LETTERS lighting and furnishings, and comes apart to show its interiors. The Normandie and the way of life it represented are as gone as the windjammers . Most present adults know nothing of them. EUGENE 0 . CLA y Yucca Valley , California
To Those Who Made the Dream Do-Able There are two phases in the Elissa restoration: The first, from 1974 when Michael Creamer left South Street and settled in Galveston, through 1979 when the Elissa was towed to the Port of Galveston after renewals in Greece . The second, the intensive period from 1980 through 1982 when the "Sons of South Street" regrouped and with other craftsmen from all over the country completed the bulk of the restoration.
John Paul Gaido at the purchase survey of Elissa, Piraeus , Greece.fall 1974.
It was Paul Gaido , a Galveston restaurauteur from a family concerned with historic preservation of this island community who had the initial idea of a sailing ship for Galveston. It was Paulie's meeting with Michael Creamer which gave birth to the dream of a reconstructed Elissa. With a group of dedicated Galveston volunteers they founded the Elissa Committee of the Galveston Historical Foundation and set the project in motion . With scant resources they worked together selling cotton candy , holding auctions and twisting arms for donations of cash and materials. In all $450 ,000 was raised with which to undertake the Greek phase of the restoration. To Paulie Gaido, Curt Batey, Andy Leslie, Buddy Porterfield , Elbert Whorton, Bob Alderdice (deceased) , and all who helped in those early days , we owe a tremendous debt. They were the courageous volunteers who undertook this impossible dream and contributed selflessly , skillfully and magnificently to make the dream ''do-able'' by those who followed . DAVID C. BRINK Director, Elissa Project Galveston Historical Fndtn . Galveston, Texas
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Wawona: Her Hard-working and Appreciative Men Your report on the schooner Wawona (SH25: 8-9) especially interested me . For six years in the 1930s, following my graduation from the Coast Guard Academy, I served in Coast Guard ships which played nursemaid to the Bristol Bay (Bering Sea) codfishing fleet , of which the Wawona and Sophie Christianson were two of the best known. We brought mail , medical assistance, etc . to them. It was very interesting and also rewarding work to be able to help those hard-working and appreciative men of the sea. CAPTAIN HUBERT R. CHAFFEE Columbia , Maryland Here's a drop in the bucket toward your $100,000 budget for Wawona-but 999 more drops will do it. I hope it pours! WALTER PRETZAT Hartsdale, New York In response to articles in SEA HISTORY , here is my contribution, made in the memory of the late Seattle City Councilman Wing Luke , whose vision , energy and leadership as I recall initiated the move to save and restore Wawona. FRED T . COMEE Dallas , Texas A Saucy Propeller Do you know anything about a saucy little passenger/freighter named Richard Peck? This swift ship ran up and down Long Island Sound , stopping at Bridgeport, New Haven , New London and, I think, up the Connecticut River at Hartford ... in the years 1914-20 or so . J. A. RYAN Washington , DC The late George W. Rogers, dockbuilder, told us about trips on this vessel, whose captain was an uncle ofhis. He called her a propeller-differentiating her from the omnipresent paddlewheelers. Built by Harlan and Hollingsworth of Wilmington , Delaware in 1892, the twin screw, 303ft vessel served her first 20 years between New York and New Haven , then served on various runs for the New England Steamship Co. , becoming a Meseck excursion boat in 1937 until the Government took her over after Pearl Harbor, to serve as a floating barracks in Newfoundland. She then was chartered to the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Ferry Co., until their service to Cape Charles was suspended, whereupon in 1953 she took her old bones to the knacker's yard. This and more was dug out by Gerry Boardman, of the South Street Seaport Museum Library. - ED
My Real Desire I am a great admirer of your efforts to preserve and promote the maritime heritage of our country and the world. By profession I am an able seaman on offshore tugs for Crowley Maritime Corporation. My real desire is to participate in sail-powered trade . At present our maritime laws are unreasonably restrictive toward sailing vessels . Can we change this? CHRISTOPHER HEG Seattle, Washington We can try. See pages 12-14. -ED. Needed: Sources of Traditional Craft Products and Supplies Historical artifacts cannot be used without hastening their deterioration and eventual destruction. Thus , those who demonstrate historical skills and reenact historical processes in " living history " programs have an ever-increasing need for high quality and serviceable replicas to take the place of original tools , utensils, furnishings , clothing , and the like . With this in mind , we are conducting a survey to identify sources of replica artifacts, and of special raw materials (e .g. wrought iron, cattle horns, ash splints) from which authentic replicas can be fabricated. Craftspersons, manufacturers or distributors able to supply such items are invited to send descriptions of their products to : RON KLEY , President Association for Living Historical Farms and Agricultural Museums, PO Box 111, East Winthrop , ME 04343 NOTE: Barry G. Wilson of New Zealand submitted four important tugs among his islands to add to the Historic Tugs list in SH25-part of the Norman Brouwer 's master register of historic ships worldwide. Oddly enough, tugs are much longer-lived than the ships they towconsider the Seguin , whose original hull timbers are still sound and shapely after every single one of the great square riggers and schooners she towed to sea is gone, and in fact no great sailing ship built in Maine survives except in some pieces recovered by our Ship Trust. But tugs are also so ubiquitous they slip by under the noses of many observers . .. and we need much more testimony, from harbors like Naples and the Riachuela particularly, to round out our tale. -ED.
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SEA HISTORY, SPRING 1983