Sea History 160 - Autumn 2017

No. 160

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

AU TUMN 2017

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

SS United States Engineer's Stewardship Jones Act, Part 2 Explosion in Halifax, 100 Years Later Nathaniel Bowditch's Numbers Sail Training for Space Travel

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Young America-N ew York in the 1890s 18 x 24 inches, oil on canvas, 201 7 Value $6,000

America Victorious 16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas, 201 7 Value $4,500

Offered at the auction, or buy it now by calling 800-221-6647, ext 0. If you are unable to attend, we'll set you up with your own personal bidding representative. Proceeds from the auction benefit the work of the Society.

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No . 160

SEA HISTORY

AUTUMN 2017

CONTENTS 10 The 2017 National Maritime Historical Society Annual Awards Dinner, by Julia Church NMHS will recognize three deserving members of the maritime heritage community this fall.

Here's a sneak peek at the gala celebration.

14 Collision in the Narrows: the 1917 Halifax Harbor Explosion, by Roger Marsters The most powerful man-made explosion before the Atomic Age came with little warning on a cold December morning in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when a collision between two cargo ships in the harbor set offa catastrophic chain reaction, catching all in its radius in its devastating blast.

20 "To Boldly Go ..." NASA Astronauts Taking the Lessons of Sail Training into Space,

by Bert Rogers, with Mark Scibinico The link between ocean voyaging and space exploration might be closer than you think. NASA Astronauts find the lessons from sail training aboard the 1811 barque Elissa valuable in their preparations for space flight.

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24 A New Look at Nathaniel Bowditch, Nineteenth-Century America's Numbers Man,

by Tamara Plakins Thornton Mariners know his name from their well-used navigational "bible," The New American Practical Navigator, but Nathaniel Bowditch s obsession with numbers and order left a legacy in other fields Jew would realize came from his work.

28 Probing the Mysteries of the Jones Act: Part 2, by M ichael J. Rauworth Mike Rau worth breaks down the origins and modern-day ramifications ofthe Merchant Marine Act of 1920 in this second installment ofa two-part series on the Jones Act.

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32 Coast Guardsman Robert Goldman, and the Kamikaze Attack on LST-66

by W illiam H. Thiesen After a Japanese Zero fighter attacked their ship, a burned and badly injured pharmacists mate rushed across the burning deck to the aid of his wounded shipmates. Learn about the heroics ofthis young Coast Guardsman and his dedication and sacrifice for his shipmates, his ship, and his nation.

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36 On Watch- SS United States Engineer Bob Sturm Still Serving the "Big U,"

by Bill Bleyer More than a half a century after he signed off as a junior engineer aboard the famed ocean liner SS United States, Bob Sturm returns to serve his old ship-this time in the archives.

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40 National History Day Prizes in Maritime History, Sponsored by NMHS More than halfa million students participated in National History Day competitions this year.

NMHS encourages students to pursue topics in maritime history and recognizes outstanding projects in state competitions. Learn more about NHD and this years award winners.

Cover: Diamond Jubilee by Robert Semler. (See pages 36-38 for more on SS United States.)

DEPARTMENTS 4 DECK Loe AND LETTERS 8 NMHS : A CAUSE IN MOTION 44 SEA H ISTORY FOR Krns 48 SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

57 CALENDAR 58 MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET 59 REVIEWS 64 PATRONS

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SEA H ISTORY (issn 0 146-9312) is published quarterly by the National Maritime H isto rical Sociery, 5 John Walsh Blvd., POB 68, Peekskill NY 10566 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Peekski ll NY 10566 and add'! mailing offices.

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG A Word About Awards In the early days of the movie business in Hollywood, no serious actor wanted to make the trek to California. Success was found in theater on the East C oast. The Academy Awards, now officially called "The O scars," were begun in 1929 as an affirm ation of the importance of work in filmmaking, to encourage actors to work in movies, to inspire excellence, and to unite the fields that needed to work togethertechnicians, writers, di rectors, actors, cameramen, ere. The awards serve as a validation of how significant movies continue to be in rhe twenty-first century. I maintain that the O scars helped create this success they now honor.

As head of a national organization, I often attend events thar include an award presentation. Outside of fields with which I am personally famili ar, I may nor know the recipient. It gives me a chance to learn about rhe honorees and whar rhey have done to deserve recognition. The award is a testament to excellence in rhe field and to the importance of the work itself.

O ver the years, you have read about the National M aritime Historical Society's awards and recipients in the pages of Sea History. Our signature awards event is the annual gala at the N ew York Yacht C lub, where we highlight those who have made outstanding contributions in the maritime heritage field, but we h ave other awards we bes tow th ro ugho ut the year worth knowing about.

Since 200 8, we have given the Rodney N . H oughton Award for rhe best feature article in Sea H istory at o ur annual meetings, and now we are in rhe eighth yea r of working with th e m aritime heritage community across the country to present awards in our n ation's capital at the National M aritime Awards D in- The most recent NMH S awards were given at our anner, a pres tigious event that nual meeting in Charleston in May. Two individuals also supports our efforts to received the Rodney N Houghton Award this y ear: advocate fo r federal funding Admiral Robert Papp Jr., USCG, (Ret.) presented the fo r the maritime community. award to William Thiesen (2nd from left) for "CutterChoosing recipients is a man Frank Newcom b and the Rescue of USS Winslow," tough, serious process . M uch and 2 008 award recip ient, William H. White, preof the maritime heritage com- sented the award to D onald G. Shomette (jar right) fo r munity is robust and thriving, "Tidal Wave: the Greatest Ship Launch in H istory. " and there are many excellent H ere they are with NMH S chairman, Ronald Oswald, proj ects and incredible leaders and Sea History editor, D eirdre O'Regan. worthy of recognition . It is daunting that we cannot recognize all rhose who deserve it, and the variety of disciplines that fall under rhe field of maritime heritage is wide. W e work diligently to recognize and honor the extraordinary accomplishments of maritime authors and artists, sea explorers and m a rin e scientists, yachtsmen, philanthropists, boat designers and builders, sailmakers, museum leaders, the military sea services, rhe merchant marine and maritime industry, and rail ship sailors .

Through our awards, we demonstrate the positive strides being m ade in preserving our m aritime heritage and encourage others to foll ow the example set by our honorees. W e learn so very much when we delve into rhe work of rhe recipient, and find out what inspired him or her. It is a privilege to share this with yo u.

-Burchenal Green, President 4

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLISH ER'S CIRCLE: Peter Aro n, Guy E. C. Maitland , Ro nald L. Oswald O FFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Ronald L. Oswald; Vice Chairman, Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal Green; Vice Presidents, Deirdre O 'Regan, Wendy Paggiotta, Nancy Schnaars; Treasurer, H oward Slotnick; Secretary, Jean Wort; Trustees: Charles B. Anderson; Walter R. Brown; William S. Dudley; David S. Fowler; William Jackson Green; Karen Helm erson; Richard M. Larrabee; Guy E. C. Maitland; Capt.

Brian McAllister; CAPT Sally Chin McElwrearh, USN (Rer.); Michael W Morrow; Richard Patri ck O 'Leary; Erik K. Olsrein; ADM Robert J. Papp Jr., USCG (Rer.); Timothy J. Runyan; Richard Scarano; Philip J. Shapiro; Capt. Cesare Sorio; W illiam H . W hite; Chairmen Emeriti: Walter R. Brown, Alan G. Choate, Guy E. C. Maitland, Howard Slotnick FOUNDER: Karl Kortum (1917-1996) PRES ID ENT (1 927-201 6)

EMERITUS :

Peter

Stanfo rd

OVERSEERS: Chairman , RADM D avid C. Brown, USMS (Rer.); RADM Joseph F. Callo, USN (Rer.); George W Carmany III; James J. Coleman Jr.; Clive Cussler; Richard du Moulin ; Alan D. Hurchiso n; Jakob Isbrandrsen; Gary Jobson; Sir Robin Knox-Johns ton; John Lehman; Capt. James J. McNamara; H. C. Bowen Smith; John Srobart; Philip J. Webster; Roberta Weisbrod NMH S ADVISORS: Chairman , Melbourn e Smi th; Geo rge Bass, Oswald Brett, Francis Duffy, John Ewald, T imothy Foore, Steven A. Hyman, J. Russell Jinishi an, Gunnar Lundeberg, Conrad Milster, W illiam G. Muller, Stuart Parnes, Nancy Hughes Richardson, Bert Rogers, Joyce Huber SEA HISTOR Y EDITO RIAL ADV ISORY BOARD: Chairman, T imothy Runyan; Norman Bro uwer, Ro bert Browning, W illiam D udley, Daniel Finamore, Kevin Foster, John Jensen, Joseph Meany, Lisa Norlin g, Carl a Rahn Philli ps, Walter Rybka, Q uenrin Snediker, W illian1 H .

W hi te

N MHS STAFF: Executive Director, Burchenal Green; Membership Director, Na ncy Schn aars; Marketing Director, Sreve Lovass-Nagy; Comptroller, Anjoeline Osuyal1; Staff Writer, Shelley Reid; Director ofDevelopment, Jessica Macfarlane; Executive Assistant, George Melnik; Membership Coordinator, Irene Eisenfeld SEA HISTORY Editor, Deird re O 'Regan; Advertising, We nd y Paggiorra Sea History is printed by The Lane Press, Saum Burlington, Vermont, USA.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUT UMN 201 7

we welcome Your Letters! Please send correspondence to :

LETTERS

seahistory@gmail.com or Editor, Sea History, 7 Timberknoll Rd. , Pocasset, MA 02559

Destroyer USS Gainard's Namesake I served on USS Gainard (DD-706). W henever we tied up, there was a board placed on the qu ar terdeck, which stated that our sh ip was named after Alouishous K. Gain ard, master of the City ofFlint, and then there was a brief history along the lines of the one yo u include in the las t issue of Sea History ("At War Before the War-SS City ofFlint's Ordeal Under the Nazi Flag," by Dr. D onald E . Willett). But names of the sh ip's m as ters are only similar. Are they the same person by any chance?

E. B.

ER ICSON

Loomis, Califo rnia

From the Editor: According to the Naval History and H eritage Command, DD-706 was indeed named for Captain Gainard of City ofFlint fa me, despite the spelling discrepancy: "Joseph Aloysius Gainard, born 11 October 1889 in C helsea, Massachuse tts, enlisted in the US Naval Reserve Force 23 November 1917. H e received the N avy C ross fo r distinguished service while m aster of American merchant steamer City ofFlint, seized by a German cruiser on the high seas 9 October 1939 but returned to him in a No rwegian fjord 3 N ovember.

Recalled to active duty on 30 July 1941, he commanded submarine decoy ship Big H orn (A0-45) in the Caribbean, then commanded attack transport Bolivar (APA-34) in the Pacific. Illness took Captain Gainard from this duty and he died in the US N aval Hospital at Sa n Diego, California, 23 December 1943." Yo u can learn more about Captain Gainard and the ship named for him at the NHHC website at www. history. navy. mil.

Jones Act Insights Thank yo u for Michael Rauwo rth 's article on the Jones Act in the summer 2017 iss ue (Sea Histo ry 159). As a lawye r outside the field of m aritime law, I enjoyed reading about the intricacies of the Act and its enfo rcement. In addition to learning about the Act, I also learned a new wo rd"cabotage"-and got a chuckle abo ut the comment in the introduction that someone could have heard about the Act " in the class room ." When most students-outside ofl aw schools-rarely even hear about our Constitution in class, I doubt they would ever have heard about the Jones Act. J OHN

E.

B ECK

Leesburg, Virginia I spent some time today reading and "probing the mys teries of the Jones Act," and I must say I enjoyed this, as technical and convoluted as the legal thing m ay be. I

thought it was extremely well done. I am lookin g forwa rd to the second article. I hope this feedback will serve to encourage the priming of other more technically detailed articles like this one.

J OHN EWALD

Snohomish, Washington

Getting It Right From the Editor: O ne of my favo rite pans of Sa muel Eliot Morison's 1he Maritime H istory ofMassachusetts, 1783-J860 was in his "Supplement of Letters" at the end of later editions of the book. Morison w rote that he had "received a considerable number ofletters of correction and supplement," and he published them in subsequent primings. O ne of the letters was sent to Morison

by Lincoln Colcord, who wrote fro m his home in Searsport, Ma ine, in D ecember of 1921 , to tell the estimable maritime and naval historia n of a "stupendous error" he fo und in one of the chapters. "A Puritan and the son of Puritans," he wrote, "inheritor of a quick eye and a ready chuckle for the downfa ll of others, it gives me great glee to fi nd this after all; for, to tell the truth, I'd begun to fear that the error might be my own . A nd that, of course, wo uld have made it an enti rely different matter."

H e goes on to spin a ya rn that's worth every salty word on the page, and if yo u can get your hands on a copy of the book, be sure to read the letters at the back.

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafaring heritage comes alive in the pages of S ea 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 wane to join the Society and receive Sea History quarterly. My contrib ution is enclosed. ($ 17.50 is for Sea History; any amount above chat is tax ded ucti ble.) Sign me up as: D $35 Regular Member D $50 Fam ily Member D $ 100 Friend D $250 Patron D $5 00 Don or Mr./Ms.

S ecretary ofthe Navy, Frank Knox, presenting Joseph A . Gainard with the Navy Cross, circa D ecember 19 4 0.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 201 7

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Colcord's sense of humor reminds me to keep some perspective in my quest, as editor of Sea History, to print a perfect magazine each issue, with every fact checked, every photo accurately identified, and every comma in its proper place. You can write me abo ut my preference for the Oxford comma, if you must, but more on topic are the occasional factual errors that slip past me or, heaven forbid, I myself introduce in the process of editing. On this note, I have a couple of errors from the last issue (Sea History 159, Summer 2017) that made it into print that I need to bring to your attention and correct. Know that, in these items that follow, the error was all my own and not that of the authors and photographers who generously contributed their work so that we can bring you the stories and images that make up our national story. Not just our maritime story, but as historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto said, "Maritime history is wo rld history."

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Error No. 1: Not on the front cover! Well, the cover image and text are fine, but the caption about the fantastic shot of the Essex schooners by photographer George Bekris in the table of contents (page 3) misidentifies the schooner sailing in the background as the Thomas E. Lannon, when it is, in fact,

That's the schooner Lettie G. Howard of!Adventure' s starboard quarter. the 1893 schooner Lettie G. Howard. The Lannon and the Howard share a similar paint scheme and were both built in Essex, Massachusem, but the Lettie G. Howard is more than a hundred years older! Those familiar with both vessels also point out that the Lannon is rigged with both fore and main topmasts, while the Lettie G. Howard sails with just a main topmast. One reader with a particularly keen eye noted that yo u can read the name of the vessel on the schooner's pennant in the photo. Thanks to all who wrote in to alert me to this error in ship identification.

Error No. 2: Mea culpa and my genuine apologies to Margherita Desy and Kate Monea, authors of "Copper Bottomed-USS Constitution Restoration 2015-17," for introducing a mistake that, in rhe way rhe article is laid out, looks like it was the authors' error, when in fact it was all mine.

On page 16 of the last issue, their fine article on the history and restoration of Constitution's copper sheathing opens with an introductory paragraph that I added, in hopes to give context to the article that followed. In it, I wrote that "Constitution was launched in 1797 from the same dry dock where she is now... " Of course, as the authors and several readers have pointed out in recent correspondence, this is incorrect and would h ave been impossible. Constitution's restoration work was done with the ship out of the water in Dry Dock 1 at the Charles-

town Navy Yard in Boston. While historic in its own right-Dry Dock 1 the second oldest operational dry dock in the country-this facility was not open for use until 1833, a full thirty-six years after Constitution was launched from a Boston shipyard. According to the authors: USS Constitution was constructed between 1794 and 1797 on the specially made building ways at the Edmund Ham Shipyard in Boston's North End (the present-day site of the US Coast Guard base at "Constitution Wharf"). In fact, in our article, we quoted Secretary of War McHenry's letter to Constitution's naval constructor George Claghorn, in which McHenry sa id, "the Frigate Constitution should be coppered on the Stocks before she is launched .... "The "stocks" refer, of course, to the building ways on the shore of Boston Harbor. We draw Sea History's readers' attention to an excellent blog post written by the former USS Constitution Museum research historian, Matthew Brenckle, entitled, "Should her way have better laid," in which he details the necessary steps in creating the building and launch ways for a vessel the size of USS Constitution (https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/201 4/ 12/12/ should-her-ways-have-better-laid/).

Constitution was reBoated from Dry Dock 1 on 23 July. The ship is back at her berth at Pier 1 in the Charlestown Navy Yard, where crews are working to re-rig the ship and re-install her guns and gun carriages. She wi ll re-open to the public in fall 2017. Until then, visitors can view the ship from the pier and learn more about her role in American history at the USS Constitution Museum, in Building 22 at the Navy Yard.

Be sure to check out page 45 in this issue's "Sea History for Kids" to learn more about dry docks. Thank you to those who take the time to email. Sea History readers have a wide range of knowledge a nd experience. Together, we can work to keep our maritime history front and center-and accurately told.

-DEIRDRE O'REGAN,

Editor, Sea History SEA HISTORY 160,AUTUMN 2017

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NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION Maritime Heritage Community Gathers Together in the Big Easy, February 2018 The N ational Maritime H istorical Society is holding its 201 8 annual meeting early this yea r- in February, instead of May-to give yo u an opportunity to meet and participate with maritime heritage scholars, museum and organization leaders, and captai ns and professional crew of tod ay's tall ship fleet. The National Maritime Historical Society's SS'h Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with the ll'h Maritime Heritage Conference and the 4S'h Annual Conference on Sail Training and Tall Ships in historic and one-of-a-kind N ew Orleans, next 14-17 February. This, my friends, is a Valentine's gift to us all. The sessions at the triennial M aritime H eritage C onference are always though t-provoking and impressive, no matter where the conference is held, but the venue at the New Orleans Marriott-French Quarter is truly incredible in its own right, and we have negotiated a terrific rate at $164+ per night that yo u will wa nt to take advantage of while it las ts (see foo tnote below fo r reservation info rmation).

The previous M aritime H eri tage Confe rence had nearly 400 participants fro m dozens of maritime organizations and institutions, as well as many independent researchers and interes ted individuals, representing the broad range of the field. Presenters cover a wide range of topics in p apers given in concurrent sess ions over the course of four days. Yo u won't want to miss this year's keynote speaker, award-winning author N athaniel Philbrick, whose new book, Valiant Ambition, looks at the relationsh ip betwee n George Was hington and Benedict A rnold.

O f course, he is best k now n fo r his New York Times bestseller In the H eart of the Sea, which won the N ational Book Award for non-fiction, and was later made into a blockbuster movie of the same title. H e continues to write bestselling books chronicling the fasc inating and important stories in American history, including Sea of Glory about the US Exploring Expedition, M ayflower, and even a recent venture into children's books, with the 2017 release of Ben's Revolution. Space d ictates we cannot list the many awa rds and accolades he h as so deservedly received, but NMHS m embers will be pleased to note that one of the fi rs t was our own Robert G . Albion/James Monroe Awa rd fo r maritime historiography in 2003.

In addition to the insightful speakers we' ll hear from during the conference sessions, we will visit the National World War II M useum in the historic Wa rehouse District.

Nathaniel Philbrick Visitors to the museum experience the sto ry of the wa r from the perspective of the H ome Front, and follow in the foo tsteps of the citizen soldier in 360-degree displays of key settings in Wo rld War II .

I have yet to meet anyone who wasn't gratified to have attended one of the M aritime Heritage Confe rences, the event that brings together scholars and professionals from all the disciplines of the maritime heri tage field, where we broaden our perspective and discover Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) greater projects collectively. The sessions and presentations are not just info rmative and interesting, they stimulate and engage. They create new ventures, inspire new research, on display at the National WWII Museum. and connect old colleagues and introduce new friends. William Roka, historian and public programs manager at South Street Seaport Museum, exemplifies this: "The 2014 Ma ritime H eritage Conference in No rfolk, Virginia, h as remai ned one of the most fr uitful of the many co nferences I h ave attended . The opportunity to meet and learn fro m fellow scholars and enthusiasts involved in a broad range of maritime subj ects, from history to oceanography, is an absolute highli ght of this gathering. A ttending the conference inspi red me to stick with and delve deeper into my own passion for maritime history, especially that of ocea n liners on the North A tlantic. I absolutely look fo rwa rd to the 11'" M aritime H eritage Co nference in February 201 8, with the Big Easy playing host, and am excited to have a another chance to sh are and discuss all things maritime."

W hile summer winds down and February might seem far in the future, I suggest you do more now than just "save the date," but that you register for the conference soon and book your room , and check back with www.seahistory.o rg fo r updates as the date gets closer. We'll see you in N ew Orleans in February... and all that jazz. -Burchenal Green, President Reserve your room online using the conference passkey at https://aws.passkey.com/go/Maritime2018. The d iscounted conference rate does not apply fo r rooms before February 13th but is accepted for lim ited numbers in the days fo llowing the con ference. The online registration link fo r the con fe rence and fo r hotel reservations are online on the websites for the National Maritime H istorical Society (www.seahistory.org) and fo r Tall Ships A merica (www.sailtraining.org).

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SEA HISTORY 160, AUT UNrN 201 7

~ ~ "Our

Maritime Communities-Stronger Together"

Save the Date!

Maritime Herita e

14-17 February 2018 •New Orleans Call for Presenters

The 11th Maritime Heritage Conference, the 45th Annual Conference on Sail Training and Tall Ships, and the 55th NMHS Annual Meeting will come together for an information-packed, joint conference encompassing a broad array of topics this coming February in the historic port city of New Orleans. The Maritime Heritage Conference, last held in 2014, brings together all elements of the maritime heritage community to discuss topics of common interest. Tall Ships America's Conference on Sail Training and Tall Ships is held annually and has earned a reputation for its high take-away value, networking opportunities, and camaraderie. The conference steering committee invites you to become involved in the 2018 joint conference as a presenterboth individual and session proposals are encouraged. Don't miss this unique opportunity to gather with individuals from all segments of the maritime community.

45TH ANNUAL CONFERENCEON SAIL TRAINING AND TALL SHIPS Papers and sessions topics include, but are not limited to: •Maritime and Naval History •Maritime Art, Literature, and Music •Education and Preservation •Underwater Archaeology •Trade and Communications •Maritime Libraries, Archives, and Museums •Marine Science and Ocean Conservation •Historic Vessel Restoration •Maritime Heritage Grant Program •Maritime Landscapes •National Marine Sanctuaries •Inland Waters Commerce and Seaport Operations •Small Craft •Shipbuilding •Marine Protected Areas

Focus sessions include, but are not limited to: •Crew and Staff Training and Development •Tall Ships, Sail Training, and Education Under Sail •Vessel Operations and Safety •Tall Ships®Events and Host Ports •Not-for-Profit Administration •Fund Development •Media and Publications •Marketing and Social Media Individual paper and session proposals should include a one-page abstract and a one-page biographical statement about each presenter. Please email proposals to Dr. David Winkler and Jonathan Kabak at: proposalsmhc@ gmail.com. The deadline for papers and session proposals is 1November2017.

The conference venue is the beautiful New Orleans Marriott-French Quarter, 555 Canal Street. Rooms are available at the terrific rate of $164+ per night! (See bottom of page 8 for passkey and reservation information).

Details of the conference schedule, registration and reservation information, guidelines for proposals, and sponsorship opportunities are posted online at: www.seahistory.org and www.sailtraining.org. Sponsors of the conference from $500 to $15,000 are encouraged to participate and will be amply recognized. :';!'!"

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The National Maritime Historical Society to Honor Brian D'lsernia, Captain Bert Rogers, and Philip J. Webster at its 2017 Gala Annual Awards Dinner, 26 October, at the New York Yacht Club.

by Julia Church

T

he 2017 NMHS Annual Awards Dinner chairman, George Carmany III, and vice chairman, Christopher J. Culver, invite you to join us as we celebrate three illustrious members of the maritime community and their accomplishments on 26 October, at the New York Yacht Club in New York City. The National Maritime Historical Society is honored to recognize American shipbuilder and preservationist Brian D 'Isernia with the NMHS Distinguished Service Award.

Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., 24th Commandant of the US

Coast Guard, will present the award. Captain Bert Rogers, Executive Director of Tall Ships America, will receive NMHS's Distinguished Service Award. Deirdre O 'Regan, editor of Sea History and a former crewmember under Captain Bert Rogers, will make the presentation.

The Society is also pleased to recognize Philip J. Webster, NMHS overseer and the fo unding chairman of the National Maritime Awards Dinner, with the David A. O 'Neil Sheet Anchor Award.

Richard du Moulin will serve as master of ceremonies for this gala event, and the talented US Coast Guard Academy Cadet Chorale will perform under the direction of Dr. Robert Newton.

NMHS Chairman Ronald Oswald addresses the guests and awardees at last year's dinner in the spectacular Model Room ofthe New York Yacht Club. Each year, guests are captivated by the performance ofthe US Coast Guard Academy Cadet Chorale and enjoy getting to meet the up-and-coming leaders ofthe Coast Guard during the dinner.

Brian D'Isernia Brian D'Isernia, distinguished sailor, fisherman, shipbuilder, maritime industry innovator, and maritime heritage preservationist, is the owner and chief executive officer of Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Florida, which he founded in 1976. He started a career in law after graduating from Fordham University School of Law and passing the New York State Bar. In addition to his law degree, Mr. D 'Isernia also holds a degree in economics from Georgetown University. After a few years in law, he decided to change careers and opened a four-vessel commercial fishing enterprise out ofNew Bedford, Massachuserrs. He transitioned from commercial fishing to ship construction when he founded Eastern Shipbuilding Group, which remains his primary foc us today, boasting a portfolio of over 350 vessels.

D 'Isernia undertook a lifelong dream to bring a significant piece of maritime history back to life by building a steel-hull replica of Columbia, the historic 141-foot Gloucester fishing schooner originally built at the A . D . Story Shipyard of Essex, Massachusetts, and designed by the innovative William Starling Burgess. D'Isernia located the original plans in the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. The 1923 original schooner was built for speed, and in the fall of her first season Columbia challenged the legendary schooner Bluenose in the International Fishermen's Cup Races in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Although narrowly defeated, Columbia was one of the few American schooners to provide a challenge to Bluenose. Ninety-one years later, on 10

SEAHISTORY 160,AUTUMN2017

23 August 2014, the replica of Columbia (ESG Hull 981) was launched in Panama City, Florida, at Eastern's Nelson Street facility.

D 'Isernia has been married to the love of his life, Miriam "Mimi," for more than forty-six years and they have ten children together and fourteen grandchildren.

Today, six ofD'Isernia's sons work at the shipyard with Eastern's extended family of dedicated employees in a culture that maintains a hard-working, family-oriented shipbuilding philosophy. In August 2015, son Joey

D'Isernia became president of Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., with the senior D'Isernia remaining as CEO.

(above) The 141 foot steel replica ofColumbia under full sail. The schooner was built in 2014 by Brian D1sernia's Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Florida. (left) Mimi and Brian D 'Isernia at the helm.

Captain Bert Rogers's Bert Rogers's skills as a sailing ship captain have earned him the reputation as a "driver" and compelling leader to teach and nurture the next generation of students and trainees who come aboard tall ships, as well as the crews who sail them. Rogers has worked to capture the public's imagination and to help grow interest and appreciation in tall ships as executive director of Tall Ships America. In response to the annual Tall Ships Challenge series, which includes ship races and cruises held at sea between ports, and alternates between the Great Lakes, and the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Gulf coasts of North America, millions have come out to see the glorious tall ships and meet the crews. Tall Ships America is commended by the United States Congress as the national sail training organization representing the United States in the international forum.

During Rogers's time before the mast, he has served as sailmaker, bosun, rigger, mate, and captain aboard sailing school vessels and traditionally rigged sailing ships, including Regina Maris, Sea Cloud, Elizabeth II, Mayflower II, and Lindo/Alexandria.

However, his seafaring career began in 1978, when he joined the brigantine Romanceunder Capt. Arthur Kimberly, winner of the 2008 NMHS Karl Kortum American Ship Trust award-for a three-week voyage that took a kid from Iowa and set him on a course for a seagoing career. Rogers's intention was to sail aboard Romance for three weeks; however, those three weeks turned into three years, during which the ship circumnavigated the globe.

Rogers served as captain and program director for sail training and ocean education programs aboard the schooner Spirit of Massachusetts from 1985 to 1993, and was instrumental in developing both college and high school semesters-at-sea programs.

Bert Rogers in command of Spirit of Massachusetts in the fall of 1988 during SEAmester, a full semester at sea for undergraduates.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

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From Spirit's decks, he transitioned to Sail Adventures in Learning in Maine. While with SAIL, Rogers oversaw the purchase and refit of the schooner Harvey Gamage, and in 1996, Rogers and Alix Thorne created a new sail training organization, the Schooner Harvey Gamage Foundation, later renamed Ocean Classroom Foundation.

They went on to purchase additional vessels-his former command, Spirit of Massachusetts, and the schooner Westward-to round out the Beet. In 2008 , Bert ass umed command of Tall Ships America, then known as the American Sail Training Association.

Rogers is a major influence in preserving the skills to maintain and operate h istoric ships and replica vessels, in the promotion of the public's interest and appreciation of traditional sailing ships, and in supporting the continuing professional education and safety standards for professional crewmembers who preserve, operate, and pass along the legacy of today's tall ships. His dedication is unwavering and the reach of his powerful legacy is broad.

Schooners Harvey Gamage and Spirit of Massachusetts, sailing for Ocean Classroom Foundation.

Philip J. Webster Philip Webster comes from a family of mariners; the stories of his great-grandfather, a clipper ship captain in the China trade in the 1850s, fueled his interest in maritime heritage as a youth. His grandfather was a maritime author and photographer, and his father served as a military officer in World War I, searching for German U-boats in the North Atlantic.

Webster's contributions to maritime interests are manifold: He served on the USS Massachusetts Memorial Committee, which established Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. He was a governor of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and president of the USS Sequoia Preservation Trust, and is a trustee and former vice chairman of the Sultana Education Foundation. He helped establish the Miles River Yacht Club Foundation, which funds 23 non-profits that offer on-the-water programs for Chesapeake youth.

As a trustee and overseer of the National Maritime Historical Society, Webster has generously contributed his vision and talents. Serving as development chair for the Society, he established its strategic plan and has launched multiple fundraising initiatives. Webster is the founding chair of the National Maritime Awards Dinner, held annually in Washington, DC. Next April, NMHS will hold its eighth gala event in our nation's capital.

Webster has also served on numerous conservation, business, arts, hospital, foundation, and educational non-profit boards. He was the corporate communications officer of three New York Stock Exchange-listed corporations and the principal of two international consulting firms. He served in the US Army in Europe, Mexico, and the United States, and was cited by President Ronald Reagan for his private-sector initiative in establishing the Helping Hand Program.

Phil Webster enjoys sailing and has crewed on all kinds of watercraft, from Star, Comet, and catboats to tall ships and 12-meter yachts. He sailed for eight years in the Antigua Classic Yacht Races.

A/;£ · a t·k 1:1e- long sat·tor, Ph1·1 Tv7 we bster is· at ease at t h e h elm o1,+sma l'ier yach ts an d ta ll sh ips 1 e.

You are cordially invited to the NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER Wednesday, 26 October 2017 at the New York Yacht Club in New York City This affair is traditionally sold out and seating is limited, so early responses are imperative. Reservations are $400 per person; $10,000 sponsors a premium table for ten, plus a feature ad page in the dinner journal. Other sponsorship options available. Black tie optional.

Call 914 737-7878, ext. 0 , or email nmhs@seahistory.org, to make your reservation, or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Be sure to visit us online at www.seahistory.org for more information.

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL

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SocrnTY,

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Box 68,

PEEKSKILL,

NY 10566

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

Take an advance look at some ofthe fabulous items featured in our Annual Dinner Silent Auction

Map 26-0riginal map of Bomb Vessels' Action of Riigen, Hornblower Original map of Bomb Vessels ' Action of Rligen. Unframed. Size: 14" x 18.5".

Also included is the Hornblower Companion by C. S. Forester that provides a historical naval context to the adventures of the hero of his many books, Horatio Hornblower. Donated by: H. C. Bowen Smith.

Set of two framed Bolero Plans Interior plan: 28" high by 48" wide Sail plan: 33" high by 39.5" wide Designed by Sparkman & Stephens Signed by Olin Stephens

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Bolero is a classic "maxi" ocean racer built by Henry B. Nevins in 1949, considered the ultimate example of an ocean racer.

Bolero was a regular participant in major races, and served as the Flagship of the New York Yacht Club. In 1955, she was sold to a well-known Swedish yachtsman who extended her successful racing career on both sides of the Atlantic. A major restoration was carried out at the Brewer Pilots Point Marina in Westbrook, Connecticut, in 2001- 2002. Since then she has cruised and raced in New England, the Chesapeake, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. Serigraph on Coventry rag paper. Donated by: Sparkman & Stephens.

* More Items to Come * More Items to Come * More Items to Come * Limited edition prints ... ship models ... jewelry ... cruises ... special gift items ... nautical collectibles ... resort vacations ... exclusive museum tours ... great maritime reads ... and much more!

Keep checking our web site www.seahistory.org for an updated list!

If you are unable to attend NMHS's gala event on 26 October, let us bid for you!

Call 800-221-6647, ext. 0, and we'll set you up with your own personal bidding representative.

All proceeds from the auction benefit the work of the Society.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

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Collision in the Narrows: the 1917 Halifax Harbor Explosion

by Roger Marsters, PhD, Nova Scotia Museum

T

e morning of 6 December 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, began like any ther in this busy wartime port. In he homes, schools, and factories !ining its sloping shores, Haligonians started a new day, and in the harbor ships were getting underway, either putting to sea with supplies for war-torn Europe or arriving in port from across the Atlantic. In the course of the next several hours, the city and its 60,000 inhabitants would be forever changed when two cargo sh ips collided in the constricted passage- the Narrowsconnecting Halifax Harbor with the protected anchorage, Bedford Basin, at its northwest end.

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Halifax is mainland North America's closest large port to Europe. This status has given it outsized importance in times of transAtlantic conflict, and this was very much the case after 1914. At that time, the shoreline along the Narrows was shaped by rail lines stretching from deep-water shipping terminals westward into the continental interior, to the cities of central Canada and the wheat farms of the prairies.

The railway and its links to the shipping

piers provided a livelihood and sustenance for local communities, especially those on the northern end of the Halifax peninsula, adjacent to the Richmond District, and the residents of Africville, a historic AfricanNova Scotian community. The shipping terminals were a major industrial hub in the early part of the twentieth century, and represented the city's ambition to serve as Canada's gateway to the Atlantic. This ambition was spectacularly realized during the First World War, as the port became Canada's primary conduit to the battlefronts of Europe .

The port's rail and shipping facilities were quickly integrated into the nation's war effort. Halifax became Canada's primary military embarkation port, as hundreds of thousands of service personnel departed from its deep-water terminals for the battlefields of Europe. It also served as a major convalescent center for wounded soldiers returning home from battle, with reception faci lities at Pier 2 and a new 250bed hospital at Camp Hill. Well before 6 December 1917, Halifax was as fully engaged in the war as any North American city could be.

The steamship Mont-Blanc, a 320-foot French freighter, left New York on 1 December, carrying bulk high explosives and other war materiel for France, and headed to Halifax to join a convoy for the transAt!antic crossing. It arrived off the entrance to the harbor late in the day on 5 December and waited until first light when the anti-submarine barrier was opened and ships could enter. Mont-Blanc passed the Halifax Naval Yard on its port side and entered the Narrows as it headed for the convoy rendezvous in Bedford Basin.

The Norwegian ship Imo was under charter for the Belgian Relief Commission and was in port on its way to New York, where it would load food and clothing for the people of occupied Belgium. The 430-

Map shows Halifax, 1918. Inset: Modern-day view ofthe Narrows looking southwards from Bedford Basin, with Halifax Peninsula upper right, and Tuft's Cove in the foreground (bottom left, by the red and white stacks).

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SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

The French cargo ship Mom-Blanc pulled in to Halifax to join up with a convoy before crossing the Atlantic with munitions, explosives, and supplies for France. foot steamship left the protected anchorage of Bedford Basin early in the morning on 6 December, passing the Richmond piers and rail tracks to starboard and steered a southeasterly course as it entered the Narrows from the north.

The Narrows, in 1917 as today, serves as a crossroads, a place where peoples and cultures intersect. As the population and activity of the port was growing during the war, indigenous Mi'kmaw people conrinued to live throughout the Halifax region.

The largest such community was at Tuft's Cove on the Dartmouth side of the Narrows, just a few hundred feet away across the waterway from the industrial Richmond District. In Mi'kma'ki-the traditional territory of the Mi'kmaq-the arm of the

sea now called Halifax Harbor is one feature of an ancient and enduring landscape comprising much of today's Eastern Canada. Today Mi'kmaw communities are working to restore an indigenous presence on this ancient and important route, in the shadow of the modern bridges and highways that cross the Narrows and link the coast with the hinterland and the rest of the country.

In 1749, British military and settlers occupied a small portion ofMi ' kma'ki and renamed it Halifax. For more than two and a half centuries since, the southern entrance to the Narrows has been dominated by naval power-first British, and later Canadian. This reach of the harbor supported military operations in the Seven Years' War,

Mi'kmaq at Tuft's Cove settlement, circa 1871.

SEA HISTORY 160,AUTUMN2017

the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, and did so again with the outbreak of global conflict in 1914.

Before 1910, Canada relied on Great Britain's Royal Navy for defense at sea.

With its population concentrated in the North American interior, for a long time Canadians showed little interest in developing naval forces. This changed after the outbreak of war in 1914, as recruits from Quebec, Ontario, and the western part of the country joined their brethren on the Atlantic coast in manning the fledgling Royal Canadian Navy's modest fleet.

Wartime conditions and the economic boom they created brought people to Halifax from all over the world. Many were sojourners here: British, Scandinavian, and South Asian seamen in port for a few days; Italian and Ukrainian railway navvies (workers who built railways); itinerant dock workers remitting wages to families in faraway homelands. Others, including Greek merchants and Chinese businesspeople, came and stayed.

As the sun rose over the city, Imo and Mont-Blanc were steering reciprocal courses for the same narrow passage separating Hali fax from Dartmouth and connecting the outer harbor with the anchorage in Bedford Basin. Mont-Blanc was carrying nearly 3,000 tons of explosives in its holds, along with highly flammable benzol in barrels on the weather deck. Imo was traveling in ballast (empty), and as a result was floating higher out of the water with its rudder partially exposed. As the two ships maneuvered for position in the Narrows, a series of ill-fated moves ended with Imo striking Mont-Blanc's bow. Although the damage from impact was not severe, when fire broke out on the deck of Mont-Blanc, the crew understood their immediate danger and quickly launched lifeboats and abandoned ship. With the French freighter on fire and without a crew on board, it began to drift towards the Halifax side until it came to rest against Pier 6 in the Richmond District. Crowds of onlookers came down to the waterfront to witness the spectacle, unaware of the ship's explosive cargo. The ship burned for about twenty minutes before barrels of petrochemical burst on deck, triggering the blast; explosives in the hold below underwent a sudden,

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violent chemical reaction. The enormous energy released by the explosion tore through the ship; in an instant, Mont-Blanc was transformed from a cargo ship to a three-kiloton bomb in the confines of a busy modern harbor.

The explosion's discharged gasses forced enormous heat and pressure outwards in all directions. A sharp change in pressure at the leading edge of this blast

wave-the shock from-drove air, water, and accumulating debris at great velocity through the districts straddling both sides of the Narrows. A roiling cloud of hot gas rose high above the sire; chunks and shards of rhe steel ship were thrown across an eighrkilomerer range. Vaporized fuel and chemical by-products of rhe explosion rained down, coating people and wreckage with a dark, oily film.

Some 2,000 people were killed by rhe blast and its after-effects; at least 9,000 were injured and many more were made homeless. The city's growing cosmopolitan character is reflected in those claimed by rhe blast: the explosion's destructive force did not discriminate based on ethnicity or national origin. The Mi'kmaw community on the Dartmouth side was completely obliterated. Uninjured people in the districts immediately surrounding the devastated area provided the first relief, hauling wounded people clear of danger and working to free those pinned in the wreckage. Many first responders were solc;liers and sailors from damaged barracks and Canadian, British, and American ships in port.

The explosion disrupted communications linking Halifax City to North Amer-

(left) Smoke cloud from the explosion. (below) lhe Norwegian steamship Imo beached on Dartmouth shore after the explosion.

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ica and the rest of the world. Rail lines, roadways, telegraph and telephone lines, and submarine cables all passed through the Narrows and were disrupted by the blast. The explosion also caused a tsunami in the inner harbor, throwing up a surge of water sixty feet above the high-water mark, inundating buildings and facilities and scattering people and debris across several miles.

The channel was choked with ruins of wharves, boars, sheds , and ships-both wrecked and adrift. For more than a kilometer along the Richmond shore, rail facilities were largely obliterated. Tracks were lifted from their railbeds, and more than 500 train cars were damaged or destroyed, including most of the city's military hospital cars. Four cars vanished completely.

Sixty-one railway employees were killed, and rail links to the deep-water piers, as well as the piers themselves, were destroyed.

The sight of ships colliding and burning had drawn the gaze of many on both sides of the Narrows, caught up in the spectacle but having no idea of the imminent danger. When the blast came, hundreds of people suffered damaged eyes among their injuries. Mass blinding was a distinctive consequence of the Halifax Harbor explosion. Among the first of the medical professionals to reach the city after the blast was a Nova Scotian eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist, Dr. George Cox, who arrived in the outskirts of the city by late in the day and walked several kilometers to Camp Hill Hospira! in central Halifax to lend a hand.

Over rhe next four days, Dr. Cox performed seventy-five enucleations (eye removals) and five double enuclearions under chloroform, in addition to dozens of additional procedures using only cocaine as a topical anesthetic. By the end of this time, his instruments were becoming too dull to cut. In all, twelve ophthalmologists treated 592 people suffering from eye injuries, performing 249 enucleations. Relief to the visually impaired in the wake of the disaster contributed directly to the development of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Although nearly 100 years have passed, the memory and lasting effects of the disaster are still present in the city's everyday life. The Hydrostone neighborhood in the SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

North End was built for those displaced by th e disaster, and was specifically designed to minimize the risk from fire.

Extensive relief assistan ce from across Canada and the United States, and from aro und the wo rld, came in t he form of food, medical and building supplies, and skilled personnel. The Halifax Relief Commission was established by provincial statute to administer a $30 million fund for medical care, social welfare, and reconstruction; the Commission continued its work until 1976. Relief from Boston was immediate and ample, reinforcing the special kinship Haligonians have long felt towards that city. Nova Scotians' practice of sending a large Christmas tree as a thank you to the people of Boston has been an unbroken tradition since 1971, w ith the forty-to-fifty-foot tall tree serving as the city's official Christmas tree.

In the disaster's wake, fragments of Mont-Blanc-from the size of a pebble to

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 20 17

Tue Tug Stella Maris and Her Valiant Attempt to Prevent the Halifax Disaster

by Austin Dwyer

On the morning of 6 December, the tug Stella Maris had just passed Imo in the Narrows on its way to Bedford Basin, towing two barges of cinders from the dockyard.

Shortly afterwards, her crew saw the smoke risingfrom the Mom-Blanc, and without wasting a moment, her captain, Horatio Brannen, ordered the barges anchored and turned the tug back to assist. By the time Brannen and his crew arrived at the sce~e, the burning Mom-Blanc had drifted to the Halifax side ofthe Narrows and was resting against Pier 6, shrouded in great plumes ofblack smoke. Other ships in the vicinity sent boats and men to the pier to assist, with the goal ofpulling the burn mg freighter away from the pier to keep it from catching fire. The crew of the Stella Maris was in the process ofgetting a large hawser out of the hold for the task when the Mom-Blanc exploded, killing Captain Brannen and eighteen of his crew. Only five aboard the tug survived. Men from HMS High fl yer and HMCS Niobe, who had come by small boat to help get the burning ship away from the pier, also perished.

The Stella Maris was one of my most challenging painting projects. In 1917, few photographs ofunexpected massive explosions existed. Witnesses did not pull phonesfr~m their pockets to record events. Without photos of the immediate imp.a ct of the ~ollmon of ships and attempted rescue, this artist bridged the gap by exercising imagination, employing artistic license. There were many heroes thatfateful December day. I centered my attention on the tugboat, while acknowledging my appreciation for the efforts of many other brave souls. -Austin Dwyer

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Looking northwards toward Pier 8 from Hillis & Sons Foundry. The blast flattened this p art ofthe city, killing and severely injuring thousands ofpeople, obliterating buildings, cars, and trains. Windows were broken fifty miles away and the shock waves were felt more than 175 miles from ground zero. The 1,140-pound shaft ofthe Mont-Blanc's anchor was recovered more than two miles away.

the size of a car-mixed with the rubble of wrecked ships, railways, houses, buildings, and personal belongings that marked the devastated zone. Survivors and relief workers sometimes kept a piece or two as souvenirs of trauma or pride in service.

Some fragments were turned to practical ends, as boot-scrap ers or paperweights.

Most were cleared, dumped, or recycled.

Afrer World War II, a few became objects of commemoration, emblems of civic fortitude. Recent work in the h arbor h as uncovered more artifacts from that day, including an anchor believed to be from the Halifax-based cruiser HMCS Niobe, which had been moored a half mile from gro und zero and was torn free by the blast and cast adrift. Most every year, erosion or frost heaves up new pieces of this history: Homes destroyed on Campbell Road, Halifax.

important reminders that the explosion's impact is not wholly in the past. J, Roger Marsters is Curator ofMarine History at the Nova Scotia Museum . Like many Nova Scotians, he comes from a long line of shipbuilders and seafarers. His doctoral dissertation examines the relation of indigenous ~ maritime knowledge to hydrographic mapping ~ 8 projects during the 18th and 19th centuries. ~ Nova Scotia Museum: Maritime Museum of ~ ~ L......C-----~-~------------------------~ the Atlantic, 1675 Lower Water Street, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree to the City of Boston each year as a thank you for relief Halifax, Nova Scotia B3] 1S3, Canada; efforts Bostonians made in the wake of the Halifax Harbor explosion of 1917. https:llmuseum. novascotia.cal ~

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SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

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"To Boldly Go ... " NASA Astronauts Taking the Lessons ofSail Training into Space

by Bert Rogers, Executive Oirecror, Tall Ships America, wich Mark Scibinico, Galvesron Hisrorical Foundation/Barque Elissa was already excited ro be traveling ro the Texas Seaport Museum in Galvesron lase spring to be a guest day-sailor aboard che 1877 barque Elissa, but when I saw her ac the pier head early char morning-yards perfectly braced and sails experdy furled , looking sharp and proper in che bright spring sunshine, wich a brisk northerly breeze blowing- I knew I was in for a great day. I had nor seen Elissa under sai l si nce her triumpham emry imo N ew York Harbor, more chan thirty yea rs ago as pare of che 1986 rail ships parade celebrating che Scacue of Liberty cemennial. She was a breathraking sight then, with her proportioned rig and srately profile, as she was masterfully sai led up che Hudson. Now, I had been offered the privilege to sail in her for a day on Galveston Bay, and I couldn't wait to gee underway.

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7he 1877 barque Elissa, Galveston, Texas

As executive direcror for Tall Ships America, I'm nor supposed to have favorites amongst our 175 call ship member vessels and programs of education under sail. I have ro confess, though, to having special affection for Elissa . First, she is no replica, but an authentic and carefully resrored square-rigger-the real thing from the great days of sa il. Second, she is one of very few big museum square riggers that sail every year. Lastly, I have come to admire the great success of her training program for volunteers, rewarding them for the hard work of ma inta ining the ship wich che coveted chance ro sail in her.

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The srory of Elissa's long career as a working cargo ship and her conversion and survival as a museum ship have been well and ably documented in past issues of Sea H istory, and there is no need to cover char ground again. (I encourage readers ro visit www.galvestonhistory.org.) Of particular noce, however, is her recent anainmem of a US Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection as a Sailing School Vessel. Wich chis certification, Elissa is now able to sail further afield and visit nearby ports in che Gulf of Mexico. This is a huge achievemem, not only reflecting the strength and readiness of the vessel, but also opening for her an exciting new fucure of sail training at sea. We look forward to her participation in our Tall Ships C hallenge series of races and maritime evems along the Gulf Coast next year.

With her new stacus, Elissa is now somewhat liberated from her home berth in Galveston and plans are underway for more diverse operations further from home in rhe fucure. Though her original builders spared no expense to make h er strong and seaworthy, clearly investing in h er long productive life, I am sure they would be surprised by her longevity and rhe dramatic evolucions in her mission.

Throughout che Age of Sail and beyond, sailing ships have served as modes of transportation for people, goods, and ideas; insrrumems of war and colonialization; training platforms for maritime officers and seamen; vehicles for exploring the unknown; and agems of rhe world's first true globalization. Ac their peak, chey represented che apex of technology for their era, a cestamem ro the highes t levels of scientific knowledge and skill. Their design, construction, and operation pushed boundaries and inspired innovation, and changed the face of rhe known world. The only relevam analogy today is in che pursuit of space exploration . As I discovered during my sail on 30 March, rhis comparison is surprisingly apropos on board Elissa today.

As I was waiting on rhe pier to board the ship, I was chaning wich Elissa's port captain, Mark Scibinico, who told me abouc chis cool new program they recendy embarked on: "We're training ascronaucs for NASA," he cold me, with a particularly

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Megan McArthur haul on a downhaul during sail training maneuvers.

excited grin spreading across his face. After a momem's double-rake, I goc it. Of course this makes sense, and here's why: NASA regularly seeks out opporcunities ro train astronauts in expeditionary skills to introduce and reinforce behaviors that are shown to lead ro success in spaceflight-and put those skills in practice in a mission environmem. Well, char has sail training wrinen all over ic!

Gening more specific, NASA seeks to develop behavioral skills rhac are essential for successful spaceflight expeditions, including teamwork, leadership/discipline, communication, group living, and reamcare/self-care. Training rhac allows spaceflight crewm embers to nor only m aster these skills, apply them in an environment that has physical challenges, distractions, and even neuro-vestibular implications, is even more applicable to space flight. The high-srakes, outdoor environmem of a ship at sea does just this. It requires adaptability ro sicuations outside of one's comfort zone and lea rning ro manage srressful environmemal inpucs through focused casks and concentration.

But astro naucs don't jusc need ro demonstrate good expeditionary behavioral skills in a mission environment, they have ro do all char while expertly puning to use technical skills without sacrificing their SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

adherence to the other principles. Something seemingly simple as k not-tying aloft on a swaying m as t as part of the sail-setting team beginning a day of offshore sailing is just one of the ma ny examples of the integrated Elissa trai nin g w here individual techn ical proficiency is requi red for overall success.

Mark Scibinico explains how this program originated, and what it means for the evolution ofprogramming aboard Elissa at the Galveston H istorical Foundation:

MARK SCIBINICO: Sail training is clearly a passion of mine, and fo r a restored and fully op eration al historic ship like Elissa, it has become her life blood. As so m any stewards of museum ships h ave fo und, there is a d rive to learn the skills of the p as t and to connect them with the modern wo rld in a meaningful way. In the past, while working in sailing ships, I h ave often joked wit h visitors that sailing ships were the space sh ips of their era. I meant it to be thought-p rovoking and humorous, but I truly meant it. It's so easy to draw the parallel of a gro up of sailors, setting our into the un known carryi ng everyth ing with them they would need to survive. R ight down to the skills of navigation, the sailor of old needed con fidence, tea mwork, and a self- reliance th at is hard to come by in this m odern d igitally connec ted world.

Even the brave m en and wo men in the International Sp ace Station today are more in contac t with the res t of the world than Captain Cook was when he sailed out of sight of shore.

In 2 01 2 I h ad th e good fo rtune of meeting with NASA astronaut Cady C oleman, who the year befo re had taken a piece of Elissa's deck w ith her on an expedition to the Internation al Space Station. I asked her if she wo uld like to cli mb aloft at the dock, and she promptly proceeded to suit up to m ake the climb. Aloft on th e top platform, as we looked aro und the h arbor, I began to give th e usual talk about sail training-how valuable I thought it was and how it push ed and ch allenged people.

It's easy to mak e an imp ression w hen yo u have a captive audience, and it was good fun to entertain th e idea of runn in g a training program for as tronauts .

Fast fo rward to a year later: I received

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 201 7

Mariners always say that up "aloft is the closest to heaven sailors ever get." NASA astronauts training onboard Elissa hop e to get even closer.

a phone call from C hristina Koch, a member of the 21" NASA as tronaut class. Christina and I had met socially a few years back through mutual friends, and I had taken the ch ance then to suggest the training program. After almost eight months of hard work after that conve rsation, th ree personnel fro m NASA Johnson Space Centerastro n auts C hristina Koch and M egan M cArthur, and N ASA Fligh t Director Mary Lawrence-walked down the Texas Seaport Museum dock for two weeks of sail training. We designed the course as an intensive program based on Elissa's existing sail training progra m. The three partici-

pated in a week of classroom and hands-on instruction, followed by a week onboard the ship, where they trained a nd sailed alon gside our crew.

We work with sail trainees yea r round, but for me this particu lar experience was truly a joy. It was challenging and rewa rding, and I k now our trainees took away life lessons and go t a dose of wh at sail training can bring to a person's everyday life. The experience was good for Elissa's program as well. Their depth of experience and op enness to being in a specialized training program gave us an outsider's look at ou r own philosophy and prac tices, and

(l-r) NASAs Mary Lawrence, M egan McArthur, and Christina Koch in Galveston for sail training -,~l~i~~~~~~~~~~ aboard the 1877 barque Elissa.

21

will help us reshape how we teach and connect with folks going forward. It's the balance of self-reliance and teamwork that sells me on sailing every time I go out to sea. You have to have confidence in yourself, bur also be able to check and supplement that with full confidence in others and know when to balance the bigger picture. The adage of"ship, shipmate, self" always rings true to me, and is the core of all the skills we teach.

Trainee Christina Koch said, "Many elements that are important in astronaut training-things like being part of an integrated crew, sharing a working and living space, self-sufficiency, and focus on technical performance while communicating effectively-are also important when working aboard a ship like the Elissa. It is interesting to me to think about how skills relevant to one of the world's earliest forms of exploration may be applicable to our current goals for space exploration."

"We were excited and honored to host the NASA astronauts and flight director for training and hope this grows into more training opportunities and a lasting partnership," commented Galveston Historical Foundation's CEO Dwayne Jones. "I had never considered how similar the experience of Elissa's crews sailing across the oceans were with an astronaut's voyage into space.

Once I gave it some thought, however, I realized it makes perfect sense to link the fascinating expeditions of our maritime past with those of the furure. GHF is thrilled to offer Elissa as a way to help make that connection across the centuries."

BERT ROGERS: After hearing from Mark, Dwayne, and Christina about this unique application of the sail training experience, I can only reflect about how surprised Elissa's builders would have been, as they laid her keel 140 years ago, if they had known that one day she would help men and women prepare themselves to explore the heavens! Throughout my nearly fourdecade career, I have always believed the true value of sailing ships in the modern world is not just their majesty under sail, or as links to our proud maritime heritage, or as a place to learn esoteric nautical skills.

These are all wonderful and important values to be sure, but there is so much more.

It is the personal discoveries one gains while 22

sailing a hard voyage with a good crew that are the real value these ships offer us .

Stretching one's courage, confidence, competency, and ability to work together for a common goal are the values that sailing ships have offered since the days when green midshipmen shipped out as callow youths, eventually to return home as capable and seasoned adults. When we heed their call and meet their rigorous demands, sailing ships offer us passage from our old selves to our new and better ones. They have always done so, and they continue to do so today in the Tall Ships America membership. As NASA has so wisely observed, to produce the best possible person to do the best possible job, it is not enough to work at a lab bench.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day aboard Elissa. Captain Sean Bercaw, chief mate

John Svenson, and the rest of the officers and crew handled the ship with skill and precision, racking and wearing ship like old salts and modern professionals. Indistinguishable from the regular volunteer crew, as they hauled lines and scurried aloft, were contemporary explorers who one day will be navigating a different kind of shipin outer space. It was deeply gratifying, though nor so very far-fetched, to consider that the personal skills they acquired aboard a nineteenth-century ship might help them bring their own craft safely home again in the twenty-first century. ,!, Bert Rogers is Executive Director at Tall Ships America: www.tallshipsamerica.org. Mark Scibinico is Port Captain for Texas Seaport Museum, Galveston Historical Foundation: www.galvestonhistory.org.

0

cean voyaging and space exploration have long been associated with one another. The spacecraft used in the shuttle program were all named for famous sailing ships involved in ocean exploration and scientific expeditions: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. The term "astronaut" comes from the Greek words meaning "space sailor." The term RV Atlantis has been maintained as the title for those selected to join the NASA corps of astronauts who make "space sailing" their career profession. 1 Although the US Space Shuttle program was retired after the final flight of Atlantis in 2011, American astronauts are still going to space to man the International Space Station (ISS), via Russian spacecraft. The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields.

Americans selected as candidates for the NASA astronaut program are assigned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for two years of training and evaluation. The intensive training program is designed to help candidates develop a wide range of expertise in fields and skills that will allow them to handle the rigors of space flight and the confines of living in a small space with other astronauts. In addition, astronaut candidates receive training to further develop scientific and technical expertise, medical proficiency, robotics skills, flight readiness, and even Russian language skills. While sail training might not be of much help in Russian language skills, it has a lot to offer in developing readiness for group tasks, communal living, operating in a moving and pitching environment, and even how to manage working while suffering from the effects of motion sickness.

1 NASA : www.nasa.gov/astronauts

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

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23

A New Look at Nathaniel Bowditch, Nineteenth-Century America's Numbers Man f there is one reason that Nathaniel Bowditch 's New American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, became the standard American maritime manual, it was the accuracy of its navigational tables. Yes, as a replacement for the old standby, Englishman John Hamilton Moore's New Practical Navigator, Bowditch's work held patriotic appeal. And it was true enough that Bowditch 's Navigator was clearer and better organized than Moore's, even if most of the text was essentially the same. But it was the numbers that sold American mariners on Bowditch.

The unprecedentedly reliable tables, keyed to the mathematically regular movements of heavenly bodies, allowed mariners to establish their position at sea with certainty. Bowditch didn't create these numbers, of course, as they were based on the universals of mathematics and astronomy, as were Moore's. But, being a numbers man, Bowditch reworked tens of thousands of calculations and discovered no fewer than 8,000 errors in Moore's published tables.

Despite the fact that it had been the most popular navigational text since it was first published in 1772, it was no secret that Moore's numbers couldn't be trusted; in 1791, Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the later edns. are so incorrect as to be worth nothing." 1 In welcome contrast, you could stake your life on the accuracy of Bowditch's numbers. Many mariners did, and theyand their cargoes-made it to their destinations safely.

To Bowditch, the precision of numbers and the regularity and predictability of the solar system offered more than reliable navigational data. They inspired a vision that extended beyond the sea and the sky to dry land. In fact, if we know Bowditch only as the author of the Navigator-or even as an astronomer and mathematician of some note-we are missing out on what made the man tick, and his even longer lasting and broader legacy.

It was a temperamental commitment to numerical precision that would guide all his endeavors and launch Bowditch on h is nautical publication project. The Navigator grew out of his mission to correct Moore's tables of numbers. Think fo r a moment about what was involved. These

by Tamara Plakins Thornton

I

24

Second edition copy ofThe New American Practical Navigator, by Nathaniel Bowditch, printed by Edmund M. Blunt, May 1807 This copy is available for purchase at the Arader Gallery in New York. www.aradernyc.com. numbers had first been generated by people termed "computers," toiling away with pen and paper. Sophisticated mathematical knowledge was not required; patience was.

"Nothing can exceed the tediousness and ennui of the life the assistant leads in this place," wrote a computer at England's Greenwich Observatory in 1809. "He spends days, weeks, and months in the same long wearisome computations." 2 It seemed impossible that such endless drudgery could produce perfectly accurate res ults, and in fact it could not. "I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam," exclaimed English mathematician Charles Babbage, mindful of how inhumane the labor was and how many lives and how much treasure rode on the reliability of nautical tables.3 By 1833, he had designed the first mechanical computer for precisely that task.

But for Bowditch, such calculations were anything but "wearisome." They had long been a source of pleasure to him and wonderment to others, giving him a reputation as a mathematical whiz. In his youth, people believed that the sign of mathematical brilliance was not abstract theorizing, but doing complex arithmetic problems in one's head. Bowditch excelled at these computational parlor tricks. When he was a ship's clerk, mate, and supercargo in the 1790s, his captain used to brag that Nathaniel was "the greatest calculator in

America,"4 even placing bets on his success in mathematical challenges.

It must have been galling, then, when a new entrant in the business of navigation manuals, Scotsman Andrew Mackay, questioned the accuracy of Bowditch's numbers.

The American's Navigator "pretended to be very correct," wrote Mackay in the preface to h is Complete Navigator, published in London two years after his Yankee rival's, bur in fact it was filled with "many errors and contradictions." After pointing out a few such mistakes, he concluded that it would be "a tedious task to enumerate the errors contained in the above-mentioned book." 5 Mackay's Philadelphia publisher added his own taunt, noting that "pretensions to accuracy are, indeed, more numerous than real attentions to that subject."6 In a suddenly competitive market for navigation manuals-Bowditch (1802), Mackay (1804), and Englishman J. W. Norie (1805) now contended with Moorethe Scotsman's critique posed a real threat.

Initially, American booksellers carried all four books. Who would win out? Who was the real authority? Surely Mackay was a man whose word carried weight. Though not a un iversity graduate, he had received two honorary doctorates, been elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and taught mathematics, astronomy, and navigation in Aberdeen and London. Who was this Bowditch? A self-taught supercargo w ith SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

decidedly provincial credentials-an honorary degree from H arvard, then far from a world-class institution, and membership in a Boston scientific society with a reputation that barely extended beyond New England.

Bowditch had to wait for the second edition of his Navigator-three long yea rs-before he could take on Mackay, and even then he faced a big problem.

Mackay was actually right. There was nothing wrong with the American first edition, but Bowditch 's Newburyport publisher had sold the rights to a London edition, and that imprint, by fault of either the publisher or the printer (or both) , contained the errors Mackay had spotted.

Bowditch decided the thing to do was to turn the tables on Mackay-literally: "The remark made by Doctor Mackay in the preface of his work, that, 'the case of the seaman who has to trust to such [my] tables ... is truly lamentable,"' he wrote, "might in many instances apply with equal justness to his own table." 7 Go after Bowditch where it hurt-his numbersand he would take aim at you with mathematical precision.

Mind you, Bowditch wasn't just talented with numbers. He delighted in them.

He loved their precision and certainty. As a young man seeking knowledge, wrote an early mentor, Nathaniel "found too much of opinion" in literature, but when he turned to mathematics, "he found from the power of numbers," at last, "something sure." 8 In giving mariners the unprecedentIn this 1835 portrait by Charles Osgood, Bowditch sits with the first two volumes ofhis Mecanique Celeste translation, as a bust ofLaplace looks on.

ed ability to pinpoint their positions at sea, the practice of celestial navigation only reinforced his appreciation of that power.

And because the navigational technique known as "working lunars" works only because the movement of celestial bodies is m athem atically predictable, it also gave Bowditch a keen appreciation of order,

regularity, and system. That appreciation only intensified in the early decades of the nineteenth century, when Bowditch quit the sea and undertook what he considered far more important than his Navigator, the translation and annotation of Pierre Simon de Laplace's Mecanique Celeste. For a man as enthralled with number and system as

Scotsman Andrew Mackay published The Theory and Practice of finding the Longitude at Sea or on Land: to which are added various Methods of D etermining the Latitude of a Place by Variation of the Compass: with new Tables in 1793. Two more editions followed in 1801 and 1810, fo r which he received accolades from the boards oflongitude ofEngland and France. His 1804 release of The Complete Navigator came two years after the publication ofBowditch's The New American Practical Navigator.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

25

Nathaniel Bowditch, Laplace's celebrated work was the ultimate revelation, a mathematical demonstration of the perfect regularity of the physical universe.

Laplace inspired Bowditch even when the Yankee put aside his mathematics and science. Bowditch, we should not forget, had a day job. He was a business executive, first in Salem (1803-23) and then in Boston (1823-38). At the same time, he took on major responsibilities with a number of influential institutions, reforming the way they worked. In all of these roles, Bowditch made his mark as a man of number and system.

Take his work with Salem's East India Marine Society (now the Peabody Essex Museum), an elite institution of captains and supercargoes in the Asia trade. In 1804, the society instructed Bowditch to take charge of the members' logbooks, and "to arrange & methodize the same." 9 They knew their man. Three years earlier, Bowditch had "methodized" the keeping oflogs by preparing "blank forms & printed directions to be furnished Members going abroad," this in a day when printed blank forms were few and far between. 10 Marine bills oflading were printed forms, but most business documents-invoices, receipts, marine insurance and mortgage loan applications, even powers of attorney-were handwritten one-offs. Bowditch was drawn to blank forms because they systematized and standardized the collection of information.

Then in 1820, when he became president of the society, Bowditch set about methodizing its ethnographic and natural history collections. The museum's holdings had been "in a perishing condition," he reported, a higgledy-piggledy of unrelated artifacts "without any marks by which they could be identified." But under his direction, numbers had "been painted upon most of the articles," and a "catalogue corresponding to the numbers" was forthcoming.11 All of this was novel. If museums and libraries "cataloged" their collections at all, it was by compiling a chronological list of donations or an alphabetical list of books by author. Not a number-or numbering system-in sight.

When he moved to Boston in 1823, Bowditch brought with him his organiza26

"Dr. Bowditch's Study in Early Life." Frontispiece to Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons (1810). At home, Bowditch conducted his mathematical studies at a tall sloping desk with a high stool, typical ofa merchant's counting house set-up. tional methods. As head of a trust and investment corporation, he introduced a set of office procedures the likes of which had never been seen. One of his first initiatives was to create sets of various blank forms and have them printed up. (When one handwritten loan application came in "on a little nasty piece of paper," he claimed he was "almost tempted" to deny it. 12) He numbered every mortgage loan, required that his agents refer to each loan by number and pen the number on the outside of each relevant document, and in an early organizational system-file cabinets and even paper clips were decades away-insisted that papers referencing the same loan number be bundled together. So novel were such procedures that the company highlighted them in its annual reports, and an early memoirist eulogized Bowditch's blank forms and pre-ruled ledgers along with his nautical and scientific accomplishments.

Bowditch left his tell-tale calling cards-numbering systems, blank forms, catalogs-everywhere he went in the 1820s and 30s. When he encountered the problem of missing and mutilated books at the Boston Athenaeum, and no means of keeping track of the collections, he had every library shelf assigned a number and every book penciled with its numerical location. Next came a document listing the contents of every numbered shelf, and finally a new "scientific Catalogue," with printed num-

bers next to each entry indicating shelf placement. As a member of Harvard's governing board, he had Harvard's books "classified and arranged in the Library; and numbered with reference to their places on the shelves." 13 He responded to the administrative chaos he found at that institution-from minutes kept on "detached scraps" 14 of paper to missing financial accounts-by spearheading a controversial purge of its leaders, including the president.

The next administration bore Bowditch's imprint. The new president, a longtime Bowditch friend known as the "great organizer,"15 introduced a new grading system, novel in its use of-what else?-numbers.

At the start of the twentieth century, Bowditch's particular version of working lunars was dropped from the latest edition of the Navigator. With it went his closest claim to fame for originality in maritime knowledge. As for his translation and annotation of Laplace's Mecanique Celeste, that might have been an even worse bet for lasting fame. Who, after all, remembers Laplace?

But Bowditch's legacy is, in fact, everywhere around us. Take a look at the cover of your Sea History: issue number 160. Look at the bottom of the table of contents page: ISSN 0146-9312. That International Standard Serial Number is part of a numbering system introduced in the 1970s. It's a descendant of the novel num-

SEA HISTORY 160,AUTUMN 2017

bering systems Bowditch introduced over 150 years earlier. Oh, and did you tear out those subscription request postcards?

They're blank forms. In his day, Bowditch gave mariners the numbers to navigate the seas. Today, we navigate a sea of numbers.

It's all part of a modern world Bowditch helped to create. ,t NOTES ! Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 21 June 1791, in J. C. A Stagg, ed., The Papers offames Madison, Digital Edition (Charlottesville: University Press ofVirginia, 2010).

2 John Evans, The juvenile Tourist (London, 1809), 334.

3 H. Harry Wilmot Buxton, Memoir ofthe Life and Labours ofthe Late Charles Babbage, FR.S. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987), 6.

4 Alexander Young, The Varieties ofHuman Greatness. A Discourse on the Life and Character ofNathaniel Bowditch, LLD., FR. S (Boston, 1840), 33.

5 Andrew Mackay, The Complete Navigator (London, 1804), xiv.

6 United States' Gazette, 9 Feb. 1807.

7 Nathaniel Bowditch, The New American Practical Navigator, 2d ed. (Newburyport, 1807), ix-x.

8 [William Bentley], Essex Register, 29 Apr. 1818.

CATALOGUE OF JOUR KALS. VoL. 2.-No. 11. Kc1cl1 Three F'ricnds, James S1unr1 master, from, !he fslc of .Fnuicc co U11.tllvin1 tmd back, thence 10 511.lcm, 1801-1 802.

No. J2. Ship Active, Goorgc Nichob 1M.•1er, from Salem lo Sumtll rn and Manilh&, 1hc11cc back to Fulmoutlt in .Engl1tml, 180 1- 1802.

No. JS. Ship Recovery, Luther Dlil.111 muster, from Sa1em to 5'1111 11 11'1l1 and thence to Cadiz, 1802.

No. 14. Ship •:11."4!x 1 J05t'ph Orne mtl.iter, from Salem to Calcutta, um] back, t1ia 'cw York, 1802-1803. l'io. 15. Brig 'J'clcmachus, Hl!nry Elkin• mast~, from Sa· lcm 10 Arabia, (l\fnculla) a.nd back, J800-180S.

Kept by Victor Blulr,jr.

No. 16. Ship 'l'wo Brothcr1, Jolin Holman mn!ler, from Gibmhar to tbe (1!11 of fnnce, o.nd thence to Sa· lem, 1802-1805.

No. lT. Urig Sukey, George Ropes mnstcr, from Virginia to the West lmlies, Alcxundria, Lialion1 Rochelle, HMTe and Snlcm, J802- 1803 .

No. 18. Ship flnzard, Richard Gardner muter, from Sa· )cm to lhwre de Grace, Antwerp nnd CalcuUa1 thence bo.ck lO Salem, 1802-1 80:3. Kept by JOK.11h Phippen.

No. 19. Ship Bonctta, Benjamin Ruuell master, from Salem 10 Moc.hu, antl back, l SOS-1804 . Kept by Thoma.. B. Osgood.

No. 20. Ship Putnam, alhanicl Dowdi1cb master, from Sa1em to Sumatra, hie of Fran~, and back, 1802- l &OS.

9 Minutes

of the East India Marine Society, 4 Jan. 1804, vol. l, Bl, East India Marine Society Records [EIMSR], Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.

10 Minutes of the East India Marine Society, 4 Nov. 1801, Bl, Fl, EIMSR. 11 Report of the East India Marine Society Committee to Procure a New Catalogue of the Museum, 5 Feb. 1820, ser. VII,

Nathaniel Bowditch memorial in the Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

SEAHISTORY 160,AUTUMN2017

(left) Since its founding in 1799, the East India Marine Society had required its members to submit nautical and commercial intelligence from their voyages into the Pacific and Indian oceans, but compliance was intermittent and information haphazard. When Bowditch took over as "Inspector ofjournals" in 1804, he regularized information gathering by issuing printed directions and standardized logbooks. Here we see his final product: numbered, bound, and indexed volumes ofjournals. No. 20 is Bowditch's own record as captain ofan 1802-03 voyage to Sumatra and what is now called Mauritius.

Scrapbook no. 2, EIMSR. 12 Nathaniel Bowditch to Elijah Alvord, 12 Jan. 1826, LA-1, Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company Collection, Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

13 Harvard University, Corporation, Corporation Records: Minutes, 1643-1989, Vol. 7, 15 Nov. 1832, Harvard University Archives.

14 Nathaniel Bowditch, "College History," 1828, Harvard University Archives, 56.

15 Edmund Quincy, Life ofJosiah Quincy ofMassachusetts (Boston, 1869), 482.

Tamara Plakins Thornton is an awardwinning author and professor of history at the State University ofNew York, Buffalo.

This article is based on her recent book, Nathaniel Bowditch and the Power of Numbers: How a Nineteenth-Century Man of Business, Science, and the Sea Changed American Life, winner of the 2016 john Lyman Book Award in the category ofNaval and Maritime Biography and Autobiography. john Lyman Books Awards are awarded by the North American Society for Ocean History (NASOH) to authors and editors whose books contribute significantly to the understanding of the maritime and naval history ofNorth America, its rivers and lakes and adjoining oceans. Dr. Thornton's book was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2016 (ISBN 978-1-46962693-2). Her current research on early America focuses on the quantitative sciences, mathematical geography, and the impact of terrestrial and celestial globes on global thinking.

27

Probing the Mysteries of the Jones Act- Part 2

by Michael J. Rauworth In the previous issue of Sea History (Summer 2017, No. 159), we began looking at the Jones Act, which pops up in the national news cycle every so often but confounds most people as to what it is. While politicians and those uninvolved in maritime pursuits occasionally debate its merits and flaws with regard to the economy, few outside of the industry and maritime law have a grasp of what it is, how and why it was created, and why it matters.

This nearly century-old legislation holds great sway over the lives and professions of merchant mariners and those in the shipping industry, and even they often don't understand its intent and effects. In Part 1, attorney and master mariner Mike Rauworth introduced us to the legal doctrines on which the law was based, especially concerning the rights of seamen to sue their employer when they become injured or ill while in service to their ship. In this issue, he delves into the Jones Act itself.

-Deirdre O 'Regan, Editor, Sea History Port ofLos Angeles s promised in the previous issue of Sea History, in this edition we will get to the Jones Act itself-but it's quite a mouthful to chew on. At the outset, we should say that the proper name of this act of Congress is the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. It came to have its shorthand name because of its principal sponsor, Senator Wesley Jones of the state of Washington (1863-1932).

First, let's distinguish among the three different meanings that are intended when people use the phrase "Jones Act." The first meaning involves lawsuits for damages-in general-for personal injuries to seamen. This usage implies that a seafarer is suing under all the rights available to him/her-including Maintenance and Cure, Unseaworthiness, and the Jones Act itself, even though the speaker may not even be aware of these terms. This is what we might call a "slang" usage of the phrase the "Jones Act." The second usage refers to the Jones Act proper, as a law passed by Congress that gives seafarers specific rights to sue, even if they are not eligible to sue under Maintenance and Cure and

A

THE MERCHANT MARINE ACT OF

Unseaworthiness. In this usage, the phrase "Jones Act" is intended by the speaker to refer to the congressionally-enacted statute as distinct from its companion remedies, Maintenance and Cure and Unseaworthiness. This is the usage that will consume most of our attention in this article.

The third usage also refers to the Merchant Marine Act of 1920-but a different part of that act, one that has to do with an esoteric term: cabotage. Cabotage is a legal doctrine that reserves the domestic sea trade of a nation to ships that fly its flag. This

1920

WESLEY L. JONES

U. S. Senator from Washington, Cbairma.n of Commerce Committee Senator Wesley L. Jones was born in HE Merchant Marine Act of 1920 is an earnest effort Illinois, but settled to lay the foundation of a policy that will build up and maintain an adequate American merchant marine in Washington State in competition with the shipping of the world. in 1889. He served in the US House of Representatives in 1898 and was later elected to the US Senate, where he servedfrom 1909 until his death in 1932. In the Senate, he served on the Fisheries and Appropriations committees and, after 1920, served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce. It was in this capacity that he began his work on the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.

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additional feature of rhe Jones Act provides rhar on ly ships of rhe US flag, built in US shipyards, and staffed by US seafarers, may carry goods from a "port or place" in the United States to another "port or place" in the US. Similar legislation that applied to the transportation of passengers passed as early as 1886.

The personal injury facet of rhe Jones Act is of interest principally to maritime personal injury lawyers, seafarers' unions, marine insurers, and the risk-management offices of shipowners, and is rhe subject of considerable differences of opinion. The first groups are very much in favor of it, and the latter would generally prefer to see it replaced by a different legal regime.

The cabotage feature of the Jones Act is the subject of sporadic but very intense political dispute, with a different lineup of interests on the respective sides. On rhe side of preserving it are seafarers unions , the shipbuilding industry, the existing US flag merchant marine, and the politicians of stares with a shipbuilding workforce. On the side of abolishing this cargo preference are foreign-flag vessel operators and cargo interests, namely those whose goods are required to be carried on US flagged vessels-and which could be carried less expensively if foreign-flag operators were allowed to compete on the same trade routes. If the cargo preference were abolished, of course, the foreign-flag operators would have the domestic market for water transportation opened up to them, US shipyards would lose a lot of business (perhaps fatally), and lots of American seafaring jobs would disappear.

Thus it is this cabotage facet of the Jones Act that is intended when someone talks about "rhe Jones Act trade." In today's world, that trade is principally the service that connects the continental United States with Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and its other island territories . The cabotage portion of rhe law is, if yo u will, a "macro," or national, maritime policy provision. By contrast, the personal injury facer is a "micro" provision, of interest primarily to the individual seafarer who becomes injured on the job.

The personal injury facet of the Jones Act was the culmination of a series of acts of Congress in the late 1800s and early 1900s enacted for the benefit of US merchant seafarers. This was a fairly remarkable transition, both as to personal injury benefits, and as to other improvements in the lot of the merchant seafarer.

To illustrate just one of these parallel benefits, let's start with an

US-flag container ship Horizon Reliance tranports cargo across the Pacific between the West Coast and Hawaii. Horizon Lines is a subsidiary ofMatson, Inc.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

American shipyards depend, in part, on the Jones Act to stay in business and, in turn, keep shipbuilding skills and capacity alive in the United States. (above) Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, MS.

excursion into constitutional law. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, enacted in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, provides as follows: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Nevertheless, in 1897 the Supreme Court upheld a federal statute (dating from 1790) that provided for criminal penalties (including imprisonment) for desertion in the case of civilian merchantseamen signed aboard the barque Arago-essentially, for quitting their jobs. Does this sound much like "involuntary servitude" to you? [The case is Robertson v. Baldwin, 165 US 275 (1897), if you care to check it our.) The Robertson case inspired a serious counter-movement and legislative reform efforts. The first came in what was known as the White Act in 1898, which did away with imprisonment as a penalty for violation of a seaman's employment contract (i.e. desertion) in domestic ports, and reduced the penalty for desertion in foreign ports. But it wasn't until 1915 and the passage of the Lafollette Seamen's Act (a.k.a. the "Magna Carta of the Sea"), that the civilian seafarer was finally, entirely, free of the risk of criminal penalties for quirting his or her job.

The criminal penalties were important in the maritime labor economy of rhe rime. They essentially made seamen into slaves of the ships in which they served, albeit slaves that earned wages.

Once signed on, they were not free to quit. This, plus the ability of a seaman to pledge a part of his shipboard earnings in advance, were the lifeblood of the system of labor exploitation known as crimping, or shanghaiing. Sailors arriving in port were induced to rake up lodgings at waterfront boardinghouses, where the "attractions of the shore" soon left them without the wages they had just been paid. The boardinghouse operators (that is , the crimps) were happy to extend further credit to the seaman (on highly disadvantageous terms), and to sell them (on similar terms) the oilskins, ere., needed for their next job at sea. The crimps could be paid by the master of the next ship as an advance against the seaman's future wages, once the seaman was delivered aboard, drunk or sober, conscious or nor. Thus rhe seafarer, whose signature may have been forged on the articles, was now already in 29

debt and was forced-by the threat of going to prison-to serve out the term of the articles (maybe for years) on board the new ship, regardless of the treatment or conditions.

The series of acts of Congress that broke up the system of crimping followed-roughry-the growth of the maritime labor movement, as well as the improvement in the seafarer's right to compensation for personal injuries. A key figure in both was Andrew Furuseth, a Norwegian-American known as the "Abraham Lincoln of the Sea." He was an early leader in the maritime labor movement, and remained so until the 1930s. His congressional lobbying-and that of the labor unions-was instrumental in attaining the passage of this series of acts that broke up the system of crimping, and that advanced the legal system by which injured seamen could receive compensation.

Furuseth was instrumental, for example, in the enactment of the Lafollette Seamen's Act of 1915 (noted above). In addition to its attack on the crimping system, that act also sought to close a major loophole that had existed in the rights of seafarers to recover for personal injuries. As things stood as of 1915, a seaman could obtain Maintenance and Cure if ill or injured, and could recover under the Unseaworthiness theory if his/her vessel were found not to be reasonably fit for its intended service. But if injured, instead, due to the operational (or even momentary) negligence of the vessel owner-or of the master, officers, or fellow seafarers-the injured worker was out ofluck; there was no right for a seaman to be compensated for those injuries.

(l-r) Andrew Furuseth, Senator LaFollette, and journalist Lincoln Steffens. Furuseth and LaFollette were the architects of the Seamen's Act of 1915.

The 1915 act contained provisions by which Congress amended the pre-existing law, seeking to give seafarers, for the first time, a right to sue and be compensated for operational negligence-for example, being ordered out onto a deck being swept by dangerous waves . Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decided that Congress had missed the mark-that its change to the statute did not have the effect apparently intended. [Chelentis v. Luckenbach SS Co., 247 us 372 (1918)].

Congress had to go back to the drawing board. And so in drafting the Jones Act in 1920, it turned to a scheme of legal 30

recovery for industrial accidents that it had already enacted, and which had already stood up to legal challenges in court-the system of compensation for railway workers. Essentially, Congress gave to seafarers the same rights to sue their employers as those enjoyed by their railway counterparts. You may recall from the previous article that railway workers and seamen are the only two classes of industrial workers (employed by non-governmental employers) who are exempt from the nationwide scheme of workers compensation.

Thus, in the Jones Act, seafarers finally obtained the right to sue their employers for injuries due to negligence-that is, the failure to exercise due care. This includes negligence of the shipowner, the master, the officers, or of fellow crew members. Remarkably, non-seafarers (such as passengers, repair technicians employed ashore but injured on board, surveyors, Coast Guard inspectors, and others on board but not as employees) had previously enjoyed the right to sue the shipowner for similar injuries caused by the same negligence. But it took until 1920 for seafarers to catch up.

So, let us now compare Jones Act rights with its companion rights. First of all, under the Jones Act, a seafarer may sue only his/her employer-and that employer may differ from the shipowner. So, if the seafarer is not eligible to recover under Unseaworthiness (because the injuries were due to transitory, operational negligence-and not a condition of the vessel) or under Maintenance and Cure (because all amounts due have been paid), there may be no right to cause the vessel to be arrested. In order to sue, the injured seafarer may have to find a location where jurisdiction over the employer can be established.

Second, under both Maintenance and Cure and Unseaworthiness, there can be recovery even if the shipowner could not realistically have done anything to prevent the condition causing the injury. This is not the case under the Jones Act-the injured seafarer must prove that his/her employer (or an employee, including the master or other seafarers) failed to exercise due care, and that the injury resulted from that failure. This provides a major distinction from the situation of almost any other industrial worker-the seaman, despite being injured on the job, can actually lose his case (and receive nothing), if he is unable to prove that there was a failure to exercise due care. Workers nearly everywhere else are entitled to benefits (usually under workers' compensation schemes), and get paid even if the employer was not at fault.

Third, as noted, if the facts support it, a seafarer can bring a lawsuit that claims for recovery under: (a) Maintenance and Cure; (b) Unseaworthiness; and (c) the Jones Act. The seafarer cannot receive a "double recovery" under such circumstances, but may qualify for payment (for example, of his past medical expenses) under one, two, or three theories of recovery.

Fourth, a person who qualifies as a seaman for one of these personal injury remedies qualifies under all of them. The test for seaman's status for these purposes (to which we will return later) is distinct from the test for seaman's status under at least one other provision of law, the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 USC. ยง201-219, dealing with minimum wage and overtime requirements.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

A merchant mariner aboard the Military Sealift Command ship SS Capella (T-AKR 293) takes a reading on gauges in the engine room.

Fifth, a person who is ruled to be a seaman for purposes of these personal injury remedies is by definition ineligible for benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act ("LHWCA"). The LHWCA was enacted in 1927 after it was determined that Congress was without power to include these employees under state-enacted workers' compensation acts. However, the scheme of coverage under the LHWCA is very nearly parallel to that of state compensation acts, which were addressed in the previous article. While a final ruling that an individual is a seaman precludes benefits under the LHWCA, it is possible for a claimant to "straddle" the boundary until that time, preserving his/her rights to LHWCA benefits in the event his/her Jones Act claim is denied based on his/her status. This of course assumes that the duties of the claimant are such that the claimant could arguably claim to be a seaman, and at the same time have some duties that qualify under the LHWCA-principally those associated with longshoremen and shipyard workers.

Sixth, by statute, neither students nor instructors aboard a properly-qualified sailing school vessel are seamen, and the same thing applies to scientific personnel aboard vessels classified as oceanographic research vessels by the Coast Guard. These individuals have to proceed under the General Maritime Law for compensation for injuries.

Seventh, the Jones Act affirmatively provides that a suit by an injured seaman may be heard by a jury; other cases in admiralty courts typically are not entitled to a jury. If a seaman brings a Jones Act claim and joins with it claims under Maintenance and Cure and Unseaworthiness, all may be heard by the jury.

Eighth, while persons filling jobs required by a Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection are a clear case of those qualifying as seamen, there is a vast, vast, body of court decisions dealing with persons whose status is not so clear. Depending on the circumstances, there may be many bridges to cross. The individual must have a more or less permanent "employment-related connection to a vessel in navigation," and his work must "contribute to function of the vessel or to the accomplishment of its mission." What connection is sufficient, what is a vessel, when is a vessel "in navigation," and what work "contributes the function" are all questions that have been litigated nearly to death, and cannot be capsulized in this article. One important example of this relates to volunteers. Some cases have held volunteers to be seamen (and SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

thus eligible for all three personal injury remedies), and some cases have held volunteers not to be seamen. The practical effect of this (for a shipowner) is to discuss a suitable insurance endorsement with one's broker-an endorsement that will provide coverage for an individual injured aboard regardless of what status a court may eventually find applies to him or her.

While a plaintiff proceeding under the Jones Act must prove he or she was injured due to negligence of his employer (or its employees), this challenge differs from what applies in ordinary negligence cases. First of all, if the injured plaintiff can show that the employer violated a safety statute that contributed to his injury, the employer may be liable without further proof of negligence, and this may bar the employer from seeking to have the damages reduced due to any lack of due care on the part of the injured seaman.

Second, the standard of causation in the Jones Act is considerably more favorable to the seaman than in other negligence cases. Once a plaintiff has shown negligence, he or she is able to submit the case to the jury if the employer's negligence played any part, however slight, to causing the injury. The result is a very favorable legal climate for seamen injured in the course of their employment.

Third, the "primary duty doctrine" provides a defense when the person injured is the person on board who was responsible for the condition that caused the injury; this doctrine seems to be applied most often in cases involving an injury to a fairly senior officer.

There is much more that could be said about the Jones Act, and its companion remedies. The effort here, however, is to provide the reader with a "digestible" overview of these doctrines, and not to make the reader an expert. Indeed, even with a far greater familiarity with these legal doctrines, it would be dangerous for the reader to make business decisions based on his or her assessment of whether or not an individual is likely to recover in a personal injury case. There is frankly so much uncertainty, even as to seaman status, that any such prediction would be far too risky. It is precisely this uncertainty that proper insurance is meant to address. A properly-endorsed insurance policy can provide coverage for injury to any individual who may come to be injured on a vessel-whether seaman, passenger, or something else-and regardless of what status a jury may someday decide applies to that person, based on the facts at trial, be it seaman status, harbor worker status, in a status entitled to benefits under state workers compensation, or something else.

Thus, apart from "insure with care," the most important practical take-aways from this analysis are: (1) be sure to conform to all safety regulations; and (2) run a careful ship. ,t Michael Rauworth's "day job" is as a maritime Lawyer, based in Boston. He serves as president and board chair of Tall Ships America, and maintains his Coast Guard license as master ofsail, steam, and motor vessels ofany tonnage, with pilotage on the waters ofthree states, and over 200, 000 sea miles to his credit. He retiredfrom the US Coast Guard with the rank ofcaptain, having served as Harbor Defense Commander in Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti, and in command offive reserve units.

31

Coast Guardsman Robert Goldman and the Kamikaze Attack on LST-66

by William H . Thiesen, PhD Atlantic Area Historian, United States Coast Guard

I was a passenger naval officer aboard the ship at the time ofthe attack and was in a good position to observe the courage displayed by the pharmacist's mate Goldman. His back was badly burned and he refused to even sit down until every one of the other casualties had been treated.... In my opinion such courage was far beyond the call ofduty.

-Lieutenant junior grade Collum J. deGruy, USNR uring World War II, the US Coast Guard played a critical role on the high seas. More than half of its personnel served at sea aboard 802 Coast Guard, 351 US Navy, and 288 US Army vessels that supported land, sea and air forces in all combat theaters . Coast Guard troop ships, attack transports, cargo vessels, fuel ships and auxiliary vessels provided for Allied amphibious operations, fighting fleets and land forces across the world. These ships ensured a steady stream of troops, equipment, and supplies to Allied offensives against enemy forces.

One of the countless Coast Guardsmen who served in this armada of military vessels was pharmacist's mate Robert Goldman. Born and raised in Connecticut, Goldman earned a degree in agriculture from the University of Connecticut, and then taught at the National Farm School in Pennsylvania. In October 1942, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and chose to become a pharmacist's mate, with duties similar to those of a medic or corpsman.

Over the next year, he received medical

D

Early photo ofRobert Goldman in his Coast Guard uniform. training at Columbia University's Pharmacy School, got married and served as a third-class pharmacist's mate in the Coast Guard's New York District. In June of 1944, the 24-year-old Coast Guardsman

LST-66 (ship on the right) unloading tanks in July 1944, months before the epic battle ofLeyte Gulf Philippines.

32

left behind his bride ofless than a year and traveled cross-country to the USCG West Coast processing center at Alameda, California. Within a month, he was underway on a voyage that would lead to the killing fields of the Western Pacific.

In July 1944, Goldman reported for duty aboard LST-66, built for the US Navy but manned by US Coast Guard personnel.

At 328 feet in length, the LST (short for "landing ship, tank") was a product of British and American engineering genius, built to alleviate the Allies' desperate need for amphibious ships in the European and Pacific theaters. The largest of the Allies' purpose-built landing ships, the LST carried 2 ,100 tons of troops, tanks, trucks , supplies, and ammunition. Along with 110 Coast Guard officers and enlisted men as his shipmates, Goldman would now call LST-66his home.

When Goldman arrived on board LST-66, she was busy landing troops and supplies for the Army's campaign in Western New Guinea. That autumn, the Allies launched one of the most strategically important amphibious operations of the

LST-66 (second from left) and other LSTs debarking troops and supplies on the shallow beaches ofLeyte Gulf the Philippines.

SEA HISTORY J60, AUTUMN 2017

war-a campaign to re-take the Philippines from the Japanese. In so doing, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur would fulfill a pledge he had made in 1942, before the surrender of the islands, to return and liberate them. More importantly, Allied control would cut off the Japanese homeland from vital raw materials, such as the oil reserves located in the Dutch East Indies and Malaya, and far-flung units of the Japanese Army holding out as far south as Borneo.

Japanese military leaders knew all too well the strategic importance of the Philippines. Its loss would initiate the final chapter of a retreat to the home islands that had begun in mid-1942 with theAllied "islandhopping" campaign. To hold onto the Philippines, the Japanese military resorted to desperate measures, which included sending the last major units of the Imperial Japanese Navy on a deadly mission to destroy the Allied invasion forces and a new aviation tactic termed "kamikaze," or "divine wind." Japanese kamikaze pilots would fly suicide missions by crash-diving their fighters and fighter-bombers into Allied ships.

American military leaders decided on Leyte Island as the target of their first landings in the Philippines. One of the largest amphibious operations of the war, the Leyte invasion included nearly 430 amphibious vessels supported by aircraft carriers and capital ships of the US Navy's 3rd and 7rh fleets . On Friday, 20 October 1944, Goldman witnessed this massive operation from the deck of LST-66 while she helped land the invasion's nearly 200,000 troops. Enemy resistance met Allied forces on land, in the air, and at sea. Entrenched Japanese troops fought US Army units in the jungle, while kamikazes crashed into Allied ships and Japanese fleets attacked the Allied armada from three directions. In the ensuing naval battle, considered the largest in history, Allied warships repulsed the Japanese naval forces, leaving most of the enemy warships damaged or destroyed.

On Sunday, 12 November, LST-66 returned to the shores of Leyte Island. It would be a d ay of days for Robert Goldman.

At 8:30AM, the 66 ran ashore on the grey sandy beaches near the town of Dulag, opened her protective bow doors and SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

Close-up of LST-665 bow and camouflage paint scheme. dropped her landing ramp. The shoreline had been cleared of enemy defenses, so the LST's doors would remain open for the day to deposit cargo and embark exhausted American troops from the invasion's first wave. Members of the LST's crew even had a chance to observe the anniversary of Armistice Day a day late at the growing Allied military cemetery located not far from the beach. Little did these shipmates know rhar several of their number would soon lie in that hallowed ground.

By !are afternoon, the 66 embarked men of the 75'h Joint Assault Signal Company. Prior to the initial October landings, this joint Army-Navy reconnaissance unit

had been inserted on the Leyte coast to identify Japanese defenses and communicate their location back to the invasion's planners. After weeks ofliving in the jungle on C-rations, the recon men were happy to board a friendly vessel equipped with bunks and hot chow. The weary troops made their way to the relative safety of the LST's stern, our of range of enemy snipers.

A lieutenant with the unit even brought on board a cockatoo perched on his shoulder, which drew a crowd of curious 66 crewmembers. By now advanced to a secondclass pharmacist's mate, Robert Goldman struck up a conversation wirh the lieutenant and admired the exotic bird.

Throughout the day, Japanese Zero fighters had made suicide attacks against the landing ships, so the Army Air Corps sent up P-38 fighters to protect the vessels.

Fast and deadly, the fighter's manufacturer named the P-38 the "Lightning," bur the Japanese called it "two planes with one pilot" because of its unique twin-fuselage and center cockpit design. At about 5:00PM, a Zero zoomed toward the 66 from behind the mountains on Leyte Island with two P-38s hot on its tail. The Lightnings hit the Zero with m achine-gun fire , suddenly broke off their pursuit, and rocketed skyward. Goldman's friend and fellow pharmacist's mate, Peter Casanova, witnessed the dogfight from the LST's forward deck, recounting, "Over the high area forward I saw two P-38 fighters zooming straight up

Japanese Zero fighters, such as this one, were used in the Philippines as kamikaze aircraft.

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US Army Air Corps employed the P-38 Lightning pursuit fighters in the Pacific theater.

as if to avoid being gunned down by [our shipJ. At that very instance, I saw and heard this roaring Japanese kamikaze plane with the meatball markings almost 15 feet directly overhead that is forever imprinted in my brain."

What happened next was a gruesome shock to everyone. The wounded Zero flew straight for the Army and Coast Guard men gathered on the starboard side of the LST's stern. In seconds, Goldman witnessed the enemy fighter dive on the LST, impact her deck, careen across the ship's quarterdeck, and explode-obliterating men and machines before crashing into the water. The Zero had spread death and destruction across the LST's stern, leaving a swath of carnage and wreckage in its wake.

The lieutenant and one of his men were killed instantly, with another seven army men severely wounded. The crash took a greater toll on Goldman's shipmates, with four killed and seven wounded. All that remained of the lieutenant's cockatoo were white feathers sprinkled over the twisted metal and mangled bodies strewn about the quarterdeck.

Miraculously, the crashing fighter spared Robert Goldman's life. Even though he survived, Goldman was still hurt, badly. When the Zero scoured the LST's aft deck, it sprayed aviation fuel over everything, including Goldman. His back on fire, he tried rolling on deck to smother the flames, but the deck was coated with aviation fuel and only added to the problem. To make matters worse, Goldman's right leg had received shrapnel

from the crashing fighter, and he suffered from severe shock.

The instinctive response to such an experience for most would be to run, hide, or escape from the scene, but Robert Goldman did what he was trained to do, despite his own wounds and severe trauma. When the Zero careened across the deck, it had flown straight into the aft 40mm and 20mm gun mounts, crushing equipment and personnel nearby. The 40mm-gun tub was smoldering with its exposed ammunition cooking to critical temperatures, while its gunner writhed in agony from his legs pinned and crushed by the gun's mangled splinter shield. Disregarding the hot ammo, his own wounds, and his burning back, Goldman jumped into the tub and administered morphine to ease the man's pain and suffering. Pharmacist's Mate Casanova later remembered Goldman's treatment of the gunner, writing "I have never seen, nor will I ever see, how instantly men can go into action and do the correct things, right now." When the 40mm gunner asked about his legs , Goldman told him they would be okay. Reassured, the man responded, "As long as I can get home to Mom." The splinter shield was later removed and the wounded gunner evacuated, bur he expired that evening and had to be buried at sea.

Goldman then focused his efforts on separating the dead and dying from the

LST-66 anchored in San Francisco Bay after her return from the war. The effects of the kamikaze attack are visible on her aft starboard side.

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SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

wounded, and treating them quickly with the medical supplies he had in his first aid bag. In combat situations such as these, good training can overcome fear, shock and trauma, but Goldman's stubborn devotion to duty pushed him beyond normal limits. His shipmates implored him to seek medical attention, but he refused, stating repeatedly, "Others are hurt worse than I am." Goldman allowed a shipmate to put out the flames on his back and cut away the charred skin and clothing adhered to his burns, but he continued treating the wounded and dying until all had received care. Only after the casualties had been moved below for trea[ment did he allow his own wounds to be examined. At that point, his shipmates realized he had sustained shrapnel wounds to his leg in addition to his burns and charred back. The US Navy medical doctor attached to LST-66, Lieutenant junior grade Paul Irvine, wrote in his after-action report: It is my opinion that by his actions, namely by jumping into the burning gun tub, giving treatment to the trapped seaman and assisting in his removal; by administering plasma and morphine ro wounded men topside; and by the caring for wounded in the ship's wardroom in the face of painful burns he had sustained the moment of the plane's crash, pharmacists [sic] mate Goldman rendered service beyond the call ofduty, permitting care of himself only after all the wounded had been treated.

LST-66's dead were tagged for identification and sent ashore for burial at Leyte's military cemetery. Meanwhile, Goldman was evacuated with the wounded to another LST serving as a makeshift hospital ship, but the lack of medical staff on board required him to treat his own wounds. Over the next several weeks, his body healed, but the effects of the trauma lingered on. He was shipped back to the West Coast, rode a special train for war wounded to the East Coast, and convalesced at the naval hospital located near Norfolk, Virginia. While recovering, he received a diagnosis of "psychoneurosis," "war neurosis," or simple "combat faSEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

tigue" -or what modern psychiatric professionals refer to as emotional shock termed post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD).

For his heroic deeds, Robert Goldman received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals. His Bronze Star citation reads: "He persistently refused care for his own wounds until all others had been treated and additional medical assistance arrived. His conduct throughout distinguished him among those performing duties of the same character." Goldman also received the Navy Unit Commendation as a member of battle-tested LST-66, one of the most decorated LSTs in the Leyte campaign. His trauma eased over time, but he would never return to the front. The naval hospital doctors believed it best for him to spend the rest of his service time in the States.

Meanwhile, General MacArthur liberated Leyte Island on 25 December. It was a fitting Christmas gift, and MacArthur's forces would pursue the enemy back to Manila. The recapture of the Philippines marked the beginning of the end for the Japanese military, a seemingly invincible force at the beginning of the war.

Robert Goldman was an ordinary man who performed extraordinary feats despite his own wounds and suffering. For the rest of his life, he would carry with him the scars, both inside and out, from that fateful day in November 1944. He was one of countless Coast Guard men and women who have gone in harm's way to serve others. His efforts testify to the Service's core values of honor, respect and devotion to duty. ,t

William H. Thiesen is the Atlantic Area Historian for the United States Coast Guard. He is the author of Industrializing American Shipbuilding: The Transformation of Ship Design and Construction, 1820-1920 (2006), and is a regular contributor to Sea History. Dr. Thiesen recently was awarded

the Rodney N Houghton Awardfor the best feature article in Sea Historyfor "Cutterman Frank Newcomb and the Rescue ofUSSWinslow,"published in Sea History 157. For more information on USCG history, visit www. uscg.mil/history or contact: Historian's Office, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, 431 Crawford Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704.

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35

On Watch-SS United States Engineer Bob Sturm Still Serving the "Big U"

byBillBleyer

S

ixty-one years after Robert Sturm graduated from the US Merchant Marine Academy, he is spending every Thursday back on the Kings Point, New York, campus. It isn't nostalgia that brings him back; the 82-year-old Long Island resident makes the hour-long drive to work as a volunteer at the American Merchant Marine Museum, located on the academy gro unds. There he organizes the museum's collection of documents and photos pertaining to United States Lines vessels.

Sturm enjoyed a long career in the transportation industry, including two years as a junior engineer aboard the iconic ocean liner SS United States, flagship of United States Lines. He remembers his time on board well, and is dedicated to preserving the ship's legacy. He recently published a book, SS United States: The View from Down Below, abo ut the ship and his personal experiences crossing the Atlantic forty-four times as part of her crew between 1957 and 1959.

Despite his time at sea after leaving the USMMA, Sturm would spend most of his career ashore-forty-four years with the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), its parent Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and an engineering consulting firm.

He is currently writing a book on the railroad's history, after two volumes on New

SS United States on her return maiden voyage, 1952. She set speed records in both directions during her first runs across the Atlantic.

York rail history. But he takes a weekly break from writing to make the drive to Kings Point, where, as a volunteer archivist, he organizes and catalogs boxes of documents and photographs that the museum acquired when United States Lines sailed into oblivion in 1992.

The files of the most interest, naturally, are those about SS United States. "The ship is the epitome of American genius when it comes to naval architecture and marine engineering, both in design and construction and in operation," he said with obvious affection . "It was truly a magnificent piece of work."

When she was launched in 1952, SS United States was the fastest and most glamorous passenger ship in the world. She was also an engineering marvel: The 990-foot vessel was designed as part of a top-secret Pentagon program during the Cold War;

it could be quickly converted from a luxury liner into a naval troopship if the need presented itself. H er maiden voyage from New York to Southampton, England, was accomplished in just three days, ten hours, and forty minutes-breaking the transAt!antic speed record held by RMS Queen Mary since 1938. SS United States still holds the Blue Riband record for the fastest transAtlantic voyage by a passenger ship.

The liner was taken out of service in 1969 and the gutted hull has been moored in Philadelphia for nearly two decades. The SS United States Conservancy, which owns the vessel, is trying to have the ship redeveloped as a mixed-use attraction to save her from the scrapyard.

Sturm wrote the 89-page self-published book at the suggestion of Conservancy executive director Susan Gibbs, who is also the granddaughter of the ship's designer, William Francis Gibbs. "Bob Sturm offers a riveting account of more than the ship's rivets: He explains how the ship's top-secret en gines worked and why they were so unique," Gibbs said.

Dr. Joshua Smith, interim direccor of the museum, said Sturm has "deep interest and incredible experience" in the maritime industry, especially in SS United States, and it's proven particularly valuable in their quest to organize and make sense of their extensive collection.

"We've got this huge collection of papers from United States Lines, w hich was the pre-eminent American steamship comBig U's former engineer Bob Sturm is methodical!J sorting and cataloging documents and memoribilia from his old ship, in the collections at the American Merchant Marine Museum at Kings Point.

36

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

pany in the mid-20th century, and it's completely unorganized," Smith said.

"When the company wem bust, staff from the museum went and just grabbed filing cabinets full of stuff from their headquarters at the foot of Broadway in Manhattan to save them. They were sitting here moldering, and what Bob is doing is very carefully going through them, box by box, and listing the contents and organizing them so they will become a useful collection for scholars and others. He knows the ship so well already, so when he sees a person's name in a document, record, or photograph, he likely knew that person. That really adds something that nobody else could do." Sturm started going through the boxes a year ago and figures that he has another year of work before he finishes.

As a Kings Point midshipman, Sturm spent his sea-year as an engineering officer aboard ships operated by Lykes Brothers, Mississippi Shipping, Socony-Mobil, and United States Lines. After graduation, he worked on United Scates Lines freighters for a year before being transferred to United States. Her found the huge ship a challenge.

"It was like a city with a large staff, including fifty engineers," recalled Sturm, who was onboard as a junior third assistant engineer. "It was a little daunting at first."

Twelve engineers would be on duty at any given time. Working four hours on and eight hours off, they supervised firemen, oilers, and wipers-who mostly did painting and cleaning-a nd two machinists.

"There was a comfortable environment in the engine room-lots of space," he said.

Bob Sturm's former workspace, the forward engine room control station in SS United States.

This is from 1953, a few years before Sturm's time onboard. The photo comes from the collection ofAssistant Engineer Arthur Taddei, at left. To his right is junior Third Assistant Engineer Daryel Hoke, the same position held by Bob Sturm beginning in 1957

The temperature was a constant eighty-five degrees, much cooler than many engine rooms in other large vessels.

At sea, the "Big U" averaged about twenty-eight knots. "On occasion we bumped it up to thirty-five knots, but at that speed you began to notice vibration from the propellers," Sturm said. Overall, the ship provided a smooth ride. "Ir was stable, unlike the Queen Mary. Ir didn't roll much. It didn't pitch much."

The engineering crew was under strict orders to avoid contact with paying guests.

"We were forbidden to intermingle with passengers," Sturm said. "We had a lounge and we had our own dining room, and we had our own sports deck that was open to the engineers. Ir was not unusual to see Burt Lancaster running around the open promenade deck, or Billy Graham gazing off into the distance meditating."

As much as he enjoyed the job, he left United States when he got married. "I thought it was a fine job for a single guy," he said, "but for a married person, I thought it was imposing too much of a burden on the family, especially with the children."

That's because he worked seven days a week for eleven months, and then would have one month off.

Diamond Jubilee by Robert Semler.

SS United States maneuvering with the assist ofCurtis Bay tugs (with their distinctive blue diamond stacks). Curtis Bay was later purchased by Moran Towing, and all the stacks were repainted with the Moran "M".

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

37

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SS United States Conservancy is focused on finding a developer willing to convert the ship into a hotel, a museum, or a mixed-use venue. Last summer Crystal Cruises made the decision not to pursue a plan to return the vessel to oceangoing service following an extensive technical study that showed there were unsurmountable design and cost problems with bringing the ship back to passenger service on the high seas. Jn the meantime, the Conservancy announced in July that its "We are the United States" campaign received a generous donation from cruise industry executive Jim Pollin of $150, 000, which buys more time to come up with a permanent solution. To contribute to the fundraising campaign and to learn more about the plans for the ship's future, go to www.wearetheunitedstates.org.

Sturm married Rurh Finkernagel on 26 December 1959, four days after he left the ship. He worked for Brooklyn Union Gas Co. and New York Telephone Co., applying to the LIRR, where he would spend fifteen years at the railroad as a planner and project manager, and five at the MTA as assistant director for service planning and assistant director for project engineering. His last job was with STV Inc., doing conceptual design work for the engineering consulting firm, which did many projects for the LIRR and other railroads.

He retired at age 75, but still consults for the company occasionally.

Sturm wrote his first two books for the Long Island Sunrise Trail Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

The New York Connecting Railroad: Long Island's Other Railroad, written with William G. Thom, was published in 2006. The Long Island Rail Road Company: A History 1834-1965 was published in 2014. He is writing a fourth book, The LIRR in Transition-On the LIRR from 1948 to 1980, the period that saw the transfer of ownership 38

from the Pennsylvania Railroad to the state of New York.

When he's not writing, volunteering at the museum, or giving lectures based on his books, Sturm keeps himself busy building ship models. He's currently working on a thirty-inch model of the Lykes Brothers freighter Reuben Tipton, in which he sailed as a midshipman.

Occasionally, Sturm and his wife will take a cruise, but he doesn't travel much.

"When I first got married," he said, "I had spent four years traveling steadily and didn't want to go anywhere." His time at sea used up all of his wanderlust. Ir's the same reason, he says, why he has never owned a boat . .t Bill Bleyer is a retired prize-winning staff writer for Newsday and a frequent contributor to Sea History, reporting on news and updates regarding SS United States and the ships at South Street Seaport Museum in NY

SS United States: The View from Down Below is available by sending a check for $39.95 to Robert Sturm, 27 Pebble Beach Road, Medford, NY 11763.

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GREAT READS from our SHIP'S STORE Harbor Voices: New York Harbor Tugs, Ferries, People, Places & More

by Terry Walton Celebrate New York's working harbor, with behind-the-scenes stories of tug skippers, pilots, ferryboat operators, little-known islands, waterfront buildings, and the fascinating personal stories of the people and places that make up New York's Harbor. Fully illustrated.

SRP $19.95 SALE $15.00 + $5.00 s/h (softcover)

Lightship by Brian Floca Delightful children's book. Once lightships anchored on waters across America where lighthouses could not be built. In these pages the Ambrose and her crew (and cat) again hold their place. They run the small ship that guides the large ships. Come aboard this enchanting story!

SRP $16.99 SALE $12.00 + $4.00 s/h (hardcover)

A Dream of Tall Ships

A Dream of Tall Ships: How New Yorker's came together to save the city's sailing-ship waterfront by Peter and Norma Stanford with an Introduction by John Stobart, RA This lively account of a great urban adventure begins in the 1960s with two New Yorkers who were committed to creating a maritime museum in Manhattan's old sailing ship waterfront-the South Street Seaport Museum. They worked to save the old buildings of an historic district, and to breathe new life into New York's old Street of Ships.

SRP $34.95 SALE $24.00 + $5.00 s/h (hardcover)

Ready Then, Ready Now. Ready Always. More than a Century of Service by CitizenSailors. The United States Navy Reserve by CDR David F. Winkler, USNR (Ret.) This illustrated narrative aims to tell the story of those civilians' contributions to the nation's defense and security. Besides providing a broad chronology covering how citizen Sailors served as privateers, naval militiamen, National Naval Volunteers, Naval Reservists and finally as Sailors as part of a one Navy concept, the author follows numerous individuals on their journeys in the Navy Reserve.

SRP $34.95 SALE $24.00 + $6.00 s/h (hardcover )

McAllister Towing: 150 Years of Family Business This never-before published documentary reveals stores of survival and peril, deep-sea expeditions and family tragedies as well as the triumphs of a maritime dynasty that has survived for more than 150 years.

SRP $49.95 SALE $38.00 + $6.00 s/h (hardcover)

Tugboats Illustrated: History. Technology. Seamanship by Paul Farrell This book traces the evolution, design, and role of tugboats ranging from the first steampowered tug to today's hyper-specialized offshore workboats. Whatever the task, it teaches us to understand not only what tugs do but how physics and engineering allow them to do it.

SRP $49.95 SALE $38.00 + $6.00 s/h (hardcover)

To order by phone, call with your credit card 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), x 0 Or visit our web site at www.seahistory.org.

NYS residents add applicable sales tax. Shipping within USA only.

NHD

National History Day Prizes in

NATIONAL HISTORY DAY National History Day (NHD) is an educational program for middle and high school students in which students prepare a history project on a designated theme. Each year, more than half a million students participate in NHD contests, starting at the regional level, with opportunities to advance to the state and national competitions.

Students select historical topics

Nearly 3, 000 students from 50 states, US territories, and Washington, DC, traveled to the University ofMary1land for the national competition in June.

related to the theme and conduct primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews, and historic sites. Students present their original work in papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries-either individually or in groups. This past year's theme was "Taking a Stand in History."

To encourage students to learn about maritime history, the National Maritime Historical Society offers special prizes for maritime-related projects in twenty-five National History Day state contests. We would like to extend our congratulations to this year's winners and a shout-out to all the hard-working teachers, coordinators, and judges who make the events such memorable and rewarding experiences.

Prizes are awarded in both senior and junior categories for high school and middle school students. Award winners in each category get a one-year membership in the National Maritime Historical Society (that includes Sea History magazine!) and a certificate of achievement, plus recognition on the NMHS website. The mentoring teacher also receives a one-year membership in NMHS . In addition, first-place prize winning projects receive a $150 scholarship.

The themes for each year's competition are selected to be broad enough so that students can choose topics from any place (local, national, or world history) and any time period. The 2018 National History Day theme is "Conflict and Compromise in History." Now is the time to get started! Once students select their topic, they should investigate historical context, historical significance, and the topic's relationship to the theme. This year's theme on conflict and compromise challenges students to view history through multiple perspectives. Compromise can sometimes prevent a conflict, but what happens when it does not? If a conflict occurs, how can compromise help to end the Damarione Moore and Nolan Obinyan of Making Waves Academy in Richmond, California, winners of the NMHS Prize in Maritime History. Their prize-winning project was a documentary on the Port Chicago Disaster of 1944.

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SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 20 17

Maritime History sponsored by the National Maritime Historical Society conflict? What happens if a failed compromise leads to an even larger conflict? Throughout this academic year, students will need to ask themselves these questions and more.

The National History Day competition finals will be held in June 2018 at the University of Maryland. Regional competitions are held between March and May in most states. The top two entries in every category at the state/ affiliate level are then invited to the national contest.

The coordinators for each state are listed on the NHD website at www.nhd.org, which is also the best place to find resources for students and teachers, from how to pick a topic to how to conduct research, and much more.

Students should start by asking their history or social studies teachers for help. If they choose a maritime-related topic, they'll automatically be considered for the National National History Day Opening Ceremony M armme ·· H'1stonca · 1 Soc1ety · 's spec1a · 1 pnze · at t h e state competitions in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If your state is not listed here, please contact NMHS to get your state involved.

Historians and educators who would like to participate (volunteer as a judge, for example), should contact the National Maritime Historical Society at 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), or via email at nmhs@ seahistory.org.

Matthew Clark, Allison Hodge, and Sydney Fox ofBuchanan High School in Clovis, California, took first place in the national competition for their performance, "Solidarity: The Polish People Take a Stand for Freedom," about the social movement that was started at the Gdansk Shipyard in the early 1980s.

This year's opening ceremonies kicked offwith a special presentation by award-winning.filmmaker, Ken Burns, who spoke about his own experience telling the stories ofhistory and offering encouragement to the thousands ofstudents who worked hard all year on their projects.

Regarding the theme of the 2017 competition, Taking a Stand in History," he said, "We think the challenges we face are unique to our time, but as these students know, history provides us with a way to understand not just the past, but the very challenges we face. Throughout our country's history, people have taken a stand on a wide-range ofissues to facilitate change, frequently to ensure that our country was living up to its values.

Studying these stands is helpful, and I'd add reassuring, during these tumultuous times."

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

41

Congratulations to the 2017 National History Day Maritime History Prize Winners California Senior 1st Place-Documentary: The Port Chicago Mutiny Trial: Standing Against the Tide ofRacism Students: Mike Finnessey and Shannon Zheng Teachers: Julian Pont and Howard Bechler, Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon, CA Senior 2nd Place-Exhibit: Louis Zamperini: Taking a Stand for Forgiveness Students: Jason Diaz, Darius McLaurin and Collin Yamada Teacher: Dan Hynes, Upland High School, Upland, CA Junior 1st Place-Documentary: The Port Chicago Disaster Students: Damarione Moore and Nolan Obinyan Teacher: Kelly Le, Making Waves Academy, Richmond, CA Junior 2nd Place-Website: Taking a Stand for Urban Conservation Student: Ian McKernan

California continued

Teacher: Fred Morris, Shorecliffs Middle School, San Clemente, CA

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Connecticut Senior 1st Place-Exhibit: The Amistad: Parting the Seas of Slavery Student: Kevin Vasquez Teacher: Rachel Brendean, Norwich Technical School, Norwich, CT Junior 1st Place-Paper: Survival of the Fittest: How Darwin's Theory ofEvolution Eroded His Faith Student: Connor Farquhar Teacher: Mrs. Martinez, Talcott Mountain Academy, Avon, CT Delaware Senior 1st Place-Website: Olaudah Equiano's Influence ofAbolitionism in Great Britain Students: Mimi Diani, Ashley Ndikum, and Peace Osinubi Teacher: Brent Freccia, Newark Charter Jr./Sr. High School, Newark, DE

Mimi Diani, Ashley Ndikum, and Peace Osinubi ofNewark Charter ]r./Sr. High School, Newark, Delaware, put together an impressive website on "Olaudah Equiano's Influence ofAbolitionism in Great Britain." You can find the link online at www.seahistory.org.

Delaware continued

Junior 1st Place-Exhibit: Robert Fulton & the Steamboat Students: Sarah Bock and Macy Zack Teacher: Howard Bechler, Talley Middle School, Wilmington, DE Florida Senior 1st Place-Exhibit: A More Perfect Union: The Anaconda Plan Student: Zachary Brown Teacher: Rachael Stern, Classical Preparatory School, Spring Hill, FL

Connor Farquhar of Talcott Mountain Academy, Avon, Connecticut won the National Maritime Historical Society's special prize for his paper, "Survival ofthe Fittest: How Darwin's Theory ofEvolution Eroded His Faith."

42

Junior 1st Place-Performance: Boston Harbor: A Teapot Tonight Student: Katelynn Turney-Rudisill Teacher: Erin Pickard, Bay Charter Academy, Panama City, FL SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

Maine Senior 1st Place-Documentary:

7homas Clarkson's Stand with the TransAtlantic Slave Trade Student: Jacob Grover Teacher: Linda Andrews, Buckfield Junior Senior High School, Buckfield, ME Junior 1st Place-Paper:

Taking a Stand to Discover the Truth of Our Origins: How Darwin Changed Our Future by Examining Our Past Student: Lena Wood Teacher: Jessica Kelly, Scarborough Middle School, Scarborough, ME Junior 2nd Place-Exhibit:

7he Native American Occupation of Alcatraz Student: Roger Keough III Teacher: Linda Andrews, Buckfield Jr./Sr. High School, Buckfield, ME

North Carolina Senior 1st Place-Paper:

Portugal's './J.ge ofExploration''.¡ A Tiny Country with a Global Mission Student: Jordan Mitchell Porter Teacher: Beth Robinson, Woodlawn School, Mooresville, NC

Ohio Senior 1st Place-Documentary:

"Boston Harbor: A Teapot Tonight," a performance by middle school student Katelynn Turney-Rudisill, delighted the audience and impressed the judges. Katelynn won first place in the National Maritime Historical Society's junior division. Katelynnn attends Bay Charter Academy in Panama City, Florida.

Rhode Island continued

South Carolina continued

Teacher: Michael McParlin, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI

Junior 2nd Place-Documentary:

Junior 1st Place-Documentary:

Student: Hari Kumar Teacher: Tim Hicks, Dent Middle School, Columbia, SC

7he Great Gaspee Students: Bhintuna Maharhjan and Lillian Lefort Teacher: Bryan Cerullo, Nathanael Green Middle School, Providence, RI

john Paul Jones Student: Henry Valachovic Teacher: Nick Moore, St. Agatha School, Columbus, OH Junior 1st Place-Exhibit:

7he Battle ofLake Erie: Perry's Ultimate State at Put-In-Bay Student: Samuel Hessler Teacher: Connie Miller, Birchwood School of Hawken, Cleveland, OH

Rhode Island Senior 1st Place-Documentary:

7he Battle ofPoint Judith Student: Nicolas Williams SEAHISTORY 160, AUTUMN2017

South Carolina Senior 1st Place-Documentary:

7he Last Iron Samurai: 7he Battleship Yamato Student: Hunter Fairbanks Teacher: Laura Liger, Swansea High School, Swansea, SC Junior 1st Place-Performance:

Robert Smalls: Traitor or Hero?

Students: Aaron Ford and Grant Blevins Teacher: James Mauldin, Green Sea Floyds Junior High School, Green Sea, SC

312 Hours: 7he Cuban Missile Crisis Standoff

Virginia Senior 1st Place-Documentary:

How Wilbur Forced End ofBritish Slave Trade Students: Parker Brown, Jacob Fujioka, and Alex Santiago Anaya Teacher: Leigh Shipman, West Springfield High School, West Springfield, VA

Washington Junior 1st Place-Documentary:

Ralph Munro: Taking a Stand for Orcas Student: Kyle Wilson Teacher: Irene Soohoo, Pleasant Valley Middle School, Vancouver, WA 43

SEA HISTORY for kids . '

D

,

Careers in the Marine and Maritime Field

.

id you know rhar the oldest fo rm of insurance in history is m arine insurance? The earliest records of this sort of business reach back to ancient rimes, when shipowners reduced their risk by owning shares in several vessels wi th other merchants, If a ship was lost at sea, or came in to po rt w ith da maged cargo, not all of one shipowner's investment wo uld be lost. The famous insurer Lloyd 's of London started our as a marine insurance company, In the 1680s, sailors, sea captains, shi powners, and merchants used to hang out in a coffee house owned by Edward Lloyd , where they would discuss the latest shipping news, C onversations about sh aring risks evolved into the development of m arine insurance, Today, m arine insurance generally covers loss and d am age of ships, cargo, and personnel, w ith variations depending on an individual policy. Ir differs from property and car insura nce because of the special nature of ships' wo rk on the water. Those who work in this business need to be experts in risk m anagem ent, bur they also need to be extremely knowledgeable about ships, design and construction, routes, what life is like at sea, and what da ngers and h azards face ships and the people who sail them.

Chris Richmond is a m arine insurance producer, providing clients with risk m anagement fo r their m arine business, boars, ships, and crews , H e works for Allen Insurance and Fin ancial in M aine. His company handles all kinds of insurance, bur they are kn own in the sa iling ship community fo r their expertise in historic and replica sa iling vessels. N o t everyone who works in marine insurance understands the special nature of these kinds of ships and the programs that they run, so Chris is particularly valuable to the owners and crews of tall shi ps .

In his day-to-day work, C hris splits his time between the office and visiting clients, albeit the office hours taking the lion's share of his rime, H e admits that getting o ur to see clients a nd their vessels is the real joy of his job, bur he knows that his time spent in the office- corresponding via emails, completing applications, and reviewin g policies-is just as important. W hile his clients ofte n have more exciting days sailing the high seas, he knows that they rely on him and his company's services to be able to do the work they do and to sa il to the places they go. In addition to his wo rk with clients, C hris travels several times a year, going to confe rences and trade shows, and participating in industry m eetings, "I never imagined myself getting into insurance, After college, I spent about ten yea rs working aboard traditionally rigged sailing ships, working my way up to captain . I decided to get a job ashore a nd spent a yea r working as a boatbuilder after studying at the Landing School in southern M aine. From there, I went into

44

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sa les fo r a Dutch m arine m anufac turer, which h ad m e visiting shipyards and boatbuilders all over the country, Between these varied experiences at sea and as hore, I beca me very knowledgeable about m any aspects of the marine industry. The sales job was ac tually fun and very interesting, but when my wife and I had our first child, the idea of h aving to be on the road constantly grew less appealing. An opportunity presented itself at A llen Insurance; this position allows me to rem ain in the m arine industry, but also spend mo re time with my family."

Chris has first-hand knowledge oftall ships and seafaring.from his prior exp erience as captain oftraditional sailing ships, including time in command of Schooner Roseway (at left).

N ow, when he visits a boatya rd or vessel, rather tha n talk about the parts that go into the building or outfitting of a boat, he talks about the pa rts that help protect it from harm.

"One aspect of the job that I really enjoy is getting to re-connect w ith form er shipmates, who are now my clients. The m arine industry is a pretty small world, and the tall ship community is even sm aller still. C hances are, ifl don't personally know someone for a ship that we work w ith, then we probably h ave a common acquaintance."

Yo u need to be licensed to sell insurance, a nd yo u have to take continuing education courses every two yea rs to maintain it. C hris likes this requi rement, because it allows him the op portunity to continue learning, and broaden his knowledge in both the insurance and the m arine industries, j:.

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

S

hips , like any vessel or vehicle, need regular maintenance to keep them sailing safely and efficiently.

Need your car fixed? You take it to the shop and the mechanic can put the car on a lift to access the undercarriage.

Need to get your ship's hull worked on?

You 'll have to take it to a shipyard and have them do something similar.

How does one go about getting a ship, especially a big ship, high and dry out of the water? There are few ways to go about this. Historically, sea captains would careen their vessels in shallow water by either heaving it over on its side while it was still afloat or by an choring in shallow water at high tide and then waiting for the tide to go out.

The vessel would touch bottom , and , as the tide went out, lay over on its side . Pirate captains were particu larly fond of this technique because they were usually on the run and couldn 't exactly come into port to hire the services of a shipyard .

Today, shipyards have a number of ways to access a ship's hull all the way down to the keel, either by hauling it out of the water or by floating the ves sel into a basin that can be sealed off and t he water pumped out . Marine railways (also called patent slips) and mobile boat hoists are the most com mon methods of hauling a ship out of the water. A dry dock operates much like a canal lock, in that the ship is floated into a narrow basin , a caisson or heavy gate seals off the open end, and then the water is pumped out un til the ship is high and dry out of the water. Marine ra ilways have been around since the early 19th century.

The first self-propelled mobile boat hoist (usually called by its manufacturer name, Marine Travelift) was first put in service in the 1950s. The dry dock, however, has been in use since ancient times. The Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis wrote about the Egyptians using trenches as a type of dry dock more than 2,400 years ago, and in the year 1070, the Chinese dug a basin at the end of a lake and used it in a similar fashion to successfully work on the hulls of vessels more than

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

Ships traveling on distant voyages, sometimes gone for years at a time, would have to be careened along far-flung shores for repairs and maintenance. This is a painting of the French exploration ships Astrolabe and Zelee being careened in the Torres Strait, off the northern coast of Australia, in the middle of a three-year expedition.

200 feet in length . It took another couple of hundred years for this method to catch on. Dr y docks were built ac r oss Europe starting in the 16th century, and they are still in use around the world today.

A 770-ton capacity Travelift carries the 140-foot USCG Cutter Neah Bay across the grounds of the Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland, Ohio, for routine maintenance.

The most common type of dry dock is a narrow basin , either built out from shore or dug into shore , lined with granite or concrete , which can be closed off by a caisson. The ship is floated into the basin and positioned over a cradle or support blocks, and secured on all sides by mooring lines.

The caisson is positioned across the dry dock opening and additional timbers-or shores - are put in place (right) On 23 July 2017, USS Constitution was refloated from Dry Dock 1 in Boston after major restoration work was completed.

In this photo, the dry dock is being flooded from the caisson, which had been keeping the water from Boston Harbor out of the dry dock basin since May 2015.

around the ship to prop up the hull once the water is pumped out. Next, the pumps are started and the water is pumped out. When the shipyard work is completed , the process is reversed until the ship is floating again . There are also floating dry docks, which op erate in a similar fashion, but can be moved or floated into position. "!,

Animals in Sea History

Wl-tALe

by Richard King

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Herman Melville published n the great American Moby-Dick in 1851. He had spent novel Moby-Dick, Ishmaover two years as a whaleman el says he is particularly himself in the South Pacific. So, fond of a painting by the French when he wrote about whales, he artist, Ambroise Louis Garneray. took care to get the biology as He believes this work of art accorrect as he could , both from his curately depicts the hunting of own experience and his vast readright whales, and he especially ing on natural history. appreciates the details in which Today biologists refer to the "sea fowls are pecking at the patches of hard, dark skin tissue small crabs, shell-fish, and other on a whale as the callosities. Natsea candies and macaroni, which the Right Whale sometimes car- Peche de la Baleine. Whale-Fishery, aquatint uralists used this word in Melby Ambroise Louis Garneray, engraved by ville's day-but more for calluses ries on his pestilent back."

Frederic Martens, 1835. and patches of rough skin on land Later in the story, Ishmael describes again the little ecosystem that forms on animals. Within the first several months of life, each the right whale's skin: "Fix your eye upon this strange, right whale develops a tough keratinized tissue on his crested, comb-like incrustation on the top of the or her lower lip and chin, above the eyes, and from the mass-this green, barnacled thing , which the Green- tip of the upper lip to back around the blowhole . Once landers call the 'crown ,' and the Southern fishers the formed, the whale callosities are then colonized by 'bonnet' of the Right Whale." small invertebrates, in particular by two kinds that What on a whale could look like a frilly cotton cap? give the callosities color-cyamids and barnacles.

Rather than using fluke or fin characteristics, modernday scientists identify individual right whales by pho tographing this pattern of growth on their heads.

A Southern Right Whale cruising in the waters off Argentina.

-----------.

Cyamids, which Ishmael refers to as crabs-and maybe also jokingly as sea candies and macaroni-are creatures that naturalists in the 1800s called "whale lice,'' a common name that's still in use today. Although ¡o they do look like tiny crabs or lice, cyamids are amphi,,,- pods, which are small shrimp-like invertebrates. If

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46

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 20 17

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accordion-style column of shell that burrows deeply into the callosity so it can hang on . The green color that Ishmael describes in Moby-Dick could be from algae growing on the shells of the barnacles and a tinge of the color of the skin callosity itself.

Herman Melville was not the only person in the 1800s to return from a whaling voyage and write about the living bonnet of the right whale. In 1840 Frederick Bennett, an English surgeon and naturalist traveling on a whaleship, wrote that "the True-Whale [Right Whale] of the South ... has its body encrusted with barnacles and other parasites, often to the extent of resembling a rugged rock." In 1855 a whaleman sailing aboard the Clara Bell in the South Atlantic wrote this in his journal:

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you've seen a "beach flea" on the beach, you've seen an amphipod. Cyamids , usually pale grey, white, or orange, have five pairs of walking legs. Three of these pairs evolved to function like claws in order to dig and hook into the whale's skin. Cyamids are roughly the size of your fingernail.

Close-up view of the barnacles and cyamids on the callosity of a southern right whale, a.k.a. "sea candies."

The second type of animal living on the right whale's crown is a barnacle. Twenty or so species of "whale barnacles" live on all kinds of marine mammals, but the southern right whale is the only one of the three right whale species that regularly hosts barnacles on its callosities. The southern right whale is also the only species of baleen whale that we know with confidence that Melville saw up close during his time as a whaleman . He might have seen the lovely Tubicinella major barnacle, for example, which is common on the right whale. This barnacle builds an "SEA HISTORY FOR KIDS" IS SPONSORED BY THE HENRY L.

"The right whale is a very dirty mam[m]al compared to others of the same tribe. I have noticed they are covered with small insects very much resembling crabs-about half an inch in diameter. On the end of their nose is a bunch of barnacles about 18 inches wide. This the whalemen call his bonnet-and when you see a whale just rising out of water it has the appearance of a rock, the barnacles are enormous-as much as two inches deep-the boys often roast them and eat them the same as oysters."

Right whales seek out enormous patches of zooplankton for food, and the attached barnacles feed off the smaller plankton that float around their hosts, while the cyamids primarily eat flakes of the whale's skin. Although there's no evidence that these barnacles and cyamids are actually parasites-meaning that they harm the whale-it is possible that either of these hitchhikers can introduce irritation and, just like on a boat, may, in large concentrations, reduce the whale's swimming efficiency.

So when Herman Melville wrote in Moby-Dick of the right whale's "crown" or "bonnet," he was writing accurately, if poetically and humorously, about the barnacles and cyamids that colonize the callosities of living right whales. Now, if someone offers you sea candies to eat-you might want to be careful.

For more "Animals in Sea History" go to www. seahistory.org, or educators.mysticseaport.org. ;t

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.

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

Schooner Sultana celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. It was in 1997 that m as ter shipwright John Swain, teacher and captain Drew McMullen, and the citizens of the colonial seaport of C hestertow n , M aryland, first began plans to build a replica of the 1768 Royal N avy schooner Sultana. The goal was to create a floating education al platform to m a ke Maryla nd schoolchildren future stewards of the Chesapeake Bay through a healthy dose of history, ecology, sailing, and teamwork.

What emerged after three years of construction by over a tho usand volunteers and students, and in the seventeen years since, is a case study for others to emulate-one of the best-run m aritime non-profits in the country. Built and operated by the Sultana Education Foundation (SEF), the 97-foot schooner has taken more tha n 80 ,000 schoolchildren on board for educational programming. In addition, it operates an extensive fleet of canoes and kayaks that people use to explore the tributaries of the Bay, educating thousands more on the Bay's fr agile ecology and bountiful h arvests.

SEF also built a replica of the shallop John

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Sultana, underway in the Chesapeake Bay. Sm ith used to explore the Chesapeake Bay in 1608. In 2007, SEF sent a crew in the shallop on an expedition to circumnavigate the Bay. During the voyage, they reached 150,000 visitors, and the expedition contributed to the form ation of the C aptain John Smith Chesapeake N ational Historic Trail. SEF developed and has executed the annual D ownrigging W eekend Tall Ship & Wooden Boat Festival, one of the largest m aritime expos in the mid-Atlantic, attracting 10,000 visitors to C hestertow n every fa ll. The fo undation successfully raised over $6 million to build the stateof-the-art LEED Platinum Education Center, where staff can conduct educational programming during the winter and where the sailing seasonal programs can be augm ented ashore. To support operations a nd personnel, SEF purchased a housing facility for its season al educational staff. This has all been accomplished through the work of a committed board of trustees, seasoned staff, and hundreds of supporters, who together operate an annual $2 .1 million nonprofit organization w ith a high level of corporate governance and public supportw ith no debt. To ass ure that the Sultana initiative continues in perpetuity, SEF and its "shipmates" h ave built a still-growing $2 million endowment. H appy 20th Birthd ay Sultana! (SEF, 2 00 S. Cross Street, Chestertown, MD ; www.sultanaeducation. org. Submitted by Philip J. Webster.) ...

Significant progress is being made with political and business stakeholders to repatriate the 1878 four-masted ship Falls ofClyde to the River Clyde in Scotland, where dry docking and hull restoration will be engaged, according to David O'Neill, the senior campaign manager for Save Falls of Clyde-International Group. The 139-year-old, Port G lasgow-built sailing ship is cu rre ntly m oored in H onolulu H arbor, H awaii. After eight months of negotiations, the State of H awaii H arbors Division agreed to work w ith the International Group to repatriate the historic ship to Scotland. To accomplish this , a heavy-lift ship w ill be n eed ed to transport the ship from H awaii to Scotland.

The group in Scotland has secured an offer of dry dock facilities and use of an en gineering sh ed that w ill allow the ship to be docked upon her arrival. This international effort, being called the "Scottish Plan," is supported in H awaii by Friends of Falls

Falls of Clyde in Honolulu, waiting to be rescued. of Clyde, which owns the vessel. Friends of Falls of Clyde was founded in 2 00 8 to take ownership of the ship from the Bishop Museum, which h ad announced it had plan s to scuttle the ship if a new owner could not be identified . In H awaii, an agreem ent is in place for tug suppo rt to m ove and load the Falls on the heavy lift ship. Shipping agent support is also in place.

The ship will soon have ballas t water rem oved in preparation fo r the m ove, which m ay be as early as September. Friends of Falls of Clyde will file a plan for the physical m ove with the US C oas t G u ard and the H awaii H arbors Division o n ce all parties involved in the proj ect h ave provided input. Keep up to date on the Falls of Clyde news th ro ugh the Save Falls of C lyde- Internation al page on Facebook (www.facebook.com /savefallsofclyd e/) . . .

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 201 7

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To order by phone, call with your credit card 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), x 0 Or visit our web site at www.seahistory.org NYS residents add applicable sales tax. For orders sent outside the US, call the toll-free number above or e-mail nmhs@seahistory.org for shipping information.

The Historic St. Mary's City Commission and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum have announced plans to build a new replica of the Maryland Dove, the 17th-century trading ship that brought the first European settlers to what is now Maryland. The current iteration of the Dove was designed by William Avery Baker, curator of the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Museum at MIT, and was launched in 1978. The 39-year-old vessel is in rough shape, requiring either a complete rebuild of the hull or a new ship altogether to represent this piece of history. Mr. Baker was the designer of a number of other replicas, including the Mayflower IL which is currently undergoing a multi-year restoration at the shipyard at Mystic Seaport. The Maryland Dove

Maryland Dove is owned by the State of Maryland and operated and maintained by the Historic St. Mary's City Commission (HSMCC). Baker's designs were based on ships of that era and descriptions of the Dove in contemporary records, but there were no plans or drawings; thus, it is not a true replica. The new vessel will resemble the existing Maryland Dove, but will be designed to incorporate more recent research. The original 40-ton Dove sailed in company with the 400-ton Ark to deliver colonists and supplies to Maryland. The much smaller Dove was sent so that the colonists would have a vessel to use once the Ark returned to England. The two ships set sail from the Isle of Wight in the fall of SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

1633. Three days into their voyage, a gale piped up and the Dove was seen flying distress lanterns at her masthead before she disappeared into the storm. Those aboard the Ark assumed she had foundered. It was not until more than a month later that they discovered otherwise, when the Dove arrived at Barbados and rejoined the Ark. The two ships sailed in company to the Chesapeake Bay and, in time, made their way up the bay and into the Potomac River. By late March, the settlers moved ashore to a 30acre site they purchased from the local Indians, naming their settlement St. Mary's. At the end of May, the Ark left to return to England, leaving the settlers and the Dove behind. In August of 1635 the Dove set sail back to England carrying furs and timber to trade for supplies and was never heard from again. The shipyard at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is well equipped to handle the job of constructing the new ship. It rebuilt the 1955 skipjack Rosie Parks in 2013, and currently is working on the restoration of the 1889 bugeye Edna E. Lockwood. The project will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for bids from naval architects to design the new vessel. The design will have to incorporate historical research provided by the team at HSMCC and be able to meet specifications for US Coast Guard safety standards. The museum hopes to start construction early in 2019. (CBMM, 213 North Talbot Street,

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St. Michaels, Maryland; Ph. 410 745-2916; www.cbmm.org. HSMCC, hsmcdigshis tory.org) . . . The Port of Ludington Maritime Museum opened in June, in Ludington's first Coast Guard station (1934-2004), on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Exhibits cover a range of subjects relevant to Great Lakes shipping and Coast Guard service, including lighthouses, car ferries, the lumber industry,

The Ludington United States Coast Guard Station has been reopened as the new Port ofLudington Maritime Museum. and Great Lakes shipwrecks, as well as a play area with a mini replica of the north break lighthouse. A focal feature of the museum is an interactive pilot house exhibit, simulating the process of taking the car ferry Pere Marquette 22 into port. (217 South Lakeshore Dr., Ludington, MI; www.ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org) (continued on page 53)

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The National Maritime Heritage Act Grant Program 2016-17 Awards Announced

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On 7 July, the National Park Service announced that grants totaling $1,752,073 have been awarded to 27 grant recipients for education and preservation projects.

The grant program is funded by a percentage of the profits from the sale of obsolete vessels for recycling by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), part of the Department of Transportation. The money is transferred to the National Park Service, part of the Department of the Interior, and administered by the NPS Maritime Heritage Program. These procedures are outlined in the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1994.

The first round of grants provided by the Act was awarded in 1998, but a subsequent change in the law cut off the funding source, effectively ending the grant program. Following a sustained advocacy campaign led by the National Maritime Alli ance, with the support of the maritime heritage community, $7 million was made available for grants over the past three years, when funding was restored by act of Congress.

The 2016-17 grant cycle considered 97 proposals, with a total amount of $8.6 million requested, clearly demonstrating once again the great need and interest in the grant program within the maritime heritage community. Grant recipients for this and past years are posted on the National Park Service website at www.nps.gov/maritime/grants/intro.htm. The deadline for the 2017-18 grant cycle was 1 September 2017; check the NPS Maritime Heritage Grant website later this year for information on how to apply for the next grant cycle in 2018.

You can read more about the Maritime Heritage Grants Program and the National Maritime Heritage Act in past issues of Sea History, in particular, seek out Sea History 157 (see pages 26-27) and 158 (pages 13-15).

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1he 1934 steam dredge William M . Black in Dubuque, Iowa, wiLL get some much needed attention, thanks to a $66,999 Maritime H eritage Grant awarded in July 2017. 1he 277joot side-wheeler wiLL undergo a lead-based paint abatement to permanently eliminate aLL deteriorated lead-based paint and its associated hazards. 1he dredge was one of the last steam-powered vessels used by the US Army Corps ofEngineers to open navigation channels, excavate channels and boat harbors, and to pump earth fiLLs. 1he Black was in service to the Corps from 1934 to 1373. When operating at fuLL capacity, this steamboat carried a crew of 49. 1he vessel, a National Historic Landmark, is permanently moored in Ice Harbor at the head of Dubuque Harbor, at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (www.rivermuseum.com).

SEA HISTORY 160,AUTUMN 2017

(continued from page 51)

On National Maritime Day (22 May) , the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority (DWCPA) opened the Portal View, a kiosk-style maritime educational resource on the Detroit waterfront. The small museum, housed in a repurposed shipping container, features information on the origins oflocally built ships and an interac tive co mputer system provided by the online interactive location site Boar Nerd (http: //ais.boarnerd. com/), displaying the locat ions of vessels on the Great Lakes.

Visitors to the kiosk can also see an anchor from SS Greater Detroit (1924), one of the two largest steamships built on the Grear Lakes, which was pulled our of the Detroit River last year. (DWCPA: www. porrderroir.com) ... Maritime archaeologists and researchers in Sweden have identified a 17th-century shipwreck discovered in 2003 near the island ofDalaro in the Stockholm archipelago as the Bodekull, a small warship that was lost in 1678. The shipwreck puzzled archaeologists because it shared many characteristics of a Scandinavian warship, such as gun ports along the sides, and a beakhead with a lion figurehead, bur the ship was much smaller than other examples from that time period. The remains are in excellent condition with an intact deck and two masts standing. Items found on the site include Rim

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Artifacts in situ on the Bodekull wreck site. (left) Plan and side view ofthe Bodekull.

& Stephens and launched in 1957. The race now finishes in Subic Bay, Philippines, but, like its first winner, Dorade is also a Sparkman & Stephens, commissioned by Roderick Stephens Sr. She was designed in 1929 by his son Olin Stephens and built

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muskets, glass bottles, pottery, tools, shoes, cannons, artillery equipment, and a sword.

Although the ship is well-preserved in situ, it was the documents uncovered at the Swedish Military Archives by Niklas Eriksson of Stockholm University that led to the ship's identification. Minutes and letters of the Swedish admiralty revealed that the Bodekullwas heading south, in the direction of Kalmar in southern Sweden, rather than north towards Stockholm, when it sank, placing the Bodekull at the location of the mystery wreck. The ship's loss was welldocumented because the admiralty discussed at length the possibility of making bread with seawater-soaked flour from barrels recovered from the ship as it foundered. . .. The famous 1931 Sparkman & Stephens classic yacht Dorade will be racing in the 29th edition of the Rolex China Sea Race in March of 2018. The China Sea Race was established in 1962 with five yachts racing from Hong Kong to Corrigedor, Philippines. The winner was C. F. Von Sydow's yacht Reverie, a 40-foot classic yawl designed by Sparkman

under the oversight of his yo unger son Rod. Dorade has raced all over the world and won more ocean races than any other yacht in history. In 2015, she completed a four-year campaign retracing the steps of all the major ocean races that the boat had won in the 1930s; in each competition, she beat her original elapsed time performance. She was the overall winner of the 2013 TransPacific Race, 77 years after her first overall win in that race in 1936. Dorade rook part in Rolex's Fastnet Race and Middle Sea Race in 2015. The vessel is owned and sailed by Matt Brooks, along with a professional crew led by tactical navigator Matt Wachowicz. (www.rolex chinasearace.com) J, SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

You're Invited! The 13th Pickle Night Dinner, 10 November 2017 This year marks the 212th anniversary of the Battle ofTra- ampton. Senior commands included an assignment as Rear falgar. The New York City Pickle Night Dinner, held at the Admiral Surface Ships, and in 2011 he cook up duties as New York Yacht Club, commemorates this history-shaping Commander European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) event each year. Those who appreciate the historic significance counter piracy Operation Atalanta. In January of 2013 he of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson and was named Assistant Chief of Nathe lore associated with his life are val Staff (Capability), with responinvited to attend this special event. sibility as Chief of Staff to the Navy The dinner is named for HMS PickCommand Headquarters. On prole, which participated in the Battle motion to Vice Admiral in Septemof Trafalgar in 1805 and which carber 2014, he assumed his current ried the news back to Britain ofNelassignment. Vice Admiral Potts's son's victory and death in battle. This operational and academic experievent has been a perennial success, ence gives him a penetrating perwith guests from the United States spective on the Royal Navy and the and many other countries. unique leadership qualities of AdVice Admiral Duncan Potts CB, 1 miral Lord Nelson.

Royal Navy, Director General Joint I Have Urgent Dispatches, Space is limited. For reservaForce Development and Defence

by Gordo n Prickers tions, contact Sally McElwreath Academy, will be the main speaker. Admiral Potts began Callo at SallyMC79@verizon.net, Ph. 917 536-1077. Tickhis Royal Navy career at the Britannia Royal Naval College. et price is $300 per person. Dress is black tie or military His service includes a wide variety of submarine and surface equivalent. The event's sponsor, the American Friends of the ship assignments. He commanded the frigates HMS Bril- National Museum of the Royal Navy, is recognized as a tax liant and HMS Marlborough, and the destroyer HMS South- exempt organization. The Nelson Society, the 1805 Club, 1 C B: C ompanion of the Order of th e Bath and NMHS also support this event.

Celebrate our maritime heritage this holiday season with NMHS greeting cards Greeting reads "Wishing you fair winds for the holidays and calm seas for the New Year."

Set of 10: $14.95 or $13.46 for NMHS members. Add $4.50 s/h for one set or $7.20 s/h for two to five sets. Please indicate your choice of holiday or blank cards.

Please call for shipping charges for more than 5 sets or international orders. Visit our website www.seahistory.org-for other selections choose "Store," then "Gifts."

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Orders shipped after 20 Dec. 201 7 can be priority shipped at $9.50.

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SEAHISTORY 160, AUTUMN201 7

CALENDAR FESTIVALS, EVENTS, LECTURES, ETC.

•Lake Union Boats Afloat Show, 14-17 September in Seattle, WA. (South Lake Union, 901 Fairview Ave. North; www. boatsafloarshow.com) •Boatyard Beach Bash, 16 September at the A nnapolis Maritime M useum. (723 Second Street, A nnapolis, M D ; www. am aritime.org) •Greenport Maritime Festival, 23-24 September, in Greenport, Long Island, NY. (www.easrendmaritimefesrival.org) •Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, 23-24 Septem ber, in Portsmouth, N H . (http://pmffesr.o rg) •Santa Barbara Harbor & Seafood Festival, 14 October along the Sa nta Barbara waterfront. (113 H arbor Way, Santa Barbara, CA; www.harborfes rival.org) •Southport Wooden Boat Show, 30 September at the O ld Yacht Basin, Southport, NC. (Ph. 910 477-2787; www.sourhporr woodenboatshow.com)

•Working Waterfront Festival, 23 September on the State Pier in New Bedfo rd, MA. (www.workingwaterfron tfestival.org) •Moby-Dick Marathon, 6- 7 January at the New Bedford W haling Museum. (18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, M A; Ph. 508 997-0046; www.whalingmuseum.org) EXHIBITS

•Liberty's War, opens 8 September at the American Merchant Marine M useum on the campus of the US Merchant Marine Academy. (3 00 Steamboat Road, Kings Point, NY; Ph . 516 726 -6047; www.usm m a.edu/museum) •24th Annual Maritime Art Exhibit, at the Coos Arr M useum in Coos Bay, OR; ends 23 September. Featu red artist is Steve Mayo. (235 Anderson Avenue, Coos Bay, O R; Ph. 541 267-39 01; www.coosan .org)

•Science ofStorms-The Extraordinary Weather ofthe Paci.fie Northwest, at the Columbia River Maritime M useum. (1792

•On the Line: Intrepid and the Vietnam War at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space M useum until 1 October. Also at the museum thro ugh 27 January is Don't Be a Dilbert!

US Navy Safety Posters, (Pier 86, W. 46rh St. & 12th Ave ., New York, NY; www. intrepidmuseum .org) •Swift Boats at War in Vietnam, at the Maritime M useum of San D iego in Califo rnia thro ugh 12 November. (1492 N. H arbor Dr., San Diego, CA; Ph. 619 2349153; www.sdmaritime.org)

•Into the Lantern: A Lighthouse Experience, new permanent exhibit at the Maine Maritime M useum in Bath. (43 Washington Sr., Bath, ME; Ph. 207 443-1316; www. mainemaritimemuseum .org) CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIUMS

•2017 Historic Naval Ships Association Annual Conference, 26- 29 September at Patriots Point in Charleston, SC. (www. hnsa.org)

Join Us at the 11th Maritime Heritage Conference, along with the NMHS Annual Meeting and Tall Ships America's 45th Annual Conference on Sail Training and Tall Ships in New Orleans, 14-17 February 2018. For details, see page 8-9 of this issue, or visit www.seahistory.org.

•Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival & Maritime Model Expo, 6-8 October at the Chesapeake Bay M aritime M useum; also at the museum is OysterFest on 28 October. (213 North Talbot Street, Sr. M ichaels, M D ; www.cbmm.org) •USS Constellation Cup Regatta & Pier Party, 14 October, organized by H istoric Ships in Baltimore. (3 01 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD; Ph. 410 539-1797; www. historicships.org) •The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, 10- 15 October from Baltimore, M D, to Portsmouth, VA. D ockside to urs in Baltimore 10- 11 October; race down the Bay is 12-13 October; select vessel tours in Portsmouth on 14 October. (www.gcbsr.org) •Wellfleet OysterFest, 14-15 October in Wellfleet, MA, on Cape Cod. (www.well fleetoysterfesr.org) •Marine Surplus Sale, 12 November (9AM to l rM) at the Center fo r Wooden Boars.

(1475 N. Northl ake Place, Seattle, WA; www.cwb.org/even ts/marine-surplus-sale/)

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

Marine Drive, Astoria, O R; Ph. 503 3252323; www.crm m.org) •ArtofNorthAtlanticFishing, 3 October through 18 January at the M innesota Marine A rt Museum. (MMAM, 800 Riverview Drive, W inona, MN; Ph. 507 4746626; www. mmam.org)

•A Century of Women in the Rosenfeld Collection, at Mys tic Seaport; ends 24 September. (47 Green manville Avenue, Mystic, CT; Ph . 860 572-5388; www. mys ticseaport.org)

•O'er the Wide and Tractless Sea: Original Art of the Yankee Whaling Hunt, opened in July at the New Bedford W haling M useum. (18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA; Ph. 508 997-0046; www. whali ngmuseum.org)

•Hampton Roads Ship Model Society 50th Anniversary Exhibition, through 11 February at the Mariners' M useum. (100 M useum Dr. , Newport News, VA; Ph. 757 596-2222; www. m arinersmuseum .org; www. hrsms.org)

•Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, 3-7 January in New Orleans, LA. Theme: "Landscapes, Entrepots, and Global C urrents." (www.sha.org) •American Historical Association, 132nd Annual Meeting, 4-7 January in Washington, DC. Theme: "Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in Global Perspective." (www. historians .org) •PCA/ACANational Conference (Popular Cultu re Association/American Culture Association), 28-3 1 March in Indianapolis, IN. "Sea Literature, H istory, & Culture" will be one of the subject areas presented.

Call-for-Papers deadline is 1 October. (www.pcaaca.org) •2018 National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 18- 21 April in Las Vegas, NV. (www.ncph.org) •Council of American Maritime Museums Annual Conference, 4-6 April, hosted by the National Museum of Bermuda. (www.councilofamericanmaritime museums .org)

57

MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

by Peter McCracken

Using Browser Extensions to Enhance Your Online Research our web browser is your primary window to everyrhing rhe internet has to offer.

Many small and free tools exisr rhar can expand how you use rhis window, and rhey can help you wirh rhe research you do. The mosr common browsers roday are Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari (only for rhe Mac), and Internet Explorer (and irs recent replacement, Microsoft Edge), bur many orher browsers exisr. Browsers can be modified using tools called extensions. Extensions are browser-specific, so each browser creator has a website rhar displays extensions and offers rhem for download.

Search for, say, "Chrome extensions" or "Firefox extensions" to find rhe appropriate collecrions. Afrer insralling any extension, you'll see a small square icon for ir, usually ro rhe righr of rhe URL address bar ar rhe top of yo ur browser.

"Library Extension" is one such example. This extension will rell you which libraries near you have a given book when you search for ir on Amazon and a few orher book-focused sires. You define which public libraries you want ir to search (no academic libraries are searched wirh rhis extension), and rhen a new box appears on rhe Amazon page rhar shows search resulrs. "Library Exrension" does nor require rhar you creare an account, and is complerely free . (Search for "library" in rhe extensions store, or visir https://www.libraryextension.com.) Click on "Add to Chrome" and ir will insrall irself. Ar present, Library Extension only has a Chrome extension, bur Firefox is supposed to release a Firefox extension in rhe near furure.

Zotero is a common and popular bibliographic management tool; ir also has a Chrome extension rhar simplifies adding an entry to your bibliography when looking ar a listing of an arricle, book, website, disserrarion, or orher resource. Zorero is free, and requires a download of rhe main program from https://www.zotero.org. Ir offers extensions for all rhe major browsers.

Many people swear by Evernote, rhe very popular note-storing application (https://evernote.com). Ir offers several extensions, including Evernote Web Clipper (all major browsers), which collects web pages and screen shors of web pages to your Evernore account. Several extensions will use Google Translate's program to quickly provide rranslarions of web page rexr. If you do a lor oflegal research, Jureeka (http://jureeka.blogspot.com/, available for Firefox and Ch rome) may be useful. This extension identifies legal citations in rexr and generates links to online versions of rhe cired srarures or courr cases.

Pocket (https://getpocket.com/) stores web pages for easy reading larer. Ir's free, and can be used wirhour an account, bur if you are logged in, you can save arricles across devices-afrer you save cerrain web pages on your desktop, yo u can read rhem larer on your laptop or phone.

Generally, extensions will nor cause problems, bur be careful and read reviews abour specific extensions before insralling rhem. Each exrension inserrs irself into rhe browsing process, so ir has access to a lor of dara and can be a legirimare security risk.

Some may inserr ads unexpectedly.

Less intentional problems can also appear. I found a useful extension for Chrome rhar highlights rexr and is helpful when creating a screen shor wirh cerrain rexr emphasized. Larer, all research databases from a specific vendor failed to rerurn any resulrs ar all. I contacred rhe darabase vendor, and rhey told me everything was working properly.

W hen I rried a differenr device, rhe database worked fine. I rried using Firefox, found ir worked OK as well, and realized rhere was a problem wirh rhe Chrome insrallarion on my desktop. I rhen disabled rhe highlighter extension and found rhe darabase worked fine. Eventually, I delered rhe extension complerely. In rhis case, I rhink rhe rwo programs jusr didn'r agree wirh each orher.

Generally speaking, however, extensions can be useful tools to improve how you and your browser explore the interner.

Suggestions for orher sires worrh mentioning are welcome ar peter@shipindex. org. See www.shipindex.org for a free compilation of over 150,000 ship names from indexes to dozens of books and journals. ,t

Y

58

SHIP INDEX .ORG

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

Reviews Henry Foxall: Methodist, Industrialist, American by Jane B. Donovan (New Room Books, Nashville, TN, 2017, 294pp, illus, notes, index, ISBN 978-0-93816-239-1; $59.99hc) This biography of Henry Foxall (17581823) is a multifaceted portrait, rich in historical context, of an immigrant ironworker from England who made his fortune in the United States during the first years of the Early Republic. Foxall was also a devour Methodist, a follower ofJohn Wesley, Francis Asbury, and other religious spokesmen. The biographer weaves these two themes as she explains his earliest life experiences, as the son of ironworker Thomas Foxall, growing up in the English midlands and Wales as the Industrial Revolution introduced the machine age. Foxall's arrival in the United States in 1795, at the very rime when America's developing industries needed his skills, was propitious.

In the 1750s, small iron forges and foundries served local communities and farmers in Wales and the towns west of Birmingham, England. The forges' need for iron ore and coal led to roads being built, linking these communities that wo uld one day be called the "Black Country" because of rhe pervasive soot from foundry chimneys that settled over the countryside. Many of those who, like the Foxalls, worked these forges were of extremely modest means and possessed strong Protestant religious faith, believing in the need for a reformed Church of England. Henry Foxall grew up in this environment; as an adult became an enthusiastic practitioner, lay preacher, and strong supporter of Methodism in the United States.

Donovan demonstrates that Henry Foxall's religious beliefs formed an essential element of his success as a businessman and community leader later in life, but the driving element of Foxall 's success was his superior knowledge of the iron-making business, learned from his fat her and employment as a furnace man at Fundey's Forge under Henry Cort, a major supplier of iron for the Plymouth Dockyard. Cort developed and patented a rolling mill and the "puddling process," which dramatically improved the strength of iron bar being produced. After Cort's financial fai lure in the mid-1780s, Foxall rook his fami ly to Ireland, where he worked at County Antrim's Arigna SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 20 17

Iron Works. Due to religious and political upheaval in Ireland, Foxall finally decided to emigrate-stealthily-to the United States in 1795. His departure required stealth because Foxall had become a specialist in an industry whose methods the British sought to protect. In leaving, Foxall was breaking laws that prohibited skilled artisans with industrial trade secrets firmly planted in their minds from emigrating.

From the moment of his arrival at Philadelphia, Foxall sought employment in iron manufacturing. Perhaps through his Methodist connections, Foxall gained an introduction to Robert Morris, the financier, who quickly realized his potential and set Foxall up to build a foundry at Springersbury on the Schuylkill River. The business became known as the Eagle Works, run by Henry Foxall & Company. This marked the beginning of Foxall 's remarkable career as a provider of ordnance for the Republic's incipient War and Navy Departments. At Eagle, Foxall built forges, furnaces, and a boring mill, with rhe promise of federal contracts through Tench Francis, the purveyor of public supplies for the War Department. There was at that rime one other major cannon founder, Samuel Hughes of the Principio Iron Works near H avre de Grace, Maryland. Yer he was unable to produce the number of guns needed for the new ships that had been authorized in 1794, and those that had been cast already were of irregular quality. Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stodden contracted with Foxall to produce guns and shot of varying dimensions for Captain Richard Dale's Ganges and many other naval vessels.

The excellent quality of Foxall's products and the rapidity of production established him as the principal provider of ordnance for the US Army and Navy, through the end of the War of 1812. In 1800, Foxall bought land in Georgetown and there built his Columbia Ironworks so as to be near the War Department and the Washington Navy Yard. He retained a half interest in the Eagle Ironworks, which continued production according to his standards. An example of the Navy's dependence on Foxall is his production of forty 32-pounder carronades for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's brigs Niagara and Lawrence. These guns, each of which weighed nearly a ton,

had to be transported by wagon to Pittsburgh, transferred to barges, and hauled up the Allegheny River and French Creek to Erie, Pennsylvania, about a seven-week ordeal. There were other foundries that produced guns and round shot, owned by Samuel Hughes, as noted, bur when Admiral Cockburn's 1813 raid on Havre de Grace and the Principio Ironworks destroyed his plant, from then on, Foxall had a virtual monopoly on ordnance production for the duration of the war.

An extensive portion of this book is devoted to Henry Foxall 's religious views because of his great interest in and patronage of Methodism as it was raking hold in the United States. He was known for his donations to construction of churches for the faithfu l. Yer, the evident paradox of supporting religion while making weapons of war did not escape his notice. When asked abo ut this conflict, Foxall averred that although he made weapons to destroy bodies, he assuaged his conscience by building churches ro save souls. I recommend this well-written, thoroughly researched study to all interested in America's indus-

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trial growth during the Early Republic as well as the role religion played in the lives of citizens at that time.

WILLIAMS. D UDLEY, PHD Easton, Maryland

N o One Avoided Danger: NAS Kaneohe Bay and theJapanese Attack of7 December 1941 by J. Michael Wenger, Robert].

Cressman, and John F. Di Virgilio Pfarrer (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2015, 208pp, illus, biblio, notes, index, ISBN 978-1-61251-924-1; $34.95hc) "No one avoided danger," a post-battle quote from C DR Harold M . Martin, serves as an apt title for this important book on the attack on-and response fromNaval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on the island of O 'ahu. In it, the aurhors present the derailed acco unt, told through historic images and first-hand testimonies, of the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on the island of O 'ahu. The work covers the construction of the base, still unfinished at the time of the attack, but maintains a tight focus on the hectic events of the morning attack itself. The novelty here is the light shed on Kaneohe Bay, so long overshadowed by the attention paid to the critical events at Pearl H arbor.

NAS Kaneohe Bay was built as a seaplane base, housing squadrons oflong-range PBY patrol craft capable of detecting the location of the Japanese Beer. At leas t four aircraft were at their ready moorings on the Bay, with the rest lined up on the tarmac. At 0750, moments before Japanese planes arrived over Pearl H arbor, the first wave of carrier-borne fighters struck the new base at Kaneohe. Base personnel sheltered among the half-constructed bui ldings and fought back fiercely, constructing mounts for hastily salvaged .30 and .50cal guns from the burning PBY-5s with only Browning and Thompson m achine guns, Browning automatic rifles (BARs) , and .30 and .50cal guns from the PBYs. A second wave arrived at 0910. Of the several dozen PBY seaplanes stationed at the base, only three from VP-14, which were out on parrol at the time, escaped damage or destruction.

NAS Kaneohe Bay was effectively put out of operation, with nineteen dead and sixtynine wounded (including civilians). What SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

followed was a long and nervous night as servicemen crouched with salvaged weapons in impromptu foxholes; it was also a night rife with rumors as the base prepared to defend itself against what seemed like imminent Japanese landings.The Japanese strike force, however, had departed.

What this book does best is present primary information on the attack at Kaneohe, establishing a firm record for all subsequent evaluations. This approach foregoes the contextual range of post-World War II secondary sources, so readers seeking broader connections beyond Kaneohe Bay must look elsewhere. And the specific chronology of events is sometimes difficult to follow, due to the nature of multiple eyewitness reports (different accounts of events occurring at the same time)-an unavoidable issue. But the clear strength of No One Avoided Danger is in the factual and meticulous retelling of the Kaneohe attack itself. The authors skillfully provide solid and extensive research into archives, private collections, participant eyewitness accounts, Department of Defense documents, and a plethora of historic photographs, backed up by copious notes included in the end matter. And they do so in an exciting and accessible manner.

The large format of the many images makes this work particularly visually appealing.

Portraits of individual enlisted men and the retelling of their personal experiences in their own words emphasizes the human side of the story. This is true for the Japanese aviators as well, whose photos and stories are included wherever possible, a very welcome inclusiveness providing for a more balanced and non-judgmental treatment of the Japanese perspective of the battle.

The narrative touches upon one of the mysteries of the event, the details of what happened to the PBYs moored on the bay that morning; it is not even clear how many were at their ready stations on the water.

Records indicate perhaps four, bur Japanese aviators reported six during their post-attack debrief. In 1994 the first archaeological survey of one of these PBYs, strafed and sunk near the seaplane ramps, was completed. The shattered fuselage is still attached to its mooring cable, a kind of primary record of the event. But this type of research is not part of the book. Wenger, SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

Cressman, and Di Virgilio's work remains faithfully focused on the immediate experiences of the men and women at NAS Kaneohe that day, an impressive tribute to all the personnel who conducted themselves "in a manner which was in keeping wit h the best traditions of the Navy."

HANS K. VAN T!LBURG Honolulu, Hawaii

Whales, Wharves and Warfare: People and Events that Shaped Pigeon Point by JoAnn Semones (The Glencannon Press, El Cerrito, CA, 2017, 172pp, appen, biblio, index, 978-1-88990 1-65-5; $29.95hc) JoAnn Semones brought readers to Californ ia's Pigeon Point once before, with her 2007 tide, Shipwrecks, Scalawags and Scavengers: 1he Storied Waters of Pigeon Point. Her latest book expands upon that local history, with tales that only the West Coast can provide. Nineteenth-century stories of life in California always seem to begin with someone from back east having a big idea and heading west.

The history of Pigeon Point, which is located south of San Francisco and the famed Half Moon Bay, includes the establishment of several shore whaling stations

by Portuguese whalers from the Azores, who were followed by professionals in that field from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Semones reco unts the entire run of the various vent ures, from the 1860s to the 1890s. A major, secondary theme in the work is the history of the local lighthouse, with chapters on its construction (by a builder from Bangor, Maine) and its World War II-era Coast Guard crew, as well as current preservation efforts. Two of the appendices are dedicated to the lighthouse, one to a list of the keepers of both the Pigeon Point and Ano Neuvo lights , another to the history of its Fresnel lens.

Pigeon Point became an active shipping center, too, around the time of the Gold Rush. Schooners visited to pick up locally grown agricultural products and carried them to San Francisco. Entrepreneurs like Loren Coburn (by way of Vermont and Massachusetts) provided capacity expansion opportunities, like his loading chute that aided in delivering goods from shore to larger ships in what was known as a "dog hole port" (so small there

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sion went both ways, as the builders and operators of the giant steam-powered machines struggled to keep the popu lar interest by presenting ever larger and faster vessels. Burgess emphasizes the role of the pressure to keep public interest in daring behavior on the part of ship captains, which sometimes led to disaster. Tragedies, like JOHN GALLUZZO the sinking of the Titanic, became the subHanover, Massachusetts ject of debate in the press and formed the pulpit as social observers tried to determine Engines ofEmpire: Steamships and the the role of God in the successes and failures Victorian Imagination by Douglas R. of the machines built to overcome natureBurgess Jr. (Stanford University Press, Stan- the product of God. ford, CA, 2016, 342pp, illus, notes, biblio, Burgess also investigates the reflection index, ISBN 978-0-8047-9806-8; $35hc) of social castes in the steam-powered land The main title, Engines ofEmpire, sug- transportation system (i.e. trains), but maingests a practical study of engines, but it is tains his attention on how this plays out on the secondary title, Steamships and the Vic- oceangoing, river, and coastal ships. He torian Imagination, that defines the eso- takes a close look at the scenario where these teric work by Douglas R. Burgess Jr. His modern modes of transportation brought work is not easily defined because it cross- people to the large public exhibitions, such es so many disciplinary lines: art, science, as the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, psychology, philosophy, history, religion, which exposed them to marvels in science politics, sociology, economics, manage- and mechanics, transforming the way they ment, marketing, advertising, geography, thought about their world and their place literature (both prose and poetry), and in it. Those from the lower classes anticiengineering. His writing is nothing short pated rubbing shoulders with the rich and of genius. Burgess is an artist who adorns powerful on their travels to these exhibihis canvas with words. tions, but management strove to separate Burgess does not confine his investiga- them within tight confines. Burgess examtion to the building and operation of ocean- ines the ramifications of this shared, but going steamships from the beginning of separated, existence on the confines of rails steam-powered vessels, but also analyzes and water transport, and, as the narrative the impact of steam-driven riverboats, es- progresses, there is less about steam engines pecially on the Mississippi River, and the and more about people: how they were commuter ferries operating along the separated by class, how the classes interNortheast Corridor. His main focus is on acted with one another, and how those the response of society to these techno- within the classes interacted with one anlogical marvels, and draws on a wide vari- other. ety of sources-editorials, speeches, memSteam and civilization combined to oirs, diary entries, and sermons-to flesh enhance imperialism by reducing the time our the human reaction to the launching required to deliver news, administrators, of mammoth vessels powered by steam, supplies, soldiers, settlers, and whatever else then the largest man-made, self-propelled was needed to expand and maintain an objects on the planet. He examines the empire spread thou sands of miles around individual and societal responses to works- the globe. of-man pitted against the power of nature, No review, abbreviated or extended, and especially the conflict that emerges can do justice to this work that offers deep when the machines seem to be winning the insights into technology and society. Anybattle. one interested in ships and their impact on The spectacle of huge steam-powered civilization will find in Engines ofEmpire a ships impressed a public that responded by study worthy of their time and attention. lionizing the machines and, later, the enDAVID 0. WHITTEN, PHD gineers responsible for them . The impresAuburn, Alabama

was barely enough room for a dog to turn around, let alone a schooner). It's in Coburn's story that we again see Semones's strength as an author. She finds the true character of the historic personalities who shaped the communities of coastal California, and succinctly and effectively interprets them for our reading pleasure.

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62

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

"O'er the Wide and Tractless Sea" ORIGINAL ART OF THE YANKEE WHALE HUNT

By M;chael P. Dyer

SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017

63

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY AFTERGUARD

J. ARON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.

]AMES] . COLEMAN ]R.

]AMES 0. COLEMAN

THE ARTINA GROUP

CONDE NAST

CACI INTERNATIONAL

BRIAN D'IsERNIA & EASTERN SHIPBUILDING GROUP

HENRY L. & GRACE DOHERTY CHARITABLE FouNDATION

C.

ARTHUR M. KIMBERLY TRUST

DuFF HUGHES & THE VANE BROTHERS COMPANY

MAITLAND

McALLISTER Tow1NG & TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, lNc.

I N MEMORY OF CAPT. Jo sEPH RAMSEY, USMM CHARLES H. TOWNSEND

CHAR LES A. R OBERTSON

BANK OF AMER I CA MERRILL LYNCH

RICHARDT. DU MouLIN

ELITE IsLAND RESORTS

] R.,

USN (RET.)

MATEX TANK TERMINALS

c.

BOWEN SMITH

BENJAMIN KATZENSTEIN

BuRCHENAL

USCG ( R ET.)

RoBERT F. KAMM

w.

NEW YORK WATERWAYS SKULD NORTH AMERICA I NC.

MARJORIE SHORROCK

PHILIP & I RMY WEBSTER

D . HARRY

J EAN WORT CINCINNATI FINANC I AL CORPORATION

GARSC HAG EN

GENERAL DYNAMICS

WILLIAM]. GREEN

H UNTINGTON INGALLS I NDUSTRIES

H.F. LENFEST

STE PHE N B . PHILLIPS

AMERICAN Bu REAU OF SHIPPING

H ARRIS CLARK

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

DR. TIMOTHY J . RUNYAN

PAUL M. ALDRICH

] AKOB I SBRANDTSEN

CAPT ] AMES A. NOONE, USNR ( R ET.)

PETER A . SELIGMANN

STAR CLIPPER CRU ISES

BLANK ROME LLP

I N MEMORY OF W ILLIAM

SANTAN DER B ANK

GEORGE ScHLUDERBERG ]OHN STOBART

SILAS ANTHONY

DR. ] OHN F I NERTY

]AMES 0. BURRI

DR. Jos EPH F. MEANY, ]R.

ROBERT E. MORRIS, ]R.

C.

WILLIAM G . MULLER SAI LING ExcuRs10Ns, !Ne.

H AMILTON SLOAN FouNDATION VSE CORPORATION

GEROULD R . STANGE

C HRIS WALKER

NEW YORK CONTAINER TERMINAL BARBARA PILLING

A. ACEBEDO

DAN WHALEN

]AMES H. BRANDI

LEONARD J. EATON, ] R.

] OAN M. DAVENPORT

STEVEN DRAPER

c. HEMINWAY

CAPT. PETER HARTSOCK

].

j ANE SuNDELOF J oNES

R1 cHARD J uuAN

MR . & MRS. CHESTER W. KncHINGs, ] R. PETER LIND

DAv1s MARGOLD

KATHLEEN LIN EHAN

CAPT G. M . MUS ICK

Ill,

VINCENT MILES

USN (RET.)

SCOTT NATHAN

CoL. BRUCE E. PATTERSON, USA

C.

PENN INGTON

MR. & MRS. ANDREW A . RADEL

MICHAEL J . RAUWORTH

I N MEMORY OF R1cHARD E. RIEGEL, ] R.

RADM DONALD P . R OANE, USN (RET.)

] AMES G. SARGENT

RoBERT W. Scon·

DONALD SouuGNY

PATRICIA STEELE CAPT. ] oHN ToRJUSEN

THOMAS S. WHITEMAN

] ACK WIBERG

PETER B. PouLSEN

RussELL R . TRIPP

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WIBERG

Roa SuRPRENANT

R oBERT ] . TYD RI CHARD

c. ] ONES, USCG

ADELE KIRKPATRICK

joH N L. LANGILL

BABCOCK MACLEAN

F. W. LEE

] OHN MALONEY

KEVIN McLAUGHLIN MICHAEL

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MoeRE

MICHAEL Moss & ELLEN CHAPMAN ER IC A. OESTERLE DAVID PROHASKA

ROGER OTTEN BACH D R. G. MICHAEL PuRDY

WILLIAM E . RICHARDSON

REED ROBERTSON

CHRISTOPHER R owsoM

CDR WILLIAM H. SKIDMOR E

MR. A . E . & DIANA SzAMBECKI

W I LLIAM VAN Loo

c. WOLFE

R AY GU I NTA

RADM ERIC

]OHN REUTER

W I LLIAM M. RosEN

RADM & MRs. Bos SHUMAKER, USN ( R ET.)

CAPT. ER IC

CAPT. D WIGHT GERT Z

R1 cHARD S. MERRELL

CAPT. ERIC NIELSEN

MARTIN RESNICK

L EON C. SuNSTEIN, ]R .

C. H ENRY DEPEW

CAROLYN & LEONARD M1 z EREK

] AMES A. NEEL PAUL

w . CHEEVERS

EGAN MARITIME MUSEUM

] AMES & B ARBARA KERR

VANCE MORRISON

BI LL W1ssEL

MORGAN DALY

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I N MEMORY OF ]OHN B. LYON

THOMAS A . MoRAN

]R.

GARY ] OBSON

C DR RONALD A . McKINNEY, USN ( R ET.)

RICHARD A. & Lois MEYER

CA P T R. G. MooRE, USCG (RET.) WILLIAM L. PALMER

] AMES L. KERR

] AMES

] ACK CREI GHTON

P ETER P. GERQUEST

EDWIN H. GRANT,

]R.

MR. & MRS. VINCENT

] AMES P. DELGADO

ANDREW MACAOIDH J ERGENS

THE KELTON FouNDATION

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