EDITOR'S LOG
A First Rate taking rn S to res Signed "J M W Turn er 18 18" ( 19 x 17 in.} Superb q uality print of a very beautiful Turner watercolo ur. Art historian B.L. Bin yon wrote in 1909. " Thi s is Turn er at the peak of his po w ers. his palett e is positively translu ce nt." Th e o riginal is in a privat e collecti o n in England, and has rarely bee n seen since 18 19. wh en it was exhibited at G rosve no r Palace . A few hundred copies were printed to co mmem orat e Turn er's bicentenary. W e have every o ne of th em . There will be no more available o nce th ese few are go ne.
Print $15.50
(Framed $59.90)
Calif. residents add 6% ta x. Tel. (21 3) 452-2443
OXFORD GALLERIES 22 10 Wilshire Blvd. #6 27 Santa Monica. CA 90403 Na me _ _ __ _ __ __ __ Add ress, _ _ _ _ __ C ily _
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5 lb. Baby Whale!
This beautiful 121/2" brass whale will enhance your desk, den or office. A real collector's item for the discriminating lover of the $49.50 sea. Send check or money order. Gift wrapping available.
In this Sea History it is our privilege to announce completion of the interrupted passage of the schooner Ernestina, exEffie M. Morrissey, from the Cape Verde Islands off the West Coast of Africa, to the United States-a voyage begun in 1976 to honor the National Bicentennial and now completed by an entirely rebuilt vessel, six years later . She found her way across the Atlantic under sail alone, with a volunteer crew, and was received with rejoicing in the New England ports she had called on as a Brava packet. The joy was almost incredulous-people had hardly believed this project to be possible. And soon after Ernestina came home in late August, another impossible dream came to realization as the 107-year old bark Elissa set sail to the royals and put to sea from the Gulf Coast port of Galveston-whence she had last sailed nearly JOO years before, in 1886. Her story from her discovery as a motorship in Greece in 1961, through her return to Texas after much effort and tribulation in 1979, has been told in Sea History 15. We are very proud to be associated with the gang who held on and brought their ship so fully and beautifully back to life as a sailing vessel. In both cases Sea History did more than report the story. It was part of the story of the saving of both ships-the journal of a cause in motion, indeed.
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On our various occasions we have had writings in Sea History from people of as diverse viewpoints as William F. Buckley, Jr. and Pete Seeger. We have had one father-son team that I can think of, in separate contributions by Prince Philip and Prince Charles . But we are I think understandably proud of "Because I Want To," in this issue, by Admiral Arleigh Burke. Arleigh is one of the world's greatest living warriors, his name being one to conjure with in the United States Navy today, and wherever naval history is studied. He is a person of strong indeed steely convictions in public matters, and of warm and generous impulse {n private. Unlike the late martyred Lord Louis Mountbatten, for example, Arleigh cherishes as individuals his erstwhile enemies the Japanese. His home is full of
Japanese art and he and Bobbie Burke have far more than a superficial understanding of the unique and fragile culture of the Japanese islands-they share the concern expressed by some Japanese thinkers today that delicate blossoms are being shaken from the tree of the Japanese experience, maybe never to bloom again. He is an instinctive educator and like most great educators he is a seductive listener-one finds oneself talking on and on to Arleigh and thinking harder and harder about what one says! So, instead of learning about the Pacific war or crisis management in President Eisenhower's watch on deck when I went two years ago to call upon the Burkes, I found myself lecturing the Admiral on tank warfare. He was interested to learn that Patton's star had continued to rise in students' eyes since World War II, while Montgomery's had steadily declined, and was fascinated to hear of the German generals' rankings of Allied commanders, which closely match the judgments history appears to be rendering today. He nodded in appreciation of the distinction made in General Sharon's description of the salient he drove across the Suez Canal in 1973: "Was it dangerous? No. Oh-personally, yes-a frightening place to be. But strategically . .. safe as houses." I think this reminded him of a Fletcher destroyer bridge in one of Arleigh's "unrolling" attacks. He did manage somehow to tell me of his own efforts at historiography under fire, which led us to request the article printed on page 6. So he wrote it all out. He also invited editing-" I always expect that editing will improve anything I write ... based on the results of the editing of my papers by many different people over the past 60 years." I do not mean to disappoint our friend, mentor and Patron of the National Society, but in fact we did not omit or change a single word. PS
NB: The "unrolling" attack is a tank warfare term, not a naval term. ft does, however, describe one of Arleigh 's innovations in the Pacific war, and was also a hallmark of Lord Nelson's style in action (e.g. the Nile), and his dicta in the Trafalgar Memorandum of 1805.
/11c/11des µostage anywhere in USA or Canada.
R.H. JOHN CHART AGENCY
Edgewater Enterprises, Inc. BoxR
Staten Island, NY 10305
Salutes the
Galveston Historical Foundation and the barque
Elissa 518 23rd St., Gal veston, Texas
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EXPLORE THE MAINE COAST WEEKLY
SAILING
VACATION
WINDJAMMER ''MARY DAY'' For Folder Write :
Capt. H. S. Hawkins Camden, Maine 04843 Tel. 1-207 ·236·2750 SEA HISTORY, WINTER 1982/ 83