SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS The work of the Ernestina Committee is of great international significance. I hope that the Ernestina will become an important symbol in demonstrating the close ties that exist between the United States and Africa .... I salute the friends of the Ernestina and in particular the Cape Verdean Government for its generous return of a piece of our common heritage so that many more may learn about Cape Verde and its contributions to America.
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Hon. ANDREW YOUNG Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations
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Melissa Wells, Economic and Social Affairs Ambassador to the United Na/ions, smiles encouragemenl as Andrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, urges support for the Ernestina/Morrissey projecl.
Ernestina / Morrissey Report The Ernestina ex-Effie M. Morrissey, Gloucester fisherman, Arctic explorer, and last sailing ship in the storied Cape Verdean immigrant packet trade, acquired State sponsorship on January 6, when Governor Dukakis of Massachusets signed into law a Schooner Ernestina Commission, a body empowered to "hold, administer, control, operate and repair the said vessel for educational or training purposes." On the five-person commission will be three nominated by Friends of the Ernestina/ Morrissey from Gloucester, New Bedford, and Wareham . New Bedford has already allocated $25,000 from Community Development funds for repairs to the Ernestina and preparation of a pier area for docking . Wareham has held several fund-raising affairs and has prepared a proposal for construction of a dock, dredging, and shore facilities. Providence has offered free docking space at India Point Park and it is expected that the State of Rhode Island I
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will soon establish a commission to cooperate with the Massachusetts body. Plans call for the schooner to operate out of several communities, in program tied into shore-based job training and educational activities. In the past year, Friends of the Ernestina/ Morrissey have arranged educational tours and outings under sail in several seaport towns between New York and Wareham, with the cooperation of maritime museums and such vessels as Barba Negra, Clearwater, and Mary E. At the Annual Meeting of Friends of the Ernestina/ Morrissey, held in the Brooklyn headquarters of the National Society on November 12, it was resolved to continue the Committee under the sponsorship of the National Society and to extend the vigorous campaigning that has been conducted to see to the repatriation of the vessel to the United States. Work on the schooner continues in the Cape Verdes, with sails being made in Lisbon to supplement those donated in this country, deadeyes being made in Belize, and help flowing in from many quarters to assist the ship to complete her long voyage home. MICHAEL PLATZER Project Director
Falkland lslands/Malvinas Expedition The U.S. Military Sealift Command Ship Mirfac (T-AK271) departed New Jersey for Argentina in December, carrying chain saws donated by Homelite and molding materials donated by Val Corning to recover sections of the St. Mary wreck in the Falklands, and to make moldings of ship carvings on other hulks lying in the remote, windswept South Atlantic islands (known in Argentina as the Islas Malvinas). Alan Burrough, distiller of Beefeater Gin, and Frank Mitchell, director of the Falklands Islands Company, met with Frank Carr, Advisor to the National Society in London, to arrange the English part in this expedition, in which Prince Philip and Prime Minister Callaghan have taken an interest. Peter Throckmorton, Falklands Project Director for the National Society, visited in England and elsewhere to plan this effort, and Dr. Eric Berryman of the University of New Mexico, Project Secretary, arranged transportation through the generous cooperation of the Argentine Ambassador, Jorge Aja Espil, and the Argentine Naval Attache. The main stem of this international effort is the South Street Seaport Museum survey team, led by Norman Brouwer, Ship Historian at South Street and Trustee of the National Society. Other participating institutions are the State of Maine Museum, British Antarctic Survey, Earthwatch, Maritime Museum of Vancouver, Islands Museum of the Falkland Islands, San Francisco Maritime Museum, Merseyside County Museums, Liverpool, and the Universities of Liverpool and North Wales. It is planned to recover a section of the St. Mary for exhibition at the State of Maine Museum, and to set up another section of the hull in the Islands Museum at Port Stanley, whose curator John Smith is author of the National Society booklet "Condemned at Stanley" (available from the Society, $1.50 postpaid).
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LIBERTY SHIP SEMINAR The National Society announces a meeting Friday, May 19 (preceding Sea Day Weekend) at Seamen's Church Institute in New York, to explore the Liberty Ship heritage and plans to save ships on East and West Coasts. Morning panels, luncheon, afternoon tour of John W. Brown (shown at left with her replacement lying alongside). Registratrion: $25 including lunch, Save a Liberty Kit. FRANCIS JAMES DUFFY Liberty Project Director
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SEA HISTORY, SPRING 1978