BOOKS ON THE HAWSER This fascinating album features over 500 historic photographs of all types of tugboats . The detailed text is loaded with information for both the maritime history enthusiast and the general reader. "An inspired collaboration. This is a fi rst-rate book /that} belongs i11 any ship lover's library. "
-American Neptune Hardcover, 506 pages.
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Live Oaking-Southern Timber for Tall Ships, by Virginia Steel Wood (Northwestern University Press, PO 116, Boston MA 02117, 1981 , 206 pp., illus., $21.95). The live oak dealt with here is the Quercus virginiana. Weighing 75 pounds per cubic foot in its green state, and possessing incredible durability, it is useful for futtocks, knees and backbone timbers. The famous C. Drew caulking mallets and beetles were got out of live oak. Even though the earliest southern settlers recognized its use fulness, many years passed before northern ship builders began to use it. But demand for live oak grew, both in North America and Europe. The major reason it was not used more extensively was the difficulty inherent in getting it out of the southern swamps and woods to waiting vessels. Crews of laborers, many of them shipwrights, went south in the winter to go " live oaking". Once a tree was felled, hewers would use adze and broadaxe to bring its parts down to size and shape. Patterns for the timbers of the intended vessel were brought along for this purpose. An early contract stipulated that the timber ''shall not exceecfthe Mould by more than one Inch in Breadth, Thickness, or Length ". Shortly after the Revolutionary War, when the new government decided it needed a navy, live oak's reputation for strength and durability caused the Navy to contract for quantities sufficient to build six frigates in 1794. Away south went the live oakers! Although the Secretary of the Navy wondered if the trickle of wood which made its way back to northern shipyards really justified the effort and expense, the wood must have been pretty impressive to naval constructors, for in 1821 Naval reserves of live oak lands were established. To provide for a future Navy, President Adams approved a live oak nursery in Florida, insisting that acorns be planted. He said: "My passion is for a hard, heavy, long-lived wood, to be raised from the nut or seed-requiring a century to come to maturity". In the 1927-31 restoration of USS Constitution hundreds of tons of live oak timber were used . The material came to Boston from the Pensacola Naval Air Station . Someone had stored it there, underwater, prior to the Civil War. Virginia Wood covers every aspect of the live oak trade with diligent research, sensitive reconstructions of historical events, and the historian's passion for accuracy. (It is noteworthy that the late William A. Baker vetted the manuscript for her.) And physically, the book is a delight-finel y printed on acid-free paper,
bound in white canvas, stamped with gold lettering, the book creates a quandry for its owner: to remove the dust jacket or leave it on! The many illustrations are well chosen, and thorough notes reveal the extent of the author's research. A extensive bibliography and index add to its usefulness for ROBERT CHAPEL reference. Mr. Chapel is the Secretary of the Traditional Wooden Boat Society and Editor of its journal, Lines & Offsets. Philip L. Rhodes And His Yacht Designs, by Richard Henderson (International Marine Publishing, Camden ME, 1981, 415 pp ., illus., $35.00). "Any Size, Any Type, Any Service" was for many years the slogan of Philip L. Rhodes' firm of naval architects. The "type" covered in this book is yachts, "size" ranges from a 7' dingh y to a 140 ' gold plater, and "service" is anything from a sailing dinghy for children to some of the best known ocean racers of the last four decades. The book begins with a short, respectful biography of Phil Rhodes. His father was an Ohio wagon and carriage builder who taught him to work with wood. His interest in boats began early, as he was ''tank testing" models of his own design in an abandoned canal at age 10. By the time he graduated from high school he had already won several hydroplane design contests in Motor Boating. A graduate of MIT, he worked for various shipbuilding firms, opened his own office in 1925, was invited to join Cox & Stevens in 1934 and remained with them through 1949 when the company was re-organized under his own name . He continued as an acti ve designer until his death at 79 in 1974. The second and largest section of the book presents 44 significant Rh odes yacht designs in approximate chronological order. In the chapter given each boat, sail plans or outboard profiles, arrangement plans and lines plans (where applicable) are provided as well as several photos. The text not only contains data on each boat and its supplement sisters but many anecdotes about their designer. While sailboats predominate, a good selection of power boats is included. Yacht design was only one facet of Phil Rhodes's talents . His commercial work ranged from early experimental hydrofoils to the hospital ships Hope, Mercy and Comfort. The last section is a chronological listing of yacht designs spanning some 53 years. This is illustrated with sail plans or outboard profiles of significant boats and is keyed to boats shown in the previous section. SEA HISTORY, AUTUMN 1982