Sea History 141 - Winter 2012-2013 by National Maritime Historical Society & Sea History Magazine

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No. 141

SEA HISTORY

WINTER 20 12-13

CONTENTS 10 Constitution's Most Challenging Fight and the Battle of New Orleans-A Look at the Final Battles of the War of 1812, by William H. White At the start of 1814, the outcome ofthe \liar of 1812 was far from certain. Great Britain had been fighting two wars at once, and when Napoleon surrendered in the spring, the British shifted their attention to North America. Both sides, however, were weary ofthe conflict, and each sent a team ofdiplomats to Ghent to see ifpeace could be negotiated. It would take months, and, in the meantime, the battles ashore and at sea raged on. \.

18 Infernal Machines: Submarine and Torpedo Warfare in the War of 1812, by Donald G. Shomette

The first ironclad warship destroyed in combat in the Western Hemisphere was not the Moniror nor the Merrimack/Virginia, nor was it used in the Civil \liar; rather, it was a semisubmersibfe used in the \liar of 1812 in Long Island Sound. Eight months into the war, the Americans were desperate to break the Royal Navy's blockade ofthe Eastern Seaboard. Congress passed the "Torpedo Act" to encourage private citizens to develop-and execute-underwater devices to attack British ships, and a handful ofinnovators, including Robert Fulton of steamboat fame, rose to the occasion with the development of underwater torpedoes (mines), submarines, and semi-submersibles, to varying degrees ofsuccess.

"u0z

24 SMS Kon igsberg at Pangani, 1914, by Ian Marshall

::;

Almost sixty years ago, artist Ian Marshall was flying over Tanzania in a DC3, when the pilots dropped altitude over the Rufiji River to show their passengers the remains ofa German warship, a remnant ofthe German colonial administration, which had been destroyed by British firepower in 1915 and abandoned. Marshall was intrigued, and set out to document the ship and maritime activity in East Africa in the early part ofthe twentieth century through both historical research and art.

32 Fair Winds, HMS Boun'ty, by Deirdre O 'Regan At first light on 28 October, the replica ofHMS Bounty was awash in heavy seas, nearly 100 miles off Cape Hatteras, forcing her crew to abandon ship. Three members ofthe crew, including the ship's long-time captain, Robin \Ila/bridge, were washed into the sea as they attempted to board the liferafts. Two would not survive. As the National Maritime Historical Society joins the maritime community in its grief, we remember the lost shipmates and the Bounty herself

Cover: USS Constitution Under Sail, photo by US Navy photo by MC 1st Class Andrew Meyers. This summer, the 1797 US Navy frigate, USS Constitution, sailed under her own power for only

the 2nd time in 131 years, as part ofthe \liar of 1812 commemoration. (See article on pages 10-16 to read about one ofConstitu tion's most challenging battles at the conclusion of the \liar of 1812).

DEPARTMENTS 4 DECK LoG AND LETTERS 8 NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION 30 MARINE ART NEWS 34 SEA HISTORY FO R Kms 38 MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

40 49

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

51 56

REVlEWS

CALENDAR

PATRONS

Sea Histo ry and the National Maritime Historical Society Sea History e-mail: edirorial@seahistory.org; NMHS e-mail: nmhs@seahisrory.org;

Web site: www.seahisrory.org. Ph: 914 737-7878; 800 221-NMHS MEMBERSHIP is invited. Afterguard $ 10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $1,000; Donor $500; Patron $250; Friend $100; Contributor $75; Family $50; Regular $35.

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

SEA HISTORY (issn 0146-9312) is published quarterly by rhe National Maritime H istorical 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 Mari rime Historical Society. Tel: 914 737-7878. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG National Maritime Historical Society Turns SO!

appy Birthday NMH S! In 2013 the Society will celebrate 50 years. This is an exciting benchmark, brimming with both opportunities and ' challenges. As we approach our 50'h year we are looking · to a variety of events and projects to celebrate the annivers~ry. Our strength has always been in our members, and our pleasure is meeting you and hearing your ideas and stories; we plan to

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Sea History-now in its fortieth year of continuous publication-will reprint some of our early stories and look at our maritime heritage then and now, both in the maritime community as a whole and within our own history as an organization. We are working on creating documentaries and more internet resources, work with partner groups to develop activities for kids to interes t them in maritime history, and continue to support conferences where educators, maritime professionals, and independent researchers interact. We'll catalogue our wonderful 8,000-volume library and provide more resources from Sea History and the Society online. We also will continue to make our annual awards the Oscars of the maritime field, to recognize and inspire work and excellence in this field. As we make our plans for the 50'h celebration, at the top on our list is our plan to conti nue to publish Sea History, the or national voice of our maritime heritage. In the pages of Sea History we share the stories of how our maritime past shaped our culture and we focus on maritime heritage work going on now. It is the sole national voice for our nation's maritime heritage today; American Neptune, Nautical Quarterly, Maritime Life and Traditions have all ceased publication. When I say we are celebrating our 50th anniversary by continuing to print Sea History, it is not a statement of the "same old, same old," but a stro ng confirmation of what we believe is still important, today, even as technological innovations change the culture in which we live, and even as we realize that we may look to an alternate form of communication sometime in the next 50 years. We have wonderful opportunities waiting for us in the next 50 yearsand, as always, many real and important challenges. With the help and support from our members, we are able-and honored-to share them with you in -Burchenal Green, President these pages of Sea History.

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

PUBLISHER'S C IRCLE: Perer Aro n, G uy E. C. Mairland, Wi lliam H . Whire OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Ronald L. Oswald; Vice Chairman, Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal G reen; Vice Presidents, Deirdre O 'Regan, Nancy Schnaars; Treasurer, Howard Slorn ick; Secretary, Jea n Worr; Trustees: C harles B. Anderson; Walrer R. Brown; RADM Josep h F. Callo, USNR (Rer.); Jam es Ca n er; Thomas Daly; Will iam S. Dudley; David S. Fowler; Wi lliam Jackso n G reen; Karen Helmerso n; Roberr Kamm; Richard M. Larrabee; Guy E. C. Mairland; Capr. Brian McAllisrer; CAPT Sally C hin McElwrearh, USN R (Rer. ); Jam es J. McNamara; M ichael W Morrow; T imorhy J. Run ya n; Richard Scarano; Philip ]. Shap iro; Bradford D . Smirh; H. C. Bowen Smirh ; Cesare So rio; Philip J. Websrer; D aniel W Whalen; Trustee Elect: Richard Parrick O'Leary; Chairmen Emeriti: Walrer R. Brown, Alan G. C hoare, G uy E. C. Mai rland, Howard Slorn ick; President Emeritus, Perer Sranford FOUNDER: Karl Korrum (191 7-1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM David C. Brown , USMS (Rer.); C live C ussler; Richard du Mou lin ; Alan D. Hurchison; Jakob Isbrandrsen ; Gary Jobso n; Sir Robin Knox-Johnsron; John Lehman; John Srobarr; W illiam H . Whire; William Wi nrerer

NATIOK<\I MARl1 l\H' lll'iTORIC,\I '-OCIFTY

SEA HISTORY r!IF \RT. 1111 H.ATt;RI . Al>Vl·.Nl l/RI . I ORE & LI.ARNING

TllE SEA

NM H S ADVISORS: Chairman, Melbourn e Smirh; D . K. Abbass, George Bass, Oswald Brerr, Francis J. Duffy, John Ewald, Timorhy Foore, Wi lliam G il kerson, Sreven A. H yman, J. Russell Jinishi an, Hajo Knurrel , Gunnar Lundeberg, Co nrad Milsrer, W illiam G. Muller, Sruarr Parnes, Lori Dillard Rech , Nancy Hughes Richardson, Berr Roge rs, Joyce Huber Smirh SEA HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Chairman, Timorhy J. Runyan; No rman]. Brouwer, Roberr Browning, William S. Dudley, Daniel Finamore, Kevin Fosrer, Jo hn Odin Jensen, Joseph F. Meany, Lisa Norling, Carla Rahn Phillips, Walrer Rybka, Quentin Snediker, Wi lliam H . Whire

NMHS STAFF: Executive D irector, Burchenal Green; Membership Director, Nancy Schnaars; Communications Director, Suzanne Isakse n; Marketing Director, Sreve Lovass-Nagy; Accounting, Jill Romeo & Perer Yozzo; Volunteer Coordinator, Jan e Maurice; Executive Administrative Assistant, Kelley Howard SEA HISTORY. Editor, Deirdre O ' Regan; Advertising, Wendy Paggiorra; Copy Editor, Shell ey Reid ; Editor-at-large, Perer Sranford

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 20 12- 13

LETTERS New Tall Ship on the Right Course I would be remiss ifl ignored Brian Skelley's letter in the Autumn 2012 issue ofSea History denigrating Rhode Island's new full-rigged sailing ship, Oliver Hazard Perry. Bad news, Mr. Skelley, it's more than a plan-the hull is well on its way to completion and, worse news, there's nothing Class B about it. Ir's bigger than you think. Perry is a Class A size ship, even by the old pre-Tall Ship inflation standards. In this country she will be second in size only to the Coast Guard Barque Eagle and USS Constitution. We have nothing to say regarding the success or failure of any recently built wooden schooners. Our new steel ship builds on a market void left when my former ship, "HMS" Rose, was sold to the producers of the film Master and Commander. Our formidab le board, led by the indefatigable VADM Thomas R. Weschler, chairman emeritus, has thought and worked long and hard on both the ship's construction and business plan. We're all in this for the long haul. A photo log of hull construction can be seen at our website: www.ohpri. org by clicking on the "Narragansett Bay Shipping" link. There are trying times ahead, as both regulators and underwriters scrutinize larger wooden passenger and sail training vessels; this scrutiny need not indict the profound and meaningful lessons learned through seafaring in safe ships. I reacted with some amusement as Mr. Skelley rolled his eyes " ... don't we have enough hungry, under-educated, impoverished children ? Wouldn't it be great if we could rake care of the ones we already have before adding more to the population?" CAPTAIN RrcHARD BAILEY

SSV Oliver Hazard Perry Newport, Rhode Island

In 1969-70, I built for the upcoming US bicentennial a full-sized, operational copy of Rose, the British frigate whose vigorous anti-smuggling campaign in Rhode Island led directly to the founding of the Continental Navy. "HMS" Rose was a museum in Newport for many years. In 1984, I sold her to a group in Bridgeport, CT. The Sailing Schools Vessels Act had recently been passed, and Captain Richard Bailey courageously and far-sightedly talked Rose's owners into investing in the ship to bring

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

We Welcome Your Letters! Please send correspondence to : editorial@seahistory.org or by USPS to: Editor, Sea History, 7 Timberknoll Road, Pocasset, MA 02559 her into compliance with the new law. She got her certification and went on to a successful sail-training career under Bailey as the only private full -rigged ship in North American to be so licensed.

Oliver Hazard Perry, as she

will look when completed. Late in 2000, the Bridgeport owners were making plans to sell the Rose to a group based in Newport, RI, but instead, the ship was sold to a production company ro play a role in the Hollywood movie Master and Commander. Rose was then transferred to the Maritime Museum of San Diego under her stage name, HMS Surprise, where she remains today.With the exception of the USCG Barque Eagle, there were no US full-rigged ships or barques left in the American sail training fleet. A Canadian fam ily, meanwhile, had begun construction on a steel version of the Detroit, the losing British flagship at the Battle of Lake Erie. When I learned

that the family's situation had changed and the partially-built Detroit was for sale at a bargain price, I notified Bailey, who informed the Newport people who had previously almost bought Rose. They bought th e steel hull and are now completing her to a revised design in order to meet Coast Guard standards. This will be the Oliver Hazard Perry, and when she is finished she wi ll be the only full-rigged ship in North America licensed and devoted to sail training. She will reportedly carry up to 48 trainees. M any experts feel that square-rigged vessels are superior platforms for sail training programs; the new ship Perry is on the right track. JOHN FITZHUGH MILLAR

Williamsburg, Virginia

Os Brett, Alan Villiers, and the Beginning of the Maritime Heritage Movement The square-rigger Joseph Conrad running hard, beset across the cover of the Autumn issue Sea History, was a sight to lift any sailor's spirits! Artist Os Brett brings this scene vividly to the life-a crew of yo ung people tucking a third reef into the fore topsail, as the little full rigger runs her easting down en route to Cape Horn on her round-theworld voyage in 1934-36. Alan Villiers, Conrad's skipper, had made this voyage "in defense of my poor ideals,'' as he said at the time, in a world afRicted with economic recession and with threats of a world-wide war. Os had met Vi lliers when the Conrad

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafaring heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea History, from the ancient mariners of Greece to Portuguese navigators opening up the ocean world to the heroic efforts of sailors in modern-day conflicts. Each issue brings new insights and discoveries. If you love the sea, rivers, lakes, and

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

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

Yes, I want to join the Society and receive Sea History quarrerly. My contriburion is enclosed. ($ 17.50 is for Sea History; any amount above that is tax deductible.) Sign me up as: D $35 Regu lar Member D $5 0 Family Member D $ 100 Friend D $25 0 Patron D $5 00 Do nor 141 Mr./Ms. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

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put into his native Sydney, Australia, in 1935. Villiers captured rhe adventure in a sketch (belo w) rhar he later sent to his friends in a Christmas card, which caught much of the spirit of adventure brought our in O s's famous painting later on.

her world voyage, and my father took him home for supper in our home in Brooklyn. He made a lasting impression on me for the man's indomitable perseverance in his voyage in face of a disaster, which would have stopped a lesser person in his tracks. He did not particularly remember me years later- why should he? My admission ticker to the circle of mariners who trust each other was Os Brett and his work with us. PETER STANFORD

Yorktown Heights, New York

Os had hoped to sail with Villiers in rhe Conrad, bur his parents said no-he was just a teenager and too young. Bur rhe Conrad's visit was the beginning of a great friendship between the two, and when Os eventually settled ashore in New York after serving in RMS Queen Elizabeth in World War II, it proved a marvelously productive relationship for both the fledgling South Street Seaport Museum, and later for the National Maritime Historical Society. By rhe rime we had got together to found rhe museum in 1967, Os had become a leading member of the seagoing company rhar formed rhe !are Karl Kortum's worldwide crew of ship savers, and played an outstanding role in educating our lot, who really needed help to play our role in rhe terrific heritage we had set our to represent. Os painted a portrait of the museum ship Wavertree embattled off Cape Horn, where she had been dismasred in 1910, and drew the lively sketches of the ship's crew in action, which we featured in the museum publication Wavertree: An Ocean Wande rer, making rhe maritime community rake notice: we were now serious participants in their story. This fundamental aid and counsel carried over in growing measure as rhe National Maritime Historical Society began publishing Sea History in 1972. Through Os, Alan Villiers took an interest in our work, campaigning tirelessly to help restore rhe Wavertree to sailing condition. When Villiers died in 1982, Os wrote what I consider the leading Villiers biography, in rhe form of a major article in Sea History. I happened by chance to have met Alan Villiers in 1935 when I was seven-a brief meeting when the Conrad was wrecked on the Brooklyn shore on the first leg of

Racing Stripe and the Eagle I read your magazine completely when each issue comes our. I enjoy most articles, bur I do have an issue with rhe letter in the last issue criticizing rhe Coast Guard for painting their barque Eagle with the "racing stripe." The Eagle was authorized by rhe commandant of rhe Coast Guard to wear her racing stripe in 1976, following the adoption of the emblem for all other Coast Guard assets in 1967. Today, she does it proudly and with dignity serving her country. As a training vessel, her work is of the utmost importance, since she teaches and instills pride in all who come aboard, whether out sailing or at the dock. How any American who loves the sea and nautical traditions would think that painting over the racing stripe is appropriate is beyond me, and of all of the people I have discussed this with, not ONE thought that the emblem was inappropriate or distracts from the grace of this beautiful ship. Her lines are enhanced, not diminished. STUART SMITH

Destin, Florida

larger vessel and abandoned at Butiaba. That's where it lay in 1951 when the art director for Romulus Films discovered it in his search for a suitable boar to play the role of rhe Aftican Queen in rhe forthcoming film. The original steam engine was removed and replaced by a diesel unit. After they signed an agreement with East African Railways, headquartered in Nairobi, a local firm was contracted to fabricate the engine and boiler system we see in the film. The steam unit you see in the movie did not power the boat-it was purely a dummy that produced some steam while the diesel engine powered rhe boat from the stern. Most of rhe film was shot in the Belgian Congo and in Uganda, with the remainder in the studios in London. When the film shooting was completed, the boat was returned to rhe railways and sold some years later to a Mombasa-based gentleman, who in turn sold it again around 1967. It surfaced again in 1982, when irwas purchased byanAmerican,James Hendricks, who rhen shipped it to the United States, where it was put in use in Florida. KEVIN PATIENCE

Mombasa, Kenya OWNER'S STAT EMENT Statement fi led 9/28/! 2 requ ired by the Act of Aug. 12, 1970, Sec. 3685, T itle 39, US Code: Sea History is published quarterly at 5 John Walsh Blvd. , Peekskill NY 10566; minimum subscriptio n pri ce is $ 17.50. Pu blisher and editor-in-chief: No ne; Ed ito r is Deird re E. O ' Regan; ow ner is Nation al Maritim e H istorica l Sociery, a no n-

profi t corpo rario n; all are locared at 5 John Walsh Blvd ., Peekskill NY 10566. During rh e 12 mo nrhs preceding Ocrober 201 2 the ave rage number of (A) co pies prin ted each issue was 25,384; {B) paid and /o r requested circulacion was: (1 ) outside co un ty mail subscrip tio ns 7,5 73; (2) in-coun cy subscripti o ns O; (3) sales through dealers, carri ers, councer sa les, o ch er no n-U S PS paid

African Queen I was recently shown the Summer 2012 issue of Sea History with an article regarding rhe sreamboarA.frican Queen. There are some errors in the article, which I would like to correct if I may. The boar was built in 1912 by the Lyrham Shipbuilding Co. at Lyrham Sr Anne's in Lancashire, England, as the Livingstone. Ir was built in sections for easy transport to Lake Albert in Uganda, where it was put in service for the Uganda Railway Co., which operated lake steamers in the region. On reassembly at Butiaba, the launch was used for short trips to Murchison Falls on the Nile. The wood fuel for the boiler occupied a large amount of space, and the boar was eventually replaced by a

distribution 348; (4) other classes mailed through USPS 429; (C) roral paid and /o r requested circul ation was 8,350; (D) free distribu tion by mail , samples, complimentary and o ther 15,425; {E) free distribution outside the mails 627; {F) rotal free distribu tion was 16,05 1; (G) ro tal disrributio n 24,401 ; (H ) copies not distributed 983; (I) rota l [of 15G and HJ 25,384; 0) Perce ntage paid and/or requ ested circulat io n 34 .2o/o. The accual numbers for the sin gle iss ue precedin g O ctober

201 2 are: (A) to tal number pri nted 25,750; (B) paid and/o r requ es ted circulario n was: (1) o urside-co uncy mail subscriptio ns 7,400; (2) in -co un cy subscri pcions O; (3) sa les thro ugh dealers, ca rri ers. co uncer sales.

other non-USPS paid distribu tio n 350; (4) o th er classes mailed thro ugh USPS 409; (C) rota! paid and/ o r requested circul atio n was 8, 159; (D ) free distribution by mail, samples, complimentary and o ther 14, 893; (E) free distributi on ou ts ide the mails 830; (F) total free distribu tion was 15,723; (G) ro tal distribu tion 23,883; (H ) copies not distr ibuted 1,867; (I) rotal [of 15G and HJ 25,750; ()) Percentage paid and/o r requested ci rculation 34%. T ce rti fy cha r th e above statements are correct and co mpl ece. {s igned) Burchenal G reen, Execuri ve Director, Na cio nal Ma ri tim e Hisro ri cal Society.

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER2012- 13

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.

NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION Annual Awards Gala Honors Thomas F. Daly, Captain Don Walsh USN (Ret.), Captain Brian McAllister and Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB DL The National Maritime Historical Society was honored to have three corporate sponsors of this year's Annual Awards Dinner at the New York Yacht Club; we are grateful to Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc., Carnival Corporation and Lockheed Martin for their generous supporr. Ir was a gala event, and we were fortunate to have so many guests representing the diverse components of the maritime field. The custom-made glass centerpieces on each table made by Ships of Glass, Inc., sparkled in company with the hundreds of models in the Model Room.

Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., Commandant of the US Coast Guard, set the standard for an evening of fascinating and memorable remarks, crediting his long association with the Society as his inspiration to preserve and maintain the history of the Coast Guard and to committing himself to building the Coast Guard Museum and making sure every cadet studies our country's maritime history. Admiral Papp was pleased to be at the dinner with those who had contributed so much to our history, particularly to share the experience with the cadets of the Coast Guard Academy Cadet Chorale, the next generation of Coast Guard mariners who will Recogn.ized as one of the most magnificent spaces in make their contribution to Manhattan, the Model Room of the New York Yacht maritime heritage m the Club is the perfect venue for the awards ceremony. future .

(right) The 2012 Distinguished Service Award recipients (l tor): CAPT Don Walsh, USN (Ret.), PhD; Admiral Sir Jo nathon Band GCB DL and Capt. Brian McAllister.

Thomas F. Daly modestly thanked the Society for recognizi ng him, and stated how much he app reciated the work of the Society. Vice chairman Rick Lopes, who had produced mini-documentaries of the awardees, pointed out how, while researching for the video, he learned just how important a person Tom Daly has been in every endeavor he was involved in and in what high regard he was held by everyone with whom the videographers had spoken.

Captain Don Walsh USN (Ret.), PhD, was introduced by co-master of ceremonies

Richard T. du Moulin as "Di rk" Walsh, because his many underwater expeditions and achievements were reminiscent of a Clive Cussler hero. Captain Walsh emphasized how Trustee and past dinner chairman David Fowler (left) important sea power and our understanding of and I greet Thomas Daly (right) as he arrives to accept the sea is in our lives. Honored for his lifetime the NMHS David A. O'Neil Sheet Anchor Award. commitment to educating the public and the academic community about the importance of ocean exploration, Captain Walsh has participated in diving operations with over two dozen manned submersibles since 1959, piloting seven of them.

(above) Dinner co-chair CAPT Sally McElwreath, USNR (Ret.) and chairman emeritus and treasurer Howard Slotnick.

SEAHISTORY 141 , WINTER2012- 13

Captain Brian McAllister regaled us with personal reminiscences and shared th at his purpose in li fe is to see the McAllister fami ly business continue, a business that his great-grandfa ther fo unded with a single sail lighter. Today, it is one of the oldest and most d iversified marine row ing and transportation companies, operating an extensive Aeet in the majo r ports on the east coast. Captain McAl lister has lo ng supported the wo rk of the Society, recognizing th e importance of o ur m aritime heritage and the need to support the maritime industry today by understand ing the long and ri ch histo ry from which it came. Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB D L, the Royal Navy's fo rm er First Sea Lo rd and C hief of Naval Scaff (2006-2009) , talked about the significance of mari time histo ry, and discussed the exploits of Lo rd H o ratio N elso n. In his position as chairman of

Marine artist William G. Muller (left) presents an original oil p ainting of the McAllister tug Kaleen to Captain McAllister (center), as shipp ing executive and accomplished yachtsman Richard du Moulin (right) p repares to present him with his awa~

the National Museum of the Royal N avy he led the successful effort to save Nelson's Aags hip, HMS Victory, the oldest navy ship in commission . Sir Jo natho n stressed how everyone co ncerned with our heritage m ust continue to promote the importance of the sea and its vital ro le in h istory and in our mutual economies and cu ltures . - Burchenal Green, President A distinguished group gathered to honor this y ear's awardees, including (l-r): shipping executive Clay Ma itland, co-master of ceremonies; chairman Ronald Oswald; dinner co-chair Karen H elmerson; Commandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Robert J Papp J r.; and Richard T du Mou lin, co-master ofceremonies.

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SEA HISTORY 14 1, WlNTER 20 12- 13

Constitution's Most Challenging Fight and by William H. White

This is the penultimate article in our ongoing series on the "War of 1812. Even though the treaty ending the conflict was signed in Ghent on 24December1814, it was not approved by either of the warring governments until February 1815. Hence, as far as those on the ground and at sea knew, a state ofwar still existed between the United States and Great Britain. And so they fought on. Possibly the most widely known land engagement of the war occurred in January of 1815. While not as well known, one of USS Constitution's most significant battles happened in February ofthat year. we shall have a look at both ofthese engagements here, and discuss the treaty andfinances in a concluding article in a future issue of Sea History. n autumn of 1814, while Admiral Cochrane's fleet was ravaging the C hesapeake, the British Caribbean fleet had begun to implement the other part of the plan designed to draw American troops out of the northern frontier: the invasio n of the G ulf Coast. In addition, occupation of the Gulf Coast would provide access to the interior of the country; the mid-Gulf area, specifically New Orleans, was lightly defended, sparsely populated, and offered significant booty to the conquering British. It was a major port, consolidating all the goods from the interior of the country for shipment to the East coast as well as the Caribbean and Europe. To effect this stratagem, En glish ships and marines occupied the Spanish fort at Pensacola, Florida, (Spain was a sometimes-ally of the English, so offered no resistance), and then used that as a base for their unsuccessful attack on Mobile (then still part of Florida), which had been seized from Spain by the United States in 1813. Repulsed, the British fleet sailed

back to Jamaica where a large army10,000 men strong-had assembled. Their commander was General Edward Pakenham, the Duke of Wellington's brotherin-law and a most capable officer. The fleet again fell under the command of Admiral Alexander Coch rane, and they sailed for the Gulf Coast in late November, arriving in the Delta area in early December. With insufficient numbers of small boats to navigate the treacherous and shallow waters of the bayous, Coch rane decided to attack through Lake Borgne, which is not really a lake, but rather a protected harbor open to the Gulf. He sent Captain Nicholas Lockyer ahead with forty-five ships, boats, and barges and 1,200 men

Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones

The Battle of Lake Borgne by Thomas Lyle Hornbrook

Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane 10

to secure the lake. US Navy Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones 1 had been stationed there with a few small sailing vessels to watch and report, but not do battle should the British show up. But show up they did, and just as the wind dropped off to nothing. With no means of propulsion, Jones had little choice but to fight, which he did on 14 December. The British, using

their oars and superior numbers, prevailed and accomplished their mission, but not without casualties. The British lost more than 100 men, and Jones suffered some forty killed and wo unded; he and the remainder of his men were taken prisoner. 1 Of Wel sh desce nt, Jon es's parents included the "ap" in hi s nam e; it mea ns "s on of" in Welsh .

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

the Battle of New OrleansA Look at the Final Battles of the War of 1812

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"Map of New Orleans and Adjacent Country. " This contemporary map of the approaches to New Orleans was published on 14 March 1815, just weeks after the war was officially over, as part of the atlas: A Military and Topographical Atlas of the United States; Including The British Possessions & Florida, published by John Melish. Locations of key positions and sites ofthe Battles ofLake Borgne and New Orleans have been highlighted. Lockyer established a base on Pea Island, but quickly moved the camp across the lake and into the bayous, to Jacques Villere's plantation which, in the face of the enemy, had been evacuated. This would serve as British headquarters for the capture of New Orleans. The bulk of the British army would be moved to the plantation by boat, and the attack would commence once a sufficient force was in place. It proved to be a long and tedious process. In November of 1814, Militia Major General A ndrew Jackso n responded to the British threat and brought hi s army to Florida, attacking Pensacola with a force of 4, 100 regulars, militia, and Indians. The British had vacated the fort, leaving a small garrison of 500 Spanish troops to defend it in the unlikely event of an Ameri-

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

can attack. Jackson took the fort virtually unopposed. Pensacola was neutralized and Jackson departed, marching to Mobile. Realizing the British were headed for New Orleans, he force marched his army to the Crescent City, arriving 1 December. The citizenry there was nervo us; word was spreading that a British arrack was imminent and the people were defenseless. Jackson's arri va l gave them hope, as his reputation was already legendary. He mapped out the city and its approaches, ordered all water ro utes into the city blocked, and established gun batteries at strategic points . H e received help from John Coffee, who force marched (135 mil es in three days) 850 militiamen from Tennessee to ass ist the Louisiana militia, as well as from a co mpa ny of free black men,

refugees from Sa m o Domingo. 1he Baratarian pirates, most notably Jean Lafitte, offered their ass istance, which was readily accepted. Lafitte proved so helpful that Jackson nam ed him his special aide-decamp. His m en, experts on the swamps and bayous surroundin g New Orlea ns, provided intelligence that proved invaluable and as the British moved closer. Laffite and his men kept Jackson informed of the enemy's movements, disposition of their troops, and location of gun emplacements. On C hristm as Eve (the ve ry day the treaty to end the war was approved in G hent) the British reinforcements began arriving, and on Christmas D ay, Pakenham himself appeared with more soldiers, bringing the British strength to more than 4,000 men. The soldiers had to be ferried

Major General Andrew Jackson

in small boats, a few at a time, up the bayous from the Gu lf and Lake Borgne. It was a tedious and time-consuming effort. A ll during this process, the savvy General Jackson had his men buildin g earthworks along a canal between the Mississippi River

and a cypress swamp, knowing the British mu st attack through that area. The British ge neral did, in fact, order hi s troops to attack, moving in an orderly but rigid formation of two straight columns towa rd the American lines. An American ship, Louisiana, which had been de!iveringa sporadic bombardment to the British camp, shifted her fire into theadva ncingcolumns, a nd Jackson's men, now numberi ng about 4,000, offered the adva ncing enemy a galling fire. Pake nha m called a retreat, though he suffered on ly I ight losses ofsome fifty-five men. American losses a mounted to about thirty-five. A few days later, on 31 D ecember, a duel of art ii lery bega n. I twas loud, destructive (es pecially for the British), and caused General Pakenham to decide that wa iting o n the a rriva l of the rest of his reinforcements would be the prudent course to take. H e expected that his strength would increase to some 6,000 soldiers once the new men arrived. Whi le he ordered his troops to retire to their camp, Jackson ordered his men to work.

They built additional defensive works deeper into the swamp, making his line nea rly a mile long. Jackson had more artillery placed on the earthworks, bringing his total strength to eight pieces, and had his men build two fall-back positions in case the British attack was successful. In case Pakenham tried a flanking movement, Jackson built a defensive line on the western side of the river, anchoring it with a pa ir of naval guns rake n from the Louisiana. Ir would be here that the British first attacked. Pake nh a m d etermined the bat tle should co mmence in the dark hours of 7-8 Janua ry 1815. He had received his replacement troops and reinforcements and felt that the cool, often wet, weather would offer hi s men an adva ntage. His plan called for Colo nel William Thornton to move some 600 seasoned troops to the western side of the river during the night and attack the American line there, which was defended by some 700 poorly trained militia from Louisiana and Kentucky. Colonel D avid Morgan was their commander. Thornton's orders were to capture the American gun s

SEA HISTORY 141 , WlNTER2012- 13

The Battle of New Orleans at Chalmette, 1815 by j ean Hyacinthe de Lacfotte (1766-1829), a member ofthe Louisiana militia who participated in the battle. and rum them on Jackson's m ain line across the river now defended by 4,700 eager and skilled Americans . Once the barrage was underway, Pakenham would lead his troops in a fro ntal arrack on the earthwo rks. Thornton was successful in his arrack; he completely routed the ill-trained m ilitia, bur he had gotten a late start, delayed until nearly dawn on 8 January. Pakenham was also delayed and gave Thorn ton no chance to follow up on his victory and carry our the rest of his orders. The main part of rhe army began to move into position in a thick fog rhar had settled over the intended bat tlefield. Using the fog to his adva ntage, Pakenham moved his soldiers quietly to within about 500 yards of the American line, totally undetected. And then, q uire without wa rning, the fog lifted . There, before the American soldiers stood the British army, some 5,000 strong, in a near three-column battle form ation, and completely exposed . O ne can imagine the surprise on both sides! The A merican artillery opened fire first with devastating results, bur, true to for m, the British advance co nt inue d . W h e n rh ey we re within 300 yards, the A merican riflemen, mos tly sharpshooters, began to pick off

SEA HISTORY 141 , WIN TER 201 2- 13

the oncoming English soldiers. The artillery shifted its a mmunitio n to grape and canister shor. 2 The rifle fire, ultimately combined with musket fir e (when the British approached to within 100 yards),

was devastating. O ne British survivor, a veteran of rhe Napoleonic W ars, wrote: " it was the most murderous [fire] I ever beheld , before or since. The [expletive] A mericans can shoot the eye our of a squirrel if rhey can bur see it!" Barde-hardened rroops-somesay the best England had to offer-scrambled fo r rhe paucity of cover while others simply lay flat on the ground, rem aining there until the shooting stopped . Others turned a nd ran . General Pakenham, a conspicuous fi gure in full uni fo rm, rode a horse among the fleeing soldiers, trying in vain to rally them . For his efforts, he suddenly found himself afoo t when his horse was shot our from under him. H e quickly found a new mount and continued to exhort his men . This time, a canno nball "cur him asunder," leaving the soldiers without a commander. Upon receiving word of Pakenham's d emi se, Gen eral John Lamb ert rook comm and a nd q uickly ordered a retreat, breaking away from the slaugh ter. The entire fight along the eastern side of the river, pitched though it was, las ted only a half hour, bur the British loss was horrific. The scarlet-clad bodies lay in heaps, the wo unded mixed in with the dead . Those soldiers who had thrown themselves to the ground when the fusillade began rose,

Death of Pakenham at the Battle of New Orleans by Felix 0. C. Darley (1822- 1888)

Grape was a cluster of approxim ately 1"-dia merer ball s in a bag wh ich was fired , causing rhe bag ro d isintegrate in rhe air, whi le ca nister was simila r bur used scrap meta l and nai ls instead of ba lls.

some running away, most surrendering to the Americans. The men shooting long rifles had earned their reputation and we re held in awe by the dispirited British. The fight was over. The British suffered the loss of some 1,500 dead and about 500 captured; the A mericans-thirteen killed on Jackson's side of the rive r and another seventy on the other side. Jackso n maintained the martial law he had declared in New O rleans on 16 D ecember until he received offi cial word of the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent in mid-March 3.

having seen no action at all during the war. Constitution had been languishing in Boston since April of 1814, held there by a squadron of British ships sailing off and on the President Roads. By mid-December, though, the British had reduced their blockade of Boston to only two fri gates, H M S Newcastle and Acasta, and a brig, H MS Arab, of 18 guns. Confident that Constitution was not fit to sail, the Admiralty had reassigned the other vessels or sent them into H alifax fo r upkeep. C harles Stewart, now in command of U SS Constitution, was chafin g to escape. Finally, with

Captain Charles Stewart, USN

The Signing of the Treaty of Ghent by Sir Amedee Forestier While the fighting continued on the Gulf Coast and out in the Atlantic, negotiations in Ghent, Belgium, had drawn to a successful conclusion, arriving at a mutually agreeable treaty on Christmas Eve, 1814. Without modern communications, no one on the Western side of the Atlantic-or in the A tlantic-would learn of this news for nearly two months. And, ofcourse, the treaty still had to be ratified by both governments. During this time, British men-of-war maintained their blockade of American ports up and down the eastern seaboa rd. For all intents and purposes, the US Navy was effectively bottled up . The fri gate Congress lay in Portsmouth, New H ampshi re; USS United States and the now USS Macedonian were in New London, Connecticut; and in N orfolk, Virginia, Constellation remained trapped inside the harbor, 3 The treaty was rat ified by the Senate o n 16 Feb ru ary 1815, and Mad ison and rhe Bri tish Ambassado r exchanged copies on the 17th.

clear skies and crisp, sunny weather-and the paucity of British blockaders-the opportuni ty for an escape to sea was at hand, and on Sunday, 18 D ecember, he kissed his bride of only one month farewell and ordered his crew to make all sa il to take adva ntage of the fres h northwest breeze. H e and his crew were cheered by the populace, all crowding Long Wharf to see him off, as Constitution sailed swiftly down Boston H arbor, through President Roads, and into the open sea. His was the only American fri gate to get to sea, and he planned to take advantage of it!

Stewa rt and his officers were fully aware that, should they get into tro uble in any way requi ring port faciliti es, they would be out of luck. With the enemy blockade covering most of the coastline, there was little likel ihood that the ship could make it safely into any A merican h arbor. A nd ye t, they knew to a certainty that A merica expected their ship to prevail in any contest they might find and do everything within the realm of possibility to furth er the cause of American liberty. Bolstered by their good fortune in escaping the nearly eight-month confinem ent in Boston, Stewart set his course to the south, looking fo r any British wa rship that might have strayed too fa r from the blockade along the coast and wo uld be ripe for the plucking. H e was unsuccessful in finding any ships, British or otherwise, as fa r south as the Chesapeake Bay and determ ined to se t a course for Bermuda, where he was confident he wo uld find British shipping, both commercial and naval. The weather was dread fu l; head wi nds and ro ugh seas hampered their progress, his provisions were in short supply due to their h asty departure from Boston, and the shi p was we t below decks fro m leaky gunports and heavy seas. Life on board was miserable, but morale was still high; the men and officers were emboldened by the prospects of a successful cruise.

SEA HI STORY 141 , WINTER 201 2- 13

Within a few days Stewart's lookouts reported a sail. Thinking it might be a straggler from a British convoy, Stewart went to investigate and found a damaged schooner showing the signal for distress. As Constitution approached, Stewart had the British fl.ag hoisted. Now close aboard, he hove to and the un fortunate schooner (little did they know just how unfortunate they were!) sent over a boat wi th the ship's papers. The Americans discovered that the schooner was the Lord Nelson and had been damaged in the same storm that h ad made life in Constitution so miserable. Stewart put a prize crew aboard, hoisted the American fl.ag (to the horror of the Brirish captain), and sai led in company with the captured schooner after the rest of the convoy. As it turned out, the capture was most fortuitous for Constitution; the schooner was well provisioned and her cargo consisted of foodstuffs of every imaginable stripe: dried and corned beef, fish (both salted and smoked), fruits, sugar, spirits, tea, and fl.our. Truly a bonanza for the poorly stocked American frigate! The cargo was quickly transferred to Constitution and struck below, and the schooner scuttled as she was of no further use. They continued on, still in search of the rest of the convoy. They saw several ships, but foul weather precluded bringing them to. January proved an unproductive month, but on 8 February Captai n Stewart spoke a neutral ship, the barque Julia bound to Lisbon, a nd heard the rumor of a peace treaty between England and the Uni[ed States. Later tha[ same day, Stewart boarded a Russian sh ip and [he rumor was confirmed as fact. Of course, the treaty had only been agreed to by the negotiators, not approved and signed by their respective governments. Until it was ratified, the two countries were still technically at war. Constitution continued her patrol , approaching C ape Finisterre in big winds and rough seas. And the winter weather in the North Atlantic was cold, so cold that staying topside for any length of time became arduous. The lookouts were slacking off anda near miss with a Portuguese frigate could have proved disastrous. Fortunately, the ship's dog, a terrier named Guerriere, saw the ship from his

SEA HISTORY 141, WINTER 20 12- 13

perch on top of a carronade and began to point, the mark of a fine hunting dog. The quarterdeck watch then saw that the dog was pointing and called the crew to quarters (battle stations). They could no t identify the warship bearing down under full sail from the windward side; she offered no fl.ag and no signal. It took several shots from the weather deck carronades to elicit a response from the stranger, which turned out to be Portuguese. Fortunately, no damage was done to either ship, and, after a brief shouted conversation (the sea was too rough for either to board), the two went on their way. By mid-month, Constitution had found and captured a British cargo vessel, bound for Liverpool from South America and loaded with a valuable cargo of hides and furs. Additionally, they carried two yo ung w ild cats-most likely South American

of several merchant vessels, h ad not gone unnoticed; Stewart's lookouts had seen no enemy ships, but he knew it would be only a matter of time before they came out to investigate. On 20 February in the early afternoo n, a full-rigged ship was espied heading towards Constitution from the larboard (port) bow. Shortly after that, another ship became visible beyond the first one. They all closed for some two hours and, clearly visible to Stewart's lookouts, the two unknowns began signaling one another before turning to the south, apparently to join forces. Stewart was confident the ships were British and crowded on sail in chase. He assumed, he wrote later, that they signaled each other to remain together so as to combine forces; while neither ship alo ne had a cha nce of taking a heavy frigate, together they might prevail.

The Capture of HM Ships Cyane and Levant, by the US Frigate Constitution

by Thomas Birch depicts the American frigate engaging Levant (Left) and Cyane (right). jaguar cubs. Stewart took the cargo into Constitution, including the two cub s, which he secured in one of his boats. His prize in company, he sailed south , hoping to find a way to get the captured ship to an American port. Several days later, he crossed tacks w ith a Portuguese merchant ship and placed the captured sailors aboard her. He then had his prize crew sail the ship to America. They arrived safely. Constitution's presence off Gibraltar, a major British base, along with her captures

During the chase, Constitution, with every stitch of canvas set, suffered a small setback; her main royal mast (above the topmast and t'gallanr mast) cracked and then fell. Quickly, Stewart sent men aloft to cut away the damaged spar and send up a new one. His ski lled crew had the repair effected and the ship back under full sail in only an hour, and, once again, they were closing on the two British ships. The two had indeed joined forces and now sailed in a line astern, separated by

some one hundred yards. They h ad brailed up their courses and were preparing for bartle, as was Stewart. Their form ation becam e th eir undoin g. Constitution held the favo red weather gauge and ranged alongside the aftermost o f th e two enemy ships. Sh e turned out to be the large r of th e two, HMS Cyane, a frigate of 24 guns. The A m erican's m om entum carried h er sli ghtly ahead so she lay between th e two British ships. Stewart sent a ball between them , beginning the en gagement. A n exch ange of broadsides fo llowed . Ea rly in the fight, Constitution suffered two m en killed and, sadly, th e boat holding the two jaguar cubs was sm as hed to smithereens. D a rkness was fas t ap proaching and sm oke w reathed the ships and the seas between th em . Ta kingadva ntageofrhe poor visibility, Cyane lu ffed a nd altered course to try and pass under Stewart's stern for a rakingshot. TheAmerican capta in glimpsed their m ove and essentially sto pped his ship, preventing th e move and , simultaneously, commenced a heavy cannonade into the enem y. M a rin es, statio ned aloft, added musket fire to the fusill ade fo rcing the

British sailors and officers to " keep their h eads down." As Cyane staggered under the weight of A m erican m etal, the o ther British ship, Levant (18 guns), wore around to attempt to cross Constitution's bow and rake her from ahead. Stewart responded quickly, fillin g his sails and aga in preventing his enem y from gaining any advantage. H e offered Levant a couple of raking broad sides at almost point-blank range. The British ship sailed off to leeward in an attempt to escap e the galling fi re. The lookouts in Constitution h ailed the deck that Cyane was sh owin g signs of life, trying to get m oving and rejoin the battle. Stewart wore ship and offered his starboard battery to the enemy. Only fi fty ya rds separated the two sh ips. Seeing the position he was in, the captain of Cyane struck, an d Stewart sent a contingent of m arin es aboard to take possession. H e then wen t a fter the escaping Levant. Constitution's superior saili ng abilities, along w ith a significantly heavier weight of m etal, convinced th e British ca ptain that he, too, should surrender. Constitution, the premier fri ga te in rhe

A m erican fleet and the only US n aval ship at sea, h ad taken two enemy sh ips simultaneously, w h ile fi ghting m os t of the engagem ent in the dark! The three ships sailed in compa ny fo r the U S coast, but th ey ra n afoul of another British fleer, which re-captured Levant. Constitution returned to rhe U nited Stares w ith Cyane still her prize, to discover the war was already over. Cyane was absorbed into the America n Navy as USS Cyane.

William H. White is a maritime historian and award-winning author specializing in the history of the Age of Sail. H e serves on the Bicentennial ofthe War of1812 and Star Spangled Banner Advisory Group, the Board of Trustees ofthe USS Constitution Museum in Boston, the Board of Trustees ofthe Lynx Educational Foundation, and the Board of Trustees of OpSail. H e acts as a consultant to the reproduction 1812 p rivateer Lyn x. A Corresponding Fellow of the Massachusetts H istorical Society, White has written seven books, both fiction and non-fiction, and uncounted magazine articles. For more about him and his books, visit www.seajiction.net.

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Infernal Machines Submarine and Torpedo Warfare in the War of 1812 by Donald G . Shomette

n 18 June 1812, when President James Madison signed the Declaration of War against Great Britain, the United States was woefully ill-equipped to conduct naval operations on the open ocean or to protect American territorial waters. With a fleet of only seven frigates and nine smaller vessels against the mighty British Royal Navy's 740 fighting ships, the odds at sea were definitely not in America's favor. 1 Owing to the more significant manpower needs required to defeat Napoleon, the American contest was, forGreat Britain, a secondary theater of concern. Reflecting this view, on 5 January 1813 Admiral Sir Henry E. Stanhope wrote to First Lord of the Admiralty Melville suggesting that attacks on American seaports and towns would be disastrous without sufficient land forces. Instead, he proposed a blockade composed of "small Squadrons under the command of active intelligent officers."2 His words were immediately heeded. Precisely a month later, a Royal Navy blockading squadron, the first to be deployed, arrived at the entrance of the C hesapeake Bay. The force, consisting of nine ships of war mounting 40 1 guns, more than equaled the firepower of the entire United States Navy. 3 In time, the blockade would be extended all along the US coast and bring a halt to America's seaborne trade and a significant component of its privateering and offensive naval capabilities. Desperate measures were called for by the American government. Less than a month after the institution of the blockade, the US Congress passed on 3 March 181 3 legislation, popularly known as the "Torpedo Act," encouraging the private development of torpedoes, submarine instruments, and any other destructive devices to help break the blockade. A bounty of one-half the value of the armed vessel so burnt, sunk, or destroyed, and also half the value of its guns, cargo, tackle, and apparel, would be paid out of the US Treasury to any persons who succeeded in developing such a device, other than armed or commissioned vessels of the United States. 4

The initiative was not without merit in that the American inventor Robert Fulton had successfully demonstrated the efficacy of both the submarine and the torpedo, or underwater mine, to the governments of both Great Britain and France. Indeed, in 1804, under contract with the British

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Robert Fulton's 36-foot "plunging boat, "Nautilus, was successfully deployed in a demonstration at Brest, France, in 1801 for the French military, blowing up a sloop. In 1804 Fulton manufactured torpedoes for the British Admiralty at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. On 14 October 1805, he successfully demonstrated the use of his submarine and his torpedoes off Deale, England, by blowing up the brig Dorothea before key members ofthe British government and admiralty. Admiralty, he had manufactured torpedoes at the Portsmouth Navy Yard for use against the French fleet at Bolougne. His mode of submarine warfare had been supported by no less than William Pitt and Lord Melville of the British Admiralty. Following Lord Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, however, the British government, like thatof France earlier, spurned his ideas. Fulton returned to America, where he secured the interest of President Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, members of the US Congress and others, but soon had famously diverted his entire attention to the development of steam-powered watercraft.

ates, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and offered a contract to conduct torpedo attacks on enemy vessels in the Chesapeake. 5 If successful, he would receive two-thirds of the federal bounty money, with Fulton receiving the other third. 6 Mix zealously accepted the challenge. The use of torpedoes against His Majesty's ships was not unexpected by the blockaders at the Virginia Capes. Guard boats were stationed every night, and buoys were moored ahead of each vessel when riding at ebb tide, to defeat any torpedo attacks. 7 On the night of 4 June 1813, the discovery of "one of the Powder Machines,

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 20 12- 13

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Robert Fulton's plan for a revolving "scuttle" or conning tower and periscope (right oftower) on his second submarine.

commonly known by the name of' Fultons' drifting out with the ebb tide ... no doubt destined for [HBMSJ Victorious or some other of our Ships here," Rear Admiral George Cockb urn, commander of the blockade, reponed to Vice Admiral John B. Warren, commander of the American Station. The device, he noted caustically, was intended by the American government "to dispose of us by wholesale Six Hundred at a rime, witho ut further trouble or risk." The adm iral fully expected that the Americans were likely to try again.8 His prognostication proved quire accurate. For the next month the Chesapeake blockade remained unchallenged . One sh ip, however, HBMS Plantagenet (74), commanded by Captain Robert Lloyd , remained at anchor abreast of the Cape Henry lighthouse and was rarely accompanied by other vessels of the squadron. After carefully watching the ship for some time, Mix determined her to be "rhe most favorable object for trying his experiment on." 9 On the night of 18 July, Mix set our in a large open boat dubbed Chesapeake's Revenge. 10 Ir would prove to be the first of five successive night attacks agai nst Plantagenet, each of which was thwarted either by near discovery or by movement of the ship. 11 The night of 24-25 July would be different. This time the Americans were able to move undetected to within 100 yards of the warship's larboard bow. Ar 12:20AM, just as the watch was calling out "all's well," the raiders set adrift the torpedo in the

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

water. An acco unt of the explosion and purported havoc that ensued was reported soon after in a quire colorful acco unt in the American press. 12 Mix reportedly discovered the forechannel of the ship blown off, with a boat lying beside having been thrown into the air. Moreover, the whole ship's company was believed to have taken to their boats in a panic. 13 Ir is of note char, although the attack was dramatically described by the

American press as damaging to the warship, the assault was taken in stride by the British. The only notice in the log of Plantagenetwas : "Torpedo exploded by the Enemy near the Ship but no Mischief." 14 Angry charges of uncivilized warfare and barbarity nevertheless erupted from the British bur were countered in the American press with a vengeance, reminding rhe enem y rhar Fulton h ad once been invited by the British Admiralty to demonstrate and build both torpedoes and submarine, the former of which they soon deployed unsuccessfully against the French at Boulogne. Moreover, rhe British themselves employed a terror weapon called the Congreve rocker and, the press noted, undeterred by fear of torpedoes, continued to molest hapless civilians and destroy towns, crops and croft without remorse. The rape of Hampton, Virginia, was cited as a case in poinr. 15 "The enemy," a Baltimore journalNiles' Weekly Register-would print, "fights in rhe air with his rockets-he fights under the earth with his mines, and yet he is hugely 'religious. ' May it not then become 'a moral and religious people,' like we are, to fight under the water, with torpedoes and diving-boats?"' 6

(below) A British political cartoon, "The Yankey Torpedo, " deriding the American use oftorpedoes after the attack on HMS Plantagenet.

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American inventor Samuel Colt's 1842 sketch ofSilas Clowden Halsey's plan design, for a submarine, based upon interviews with individuals once engaged in its construction.

Despite the war of words on both sides of the Atlantic regarding submarine torpedo/mine warfare, attacks would continue. One of the most innovative efforts was undertaken by Silas Clowden Halsey, of Norwich, Connecticut. Halsey, adopting a page from the famed but unsuccessful efforrs of inventor David Bushnell in 1776, had by the spring of 1813 built an underwater "diving boar" designed to attach and detonate a torpedo beneath a British warship. Although Halsey's original design has not been found, it is possible to make some estimates of the dimensions of the vessel based upon a draft plan of the vessel drawn by inventor Samuel Colt in February 1842 from information gleaned during interviews with persons engaged to help build the craft. Unlike Bushnell's famed Turtle, Halsey's craft was torpedo-shaped. Its length would have been 12 feet 4 inches, with a depth (between floor and entry scuttle/ viewing port) of 4 feet 4 inches. Projecting from the top of the entry scuttle was an "air rube to shove up when at the surface of the water." Slightly forward of amidships was a water cock, presumably to permit water ballast in to submerge the craft, and just aft was a force pump to expel the water to bring the craft to the surface. The system thus allowed Halsey to "ascend and descend at 20

pleasure." For guidance, a rudder was managed by the operator by pulling a tiller line. Propulsion was by a means of a 24-inchlong screw-like propeller turned by a crank rhatwas managed by the operator (although one co ntemporary account claimed that it was by means of paddles, presumably mounted on the sides). A maxi mum speed of three miles per hour was reported. Projecting from the end of the propeller was a drill bit. Attached to the lower stern of the craft was a tubular torpedo (mine). A line running from the end of the torpedo to the mid-section of the drill bit would secure the explosive to a target. Once the drill bit was imbedded in the enemy hull , a timer in the torpedo would be triggered by means of the line. The bit would then be disengaged with the torpedo attached, and the submarine would escape before the device exploded. 17 On the night of30 June 181 3, Halsey made his first attempt against HBMS Ramilles, Admiral Sir C harles H ardy's fl agship in Long Island Sound, blockading an American squadron in the port of New London, Co nnecticut. The approach was conducted without discovery. Then, after remaining some time underwater, the submarine surfaced "like the Porpoise for air" a few feet from the stern of the warship, probably to replenish her air supply. 18

A sentinel on deck immediately spotted the submarine. An alarm gun was fired and all hands were called to quarters. Halsey descended immediately, even as Ramilles' anchor cable was cut and the giant warship "got under weigh with all possible dispatch, expecting to be blown up by a Torpedo." 19 Soo n afterwards, Halsey again approached Ramifies. This time he came up directly underneath the ship and fastened his boat to the enemy's keel at a depth of 22 feet, "where he remained half an hour, and succeeded in perforating a hole through her copper [sheathing]." Un like Bushnell's attempts against a British warship thirty-seven years before, Halsey succeeded in penetrating the sheathing, but as he was screwing the torpedo to the warship's bottom, he broke the screw and had to abandon the mission. 20 The subsequent fate of Halsey and his submarine are unknown, although Samuel Colt noted cryptically on his sketch of the vessel that the inventor had died in New London Harbor. 2 1 Though the submarine attack had been unsuccessful, its consequences were signi fi cam . Combined with a failed bur bloody booby-trapped schooner explosion aimed at Ramilles a week earlier, Halsey's efforrs helped convince Admiral Hardy to withdraw his squadron some distance from New London, and obliged him to keep his vessels underway at all rimes. 22 Indeed, it was reported that he had become so alarmed that he caused a cable to be passed under Ramilles every two hours to prevem further attacks. 23 The assaults on Ramilles produced an unforeseen consequence for the Americans. On 9, 10, and 11 August, a concerted bombardment and rocket reprisal attack was launched against the nearby port of Sto nington, a place "conspicuous in preparing and harbouring torpedoes, and giving assista nce to the enemy's attempts at the destruction of His Majesty's ships off New London." 24 Nor all submarine warfare initiatives were undertaken at private expense. During the early summer of 181 4, the Common Council of New York C ity appropriated funds to an invento r, idemified only as "an ingenious gentleman by the name of Berrian," to construct a "torpedo boat for the purpose of destroying so me of the enemy's

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

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war vessels in Long Island Sound." The Berrian boar was maneuvered mrough rhe use of screw propellers exrending from irs sides and manually operared by rhe crew, and was reportedly armed wirh five torpedoes char could be deployed independendy. The vessel was soon "complered ar grear expense" in New York and was en roure to rhe ease end of Long Island by !are June 1814. 25 Berrian's vessel was a semi-submersible crafr 30 feer in lengrh, wirh only a foor to 18 inches of irs topside exposed above the surface and "built bomb proof" with iron sheathing. 26 An unidentified British naval officer sent home a description of the revolutionary ironclad Berrian boat. ''American pilor-vessels for towing torpedoes," he wroce, "have been invented in New York, for me purpose of propelling rhrough me water rhe infernal torpedoes intended to blow up rhe British line-of-batde ships. A winch inside this vessel rums rwo wheels [propellers] on the outside, and which are placed on the larboard side. These wheels impel both the pilot-vessel and the torpedo attached to it at the rate of four miles an hour. Within the vessel are rwelve men. The bonom of it is nor much unlike thar of a boat, but its top is arched. The scamlings are those of a ship of 100 tons: the planks are of inch-and-half stuff, and rhese being covered over with iron plates half an inch in thickness, are not to be injured by shot. On the top is a scutcle for rhe crew to enter, and this opening is also rhe look-out where a sentinel is constancly placed. Two air-holes, forward and abafr, give sufficient

Fulton's anchored mine torpedo as it appears in a French publication. 1he mines were deployed in 1814 in the approaches to New York Harbor, possibly the first large-scale employment of such underwater harbor defenses in the Western Hemisphere.

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air to the crew. The vessel draws 6 feet of warer, bur one foor only is to be seen above rhe warer, and chis being painted of a dingy whire, is nor perceivable." 27 The vessel was described in rhe American press as " (a] new invented Torpedo Boar resembling a Turde floaring just above the surface of the water, and sufficiencly roomy to carry nine persons within, having on her back a coat of mail , consisting of three large bombs, which could be discharged by machinery, so as to bid defiance to any attacks by barges .... At one end of the Boat projected a long pole under water, with a [spar] torpedo fastened to it, which as she approached rhe enemy in the night, was to be poked under the bottom of a 74, and then let off."28 Accompanied by rwo gunboats, the vessel traveled easrward along the north

shore of Long Island towards Southold, New York, and was lefr "under the charge of nine men, who proceeded in her on rhe expedition." Arriving on 23 June off Horton's Point, near Southold, a sire deemed "a suitable place for observation" of British naval activiries, she dropped anchor just as rhe weather began to deteriorare. 29 As rhe gale increased, the torpedo boat "pitched very deep at sea, and labored so hard chat her conductors grew alarmed." One panicky crewman jumped overboard and attempted to swim to shore. Then, as the swimmer appeared to be in peril of drowning, the crew cut the anchor cable in an effort to drift toward him and effect his rescue, but in vain. Soon, the vessel irself was driven hard agro und at Horton Point near the farm of a farmstead, where the remaining crew made their escape. As soon

Conjectural drawing ofthe Berrian torpedo boat based upon descriptions in the American and British press, and personal observations ofa British officer who participated in its destruction. Note the small craft bearing torpedoes being towed behind.

. CYRIL FIELD, T H E STORY OF THE SUBMARI NE FROM

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER2012- 13

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as the gale subsided, the crewmen, assisted by local farmers, desperately but without success attempted to refloar the vessel.3Â° The presence of "rhe infernal machine" could not go unnoticed for long, and rwo warships, Maidstone and Sylph, were soon en route to destroy her. "On rheirapproach," it was first reported, "the persons engaged in the expedition took our some of rhe machinery, saving all rhar rhey could, set fire to rhe remainder, and blew it up." 3 1 A conflicting account, however, credits the British with destroying it (after taking measurements and sketches), despite a spirited defense by the Sag Harbor Militia, which killed four men at the first landing attempt. 32 Three days after rhe loss of the revolutionary Berrian torpedo boar, which was also the first-known ironclad warship in the history of rhe Western Hemisphere and also the first to be destroyed as a consequence of combat, word of the historic event reached New York City and was reported in the pages of The Columbian. Yer, in the swirl of subsequent events and tumult of war, the Berrian episode was all bur forgotten. 33 Though the further use of torpedoes, deployed by whaleboats, torpedo boars, and even torpedo deployment by Fulton to mine strategic passages and harbors, continued unabated to the end of the war, none were successful. The bountyinduced development of submarine and torpedo/mine warfare on a large scale would nor be seriously resurrected for another half-century. Ir would never again be ignored. J, NOTES 1 John K. Mahon, The Warof1812 (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1972), 7-8. 2 Admiral Sir Henry E. Stanhope to First Lord of rhe Admiralty Robert Saunders Dundas Melville, 5January1813, The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Michael]. Crawford, ed., 3 Vols. (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, Department of rhe Navy, 1985-2002), 2:14. 3 Capt. Charles Stewart to Secretary of rhe Navy William Jones, 5 Feb.1813, RG 45, Captain Letters to the Secretary of the Navy, 1813, Vol.l, No. 53 (Ml25, R26), National Archives and Records Service, Washington, 22

DC; William Marine, The British Invasion of Maryland 1812-1815 (Hatboro, PA: Tradition Press, 1965, rpt. 1913), 16. 4 US Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, Stat. 2, Chap. 47, p. 816. 5 Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 4 March 1813; Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Robert Fulton, 13 April 1813, Letter Book, The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, cited in Cynthia 0. Philip, Robert Fulton: A Biography (New York: Franklin Watts, 1985), 298. 6 Philip, 298; Crawford, 2:356. 7 Captain James Scott, RN, Recollections of a Naval Life, 3 Vols. (London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, Publisher in Ordinary to His Majesty: 1834), 3:68. 8 Rear Admiral George Cockburn to Vice Admiral Sir John B. Warren, 16June1813, Papers of George Cockburn, Container 9, Letters Sent, 3 February 1812-6 February 1814, 202-4, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. 9 Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. 4 (1813), Parr 2 Quly-December), 365-66. 10 Mix's boat was named in honor of the US frigate Chesapeake, which had been captured after defeat in combat with HBMS Shannon off Boston on 1June1813. 11 Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. 4, Pr. 2, 365-66. There are no mentions ofMix's first attacks in the captain's log of Plantagenet. See Captain's Log, HBMS Plantagenet, 18-22 July 1813, Admi ralty, 52-4567, Public Record Office, London [PRO]. 12 Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. 4, Parr 2, 365-66. 13 lbid. 14 Cap rain's Log, HBMS Plantagenet, 25 July 1813. 15 Scott, 72; Cyril Field, The Story of the Submarinefrom the EarliestAges to the Present Day (London: S. Low, Marston & Company, Ltd., 1908), 75; Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. 4, Parr 2, 46; Philip, 298. 16 Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. 4, Parr 2, 365. 17 Samuel Clowden Halsey Submarine [Sketch], Samuel Colt Papers, Box 3, Connecticut Historical Society, Hanford, CT; Gentlemen's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, Parr 2 (From July to December 1813), 83:285. Halsey's submarine and his plan of attack were well known in certain American circles. Both Commodore Stephen Decatur, whose squadron had been

locked in the Thames River at New London by Hardy, andRobertFulton were well aware of rhe scheme, if not rhe derails. Robert Fulton to Commodore Stephen Decatur, 5August 1813, Crawford, 2:211. 18 Gentlemen's Magazine, 83:285; Field, 73. 19 Gentlemen's Magazine, 83:285. 20 Ibid. 21 Halsey Submarine. 22 Gentlemen's Magazine, 83:285. 23 James T[errius] De Kay, The Battle of Stonington: Torpedoes, Submarines, and Rockets (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990), 56. 24 Ibid. , 76. 25 NewBedfordMercury,15Julyl814;Rocellus Sheridan Guernsey, New York city and vicinity during the war of 1812-15, being a military, civic and financial local history of that period, with incidents and anecdotes thereof and a description ofthe forts, fortifications, arsenals, defences and camps in and about New York city and harbor. 2 vols. (New York: C.L. Woodward, 1889), 1: 139; Salem Gazette, 8July 1814; New Bedford Mercury, 15 July 1814; De Kay, 128-31. 26 Guernsey, 140. 27 Field, 74-75. 28 New Bedford Mercury, 15 July 1814. 29 Salem Gazette, 8 July 1814, stares "before their arrangements were completed a gale arose." 30 The Columbian, 29 June 1814; Boston Gazette, 7 July 1814; Salem Gazette, 8 July 1814. 31 Salem Gazette, 8July1814; De Kay, 131. 32 Boston Gazette, 7 July 1814; The Columbian, 29 June 1814; Salem Gazette, 8 July 1814. 33 Niles' Weekly Register, 4:3 18. Donald G. Shomette, aformerstajfmemberof the Library ofCongress, is a historian, marine archaeologist, and the author offifteen books. He was twice winner ofthe john Lyman Book Award for Best American Maritime History. His most recent naval history book is Flotilla: The Patuxent Naval Campaign in the War of 1812 Uohns Hopkins University Press, 2009). He has worked in the field of cartography for the National Geographic Society in the production of historic shipwreck maps, and in the recording industry as lyricist and co-producer of the original music CD 1812: Tide of War.

SEA HISTORY 141, WINTER2012- 13

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SMS Konigsberg at Pangani, 1914

by Ian M arshall

In 1953, artist Ian Marshall was a passenger in an East African Airways DC-3 flying over Tanganyika when the pilot took the plane low over the desolate mangrove swamps of the Rufiji River delta to enable them to see the 1915 wreck of the German cruiser Konigsberg. The bruised and rusty shape of her hull was largely submerged in river mud but still visible at low tide. Years later, while on a family holiday further up the coast at Pangani, he learned that the German light cruiser had entered the mouth of the Pangani River in the weeks before the outbreak of war in August, 1914. "I was entranced by the place and did some sketching. I was keen do a painting, but I also wanted to try and place the subject in the larger context of history. What led to this ship's presence at that specific time?" Marshall sought to fit this ship into the technological evolution of naval architecture, the broad historical circumstances that brought her to East Africa, and to the events of the First World War. Outbreak of that war concluded a long peace, a period of impressive self-assurance in the West, and it arrested efforts that were confidently expected to lead to a more humane and civilized world. "The year is not so very remote-I knew some of those who lived in East Africa at the time and were most affected when it took place. A warship wrecked upstream in an African river might be just a tiny sliver of history, but recounting some of the circumstances might provide better insight to the larger scene." - Ian Marshall he Industrial Revolution had been spawned in the British Isles towards the end of the eighteenth century; it was the outcome of the exploitatio n of iron manufacturing capability and of coal-fired steam engineering. W ith the edge that this new technology provided, steamships secured the country's naval superiority and facilitated an entirely unp recedented and prolonged expansio n of wo rldwide trade. It was, perhaps, a chance circumstance, but it placed Western Euro pean culture in a dominant position for the next 200 years. Germany fo llowed the same path as Britain, and, by the end of the nineteenth century, was eager to join in what was seen as the process of bringing progress overseas. Establishing law and order, coupled with faci litating the work of Christian missio ns and "opening up" backward lands to the benefi ts of economic development, we re regarded as the du ty of civilized nations. Wo rld trade was conveyed almost entirely by ships, and the whole international trading system was underwritten by the protectio n provided by national navies. Commercial engagements were en fo rced, pi racy was suppressed, and ultimately rrearies were implem ented only with this implied backin g. Major trading nations became aware of rheir need to be able to project naval power overseas. In the thi rd quarter of the nineteenth century, the French developed a process fo r m anufac ruring consisrenrly reliable steel. This enabled the use of steel fo r hull plating and scantlings, which were much lighter than those made of iron . Royal Navy

builders soon adopted the use of Welshmade sreel for building a new class of warships; rhese we re the fi rs t to be offi cially designated as cruisers. The term "cruiser" used to be applied to any warship ass igned to independent service, such as scouring o r patrol, but the cruiser as a warship type seems to have been created in rhe first ,\ 30' E f

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construction in place of iron-or composite wood and iron. Cruisers, as well as larger warships, now contained a relatively thin but strong high-tensile steel deck within the hull, roughly at water level. This protective deck was designed to prevent projectiles from plunging through the hull and emerging below the waterline. Vital compartments, such as engine rooms, boiler rooms and magazines, were located in the bowels of the ship, below this protective deck. C ruisers mounted relatively small-caliber guns that, in the most modern ships, had a high-muzzle velocity (giving them superior range and accuracy). Generally their armament was composed of so-called "quick-firers: " the use of an integral cartridge-case and shell allowed a much higher rate of fire than that of the large-caliber guns mounted in battleships. Most cruisers also carried tubes for launching torpedoes, a recently-developed weapon that gave ships the potential to make a deadly strike at the waterline of more powerful warships. The cruiser's slim lines, lightweight steel construction, and powerful engines provided high speed and maneuverabili ty. Light cruisers could o utstrip major warships, and with a draft of only about eighteen feet they were able to penetrate waterways denied to larger ships. In April of 191 4, the German light cruiser SMS Konigsberg, under Captai n Max Loof, was deployed to German East Africa. She was the Kaiser's crack warship; her customary duties included providing escort to the Imperial yacht Hohenzollern during Kielerwoche, the yachting regatta held at Kiel, the principal navy base in the Baltic, and during annual naval maneuvers in Norwegian waters. Konigsberg was sent to Dar es Salaam to "show the flag," and to be present when the Kaiser arrived on his planned state visit that August. He was due to open a Colonial Exposition to celebrate completion of the Central Railway from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika. Other events in Europe intervened, and the visit never took place. ThesleekKonigsberg, nonetheless, made an exaggerated impression in East Africa. On arrival, she was thrown open to the public, and thereafter she steamed along the coastline to reconnoiter every river mouth and every navigable inlet. She made a splash wherever she appeared. SEAHTSTORY 141 , WINTER 20 12- 13

r SMS Konigsberg at Dar es Salaam

These were the same waters familiar to Chinese seafarers centuries earlier, when a mighty fleet of warships left China in 142 1 as part of a wo rldwide expedition. These ships were far larger than anything known in Europe at the time. In addition, Chinese knowledge of celestial navigation was far more advanced than the rest of the seafaring world. It was only some thirty years after this expedition that the first Portuguese navigators began to venture southwards along the west coast of Africa. The Portuguese and Spanish initiated the Age of Reconnaissance, and they were followed by other Europeans who were equally eager to dis-

cover a sea passage to the Orient. Over the course of the next two centuries, Western European mariners explored the very limits of the North and South Atlantic, the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Carracks, galleons, and Indiamen all mounted broadside batteries of cannon, and they proved to be more than a match for any indigenous naval forces they encountered at sea. On land, it was not always so easy to obtain mastery. After they rounded the southern tip of Africa in 1486, the Portuguese rapidly secured command of the seas off the east coast from Delagoa Bay to Malindi. Under the leadership of the masterful Vasco da Gama, they

Dar es Salaam by Ian Marshall "Haven of Peace. " This handsome town was laid out around the grassy shores of a very beautiful lagoon, which is approached by a narrow access from the open sea.

established a series of fortified trading stations, and these were not relinquished until the fall of Fort Jesus at Mombasa in 1698. Thereafter, the Portuguese clung to just the southern part of the coast, what is now the nation of Mozambique, to maintain their communications around the Cape of Good Hope to Goa and their more valuable possessions in the Far East. Arabs from the Middle East long preceded the Portuguese in trading with East Africa, and they vied with the European interlopers. More than a dozen Arab settlements had been planted up and down the

Late in the nineteenth century, German missionaries brought the gospel to East Africa. Arising from their initiative, in 1889 Germany established an administration in what was ro become German East Africa, (later called Tanganyika by the British) . They set up a European-style civil service, with its capital at the new port of Dar es Salaam. The Germans developed a second port to the north atTanga, and railways were constructed leading inland from both places. They built a customs house at Pangani and converted the old citadel into a fine boma to accommodate the District

Commissioner's office. The river mouth was buoyed, and a government tug was put on call from Tanga to assist in navigation. The cruiser Konigsberg paid a visit to Pangani in July 1914, and two weeks later, just before the outbreak of war, she received orders to destroy commercial shipping in the Indian Ocean. It is an interesting indication of how seriously the German administration regarded its mission in Africa that the governor, Dr. Heinrich Schnee, supposed that it would be able to ignore the war in Europe and maintain normal relations with the adjoining European colonies. The local army commander peremptorily disabused him of this idea. Captain Loof immediately rook Konigsberg to sea, adroitly evading three slower British cruisers, which had been directed to keep an eye on his ship. Once war was officially declared, he set about hunting down Allied merchant ships. He sank a British ship bound from Colombo to London with much of a year's supply of tea, and, acting on intelligence, he entered the roadstead at Zanzibar where an ' inferior British warship was unwisely lying disabled to have her boilers cleaned. The German cruiser approached at dusk, stayed well out of their range, and coolly blasted the Pegasus until she was burnt out and had to be run ashore. It was an encouraging coup,

(left) Lamu, and (below) Tug Nyati, at Dar es Salaam, by Ian Marshall coast, many of them on islands for easier defense against the natives. Traders marched inland via the ancient caravan routes, and Arab dhows to this day still follow the pattern of monsoon winds over the sea to Arabia, the Gulf, and to the west coast of India. The Sultanate of Zanzibar held sway over the coast long after the Portuguese evacuation, until eventually British intervention led to extinction of the slave trade. Many Muslim settlements survive in East Africa, notably on the island ofLamu on the coast of Kenya north of Malindi. Some 200 miles south of Mombasa, Arabs built a massive citadel and mosques in the town of Pangani, situated at the mouth of the river of that name, which for a time served as the port linking the caravan routes from the interior with the sea. They also built the fort whose bones still stand guard over the harbor entrance.

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

(left) Deepwater Berths at Kilindini. The modern port is on the south side ofMombasa Island. The old dhow harbor, the Arab town, and Fort Jesus lie on the north side. (below) Konigsberg in the Rufiji River. The East African coast is protected from the open sea by a treacherous coral reef, which extends for as much as a mile offihore. Only where a substantial river discharges freshwa ter, creating a channel in which coral cannot grow, is it possible for a ship to approach land. Such deepwater channels are narrow and generally tortuous. In the 16th century, the Portuguese established trading stations at river mouths along the coast. Wherever they did so, they planted a grove ofcasuarina trees whose fronds, when washed out to sea with the current, provided a visual clue to the path of the freshwater channel and thus served as a valuable aid to navigation. The fronds in the foreground are hanging from the casuarina trees.

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SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 201 2- 13

but upon retmng, Konigsberg suffered a serious breakdown-a crosshead fractured on one of the connecting rods of her reciprocating engines. This probably cut her propulsion power by half, and, as a result, she took refuge in the steamy mangrove swamps of the Rufiji River delta, proceeding inland up creeks between the overgrown islands until she was well our of sight from seaward. Ir rook months for the British to find her. She was eventually tracked down by means ofsome spi ri red forays to gather intelligence. Thereafter, they were baffled by the problem ofsealing her fare. They tried blocking egress from the delta by sinking a collier across the main channel, but there remained doubts about the possibiliry of the cruiser finding another way out. They tried to get upriver in small craft armed with torpedoes, bur the shores were heavily overhung with vegetation, unapproachable, and well defended. The target was out of sight, and the Rufiji's maze of shallow tidal waterways had never been charred. The British summoned a battleship named Goliath, although she was really only a rather small one. Her main battery consisted offour 12-inch guns, easily capable of smashing Konigsberg to pieces. The battleship's 26-foor draft, however, meant that she was unable to enter the delta without very real risk of stranding on a mud bank. The German captain, in response, shifted his ship progressively further and further upriver, where even those long-range guns could not reach her. Eventually, the Royal Navy brought up two shallow-drafr river monitors. These were vessels that had been designed and built for the Brazilian government for operation up the Amazon River; they mounted 6-inch guns, and in the last hour or so of a flood tide they could steam far enough upstream to get in range of the stricken cruiser. Gunfire was directed-for the first time ever-from aircraft to spot the fall of shot and to radio directions for correcting the aim. The somewhat primitive aircraft and their radios proved unreliable in tropical conditions, bur afrer many attempts they achieved success. Firing blind over intervening rreeclad islands, the monitors finally managed to find their target. A succession of 6-inch shells, describing a great arc in flight, plunged into the cruiser and penetrated her protective deck. They caused a massive explosion, which sent up

Konigsberg's guns were successfolly salvaged and put to use in service of Col. Paul von LettowVorbeck's troops in the land battles against the British in East Africa in World ™zr I a gray-and-black plume which could be seen by the waiting British ships well our to sea. Nine months after holing-up in the Rufiji, Konigsberg had finally and conclusively been destroyed. The Germans salvaged the cruiser's ten powerful 4. 1-inch guns with great exertion and brought them ashore. They were subsequently mounted on gun-carriages improvised by the railway workshops. These very guns would play an important role in more than three years of land fighting under Colonel (later General) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, until the war came to an end when armistice was declared in Europe on 11 November 1914.

So, the whole story has been spun out; I was able to get a glimpse of the place and a taste of the sultry climate. I have learned a lot about the ship. Her visit to Pangani was almost a hundred years ago, but I believe it has been possible to get a whiff of the atmosphere of that time. German East Africa is now the nations of Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, and the Chinese are once again investigating opportunities in these parts. Nobody is much interested in the story of Captain Loof and the Konigsberg. Nevertheless she was a lovely ship, the very pinnacle of light cruiser design in her day, and she is emblematic of an era of blind self-assurance. ~

Ian Marshall is a Fellow and past president of the American Society of Marine Artists. He is the author offive books of maritime paintings: Armored Ships, Ironclads, Passage East, Flying Boats, and Cruisers and La Guerre de Course. His work hangs in the permanent collections of the US Naval Academy Museum; the US Naval ™ir College; the Royal Navy Museum at Portsmouth, England; the Scottish United Services Museum at Edinburgh Castle; Maine Maritime Museum; Lloyds of London; Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Limerick, Ireland; Botswana National Museum; and the Royal Netherlands Navy Museum at Den Helder. For the last 25 years his paintings have been shown by the J Russell ]inishian Gallery in Fairfield, Connecticut. In London, his work is shown at the Tryon Gallery, 7 Bury Street in St. ]ames's. Mr. Marshall's art has been exhibited at the Mystic International Exhibition each year since 1988, where he has received a number ofawards. He has had individual exhibitions at the US Navy Museum in ™ishington, DC; the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis; Maine Maritime Museum; and at the US Naval ™zr College Museum in Newport, Rhode Island. In New York City, he has had shows at the Union League Club, India House Club, Wings Club, and the Explorers' Club. Recent shows include 26 ofhis paintings oftramp steamers at the Connecticut Maritime Association, a shipowners' society. Ian comes from Edinburgh, Scotland. He acquired architectural degrees at the University ofCape Town and the University ofPennsylvania. His architectural career was in private practice, largely in Africa, and he is a member ofthe AJA, RIBA, and RIAS. He and his wife live on Lake Ossipee in Freedom, New Hampshire.

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

Maritte Art News Don't let the winter cover on your boat keep you from experiencing the joys of boating and the view of the coast. Winter is a great time to visit museums and galleries to check out their latest exhibits and new acquisitions. Be sure to check out our calendar (page 49) for other museum exhibitions and events.

&eorge Jellows Retrospective at the MEf It might seem hard to believe that the artist who became famous for paintings like the one pictured below left, would also produce a collection of marine paintings, like the other two featured below. George Bellows (1882-1925) was regarded as one of America's greatest artists when he died, at age 42, from a ruptured appendix. His early fame rested on his powerful depictions of boxing matches and gritty scenes

Ch urn and Break, 1913 of New York City's tenement life, bur he also painted cityscapes, seascapes, war scenes, and portraits, and made illustrations and lirhographs that addressed many of the social, political, and cultural issues of the day. Opening 15 November, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will exhibit some 120 works from Bellows's career, the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist's works since 1966. Bellows focused almost half of his oeuvre on marine and shore views, although these works are not as well-known as his city scenes. Many of his seascapes pay homage to Winslow Homer, some of whose paintings of New England coastal scenes were in the Metropolitan's collection by &: 191 1 and were available for study. These works by Bellows, with their celebration of the sea and sense of isolation, remind SkipjackNautical"Wares~com us rhat he was a classmate of Edward Hopper, another modern American realist who appreciated Homer's achieveHistory in Miniature ments. The exhibition was organized by Custom Built Ship & Yacht Modelsâ&#x20AC;˘ Research Service the National Gallery of Art in Washington, in association with The MetroAllen K. Haddox politan Museum of Arr and the Royal Nautical Research Guild, Society for Nautical Academy of Arts, London. The George Research, US. Naval Institute, NMHS, CAMM Bellows Retrospective will be shown at 803 N. Howard Street #148 rhe MET until 18 February 2013 before Alexandria, VA 22304 traveling to the Royal Academy of Arts, E-Mail: allenhaddox@comcast.net London, where the exhibition will run from 16 March- 9 June 2013. (1000 Fifth Home: 703-751 -1301 Ave. , New York, NY 10028; Ph. 212 535Cell: 703-915-6160 77 1O; www.metmuseum.org)

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SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER2012- 13

New Pait1tit1gs for the US Coast 0-uard Thanks to artists Patrick O ' Brien and Peter Rindlisbacher, the US Coast Guard now has four more of its historic revenue cutters represented in its art collection: RC James Madison, RC Surveyor, RC Eagle, and RC Thomas Jefferson. In 2011, in preparation for the upcoming War of 1812 commemorations, the Coast G uard commissioned four paintings from the rwo artists to fill gaps in their collection of art depicting historic ships of the Revenue C utter Service, the forerunner of today's US Coast Guard. (To see select images in the Coast G uard collection of the "Revenue C utters and the War of 1812," see: http://www.uscg.mil/ history/ 18 12/ l 812imagery.asp)

Revenue Cutter Eagle on Patrol During the War of 1812 by Patrick O'Brien

fhe Cet1ter for Advat1ced Study it1 the Visual Arts, New Appoit1tt11et1ts

The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Ar t has announced the appointments of members for the 20 12-20 13 academic year. They include Oskar Batschmann, Schweizerisches Institut fiir Kunstwissenschaft, Zurich, as Samuel H. Kress Professor; independent scholar and curator Lynne Cooke as Andrew W. Mellon Professor for 2012-2014; and Cecilia Frosinini, Opificio delle Pierre Duree Laboratori di Restauro, Florence, as Edmond J . Safra Visiting Professor for spring 2013. Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University/The Museum of Modern Art, has been named the 62nd A. W Mellon Lecturer in the Fine Arts for spring 201 3. CASVA also announced the appointment of ten senior fellows, a sabbatical curatorial fel low, rwo scholars in residence, rwo postdoctoral fellows , eighteen p redoctoral fellows, and three predoctoral fellowships for historians of American art to travel abroad . CASVA was founded in 1979 to promote the study of the history, theory, and criticism of art, architecture, and urbanism through its four programs of fellowships, meetings, research, and publications. (CASVA, National Gallery of Art, 2000B South Club Drive, Landover, Maryland 20785; Ph. 202 8426480; www. nga.gov/casva/) The definitive gift for every maritime histo ry enthusiast - - - -

Cat1adiat1 Cat1vases The Minnesota Marine Art Museum recently opened an exhibition titled Canadian Canvases, featuring some of the museum's best historic and contemporary arrworks depicting Canada's vast coasts, lakes, rivers, and maritime industry. Included in the exhibition are six recencly acquired paintings, plus many wo rks by

SCRIMSHAW Ingenious Contrivances, Curiously C arved Scrimshaw in the New Bedford Whaling Museum By Dr. Stuart M. Frank

This 400-page reference to che world's largesc scrimshaw colleccion is illusrraced wich 700 pho tographs. Special slip case limiced edicio n: $25 0 H ardcover: $65

East lronbound Winter by j ack Lorimer Gray Jack Lorimer Gray, one of Canada's most prominent 20th-century marine artists. (800 Riverview Dr., Winona, MN 55987; www.minnesotamarineart.org)

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

WHALI NG M US EUM

18 Johnny Cake H ill , New Bedford, MA 02740

For more in fo rmation or to buy your copy, co ncacc che Museum Store ac 508 997-0046, exc. r27.

I 508 997-0046 I www.whalingmuseum .org 31

Fair Winds Robin, Claudene, and HMS Bounty ;\ s we send this issue of Sea History to press, we mourn the f l l oss of the replica ship HMS Bounty in Hurricane Sandy and, more importantly, two of her crew, including her long-time captain, Robin Walbridge. As Hurricane Sandy was barreling towards the northeast, many of us awoke to the news that HMS Bounty was foundering off the coast of North Carolina, approximately 100 miles from Cape Hatteras, that famous graveyard of ships. We rejoiced in the first reports that all of her crew had been accounted for and were being rescued by US Coast Guard Search and Rescue teams (SAR). Our hearts broke when we learned that the first reports were inaccurate, and that two of Bounty's crewmembers were missing. In a matter of hours, the Coast G uard had posted online an 11 Y2minute video of the helicopter rescue of the crew. It is a remarkable video, showing the difficulty of the helicopter pilot's job, the intensity of the rescue swimmer's task, and the conditions the crew were enduring in the life rafts that flipped and then flipped again in the wind and waves. (You can watch it online at www. youtube.com/watch?v=UD lc1slA8PA). The video gave us hope that they'd find the others. Soon the names of the two missing

Bounty sailors were released: one was a new deckhand, Claudene Christian, and the other was the ship's master, Captain Robin Walbridge. Within hours, rescuers did find Ms. Christian, but she was unresponsive and died a short time later. Hope remained for Captain Walbridge; as darkness fell , the Coast Guard searched on. They continued for another three and a half days before an nouncing that they .were suspending the search, crushing any remaining hopes that Captain Walbridge had beaten the odds and would be found alive. The National Maritime Historical Society extends its deepest condolences ro the families of Claudene Christian and Captain Robin Walbridge. The loss of Bounty is a loss to us all. But an even greater loss is the lives of two dedicated mariners. Rest in peace, shipmates. We also offer our most sincere thanks to the US Coast Guard and its SAR teams. Their rescue of Bounty's surviving crewmembers was nothing short of heroic, and their search for Captain Walbridge was as much as anyone could ask for. They searched for ninety hours, covering 12,000 overlapping square nautical miles using aircraft and cutters from three states.

About the Bounty HMS Bounty was well-known to moviegoers, to urists, and sailing ship mariners across several generations. She was built in 1960 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, for MGM Studios, which was getting ready to film another Mutiny on the Bounty movie, starring Marlon Brando. Since then, the ship has had roles in other Hollywood productions, including: Treasure Island, Yellowbeard,

Pirates ofthe Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, SpongeBob Squarepants, and a few documentaries along the way. In 2001, Bounty was bought by Robert Hansen, who, with Captain Walbridge at the helm, brought her to Boothbay, Maine, for a much-needed haulout and repairs. Since that time, the ship has undergone major restoration work, including a new bottom, new frames, machinery, props, fuel and water tanks, and new sails 32

and rigging. Bounty has put a lot of miles under her keel. Recently, in 2010 she made tour of the Great Lakes; in 2011 she toured Europe; and this past summer she visited ports all along the East Coast of the US and Canada participating in the War of 1812 bicentennial commemorations. Bounty had only been relaunched from a month-long shipyard maintenance period on 18 October. She made a stop in New London, Connecticut, for a daysail with submariners from USS Mississippi before leaving port on the 25'h for Florida with a crew of fifteen under the command of Captain Walbridge. At this time, the Coast Guard has started its formal investigation into the sinking, a process which often takes several months to complete. SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

Captain Robin Walbridge

(1949-201 2)

Robin Walbridge grew up in Sr. Petersburg, Florida, where he was first exposed to the wo rld of sailing. Starting out as a mechanic on houseboats, he then became captain of the Governor Stone in Apalachicola. H e went on to a position as captain of the Vision Quest schooner Bill of Rights, where he developed an affinity fo r sail training and yo uth programs. Like many of his colleagues in the sailing ship community, Walbridge served on a number of vessels before settling in to his 17-year career aboard Bounty. H e had served as mare aboard "HMS" Rose under Captain Richard Bailey, earning his 500-ton and, later, 1,600-ton licenses . In 1995, Walbridge joined the HMS Bounty program, and in those early years he also trained the crew of USS Constitution, which was preparing to set sail in honor of the fri gate's 200'h birthday in 1997. Walb ridge referred to the experience as the highlight of his career. Captain Wal bridge played an active role in seeing his ship thro ugh serious fi nancial challenges and personally oversaw the Bounty's re novation process th ro ugh three major refits in recent years. Captain Walbridge was beloved by his fo rmer crew and by the p eople who to ured his ship and participated in its sailing programs, which , after seventeen years at the helm, numbers in the hundreds for the fo rmer and tens of thousands fo r the latter. His dedication to Bounty and the history it rep resented ran deep. The loss of Captain Wal bridge and his ship will be grieved for yea rs to come. "For Robin Walbridge, the ship came first. As Bounty's skipper, he lived this seamen's credo to the fullest. Th rough his tireless efforts, Bounty was saved from the scrapyard several times. W hen I first met him, he took me th ro ugh th e recently reb uilt h ull with Marine Society president Captain Tom Fox, leaving us both deeply impressed with his closeness to the work. Later, I h ad the privilege of sailing with Robin aboard Bounty in the Hudson River, as a raw crew set rhe main to psail-a huge single sail in th is 18th-century replica- and Robin rightly congratulated the beginners fo r sending the yard aloft. "But," he said "now we're going to th row ourselves into the work and mas thead this yard smartly," whereupon he hurled himself into the job, tailing onto rhe halyard with gusto. He somehow fo und the breath ro si ng out, "Up aloft this yard must go." We wo n't hear him say rhar again, bur his work lives on in many who sailed with him and others who learned to rise to the challenge of seafaring. Fair W inds, Captain Walbridge." -Peter Stanford, President Emeritus, N ational Maritime Historical Society "Robin Walbridge was a fri end of mine. We met wh en he wo rked fo r me aboard "HMS" Rose in the earl y 1990s, and a few years later I hired him for some work with Bounty of which I was then sailing as contract captain . The owners liked him, and he began two decades of solid service to that ship. As recently as this summer, we sailed our ships together ( Gazela and Bounty) to port visits between Norfolk and Nova Scotia. Bounty was looking better than ever, and her crew had a number of stellar perfo rmers whom I had my eye on for future Oliver Hazard Perry employment. I await a casual ty report about Bounty's loss; I feel no desire to second guess, indict, or judge. If Robin made a mistake, he paid the ultimate price." -Captain Richard Bailey, Oliver Hazard Perry

Claudene Christian (1970-201 2) From an early age, Claudene Christian lived her life overflowing with enthusiasm and finding an interest in a wide variety of activities. G rowing up in Anchorage, Alaska, she excelled as a student athlete and performer, winning the Miss Alaska National Teenager pagean t. She moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California and won a spot on the school's foo tball cheerleading squad, the USC Song Girls. M s. Christian conceived of the idea of marketing dolls fas hi oned afte r the Song G irls. As a college freshman she successfully launched the Cheerleader Doll Company, going on ro market dolls representing cheerleaders from dozens of schools. After her graduation, Ms. C hristian contin ued to grow her company; she sang with a local band, and worked as a promotions director. C laudene signed on as a deckhand on the replica ship HMS Bounty in M ay of this year, and she approached her role on the ship with the same energy and drive she had applied to previous projects. Her Facebook page and posts to the social network Twitter reflected her close attachment to rhe Bounty: ''As a descendant of Fletcher Ch ristian . . . I'm sure my ancestor wo uld be proud." "So I had a to ugh day, lost in the sails[.] But it was sunny, warm & I am on a TALL SHIP AT SEA. Ir's a 'Boun tyful' life."

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 201 2- 13

lt1vet1tor, '""ovator, or Et1trepret1eur? obertFulton (l765-1815) is often ( { called

the "Father of the Steamboat," even though he did not invent it. He did, however, start the first successful commercial steamboat service in the United States.

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The first steamboat had been invented by a man named John ""' ~~ Fitch in 1787, and Fulton built --~~- .. =~ on Fitch's ideas and designed a Âˇ different type of steamboat, 150 feet long and 16 feet wide (or, in nautical speak, "on the beam"). Observers in New York, where the boar was being built, doubted it would work and nicknamed the boat "Fulton's Folly." Fulton had the last laugh in 1807, when he made his first successful run from New York City to Albany on the Hudson River aboard the North River Steamboat (larer known as the "Clermont "). With this trial run deemed a success, Fulton went on to offer regular steamboat service up the Hudson, finding a ready market among travelers in the region. At the time, transport by water was easier than on rough, unpaved roads-where roads existed at all. Within five years, Fulton-the entrepreneur-was running steamboat service on six rivers and in the Chesapeake Bay. Robert Fulton was a curious and creative person his whole life. He started out as a portrait artist and ended up becoming an engineer, at times he was an inventor, innovator, and entrepreneur. Whatever problem he came across, he'd put his thinking cap on and figure out new ways to make it work or to make something already in place work better. If you take a look at the article on submarines on pages 18-22, you'll see that the same Mr. Fulton was the person who had also invented a type of submarine (he called it a "diving boat") in 1804, plus underwater torpedoes rhat were deployed in the War of 1812. Perhaps digital and media strategist Tom Grasty, explains it best:

"In its purest sense, invention can be defined as the creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first tittte. Innovation, on the other hand, occurs if sottteone itttproves on or tttakes a significant contribution to an existing product process or service .. ..lf h,vention is a pebble tossed in the pond, innovation is the rippling effect that pebble causes. Sottteone has to to the pebble. fhat's the inventor. Sottteone has to recognize the ripple will eventually becottte a wave. fhat's he entrepreneur."1

FULTON IMAGES couRTEsY oF THE LIBRARY oF coNGREss

Sub1Marit1e desigt1 by Robert Fultot1, 1806

Robert Fulton wore many hats during his life-artist, engineer, and naval architect among them, bur his legacy for ushering in commercial steamboat travel was his most lasting contribution. Many of his inventions were tried but didn't take off, but he kept on trying something new regardless. In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution would change the way people lived in lasting and dramatic ways. Inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs like Robert Fulton were key to making it a "revolution" and not just a fleeting event. ,!, 1 Media Shift Idea Lab, 29 March 2012, http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2012/03/

Ship or Barn? Cats and dogs, horse and hog, hounds, pig, and mouse-these aren't the residents on a farm, but rather nautical terms you might use aboard ships at sea. No, you don't haul on a sheep to trim the sail, but you would dog the hatches, pound a beetle, and frown at the hog. The cat and mouse have no interest in each other, but the cat's paw and the monkey's fist might tie you up in knots. Across

2 words; perch aloft for lookout shipwright's mallet used for caulking cordage made from twisting tarred yarns to hook the anchor; also, a surprise provision for the cook 2 words; ripples on the water from a light breeze; a knot made by twisting rope 13. boom traveler or footrope; also, latitude around 35 degrees 15. martingale s

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SEA HISTORY,

WINTER2012- 13

ast issue, we learned about the extinct sea cow, last described alive in 1742 by the German physician and naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller. Sailing aboard a ship commanded by Vitus Bering (after whom the Bering Sea and Bering Strait were named), Georg Steller was wrecked with the rest of the crew on a tiny frozen island off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far northwestern Pacific Ocean. Steller's Sea Cow, akin to a giant manatee, went extinct less than thirty years after they landed. The sea cow remains famous today, even though this marine mammal has been gone now for almost 250 years. Lesser known is the fact that Steller was also the last person to describe a second animal now forever lost, one worthy of just as much fascination. This was a large seabird known as the spectacled cormorant.

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The spectacled cormorant was closely related to the thirty or so other cormorant species that build their nests around almost every major body of water in the world. It weighed in at 12-14 pounds, which is three times as heavy as nearly all the cormorant species alive today. The only cormorant that is even close is the Flightless Cormorant, averaging less than 9 pounds, which only lives in small colonies on two islands in the Galapagos. Steller's spectacled cormorant, named so because of the big white rings around its eyes, was also probably flightless, or at least nearly so. Like other cormorants, it hunted after fish and crustaceans by swimming deep beneath the icy surface with its wings against its side and its huge wide webbed feet paddling astern. Georg Steller and the sailors were shipwrecked through the winter on Bering Island. They were constantly frozen and half-starving. One day, Steller and a few others were looking for food on the other side of the island from their camp when a blizzard forced them to huddle in a cave. That's where they saw the spectacled cormorant. When the storm passed, they were able ro easily catch these birds who had no fear of humans. c "The flesh of one womld easily satisfy three , ~ hungry men,'' Steller \Wrote. "They were a · / great comfort." He continued: "From the ~ . ~::::::> --z nmg around the eyes, · · ~ and the clown-like twistings of the neck and head, it appears quite a ludicrous bird." In their efforts to survive, the men surely ate as many of the spectacled cormorants as they could get. Steller and

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SPECT"c~ED CO~tv\oAA~T AL So ff>.. LL-AS' Co \'2- tv'\ D 'F--h \.l \ ( r'l-l />cl- P....c '?- o Co ?-A'I- "?IC RS\'\ c \ L-l-/\TIJ S) his men seem to have prepared this bird the way that the natives of Kamchatka did other cormorant species. "Namely," as Steller wrote, "by burying it encased-feathers and all-in a big lump of clay, and baking it in a heated pit." Steller thought these spectacled cormorants cooked this way were quite tasty. Georg Steller was the last person to leave a description of a living spectacled cormorant. He never made it home to St. Petersburg; he died soon after returning to Siberia from Bering Island. In the years that fo llowed, other scientists translated and published his journals, notes, and papers about all that he observed on Bering Island and during his ship's exploration of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. In the 1880s a Norwegian biologist named Leonhard Stejneger traveled to Bering Island. Here he unearthed the first known bones of the spectacled cormorant. When he talked to a few native Aleutians in the area

about the extinct bird, they cold him the spectacled cormorant had once been prized for food but were all long gone. Stejneger wrote: "They only laughed when I offered a very high reward for a specimen." The Aleutian and Russian hunters had visited the islands for the furs and oil of seals, sea lions, and sea otters. They ate the last of the sea cows and turkey-sized spectacled cormorants Steller had described in his journals. Only six preserved skins of these birds remain today-carefully mothballed in museums in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Finland, and Russia. The Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands has a website where you can view a specimen in 3-D (http:// nlbif. eti. uva.nl/ naturalis/) . In the next issue: let's take a trip to the Galapagos for the elusive Flightless Cormorant, the real star of the movie Master and Commander. For past ''Animals in Sea History" go to www.seahistory.org. ,!,

'H I MAGE COU RTESY NY PUB LI C LIB RARY D IG ITAL GALLERY, P.O.

Hand-colored lithograph by Joseph Wolf, 1869, painted from preserved skins and Steller's descriptions.

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MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

by Peter McCracken

Applying Social Networking to Maritime History ocial networks are, perhaps surprisingly, a great place to explore maritime history. Sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedln, Tumblr, and others, all have hidden (and sometimes not-so-h idden) spots where maritime history, in many different forms, hides out. Where that is, and how one finds it, varies a great deal, however. With more than one billion active users aro und the globe, nearly everyone is now fami liar-at leas t in passing-with Facebook (http://facebook.com). Facebook can be a great place to receive a regular feed of occasional maritime information and news by fo llowing feeds from businesses, museums, gro ups, and individuals- including the National Maritime Historical Society. "Down to the Sea in Ships" (use Facebook's search box to locate it; or http://facebook.com/search.php ifyo u're not logged in) is a perfect example of how Facebook can improve your day; the feed provides regular and fasci nati ng vignetres of m aritime history, a nd yo u can find lots more interesti ng content just by looking at the pages that similar sites follow. One example is "Sailing Mercham Vessels oflreland and Britain," at http://www.facebook. com/sailingmerchantvessels. Many businesses offer Facebook pages that provide interesting content beyond just promotional spots : museums, for instance, often have very interesting Facebook feeds that range from what's going on at their institution to posting images and content from their collections. These pages are accessible whether you have a Facebook acco unt or not. Linkedln (http://linkedin.com) is verysi mi lar to Facebook. his smaller-with about 175 million users-and focuses much more on professional interests than does Facebook. Linkedln's discussion pages a re unique to Linkedln but are also only visible to thei r users. In m a ny cases, any Linkedln m embers may view a group discussion, but they cannot participate until they request to join the gro up and are approved by the gro up leader. Others, such as the Naval History & Heritage Command gro up, are open gro ups, and do not require approval for m embership. Like Facebook, Twitter (http://twitter.com) has received lots of press. With more than half a billion active users, its 140-character "tweets" are famous, if potentially overwhelmi ng (because of their quantity, rather than their brevity). Try searching Twitter by using its search box in the top right corner, rather than trying to follow the never-ending stream of tweets. One can track just a few interesting individuals or businesses, but I find Twiner's feature

of adding others to my stream to be frustrating and confusing. M useums and organizations, such as the UK National Maritime Museum (@NMMGreenwich) and the US Navy Historical Foundation (@USNavyHistory), or authors like Nathaniel Philbrick (@natphilbrick) and Julian Stockwin (@julianstockwin), can provide interesting and informative news and insights for those who enjoy the Twirrer experience. Pinterest (http://pinterest.com) is a new and fas t-growing

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photo-sharing site where people "pin" images that they like to their own "pinboa rds," which are then visible to all. You need an acco unt to pin images, but yo u don't need one to view or search the site. Pages like http://pinterest.com/ezthetic/sh-p/ show many interesting and varied images of, in this case, ships-as curated by the user "ezthetic." From the home page, use the search box in the top lefr corner to find images of absolutely any thing, often brought together through curious and random themes. More images are avai lable at Tumblr (http://tumblr.com), a photoblog site where people mostly post images that are of interest to them personally. These images are nearly always collected from elsewhere, but can occasionally lead to more relevant sources. For instance, a search for "m aritime" turned up a good-quality image of Anchor Line's Caledonia, from user "unseensight." The original source of the image, however, the Scottish Maritime Museum's Flickr page at http://www.flickr. com/photos/scottishmaritimemuseum/, provided m any more images useful to my research than the feed from "unseensighc." While navigating these sites lookjng for maritime topics, be awa re that the wo rd "ship" in the online community is also a word used by fa ns ofliterature and film franchises to discuss their favorite imagined relationships among fictional characters. Not to worry: I, too, was thoroughly confused when this turned up in my search results, until I researched it to figure out what was going on . When explored with care, rhe wo rld of social networks can provide one with a new view of maritime h istory-it ca n also be strange and overwhelming. Suggestions for other sires worth mentioning a re welcome at peter@shipindex.org. See http://shipindex .org fo r a free compilation of over 140,000 ship names from indexes to dozens of books and journals. J,

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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 (664 7), ext. 0, or visit our web site at www.seahistory.org .

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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 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

.SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS The Massachusetts Maritime Academy's training ship TS Kennedy has been activated by the federal government to support relief efforts in the New Yorld New Jersey area following Hurricane Sandy. The Kennedy lefr Cape Cod on 4 Novem ber, bo un d for Elizabeth City, NJ, and will be used as a floating ho tel, providing a safe, clean place to sleep with electricity, hot showers, and ho t foo d fo r up to 650 rescue personnel (first res ponders, police, nati o nal guard, power company employees, FEMA employees, etc.) . For this m issio n, 6 1 cadets who are ho used onboard during the academic sem ester

MMA president, Admiral Richard Gurnon watches from shore as TS Ke nnedy embarked on its last sea term. were moved to area hotels. The ship is being manned by its p rofessio nal crew (the engineering and deck officers and the crew), augm ented by additional officers and crew hired on just fo r this evolutio n. Because this m issio n is occurring in the middle of the semester, no fac ul ty o r cadets will participate in the trip o r rel ief efforts, to minimize disruption of classes . M MA President, Rear Admiral Richard Gurno n, USM S, said h e expects the sh ip to be go ne fro m the academy for 30 days . The 540-fo o t Kennedy was built at Avo ndale Shipyards in New Orleans in 1967 and co nve rted for use as a training ship in 200 2, completed in 2009. At 13,886 gross tons, the Kennedy can acco mmodate 7 10 people on board. (M MA, 101 Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay, MA 02532; 508 830-5 000; www. maritime.edu) ... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the "citizen science web portal" Zooniverse are seeking volunteers to transcribe a newly digitized set of ship logs from Navy; Coast Guard,

and Revenue Cutter voyages in the Arctic between 1850 and World War II as part of the Old Weather Arctic Project. The proj ect is part of a new crowd-sourcing effort aimed at making a wealth of wea ther data from these shi p logs available to climate scien tists wo rldwide. NOAA Administrato r Dr. Jan e Lubchenco explains, "These o bse rvatio ns represent one of the largest and most underutilized collections of me teorological and marine enviro nmental data in existence. O nce converted into d igital forma ts, n ew analyses of these data will help provide new insights." Organizers hope to enlist tho usands of volunteers to transcribe scanned copies of logbook pages via the O ld Weather Proj ect's website ar www. oldwearher. org. W hile rhe principal goal is to imp rove understanding of global climate, the info rmatio n recorded in these logbooks will also appeal to a wi de array of researchers from o cher fields. In O ctober, when rhe project was anno unced, D avid Ferriera, the 10th Archivist of rhe Un ited Stares, no ted , "W hile the data extracted from these reco rds will be useful to scientists, th ese documents are also a treasure-trove of in form ation fo r h is to rians, genealogists, an d oth ers interested in the experiences and acco mplishments of seafaring people." The O ld Weather collaboration provides free online access to primary documents, new data resources, and analysis tools. O ld Weather is one of

a suite of projects produced, maintained, and developed by rhe C itizen Science Alliance and accessible o nline thro ugh Zooniverse. NARA w ill host digital images from all the logbooks in th is project on its website. This three-way collabo ration no r o nly m akes the logbooks available to O ld Weather ci tizen scientists and N OAA researchers, bur also to anyo ne wi th internet access who w ishes to explore the d iplomatic, scientific, technological, and mili tary aspects of rhe voyages, as well as acco unts of dramatic rescues an d tragic losses. (Digital images of the logbooks will be available on both the National Archives website at www.archives.gov and www.oldwearher.org) ... Maritime photographer Pim Van Hemmen has embarked on a photographic project, called IN EXTREMIS, to record the condition of historically significant American vessels that are "on a lee shore. " The project was named by Van H emmen's spouse, Jean ne-Marie, a Kings Point graduate and m ari time atto rney, and refers to both the Lati n meaning of "bein g near death," but also the m aritime term , which involves extreme measures to avoid collisions a r sea. The name seemed appropriate considering rhe pligh t of so many historic vessels, especially in recent years when so ma ny no nprofits are struggling to sray solvent. Van H emmen plans ro photograph ar leas t twen ty vessels across the U ni ted Stares

SEA HISTORY 141 , W INTER 20 12- 13

that have been identified as histori cally significant, representin g a range of use (military, commercial, recreational), and whose futures are uncertain . The p hotographs will then be printed on large sheets of aluminum and tour as a traveling exhibit to raise awa reness of U S maritime history and the need to preserve examples of some of America's unique and fin est ships. An acco mpanying calendar and coffee- table book are also in the works. So far Van H emmen has photographed USS Olymp ia, SS United States, SS Columbia, SS Milwaukee Clipper, N S Savannah, and other ships in the northeast and the Great Lakes . Upcoming trips will cover ships along the W es t C oast, the G ulf Coast, and the southern states; the proj ect should be completed by next summer. Van H emmen , a lifelong sailor and professional pho tographer, came to the project in early 2 01 2 when he spotted SS United States at her slip on the Delaware River in Philadelphia. H e then read an article in Sea H isto ry about USS Olymp ia's uncertain fut u re. These chance happenings, co upled w ith a lifelong interest in ships and the sea, inspired the proj ect. H e comes from a family of Dutch seafarers, including a grandfather who sailed as a chief engineer for the Orange Line in the 1950s from Europe to the Great Lakes, and a father who was a ship's engineer and superintendent of ships for the Holland America Line. Van H emmen spent 25 years as a photographer and editor in the newspaper industry where he conceived of and edited the photographic proj ect that won the first Pulitzer Prize for the Star-L edger of Newark, NJ , in 2001 . H e left the newspaper industry in 200 8 to pursue maritime and nautical photography. Van H emmen says the ships he ph otographs vary in condition from poor to excellent. "Even underneath rhe rust, the rot, the oi l stains and rhe multiple layers of paint, yo u can still see the beauty," says Van H emmen. ''As a newspaperman, I always so ught to show the truth, and som etimes rhe truth can hurt. I wa nt people ro see rhese ships, even in their current condition, and realize . that rhere is something here wo rth preserving. It may not save every one of those ships, bur hopefull y it will help save some of them , and at a minimum it should raise SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 201 2- 13

awareness that we should do more to save orher historical and worthy ships in the future." C urren tly the project is self-fi nanced, and Van H emmen is still seeking sugges tions for which ships to photograph; sugges tions can be sent to pimvanhemmen@me.com. H e hopes to raise funds fo r the project through a Kickstarter campaign (see: www.kickstarter. com), and he is currently loo king for a grant or corporate sponsorship as well. (Photos of the ships are posted on Van H emmen's website, www.h 2ophoto. co/) ... On 2 1 August, US Transport ation Secretary R ay LaHood announced that the M aritime Adm inistration has secured a n ew training vessel fo r the US Merch ant Marine Acad emy (USMMA) in Kings Point, New York. In an agreement with NASA, USMMA will receive a space

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call for occasional use-in this case NASA missions-allowing midshipmen to get at-sea experience alongside commercial crews. The agreement is mutually beneficial for NASA and MARAD, and of course for USMMA. NASA will continue to have access to the ship if the agency requires its use, and if it is available. USMMA midshipmen already obtain the sea time needed for their US Coast Guard license aboard commercial merchant ships during their "sea year," but the new training vessel will familiarize midshipmen with shipboard equipment and characteristics, and basic ship handling. Since FY2009, the Obama Administration has requested, and Congress has appropriated, more than $300 million for USMMA, which includes $239 million for operations and $61 million for capital improvements. MV Liberty Star was built in 1981 and served as one of two recovery vessels for retrieving the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters, which were jettisoned about two minutes after launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA still is working to identify a suitable new use for MV Freedom Star, the other recovery ship. Propelled by two combined 2,900 horsepower diesel engines, the 176-foot long MV Liberty Star has a 6,000-mile range and a maximum speed of 15 knots. Its 7,500-pound deck crane wi ll be an ideal tool for providing a basic understanding of modern cargo operations. It also has a

fast rescue boat, which will provide midshipmen wi th valuable experience in general launch operations. In addition, the vessel's double towing winch, substantial towing H bi rrs, and a massive towing fairlead add significant new towing training capabilities to the academy's portfolio. (USMMA, 300 Steamboat Road, Kings Point, NY 11024; Ph. 866 546-4778; www.usmma.edu) ... In October, the Cold War Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Navy opened to the public, coinciding with the Navy's 237th birthday. In development since 2003, the gallery interprets the nearly 50-year Cold War with the Soviet Union, spanning the years 1945-1991. In addition to its impressive collection of artifacts-incl uding a Trident I C-4 missile suspended over the entrance-and large collectio n of ship and aircraft models, the stories of US Navy Cold War veterans are presented to the public through exhibits and fi lm. Four large new exhibits have been constructed for the gallery in the last three years, the larges t of w hi ch is the Covert Submarine Operation exhibit. The newest exhibit, Into the Lion's Den, recreates the bridge of the cruiser USS Newport News (CA 148) during a 1972 night engagement in Haiphong Harbor. Visitors will be able to see some of the US Navy's most impressive weaponry from this era, including a Tomahawk Land Attack M issile and a "Fat Man" Mark III Atomic Bomb. For those who can't get

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

there in person, rhe Cold War Gallery is also presented online at www.usnavymuseum.org. The website includes 360-degree panoramas of the exhibits, plus images of artifacts and models. In addition to the collection of historic photos online, virtual visitors can also view videos of US Navy training films and documentaries made during rhe Cold War. The museum is located along rhe Anacosria River waterfront in sourheasr Washington, DC, and is open 7 days a week. Admission to the museum is free to rhe public, bur visitors firsr have to gain entry to the Washington Navy Yard. (Derails abour hours and directions plus updates on Base Security protocol are online ar www.usnavymuseum .org or call 202 6784333) ... As work is steadily progressing on the tall ship Oliver Hazard Perry in Rhode Island, an anonymous benefactor has come forward with two levels of challenge grants that either double or increase by 50% certain monetary amounts donated toward the project between now and the end of 2012. Meanwhile, rhe non-profit organization Oliver Hazard Perry Rhode Island (OHPRI) continues to develop and book education programs thar promise to set a sound course for SSV Oliver H azard Perry's furure, once iris completed in 2013. The ship, which started our as an uncompleted sreel hull purchased in Canada by

SSVOliver Hazard Perry

OHPRI members and towed to Rhode Island in September of 2008, will be a US-documented vessel, inspected and certified as a sailing school vessel by rhe US Coasr Guard. Righr now, rhe hull is being worked on ar Senesco Marine in North Kingstown, RI, where rhe new stern, "grear cabin," and bow are raking shape-an upper deck was added earlier.

CALLING ALL PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS Can you send us your local newspaper dippings about maritime news in your area? In rhis afternoon's mail came another envelope from my farher-in-law wirh no lerrer, just a newspaper dipping he thought I mighr be interested in from his part of the country. In rhis case ir was rhe Burlington Free Press reporting on rhe summer tour of rhe Lake Champlain Mari rime Museum's schooner replica, Lois McClure. Arrached ro rhe dipping was a posr-ir wirh a single sentence: "Nor sure if you knew abour this bur rhoughr you mighr be interested." My farher-in-law is retired and reads a couple of newspapers cover to cover. Like a lor of retirees, he has the rime and interest to do rhis on a regular basis. The National Maritime Historical Society seeks to broaden our collective awareness of maritime news and happenings across rhe country. Big news usually makes irs way to us fairly quickly. Press releases come our way from some of rhe larger organizations and insrirurions; and news rhar marrers regionally where we are based-Hudson Valley for NMHS headquarters in Peekskill, NY, and Cape Cod for rhe Sea H istory1editorial office-bur we strive to cover maritime news from all across rhe country and including smaller news stories we mighr nor be privy to. If you are reading yo ur local paper and come across a story you don'r rhink we'd have access to, would you consider sending ir to us ? Please send dippings to Editor, Sea Histo ry, 7 Timberknoll Rd., Pocasset, MA 02559, and rhank you. SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

The goal is to move rhe ship from North Kingstown to Newport for a dedication ceremony next July and rhen continue working towards having her inspected, certified, and operational in time for the bicentennial of rhe Barrie of Lake Erie on 10 September 2013. SSV Oliver Hazard Perry will be based in Newport, but she will sail as a symbol for all of Rhode Island and serve as an ambassador for rhe srare's seafari ng heritage. Those co nsidering raking advantage of rhe Plank Owner and Shipbuilding Syndicate challenge grants should contact OHPRI. The challenge grant sripulares rhar any individual or corporate contriburion from $ 1,000 to $20,000 will be doubled (Plank Owner Challenge) , and rwo-year pledges berween $25,000 and $5 00 ,000 will be marched at 50% up ro $25 0,000 (Shipbuilding Syndicate Challenge). Combined, the challenges have rhe potential to generate nearly $1.2 million. To follow rhe ship's consrrucrion progress in phoros, go to www.NarraganserrBayShipping.com and dick on ''Albums" and look for rhe ship under "Current Projects;" you can also follow rhem on Facebook ar hrrp ://facebook.com/ohpri. (For more information on OHPRI's educarion-ar-sea programs or to request further information on rhe Plank Owner and Shipbuilding Syndicate challenge grants, go to www.OHPRI.org or contact Perry Lewis at 401 841-0080 or by email ar lewis@ohpri.org; OHPRI, 29 Touro Sr., Washington Square, Newport, RI 02840) ... The wooden hull of 43

Your Purchase of this john Stobart Print Will Directly Support the NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY! Generously donated by renowned artist John Stobart and the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery to benefit the Society, "New York, Lower South Street, c. 1885," signed prints.

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. To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, e-mail nmhs@seahistory.org, or visit our website at www.seahistory.org. NYS add applicable sales tax.

San Salvador, a replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's ship that visited the California coast more than 470 years ago, is taking shape in San Diego. The Maritime M useum of San Diego has transformed rhe ap tly named Spanish Landing Park (the parking lot, actually) into a working shipyard for the duratio n of the proj ect, which is o n track for a 2013 launching. The ship will become part of the operational Beer of historic, class ic, and replica vessels at the museum. Sixty-five yea rs before the first English settlement on the North American conti nent and 80 years before the Mayflower

San Salvador's hull is taking shape in San D iego, California. crossed a much smaller ocean to New England, Spanish seafarers sighted , charred, and made first contact with the native inhabitants of what would one day be the wes t coast of the United States. When the San Salvador entered rhe harbor now called San Diego, the galleon was perhaps the most powerful vessel in the Pacific Ocean. The vessel they are building today will look like and be sailed like its namesake, but she is being built to meet Coast Guard specifications and will be fitted with diesel engines, modern navigation and safety equipment, and other hiddenfrom-view modern conveniences. The museum has a wide range of vessels in its Beer that interpret and represent many

SEAHlSTORY 141 , WINTER2012- 13

eras and facets of American and West Coas t m aritime history, including both a US Navy submarine and a Soviet sub, a steam ferry from San Francisco Bay, their Bagshi p-the 1863 iron square-rigger Star ofIndia, a classic steam yacht, a Vietnam-e ra Swift Boat, San Diego Harbor pilot boar, and the replica vessels HMS Surprise and topsail schooner Californian. What th ey didn't have was something from this early and important time in California's history, a vessel representing the 16 th-century Spanish exploration of Alta California and the European contact with Native American populations on the W es t Coast. Cabri llo's San Salvador was lost at sea and no plans for the original exist, so what is being built in San Diego today is based on a design that historians, naval architects, and other experts have determined closely represents the original. Through comparisons with the vessels in the rest of the museum fleet, visitors and students can see obvious advances in maritime technology (the ships themselves, navigational instruments, sail design and co nfiguration , the introduction of steam and the subsequent evolution of engine design and innovation) , the range of maritime pursuits (exp loration and co nques t, trade, military, recreational, ere.) , and the long history they collectively represent. The current San Salvador is being built in fu ll view of the public and rhe museum has erected replicas of the dwellings and canoes used by the Kumeyaay Indians Cabrillo would have met when he arrived in what is now San Diego. K-12 educational program s at the co nstruction site are already in full swing, allowing school children and visitors to participate in this stage of the proj ect. 1he museum has raised more than 3/4 of the $6.2 million price rag through private donations, a m ajor grant from the Coastal Conservancy Commission, and in-kind gifts of materials for the ship construction. They are still seeking funding to cover th e $2 million balance, and yo u can make a donation throu gh the museum's website. (MMSD, 1492 North Harbor Drive San Diego, CA 92101; Ph. 619 234-9153; www.sdmaririme.org) ... The Pritzker Military Library Oral History Project is now online and is seeking veterans in the Chicago area to

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share their stories. The recorded interviews examine the narrato rs' early years, military experiences, and post-mili tary life, and includes ve terans of all branches (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coas t G uard) from the fo llowing wars: Wo rld War II (1 939-1946); the Korean War (1 95 0- 1955); the V ietnam War (196 1- 1975); the Persian G ulf War (1990- 1995); the Bos nian War (19921995) ; and the Afghanistan and Iraq confli cts (200 1- present). The lib rary also seeks the stories of civilians who were involved in suppo rting the war effortsuch as by actively participating in the wa r industry, w ith th e USO, o r with medical volunteerism . Their sto ries provide valuable illustration of the relatio nship between the m ilitary and citizenry. (PML, 104 S. Mi chigan Ave., C hicago, IL 60603; Ph . 3 12 374-9333; www.pri tzkerm ili tarylibrary.org) .â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ The European Research Council (ERC) and Dr. Maria Fusaro of the University of Exeter announced the start of a new 3-year project, "Sailing into Modernity: Comparative Perspectives on the Sixteenthand Seventeenth-Century European Economic Transition." The project wi ll analyze the econo mic tra nsitio n in early m odern Europe th ro ugh a comparative study of the contractual conditions and economic treatment of sailors active in the Mediterran ean, employing an innovative in terdisciplinary approach using tools from legal, econom ic, and social histo ry. As part of the project, th e o rganizers are planning a September 20 13 conference at the unive rsity, "Working Lives Between the Deck and the Dock: Compara tive Perspectives on Sailors as International Labourers (16th- 18th centu ries)" and have issued a Call fo r Papers with a 30 D ecember 201 2 deadlin e. Co nference o rganizers are especially seeking contributio ns based on new archi val research that will directly engage w ith the main them es of the project: sailors' wages, contractual conditions, sailors' litigation at hom e and abroad, sailors' social and eco no m ic make- up, man agi ng m ul ti- natio nal crews, and informa tion exchange in the maritime wo rld. (More in for mation on the proj ect and conference, plus contact info rmation fo r D r. Fusaro, can be fo und online at htt p://centres.exeter. 46

ac. uk/cmhs/research/) ... Do you consider your Carhartts to be formal wear? If so, this contest is for yo u! The C intas & Carhartt Cold Crew Co ntest recognizes individuals wh o withstand bru tal weather conditions thro ughout the winter. Contes tants are encouraged to share their stories and explain why Carhartt workwear is essential to their jobs at www.cintas . com/carharttcoldcrew fo r a chance to wi n free merchand ise and a grand prize tri p fo r two. Entries will be accepted now thro ugh 28 February 20 13, at which time C intas and Carham will select fin alists and begin public voti ng at the contest website. The grand prize winner will be anno unced in April , and he or she will

enjoy a trip fo r two to the 2013 CMA M usic Festival. Brad H eizman , Na tional Director of Garm ent Strategy fo r C intas Corporatio n, No rth Ameri ca's largest uniform supplier, said: "Las t year's contest generated amazing stories fro m m en and women who brave extremely brutal working condi tio ns during the wi nter m onths, and we are lookin g forward ro ano ther opportuni ty to ackn owledge them." Last year's grand prize winner was Brooke Boyer, a wastewater treatme nt plant supervisor fro m M t. Shasta, CA. C learly, this year's winner sho uld be a m ariner, so send in your entries today. (See website listed above) .

The North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) Call for Papers Annual C onfe re n ce in Alpena, Michigan , 15-1 8 M ay 201 3 N ASO H 's annual confe rence for 201 3 w ill be hos ted by NOAA's Office of National Marin e Sanctuaries at Thunder Bay, on the sho res of Lake Huron. Inspired by the internati o nal borderlands of the G reat Lakes, conference organize rs are developing a program based o n the confe rence them e, "M aritime Borderlands and C ultural Landscapes." Paper and sess io n p roposals that explore m aritime borderlands or cultural landscapes, or an interweaving of both, to examine the meaning and processes of our maritime heritage are encouraged . Recent scholarship in borderlands histo ry th ro ugh studies of phys ical and fi gura tive spaces between states and cultu res are transformin g o ur understanding of North America n places and peoples . Mariti me historians and archaeologists also have embraced the cultural landscape m odel as a mean s for understanding human connections to coastal and marine places. This shift in scholarship calls in to q ues tion long-held assumptio ns of economy, empire, environmental impact, and geographical m eaning. Suggested topic areas include cultural borderlands, race, gender, archaeology, empire, military, indigeno us, environmental, public history, and parks and protected areas . Additional to pi cs and geographi c foc uses are welcome; papers from graduate students and j unio r scholars with fres h approaches to maritime hisro ry are strongly encouraged . Students who will be presenting papers at the co nference may apply for a C had Smith Travel Grant to reduce travel expenses . Additio nally, the C lark G. Reynolds Student Paper Awa rd is given each year to the author of the best paper by a graduate student delivered at the annual co nference. Please see the awards section of the N AS OH websi te for details. Individual paper pro posals should include: an abstract, not to exceed 25 0 words; a 2 50-word prese nter biographical statement; and contact information with phone number, address, affiliation, and em ail. Panel proposals m ay also be submitted inclusive of the above inform atio n fo r each paper. The call fo r p apers deadline is 1 January 201 3. Please submi t proposal packe ts <electronically to the p rogram committee co-chair, Vic Masrone, at victor.masto me@state.ma. us. Further inform ation abo ut th e 201 3 NASO H conference can lhe found o nline at www. nasoh.org or by contac ting the co nference chair, Cathy IG reen , at cathy. green@noaa.gov o r by pho ne at 989 356-88 05, ext. 10.

SEA HISTORY 141 , \WINTER 201 2- 13

Celebrating 30 Years

400 years of Maritime History Open Mon - Sun 1-5pm July & Aug 10-5pm West 1st Street Pier, Oswego, NY hleewhitemarinemuseum.com I] 315-342-0480

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

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

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

Shop the NMHS Ship's Store for art prints, nautical gifts, books, the ''Arr of the Sea" 201 3 calendar, NMHS clothing and accessories, and more. Online at www. seahistory.org or call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0.

BOOKS Unique maritime history books from Washington State University Press! Explorers, shipwrecks, more. Visit wsupress.wsu.edu, call 800-354-7360. Free catalog.

KEEPING THE TRADITION ALIVE by Capt. Ray Williamson. The remarkable story of Maine Windjammer Cruises,™ fo under of the windjammer industry. 172 page, 11 x 14 hardcover book with over 100 full-page images from the days of cargo to the present. Price-$48 Call 800-736-7981; Email sail@mainewindjammercruises.com.

Shop www.seahistory.org for new books published by the Sea History Press .

THE AUTHORITY TO SAIL by Commodore Robert Stanley Bates. The fully illustrated authoritative history of United States Merchant Marine licenses and documents issued since 1852. Coffee-table size, 12" x 14." Order direct: The Parcel Centre 860 739-2492.

A CARELESS WORD-A NEEDLESS SINKING by Capt. Arthur R. Moore. Documented account of catastrophic losses suffered by American Merchant Marine and Armed Guard during WWII. 720 pp, lists crew members and ships, profusely illustrated. Eighth printing sponsored by American Merchant Marine Veterans. Email: gemurphy@verizo n.net.

NEXT VOYAGE WILL BE DIFFERENT by Capt. Thomas E. Henry. Acco unts from my 37 years at sea. Available through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Also CRACKING HITLER'S ATLANTIC WALL. Call (772) 287 5603 EST or Arcome@aol. com for signed copies

IT DIDN'T HAPPEN ON MY WATCH and SCUTTLEBUTT by George E. Murphy. Memoirs of forty-three years with United States Lines aboard cargo and passenger ships. Anecdotes of captains, chief engineers, crew members and the company office. Visit us on our website: www.gemurphy.com; e-mail: gemurphy@ verizon.net.

Advertise in Sea History!Call 914 737-7878, ext. 235, or e-mail: advertising@seahistory.org. SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 20 12- 13

USS Enterprise (CVN 65) will inactivate on 1 December 2012, after 51 years of service. According to the US Navy, th e inactivation and defueling process will have major impacts on the structure of the ship, making it not cost-effective to return the ship to a condition that would support it becoming a museum. Equipm ent that may be of historic interest will be reclaimed and passed on to museums or appropriate Navy commands, so Enterprise's contributions to the nation's defense over the pas t half-century will be remembered. Items being considered for distribution to museums will be handled by the Naval Tired of nautical reproductions? Martifacts has on ly authentic marine collectibles rescued from scrapped ships: navigation lamps, sextants, clocks, bells, barometers, charts, flags, binnacles, telegraphs, portholes, U.S. Navy dinnerware and flatware, and more. Current brochure - $1.00

MARTIFACTS, INC. P.O. BOX 350190 JACKSONVILLE, FL 32235-0190 PHONE/FAX: (904) 645-0150 www.martifacts.com e-mail: martifacts@aol.com

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Historical and Heritage Command. Following the 1 December 2012 inactivation ceremony, the Enterprise will remain at Naval Station Norfolk for approximately six months to off-load equipment and to prepare the vessel for tow to Huntington IngaLls Industries/Newport News Shipyard. The inactivation phase will last approximately four years. H ydraulic systems will be drained and expendable materials, tools, spare parts, and furnishings will be removed. Additionally, tanks containing oil and other fluids will be drai ned and cleaned, any hazardous material will be removed, and the ship's electri cal and

Historic, antique U.S. , . Coast Survey maps . from the 1800s ; Original lithographs, most Ameri c an seaports and shores. Reprints . too . Unique framed ,

great gifts. Catalog , $1 .00. Specify area.

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lighting sysrems will be de-energized . Concurrent with inactivation, the ship will be defueled using the same techniques that have been used successfully to refuel and defuel over 350 naval nuclear-powered warships. The ship will also be prepared to be towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in 2017 for dismantling and recycling. {http: //www.enterprise. navy.mil/) ... The Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 celebrated its first anniversary in November. In its first year, the center has hosted close to 30,000 visitors through public programs, school tours, and services at the Employment Centerall free to the public. New to the center is the Reflections on Rosie exhibit, featuring the work of four wo men artisans who collaborated on the exh ibit to explore the irrevocable transformation of women during World War II. The scories covered in the exhibit come from the center's oral history collection, developed in partnership with the Brooklyn Historical Society. Rosie joins the permanent exhibit Brooklyn Navy Yard: Past, Present & Future. See their website for upcoming programs, including a talk in December by historian Prof. Joshua Freeman of Queens College who will speak on the decline and renaissance of industrial Brooklyn {date and time TBA). Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92 exh ibits are free and open to the public, Wednesday-Sunday from 12-6pm. {BLDG 92 , 63 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11 205 ; Ph. 7 18 907-5992; www. bldg92 .org) ,t Page 35i Crossword puzzle answers. Across: 4, crow's rnest; 6, beetl e; 7, fox ; 8, fi sh; 12, cat's paw; 13, home; 15, dolphinstriker. Down: 1, rabbet (rabbit); 2, nmouse; 3, monkey's fi st; 5, hounds; 9, ca mel; 10, cat; I I I gooseneck; 14, pi g; 15 dog; 16, hog.

SEA I-HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

•She's A WOW: Women's Service Organizations in World war IL through early 2013 at the Pritzker M ilitary Library in Chicago. (104 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60603; Ph. 312 374-9333; www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org •1812: A Nation Emerges, through 27 January at the National Portrait Gallery (8th & F Streets NW, Washington, DC; Ph. 202 633-8300; www.npg.si.edu) •American Society of Marine Artists 15th National Exhibition at The Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA, 20 December-? March 20 13; at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, OR, 22 March-17 June 20 13 (ASMA, www.americansocietyofmarineartists.com) •Maritime Miniatures by Maritime Masters, exhibition and sale, 1 December-7 April 2013 at Mystic Seaport's Mari time Gallery (75 GreenmanvilleAve., Mystic, CT 06355; Ph. 860 572-5388; www.mysticseaport.org) •Always Good Ships: A Tribute to 125 Years of Newport News Shipbuilding, at The Mariners' Museum (100 Museum Dr., Newport News, VA 23606; Ph. 757 5 96- 2222; www. marin ersm use um .org) •Battle of Lake Erie, permanent exhibit at the Erie Maritime Museum (150 East Front St., Erie, PA 16507; Ph. 8 14 4522744; www.eriemaritimemuseum.org) •war of 1812, features the iconic "Don't Give Up the Ship" flag from the Battle of Lake Erie at the US Naval Academy Museum (121 Blake Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402; www.usna.edu) •Disasters on the Delaware: Rescues on the River, through 20 13 at the Independence Seaport Museum (Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, PA; Ph. 215 413-8655; www.phillyseaport.org) •Push and Pull: Life on Chesapeake Tugboats, through 20 14 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (2 13 N. Talbot Street, St. Michaels, MD 21663; Ph. 410 EXHIBITS •Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and 745 -2916; www.cbmm.org) Maine, through 30 December at the CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIUMS Portland Museum of Art (7 Congress Sq., Portland, ME 04101; Ph. 207 775-6148; •Maine Built Boats Global Outreach Conference, 6 December 2012 at the www.portlandmuseum.org) •Canadian Canvases, including works by Maine Maritime Museum. PresentaJack Lorimer Gray at the Minnesota Ma- tions aimed at the boatbuilding business. rine Art M useum (800 Riverview Drive, (MMM, 243 Washington St., Bath, ME Winona, MN 55987; Ph. 507 474-6626; 04530; Ph. 207 443-1316; www.maine-

•"The Fourth Great Political Revolution: 1789, 1858, 1928 and Today," 10 December at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. Free lecture by James Piereson of the William E. Simon Fdn. and the Manhattan Institute. (For more information contact Lindsay Souza at Lindsay.Souza@aei.org, Ph. 202 8625884 AEI, Wohlstetter Conference Center, 12th floor, 11 50 17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036; www.aei .org) •Lantern Light Tours at Mystic Seaport, evenings on 7-8, 14-16, 21-23 and 26-27 December. Advance tickets recommended, available online or by phone. (75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, CT 06355; Ph. 860 572-5331; www.mysticseaport.org) •Tim Flannery & Friends Concert on the Star ofIndia, 15 December at the Maritime Museum of San Diego (1492 North Harbor Dr., San Diego, CA 92101; www. sdmaritime.org) •"Hidden Battleship," behind-the-scenes tour of the Battleship North Carolina. The 4-hour guided tour to unrestored areas of the ship . Must be 12 years old or older and be able to climb narrow ladders and through hatches. Advance registration and fee requi red by 10 January. Also on the calendar is "Firepower!" on 16 February, and "Power Plant" on 16 March. (Call 910 25 1-5797 for reservations. # 1 Battleship Road, W ilmington, NC 2480 1; www. battleshipnc.com) •Chicago Maritime Festival, 23 February at the Chicago History Museum (Chicago Maritime Festival, POB 10717, Chicago, IL 60610; Ph. 773 576-7245; www.chicagomaritimefestival.org) •The Battle of Plattsburgh Bicentennial Commemoration Weekend, 12-15 September 2013 in Plattsburgh, NY. (www. Champlain 1812.com)

7570; www.mainebuiltboats.com) •"Evolving Cultural Landscapes in the Maritime World," 24th Annual Symposium on Maritime Archaeology and History of Hawai'i and the Pacific, 15- 18 February 2013 in Honolulu. Conference is co-sponsored by the Marine Option Program, University ofHawai ' i at Manoa, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and the Maritime Archaeology and History of the Hawaiian Islands Foundation. (Symposium location: NOAA facility, 6600 Kalaniana'ole Hwy., Suite 302, Honolulu, HI; www.mahhi.org/Welcome. html) •"Maritime Maine and the Civil War," 41st Annual Maritime History Symposium, 6 Apri l at the Maine Maritime Museum. Call for Papers deadline is 21 December; proposals should be sent to Nathan Lipfert at lipfert@maritimeme. org, or by USPS to Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington St. Bath ME 04530. www.mainemaritimem useum .org) •"Geography of the Age of Sail," a session at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting in Los Angeles, 9-13 April 2013 (Check program on line for specific dates and times for individual AAG sessions, www.aag.org) •"From Enemies to Allies," An International Conference on the War of 1812 and its Aftermath, 12- 16 June 2013 at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD. Call for Papers deadline is 1 Feb ruary. (Inquiries should be sent to Bill Pencek, Executive Director, Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission at bpencek@ choosemaryland.org. For general information , visit www.starspangled200.com.) •"Sea Stories: Maritime Landscapes, Cultures and Histories Conference," 1214 June at the University of Sydney, Australia (Information on the program should be directed to: Dr. Annie Clarke, Heritage Studies, at anni e.clarke@sydney.edu.au) •Big Stuff Conference 2013, triennial international meeting focused on the conserving our large technology heritage, 25-27 September 2013 in Ottawa, Canada. Conference theme will be "Saving Big Stuff in Tight Economic Times." Call for Papers deadline is 31March2013. (www. sciencetech. tech no muses .ca/ english/what son/big_stuff_conference.cfm)

Great Reads from Sea History Press ... A Dream of Tall Ships

1YEWJ

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-building 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. 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, 576 pages, 24 pages of photos and illustrations • $25.00 + $6.95 s/h in US; call for international rates

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Our Flag Was Still There: The Sea History Press Guide to the ~r of1812 -Its History and Bicentennial Commemorations

The Skipper & the Eagle by Captain Gordon McGowan, USCG (Ret.) with an Introduction by Admiral Robert]. Papp, Jr., Commandant, US Coast Guard

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Maritime historian and award-winning author William H . White guide's readers through the highlights of both the land campaigns and the sea battles and answer the questions: "What really happened?" and "Why does it matter?" Our Flag "Was Still There also serves as a useful guidebook to the ongoing bicentennial celebrations across the country beginning in 2012 and continuing through 2015.

In the year 1946, amid the post-war confusion, Commander Gordon McGowan, US Coast Guard, found himself the master of a three-masted barque, a battered prize of war. With her carry-over crew of German seamen and neophyte Coast Guard personnel, he trasformed her into a well-found Coast Guard training ship able to make a trans-Atlantic voyage under sail.

Softcover, illustrated• $15.00 + $4.00 s/h in US; call for international rates

Hardcover, 255 pages, 36 illustrations• $20.00 + $4.00 s/h in US; call for international rates

To order, visit the NMHS Ship's Store at www.seahistory.org, or call 914 737-7878, ext. 0.

Reviews A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest C ox. His initial efforts foc used on the seized Nava/Architect and His Quest to Build the German ocean liner Vaterland, used during SS United States by Steven Ujifusa (Simon the war to transport doughboys to Europe & Schuster, New York, 2012, 464pp, illus, to fight against the Kaiser. Working with notes, index, ISBN 978- 1-45 16-45 07- 1; $29.99hc) The United States Navy and the American merchant marine have traditionally existed at opposite ends of the spectrum. From the birth of the United States, the merchant marine was the dominant maritime entity in the nation, until its d ecline in the latter half of the nineteenth century, as the new steel navy m ade its appearance. Today, the US Navy is the foremost military force sailing upon the oceans, while the American merchant marine ranks twenty-first in terms of tonnage, behind flags-of-convenience nations such as Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands, and nations which provide support to their commercial fleets, such as Greece, Norway, Denmark, and China. Yet there was a time, at the end of the Second World War, when both the American navy and the merchant marine were at their pinnacle. Both entities commemorated the event with new flagships: the navy set its sigh ts on a super-carrier, capable of hurtling nuclear-armed bombers at the Soviet Uni on, while a maverick naval architect aimed to unseat the Europeans from their dominance on the North Atlantic wi th the fastes t ocean liner ever built. The carri er, USS United States, m et opposition in the famed Revolt of the Admirals and was scrapped shortly after construction began. 'This setback allowed for the building of SS United States, the subject of Steven Uj ifusa's new book, A Man and H is Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the SS United States. A historian and m ember of the Advisory Council of the SS United States Conservancy, Ujifusa brings together a narrative with two distinct threads. In the initial part of A Man and His Ship, the author provides an excellent overview of the state of the maritime industry in the first half of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of W illiam Francis Gi bbs. A Harvard dropout, Gibbs had a passion for ship design and construction since watching the launch of SS St. Louis as a boy. H e found employm ent and a mentor in Admiral D avid Taylor and went on to start his own company, Gibbs & SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

the International Mercantile Marine and developing a relationship with the fatherand-son duo of Philip and John Franklin,

G ibbs supervised the refurbishment of the liner, renam ed Leviathan, and began design work on what wo uld eventually becom e SS United States. In the inter-war years, Gibbs refined his concepts of survivability at sea on ships such as SS Maiolo. G ibbs's success sets up Ujifusa to recount the building of SS United States in the second half of the book. Unlike Frank Braynard's recently re-released The Big Ship: The Story of the SS U nited States, A Man and His Ship looks at the construction and operation of the ship through the eyes of G ibbs, and ofseveral of the crew who served on board and who are now members of the SS United States Conservancy. While this portion of the book lacks the specificity of the first half, it does provide an excellent overview of how the ship em erged into a m arket that was slowly disappearing as air travel, labor issues, operating costs, and foreign competition led not o nly to the early demise of the transatlantic ocean liner, bur also to the decline of the American merchant marine. The book's conclusion aims to bring attention to the plight of the ship,

currently berthed in Philadelphia awaiting a final disposition- to become a landmark, tourist attractio n, or scrap. Steven Ujifusa has done a masterful job of bringing a maritime topic into the mainstream by addressing the larger role of the ship in the context of the history and economy of the natio n. SS United States was designated the flagship of the American merchant mari ne and in many ways she still remains its flag bearer. U nder flaking paint and a rust-streaked hull are the engines that drove her at over 35 kno ts from Ambrose Light to Bishop Rock, awaiting only the will, fortitude, and funds to mark her return to the world's stage. Just as we associate steamboat travel with Robert Fulton and Clermont, the ironclad with John Ericsson and Monitor, and nuclear power at sea with H yman Rickover and Nautilus, A Man and H is Ship shines a much-needed spotlight on Wi lli am Francis G ibbs and his creation, SS United States. SALVATO RE R. M E RCOG LIANO Buies Creek, North Carolina

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GALVESTON'S THE ELISSA Tm TALL S1 rrr OF TEXAS by Kurt D. Voss All proceeds from this pictorial history benefit the ELISSA preservation fand.

Published by Arcadia Publishing and Galveston Historical Foundation $21.99. 128 pages, 200 photographs Autographed copies avai lable at (409) 763-1877, or online at:

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Salem's Privateers in the War of 1812 The most comprehensive study of American privateering since Garitee. Order for $19.95 www.createspace.com/3 715190 Or visit SchoonerFame.com 52

In the Eye ofAll Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World, 1680-1783 by Michael J . Jarvis (Univ. of

ever-changing Atlantic scene well beyo nd the rocky shores of Bermuda. This wellwritten and thoughtful history guides the reader on a voyage that traverses the Atlantic, colonial, and maritime historical worlds, simultaneously making this a captivatingly broad, yet focused , vol um e.

North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2012, 704pp, illus, maps, notes, rab ies, index, ISB N 978-0-8078-7284-0; $35pb) While exhaustive, descriptive, and deCATHY GREEN tailed would be the most obvious descriptors to describe Michael Jarvis's book, In the Alpena, Michigan Eye ofAll Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World, 1680- 1783, The Social History of English Seamen: they would paint a perhaps deceptive picture 1485-1649, edited by Cheryl A. Fury (The of a dense and scholarly tome. Nothing can Boydell Press, Suffolk, UK, 2012, 350pp, be further from the truth. Jarvis has written illus, biblio, notes, index, ISBN 978- 1-843 a bri lliant interdisciplinary study ofAtlantic 83-689-6; $ 115hc) history, describing th e pivotal role the island lhe Social History of English Seamen of Bermuda played in the development of 1485-1649 is a book featuring seven cothat world. With clear prose buoyed by aurhorswith Cheryl Fury as editor and major extensive notat!on , Jarvis elucidates the contributor. Fury masterfully assembled unique nature of the island, placed at the essays focused upon the social history of epicenter of British, colonial American , and the sailors who made up Britain's earliest Caribbean maritime pursuits. Exceptional navy. This monumental work contains ten opportunity was presented to the island and well-written chapters covering a fascinating its inhabi tan ts, as was extraordinary adversity period of maritime history. The scholarship in these essays is and change. By looking at the evolution of Bermuda from the viewpoint of the island's excellent, but some of the essays stand out individual, yet intertwining industries and in this reviewer's mind. For example, the institutions, the author illustrates the truth to reader learns about the men who crewed his assertion that "the decisions, innovations, Mary Rose through the use of clever adaptations, and self-organ ized enterprises developmental anatomy and forensic anof largely anonym ous individuals shaped thropologic and pathologic studies of the colonial expansion and Atlantic history as remains of their bones and teeth; abo ut the much as imperial bureaucracies, state navies, religious shipboard culture among sailors chartered trading companies, and metro- contrasted with those ashore; and about the politan merchants."(459) Nonetheless, what health and healthcare of these men under allows this volume to truly stand apart is its arduous conditions at sea. While much has been studied and abi lity to bring into focus a specific time and written about battle tactics and naval stratplace in history. Ir is much more than a bound it- egy, Professor Fury explains how historians eration of the author's dissertation; Jarvis cannot overlook the mundane scenarios of has transformed his in-depth and careful life at sea in the Royal Navy in the Age of academic research into a vibrant portrait of Sail. The shipsof l 485- 1649 required large the Atlantic World in the century leading crews because of exce;sive attrition through up to American independence. Indeed, it injury, death, and dtSe rtion- but what of is the comprehensive nature of the research their life on board? Ths image is colored with that informs this stunningly clear vision of passages describing "tie frequent misery and a strikingly small island. The reader gets an constant rigours of s:afaring: long periods exceptionally rich view of colonial America spent in the closest proximity to fellow from the sea boots of Bermudian mariners mortals; indifferent fo od; illicit indulgence that plied various trades throughout the late in drink; short tempers induced by fatigue seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From and digestive disorders; the lengthy absence shipwreck survivors and company inves- from authori tyo ther than ship's officers." (44) tors to a network of colonial entrepreneurs Fury explains: ''Although sixteenth-century and audacious privateers, this study draws seamen faced a myriad of hazards, disease a picture that illustrates the dynamic and was the most lethal foe" (225), rather than

SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 2012- 13

shipboard or battle injury. The problems of provisioning and feeding hundreds of men at sea could overwhelm an otherwise crack ship. These assertions are backed with quotes from primary sources: "God sends food, but the Devil provides the cook." (40) "Hungry, thirsty, unhealthy seamen rarely [made] for successful voyages." (198) "Their bread was musty and mouldie Bisker, their beere sharpe and sower like vinegar, their water corrupt and stinking, their best drink [half wine and putrefied wate r] mingled togither, and yet a very short and small allowance, their beefe and porke was likewise, by reason of the corrup tio n thereof, a most loathsome and filthy taste and saur, insom uch that they were constrained to stop their noses, when they eate and drinke thereof." (194) The Social H istory of English Seamen 1485-1649 is a preeminent contribution to maritime history literature. A minor problem is that some authors refer to or quote each other's work, thus making some of the book redundant. That noted, it is extremely well done, a distinguished compendium of maritime and scientific thought, historical records, and co llected resource material of an important period. Lours ARTHUR NORTON West Simsbury, Connecticut

a man known for writing the history of seafarers. Subheadings range from big topics: "What I learned in the US Navy" and "What I learned from Horatio Nelso n and John Paul Jones," to more perso nal reflections about his experiences on the Hudson River in a ten-foot sai lboat. In keeping with his refrain of the ocean-as-schoolhouse is the emblematic story of his five-day service crewing aboard a reproduction ofJames Cook's Endeavour. The au th or recollects how an assignment to pen an article on the ship and its program serendipitously became one of many valuable learning experiences under sail. In some regards, The Sea l\las Always There is reminiscent of Norman Maclean's conclusion that "all things merge into one, and a river runs thro ugh it." In Callo's case, all things merge into one, and an ocean encompasses it. It should be noted that far too many typographical errors survived the copyediting process, frustrating this reader; hopefully these will be smoothed o ut in any future editi ons. Nonetheless, if one is searching for a story of how the ocean has shaped and enriched a man's li fe, then The Sea l\las Always There sho uld prove more than a satisfying read. CHUCK STEELE

Colorado Springs, Colorado

The Sea Wlls Always There by Joseph F. Callo (Fireship Press, LLC, Tucson, AZ, 20 12, 353pp, illus, appen, notes, ISBN 9781-6 1179-207-2; $ 19.95pb) A reti red US Naval Reserve rear admiral and a lifelong sailor, Joseph F. Callo both entertains and enlightens in his lates t book, The Sea Was Always There, while also offering something unexpected. His memoir not on ly has val ue as a chronicle of one man's life and his interesting interactions with th e sea, but it also offers thoughtful reflections from a keen observer of his surroundings. Ind eed, the book could be viewed as a combinati o n autobiography/travelogue tempered with a good dose of lessons learned, as Callo progresses from a young naval officer to seaso ned yachtsman. Callo, an award-winning maritime historian and prolific author, offers a sympathetic acco unt of how his life has been shaped by al l things connected with the ocean. C hapter subheadings offer a clear indication of what readers can expect from SEA HISTORY 141 , WINTER 20 12- 13

Disaster Off Martha's Vineyard: The Sinking of the City of Columbus by Thomas Dresser (The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2012, 160pp, illus, notes, index, ISBN 978-1-60949-510-7; $ 19.99pb) On a cold night in January 1884, the passenger steamer City of Columbus struck a ledge off the western end of Martha's Vineyard and met its doom. One hundred and three people lost their lives in the tragedy, including every wom an and child aboard, despite the rescue efforts of volunteer Massachusetts Humane Society lifeboat crews from Gay Head (now Aquinnah) and the crew of the United States Revenue C utter Service's Samuel Dexter. Dresser's retelling of this story follows George H ough's D isaster on D evil's Bridge (1963). The author of the newer book delves deeply into several specific topics, including the lives of the passengers and crewmembers prio r to the disaster. Individuals are profiled, although in som e cases the greater details

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of their stories vanished with them beneath the waves. Because of this work, " 103 lives lost" is not just a static term in relation to the wreck, to be tossed out like a home run or strikeout total, when the name City of Columbus is mentioned; it's reflective of honeymoons, heartbreak, and journeys to and from loved ones' arms. The author delves, too, into diving and more recent searches for, and ultimately the discovery of, the location of the wreck site. In true journalistic fashion, Dresser follows the story through the post-incident hearings, along the beaches where the wreckage washed as ho re, and into them useums where artifacts rest today. The book addresses, as well, the growing sensationalism of newspaper reporting in the days leading up to the age of yellow journalism. Shipwrecks naturally and perfectly lent themselves to hyperbole. As the maritime world changed from sail to steam and construction materials changed from wood to iron and then steel, greater numbers of people could be transported in larger and larger ships, and thus greater numbers of lives could be lost in single incidents. The dramatic accounts of the City of Columbus disaster created newspaper fodder for decades into the future ; hence the publication of two books on the topic in the last half century. John GALLUZZO Hull, Massachusetts

Win djamming to Chi na by Gustav Tjgaard (Strategic Book Group, LLC, Durham, CT, 2011, 500pp, illus, notes, gloss, index, ISBN 978-1-60911-542-5; 23.50pb) If you have room on your shelf for just one more book about seafaring in the late great Age of Sail, try this one. It invites comparison with Moby Dick-a long tale rising from a real commercial voyage under sail, told by a master storyteller who is not afraid to discourse at length on any sidetopic of the trade or stretch the truth in the weaving of a good yarn. In the end, we discover a narrator who has set out from the shore a na'ive green hand and returns to it a changed man, and we the readers have changed and evolved along with him. We go with him aloft to the main truck for the first time, stand watch with him, step on the foo tropes aloft in a howling gale. We

come to know the men on board as though they were our own shipmates, even how they look and act and think. The year is 1938, and the ship is the big five-masted schooner Vigilant, hauling timber from Bellingham to China. The author/narrator signs on as a boy of sixteen and comes home a sailor and a man. Now in his eighties, Tjgaard takes us with him back to those days of his youth and adventure. His was one of the very last commercial voyages to be made under sail, but he remembers it with clarity and great attention to detail, conveying the wide-eyed wonder of that boy of sixteen told with the wisdom and humor that comes with age. Windjamming to China could be required reading for any yo ung sal t embarked on a sail-training voyage, whatever the duration. The reader learns through Tjgaard's experiences the harsh realities of life at sea under sail, discovers with him the power and the beauty of the ocean, and finds in these encyclopedic pages a greater understanding of wind, weather, current, sailhandling, and human society in a closed and close environment. As romantic as it all sounds, Tjgaard relates the physical hardship that taxes a man to the limits. Bucko mates attack men physically and without consequence. One man is killed by the "cures" from the captain's medicine chest, another loses a leg by amputation in the foc's'le-turned-operating room. The seco nd mate disappears overboard one night. Can all of it be true? At times you might suspect the overactive imagination of a boy on his first voyage, but it certainly has the ring of observed truth to it. As for those parts that might seem far-fetched-and there are more than a few-don't jump ship too soon . As it is made clear in the ship's arricles, yo u don't draw your pay until the voyage is completely over and have read through to the epilogue. The discerni ng reader will note that this book could have benefited from tighter, more astute editi ng. That point aside, there is a great deal here to interest and entertain , a wealth of insigh t into the detai ls of shipboard life, and passages of great descriptive power and poetic beauty which make this book such a delightful experience. DAVID H!RZEL Pacifica, California

SEA HISTORY 14 1, WINTER 2012- 13

{

New&Noted The Great Trade Routes: A History of Cargoes and Commerce Over Land and Sea, edited by Philip Parker (Naval Institute

Two Captains from Carolina: Moses Grandy, john Newland Maffitt, and the Coming of the Civil war by Bland Simpson

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ISBN

(University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2012, 208pp, illus, ap pen, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-8078-3585-2; $28hc)

Invading America: The English Assault on the New World, 1497-1630 by David Childs (Seaforth Pub!. , Yorkshire, UK, 20 12,

Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit by Joyce E. Chaplin (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2012,

306pp, illus, maps, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-84832-145-8; $40hc)

535pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-4165-9619-6; $35hc)

Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the British Navy, 1771-1831 by S.A. Cavel! (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK,

war on the waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 18611865 by James M. McPherson (UniversityofNorch Carolina Press,

2012, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-84383-7 19-0; $99hc)

Chapel Hill, 201 2, 296pp, illus, maps, notes, biblio, index, 978-0-8078-3588-3; $35hc)

The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail by W.Jeffrey Bolster (Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press, 20 12, 4 16pp, illus, maps, notes, gloss, appen, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-674-04765-5; $29 .95hc) On the Account: Piracy and the Americas, 1766-1835by Joseph Gibbs (Sussex Academic Press, Portland, OR, 2012, 249pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISB N 978-1-84519-476-5; $49.95 pb)

ISBN

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