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To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, or visit our website at www.seahistory.org. Allow 2 to 3 weeks for delivery. Shipping within USA only. NYS residents add applicable sales tax. Satisfaction guaranteed!
No. 149
SEA HISTORY
WINTER 2014- 15
CONTENTS 14 "EXPLOSIVES (see note C)," The Unusual End of SS Robert Louis Stevenson, by Kathleen Ciolfi and Geoffrey Carron When the needfor Liberty ships tapered offafter the war, a handfulfound one more mission in which they could be ofuse-as disposal vessels for another obsolete wartime leftover, munitions.
18 The Outlook of American Yacht Racing, by George W Carmany III Competition for the America's Cup has become the realm of money, high technology, and professional sailors. Sailboat racing evolvedfrom a simple Irish one-design to big boat grandeur in the last century, but today the sport is divided between America's Cup-caliber syndicates and smaller but active one-design regattas.
20 "Go to H-1 you d-d Yankee Son of a B-ch"-A Gold Rush Voyage Journal, by Paul F. Johnston An 1849 voyage around Cape H orn is told first-hand through the journals of the 49ers who set out from Boston and kept a detailed record oflife on board a Gold Rush ship and the ports they visited along the way.
26 Mystic Seaport's 35th International Marine Art Exhibition, by Dan McFadden and Jeanne Porter The annual marine art exhibition is underway at Mystic Seaport through 2 014. View the fourteen best works, as selected by the 2 014 judges for the prestigious annual awards.
30 The British Raid on Essex: Rediscovering the Forgotten Battle, by Jerry Roberts At the height of the Wtzr of 18 12, the B ritish chose a sleepy hamlet in Connecticut to launch a pre-dawn raid of the town and, in the p rocess, burned the twenty-seven ships at anchor or on the ways along the waterfront. It was the largest single maritime loss of the war, yet the incident remains overlooked, even among Wtzr of 18 12 scholars.
40 SS Columbia To Be Saved!, by Shelley Reid After many years of hoping and trying, the passenger steamer SS Columbia is to be restored. The ship is in dry dock right now, preparingfor her journey from the Great Lakes to New York, where she will become an operational educational p latform, and offer a new generation the opportunity to travel by steamer up the the H udson River.
Cover: The Charles W. Morgan at Vineyard Haven, by Elizabeth Mumford. (Ms. Mumford's p ainting was recently honored with an "Award ofExcellence" by the judges of the 35th International Marine Art Exhibition at Mystic Seaport. (See pages 26-28 for more on the exhibition and to view the works of the other awardees.)
DEPARTMENTS 4 D ECK Loe AND LETTERS 8 NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION 36 SEA HISTORY FOR Krns 42 SHIP N OTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS
49 CALENDAR 50 MARITIME H ISTORY ON THE INTERNET 51 REVIEWS 56 PATRONS
Sea History and rhe National Maritime Historical Society Sea H istory e-mail: edirorial@seahisrory.org; N M H S e-mail: nmhs@seahisrory. org; Web site: www.seahisrory.org. Ph: 914 737-7878; 800 22 1-N MHS MEMBERSHIP is invited. Afterguard $ 10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $ 1,000; Donor $500; Patro n $250; Fri end $ 100; Co ntributor $75; Family $50; Regular $35.
All membe rs ourside the USA please add $1 0 fo r postage. Sea History is sent to all members. Individual copies cost $4.95.
SEA HISTORY (issn 01 46-93 12) is published quarterly by the Na tional Maritime Historical Society, 5 John Walsh Blvd. , POB 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Periodicals postage paid ar Peekskill NY 10566 and add'! mailing offi ces . COPYRIGH TŠ 201 4 by the National M aritime Historical Society. Tel: 9 14 737-7878. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
DECK LOG What is Happening?
T
he las t wooden whaler Charles W Mo rgan sailed on her 38'h voyage to Stellwagen Bank to pay hom age to the whales cavorting there, coming full circle in the epic tale of our relationship with this great mammal. Also, this year, after being forsaken by the states in whose nam e they sail, the schooner Ernestina and the brig Niagara were given state funding. Pennsylvania put $4.8 million in the state budget for N iagara maintenance and the Schooner Ernestina. Commonwealth of M assachusetts committed $2.5 million to add to the $2. 8 million philanthropists Bob Hildreth and Gerry Lenfest committed and the $ 1 million pledged by the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association. SS Columbia, as you will read on pages 40-4 1, is finally being restored. Back in M assachusetts, the state has given $2 million to restore the M ayflower JI. This is great news for the maritime heritage community in 201 4. But the schooners, the beautiful schooners that have been seagoing classrooms to so many students, keeping alive the skills of operating a traditionally rigged sailing ship-what a disaster 201 4 has been to these schooners. In August alone, five of them were shut down: Ocean Classroom Foundation suspended operations and has sold off the Sp irit of M assachusetts, Westward, and Harvey Gamage; Amistad was placed in receivership by the State of Connecticut; and the beautiful Virginia, aboard which we had so looked fo rward to sailing in Boston H arbor, suddenly cancelled her east coast sailing programs and was laid up to be sold on the auction block. At this moment, there are a dozen traditional schooners- some replicas, some historic- looking for new owners. We understand the value of introducing the sea and sail training to young people. These vessels provide the ultimate platform for leadership training and character building for their trainees, some of whom may never sail on ships after their voyaging is over, but the lessons they learn in the process carry over to many fields. Simultaneously, by running these types of programs aboard seagoing ships, we preserve the histo ry, skills, and traditions of our maritime heritage. The value is real, but it Schooner Amistad. comes at a price. M aintaining and operating these ships is incredibl y expensive. To keep the price tag fo r participating in a seagoing experience reasonable, the ships often operate in the red, and, in a difficult economy, donation dollars often aren't enough to make up the difference. The ships are vital ambassadors to our heritage as a maritime nation. The next great frontier may be under the seas and we need a new generation trained in the basics of sailing, and the intangible lessons of responsibility, teamwork, and dedication that an oceangoing classroom provides. We need bo th public funding and new business models. The future of sail training will include the passion , commitment, and lessons from what worked for a long time, but couldn't be sustained. We must continue to have oceangoing tall ships sailing with students from all walks of life. Think of the high cost of a future without tall ships if we can't figure out how to pay for it. - Burchenal Green, President
4
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY PU BLISHER'S C IRCLE: Perer Aron , G uy E. C. Ma irland, Ronald L. Oswa ld O FFICERS & TRUST EES: Chairman, Ronald L. Oswald; Vice Chairman, Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal Green; Vice Presidents, D eirdre O 'Regan, Wendy Paggiorra, Nancy Schnaars; Treasurer, Howard Slotnick; Secretary, Jean Wo rr; Trustees: C harles B. Anderson; Wal rer R. Brown; Thomas Daly; W illiam S. D udley; David S. Fowler; W illiam Jackson Green; Karen Helmerson; Robert Kamm; Richard M . Larrabee; Guy E. C. Maidand; Capr. Brian McAllisrer; CAPT Sally Chin McElwrearh, USN R (Rer.); Capr. James J. McNamara; M ichael W Morrow; Richard Parrick O 'Leary; T imorhy J. Runyan; Ri chard Scarano; Phil ip J. Shapiro; Bradford D . Smi rh; Capr. Cesare So rio; Roberta Weisbrod; Trustee elect: ADM Roberr J. Papp Jr., USCG (Rer.); Chairmen Emeriti: Walrer R. Brown, Alan G. Choare, Guy E. C. Maitl and, H oward Slotni ck; President Emeritus, Perer Sranfo rd FOUN DER: Karl Kortum (1 9 17-1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM D avid C. Brown, USM S (Rer.); RADM Joseph F. Callo, USNR (Rer. ); C live Cussler; Richard du Moulin; Alan D. Hurchison; Jakob Isbrandrsen; Gary Jobson; Sir Robin Knox-Johnsto n; John Lehman; H . C. Bowen Smirh; John Stobarr; Philip J. Websrer; W illiam H. W hire; W illiam W inrerer NMHS ADVISORS: Chairman, Melbourne Smirh; Geo rge Bass, O swald Brert, Francis Duffy, John Ewald, Timorhy Foore, W illiam G ilkerson, Sreven A. H yman, ]. Russell Jinishian, Gunnar Lundeberg, Co nrad Milster, W illiam G. Muller, Stuarr Parnes, Lori Dillard Rech , Nancy Hughes Richardso n, Bert Rogers, Joyce Huber Smi rh SEA HISTORY EDIT ORIAL ADVIS ORY BOARD: Chairman, Timorhy Runya n; Norman Brouwer, Roberr Browning, W illiam Dudley, Daniel Finamore, Kevin Fosrer, John Jensen, Joseph Meany, Lisa Norling, Ca rla Rahn Phillips, Walrer Rybka, Q uenrin Snedi ker, W illiam H . W hire
N MHS STAFF: Executive Director, Burchenal Green; Membership Director, Nancy Schnaars; Accounting, Perer Yozzo; Marketing Director, Sreve Lovass-Nagy; Executive Assistant to the President, Jessica Macfa rlane; Membership Coordinator, Madeleine Fenamore SEA H ISTORY: Editor, D eirdre O 'Rega n; Advertising, Wendy Paggiorra; Copy Editor, Shelley Reid; Editor-at-Large, Perer Sranfo rd Sea History is primed by The Lane Press, South Burlington , Vermonr.
SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER 2014
"We "Welcome Your Letters! Please send correspondence to:
LETTERS
seahistory@gmail.com or Editor, Sea History, 7 Timberknoll Road, Pocasset, MA 02559
In Panama's Canal Zone I read with particular interest the report by Dr. Timothy J. Runyan in the last issue, " 100 Years of Shipping through the Isthmus of Panama." When I was in the navy, I saw one end of the canal in Colon. When I was a yo ung child, my parents employed an assistant in our home, a woman named Emma Chidester, who told us stories abo ut her brother who was a doctor in the Canal Zone. She told us that he was battling the diseases that were killing many of the canal workers; her accounts were very graphic. Years later during college, I was working on a geology paper on a quarry in Columbus, Ohio. I was intrigued by a very old steam shovel with chain drive that I saw there. I was told it had been used in the building of the Panama Canal. I wish I knew more of its provenance or at least had a photo. Alas, I have neither. I felt compelled to drop you a line having read the interesting report. As they say, Bravo Zulu. Sea H istory is required reading when I receive it. Carry on ... FREDERIC SATER
support of the United States, the terms of the treaty with the French and the newly "liberated" Panamanians gave the United States immediate control of the ten-milewide strip ofland to be known as the Canal Zone, which became a political entity and territory of the United States government. The land making up the Canal Zone was never owned by Panama in the first place, and since the canal was constructed within the boundaries of the zone, the Panamanians never held it either. By the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1978, the United States disestablished the US-administered Canal Zone and transferred that land area and ownership of the canal over to Panama in 1999. They were transferred to Panama for the first time ever, but they were never returned. You cannot return something to someone if you never took it from them in the first place. This may come across as politically incorrect in today's politically correct world, but the truth is it is factually and historically correct. LANCE
L. TERRELL
Austin, Texas
New York, New York In the last issue's article on the Panama Canal, Dr. Runyan states, "Ferdinand de Lesseps .. .attended the greatest engineering school of the day, the Ecole Polytechnique." David McCullough counters this claim in his book, lhe Path Between lhe Seas, explaining that de Lesseps, at age lhis Model 9 1 steam shovel, manufactured by the Marion Steam Shovel and Dredge Company of Marion, Ohio, is believed to have been one ofthe sixteen Model 91 steam shovels sent to build the canal. lhe Model 91 is on the National Register ofHistoric Places and is located in Le Roy, New York. Regarding yo ur article in the autumn issue of Sea History, "100 Years of Shipping through the Isthmus of Panama," the author states that "the United States ratified a treaty in 1978 to return the canal to Panama." As a person who was born and raised in the former Canal Zone and who is a third-generation Zonian, I take issue with this erroneous statement, as the United States never "returned" the canal to Panama. When the new Republic of Panama was established in 1903, with the SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
nineteen, attended the Lycee Napoleon and studied "a little law," but that he had no training in engineering. McCullough explains,"Known after 1869 as 'The Great Engineer,' he was no such thing. He had no technical background, no experience in finance." SAM]OHNSON
Madison, Wisconsin
Top 10 Historic Ships Captain Rybka's timely analysis of his favorite historic vessels and, more importantly, his insight regarding the lack of a national process or "clearinghouse" in funding brought special clarity to validating our extant floating treasures. The article mandated several readings, as I compared his words to my own personal notes of what I prefer to call "legacy vessels," rather than historic ships. "Legacy," in my mind, suggests future thinking and a view that historic vessels are not of the past but represent brilliant thinking for the future. Many vessels, as Capt. Rybka points out, were first in their class to adopt new technologies or represented unique thinking. Not long ago, I was privileged to steer, briefly, the Liberty ship john W Brown up the Chesapeake Bay. We passed the nuclear ship Savannah, moored to a pier in the Port of Baltimore, and it reminded us how the triple-beam expansion engines of Liberty sh ips were not a
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 1 800 221-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 conrribution is enclosed. ($ 17.50 is for Sea History; any amount above that is tax dedu ctible.) Sign me up as: D $35 Regular Member D $50 Family Member D $ 100 Friend D $250 Patron D $500 Donor 149 Mr./Ms. - - - - - -- -- - -- - -- - -- -- - - -- -- -
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5
forward technology at the time but readily available machinery in time of war, when diesel engine manufacturers were tasked to capacity. Many vessels have become of personal interest to individuals, the very individuals who have worked to save so many from the scrapyard. I am an unabashed supporter of New York City-based legacy vessels, such as the steamship Lilac, tugboat Pegasus, fireboat john J Harvey, tanker Mary A. Whalen, and the Lehigh Valley barge. While on a recent trip to Philadelphia, where I was photographing the world-class dance artist Desmond Richardson aboard the forlorn SS United States for a project designed to bring new constituencies to legacy vessels (www.heroproject.us), I also toured the Olympia. She represents an exquisite vessel by all counts, her interiors of polished wood bristling in pride and craftsmanship. Capt. Rybka's observation that William F. Gibbs's SS United States is now merely a shell, devoid of her original craftsmanship is correct; but what a shell, indeed.
member the 534 Victories that went forth in the greatest conflict the world has ever known. CHARLES
Fuss
St. Pete Beach, Florida Having grown up in a fire-service family in Baltimore, I wanted to add the New York City fireboat Firefighter, now being restored at Greenport, Long Island, to Walter Rybka's historic ship preservation list. My four brothers and I marvel at the powerful fireboats in Baltimore's harbor.
The largest Baltimore fireboat pumps 12,000 gallons per minute, whereas Firefighter can pump twice as much at 24,000 GPM (equal to 24 land-based fire engines). The powerful streams can rip a roof off a pier to get access to a fire, provide additional water supply to the land-based fire engines, and of course welcome visiting ships in port-most memorable was to welcome the tall ships visiting New York during the bicentennial in 1976. ANTHONY O'NEILL
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
JONATHAN ATKIN
Bronx, New York We aboard SS American Victory welcomed Capt. Walter Rybka's article "Ranking of Historical American Ships." He rightly declares that all proponents of historic ships would react to his list of vessels with their own ranking and not necessarily according to his. Capt Rybka has included the Liberty ships as necessary to our victory in WWII. No one with any knowledge of maritime history would dispute this conclusion, but not to be overlooked was that our victory in the wide Pacific owed, perhaps, more to the Victory ships with their five- or sixknot speed advantage and more efficient cargo handling gear for the rapid discharge of combat supplies and ammunition. The Victories paid a high price at Okinawa, where the ammo-carrying Logan, Hobbs, and Canada Victories were hit by kamikaze planes and vaporized with no survivors. Our own beloved ship was combat-loaded for the invasion of Japan, but the atom bomb intervened. She was sent instead to Shanghai and was the first American vessel to arrive in that port after the Japanese surrendered. All we ask is that those who note the passing of historic American ships re-
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SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
* ]. P. URANKER WOODCARVER * A round the Cabin Lamp:
Defending the D ream
"The dreamers have turned out to be realists," said Ada Louise Huxtable, in a New York Times editorial on the Landmarks victory won by South Street Seaport Museum in 1968 . This opened the door to the return of rail ships to South Street to build a new center devoted to the seafaring heritage that built New York C ity. And the dreamers kept moving, as we knew we must, racking up these achievements along the way: • first urban renewal project sponsored by a city museum • first use of transferred air rights over Landmarked buildings • first education of inner-city yo uth at sea by any museum • largest active membership of any museum in New York or elsewhere Realism and skills of the highest order were needed to achieve these unprecedented results-and these assets soon came to us as museum leaders across America joined our work, recognizing its national significance and matchless public support. As a result, in 1973 Mayor Lindsay and I, as then-South Street Seaport president, signed 99-year leases for three blocks of Seaport buildings and four East River piers. At that time, the museum ran on a balanced budget with substantial reserves, as noted in A Dream of Tafl Ships, Norma Stanford's and my book on these founding years. The official "South Street Seaport Development Plan," sponsored by Laurance Rockefeller and Brooke Astor, foresaw a bright future ahead: "The museum's ships and other activities draw more than a million people a year as visitors, and the museum program is becoming more popular and active all the time." Unfortunately, new board members-attracted by the major land values then at stake-brought in new management. This led, in 1981, to new City leases that deprived South Street Seaport of its urban renewal status and control of its waterfront. Meanwhile, membership sank to less than one tenth of 1% of its height in 1973. It is important to remember that the Seaport property had been purchased by Jakob Isbrandrsen, who then donated it to the City with the stipulation that it would be leased back to the museum, a gift to the citizens of New York. Oddly, Professor James Lindgren, in his Preserving South Street Seaport, characterizes the 1973 settlement as a "bailout." This misrepresents the Seaport as unable to stand on its own feet, although it clearly did, being continually supported by contributions based on the museum's performance. Today's new management has abundantly demonstrated it can carry out this founding policy under acting president Jonathan Boulware. But restitution for land given for public purposes, yet sold for private gain, will be needed to regain the Seaport's standing. More on that in our next issue, as fresh forces add to the museum's authentic message for New York-among them the Ciry Club of New York (an early supporter, as yo u'll read in A Dream), the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance with its outreach to multi-purpose users of city waterways, and the New York H arbor School Foundation, whose graduates, drawn from the inner city, go on to successful college careers or into maritime trades that are proving to be glad to get them . - PETER STANFORD , President Emeritus
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www.southshoreboatworks.com OWNER'S STATEMENT: Statement fil ed 9/29/ 14 requ ired by the Act of Aug. 12, 1970, Sec. 3685, Title 39, US Code: Sea H istory is published quarterl y at 5 John Walsh Blvd. , Peekskill NY 10566; minimum subscription price is $ 17.50. Pub lisher and ed itor-in-chief: None; Ed itor is Deirdre E. O ' Regan; owner is National Maritime Hi storical Society, a non-profit corporation ; all are located at 5 John Walsh Blvd ., Peekskill N Y 10566. During the I 2 months preceding O ctober 20 12 the average number of (A) copies printed each issue was 25,425; (B) paid and /or requested circulation was: (1) outside county mail subscriptions 7,376; (2) in-count y subscriptions O; (3) sa les thro ugh dealers, carriers, cou nter sa les, other non-USPS paid distribution 494; (4) other classes mai led through USPS 406 ; (C) total pa id and /or requested circulation was 8,275; (D) free distr ibution by mail, samples, complimentary and other 15,900; (E) free distributi on outside the mail s 701 ; (F) to ta l free distributi on was 16, 601 ; (G) to tal distribution 24,876; (H ) copies not d istributed 548; (I) total [of 15G and H J 25.425; (J) Percentage pa id and /or reques ted circulation 33.3%. The actual numbers for t he single iss ue precedin g O ctober 2014 are: (A) total number printed 25,563; (B) paid and /or requested circulation was: (1) o utside-county mai l subscriptions 7, 118; (2) in-county subscrip tions O; (3) sales through dea lers, ca rriers, counter sales, other non-USPS paid distribution 550; (4) other classes mailed through US PS 406; (C) to tal paid a nd /or requested circulation was 8,074 ; (D) free distribution by mail, sa mples, complimentary and other 15584; (E) free distribution outside the mails 1080; (F) tota l free distribution was 16 ,664; (G) total distribution 24 ,738; (H ) copies not distributed 825; (I) tota l [of 15G and H J 25,563; (J) Percentage paid and /o r requested circul ation 32.6%. I certify that the above statements are correct and complete. (s igned) Burchenal G reen, Executive Director, National Ma ritime Historica l Sociery.
SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
7
NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION 10th Maritime Heritage Conference
T
here is no substitute for the exchange of ideas among colleagues, the opportunity to hear about projects, successes and challenges of others in the many areas and disciplines that comprise our maritime heritage. Hundreds of boat builders, scholars, archaeologists, professors, writers, artists and personnel from lighthouses, museums, historic ships, sail training ships, navy ships, historic reproduction projects and other maritime organizations came together at the lO'h Maritime Heritage Conference hosted by Nauticus in Norfolk, Virginia. Dr. David Winkler, Naval Historical Foundation, organized hundreds of speakers and sessions into 4 days of an excellent, thought-provoking and informative program. Dr. Raymond Ashley was presented with the Maritime Heritage Conference Award of Distinction. As President/CEO of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, Dr. Ashley has grown a museum about historic ships, all aboard ships. The entire museum is afloat. He is building a reproduction of Juan Cabrillo's San Salvador, the ship that
stopped in San Diego on 28 September 1542 and stayed for 6 days. In his keynote presentation Dr. Ashley challenged us to look at the world we live in now as not inevitable and to understand how iconic ships help shape a significant message about our history that can influence the understanding and experience of our youth. Steve White accepted the Maritime Heritage Conference Award of Distinction for Mystic Seaport for the restoration and 38'h voyage of the last wooden whaler, Charles W Mo rgan. This is one of the great successes for our maritime heritage, and Mr. White's enthusiasm for the project was contagious. He was also awarded the first Maritime Heritage Conference Leadership Award for spearheading this project. Admiral Robert]. Papp, Jr. , USCG (Ret.), immediate past commandant of the Coast G uard, was presented the Maritime Heritage Conference Award of Distinction for his dedication to teaching the history of the Coast Guard and his leadership in building a National Coast Guard Museum. Noted author and founder of the National Un-
(l-r) Channing Zucker, Howard Slotnick, Carol Vinall, jean Wort, Captain Cesare Sario, Burchenal Green, Dr. William Dudley, Philip Webster, Margherita Sario, Irmy Webster, Bob Kamm, Ronald Oswald, and Nancy Schnaars at the NMHS booth.
8
derwater & Marine Agency, Clive Cussler, presented the award. Admiral Papp spoke of why it is crucial to remember and record the stories of those serving in the Coast Guard and reco unted great stories of everyday people serving with extraordinary courage. C live Cussler had broken his leg but, hearty mariner that he is, got up from his wheelchair to regale the maritime community with tales of his underwater expeditions with NUMA and the kinds of adventures that he and his crew experienced in searching for some of our great shipwrecks. No wonder his fictional protagonist, Dirk Pitt, leads such an exciting life. He was bombarded by questions and standing ovations, a testament to how evident it is that so many members of this community, knowledgeable about life at sea, are great fans. Participants toured the Battleship Wisconsin, the Nauticus Museum, the Mariners' Museum and the many maritime attractions around Norfolk. Dr. Timothy Runyan, ch airman of the conference organizer National Maritime Alliance, urged members to write their congressional representatives in support of the "Ships to be Recycled in the States" (STORIS) Act, which amends the National Maritime Heritage Act to secure funding for its maritime heritage grant program. This grant program is critical to the maritime heritage community of over 1,000 small non-profit organizations in more than 40 states. A link to more information can be found on the homepage of www.seahistory.org. It was humbling to be at the presentation by the Naval Historical Foundation of their Commodore Dudley W Knox Naval History LifetimeAchievementAward winners and hear Craig L. Symonds, William S. Dudley, Harold D. Langley, and John B. Hattendorf accept the medals, knowing what incredible contributions each has given to our understanding ofour American maritime and naval past.
-Burchenal Green, President
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014
In Honor of
PETER STANFORD Founder of South Street Seaport and President Emeritus of the National Maritime Historical Society for his remarkable contribution to the preservation of the maritime culture and history of the Unided States G.W. CARMANY AND CO., INC. ,_.,......... 50 CONGRESS STREET, SUITE 936 BOSTON, MA 02109 ,.,,. ,.,_ :
The 2014 National Maritime Historical Sociery Annual Awards Dinner A Truly Glorious Evening for our Maritime Heritage by Burchenal Green, N MHS President f, on a beautiful October evening, you bring together the recent former commandant of the US Coast Guard (Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr.) with the foundin g director of the North American M arine Environment Protection Association (C lay M aitland), half of the team that broke the sailing record from Hong Kong to New York (Richard T. du Moulin), the chairman of the National Coast Guard Museum Association (James J. Coleman Jr. ), o ne of the driving forces behind the OpSail tradition (Howard Slotnick), the National O ceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of National M arine Sanctuaries di rector (Daniel J. Bas ta), the long-standing ch airm an of the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup C ommittee (George W Carmany III), the vice commodore of the club (Rives Po tts), a great maritime artist (Oswald Brett), the chairman, president and leading staff of Mys tic Seaport (Barclay Collins, Steve White, Quentin Snediker and M aureen H ennessey) , the presidents of South Street Seaport Museum (Captain Jonathan Boulware), the Steamship Historical Society of America (Matthew Schulte), and the American Friends of the N ational Museum of the Royal N avy ( Frik Olstein), th e chairm an of the Coast Guard Foundation (Robert Flynn), the president and CEO of one of America's great family-own ed tugboat companies (Captain Brian McAllister), the N obel prize winner for discovering the structure ofDNA (Dr. James Watson) , the Regional Vice President of the American Bureau of Shipping (Stephen Gumpel) , the found er, president, and program devel opment director of the lighthouse tender l ilac (Gerry Weinstein, M ary Habstritt and D aniella Romano) and the president of the Working H arbor Committee (Captain John Doswell) , you will get a magical evening yo u will not soon forget. And these dignitaries were joined by so many others that we wo uld run out of ink on this page. A recurring theme during the course of remarks, from the podium and amongst
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(front row, l-r) James ] Coleman J r.; Rives Potts; George W Carmany!!!. (back row, l- r) Clay M aitland; Ronald L. Oswald; D aniel]. Basta; H oward Slotnick; A dmiral Robert J Papp J r., USCG (Ret.); and Richard du M oulin.
friends old and new, was the importance of focusing on the sea, and on the waters on which we sail, on our common experiences and background and the necessity of connecting together, of sharing our stories and knowledge. Dinner Chairman Clay Maitland praised the wo rk of the Society for our focus on wha t ti es us together and our leadership promoting the larger story. H e stated that we share with th ose who went before us common experiences; we are a people who migrated here from across the seas and still today sail the same seas and rivers to carry our trade and culture. Pirates, terrorism, migration, d ro ught, and religion we re issues faced by our fo refathers and we are helped to navigate those challenges today by looking to our heri tage and realizing its rel evance. D an Basta discussed the 38'h voyage of Mys tic Seaport's whaler Charles W Mo rgan as an example of an international icon to connect the world, and advocated an internatio nal year to celebrate m aritime heritage. H oward Slo tnick remembered joining the South Street Seaport Museum as a dollar member, an act that changed his life as he got involved, traveling the world
as an O pSail ambassador to invite tall ships to America. George Carmany asked us to think in our own life what it is that m akes us love the sea as we do, imagining that for most of us it was getting out on the water as a child, or perhaps with a team racing, but som e wonderful experience . As he put it: "Why do we love the sea so? What fo rms the attachment that we feel? The exhilaratio n we feel when we go our on it? Its beauty? The hidden dangers? Its fury and peacefulness? Our impressions, the things that tie us to it emotionally, are grounded in personal experiences, from childhood in most cases .. . This is the stuff of love and passion , the sort of things that collectively bind us to the sea." In honor of James C olem an , his son Jamie Coleman, artist Paul Ga rnett, and the N ational M aritime Histo rical Society do nated USCG Bounty Rescue-October 2 012 to M r. Colem an for the new National Coast G uard Museum . Captain of C oast G uard Sector New York, Captain Gordon A. Loeb!, is displaying the painting in his office until the construction of the New London, Connecticut museum is completed.
Paul Garnett on USCG Bounty Rescue-October 2012: "When H urricane Sandy hit the eastern seaboard ofthe United States resulting in the sinking ofthe square rigger Bounty, all of us that were former crew members, as I was during her M. G.M. years, felt a terrible sense ofloss. As a marine artist I struggled with the thought of putting this tragedy onto canvas but in the end decided against it. Instead I would do a painting from the perspective of the Coast Guard and their heroic decision to head out into harm's way in the teeth of this sup er storm. The p ainting shows, far off to the left, the masts ofthe ship above the mountainous waves that were washing over her hull. Upper left is the Coast Guard p lane that circled over the area during the operation. The helicopters are about a half mile apart, hovering over the life rafts . A swimmer can be seen in the water holding on to the raft in the foregro und as the chopper lowers one of the rescue baskets to the p eople in their survival suits in that raft. "
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014
Save the Date for the 23 April 2015 Washington Awards Dinner
T
he Annual Awards Dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D C wi ll be held on Thursday, 23 April 2015 . The Society is ho nored to partner with the Naval Historical Foundation to host the 20 15 dinner. Since 1926, the Naval Historical Foundation's mission is to preserve and honor the legacy of those who served and are currently serving in the United States N avy. The Foundation raises funds in support of th e navy's history enterp rise and creates programs in history to add a history component (STEM -H ) to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, USN, Chief of Naval Operations, will receive the inaugural Naval Histori cal Fo undation Distinguished Service Award, which will be presented to him by Admiral Robert]. Papp Jr., USCG (Rer.) , the immediate past commandant of the Coas t G uard, and Admiral Bruce D eMars, USN (Rer. ). Admiral Greenen is the 30th C hief of Naval Operations (CNO) , an office that was established
in 1915 , two years before the US en try in to World War I. Admiral Greenen has been a strong promoter of this country's Navy and its history, particularly in the commemo ration of th e Navy's role in the War of 18 12. We honor the centenary of the office ofCNO in honoring Admiral Greenen . Harold F. (Gerry) Lenfest, a philanthropist who has given millions to educational institutions, the arts, and to the cause of maritime history as seen in his generous support of the effort to renovate and preserve the SS United States, will receive the N MHS Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Lenfest served as a reservist in rhe US N avy. In honoring Mr. Lenfest we honor the United States Navy Reserve, which in 2015 will celebrate its ce ntennial. VADM Robin Braun, Chief of Navy Reserve and C ommander, Navy Reserve, will present the award.
Maryland Senator Barbara Ann Mikulski, a native of Baltimore, is this country's longest serving woman senator, having wo n election to the US Senate in 1986. Senator M ikulski has long been a
strong advocate for the m aritime industries of the Port of Baltimore and has worked energe ti cally to res tore the h ealth of Chesapeake Bay. For her great efforts to adva nce the port ofBalrimo re, to strengthen nati o nal defense throu gh technology, and to advoca te m eas ures improving th e C h esap eake Bay's environment, Senator Barbara M ikulski will receive the Distinguished Service Award. (Invited.) Gary Jobson, world-class sailor, telev isio n co mm entato r, author, past pres ident o f US Sailing, and NMH S O ve rseer, will be Master of Ceremonies.
Captain James Noone, USNR (Ret.), and Dr. William Dudley will be Dinner Co-Chairs. The US Coas t G uard Academy Cader Singers will provide the evening's entertainment, honoring the centennial of the United States Coast G uard. To reserve a place, beco me a spo nsor, o r fo r m ore info rmatio n go to www.seahistory. org or call 91 4-737-7878, ext. -0- .
-Burchenal Green, President
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"EXPLOSIVES (see note C)" The Unusual End of SS Robert Louis Stevenson by Kathleen Ciolfi and Geoffrey Carton n 1967, the Liberty ship SS Robert Louis Stevenson, having served the nation during World War II, was recalled from retirement to aid her country a final time in a very different manner. This time it was the Cold War, and the loss of the ship was not a concern, but a goal. On 10 August 1967, the Stevenson, loaded with more than 2,000 tons of explosives, sank off the Aleutian Islands. Lest we get ahead of ourselves with the story, let's start at the beginning.
I
Liberty Ships of World War II The outbreak of World War II in Europe caught the American merchant fleet unprepared to meet the huge demand for sealift capacity. To meet this need, assembly-line production of a standardized cargo ship-the Liberty ship-began in the United States in 1941. Between 1941 and 1945, eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Liberty ships. It was the largest number of ships of a single design produced during the war. Despite being built as a "five-year vessel," more than 2,400 Liberty ships survived the war; of these, 835 made up the post-war cargo fleet. Designed for carrying cargo (10,800 tons), ease of construction, and price, little thought was given to the aest hetics. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, known fo r his love of navy vessels and an eye for design, called the Liberty ship "a real ugly duckling."
The Liberty ship Robert Louis Stevenson was built at the Richmond Shipyard #1 on San Francisco Bay and launched in November 1943. Like her sister ships, she was built in an astonishingly short period of time and headed out on her first wartime mission to the Far East just a month after her launch. Her last mission ended in April 1945, ending a very short career. Or so it appeared .
Operation CHASE In the early 1960s, the military surveyed its munitions stores, and although most were in good condition, some dated to World War II and required immediate disposal. The closing of several ammu nition depots in the United States also generated a large quantity of ammunition requiring disposal. Faced with the rapid buildup of thousands of tons of deteriorated and defective munitions, the US armed services needed a way to quickly, safely, efficiently and economically dispose of sizeable quantities. Seizing on the past success of scuttling ships loaded with excess, obsolete and unserviceable ammunition, the US Navy initiated Operation CHASE (Cut Holes and Sink 'Em) in 1963 for deep-water disposal of munitions. CHASE, although a catchy acronym, is somewhat of a misnomer as the ships were scuttled by simply opening the sea cocks and letting them flood. Operation CHASE entailed loading deteriorated and defective munitions on obsolete Liberty ships obtained from the Military Sea Transportation Service. Between 1963 and 1970, the operations disposed of 92,824 gross tons of explosive munitions (a net explosive weight of about 13,000 tons) in sixteen ships and 19,824 gross tons of chemical munitions in an additional three ships. Deep-water disposals in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
were effectively ended by passage of the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. Before the disposal operations, conferences and consultations were held to ensure the effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of the effort. Participants included representatives from a variety of organizations including the US Navy, Coast Guard, wildlife agencies, the State Department, the Atomic Energy Commission, and academia. Preparing a ship for scuttling, or an intentional sinking, included stripping it of all reusable gear and debris, flushing the fuel tanks, installing soft patches between the bulkheads in the hold to ensure complete flooding of all interior spaces, extending handles so that sea cocks could be opened from deck level, and painting the topsides with the word "EXPLOSIVES" in six-foothigh reflective letters. The loading of obsolete munitions was much like stowage of any general cargo. The major difference was the cargo itself had to be packed densely enough to guarantee that it would sink with the vessel. Vessels were towed to deep-water sites at least 10 miles offshore and in water a minimum of 3,000 feet deep. During the second Operation C H ASE event in September 1964 , at least some of SS Village's 7,348 tons of cargo detonated shortly after sinking. Within minutes of slipping below the surface, three separate detonations occurred. Though not planned, the detonations were not unexpected. Seismic equipment around the world registered the vibration, stirring the interest of the Office of Naval Research. Because Operation CHASE ships would contain known quantities of explosives and be sunk at predetermined times, depths, and locations, scientists seized on the opportunity to monitor the detonations to aid in identify-
The extraordinary efficiency ofthe American shipbuilding effort in World War II culminated in the construction of2,751 Liberty ships between 1941and1945. Nationally, Liberty ships were built in an average of42 days. (left) The launch ofSS William C lark at the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, one ofseven Kaiser-owned shipyards on the West Coast. The Robert Louis Stevenson was built at another Kaiser yard, one ofthe Richmond Shipyards on San Francisco Bay. 14
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 20 14- 15
ing the difference between man-made and natural seismic events. A man-made detonation of a known quantity could provide crucial data for identifying and estimating the size and location of underwater nuclear explosions, which had been outlawed under rhe nuclear test ban treaty. Consequently, subsequent Operation CHASE disposals of conventional munitions were thoroughly instrumented, controlled, and monitored. Thus, a valuable partnership was born. Operation CHASE continued its mission to eliminate deteriorating munitions, while it worked in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Resea rch Proj ects Agency (DARPA) to develop the capability to detect clandestine underwater nuclear explosions. As a result, the CHASE events became joint DARPANavy projects, with DARPA choosing the sites and using the explosions as a seismic source to record velocity and attenuation data at specific stations. The next two disposal operations were carried out largely as planned, w ith the ships detonating at expected depths; both were declared successes. The sinking of C HASE V (SS Isaac Van Zandt) was a slightly different story. En route from Bremerton, Washington, to the disposal site in May 1966, the tow cable parred in
rough seas, casting a ship carrying a net explosive weight of 1,625 tons adrift. Ir took six harrowing hours for two US Navy rugs, USS Tatnuck (ATA 195) and USS Koka (ATA 185), to recover the tow cable. She was towed to a newly determined disposal site and scurried; the cargo detonated at the planned 4,000 feet. The next four disposal operations also went as scheduled and included one intentional detonation . Most of the operations were carried our relatively smoothly, but weather, logistics of sinking large vessels and detonating old explosives could never be guaranteed to go exactly as planned.
Operation CHASE, a.k.a. Cut Holes And Sink 'Em
Operation CHASE VI (SS Robert Louis Stevenson) The crew of the Stevenson prepared to scuttle the ship in the sam e manner as the previous Operation C HASE vessels. Prep-
Ammunition handlers unloading bombs lowered into the load.
arations were conducted at the Navy Ammunition Depot Bangor, Washington, and on 24 July 1967, the World War II Liberty ship Robert Louis Stevenson, loaded with 2,327 net tons of explosives, departed Bangor under tow for what would be her final mission. The navy directed the operational aspects of the project, providing the necessary on-site support, including air surveillance. US Coast Guard C utter Confidence (WMEC 619) provided surface surveillance at the test site. Tug Tatnuck accompanied and assisted the tow vessel; she also carried the scuttling crew and personnel responsible for making on-site measurements and recording the shock wave. On 10 August 1967, the Robert Louis Stevenson was scurried off Amchirka Island 1 1
Amchicka Island itself has an interesting history. In 1943 , the native population was removed to allow for the construction of a naval air base to be used as an advance location for the invasion of Japan. Between 1950 and 1961, it played a role as a station on the Defense Early Warning network to detect Soviet bombers and provide ea rly warn ing of a sea or land invas ion. In 1965, 1969 and 197 1, underground nuclear tests were conducted there. The 1965 test followed after a nearby earthq uake with the intention of generating data co differenti ate between narura l events and a nuclear explosion .
SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
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Removing the rail in preparation for scuttling.
in the Aleutians, about 550 miles west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The plans called to sink the hulk approximately thirty-two miles off the coast. Six MK 51 mines on board were specially fitted with waterpressure detonators set to explode at a depth of 4,000 feet. This would be the largest non-nuclear, underwater detonation ever conducted, and would simulate a low-yield underwater nuclear explosion. The seismic signal data they would collect from the
event would be used by the United States to develop the capability to detect clandestine underwater nuclear explosions. The scuttling of the Stevenson proved the accuracy of the saying "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Arriving at the designated site at 0312 on 10 August, the crew opened Stevenson's sea cocks and cast her adrift. Rather than sinking as planned, she drifted for 16 hours, northwards and towards land. Weather
conditions deteriorated rapidly; with winds increasing to twenty knots, the ship drifted into a fog bank. At 1720 she was observed in an area with water depths of3,000 feet. Radar contact remained good but the attitude (orientation) of Stevenson was unknown. A little over an hour later, Tatnuck approached the hulk, and its investigation at 1932 found the Stevenson on even keel with seven feet of freeboard forward and three feet aft, making the detonators inaccessible. Three hours later, radar contact with the Stevenson was lost, as the crews estimated that Stevenson sank about ten nautical miles from the intended site in about 3,000 feet of water. Neither the observers nor the instruments detected a detonation, and concerns mounted that a ship passing directly over the wreck might supply enough additional pressure to trigger the mines. Fearing the possibility of an accidental detonation, a two-phase plan was put in place. The first involved dropping bombs from aircraft at the estimated coordinates of the hulk. Ideally, this would result in a sympathetic detonation of the Stevenson's cargo or the triggering of the depth fuses on the ship. Even if it was unsuccessful, it 342 228 327 443
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NOAA Nautical Chart 16012, Alaska, Aleutian Islands: Amukta Island to Attu Island. Mariners navigating south of the western tip ofAmchitka Island and Oglala Pass would be wise to take heed ofNote Con the chart. "NOTE C: Sunken ship is loaded with explosives. Vessels are warned to stay well clear of the area. " 16
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
would provide a basis for removi ng the restriction on surface ship operations in the area. The second phase of the plan consisted of determining the location, establish ing positive identification, and bringing the mission to an acceptable conclusion. For Phase I, the navy's newest deepwater survey ship, USNS Silas Bent (T-AGS 26) , conducted bathymetric and magnetic surveys and installed marker buoys to aid the aircraft making bombing runs over the hulk's suspected position . After several bombing runs proved unsuccessful in detonating the ship, the navy implemented Phase II. Magnetometers and deep-sea cameras that had been used to locate the 1963 wreck of USS Thresher (SSN593) in 8,400 feet of water were brought out to implement Phase II for the Stevenson operation. The Bent initiated the magnetometer search on 5 September. On 11 September, the magnetometer located what appeared to be the hulk of the Stevenson, lying upright on the seafloor but shallower than 3,000 feet, a thousand feet shy of what was needed to detonate the cargo. Underwater cameras were sent down to confirm the identity of the hulk. After deal-
ing with several equipment problems, the effort provided twenty-nine photographs, allowing the positive identification of the Stevenson on 13 September. The camera was held on target using Bent's n arrowbeam sonar to navigate and hold steady over the magnetometer target. Following identification of the Stevenson, ano ther attempt was made to detonate the cargo. On 19 September aircraft from Adak, A laska, dropped twent y-four 2,000-pound bombs on the site in groups of twos and threes, hoping for complete detonation of the cargo. The fuzing on these bombs was designed to activate at 2,500 feet, but a time delay allowed them to reach the bottom before going off. Although all of the dropped bombs exploded, not one was successful in detonati ng the ship's cargo, even though several of them exploded close enough to the hulk to, in theory, trigger the hydrostatic fuses aboard Stevenson. At the conclusion of these efforts, the navy decided that the sunken Liberty ship could not be accidentally detonated and terminated the mission. The final resting place of the Stevenson is about one nautical mile from its las t radar contact and
about ten-and-a-half miles from the intended scuttle site. In the end, the Stevenson, loaded with thousands of pounds of explosives, met its end with nary a whimper. The site merits a two-line note on NOAA Nautical C h art 16012: "Sunken ship is loaded with explosives. Vessels are warned to stay well clear of the area." SS Robert Louis Stevenson served h er country with honor in wartime, and, as was the case with many Liberty ships, her career was a short one. Few ships, however, have met their end in such an unusual fashion. Her end was not one decided by admirals, tacticians, or scientists, but by the whim of Neptune. Today, her legacy is one relegated to little more than a note on a nautical chart. J:, Kathleen Ciolfi is a technical information specialist with the Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with a special interest in ammunition development, manufacturing and disposal. Geoffrey Carton is a senior analyst with CALIBRE Systems, Alexandria, Virginia, with an interest in environmental implications ofmilitary activities.
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SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014-15
17
The Outlook of Americru:~~~cht Racing
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istorian and author John Rousmaniere once titled a book about the yacht racing of a bygone era The Golden Pastime. On the way to the race course for the first race of the 1962 America's Cup, amidst an elegant fleet of yachts, a boyhood contemporary exclaimed "Who said horse racing is the Sport of Kings?" Who, indeed? Those were the days . From the founding of the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1815 up until the early 1900s, the culture of sailboat racing-and the grandeur that wrapped it in romance-was in large measure defined by big-boat sailing and the America's Cup. Ir defined a glamorous heritage widely celebrated, and its mystique remains to the present day for many fo llowers of the sport. The advent of one-design racing opened new doors to the sport. The first was an Irish innovation from 1887 that came in the form of a little fourteen-foot dinghy called the Water Wag. Over the years, commencing in the early rwentierh century, rwo-
The Wtiter Wtig of 1887 started one-design racing. and three-man boars like the Starand the Lightning-class sloops attracted new participants around the globe. A culture of amateurism pervaded both one-design racing and the larger boats, to which one-design sailors often graduated. These things are well known. The general consensus of the generation that grew up after World War II was that big-boat racing reached its apotheosis during the J-Boat era of the 1930s. Who, my father asked after the Depression, could afford to build and operate such vessels again? In response to such views, in 1956 the Deed of Gift of the America's Cup was re-written 18
•••,
by George W Carmany III
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to accommodate the rwelve meter, a small fry by earlier standards. Many of the honest ocean racers a decade later were 40-footers, from the drafting tables of modern designers like Doug Peterson, sailed by crack amateur crews. A sport that had once been within the purview of captains of industry-and the occasional crowned head-had become much more open in social terms, with many of the most successful participants coming from the ranks of amateur one-design sailing. Perhaps Bus Mosbacher, rwo-time defender of the America's Cup, best personified the trend at its ultimate level. The economic expansion in the second half of the last century sustained the sport of sailing well, initially in the United States, and then in Europe as the posrwar recovery there progressed more slowly. In addition to the private wealth that was created and spent racing sailboats, an unforeseen development came in the commercialization of the sport. This was darkly frowned upon by the establishment of the day. The end was thought to be nigh when Alan Bond put a Qantas logo on one of his spinnakers for practice racing just before the 1980 America's Cup, bur it became slightly more tolerable, and even acceptable, when Dennis Conner later turned up with one of his own. A sailor could now make a living at the helm or on deck. "Dennis spent over 500 days sailing in the last rwo years," groused Ted Turner, "and he's a grown man!" Long-term economic and societal trends have not generally favored the sport of sail racing, at least on the grand scale of the past. The power of computing made it relatively easy to analyze the intricacies of the latest handicap rule, meaning that, to stay competitive, an owner was often buying a new boat every several years. An arms race ensued, of which owners soon tired. As the
40-footers at the start, 18 August 1890.
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SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
underpinning of sustained economic growth itself became less reliable, sailing and the adventure of the sea became less embedded in American culture as they were in previous generations. Increased specialization in sports in general has discouraged participation in sailing, as parents seek elsewhere for athletic glory, hoping for the ineluctable hook chat might guarantee admission to a desirable college for their children. Sales of sailboats in the United States have fallen from 18,600 units in 2001 to 5,600 last year. Racing on the scale of yacht racing's golden era has diminished. In the New York area, the Greenwich Cup, once a magnet spring and fall event, no longer cakes place. The entry at the American Yacht Club spring and fall series has fallen by close to half in the last twenty years, and ocher signature events are reporting similar decreases. The exigencies of work, family, and economics have made it harder to round up eight, ten, or twelve yo ung buccaneers to take off and race a week here and a week there, warm though the memories are. The boars have not become cheaper, either. Yet in many centers the sport continues to prosper. In June of chis year, ninety-four Etchells-class sloops-30 footers-raced in their world championship at Newport, Rhode Island. In September the ]70, a new twenty-three-foot one design, had eighty-six entries at its first world championship. The International Dragon regattas, with crowned heads and all, often draws a hundred entries per event; 250 of them from thirty-six countries came to St. Tropez for their 75th anniversary regatta. Commercial interests have permeated the event, with 50% or more of some fleets manned by professionals.
The 15th anniversary of the D ragon class drew more than 250 boats from 36 countries to St. Tropez for the international championships. What chis amounts to is chat three or four sailors can now race in their own boats, have their own program, pick their schedules, even get a sponsor, and be free of most recurring expenses-sails excepted, of course. On a larger scale, rhe New York Yacht Club created an international-challenge event with its 2005 one-design, the NYYC 42 (a.k.a. the Club Swan 42), the ninth such class in the club's history. Since 2009, reams from twenty clubs aro und rhe world race at the highest level of amateur competition in a biennial regatta. SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
America's Cup and big-boat racing are now fully commercialized and the realm ofprofessionals.
In rhe wo rld of big-boat racing, however, economics and fleet composition have diminished. Attendance at Key West Race Week, rhe last vestige of the celebrated Southern Ocean Racing Circuit in which reams once competed throughout the winter, has fallen significantly. By contrast, a new event, Charleston Race Week, which emphasizes smaller-size one-design fleets, is annually producing a large and growing number of entries. San Francisco's fabled "Big Boat Regatta" increasingly comprises boars chat are nor so big anymore. These are trends the sport cannot ignore. The outlook for what was once called yacht racing, a term now viewed by many as too elitist, is nor bleak-but it is different. Future sailors may celebrate a different heritage than the one we observe today. Commercialization and sponsorship continue to sustain big-boat sailing at rhe highest level, principally in Europe and the Caribbean, but it is a narrow segment of the sport. The grand days oflarge privately-owned yachts racing in North America are, at least for now, fading, unusual accumulations of wealth notwithstanding. Only a handful of truly large boars competed in chis year's Bermuda Race, although its iconic nature continues to draw a large overall number of entrants. Fleets are changing. The pendulum may swing back someday. It has before, but at chis moment in rime the long-ago vision of a group oflrishmen from Dun Laoghaire again points the way to maintaining the broad levels of participation and interest chat is the sustaining engine of the sport. -1 Sailing his boat Horner, a New York 40, George W Carmany III has won the Astor Cup twice, as well as the Cygnet Cup. H e has been a watch captain in Bermuda and transAtlantic races, and was a member of the America II syndicate. Mr. Carmany was recognized this October with the NMHS Distinguished Service Award. 19
"Go to H-l you d-d Yankee Son ofa B-ch" A Gold Rush Voyage Journal he Smirhsonian's Narional Museum of American Hisrory acquired rwo California Gold Rush voyage diaries quire independenrly of each orher, bur rogerher rhey add considerably to our undersranding of rhe real-life experiences of rhose who made a go of gerring ro rhe Wesr Coasr in 1849. The firsr was rhe Alexander Van Valen archive, acquired in 2006 and published in parr in Sea History 137; rhe second was wrirren by Benjamin S. Buckley and came to rhe museum from rhe public library in Loda, Illinois, in 2010. The Van Valen archive preserved rhe story of a young New Yorker who lefr behind his wife and rwo toddler daughrers in January 1849 ro seek his forrune in California. He rerurned rwo years larer, having nerred less rhan $500. The Buckley manuscripr rells a complerely differenr story. Alrhough ir, too, was wrirren by a young forry-niner from rhe Norrheasr, rhe rwo stories diverge radically. Benjamin S. Buckley was born in norrhern Connecricur (possibly Charham) around 1821 inro a prominenr family wirh eighr siblings. A farher is menrioned in rhe journal, bur no morher. Buckley was unmarried and in his !are 20s when he lefr for rhe California gold fields in !are January 1849. Judging from rhe conrenr and penmanship of his journal enrries, he was very well educared.
Buckley booked passage wirh a friend from his hometown of Manchesrer, Connecricur, on rhe Boston sailing ship Capitol. A relarively new vessel, Capitol was builr in 1847 ar Newburyporr, Massachuserrs, for Salem owners named Neal, and measured 149 fr. 3 in. long and 687 tons burrhen. She was re-regisrered on 22 January 1849rhe day before she lefr for California-ro Boston owners George K. Sampson and Lewis W Tappan. Specifically charrered for rhe voyage to San Francisco, jusr before she cleared Lewis Wharf on 23 January, rhe charrer principals "Brigham and orhers" boarded, collecred rhe passengers' "cerrificares of passage," and inspecred rhe ship for stowaways. A ricker for rhe voyage among rhe Moses Chase papers ar rhe Bancrofr Library ar rhe Universiry of California, Berkeley, indicares rhar rhe fare allowed each passenger 75 0 pounds of luggage wirhour addirional fees, bur rhe price of rhe ricker irself is nor lisred. Ir did sripulare rhar passengers were required ro furnish rheir own bed and bedding. The Capitol rransporred somewhere berween 213 and 248 passengers, divided among rhe firsr (ca. 12) and second cabins (201 or more)-rhe numbers vary among rhe various record-keepers. The Boston ship carried more forry-niners on rhis single voyage rhan any orher Gold Rush ship; rhere were also a couple of wives and children aboard. The prospectors were divided into
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rwenry-rwo companies varying in size from rhree to rhirry-five individuals, wirh rwenry-nine unaffiliared ar boarding. These were stock companies, which rhe prospecrors paid a fee to join and from which rhey received such benefirs as room, board, mining tools and supplies, a share of any ner profirs, and orher perquisires. Buckley was a member of rhe eighr-man Springfield (Massachuserrs) Company. The crew numbered four officers (a masrer and rhree mares), four cooks, rwo srewards and rwenry-one crewmen. Capitol's 1849 voyage was an especially well documenred one; rhere are no fewer rhan rhree orher journals from rhe same California passage. One by William J. Towne, a machinisr from Andover, Massachuserrs, is ar rhe Bancrofr Library ar rhe Universiry of California, Berkeley. Anorher is by Chesrer C. Hosmer (b. 1823) of Springfield, Massachuserrs. Hosmer married in California in April 1850 and srayed rhere unril his dearh in 1879. His illusrrared voyage journal is ar rhe Jones Library in Amhersr, Massachuserrs. A rhird, by Louis K. Adams, is ar rhe Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachuserrs. The Peabody Essex also has rhe small pocker diary from Capitol's caprain, Thorndike Proctor, from rhar voyage, conraining daily navigarional posirions and rhe ship's passenger lisr (wirh hometowns and some professions) . Buckley's journal is unique wirhin rhe Capitol group in rhar ir conrains a wealrh of derail abour rhe life and rimes of rhe passengers aboard an 1849 Gold Rush sailing ship. Mosr voyage diaries merely recorded rhe winds, wearher, and daily posirions, commonly copied from rhe ship's official logbook. Occasionally wrirers srrayed inro philosophical or emorional reB.ecrions or offered brief snapshors of daily evenrs, bur none recorded rhe deprh and detail of social acriviry sustained in the Buckley journal over rhe 178-day journey to California. Buckley was a keen observer of human nature and a derail-orienred reporrer-some mighr say a gossip-of how the crew and
Moses Chase of Newburyport, Massachusetts, was a member of the one of the largest companies aboard the Capitol, the 35-man Newburyport Company. SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
passengers spenr their time aboard the long trip. Nearly every day of the almost sixmonrh voyage earned an enrry and presenred stories of the hundreds of young men cooped up in a very confined space for a long time. For example, Buckley had booked passage in the Second Cabin, and on 24 January wryly described his quarters as "my apartmenrs a chamber Six ft long rwo ft. wide about three ft high." A monrh later, Buckley devored an ironic enrry to the chaotic below-decks area where the second-cabin passengers lived: "[The] vast and magnificenr dining saloon is crowded full norwithstanding its magnitude ... from the Fore Hatch to the main d[itt]o is another row [of chests] some three or four wide and rwo or three deep ... the Stewards Room, outside of which are hung or piled up Bags of clothing, chests water pails Valises etc from the Mizzen H atch to the Stern is nearly same as the other parts ... Lots of chests piled wide and high with bags of clothing, water pails, ropes, nails, hammocks, Hats, valises, India rubber suits, oil cloths, life preservers, Boots, Shoes, and everything that can be hung ... This magnificent saloon is brilliantly illuminated with splendid Chandeliers the whole of which emits as much light as a tallow candle would in the Boston theatre ... " On 14 February, Buckley described a meeting of second cabin passengers, who appointed a court of three to meet wirh Captain Proctor and air their grievances regarding what they considered abusive behaviors on the part of the first mate. Setting a pattern with the passengers he would break only once during the long voyage, Captain Proctor promised he would look inro it and do whatever he could to accommodate them. Theft was an occasional problem. One evening in early March, rwo hams were stolen from a barrel on deck, causing considerable speculation among the passengers. The captain posted a $ 10 reward, and rhe hams were returned anonymously the following evening. Later in the voyage, rwo
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
Less than a day out of Boston, artist and journal keeper Chester Hosmer wasted no time in sketching his home for the next six months-one ofonly two known pictures ofthe Gold Rush ship. lhe other is also in the Hosmer journal depicting Capitol in a gale.
gallons of brandy were stolen, and one or more of the first cabin passengers stole some of the mate's doughnuts. On 9 July, just a couple of weeks before arrival at San Francisco, thieves broke into the ship's lower hold and stole some ship's stores. Captain
Proctor posted a broadside offering a $215 reward and informed the passengers that all aboard should be inrerested in apprehending the thieves, "so damages may fall on the right parties." Proctor further threatened to clear the ship of any liability for short car-
lhe wellfortified harbor at Rio de Janeiro is one ofthe largest in the world. Well-protected by high mountains encircling the shore, it was the most common stopping point on the east coast ofSouth America for Gold Rush ships.
21
goes, which could have had a significant impact on the prospectors. No resolution of this last theft was recorded. In early March, Capitol called at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Aside from a few remarks on the beauty of the hill encircling the harbor, Buckley was uncharacteristically quiet during the nine-day layover. It was left to fellow passenger Chester Hosmer to describe a human body floating past the ship as she anchored on 9 March. Hosmer further detailed how Capitol's passengers visited the town, as well as the surrounding sugar and coffee plantations and mountains in the background, but the only other event of note during the layover was an outbreak of cholera on another American vessel bound for California. Buckley confined his Rio remarks to ''After a week of trouble and suspense we have again weig'd anchor and are on our way out of the harbor." A month later, Buckley described the hazing of a steward, the son of a wealthy merchant earning his passage to San Francisco. Apparently the steward made a remark disparaging the second-cabin passengers, saying that some shoulders (meat) were too good for them. The passengers responded with a visit in the middle of the night putting a live pig in his bunk and a noose around his neck, then threatened to toss him overboard. Food was certainly one of the more important aspects of Capitol's six-month voyage; Buckley wrote more about it than any other subject. The passengers were divided into sixteen messes of 11-17 individuals; these messes were set up for food collecting and eating, and were mostly independent of the prospecting companies. The messes rotated being first in the galley to pick up meals. One company placed a stove in the pig pen on the weather deck and even hired a cook for the voyage for $85, "by which they fare better than their neighbors." The first-cabin passengers, as might be expected, were served better food than the second cabin. Breakfast and supper were both served at eight bells (8AM and 8PM); dinner was served in the early afternoon around 2PM. Only a week out of Boston, the second cabin passengers elected a delegate to complain to Captain Proctor about the quality of the food. Proctor "promised to do all in his power to make the passengers comfortable." The next morning, the second cabin's
22
breakfast was lobscouse, "a kind of hash composed of the remnants of everything fried up with molasses and fat." Dinner that same day was Boston ham and rice, "which is considered a great treat." There were numerous other passenger complaints about the food and the coffee throughout the voyage. On 1 February the "berween deckers" (second-cabin passengers) were served roast beef It had been planned for the first cabin, but the cook decided it would not last long enough to serve to the original group. Along with the roast beef, that meal included duff, or a blend of "flour a little lard and a few raisins boiled together and if dry would make a good Substitute for Dornan Cement." Table manners were wanting, and everyone was "compeled to grab and snatch our food and eat out of [their] hands without knife or fork like dogs, and all for gold." On 9 February, Buckley wrote: "I wonder if we are going to have any breakfast this morning. Eight bells and here it is. Hash, composed [of] potatoes mashed together with a sprinkling of Beef, just enough to Say Beef and Coffee ... had it with the grounds all in the part that cost the money and rwenty fifth quality Ships Bread .. . " A typical evening supper might include a portion of salt horse (beef) and duff, "the latter article composed of Flour, Raisins and some fat, all boiled together and which is relished very much by all hands ... " One evening meal served applesauce and dandifunk, defined as "crushed hardtack, molasses and grease then baked." There was occasional talk of making soup out of dolphins that they caught, but it never actually made it to the table. By mid-May, Buckley noted that a daily routine had emerged, "with Scouse for breakfast, Horse for dinner and hard bread with tea for Supper." Aside from food, Buckley's main interests lay in how his fellow passengers passed the time. Games were especially popular, including such card games as whist, old sledge, all fours, and euchre. Board games mentioned were backgammon, dominoes and checkers. No mention was made of any actual cash changing hands; gambling for money was likely prohibited aboard Capitol in the interests of a peaceful passage. Song and dance were popular in the evenings, with tunes produced by two violins, a flute, a fife, penny whistles, and drums (tin pans).
Sometimes the racket grew so loud that the captain was forced to intervene on behalf of his off-watch crew trying to sleep. The young forty-niners responded poorly to these official censures. "Songs of the most obscene and disgusting kind are sung during the evening notwithstanding a lady the wife of Mr. Harris one of the passengers is within hearing of every word." On 21 February, Buckley noted "Oh! Jerusalem what a noise some rwenty or more berween decks singing [Negro] Songs, with the perspiration rolling off in torrents so Walk Jaw Bone." Trials of strength, sparring, and dog fights were also mentioned in passing, and there was talk of a Neptune ceremony in advance of crossing the Equator, but it never materialized. One February day, a Salem, Massachusetts, passenger presented a lecture on the history of writing from its origins to the present day. It was so well received that the passengers formed the Atlantic Debating Society, complete with a constitution and bylaws. Throughout the voyage they debated such weighty topics as whether the California gold mines would be beneficial to the United States (no winner); if the Bible was the inspired word of God (yes, by a 3:1 margin); whether talent or circumstance has more influence on a man's success (both); whether capital punishment should be abolished (no winner recorded); and whether gold or women had more influence over men ("the women carried the day as usual"). There was a major celebration on George Washington's birthday, for which $46 was collected among the passengers. February 22"d dawned with a seven-gun salute, followed by noon and sunset salutes of the same. There were large tubs of punch and lemonade available throughout the day, and some decent-quality cigars were passed out. Washington's farewell address was read by an elected "president," followed by an original ode with six four-line stanzas sung by the "choir" to the tune of Hamburg. Buckley recorded every word. An even larger and more elaborate celebration was held for Independence Day, requiring a 4Y2 page entry in Buckley's notebook. It started in the middle of the night with all the ship's lights being extinguished simultaneously, while all the tin noisemakers from the galley were dropped on deck from the main topmast for maximum effect. Buckley wrote: "the Sleeping passengers aroused SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
Cape Horn has the reputation as one ofthe roughest spots in the world, belied by this benign sketch ofthe rocky coastline. Sailing ships going from Atlantic to Pacific would try to round Cape Horn in the summer months to avoid the worst ofthe rough winds and weather.
from their Slumbers were Seized with a sudden panic and not realizing their situation commenced hollowing whistling shouting crying and every tin dish tin pail or plate was drumd on ti! scarce a whole vessel was left-it semed as though Some demon was present ... " A more formal order of exercises began at 10AM with prayers, songs, speeches, addresses, readings, toasts, and other activities celebrating the Fourth of July. Fishing for sharks, porpoises, and flying fish; observing penguins and whales swimming alongside; snaring albatrosses; setting dogs ro fighting-all served to pass the long days at sea. Watching boxing matches also moved time forward, and even Buckley participated once. Unfortunately, he hit his opponent too hard, decked him and "for
some time after getting up he was so effected by it that his mind was partially deranged." Some of the passengers held auctions and raffles of various items like pistols, cigars, knives, guns, and watches. William Towne's journal records that on 1 March, the Capitol put 270 letters aboard the ship Milo bound for New Bedford, indicating that a large number of passengers were writing home. The younger passengers enjoyed shoving each other around on slippery, storm-tossed decks until a victim from Salem took offense at this pastime. He swung a frying pan against the head of an offender and then pulled a knife on him. There was no more mention of shoving after this incident. On 24 March, "Prof. Morville of Nashua NH performed surgical operations
in a very scientific manner on some 3-4 pigs on which we are to be regaled tomorrow." On 14 May, after rounding Cape Horn, Capitol reached Valparaiso, Chile. In contrast ro the Rio visit, Buckley was very descriptive in his diary. He caught a small boat ashore for 25 cents and booked four days' lodgings in town at $1.50/day. He visited all the city sights and complimented the local library. He further described how friendly the local women were, writing "often these loving dears clap their arms around your neck try to coax you along, when if you are virtuous enough to withstand their assaults, they tell you to go to H-1 you d-d Yankee Son of a B--ch . .. The passengers ... are all recounting their Amours with the Senoritas, their wonderful adventures are equaled only by the Jack the Giant
Nearly all ofthe ships in the crowded anchorage at Valparaiso, Chile, were American vessels en route to San Francisco for the Gold Rush.
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
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Killer or Gulliver, I wonder what their anxious wives and mothers would say if they knew how their dear husbands were acting." Leaving behind forty-four American ships at anchor, Capitol cleared Valparaiso on 19 May amid rumors of stowaways from the British frigate Asia. Some Royal Navy sailors boarded and retrieved rwo shipmates. A third stowaway, "more fortunate than his comrades," revealed himself after the ship had left, reporting aft to the captain. Proctor told him to go on duty, and that he'd be put on the next British man of war. Some of Capitol's passengers had neglected to pay their shoreside Valparaiso bills in the rush to depart, so the Star Hotel's proprietor was compelled to hire a boat and chase the Capitol to collect his due. Toward the end of May, the passengers began preparations for their landfall in San Francisco-carving powder horns, making and painting tents. The Lewiston Falls Co. purchased a spare spar from Captain Proctor "and [were] heavily employed working it up into masts for their boat, sweeps etc. for the purpose of getting up the river to the gold mines." The Salem Co. lost the boat they brought on board over the side in a gale. Around the same time, there was an altercation on the quarterdeck berween Captain Proctor and a Mr. Allen, one of the first-class passengers. Buckley reported that Allen insulted the captain and refused to leave the quarterdeck when ordered to do so. Towne's diary recounts that the captain sent for his revolver, and so did Mr. Allen. The passenger was forcibly ejected and not permitted to return until a letter of apology was delivered to the master. On 22 June, a mutiny was narrowly averted when the ship passed through a heavy gale. For the first time since clearing Boston, the main and fore hatches had to be battened down. The captain ordered the spencer taken in, but it proved impossible in the heavy winds and seas, so he ordered it cut down to prevent the loss of a yard or topmast. The crewmen refused outright to go aloft, but the second mate, a "regular Bull dog of a Seaman," ordered rwo men to follow him up, and under his lead they finally obeyed. Buckley was a pious man, and he recounts in some detail the religious services aboard Capitol. They began the first Sunday out of Boston, and the Sabbath was regularly ob-
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served unless heavy weather intervened. There were preachers aboard, and they delivered regular Sunday sermons imploring the passengers to retain their religious natures despite the difficult environment. Hymns, prayers, and Bible readings filled out the services, of which there might be up to rwo per day. Buckley's diary ends on Thursday, 20 July 1849, with the drop of the "Mud Hook" in San Francisco Bay. A large group of passengers sang a lengthy song to the ship's officers, which was mostly a satire on the food they were served over the course of the 178-day voyage. Buckley stops abruptly after recording every line and verse of the long tribute to the crew. There is no mention of what happened to him, his company, or any shipmates in the Gold Rush after Capitol dropped anchor. Unlike forty-niner Alex Van Valen, who came back from his rwo years in California with less than $500, Benjamin Buckley had better luck at prospecting. In the margins of his journal, he recorded that on 30 October 1849, after only four months in California, he sent $300 back east to his father. Five months later on 30 March 1850, he sent $1,000 east to his account at the New Bedford Savings Bank. Only a month later, he wrote a $1,000 check to his brother Chauncey. On New Year's Day 1851, he sent a $1,200 check to his account at the Fairhaven Bank in Massachusens. Biweekly for the next month he sent his sister Adelia $200 checks, and on 1 April he sent a check for $500 to his father and brother Chauncey. Finally, he recorded a $100 gift to his brother William to fit him out for mining, for a total outlay of $4,500. Of course, this amount did not include his expenses or whatever monies he may have kept in California banks. To top it off, starting on 25 November 1849, he also began earning money by leasing out a 15-foot patch of ground 18 feet deep, ultimately collecting $500, in monthly payments of $62.50! Continuing research is silent on Buckley's departure from California and his destination when he first returned east. Years later, the 1860 census recorded him as a farmer in the village of Loda, Illinois, about 100 miles south of Chicago. At the time, he was still single, and boarding at the house of a local physician. In June of that year, he
purchased his first rwo plots of public land (through the Homestead Act), and some notes in the back of the journal indicate he was a cattle rancher in 1861-62. He likely sold beef to the Union during the Civil War; in any event, he must have been reasonably successful during that period, because in 1867 he purchased another twenty-four public lots. The 1870 census listed him as a district superintendent in Loda and married to his wife, Julia. The 1880 census, which contains Buckley's last entry, listed agriculture as his occupation. Genealogical research to date has revealed no further information on Buckley's life or death. Nevertheless, Benjamin S. Buckley's long and remarkably detailed journal aboard the Boston ship Capitol offers an unparalleled snapshot of life aboard a Gold Rush ship, and the varied activities undertaken by young men in their prime in the adventure of a lifetime. The fate of the Capitol is as little known as Buckley's later history. The ship is listed in San Francisco in the Weekly Alta CalifOrnia through 4 August 1849, but is gone by the 31 August issue. In October 1855, she was re-registered in Baltimore to owner Richard D. Fenby, and her final registration was surrendered in Liverpool on 20 February 1857, the ship having been abandoned at sea. Hopefully, further research will reveal more details of this ship and Benjamin S. Buckley, the forty-niner she transported to the California Gold Rush. J,
Paul F Johnston is Curator ofMaritime History at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Buckley Gold Rush voyage journal is in the Dibner Library at the Smithsonian's National Museum ofAmerican History (NMAH). Portions of the Vtin Vtilen archive are on display in the permanent exhibit On the Water at the NMAH Assistance for this article is gratefully acknowledgedfrom the Jones Library, Amherst, MA; the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA; the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park; the Bancroft Library at the University ofCalifOrnia, Berkeley; andfrom Dr. Matthew Russell, Christopher Kostas, Michael D. Smith and Peter B. Boyne. Charles R. Schultz's seminal book Forty-Niners 'Round the Horn (Columbia, SC: USC Press, 1999) was consulted for this article. To view more images from Buckley's and Hosmer's Gold Rush journals, visit our website at www.seahistory.org. SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
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Mystic Seaport~s 35th lttterttatiottal Maritte Art Exhibitiott by Dan McFadden and Jeanne Potter
T
he Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport honored fourteen artists at its annual awards gala after the opening of its 35th Annual International Marine Art Exhibition and Sale in September. The International is a juried show that features the finest examples of contemporary marine art in the United States. This year, artists from around the world presented more than ninety-five examples of their most recent work including paintings, sculpture, scrimshaw, and ship models. All entries are new works that have not been previously exhibited. Participating artists included David Bareford, Harley Bartlett, Laura Cooper, Yoko Gaydos, Ian Hansen, Neal Hughes, Richard Loud, Victor Mays, and Jeff Weaver. "The show is a commemoration of America's maritime heritage with both intricately researched historical scenes and contemporary images that document the relationship of man to the sea," said Jeanne Potter, director of the gallery. A highlight of the show's opening is the announcement of the awards associated with the exhibition. Judges Stuart Parnes, former executive director of Connecticut Humanities, Chesapeake Bay Museum, and Essex River Museum; and Lisa Goddard, executive director of the Newport Art Museum, selected fourteen works, five awards of excellence and nine named awards, for this year's prestigious honors. The award winners for 2014 represent a wonderful survey of the best artists working in the field today.
(above) Rudolph J. Schaefer Maritime Heritage Award John Tayson, Steamer Dock, 1920s
Given in memory of Rudolph J. Schaefer's devotion to preserving maritime history and making it accessible and enjoyable, the judges recognize the artist whose work best documents our maritime heritage, past or present, for generations of the future. (below) Thomas M. Hoyne Ill Award-Barbara Maiser, Yellow Nets
In memory of Thomas M. Hoyne Ill's dedication to accurate historical representation of the great Gloucester fishing schooners and the men who sailed them, the judges select the work that best documents an aspect of the marine fisheries industry.
Marine Environmental Wildlife Award Susan Van Winkle, Perseverance. This award acknowledges the importance of preserving the fragile balance within the world's ecosystem by recognizing the work that best depicts marine mammals, fish, or birds in their native habitat.
(right) Stobart Foundation Award Jeff Weaver, A July Day.
This award is given to encourage the importance of painting from life, emphasizing uniqueness of style, quality oflight, and atmosphere.
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SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
f
Maritime Gallery Yachting Award- David Bareford, Heading Home. The Maritime Gallery Yachting Award celebrates the singular pleasures of going to sea, recognizing the work that best captures the beauty and excitement of the "sport of kings."
Thomas Wells Award- Richard K. Loud, Bessie Coastal Topsail Schooner, Vineyard Haven, circa 1900 In memory of artist Thomas Wells (1916-2004), this award goes to the artist whose work best depicts commercial tall ships and their ports of call. A lifelong member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters, Wells spent his early days at sea aboard some of the last commercial sailing ships and is known for documenting his voyages around Cape Horn.
Museum Purchase Award William Hanson, L eaving Watch HilL The Museum Purchase Award is chosen by a committee of the curatorial staff of Mystic Seaport. They select one work appropriate to the current needs of its permanent collection, which emphasizes the commercial maritime experience of the 19th and 20th centuries.
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014-15
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(left) David Thimgan Award Cindy Baron, Above Bixby B ridge
In memory of artist David Thimgan's (1955-2003) passion for portraying the rich and diverse m aritime history of the W est Coast, this award goes to the work that best portrays the geography and history of the North American West Coast and Pacific Rim, emphasizing quality of light and atmosphere. (below) Rudolph]. Schaefer III Emerging Artist Award Ronald Tinney, "Chasing the Wind "
In memory of Rudie Schaefer III, the founder and patron of the Maritime Gallery at Mystic, this award honors his lifelong commitment to recognizing and supporting emerging marine artists.
Awards of Excellence (left) Loretta Krupinski, Reflections on Reflections, the Isaac H . Evans (right) Ian Marshall, HMS Formidable, Malta, 1902
(right) Victor Mays, HMS Beagle, 1831 (left) Elizabeth Mumford, The Charles W. Morgan at Vineyard Haven
(right) Jan Pawlowski, Show Boats at Mystic All works in the exhibition are available to view and purchase at the Maritime Art Gallery at Mystic Seaport, daily between 1OAM and 5PM. The show can also be viewed on the gallery website at www. mysticseaport. orglgallery. The exhibition runs through 31 D ecember 2 014. (The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, 47 Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic, CT 06355; Ph. 860 512-5388)
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SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
Limited-edition prints by john Stobart and Christopher Blossom, available exclusively through NMHS. Through this special offer from NMHS, you can acquire this stunning print that portrays a bygone era in New York City's historic waterfront. Generously donated by renowned artist John Stobart and the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery to benefit the Society, each lithograph is hand signed by the artist. Image size: 18" x 26" on 25" x 33" paper, unframed. Special price for NMHS members: $350 each+ $30 s/h.
New York, Lower South Street, c. 1885 by john Stobart
,,.....,._.
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Young America by Christopher Blossom
Christopher Blossom went to sea in the brigantine Young America as a young man, just as he was starting his career as a marine painter. Today, Mr. Blossom is an award-winning artist, whose paintings continue to attract an eager audience. You can purchase this spectacular, high-quality print-signed by the artist-for halfprice, while supplies last. Image size: 17 1/z" x 30" Sheet size: 23" x 35" now just $75 (a dd $15 s/h in th e US)
Your purchase of these prints will directly support the NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY! To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, e-mail nmhs@seahistory.org, or visit www.seahistory.org. NYS add applicable sales tax.
The British Raid on Essex Rediscovering the Forgotten Battle
by Jerry Robens
n the evening of 8 April 2014, three small New England communities gathered on the banks of the Connecticut River to remember a nearly forgotten event that took place on that date, 200 years before. At each site, a solitary drummer beat to quarters as onlookers converged around bonfires, their faces illuminated against the oncoming darkness. At 7PM a volley of musketry echoed out across the water. In Essex, the names of twenty-seven ships were called out as small wooden replicas of each vessel were reverently placed onto the fire. It was understated and poignant. A month later, on Commemoration Day, May lO'h, over 3,000 people gathered at the waterfront as fourteen corps of fife and drums paraded down Main Street past houses that have been standing since before the Revolution. The historic village was then invaded. British marines Essex Selectman Norm Needleman surrendering the town. Each year in May, the Sailing and tars stormed the waterfront, overwhelmMasters of 1812, a fife and drum corps, commemorate the day their town was attacked and ing the local defenders in the re-enacted its ships were burned or seized by the British in the Wtir of 1812. spectacle. It was a day to remember. But it battle for recognition has taken a bit longer. ments surrounding the raid, including the very nearly wasn't. The rediscovery of the British raid actu- detailed blow-by-blow, after-action report At 3:30 in the morning exactly 200 years before, the War of 1812 came up the ally began in 1980 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, written by Commander Richard Coote, the Connecticut River to this peaceful village through the chance meeting of two retired British officer who had led the attack. With then known as Pettipaug. One hundred naval officers attending a conference of the copies in hand, Dock returned to Essex and, thirty-six British sailors and marines had North American Society for Oceanic His- along with retired navy captain Russell Anrowed six miles upstream from warships tory. Commander Alben Dock of the US derson, produced a twenty-page booklet anchored in Long Island Sound. By the time Navy bumped into Rear Admiral Hugh chronicling the raid. It was published in they departed, they had put the torch to Francis Pullen of the Royal Canadian Navy. 1981 by the Essex Historical Society, at last twenty-seven vessels, including six newly When Pullen learned that Dock was from bringing some facts to the story. Soon, like the battle itself, the booklet slipped into built privateers, making it the largest single Essex, Connecticut, he mentioned that, maritime loss of the war. Yet, until recently, while researching his own family tree, he obscurity. I came to Essex in 2006 to serve as this dynamic 24-hour battle, which involved had learned that his great, great grandfather more than 500 American militia, soldiers, had been awarded the Royal Navy's special executive director for the Connecticut sailors, and marines, was a forgotten chap- boat service medal for his part in a raid River Museum, located at the foot of Main ter in our maritime narrative, left out of the during the War of 1812. As it turned out, Street, right where the British had landed. history books and consigned to myth and Admiral Pullen's progenitor had visited Al As the bicentennial of the War of 1812 was Dock's town on 8 April 1814 as a participant approaching, we dusted off the booklet and folklore. created an exhibit that included artifacts All of this has recently changed. In in the British raid on Essex. Commander Dock admitted that few and a 22-foot-long mural of the British 2012, after exhaustive new research on both sides of the Atlantic, Essex became the State details were actually known about the raid. landing. In 2009 I learned that the Naval of Connecticut's first official War of 1812 Essex had a few cannon balls kicking around History and Heritage Command was makbattle site. In 2013 a major grant from the town and an obscure annual event known ing plans for an 1812 heritage trail; I figured American Battlefield Protection Program as Commemoration Day hosted by the Essex would at last get its day in the sun. funded extensive archaeology along a six- town's own fife and drum corps, the "Sail- In Connecticut, however, the only event mile stretch of the river in preparation for ing Masters of 1812." But beyond that, it included was the Battle of Stonington. Esnomination to the National Register of was mostly local legend. That was when sex had been quite literally left off the map, Historic Places as a federal battle site. The Admiral Pullen revealed that he had ob- as if the battle had never happened. But it original event lasted just 24 hours. The tained copies of all of the Admiralty docu- had. 30
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
It was time to gear up for a second battle fo r Essex. We dove back into Commander Dock's little booklet, d etermined to pick up where it left off. Right away, we learned that within a month of the battle, more than ninety newspapers h ad covered the story. The raid was national news. We needed to track these down. We also needed to access whatever American civilian and military acco unts were left and to see what additional information could be fo und in England. Armed with a growing to-do list, we took our case to the State Historic Preservation O ffice. With the clock ticking in the lead-up to the bicentennial, we were awarded a major grant that allowed us to hire dedicated researchers both h ere and in England to supplement our own team . No t surprisingly, there was no fil e marked the "British Raid on Essex," in the state library, or the Library of Con gress for that matter. We visited dozens of local historical societies and university archives, and sent our researchers to the National Archives both here and in Britain. Those ninety newspaper articles had to be tracked down one by one, on microfilm rolls scattered in obscure locations. They had never been digitized and, as it turned out, the state and federal military records were just as disorganized as the American defenses h ad been when the British rowed up the river in 18 14. Across the Atlantic, we tracked down the log and muster books of the five British warships directly involved, as well as personal mem oirs of some of the officers and ratings. As the pieces of the puzzle began to come together, we realized this was a much bigger story than had previously been imagi ned. Among other things, it in volved a well-paid trai tor, a captured sea captain, a teenage hero, a long-lost sword, lots of cannon fire and spilled rum, and two centuries of misinformation and folklore. There was even a tangled web of conspiracy theories regarding secret Masonic deals with the enemy. If this were a Hollywood movie, it wo uld be hard to believe. But it all happened, and it started with a trapped American hero. W hen war was declared in June of l 812, Captain Stephen Decatur's exploits in the Q uasi War with France and the first Barbary War were al ready well known. In O ctober, in command of USS United States, D ecatur SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
D esp ite the popularity of the local lore surrounding the raid, facts and details were not well known. In this 1964 painting by Kip Soldwedel, which once hung in the historic Griswold Inn on M ain Street in Essex, the scene is inaccurate in its depiction ofthe village burning and the British making their landing with large guns and field pieces.
captured H MS Macedonian off the Azores and brought her back to New London, Connecticut, as a p rize. By Ap ril 18 13, the United States, the re-commissioned USS Macedonian, and USS H ornet were all in New York H arbor preparing for another war cruise. A powerful enemy squadron holding station off Sandy Hook, New Jersey,
forced Decatur to take the back-door route, racing thro ugh rhe ninety miles of Long Island Sound in an attempt to break our into the open Atlantic beyond Montauk Point. When he reached the far eastern end of the Sound, the British were already there, waiting to cut him off. Decatu r came about and made it into New London, where two
British Commander Richard Coote, dep icted at right, led the British landing in Essex.
31
powerful forts offered protection. The British simply established a permanent blockade there, trapping Decatur and his squadron. The blockade of Long Island Sound shut down commerce along the Connecticut coast. Shipbuilding ports like Pettipaug were forced to lay up their merchant fleets, but they soon turned to building privateers as a way to combine service to the nation with the potential for making a profit. President James Madison had already offered a fifty-percent bounty to any American citizen who could sink an enemy warship. Half the value of a 74-gun ship-of-the-line was a powerful incentive. Young bucks from the Mystic River area began attacking the British squadron with fire ships, floating bombs (known then as torpedoes) , and even semi-submersibles and submarines. On the night of24 March 1814, a bomb exploded under the bow of the 7 4-gun HMS La Hogue, command ship of Captain Thomas Bladen Capel. The ship was not damaged, but it certainly got Capel's attention. Picket boats captured a mysterious American rowing around in the night with muffled oars. He was slapped in irons and nicknamed Torpedo Jack. To save his neck, he offered to pilot the British up the Connecticut River, where it was well known that privateers were being built in Pettipaug. The shipbuilding town had always been presumed safe from attack. Located six miles up the river, it was protected by a fort at its mouth and the great Saybrook Bar, an extensive sand shoal, which made it impossible for large warships to enter the river. Yet Capel was a resourceful man. He had fought at Trafalgar and had been part of Nelson's "band of brothers." From the ships of his squadron he assembled a raiding force of 136 officers and men, including more than forty Royal Marines. To lead the raid, he selected 32-year-old Commander Richard Coote of HMS Borer. On the night of 7 April Borer, escorted by HMS Sylph, sailed from New London to the mouth of the Connecticut River. At 9:45PM Coote embarked with six heavily armed ship's boats, which easily made it over the bar. They stormed the fort on Saybrook Point but found it abandoned, the result of jurisdictional infighting between state and federal bureaucracies. Coote and his flotilla continued upriver and entered Pettipaug harbor at 3:30AM. No one 32
Ships' boats being deployed from warships anchored in Long Island Sound. anticipated that the enemy could penetrate this far upriver; there were no contingency plans for such an event. As the British made their approach, fewer than twenty hastily assembled volunteers and militia, without officers or orders, met them along the waterfront. After a brief exchange of gunfire, the out-manned and out-gunned Americans were forced to withdraw. Bewildered residents awakened to find their town occupied by Royal Marines, as British officers and seamen set abo ut the task of burning the ships and vessels at the wharves, in the harbor, and on the building stocks. As dawn was approachi ng, Coote selected two newly built privateers, the schooner Eagle and the brig Young Anaconda, to seize as prizes
of war. By lOAM, with the mission completed, the British began the trip back down the river with the two captured vessels under sail. American militia on both sides of the river had just begun to mobilize as the British left the village. All was proceeding well for the British until around noon. While tacking down the river against headwinds, Young Anaconda gro unded about a mile and a quarter south of the village. Coote anchored the Eagle nearby and assessed the situation. This was a game changer. From the water, he could see enemy troops moving artillery pieces onto the commanding bluffs on either side of the river a mile south of his position. Proceeding downriver was no longer a vi-
American militia rush a six pounder into position to engage the British position in the river.
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
'
able option. Instead, he burned the Anaconda and prepared to stay right there in the river until nightfall to continue his escape. The Americans had no cannons adjacent to the British position, but from their perspective it did not matter. There was only one way out, and that was through the gauntlet of gun positions now being set up on the bluffs to the south. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. As local militia maintained sporadic but ineffectual musketry from the banks of the river, a surrender ultimatum was rowed out under a white fl.ag. Despite his seemingly hopeless position, Coote dismissed the request with indefatigable British cool: "I informed them that I held their power to detain us at defiance." The Americans understood at last that Coote was planning to wait until after dark to make his move. With an overcast sky threatening rain, there was a very real chance the British could make it through the well-prepared gauntlet in the black of night. As dusk approached, state and federal troops began arriving overland from New London, including sailors and marines from Decatur's squadron under captains James Biddle and Jacob Jones. Recognizing that daylight was running out, a gun crew was dispatched to attempt to get a six pounder closer to the British position up the river and open a direct fire before nightfall. At 7PM as the sun set, Coote transferred his men back to the ships' boats and set fire to the Eagle. At this moment, the American gun crew arrived on scene and opened fire at point-blank range. Two British marines were killed, but as night enveloped the river, the British successfully rowed out of range and disappeared into the blackness. Cannon fire soon rang out from the bluffs and muskets were blindly discharged toward the river, but somehow, despite being hit
From 4 to 1 OAM, ships are burned in the harbor and coves around Pettipaug, while the British occupy the village. At I JAM the British left the town with two captured privateers. After running aground off Watrous Point, the British remained there until sunset. When darkness fell, they ran the gauntlet of intense cannon fire as they passed American gun positions on the bluffi, reaching the safety oftheir ships anchored at the river's mouth at 9:30PM.
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER2014-15
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Aerial view ofEssex, Connecticut, in 2014; view is to the southeast with Long Island Sound in the distance.
several times, the British made it back to their ships by lOrM with only two dead and two injured. The following day the headlines read "Grief and Mortification. Disaster at Pettipaug!" but the raid was soon eclipsed by larger events. British attacks along the coast continued. Three months later, Stonington was bombarded, a few weeks after that, Washington was burned, followed by the attack on Baltimore. With the Battle of New Orleans and the end of the war taking place in the months that followed, the British
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raid on Pettipaug slipped even further into obscurity. In 1820 the village was renamed Essex. By the summer of2013, we were working at several locations to map the battle for nomination to National Register of Historic Places. We commissioned Kevin McBride and his team from the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center to do the archaeology. One of the many things we discovered was a mound of ballast stones marking the wreck of the Young Anaconda. Several dozen musket balls on the shore
confirmed the site where gunfire had been exchanged. Combined with our research and dozens of artifacts already found in Essex, including burned ships' timbers and a Royal Navy boarding sword found in the harbor, we had enough evidence to convince the National Park Service that this was, in fact, a major action, and Battle Site Essex was born. But who was the traitor? What became of Captain Coote? Why didn't the British burn the town? How did Freemasonry play into the story? Who was the boy hero of the Pettipaug? For the answers, visit the Barde Site Essex website, and, of course, read the book, The British Raid on Essex, The Forgotten Battle ofthe war of1812 ! J:, Jerry Roberts has served as vice president in charge ofexhibits at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and executive director of the Connecticut River Museum . He is now an independent writer and museum consultant. Wesleyan University Press has recently published his latest book, The British Raid on Essex, The Forgotten Battle of the War of 1812, upon which this article is based. To learn more, visit www. batt!esiteessex. org or www.jerrypaulroberts.com. (left) An archaeology team from the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center worked on a ballast pile ojfWiztrous Point in 2013, wlhere the Young Anaconda was burned by the Blritish 200 years before.
34
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Careers in the Marine and Maritime Field
Marina Manager Tara Regan is the marina manager at Kingman Yacht Center on Cape Cod . Kingma n is a bu sy p lace year-round, even th ough th e sum mer boating season is relatively short. In th e summer months, the place is packed w ith peopl e w ho keep th eir boats th ere, live-aboards, and transient boaters. Th e marina is also home to nautical supply and gift shops and a very popular restaurant that you can get to by both ca r and boat. In th e fa ll, boat owners wa nt to get their vessels ready fo r w inter storage. Most boats get hauled out of th e wate r and are cove red w ith shrink w rap, w hil e a sma ller percentage stay in the water all yea r. In the w inter months, the marin a crew wo rk on maintaining th e fl eet of boats in th eir ca re, tending to the docks and moorings, and planning for the next summer. Come spring time, everything has to be prepped for the sailing season and th e re-opening of th e summer shops, marina services, and the restaurant. It is a lot to orchestrate, and the marina manager is in charge of making sure everyth ing runs smoothl y. Some peopl e liken thi s job to being an ai r traffic controller, conductor of an orchestra, or movie director-without any of the glamour. The hours in the summer season are long. Tara is at the marina six or seven days a week, putting in ten- to twe lve-hou r days. During the w inter months, things sl ow down a bit and th e job is more li ke a regular fortyhour-a-week job. Tara has been working at Kingman Yac ht Center in a vari ety of jobs since she was a teenager. She grew up in the area and always loved bein g on th e water. She grew up sailing her Sunfish in Bu zzard s Bay and dri ving her fa mily's powerboat to nearby islands. W hen she turn ed fo urteen and was old enough to wo rk, she gave sailing lessons at a local ca mp and got a job working on the docks at the marin a during the summer. In the summer, Kingm an Yach t Center has 365 seasonal As th e marina manager, she splits her tim e between custom ers with an additional 800 nightly transients who th e offi ce and being out on th e water. In addition to workmaking a stop during a longer voyage along the coast. ing w ith customers and supervising staff at the marina, Tara is also a licensed marin er and realtor, as th e marina se lls "dockominiums" in add ition to renti ng dock space. (A dockominium is a water-based versio n of a condominium, w here peopl e purchase a slip in th e marina as opposed to renting.) She monito rs the V HF radio at all times fo r boaters w ho are coming in for fuel and supp lies, lunch, or temporary dockage. In th e office, her co llege bu siness degree helps her manage co ntracts, plan events w ith other yacht cl ubs, and run the day-to-day operations of the marina.
''Going to work is something I enjoy and it changes every minute. You can never predict what is going to happen on the water. Changing weather, mechanical problems, or operator error can throw something unexpected at you at any time, so you always need to be prepared for all kinds of situations. If a boat breaks down in the middle of maneuvering to the mooring, you need to rush out and get it under tow before it damages boats in the harbor. Other times, customers show up unannounced, and you need to drop what you are doing to work with them. Marina managers have to be good at multitasking and thinking on their feet. 11 -Tara Regan
"SEA HISTORY FOR KIDS" IS SPONSORED BY THE H ENRY L. & G RACE DOHERTY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
by Richard King
W
hen the artist and naturalist John James Audubon traveled around the coasts and rivers of the eastern United States and Canadian Maritimes in the 1820s and 1830s, he often traveled by sea. Sometimes Audubon paid for passage in ferries or merchant ships, or occasionally he chartered his own vessel with an experienced crew, such as during his trip up to Labrador. On a few other ventures he even sailed as a privileged guest aboard ships of the US Coast Guard and Navy. In January of 1832 he talked his way aboard USS Spark, before it sailed up the St. John's River for a five-week mission looking for sources of live oak, the species of tree highly prized for shipbuilding.
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More than 170 years before Facebook, Audubon wrote to his wife with his quill: "What will my Philadelphia friends say or think when they read that Audubon is on board of [a] US schooner of war.. .going around the Floridas after birds?" Although the Spark didn't get very far upriver because of bad weather and an injury to one of the crew, who shot himself by accident through his hand and forehead(!) , Audubon was still able to record some new observations of a particularly spectacular bird called the Black Skimmer, which he also knew by the name of the Razor-billed Shearwater. Audubon wrote: "They spend the whole night on wing, searching dili-
gently for food. Of this I had ample and satisfactory proof when ascending the St. Johns River in East Florida in ... the Spark. The hoarse cries of the Skimmers never ceased more than an hour, so that I could easily know ....... ~ ,,, _J.Jwhether they -1 "~ ... _,,,Ji_,..wv-;A +,.. ""' .../ .JI --r ~ were passmg .; -r .....r upwards or downwards in the dark. And this happened too -----------=----~: when I was at least a hundred / miles from the mouth of the 1 ~ l1 river." ,_1 ¡ f,) Nocturnal hunting _7 ~ _ is part of what makes { _ _-::£-:-:--:--- ---~ these birds unique. Black Skimmers, of which there are two other species worldwide, are more closely related to terns and gulls, rather than shearwaters, or even cormorants or pelicans. Most fish-eating birds, other than
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SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014-15
albatross, do not have a good sense of smell- they hunt their catch during the day using their eyesight. Black Skimmers have relatively small eyes with large dilated pupils so that they can see better at dusk and at night. To accommodate this, they are the only known birds to have pupils that constrict to vertical slits, like cats, to more precisely protect their nocturnal eyes from the glare of bright sunlight and sand. Audubon wrote further: "I have seen it pass its lower mandible at an angle of about 45 degrees into the water, whilst its moveable upper mandible was elevated a little above the surface. In this manner, with wings raised and extended, it ploughed as it were, the element in which its quarry lay to the extent of several yards at a time, rising and falling alternately." He thought Black Skimmers hunted at night in this way with their eyesight, but ornithologists later learned that they also use sensitive nerves in their beaks that respond
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In the 1820s, john James Audubon set out to paint every kind of bird in North America. This is his depiction of the Black Skimmer, published in his book, The Birds of America, published as a series between 1827 and 1838.
Audubon's painting of a Black while moving through the watersnapping shut like a mousetrap as soon Skimmer in his Birds ofAmerica depicts as small fish come in contact. this singular feeding style among seabirds. About a century later, another iconic American naturalist, Rachel Carson, wrote one of the finest descriptions of Black Skimmers in the opening of SMALL(\( t:'(ES. her first book, Under the Sea-Wind. Carf-0\2- )'J\b\-\\ \l\S\oN son wrote that the beak on the water's surface attracted small fish below, mimicking the vibrations made by the fishes ' own tiny food. "The blade or cutwater plowed a miniature furrow over the placid sheet of the sound," wrote Carson about Black Skimmers along the coast of North Carolina. "Rynchops, wheeling about, returned along the way he had L O'vJ IO'f. t'\P.t-1 \) \ ~ L e come and snapped up three of the fishes SlGN\ f\C..l'.NTL-'( LONGE\<. by the rapid opening and closing of his A-Nil f\..-AT, \:.N\ff..--L\f':E short upper bi II." In the next issue, Audubon's legendary seabird of the Canadian northwhich he never actually saw alive. Nor could you. For past "Animals in Sea History" go to www.seahistory.org. "SL/\CK S\C.IMl"\t.R (1?-'(~C\-\"'(S
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
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HISTORIC SHIPS ON A LEE SHORE
SS Columbia To Be Saved!
by Shelley Reid
S
eptember 16 was a bittersweet day for many Detroiters. After nearly 90 yea rs ferrying generations of Michiganders to Bob-Lo Island and two decades of uncertainty, one of Detroit's two iconic Bob-Lo boats was departing on the first stage of her journey to a new home in New York. The excursion steamer Columbia, believed to be the oldest intact passenger steamer in America, was being towed to the Toledo, Ohio, Ironhead Marine for initial cleanup and repair work. While Columbia's many local admirers were sad to see her leave Michigan waters for good, most were heartened that she was going to be restored and taken care of by an organization that would love her as much as they had. Thar organization is the SS Columbia Project, founded by Richard Anderson, a New York art dealer whose lifelong enthusiasm for historic boats began in his childhood, when he volunteered at the South Street Seaport Museum as a boy. Previous efforts to preserve Columbia had stalled, and Anderson felt he could secure the financial backing to bring the steamer to New York's Hudson River, which had also enjoyed a heyday of ferries and excursion boats in the early 20'hcentury. In 2006, Anderson and SS Columbia Project officially purchased the steamer, and the fundraisi ng began to cover her restoration and journey east.
The Bob-Lo Boats-A Detroit Icon Tiny Bois Blanc Island was named by French explorers for the white birch trees found there. About 18 miles south of D etroit and officially Canadian territory, the 2.5-by-0.5 mile island was used by Tecumseh as an encampment in the War of 1812,
Columbia ca. 1905
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Work continues in dry dock. Columbia will journey to New York via the St. Lawrence Seaway and down the Atlantic Coast- her first taste of salt water after a century in the Great Lakes. Extra care must be taken to prepare her for the new environment. and by African Americans as a waypoint on the Underground Railroad. English speakers struggled with the French pronunciation and it soon became Bob-Lo (often spelled Boblo) in the common parlance. Thanks to a thriving ferry industry in the area, Bob-Lo became a popular destination for family outings around the turn of the 20th century. Following the example of other resort ventures in the area, the Detroit and Windsor Ferry Company bought a sizeable portion of the island and established a destination that would attract families looking for a summer outing, building a large dance pavilion, a bath house and cafe, playgro unds and baseball diamonds. To accommodate the additional traffic to the island, Detroit and Windsor Ferry Company commissioned Colum-
bia to bring Detroiters to the island for a day's escape from city life. Columbia was a marvel when she was built in 1902 in the Detroit Dry Dock Company shipyard in Wyandotte, Michigan. The 216-foot propeller-driven excursion steamer was originally licensed to carry over 3,500 passengers (her official maximum capacity was later reduced to 2,500). She was designed by naval architect Frank Kirby, designer of countless famous and well-respected steamers of the day, working with artist and architect Louis 0 . Keil to create a vessel that left a grand impression. She boasted a full ballroom; the 80-minute cruise to Bob-Lo Island and back offered popular music of the day. Guests of a more technical bent could inspect the 1,217-horsepower triple expansion steam engine, visible from the ship's interior. In 1910 Columbia was joined by her "little sister" ship, the Kirby-designed Ste. Claire, built in Toledo, Ohio. Together, the two "Bob-Lo boats" served the island until they were taken our of commission in 1991, with only a two-year pause in 1932-33 when the park was shuttered due to the financial press ures of the D epression. In 1949 the park property and ferry service were purchased by the Browning family, who built the area up into an amusement park, adding rides, a roller rink, and other
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
attractions. They hired Joe Short, a Ringling Brothers performer, to inhabit the role of "Captain Bob-Lo," greeting passengers and joking with the children. The boat ride was part of the charm of the day's adventure; there were plenty of guests for the Bob-Lo boats' moonlight cruises, just riding down the river and back. While Columbia is a symbol to many of summer family outings and romantic midnight cruises, she can be a reminder of more painful memories as well. Bob-Lo Island had a general policy of refusing admission to African Americans, except on so-called "Colored Days"-usually Mondays, when attendance was down. Detroit mayor Coleman Young (19741994) told the story of how he was turned away from the Bob-Lo boat as a teen in the 1930s on racial grounds. Sarah Elizabeth Ray, an African-American woman employed by the Detroit Ordnance District and attending a school course sponsored by her employer, planned in the summer of 1945 to go with her white classmates on an excursion to Bob-Lo Island. All of the women had seated themselves aboard Columbia when Ms. Ray was approached and asked to leave. At first she refused, bur when the assistant manager threatened to have her forcibly removed, she exited the boat, refusing their offer to refund her fare of85 cents. She contacted the NAACP and filed a criminal complaint. The local and state courts found in her favor, and the Bob-Lo Excursion Company was fined $25 . So committed was the company to its policy of discrimination-excluding '" Zoot-suiters,' the rowdyish, the rough and the boisterous and ... also ... excluding colored"that it fought the issue to the US Supreme Court, claiming exemption from Michigan's anti-discrimination law for public accommodations on the grounds that they were conducting international commerce, due to the technicality that Bob-Lo was Canadian soil. The Supreme Court ruled that, as the island was "economically and socially, though not politically, an amusement adjunct of the city of Detroit," the Michigan statute should apply. That decision was handed down in 1948.
The End of an Era By the 1970s, however, many families had turned to more modern amusement parks, SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
and in the 1980s gang-related disturbances scared off many potential visitors. BobLo Park struggled financially, changing owners several times . Columbia and Ste. Claire made their final runs on 2 September, 1991. The amusement park limped along for two more years before closing completely.
Some of Columbia's trim still sports the signature "Bob-Lo blue" paint-a reminder of her decades ofservice to the park.
The two steamers, which had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and designated National Historic Landmark Vessels in 1992, faced uncertain futures. Ste. Claire was taken to Toledo with eventual plans to putting her in service in Ohio, and later returned to Michigan; until this September, both vessels were tied up in Ecorse, Michigan. Columbia changed h ands several times; a local group had plans to restore her to service, but was unable to secure sufficient backing to make it work. Enter Richard Anderson and SS Columbia Project. The group planned to bring Columbia to New York to work on the Hudson River, following in the wake of Kirby-designed steamers designed for the Hudson River Day Line, including the Hendrick Hudson (1906), Robert Fulton (1909), and Washington Irving (1913). Keenly aware of local attachment to the Bob-Lo boats, Anderson's group encouraged the support of Michiganders in fundraising. Sadly, Richard Anderson passed away in January of 2013
(See our remembrance of him in Sea History 144), but his colleagues at the SS Columbia Project continued to push forward to fulfill his vision of seeing Columbia, restored to her former glory, on the Hudson River.
Moving Forward Columbia will remain in Toledo until at least next spring. H er next journey will be to Kingston, New York, taking the long route via the St. Lawrence Seaway and down the Atlantic coast as she is too large to traverse the Erie Canal route. Meanwhile, SS Columbia Project will continue to raise funds and set the pieces in place for Columbia's new mission. Their goal is to find a permanent berth for Columbia in New York City. The steamer will have exhibition space for teaching the various aspects of her history, from the evolution and influence of the steamship, to civil rights struggles represented by the Elizabeth Ray case, to the industrial revolution and developing environmental concerns, and she will host educational programming on these topics . Her D etroit roots will not be forgotten; SSCP executive director Elizabeth McEnaney points out that "Detroiters kept her alive for all of these years;" the group is committed to maintaining a connection to Columbia's Detroit history. In addition to educational programming, Columbia will be also be available for excursions and as a venue for private events , exhibitions, and live performances. It is worth celebrating that Columbia is now on the course towards a new home and a new purpose. Ian Danie, Richard Anderson's partner and a longtime supporter of the Columbia project, sums it up: "With Columbia's voyage to New York underway we celebrate her service in Detroit. She brought joy to riders and spectators for close to a century and she will do so again. With Columbia we will experience firsthand the steamboat tradition started right here by Robert Fulton two hundred years ago. I expect Columbia herself will be a destination, and will quickly become a jewel in the Hudson Valley." SS Columbia Project, 232 E. 11th Street, New York, NY 10003, phone: 212 228 3128; www.sscolumbia.org; Ste. Claire Restoration Project: http:l!bobloboats. com.
41
.
SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS
Archaeologists with Parks Canada have recovered the bell from the wreck of HMS Erebus, one of the two ships from the doomed Franklin Expedition. H MS Erebus became trapped in the ice near the entrance to the Victoria Strait in 1848 and had to be abandoned . Franklin and his entire crew of 128 m en perished . The Parks Can ada archaeologists original intention was no t to recover artifac ts, just ye t, from the wreck site, but in Septem ber, when they located the ship's bell on the seafloor, it was too im portant to leave behind ; it has since been recovered and is now being conserved in Ottawa. The bell is in remarkably good condition , with its broad arrow and year marki ngs plainly
A sealed bottle of champagne recovered from a I 9th-century Finnish wreck site.
Bell from HMS Erebus visible. The wreck site is protected as a National H istoric Site of C anada. The North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) has created a new fellowship, honoring Professor Jim Bradford, former president of NASOH. The Jam es C. Bradford Dissertation Research Fellowship in Naval H isto ry will award $ 1,000 to a PhD student fo r work in naval h istory or ocher topics in m aritime history. Applicants muse be full-tim e graduate students whose dissertation proposals have already been accepted by their university. D eadline is 15 March 201 5. (Inform atio n on how to apply is on the NASO H website at www. nasoh. org.) This fall, a Finnish brewery recreated the beer found in five bottles on a 19th-century shipwreck off Finland's Aland Islands in 2010. The sh ipwreck has been dubbed the "Champagne Schooner" because it contained m ore than a hundred bo ttles of champagn e in addition to the smaller cache of beer. The beer was contai ned in brown hand-blown glass bo ttles sealed wi th corks; chey have been sin ing on the 42
seafloor, undamaged, fo r approximately 170 years. Scientists from the Technological Research Center VTT in Finland an alyzed the contents of two of the bottles, giving eno ugh diagnostic informatio n to the Stallhagen Brewery to com e up with a reci pe th at closely replicates the l 840s-era beer. Ask yo ur favor ite vendo r fo r Stellwagen's "Shipwreck Beer." (Stallhagen Ab, Godby, Aland, Finland, www. stallhagen .com) ... This fall, the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) and Salve Regina University, both based in Newport, Rhode Island, have entered into an articulation agreement. IYRS students wh o wish to complete a bachelor's degree can tran sfer to Salve Regina with elective credits fo r their studies at IYRS , giving greater optio ns fo r IYRS students post-graduation. The two institutions are within walking distan ce from one another in Newport. IYRS is also h ome to the M useum of Yachting. (IYRS, 449 Thames Street, Newpo rt, RI, 02840; www.iyrs.edu . Salve Regina University, 100 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, RI, 02840; www.salve. edu) .. . Mallows Bay in the Potomac River has been nominated as a National Marine Sanctuary. The re mai ns of m ore than 200 wooden merchant vessels fro m Wo rld War I lie in che bay, m any visible at all stages of che tide. Many look more like vessel-sh aped giant planters, with
plants and fu ll-grown trees growing out of them . Even so, the collection of ships is quite a sight. Last June, NOAA anno unced chat it was reopening the nominatio n process fo r nationally significant m arine and freshwater si tes as potential new national marine sanctuaries. The National Marin e Sanctuary System was established in 1972 to recognize and prom ote the conservation, recreational, ecological, h istorical, research or aesthetic values of special areas of the m arine enviro nment; there are currently 14 NMS across the country. Called the "Gh ost Fleet of M allows Bay," chis wo uld be the first N M S in che Ch esapeake Bay region. This gro up of Wo rld War I-era vessels, as well as others dating from the American Revolution onward, represents one of the m ost unique m aritime archaeological environments in th e world. Also contai ned within the bo undaries of the regio n nominated are Native Am erican, colonial, and Civil War terres trial sites . -- -· ~~~ --~-
· ~· .
Mallows Bay shipwrecks NOAA will consider nominated sites for natio nal m arine sanctuary designation by caking in to acco unt input and support from various local, regional, and natio nal interests. Members of the public are encouraged to submit letters of suppo rt fo r che no mina tion of Mallows Bay as the newest Natio nal Marine Sanctuary to Charlie Seek, Steering Committee C hair, Potomac River-Mallows Bay Na tional Marine San ctuary, at ch arliestek@gm ail. com. (Inform ation on Mallows Bay and its applicatio n status can be found on the Maryland Dep artment of Na tural Resources web site at www. d nr.s tate. md.us/ ccs/m allows b ay.asp) ... The Penobscot Marine Museum (PMM) has been awarded a $56,333-grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
(IMLS) to sup port the preservation and digitization of its National Fisherman Collection of 25,000 photographs. The National Fish erman Collection was donated to the museum by Diversified Communications of Portland, M E, in 201 2 and provides unequalled documentation of Am erican commercial fishing from the 1920s into the 1990s. N ational Fisherman magazine is the com mercial fishing industry's publication of reco rd, m aking this the largest collection of 20th-century photographs in the field. W hen completed, this preservation projec t will p rovide th e only publicly available online record of the history of modern fisheries . "This collection documents the depletion of m arine resources and the technological changes our nation's commercial fish ery underwent after World War II," said the museum's executive director Liz Lodge. The museum will use the grant to catalog, archivally h ouse, d igitize, and p rovide public visual access to the collectio n o n its website . The IMLS is th e primary source of federal support fo r the nation's 123 ,000 libraries and 3 5 ,000 museums. (PMM, 5 C hurch Street, Searsport, Maine 04974; www.pen o bsco tmarinemuseum .o rg. IMLS, www.imls.gov) The Port of Mombasa will open th e first ever Kenyan maritime m useum next year. The m aritime museum will be located opposite the Kenya Navy Landing jetty, the original site of trade along the coast. Natio nal Museums of Kenya is supervising the project in collaboration with the Kenya Pons Au thority. The histo ric M tepe dhow will b e the museum's centerpiece, but the collection and exhibits will also incl ude o ld ships, other dhows, anchors, Bags, co mpasses, old cranes , and other equipment that has been used in the region . It w ill be the fi rs t and only site specifi cally designed and built for the preservatio n of the m aritime history in the region . (NMK, www.museums.or.ke) .. . Ever wish yo u could be a lighthouse keeper? With the decommission ing or selling off of lighthouses aro und the country, opp o rtunities have becom e available to the public for the
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Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Restoration Update
T
he 1894 schooner Ernestina (ex-Effie M. Morrissey) recently became the beneficiary of significant funds: $2.8 million from two private philanthropists, Gerry Lenfest and Bob Hildreth, plus $2.5 million in state funding. In addition, the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association (SEMA) has committed to raising $1 million towards the vessel's restoration, $280,000 of which has already been pledged. As of press time, competing bids from Piper Boatworks out of Rye, New Hampshire, and Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, in Boothbay, Maine, were still being reviewed to determine who will do the restoration work, and where. The Piper Boatworks' proposal includes doing the restoration work in Gloucester, Massachusetts, just over from Essex, where the ship was built 120 years ago. Ernestina, which in the late 1980s and into the 1990s ran an active oceangoing sail training program, lost her Coast Guard certification in 2005 and will have to earn it back before she can put to sea with trainees. Once that happens, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) in nearby Buzzards Bay will assume finanical responsibility for the historic schooner and use her as a training tool and ambassador vessel in the off season. Ernestina is owned by the State of Massachusetts, and MMA is a state university. In the meantime, the Schooner Ernestina Commission, a group appointed by the governor to work with the Department of Conservation and Recreation to oversee the ship, decided in September to formally change the name of the ship to Ernestina-Morrissey to better reflect the schooner's full history. The ship operated under the name Effie M. Morrissey for her fishing, arctic exploration, and military careers until she was bought by Captain Henrique Mendes in 1948, who changed the name to Ernestina, after his daughter. The ship has a rich history under both names. Launched in Essex in 1894 as a Grand Banks fishing schooner, she sailed under the command of Captain Bob Bartlett. In 1940, Bartlett sailed her within 578 miles of the North Pole, the farthest north that any wooden sailing vessel has ever reached. The schooner is one of only two sailing Arctic exploration vessels left afloat in the United States. In 1948, after a fire when the ship was scuttled, she worked as a packet ship between Cape Verde and the US for nearly twenty years. She was the last sailing ship in regular service to carry immigrants across the Atlantic to the United States. In 1982, the newly independent Republic of Cape Verde presented the ship as a gift to the American people, representing the cultural ties and friendship berween them . In her most recent function as an educational platform (1980s to 2004), she has had a profound effect on a new generation of seafarers, providing educational experiences to an average of 20,000 students annually from across Mas:sachusetts and beyond. Visit www.ernestina.org to learn about the ship's history, restoration, or, better yet, to make a donation to ensure Ernestina-Morrissey's sailing future . SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
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Rose Island Lighthouse in Newport, RI. experience of staying or working in several across rhe country. Some offer volunteer lighthouse keeper positions, and some host visitors as bed-and-breakfast inns, youth hostels, vacation rentals, ere. You can find lighthouses available for rhese experiences in Alaska, Californ ia, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon , Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. The US Lighthouse Sociery maintains a list online at www.us lhs.org/resources_ be_a_kee per.php.) ... Mystic Seaport h as applied fo r a ch an ge in zoning to const r uct a state-of-th e-art 14,000 square-foo t building and a 1/3-acre n ew green sp ace on the north end of the museum grounds. In addition to 5,000 square feet of new exhibit space, the building will house an entrance for visitors and a retail shop, plus meeting and staff spaces . The proj ect will require rhe removal of 30,000 square feet of existing bui lding space, including rhe museum's G.W. Blunt White building (and library), the North Boat Shed, and the former boiler house thar currently houses rhe Benjamin F Packard ship's cabin exh ibit. If the zoning change is approved, th e project is slated to begin in Jan uary and is expected be completed by mid-2016. (To do nate, email advancement@mys ticseaporr.org; 75 Greenmanville Rd., M ys tic, CT 06355; www.mysticseapon.org)
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SIEAHISTORY 149, WINTER20 14- 15
The US Justice Department and the Pentagon have settled with Matt Bissonnette, the Navy SEAL veteran who took part in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden and later published a bestselling book about it under the pseudonym Mark Owen. Both the military and members of Special Operations teams have been critical of Bissonne tte's decision to publish a book that potentially divulges classified information without having the manuscript vetted by the military in advance of publica tion . The government argued that the author must forfeit the income from the book and any future income it might generate, so fa r in excess of $4.5 million. In turn, Bissonnette is suing his former attorney for $8 million for allegedly giving him bad advice, and, in the meantime, has pledged that proceeds of his book wi ll go to charities that support Navy SEALS. Those organizations, including the N avy SEAL Foundation and the Tip of the Spear Foundation, have refused to accept any of the money because of the controversy surrounding the book. On 31 October 2014, the Naval Special Warfare Co mmand sent a letter to its "teammates" reminding them that in their lin e of work, they work as "quiet professionals" and that they "do not adve rtise the n a ture of [their] wo rk, nor seek recognition for [their] ac tions." The letter was signed by Rear Adm. Brian Losey and Master Chief Michael Magaraci. Bissonnette (under his pen name Mark Owen) just published a second book-properly vetted, No Hero: The Evolution of a Navy SEAL. ... In an effort to safeguard its shipwrecks and associated artifacts, Taiwan's first underwater cultural heritage bill was announced on 6 November by the Ministry of Culture. "Given Taiwan's location in some of the most importa nt waterways in the world, the legislation is an essential step in developing a marinebased heritage preservation policy," Ministry of Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai said. In addition to addressing protection of shipwrecks in Taiwan's waters, the bill also stipulates a maximum fine of $327, 868 for violators. Included in the shipwreck inventory in Taiwanese waters is SS Bokhara, a steamship struck by a typhoon in 1892; a Qing dynasty-era cruis-
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
er holed by rocks in 1895; and Yamafuji Maru, a Japanese cargo ship sunk by the US Navy during World War II. (Taiwan Ministry of Culture, www.english .moc. gov.cw) ... A UNESCO team has issued a report that disputes the claim made by treasure hunter Barry Clifford that a ballast pile off the north coast of Haiti is the remains of Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria, which wrecked there in 1492. The Haitian government requested technical assistance from UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) las t summer, after Clifford released a press report in May claiming he had identified the wreck site. H aiti's Minister of C ulture, Monique Rocourt, stated that the government is proceeding with cauti on and reminds people that the site in question had been located well before, through studies conducted between 1978 and 1985 by the University of Florida with the permission of the H aitian government. According to the UNESCO report, the presence of bronze or copper fasteners on the site point to shipbuilding techniques of the late 17th- or 18th centuries, when ships were sheathed in copper. Before that time, only iron or wood fastene rs were used in shipbuilding. The Santa Ma ria ran aground on the night of 24-25 December 1492. C ontemporary acco unts- specifically from Columbus's
WILLIAMS
iJ
journal, as transcribed by Bartolome de Las Casas-position the wreck site closer to shore. Barry C lifford disputes the claim that bronze fas tenings wo uld not have been used in shipbuilding during
Bronze fastenings on the Haitian wreck that tim e period, but shipwreck archaeological evidence to date supports the UNESCO position on this detail. Absent from the site during the UNESCO survey was a 15th-century Lombard cannon reported to have been found there and has sin ce gone missing, presumably by looters. The UNESCO team was led by N ieto Prieto, the former director of Spain's National Museum of Underwater Archaeology and a leading expert on Spanish shipw recks. They spent five days diving on the site in September. The report recommends further exploration to find the Santa Maria and to take an inventory of other m ajor shipwrecks in the area.
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eNational Memorial to Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives during WWII through Vietnam. • Awarded two Naval Presidential Unit Citations for her service during Vietnam. • Credited with si nking U-Boat 626 during convoy duty in the North Atlantic. Don't miss the opportunity to tour this ship. learn about its remarkable history. the recently completely underwater re-fit and the current work being done restoring her topside. USCGC INGHAM is located in Key West on the Truman Waterfront. National Historic Landmark
P.O. Box 71, Lincoln St., East Boothbay, Maine 04544 (207) 633-5071
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S EA H-llSTORY 149, WINTER 2014- 15
EXHIBITS
•Art Basel-Miami Beach, Theo Jansen's Strandbeests, 4-7 December at the Miami Beach Convention Center. (www. artbasel.com) •From the Mountains to the Sea, the art of Patti Jacquemain, now through 1 February 2015 at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. (113 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara, CA 93109; www.sbmm.org) •Ocean Bound: Three Centuries of Library Treasures, now through 25 May 2015 at the Maine Maritime Museum. (43 Washington Street, Bath, Maine 04530; Ph. 207 443-1316; www.mainemaritime museum.org) •Tattoos and Scrimshaw: The Art of the Sailor, and Maritime Impressions, works of the Plein Air Painters Association of San Diego, through January at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. (1492 N. Harbor Dr. , San Diego, CA 92101 ; www.sdmari time.org) •Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam, now through 26 May 2015, at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. (211 South Columbus Blvd. & Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106; Ph. 215 413-8655; www.phillyseaport.org) •The Coast & the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art in America, 30 January-26 April 2015 at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. Organized by the New York Historical Society. (Portland Museum of Art Seven Congress Square, Portland, ME 04101 ; Ph. 207 775-6148; www.portland museum.org) •Around the World and Back Again: New Bedford Artists Abroad, recently opened at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. (18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740; Ph. 508 997-0046; www. whalingmuseum.org) • B is for Buttersworth, F is for Forgery-Solve a Maritime Art Mystery, now through 26 April at The Mariners' Museum. (100 Museum Dr, Newport News, VA 23606; Ph. 757 596-2222; www.mari nersmuseum.org) •Bascove I Bridges: Transporting the Metropolis, through 12 July 2015 at the Noble Maritime Collection on Staten Island. (1000 Richmond Terrace, Building D, Staten Island, NY 10301; Ph. 718 4476490; www.noblemaritime.org)
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 2014-15
CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIUMS
FESTNAI.S, EVENTS, LECTURES, ETC.
•"Peripheries and Boundaries," Society for Historical Archaeology annual conference, 6-11 January in Seattle, WA. (www. sha.org) •33rd International Shipwreck Conference, "Shipwrecks, Diving and Marine Archaeology," 7 February 2015 at the University of Plymouth, UK. (www.ship wreckconference.org) •16th International Conference of Historical Geographers, 5- 10 July 2015 in London at the Royal Geographical Society. (www.ichg2015.org) •"Beyond Borders: The Practice of Atlantic, Transnational, and World History," graduate student conference at the University of Pittsburgh, 11-12 April 2015 . (www.history.pitt.edu/ conference/ beyond-borders-grad-conference. php) •American Historical Association Annual Meeting, 2-5 January in New York City. The 2016 annual meeting in Atlanta, GA, has a Call for Papers deadline of 15 February 2015; the theme for the 2016 event is "Global Migrations: Empires, Nations, and Neighbors." (www.historians. org/annual-meeting) •SOth Anniversary Gaspee Days Maritime History Symposium, 29-30 May 2015 in Providence, RI. Call for Papers deadline is 1 January 2015 . Send inquiries to: Chair, Steven Park at Steven.Park@ UConn.edu. (www.gaspeedev.com) •Council of American Maritime Museums Annual Meeting, 13-14 April at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in California. (www.councilofamericanmaririmemuseums.org; www.lamaritimemu seum.org) •North American Society for Oceanic History Annual Conference, "PacificThe Peaceful Ocean?" 13- 17 May 2015 in Monterey, CA. Call for Papers deadline is 1 February (www.nasoh.org; updates also on the NASOH Facebook page) •McMullen Naval History Symposium, 17-18 September 2015. Call for Papers deadline is 6 February. Papers addressing topics relevant to the lOOth anniversary of WWI are encouraged. (Specific inquiries should be directed to Commander Chris Rentfrow at navalhistorysymposium@ gmail.com or 410 293-6257; www.usna. edu/History/Symposium)
•Pearl Harbor Ceremony, 7 December at the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum in New York City. (Pier 86, West 46th St. and 12th Avenue, New York, NY 10036; Ph. 877 957-SHIP (7447); www.intrepid museum.org) •Lantern Light Tours at Mystic Seaport, evenings on 5-6, 12- 13, 19-21, and 26-27 December. Advance tickets available. (75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, CT 06355; Ph. 860 572-5331; www.mystic seaport.org) •Tim Flannery & Friends Concert on the Star of India, 20 December at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Advance tickers available. (1492 N. Harbor Dr., San Diego, CA 92101; Ph. 619 234-9153 ext. 101; www.sdmaritime.org) •Moby-Dick Marathon, 3-5 January at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Non-stop reading of Herman Melville's masterpiece. Want to be a reader? Email mdmarathon@whalingmuseum.org or phone 508 717-6851 to inquire about openings. (18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740; Ph. 508 997-0046; www.whalingmuseum.org) •"No Ordinary Being: W. Starling Burgess, Inventor, Naval Architect, Poet, Aviation Pioneer, and Master of American Design," lecture by author Llewellyn Howland on 22 January at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. (One Burnside Street, Bristol, RI 02809; Ph. 401 253-5000; www.herreshoff.org) •New England Boat Show, 14-22 February at the Boston Convention Center. (www.newenglandboatshow.com) •Detecting Forgeries and Other Art Crimes, a lecture by Colette Loll, founder and director of Art Fraud Insights, 22 January at The Mariners' Museum. (100 Museum Dr, Newport News, VA 23606; Ph. 757 596-2222; www.marinersmu seum.org) •Chicago Maritime Festival, 18 April at the Old Town School of Folk Music, organized by Common Times, with the Chicago Maritime Museum, the Old Town School of Folk Music, and the Chicago History Museum. (OTSFM, 4544 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625; ph. 773 728-6000; www.chicagomaritimefes tival.org)
49
MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET
by Peter McCracken
Researching Patents Stuff Works (search "how stuff works patent search"). These can be very helpful for understanding what one is searching, what the different types of patents are, how the patent process operates, and why one might need to search for patents in the first place. Outside the US, the European Patent Office (EPO) has information about searching its database at http://www.epo. org/searching.html. Together, the USPTO and the EPO have created a system called Cooperative Patent Classification, to simplify searching their separate classification systems. The cooperative classification is available at http://www.uspto.gov/ web/patents/classification/cpc.html, and organizes all potential inventions into a single structure, much as the Dewey Decimal System does for non-fiction books. The CPC structure assigns letters of the alphabet to the main categories, such as "!\.' for "Human Necessities" and "D" for "Textiles; Paper." The USPTO classification, explorable at http://www. uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/selectnumwithtitle. htm, assigns numbers to categories, such as 441 for " buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices." From there, one can narrow down to subclass 29, for buoyant items having variable ballast, and, eventually, find patents such as 6,824,289, which states that although some similar devices have previously been granted patents, ''A need still exists for novel beverage accessories which have buoyancy control, assist in the drinking process, and provide illumination or mood enhancers all to provide visual pleasure to one's other sensory pleasures while relaxing consuming a beverage; particularly, those novelty items resembling an ice cube for use in a drink." This invention appears to be a floating ice-cube shaped straw that lights up. The illuminated floating straw may not see the light of day, but neither did President Lincoln's invention, though you can see a model of it, built by the future President, both in person at the Smithsonian, and online , at http://amhistory.si.edu/ onthemove/collection/object_l348.html. Suggestions for other sites worth mentioning are welcome at peter@shipindex.org. See http://shipindex.org for a free compilation of over 150,000 ship names from indexes to dozens of books and journals. J,
ou might know that Abraham Lincoln is the only US President to hold a patent, but did you know that it's for a maritime application? Patent 6469 is called "Buoying Vessels over Shoals," and describes a system of inflatable bladders that are used to lift a ship out of a difficult situation in shallow waters. Of course, with current US patent numbers now approaching nine million, we have quite a few more inventions than at Lincoln's time. Searching through all of them will take a lot more time than it did in Lincoln's day, but at least you're not required to travel to Washington, DC, to do the searching. Thanks to a 2010 agreement between the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Google, essentially all of the patents granted in the United States back to 1790 can be easily searched, as well as many recent rejected applications. While USPTO had put some content online before the agreement, Google provided terabytes of space along with valuable functionality to make historical patent information much more easily available. USPTO offers a search interface at http://patft.uspto.gov. Searching for a patent is a good example of the importance of going beyond simple keyword searching. USPTO uses a complex, hierarchical method for categorizing patents, and trying to fit that paper-based system into a simple online search function is not easy. This site allows one to quickly search by patent number, and through other means, including the USPTO classification structure. Patents issued before 1976 are only stored as scanned images, and are not full-text searchable. As a result of the Google-USPTO agreement, Google created a patent-dedicated site at www.google.com/patents. This site does allow for free-text searching, though it has some known OCR (Optical Character Recognition) problems: one patent provides a method for measuring "Marine Undergurbents" (rather than "UNDERCURRENTS;" you can see how the OCR software got confused). I searched for "sail leech " and found new methods of furling sails, along with a way of adding serrated flaps to the trailing edges of sails. Several websites provide useful guides to searching for patents; two of the most useful are from Nolo, publisher of selfhelp legal guides (search "nolo patent search"), and from How
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SEAHIST'ORY 149, WINTER2014-15
Reviews Billy Mitchell's ~r with the Navy: The Interwar Rivalry Over Air Power by Thomas Wildenberg (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2014, 288pp, ISBN 978-0-87021-038-9; $34.95hc) The military career of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell started in the Spanish American War in 1898 and ended with his court martial in 1925. During his time in the US Army, Mitchell became a self-appointed spokesman for the development of aviation technologies and a separate military branch to house the air service. In Billy Mitchell's Wtir with the Navy, Thomas Wildenberg derails Mitchell's public and bureaucratic campaign for a separate air service, publicly questioning the effectiveness of the United States Navy's use of airplanes. After commanding joint British, French, and American aerial forces in the First World War, Mitchell returned to the United States inspired by the unified aerial command of the Royal Air Service. He believed a distinct aerial command would allow for the development of tactics tailored to aviation technologies. During these years of service, Billy Mitchell's intolerance for perceived incompetence and propensity to spend beyo nd his means became apparent. In addition to ractical benefits, Mitchell also believed the reorganization of the military to include a separate air force command would require the promotion of experienced officers, necessitating his own acquisition of rank and the accompanying paycheck improvement. Mitchell saw the United States Navy as a hindrance to the development of an Air Force. To further his fight with the Navy, Mitchell became involved in the use of retired ships for target practice. While the army, navy, and marines prepared for aerial experiments, Mitchell also prepared for a public bombardment, making arrangements to publicize images of armored vessels sinking beneath the waves after airplane strikes. Mitchell followed these tests with well-publicized simulated bombing attacks on major cities along the Eastern Seaboard . Although he won public support, this use of the media, as well as criticisms of the military, led to his court martial. Without Mitchell, aviation development continued in both the army and the navy, with the former fighting for exclusive responsibility
SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
for the coastal defenses of the nation and the latter attempting to maintain its air service and responsibilities.
BHly MitchelPs
WM- wiith th~ Navy .fllllli'
The Intenvar Rivalry over Air Power
During the Second World War, lingering exaggerations of the ability of airplanes to find, bomb, and sink surface vessels caused the performance of army air squadrons in the Pacific to fall short of expectations. However, despite being the source of many of these inaccuracies, the eventual use of Billy Mitchell's ideas in the development of the Air Force secured him a place in the history. In Billy Mitchell's Wtir with the Navy, Wildenberg presents a history of interwar aviation developments, skillfully woven into a biography of Mitchell, and enhanced by over fifty images. This insightful interpretation provides an interesting read for knowledgeable scholars and casual readers of history alike.
es the history of the working Cutty Sark and then its survival history. Millions were spent in the twenty-first century turning the clipper into a tourist attraction and millions were spent in the twentieth century as preservationists strove to save the ship for future generations. The current incarnation of Cutty Sark, sitting high and dry-high to allow visitors to view it from below to appreciate the flowing lines of the craft, and dry in its landlocked museum dock-is beautiful, probably more beautiful to the eye of the lubber than the working ship that inspired the museum artifact. Since the ship stopped working nearly a century ago it has undergone several expensive restorations described in detail in Eric Kentley's volume. A reading of the restoration efforts combined with the comments from many responsible for the hands-on work to create the vessel illustrated in dozens of beautifully reproduced photographs, leaves the reader with concern for the future of the attraction. Cutty Sark has fallen out of public favor before as it deteriorated. Considering the detailed descriptions of every phase of Cutty Sark's work life and
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Cutty Sark: The Last ofthe Tea Clippers by Eric Kentley with the Cutty Sark Trust (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 20 14, 544pp, illus, ISBN 978- 1-59114-1822; $49.95hc) The clipper Cutty Sark is a beautiful ship. Cutty Sark: The Last ofthe Tea Clippers is, likewise, a beautiful book worthy of the vessel. Although very much a coffee table volume, The Last of the Tea Clippers also makes good reading. The principle text, printed in black on high-quality white paper, is not easy to follow because it is interrupted frequently with extra material beneficial in expanding and illuminating the text and eye-catching full-page (no margins) photographic reproductions . The text trac-
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restorations in Curry Sark: The Last of the Tea Clippers, there is apparently no plan in place to assure survival of the museum piece beyond the projected fifry-to-sixry-year life of the recent restoration because none is mentioned. Cutty Sark ought to be routinely maintained in the fashion of maintenance on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Perhaps that is in the plans after financial recovery from the enormously expensive restoration that has created a piece of history worthy of continual preservation. If perpetual maintenance is not provided, restoration in years ahead will depend on
Cutty Sark's public appeal which, fortunately, has more lives than an alley cat. DR DAVID
0.
WHITTEN
Auburn, Alabama
The American Clipper Ship, 1845-1920: A Comprehensive History, With a Listing ofBuilders And Their Ships by Glenn A. Knoblock (McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina, 2014, 376pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-7864-7112-6; $55hc) In the complex world of trade-offs berween form and function, the ninereenrhcentury clipper ship arguably reached the
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pinnacle of both in sailing vessel design. The unique vessel captured the imagination of the nautical world, but it remained a popular and profitable means of transport for a remarkably short rime. Still, some of the hulls of these vessels continued to sail the world's oceans until the early part of the rwentierh century. Many books have been written about clipper-ship history, their swiftness and beaury. Clark's The Clipper Ship Era, Howe and Matthews' American Clipper Ships: 1833-1853, Curler's Greyhound ofthe
Sea: The Story of the American Clipper Ship, Chapelle's The Search for Speed Under Sail, and Crothers' The American-Built Clipper Ship 1850-1856 are perhaps the most prominent of this genre. One might argue that another book about clipper ships is unnecessary. Yet there is always room for a book with a well-organized approach as an addition to any maritime historian's shelf. Knoblock's book srarrs with chapters about the evolution of ship design, designs that led to ever-swifter vessels. There are fascinating stories of the ships' designers and shipwrights. This is fo llowed by derails of vessel construction techniques and limitations, their building locales, and the reasons these sires were selected. The author also discusses the cargo these ships commonly carried and why these particular goods such as tea, high marker value items and perishables were chosen. Cargo and passenger capacities were limited and these ships required fairly large crews to work the complicated sail plans. The book contains a great deal of information about the captains and the crews who operated these vessels. Of particular interest is the author's description of everyday shipboard life and the interactions among the men and the occasional women who operated these complex products of marine architecture. There are captivating stories of the sea captains who became famo us because of their record sails from destination to destination. Some became heroes who elected to go down with their vessel when they foundered, such as Captain Josiah Richardson, master of Staf fordshire, who refused rescue and drowned onboard his ship along with 170 passengers and crew at Blond Rock off Sable Island in December 1853. Finally, there is a discussion about the business aspects of clipper ships, their building and operating costs, insurance issues, and limitations that affected the
SEAHISTORY 149, WINTER2014- 15
profit and loss balan ce sheet. This gives an unusually compreh en sive insight into the entire clipper ship era and the achievem ent of beauty and speed over vas t oceanic expanses. Al though the author repeats himself at m any junctu res, his prose is excellent and the book's o rganization makes searching for specific info rmation quite easy. For students of the clipper ship era, The American Clipper Ship, 1845-1920 is a good starting point fo r more in-depth research . Lours ARTHUR NORTON Wes t Simsbury, Connecticut
The Slave Trade and the Origins ofInternational Human Rights Law by Jenny S. Martinez (Oxford U niversity Press, Oxford, 2012, 254pp, notes, index, ISBN 978-0- 195319162-6; $29.95 h c) Rousseau observed in 1762 that "Man was born free; and everywh ere h e is in chains." The story of the breaking of those chains is the subject of this wo rk; its contribution to o ur und erstanding of the slave trade is revealing the unique role played by the internatio nal m ixed courts that becam e lost in draftin g the accepted narra tive of the evolution of internatio nal human rights law. This is a fasci n ating acco unt of the efforts in the l 9'h century to end slavery, but it is also a tale of the ships that carried slaves or interdicted the slave trade. The sloop H MS Myrmidon is presented in an opening acco unt of rhe challenges faced by captains on du ty in the Africa station . She captures ships of Spain , France and Po rtugal in 1822, and seeks judgm ent in the international court. The outcomes are no r predictable. In 1800 , slavery was legal in European countries. In the first decade of th e l 9'h century, mo re than 600,000 persons were subjected to the M iddl e Passage tha t bro ught them fro m Africa to the New World. But in 1807, British abolitio nists su cceed ed in p ushing thro ugh Parliam ent a bill that prohibited Bri tish subj ects from participation in the slave trade. America fo llowed with a prohibition of the importation of slaves effective January 1808. The number of slaves imported to America spiked at 22,000 in 1807, and fell to zero by 1809. American ships engaged in the slave trade with other nations also declined from abo ut 120 ships in 1807, to less than ten per year. By the 1840s, all the Atlantic maritime nations had signed
SEA HISTORY 149, WINTER 201 4- 15
trea ties curtailing the slave trade. Jenny Martinez, a law professo r at Stanford University, documents the revolution in thought and p ractice of the international law regarding the slave trade. She argues that "the nineteenth century slavery abolition m ovement was the first successful international human rights campaign, and international treaties and courts were its central features." "Crimes against humanity" was an expression used by som e in rhe nineteenth century to describe the actions of rhe slave trader. The language of rhe law and policy makers is gro unded in the tensions between natural law and the law of nations. Slavery was permitted in the law of n atio ns, often defended as a h um an e alternative to putting prisoners of war to death. Slavery was generally held to be contrary to natural law. But armed ships patrolli ng the African coas t delivered with force th e legal pronouncements to those engaged in rhe slave trade. This was tough du ry for captains and crew, often frustrated by fas ter sailing slavers. They were constrained by laws governing search and seizure. It required som e agile legal minds to finally fi nd that slavers were the enemies of all manki nd, and should be treated as pirates. It is argued that this was achieved in America w ith the passage of an amended piracy law in 1820, discussed in a chap ter tided "H osris Humani Generis." While matters at sea remained the focus of public attention , the legal solution to the slave trade was not found in the prize courts, bur in the international courts of m ixed com m ission . These courts are at the heart of this study. The mixed courts were created fo llowing treary agreements with Britain and established in Freetown, Sierra Leone; H avana, C uba; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Param aribo, Suriname. Two judges sat each court, one British and the other Spanish , Po rtuguese, Dutch , o r French backed up by adjudicators. From 1820 to the 1840s, courts of mixed commission determined a large number of cases and freed an estimated 80,000 persons. Martinez uses the data cautiously, but provides quantitative evidence and 68 pages of notes to support her conclusions. Martinez asks: Why have co ntemporary scholars of internation al law largely fo rgotten the antislavery courts? Why do
WrrH SAILS WHITENING EVERY SEA
MARJN ERS AN O
T H E MAK ING OF AN AMERICAN
MARITIME EMPIRE
WITH SAILS WHITENING EVERY SEA Mariners and the Making ofan American Maritime Empire BRIAN R OULEAU
''American sailors roamed the globe by the hundreds of thousands in the decades before the C ivil War, ye t they've been all but excluded fro m our histories of early U .S. fore ign relations. Brian Rouleau's smart, probing, and tough-minded book will permanently change that." -
BRIAN D EL AY,
UC
B ERKELEY
AVAILABLE IN HARDCOVER OR AS AN EBOOK :?lmerica ~ :first University tPreJ'J'
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by Kurt D. Voss All proceeds from this pictorial history benefit the ELISSA preservation fund
we begin our accounts with the post-World War II Nuremberg trials, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Genocide Convention? Her answer is a reminder of the convenient amnesia invoked to avoid addressing sensitive issues from the past. She acknowledges that, today, international human rights law is very popular, but has its skeptics. Some find it a threat to national security and the sovereignty of the state. Also, the timeline of international human rights law is too short. She returns the reader to the early 1800s when the Atlantic world was much as Rousseau had observed. Her account is a convincing study of how those chains were broken in court, as well as at sea. TIMOTHY
Published by Arcadia Publishing and Galveston Historical Foundation $21. 99. 128 pages, 200 photographs Autographed copies available at (409) 763- 1877, or online at:
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BOOKS 1806 Laurel Crest Madison, Wisconsin 53705-1065 (608) 238-SAIL FAX (608) 238-7249 Email: tuttlemaritime@charter.net http://tuttlemaritime.com Books about the Sea, Ship & Sailor Catalogue Upon Request 54
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tautological phrases (example: "The helmsman, who was steering the ship ... ") and suffers repeatedly from some amusing, but distracting malapropisms; my personal favorite, "Two miles from the Perth Amboy and her quarry (refers to the barges in tow) ... " Really? And not a misprint, as it occurs several times. Apparently, neirher Mr. Klim nor the editor owns a dictionary. And while Klim is a television producer with notches in his gun from rhe History Channel, the Military Channel, and the Weather Channel, he is not a seaman-and ir shows. Regardless of these criticisms, I did enjoy reading abour this little-known tragedy off Cape Cod and would recommend it to any wirh an interest in WWl or the Cape; it's a worthy read. WILLIAM
H. WHITE
Greenville, North Carolina
Rumson, New Jersey
Attack on Orleans: The World Wtir I Submarine Raid on Cape Cod by Jake Klim (History Press, Charleston, SC, 2014, 128pp, illus, biblio , index, ISB N 978- 162619-490-8; $19.99pb) On a foggy summer morning, July 21, 1918, the final year of the World War (as it was referred to at the time), a German submarine surfaced off Nauset Beach on Cape Cod and began to fire its deck guns at a civilian tug pulling four barges. Needless to say, the target vessels were unarmed and suffered the consequences. Remarkably, the tug, Perth Amboy, while badly damaged, did not sink as her charges did, but remained aBoat and eventually was towed to Martha's Vineyard and salvaged to work again. The submarine, U-156, after firing over 150 shells, finally quit, submerged, and lefr the area to wreak havoc on the American and Canadian fishing Beets in the North Atlantic. The gunnery was reportedly dreadful, with most of the shells missing the target vessels and landing on the beach and beyond near Orleans on Cape Cod. Hence the title. Mr. Klim has written a well-researched volume on this little-known event from the First World War. Even on the Cape, it is not common knowledge, and he has augmented the many volumes ofWWl history which neglect this tale, regardless of its lack of consequence to the war itself. Sadly, Mr. Klim has been done a disservice by his editor-if, indeed, his publisher provided one. This slim volume is chock-a-block with
Crisis in the Mediterranean: Naval Competition and Great Power Politics, 19041914 by Jon K. Hendrickson (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2014, 232pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 9781-61251-475-8; $54.95hc) Jon K. Hendrickson's Crisis in the Mediterranean: Naval Competition and Great Power Politics, 1904-1914 is a detailed, in-depth analysis of the competition for naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea on rhe part of rhe Uni red Kingdom, France, Iraly, and Austria-Hungary in the decade leading to World War I. It is nor lighr reading, bur rhe superb historical investigation expected of the Naval Institute Press . Hendrickson argues that conflict in rhe Mediterranean was not a spontaneous response to rhe European Continental conBicr of War World I, but a contributing factor that had festered for a decade and more as world powers struggled for domination of the inland sea at best and influence at least. The author does not write of ships in general but spells out class n ames, ship names, tonnage, armor, firepower, speed, construction dates, and standings from nation to nation. Cost figures are nor provided, probably becaus<e they would nor be honest or accurate, or compare well over time and between natiomal currencies. Even without expenditure measures, the apparent spending on warships !:by Italy and Austria is impressive, especiall)y for nations richer
SEAHISTORY 149, 1 WINTER2014- 15
in culture than treasure. Moreover, the naval expansions were not for defense, but offense. Before the outbreak of what would become World War I, the two powers had in place detailed plans for destroying French military and naval might with the aim of dominating the Mediterranean Sea. While Germany, Iraly, and Austria expanded naval power, Great Britain and France juggled their resources and priorities in response. To maintain dominance in the North Sea against the growing German fleet, the Royal Navy was forced to pull ships from foreign stations and reduce its hold on the Mediterranean. The French also reduced naval forces on foreign station to protect their shores and their African colonies from Italian imperialism and Austrian extension of naval power. When World War I broke out, conditions in the Mediterranean Sea were at their historic no rmal: chaotic. Crisis in the Mediterranean is essential reading for detailed information on naval conditions in the Mediterranean Sea in the decade leading ro World War I. DR. DAVID
ase Available December 4 No Ordinary Being: W. Starling Burgess, Inventor, Naval Architect, Poet, Aviation Pioneer By Llewellyn Howland Ill Published by David R. Godine Publishers , in association with the New Bedford Whal ing Museum and Mystic Seaport Mu seum
0. WHITTEN
Aub urn, Alabama
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••····· ..........•• , ••'''' ...... ''''••
In all of travel, only one voyage reigns above all The Transaltantic Crossing aboard Queen Mary 2®
Eastbound and Westbound 7- and 8-Day Crossings From MAY to DECEMBER 2015
AlTOUR
fares from
$1,179*
pauline.power@altour.com
Coll 212-897-5145 to pion your adventure today. ' Fares are per person, based on double occupancy, voyage only, subject to availability, capacity controlled. Call the above agency for more details. Government fees and taxes are additional. Air add-ons are available. See applicable Cunard brochure for terms, conditions, and definitions that apply to all reservations. Other restrictions may apply. ©2011 Cunard. Ships registry: Bermuda.
You're invited to relax ... Explore a world that's uniquely Holland America Line Experience the world in exciting new ways as you cruise to some of the world's most coveted destinations on spacious, mid-sized ships. Dine on the finest cuisine prepared by renowned chefs, and enjoy service that's never in the way, yet never out of touch. Enjoy an array of daily activities and or simply bask in the comfort of your well-appointed stateroom .
IJMUIDEN I (AMSTERDAM) Zeebru gge (Brugge/Brusse ls) ----~~ GIRONOf mUARY
CIVITAVECCHIA (ROME)
Interior Staterooms from
Oceanview Staterooms from
$2,599*
Verandah Staterooms from
$3,899*
Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses are additional.
PISA BRQT IER.$ TR6VEL A W OR LDVIEW T RAVEL COM P ANY
Pisa Brothers Travel Mary Kleen 212-265-8420 ext 211 maryk@pisabrothers.com
*Fares are per person, may vary by sailing date. based on double occupancy, are capacity controlled and are subject to change without prior notice, cruise only. Fares are in US dollars. All savings amounts are included in the fares shown. Taxes. Fees & Port Expenses are additional and range from $147.14 - $365.84 Subject to availability. For more information about our stateroom categories and suite descriptions. to view deck plans and for full terms and conditions applicable to your cruise, please refer to hollandamerica.com or the appropriate Holland America brochure. Offers are capacity controlled, and may be modified or withdrawn without prior notice. Other restrictions may apply. Ships' Registry: The Netherlands.