LETTERS sail a sailboat and a lot of them can't do it.,, I am a Chief Mate on the Great Lakes, and a 2nd Mate on any gross tons on oceans. I know many Masters, and in spite of their tremendous load of bookwork, they have all been seamen before anything. It is not our fault that we can't sail in the romantic age of sail! You claim to be concerned with our nation's sea heritage, which we lost as a people generations ago. The British still have it. I know, I'm descended from a long line of English sailors of all ranks . I have parish records of my ancestors dating back to the late 12th century. I, too, am interested in reviving America's maritime heritage, but the only way this heritage can be maintained is for the present generation of seamen to be seamen . And we have been fighting against government and public inertia and ignorance for as long as I can remember. Surely your people should realize that there will be no past to recall if the present is lost. For example, Washington is now considering, against the President's wishes, a bill to give our own ships more than their present 5 percent of our foreign trade. Other nations already do this. Another thing, now being brought up by my Union, is the granting of veteran's
benefits to those of us still surviving who served in the combat zones of World War Two. We earned it, but we are officially "non-veterans". And we badly need a "Seamen's Retirement Act," like the Railroad Retirement Act. Most of us, like myself, have sailed for many companies now gone, or non-union companies with no pension program . If you need living proof of this, go to any place around New York where old , broken-down seamen congregate, and observe the misery. Salvaging old ships sailed by men long dead is a noble enterprise, but what about the living, the only men who can carry on our tradition? I've just mentioned three issues of interest to Living seamen. Nothing would raise our low morale more than to know that, at last, the American people think of us as something more than bums. R.G. PIGGOTI Bonifay, Florida
Mr. Piggott's protest seems to us sound in all dimensions. And our Curator, a licensed officer now at sea, joins us in regrets for a hasty remark aimed at a quite different point.-ED. Does an Island Nation Need Ships? am pleased to see your report in the Winter 1980 issue on the dilemma that the
US merchant marine is facing. There is no doubt that if something is not done quickly by our legislators to create an equitable environment in which the US maritime industry can compete with the others nations of the world, then our merchant marine will be nothing but a memory. Almost every year another American flag carrier bites the dust. And history shows that the US maritime industry is critical to the economic and defense security of America . Best of luck in the issues ahead! You are helping to point out to the American public that their continued apathy will result in elimination of American vessels in the sea lanes surrounding this island SAMUEL R. SACCO nation. Regional Director National Maritime Council Marine Art Lives in Salem! Raymond White's article "American Marine Artists: A Research Project" (SH 15: 54-56) proposes a dictionary of marine artists. It may be of interest to know that the Peabody Museum of Salem and Mystic Seaport plan jointly to publish such a dictionary within the next year or so, from the work of Marion and Dorothy Brewington over their long association with maritime museums and marine artists. The Peabody Museum is also contemplating a reprint of the Brewington's monumental Marine Paintings
and Drawings in the Peabody Museum. The work, some 500 pages with 64 color plates and many black-and-white illustrations, has been sold out for years, and copies for upwards of $350 when they can be found. There is also a second volume to the Brewingtons' catalog, More Marine
Paintings and Drawings in the Peabody Museum, by my predecessor, Philip C. F. Smith. This volume, recording accessions 1968-78, is available from the museum shop. JOHNS. CARTER Curator of Maritime History The Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.
We are glad to know of the Brewington dictionary, and to report elsewhere in this issue that the Peabody is sponsoring an important exhibition of contemporary marine art next spring. Mystic is sponsoring an exhibition of contemporary work this spring. (See ASMA News.)-ED.
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"Except these abide in the ship ... " The latest issue is superb. It looks as if the Society is indeed in some danger of surviving. RICHARD L. RATH Editor, Yachting J:,
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SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1980