LETTERS Oh! Calcutta!
Adrenalin on the Tongue
X Songs in Hungary
To the Editor: SH No. 4 is a handsome, well-produced dog; you should all be proud as I would be if I had anything to do with it. It reads easily and well for its purpose. Anyone joined with you in common struggle will find this issue a mine of information and enthusiastic purpose . You were kind enough to send me for comment the photo of Calcutta in the 1850s by Bourne and Sheppard (p.48), used to illustrate the Cooper story. It should be treasured. I would suspect the barrels off-loaded on the river bank contain barreled cement, possibly transhipped from Antwerp . The steamer to the left is likely a Peninsular and Oriental propeller, brig-rigged, awa1tmg homeward-bound English colonials and civil servants. The bark, I think a Dane or Norwegian by the metal bands on her fore lowermast, has been rigged down to her topmasts for a long stay while waiting for a home-ward bound charter . Homeward-bound freights from Calcutta then were not plentiful and waiting in the monsoon season was dreaded by seamen; fever and illness raged with little relief. The next little bark offshore in the moored tier has a beautifully carved stern and quarter galleries as well, a relic of the 1840s easily, sporting the single topsails of the next period, her big sails furling to the bunt in the old manner. Next in the tier, a port-painted ship, I believe with her topmasts struck and housed in the old-fashioned style. Across the stream, a handsome ship, discharged and standing light suggest one of London River's better-known flyers. The cone-shaped moorings in the river are of particular interest. ROBERT A. WEINSTEIN Los Angeles, California
To the Editor: So much of natural lore is expounded today by persons who, though furrowed of brow, lofty of dome, and gimlet-eyed from worming through tomes, have never, never wetted their socks in salt water! These worthies gravitate toward each other, form learned "societies" and periodically laud one another with laurel wreaths as experts and "Men of the Year." I could hardly aspire to such lofty company. I have, though, seen a big square-rigger lean her four lofty pyramids of canvas to a wind humming, even roaring through the tracery of her gear. I have seen a pampero lay a ship over on her side, bailing water over the lee rail, and I tasted the adrenalin on my tongue! Having seen it, having experienced it, I could talk of "this, that and the other" as the pilot replied when asked what his ship carried. Good wishes to the National Maritime Historical Society! ARCHIE HORKA Fair Lawn, New Jersey Captain Horka began his seafaring in the little bark Callao out of New York. SH Nos. I and 2 carried excerpts from his journal of a later voyage in the Cape Horner Skaregrom. Agreeing to come speak to a gathering of friends of the Society at the New York Yacht Club, he enclosed photographs of where he was just fifty years before, in November 1926, with the foremast hands of the barkentine Forest Dream, in New South Wales, Australia.-ED.
To the Editor: We are very glad to have the record album and songbook that you published with the X Seamens Institute. Once we had listened to the record, we decided that we shall shape a little band like the X Seamen, and we shall play and sing the songs they sing in South Street, in our country. LESLIE VIT AI Veszprem, Hungary In the Wake of Slocum's Spray To the Editor: When Captain Joshua Slocum was on the beach after a distinguished career in command of American sailing ships, no one expected him to do more than sail around in Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod waters in the old sloop Spray which a friend gave him. But he rebuilt the sloop from timbers he cut himself, and sailed her around the world . Today there are a number of replicas of the Spray which people have built for varying reasons, drawn by Slocum's career as lone voyager and by the philosophy expressed in his book, Sailing Alone Around the World. There is a feeling shared by these people that Slocum stood for something important in the changing world of his time, and that he has important things to tell us today. I am working with Walter Teller, Slocum's biographer, on a film which will chronicle Slocum's sailing and his outlook on life. We have support from many people who sail in Slocum's wake today, including several owners of Spray replicas. We seek funding for the documentary film we are working on, and welcome inquiries about the project. JIMMcMAHAN Chapel Hill, North Carolina Word from a New Museum
"Beyond the Spectacle" To the Editor: A resounding note of admiration on SEA HISTORY No. 4! The article by Charles Gallagher ("Beyond the Spectacle," p. 18) is ironic, apropos, and on the whole very fair. I suspect, however, that in the next few years, we'll be developing close contact with the Coast Guard and will come to reasonable, intelligent and safe conclusions. CORWITH CRAMER, JR. Executive Director Sea Education Association Woods Hole, Massachusetts 2
To the Editor: We have been watching news items about the Effie M. Morrissey for some time and wish the best for the efforts of the National Society. The place of her building (James and Tarr or Willard Burnham) here in Essex is one of many local controversies. However, I am told by Dana Story and other local historians and shipbuilders that the fact is clear: the Morrissey was built by James and 1 arr. The retirement ot W1ilard A. Burnham in 1893 is well documented and would seem to bear this out. I am familiar with the Lettie G. How-