The Finding of Wavertree by Karl Kortum Chief Curator, National Maritime Museum, San Francisco
Early in 1956, Karl Kortum wrote Captain H. Daniel in Montevideo, inquiring into the commands and lives of the captains of the ship Balclutha, which had been opened to the public in San Francisco the year before. A s Director of the new-fledged San Francisco Maritime Museum, Kortum had a lively interest in these men . . . and in their ships. Captain Daniel, a surveyor, had known both ships and men (his photograph appears opposite page 122 in Masefield's Wanderer of Liverpool-he was second mate of that great bark), and he sent Kortum a detailed response. He had created, in his corner of the South Atlantic world, the most comprehensive private archive of latter-day sailing ships to be found in the British Commonwealth. As Captain Thomas, his compatriot across the river, said: " He made a religion of it. " Daniel supplied the biographies Kortum had asked for and, incautiously as it turned out, added a note on "some old sailing ship hulls still in service in the River Plate. " Ten years later, in 1966, Kortum stopped off in Montevideo en route to examine the hulk of the Great Britain in the Falkland Islands. Captain Daniel was dead, his priceless archives had gone to England's National Maritime Museum. Kortum talked with his successor, Captain Pablo Moore, who said none of the old hulks were left in Montevideo, but there might or might not be a few left across the Plate in Buenos Aires ... so begins this grand yarn which in its incidents and very language rej7ects the powerful hold of the great square riggers on the minds of men who served in them. On my return to Montevideo fro m th e Fa lklands, wh ere I had fo und th at the Great Britain was salvagea ble, I crossed th e Ri o de la Pla ta on th e overnight fe rry to Buenos Aires to see what co uld be fo und. On my first day th ere I called John Dav ies o f th e American Burea u of Shipping, to whom I had been referred by Pablo Mo re. Mr . Davies was from Berk eley, Califo rni a and new to th e south ern city and knew of no hulks. Ca pta in Tho mas , marin e surveyo r with the venerable firm of Co o per Bros. in th e Ed ifi cio H ouldera spacious, midd le-aged , a iry, but sti ll so mehow interi orall y da rk o ffic e building o f th e type favo red by British steamship firm s in South Ameri ca-recalled seeing th e British Isles o nce o r twice a bo ut th e harbo r (" but no t recent years") and knew of no oth ers. Th e British Isles, I lea rned later by co rrespo nd ence, had been sc ra pped at Rosario three years previo usly. She was the setting of tha t stern sea book The Cape Horn Breed. Captain Thomas had comm a nd ed in sail for seven years: th e Buenos A ires .
County of Merioneth, th e Oakhurst, th e Celtic Queen. He had been a pprenti ce in th e Loch Tay a nd Loch Torridon. The o ld , bright captain sitting in his dim office o ffered so me insights into th e last days o f sail (in contra-distincti o n to th e Loc h Line clippers o f his yo uth). With Welsh wry ness he said rollingly: " We depended on na ture to get alo ng a nd if na tu re was no t kind in the way of winds, well ... " The owners weren't co ncern ed at th e perform ance of th eir vessels; th e ship was a wa reho use, litera ll y. The ca rgo cha nged ha nds several times durin g a voyage ... '' Milk was n' t all owed in th e cabin ; th e seco nd ma te a nd th e apprentices clubbed togeth er to bu y ca nn ed milk eno ugh to get o ut to th e West Coast a nd ha lf way back-a few shillings . . . The owners fe lt th at it sho uldn 't cost them more tha n a shilling per d ay fo r each marin er fo r foo d . " They deni ed a man-a captain-canvas to make new sails, so yo u had to conserve what sails yo u'd got just as if th ey were lo ng