards Balcimore. Guarding Balcimore Harbor's entrance, however, was Fort McHenry, which che Bricish would have to gee pasc to make cheir attack on che cicy. On 13 September, the Bricish started bombarding the fort from ships in che river, and the battle continued into che night until the next day. An American named Francis Scott Key was aboard one of che Bricish naval ships and wi m essed the battle as ic

was foughc chroughout the night. The sight of an enormous American flag flying from inside the fore, which could be seen when rockecs and gunfire illuminated the night sky, inspired him to wrice a poem enti tled, "The Defence of Fort McHenry." The poem was put to the rnne of a popular song and renamed 1he Star-Spangled Banner. le became an instant hit. The British lost chac battle and abandoned cheir plan to attack Balcimore. le was an important victory for che United States, and Francis Scott Key's poem-turned-song went on to become our National Anthem. While 1he Star-Spangled Banner went on to become one of the most famous songs in history, little was known about the acrnal flag chac inspired it. le rnrns out that che 40-foot-by-32-fooc flag was lacer taken home by the commander of che fort, Major George Armistead, and kept as a family keepsake. The Armistead family would cake it out for occasional patriotic celebrations, but it wasn't until 1912 that Armistead's grandson donaced ic to che Smithsonian lnsticucion, when he realized thac the flag itself was a nacional creasure and should be shared wich all Americans. Today you can see the acrnal flag, which has been restored and put on display in a special climace-controlled exhibic at the Smichsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, at 1300 Constitution Ave. NW (www.americanhistory.si.e:du). To learn more about the Bacde of Fon McHenry, see pages 14-18. 1, SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

Andrews Brian Andrews is a marine geographer who works for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS is a Federal Government agency that provides scientific information to describe and understand the earths physical environment. Br ian works in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, for the Seafloor Mapping Group of the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program. His main job responsibilities include processing marine geophysical data collected from the seaf\oor, using bathymetric (depth), side-scan, and seismic (sub-surface) reflection sonar. From the scientific data they collect, USGS scientists can determine depth, shape, and composition of the bottom of the ocean. Is it sandy, rocky, muddy? Are there trenches or submerged mountain ranges? Is it changing from one year or decade to the next? Are there shipwrecks or submerged structures that are affecting the underwater environment? What about undersea natural resources we might be able to use? All these are questions they can answer by studying whats underneath the oceans. Brian spends about one quarter of his time at sea on research vessels conducting marine surveys of an area they are studying and the rest of his time in an office or lab processing and analyzing the data they 've collected . When he is at sea, he and the crew work in 12- hour shifts or watches. His job on watch is to make sure the data is being collected and processed properly. Brian grew up in Vermont, far from the ocean . When he was a kid, he would look at the shapes of the Green Mountains and wonder how they were formed . One summer, his family took a vacation to the Maine coast. The sea air and the coastal environment were so different from the mountains and farms of Vermont, and he was immediately hooked on wanting to spend more time near the ocean and learn all about it. When he went to college, he majored in geography and studied the earths physical processes and learned about making maps (cartography). For summer jobs, Brian worked as a deckhand on schooners in Maine that take passengers out for week- long trips. After college, he worked on tall ships full time, working his way up from deckhand to captain . Every job he has had since has been on the water, either as a mariner or as a scientist. Eventually, Brian went back to graduate school to study more about geography and GIS (Geographic Information Systems). Now, instead of looking at terrestrial (land) mountains and wondering how they were made and how they are changing, he looks at underwater mountains on the seaf\oor and works to understand them . <:::::::. Brians job with USGS is a perfect combination of all the things he is most interested in-geography and mapping sciences, plus being able to go to sea as a mariner. ,t

ssÂˇw SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 201 2

The Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the No rth Atlantic Ocean (8,438 m), is located where the North American Plate subducts (slides) under the Caribbean Plate. The trench is as deep as Mount Everest is high. Brian made this map from data that scientists collected at sea.

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eptember 1741. Captain-commander Vitus Bering's ship, St. Peter, was stumbling somewhere among the long desolate string of Aleutian Islands in the far North Pacific. All on board recognized that it was unlikely they'd ever make it home. Scurvy had flattened several of the crew, two men had already died, and Captain Bering himself was terribly ill. The fresh water stored in barrels was mostly foul, and the storm-force winds and seas were constantly in their faces. Sailing aboard St. Peter and sharing the cabin with Captain Bering was a German physician and naturalist named Georg Wilhelm Steller. On his first voyage, Steller was certain they were near to land because he saw floating seaweed and various birds that he knew to be strictly coastal. But no one listened to him, in part because he hadn't been shy in showing that he thought them all idiots, and also because his idea of exactly where they happened to be was wrong. Bering's expedition continued, blindly groping westward toward Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The storms raged on, more men died, then eventually, somehow, they made it to a small protected harbor in the middle of the night. They hoped it was the mainland. Steller and his servant rowed several of the sickest men ashore the next morning. He thought the place was an island because of the shape of the clouds and how the sea otters carelessly swam over to the boat, unafraid of man. Once ashore, Steller noticed a huge animal swimming along the coast, a creature that he had never seen before and ~ was unknown in cold, northern waters. J._ _ ~ He wrote in his journal: "Nor co uld I ----" ~ even know what kind of an animal it was since of it was constantly under water." <0:."h;,~ii~ ' "~ As the shipwrecked party settled in to -~ -~- ~-~ -- ___. winter on the island, some of the sailors died, including Virus Bering himself The survivors named the frigid island after their commander. With Steller's guidance, they struggled through c the long winter by eating birds, foxes, sea otters, seals, spoiled ship's flour, and wild plants. Once they had eaten through all the animals and greenery they could reach, they were still starving. So after the winter ice melted, they turned to the giant manatees off the coast. They repaired one of their small boats and fashioned a sort of harpoon. After many failed attempts, one day the men were able tto kill a female sea cow and drag her to shore.

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''At long last," Steller wrote, "we found ourselves suddenly spared all trouble about food." The naturalist explained that the sea cows were completely unafraid of people. He continued: "They have indeed an extraordinary love for one another, which extends so far that when one of them was cut into, all the others were intent on rescuing it and keeping it from being pulled ashore by closing a circle around it. Others tried to overturn the yawl. Some placed themselves on the rope or tried to draw the harpoon out of its body, in which indeed they were successful several times." For the next few days, a male manatee kept swimming by to watch his dead mate on the beach. The men fed on the meat ravenously and found practical uses for the oil and the skin. The men were then able to survive long enough to finish building a new seaworthy boat to sail the short distance to the mainland. ;----f Before long, the reports of the plentiful sea otters, fur seals, and sea lions on Bering Island attracted fur traders and hunters. These men quickly decimated the already small population Portion ofa chart with a sketch ofthe sea cow, sea lion, and fur seal by of sea cows. The only surviving account of this an officer on the Bering expedition, c. 1742. Directly underneath the huge animal alive came from Georg Steller's de- animals is Bering Island. railed descriptions; hence, it is known as Sreller's Sea Cow. Within fewer than thirty years of Bering's shipwreck, men had hunted this animal to extinction. Nothing is left today but a few preserved skeletons and Steller's observations and careful measurements from his dissections. Sreller's notes reveal that the sea cow had a stomach larger than a man's. Groups and families grazed in shallow waters, eating kelp, algae, and sea grasses. The sea cow was an enormous cousin of the same warm-water manatee that swims today, mostly in the Caribbean and Florida, and of the dugong, which lives primarily off northern Australia. Most scientists now believe the sea cows, manatees, and dugongs are more closely related to elephants than they are to whales or seals. In the next issue: the second extinct animal that Steller and his men on Bering Island discovered (and ate). For past ''Animals in Sea History" go to www.seahisrory.org.

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Maritte Art News Marc Castelli New Exhibition Paintings by marine artist Marc Castelli (featured artist in Sea History 132) will be the subjects of a new exhibit at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland, now through 24 February 2013. 1he exhibit features 23 watercolors on loan from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's Simison Collection. Most of the works exhibited were donated by Diane Simison to rhe maritime museum, and paintings from Casrelli's personal collection will round our the show. Mr. Castelli is well-known for his depictions of Chesapeake Bay watermen. His interpretation of this subject comes, not just from photographs and from observations, bur from working side by side with the watermen at their work, at all hours and in all weather. (Annmarie Sculpture Garden, 13480 Dowell Rd. , Solomons, MD; Ph. 410 326-4640; www.annmariegarden .org)

Looking/or the Brass Ring/Vicious Virgin, 2006

National (}allery of Art New Acquisitions The National Gallery of Arr has acquired its first work by Durch artist Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831-1915): the 1894 oil on canvas tided Sunset at Scheveningen: A Fleet of Fishing l--essek at Anchor. Currently on view in the East Building's Small French Paintings galleries, this luminous work joins the Gallery's View ofthe Mill and Bridge on the Noordwest Buitensingel in The Hagu,e (1873) by Jaco b Maris (1837-1899) as its second major painting of the Hague school, expanding the 19th-century collection beyond its French confines. Mesdag is known for his depictions of the North Sea and is considered an important link between the Hague School and the French landscape artists of the 19 th century. He devoted most of his career as an artist to marine subj ects. This image here is a fine example of his oeuvre and depicts a Beer of 13 bomschuiten, or flat-bottomed fishing boars, representing a fleer of thirteen. (NGA, 4rh and Constitution Ave. NW, WashSunset at Scheveningen: A Fleet ofFishing l--essek at Anchor, 1894 ington, DC; 20565; Ph . 202 737-42 15; www.nga.gov)

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After 15 years in downtown Fairfield, Connecticut, the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery, specializing in fine marine and sporting art, recently announced their move to the former Fairfield Coun ty Bank building, which has been transformed into a unique art gallery with extensive exhibit space. Through close contacts with the wo rld's top marine and sporting artists developed over the past 30 years, Mr. Jinishian represents and exhibits more than 1,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ship models, and scrimshaw by artists that include A. D. Blake, Donald Demers, Tim Thompson, C h ristopher Blossom, Joseph McGurl, and John Stobart. Changing exhibitions and opportunities to meet the artists are offered throughout the year. Russell Jinishian , an advisor to the National Maritime Historical Society, is recognized as the nation's leading authority on contemporatry marine art. He is the author of Boundfor Blue ~ter, a definitive guide: to contemporary marine art and is publisher of Marine Art News magazime since 200 1. Q. Russell Jinishian Gallery, 1899 Bronson Road, Fairfield, <CT 06824; Ph. 203 2598753; emailrjinishian@opronline.net;www.j russselljinishiangallery.com)

SEA HISTOFRY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

RON HARRISON l.S.M.P.

SOUTHPORT SILVER

• Modern Military Marine Paintings

Handcrafted Silver and Copper Jewelry

• Commissions Accepted • An Official U.S.C.G Artist • ISMP and ASMA "Lining Up For A Drink"

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n important part of maritime heritage is its art, from images of vessels, mariners, and seascapes artists created centuries ago, to modern images of historical events, from new interpretations of maritime history and the marine environment to the many different places and different media in between . Most large maritime museums, such as the National Maritime Museum in the UK (http://collections.rmg.co.uk), Mystic Seaport Museum (http://mysticseaport.org: "Maritime Art Gallery" for contemporary works for sale, or "Research the Collections" then "The Collections" for artifacts owned by the Seaport), the Australian National Maritime Museum (http:// emuseum.anmm.gov.au/code/emuseum.asp) and others, have significant online presences where you can view many of the pieces in their collections. Many art museums and online arr resources have maritime aspects to them as well . The Smithsonian, for example, has not only one of the great maritime col lections of the world, but also many maritime-related works throughout its many museums . At "On the Water" (http: //americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/), the online version of their permanent exhibit by the same name, one can learn about many of their artifacts. At their Collections Search Center page (http: //collections.si.edu/search/), however, one can search for terms like "marine art," "nautical," or "schooner,"to find images of works from across dozens of Smithsonian collections. These searches can include user-added tags, which can be a big benefit when searching for specific terms . Without these online features, tracking down maritime pieces at non-maritime repositories would be exceedingly difficult. Also, one can view many, many more works than are ever on exhibit at a given time. New York 's Metropolitan Museum of Arr also offers on line searching of their collections at http://metmuseum. org/collections. Searches for "schooner," "ship," or even " ba rque" (b ut not " bark ") return many results from their collections, again including many works not currently on display. Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts, has a useful tool called ARTscape (http: //www.pem.org/artscape); not only can you search their collections database, but you can a lso create your own collection of works. Their maritime art collection contains only 326 items online at present, but doubtless more will be added over time. An older set of pages

reflecting their collections appears at http://www.pem.org/ sites/archives/maritml.htm. Beyond museums, one can start with "Arr History Resources on the Web," at http://arthistoryresources.net. The site has a wide range of links to online resources, though, surprisingly, it shows no results specifically for maritime or m arine art. The "Heilbrunn Timeline ofArr History," hosted by the Met at http:// www.metmuseum.org/toah/, provides an excellent overview of many aspects of art history in relation to world history, with images of many works from the Met's own collection. The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles offers many valuable tools. At their "Getty Research Portal " (http://portal. getty.edu/portal/landing) , they provide access to digitized art history texts published before 1923. You can locate a particular book in the portal's online catalog, then go to the contributing institution that h as digitized it; there, you can generally search the complete text of the digitized work. You cannot ye t search across the full text of all volumes at once, since each participating institution presents its digitized content through a different platform. Getty also offers access to two important arr history indices, BHA and RILA, at http://library.getty.edu/bha. These citation databases cover material published between 1975 and 2007. Usually, such subject-specific databases are subscription products, so not accessible for free, bur these two resources, however, have been made available online for free. As always, Google cannot be ignored . The Google Art Project (http: //www.googleartproject.com) is not large-yet-bur over time we can expect it to be expanded to include a n untold number of reproductions of works from museums around the world. Many famous works are already at this site, and its ability to display content in very fin e detail is quite remarkable. Finally, Arrcyclopedia (http://www.artcyclopedia.com) claims to have information on over 9,000 artists . You can find a short listing of its maritime artists at http://www.artcyclopedia. com/subjects/Maritime_Scenes.html . Suggestions for other sites worth mentioning are welcome at peter@shipindex.org. See http://shipindex.org for a fre e compilation of over 140,000 ship names from indexes to do zens of books and journals. ,!,

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Through this special offer from the National Maritime Historical Society, you can acquire this stunning print that portrays a bygone time in New York City's most historic waterfront area-a tranquil era of cobblestone streets, lantern light, and horse-drawn wagons. Each lithograph is personally approved and hand signed by the artist John Stobart. Image size 18" x 26" on 25" x 33" paper, unframed. Special price for NMHS members: $350 each+ $30 s/h.

.SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS In August, NOAA named Rear Admiral Gerd Glang as director of NOAA's Office of Coast Survey and the nation's chief hydrographer, responsible for mapping and charting of all US coastal waters. The US Senare confi rmed his nominarion by Presidenr Obama ro rhe rank of rear admiral (lower half) from

Rear Admiral Gerd Giang cap rain , now a prerequisire for rhe posirion. G iang succeeds Capr. John Lowell , who rerired in June afrer a 29-year career in the NOAA Corps. "NOAA's navigational services provide crirical support to our nation's maritime eco nomy and position ir for future growth," said David Kennedy, N OAA assistant adminisrraror for the National Ocean Service. G iang has spent rhe past two years as the codep uty lead of NOAA's planning efforts ro make America's coas tal communities resilienr and strengthen the coasral economy, which supporrs 66 million jobs. Giang has a srron g backgro und in the hydrographic surveyi ng and seafl oor mapping sciences . H e served as commanding officer of rhe NOAA research ship Ronald H. Brown for 18 monrhs when they mapped rhe ocean in support of tsunami modeling and conducred deep wa rer coral studies. A 1984 graduate of the State University of New York Maririme College wi th a bachelor's degree in engin eering, Giang also received a graduate certificate in ocean mapping from rhe University of New H ampshire Cenrer for 40

Coastal and Ocean Mapping, and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School Senior Execu rive Fellows program. NOAA's Office of Coas t Survey, originally formed by Presidenr Thomas Jefferson in 1807, mainrains and updates the nation's nautical charts, surveys the coastal seafloor, responds ro maritime emergencies, and searches for underwater obstructions and wreckage that pose a danger ro navigarion.(www.noaa.gov) ... More than twenty tall ships traveled up the Eastern Seaboard this summer as participants in the 2012 Tall Ships ChallengeÂŽ series, an annual gathering of sailing ships that includes offshore races from port to port, festivals ashore, while promoting seamanship and maritime heritage. Tall Ships America's Tall Ships ChallengeÂŽis an annual series that rorares on a three-year cycle between the Arlanric Coast, Grear Lakes, and Pacific C oasr. The 201 2 evenr included four offshore races: Savannah, SC, ro Cape Fear, NC; on ro Greenport, NY; a sprinr ro Newport, RI; and a final leg along rhe Nova Scotian coast ro Halifax. The 159foot ropsail schooner Pride ofBaltimore II was the only vessel ro co mpete in all four races, raking first place in the first three. "The races connecting these ports along rhe hisroric sea roads help continue the best traditions of seamanship, sportsmanship, and ship-improving competirion that Tall Ships America has promoted for decades," said Pride's captain Jamie Trosr. (For more information about Tall Ships America or ro learn how ro sign aboard a tall ship, visit www.tallshipsamerica. org) The US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle held a change of command ceremony on 10 July at Fort Trumbull State Park in New London,

CT. Captain Raymond 'Wes' Pulver assumed responsibility as fag/e's commanding officer from Captain Eric C. Jones; Vice Adm. Robert C. Parker, commander of Coast Guard A tlantic Area, presided over the ceremony, which was attended by family, friends, and former Eagle crew-

Capt. Raymond 'Wes' Pulver (right) salutes Capt. Eric C. Jones to assume command of the USCGC Eagle. members and commanding officers. Both Captains Jones and Pulver were 1987 graduates of the C oast Guard Academy and sailed rogerher as cadets aboard Eagle during their undergraduate summers; each later served as Eagle execu tive officers. Captain Jones is rerurning ro the Academy as Assistanr Superinrendenr. In his three years in command of Eagle, Captain Jones sailed the 75-year-old barque more than 25 ,000 miles and oversaw the training of more than 2,000 caders and officer-candidates. (For more about rh e United States Coast Guard Academy and irs training ship Eagle, visit www.cga.edu) .. . The Winslow Homer Studio on Prouts Neck in Maine will open to the public for the first time in September. One of the most significanr sites in the hisrory of American art, Homer's studio is where the great American artist lived and painred many of his

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SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 201 2

mas terpieces from 1883 until his death in 19 10 . Purchased by the Portland Museum of Art in 2006, the studio will be used to celebrate the artist's life, to enco urage scholarship on Homer, and to educate audiences to appreciate the artistic heritage of Winslow H omer and Maine. In celebration of the opening of the studio, the museum w ill showcase the related exhibition Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine, on view 22 September through 30 D ecember 201 2. Comprised of 30 major oils and watercolors painted during Homer's tenure at

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the Studio , the exhibition will introduce new perspectives on Homer's life and wo rk. (Portland Museum of Art, 7 C ongress Square, Portland, M E 04 101 ; Ph. 207 775-6 148; www. portlandmuseum . org) .. . The American Salvage Association (ASA) together with the North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA) recently announced an awards competition for marine science projects conducted at the high school and undergraduate college levels. The initiative is intended to highlight the importance of preserving the marine environment through the use of sound environm ental practi ces, to raise awareness of the art and science of marine salvage, and to promote careers in the salvage and maritime industries . Projects involving marine sciences that were conducted in 201 2 are eligible and should focus on o ne of the followin g areas : marine enviro nmental care, marine engineering, ocean engineering, meteorology, underwater ro botics, air emissions from ships, alternative fuel supplies for ships, oil and ch emical spill remedi ation, offshore well co ntro l, di ving systems, m arine biology, marine ecosys tems, marine microorganisms, ship design, ship breaking, recovery of sunken ships, cargo, fuel (continued on p.43) SEA HISTORY 140, AU TU MN 2012

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National History Day 2012 National History Day (NHD) is a year-long educational program for middle and high school students that involves them in a competition to research, learn, and produce a creative project on a topic in history based on a theme. The National Maritime Historical Society is an official supporter of this program in hopes of inspiring yo ung people to learn about their maritime history by offering special NMHS prizes to the students who do the most outstanding project on a maritime topic. The 2012 competition, based on the theme "Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events," yielded some impressive efforts by students across the country in both junior and senior divisions . NMHS awarded special prizes in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Congratulations to the winners (listed below). To learn more about National History Day in your state, visit the website www.nhd.org. Visit www.seahistory.org to learn about the NMHS special prizes in maritime history. CONNECTICUT Junior 1" Place- Paper: "Titanic Disaster: Reaction and Reform in History" Student: Vivian Ngo; Timothy Edwards Middle School, South Windsor, CT Teacher: David Anderson Junior 2ndPlace-Documentary: "Paul Cuffee" Students: Zanagee and Gezani Artis; home school, Clinton, CT Teacher: Suzanne Artis

Senior 1'' Place-Group Documentary: "Containerization" Students: Luke Telang, Naryan Murthy; La Salle Academy, Providence, RI Teacher: Kristine Chapman Senior 2nd Place-Individual Website: "Submarines: A Deciding Factor in WWI" Student: Amy Sevigny; Warwick Veterans Memorial High School , Warwick, RI Teacher: Ed Kimmerlein

Junior 2"d Place-Individual DocuNEW JERSEY mentary: "The Seabees: Military Junior 1" Place-Individual Exhibit: Construction Revolutionized" "Greenwich Tea Party: Burning Student: Dean Russo; British Rule" St. Peter School, Warwick, RI NMHS judges D r. Steven Park and Captain Cesare Sorio Student: Ralph DePalma IV; Teacher: Lisa Dermouelian Pine Brook School, Manalapan, NJ with Connecticut winners ofthe NMHS special prize in maritime history: Vivian Ngo, Zanagee Artis, and Gezani Artis. Teacher: Jill Pode! Junior l " Place-Group Exhibit: "The Boston Tea Party" Junior 2nd Place-Group Documentary: Junior 2nd Place-Individual Exhibit: Students: Leah Sirmalis, Molly Ruhan; "Revolutionary Change: Transportation in "Safety on the Seas" St. Mary Academy Bay View, 19th Century New Jersey" Students: Dan Polhamus, Joe Petroff; Ri verside, RI Students: Chris Festa, Sasan HakimzaLiverpool Middle School, Liverpool, NY Teacher: Michelle Vasconcellos deh, Michael Knothe; Teacher: Karen Grosso H. B. White Horne Middle School, Verona MASSACHUSETTS Junior 2nd Place-Individual Exhibit: Teacher: Barbara Kistner Senior 1" Place- Group Website: "The Nuclear Submarine: A Revolution "Incorporation of Carrier Based Planes for Underwater Travel & Military Power" Senior 1" Place-Group Documentary: into the Navy" "Engines of Opportunity: The Steam Student: Alex Deland; Pelham Middle Students: Maxwell Counihan, Andrew Revolution Drives Reform in the IndusSchool, Pelham, NY Klobucher, Frank McCarthy, Brian rrial World" Teacher: David Acocella Riordan; Hamilton-Wenham Regional Students: George Li, Jeffrey Wang; Junior 2"d Place-Group Website: "Titanic" High School, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, Students: O'Neshia Cook, Kiona Domros, Hamilton, MA West Windsor, NJ Teacher: Kevin O 'Reilly Christian Gayle-Love, Alexandra Holt, Teacher: Joan Ruddiman Jesse Powers; Bennet Park Montessori Senior 2nd Place-Group Exhibit: NEW YORK Center, Buffalo, NY "Sailing to Freedom: Revolution of Race Teacher: Matthew Boyle Junior 1" Place-Group Website: in the Whaling City'' "US Submarines: How They RevolutionStudents: Alee King, Jen Vachon; RHODE ISLAND ized America " Apponequet Regional High School, Students: Dylan Cordaro, William Senior 2"d Place-Individual Exhibit: Lakeville, MA Muller, Glen Mullhaupt, Timothy "Gas pee" Pierce; Warwick Valley Middle School, Student: Gianna Jasinski; La Salle Academy, Teacher: Rob Powers Warwick, RI Providence, RI Teacher: Thomas Rauschenbach Teacher: Kristine C hap man

Congratulations!

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

SHIP NOTES

CONTINUED

(continued from p. 41) or pollutants, other marine salvage related or marine environmental projects. Abstracts of 300 words or less and a technical paper describing the project will be accepted until 15 September. (For additional information on the competition and to submit an entry, visit www.americansalvage.org/ science-fair/) The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM) in St. Michaels, MD, recently received a Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA) grant to support a Chesapeake Bay-focused War of 1812 exhibit at the museum. Coinciding with the 200rh anniversary of the war's Battle of St. Michaels, the exhibit is scheduled to open in spring 2013 and continue through February 2015 . The exhibit will focus on the issues and events related to the regional hostilities on the Chesapeake Bay and will highlight local stories including shipbuilding during the time of the war, and the Barde of Sr. Michaels, which occurred on 10 August 1813. CBMM became eligible for the MHAA grant when the Town of Sr. Michaels was included in the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area in July 2012. In collaboration with the Maryland State Archives, CBMM is undertaking original research concerning impressment, slavery, and African American experiences during and following the war. Using a social history approach and focusing on the daily lives and work of regional people impacted by the war, the exhibit will provide visirors with larger contexts for understanding Chesapeake history. MHAA has awarded 63 matching grants totaling $2,713,480 to Maryland non-profits, local jurisdictions, and other heritage tourism organizations. The Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area encompasses Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne's, and Talbot Counties and was created by concerned citizens and public officials so that the region could take advantage of the benefits of a new state heritage development program . (www.cbmm.org) ... Cash and assets of the famous Nova Scotia schooner Bluenose II were transferred this summer to the Schooner Bluenose Foundation from the Bluenose II Preservation Trust Society after more than a decade

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

1929 stamp with Bluenose image of controversy. The new foundation (est. December 201 O) is in charge of raising funds for the operation of the Canadian icon, while the vessel itself is operated by the Lunenburg Marine Museum Society on behalf of the Province of Nova Scotia. The transfer included cash, a building in downtown Lunenburg, and inventory from the recently closed Bluenose II Company Store that added up to approximately $1.1 million, plus intellectual property rights pertaining to the schooner and its logo and images. Lare in 2010, the Province of Nova Scotia reached an agreement in principle with the Trust to transfer its funds to the new foundation as a means to "help secure the role of the Bluenose II as a sailing ambassador and symbol of marine heritage." Back in 1996, the Trust caused a stir when they claimed rights over Bluenose and Bluenose II intellectual property. Intellectual property includes images of the vessel, considered in Nova Scotia to be an important national symbol. In 2003, the Trust sued a souvenir company over its use of Bluenose images, and the government stepped in and reached a settlement out of court.

Schooner Bluenose II restoration, 2012

Out of that settlement came the provision that the vessel's images belong to the people. Bluenose II was built in 1963 as a PR yacht for a Canadian brewery and was sold to the Province of Nova Scotia in 1971 for $1. Operation of the vessel had been managed directly by the Province until 1994, when it transferred management to the Trust. Bluenose II has been undergoing a $16-million restoration in Lunenburg and is expected to be relaunched this fall and back on a regular sailing schedule by summer 2013. Visit the ship's website for information on the history of the vessel, the history of the original Bluenose, and you can even click on the webcam to view live images of the ship while she is being restored (www. bluenose.novascotia.ca) The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has issued a Call for Photographers for a Juried Small Works Photo Exhibition. Jurors are Ernie Brooks, a marine environment photographer, and Bob Evans, photographer and artist. Photographers must be 18 years old or older, live and shoot within a 50-mile radius of the maritime museum in Southern California, and must send in entries by 15 October. All photos must be executed within the last three years and pertain to the theme "Visual Elements of the Santa Barbara Maritime Hemisphere." Winners will receive cash prizes and have their photographs displayed in the museum from 29 November to 4 March 2013. (For details, visit the museum's website at www.sbmm.org) .. . Texas A & M University conservators are freeze drying the hull timbers of the 17th century shipwreck La Belle, the SO-plus-foot vessel sailed by Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the first European to travel the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle's voyage down the river in 1682 allowed him to lay claim to the land along the river for France, and he returned to the region in 1684-85 in command of four ships loaded with soldiers, civilians, and supplies in hopes of establishing a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. The expedition failed in just about every way, and, among its plethora of problems, La Salle was murdered by one of his men. Of the four ships, by

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La Belle on the sea floor before it was dismantled. 1686 only the La Belle remained, and it was ultimately wrecked in Matagorda Bay in February of that year. La Belle settled into the mud and remain ed there for more th an 300 years befo re being located by archaeologists with the Texas Historical Co mmiss ion in 1995 in 12 feet of water. The thick mud produced an anaerobic environment aro und the ship, keeping the wooden hull and its co ntents (including the remains of a crewmember) in a high state of preservation. Archaeologists excavated the site in 1996- 97 and removed, piece by piece, the hull timbers and sent them to the Texas A&M Co nservation Research Laboratory at Coll ege Station. There, the ship's timbers were immersed in a huge vat fill ed with a solution of water and polyethylene glycol (PEG). PEG slowly impregnates the cell s of the wood so that the saturated wood w ill not collapse when dried. This process takes years for large timbers, and in the meantime the price of PEG has increased dramatically with the increase in oil prices. Texas A & M conservators decided that by placing the ship in a pressurized environment of up to 60 degrees below zero (freeze-drying) they will be able to decrease the total time it will take to conserve the wood and do so in a more economical manner. The custom-built 40-by-18-foot freeze-dryer, loca ted at the old Bryan Air Force base several miles northwest of College Station, is the largest in North America devo ted to archaeology. When conservation is completed, researchers will then rebuild the vessel and put it on display at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. Not only did the La Belle co ntai n hundreds of thousands of artifacts pertain in g to European settlement and explo ration SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

roric preservation effort (1987-2011) by Bateaux Below. The exhibit was written and organ ized by Joseph Zarzynski, an underwater archaeologist w ith Bateaux Below. (Fort Wi lli am Henry Museum, Canada Street, Lake Geo rge, NY, 12845 ; Ph. 518 668-5471; www.fwhmuseum . com. Contact Bateaux Below, In c., at POB 2134, Wi lton , NY, 1283 1) The wreck of the Lamartine, a 19thcentury granite schooner whose remains lie on the seafloor within the boundaries of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (NOAA) in Massachusetts Bay has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in Camden, Maine, the 79-foot, two-masted cargo schooner was launched in 1848 and enj oyed a 45-year career deli vering cut granite to ports alo ng the Eastern Seaboard. While hauling gran ite sewer heads from Sto ningto n, Maine, to New York City in May of 1893, the Lamartine sailed into a storm off Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Heavy seas caused the cargo to shift, capsizing the vessel. O ne crewmember drowned as the schooner settled beneath the waves, and the captain and mate were tossed into the sea. A fishing schooner return ing to nearby

in North America, the ship itself is considered an important link in the evolution of ship construction and design. (Texas Historical Commi ss io n website is www. the.state. tx. us/belle/; The Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M is online at http:// nautarch.tam u. edu /CRL/projects/) ... Bateaux Below, Inc., a non-profit organization that works to study and preserve shipwreck sites in Lake George, NY, recently opened a new exhibit, The Sunken Fleet of 1758, at Fort William Henry at the southern end of the 32-mile-long lake in the Adirondacks. The exhibit's opening corresponded with the 255th anniversary of the surren der of the British garri son , Fort William Henry, to the French during the French & Indian Wa r on 9 August 1757. In the fall of 1758, the British deliberately sank more than 260 of their warships in Lake George to protect them over the com ing winter from the French and their Native Am eri can alli es. Th e fort had been destroyed a year Two- and three-masted schooners loaded granite cargos directly earlier, so the 1758 from the quarries in Stonington, Maine, and Rockport, Massafleet was designed to chusetts, bound for developing cities along the Eastern Seaboard. safeguard the British warships on the lake. The archaeological G loucester witnessed the sinking and resrecord indi cates that in the summer of cued them. Scientists from NOAA an d 1759 about 200 British vessels were the University of Connecticut's Northraised from the lake bed, but about 50 east Underwater Research Technology sunken bateaux and other vessels were and Education Center (NURTEC) docunot recovered. Th ese 18th-century ship- mented the shipwreck wi th a remo tely wrecks were the foc us of a lo ng-term un- operated ve hicle during several research (continued on p.48) derwater archaeological study and his45

International Dory Racing M os t people involved in m ariti me heritage know something of the fa mous G lo uces ter, Ma ssachu setrs, fi sh ing schooners of the nineteenth and ea rly twentieth centuries. Their graceful Ii nes and beauty under sail, plus the rich history that surrounded the vessels a nd the fi shing industry that created them are all part of the culture that permeates Cape Ann to this day. W hat fewe r people think about, however, are the dories that were carried on deck aboard those schooners and the skills involved in rowing and working from them out on the offshore fishing banks. While G louces ter has kept the traditio n of Gloucester's Elin afKlinteberg and Mike Frontiera took first in the 112-mile m ixed doubles the international schooner races alive dory races in early August and will represent their city in Lunenburg on 25 August. each Labor D ay weekend at the a nnual G lo ucester Schooner Fes tival, ea rlier in the summer, the G loucester International D ory Racing Committee (GIDRC) holds a series of races to select which rowers will represent G loucester at the 201 2 championship races in Lunenburg, N ova Scotia, at the end of the summer. Like a lot of maritime traditions, the races began with some boasti ng at a bar. Back in 1951, fis hermen Tom Frontiero of G loucester a nd Lunenburg's Lloyd H eisler re-opened a heated discussion at a bar in Lunenburg about wh ich city had the best dorym en. They finally decided to settle the debate on the water by racing the best rowers from each city against one another. Frontiero re turned to Gloucester to ro und up a crew and the International D ory Races we re born. Sixty yea rs later, the races bring hund reds of people to the waterfront in Gloucester each summer to watch men and wom en co mpete for the dory slo ts that will race against their Lunenburg foes at the end of the summer. The Com m ittee not only sponsors the races, but it m aintains a fleet of eight dories that members can use to train or non-racing mem bers can simply use to row around the harbor. U nlike the sleek racing shells yo u may have seen recen tly in the Olympics, the fishing do ry is a 600 -pound work boat, designed to carry up to a thousand pounds of fis h out on the open ocean . Rowing and m a neuvering them rakes skill a nd lots of practice to do it well. Membership in the G IDRC is just $75 per year, and it helps keep residents of Cape Ann connected to their rich m aritime roots and m aintains strong ties with their counterparts in Lunenbu rg, long considered G loucester's sister city. You can see photos and learn more about the C ommittee and the races at their website at www.internationaldories.com . YACHT CHARTERS

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Off to Fiddler's Green Richard G. Belliveau (1928-201 2)

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Rich ard G . Belliveau , 83, the ch airman of th e NMH S C h arles Point Council, d ied on 5 May 201 2. The C h arles Poinc Coun cil is the local ch ap ter of th e Natio nal M aritime Historical Society that builds greater awa ren ess of th e ri ch seafarin g h eritage of the Hudson River Valley and creates a constituen cy to advocate for the m aritime h eritage . It h olds a m onthly lecture series and o rganizes p rojects to publicize the m aritime h eritage o f the area. As ch airman, Dick Bellivea u worked on involving the edu cati on al community and increas in g th e reach of the council. H e h ad a p assion fo r histo ry and strived to arrange creative and enticing program s fo r the lecture series that would interest more peo pl e. Mr. Belliveau served w ith the US Army-Ai r Corp fro m 1946- 1949, and then fro m 195 1- 1952 h e served in the US Ai r Fo rce during the Korean War. He was a retired schoolteach er for the Mo unt Pleasant School District in Tho rnwood , New York. H e was part of the W estch ester C ivil W ar Roundtable and an ac tive supporter of th e Boy Sco uts. A fa ithful member o f the Peekskill Pres by teri an C hurch , Mr. Belli veau also volunteered as ch aplain at the Hudso n Valley Hospital. H e was predeceased by his wife Barbara in 200 5; he is survived by his four sons and their fa mili es . H e was an important and beloved m ember of the N MHS family and is greatly missed.

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 201 2

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SHIP NOTES

CONTINUED Sisters Under Sail

missions between 2004 and 2006 . The information they collected all owed Sanctuary m aritime archaeol ogists, w ith help from a local m aritime historian, to identify the shipwreck and conn ect it with N ew England's cultural landscape, a landscape do tted with granite quarries on coastal headlands and islands. Th e Lamartine is the Sanctuary's sixth shipwreck site to be includ ed on the N ational Register of Historic Places, administered by the U S D epartment of the Interio r's N ational Park Service. The wreck site's location within the Sanctuary provides protection unavailable to shipwrecks in other federal waters off M assachusetts. Federal regulations prohibit moving, removing, or injuring any Sanctuary historical resource, including artifac ts and pieces from shipwrecks o r other submerged archaeological sites. Th e NOAA Stellwage n Bank N atio nal Marine Sanctuary encompasses 842 square miles of ocean , stretching between C ape Ann and Cape Cod off M assachusetts. (http: //s tellwage n.noaa .gov) .. . The first tall ship that sailed into Halifax in July for the Tall Ships Nova Scotia 2012 created a buzz once onlookers discovered that it was sailed by an all-female professional crew and manned by six teenaged girls as trainees. Sisters Under Sail is a no nprofit organization that helps teen girls build co nfid ence, enhan ce their self-estee m, develop social conscience, and learn th e value of working togeth er to-

wards a co mmon goal through sail training. Sisters was bo rn from the perso nal experiences of D aw n Santamaria and her famil y sailing aboard their topsail schooner, Unicorn, where her four daughters discove red th eir own leadership potential. The Sisters U nder Sail program is designed to build co nfidence in tee n girls and enco urages them to find their own po tential, courage, and tenacity. In its 13 yea rs of o peration , Sisters U nder Sail has sailed with m o re th an 45 0 teenage girls aboard Unicorn, nearly half of whom we re able to participate because of generous sponsors who share the goal o f broadening a girl's perspecti ve of her world through a unique and powerful learning experience. Sisters U nder Sail works closely with individual fa mili es, co mmunities, and yo uth o rganizatio ns to identify girls who show strong po tential and who wo uld benefit from such an experience. To sponso r a girl o r to send your daughter aboard for a Ii fr -changing voyage, co ntact Dawn Santam aria, the organization's found er, at dawn @s istersundersail.org. (Fo r more inform ation about Sisters Und er Sail , visit them o nlin e at sistersundersail.org or o n Facebook at facebook.co m/S istersUnd erSa il) ... Joe McCullough, education coordinator with the Alaska Office of Boating Safety was named the Western

States Boating Administrators Association (WSBAA) Boating Safety Educator of the Year on 12 June. Th e award recognizes a boating safety professional w ho achieves excellence in delivering a high-quality boating safety edu cation program. In addition to teachi ng students about boating safety, McCu llough trains instructors and has put a special emph as is on providing instru ctor training fo r Alas ka state troopers and military personnel. As a result, m o re boating safety educati o n programs are being offered now th an ever before. M cCullough's commi tm ent includes developing and improving Alaska's education curricula and numerolllS boating safety education publications as well as producing awardwinning videos such as "Cold Water Boating" and "Boating Alaska." In a state with no mandatory education requirement for boaters, M cCullough has taught boating safety courses to more than 900 people and coordinated the instruction for another 1, 100 students. The award is sponsored by Kalkomey E nterprises, parent compan y of Boat Edâ&#x20AC;˘ and www.boat-ed.com.

f oe M cCullough

SEA HlSTORY 140, AUTUMN 20 12

FESTIVALS, EVENTS, LECTURES, ETC.

•"Behind Closed Doors: Graphic Novels and the US Navy," 6-8 PM, 20 September at the H ampton Roads Naval Museum . Reservations required. (O ne Waterside Dr. , Suite 248, Norfolk, VA 235 10; Ph. 757 322-3 109; www.hrnm.navy. mil) •Panel Discussion, "Designing the SS United States," led by historian Pat Kirkham on 9 October. H osted by the SS United Stares Conservancy ar rhe Forbes Galleries as part of the ongoing exhibit The Ocean Liner United Stares (see listing in column 3) • RyboRendezvous Weekend, 12-14 O ctober ar Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, Florida (6 15 SW Anchorage Way, Stuart, FL 34994; Ph. 772 28 3-9225; sun setbaymarinaandanchorage.com and www.RybovichBook.com) •USS Constellation Cup Regatta & Pier Party, 20 O ctober in Baltimore H arbor. Regatta open to all sailboats; proceeds benefit restoration proj ects and educational programs at the Historic Ships in Baltimore. (Pier 1, 301 E . Pratt St., Baltimore, MD 21202; Ph. 4 10 539- 1797; www.historicships.org) •Sultana Projects Downrigging Weekend Tall Ship & Wooden Boat Festival, 26-28 October in C hestertown, M D . (www.sultanaproj ects.org) EXHIBITS

•Disasters on the Delaware: Rescues on the River, 7 September th ro ugh 201 3 at the Independence Seaport Museum (Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, PA; Ph. 215 4 13-8655; www. phillyseapo rt.org) • She's A WOW: Women's Service Organizations in World war IL 13 September th ro ugh early 201 3 at the Pritzker Military Library in C hi cago. (1 04 S. Michigan Ave., C hicago, IL 60603; Ph. 3 12 374-9333; www. pritzkermilitarylibrary.org •Marine Art Invitational and Life Along the River, through 22 September at the Lyme Art Association's Cooper/Ferry & South Galleries. This is a member and ASMA- invited show. (LAA, 90 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT 06371; Ph. 860 434-7802; (www. lymeartassociation.org) •LighthousesandLegends, pain tings fro m the Burrichter/Kierlin M arine Art Collecthrough 19 O ctober at the M in -

neso ta Marine Art M useum. Also, The First & Second war for Independence, through 11 November, a exhibition of 30 engravi ngs from the US Navy Art Collection (800 Riverview D rive, W inona, M N 55987; Ph. 507 474-6626; www.minne so ramarineart.org) •Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine, 22 September-30 December at the Portland M useum of Art (7 Congress Sq., Portland, ME 04 101 ; Ph. 207 775 6 148; www.portlandmuseum.org) •1812: A Nation Emerges, th ro ugh 27 January at the National Portrait Gal lery (8 th and F Streets NW, Washington, D C 20001 ; Ph. 202 633-8300; www. npg. si. edu) •Written on the waves: Shipboard Logs and journals, thro ugh 1 Ocrober 201 2 ar the Peabody Essex Museum. (PEM, East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01 970; 978 745-95 00; www.pem.org) •Paci.fie Flourish, an exhibition of m ixed media by Michele Janee; and Sanctuary, by Artist-in-Residence Lizabeth Madal who explores through art rhe Channel Islands, through 4 November at the Sama Barbara Maritime M useum (11 3 H arbor Way, Suite 190, Sam a Barbara, CA 93 109; Ph. 805 962-8404; www.sbmm.org) •Jack London Photographer, over 50 images thro ugh 3 D ecember 201 2 ar rhe San D iego Maritime Museum (1 492 North H arbor Dr., San Diego, CA 92 101 ; www. sdmaritime.org) •American Society of Marine Artists 15th National Exhibition, through 201 3, traveling to: Texas, Califo rnia, Oregon, and Minnesota. (ASMA, www.americansocietyofmarineartisrs.com) •Sea Battles ofthe war of1812, an exhibition of 25 oil paimings by H ans Skalagard (11 3 H arbor Way, Sam a Barbara, CA 93 109; www.s bmm .org) •Treasures from the Collections and Restoring a Past, Charting a Future at Mystic Seaport Museum (75 Greenmanville Ave., Mys tic, CT 06355; www.mysticseaport.o rg) •Push and Pull: Life on Chesapeake Tugboats, through 201 4 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime M useum (2 13 N. Talbot Street, St. M ichaels, MD 21663; Ph. 4 10 745-2916; www.cbmm .o rg) •Always Good Ships: A Tribute to 125 Years of Newport News Shipbuilding,

ar The Mariners' Museum (1 00 Museum Dr., Newpo rt News, VA 23606; Ph. 757 596-2222; www.marinersm useum.org) •Battle of Lake Erie, permanem exhibit at rhe Eri e Maritime Museum (1 50 East Front St. , Erie, PA 16507; Ph. 8 14 4522744; www.eriemaritimemuseum .org) •war of 1812, features the iconic "Don't Give Up th e Ship" flag from the Battle of Lake Erie at rhe US Naval Academy Museum (12 1 Blake Rd ., Annapolis, MD 2 1402; www. usna.edu) •The Ocean Liner United States: Celebrating the Past and Future ofAmerica's Flagship, th ro ugh 20 October 201 2 at the Forbes Galleri es in New York. (FG, 62 Fifth Avenue, New York; Ph. 212 2065548; www.fo rbesgalleries .com) CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIUMS

•The War of 1812 Bicentennial Conference Series: Part I, "Origins and the War at Sea," 27-29 September 201 2 in St. John, New Brunswick. H osted by rhe Gregg Centre fo r the Srudy of War and Society, the University of Maine, and rhe New Brunswick M useum . (Email Dr. Marc Milner at milner@unb. ca fo r more info rmation) •2012 Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Annual Meeting & Expo, 24-26 October in Providence, RI. Pre-meeting training sessions, 22 and 23 Ocrober. (www.sname. org/20 l 2Ann ualMeering/) •"From Enemies to Allies," An International Conference on the War of 1812 and its Aftermath, 12-16 June 201 3 at rhe United Stares Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD. Call for Papers deadline is 1 February 201 3. (I nquiries about the submission process should be sent to Bill Pencek, Executive Director, Maryland War of 18 12 Bicenrennial Commiss ion at bpencek@choosemarylahd.org. General information on rhe conference is online at www.starspangled200.com.) •Big Stuff Conference 2013, triennial international meeting focused on the co nserving our large technology heritage, 25-27 Septe mber 201 3 in Onawa, Canada. Co nfe rence theme will be "Saving Big Stuff in T ight Economic Times." Call for Papers deadline is 3 1March 201 3. (www. sciencetech.technom uses.ca/ english/whatson/b ig__sruff_co nference.cfm

Great NEW reads from Sea History Press ... The Skipper

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The Skipper & the Eagle by Captain Gordon McGowan, USCG (Ret.) with an Introduction by Admiral Robert]. Papp, fr., Commandant, US Coast Guard The year was 1946, the place was bomb-shattered Bremerhaven. Amid the confusion of bombed cities, displaced persons, and food and housing shortages, Commander Gordon McGowan, US Coast Guard, found himself the master of a three-masted barque, a battered prize of war which he had to transform into a well-found Coast Guard training ship able to make a transAdantic voyage under sail. With her carryover crew of German seamen and neophyte Coast Guard personnel, the barque found new life and a great adventure under the calm and gentle leadership of a Coast Guard officer. In Admiral Papp's words, "... in his simple effort to document a small portion of

Eagle's history, [McGowan] related a story of courage, initiative, humility and devotion to duty which stands the test of time, and should serve as both a lesson and example for the young public servants that the Coast Guard Academy strives to develop." The Skipper & the Eagle is hearty fare and ranks near the top of seagoing literature. There isn't a dull page in it. To order your copy, visit our Ship's Store at www.seahistory.org, or call 914 737-7878, ext. 0.

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Our Flag Was Still There will serve as a guidebook to the upcoming bicentennial celebrations across the country beginning in 2012: the OpSail tall ship and naval ship parade up the east coast and in the Great Lakes, exhibits, reenactments, concerts, air shows, fireworks and more. To order your copy, visit the National Maritime Historical Society's Ship's Store at www.seahistory.org, or call 914 7377878, ext. 0.

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Reviews Able Seamen: The Lower Deck of the Royal Navy 1850-1939 by Brian Lavery (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2011, 368pp, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-59114-730-5; $41.95hc) For centuries, men of the underclass volunteered or were impressed to serve the Royal Navy upon its lower deck as ordinary sailors. A ship was a means of transportation and a gun platform. Its officers were leaders responsible for where, when and how the vessel was deployed, bur its sailors gave the ship heart, vitality and functionality. Sailors were unconditionally loyal to their shipmates, ship, king, and country, bur those placed in command had to earn the sailors' fidelity and respect; success was nor guaran reed. Brian Lavery, curator emeritus of Greenwich's National Maritime Museum, has written a derailed history of the evolution of the sailor's life in the Royal Navy. The ships' hulls changed from wood to iron and sailors went from non-descript clothing to naval uniforms. A few ranks of authori ty were given to ordinary sailors, bur men of the lower deck rarely rose above their enlistment station. They rook mess beside their guns and slept in hammocks that swung over these same gun-decks. With the arrival of steam engines, seamen needed skills to operate and service the propulsion systems, man the increasingly sophisticated weapons, and use advanced signaling devices from semaphore to radio and other advanced electronics. They now had sleeping quarters, a dedicated mess, and ranks and distinctions contributing to a more highly proficient and motivated sailor class. They became truly "able seamen," adept at the new technologies and complexities of naval warfare-specialists who created an asronishing transition in social structure among those of the "lower deck." In spire of this, suffocating snobbery sustained crew segregation, the sequel of a strict naval hierarchy. Lavery's work distills a vast amount of historic information in which he used occasionally graphic primary source material and a profusion of noteworthy secondary sources. This is an absorbing and fascinating story about the evolution of the fabled "Jack Tar; " a tale of ninety years of historic and technological events that shaped a blue-

SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

water profession. This scholarly book is a major contribution to maritime and social history, the often forgotten life of ordinary sailors, the men whom British naval history is really all about. I highly recommend Able Seamen to both maritime historians and laymen with an interest in this captivating topic.

commanded by two sailors, Rene Malevergne, a French river pilot and resident of Port Lyautey (Kenitra) in French Morocco, and the master of SS Contessa, Captain William John. On orders of General Parton, the airfield at Casablanca, necessary for air support for the invasion, was to be taken by commandos delivered to the sire by the destroyer USS Dallas. Fuel and explosives for the P-40s assigned to that field were to be delivered by a merchant ship of draft shallow enough to cross the bar and navigate the River Sebou-the banana boar SS Contessa. John and the commander of the US Navy guard captained the Contessa, and Malevergne, carefully exfilrrared our of Africa for the mission, piloted both ships over the bar and up the treacherous twelve miles to the airfield. Twelve Desperate Miles sets our the details of an adventure as exciting as any spy or war novel. Readers will enjoy the tale even if they already know the outcome. DR. DAVID 0. WHITTEN Auburn, Alabama

Lours ARTHUR NoRTON

West Simsbury, Connecticut

Twelve Desperate Miles: The Epic WW7I Voyage of the SS Contessa by Tim Brady (Crown Publishers, New York, NY, 2012, 329pp, photos, maps, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-307-59037-4; $26hc) If the role of SS Contessa in World War II were offered as fiction it would be rejected our-of-hand as over-the-top, fantastic, unbelievable. The story has been told and retold in accounts of Operation Torch (the 1942 Allied assault on North Africa) but Tim Brady has set it our in delightful derail that makes for hard-to-put-down reading. Each participant in the unlikely exploit is identified and placed for action, and what a rogues' gallery of characters! Any drama starring General George Patton is bound to be intriguing, confusing and amusing. Supporting actors include Generals George Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lucian Truscott, and Mark C lark and, as the movie makers say, a cast of thousands, all devoted to the mission of a banana boar. Despite the star power of generals, center stage of Twelve Desperate Miles is

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A Hard Fought Ship The story of HMS Venomous by R.J. Moore

and J.A. Rodgaard

384 pp, 170 photographs, 12 maps and plans • Paperback, $25 + $5 postage in US

Edited by DAVID BOYD HAYCOCK & SALLY ARCHER Examines a wide range of asp ects of h ealth and m edicine in m aritime and imperial settings during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. List: $99.00; Sale: $69.30 Decernber2009;9781843835226 I 17 b/w illus., 248 pp, cloth

"Th is book is highly recommended to both naval hi storians and the general publi c." - Harold N. Boyer, Mariner's Mirror

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" ... a fasc inati ng and most comprehensive insight into life in a ve ry diffe rent world than today, beau tifully crafted by the authors and a book well deservi ng of a place in your libra ry ..." - David Clements, Soundings

"I would rate this as being up in the sa me class as The Cruel Sea for a picture of small ship li fe in Worl d War 2." -Alastai r Wi lson, Commander RN (Ret.), Naval Review "Fo r a true seaman it is depressing to see a good shjp like the Venomous bound for the breakers. Occas ionally, one is saved and beco mes a showpi ece. Pi ty there is n't more of them. A good rea d; highl y recom men ded." -Nautical Magazine

To order, e-mail : john_rodgaard@yahoo.com

The Day the World Was Shocked: The Lusitania D isaster and its Influence on the Course of World war !by John Protasio (Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia, 2011 , 239pp, photos, notes, biblio, ISBN 978-1 -9351 49-45-3; $29.95 hc) The story of the Lusitania disaster and its effect on world history is retold here by John Protasio. lhe Day the WorldWizs Shocked offers li ttle new analysis or insight into the tragic sinking of the C unard liner, but serves as a wo rk of synthesis, bringing toge ther in one slim volume the basic facts and arguments about this incident. That said, the work is not entirely derivative: Protasio uses first-person acco unts to bring home the horrors of lifeand-death scenarios at sea. The heart-rending images of children being swept from mothers' arms, or of elderly victims succum bing to the cold waters of the North Atlan tic, are too numero us too m ention, but add a chilling human dimension to a story all-too-often retold as one of international importance bu t ignoring individual suffer ing. Pro tasio writes with a crisp style, maki ng fo r a quick and engaging read . H e situates his story am idst the great naval buildup that met Lusitania's launching, of Anglo-German rivalries, and of dramatic imp rovements in shipbuilding technology. H e tells of the specific qualities of the huge luxury ship, and of the advancem ents in submarine technology that wo uld ultimately spell doom for the vessel. H e recounts the frenzied eigh teen minu tes that followed fro m the to rpedo attack, relates the struggles of survivo rs and death of its victims, and relates th e inquiry tha t fo llowed fro m the attack. The author then presents the various th eories surrounding the Lusitania incident: was she a legitimate target? Did she carry explosives an d oth er contraband? Was unrestricted submarine warfare a legitimate tool in the face of a crushing naval blockade? Were the Germans justified in sinking the liner? As such , this serves as a good primer fo r the literature in the field, laying o ut the various scenarios that can be addressed in m ore substantive tomes. The autho r then ties the sinking of the Lusitania to America's entry into the First World War, painting an accurate picture of wartime diplomacy ancd domestic political squabbles, bur artri butimg too m uch importance to an event thatt predated America's declaration of war by rrnore than two years. The result is a superficiaU acco unt that does a SEA HISTORY 14 0 , AUTUMN 201 2

decent job of recounting the importance of the Lusitania tragedy to wo rld history, but which offers little new to th e discussio n. Armchair hi sto ri ans may find much of interest here, especially in the fi rst-person narrative of the disaster, but p rofessionals will find The Day the World Wtzs Shocked more disappointing than illuminating. TIMOTHY LYNCH, PHD Benicia, California

Sea of Troubles: The Lost Ships of Point Sur by JoAnn Semones (Glen cannon Press, El Cerrito, CA, 201 2, 256pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 978- 1-8 89901-5 5-8; $27.95hc) South of San Francisco, south of Santa C ruz, south of Monterey lies Point Sur. Like many spo ts o n the Califo rnia coast, it's known as a place of danger for m ariners-in fact, a place of disasters. JoAnn Semones, in her third book o n C aliforni a ship wreck s (fo llow ing

Shipwrecks, Scalawags and Scavengers: The Storied ~ters of Pigeon Point, and Hard Luck Coast: The Perilous Reefs ofPoint Montara, also published by The G lencannon Press) takes us o n a chronological journey from 1875 to 1957, from the w reck of the steamer Ventura to the collisio n of the Sparrows Point and the Manx Fisher, telling tales witnessed solely along this sh o rt stretch of the coast, now part of the M o nterey Bay National M arine Sanctuary. Semones's strength rests in her reliance on the human sto ries of the disasters. Whether it's a collision, a stranding, a fi re or an outright das hing upon the rocks, there is human error to be debated, human life lost, and humani ty-or the lack thereof- to be examined . H er style brings in the builders, the captains, and thesalvagers, the lighthouse keepers at Point Sur, and the o ther fam ous personalities of maritime histo ry connected to the vessels and the yards at which they were built. Sem ones deliberately writes anecdotally, keeping alive the storytelling traditions of the sea. W hat the book reminds us most is that, besides Poi nt Sur being a place ofterrible tragedy, these vessels have very little to nothing in common. They came to (in m any cases) their final resting places from both the Atlantic and the Paci fi c, sometimes from the other side of the latter. O ne, the di rigible USS Macon , cam e fro m the air. They may have passed each other on the

SEAHISTORY 140,AUTUMN 201 2

sea or in ports, but fo r the most part o ne wo uld find it hard to connect them in any other significant meaningful way. The only thing they all share is Point Sur. The book is physically durable, printed in a relatively large font providing easy reading, with numerous illustrations, making it undoubtedly desti ned fo r coffee tables all along the Cali fo rnia coast. JOHN GALLUZZO Hull, M assachusens

The Civil W"ar at Sea by Craig L. Symonds (O xford University Press, New York, 201 2, 256pp, photos, m aps, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0- 19-993 168-2; $ 17.95pb) With sco res of sesquicentennial books painting every aspect of the C ivil War in brilliant color, is there room fo r another? In the case of Craig L. Symonds's The Civil ~rat Sea, the answer is yes. As was the case with his 2011 title, The Battle of Midway, Symonds enters a thoroughly wo rked field and rearranges the harvest. There is nothing new in The Civil ~r at Sea; the Confederacy suffered shortages of everything bur defiance, ingenui Ly, an<l intestinal forricude ; the U nion enj oyed surpluses of everything but inter-service cooperation and flag-rank leadership. C ivil War studies typically relegate the war on water to foo tnotes, insets, or closing paragraphs because the conflict was fo ugh t largely on land with ships and boats in support. Symonds's title might better have been "The C ivil War on Water," because so much of the naval action was on ri ve rs, often with the army (Confederate and Union) in charge of some o r all of the vessels. W ith the exceptions of the slugfest between the ironclads CSS Virginia and USS Monitor and the sea battle when USS Kearsarge sank CSS Alabama, there were no inspiring naval victories comparable to those between American and British fri gates during the War of 181 2. From SS Star ofthe West to CSS Shenandoah, Sym onds addresses the naval history of the Civil War to pically. History buffs will not add to thei r kn owledge ofAmerica's most deadly war from a reading of The Civil ~r at Sea, but they will benefit fro m a view of naval actio n highlighted and set apart from the war in toto. D R. DAVID 0. WHITTEN Auburn, Alabam a

JUST PUBLISHED

The Sea Was Always There by Joseph Callo Foreword by John Lehman ADVANCE PRAISE: "Your writing is gripping." "Leaves as cl ea n an impression as a sharply cut seal presse d into liquid wax." This is one man's story about learning from the sea. It includ es the joy, pain, victory, defe at, surprises, and humor involved in the process. The narrative sweeps from th e Indian Ocean's east coast, across the Pacifi c, Caribbean, Atlantic, and into th e Mediterranean. The stories are true. Joe Callo is th e author of the awa rd winning john Paul ]ones: America's First Sea Warrior a nd three books about Britain's Admiral Nelson. He was U.S. author/editor for Who's Who in Naval History, and he w rites for magazines and newspapers. He also is a Naval History Author of the Year.

At Amazon.com, bookstores and e-book sellers.

www.JosephCallo.com 53

I.\\.-\ l; L"'

.-\ m ,, r

Coming in Fall 2012 from Sea History Press ...

GALVESTON'S Tl IE ELISSA TI IE T \LL S1 !IP C>F T EX.\S

by Kurt D. Voss All proceeds from this pictorial history benefit the ELISSA preservation fund

A Dream of Tall Ships How New Yorkers came together to save the city's sailing-ship waterfront by Peter and Norma Stanford with an Introduction by John Stobart, RA

This lively account of a great urban adventure begins in the 1960s with two New Yorkers who were committed to creating a maritime museum in Manhattan's old sailing ship waterfront-the South Street Seaport Museum. Entranced by the old brick buildings of the Fulton Fish Market neighborhood and aware of the rush of new office-bui lding construction in Lower Manhattan, they moved to save the old buildings as an historic district, and breathe new life into New York's old Street of Ships.

Published by Arcad ia Publishing and Galveston Historical Foundation $21.99. 128 pages, 200 photographs Autographed copies ava ilable at (409) 763-1877, or on line at:

www.tsm-elissa.org

The idea of recreating the old sailing-ship waterfront inspired young and old, rich and poor, Wall Streeters and blue-collar workers, seamen, firemen, policemen and teachers to work together to found a museum showcasing the ships that built the port, which built the city, which built the nation.

Hardcover, 400 pages, 24 pages of photos and illustrations

â&#x20AC;˘ $25.00 + $6.95 s/h in US; call for international rates

To order, visit the NMHS Ship's Store at www.scahistory.org, or call 9 I 4 737- 7878, ext. 0.

1922

SEA HIS1TORY 140, AUTUMN 2012

New&Noted TheAtlantic Transport Line, 1881-1931: A History with Details on All Ships by Jonathan Ki nghorn (McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 2012, 308pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-7864-6 142-4; $55pb)

A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the SS United States by Steven Ujifusa (Simon & Schuster, NY, 201 2, 464pp, illus, notes, index, ISB N 978-1-45164507- 1; $29.99hc)

Beyond the Blue Horizon: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans by Brian Fagan (Bloomsbury Press, New York, 2012, 336pp, notes, index, ISBN 978- 16081 90058;$28htj

Maritime Tales of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gateley (The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2012, 128pp, ISBN 9781-60949-684-5; $ 19.99pb)

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Nautical Books and Artifacts

Britain's Oceanic Empire: Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds, c. 1550-1850, edited by H. V Bowen, Elizabeth Mancke, and John G. Reid (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012, 484pp, maps, notes, index, ISBN 978-1- 10702-01 4-6; $ 105hc) The British Textile TradeinSouthAmerica in the Nineteenth Century by Manuel Llorca-Jana (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 20 12, 408pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978- 1-10702- 129-7; $99hc) De Ruyter: Dutch Admiral, edi ted by Jaap Bruijn, Ronald Prud'homme can Reine, and Rolof yan Hovell tot Westerflier (Karwansaray Publishers, Rotterdam, 2011 , 28 0pp, illus, maps, biblio, notes, index, ISB N 978-94-90258-03-0; $88.92 hc)

The Naval Mutinies of 1797: Unity and Perseverance, edited by Ann Veronica Coats and Philip MacDougall (Boydell Press, Suffolk, UK, 2011 , 3 l 6pp, illus, biblio, notes, ISBN 978-1-84383-669-8; $99hc) Roles of the Sea in Medieval England, edited by Richard Gorski (The Boydell Press, 2012, Suffolk, UK, 206pp, notes, index, ISBN 978-1-84383-701-5 ; $90hc) The Sea Was Always There by Joseph Callo (Fireship Press, Tucson, AZ, 201 2, 353pp, appen, notes, ISBN 978-1-611 79-207-2; $19.95pb)

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The Social History of English Seaman: 1485-1649, edited by Cheryl A. Fury CTI1e Boydell Press, 2012, Suffolk, UK, 350pp, illus, biblio, notes, index, I SBN 978-184383-689-6; $ 115hc)

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Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship &

the Men Who Helped Win World W'ar II by Barrett T illman (Simon & Schuster, New York, 20 12, 300pp, illus, notes, index, ISBN 978-1-439 19-087-6; $27hc) From Forecastle to Cabin by Captain Samuel Samuels, edited by Vincent Mclnerney (Seaforth Publishing, Pen & Swords Books, Ltd., Barnsley, UK, 2012, 202pp, notes, ISBN 978-1-84832- 126-7; $27. 95hc)

Two Captains from Carolina: Moses Grandy, john Newland Maffitt, and the Coming ofthe Civil war by Bland Simpson (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2012, 192pp, ISBN 978-0-80783-585-2; $28hc) The Uchuck Years: A West Coast Shipping Saga by David Esson Young (Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, BC, Canada, 20 12, 304pp, photos, maps, index, ISBN 978- 1-5501 7-582-0; $24.95 pb)

Front Burner: Al Qaeda's Attack on the USS Cole by Commander Kirk S. Lippold, USN (Ret.) (Public Affairs Books, NY, 2012, 362pp, illus, appen, notes, index, ISBN 978- 1-6 1039-124-5; $27.99hc)

Dictionary of British Naval Battles by John D . G rainger (The Boydell Press, 201 2, Suffolk, UK, gloss, maps, 588 pp, index, ISBN 978-1 -84383-704-6; $ l 65hc)

Intrepid Sailors: the Legacy ofPreble's Boys and the Tripoli Campaign by Chipp Reid (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 201 2, 320pp, illus, maps, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978- 1-6 1251- 11 7-7; $35.95hc)

Voyage to Jamestown: Practical Navigation in theAge ofDiscovery by Robert D . Hicks (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD , 2011, illus, notes, gloss, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-59114-376-5; $29 .95hc)

SEA HISTORY 140,AUTUMN 2012

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