86 PROOF BLE NDED SCOTCH WHISKY DISTIUEO AND BOT1!£0 IN SCOTLAND IMPORTED av fHt BUCKINGHAM CORPORAflON NEW YORK. Ny
HER£' STO GUT FEELINGS AND THOS TILL FOLLOW mm.
/
Ted Turner does lots of things people advise him not to do. And he succeeds at them. He turned Atlanta's WTBS-TV into a "Superstation" using a communications satellite and recently founded Cable News Network, the world's first 24-hour TV-news network. He bought the Atlanta Braves and moved them out of last place; won the 1977 America's Cup after being fired in the '74 races; and as named "Yachtsman of the ear" four times. Ted Trimer puts his feelings wh~re his mouth is. He also puts a great scotch there: Cutty Sark. And wh* he's been called Captai~Outrageous by some, one thing's sure: Ted Turner's enjoying himself.
No.22
SEA HISTORY OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE WORLD SHIP TRUST
SEA HISTORY is the journal of the National Maritime Hi storical Society, an educational, tax-exempt membership organi zation devoted to furthering the understanding of our maritime heritage. Copyright © 198 1 by the National Maritime Historical Society. OFFICE : 2 Fulton St., Brookl yn, NY 11201. Telephone: 212-858-1348 . MEMBERSH IP is invited and should be sent to the Brooklyn office: Sponsor, $1 ,000; Patron , $ 100; Fami ly, $20; Regular, $15 ; Student or Retired, $7 .50. OVERSEAS: Outside North America, add $5 or subscribe via World Ship Tru st. CONTRIBUTIONS may be made for a ny recogn ized project. Make out check s " NM HSSh ip Tru st, " indicating on the check the project to wh ich yo u wish support to be d irected. OFFICERS & TRUSTEES are Chairman: Karl Kortum ; Vice Chairman: F. Briggs Dalzell; President: Peter Stanford ; Secretary: Alan G . Choate; Trustees: Norman J . Brouwer, John Bunker, A lan G . C hoate, F. Briggs Dalzell , Thomas Hale , Harold D. Huycke, Barbara Johnson, James F. Kirk , Karl Kortum, Robert J . Lowen, Edward J . Pierson, Richard Rath, Kenneth D. Reynard , Walter F. Sch lech, Jr., Howard Slotnick, Peter Stanford, John N . Thurman, Barclay H. Warburton Ill, Alen York . President Emeritus: Alan D. Hutchin son. ADV ISORS: Chairman: Frank 0. Braynard; Francis E. Bowker, Oswa ld L. Brett, George Campbell , Robert Carl, Frank G. G. Carr, Harry Dring, John Ewald , Joseph L. Farr, Timothy G. Foote, Richard Goold-Adams, Robert G. Herbert, Melvin H . Jac kson, R. C. Jefferson, Irving M. Johnson, John Kemble, Conrad Milster, William G. Muller , John Noble, Capt. David E. Perkins, USCG (ret.), Nancy Richardson, Ralph L. Snow, John Stobart , A lbert Swanson, Peter Throckmorton, Curator-at-Large, Alan Villiers, Shannon Wall, Robert A. Wein stein, T homas Wells, A IC H , Char les Witthol z. WORLD SHIP TRUST: Chairman, Frank G.G . Carr; Hon. Secretary, J .A . Forsythe; Hon. Treasurer, Philip S. Green; Erik C. Abranson ; Ma ldwin Drummond; Peter Stanford. Membership: $10 payable WST, c/ o Hon . Sec ., I 29a North Street, Burwell , Cambs. C BS OBB , England . Reg . Chari ty No. 277751 . AMER ICAN SH IP TRUST: International Chairman, Fra nk Carr; Chairman, Peter Sta nford; George Bass; Norman Brouwer; Karl Kortum ; Richard Rath ; Peter W. Rogers; Barclay H. Warburton, Ill ; Senior Advisor, Irving M. John son. SEA HISTORY STAFF: Editor, Peter Sta nford; Managing Editor, No rma Stanford; Associate Editors, Norman J. Brouwer, Naom i Person; Accounting, Jo Meisner; Membership, Ma rie Lore.
FALL 1981
CONTENTS 4 LETTERS 7 THE WAWONA IS WAITING: PART II, Captain Harold D. Huycke 18 SAILING IN THE LAST PACIFIC LUMBER SCHOONERS, Robert Burmeister Hope,
MD, FACP
23 FROM THE LAKES TO THE WORLD'S OCEANS, Peter W. Rogers 26 MY OWN NAVY, John Christopher McCormick THE WRECK OF THE BREADALBANE, Keith Miller 29 MARINE ART: AN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM ALEXANDER COULTER, Raymond D. White 33 SA IL TRAINING: DAY'S RUN , Report of the American Sail Training Association 34 HOW WE SAIL THE LIBERTAD, Captain Alberto Padillo 36 SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS 42 BOOKS 46 CAPPY RICKS: MATT PEASLEY REJECTS SOME CREDENTIALS, Peter B. Kyne
The National Maritime Historical Society is saving America's seafaring heritage. Join us. We are making America's seafaring past a living heritage. The National Maritime Historical Society discovers a nd restores the few remaining ships and seagoing a rtifacts-and helps keep them in trust for future generations. And the Society helps get young people to sea to keep alive the spirit of adventu re, the discipline and skills it took to sail the magnificent vessels from our past. Won't you join us to keep alive
our nation 's seafaring legacy? Membership in the National Maritime Historical Society costs only $ 15 a year. You'll receive Sea History, a fascinating magazine fi lled with a rticles of seafaring a nd historical lore. You'll also be eligible for discounts on books, prints and other items. Help save our seafaring heritage. Join the National Maritime Historical Society today!
TO: National Maritime Historical Society, 2 Fulto n Street, Brook lyn, New York 11 201
YES COVER: The submarine that has ri sen from the ocean depths to splash the night sky with fire is American-built, on the Great La kes-and so, by a quirk of fate, is the Japanese frei ghter she is sinking. This is one of the stories of Grea t Lakes ships Peter Rogers tells by word a nd picture on pp. 23-25.
ISSN 0146-9312
NAM E
I want to help. I understand that my contribution goes to forward the work of the Society ' and that I' ll be kept informed by receiving SEA HISTORY quarterly. Enclosed is: D $100Patron D $1,000 Sponsor D $7.SOStudent/Retired D $15 Regular (please prin t)
~~~~~~~~~~~---,,---,~---,~=-~--,-,--,,-,,--- Z I P~~~~~~~~
Contri butions to NMHS are tax deduclible.
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A spirit of hard work, enterprise & cooperation sailed the tall ships of yesterday, and the Liberty Ships of World War II. .. and that's what makes things move today!
BAY REFRACTORY MARINE REFRACTORY AND MARINE INSULATION 164 WOLCOTI STREET • BROOKLYN, NY 11201
-·
.~
' > ....
~
p
~
PILOT BOAT NEW YORK
New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Serving the pilotage needs of New York Harbor since 1694
One Bay St., P.O. Box 1694, Staten Island , N. Y. 1 0301 • 212 448-3900
2
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
The Barbara Johnson Whaling Collection: Part I
Auction in New York at Sotheby's York Avenue Galleries: Friday and Saturday, December 11 ancl 12, at 10:15 am and 2 pm each day.
This sale, first in a series to be held during the 1981-1982 season, will include a selection of paintings, prints, scrimshaw, whaling gear, folk art, whaling logs and joumals, and related marine arts. Exhibition opens Sunday, December 6. Illustrated catalogue available at our galleries for $10, or by mail, $12. Tu orcle1~ please request sale no. 4758Y and send your check to: Sotheby's, Dept. SE, P.O. Box 5083, FDR Station, New York, N.Y. 10150. Inquiries: Nancy Druckman or William W Stahl, Jr. (212) 472-3512. Shown: Very important carved and painted wood whale weathervane by Captain James Shearman, Sidney, Maine, 19th century, illustrated in the Captain James Shearman log and manuscripts, all to be included in the auction of the Barbara Johnson Whaling Collection: Part I.
SOTHEBY'S Founded 1744
Sotheby Parke Ben1et Inc. , 1334 York Avenue, New York 10021
LETTERS "A Torrent of. .. Ideas" Thanks to the efforts of many area people-especially Mr. Eric Berryman -my family and I last June had the pleasant privilege of sharing our home with three young men from Argentina, midshipmen from the A.R.A. Libertad. Their energy, endless curiosity and openness, their courtesy, integrity and unfailing respect for us prompted our instant and lasting affection. Thanks to their skill in English , we were able to communicate effectively, and my recollection of the visit is of a ceaseless ebb and flow of observations, comparisons, recollections and explanations, and a torrent of eagerly exchanged ideas . I was at first upset and offended by some picketers, protesting Argentina's government as repressive. But my sense of embarassment quickly faded when I found our young guests were not angry, but curious and concerned. The protesters' placards became the stimulus for some very direct talks about personal freedom and the strictures of an orderly society. We talked about the freedom to protest and carry placards; to publish sharply critical letters in the local newspaper; about political protesters; about the disheveled youths they saw and found so foreign to their upbringing; about our irreverent comedians; about dissenters or eccentrics of many stripes-because we saw them all as we walked together. I understand the feelings of those who protested the visit of the Libertad, but I am very glad that selfrighteousness did not prevent our exchange of respect, ideas and affection. Our society cannot expect to convert others to our social values by locking them outside. Indeed, were we to turn our backs on every government and regime that displeases us in one way or another, we would soon find ourselves in complete and ineffectual isolation. WILLIAM R. WI ETING, MD York Harbor, ME A Fantastic Ship Sea History arrived yesterday and I must write to tell you how much I enjoy it. I save every issue for the photographs and information about ships ¡t hat are otherwise unknown in Italy . These are essential for my series of articles about the last days of sail currently being published in the pages of Navi e Modelli di Navi (Ships and Ship Models), the only magazine in Italy on this subject. Thanks again for your help and cooperation, but especially for helping a little magazine tell the history of the Wavertree, a really fantastic ship saved from destruction . RENATO V. CEUDECH Naples, Italy 4
This One We Didn't Edit Okay, you guys. I don't care that you don't pay contributors; I'm a non-profit organization myself and were it not for a dole from the State I'd starve. And I don't care that you think that some of your readers won't have heard of Joshua , Slocum and you put twenty words in my mouth to help them out. An editor's job is to edit. I edit too. BUT: when you have me say that Slocum pursued "a latter-day career" I want to know what I meant by that adjectival indulgence. What, in my (our) context, can "latter-day" possibly denote? I have been spelling my name with a v for some time now, but I rather like the way you have it and may effect a change. Warm regards, STEVEN H . RUBIN Oneonta, New York Professor Rubin, Chairman of the English Department at the State University of New York at Oneonta, is author of the review of Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World, SH 21:44-45.
The Not-so-unusual Elm Branck The steamer Elm Branch, caught in a photograph with the Wawona in "The Wawona is Waiting" (SH 21 :24), was not so unusual in her day. She was a "turret ship" built by William Doxford & Sons in England in 1895 . The turret ship was Doxford's modified whaleback design, in which the small centerline turrets were linked together, forming a continuous trunk. Though the turrets disappeared the name "turret ship'' remained, suggesting its origins. The earlier built vessels had a pronounced whaleback forecastle . Here is a career summary of your ship: Completed 1895 as Elm Branch, O/N I 06404 Hull #239 for Nautilus Steam Shipping Co., Sunderland (F. & W. Riston, mgrs.); in 1919 became Wis/a, PolishAmerican Corp. (USA); in 1922 went to Wislan Corp., USA; in 1923, to Wabash S.S. Corp . (USA); in 1924 became Ellen Jensen, Jensen Linien A/ S (H.J . Jensen mgr.); in 1925 Furfey Beeches, T.E . Evans & Co., London; broken up in 1928. Other turret ships built for or owned by Nautilus Steam Shipping Co. were: the Almond Branch, ex-Asmore; Lime Branch; Orange Branch, ex-Bu!lion ist; Poplar Branch; Vine Branch, ex-Imperialist; Clan Shaw; Oak Branch. JOHN H. WILTERDING, JR. Algoma, Wisconsin The ancestor of the Doxford design was the Great Lakes wha/eback. See Peter Rogers' Bay View, page 25.-ED.
The Verna Remembered It is with interest that I read in your spring issue about the retirement of the RV Verna. I would like to mention that I recovered this beautiful schooner from the mudflats of Staten Island in 1952, rigged her and sailed to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia without power. We made the trip in January with a crew of four men and myself and my wife as cook. We refitted her and got the engine operating and chartered her to Lamont . I took them on a pleasant oceanographic trip through the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and up the US Coast to New York, where they bought this fine vessel. I acted as master for one more cruise before leaving to take on another schooner. I regret to say that very shortly she was shorn of her sails and later of her masts, bowsprit and figurehead and .modernized into a colorless motor vessel. I do enjoy Sea History. Keep up the good work. LOUIS KENEDY E. Greenwich, RI Move over, Hesper and Luther In the letters of the Winter issue of Sea History Kevin MacKay stated that the Hesper and the Luther Little were the only surviving examples of four masted schooners. If auxilliary schooners are included, the hulk of the La Merced must be added to the list of survivors. Enclosed are two photos taken 6/ 16/81
at Anacortes, Washington. She was last used as a floating cannery and now serves as a breakwater. She was built in 1917 by Benicia Corporation, Benicia California. STAN WILLHIGHT Langley Wash.
www The very famous restaurant in Brooklyn. Brooklyn' s Landmark Seafood & Steak House 372 Fulton Street (nr. Bora Hal l ). For reservations--875¡5181 (parking nea r by) Open Daily. 11 ,30 A.M. to 9,00 P.M . Sat. 4,00 to 11 ,00 P.M., Sun . 3,00 to 9,00 P.M . Major cred it c ar ds. Private party f aci lities.
Gage &lOllner."
1879
R.H. JOHN CHART AGENCY Salutes the
Galveston Historical Foundation and the
Elissa 518 23rd St. , Galveston , Texas
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
THE DOLPHIN BOOK CLUB 216 Pub price $18.50
261 Pub price $24.95
101 Pub price $16.95
272 Pub price $12.50
244 Pub price $19.95
310 Pub price $35
273 Pub price $22.50
136 Pub price $39.95
257 Pub price $17.95
251 Pub price $15.95
222 Pub price $12.95
144 Pub price $24.95
292 Pub price $14.95
315 Pub price $29.95
233 Pub price $26.95
269 Pub price $22.50
199 Pub price $15
149 Pub price $23.95
121 Pub price $17.50
270 Pub price $19.95
279 Pub price $24.95
299 Pub price $28.50
107 Pub price $19.95
291 Pub price $18.50
I'
254 Pub price $14.95
297 Pub price $19.95
264 Pub price $12.95
181 Pub price $29.95
262 Pub price $19.95
263 Pub price $15
176 Pub price $22.50
281 Pub price $17.95
~,
TMECIM'l.m
llOOKOF
!
J 301 Pub price $25.95
275 Pub price $13.50
247 Pub price $12.50
311 Pub price $25.95
313 Pub price $16.95
227 Pub price $20
CHOOSE ANY THREE BOOKS FOR TWO DOLLARS EACH (Save up to $101.45) You simply agree to buy three books within the next two years, most at special Club prices.
~ The Dolphin Book Club BOOK CHAN DLERS TO THE WORLD FOR 24 YEARS
PLEASURE BOAT
ENGINES
l(~~l Er"ut A.lodig
294 Pub price $17.95
276 Pub price $24.95
Facts About Membership • You receive The Dolphin Book Club News 15 times a year (about every 311.! weeks). Each issue reviews a Selec· tion plus scores of Alternates. Most books are offered at special Club dis· counts. • If you want the Selection do noth· ing. It will be shipped to you automati· cally. If you want one or more Alternate books-or no book at allindicate your decision on the reply form always enclosed and return it by the date specified. • Return Pn"vilege. If the News is delayed and you receive the Selection without having had 14 days to notify us, you may return it for credit at our expense. • Cancellations. Membership may be discontinued, by either you or the Club, at any time after you have pur· chased 3 additional books.
240 Pub price $24.95
120 Pub price $25.95
238 Pub price $27 .50
249 Pub price $12.95
255 Pub price $32.50
~--------------------· The Dolphin Book Club osgo-11 A Division of Book-0f-the-Month Club. Inc. Camp Hill. Pennsylvania. 17012
Please enroll me as a member of The Dolphin Book Club and send me the 3 books I've listed below billing me $6 for all 3 books, plus shipping and handling charges. I agree to buy 3 more books during the next two years. A shipping and handling charge is added to each shipment. Indicate by number the 3 books you want
.___~I
I
I . __I_ __,
Mr.
Mrs....... ....... ... . Miss Address ..... . . . . .. .. .
. ...... 1-04 (Please print plainly)
............... . .. Apt.
City Sta te.
.Zip
~--------------------~
We Are Making Sea History...
The Paul Hall Library and Maritime Museum is an imposing addition to the campus at the Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship, Piney Point, Md.
The new Paul Hall Library and Maritime Museum at our Seafarers Harry Lunde berg School of Seamanship is not only an impressive aid to learning for seamen but is also a repository of maritime lore and the largest collection in the U.S. of historical material on the American maritime labor movement. This modernly-equipped study center is a tribute to Paul Hall, long-time President of the Seafarers International Union, spokesman for maritime labor, and avid student of history. He believed that education is the means by which we can cope with the fast-changing technologies and challenges of our time. The Seafarers Harry Lunde berg School of Seamanship, largest and finest of its kind, is enabling our seamen to do this. The school and this library are dynamic memorials to Paul Hall and the educational dreams to which he was dedicated.
At Piney Point we are making sea history.
Frank Drozak, President
Seafarers International Union of North America 675 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11232
If its been shipped, we've handled it ...
stevedores and marine terminal operators 17 BATTERY PLACE, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10004 ( 212) 269 - 2200 · Cable: I NTOSTEVE NYK
AN OGDEN COMPANY
z )> r-
KIRSTEN GALLERY INC. 5320 Roosevelt Way, NE Seattle, WA 98105 206-522-2011
Introduces
A new series of four limited edition historical maritime prints by Steve Mayo: 1 The Steam Tug Iroquois 2 Coast Guard Buoy Tender Fir 3 The Imperial Eagle and 4 The Bark J.0. Peters & the Richard Holyoke.
Send $2 for 4 full color cards of prints
Edition of each print: 650 signed and numbered . Price $65 and $200 remarqued Printed on 100% rag buckeye museum finish paper.
Mr. John L. M ario n and the Officers and Directo rs of Sotheby Parke Bernet cordially invite you to a reception and special preview showing of The Barbara Johnson Whaling Collection to benefit the National Maritime Historical Society and the American Ship Trust on Tuesday, December 8, 1981 from 6 to 8 pm
MARINE CHRONOMETERS
SEAFARER SHOP 4209 Landis Ave. Sea Isle C ity, NJ A full line of marine antiques and fine reproductions. Send for free broch ure to:
at
Sotheby Parke Bernet 1334 York Avenue New York Benefit Chai rITU'n: Mr. John Bunker Mr. Sylvester Stallone
Nautical Antiques
Bought, Sold and Serviced Restoration and Appraisals
J.P. Connor & Co. Agents for Thomas Mercer, Ltd.
P.O. Box 794, Devon PA 19333 Tel: 215-644-1474
SEAFARER Box 294 Town sends Inlet, NJ 08243
Or
call :
609-263-1283
PROPOSED REUNION Informal Buffet & Cocktails Tickets: $35
8
RSVP: Ms. Naomi Person 2 Fulton Street Brooklyn, N .Y. 11201 (212) 858-1348
are our Standing Rigging
of the officers and crew of the USS San Juan (CL 54) Spring of 1982! Anyone knowing whereabouts of former crew members are urged to contact: Fr. Earle Newman, SSJ , 1130 North Calvert St ., Baltimore MD 21202
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
The Wawona Is Waiting: Part II by Capt. Harold D. Huycke
The new schooner Wawona was launched from the Bendixsen ways in April 1897, and immediately loaded lumber on Humboldt Bay for San Diego. Her first captain is reported to have been Oluf Isacksen, who remained in the ship for two years. Beginning in 1899, the celebrated Capt. Ralph "Matt" Peasley, a native of Jonesport, Maine, commanded this vessel, and remained there steadily with one voyage off as an exception, until 1906. Thereafter Capt. Conrad Scheel took command and remained until the ship was sold by Dolbeer and Carson in the fall of 1913. Captain Alexander "By The Wind" Beattie, a Scot, relieved Captain Peasley for a voyage sometime in 1901, also having served as mate for some time with Peasley. Wawona was built for the coasting lumber trade and for the most part remained there for some sixteen years. She made offshore voyages to Hawaii and to Santa Rosalia, Baja California, during this period, but most of the time Dolbeer and Carson kept her chartered to haul lumber, mostly from Grays Harbor, but also from Port Hadlock, the Stimson Mill in Seattle, Bellingham, Port Blakeley and Tacoma, for San Francisco, San Diego, Redondo, Newport Beach and San Pedro. A total of eighty six such voyages were made, carrying her steadily into the summer of 1913. Even by the late 1890s, at the time the Wawona was launched, the coasting lumber trade was inexorably being taken over by steam schooners. Sailing ships were built in a few yards until 1905 and then ceased. The last schooner built was the three-masted schooner Oregon, by E.H. Heuckendorff at Prosper, Oregon in 1905. None was built again till contracts were made by Norwegian, French and British buyers during World War I to replenish the war-time sinkings. Economy of operation was ever present in the practice of makMatt Peasley, at ease aboart the Fred I. Wood, served as inspiration/or the Capy Ricks stories (see pp. 46-47). Life aboard Pacific lumber schooners is remembered on pp. 18-19.
ing money for the shareowners of any ship. It was commonplace, in fact a customary practice for the master of the ship to own a few shares of his ship, and he was expected to at least buy out the shares of the man he replaced in command. Call it incentive; quite likely it was just that, so that the managing owner and other shareowners were confident that the captain, also a minor share owner, would not frivolously consume potential profits and dividends in wasteful practices. Captain Scheel doubtless had this in mind during one inbound passage to Tacoma. It was in April 1907 when the Wawona sailed into the Straits of Juan de Fuca, 20 days out of San Diego, and the Old Man found he had a fair wind all the way to Admiralty Inlet. Bypassing the hovering tugs, which were sniffing around Port Angeles waiting for an inbound tow, Captain Scheel kept sail on the ship and continued on down the Sound passing Port Townsend, Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island and on into Commencement Bay. Not too far now from his destination, a sawmill dock, Capt. Scheel felt the wind die away till Wawona was lying becalmed. He put a boat over the side, rowed ashore and hired a gasoline launch for $5.00 to tow him to his loading dock. What we consider to be astonishing costs of things-wages, freight rates, sails and the costs of the ships themselves-were commensurate with the times. The country was on the gold standard, and the eight hour day was not unheard of, but amongst the seafaring men it wasn't exactly widespread. In 1906 Tacoma's leading sailmaker and ship chandler was Mr. J.C. Todd, who had succeeded Barclay Ship Chandlery some years before. About 1908 Todd sold out to I.M. Larsen and Sons, who remained in business till the late 1950s, on "A" Street. Following are a few entries in Mr. Todd's account book which reveal the sail-making, sail-repairing and canvas work which came to his shop.
20 Sept. 1906. Five masted schooner Crescent, Repaired main sail, including new clew rope, $25.00, 22 yards of 110 canvas in clue, @ . 4()¢, equals $8. 80. 32 yards of #2 in weake (sic) or rigging @ .36/ equals $10.52. Drayage, $3.00. Paid $48.32. 18 October 1906. To County jail, six hammocks@ $2.90, total $17.40. 20 October 1906. To captain steamer Vashon, making of three boat covers: Paid $5.50. 31October1906. Schooner Lyman D. Foster, Captain Killman, 1 main sail repaired, 42 yards #2 duck, $15.12. New footrope and clew rope, 1 ring, $6.15. Labor in same, $25.00. Drayage, $2.00. Paid $48.27. 3 November 1906. Schooner Inca, Capt. Rasmussen, 1 new staysail, 193 yards #1, @ .58~, Paid $111.94. 20 November 1906. Studebaker Wagon Co., various, etc. $4.20. 17 December 1906. Schooner Wawona. lforesail repaired, 198yards#2@.36 $ 71.28 65 /bsnewleechropeandreefpoints@.lW / lb $ 12.45 1 clewringforreef $ 1.90 Labor including twine and leather, and drayage $2.50 $53.60 Total paid $139.23 8 February 1907. Schooner Maweema, Capt. Smith. Spanker repairs, 28 yards #2 @ .38, $10.65. New foot rope and (something) overhauled, including drayage, $3 7. 00. Total $47. 65. 25 February 1907. Captain Mathison, Anacortes, Schooner Fanny Dutard, loading at North Shore Mill. 2tarpaulins13 '-13" x 12 1-6 11, 10 '-6" x 10'-10", of#2/ 22" duck. Damaged. Cost, $20.20. We say that labor was cheap, and perhaps it was. But coasting seamen were paid about $50 a month, which was nearly twice the
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
9
The Wawona is nudged along through San Francisco Bay about 1899. Photo: National Maritime Museum, San Francisco.
rate for off-shore deepwatermen, and on steam schooners overtime was paid for loading and unloading lumber in port beyond the eight hour day. Freight rates varied on lumber, and occasionally during hard times, a rate-cutting binge between ship-owners (despite their membership in an owner's association) was carried on, when lumber was hauled South for $4.00 per M board feet. There were ups and downs in the coasting trades too, but when San Francisco suffered enormous damage in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, a big surge in shipbuilding followed which resulted in a large number of steamschooners being built. No sailing ships were built during the post-Fire rebuilding years, and by 1914 a rather severe slump had set in. This was the Wawona's world for sixteen years, as the century turned and wooden sailing ships entered a sort of twilight period in the lumber business. Steam schooners were getting the cargoes. The ship's last voyage began in June 1913, when she sailed from the Aberdeen Lumber and Shingle Company's mill dock in Aberdeen for San Diego. Upon her return to the Northwest she was laid up. William Carson died in 1912 and the ship was managed thereafter for a year or so by the Wm. Carson Estate Company. Finally the Estate decided to sell, and Wawona was put up for sale. The shares were devided as follows: Wm. Carson Estate, 32/96ths; E. Marion Warner, 32/ 96ths; Emma Jensen, 20/96ths; Alfred Sternberg, 3/ 96ths; A. Carver, 3/ 96ths; Conrad Scheel, 6/ 96ths. Maweema was sold to Alaska Codfish Company of San Francisco, which company also owned the much older, former Tahiti packet City Of Papeete. Azalea was sold to Matheson Fisheries of Anacortes and put into the Bering Sea codfish trade, later passing to Robinson Fisheries in 1928. Robinson Fisheries had suffered the loss of the schooner Jos. Russ in 1912 while she was enroute from Puget Sound to Bering Sea. Two weeks out of Anacortes she piled up on Chirikoff Island on 21 April, with the loss of the mate, while the thirty four survivors were taken to Seward by the steamer Dora. This left Robinson Fisheries short a vessel for over a year. Dr. Jansen, president of Pacific Coast Codfish Company was urged to buy the Wawona when she was being offered for sale but felt her size, being too large in his opinion, was unfavorable. So Robinson stepped in and bought her to replace the Jos. Russ. Robinson still had the smaller two-masted schooner Alice, but now was adequately supplied with carrying capacity with this new addition. The codfish industry was one of the earliest economic 10
developments of the new Territory of Alaska, shortly after that vast land was purchased by William E. Seward in 1867 for the United States. Though the potential mineral wealth was far from completely assessed in this newly acquired territory, the fishing industry, especially the salmon fishery, was already under exploitation. During the next forty years processing stations for the codfishing business were built and expanded along the chain of islands extending from the mainland in the generally western direction, and numerous companies were formed to exploit this Bering Sea fish resource. The fleets of sailing ships and steamers, which hauled supplies to the salting and processing stations and the fish home, were practically all owned in San Francisco or Puget Sound, and it was into this thriving industry that a number of lumber-carrying schooners were sold, or otherwise employed for decades. Wawona, Azalea and Maweema were thus offered a new chance at life which carried them through the vicissitudes of wars and depressions and economic evolution, which swept many of their sisters away. Maweema fell early. Requirements for the codfishing trade necessitated a few changes in the Wawona's deck and under deck arrangements. First off, she was to carry a crew considerably bigger than in her lumber days. The deckhouse wasn't big enough for a large crew, nor was the lower hold space required for carrying a large paying cargo such as lumber. A bulkhead was built across the lower hold forward of the fore hatch, and this isolated space between the chain locker and new bulkhead was converted into what became known as the "codfish forecastle." Bunks two high were built along each side with additional bunks across the aft bulkhead, for a total of about twenty four. A wooden forecastle deck was laid across timbers resting upon the keelson , slightly sloping aft, with hatches cut through to provide a low headroom coal storage hold below. Two skylights were installed, one each side of the deckhouse, with high enough coamings and dogs on the covers to allow ventilation and fresh air to circulate below, but high enough to keep seas from cascading into the forecastle . Fresh water tanks of several thousand gallons capacity were then installed aft of the new bulkhead, which would be directly beneath the galley on the main deck. The original deckhouse was apparently retained as to its original dimensions, though the interior was re-arranged to accommodate a larger crew. Additional tanks were installed aft, beneath the cabin. In later years even more steel tanks were secured on deck to carry gasoline for the outboard motors which SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
THE WAWONA IS WAITING: PART II were introduced in the 1920s for the fishing dories. However the long-shanked Johnson outboard motor was yet to come, when Wawona was first introduced to the Bering Sea codfishery. Lighting in the very early years was by kerosene lamp only. With the development of the gasoline engine and light plants, small generator sets were installed for lighting, appearing in numbers in the 1920s. Salt was carried in sacks, being loaded by sacks and later slit to provide the bulk for salting the fish. Eventually, though the changeover was not complete, nor abrupt, salt was loaded in bulk, in which case bins were built in the midship sections of the cod fishing schooners, outboard in the wings, beneath the decks. When manpower was the prime source of boat propulsion, dories were carried in large numbers and nested on deck, being open fore and aft and relatively easy to stack. It wasn't till the high noon years of the industry that dories were reduced in number, slung in davits and provided with canvas hoods, out-board wells and motors to increase the range and efficiency. With all the gear of her new trade properly stowed Wawona was introduced to her new service. The first year Wawona went North to the Bering Sea was 1914. She was in good company, with six schooners out of San Francisco owned by Union Fish Company and Alaska Codfish Company, and seven schooners out of Puget Sound owned by Robinson Fisheries and Matheson Fisheries both of Anacortes, and the Pacific Coast Codfish Company of Seattle. Albert Meyer, owned for the time being in Briish Columbia was the sole Canadian entry in the codfish fleet. In that year Captain Charles Foss, who had lost the Jos. Russ a couple of years before, became Wawona's master and continued in that capacity until his death on board in 1935, after twenty one years in command. His mate at the time
was Tom Haugen, a career codfisherman. Haugen assumed command of the Wawona and remained in the ship for the balance of her codfishing career. Fishing in the Bering Sea was seasonal. Outfitting and preparation work in the home port began after the worst of the winter's freezing weather has passed, but certainly by early March. The San Francisco schooners had less worry as to the winter weather, but had a greater distance to traverse from the Golden Gate to Unimak Pass, gateway to the Bering Sea. The schooners out of San Francisco were generally clear of the Bay by the last week of March, while the Puget Sound fleet took its departure by the end of the first week of April. Thus, the impressive fleet of schooners was on the codfish banks by the end of April, or early May. Fishing continued on a seven day week basis, weather permitting. Boat launchings from the individual schooner ranged from fifty five to seventy two per season, which means that on some days the dories went out once in the morning, once again at early afternoon or mid-day, or not at all. It all depended upon the condition of the sea and weather. Despite the total days consumed away from home ports, there were about ninety days per season which were available for actual fishing; and out of these ninety days, the weather conditions permitted only sixty or seventy percent acceptable days in the boats. The schooners followed the fish, often just drifting with the Bering Sea currents and winds, or picking up the anchor and setting a course for a hoped-for new and lucrative area. The schooners often changed position, and might shift areas on a daily basis. Thus the need for good ground tackle, including a sound, workable and versatile donkey engine was essential. There were two crews on the codfishing schooners, a fishing crew of approximately twenty men, depending upon the size of
A man aboard the Albert Meyer savors the stillness ofearly morning and the crisp scent offresh cut pine in this photo taken at the E.K. Wood Lumber Co. dock in the early 1900s. Photo: author's collection.
I
The schooners Beulah and Azalea being destroyed by ship worms on the Sausalito waterfront, 1959. Photo by the author.
the ship, and a dressing gang, made up of twelve to fourteen men. The fishermen made two launchings per day, weather permitting, the first at daybreak, and the second about mid-day. The dressing gang then worked through on a follow-up shift to each of the launching periods and the day ended for them only when the fish were split and salted down. Wawona was the biggest of the cod fishing schooners for many years until the four-masted schooner Sophie Christenson was introduced to the trade in the 1920s. Records reveal the Wawona continued steadily in the codfishing industry, beginning with the 1914 season straight through the 1941 season with the exception of 1921 when it appears she went to the Bering Sea to catch salmon . Such a record of service produced a grand total catch of 6,830,400 codfish brought home by this schooner, which was a record for one vessel. The World War I shipping boom which created a demand for space in the Pacific by 1918, provided the climate for a couple of charters for Wawona outside of her fishing season. In 1917 she was chartered by Capt. J.E. Shields of San Francisco to load a cargo for Hilo. She returned to San Francisco, loaded salt and returned up the coast to Anacortes. Again in the late fall of 1918, after the usual summer Bering Sea trip, she was chartered for offshore. She was towed to Vancouver, BC on 4 October 1918 and went into drydock. Then she loaded 440M feet of lumber for Suva, and returned with a cargo of copra to Puget Sound, arriving 25 March 1919, consigned to the American Trading Company. Her return home was just in time for the 1919 fishing season. Within a few weeks she was on her way once again to Bering Sea. Thereafter her career was confined to the steady, unbroken and rather prosaic schedule of winter lay-ups and summer fishing voyages, which continued steadily through the 1941 season. In early 1942 she was preparing for the usual work when the US Government requisitioned her for emergency war work service as a barge. She was rigged down to a mast-less hulk, and given a boxy looking wheelhouse on the poop and a new identification: BCL-710. In this calling she shared services with the schooners John A. and C.A. Thayer throughout the war, being towed to Alaska with building materials and supplies. With war's end she was brought back to Puget Sound and offered back to her previous owners. War work and towing had been hard on all the schooners, but they survived. C.A. Thayer had been partially rebuilt in certain rotted areas around the stern and was a better hull in some ways than she had been when first taken by the Army in 1942. Azalea, on the other hand, was too far gone for re-rigging. Azalea was purchased by California owners and was towed to Sausalito and moored, or sunk directly astern transom to transom with the badly deteriorated remains of the old schooner Beulah. Beulah had been long retired from codfishing and was badly worm-eaten. In a relatively short time the Azalea too was eaten up and eventually sank into the mud of Sausalito's sailing ship graveyard. John A. hung around Lake Union, Seattle for a few years. Capt. Shields looked her over and made a bid to buy her back. But in the intervening time, awaiting consumation of the purchase, she was stripped and vandalized to a point where further refit was not feasible, and he withdrew his offer. John A. was eventually 12
towed to Nisqually mud flats, below Tacoma while she was yet buoyant, and was beached in company with the famous old tug Wanderer and the hulk of the much larger four-masted schooner Wm. Nottingham. In due course the ship worms chewed their way through the rotting hulks and these too eventually disappeared by the late 1950s. What had become of the other surviving Bendixsen schooners? (See list, SH 21 :27 .) Fanny Dutard had been sold out of the lumber trade as early as 1905 and spent some twenty five years in the codfishing trade, owned by Capt. N.L. Mathesen of Anacortes. She was laid up in Seattle in 1931 and by 1940was still operated as a barge out of Ketchikan, but her ultimate fate is not known. Allen A. was sold to Barneson and Hibbard in 1912 to be used for work in connection with a whaling station at Tyee, Alaska, later going into codfishing and finally fur trading for H. Liebes of San Francisco in the early 1920s. She survived as a fishing barge off Santa Monica, California, minus her masts and known as the Fox and was last seen around Long Beach Harbor sometime in the early 1950s before vanishing to some obscure corner to die. Esther Buhne continued in the lumber and coasting trades until after World War I, and then spent a few years in the early 1920s as a moving picture prop ship. Like Fox, she ended her days as a mastless fishing barge off Southern California. Albert Meyer changed hands a couple of times after two decades in the lumber business, and in 1916 was purchased by J.E. Shields, his first wholly-owned ship. Three years later she was sold to Mobile owners and was wrecked on the Florida Keys in 1927. Maweema came to a violent end far from where her near sister, Albert Meyer, piled up. In August 1928, eight months after Albert Meyer was wrecked, Maweema struck the rocks off St. George Island, in the Pribilofs, enroute home with a full load of codfish, and became a total loss. Czarina was built for the codfishing business and spent her entire career of nearly twenty years thus engaged. She was built for the McCollam Fishing and Trading Company, which firm eventually merged with a San Francisco company, Lynde and Hough,in 1898 to form the Union Fish Company. She was wrecked on Nagai Island in 1911. O.M. Kellogg, built for S.E. Slade, a Grays Harbor lumber company, ended up as a South Pacific trading schooner and was lost in Samoa in 1915. Sequoia spent some twenty-odd years in the lumber trade, but like so many other bald-headers, was found suitable and in fact desirable for the codfishing business, and was bought by Union Fish Company, about the time Czarina was lost. She went fishing in Bering Sea annually until the early 1920s. She was given an engine about 1922 and eventually went into the tuna fishing trade out of Southern California, finally passing to Mexican owners in the early 1930s. Louise was sold by Joseph Knowland of San Francisco, out of the coastwise lumber trade and into the codfish trade about 1917 and continued there till 1937. She was laid up in San Francisco Bay, off Sausalito for about three years and in 1940 was sold to owners in San Pedro, where she was laid up again, the object of some Juke-warm and unsuccessful schemes to send her off on a South Seas cruise. Eventually, with the shortage of small vessels developing during the War years, she was cut down and converted to a motorship, operating along the Mexican coast. It was a hazardous trade at best, with gasoline engines, dynamite cargo and old wooden frames and structures, mixed up in this old hull. Late in 1946 she went missing off the Mexican coast on a voyage from Guatemala to San Pedro. A few badly decomposed bodies of the crew were found floating in a swamped lifeboat a couple of weeks after she became overdue at her destination. It was assumed she caught fire and blew up at sea. She was last known as Pacifica. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
THE WAWONA IS WAITING: PART II Charles R . Wilson, named for one of the original brothers of "Wilson Brothers Lumber Company" of Aberdeen was employed in the coast-wise lumber trade for over twenty years. She was sold in 1913, five years after the man for whom she was named had died, to the Pacific Coast Codfish Company of Seattle a company which was partially owned by Mr . J .E. Shields and other stockholders. Fifteen years later Mr. Shields bought the ship outright as a wholly-owned vessel for himself. She continued to operate steadily in the Bering Sea cod fishing trade with a couple of voyages to San Francisco Bay with cargoes of cod for the Alaska Codfish Company . During World War I she made a couple of winter-time, offshore voyages with lumber and was laid up in the rnid-1920s for a couple of seasons. When the schooners C.A. Thayer and Sophie Christenson, two of Capt. Shields' schooners, were taken by the U .S. Army for service as barges during World War II, Charles R . Wilson continued to fish, at least up through 1943. But the freeze on wages and prices by the O.P.A., a war-time regulatory agency, made it unprofitable to operate the ship, as she was laid up a year till some restrictions were lifted . She fished again in 1945, a difficult season considering the hostilities in the Aleutians and war-time shortages in gear and manpower. The end of World War II presaged a hoped-for return to some sort of normalcy in the fishing industry, and the reduced codfish fleet was sorted out and returned to its owners. But time, the ever flowing and often inimical current, ran against the few surviving and aging vessels. Though reasonably sound, Charles R. Wilson was laid up and never used again, though she remained moored at the Shields' plant at Poulsbo, Washington till 1952. After seven years of idleness she was sold for $2500 and towed to Canada to be sunk as a breakwater near Stillwater BC, a log dump fifteen miles South of Powell River. Within a year her battered and worn hulk was obliterated. Sophie Christenson, the larger Hall Bros. built four-masted schooner survived the war with her masts intact, but she was badly worn and beyond any economical refitting. Three of the best sticks.were taken out of the Sophie Christenson, along with the bowsprit and jibboom and transferred to the C.A . Thayer. The Thayer carried on with a stumpy look for five seasons, minus any topmasts or shapely poles as had been her original style. But as Captain Shields explained in later years, when modestly criticized for the unlovely appearance of the ship: "The Codfish don't care!" Sophie Christenson was solo for use as a barge in British Columbia and was eventually lost off the coast of Vancouver Island. So it was that the two survivors, C.A. Thayer and Wawona were fitted out for what was to become a short-lived revival of the salt cod fishing business after World War II. C.A. Thayer made five trips to the Bering Sea, and Wawona made two. The salt fish industry finally gave way to the open-quick type of refrigerated or frozen package style of peddling fish, and the American housewife could see less need to boil the salt out of the old preparation. Despite the increasing attention of the waterfront newspapers on the increasingly "historic" and "romantic" aspects of these two old sailing ships, making their annual treks to the North, it was becoming harder and harder to find fishermen who were willing to live and work on this type of ship under the same old conditions. w To be continued. Captain Huycke, marine surveyor in Seattle, trustee of the National Society and author of To Santa Rosalia, Further and Back and other works, has laid aside his researches in West Coast maritime history to fight the cause of just one ship, the Bendixsen-built schooner Wawona.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
The heritage of the coastal trade lives on in the Wawona.
restoration. Make an investment in the future that keeps the past alive. Title. . . . . Wawona Painter .. Thomas Wells Medium ..... ... . Oil Sheet Size . . . . . . 18x24 Limited Edition .... .... . 550
- Limited Edition Art Print O{feringShips History Included
Tu order send $65.00 (Washington Res. add 5.4% sales tax) plus $2.50
shipping and handling to:
Wawona Bayless Enterprises, Inc. 427 Ninth Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
MARINE ART The Third Annual American Society of Marine Artists' catalog is still in print. This catalog is particularly important be, cause it is the only available source ofbio, graphical information on 46 of Amer, ica's best contemporary marine artists. This book is soft bound 5 1/ 2 x 8 1/2 54 pages and includes 46 black and white reproductions of paintings as well as 46 portrait photos of the artists. Price: $5 plus $1 for postage and handling. Available from : 11
11
,
American Society of Marine Artists
cl o A. Rogers Barcelona Harbor Westfield, NY 14 787 13
Sailors of the Ballleship Navy
Air Raid: Pearl Harbor! 4-
Axis Blockade Runners of World War II By Martin Brice This dramatic narrative tells the story of those resolute ships charged with the task of seeing that Germany maintained its self-sufficiency during the war effort. Many of these blockage runners, like I.he German Rio Grande and the Italian Peitro Orseolo, became famous fortheir continued successful elusion of allied naval forces while supplying the necessary means for delivery of crucially needed supplies. Includes an absorbing selection of previously unpublished photographs. 1981 /300 pages/33 illustrations/List price: $18.95
Air Raid: Pearl Harbor! Recollections of a Day oflnfamy Edited by Paul Stillwell Here in vivid detail are the recollections of some 4 7 participants in the spectacular event that brought the United States into World War II. Published to coincide with this fortieth anniversary year of the bombing, Air Raid: Pearl Harbor! is an absorbing record of a watershed event in American history. 1981 /222 pages/250 illustrations/ List price: $19.95
The Medley of Mast and Sail 1 A Camera Record This book covers a wide variety of rigs. ranging from praus, junks, various fishermen and barges, through coasters. small traders, and big square-riggers. Presented in the form of a photograph album, here are a great variety of ships, including many unusual types that may not be familiar to all readers. 1977/330 pages/407 photographs/ List price: $23.95
Life in Nelson's Navy By Dudley Pope An unusually colorful. vivid
account of naval life ashore and afloat in the late eighteenth century. Pope presents a description of a typical day aboard a man-of-war, the power and responsibilities of commanding officers, the social structure and harsh living conditions aboard ships, and a compelling view of a great navy during a period in which it ruled the world's oceans. 1981/296 pages/Illustrated/List price: $14.95
The Medley of Mast and Sail 2 A Camera Record This new collection of more than 500 photographs covers all varieties of merchant sail, with comments and descriptions by ship masters and other experts. Each photo makes a warm and aesthetically pleasing contribution to the record of these beautiful vessels. 1981/473 pages/525 illustrations/List price: $29.95
New Fall Reading at its Finest From The Naval Institute Press Sailors of the Battleship Navy
Merchant Sailing Ships 1775-1815 Their Design and Construction By David MacGregor The first of a planned threebook set that will cover early English merchant ship design, this volume includes an exceptional collection of photos, plans, and line drawings of merchant sailing ships. MacGregor, a prizewinning author and illustrator, provides explicit descriptions of trade routes and British merchant shipping laws of the times. 1981/218 pages/158 illustrations/ List price: $21.95
A Calendar for 1982 During the first half of this century, the pride of the U.S. Fleet were the Navy's big-gun battleships. The way of life aboard these mighty and majestic vessels is fully revealed in the stunning collection of photos selected as illustrations for this very practical calendar. Spiralbound with ample space for daily notes and reminders, and set off by a full-color cover, the Naval lnstitute's 1982 calendar recaptures a glorious period of naval history. Its images will linger long after the year has passed. 1981/l28 pages/Illustrated/List price: $6.95
Warship Volume IV Edited by John Roberts This fourth volume in the Warship series is comprised of issues 13 through 16 ofWarship, a journal that has established an international reputation for the accuracy and detail of its content on the design. development. and history of the world's combat ships. Articles by such widelyknown naval experts as P. Budzbon, Rene Greger, Donald L. Kindell and Antony Preston are featured, along with many diagrams, maps, and plans. 1981/292 pages/200 illustrations/ List price: $23.95
---------------------------------------Book Order Department, U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD 21402
(SJ)
Yes. Please send me _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
copy(ies) of Air Raid: Pearl Harbor (086-6) @ • 19.95 each copy(ies) of Axis Blockade Runners 008-1) @ $18.95 each copy{les) of Life in Nelson's Navy (346-6) "' $14.95 each copy(ies) of Medley of Mast and Sail (939-1) @ •23.95 each copy(ies) of Medley of Mast and Sail 2 (940-5) "'$29.95 each copy(ies) of Merchant Sailing Ships 042-1)@ $21.95 each copy{lesl of Sailors of the Battleship Navy (040-8) @ •6.95 each copy(iesl of Warship, IV (979-0) "' •23.95 each
D I have enclosed my check or money order for • _ _, including • for postage and handling. (Postage and handling charges are $1.75 for orders up to• 15.00; •2.50 for orders from •15.01 to •30.00; and •3.25 for orders over •30.00. Please add 5% sales tax for delivery within the State of Maryland.) D Please bill me. D Charge It to my Acct. No.
D
-
V/S.4'
Exp. Date
Signature (Credit card and Bill me charges not valid unless signed) Name Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ City, State _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Zip._ __ Prices subject to change without notice.
Artists appearing in the show:
7th ANNUAL
• John Barber • Carolyn Blish • Chris Blossom • Milton Bond • Willard Bond •Bob Cale • Carl Evers • Fred Freeman • Stanton Glover • Mark Greene • Jerome Grimmer • Frank Handlen •Al Heiner • Richard Wiggin Johnson • William Kavanek
Of
SHIPS AND THE SEA
• • • • •
'81
NOV15·DEC12
Paul Landry Lloyd Mccaffery Raymond Massey Victor Mays Melvin 0. Miller
• James E. Mitchell • Richard C. Moore • Mark R. Myers • Ben Neill • Barry Norling • Charles R. Robinson • Peter W. Rogers • Robert Skemp •Thomas W. White • Paul Van Demark
~
~
!-'
~
:i::
~
Ol?KSHOP GALLERY
2600 POST ROAD SOUTHPORT , CT 06490 203• 255-4613 MON-SATURDAY 9:30-5 :30 EVENINGS BY APPOINTMENT
PAINTINGS • DRAWINGS • GRAPHICS • SCULPTURE • SHIP MODELS
Traditional scrimshaw from leading maritime museums and contemporary scrimshaw now available in replica - teeth, boxes, desk accessories, jewelry. These fine reproductions have been painstakingly recreated in a specially formulated material, polymer ivory, to provide you with the beauty of the original without using whale products. Do your own scrimshaw with our kits and blanks. For a full color brochure of our "Save the Whale Collection" of scrimshaw send $1.00 to
~ (~
ARTEK, INC. Dept. S
"Ive
··ANTRIM.~-
16
"':>'>..
\\·\)
Martha's Vineyard Shipyard (Since 1861)
Gasoline• Diesel Fuel• Ice• CNG & Propane• Marine Hardware• U.S. Chart Agency• Dyer Dinghies• International Paints • Complete Marine Supplies We monitor VHF channels 9 & 16 A full service yard specializing in sailboats and auxilliaries. New boat construction in both wood and fiberglass. Complete hull and engine repairs. Rigging work of all kinds including swaging and rope-to-wire splices. 16 ton mobile lift. Over 1/z acre of inside storage completely sprinkler protected. Builders of the 291 Vineyard Vixen and the Vixen 34, cruising auxilliaries built with traditional detail and craftsmanship.
Beach Road, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Telephone 61 7 -693-0400 SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
''OFF FOR THE BANKS" Fishing schooner and famous ocean racer, the "Elsie" in 1923.
The Great Schooners, limited edition prints from paintings by
"Not only does he possess a thorough understanding of the anatomy of oceans, waves, wind and the weight of water - he also has an instinctive sense of the poetry of the sea." Hoyne's interest in the history and ro-
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED
r~EDEMERSPRIN~,INC.------------,
I
I I I
I I
I I Prices subjec r ro c hange.
TH 0 MAS ff 0 YNE
mance of the great sailing and fishing vessels began during his boyhood on the coast of Maine and continued through his Naval Career. Today he is one of the prime historians in this field.
Retail price - signed and numbered $200.00. Remarqued $500.00. Editions limited to 780. Eight color plate lithograph process, finest rag paper.
Image 21 Vz x 27 - $200.00.
P. 0 . BOX 3303, HILTON HEAD ISLAND, s. PHONE 803-842-4242
s I
c. 29928
I I I
0 Color catalog $2.00 0 Print $200.00 plus $ 12.00 shipping
I I
N ame Address City Phone
State
Zip ŠJoe De Mers Prints, Inc. 1980
I I
L_____________________ J
Sailing in the Last Pacific Lumber by Robert Burmeister Hope, MD, FACP
Soon after I was born in New York City, my adventuresome young parents set out to see the world. Starting out when I was four, we lived for varying periods in Montreal, England, Scotland , Australia, Nevada in the USA, and in British Columbia, before finally settling permanently in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1914. My father started practice there as an optometrist, opening the first optical lens grinding plant in the Hawaiian Islands. One of his first patients was Captain William R. Burmeister, the master of the four-masted schooner Alice Cooke, owned by Lewers & Cooke. She was one of the last two sailing vessels on a regular run to Honolulu from Puget Sound, carrying lumber. Captain Burmeister, recently widowed, had no immediate family and was very lonely. In short order he became a close family friend, lived with us when the ship was in port and became our "Uncle Will." The second vessel was the fivemasted schooner Vigilante, skippered by Captain Matt Peasley, a close friend of Uncle Will. When they were both young, earning their masters' certificates, they sailed in and out of San Francisco with loads of grain, lumber and guano; both coastwise and deep water, including the run around Cape Horn. Author Peter B. Kyne frequented the San Francisco waterfront seeking material for his stories, met young Peasley, became interested in him, and he became the prototype for the Captain Matt Peasley yarns published in the Saturday Evening Post. When I was twelve, Uncle Will and my parents decided that an ideal way for me to spend my summer vacation would be with Uncle Will on the Alice Cooke. This of course was predicated on the ship being in port, unloaded and ready to leave as vacation started. Fate seemed against me, as the ship made a record run down and was ready to start back two weeks before school was out. Of course I was devastated. However, my parents and Uncle Will prevailed upon my grammar school principal to let me leave early. She made a wise proviso; that I keep a diary and list the details of life at sea on a sailing vessel so that I could tell all about it at a school assembly next year. That diary forms the basis of this report, which I must keep brief; for making trips every summer brought many experiences which would take pages to tell. Before we started out Uncle Will laid down some ground rules. I could have the run of the ship but never, either in port or at sea, was I to climb aloft in the rigging or down the long ladders into the empty holds. I was never to bother the sailors on watch . If I got out of line the first trip 18
The author, whose job it was in port to catch fish for the crew's mess.
would be my last. So I behaved . I was listed on the ship's manifest as "supercargo." You can imagine how excited I was as the ship was towed out to sea and the sails were set. I had been at sea many times on steamers-but never like this-there was so much going on! Sailing vessels at that time had donkey engines, used to hoist sail, raise the anchor and run the cargo booms. Of course, if the engine failed, sails and anchor had to be done by hand, usually timed to a chantey. The Alice Cooke was a four-masted, fore-and-aft traditional schooner, but also had a large squaresail rigged to the foremast which gave additional sail yardage and speed when running with a fair wind. We were going up to the Sound without cargo , just ballast, which made for additional motion and I was very seasick for the first two days. Uncle Will recalled someone's remedy for this, "beer for settling the stomach," only it didn't and was pretty awful coming back up. I got my sea legs the third day, however, and have not been seasick since, even in rough weather or, which is worse, when becalmed . Nothing rolls worse than a large sailing ship with all sails set but empty, the booms going from side to side, rolling with the swell . Life aboard offered some interesting new things for a boy. Our lights were kerosene lamps, swiveled to always stay level. After three days the ice ran out so no more fresh meat. Our diet consisted of salt pork, beef, fish, potatoes, onions, carrots, dried beans and canned goods. A favorite
breakfast dish was "Cod Fish Sounds and Tongues" which I never learned to like. We did have eggs which were kept in a large barrel of Isinglass solution, but they got a little strong by the end of a long trip . A dampened cloth and partitions on the table kept dishes from rolling in rough weather. I learned to box the compass, read the log towed from the taffrail aft to estimate our speed, to tie some intricate sailors' knots and to ring the ship's bell eight times in the nautical way, when the Captain or Mate gave the signal at the noon sun sighting. The crew was divided into two watches, four on and four off, except for the dog watches which ran 4-6 PM and 6-8 PM as to alternate the two watches . The Captain always hoped to pick up a tug at the entrance of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and be towed the rest of the way, but this rarely happened. By the time I had made my last trip on Uncle Will's new ship, the Commodore, he had installed a gasoline generator, so we had lights and a wireless with operator, enabling us to order up a tug to meet us at Cape Flattery, However, on this, my first trip, we had to sail up the Straits to Port Townsend, tacking back and forth through pea-soup fog. This was an eerie experience. We had two sailors up forward as lookouts, one operating the foghorn at regular intervals, and one of the mates estimated the distance from shore by timing the return echo. This was further checked by heaving the lead to get our depth, the lead having a hollowed-out cup filled with tallow to which the material on the bottom would stick . The charts told us the depths and types of bottom material. Our destination was Port Gamble, a typical mill town with a mill store that carried everything. On visiting it almost sixty years later, I found it unchanged . The vessel was docked stern to, so that the loads of lumber could be hauled up by the "donkey" on wide greased slides. The Alice Cooke carried less than a million board feet of lumber in holds and deck load. Uncle Will took me to Seattle with him when he made the rounds of the ship chandlers . This was not only to purchase stores but was also a social event for the captains. After a number of trips I learned that they would repeat the same yarns over and over, often to the same audiences; however everyone listened attentively as if it was always the first telling. Uncle Will's new vessel, the Commodore, was also a four-masted schooner, but larger, and so carrying a bigger payload . Her accommodations aft were roomier, but functional and not ornate. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
Schooners with the Likes of Matt Peasley Some of the sailing vessels that I visited with Uncle Will, particularly of earlier vintage built for the China and India trade, were very ornate aft, with rare woods and paneling-some beautifully inlaid. The average sailing time one way was three to four weeks. I remember one trip making it to the Cape in two weeks only to be.becalmed for eight days before we could get a tow. There was one trip I'll never forget, for about ten days out from Diamond Head there was a sudden weather change. The order went out to take in sail. All the tops and four main sails were in, the jibs were down and being furled, when one of the crew doing this, a Polynesian called 'Samoan Sam', lost his footing and was washed overboard. The dreaded cry "Man overboard!" rang out. Someone aft managed to throw Sam a life-ring. Fortunately the Mate was on watch and brought the ship about, the gig was launched in spite of the heavy seas and Sam was rescued, which seemed a miracle. Of course Sam was a fish in water and was able to divest himself of the heavy storm gear and swim to the ring. The storm developed into a full-fledged gale, we ran before the wind with only a . small staysail up, two men lashed to the wheel, the ship taking seas over the stern. This went on for five days, and we ended up way north and west of our course. By the time we beat back down on course, our sailing time to Cape F1attery was fortyfour days. I thought it was the worst storm a ship could live through, but all the deepwater sailors told me it was nothing to the storms they had encounterd sailing around the Horn. These are some of the memories of a teenager sailing the seas in the old way with deepwater sailors, an experience that has left me with a deep love of the sea and all connected with it, as well as a profound appreciation and love for my "Uncle Will." J,
J,
Deep-laden with Douglas fir for the Islands, the Alice Cooke lolls gracefully across the long Pacific swell in this photo made from the ship's gig during a calm spell, around 1916.
The chained-down deckload of sawn planks makes a new deck, high above the water, as the schooner eases along on a broad reach in light airs. Burmeister's later command, Commodore, sets out from Honolulu in ballast in this photo, taken from the tug that pulled her out, about 1920. Note steam from the chuffing donkey engine as the schooner gets her topsails up.
J,
Dr. Hope pioneered California's Blue Shield plan in 1938, and after a distinguished career including service as director of St. Vincent'sHospitalinLosAngeles, is now supervising the training ofnurse practitioners in special skills-another innovative program he founded. The Alice Cooke, built 1891 by Hall Bros. in Port Blakely, was a 186.5 ', 782 gross ton schooner sailing with a crew of eleven. She burned in Prince William Sound, November 17, 1931. The Commodore, built in Seattle in 1919 for Norse owners, was a 232.9 ', 1,526 gross ton vessel. She sailed to South Africa¡during World War II and was last noted there in 1946, cut down as a coal hulk. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
19
McAllister Bros. Invites You to Sign On for the Wavertree's Most Important Voyage Our tugs shepherding the historic ship Wavertree back to her berth at New York's South Street Seaport Museum are playing their part in an undertaking in which everyone who cherishes the seafaring heritage should share. The Wavertree is a classically beautiful full rigged ship, brought to New York in 1970 through the generosity of supporters of the then fledgling Seaport Museum.
This summer, thanks principally to private contributions, our tugs pulled the ship away to Hoboken for major structural restoration in the Bethlehem Steel yard. Volunteers labored away mucking out bilges and cleaning and repainting, as the shipyard crew did their varied jobs.
,----------------, I I
Here's How to Sign On
TO: FRIENDS OF THE WAVERTREE NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201
J
J
I J
I I I
J
D I' m with you! I enclose my contribution of $25, ~ ade out to Nat') Maritime Historical Society, to help the Wavertree restoration. D I' m sending in a tax-deductible $ 100 to help, a nd understand I' ll receive a signed print of Os Brett's painting of the Wavertree off Cape Horn . D I'd like some further information. Please send mea packet on the Wavertree campaign. NAME
J J
J
J
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDRESS CITY
I I
STATE
Z IP
I I
L----------------~
McAllister Brothers, Inc. Towing and Transportation, 17 Battery Place, New York, N.Y. 10004. (212) 269-3200. Baltimore (301) 547-8678 • Norfolk (804) 627-3651 Philadelphia (215) 922-6200 •San Juan (809) 724-2360
Why Not Join In? We are proud to contribute too . The records don't show whether our tugs handled the Waver tree when she left New York under sail in 1895, but we had been in business in the harbor for over a generation at that time. Since then our business has become worldwide. And we know that our industry, the shipping industry, has a role of deep importance to play in keeping alive the proud traditions, the spirit of loyalty, cooperation and enterprise-the things that are needed to conceive great voyages, and to make them. The Wavertree embodies the history of an age when men sang at their work, dreamed tall dreams and opened our world through far voyages made under conditions of hazard and difficulty. Her most important voyage is the onward voyage she has to make today, a voyage down the seas of time to greet oncoming generations and encourage them to remember and share in what she and her people achieved at sea. That' s the voyage we invite you to sign on for.
McAl 1•ISIer
Inland Cruising with American Cruise Lines
Inland cruising means you are always close to shore and a stone's throw from the fasc inating natural wonders so plentiful along the coastline. On an inland cruise, you have more time in port to sightsee and explore the scenic, history-packed towns along the way. Our cruises follow the seasons. Enjoy your summer discovering the real New England - places like Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Newport. Cruise the Chesapeake Bay area in the spring or fall and experience a bit of colonial America with visits to Williamsburg and Yorktown. Witness Mother Nature's truly spectacular array of colors on the fall Hudson River Foliage Cruise or escape winter's wrath with our southern waterway cruises departing from Savannah , Georgia or Ft. Meyers, Florida. Our7-day round trip cruises operate in New England, the Chesapeake Bay, Carolina and the Golden Isles. Ten-day southern cruises depart alternately from Savannah and Ft. Meyers. Fourteen day cruises are available on the East Coast Inland Passage route, departing alternately from Savannah and Annapolis , Maryland.
The MV/INDEPENDENCE has 47 staterooms, the MV/ AMERICAN EAGLE 28. All are outside, with private bath , lower berths and a large, opening picture window. The food is superb, the service personal and the atmosphere friendly and informal. For reservations and information send in the coupon, or call toll free 1-800-243-6755. In CT call 3458551 collect.
AMERICAN CRUISE LINES HADDAM, CT 1-800-243-6755
Address _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ State _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ Zip _ _ __ Phone _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ __
SH- W8 1
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE . .. between a CLARK SAIL and all the rest? CLARK sa i ls are made exp ressly fo r cruising. so eve ry de ta i l is aimed at ma k ing o ur sa il s s t ronger, lo nger las t ing and easie r to hand le. We use o nl y soft , easi ly m anaged sai lc loth . All fin ish det ai ls suc h as bo lt rope, ra tt ai ls, tack, c lew, lu ff, foot and reef eyes are han d· sewn in the best t ime- ho nored and prove n fashion. In th e long ha ul , wouldn't you really be be t ter off w i th C LA RK sails? Th ere really is a big di ff erence'
SHIP MODELS SOLD • APPRAISED • PURCHASED • RESTORED
America's most fabulous selection-largest inventory in country (over 350 models-all types). Firm has had no less than ten national write-ups. Half current prices due to warehouse-type operation (shipping arranged).
LANNAN NAUTIQUES 259 Harvard St., Quincy, Mass. 02170 Tel : 617-479-5091
06426
-
_' J zo3>767·051Z ~
Call or write anytime day or night. Conveniently located 7 miles south of Boston.
On April 23, 1838, the wooden-hulled paddle steamer SIRIUS arrived at New York, responsible for starting the first North Atlantic steamship service, heralding a new era.
On April 25, 1981 , we, the men and women comprising the SIRIUS crew of today, moved across the East River and settled into our own and permanent berth alongside this historic shore. Please note our new address and communications numbers below.
DIRECT OFFICE
STAFF Capt. Wolf Spille, President
212-330-1817
TANKER CHARTERING: 212-330-1810
Theo Theocharides, V.P.
SIRIUS HOUSE - 76 Montague Street Brooklyn Heights, New York 11201 Telephone: (212) 330-1800 Cable: "SIRIUS NEWYORK"" Int"! Telex: TRT 177881 /I TT 422871 / RCA 225111 Domestic Telex: WU 126758/645934 / TWX 710-584-2207
Chris Lesauvage
212-330-1808
Ed Willis
212-330-1812
OPERATIONS ANO RESEARCH: Capt. George Giouzepis, V.P.
212-330-1830
Phil Romano
212-330-1834
FINANCE ANO ADMINISTRATION : Jose Fiorenzano, V.P.
22
212-330-1835
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
From the Lakes to the World's Oceans Great Lakes Ships in Ocean Service Paintings and text by Peter W. Rogers
In New York City there is preserved an ornate green keg from which Lake Erie water was poured into the Atlantic Ocean in 1825. With that event, and much other ceremony, was the opening of the Erie Canal celebrated. Public symbolism often has its private equivalent, for an early and telling event often occurs in the lives of those who later follow the sea-the first conscious look at the ocean, and with it the youthful intuition that the broad, empty horizon is an open road to all those places: Rotterdam, Lisbon, Callao, Tangier, Mombasa, Singapore .. . That moment first occurred to me on the shores of Lake Erie, but the intuition was the same . For the first time, I could not see the other side, and in my imagination the path led to those glittering and mysterious places. So it came as a surprise to me, when I moved to the seacoast nearly 20 years ago, that many people believed that for ships the Great Lakes only became continuous with the oceans when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959. But that event was a culmination, not a beginning. In fact, the Great Lakes region began sending its own ships down to the sea as early as the 1840s, principally with cargoes of wheat for Liverpool. In 1849 the 137' barkentine Eureka departed Cleveland for Cape Horn and the California Gold Rush, and she was not the first vessel to leave the Lakes. In 1857, the Madeira Pet made the round trip from Liverpool to Chicago and back . By the end of the Civil War, the Great Lakes had close to 2000 registered vessels, and a great wooden shipbuilding industry. But in the 1840s three events had occurred of much greater consequence than a Gold Rush ship. In 1844 the first major iron and
copper deposits were discovered on Lake Superior and Cyrus McCormick's reaper was invented. Three years later the Bessemer process for steel making was devised . From this point, with later improvements, flowed a torrent of industrial and agricultural development unprecedented in the history of the world. In 1855 the Sao opened (Salt Ste. Marie canal between Lake Superior and Lake Huron), and thereafter came the millions of tons of wheat from the plains and the millions of tons of iron ore from the great ranges, the Mesabi, Marquette, Menominee, Gogebic, Vermilion. From these beginnings came the miles and miles of steel mills along the lower lakes and the ranks of towering grain elevators, monuments to abundance. From these beginnings came the industrial and agricultural pre-eminence of the United States. As early as 1905, tonnage carried on the Lakes exceeded tonnage in and out of New York, Liverpool, London and Hamburg combined. In a way, 1905 just signaled the beginning of the real surge, for in the following year was launched the J. Pierpont Morgan, the first of the "standard 600 footers," the now classic and familiar ore boat, and in many ways the forerunner of the great tankers and bulk carriers now seen around the world. In 1899 the first Hullet unloaders were installed which, in combination with the new vessels, produced a revolution in the handling of bulk cargoes -and the same materials, iron ore, coal, wheat, limesto ne, cement are the staple trades to this day. While the Delaware River was long known as "The American Clyde,'' after the great Scottish shipbuilding river, few have heard of West Bay City, Ecorse, Toledo, Lorain, Ashtabula, Manitowoc and West Superior as great shipbuilding centers. But the raw materials and technology were there in abundance, as was the
"Kete vs Keizan Maru, March 9-10, 1945" oil 30x40 The painting depicts a singularly bizarre coincidence, a Great Lakes reunion far from home-the sinking of the Japanese freighter Keizan Maru by USS Kete, SS 369, off the Nansei Shoto island chain in the East China Sea-the only case of a Great Lakes-built submarine sinking a Great Lakes-built freighter. The precise circumstances cannot be recreated, since no war log of that patrol exists; the Kete was lost with all hands approximately I 0 days later, presumably torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Kete, a standard Balao class fleet submarine, was launched at Manitowoc, Wisconsin on 9 April, 1944. Manitowoc, basically a "follow yard" to Electric Boat Company designs, made great contributions to our World War II submarine programs. They built 28 boats, did much innovative prefabrication, were the first to use rotating jigs so the welders could work downhand, and were the first to launch sideways (long the prevailing practice in the wood shipbuilding era on the Lakes). Sea trials were conducted in Lake Michigan, and it was difficult to keep the area ice-free. The boats were towed down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, then put on a floating drydock and towed down the Illinois Waterway and the Mississippi. Lakers like the Keizan Maru were built in great abundance all over the Lakes in response, ironically, to shipping losses caused by U-boats. Built to standard design with some variants, the type evolved from admiralty adaptations of a Norwegian design, the Frederickstads. Built no more than 261 Y2' LOA, they were designed to pass the Welland and St. Lawrence. To an extent, this program along with the famous Hog Islanders was a precursor of the fabulous industrial effon that produced the Liberties and the Victories in the next war. Keizan Maru was initially commissioned as Craw Keys and was built in 1918 at the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan. She was of the less common 1042 design group and, according to Rev. Edward J. Dowling, the noted Lakes historian, made her contribution to history as the fastest-built ship of World War I, 29 days complete.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
23
f~~-:_ 41
::::.---11-· 1
"The Buckman Passing Boston Light, 1903" oil 24x36 In a thin fog, the banana carrier SS Buckman passes Boston Light, the oldest lighthouse in North America. The United Fruit Company, in addition to owning great plantations throughout Central and South America, was for years one of the world's proudest steamship companies. "La Gran Flota Blanca," the Great White Fleet, owned many of the most graceful steamers ever built. Passenger accommodations, cuisine and the amenities of steamship travel in the grand manner made the line a national institution. But the real business was bananas, millions of them, and a system of roads, piers and railroads on a colossal scale. Particularly in the early days, United Fruit Company chartered scores of small vessels, mostly Scandinavian, for its " mosq uito fleet," as well as building to its own account. Th e "livery" of the company, the white diamond, was respected around the world. The first ship to wear that livery was the Buckman, built in Toledo, Ohio by Craig Ship Building in 1901. As the Buckman she could carry 40,000 bunches of bananas as well as passengers. In 1904 she was sold to the Pacific Steamship Company, where she served in the Alaska service as the Admiral Evans. She sank on March 9, 1918 in Hawk Inlet, Alaska, but was refloated and later sold to the Japanese. She was scrapped in the 30s. In the foreground is a Friendship sloop rigged out for swordfishing.
24
" - -··P'fN
voracious demand for ships. And there was another advantage: Great Lakes shipbuilding, geared to bulk trades and the internal development of the US, was less subject to the booms and slumps and foreign competition that affected coastal yards. So the capacity was there, ready, when the world needed it, most particularly during the world wars. Still, the problem remained, the 580' difference in elevation between Montreal and Lake Superior. While Governor Clinton built the Erie Canal, others, fearful of the loss of trade, watched carefully. In 1825 more was happening than the emptying of the green keg. In that year the first Welland Canal skirting Niagara Falls was begun, a small canal was built around the Lachine Rapids on the St. Lawrence and the Ohio-Erie Canal was opened linking Cleveland to the Ohio River. By 1848 the Lakes were connected to the Mississippi through Chicago. Successive changes have taken place in these and other systems as the volume of shipping and the size of vessels have increased. So that is what my Great Lakes series is about. There are fifteen paintings planned, going back to 1849, with incidents involving Great Lakes-built ships in places as diverse as Cape Horn, Shanghai, Surinam, British Columbia, Cuba, Russia, the Antarctic, Alaska and Brazil. It is a relatively untold story, for while the Great Lakes area had produced outstanding marine historians, their researches have tended to concentrate on shipping directly on the Lakes. I hope these paintings will demonstrate that the expression "Our Fourth Seacoast" is not a mere slogan, but has been an important reality for 140 years. There is another reason for these paintings. As an artist and a student of marine history, I have an abiding curiosity about the prosaic ships Qf work, their lives, their trades and their men .
"Last Hours of the Keeweenaw" oil 24x36 With Tatoosh Island Light, Cape Flattery, Washington State bearing Ex S x 'I.IS, range 7 miles, the steam collier Keeweenaw, in company with the SS Montserrat, fights her way into a growing southwesterly gale late in the afternoon of December 7, 1894. That night both vessels vanished with all hands. The storm continued unabated for 10 days. Owned by the Saginaw Steel Steamship Company, Keeweenaw wrote an important chapter in the history of Great Lakes shipbuilding. Keeweenaw and her sistership Mackinaw were the first two steel ships built on the Great Lakes for ocean service. She was also the first ship launched in two halves. The forward section was towed to Montreal, the after section steamed under its own power, and the two were joined . She was built by the F.W. Wheeler Co. of Bay City, Michigan in 1891. The reasons for her foundering have never been definitely explained, but a technical article published by Fred A. Ballin, Naval Architect, may shed some light on the matter. As head designer for Wheeler at the time, his observations have some authority. Keeweenaw was built at a time when steel was first being used as a substitute for iron in shipbuilding. Early Bessemer steel, unlike Open Hearth, contained excess sulphur and phosphorous and tended to be brittle. At the time only one Great Lakes shipbuilder was using steel rivets, the others iron . Keeweenaw's history of metal failure in her short 3 years gives weight to the prospect that she hit a hard sea, popped some rivets-and a plate carried away. Montserrat, on the other hand, had a reputation for being a rugged and seakindly vessel-and her master, David 0. Blackburn, had a reputation for overloading her. Mr. Francis Jenkins of William stown, Mass., the grandson of the Master of Keeweenaw, has thoughtfully provided research materials for this painting of the ship in her final hours. As evening closed the lightkeeper at Tatoosh was the last man to see her before the end. Keeweenaw measured 270 ' x 41. 9 ' x 20 '.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
"The Rescue of the Crew of lamut, 2 April, 1943" oil 3Sx45 This painting represents one of the most dramatic and difficult rescues in the annals of the U.S. Coast Guard Beach Patrol. About 2300 on I April, the Russian freighter LamUI was driven ashore at Teawhit Head, Washington State in a southwesterly gale. The next morning men from the Lapush Beach patrol Station discovered wreckage. Because of the surrounding rocks, boats were unable even to approach the vessel (immediately behind the viewer's eye is another set of pinnacle rocks). Since they were on routine patrol, the Coastguardsmen were unequipped for a major rescue attempt. Even reaching the site involved hacking a trail through swamp and overgrown forest, and then a dangerous climb over the cliffs. Fearing that the ship would break up before they obtained proper gear, the rescue party made up a heaving line from shoelaces and gauze bandages. On board was an orange sign, "l WUMAN ILL." Another woman had died in an attempt to launch a lifeboat. Nevertheless, the remaining 54 crew members were rescued, stretcher case included, despite the dangers of the ascent up the cliff on the seaward side and an equally treacherous descent inland. It took 24 hours to return to civilization. lamut was originally built as Lake Elpueblo in 1919 at the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Ashtabula, Ohio. The Lakers were standardized ships designed to make up for WW I shipping losses, and many were sold foreign in the '20s. To reconstruct the event, a clay model of the cliffs and rocks was built based on two old aerial photos from newspapers.
The Whaleback Collier Bay View Passing the Boston Pilot Schooner America, 1913 oil 24x36 The Great Lakes Whaleback, or "pigboat" is undoubtedly the most illustrious and unique contribution of the region to ship design. The brainchild of Captain Alexander McDougall, the first whaleback was launched at Duluth in 1888 as a barge, since funds were lacking for engines and boilers. Nevertheless, the first vessel was successful enough to induce the Rockefeller interests to underwrite the innovative shipbuilder. The rationale behind the odd elliptical hull was that it would be strong and simple to build, that bulk cargoes couldn't shift, and that it would be more stable by virtue of shedding water easily from the curved decks. English ship designers were impressed, and the whaleback is credited with being the direct antecedent of Doxford's famous turret ship. Ironically, simultaneous developments on the Lakes would soon spell the end of the type, as cargo handling machinery rapidly outgrew the narrow hatch width. The Bay View was built by the American Steel Barge Company, West Superior, Wisconsin as the A.D. Thompson in 1891. She was a sister of the more famous Charles W. Wetmore which rounded Cape Horn that same year carrying machinery to build another whaleback on the Pacific coast, the City Of Everett, the first American steamer to circumnavigate the world. Along with several other pigboats, Bay View served in the Newport News to New England coal trade under the ownership of the White Oak Steamship Company of Searsport, Maine. In 1922 she returned to the Lakes and was scrapped in Chicago in 1926. Passing her is the noted McManus designed Boston pilot schooner America, which became the racing trial horse for the fishing fleet after the famous Hesper. America was built in Gloucester in 1896-7.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
25
My Own Navy by John Christopher McCormick
My interest in model making started with a suggestion from a friend. I bought a model of a Navy training plane (c. I 950) and enjoyed putting it together. Then the television series "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" got me interested in the airplanes of World War II, and I started making models of various aircraft; fighters and bombers, English, American, German and Japanese. Before long there were whole armadas of planes hanging by threads from the ceiling of our family room, one half the Pacific theater, the other half Atlantic. I made some battle scenes with planes swooping in on attack and others fleeing. Some were diving, some damaged, and there were puffs of cotton for smoke. About this time I began watching another television show, ''Victory at Sea,'' which got me interested in the naval battles of the war. I began my naval collection
Here is the author with his fleet and part of his diorama. Photos: Phyllis McCormack.
with American-made models, but then I discovered Tamiya models, which have very good detail , as well as extra parts for dioramas. Tamiya makes forty-five ship and boat models, including some only one inch long . One of my dioramas is a harbor scene. I used a piece of wood with a wavy grain which looks like waves when it's painted blue. The docks are cardboard. The addition of a crane, some buildings, buoys and ships made it just like a busy harbor anywhere in the world. Jn addition to creating a fleet of models, I have used some of them to stage and film battles. My hobby has been a great deal of fun . But it has also helped me to learn about the planes and ships I have built and about the history of the war they fought in . .t 26
1
II
Lithograph based on a sketch by Edward A . lnglefield who commanded the Phoenix, pictured at left. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museum.
The Wreck of the Breadalbane by Keith Miller
On August 13, 1980 word came from the high Arctic that an exploration team on board the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, John A. MacDonald had located the 127 year old wreck of the British bark Breadalbane. The team, headed by Dr. Joe Maclnnis, Canadian underwater explorer and marine consultant, consisted of National Geographic Society personnel, aided by Dome Petroleum Inc., and Canada's Department of Defence and Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. Corporate and private donors from across the country provided additional expertise and equipment. The Breadalbane, a 125 foot long, 3masted bark , was an expedition supply ship engaged (as were many other vessels) in the search for Sir John Franklin and his crew, who disappeared in 1846 while seeking the elusive passage around North America. For a period of 12 years, from 1847 to 1859, over 40 search parties, British and American, looked for clues which would unravel the mystery of Franklin's fate and that of his crew. The story of the Breadalbane expedition echoes the fate of many other vessels which ventured through the treacherous Arctic region. In the early morning of August 21st, 1853, the Breadalbane became trapped by shearing slabs of pack ice. The crew of 21 men quickly abandoned the vessel and were picked up by a nearby steamship. The ship, with her hull crushed, rapidly filled and sank. The sonar produced television image on board the search vessel revealed the startling picture of a sailing ship in 350 feet of water, resting bolt upright, 2 of her masts erect, with remnants of sail still hanging from her crossed yards. Dr. Maclnnis, who has pioneered underwater diving technology in the Artie, speculated that much of the standing and running rigging may also be preserved in the - 1.5 degrees Celsius water. A colour camera lowered
into the water revealed that at least some sections of wooden planking are still clean and undamaged, raising hopes that the vessel may well be one of the best preserved shipwrecks ever to be found in the ocean. The vessel, located just off Beechey Island, 125 miles from the magnetic North Pole is believed to be the most northerly discovery of it's kind and is expected to help scientists determine the effects oflong term decay on organic matter which has been subjected to freezing Arctic waters. From an historian' s perspective, the ship's stores, her expedition gear and the crew's personal belongings, most of which are expected to be intact and well preserved, will yield a rare and uncompromised picture of life aboard a mid-19th century exploration vessel. An archaeological survey of the vessel itself will be undertaken, but Dr. Maclnnis stressed that the expedition is in no way a salvage operation. He believes that any eventual recovery of artifacts from the Breadalbane must be done under the watchful eyes of qualified historians and experts who know how to conserve the fragile objects from the ravages of oxygen once they reach the surface. As for ownership, Dr. Maclnnis believes the ship "belongs to the people of Canada because it is part of our history. I want to show Canadians what exists and turn it over to them." At his recommendation the Federal Government is considering having the ship declared a National Historic Site. Dr. Maclnnis feels that the depth of the wreck, the difficult iceing conditions of the seas and the relative inacessibility of the site will render the future raising of the vessel unfeasible if not impossible. Moreover, unless a compatible marine environment can be recreated on shore, (as is proposed for the Hamilton and Scourge), the Breadalbane will be best preserved where she lies; an object for study and conjecture, whose conservation is forever insured by Arctic waters. J, SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
Holiday Gift Ideas from Sea History Gifts that will bring enjoyment for years, while helping our work for the seafaring heritage. A sea classic and a fine gift!
•
Four Hudson Steamboat Prints by William G. Muller. Relive the elegance and romance of the great age of American steamboating wi th these full color prints on canvas-grained paper. Image size: 8 x 12. Set of four prints: $20.
H.M. Armed Transport
BOUNTY
Capt. Irving Johnson's
Running on strong winds off the island ofMoorea by
The Peking Battles Cape Horn
OSWALD L. BRETT
This is Irving Johnson's classic narrative of a passage round Cape Horn in 1929 in the steel bark Peking. A new foreword a nd appendix provide background on the author and the ship. In the new afterword the author looks back, after 48 years of seafaring, to his experiences aboard the Peking. Hardcover only, 225 p., 40 photos. $11.95
This limited edition of 500 prints is printed in full color on fine rag paper. Through the generosity of the artist, proceeds will benefit the work of the Society. Imagel4Y2x20Y2 . Price$85.
Brigantine Young America by Christopher Blossom
NMHS Cloth Patch True gold braid on black background, ship and sea embroidered in white and blue. Perfect for blazer, CPO, sweater or parka. 3 inches. Price $4.50
A limited edition of 850 prints captures the famous brigantine romping on an ideal day, in six inks on IOOOJo rag paper. Image: 30x 17!/z. $75. Shipwrecks and Archaeology, The Unharvested Sea, by Peter Throckmorton, a true adventure story told by one of its heroes. A limited supply remains of this profusely illustrated pioneering work on the early days of American marine archaeology in the Mediterranean. 270 pp., 45 photos, $13.95!' Nautical Museum Directory, Quadrant Press. This well illustrated paperback is the most informative and reliable guide to maritime museums. The fifth edition is now available at $3!'
I
The Wavertree Off Cape Horn, by Oswald L. Brett. Used on the cover of Sea History 19 and made into a print by popular demand, this classic study of the great deepwaterman driving to windward in a rising sea is offered to benefit the Wavertree restoration. Image 18x30. $100. The Wavertree Leaving New York, 1895, by John Stobart. A dozen copies of this signed, limited edition print, donated by the artist to aid in the restoration of the ship, remain and are offered one to a customer. Image 17 x 27. $200.
•
NMHSDECAL Gold color and white on •
bl~e.
royal Great for auto, wmdow or anywhere you'd like to show your colors. $1
, ·
·
··
11 '." ~
,.
... and don't forgetthe greatest gift of all, the one that invites a friend to share your interest: Gift Membership in NMHS: $10. (Attach names and addresses oflucky new hands on a separate piece of paper.)
-----------------------------------1 TO: NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Please send me: Quantity
Item
@
Price
Total
2 Fulton Street Brooklyn, New York 11201 FROM: (PLEASE PRINT) Mr ./Ms.
I D am D am not a member of NMHS. D I am joining herewith. Here's my $15 . D I am giving a gift membership to the person shown below. Enclosed is $10 . Mr ./Ms.
*On ly these ilems are taxable. NY City residents add 8 V. "lo, NY State residents add 5%, please.
TOTAL Less IO OJo discount (if member)
Plus sales tax*
Plus membership($15), gift memberships ($10) TOT AL ENCLOSED
-----------------------------------~
Imported from England
7SOml
An Appreciation Of William Alexander Coulter by Raymond D. White
In the nearly four hundred years since America's first marine art was created, some two or three thousand artists have drawn or painted marine scenes in America. Of these a few hundred have devoted all or nearly all of their life's work exclusively to marine art. These are the ones for whom the subject was all important, and art was often just a means to an end-not the end itself. These are also the ones who have left us the bulk of the record of what the ships that sailed the seas were really like. This special band of artists knew that humankind's love for and struggle with the sea was something special, and that it was worth Above, the Hawaii packet Kaiulani steps out in formal splendor in the early morning of her career, in this portrait painted for the Sewall family, her builders. This is the ship the National Society was founded to save; see SH 5, 9, I I, 14. Courtesy H. Sewall Williams& James V. Coulter.
Captain Fred Klebingat, master of Pacific schooners and square riggers, was haunted by this more loosely drawn and dramatic study ofan unknown ship fighting for her life to clear a lee shore, "carrying all the sail she could stagger under. One of the t'ga//ants is blowing away. In my mind I was on board that brave ship with her master and crew; with them I hoped that she would clear those rocks on her starboard bow to reach the open sea and safety." Courtesy National Maritime Museum, SF.
spending a lifetime to put the truth of it down on paper or canvas. They have displayed every degree of skill from the masterful insights of Winslow Homer in his final years that were devoted to marine art, to the crude but heartfelt drawings of many an old sailor home from the sea and bursting with desire to show what it was like. I would hate to try to pick the best one, the most famous one, the most beloved one, but as much as any and more than most, William Alexander Coulter is the embodiment of the heart and soul of these artists who gave themselves to the sea. Few of them
MARINEART:W.A.COULTER gained dazzling fame during their lifetimes or afterwards, and many were unable even to make a living from their art; but they have left a priceless legacy for those who really want to know what it was like. W.A. Coulter (as he is usually known) was, like a good many of our marine artists over the years, born across the sea. In Coulter's case it was Ireland, on March 7, 1849. He spent his childhood and youth in County Antrim. His life must have been spent close to the sea, since his father was a captain in the Coast Guard on the northern coast of Ireland, and two of his brothers became Masters of ships sailing between the British Isles and India, and Far East. Coulter felt the call of the sea and shipped out as a cabin boy at an early age, continued at sea for several years, and became an able-bodied seaman before he left the sea at about age twenty. In addition, Coulter answered another call-that of art. As a youngster he began to sketch scenes around his home port and, the stories say, he continued to draw and paint while a seaman, using the odd piece of sail canvas and brushes made from rope-yam. Any good Irishman is a teller of tales, and the best of Irishmen become the subject of some good stories. Coulter has been the subject of many a tale, and one of the best is the story of how he came to settle in California. It seems that in about 1869 his ship called at Monterey, California, and he and two other members of the crew hired a buggy and went on a sightseeing drive into the countryside. At what must have been a particularly dangerous point on the road the horse became frightened, ran away, and in the ensuing melee Coulter was thrown from the buggy into a ravine. As soon as the other two collected themselves, they began to look for Coulter, but couldn't find him. Later, a search party from the ship was organized, but he still couldn't be found, so the ship left without him. He had broken his ankle and had been found by a Spanish family, who took him into their home, then nursed him back to good health. Although his ankle mended, it was never set properly, so he walked for the rest of his life with a limp on an elevated heel in his right shoe. Perhaps his limp made seafaring impossible, or perhaps he just decided it was time to come ashore. In any event, Coulter got a job in a sail loft in Monterey and began picking up some extra money by painting marine views. He soon moved to San Francisco, and, with only a few interruptions, the Bay area was to be home for the rest of his life. In San Francisco Coulter again found work in a sail loft and continued his painting, apparently with growing success. Despite the fact that he had never had any formal training in art, Coulter's paintings found a ready public. Throughout his long career his work was characterized by a directness, clarity and accuracy that are as delightful today as they were undoubtedly a century ago. So he prospered; prospered so well that he was able to devote himself entirely to his art, giving up his other employment. After a few years of this he had saved enough money to fulfill what was probably every serious American artist's goal at that time-study in Europe. He spent about two years abroad, spending most of his time in Brussels and Amsterdam; not the normal ports of call for an art student, but apparently just right for a marine painter. Coulter is said to have studied under Francis Musin and William Melbey and may have spent time in Paris, London, Copenhagen and other continental cities during his art training. After his interlude in Europe, Coulter spent a year in Boston, where he did a number of paintings as well as having time to take voice lessons. A photograph taken in his later years reveals the quintessential Edwardian gentleman, moustachioed, goateed and perfect in every sartorial detail. If one were to make a guess based on that photograph, the guess would probably be banker,
30
businessman, doctor. There is little there to suggest artist, squarerigger sailor, singer of Irish songs, avid gardener, and raconteur. Yet Coulter was all these things and more. He was not an artist for whom art was all, he was an artist for whom art was a reflection of life, whose life was full of reality, voice lessons and all. After his year in Boston , he returned to San Francisco where he settled down to his life's work of depicting the marine activities of the Bay Area. Seeking the reality of the waterfront, he became a familiar figure at the Transport Docks, at Hunter's Point and from Bay Farm Island to Port Costa. A routine was soon established-some ship portraits he executed for specific shipowners or masters, others he did on speculation. It was Coulter's lifelong habit to paint until he had amassed a number of various marine views and then hold a sale or auction. This method was used even after his death, for in December, 1941, a collection of his paintings was assembled, first at the Anglo California National Bank Building and later at the Marine Exchange, where a successful sale was held for the benefit of his widow. For almost sixty years after his return to San Francisco, Coulter drew and painted a tremendous number of marine views-estimated at approximately five thousand. In the 1890s he added to his income by taking a job with the San Francisco Call as waterfront artist. In those days before the use of photographs in printing, each newspaper depended upon artists to prepare daily sketches of news events which could be reproduced in the paper. During about ten years of this work, Coulter produced a drawing almost daily doing some two thousand or more. These drawings did more than anything else to make Coulter the best-known marine artist in the San Francisco area for decades. His salary on the Callis said to have been $5 per week. Coulter's son James believes that amount, added to the income from sales of paintings, produced the most affluent period in the artist's life. Around the turn of the century it became possible to reproduce photographs in newspapers, so the need for on-the-spot artists disappeared, and Coulter's newspaper career ended. The affluence of the newspaper period may have contributed to one other happy event in his life, his marriage in 1891 to Harriett Angela Hostetter, a San Francisco girl of German origin. They had three children-Helen, James, and Stuart; the family lived on the earnings of Coulter's art, although James gives much credit to his mother's thrifty ways.
Retirement did not take with the grand old man (opposite page); he kept painting and telling droll stories until his death in 1936.
Ocean liners (al right), transitionalfreighters (lower right) and the thronging life of small craft in San Francisco Bay, from scow schooners to sampans were recorded in Coulter's drawings for the shipping news columns of the San Francisco Call.
During his long career Coulter painted everything that happened in the Bay. In addition to his drawings for the Call, he painted the famous yachts of the day, such as the well known Casco, a beautiful two-masted schooner, owned originally by Dr. Samuel Merritt (an early mayor of Oakland and civic leader), later used by Robert Louis Stevenson for cruising to the South Seas and still later used as a seal killer and opium smuggler. He painted schooners, brigs, barks, ships, sloops, steamers, tugs, barges: everything that moved on the water. Of the hundreds of paintings by W .A. Coulter of deepwater sailing vessels, it would be impossible to settle on the best or the favorite, even if all the paintings could be found and catalogued. But for friends of NMHS, the sentimental favorite might be the beautiful oil of Kaiulani, the Arthur Sewall built steel bark, whose preservation has long been one of NMHS' most important projects. Coulter shows Kaiulani leaving port on a brisk day, with the tug in the background headed back into the harbor. It is a precise and beautiful picture of a beautiful ship, typical of Coulter at his best and a fine exemplar of the classic ship portrait. In addition to countless ship portraits, Coulter painted many views of special events, such as the heroically sized (55 " x 88 ') "The Hartford-Admiral Farragut's Flagship Entering the Golden Gate," or "Burning the Blue Light" showing a stormdamaged ship lighted by the weird blue glass of a Coston lightthe pre-radio mariner's last desperate hope for attracting the attention of potential rescuers. He also painted a set of murals in the San Francisco Merchants' Exchange Building. These murals, showing various scenes of the Bay and almost every type of shipping imaginable, have survived the years and the changing fate of the building and, along with the building, have recently been restored to good condition. Another of Coulter's unusual paintings is his view of the San Francisco earthquake, painted on a large window shade. This painting is in the Commercial Club of San Francisco, and even though it is a panorama of earthquake and fire it faithfully shows the waterfront: ships are leaving the piers to avoid the fire. The years 1910 to 1930 were busy ones for Coulter. He followed his usual habit of building up an inventory of about one hundred paintings and then having a sale. In 1928 he took a sentimental journey to Ireland and on his return he "retired" at age eighty or eighty-one. But the retirement didn't take-he was soon turning out paintings again. In 1935 there was one last show: over one hundred paintings he had done since age eighty were shown at Crackers Stationery Store at the corner of Pine and Montgomery Streets in San Francisco. Only a short time later, on March 13, 1936, death claimed the grand old man and he was buried in Mill Valley near his beloved Sausalito home. William A. Coulter left a legacy of maritime history whose value is becoming more and more appreciated. His paintings now sell for amounts that he probably never envisioned in his wildest dreams . The twenty-cent U.S. Postage "Golden Gate" stamp was engraved based on a Coulter painting. In addition to his art, he achieved that great immigrant's dream-he saw his children launched on useful and successful lives. Few artists have a ship named for them . Leonardo and Michaelangelo have, and so has W.A. Coulter. On November 19, 1943, the Liberty Ship William A . Coulter was christened at the Kaiser Yard No. 1, Richmond, California. Coulter's daughter Helen did the honors and her brothers were in attendance. What tribute could have been more fitting for an artist of the sea? .V SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
1~~~.¡.
I
r~~~'i-~2~
l.~~~o___
- - '--
~- -~-¡-~::~----
_ '_ _
I
I
d 31
EXPLORE THE MAINE COAST
TYNE PRINTS
WEEKLY
Announces a limited-edition of 750 signed and numbered, full-color lithographic art prints of The Endurance from an original painting by
RAYMOND A. MASSEY A.S.M.A.
SAILING
VACATION
WINDJAMMER "MARY DAY" For Folder Write :
Capt. H. S. Hawkins Camden , Maine 04843 Tel. 1-207-236-2750
A unioue experience. $360 weekly, includes everything . For Brochure Call 207-437-2851 (winter) 207-763-3137 (summer)
Schooner TIMBERWIND
Capt. Bill Alexander
Box 247 SH. Rockport. Me . 04656
On October 27, 19 15 Sir Ernest Shackleton and 28 expedition members aba ndo ned their ship, The Endurance, which was being crushed by the ice pack of the Weddell Sea. Thus began the 8 month challenge of surviving in the Antartic. While the world made war, o nl y self-rescue was possible. Miraculously, though the ship was lost, all 29 men endured. They were rescued in May, 1916. Print image size is 20" x 26". Signed print, $75 . Signed and remarqued print, $ 125. Free color brochure avail able. Order from:
TYNE PRINTS 112 Walton Drive, Buffalo, New York 14226 716-839-0185
Gold Bullion Badges Hand embroidered in the finest materials to your designs. • USMS and S.S. Company cap badges • Uniform Insignia • Yachting Regalia • Blazer Badges for clubs, & schools and family coats-of-arms
MILITARIA 14691-H Alder Lane
Tustin, California 92680
Seaport Magazine is just one of the benefits of m embership in the South Street Seaport Museum ... Advance notice of events. free admission to our historic ships. and discounts in the Museum shops. to events. and to harbor sails are just a few of the others.
Oil on canvas 25x30 Unidentified Sea Captain with Wooden Barrel , Telescope in Hand. Circa 1840. South Street Seaport Museum
HESPER
203 Front St., New York NY 10038
•
In (.
0 Please send me more information.
Fine 19th Century Marine Art P.O. Box 218,
Wiscasset, Maine 04578
207-882-7208
namc'- - - - - - - - - - - - - 1
zip
DAY'S RUN
Report of the American Sail Training Association
An ASTA Trainee's View of a Cruise Aboard Eagle It's a rare opportunity to sail on a "Tall Ship." But to sail on the pride and joy of the Coast Guard, the bark Eagle, is certainly a chance of a lifetime. With seabags in hand twenty three of us reported to Eagle pier at the Coast Guard Academy in New London to embark on the five-day cruise to Baltimore. Upon arrival, we were told our watch section, given a bunk, and taken informally on a tour of the ship. The salute and formality of the Coast Guard way of life were replaced by the warmth and friendliness of the relaxed crew. During the day and a half of our orientation, we were given instructions on shipboard routine, sail handling, and the procedures necessary to ensure our passage to the Chesapeake as a safe and enjoyable one. We climbed the rigging, went out on the yards, and began to get accustomed to the heights at which we would be working. At one hundred and thirty feet above deck, you either lose your fear of heights, or come wobbly-kneed down to the security of the deck. Once our in-shore training was completed, we mustered in the waist of the ship before heading out to sea. It was at this time that Captain Moynihan addressed us for the first time. What a strange sight we must have been to him-a varied group of young men and women from all walks of life, out of uniform, without regulation haircuts, even unable to stand at attention, but joined together by a common bond-a love for the sea. The Captain assured us that we would sail as much as possible, and expressed the hope that we would all feel the same sense of pride that his men and women feel while sailing the Eagle. With a short prayer for a safe passage we left land astern. For nearly two days we pitched and rolled through the tail end of hurricane Dennis; rain, wind, and sloshing seas causing a loss through seasickness of nearly half our crew. For seasickness is part of the experience; as are gorgeous sunsets, full sails, and good chow. We had a taste of these moments as well. Two schools of dolphins played with us. Shortly thereafter we sailed through a school of whales, and noticed a menacing shark not far behind them. One of our most memorable moments came when we executed a "wear" of the ship and we found out just how much we had learned about sailing the Eagle during these first three days. All hands were assembled for the maneuver, in which the ship changes tacks by turning away from the wind. Cadets, civilians, and crew all SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
working, pulling, and sweating together to sail this ship. All went to their station to stand by for orders. As we wore ship, commands were shouted, and only the grunts of the straining crew were heard above the roar of wind. People hustled from one line to the next, and as soon as one line was secured, it seemed as though another needed immediate attention . Before we had time to rest from the hard work, Captain Moynihan called us over to the starboard rail to watch the sunset. He didn't have to order us to do this! We stood spellbound watching the mighty orange sun sizzle on the horizon, and then be swallowed by the sea.
To see the Eagle under sail is one thing, but to stand on her deck, feel the sea beneath you, and look up at masts and sails that seem to reach up and touch the stars is something entirely different. Too few of us have the chance to experience "Tall Ship" sailing and know how proud you feel watching with calloused hands as the sails you have helped to set billow and fill and the ship plows through the sea. I wish to thank Captain Moynihan, the officers and crew of Eagle, and ASTA, for providing myself and many other trainees with that chance. TERRY J. LINEHAN
1982 Race Plans Proceed The American Sail Training Association is pleased to report that there has been much progress in planning for the 1982 International Sail Training Races. The Western Hemisphere portion starts at LaGuaira, Venezuela on May 29th and ends 1860 miles and approximately 18 days later off the Delaware Capes. Following a visit to Philadelphia in honor of that city's 300th Birthday, from June 17th to the 21st, the Class A "Tall Ships" will Cruise-in-Company to Newport with a trainee interchange among the ships. At the same time, the Class B sail training ships will race from Cape May to Castle Hill Light at the entrance to Newport Harbor. All the ships will visit Newport for four days, from June 23rd to the 27th before starting Race 3 to Lisbon which will finish approximately 32 days later after a 3300 mile transit. In Europe, the Cutty Sark "Tall Ships" Races which are organized and run by the Sail Training Association start with a race from Falmouth to Lisbon. The joint fleets will then continue with a Cruise-in-Company to Vigo, Spain; following a four-day visit to that city, the final leg of the series will be a race to Southampton, England, finishing approximately August 21st. Although it is still too early to have many definite responses from the ships, we can report the following. Class A ships who will make part or all of the Western Hemisphere race, or visit one or more of the ports in conjunction with the individual celebrations, are: USCGC Eagle (United States), Esmeralda (Chile), Juan Sebastian De Elcano (Spain), Libertad (Argentina), Simon Bolivar (Venezuela), and Young America (United States). Class B ships committed to some of the races or ports are: Black Pearl, Blythe
Spirit, Brilliant, Harvey Gamage, Ny/la, and Providence (all United States), Cisne Branco (Brazil), Dambuster (United Kingdom), Esperanza (Argentina), Our Svanen (Canada), Urania (Netherlands), and William H. Albury (Bahamas). Responses continue to arrive on an almost daily basis, and we will bring you an update in the next issue of Sea History. Since many Class B sail training ships would be prevented by scheduling and Coast Guard regulations from making the Philadelphia to Newport Race, a two-leg race from Mystic to Block Island is planned for them. This series will take place from June 21st to the 23rd, ensuring that these ships will be in Newport in conjunction with the "Tall Ships" visit. In-Shore Regattas will be held in both Philadelphia and Newport. These events consist of a series of sports competitions between the crews of the ships which have participated in the "Tall Ships" Race, and they include such activities as tug-of-wars, volleyball matches, pulling boat races. At the end of each port visit, there will also be a Prize-Giving Ceremony to award prizes for the previous race, as well as the InShore Regatta events. There will also be many hospitality events in both ports for trainees, crew, and officers of the visiting ships . In addition, a "Tall Ships" Ball is planned for Newport to honor the Captains, crew and officers of the visiting ships. It is expected that more than 200,000 people will be in Newport and Philadelphia each day to see the ships up close, and that at least twice that number will line the shore to view each of the Parades of Sail. For further information write to: ASTA 1982 Brochure, Eisenhower House, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI 02840. 33
SAIL TRAINING
How We Sail the Libertad by Captain Alberto Padilla, Armada Republica Argentina
The Argentine Navy's Libertad stands tall among the Tall Ships-she is a full-rigged steel ship of 3,720tons. Built by the Argentinian State Shipyard, Rio Santiago, in 1962, her dimensions are 300.8' x 46.9 ' x 36.1 '. She is of the size and rig of the big ships of the last generation of merchant sailing ships, the main differences being that she has engines, generators, radars, satellite navigation equipment and the most up-to-date safety gear. I-ier crew consists of 23 senior and junior officers, 130 midshipmen and 230 petty officers and sailors: a total of 383 men . Since 1963, every year the Libertad starts a new training cruise; in 1980 when I commanded her, the hundred and thirteen Argentine midshipmen became acquainted during the voyage with every seakeeping skill, putting into practice the technical and scientific theory learnt at the Naval Academy. Further, they reaffirmed friendly bonds with the members of the navies of America, Europe and Africa, not only because of the countries visited, but besides that, because on board they were accompanied by midshipmen of Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Spain, United States and Uruguay. The cruise, as usual with Libertad, was extensive, visiting Salvador (Brazil), San Juan (Puerto Rico), New York, Bremen (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Malaga (Spain), Toulon (France), Civitavecchia (Italy), Piraeous (Greece), Alexandria (Egypt), Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands), Tenerife (Canary Islands), and Santos (Brazil). Frank Braynard, Advisor of the NMHS and Director of New York's Harbor Festival, invited us to lead the 1980 Festival. In the outbound parade of pleasure boats on the afternoon of July 5, the Libertad was the queen of an armada composed of several hundred small craft and other ships. Around noon the ship left Pier 92 (Passenger Ship Terminal) in the Hudson River, having on board members of Harbor Festival 1980 and other guests of honor. The Libertad lead the Parade followed by the brigantine Young America (chartered by the National Society), the guided missile destroyer Claude V. Ricketts and hundreds of small craft. Since the wind came from the south, the first part of the parade was done using the ship's engines, but on the way back, from Verrazzano Bridge up to Battery Park, the Libertad set all 15 square sails, making a magnificent show. Undoubtedly, this parade plus many other events that took place in New York, make this city one of the best places visited during Training Cruise 1980. In 1981, theshipmadeherownone-ship 34
festivals, visiting Baltimore and Portsmouth, New Hampshire en route to England and the Mediterranean. The crew is changed entirely each year, except for a small cadre of petty officers. The Libertad is well known for the history she has made in her time. In 1966 she won the Boston Teapot Trophy, which is competed for annually by any vessel of any nation , provided that the length on the waterline is not less than 30 ' and the observation of other items such as composition of crew, seaworthiness, essential equipment, etc. The trophy is awarded annually to the vessel which at any time each year, covers the greatest distance in any period of 124 hours (5 days and 4 hours). The Boston Teapot Trophy was won in 1966 by the Libertad, but on that occasion, besides this trophy they established a new world record in crossing the North Atlantic, a record that still stands. Rear Admiral (R) Ricardo Franke, the
The Libertad, thanks to her clipper lines and the spirit in which she is sailed, holds the North Atlantic crossing record. Imagine doing it in under 7 daysunder sail!
Commanding Officer at that time, tells the story. The Libertad was in Halifax and in her schedule the next port was Dublin, Ireland . In Halifax, Captain Franke had the opportunity of knowing Bluenose fl, commanded by Captain Coggils. Bluenose fl was a replica of the unforgettable 2-masted schooner Bluenose, fishing vessel from Lunenburg, N.S., famous in Canada and in the United States for her speed achievements and her incredible races in the banks of Terranova and Nova Scotia. Captain Coggils and many other seamen from the Canadian Navy asked, that if possible, it would be an unforgettable sight to depart from Halifax by sail, something that was common for that city until the first years of this century. Fortunately, the day of departure the Libertad had favorable winds from the WNW, Force 4-5, and that enabled them to get under way initially with the use of the jibs, the lower staysails and the spanker.
Fifteen minutes later all the sails were hauled and the ship was sailing at 5 knots leaving the bay of Halifax. In the next two days the wind diminished and the Libert ad had to use her engines, but on the third day the wind increased to a Force of 8-9, and shifted to SSW, so they disengaged the propeller and kept on with their sails. In the afternoon the wind stabilized from the west, Force 9, being undoubtedly under the influence of a low pressure center, that having originated near New York two days before, had intensified over Canada moving northeast. At 20. JO hours they sighted Cape Race lighthouse, and at 00.00 hours of October 3rd they started the crossing of the North Atlantic. During this day the wind maintained Force 8-9 shifting slightly to WSW with a sea state of 6. With these conditions the ship was making an average of 12 knots. The Libertad was sailing with lower and upper fore topsail, lower and upper main topsail, mizzen, lower and upper mizzen topsails, and ahead, the outer jib and the fore topmast staysail. After repairing a split on the foresail, it was hauled, and from 20.00 to 24.00 hours, with the wind increasing to a force of 9 and JO (in other words 50 knots) the speed of the ship exceeded 17 knots. At 22.40 hours the foresail split again, this time seriously and due to its state they decided to sacrifice it, leaving it as it was, to facilitate steering, since the ship by now was running with a strong storm from astern with a sea state of 8 from the WSW. They ended this day having sailed a total of 286.3 miles. On October 4 the wind blew steadily at Force 9 from the west except in the afternoon, when it increased to Force JO. The ship maintained an average speed of more than 13 knots. There were several unraveled bolt ropes in the fore and main topsails, but the sea state (25 ° roll) and the strong wind made repairs too dangerous to be undertaken by cadets. It was something spectacular to see this rough sea, with huge waves that moved forward from astern. The outstanding seaworthy quality of the hull was tested repeatedly, and it was magnificent, besides reassuring, to see how the stern went up when it was overtaken by those liquid masses, sliding afterwards in the slope and finally rising gracefully her daring bow without a drop of water on the deck. On this day the Libertad sailed 316 miles with an average speed of 13.2 knots. On the third day, October 5, the barometer kept falling and read now 744mm. The wind came from the west shifting later to the NNW with a sea state of 6. Since the course was 070, they could afford to set the mainsail and the flying jib. With this, the SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
ship sailed with the following sails: all the jibs, upper and lower fore topsail, upper and lower main topsail, upper and lower mizzen topsail, main topmast staysail and mizzen staysail. The fore and main yards were braced 45 ° and the mizzen yards 30 °. On that day the ship sailed 277 miles . On the fourth day, October 6, the wind decreased and from a force of 8 dropped to 6. The barometer slowly rosed as the low pressure center started to fill. The sea state was also decreasing, giving the crew some rest. At noon, since the force of the wind kept on decreasing, they set the main royal and mizzen topgallant staysails. They ended this day sailing a total of 266 miles. Next day, October 7, the sea became calm and the barometer kept rising, reaching 767mm. As the wind speed fell, so did the speed of the ship, making all feel very uneasy. With less than 500 miles to complete the crossing, it would be awful to stay motionless due to lack of wind! But hope revived with the meteorological information of another low-pressure center originating in latitude SON, longitude 40W, moving ENE in their direction. They took advantage of this relatively calm day to send most of the available people to the yards so as to repair all the sails and tackle that had been damaged. How encouraging it was to see the feverish activity of the seamen trying to gain precious minutes and to leave the sails, cordage and tackle in good condition before the other storm caught up. On this day they sailed only 164 miles. It seemed strange to sail so little! On the sixth day, October 8, the wind increased to Force 9 from the SSW. Considering that the low pressure center wasn't as intense as the preceeding one, they decided to leave all sails set, trying to compensate for the low speed of the previous day. That day the ship sailed at a maximum speed of 16.5 knots and at the end of the day they had sailed a total of 272.8 miles. On the seventh day the wind diminshed and so the average speed dropped to 8 knots. At 20.48 hours they crossed the 100-fathom line. Everybody was looking intensively trying to see the first flash of an Irish lighthouse. At 21.26 hours with great emotion, Bull Rock lighthouse was sighted, bearing 083 °. At 22.16 hours the salute gun fired to indicate that the ship was south of Dursey Island and had ended the crossing of the North Atlantic in 6 days and 21 hours. The cheers of the crew, showed clearly how they were awaiting that moment, and by the ship's loudspeakers the Captain told them what they had accomplished, emphasizing the magnificent performance of everybody particularly the men that worked on deck and on the yards . w
THE DROMEDARY Ship Modelers Associates has rapidly become the LARGEST company in the UNITED STATES which is so lely devoted to providing only the materials required by the MODEL SHIP BUILDER . Our PLAN department is the most complete in the world, <.:>ftering drawings by such notables as, MacGregor, Lusc i, Underhill , Gay, Channing , Leavitt, Musees de la Marine , Mantua / Sergal ,
Corel, Art Amb
Fusta , 8reisinger, Campbell.
In order to be the only FULL SERVICE firm
for the ship modeler , we also offer a com· plete line of books, lools , rigging and fillings, kils from lhe U.S. and plank-on-frame from abroad , woods, and all of lhe advice that our experienced staff willi ngly offers. A CONTINUING CATALOG , which is never complete , is offered for a one lime charge of $6 .00 post pa id.
6324 Belton Road El Paso, Texas 79912
Lois Roth 915 I 584-2445
The World 's Only
Universal/Professional
UNDERWATER METAL DETECTOR
Selectable Dual Circ uit permits detection , in fresh or salt water . of all metals or detectio n of gold , si lver , copper , and lead, wh ile ignoring most iron / junk metals. e 200 ft . Certified Depth e Aut o mat ic / M anua l Mo de s O utputs: Earph ones / Meter/ LED s e Detects: Si ngle coi ns to 18 9V Ni Cads . i n. Larger o bj ec ts to 6 ft. 11 0 / 12V Charger 2-year Warran ty
e
e e CALL TOLL FREE
1-800-527-4011
1-800-442-4889
t
( In Texas)
:
GARRETT
· METAL DETECTORS
See u s at Boo th t 7 1 OEMA Conven11 on Sa n Ant onio. Texas Ja nuar y 23-26 . 1982
Depl. SH98 1 • 28 14 National Dnve Garland. Texas 75041 US.A
~
35
SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS INTERNATIONAL Venezuela's new 270' training bark Simon Bolivar visited New York and Bath, Maine on her maiden voyage to America during August. The ship was open to the public in both ports. In Bath she was the guest of the Maine Maritime Museum and Bath's Bicentennial Committee. The Bolivar, built in Vizcaya, Spain, and delivered to the Venezuelan Navy in November, 1980, sails with a complement of 17 officers, 24 petty officers, 80 midshipment and 50 enlisted personnel. Venezuelan Consulate, 2437 California St. NW. Washington DC 20008 . Wind Ship Development Corporation has retrofit the 3,000-ton motor vessel Mini-Lace with auxi liary sail power for Ceres Helenic Shipping Enterprises of Piraeus, Greece. The design developed over the past 16 months, in collaboration with Ceres, features an unstayed
inast with a roller-furling and reefing cat rig, 3,000 sq. ft. of dacron sail, hydraulically powered winches and remote control operated from the bridge. Significant fuel savings are anticipated in this first use of sail in a modern, operational merchant ship. Wind Ship, 609 Main St., PO Box N, Norwell MA 02061. An old Japanese port, now named by scholars One Thousand Houses, which was buried beneath 8' of silt during a huge flood in 1673 has been excavated by Masashi Matsushi since 1973 and has revealed thousands of homes (hence, the name), coins from the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD), household items, and wooden writing tablets. The 15-acre site, next to the Ashida River in the Hiroshima Prefecture which faces the Inland Sea of Japan, is believed to have been most prosperous during the period of extensive Japanese-Chinese trade in the Muro-machi age (1393-1496 AD). More details to follow ... Maritime history in the Middle East is recorded at least as far back as King Hyram of Tyre sending timbers for Solomon's Temple by sea, and King Solomon's own ships carrying cargo of gold. The public may now explore this ancient seafaring heritage at the National Maritime Museum in Haifa, Israel. Housed in a new 4-story building, the Museum offers displays on ship models, ancient sea trade, cartography, and underwater archaeology. Off the Haifa coast, the Undersea Scientific Exploration Society of Israel has discovered the wooden bow of an ancient Greek galley with a 3-pronged ram, weighing over 1100 lbs, which has been dated back to 290-280 BC. A large anchor was
36
also found, similar to two found with barges believed built by Caligula (Emperor 37-41 AD) in a 1932 expedition in Lake Nemi, Rome . The anchor in Haifa, still on the bottom, awaits a pool for preservation. American Friends of the Haifa Maritime Museum, PO Box 616, New York, NY 10021. The Institute of Nautical Archaeology has conducted an investigation and survey of shipwrecks on the Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean. The group has located and recorded artifacts at 50 sites on the Island including the armed 5th-rate frigate HMS Convert, a French vessel captured by the Royal Navy months before she went down with nine other vessels in a merchant convoy. Roger Smith, leader of the expedition writes in the INA newsletter that the crew had coined the motto "A wreck a day." Most artifacts, once identified, were returned to their places of recovery and reburied, with limited numbers retained for museum display. The group also found an area called Careening Cove, where mariners had apparently hauled their boats for maintenance and repairs for over 2 centuries. INA, PO Drawer AU, College Station TX 77840. Building work and repairs have begun on a Ship Museum in Marsala, Italy, which houses the remains of a 2,000-year old 35 meter Punic Ship. Using .her surviving stern and a length of the port side up to the midship section in conjunction with the bow of a contemporary ship excavated nearby, naval architects were able to project the shape of the entire vessel (since verified through actual reconstruction). The remains provide a natural half-model for visitors, with replica pieces and missing extensions outlined in steel, accompanied by underwater photographs and measured drawings. Ms. Honor Frost, National Maritime Museum, London SEIO 9NF, England. Marine archaeology got a break on TV in the September broadcast of "The Ancient Mariners" first in the Public Broadcasting Service's Odyssey series. George Bass, Director of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology , led a distinguished team reporting on three shipwreck sites: an Arab ship of 1025 AD at Serce Liman in Turkey, a 7th century AD Byzantine ship at Yassi Ada off the Turkish coast, and a 4th century BC Greek vessel at Kyrenia, off the coast of Cyprus. Dick Steffy's model
Miranda (ex-Albatross), built in Sweden in 1942 as a 4-masted cargo schooner with auxiliary
engines was lat.er converted to a motor vessel and played a support role for British trawlers during the Cod War over fi shing rights in Icelandic waters in the early '70s. Saved from being scrapped in a Liverpool shipyard by Stuttgart businessman Paul !sen, she has been brought to Lubeck where he plans to convert her back to sail over the next two years.
GREAT BRITAIN A 500,000 replica of Endeavour, the ship sailed by Captain Cook in his Pacific voyages, has been approved by the Whitby Chamber of Trade and Commerce, who believe the project will become se lf-financing. The Whitby Shipyard would be leased for two years for the construction of the vessel. After launching, the ship would be berthed in Whitby Harbor and do promotional cruises to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Mr. John Tinsdale, Hon . Secretary, Whitby Chamber, Whitby. The wooden bark Capricorn built in 1859 in Swansea, last voyaged round Cape Horn bound for the west coast of South America. Badly damaged in a gale, she put into Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, where she was used as a storage hulk and lighter until she sank in 1942. Though the vessel itself has disintegrated beyond repair, the North Devon Maritime Mu-
seum is trying to secure her capstan, which remains ashore. Capricorn is representative of the 125 ships and barks built in North Devon between 1784 and 1876. The Museum has already amassed a valuable collection of shipping records, photographs, and models. Museum, Odun House, Odun Rd., Appledore, Devon.
iil71&2Zili
The fine first issue of Traditional Sail Review, "for, and by, traditional sail enthusiasts," focuses on traditional vessels sailing today, news and notes around Europe and North America and includes a detailed listing of where to see vessels of interest in the UK. Subscription for the quarterly is 7/ year: Anglian Yacht Services, 28 Spital Rd., Maldon, Essex CM9 6EB.
reconstructions, Lionel Casson's researches in classic literature and the special talents of Michael Katzev, Barbara Kreutz, and Frederick van Doorninch added special depth to this treatment of a topic subject to over-exploitation on the air-waves as in the field. Odyssey, Public Broadcasting Associates, 1256 Soldiers Field Rd., Boston MA 02135.
Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, was founded in 1920 by Frank Debenham, a geologist on the Terra Nova expedition, to encourage polar reseatrch and exploration. Now a subdivision of th1e Department of Geology at Cambridge Uniiversity, the Institute houses a small museum eexhibiting historical and scientific
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
material from both polar regions, an extensive library, map room, laboratories and workshops. Institute, Dept. of Geology, Cambridge University, Cambridge. On June 24, after 3,000 years of operation, the Humber Ferry service between Hull and New Holland, came to an end when Humber Bridge, the world's largest single span, was opened. The last ferry in service, the diesel electric paddle ship Farringford, now up for sale, took guests on a last run upriver. Passing under the Bridge's north tower they sal uted the 1940 steamer ferry Lincoln Castle, also retired and recently opened as a restaurant. Another former Humber ferry, the 1934 Tattershall Castle, has been moved from her mooring on the Thames to Kent where she will be converted to a boatyard pub. British Rail, Hull, Humberside. The restoration of the William McCann (exCity of Edinboro, Sjoborgin) a 19th century Hull fishing smack is being undertaken by her
MUSEUM OUALI1Y
SHIP MODEIS
THE DEPARTMENT OF SHIP MODEL SALES AND SERVICE
exists as the nation 's first professional business devoted to the propagation, documentation and care of museum quality ship models. "MUSEUM QUALITY "
ship models , registered and scratch built using techniques and materials required to meet museum standards, are being offered by the Department of Ship Model Sales and Service. Priced from $1, 000.
Museum Quality Ship Models Brochure
$1.00
DEPARTMENT OF SHIP MODEL SALES AND SERVICE
Inventory Subscription, published quarterly, and Museum Quality Ship Models Brochure $12.00 Send check or money order to: & SERVICE
DEPARTMENT OF SHIP MODEL SALES
new owner, Dr. Henry Irving, with the support from the Hull Maritime Society. Town Docks Museum has expressed interest in the idea of preserving the vessel as a working boat open to the public and still able to go to sea. The Mccann, built in 1884, was one of the fleet of smacks which prospered until the 1890s when the development of the steam trawler brought about their virtual extinction. Town Docks Museum, Queen Victoria Sq., Hull, Humberside HU5 3BE.
Room 2 I Mystic Seaport Museum Stores, In c. I Mystic, CT 06355
Sailing Adventures aboard the
SCHOONER HARVEY GAMAGE
Please send news, notes, comments on Great Britain Ship Notes to Barry Beadle, 39 Newlan Ave., Hull H0583E England.
-a windjammer in true "down East" tradition. U.S. Coast Guard inspected 95' o.a. in length
CANADA Maritime Museum of Upper Canada has built a wireless room of the type once found on a Great Lakes passenger steamer, in which they have displayed their recently acquired Marconi-built marine wireless equipment. Marconi, who designed and transmitted the first wireless message from Pohldu, Wales to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1901, had a monopoly on wireless in Canada-developing, building, supplying the equipment and training operators till 1938. In addition to the Ned Han/an, an 80 ' 1932 steam tug, the Museum also has on display a working triple-expansion steam engine. Museum, Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario M6K 3C3. The Hamilton and Scourge Foundation and the City of Hamilton, in conjunction with the Canadian Conservation Institute, are in the beginning stages of a project to raise and preserve Hamilton and Scourge, vessels that
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
COLLEGE STUDENTS SEMESTER-AT-SEA Plan a college semester aboard the SCHOONER HARVEY GAMAGE. Credits in arts and science you earn from Southampton College, a Center of Long Island University, may be transferred. Curriculum includes visits to many educational and historical places from Maine to the Virgin Islands. For curriculum, schedule and cost, write or phone-
Summer months the ship cruises the Maine coast out of Rockland ... winter months in the Virgin Islands from Charlotte Amalie. Enjoy a week under sail ... make new friends ... relish hearty meals ... return relaxed, filled with happy memories. Write or phone-
DIRIGO CRUISES Dept. SH, 39 Waterside Lane Clinton, Conn. 06413 Tel: 203-669-7068 37
SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & Joe's Rope Shop 159 John Street New York, NY 10038 Tel: 212-344-0130
went down with all hands off Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario in 1813, during the War of 1812. The vessels owned by the City, are reported to be in virtually perfect condition due to the freezing temperatures of the water. After archaeological data are collected and recorded, they will be raised preserved and housed in a center to include conservation and archaeo logi ca l facilities, an interpretive museum, ship chandlery and theaters. Target opening date: June 1985 . Foundation, City Hall, 71 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ont. L8N 3T4.
UNITED STATES
Harborview Restaurant Fulton Street on the East River Brook lyn, NY • Te l: 212-624-8820 "We proudli· serve the people of the working waterfronl." - Phil Rando, Prop.
See New York by Water 55' RJV Wahoo is ava ilable for your custom
tai lored cruises and scuba di vi ng trips. Cru ise NY, Conn., Block ls., or the Hudson, dai ly or wee kend s.
Undersea Adventures, Inc. Box 888, Miller Place, NY 11764 T el: 516-928-3849
SHIP MODELS From our own workshop: finest quality wood ship kits- clippers. schooners. frigates , tankers , freighters- 30 in all. Beautiful fittings ; no lead or plastic. Also plans. books. tools , mat er ials, fittin gs an d marine prints At better dealers or send $1 00 for big illustrated catalog.
'!JB&.~E2l4tSI,flP,T 145·J Water St.. So Norwa lk. Ct. 06854
Serving Merchant Officer's License Exam Prep-course needs for over half a century! (Correspondent & Resident-Deck & Engine) WRITE FOR BROCHURE
CAPTAIN VAN'S SCHOOLS Box 53, Port Arthur, TX 77640 38
The US Naval Institute's Annual General Prize Essay Contest is inviting essays on topics which relate to the lnstitute's mission: "the advancement of professional, literary, and scientific knowledge in the naval and maritime service, and the advancement of the knowledge of seapower." The Institute is also running their 20th Annual Naval and Maritime Photography Contest. Award-winning material will be published in their publication Proceedings. Deadline for essays is Dec. 1; for photos, Dec. 31. SecretaryTreasurer, US Naval Institute, Annapolis MD 21402. Institute for Nautical Archaeology (see Int'!.) will be holding a Conference on Underwater Archaeology, Thursday, Jan. 7-Saturday, Jan. 9 in Philadelphia. INA, PO Drawer AU, College Station, TX 77840.
EAST COAST Beginning August 6th through the visit of the Venezuelan sail training vessel Simon Bolivar (see Int' !.), the City of Bath celebrated its Bicentennial and honored over 300 years of shipbuilding in the area. Events included tours of the ever prosperous Bath Iron Works. Other News: The Apprenticeshop at the Maine Maritime Museum ran a sail training program this summer aboard the 36 ' Tancook Whaler Vernon Langille for Maine high school students. "Passage East" took students sailing between Kittery and Eastport, stopping along the way to talk with local boatbuilders, fishermen, etc. The Shop's Key West Smackee Vernon Hart (a type of vessel that was used for collecting sponge in southern waters) spent the summer hauling sea moss and coal from Portland to Monhegan Island. During the Newport Wooden Boat Show, she sold out her cargosardines from the Stinson Cannery-using proceeds to help pay for the continuation of her program. Never a dull moment ... they are now in the process of lofting a 40 ' Maine pinky for cargo carrying. Museum, Apprenticeshop, 963 Washington St., Bath ME 04530.
HMS Rose, the reproduction of a 1756 British frigate which has been involved in financial battles for the past few years has been sold by her original owner and builder John Millar to Robert Bruce of Caribbean-New England Ventures, Inc. New plans involve changing her nonprofit status to make her a year-round paying proposition, chartering for part of the year in the Caribbean and as a floating museum in New Bedford during the summer months. The 125 '
Rose is presently in New London undergoing extensive repairs before heading south . Rose, Box 255, Palmer MA 01069. The first Newport Wooden Boat Show was held at the Newport Yachting Center September 4-7, with over JOO manufacturers and craftspeople exhibiting, and a steady crowd in attendance. Boatbuilding and reconstruction seminars were conducted by the Apprenticeshop and Restorationshop from Bath, Maine and Strawbery Banke of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Hundreds of boats were docked at the Center, including those participating in the second annual Classic Yacht Regatta. Yachting Center, Box 459, Newport RI 02840. Citizens of Block Island and friends have formed The Northern Light Commission to restore the North Light at Sandy Point, their goal being to turn the 114-year old lighthouse into a maritime museum . Manned until 1956 when the Coast Guard automated it, the granite lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places and is on long term lease to the town from the Fish and Wildlife Service. Commission, PO Box 396, Block Island RI 02807. Naval War College Museum is concluding its third year of operations on Coasters Harbor Island, the site of the first naval training station (1880) and in Founders Hall, the original site of the first naval war college in the world, which is a National Historic Landmark. Collections and exhibits feature the history of naval warfare and of the US Navy in Narragansett Bay . The Museum is complemented by the College's Naval Historical Collection of archival source materials. Museum, Newport RI 02840. Visitors at Mystic Seaport's shipyard during the Columbus Day Members' Weekend were invited to give a hand at turning a spar or an oar, spinning oakum and to view the yard's restoration work on the whaleship Charles W. Morgan. The yard is using the heart of yellow pine logs (as most rot resistant) for planking and decking; and naturally crooked live oak for the curved horizontal beams, called sweeps, in the stern framework. An exhibition explai ns the varieties of wood used in keeping Mystic's unmatched fleet of historic wooden ships in healthy condition . Seaport, Mystic CT 06355.
" Sojourner Truth floats!" a Ferry Sloop member gleefully exclaimed. The ferrocement small cousin of the wooden Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, and actual sister to the wooden Woody Guthrie was launched at Yonkers and is now at Hastings-on-Hudson awaiting the stepping of her masts. Pleased with the results, Ferry Sloops hope to build a fleet of ferrocement hulls for people around the country interested in starting their own environmental education and sail training programs. Ferry Sloops, Inc ., PO Box 529, Yonkers NY 10702. Gaze/a Primeiro, the 1883 (or 1899) wooden Portugwese barkentine has recently been acquired lby Penn's Landing Corporation from the Phiiladelphia Maritime Museum. Before coming to the States in the mid-1970s Gaze/a
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
MUSEUM NEWS had served in the Portuguese cod fishing fleet in the North Atlantic. Earlier this fall, Nick Benton' s rigging gang from Wilmington, Delaware began restoration work on her rigging. The Corporation hopes to get her in sailing condition so that she may participate in the Tall Ships celebrations in Philadelphia in 1982. While restoration continues, Gaze/a is open to the public with educational exhibits aboard. Other vessels at the Landing are Admiral Dewey's flagship, the 1898 cruiser USS Oly mpia, the submarine Becuna, and the lightship Barnegat. Penn's Landing, Delaware Ave. and Spruce, Philadelphia PA 19106. "War on the Patuxent: 1814," a new exhibit at the Calvert Maritime Museum, focuses on the Chesapeake Flotilla's unsuccessful attempt to protect the Bay from the British during the War of 1812. Sixteen vessels sank in the River at a site which had been partially excavated in 1979 and 1980 by the Museum and Nautical Archaeology Association , with funds from the Dept. of Interior. Divers have investigated 1/3 of the site and uncovered a vessel (48 '7 " LOA, 16 ' beam, 3 ' draft) and nautical artifacts. The Museum also was the recipient of the 1980 Chapman Award to be used toward the building of the .Patuxent Small Craft Guild's next project-a double-ended crab skiff. Museum, PO Box 97, Solomon's Island MD 20688. Maryland boatbuilder Richard Saunders is building a Chesapeake Bay pungy along the lines of the 1858 Mary & Ellen, which he then
on(it:;:~~~;.;[~13~~[3~-oa~n-atlO
-
~
:t
Friends of Hampton Mariners Museum will sponsor the christening of vessels built by the graduating trainees of the Museum's Heritage Boat Shop on November 22. The public is invited to watch work in the shop during the week. The Museum 's Curator of historical maritime research, Michael Alford, is seeking slides of small boats from around the world for a special library collection . Museum, 120 Turner St., Beaufort NC 28516. The hull of what is believed to be an early 1700s schooner, found in the mud of Black River near Brown's Ferry, had been put in a tank at -the University of South Carolina for preservation treatment estimated to last three years , follow -
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
fitl
• B I NNACLE • BRASS & TE AK W H EEL
f"
hopes to sell to a local maritime museum or individual who will work her in the Bay, proceeds of the sale going to Hunger Project, a San Francisco-based organization fighting world hunger. The pungy, a sleek schooner which was developed in the 1840s to work in deepwater oystering, became obsolete as deepwater beds were depleted and shallow-draft bugeyes and skipjacks began to work inshore waters. The project has been totally financed by private support. Breakthrough Boat works, Delta ville VA 23403.
g
D~~L~E~~:IC L~~~~E~RAPH
MARINE ANTIQUES,
•
,y
SQUARE & ROU N D PORTHOLE . PORTHOLE
I
W/ WOOD O R BRASS LE G • SH I P CLOCK
~
• SHI P FURN ITURE • DIVE R'S HELM ET •
~l
SH IP BELL & PLATE • SEARC H LI GHT • T EAK GRATE • BINNACLE &
i
CHRONOMETER • BAROMETER •
f~ 4
r
.
OAR • SEXTANT • CARGO NET
• INCLINOMETER ~
l
SHIP COM PASS• BAROGRAPH • • FOG HORN
• PRESSURE GAUGE
g
• LOG METEA • ROPE FENDER & LADDER •PULLEY "
• SEACHEST · WIND SPEED METER • BRASS GIFT
OUR SHIP- BREAKING YARD
~
AND REPRODUCTION
225 KEARN Y ST SAN FRAN CISCO, CA 94 108
ti PLANT IN TAIWAN TEL ( 41 5)433- 046 4 TELE X RCA 171027 Q --- O~;R- ~;~;-W-~;A-:- NO~-;-!~
~'\_
1)
RETAIL BUYERS: SEND $3 FOR •s2 COLOR CATA.. AVAIL. 9/81 . 300 ITEMS AT THE LOWEST PRICE IN U.S.
2)
WHOLESALE DEALER: SEND $1.5 FOR NEW •s1 CATA.. BUSINESS CARD & RESALE NO. ARE REQUIRED.
3)
DISTRIBUTOR WANTED: PLS WRITE LETTERHEAD FOR DETAILS. MOST TERRITORIES ARE OPENED.
~tl--aaGG~nu~a-- .,,,L-'"' 39
Sailing at Five O'clock'? Why Not'? Dock your boat right at your office door! '- Handsome workspace still available at Stamford's Harbor Plaza. Call Bill Fox : 203/ 357-0123
Harbor m
Plaza ~ 43 Lindstrom Road
Stamford Connecticut
SHIP NOTES, ing which she will go on exhibition at the University. The flat-bottomed schooner, loaded with bricks, was found by archaeologist Alan Albright, raised in 1976 and placed in a nearby farm pond to prevent deterioration. Institute of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia SC 29208. During the Civil War, Gunboat Societies grew across the South to finance the building of Confederate warships. The ironclad Georgia, built with $145,408 donated by the Ladies Gunboat Association of Georgia, was also known as ''the Georgia Ladies' Ironclad Battery." Never engaged in battle, she guarded the seaward approach to Savannah, until she scuttled in 1864. Last year the dredge St. Louis, working for the Army Engineers, came on her remains. Part of her casement, munitions and hardware have been found a nd are now under study. Dr. Evan Garrison, C ultural Resources Lab, Texas A&M, FE Box 49, College Station TX 77843.
WEST COAST
"Defiance" -
Homrporl Schooner Cove/Har/JOr Plaza.
Collins Development Corporation
Liberty Ship or Victory Ship Hatch Cover Coffee Tables Stained & Finished to your desired color Liberty covers measure approx. 28" x 53" x 3' Victory covers measure approx. 22" x 60" x 3' Table height 19 inches. Weight 100 lbs. Legs are easily unbolted for transporting.
Price $245. For further information call or write:
Agmarine 312 2nd St. Brooklyn, NY 11215 212-768-6808 (days)
Geier 450 King George.Rd. West Millington, NJ 07946 201-647-0002 (day or night) 40
Maritime Humanities Center's annual Festival of the Sea was one of the focal events of San Francisco Bay Maritime Heritage Week, September 6-12, proclaimed by Mayor Diane Feinstein. Events ranged from a gathering of square rigger sailors to traditional songs of fishermen and sailors from China, Mexico, Italy. There were panel discussions on west coast shipping, the cannery experience, immigration and folklore and visits aboard the National Maritime Museum's historic vessels. Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, programs such as shanty singing with invited audience participation took place aboard the 3-masted I 895 schooner C .A. Thayer-the last commercial sailing ship operating on the Pacific Coast, and the paddle ferry Eureka, both at the Hyde St. Pier. Demonstrations of sailmaking, boatbuilding, and ropework were part of the festivities as well . Center, Ft. Mason Fdtn., Laguna and Marina Blvd., San Francisco CA 94123. Friends of Alma and Historic Ships gathered together for the prem ier of "Alma," an exhilerating historic documentary film produced by Doug Dickinson for the National Park Service. Alma, a scow schooner built for San Francisco Bay service is presently being restored at the Hyde St. Pier. New masts have arrived and will be stepped later in the season . Friends, Hyde St. Pier, 2905 Hyde St., San Francisco CA 94109. When the Coast Guard decided to automate the East Brother Light Station in Port Richmond, north of Oakland, a group of Bay area preservationists organized to help maintain the 19th century Victorian lighthouse. The Station, still a functional lighthouse, is now also an inn , which helps finance its upkeep . Day and overnight visitors can read up on the island's history, watch birds and harbor traffic . Pat Jackson, East Brothers Light Station, Port Richmond CA.
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS Jn 1853, the Pacific Mail Co. Steamer Tennessee, designed and built by William Webb in New York ran aground4.5 miles off San Francisco in a heavy fog. Her crew, Gold Rush passengers and cargo were saved. Some of her remains, including pieces of her huge cast-iron steam engine have been uncovered by shifting sands in a section of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area now known as Tennessee Cove (formerly Indian Cove). Because these are the earliest known remains of an American-built steam engine, she has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Park service personnel contemplate a full survey, for which funds are at present lacking. James Delgado, Park Historian, GGNRA, Ft. Mason, San Francisco CA 94123. Northwest Seaport, engaged in a fundraising effort to ensure the survival of the 3-masted schooner Wawona, with the help of the American Ship Trust (see SH 21 : 24-28), can celebrate a success in the efforts of its volunteers who have restored the diesel engine of the 1889 tug Arthur Foss. Acquired by the Seaport in 1970 and restored by volunteer Al Rees and friends, Foss lead the Maritime Week workboat parade last spring. Though the Seaport has had to sell the 1914 log boom tug schooner Stimson, its old ferry San Mateo, which sits alongside Wawona at the Naval Reserve Center dock, may be saved by MacDonald's who plan to purchase her. The restaurant firm would do more than serve hamburgers, allowing space for Seaport offices and exhibits. Seaport, PO Box 395, Kirkland WA 98033 . Just over a year ago, Virginia V was purchased by the Virginia V. Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1976 to save the 1922 steamship, the last of her kind operating west of the Mississippi (see SH 20:40). Originally she carried passengers and freight on the Puget Sound, and was later used as an excursion boat. Again steaming, she is in the first phase of a 3-year restoration program. Educational, scientific and historic exhibits will be installed and she will be employed in community services by providing sea experience for graduates of the Puget Sound Maritime School and making an annual Christmas excursion for disabled persons. Virginia V Foundation, PO Box 17923, Seattle WA 98107. Groote Beer, named for the Big Dipper (Great Bear), a 52 ' leeboard, gaff-headed sloop, was commissioned by German Air Marshal Goering in 1938. He never received the vessel, as the Dutch and Danish craftsmen who built her in Holland delayed her construction. In the delay, craftsmanship aboard the vessel became more elaborate including teak carvings and Delft tiles. She has been operated by the Seattle Boy Scouts for three years and is now up for sale for $175,000. Al Grosz, Boy Scouts of America, 3120 Rainier Ave. South, Seattle WA 98144.
LAKES AND RIVERS As part of a 4th of July celebration and the Spirit of Detroit Regatta, 30 tugboats participated in the world's only International Tugboat Race, held annually along the shores of SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. James A. Hannah, a former US Army ocean-going tug won first prize and spectators got a real taste of the race as wakes crashed on shore. Manitowoc Maritime Museum has acquired the Carus-Shuette Collection of over 3,000 photographs, 20 log books, ship models and halfmodels of wooden ships on the upper Great Lakes, including sailing vessels, steamers and tugs. The collection will be on display until midDecember, to be followed by "Manitowoc and the WW II Effort," an exhibit of the region's wartime shipbuilding effort. Museum, 809 South 8th St., Manitowoc WI 54220. M/ V American Republic, a 630 ', $30 million ore-carrying self-loader, launched during the summer, has already set a new single shipment tonnage record of 19,500 tons. Built by the Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, the vessel is equipped with twin controllable pitch propellers and her propulsion system included 8 rudders-4 flanking forward of the prop and 4 in the conventional position aft. GATX Corp., 120 Riverside Plaza, Chicago IL 60606. The 1911 steamship Chief Wawatam is reported to be "in fine fettle and busy," hauling cars across the Mackinac Straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron . USS Cairo, which served Union forces for 11 months from January to December, 1862, was sunk by a submerged Confederate torpedo mine in the Yazoo River near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Rediscovered in 1956, she is being restored and is to be the central focus of an interpretive complex located within the Vicksburg National Military Park. The complex includes a museum displaying artifacts from the boat and describing its history and a temporary restoration shop, which are already completed. Vicksburg N.M. Park, Vicksburg MS 39180. w
ROLF K.LEP: 1904-1981. An appreciation of Mr. Klep's life and work as founder of the Columbia River Maritime Museum is being written by Karl Kortum, Chairman of the National Society, for Sea History. ROGER ROBERTSON OLMSTED: 1928-1981. Of Mr. Olmsted, historian and leader in civic causes, who was at various times Curator of the San Francisco Maritime Museum and Curator of History at the Oakland Museum, editor of The American West, the California Historical Quarterly, the Sierra Club Bulletin, and Scenes of Wonder & Curiosity, and co-author with T.H. Watkins of books on San Francisco's hi story and architecture, the historian Richard Reinhardt had this to say: "Roger's commitment to history was that of an evangelist to his creed. He saw history as a vital force, deepening and enriching life and providing a bastion against foolishness and fanaticism." His colleague Tom Watkins said, in a tribute published in The American West: "Like Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche, Roger was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad . He never lost the gift of laughter, but unlike Scarmouche, who merely tried to survive in his world, Roger spent most of his adult life trying to improve his. He had the wit of a cynic but the hope of a romantic, and with an obsidian intelligence that cut through fat to the very bone of things he struggled to make people understand how
to get things right . .. "Beyond this, he spread his energies in any number of directions," Mr. Watkins notes, ''from threats to the environment to historic preservation to urban archaeology. All of this in a career that lasted less than thirty years. The man never had a bad idea-only impossible ones that frequently were made possible. He made the difference." PS
Rare and Out of Print
MARITIME & NAVAL BOOKS Send 2 International Reply Coupons for Airmail Despatch of lists containing over 1000 REASONABLY PRICED BOOKS Frank Smith 60 Salisbury Avenue North Shields Tyne and Wear NE29 9PF England
Museum Quality Ship Models large collection for sale SHIP MODELS INTERNATIONAL
1708 Salem Champaign, Ill. 61820 41
" One cannot always walk the quarterdeck ... "Sumner Drinkwater, at left, is master of his world as his ship runs hard before a Southern Ocean gale.
BOOKS A Seafaring Legacy, by Julianna FreeHand (Random House, New York, 1981, 217 pp., illus., $18.50). "Historically," observes Ms. FreeHand, "certain legends dominate the American imagination, among them the pioneer and the Yankee sea captain." From this true and enlivening beginning, she goes on to relate her discovery of a family-connected sea captain in her own backyard-and pure Yankee at that, a Drinkwater of the family domiciled in Maine since the 17th century. At first, the Captain's wife dominates the tale, but then as journals are added to old photographs, and a vital exchange ofletters turns up, it is the Captain , whose faithful, candid visage we get to know very well, whose story takes over. Ms. FreeHand's discovery startles and moves us with its immediacy, and we may be grateful for the fresh, spontaneous way she comes at the incredibly rich materials she has uncovered. These include remembered incidents from family members now old, when, at the tum of the century Captain Sumner Drinkwater sailed around the world with his wife Alice, very young. She plumbs for character in these invaluable conversations, noting: "And how those names were loved after all this time!" We get to love them too . Alice had "snapping" brown eyes, Yankee wit, an interest in photography, and a sense of fun that extended to nude photographs in the after cabin of a staid Down Easter; tragically, illness turned her last years a bit querulous and led to her death at age 54 in 1915. The Captain had left the sea seven years earlier, in order to be with his Alice at home, having served and sailed with her in coasting schooners and as skipper in two classic Yankee barks, the Grace Deering and the Benjamin F. Hunt, Jr. He put a globe atop her gravestone (which he came to share with her much later, in 1942) in rememberence of their voyage around the world together. Sumner's character, sensitively developed by Ms. FreeHand like a photographic image taking shape, reminds us that these straightforward sea captains who drove their ships so hard and ran their crews with an iron hand, were dreamers, people puzzled and hurt by the world on occasion, and with their own interior lives to lead. Sumner was, as the rich detail of on-deck incident in these pages reveals, a prudent and able sea commander. He was also a poet of sorts, a person very susceptible to feminine appeal and full of jokes at himself about it ... and a person who quit the sea to run a trolley car so that he could be with his Alice each evening of their remaining days together. After her death, he seems to have thought at least once of go-
42
ing to sea again. And it is remembered of him in the family, that having once run by an irate Maine dowager waving angrily at his trolley to get aboard, he ruefully explained: "My eyes were on the North Star. " PS Stove By A Whale, by Thomas Fare! Heffernan (Wesleyan Press, 1981, 273 pp . $19.95). The destruction of the whaleship Essex of Nantucket by the deliberate ramming of an enraged sperm whale had become a part of America's maritime history. But the aftermath-the 90-day open boat voyages of two of the ship's three whaleboats-has become an imperishable part of Nantucket history. It was Owen Chase who wrote the first authentic account of the remarkable story of the Essex and her crew . It was printed in 1821, only a few months after his return to Nantucket following his ordeal. In itself it is a classic in sea literature, and whether or not Chase was the actual writer is a moot question . Melville who based his climax for Moby-Dick on the Essex disaster, stated that the Chase narrative was almost as good "as though Owen wrote it himself:' Dr. Heffeman's careful research helps to recreate the life of Owen Chase and enables the reader to gain an understanding of this outstanding seafarer. By including the text of Chase's Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-ship Essex, he provides the best possible introduction to his book . Stove By A Whale becomes a voyage through the various sources which enabled Heffernan to bring Owen Chase from a legendary figure to that of a robust whaleman . His birth in Nantucket, his career as a mariner, his ordeal in the boats of the Essex, his return to the sea and selection as a master mariner, his tragedy of marriage, and his final years become the structure of research. Stove By A Whale will appeal to both scholar and layman, because of its careful reporting of the many aspects of the Essex story. There will always be a question about the course which Captain Pollard lay for the three whaleboats. It was a fateful decision, and only seafarers familiar with that Pacific Ocean area are aware of the situation which then faced the whalemen. The fact that the solitary islandHenderson's-on which they landed (after a month at sea) was wrongly believed to be Ducie's Island, is another indication of the ill-fated aspects of the incredible voyage of the boats. With Pitcairn Island only a few miles away, the course was laid for Easter
Island, a long distance to the east, and after only a few days on Henderson (Dude's) the boats put away on an easterly course. The career of Captain Owen Chase marks him as an experienced mariner during the next quarter century. All the survivors of the Essex returned to the sea, with Captain Pollard's ill fortune continuing when he lost his ship, the Two Brothers. Owen Chase met the tragic circumstances of losing two wives through death by natural causes, and the divorce from his third wife, with the stoicism that marked his whole life. Important information on the other members of the Chase family including the whaling careers of the brothers of Owen, are a direct result of Heffernan's researching. EDOU ARD A. STACKPOLE Edouard Stackpole is the Director of the Peter Foulger Museum, Nantucket, Mass. Seafaring in Colonial Massachusetts, ed. by Frederick S. Allis, Jr., (Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Boston, 1980, 240 pp., 68 illus ., maps & charts, $25 .00) . This volume consists of 9 separate papers prepared for a conference on colonial seafaring sponsored by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts in November 1975. While the subjects are generally related, each one is complete unto itself and is the work of individual authors, each one of which is an authority in his field. Any discussion of colonial seafaring must of necessity include an understanding of the then contemporary vessel and boat types and rigs-a subject made complicated by contradictory evidence, an almost total lack of unified definitions and a woeful shortage of pictorial evidence. William A. Baker does a masterful job in endeavoring to unravel this historical can of worms, and manages to clarify and define the often loosely used terms describing 17th and 18th century watercraft. The problem is complicated by the fact that colonial writers knew what they were writing about and felt that words such as ketch, bark, and pinnace needed no definitions. Despite the difficulties, Baker's maritime detective work is outstanding, and a thorough reading of this treatise (as well as other works by the same author) is almost a necessity for a true understanding of the colonial maritime scene. Among the other subjects treated, "Abraham Browne's Captivity by the Barbary Pirates. 1655," shows the incredible dangers which our colonial forefathers faced att sea as well as their remarkable physicall and psychological stamina that enabled a man like Browne to withstand
SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
years of the most frightful conditions of slavery and captivity. "The Naval Career of Captain Cyprian Southack" by Sinclair Hitchings describes the seagoing life of a resourceful officer in the service of the Massachusetts colony-a man who spent his career confronting Frenchmen, Indians, politicians, and smugglers on sea and on land, often under the most difficult conditions. Captain Southack, it should be pointed out, was not the least of his own admirers, but nonetheless, his life reads almost as a novel. William Cumming's "Colonial Charting of the Massachusetts Coast" contains an overview of early charts from the fanciful and hopelessly inaccurate "charts" of men like Verrazzano and Gomez to the bghly reliable charts published in the Atlantic Neptune by Samuel Holland in the late 18th century. These charts were illustrated with beautiful engravings of prominent coastal features which show an extraordinary attention to detail. Appropriately enough Augustus Loring's paper on the Atlantic Neptune itself follows the above, and undoubtedly others will agree that it is to be regretted that this magnificent marine atlas ceased publication in 1803. The last four chapters: "Massachusetts -Louisbourg Track, 1713-1744," "The Whale Oil Trade, 1750-1775," "King George, the Massachusetts Province Ship," and finally, "Smuggling, the Navy and the Customs Service" each in its own way points up the numerous sources of the increasing friction between the colonists struggling to protect their lives and livelihood and England, 3,000 miles away, preoccupied with her interminable wars with France and blind to everything but protecting her trade and interests. Massachusetts in particular and in turn was torn between her heritage of loyalty to the King and the legitimate maritime and economic concerns of her citizens. This generally fascinating and rewarding volume suffers from one all-toocommon weakness in books dealing with the historical intricacies of trade and warfare, and that is a lack of maps. Several of the excellent articles would have been far easier to follow if accompanied by appropriate maps. THOMAS HALE American Steamships on the Atlantic, by Cepric Ridgely-Nevitt (Associated University Presses, 1981, 385 pp., 87 illus., $65.00). The historian seeking information on American steamships which traveled on the Atlantic during the early and mid 19th century normally finds little information readily available. In fact, if one were to SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
Brings together many photographs never before published in a social history of the legendary river. $29.95 at bookstores or direct from:
SLEEPY HOLLOW PRESS 150 White Plains Road Tarrytown, New York 10591
208 Pages Clothbound
150 B&W Photographs New York residents add Sales Tax Shipping, $1.00 first book, $.25 each additional
MARINE ART by PAUL McGEHEE
"STORMY PASSAGE" a beautiful full color limited edition print by the talented American marine artist PAUL McGEHEE. Prints are available signed and numbered, or with artist's remarque sketch. Other full color prints depict steamboats, port scenes, sailing vessels. FREE COLOR CATALOG: Call (703) 528-5040, or write ART RECOLLECTIONS, Inc. 704 N. Glebe Rd., SH-212, Arlington, Virginia 22203 See 011r 2-page display ad elmvhere in chis magazine. Š 1981 by Pau l McGe hee (A rtist Member of the A mcrirnn Society of Marine Artis").
43
BOOKS
Meet Sumner and Alice Drinkwater. The only thing they loved more than the sea ~ ...was each other. Structured around the recently discovered letters, diaries, photographs, and memorabilia of a Yarmouth, Maine sea captain and his wife, this book is " the closest any of us are likely to get to walking the decks of an American Downeaster and living the lives of the people on board. A vivid, - PETER STANFORD, faithful experience: · National Maritime Historical Society
by Julianna FreeHand 1llus. with photos and drawings. Size 11 "x8 Y2."
$18.50, now at your bookstore:
...- - - --RANDOM HOUSE
tfi _ _____.
WINDJAMMER VACATION The 3 Masted Schooner
VICTORY CHIMES Largest Passenger Windjammer Under The U.S. Flag Sa ils weekl y from Rock land, Maine. Coast Gua rd inspected.
We invite comparison.
For FREE color broch ure call 207-596-6060 o r wr ite:
Capt. Frederick B. Guild Box 368, Rockland, Maine, 04841
NAUTICAL BOOKS Sai l • Steam • Liners • Yachts • Clippers • Schooners • Naval New • Old • Scarce • Rare Periodic Catalogues, $4 a year
SEAWAYS BOOKS RD#1, Box 27 4, Rte. 94 Sa lisbury Mills, NY 12577
44
judge on the basis of existing published material one would come to the conclusion that except for the abortive effort of the Collins Line and the odd river steamer that strayed into coastal traffic, America left the Atlantic to the sailing ship. This was of course manifestly untrue and at last a work has arrived which corrects this serious gap . This prodigious book will certainly be the definitive volume on this subject for many years to come. Many books have gone to great length in describing the cut glass chandeliers or other elegant furnishings of early steamers but passed over mechanical details with a simple "She was propelled by the usual beam /crosshead / sidelever engine" ... without giving any hint of what the "usual" engine actually was or how it ran. Tales of navigational details abound, but what of the engines "that made ships go"? How were broken shafts repaired or for that matter how often did they break and why? How did iron plate manuracturers influence boiler construction and therefore engine efficiencies? These are among the myriad technical facts one can find mixed in amongst the commercial lives of the vessels described in the book . The author, a professor of naval architecture at Webb Institute, has a bias for the mechanical side of history, and this is one of the book's most valuable points . The mechanical details, repairs and alterations to vessels during their life which he mentions, speak of countless hours of research through mechanical journals and papers and these are duly noted for each chapter. The volume is illustrated with a collection of woodcuts, photos, hull lines and engine drawings. The hull lines show the steady refinement from the earlier sailing ship hulls to those of the later steamers. The engine drawings are of special interest and are in general of sufficient detail to give an indication of their slow but steady growth. The exception to this, and the only point on which fault can be found, is the diagrammatic arrangement drawings used to introduce new engine types as they are mentioned in the text. These are far too simple for the general level of the book and the reader which it will attract. CONRAD MILSTER
Mr. Milster, who makes Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, run by firing up its steam plant each day, is an advisor to the National Society. Still More Good Boats, by Roger C. Taylor (Internattional Marine Publishing Co., Camden,, ME, 1981, 288 pp., illus., $30.00). While most sailboats are rated only informally or not at all, the rating or measurerment rule in force at the time of SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
their design exerts a strong influence on their general proportions. The economics of fiberglass boat building coupled with some 15 years of !OR rating criteria have tended to produce stock boats well suited to inshore racing rating at the expense of many qualities favorable to casual cruising. Jn 1973 Mr. Taylor recognized this and began a series of articles in National Fisherman re-examining earlier designs. Each article included sail and arrangement plans, photos when available, and commentary and history of the boats featured. These were collected and expanded on in Good Boats in 1977. More Good Boats followed in 1979. This third book offers 35 boats ranging from an 11 ' dinghy to a deepwater schooner 100' on deck. With one exception, the Boadicia (built in 1808 and still sailing), the designs span a period from 1898 to the present. Several famous yachts of the 1930s are included along with the more workaday one-off and limited production efforts of designers who deserve more recognition that is usually accorded them. Well illustrated with drawings and photos, Mr. Taylor's good humored comments are based on considerable experience. Each of the Good Boats books stands on its own and individually or as a set deserves to be treated in the same manner as its subject matter. That is; to be used intelligently, respected, referred to often and enjoyed for a very long time. DON MEISNER
BRIEFLY NOTED The Big Ship: The Story of the SS United States, by Frank 0. Braynard, ed. by Robert H. Burgess (The Mariners Museum, Newport News VA, 283 pp., illus., $25). The complete story of the great liner: her career and her construction by William Francis Gibbs. Everybody Works but John Paul Jones: A Portrait of the US Naval Academy, 1845-1915, by Mame Warren and Marion E. Warren. (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 1981, 120 pp., photos, $14.95). A delightful and educational collection of mainly informal photos giving insight into what life, schooling, work and play was like for cadets, the faculty and their families at the Academy. The Tigris Expedition: In Search of Our Beginnings, by Thor Heyerdahl (Doubleday, Garden City NY, 1981, 349pp., illus., $17 .95). A gallant and learned explorer of early navigation tests his thesis that Mesopotamians in reed boats developed prehistoric sea trades to India and Africa. SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
The Hudson River: 1850-1918: A Photographic Portrait, by Jeffrey Simpson (Sleepy Hollow Press, Tarrytown, NY, 1981, 208 pp., 150photos, $29.95). A fine collection of photographs takes the reader on a journey down river from "Adirondack headwaters" through small valley towns to "the City and the Harbor" -spanning a period of economic development, growth and change.
EDWARD J. LEFKOWICZ Rare Books & Mss. Relatin3 to tlie Sea & its Islands
& to Nautical Science
Sailing Years: An Autobiography, by K. Adlard Coles (John de Graff/International Marine Publishing, Camden ME, 212 pp., illus., photo, $18.50). The author of the classic Heavy Weather Sailing and victor of many deepwater races in small boats recounts modestly and with luminous insight his years with friends in broad and narrow waters. P 0 Box 630
Maritime New York in NineteenthCentury Photographs, by Harry Johnson & Frederick S. Lightfoot (Dover Publications, NY, 1980,xv + 159pp.,210photos, paperbound $7.95). A beautiful, rewardingly well written and authoritative exploration of the New World's greatest port in the era of transition from sail to steam, including many unpublished photographs -a positive steal at the price!
Fairhaven¡ Massachu setts 0 27 19 ¡USA
MARITIME LAW AND TECHNICAL BOOKS FOR THE SHIPPING AND EXPORT INDUSTRY
America's Lighthouses: Their fllustrated History Since 1716, by Francis Ross Holland, Jr. (Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro VT, 1981, 226 pp., illus., photo, $19..95). A lovingly detailed history full of incident, beauty, technical learning andthere is no other word for itromance. Life in Nelson's Navy, by Dudley Pope (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 1981, 279 pp., illus., $14.95). Life ashore and afloat in the Royal Navy in Nelson's time.
SEND FOR DUR FREE CATALOG
24 BEAVER STREET, N.Y., N.Y. 10004 (212) 425-0123
-
Huge selection of non-fiction
=::.
riggers. naval, whalers, etc.
~ on ships and sea. Yachts, square
~
The Medley of Mast and Sail, II, ed. Alex Hurst (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 1981, 470 pp., illus., $29.95). An admirable continuation of Medley I, presenting over 500 photographs of merchant sailing ships.
E
100 PAGE CATALOG 50c $1.00 for first class
JACK H, CLINTON
~HOPE
VALLEY. R. I. 02832
Rare and Out-of-Print Books
MARINE CATALOG.S $3 (Overseas, $5) All Nautical Subjects
Sailing: a Sailor's Dictionary, by Henry Beard & Roy McKie (Workman Publishing, New York, 1981, 83 pp., illus., $8.95). The humor in this book will probably hit you over the head like a boom.
JULIAN BURNETT BOOKS
Correction: The new edition of Sailing Alone Around the World illustrated by
Send for International Marine Books, a great, free catalog of 500 marine titles. International Marine Publishing Company Box SH, Camden, Maine 04843
Jim Mitchell, reviewed in SH 21, is not yet available to the public. We will run an announcement when it is. .t
P.O. Box 229, Atlanta, GA 30301
WANT GOOD BOOKS ABOUT BOATS?
45
Matt Peasley Rejects Some by Peter B. Kyne Cappy Ricks, owner of the barkentine Retriever, whose captain had died after delivering a load oflumber to South Africa, sends a big Swede, nicknamed All Hands And Feet, to beat some sense into young Matt Peasley, who had become acting captain. In this episode, Peter B. Kyne, a water/ront reporter deeply versed in West Coast shipping ways, tells how Peasley, coachedbyhissympatheticmateMr. Murphy, takes care ofthe man sent out to replace him. From Cappy Ricks, or the Subjugation of Matt Peasley, by Peter B. Kyne, Grosset & Dunlap, NY, 1916. Painting by Anton Otto Fischer.
Matt opened the envelope and read this communication from Cappy Ricks: San Francisco, California. February 20, 19_. Mr. Matthew Peasley, Chief Mate Barkentine Retriever, Cape Town, South Africa. My Dear Mr. Peasley: Cast your eye along the lines of the bearer of this note, Captain Ole Peterson, who comes to Cape Town to take command of the Retriever. Within five minutes he will, acting under instructions from me and without the slightest personal animus toward yourself, proceed to administer to you the beating of a lifetime. By the time he gets through wiping the deck with you perhaps you will realize the necessity, in the future, of obeying orders from your owners. In your cablegram received to-day, you take occasion to remind us that no manager or owner has authority to disrate a ship's officer. This is quite true. Such authority is vested only in the master of the ship. You need have no fear for your job, however. We believe you to be a clever first mate, otherwise Captain Kendall would not have dug you up out of the forecastle; and believing this, naturally we dislike the thought of disrating you. We have, therefore, instructed Captain Peterson to retain you in your berth as first mate. However, in view of the fact that we have informed him of your amiable intentions of throwing him overboard, he will first inculcate in you that spirit of respect to your superiors which you so manifestly lack. He will then dip you into the drink, to bring you to, after that you will kindly go forward and break out the anchor. You signed for the round trip and you 're going to complete you contract. Remember that. Cordially and sincerely yours, Blue Star Navigation Company By Alden P. Ricks, President.
46
Matt Peasley read this extraordinary communication twice, then folded it and calmly placed it in his pocket. "May I inquire, sir," he said, facing the gentleman who had accompanied All Hands And Feet aboard the Retriever, "who you are and the nature of your business?" ''I am the American consul, Mr. Peasley, and I am here at the invitation of Captain Peterson, the master of this ship, to witness the formal transfer of authority from you to him. I was given to understand by Captain Peterson that you might offer some slight objection to this arrangement.'' ''Slight objection!'' Matt Peasley replied with a rising inflection, and grinned maliciously . The consul had his Yankee sense of humor with him and chuckled as Matt lifted his big body on his toes and stretched both arms lazily. Then Matthew Peasley turned toward All Hands And Feet. "I have a letter from the owners of the Retriever, "he said respectfully, ''which leads me to presume that you are to supersede me in command of the vessel." All Hands And Feet nodded. "Which being the case," Matt Peasley continued, "as amere matter of formality, you will of course present your credentials as master." "Sure!" Ole replied pleasantly, and sidled toward Matt Peasley with outstretched arms. Could Cappy Ricks have seen his skipper then, he would have reminded the Old Man more than ever of a bear. Matt Peasley needed no blueprint of the big Swede's plans. All Hands And Feet, depending on his sheer horse power and superior weight, always fought in mass formation, as it were. His modus operandi was to embrace his enemy in those terrible arms, squeeze the breath out of him with one bearlike hug, then lay him on the deck, straddle him, and pummel him into insensibility at his leisure. Matt gave ground rapidly and held up a warning hand . "One moment, my friend," he requested. "Before you get familiar on brief acquaintance, don't you think you had better present your credentials?" All Hands And Feet shook his two great fists and grinned good-naturedly. "How dese ban suit you for credentials?" he queried. "Come Swede! Present your credentials!" Matt taunted. His long left flashed out and cuffed All Hands And Feet on the nose . It was a mere love-tap! All Hands And Feet grinned pityingly, and with his left arm guarding his face, rushed. "Lower deck!" Mr. Murphy warned, and laughed as Matt planted left and right
in the midriff and danced away from the Swede's swinging right. All Hands And Feet grunted-a most unwarriorlike grunt -and dropped both hands-whereupon a fog suddenly descended upon his vision. Faintly he made out a blur that was Matt Peasley; bellowing wrathfully he rushed . Matt gave ground and the Swede's vision cleared and he paused to consider the situation. "No rest for the wicked," Mr. Murphy declared. "At him, boy, at him!" All Hands And Feet realized he faced a desperate situation, and as Matt stepped in he ducked and leaped upon his antagonist. "By yiminy," he yelled, "I got you now!" and his great hands closed around Matt Peasley's neck. "Lower deck!" Mr. Murphy yelled shrilly, and a volley of short arm blows commenced to rattle on the big Swede's stomach. For at least seven seconds Matt worked like a pneumatic riveter; then' 'Swing your partner for the grand right and left," Mr. Murphy counseled, and Matt closed with All Hands And Feet, and managed to shake the badly winded champion off. "All off!" Mr. Murphy declared to the American consul and dropped his marlinespike, as Matt Peasley ripped left and right, right and left into Ole Peterson's dish face . "Watch the skipper-our skipper, I mean. Regular young human piledriver." He raised his voice and called to Matt Peasley. "He's rocking on his legs now, sir; but keep away from those arms. He's dangerous and you're givin' him fifty pounds the best of it in the weights. Try the short ribs with your left and feel for his chin with the right, sir. Very nicely done, sir! Now-once more!"
Credentials Mr. Murphy nodded politely to the American consul. "Excuse me," he said. "The bigger they are the harder they fall, and the Retriever's deck ain't no nice place to bump a man 's head. I'll just skip round in back and catch him in my arms." Which being done, Mr. Murphy laid All Hands And Feet gently on deck, walked to the scuttle butt, procured a dipperful of water and threw it into the gory, battered face. Matt Peasley had simply walked round him and, with the advantage of a superior reach, had systematically cut Captain Ole Peterson to strings and ribbons. "When he comes to, Mr. Murphy," he ordered calmly, "escort him to your old room. Have one of the men stow his dunnage there also; and tell him if he shows his nose on deck until I give him permission, he shall have another taste of the same . Mr. Consul, [ should be highly honored if you would step into my cabin and hoist one to our own dear native land ." "With pleasure," the consul replied. "Though l cannot, in my capacity as a citizen of the United States, indorse yourer-mutiny, nevertheless, as a United States consul at Cape Town I shall take pleasure in certifying to the fact that the fallen gladiator was the aggressor, that he did not present his credentials, and that you had no official knowledge of his identity.''
*
*
SAIL AWAY TO YESTERDAY
eh? I'll show him! "
Sail the Maine Coast. alx>a rd the historic windj am mer schooner Stephen Taber Weekly cruises. $360 inclu des everything For brochure call 207 236-3520
Oh, Sally Brown, I love your daughter, I love your daughter, indeed I do, he caroled, and buck-and-winged his way back to the poop, for he was only a boy, life was good, he was fighting a fight and as Mr. Murphy remarked a minute later when Matt ordered him to bend the fo restaysail on her; "What the hell! " Day and night Matt Peasley drove her into it . He stood far off shore until he ran out of the sou'east trades, fiddled around two days in light airs and then picked up the nor' east trades; drove her well into the north, hauled round and came romping up to Grays Harbor bar seventy-nine days from Cape Town. A bar tug, ranging down the coast, hooked on to him and snaked him in .
or I.Wri te
Schooner Stephen Taber 70 Elm St. Drawer D. Camden, Maine 04843
NAUTICAL ANTIQUES Octants-Telescopes-Clocks Compasses-Sextants-Etc. Send for free Iis ts
Dunlap Enterprises Inc. 130 Severn Avenue Annapolis, MD 21403
Titanic Prin1 f o Id c r w r i t c:: OF SEA & SHIPS ©
/:;,(fl; lanterns
ship wheels
sextants
co m passes
420 So. Beverl y Dr ., Sui te 207
Beve rl y Hill s, CJ\ 902 12.
whaling ite m s
shark teeth
MARINE ANTIQUES & SEA SHELLS 10 Fulton Street. New York . NY. 10038 South Street Seaport & Fulton Fi sh Ma rket
(2 12) 344 ·2 262
SONGS AND SEA CHANTIES from the days of commercial sa il. STEADY AS SHE GOES is the titl e of thi s beautiful LP record album of 14 stirring , rau cous, love ly, tragic songs of the sea sung by experts. Unique gift for Sea Hi story buffs. Send mailing instructions and $7. 75 to Collector Records, 1604 Arbor Vi ew Rd ., Sil ver Spring, MD 20902.
*
Matt Peasley rounded the Cape of Good Hope nicely, but he had added materially to his stock of seamanship before he won through the tide-rips off Point Aghulas and squared away across the Indian Ocean. Coming up along the coast of Australia he had the sou'east trades and he crowded her until Mr. Murphy forgot the traditions of the sea, forgot that Matt Peasley was the skipper and hence not to be questioned, and remembered that the madman was only a boy. "Captain Matt," he pleaded, "take some clothes off the old girl, for the love of li fe! She's making steamer time now, and if the breeze freshens you'll lift the sticks out of her." "Lift nothing, Mike. I know her. Cap'n Noah told me all about her. You can drive the Retriever until she develops a certain little squeak up forward-and then it's time to shorten sail. She isn't squeaking yet, Mike. Don't worry. She'll let us know," and his beaming glance wandered aloft to the straining cordage and bellying canvas. "Into it, sweetheart," he crooned, "into it, gi rl, and we' ll show this Cappy Ricks what we know about sailing a ship that can sail! Meager maritime experience, SEA HISTORY, FALL 1981
r 1-1 1~I \> ,
,
l) t ).
EAS'\ \~
YACHT SAILS
®,)
'
I
--11\f NE
RIDI NG SAILS
COTTON • FLAX • DACRON
Work in g th e bench. Roping and workin g grommets on square sails for the Gaze/a Primeiro. BOX 71 - EAST BOOTHBAY, MAINE 04544 - TEL 1207 ) 633·5071
WIDE DECK CANVAS
47
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SPONSORS AMERADA HESS CORPORAT ION AMER ICAN CONSERVATION ASSOC IATION ANNENBERG FUND APEX MACHINE CORPORATIO N JA CK Jl. ARON V I NCENT ASTOR FOUNDATION BEEFEATER FOUNDATION ALLEN G. BERRIEN C HEMICAL BANK Dow CORN ING CORP. EVA GEB HARD-GOURGAUD FDTN. FUND FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK W.R. GRACE FOUNDATION MR. & MRS. PAUL R. HENRY ELISABETH S . HOOPER FOUNDATION CECI L HOWARD C HARITABLE TRUST I NDUCTIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS R. C. JEFFERSON BARBARA JOHNSON CHR ISTI AN A. JOHNSON ENDEAVOR FDN. IR VING jOl-INSON J.M. KAPLAN FUND A. ATWATER KENT. JR. LUCILLE L ANGLOIS JAMES A. MACDONALD FO NDATION
MRs. ELL: CE McDONALD, JR. MILFORD BOAT WORKS, I NC. NAUTILUS FOUNDAT ION RADM EDMOND J . MORAN US R (RET.) NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE
HUMANITIES NAVY LEAGUE NY STATE B ICENTENNIA L COMM ISSION MICHAEL PLATZER RCA MR. & MRS. PETER SEEGER SIRI US BROKERS HOW ARD SLOTNICK SETH SPRAGUE FOUNDATION MR.& MRS. PETER STANFORD EDMUND A. STANLEY, JR. ADM. JOHN M. WILL. US (RET.) SUNLIG HT PICTURES
PATRONS ABRAHAM & STRAUS R.G.ADAMS RAYMOND AKER AMERICAN BUREAU OF SH IPPI NG AMER ICAN HOIST & DERRICK Co. CAPT. E. R. ANDERSON ANSEL PRODUCTIONS ARID YACHT CLUB ARTEK I NC. ATLANT IC CORDAGE CORP. ATLANTIC MAR ITIME ENTERPRISES AUDIO MAGAZINE BRUNO J. AUGENTI AVRO WILLIAM E. BACON H. K. BAILEY, MD JOE BAKER JOHN B. BALCH B. A. BALDWI N, J R. BANKERS TRUST Co. RUSSELL BANKS BARBA NEGRA JEFFREY BARLOW H ARRY BARON J . H . BASCOM BAY REFRACTORY BAY RIDGE WATER & LIGHTERAGE BEAN/KAHN
JOHN BEAN STUDIO BEA VER ENGINEERING CHARLES A. BENORE ADM. RUSSELL S. BERKEY ALLEN BERNSTEIN STUDIO H. E. BILKEY-NORTON LILLY BRONSON BINGER R. M. BIRMINGHAM CARROLL N. BJORNSON REBECCA BLAKE STUDIOS JEFF BLINN E. JARED BLISS OLGA BLOOM BLOOMING DA LES WILLARD BOND R. A. BOWL ING WILLIAM A. BOYD FREDERICK BREWSTER PAUL H . BRIGER BROOKLYN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BROOK L YN EASTERN DI ST RICT T ERM I NAL BROOKLYN SAV INGS BANK BROOKLYN UNION GAS NORMAN J . BROUWER STEVEN W. BRUMMEL WM. F. BUCKLEY, J R. JOHN BUNKER AGA BURDOX ADM. ARLEIGH BURKE USN (RET.) ROBERT J. BURKE ALAN BURROUGH, CBE STEVEN BUTTERWORTH BYE BYE BIRDIE JAMES R. CADY BOYD W. CAFFEY HARRIET CAMPBELL, I NC. CAPE VERDEAN FOLKLORE GROUP CAPE VERDEAN I SLANDS RELIEF ASSN. CAREY MEL CARLIN C. A. CHAPIN JAMES E. CHAPMAN CHASE MANHATTAN BANK CAPT. GLEN R. CHEEK. USN
o.
(RET.) C HEMI CAL BANK ALAN G. C HO ATE MARTIN E. CITRIN GEORGE F. CLEMENTS ARTHUR CLEVELAND F. S. COL LI NS HENRY A. CORREA R. F.COHEN AUSTEN COLGATE J. FERRELL COL TON CONSOLIDATED EDISON CO., I NC. TREVOR CONSTAB L E HENRY A. CORREA JAMES W. COULTER COUNCIL OF MASTER MARINERS BEN & SALLY CRANE CREATIVE GROUP PRODUCTIONS CRUCIBLE STEEL CASTI NG COMPANY DAN & JOYCE CURLL D GM STUDIOS ALICE DADOURIAN REBEKAH T. DALLAS F. BRIGGS DALZELL PETER T. DAMON CHARLES DANA P. S. DE BEAUMONT ANT HONY & JOANNA DEAN J.A. DE LUCE DEBORAH D. DEMPSEY R ICHARD A. DENNY JOSEPH DE PAUL & SONS ROHIT M. DESAI HIR AM DEXTER J AMES D ICKMAN D IM E SAVINGS BANK JOSEPH DIRSA THEODOllE DONALDSON R.L. DOXSEE THOMAS P. DOWD JEREMIAH T. DR ISCOLL DRYBULK C HAllTERING R. J . DUNPHY SAMUEL DUPONT DAVID DURRELL EDSON CORPORAT ION DAMON L. ENGLE
PRI NTED BY MILL PRINTING & L IT HOGRAP HI NG CORP .. PEEKSKILL, NY
FRED C. ENNO EPIROTIKI LINES JOHN & CAROL EWALD JAMES P. FARLEY CAPT. JOSEP H FARR ROBERT S. FELNER MRS. JEAN FINDLAY MELANIE FLEISHMANN PETER FLEMING CHARLES FORTES MEMORIAL FUND MISS HAZEL ANN Fox MARBURY B. Fox FRED FREEMAN J. E. FRICKER BENNO FRIEDMAN DR. HARRY FR IEDMAN FRITZSCHE, DODGE & OLCOTT, I NC. JOHN S. FULLERTON R.A. FULTON GAGE & TOLLNER MR. & MRS. CHARLES GALLAGHER R ICHARD GALLANT FRANK GARRETT JOSE PH A. GEMMA GEORGE ENGINE COMPANY H . E. GERHARD NORMAN G. GERMANY J . T. GILBRIDE ROGER GILMAN STEVE GOLD PRODUCTIONS F. CECIL GRACE GRAND CENTRA L ART GALLERY J IM GRAY R. GREENBERG, Assoc. MARK GREENE l-I ENRY F. GREINER ROLAND D. GRI MM HOW ARD GUGGENHEIM CAL F. H ADDEN, JR. MRS. E.A. HAGSTROM WALTER L. HAGSTROM H AIG HT, GARDNER. POOR & HAVENS THOMAS HALE HARMONY PICTURES LEO & CYNTfllA 0. HARRIS CAPT. ROBERT HART USN (RET.) CAPT. J .E. HEG HELLENI C LI NES LIMI TED HENRY S END RESTAURANT A.E. HEYDENREICH JUDSON HIGGINS JOllNSON PEDERSON HINRICHS THOMAS HOYNE, Ill CAPT. M. F. HORVATH LAURA PIRES HOUSTON GODFREY G. HOWARD ALAN D. HUTCHISON H AROLD D. H UYCKE I NDUSTRIAL FABR ICA TI NG KAZ I NOUYE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF MASTERS. MATES & PILOTS JOT CORPORATION JAKOB I SBRANDTSEN GEORGE ! VEY JACKSON & Co. CAPT. GEORGE w. JAHN LEONARD C. JAQUES R. H. JOHN C HART AGENCY BARBARA JOII NSON NE ILS W. JOHNSEN W. HADDON JUDSON KAZEROID & ABERMAN REAL TY JOHN J. KENNY W. A. KI GG INS F. H . KINGSBURY J IM & PEGGY KINGSBURY NORMAN KJELDSEN MR. & MRS. BERNIE KLAY W. KLEINDIENST. MD R. J. KNEELAND KOBJ ENTERPRISES 0
KOBRAND CORPORAT ION BETTY KOHAREK DAVID H . KOLLOCK EDITH KOON'rZ WILLA I M H . KRAMER ANDREW KRAVI C C. SCOTT KULICKE DANI EL LADD ANTHONY LANDI PHILIP LEONARD MR. & MRS. T. E. LEONARD
RICK LEVINE PRODUCTIONS DAVID M. LEVITT RUTHERFORD P. LILLEY LINCOLN SAVINGS BANK A. S. LISS H . R. LOGAN JEFF LOVINGER KLAUS LUCKA CHARLES LUNDGREN LYKES BROS. STEAMSHIP Co., I NC. Ross MACOUFFIE BOB MACKEN ALEN MACWEENEY, I NC. GASTON MAGRINOT JOHN MAGUIRE MICHAEL & MARCIA MANN MANUFACTURERS H ANOVER TRUST MARINER'S VILLAGE ELISABETH M. MARTELL MARTIN MATHEWS GEO. MATTESON Ill CECIL R. MA YES JOHN G. MCCARTHY CAPTA I N J . McGOVERN R.M. MCI NTOSH MARSH MCLENNAN ROBERT MCVI TTIE M EBA DISTRICT 2 MAURICE MEDCALFE C HRI STI NE MEE R.J. MEICZ I NGER THE MENDES FAM I LY MIDLAND I NSURAN CE CO. A.C. MILOT LEEDS MITCHELL, JR . W ILLIAM B. MOLLARD MONOMOY FUND MONTAN TRANSPO llT (USA) I NC. MOORE-MCCORMACK L I NES, I NC. MR. & MRS. J. A. MORAN R.E. MORRIS RICHARD I. MORRIS MR. & MRS. EMIL MOSBACHER, JR . FRANK MOSCATI , I NC. RICHARD MOSES WILLIAM G. MULLER MYERS & GRINER/CUESTA NATIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY NATIONAL MARI T IM E UNION JOSEPH F. NEIL ERIC NELSON NEW YORK AIR NEW YORK TELEPHONE Co. ROBERT A. N ICHOLS JOHN NOBLE DAVID J. NOLAN J.A. ORTON MILTON G. OTTI NGHAM NY STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS OGILVY & MATHER T. MORGAN 0°HORA JAMES 0°KEEFE PAUL OLANDER ORES PACIFIC-GULF MARINE, I NC. R ICHARD K. PAGE PAISLEY & FRIENDS PIERO PATRI JOHN T. PATTERSO 1 PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOLSHIP ASSN. ARMANDO PERRY DEBORAH L. PERRY BERTI-IA & PHILIP PERSON CAPTAIN W. R. PETERSON WALTER N. PHARR PHILADELPH IA MARITIME MUSEUM PINKERTON'S ROBERT POTTERS PORT Aun10RITY OF NY & NJ THEODORE PRATT PRINCE H ENRY COLLEGE PRUDENTIAL LI NES THOR H . RAMSING RICHARD RATH DONALDIREARDON VERON ICA\ REILLY REMEMBER BASIL, I NC. HON. FRE:D RICHMOND Russ RIEIMANN EDWARD IR ITENHOUSE THE RIVER CAFE CHARLES R. ROBI NSON
PETER W. ROGERS HAVE C. ROOSEVELT DANIEL ROSE M. ROSENBLATT ALLENS. llUPLEY DAVID F. !<YAN PETER R. RYUS D. R. SAGARINO ST. JOE MINERALS SANDERS TOWBOAT Soc. , I NC. A. H ERBERT SANDWEN JOSEPH G. SAWTELLE FRANK SCAVO RADM. WALTER F. SCHLECH . JR . JOYCE E. SCHNOBR ICH SCHOONEll ERNESTINA Ass·N, WAREHAM JAM ES SEACllEST SEA-LAND SERV ICE. I NC. SEAMEN°S CHURC H I NSTITUTE MRS. AVICE M. SEWALL WILLIAM A. S HEEH AN llOBERT V. SHEEN, JR. JAMES R. S HEPLEY ROBERT F. SHERMAN SHIPS OF THE SEA MUSEUM MERV I N J . S ll UMAN L. S. SI MONS FRANCIS D. SKELLEY E. KE ITH SLINGSBY A. MACY SM ITH JE AN S. SM IT ll T HOMAS SOULES GEN. & Mils. A. A. SPllOUL ALFRED STANFORD CHAR LES E. STAN FORD BR IAN STARER ROGER STARR F. WILLIAM STEC HMANN EDNA & I SAAC STERN F DTN. W. T. STEVENS J AMES J . STO RROW JOllN STOBA RT OSCAR STRAUSS, II H UMPHREY SUL LI VAN SUN SHIP, I NC. SUNSET-GOWER STU DIOS SW ISS AMER ICAN SECURITIES I NC. SYLVOR COMPANY DAVID L. THOMPSON JOHN THURMAN TOAD PRODUCTIONS JOH N H. TOBEY, JR. GEORGE F. TOLLEFSEN ALLEN W.L. TOPPING ANTHONY TRALLA BRUCE TREMBLY , MD J AMES D. TU llNER TWENTY-TEN ADVE RTI SI NG UNION DRY DOCK U.S. NAVIGATION Co. U.S. L INES VANGUARD FOUN DATION JOHN D. VAN ! TALLIE VAN METER RANCH CHARLES VICKERY V I NMONT FOUNUATION JOHN VREELAND
Sii ANNON WALL E. R. W ALLENBERG BARCLAY H. WARBURTON, Ill PATER M. WARD ARSA w PHOTOGRAPHIC Assoc. A. L. WATSON MRS. ELIZABETH WEEDON THOMAS WELLS L. HER NDON WERTH WESTLAND FOUNDATION CARROLL WETZEL R AYMOND D. WHITE G. G. WHITNEY, JR . ANTHONY WIDMAN CAPT. & MRS. JOHN M. WILL, JR. H. SEWALL WILLIAMS P .J . WILLIAMSON SUZANNE C. WILSON LAURENCE F. W ITTEMORE CHARLES WITTHOLZ WOMEN'S PROPELLER CLUB YACHTING J AMES S. YAPLEE JAMES I-1 . YOCUM ALEN SANDS YORK HENRY A. YOUMANS PAUL ZIMMERMAN R. W. Z I NGLER 1-1 . T. ZIOBRO
w
TYPOGRAPHY BY RIDGE TYPOGR APHER S. I NC .. YORKTOWN HGTS.. NY
US¡ Flag Flexibility...
. ..that's what American Maritime Officers Service is all about. The widest variety of American-flag merchant ships operating independently in the most diverse trades. From the largest supertankers to the new America class 2,000-deadweight-ton, multi-purpose container/reefer/break-bulk dry cargo vessels, US-flag ship operators working through AMOS for a strong merchant marine will meet any maritime call, any time.
American Maritime Officers Service Town House 14, Harbour Square 456 N Street S. W. Washington, D.C. 20024 Captain Joseph C. Fox, Executive Director
r
Ice-encrusted Sandy Hook pilot boat pushing to meet waiting ca rrie r. (Copyright 1979, Ca ptain Arthur J. Roche)
Still a tough job.
PI LOTS BOA RDI NG A VESSEL IN A STO RM
Despite the armament of "black box" navigation aids available in the 1980s, bringing ship and cargo and the human souls aboard her into safe harbor still calls for the not-outmoded shiphandling skills , knowledge and tradition of unswerving service that have been the hallmark of American pilots since Colonial days . The 40 Pilot Branches of the International Organization of Masters , Mates & Pilots, representing more than 1,200 commissioned pilots in ports around the country , Puerto Rico and Panama make up a proud segment of the 10,000 professional MM&P ship's officers on American flag ocean-going ships , river and harbor craft.
ROBERT J. LOWEN
LLOYD M. MARTIN
International President
International Secretary-Treasurer
ALLEN C. SCOTT
DONALDS. GRANT
International Executive Vice President
Vice President, Pilotage
International Organization of
Masters, Mates & Pilots 39 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10006/(212) 425-3860/Cable: BRIDGEDECK/Telex No.: 12-5858