Sea History 030 - Winter 1983-1984

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DAY'S RUN Report of the American Sail Training Association Eisenhower House, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI 02840 Tel: 401-846-1775

EDITORIAL Sail training races and port events scheduled through 1986 and the agenda for ASTA's Eleventh Annual Sail Training Conference at Annapolis in October both augur well for the wider implementation of ASTA's primary role of developing opportunities for sail training and of providing services for ASTA members and vessels engaged in sail training. The new vessels being laid down for full time sail training activity such as The Californian and The Spirit of Massachusetts in this country, Pacific Petrel in Canada and a Vancouver brigantine (yet unnamed) promise to surface the values to be derived from sail training experience further and further throughout North America. The programs being dealt with at our Annual Sail Training Conference such as establishment of the proposed Regulations under the Sailing School Vessels Act, accreditation of vessels under the Act and the Syllabus and Logbook for use in sail training are services essential for all ASTA's constituents and are the product of the type of volunteer labor which makes ASTA work. The races which ASTA and STA of the United Kingdom arrange in connection with port events such as Quebec, Lake Ontario, Op Sail '86, Expo '86, and the Cruises-in-Company in connection there-

with add to the opportunities for the ships and the trainees. That ASTA's staff and Trustees are able to provide support and arrange these events is largely by reason of consulting fees paid ASTA and modest income derived from sale of ASTA copyrighted properties. In order to continue to open up sail training opportunities and to provide expanded services ASTA must broaden its base of support. Membership, now numbering in excess of 500 people is open to all, with dues beginning at a modest $25 an nually. Members receive SEA HIS1DRY and receive in addition more detailed notices and schedules and invitations to special events. HENRY H. ANDERSON, JR. Chairman

The Black Pearl This lovely little (54ft) brigantine, which was owned and sailed by the late Barclay H . Warburton III , and which Commodore Anderson has rightly called the flagship of the sail training movement, is now up for sale by ASTA, having served as stationary flagship during the Cup Race summer. A great deal of her wood fabric has been renewed under ASTA ownership. It is earnestly hoped that she will be picked up and sailed to the purposes Barclay wished PS for her.

"Dirty work, long hours, no pay."

"It is important," says Rod Stephens, "that this ship Wavertree be restored, in true sailorly fashion, right through to the skysail clewlines." Thanks to the generous help we've had, the ship is now in good shape and is receiving visitors on a limited basis. (Call South Street Seaport Museum , 212 669-9400, to find out when you can go aboard .) A beginning has been made on the crew's deckhouse, which was dedicated on October 21 to the memory of the late Allen Rupley, co-chairman of the Friends of Wavertree. We have a long way to go to get to the skysail clewlines, which we very much want to do by the old Cape Homer's 100th birthday, December 10, 1985. With many hands working to our now-famous motto (see the head of this ad) , our main need is funds-funds for materials, which can 't always be donated , and for heavy industrial work beyond the capacity of our volunteer gang . Rod Stephens has sent a letter to his sailing friends asking their help in the terms set forth above. Such good friends as Yachting Magazine's publisher Ed Muhlfeld and Bowne & Co.'s president Franz van Ziegesar have contributed to this effort. Won't you join in , and send a check or ask your company to contribute?

FRIENDS

OF THE

WAVERTREE

2 Lafayette Court, Greenwich, Connecticut 06830 CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE AND SHOULD BE MADE TO " SHIP TRUST-WAVERTREE."

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Tailing onto a line aboard the three-masted schoonerC. A. Thayer, these people bring new life to the ship and gain new understanding of how she worked and kept the sea. Photo by Myron Gershenson.

Maritime Education: Introducing Young People to Tall Ships and Historic Sites

By George Moffet Chairman, ASTA Education Committee How can we combine a desire to introduce more young people to our maritime heritage with the equally strong desire to make better use of our restored historic vessels? Interesting answers to this challenge are being developed in successful programs aboard such vessels as Mystic's little full rigger Joseph Conrad, San Francisco's lumber schooner C. A. Thayer, and the brig Pilgrim at California's Dana Point. There seems reason to believe that other historic tall ships could serve as the focal point for additional programs. Restored historic sailing ships which are unseaworthy or too costly to put to sea also prove to be expensive ladies as pure exhibits. Why not put them to work in valuable educational service? By combining the function of display with the function of liveaboard education , an historic vessel can work harder to earn her keep and can contribute more to keeping alive the skill s and traditons of our maritime heritage. The American Sail Training Association is deeply interested in this kind of development, and we are working with the National Society's Ship Trust to see if such an activity cannot be designed from the very outset into the program of the big square rigger mzvertree at South Street Seaport Museum . Here, in the meantime, is a summary of what we are learning from the other ships .

The C. A. Thayer David Nettell , Environmental Education Technician of San Francisco's National Maritime Museum , has given us the background of the " Environmental Living Program" aboard the C. A. Thayer, a retired 156ft lumber schooner from 1895. This program is part of a larger scheme and educational philosophy which has SEA HISTORY, WINTER 1983

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