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ISSN 0146-9312

No . 36

SEA HISTORY

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE WORLD SHIP TRUST

SEA HISTORY is the journal of the National Maritime Historical Society , an educational , tax-exempt membership organization devoted to furthering the understanding of our maritime heritage. Copyright © 1985 by the National Maritime Historical Society .

OFFICE: 132 Maple St. , Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520. Telephone: 914 271-2177 .

MEMBERSHIP is invited : Sponsor $1 ,000; Donor $500; Patron $100; Family $30; Regular $20; Student or Retired $10 .

ALL FOREIGN MEMBERS , including Canada and Mexico, please add $5 for postage.

CONTRIBUTIONS may be made for any recognized project. Make out checks' ' NMHSShip Trust,'' indicating on the check the project to which you wish support to be directed .

OFFICERS & TRUSTEES are Vice Chairman: Barbara Johnson; President: Peter Stanford ; Vice President: Norma Stanford, Secretary: Alan G. Choate; Treasurer: A.T. Pouch, Jr. ; Trustees: Alan G. Choate, James P. Farley, Ellen Fletcher, Thomas Hale, Barbara Johnson, James F. Kirk , Karl Kortum , J. Kevin Lally, Harold R. Logan, Richardo Lopes, Robert J. Lowen, James P. McAllister, II, Conrad P. Nilsen, A. T. Pouch, Jr., John H. Reilly, Jr., Spencer Smith , Wolf Spille, Peter Stanford. Chairman Emeritus: Karl Kortum . President Emeritus: Alan D. Hutchinson ..

ADVISORS : Chairman: Frank 0 . Braynard ; Raymond Aker, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, David Brink, George Campbell , Robert Carl , Frank G. G. Carr, William Main Doerflinger, Harry Dring, James Ean , John Ewald, Joseph L. Farr, Timothy G. Foote, Richard Goold-Adams, Robert G. Herbert, R. C. Jefferson, Irving M. Johnson, John Kemble, Conrad Milster, William G. Muller, Capt. David E. Perkins, USCG (ret. ), Nancy Richardson, George Salley, Melbourne Smith , Ralph L. Snow, John Stobart, Albert Swanson, Shannon Wall , Robert A. Weinstein , Thomas Wells, AJCH , Charles Wittholz.

WORLD SHIP TRUST: Chairman: Frank G. G. Carr; Vice Presidents: Rt. Hon . Lord Lewin , Sir Peter Scott, Rt. Hon . Lord Shackleton ; Hon. Secretary: J. A. Forsythe; Hon. Treasurer: Richard Lee; Erik C. Abranson, Dr. Neil Cossons, Maldwin Drummond , Peter Stanford . Membership : £10 payable WST, c/o Hon. Sec. , 129a North Street , Burwell , Cambs. CB5 OBB, England . Reg. Charity No. 277751.

AMERICAN SHIP TRUST: International Chairman: Frank Carr; Chairman: Peter Stanford ; Hon . Secretary: Eric J. Berryman ; George Bass, Karl Kortum , Charles Lundgren , George Nichols, Richard Rath ; Senior Advisor: Irving M . Johnson; Curator, NY Harbor: Mel Hardin .

SEA HIS1DRY STAFF: &J.itor: Peter Stanford; Managing &J.itor: Norma Stanford; Accounting: Maureen Conti ; Advertising: Margaret Settepani ; Membership: Heidi Quas; Corresponding Secretary: Marie Lore.

SUMMER 1985

CONTENTS 3 EDITOR ' S LOG LETTERS 7 GUEST EDITORIAL: THE SHIP COMES FIRST , Douglas A . Johnston 8 A SANDBAGGER FOR ALL SEASONS , Philip Thorneycroft Teuscher 10 THE CONNECTICUT RIVER: THE RIVER TOWNS , Peter Stanford THREE CENTURIES OF CONNECTICUT RIVER SHIPPING , 12 Brenda Milkofsky THE RIVER MUSEUM 19 22 SAIL TRAINING : THE DANMARK, Jean Schertler 23 DA Y ' S RUN, Report of the American Sail Training Association 24 THE LAST SAILORS , PART II , Neil Hollander 28 MARINE ART: FRED FREEMAN, Peter Stanford 32 SHIP NOTES , SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS 38 THE FLORENCE GRISWOLD MUSEUM AT OLD LYME 39 BOOKS: THE BOOK LOCKER 45 THE FRIENDLY CONNECTICUT, Raymond E. Baldwin

COVER: This detail from John Stobart's "Hartford : The Connecticut River Waterfront" shows the famous river town a little over 100 years ago, with the thriving life of the waterfront vividly and memorably depicted by the artist who has, in our time, made himself the master of our historic waterfronts. (See pages 10-11 .)

The National Maritime Historical Society is saving America's seafaring heritage. Join us.

We bring lO life America ·s seafa ring past th rough resea rch. arc haeo logical expeditions and ship prese rvation effo rts. We wo rk wi th museurns, hi swria ns and sail training Ii groups and report on these acti vi ti es in our quarterl y journal Sea His1ory.

We are also th e American arm of the Worl d Ship Trust, an intern ati onal grou p working wo rld wide 10 help save ships of hi stori c importance.

Wo n "t you join us to keep ali ve our nati on ·s seafari ng legacy?

Membership in the Society costs onl y $20 a yea r. You ·11 receive Sea History, a fascin ating magazine fi lled with articles of seafaring and hi stori ca l lore. You ' ll also be eli gible for disco unts on books . prints and oth er items. Help save ou r seafa ring heritage. Join th e ationa l Maritime Histo ri ca l Society today'

'1IWB&'lil

TO: National Maritime Historical Society, 132 Maple St. , Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520

YES

I wa nt to he lp. I understand that my contr ibut ion goes 10 forwa rd the work o f the Society ' and 1ha1 !"II be kepi in formed by receiving SEA HI STORY quarterly. Enc losed is: O Sl.000 Spon;or C $500 Donor C SIOO Pa1ron ':C S30 Famil) _ $20 Regul ar Member $ 10 Studem/ Re1 ired

ADDRESS _ _ --------------------~ ZIP _ _ _ _ _ __ _ Conrribulions 10 NMH S arr lu: deduc1ible.

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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TOWN AND COUNTRY : '' The riches of the classic English Hunt Break/ast are spread out every Sunday at the extraordinary atmospheric Griswold Inn in the beautiful old River town of Essex, Connecticut ."

HOUSE BEAUTIFUL: " Since 1776, the Griswold Inn in Essex, Connecticut has offered weary travelers fine food and shelter. Toda y, it is one of America's most comforting links with the past."

NEW YORK: "The Tap Room is also somet hing very special, retaining all the traditional spirit that a country inn is supposed to project. It just may be the best-looking drinki ng room anywhere in America."

BLAIR & KETCHUM'S COUNTRY JOURNAL: " A man in search of the best Inn in New England has a candidate in the quiet, unchanged town of Essex, Connecticut."

THE CONNECTICUT ALMANAC: "There is no place to compare with the 'Gris' in atmosphere, in hospitality, in the excellence of its cuisine, unless it is another 'Gris'."

YANKEE MAGAZINE: " The Griswold Inn is a gathering place for local people and travelers who appreciate a good meal. The lounge, complete with a piano player and antique popcorn machine, is a lively place to enjoy a drink. " MACMILLIAN'S LOVER'S GUIDE TO AMERICA " During the War of 1812 the British sneaked ashore one night and burned the town. But not, praise be, the Inn , and drink s and dinner at the Griswold are still a tradition with yachtsmen on this part of Long Island Sound .

There 's no reason why landlubbers shouldn 't have some of the fun, too. " THE BERKSHIRE TRAVELLER'S COUNTRY INNS AND BACK ROADS: " The Griswold is in reality a magnificent museum of both the days of sailing and steam boating. ''

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LETTERS Recognition Indeed!

May 8 marks the 40th Anniversary of V-E Day and the formal surrender of Germany to the Allied Powers. America's servicemen who fought with great valor and determination paid a heavy toll in casualties before that war was won. It is fitting that our nation's civilian merchant seamen , who also suffered heavy losses in enemy attacks while transporting the supplies and war material that sustained the Allied Forces, be remembered for their vital contributions to that Victory.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Forces, speaking in London in 1944, paid tribute to their World War II role in these words: "When final victory is ours there is no organization that will share its credit more deservedly than the American merchant marine."

Since the birth of our great nation, the US Merchant Marine has compiled an impressive record in responding whenever our liberty and security were placed in jeopardy.

You and your membership are to be commended for sponsoring " Seamen's Recognition Day" to pay tribute to those American seafarers who served our nation so valiantly in World War II .

RONALD R EAGAN

EDITOR'S LOG Recognition of our merchant ships and the men who sailed and died in them in time of war is long overdue. It is good to know that a major observance of the role of the merchant marine in World War II will be held across the country this year.

MARIO B IAGGI

Member of Congress New York As an infantryman in the 104th Division, I depended upon the supplies and material that, thanks to the sarifice and heroism of our merchant seamen, made our victory possible.

EDWARD I. KOCH Mayor of the City of New York Too many of my old friends and former shipmates went down with their ships, fell on their decks from U-boat gunfire or in strafing attacks. They will not be forgotten , nor should a nation such as ours continue failing to meet the need for a modern , well built and manned merchant marine. This is as much a part of our security and defense as any of the armed forces , especially when an ideology bent on our destruction has the naval and maritime capability of moving anywhere on the earth to neutralize, conquer, or destroy.

LAWRENCE A . MURPHY, PhD Brockton , Massachusetts

President of the United States Washington , D.C.

" It Would Have Been Nicer..."

In World War II 6,700 merchant seamen gave their lives to keep our water routes open , our allies supplied , and America secure. The work of the Senate keeps me in Washington . Be certain , however, that this kindred soul is with you in spirit when you cast the wreath upon the waters of the Upper Bay. It says in the Psalms, " They that go down to the sea in ships, do business in great waters." And what " business" that was! It kept us free.

DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN

United States Senator New York I'm glad to see the herosim and bravery demonstrated by those who served in the US merchant marine being given the recognition it deserves. Their heroic actions in World War II are a testimony to their patriotism and strong commitment to America . We are grateful for their sacrifices in the defense of our country.

BILL BRADLEY

United States Senator New Jersey SEA HIS1DRY, SUMMER 1985

Your tribute to the merchant seamen of World War II is long overdue and it is much to your credit that you are among the very few who even now 40 years later give recognition to these men .

In your article "Seamen's Recognition Day" Charles Dana Gibson mentions that America's first war casualties were merchant seamen aboard the transport Cynthia Olson, but in fact the first Merchant Marine casualty was Third Engineer Mack B. Bryan, killed when the City of Bayville struck a mine laid by the Germans in Bass Straits off Australia on 9 November 1940, more than a year before Pearl Harbor. The SIS Astral was torpedoed and sunk on 2 December 1941 with the loss of all '37 of her crew. On 3 December 1941 the freighter Sagadahoc was sunk with the loss of one of her crew.

Then on 7 December 1941 Cynthia Olson was lost with her entire crew. Merchant seamen were lost far sooner in the war than 17 minutes before the attack on Pearl Harbor!

The movie " Das Boot,' ' which you also mentioned , has drawn many comments pro and con. It showed us a tough adver(conrinued on next page)

It was an outward bound kind of day, May 8. A cool wind blew in from the northwest, driving great white clouds before it across a deep, calm sky, and roused a young sea in New York's Upper Bay whose whitecaps chased and yelped after us as we put to sea in Ed and Dorothy Carlton's Entrepreneur.

We set forth to mark the 40th anniversary ofV-E Day-the end of World War II in Europe-with our friends Shannon Wall, President of the National Maritime Union, Rear Admiral Tom King, USMS, Superintendant of the US Merchant Marine Academy, Susan Frank, Commissioner of Ports & Terminals in New York, and many, many others who felt with us the time had come to honor the role of merchant seamen in the hardwon victory.

Leon Hall of Seafarers International Union led off the reading of the names of seamen who had lost their lives in this service-names selected at random and some how more poignant to hear because of that. How often they had heard those names in their lives! "Here you-Jones!"

Now we were remembering them , forty years after they departed this life. When the reading was done a large wreath donated by the United Seamen's Service and the Marine Society of New York was heaved into the water by the seamenreaders, and this was followed by the book of names, bound up in a golden chain and with a bronze anchor attached-the anchor a symbol of hope, for the hope these men gave us.

Of the many and good words spoken as memories were shared , perhaps these of Senator Moynihan, sent in a letter, speak for the rest. Quoting a passage from the Psalms on the " business in great waters," he noted : "And what 'business' that was!

It kept us free."

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The National Trust's outstanding maritime preservation conference last fall seemed to us to bring out two things in vivid relief: the need for high standards of quality in all our work, to prevent the experience the public gets from being short-circuited by meretricious work done merely for show; and the need for a wider, aware and informed maritime constituency. Just as this issue was going to press we received a remarkable statement from a North Carolina lawyer which seems to wrap up both these concerns: the concern for " the real thing," to which this Society is utterly committed , and the concern for an active public constituency, to which we are dedicating a special "campaign for Sea History." Mr. Johnston's good words PS appear on page 8.

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LETTERS, continued sary who lived in close company with Death , who left all that was dear to them at home, who wrote love letters, who cried and just like our own lads many of them never came home. My late father who was once the object ofU-boat attack said only: "Political leaders threw us all into the pit of war. It would have been nicer to have shared a beer or two."

IAN A. MILLAR , Founder Sons & Daughters of US Merchant Marine Veterans of WWII Kernersville, North Carolina Captain Gibson replies: "Mr. Millar is, of course, correct. According to German records, the Astral was sunk by error. The U-boat commander supposedly did not know she was American. The Sagadahoc was stopped and searched by Germans, who discovered contraband aboard, and sunk her as a legitimate prize of war. The City of Rayville sinking again was not a deliberate attack. She struck a mine laid by a German surface raider. Mr. Millar neglected to mention two other US merchant vessels sunk before we entered the war. These were: The Robin Moor, stopped off Africa on 21 May 1941 by the German sub U-69. She was found to be carrying contraband and after her crew was clear she was put down by gunfire and torpedo. The Leigh was torpedoed by U-126 on 19 October 1941 off Sierra Leone. The probability is that her sinking was a mistake. The above notwithstanding, the Cynthia Olson was the first merchant ship sunk by the Japanese, and the loss of her complete crew can rightfully go down as the first war loss of United States citizens following the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and the A.xis powers. " -ED.

the German naval historian , Vice Admiral Friedrich Ruge. German naval strategy against the British Isles and US strategy against the Japanese home islands were identical. But the Germans failed to isolate the British Isles, submarines of the US Navy did isolate Japan . Admiral Ruge states that "it is indeed remarkable that Japan, whose very existence depended on the sea, was so slow to appreciate the importance of protecting and maintaining her own transport fleet and attacking that of the United States." He goes on to say that destruction of Japanese industry from the air was " largely superfluous" since there weren't enough ships left afloat to import critically needed food and raw materials.

OSWALD L. BRETT Levittown , New York

"Whither Thou Goest .. !'

We appreciated the article on the Ronson Ship which appeared in the Spring 1985 issue of SEA HISTORY . I am sure you can appreciate that from the beginning, the Mariners' Museum took the position that if it had been possible to find a satisfactory home for the Ronson Ship in New York, then New York was the place for it.

It was our feeling that had it not been possible to find the right permanent home in New York , then The Mariners' Museum would be glad to take on the responsibility of looking after the ship's future.

We certainly appreciate your interest in maintaining a follow-up on the ship and we will try to keep you up to date on its status down here. Your interest and support means a great deal to all of us.

WILLIAM D. WILKINSON ' Director The Mariners' Museum Newport News, Virginia

For Some Failures, We Are Thankful It doesn't seem forty years ago-forty years ago-since that warm morning when I was chipping paint in the North River, when suddenly the whole world seemed to explode in a cacophony of screaming and wailing horns and sirens, near and far. I couldn't figure out what the excitement was about till someone said that the Gerries had th rown in their hand .

When finally I got ashore later in the day the festivities were beyond belief, on what has now become V-E Day, and ancient history. Reading your piece brought back a host of memories of the war at sea. The two things which I recall most painfully, particularly during the first winter I spent in the Atlantic in 1942-43, were the stormy weather, which all the old-timers agreed was the worst in living memory, and was it cold!

Your comment about Japanese losses at sea brought to mind some observations by 4

Ride 'Em, Cowboy!

From your note under my letter in SEA HISTORY I deduce that you must be hobnobbing with these modem so-called "seamen" to whom wire rope is "cable," all other rope is "line" and things are "tied off' instead of being made fast. But I guess that's the way the world bounces and I'll just have to grab a hand-hold when she pitches badly.

ROBER!' G. HERBER!', Jr. East Northport, New York Sea language does change-Mr. Herbert's comment is about our referring to a "navy" anchor instead of a "patent" (pronounced ''paytent'j anchor. He has pointed out that the patent (stockless) anchor was used by merchant men before the Navy adopted it, but he gracefully concedes that latter-day sailors do refer to this as a ndvy anchor, unfair, even unseemly, as this usage may be. -ED.

Excellence Begets Excellence I especially enjoyed Norman Brouwer's excellent book review of The Historic American Merchant Marine Survey in the Spring 1985 SEA HISTORY . He understood it, he credited the proper people, and it was a joy to read after seeing the books so poorly reviewed in other publications.

MELBOURNE SMITH International Historical Watercraft Society Annapolis, Maryland ERRATA We reported the building place of the surviving libertys John W. Brown and Jeremiah O'Brien incorrectly in "last of the libertys " (SH35:28). The O'Brien was built in South Portland, Maine, and the Brown in Baltimore, Maryland.

The review of Axis Submarine Successes (SH35:45), erroneously attributed to Eric Berryman, was in fact written by his friend and colleague Lt. Commander Roger E. Arnold-Shrubb, RN, who also gave us the fine report "Guns for the USS Kidd " on page 27 of the same issue.

In "Mode/makers ' Comer" (SH35:41) the person who worked with Robert Mouat on the U-505 diorama was not the Connecticut marine artist Carl Evers, as we stated, but the mode/maker Chris Evers of Greenwich, Connecticut. Chris Evers runs Floating Drydock, a model parts and plans service in Kresgeville, Pennsylvania.

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SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

The Ship Comes First!

by Douglas A. Johnston

In seafaring the great lesson is that the ship must come first-always. Otherwise not only the ship but all her people may be lost. One of the participants in last October's National Trust Maritime Preservation Conference, listening to the demanding voice of the myriad interests crowding in upon our waterfronts-which are attractive, after all, for their maritime associations-got a chilly feeling that we are in danger of abandoning this primary rule of all navigation. We do not feel it appropriate for the National Society to be neutral in this matter: We agree with every word Mr. Johnston writes, and moreover, we note that outfits that have learned to put ships first flourish, like Mystic Seaport Museum, where care beyond anything the public can see is lavished on the ships; outfits that try too hard to ''play the angles" in the waterfront development, treating the ships that give it life as marginally useful add-ons, tend to lose purpose, coherence and attractiveness and simply come unglued. -ED. Maritime preservation is a label under which different groups pursue diverse goals: civic revitalization , business opportunities, economic development, environmental management, and other social needs not directly related to our nautical heritage. Today, in this maze of competing interests, the central importance of the ships themselves is lost or, at least, harmfully compromised.

Maritime preservationists cannot accept this. Ships are central to maritime and waterfront preservation. Only with ships does the waterfront assume maritime significance. This may seem obvious-but there are constant challenges to this principle. Through countless compromises, maritime and waterfront preservation decisions challenge and even destroy the principle of the priority of ships. Development becomes the issue, rather than preservation of nautical heritage and the ships which epitomize that heritage.

Now that business and government revitalization agencies have seen the power generated by people's interest in ships, it is natural that they seek to enhance waterfront investment with a ship restoration. That does not justify cutting comers for the sake of the developer and his investors, as though the ship program was just another component of the investment package. When we allow this, we are victims of the usual environmental damages caused by the short-sightedness of developers: the crowding out SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

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visit to a ship may be the fint time the remote pictures of history texts come alive."

of the most characteristic features by commercial needs.

There is no question that adaptive reuse has a valuable place in preserving our ships in the redevelopment of our waterfronts. And some ships will become stage sets. But we do not need to accept that as a given in every case.

When we talk about preservation of ships for use, we must emphasize maritime priorities: transportation , sail training, shore side training, education, and especially the ship's role in the life of the community.

It is easy to comprehend an authentic role for ships in their training or transportation functions . Picturing the broadest community life role for ships takes a little more effort. But experience suggests three principle ways ships play their role in community life: as anchor, awakener and rallying point.

Anchor: A ship restoration is practically a guarantee of the attractiveness of a waterfront development. From the preservationist's point of view, it serves as a reminder to respect the integrity of the area's building and community fabric. Successful commercial areas depend on confidence, which usually depends on some sort of "anchor": a business park, a governmental activity or a school-all perceived by business as reliable attractions, little susceptible to change.

Authentic ship restorations perform admirably as anchors : They enhance stability. They sustain activity. Like the school and the park, ships greatly strengthen the survival potential of a commercial or residential waterfront.

Awakener: Maritime restorations are the principal way people are awakened to nautical history. Ships stand out in any scene. They cannot help but attract attention . In the crowded adaptive reuse scene, a great many people overlook a building's historic character, but it is difficult to overlook a ship. For school children and adults alike, a visit to a ship may be the first time the remote pictures of their history texts come alive.

In addition to attracting newcomers to history, ships deepen the appreciation of those already attuned to a maritime perspective. They help develop experts and participants. If one cares about something, one learns to distin-

guish true values and reject fake or contrived statements, and one learns how to discover the beauty and significance of the ordinary. This awakening role demands a respect for the symbolic value of our ships that resists all compromise and justifies our insistence on a priority place for ships on the waterfront.

Rallying point: A ship brings together people who can meet threats to maritime preservation efforts. A rallying point must be highly visible. It must be exciting enough to increase popular support. No other element of the waterfront is so centrally placed, both physically and spiritually, as a ship.

The ship focuses attention on the rest of the waterfront's needs. It adds drama to the cause of its own preservations and the preservation of its waterfront and of associated values.

The community life roles give added credence to a priority for ships. Accomplishment of these roles establishes a stronger position from which to demand respect for the ships in the competition with other waterfront interests. These community roles are our fundamental justifications for demanding a priority for ships on the waterfront and in all waterfront decisions.

We have assumed too long that decisions must always be made the way they are today-as a development issue, not a preservation issue. But compare today's decision-making with the past inspiration for some of our finest urban parks and historic landmarks. How was the decision made to create Central Park in New York, or to save Grand Central Station , or to preserve other fine public areas? These preservation decisions secured valuable portions of the urban environment in its essence, not compromised , not even adaptively reused .

There is a place for adaptive reuse in maritime and waterfront preservation, but we should not think first and always of adaptive reuse. We should think first of preserving the essence and of putting the ships first. Putting the ships first means preserving the ships physically, preserving their authenticity, and preserving them for use in training, learning, transport, and community life. Putting the ships first means we must be a part of the beginning of all decisionmaking that affects the waterfront.

www Mr. Johnston , Assistant A!tomey General of the State of North Carolina , is a member of the US Na vy Reserve Judge Advocate Corps.

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A Sandbagger for All Seasons

by Philip Thorneycroft Teuscher

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Shadow, in this tum-ofthe-century photo, is cat-rigged and doing what she was designed to do-move fast under sail. The young lady at the tiller seems to be enjoying her outing on this hazy day.

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-- ~ Shadow, now sloop-rigged, as a natural growther owned by Joe Pramer (shown below with a natural growther dredge), in Five Mile River, Connecticut.

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Captain Teuscher is working with the National Soi:iety on an oral history of the natural growth oystermen. Here he traces the story of one of their boats, which was in the Teuscher family as a yacht in the 1940s. A documentary film maker, he has previously reported, on surviving Caribbean sailormen.

"Shadow is winning, Shadow is winning. Uncle Walter, he ran and yelled all the way from Cedar Point. You see, them sandbagger races was real popular-lot'sa money bet on 'em. That was back in 1897."

Bobby Allen, seventy-five and one of Westport, Connecticut's last Yankee natives, told me how his late uncle Walter announced victory by the Bradley twins in their sandoagger Shadow.

Sixty years later, as Shadow's teenage owner, I sailed her in Long Island Sound off Westport and today, eighty-eight years later, uncle Walter and the Bradley twins are long gone, but Shadow lives on .

Her active career spans nine decades. She is truly "a sandbagger for all seasons" having sandbag raced, worked as an oyster sloop, sailed as my family 's first yacht and now she is slated for display at New York's South Street Seaport Museum.

"By 1860 sandbagger racing became the most popular type of boating in the USA ," wrote William P. Stephens, dean of American writers on yachting. The sandbagger developed from the New York oyster sloop that used to work New York Bay and its shallow estuaries. Howard Chapelle said of the New York Sloop: " She was a wide, shoal centerboarder with a rather flat stem and a goodly amount of deadrise. The ends were plumb. Larger sloops had counter stems."

Watermen frequently raced their fast , handy sloops. Winning boats were often purchased by local " swells" at inflated prices.

In the quest for speed , over-sized gaff rigs were added and sandbags, as moveable ballast, were stacked on the windward side.

This was the genesis of sandbag racing.

On Long Island Sound , Bridgeport, Connecticut, was a center for oystering and sandbag racing. In Bridgeport, Christopher (" Crit") Smith and the Robbins family were famous designers and builders of oyster sloops and sandbaggers. Shadow, (LOD 21 ', Beam 9 ', Draft 1'6 11) is a Crit Smith/Robbins boat. She was built in the mid-nineties and was a cat rigged sandbagger.

Gambling was the impetus behind the sport. Stephens wrote; "From a purely sporting standpoint little can be said of its ethics and practices." On down-wind legs, where less ballast was needed, sandbags "accidently" fell overboard. On calm days a crew might "pie-plate'', using their lunch pie-plates as paddles.

In May, 1940, Captain Bill Lewis, 82 , famous sandbagger skipper and retired oysterman remembered the most notable race off Bridgeport to a Bridgeport Sunday Post reporter: " It was a case of the slowest boat winning both heats by dint of better handling and rigging. That was the first and last time a Crit Smith boat was defeated ." Bridgeport's Tiger was defeated by Brooklyn's Bella averaging over eight knots on a Tl '8 " waterline. That was in 1890 and bets were estimated at over $50,000.00!

Captain Bill continued : ''About fifty years ago Henry Robbins and his son William, previously of Maine, came to Bridgeport to build boats. They were first-class mechanics and built three very fast boats from improved Crit Smith designs . The Shadow, E.J. Sloat and Plover. I sailed all three boats and won races. I sailed Shadow, a Robbins model , at Cedar Point (Westport) beating a fleet of boats including the Ramona."

Early in this century sandbag racing went out of vogue when one-design racing became popular. The Bradley twins daysailed Shadow and eventually laid her up under a stack of salt hay.

In the early thirties Frederick Ventulette, a Bridgeport oysterman, bought Shadow, renamed her Bobby and converted her to

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

~~iZtF=:?~~--~~,__.___

Shadow (at left just beyond the moored runabout) working the Bridgeport-Stratford natural

oyster bed in 1941. Photo by the Connecticut Shellfish Commission, courtesy Bill Ciaurro.

work the natural oyster grounds, where Connecticut's Shellfish Commission , as a conservation measure, permitted only sail powered vessels to work the State-owned grounds .

Because sandbaggers were hybrid oyster sloops, they readily converted back to the occupation of their progenitors. Shorter rigs were installed and dredges, instead of sandbags , were hefted over the side decks. Ventulette installed a one cylinder gas engine in Shadow to facilitate getting to and from the grounds.

Oysterman, Joe Praemer, from whom my father purchased Shadow, had some anxious moments with that old one lunger.

"We used to come in loaded down, side decks awash and Shadow, being a sweet boat, she'd really carry her way....That old one lunger didn't have no reverse gear so you hadda stop 'er TDC (top dead center) an throw a knife-switch to get'er going the other way. Here I'd be, tryin' an missin ; and Shadow bout to poke her sprit through the side of the oyster house. A couple times she run that sprit into the rigging of the other sloops 'fore I could get her in reverse."

Oysters lay on the bottom in gullies called dreens. "A streak of oysters in a dreen" was located and fixed by shoreside bearings.

Old timers used to say " you can't throw a dredge until sun-up and you can't throw a dredge after sundown ," as dredging was only permitted during daylight.

Jack Kochiss in his Oystering From New "lbrk to Boston describes the technique: "Dredging under sail was more drifting than sailing.

The sloop began dredging at the upwind end of the bed . The mainsail was trimmed 'soft' while adjustments to the jib controlled speed. A properly adjusted centerboard maintained balance. When the dredges were full the jib was 'started' slowing down the sloop.

Dredges were hauled by hand . With plentiful oysters there was a constant heave and haul. Sailing back with stowed dredges, the oysters were culled and shoveled into the hold ."

Years later I used to find shells in Shadow 's bilge after a hard pound to windward. They had been lodged between her planking and ceiling since her oystering days.

From 1932 to 1942 , Bobby, renamed Shadow in 1936, appears on Connecticut's Shellfish Commission Records. She worked the natural grounds off Norwalk and Bridgeport sharing the colorful , independent life of Connecticut's last working sailors .

Billy Ciaurro, a retired Bridgeport harbormaster and waterman, oystered with his sloop the Who Cares and ocassionally moonlighted with Shadow's skipper, Benny Sorrentino.

Shadow once changed hands over an unpaid bar tab. Her SEA HISIDRY, SUMMER 1985

Shadow as a yacht

in 1958 with our author at the tiller.

dipsomaniac ex-owner later sailed her to victory in the last oyster sloop regata .

Billy Ciaurro told me: "Old Sam Halesworth, he was a good man sober... .I remember Shadow winning the last oyster boat race in the late thirties. This race was sponsored by the Black Rock Yacht Club. It was a typical smoky sou'wester, late summer just before the oyster season. Shadow got a good start and got to buoy number twenty off Lordship, Stratford Point. And then the wind dropped.

The westerly flood just started runnin' an she caught it and drifted all the way back an won the $50.00 first prize. Sam , he went on a helluva drunk."

In 1943 my father bought Shadow from Joe Praemer, her last natural growther owner. My family and I share many memories of sailing Shadow on the then uncrowded Long Island Sound.

In 1957 Shadow was given to me, and for the next four years she figured prominently in my adolescent misadventures .

In the autumn of 1966 Shadow was sold and taken to Narragansett Bay, and I heard nothing more about her until I learned that she had been donated to the South Street Seaport Museum by Gordon Douglas, after he had her restored by Bob Baker of Westport , Massachusetts. I was squired to a back room where she was in storage. My first impression was " how small "; it was like the feeling one has when re-visiting one's elementary school twenty-years later-the memories loom larger than life.

At the time of this writing Shadow is awaiting restoration and the commencement of the fourth chapter of her varied career as a sand bagger for all seasons. Restored and on display Shadow will be a link to craft that have sailed into history. .ti 9

The traffic of the River Towns springs to life in this admirable scene of what the artist John Stobart calls the "lost port" of Hartford. The street leads straight into the water, from the State House a short way inland. River tugs tend to their schooner charges, and the fast steamer Granite State awaits her hour to get up stream and race with passengers and fast cargo downriver and up long Island Sound to New

York. The scene is the 1860s, and the lusty young republic is not yet JOO years old. The days of the River Town's ascendancy in oceanic

trade are over, but Hartford has become the nation 's insurance capital from the earnings of that trade, and the maritime culture it nourished make the Connecticut Valley a center of diverse industry and commerce-as it is today, JOO years later.

THE RIVER TOWNS: From the banks of the Connecticut, these villages sent

their ships and their people across wide oceans, changing their world and ours.

by Peter Stanford Just off a road that runs by the Connecticut near South Hadley, Massachusetts, there is a quiet cluster of white clapboard buildings, and a traditional red barn . They overlook the shallow reach of the river which up this far is more like a stream (except in spring freshets) ; but the proprietor of the farm remembers when flatboats were still poled up past its bushy banks . "They signed up giants to do that work ,'' he says.

"They needed really big men."

Captain Irving Johnson's roots strike back through centuries in New England and the last century and a half in this quiet farming community. The river was a center of these people's lives, an active, sometimes contemplative, sometimes brawling presence, reminding one always that there was an outer world.

Irving's father had traveled widely in that world , writing guidebooks to western American and European regions. And Irving grew up in a well read family, reinforced by the Johnson Bookstore. " Reading a lot got the dreaming going,'' he remarks. Go through the door of that ordinary red barn , and you walk into the results of that dreaming-a startling collection of canoes, paddles, carved figures, seashell ornaments, model boats and other artifacts gathered by Irving and his wife Electa in their seven journeys around the world under sail, in the schooner and later the brigantine Yankee. For several decades, the descendants of the Bounty mutineers on Pitcairn , their rocky island on the other side of the world , were linked to the rest of humanity mainly through the dwellers of this riverbank , where the Johnson s always return from their travels.

Irving and Exy Johnson are not alone in their feeling for the 10

Connecticut River. Cotton Mather-whom one does not usuall y associate with delights-referred to " the delightful banks of the Connecticut River." The stiffly proper Bostonian John Adams wrote wistfully in 1771 : " I wish the Connecticut flowed through Braintree." Oliver Ellsworth, of Windsor, who served as US Senator, Chief Justice, and minister to Napoleon in France, said near the end of his life of achievement: " I am content, perfectly content, to die on the banks of the Connecticut." 1 A couple of centuries before Irving Johnson , John Ledyard came down river in a canoe to Hartford in 1773. He later sailed to Europe, Africa, and the West Indies , and joined with Captain Cook in his final voyage around the world-a cosmopolitan indeed! The Connecticut River historian Ed Delaney notes : "Ledyard died in Cairo in 1788 at the age of 37, on the threshold of an exploratory trip into the heart of Africa ."

As Brenda Milkofsky of the Connecticut River Foundation tells us in the pages that follow, building and sailing ships was the making of the Connecticut River towns-and of much else besides! They provided much of the initiative and energies that made the American colonies and later the young republic a vital part of the Atlantic world .

In the quiet river town of Essex, today, six miles in from the river mouth, you can look down the waterfront from the foot 'These encomia, and much other River lore besides, may be found in the pages of Edmund Delaney's The Connecticut River: New England's Historic Waterway (Globe Pequot Press, Chester CT 06412 , 1983) .

SEA HISlDRY, SUMMER 1985

of Main Street (which , appropriately, ends in the water-your scribe remembers seeing it blocked at the end with the hulls of wrecked yachts the morning after the hurricane of 1938), and over clipped lawns you wiJI see the sedate building that houses the Dauntless Club. This was the home of Uriah P. Hayden , Essex shipbuilder, who launched fi;om this site the 24-gun Oliver Cromwell in early 1776, the first warship of the Connecticut Navy. His bewitching (to judge by her surviving portrait) daughter Amelia married the successful shipmaster Henry Champlin , whose house stands at the other end of Main Street, on Champlin Square. His house is more generously proportioned than his father-in-law's, reflecting the ethos of a wealthier, perhaps more assertive and expansionist, age.

Amelia seems to have been a determined spirit; her three children were all born at sea in Champlin's vessels, while he was making his reputation (and his fortune) as senior captain and co-owner in the Black X line of packets.

The first sailing in the Black X Line from New York on April 7, 1824, was Captain Champlin in the new ship Hudson. The follow-on ship, Fish & Grinnell's Brighton , which left New York as Captain Champlin began his return trip from London on July 1, was also captained by a Connecticut River skipper, Captain William S. Sebor. The ships that sailed from South Street piers in the first half of the century were often built in Connecticut River yards, using that admirable white pasture oak you can find still sheltering cattle on hot days along the banks of quiet backwaters like Selden's Creek and Salmon River today. The Black X continued active, latterly as casual traders (steamers having taken over the regular line service) into the late 1870s. John Griswold , the founder, retired in the glory days, in 1854. Henry Champlin quit the sea long before that, in 1840, at age 51 , and used his fortune, won battling Western Ocean gales, to build his home in Essex. He continued to be active in ship management and served as first president of the Essex Savings Bank.2 The River Towns dropped out of the mainstream of ocean commerce as the 19th century progressed. In fact their"role in the Atlantic world became increasingly indirect after the 18th century. Connecticut River ships and sea captains like Champlin sailed from New York . But the cultural and economic heritage of shipping was not lost. The ship was not only the connective thing in American society of the 17-19th centuries, it was the most elaborate, capital-intensive thing. The shipping economy brought a diverse, resourceful culture into being,3 and its accumulated skills and capital (in idea as well as money) sustain a variegated and vigorous economy in the region to this day.

2 " Connecticut

River Master Mariners; A Brief Record of some of the Blue Water Shipmasters of the Connecticut River," by Thomas A. Stevens (Connecticut River Foundation , Essex CT 06426, 1979). This and other regional studies available from the Foundation give a closein view of the wide-ranging contributions of Connecticut Ri ver ships and people.

3The

Connecticut Historical Society's Bulletin for January 1981 ca rries a fascinating account, " Traces of the Shipyard Workers: Shipbuilding in the Connecticut Valley, 1800-1850," by John V. Goff, which gives an idea of how shipbuilding fed into other acti vities.

Main Street, Essex in 1881, shown in one of the bird's-eye views so popular in the later 19th century, is very much oriented toward the river which runs by its foot. Just south of where the street plunges into the water stands Hayden's lumber pier, and just in from the pier, the shipbuilder Uriah Hayden's home, which also served as a ta vern, and which in 1904 became the Dauntless Club. Amelia Hayden grew up here, until her marriage in 1815.

SEA HISTDRY, SUMMER 1985

The cocky schooner James Phelps, newly launched on a calm spring day in llflO from David Mack's ways in Middle Cove, was the last major commercial sailing ship built in Essex-a town that is estimated to have sent some 500 ships to sea in the first two-and-a-half centuries of settlement. The town, seen in the background, mother of ships and seamen, looks much the same today-but how one would like to board that schooner!

II

i1

The schooner William A. Vail awaits launching from her builder Eli Denison's backyard in Deep River. It's early spring in 1866. The heyday of the River Towns in deepwater trades is over, but the schooner trade continues to New York and other ports along the coast.

James Stevens, founder of the River Museum in Essex, a few miles downstream , was born in Denison's house, at left. For his ancestors, the river was a roadway leading to the world's four corners. Across the main ship channel is the curved shape of Eustacia Island, and south about ten miles lies Long Island Sound and beyond that the open sea.

Wethersfield, just south of Hartford, a warehouse survives from the early river trades. This one, built sometime before 1770, once stood on the river but now is on a river cove, the river having shifted its bed.

Settled from Boston, Wethersfield, like all the River Towns, depended on the river for sustenance, and for connection with the outside world.

At

12

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

Three Centuries of Connecticut River Shipping

by Brenda Milkofsky, Director The Connecticut River Foundation This year marks the 350th anniversary of the settlement of several of the towns that dot the banks of the Connecticut River. 1 The 410 mile long river is the largest in New England and has long nourished the four states through which it passes on its way to Long Island Sound. To the east one may reach blue water by way of Block Island Sound. To the west lies Long Island Sound and New York Harbor. These water connections sustained the early settlements and provided the link between Connecticut maritime activities and those of the great port of New York.

It was from Manhattan Island that Adriaen Block sailed in 1614 i.n his forty foot American built "yacht," Onrust or Restless. He discovered " the mouth of a large river that was running up northerly into the land." He records that the entrance was shallow and not far from the mouth the water was running fresh. He called it Vesche Rivier (Fresh River) , the name by which it was known until the Dutch traders were supplanted by English settlers. The Indians living along the river called it Quinnetukut (the long tidal river) , which the English settlers at once adopted .

The first English settlements of the Connecticut River were made between 1633 and 1636 at Windsor, Wethersfield , Hartford (the State capital), Springfield in present-day Massachusetts, and Saybrook at the river's mouth. These early towns clung to the banks where the river reduced the friction of distance between settlements. Land travel was difficult and the colonists quickly built small sailing craft of native timber. The first river trade was on the sixty miles between Saybrook at the mouth and Enfield Falls, to the north of Hartford , but soon small vessels were navigating beyond that, north of Springfield. Keel boats , flatboats and rafts carried ships stores needed for lower river shipyards to trade depots at Windsor Locks, Warehouse Point and Springfield where the William Pynchon family had built warehouses.

Shipbuilding commenced soon after the first settlements were underway, and in 1642 the General Court ordereci that hemp seed should be sown "for the better furnishing of the River with cordage toward the rigging of ships."

The first vessel of any consequence was the Tryall built by Thomas Deming in 1647-48 at Wethersfield. Tryall and the other early vessels were built as West Indies traders with an eye toward developing a market for New England's lumber products, such as barrel staves, in return for much needed cotton.

In a very short time, sugar and molasses which could be turned into "demon rum" became the medium of exchange, and horses and food stuffs joined the list of Valley exports. The coasting trade developed in the 18th century and Valley vessels carried local produce to Boston, Philadelphia and New York in return for exotic articles and imported manufactures. The farmers who inhabited the alluvial reaches of the river depended on the shipwright and the master to convert his produce to specie. Indeed, the farmer was often the shipbuilder and the owner was, more often than not, the shipmaster.

In a remarkable record of longevity and adaptation, the Connecticut Valley ship carpenter turned out some 1,000 squarerigged vessels between these early beginnings and 1930 when the last yard on the river launched a final barge. (The whole History is not all that neat ; the actual dates are: Windsor, 1633 ; Wethersfield , 1634; Saybrook, 1635; Hartford, 1636.

2The tidal current rarely flows upstream beyond Middletown , 2h the way to Hartford , although Governor Baldwin notes a flood current once in Hartford (see page 45) .

1

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

period of colonial shipbuilding which could have been verified through custom house records was lost when Benedict Arnold burned the New London Customs House during the American Revolution.) With an ample supply of local timber, convenient water-power from the many tributaries (25 major) , and a gently sloping riverbank , some forty-five yards operated out of fifteen small towns and villages that dot the waterway.

The Connecticut River is long and wide but shallow. It has shifting sandbars, a tide as far north as Hartford 2 (57 nautical miles upstream), and it freezes in the winter and floods each spring. It is a wonder that the industry flourished. National foreign policy, the domestic monetary supply, wars and rebellions reached the Connecticut River Valley in a direct way and brought prosperity and panic alike to these shipbuilding entrepreneurs.

By the time of the American Revolution , shipbuilding had come into its own. Like all other coastal colonies, Connecticut immediately fitted out several vessels for a State Navy. As the war progressed over 200 vessels were commissioned as privateers; eighty-six of these were from the River towns.

The State authorized the building of a warship in January of 1776 and chose the shipyard of Uriah Hayden , in the present town of Essex , to build a 300 ton armed vessel. The Oliver Cromwell carried 24 guns and was launched in June of 1776, just before the Declaration oflndependence was signed. Under Captain Seth Harding and with a crew of 150 men, the ship began cruising in June 1777. Soon Harding brought in the first prize, the brig Honour, with a cargo valued at over ÂŁ10,000.

During the next two years eight more British ships were taken .

Luck finally ran out in June 1779 when three British ships attacked the Cromwell off Sandy Hook. After a fierce two-hour battle, Harding's successor, Captain Timothy Parker, surrendered his battered ship.

In 1777 the ship Trumbull was built for the Continental Navy in the Bush yard just north of the Middletown highway bridge across the river. One of thirteen large frigates ordered by the Congress, the 700 ton ship was built by John Cotton, Jr. Although a chart of the mouth of the river had been rendered by Capt. Abner Parker in 1771 which showed that no vessel drawing more than nine feet at high tide could penetrate the River, Trumbull had a ten and one half foot draft. Unable to pass over Saybrook Bar at the mouth of the river, the vessel was stripped of her spars and hidden in the Salmon River. Trumbull eventually passed over the Bar three years later on August 11, 1779, her draft reduced by a "necklace" of air filled barrels. In June of 1780 under the command of Dudley Saltonstall of New London ,. the Trumbull took part in a bloody three-hour battle with the British privateer, which ended with both ships helpless from damage. Some time later Trumbull, disabled by a storm , was forced to surrender by two British men-of-war.

Another vessel named Trumbull has also found its place in history. Captain Job Winslow of East Haddam and 25 shipyard workers answered Gen. Washington's call to aid Arnold, Schuyler and Gates in building a fleet of galleys on Lake Champlain . In 1954 the remains of one of those galleys, the Trumbull, named for Connecticut's Revolutionary War governor, was raised from the Lake bottom and displayed for a time at Fort Ticonderoga.

David Bushnell of West Saybrook (today's Westbrook) brought Yankee ingenuity to a different type of craft during the Revolution. During his undergraduate years at Yale, Bushnell experimented with underwater detonaters. Having created a 13

'ÂĽ1 '/],. s ..1'?l~ori.tn.. ~,~

'"

The saucy brig Cleopatra , Essex-built in 1'795, is typical of the Mediterranean traders of her day. Before the 18th century ended, however, the River Towns felt the squeeze put on their maritime traffics by the shoals across the river-mouth , shown below in a chart of 1771.

I

It;, &u11.1r

â&#x20AC;˘

14

bomb that would blow up underwater, Bushnell invented the submarine to deliver the powder-filled keg. The American Turtle, as he named his creation, was completed during 1775-76 at Sill's Point (now Ayers Point) on the Connecticut River in Saybrook. There the first trials were made, and when completed the submarine was taken to New York for its imperfect attack on the flagship of the British fleet . Although his attempt failed , his accomplishment in getting alongside the British ship underwater made its mark on naval history.

Connecticut Valley shipbuilders had established reputations for themselves during the course of the war although recovery from the postwar depression was slow. The peace treaty had closed British West Indies ports to American trade; nevertheless , an ever increasing business commenced with the Barbadoes, Cuba , and the French island of San Domingo.

For the next fifty years there were several hundred vessels from the Connecticut Valley engaged in this flourishing Caribbean trade, which was interrupted only by the embargo and War of 1812.

Outward bound these vessels often carried as many as 70 head of horses and cattle, with sheep, pigs and poultry. One puncheon of water (llO gallons) , one bundle of hay (500 pounds) and ten bushels of oats was the allowance carried for each head of stock . In addition to livestock , pipe staves, clapboards and tar were carried in great quantities from the Connecticut River Towns. Prior to the Revolution , a large export had begun in pickled fish , and upriver towns were sending out bricks in addition to flour, bread, beef, pork, onions, soap, leather and various lumber products.

This foreign commerce together with shipbuilding had so increased by 1795 that a US Customs House was established at Middletown. By 1800 the commerce of the River Towns exceeded that of the other three districts at Bridgeport, New Haven and New London .

By 1800 shipbuilding on the Connecticut River had become one of the State's most important industries. At the same time, towns along the Sound were building vessels not only for their own use, but for sale in other ports. New York was fast becoming the most important East Coast port and Connecticut was building many of its vessels. This New York connection was only the forerunner of the migration of Connecticut men to the port as masters, merchants and operators of shipping lines.

The first London Line, the Mobile Line and Galveston Line were originated and operated by Connecticut Valley men in New York. In the trans-Atlantic field , John Griswold of Old Lyme pioneered the London Line that bore his name and later his Black X house flag. Nathaniel and George Griswold , cousins of John and also from Old Lyme, began as brokers for River-built vessels and eventually carried their blue and white checkered flag into the Pacific to become leaders in the Canton trade. Samuel Russell of Middletown became the largest importer of china trade goods through the Russell & Co. firm.

Valley investors took their share of the cotton ports with lines to Mobile, New Orleans, Alpalachicola and Savannah.

The shipbuilders who owned and operated yards along the Connecticut River were often major shareholders and masters who took their completed vessels to New York or other ports for sale or on specific order. They often operated another business in tandam. Sometimes it was related industry such as a ropewalk or sawmill, or it might be a distillery or chandlery.

The Champions and Brockways operated the nearby ferry and all yards did a continued business in ship repair. Ship shares were prime investments and the prosperity of the industry trickled down to block and spar makers, shipsmiths, timber suppliers, joiners and gangs of caulkers.

SEA HISlORY, SUMMER 1985

~.

In 1867 the Deep River waterfront accommodates a big schooner-the day of the much bigger multi-mast schooners has not yet begun-and a handsome bark. Such vessels, framed up in Connecticut pasture oak, were a more rewarding product of the fields and of men's labor than the crops that could be got out of the stony soil.

Shipyards to the north of Hartford , but below Enfield Falls, built several vessels over one hundred tons. East Windsor, fourteen miles south of Springfield, turned out one vessel a year through 1816; the largest was the 357 ton Amphion, built

by Abner Norcott in 1804.

Hartford was the financial center of the Valley where seventy houses dealt in West Indies goods. A bridge was built across the Connecticut River at Hartford in 1810. Originally uncovered and built with a draw, it effectively cut off those upper river yards from continuing in shipbuilding. The bridge gave farmers and merchants on the western bank access to the port of New London when the Connecticut froze or was impassable due to ice. (The first bridge carried away in a freshet in 1818 and the second one was covered and lasted until 1895.)

In 1800 the Union Company was chartered to improve the river by removing bars at Hartford , Wethersfield and Glastonbury, and maintaining a channel between seven and nine feet in depth. Tolls were based on vessel draft and a chain was stretched across the channel opening to prevent masters from rushing the channel to avoid tolls. The Union Company continued in business for its full charter period of sixty years .

Saybrook Light at Lynde Point was built in 1803, but the rest of the river did not have lights until 1856.

The city of Hartford built two important ships for the European packet trade. Sylvie DeGrasse was built by D&H Burgess for the Havre Line in 1834. Named for the wife of the line owner, Francis DePau and the daughter of Admiral DeGrasse, the vessel was 641 tons. After fourteen years on the grueling New York-Havre Atlantic run , it was sold to West Coast interests and in 1841 rounded the Horn. The ship was subsequently wrecked in the mouth of the Columbia River loaded with lumber destined for the booming new town of San Francisco in the early days of the Gold Rush. The Normandie was also built at Hartford for the Atlantic service. At 500 tons it was reported to have "the cabin in cream color, polished and ornamented in gold." Built in 1833 by Luther Smith, Normandie went missing on a midwinter passage from Liverpool to New York in December, 1844.

The town of Wethersfield is some forty miles from salt water and yet its merchants and mariners dominate the early years of navigation on the river. More than one hundred-fifty vessels were built here including many privateers for the wars in 1776 and 1812. Many of these ships and brigs were destined for the European trade and those of the Wine Islands. The brig Commerce is perhaps best known . When the brig was wrecked on the African coast , Capt. Riley and his crew were enslaved by wandering Arab tribes. Riley's story of his bondage was widely read in America and Europe.

Luther Smith, who built the Normandie , later removed to Middletown where he built the Desdemona. Three yards remained active in the seat of the customs district through 1847.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

ll'tsl t'iuc uf l~a o l Jla.!dom J, wulin;;.

Fast Haddam in 1836 shows a landscape long settled and humanized, but the drain of the farming population to the Midwest has begun.

Below, the warship Cayuga, built in 1861 far upriver at Portland, (where the frigate Trumbull had been built nearly a century earlier, in 1776, for another war), led in the Civil War Battle of New Orleans.

As we descend the river geographically, we come to those yards dominated by families or individuals that were able to stay the decline in the shipbuilding industry.

James Kelly Child built vessels at Haddam, among them the Emulation for N.L.& G.G. Griswold (the brothers known in New York shipping circles as "No Loss and Great Gain" Griswold) . It was not uncommon for four vessels to be registered within a year from this town. Most of the vessels were sold to New York buyers. Seven whalers were built, mostly for Nantucket firms. Thomas Child, brother of James Kelley Child , established himself across the river in Middle Haddam.

Child and Eleazer Tallman built for themselves, for the Griswolds, and for Jessie Hurd. The ships Panama and Niantic were both built by Child for sales to the Griswolds for use in 15

Parmelee's warehouse on Steamboat Dock, built in 18'78, has always been a center of activity, as it is here perhaps three quarters of a century ago. Raymond Baldwin remembers seeing elephant tusks stored here. Today this building houses the River Museum.

the China trade and ended up as gold rush ships. Panama was used as a supply house and finally as a church mission-the hold being fitted with chairs and a hole cut in the hull as a door.

The keel of the Niantic was found under the Niantic building in San Francisco a few years ago-several blocks from the nearest water.

The Gildersleeve family of Gildersleeve, today Portland , dominates shipbuilding on the river during the middle and end of the nineteenth century. The yard built the USS Connecticut in 17fJ"7, but it was Sylvester Gildersleeve who established the reputation of the yard that was to last through 1932. The nearby brownstone quarries required sloops and schooners to carry the stone to New York , Boston , Philadelphia and ports to the west. Contracts from quarry operators were a mainstay of the local industry for one hundred years. In 1836 Gildersleeve built the 96 ton schooner William Bryan for the Hendley brothers of Middletown. Joseph and William Hendley pioneered the New York to Galveston Line and over the years Gildersleeve built the Star Republic, Lone Star, Stephen F Austin, and in 1859 the 900 ton bark, J.C. Kuhn.

In 1861 the firm contracted with the government to build the steam gunboat Cayuga, that led the van in the taking of New Orleans. Thereafter the steamships United States, and City of Dallas were built for C.D. Mallory. The S. Gildersleeve was burned by the Confederate raider Alabama, while on a voyage to China. The firm built tow barges during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and participated in the last surge of wooden shipbuilding during World War I, when two 3,000-ton steamers were built to meet the shipping crisis. The river was dredged to a depth of fifteen feet from Portland to Saybrook to get them out of the river.

In East Haddam , William Goodspeed also built a steam gunboat for the Civil War effort, the Kanawa. A founder of the Connecticut River steamboat line, Goodspeed built the little steamers Mary Benton, Silver Star and Sunshine, the latter two favorite day boats on the river.

At Essex , with her many coves, as many as eight shipyards flourished and the same kinds of commercial combinations that permitted the mid-river yards to flourish existed here as 16

well. Several Essex masters were part owners in E.D. Hurlburt's Mobile Line, and the Tuskina was built here by Richard Hill and the Hector by Noah Starkey. Nehemiah Hayden began building in 1839. His Orphan carried troops to Vera Cruz during the Mexican War. His ship Connecticut began as a Havre packet, then served in the Antwerp Line, and finally the cotton-emigrant trade. Hayden went on to build the largest sailing vessel ever built on the river; the Middlesex was 1,400 tons and had a depth of 27 feet. It was stuck on Saybrook Bar for three weeks.

In addition, many schooners were built at Essex for the revived coastal trade in the 1860s as well as several "brownstoners''. The industry ended in 1870 with the launching of the James Phelps from David Mack's Middle Cove yard. In all, over 500 vessels were built at Essex.

Shipbuilding lasted a bit longer across the river in the Lymes. Henry T. Comstock launched the three masted schooner Grace Seymour in 1888. Over the years about 300 vessels had been built in four Lyme yards. From the Brockway yard near the ferry landing the brig Gen. Scott journeyed to the Antarctic in the sealing trade.

Old Saybrook and Chester had yards that produced a variety of vessels during the early part of the nineteenth century. Deep River was productive through the Civil War. Two 500 ton barks were built in Eli Denison's yard, but the industry ended here in 1866 with the launching of the William 11iil.

Steamboats had plied the river alongside the sailing vessels since 1814 and it was not until the railroads took over traditional markets after the Civil War that the shipbuilding industry gave out. Steam tow boats had been employed on the river since the 1820s and served to help coasters keep to their schedules by towing up and down the river. The end of the cargo carrying sailers came with the employment of coal scows and their steam tugs . The construction of fixed bridges on the Connecticut River brought a final end to sailing cargo carriers.

Today more tonnage than ever is carried on the river; all of it in liquid fuel bound for tank farms at Portland and Hartford.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

THE RIVER MUSEUM ESSEX, CT Come and visit the Connecticut River's great little Museum Open Tuesday thru Sunday 10AM-5PM Season April 1-December 31, 1985 For more Information Call: 203-767-8269

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SEA HIS1DRY, SUMMER 1985

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ESSEX BOATWORKS THE COMMUNITY'S COMPLETE BOOKSHOP Current Fiction I Non-Fiction Children's Books and Records Art Cards Old & Rare Books Classical Records I Tapes Books on New England I Antiques Special and Mail Orders Welcome

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The traditions of craftsmanship in sailmaking are quickly disappearing under the pressure of the same technology that brings us the disposable boat. Not so at Clark Sailmakers. We continue to hand sew sails for boats both old and new, large and small. Our specifications and the quality of their execution are unsurpassed in the sailmaking world today.

If you care enough about your yacht to think about keeping her awhile, you'll respect the integrity of our work. Call or write for our illustrated literature, and the real truth about sailmaking yesterday, today and tomorrow.

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18

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

The River Museum is housed in Steamboat Dock , which is shown here in a painting by Richard Brooks. The City of Hartford , 814 tonsidewheelero/279 feet , with roomfor 900 passengers, made the Hartford to New York run for 34 years. from 1852 to 1886, when she stranded off Rye. Signed Limited Edition prints are available from the Foundation for $75 (remarqued $150) for the benefit of the Connecticut River Foundation, PO. Box 261, Essex CT 06426

THE RlvER MUSEUM: a humane interpretation

of Connecticut River history The Connecticut River Foundation at Steamboat Dock in Essex, Connecticut maintains a River Museum and research library at the old steamboat landing at the foot of the village's Main Street. The membership-based Foundation, founded in 1974, spent its first seven years restoring two historic waterfront buildings and is now open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm from April 1 through December 31. The River Museum in the steamboat warehouse was built in 1878 by William H .

Parmelee as a terminal for lower valley cargo and as a passenger waiting room .

The Museum has two floors of exhibits devoted to the history of the River and its people.

A special exhibit currently features Indian life on the River, based on recent archaeological projects. Other exhibits cover the European discovery of the River, and the development of shipbuilding and seaborne trade. Yankee grit and ingenuity are celebrated in the Foundation's full-size, working reproduction of the first submarine, American Turtle.

Built in Old Saybrook in 1775 for the American Revolution by David Bushnell, the vessel was the first true submarine armed for underwater attack.

The reproduction was built for the American Revolution Bicentennial by Fred Frese of East Haddam and Joseph Leary, a New Haven journalist.

The Museum's permanent exhibits cover River Valley shipbuilding, the coastwise trade, blue-water masters, and river watermen. There are paintings, models, prints, maps and photographs and objects related to various aspects of the River's rich and continuing history.

The research library, housed in an 1813 chandlery, contains the collection of

Thomas A. Stevens of Deep River who died in 1982 and was the Museum's spiritual father. The library is open two days a week on Tuesdays and Fridays or by appointment, for research purposes.

Two thousand volumes on maritime, naval, Connecticut and local history reflect a 50-year collecting effort by Mr. Stevens. An archivist is currently processing the extensive document and manuscript collection which includes logs and journals of Connecticut River ships and sea captains.

A winter lecture series, river cruises, schooner races and parades, and other water-related events sponsored by the Foundation bring life and variety to the historic waterfront. Docking is available to members and the public can enjoy watching the activity in this colorful yachting port from the waterside park on the Foundation's property. The scene is one of great natural beauty, and exhibits , buildings and grounds reflect a deeply caring and very competent curatorial effort.

A small museum shop offers books and prints, and a surprising range of excellent small publications issued by the Foundation, which also gets out a lively newsletter to its growing membership. For further information: Foundation , PO Box 261, Foot of Main Street, Essex , Connecticut 06426. Telephone: 203 767-8269. J,

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YES-you are needed! An informed citizenry is the surest defense of a democracy, and in the Navy League we invite you to become informed about naval affairs and to participate. The New York Council of the Navy League offers : • Regular monthly luncheon meetings with service leaders, who give you their views- and ask yours!

• Tours of visiting ships that come to New York Harbor.

• Out-of-town trips to naval installations, schools, aircraft and ship bases, to keep up with today 's Navy.

• Subscription to the nationally renowned magazine Sea Power, where you'll be kept in touch with the people and developments shaping tomorrow's Navy.

It's easy to learn more about the New York Council and its programs. Just drop a line to: Mr. Austin Volk President, New York Council,

NAVY LEAGUE of the UNITED STATES '37 West 44th Street New York, New York 10036 PS: Our recruiter is from a World War I poster. Please remember to say that she sent you.

A

SAIL TRAINING

\;I The Nation Welcomes the Danmark

by Jean Schertler Very early Friday morning, April 19, the full-rigged ship Danmark left Quantico, Virginia , under full sail on its way to Washington. Taking the salute at Fort Washington , she picked up four sailing ships as escort: the Mystic Clipper, a topsail schooner out of Mystic, Connecticut, the Alexandria (formerly the Lindo) a Baltic schooner representing the Alexandria Seaport Foundation , the ~ste rn Union, a schooner representing Visionquest (a youth training program) , and the Dove , a replica of the vessel which brought the first settlers to Maryland. The District of Columbia fireboat and many other small yachts joined the parade up the river Potomac.

The Danmark was, in a special sense, corning home. For three and a half years , from February 1942 through September 1945, she had trained young sailors under the American flag- an estimated 5,000 of them. In April 1940, her Captain , Knud Hansen , and his crew had learned that the German Wehrmacht had overrun Denmark . The ship decided to continue her

I

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A proud Captain Vi/h elm Hansen looks on as the young crew scurries into the rigging.

What it 's all about: the young cadets aloft stowing sail.

22

The full rigged ship Danmark, often reckoned the most beautiful and surely one of the hardestsailed of the tall ships, comes into the Potomac to visit UUshington on the 45th anniversary of her coming under US protection during World War II. Photos, Michael Maslow.

career, in American waters, rather than return to her occupied homeland . She was commissioned into service under the American flag following American entry into the war a year and a half later. Some 60 percent of her graduates were commissioned as officers in the US Navy and Coast Guard . The ship's own cadets also went to war, and fourteen of them were lost and did not return with the ship to Denmark in 1945. Among the US graduates were Admiral James S. Gracey, Commandant of the Coast Guard , and his predecessor as commandant, Admiral O.W. Siler. In all , it's estimated some 200 graduates turned up for reunion aboard the ship in Washington. Among the distinguished guests was George Shultz , Secretary of State.

The ship, owned by the Danish government, was designed by Aage Larsen and built in Nakskov Shipyard in 1933. It is a three-masted , full-rigged , steel-hulled ship with an auxiliary diesel engine. The length from flying jibboom to spanker boom is 250 feet. The width is 33 feet and the main truck is 130 feet above the water.

The Danmark has been used as a schoolship since its launching in 1933, thereby continuing a Danish tradition of sail training more than 300 years old. At one time, Danish law required that all ship's officers receive part of their training on board a sailing ship. While this is no longer true, it is still considered superior to any other type of training for boys who are planning a career at sea.

The complete saga of the Danmark over the past 50 years lies primarily in the stories of two captains named Hansen .

The first, Knud Hansen, joined the ship in 1935, became Captain in 1937 and served in the capacity until 1964. The

second , Vilhelm Hansen , took command in 1964, and has officially been the Captain from 1965 until today. Since 1968, there have been relief captains for short periods of time, but Vilhelm Hansen is "the" Captain.

Perhaps their Viking inheritance explains their excellence as sea captains, but only men of unique character and personality could have endured so long as captains of a schoolship as did these men.

Teachers deal with adolescents over and over, year after year, but not on the high seas in gale force winds or deadly calm.

Helping a kid do his homework is a challenge, but helping him deal with being homesick and seasick as well would put many teachers and most fathers in straitjackets.

The life of Knud Hansen is told in the book he wrote with Knud Andersen , The Schoo/ship Danmark under the Dannebrog and the Stars and Stripes,* first published in Danish in 1947 and recently translated into English by Suzanne MacMurry Ko. Knud Hansen was born in 1901 in Svendborg into a family of seafaring men . He went to sea at 14, a child among men, and spent World War I in constant danger from German submarines.

He served on various vessels until 1935 when he became first mate on the Danmark. On the day that Knud Hansen joined the ship there was already on board an 18-year old cadet named Vilhelm Hansen . So, in fact , the second Captain Hansen was associated with the schoolship before the first. Such is the romantic stuff of which nonfiction is made.

In 1939, Captain Hansen, his first mate Knud Langevad, his crew and 120 cadets set sail from Denmark bound for the New York World's Fair. Captain Hansen left behind his wife and 9-year old daughter.

He, his men and the boys were not to see Denmark again for six years, some of them never.

In 1940, while in port in Jacksonville, Florida preparing for the return trip to Denmark , Captain Hansen received word that his country had been occupied by Germany. Captain and crew had no thought of going back. The Danmark was given refuge by the US Coast Guard station in Jacksonville where it remained until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Immediately thereafter, Captain Hansen offered the services of his ship, his men and himself to the US Government. The ship proceeded to the Coast Guard Academy at New London , Connecticut and began a year-round training program.

Seven of the men were transferred to the schooner Al/antic as teachers and instructors . The rest stayed aboard the Danmark SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

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Report of the American Sail Training Assn.,

to train young Americans from all over this country.

In 1964, while the ship was in New York, Captain Knud Hansen suffered a coronary attack . He turned over the command of his beloved ship to the first mate, Vilhelm Hansen. Knud Hansen retired to his home outside Copenhagen . He died in 1970.

The second Captain Hansen took command of the Danmark in 1964 and officially became Captain in 1965. Vilhelm Hansen was born in 1917 in Gedser on the island of Falster. His father was a railway engineer who wanted him to become an artist. However, Vilhelm wanted to go to sea, and go to sea he did. He served on the Georg Stage, another training ship, for 25 years before becoming first mate on the Danmark. His own painting of the Georg Stage hangs in his cabin on the Danmark as evidence that he did not escape his artistic talent.

For the past 20 years, with Captain Hansen at the helm , the Danmark has continued to operate as a schoolship.

Every year she sails from Copenhagen with about 80 young cadets. This tour ends in December when another contingent of cadets arrives to meet the ship in Italy. After cadet orientation for the new group, the ship sails from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, visits several islands and then stops at one or two ports in the United States.

Captain Vilhelm Hansen and his wife Elly have a home in Holte, a suburb of Copenhagen, and they are the parents of two grown sons. This is no melancholy Dane, no weather-beaten old man of the sea . Captain Hansen combines the sensitivity of an artist and the practicality of a sailor in a warm, gregarious and magnetic personality. His wide smile and contagious, slightly guttural laugh reflect his wonderful sense of humor. His smooth skin belies his years; he looks more like 57 than 67. Over the years, he has gained the respect of countless officers, crew and cadets, but beyond that, he has gained the respect of the other Tall Ships' Captains.

These men from many different countries seem to see in him a genuinely special man . If there were a Dean of Tall Ships Captains, it would be Vilhelm Hansen . As Washington welcomed the Danmark on the 45th anniversary of her service to the Stars and Stripes Captain Vilhelm Hansen was celebrating his 20th anniversary as her captain.

* 7he Schoo/ship Danmark under the Dannebrog and the Stars and Stripes, by Knud Hansen as told to Knud Andersen, trans. Suzanne MacMurray Ko (Nordic Books, PO Box 1941, Philadelphia PA 19105, 1985. 240pp, 40 illus, $15.95).

SEA HIS'IDRY, SUMMER 1985

Newport Harbor Center, 365 Thames St., Newport, RI 02840

ASTA's 1985 REGIONAL RACES

by Kirsten Mann The American Sail Training Association invites interested owners to enter their vessels in the regional sail training races, organized and run for the benefit of youth and those who love the sea . The races are designed to promote sail training as an educational and character-building experience, bring together sail training vessels in a spirit of friendship and good will, and to educate our young people in the values of our mutual maritime heritage. Over the years, a close-knit " family " has developed among those involved in sail training, and the esprit de corps which it produces spreads rapidly to newcomers!

This summer's program will consist of two weeks of competition, one in the Chesapeake Bay area and the other in New England waters , as shown below.

Schedule of Regional Races-1985 Chesapeake Bay 14-16 June At Alexandria, Virginia 17 June Cruise-in-company: Alexandria to Dahlgren VA 18 June Race I: Dahlgren to St. Mary's MD 19-2 1 June Race 2: St. Mary's to Norfolk Capes.

21-23 June At Norfolk, Virginia.

New England 29-30 June At Mystic, Connecticut I Jul y Race I: Mystic to Newport RI. 2 July Race 2: Newport to Marion MA. 3-4 July Race 3: Marion to Portsmouth NH. 4-5 July At Portsmouth , New Hampshire.

Among those expected to participate in the program are such traditional vessels as

Alexandria, Behemoth, Bill ofRights, Brilliant, Dayspring, Defiance, Dove, Fearless, Gaze/a of Philadephia, Glo-Bird, Golden &gle, Herandis, Mabel Stevens, Norfolk Rebel, Northstar, Providence, Renaissance, Voyager, Richard Robbins, and !#stem Union-as well as representatives from the Coast Guard Academy and the Naval Academy.

All sail training races are open to monohull yachts and commercial vessels with a minimum 24ft waterline length . The only requirement is that each vessel be crewed by at least 50 % young people ages 15-26.

Safety equipment and rules are similar to ORC regulations. A unique rating formula gives not only ocean racers, but also family yachts, an equal opportunity in the competition.

STA and ASTA Announces 1986 Plans

by George Crowninshield Executive Director, ASTA Preparations are under way for major international races in 1986. The Sail Training

Association will sponsor a European series which will depart from Newcastle, England on Saturday, July 19, and stop at Bremerhaven July 24-27 to participate in the muchanticipated festival to windjammers which wi ll also include a cruise in company, with a second race to fin ish at Gothenburg on August JO. ASTA is pleased to announce a major International Sail Training Race series in the Pacific in 1986, which will include ports in Hawaii , British Columbia, Oregon , and California , as shown below :

Schedule of Pacific International Sail Training Races 1986 25 June '86 Ships assemb le in Hawai i.

29 June Depart Hawaii , start Race I. 23 July Race l finish es at ent rance to Straits of Juan de Fuca.

25 July Ships anchor in English Bay, Vancouver, fireworks and illumination.

Parade of sail into Vancouver 26 July Harbor.

31 July Parade of sai l out of harbor.

2 August Start Race 2. ~August Race 2 finishes at mouth of Columbia River; ships proceed upriver to Portland.

6 August Arrive Portland.

II August Leave Portland , proceed downriver.

12 August Start Race 3.

19 August Finish Race 3.

20 August Enter San Francisco.

25 August Depart San Francisco.

Operation Sail-1986 A major gathering of sail training ships will take place July 3-8, 1986, in New York Harbor, in honor of the lOOth birthday of the Statue of Liberty. Although not a program of the Sail Training Association or American Sail Training Association , this significant rendezvous will provide an opportunity to see Tall Ships pass in review and meet their young trainees from the seafaring nations of the world . '11

1985 DIRECTORY Hot off the press is ASTA's 1985 Edition of the Directory of Sail Training Ships and Programs, which gives a comprehensive listing of over 150 Western Hemisphere ships, with close-ups on many. Also included is an overview of European and Asian square-riggers and sail training programs. Edited by Ms . Nancy Richardson, this valuable resource book is available at a cost of $5.00, which includes postage and handling. Writeincluding prepayment-to ASTA, 365 Thames Street , Newport , RI 02840.

23

Sailing with the Last Sailors: Part II

by Neil Hollander & Harald Mertes Along the coast of Sri Lanka the sails of the smaller craft are rectangular, roughly the same shape as a sarong. Legend has it that long ago a fisherman in a dugout canoe was caught in a storm and blown out to sea. He paddled desperately to return, but the wind and waves overpowered him. When the seas calmed and the sun came out, he hung his sarong between two paddles to dry.

Suddenly the wind caught the cloth , and as he was blown back to shore, the fisherman discovered that a sail could drive his craft faster than any man could ever hope to row or paddle.

Sri Lanka fishermen still go to sea in dugout canoes called oruwas, but today's version has washboards and an outrigger which make the craft more seaworthy. Small fleets of oruwas traw 1offshore for prawns or venture far out to sea to troll for seerfish, a member of the mackerel family, whose tasty flesh always brings a high price in the market.

One of the most remarkable features of the oruwa is its method of construction. Except for half a dozen brass bolts used as thwarts, the various pieces of the craft are either sewn or lashed together. In the lagoon of Negombo we watched a Sri Lankan shipwright literally thread a needle and , stitch by stitch, asThe oruwa's outrigger gives the dugout stability and is also used to set semble his boat. To join the parts of the hull , holes are drilled the fishermen's nets. along the edges, and the pieces sewn together by a simple crossstitch . The bow and stern projections are also sewn on, and the outrigger lashed with coir rope.

Why are oruwas still being sewn today? The shipwright's reply was echoed by those of the fishermen with whom we sailed .

Somewhere out at sea, they all said, is a giant magnet. Any ship that sails over it will have its fastenings pulled apart and its iron nails sucked from their holes . As proof they pointed out the obvious: steel ships sink and wooden oruwas don't.

In any case, the practice of sewing ships together is an old one.

The Pharaonic craft of ancient Egypt were sewn as were the dhows of the Arabian Gulf. Precisely where and how the method began is a mystery, but the oruwa is one of the last survivors.

*

The jaunty lines and long bowsprit of the Buganese pinisi give them a racey look.

24

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The Indonesian archipelago is still home to thousands of sailing craft, fishermen and traders who shuttle between the thousands of islands. The most majestic are the pinisi , the Buganese schooners which haul lumber from the forest of Borneo to the markets of Java.

Their route takes them through the Indonesian version of the Bermuda Triangle. A line drawn across the Java Sea from the center of Java to Borneo, on to the Celebes and back to Java forms a fat triangle that is thought to contain giant fish , monsters from the deep and misty fountains of magic and destruction. The tales are legion and passed from ship to ship like some extraterrestrial currency. We heard the same yarns many times: schooners that suddenly vanish on a calm sea, catch fire during rainstorms, or are attacked by fantastic beasts.

According to the Indonesian sailors we met , magic can come from anywhere: sky, sea or land . Sometimes it arrives with a storm and alights on the masthead , sparkling like stars. Or it can rise from the depths with great brilliance and consume the ship.

Stones, especially those near the sea, are often thought to possess magic and many sailors we met carry one to protect them in time of need . They rub the stone occasionally for luck and when they are ill, it is soaked in a glass of water which is later drunk as medicine.

The most treacherous part of the Java Sea Triangle is said to be near the center, "a sea of wandering rocks and islands." More than likely it is not rocks or islands that wander, but underwater sandbanks that shift endlessly with the current. No chart can plot them , and not even the most experienced captain can predict their location. A course that may be safe on one voyage can be a disaster on the next.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

"Once the sails are set .. .you never turn the bowsprit back towards land. " (Left) Buganese sailors have a reputation for being fearless and intrepid.

Below, left and right, the shampans of Bangladesh.

The pinisi on which we sailed carried no radio, lifeboat or life preservers, and no one was concerned. When fully loaded with lumber, the schooners are almost unsinkable. Wrecked boats have been found drifting like phantoms, their decks under water and the sailors clinging to the rigging.

Despite the dangers, both in fact and in fantasy, Buganese sailors regularly cross the triangle and they leave in their wakes a reputation for being fearless and intrepid . According to one of their proverbs : " Once the sails are set and the steering oar is in place, even ifthe sails are torn and the oar breaks , you never turn the bowsprit back towards land ."

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The exception to the rule-perhaps the only country in the world where working sail continues to thrive-is Bangladesh. It is a nation of sailors, and nearly all of the craft are powered by either sails or oars. Diesel engines and outboard motors are luxuries few can afford, since Bangladesh is one of the poorest, if not the poorest, country in the world . Wind and muscle are among her only resources. At the moment they have little competition, for there are at least ten times as many boats as vehicles. If all the world's oil wells were to dry up tomorrow, people and goods in Bangladesh would still move from place to place just as they always have.

From the air it appears to be a country of islands, clumps of green rice fields wedged between the fingers of the Ganges , the Brahmaputra and the Jamura . These and dozens of other rivers and their tributaries form what is perhaps the most complete system of inland navigation in the world. Rivers flow to and from nearly every corner of the country, and on them are sails by the thousand-like grains of rice across the country's muddy veins.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

Most captains who navigate this labyrinth of waterways have never seen a chart, yet the map they carry in their heads is equally complex. For them the river is its own chart, whose symbols are eddies, currents, color, width and depth , along with the curve of the banks, and the clusters of houses, teashops and palm trees that dot the river's edge. These landmarks indicate the channels, sandbanks and junctions, and tell the captain where to turn , stop and anchor. It is a vast storehouse of knowledge which has never been written down and is passed from father to son.

The crew, on the other hand , is valued for its strength and stamina, not wisdom . Most of them are boatmen because they have no land to till . Working on a riverboat is a job of the last resort . They load and unload the cargo, and when the wind dies or blows in a contrary direction , they man the oars, rowing sometimes hours at a time, in perfect coordination as if flexing a single muscle.

When the Bengalis construct a riverboat they start with a keel plank, then build up the hull strake by strake, binding the boards together by means of flat iron staples or " boatnails" on both the inside and the outside. A large riverboat may require as many as 40,000 staples.

Only when the hull is finished, literally a shell of planking like an empty vessel, will the frames and floors be added, each one tailored to fit. This is, of course, the opposite method from that used in the West where a skeleton of keel and frames is built first , then the planking fastened to it. However logical it may seem to begin with the bones of a boat, working from the skin inwards is without question the older method . Some of man's first boats were built in this fashion, the planking pegged or sewn together.

Frames and floors were added later for reinforcement.

25

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26

India's dhonis can move produce from field to market in less time than a freighter.

In the southern Indian Ocean a fleet of two and three-masted dhonis shuttles between India and Sri Lanka, flying as many as 16 sails in a stiff breeze. Their captains navigate with traditional sea lore instead of charts, and a crew of up to 20 lives before the mast, working in a world of wood and canvas. The dhonis are artifacts of another era , sailing dinosaurs that have somehow missed their date for extinction.

They survive because they are an odd exception, a case where small is efficient and big, costly. Most dhoni cargoes are perishables, sacks of vegetables which must be transported quickly from India to Sri Lanka. A small freighter could take the cargo of several dhonis , but the loading and unloading would take several times as long since it is all done by hand. Thedhonis may be slower at sea , but in terms of elapsed time-from the fields in India to the market in Sri Lanka-they are the fastest possible route.

They are also the safest route. Dhoni captains seldom lose a ship or damage a cargo. As always, insurance premiums follow the statistics, and in this case the result is a curious twist of perspective. Goods travelling by sail are cheaper to insure than those in the hold of a freighter.

Perhaps the most frightening fate that can befall a dhoni is to have a woman come on board. The moment her foot touches the deck it is instant bad luck, a kind of curse that can never be removed . Once a ship has been defiled by a woman's presence, few sailors are willing to work on board.

Yet the entire fleet is owned by women. The boats are used as dowries and passed on, from mother to daughter, a guarantee that when a girl is ready to marry, the dowry will be sufficient to make her attractive. The boat will be managed by her father or husband , but on the ship's papers beside the word "owner" is a woman's name.

We sailed from Colombo, bound for Tuticorin at the tip of India, and after the first few hours at sea we realized the dhoni is a living museum, a chance to sample life on board a windjammer that is still a functional part of the economic system .

Each new caprice of the wind sent the crew into the rigging, for the dhoni is an unruly craft awkward to handle in the best of circumstances. By nature, she is lethargic ; she needs a stiff breeze to set her in motion and once under way strays easily. If she is allowed to wander too far off course it will take the crew a long time to bring her back.

Sails are made from cheap cotton bunting and rip constantly.

Nearly every time the ship comes about , somewhere a seam is torn or frayed . Sewing is the sailor's pre-occupation , a daily chore as regular as washing down the deck or bailing out the bilge. Every sail evolves quickly toward a quilt of patches that falls apart at the touch. A seagoing sisyphus, the dhoni sailor sews an endless seam .

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Elsewhere, working sail nears its end , and we often had the feeling that the notes and pictures we were taki ng would be an epitaph. Wherever he sails-South America, Africa, Asia-the traditional sailor finds himself at the limits of tradition . The tide is running against him. His way of life is in conflict and not even the sea is big enough to keep him afloat. '1 SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

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On April 23, 1838, the wooden-hulled paddle steamer SIRIUS arrived at New York , responsible tor 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.

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Tl

MAST: On the Great Meadows it is early spring. Across the salt bay and beyond North Cove lies the town of Essex with its water tower, the Baptist steeple, Bob Croft's windrnillguesthouse and, close-by, the Coombs. At sun-up Roger Field has trailed his sloop in its homemade cradle-on-wheels to the edge of the Connecticut River. Here his Ford truck backs the sloop under the outstretched arm of an ancient but still-alive alder. Roger unsaddles his tied-down mast from the painted deck, the shrouds and stays tied snugly in place. He makes a line fast just below the spreader, heaves the line over the branch of the tree at the crook and hoists the mast upright and even with the mast step at the cabin housing. Holding the fall he guides the mast with his other arm into the step, shims it solid and cants it to his sailor's eye. He fastens the stays, hooks up the trailer to the truck, backs the trailer down the Pettipaug ramp into the river. When the sloop is afloat he frees the cradle, drops the hook in the stream and drives off to work. In the fall of the year he reverses the process ...against a backdrop of riotous color.

STEPPING THE

28

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

FRED FREEMAN: A distinguished artist and historian casts a loving look at life along the banks of the Connecticut River

by Peter Stanford. Pictures and captions by Fred Freeman Illustrator and designer of a number of naval books, including the Naval lnstitute's histories of destroyer and submarine operations in World War II, and Scribner's classic Picture History of the US. Navy, Fred Freeman has regularly gone to sea on naval exercises in the decades since World War II , and was the first to depict the awesome visage of a nuclear submarine. He comes by this interest honestly, having commanded various small naval craft in the Pacific during World War II , in far ranging missions from the Tasman Sea to the Aleutians.

His far-ranging intere~ts have carried him in spirit into outer space, and his work hangs in the permanent collection of the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) .

For almost a half century (since 1938) he has lived in the quiet River Town of Essex . These pages suggest the depth and range of his interest in the life of the Connecticut River on whose banks he lives .

Freeman is a formidable historian as well as artist, as anyone who has worked with him on historical projects can attest.

He does not rest easy with easy answers -he wants to get to the hard truth of any situation and will move heaven and earth to do so.

One of his projects is to get at the true story of the frigate Trumbull, built upriver during the Revolution, which had a hard time getting over the bar at the river mouth-she was held up for over two years until finally she was floated over with pumped-out barrels. We look forward to his account of his researches into that near-fiasco in a future issue.

Here, Fred Freeman shares with us a

unique, robust and withal gentle view of the life of the River he loves.

* fitting-out * * time* for *the sailor, Springtime, is a time of youthful aspirations and dreams of distant voyaging. Fred Freeman catches all this in his "Stepping the Mast;' which is accompanied by one of his inimitable essays about what's in the picture.

The practical details are all accurate (you can trust this artist-historian for that) , but you'd have to have a heart of stone to miss the feelings moving through this scene.

Now for "Flora and the Walrus ," the splendid scene across the way; right away you know you're in for a yarn, a fable or fairy story on the lines of "Beauty and the Beast." The scene is a boat race become a sea fight, like the "toro bufo" bullfight your editor remembers seeing once in a small port on the north coast of Spain (Ribadeo? I'm not sure) , wherein no blood is shed and the contest collapses at the end in general confusion and laughter. Like everything in Freeman's work, this records something that really happened, but by the time he's through with it reality has been heightened to mythological status. "Did Walrus catch Flora?" he asks. We don't know-the two are forever in the chase, like Keats's youth and maiden on a Grecian urn.

The warmth and intimacy of life in a River Town as Fred and Katie Freeman live it is brought to glowing life in the snowbound "Essex-in the Winter of Seventy-Eight." There is no one mentioned in the essay whose life is not interwoven with the f reemans' from Governor and Ambassador to India Chester Bowles, to local waterman Giff Warner.

FLORA and the WALRUS: The Race : Between these ships, berthed in nearby slips and working the same waters, a spirit of rivalry was bound, sooner or later, to assert itself.. .to germinate and finally to explode in full blast in a race that will not be soon forgotten along the banks of the Connecticut River.

The Uiilrus, owned and operated by contractor Beldon Libby is a lighter pushed along by a powerful CB type outboard at (some say) 20 knots. She builds the finest shoreline structures on the river. From docks to sea-walls to breakwaters there is little heavy work she does not execute superbly. The Uiilrus is macho, slow to maneuver but fast enough on the straightaway, 60 feet in length by 20 foot beam-that dimension holds at the bow, the midsection, and the transom.

Flora on the other hand is pert, she's pretty and she's lithe and almost acrobatic. Built in 1906 as an oyster boat she's now the workboat for the Essex Boat Works and workboat or no she prances. She's very red on top, she embraces an upright piano clawed into her foredeck and amongst her part-time crew she boats a tuba and its player, a guitar and guitarist and other musicians. Her master, Stu Ingersoll plays a ferocious banjo. And they have a Whitehall tender which the whole band crowds into to serenade the fleet.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

CAPTAIN WILLArM COIT TROD THESE COBBLF.S!

Imagine encountering this formidable and angry skipper in a poster on a tree trunk! It makes you straighten up and-almost-salute.

Freeman put these up around town to help advertise an Essex art show, and to remind the latitudinarian inhabitants that they came of a proud and worthy ancestry. (Coit was the first captain of the Oliver Cromwell, built two hundred years earlier as the first warship of the Connecticut Navy at the foot of Main Street, where this poster was put up.)

The race took place from Essex anchorage to Hamburg Cove about liUO on the 14 day of September just as the setting sun pushed the shadow of Essex's Book Hill up the rise of Cooper's Hill on the Lyme side.

As the gallant pair approached Nun 2 off Hamburg, Flora , highstepping, frisking her white water-heels, was slightly ahead of thundering, pounding Walrus; leading by just a piano-length. But they were still together and things got a little tense as the finish line came on.

The truth is that fire hoses were broken out and water was exchanged in the narrow passage past Brockway's Island . And, also, firecrackers were launched and in fact everything that was loose around the opposing decks and that could be thrown was thrown, up to the piano; Ingersoll was conning Flora from its top. Mercifully, the two vessels passed in the lee of Brockway's Island and in the smoke and watery fray the outcome of the race has never been officially recorded. Did Uiilrus catch Flora? History does not say.

But latterly Uiilrus and Flora have been seen in the wee hours to be quietly nestling across the waters of the Island Marina in moonlit nights and there has been heard the tinkle of a piano, fingered in the breeze, and the rumble of an outboard-and there has been no more talk of racing.

29

All the joy (and occasional frustrations) of fishing off the river mouth on a summer afternoon is expressed in " The Leading Edge of the Squall." We've vastly sho rtened the artist's explanatory note to this lithograph ; it goes into genealogies within genealogies, stories within stories linked to items in the well known and well loved landscape. Freeman, for instance, notes that Terry's boat , built by Art Finckeldey up the river, is named l..ml.oga, after his grandfather's steam yacht, which was named for an Indian chief. All his boats were named after these great men of the river, before his time. .t ESSEX- IN TH E WI NTER OF SEVENTY-EIGHT: You are looki ng south from the second window west in the former Odd Fellows Meeting Hall. This hall , no longer used , is above Tyler Oriental Rugs in the T.C. Johnson Marine Building. Ty ler's location once housed Mather's Hardware Store fac ing Essex Square. The building goes three fl oors up Methodist Hill whi ch is so steep that every fl oo r is at ground level. One of Johnson's boats is shown fo r sal e on the second leve l, lower left . Beyond the boat on the other side of South Main Street is the white Chalker Building where Gouldie practiced the bullfiddle years ago in the back room of his father's mu sic sto re. Now the bu ild ing houses several busi nesses including a beauty parlor. Next, to the right , in the center is the " Old Library". Built in the 1890s it is a small cl ass ic in Vi ctorian des ign and had served the tow n well fo r over eighty yea rs.

Just behind the library is the Chal ker Shed. It was here that the Essex Art Association held its fi rst show 33 years ago. Ruth C hatterton, then pl ay ing at the Ivoryton Theatre, was the guest of honor at the reception.

Well beyond that is the fo rmer Wes Jenk's boat yard on Midd le Cove.

In the winter of '78 there were ice boats skimming on South Cove beyond .

If you look closely you can see on this side of the river Giff Warner's Dolly Madison, put up fo r the winter at the Thatchbed . To the far left is Bill Boyd's Essex Marine Laboratory where the Standard Oil tanks used to be.

The Bowl es pl ace and their gift of Turtle Creek Open Space are on the far shore of South Cove. To the left is the mighty Connecticut River at Hayden's light where Essex Reef begins. The stretch of river just beyond is call ed Snapj ack Reach by the shad fi shermen , while across the river the town of Old Lyme basks in the afternoon sun .

Emerging from the entrance of the library is Dorothy Taylor Stanford, clutching her New York Times, as she tests the icy footing . She .has stopped at the library fo r coffee with Alice Rosencrantz . Alice worked at the library fo r fifteen years; three of them as librarian. This print is a memoria l to both of these great ladies.

T HE LEA DI NG EDGE OF THE SQUALL: A minor cri sis is developing off Fenwick Beach on Lynde's Neck , just below where the Connecticut River empties into Long Island Sound . It has been a warm , sunny, Sunday afternoon in August. It is getting late, but , "the blues are ru nning!"

Traveling in schools, bluefi sh move ahead like a pack of hungry wolves, destroying everything befo re them. One of these predators is in the fo reground , at the end of John Garrison's line. Garrison weighs in at 200 pounds. He is six feet and six inches tall , dwarfi ng the scale of the boat. He is just about a fai r match fo r the voracious twelve-pound predator he has hooked , handicapped , of course, by his 12-pound testline. There is another bluefi sh on the boat's port-side rod and reel. This tackle has now become the responsibility of the skipper, John C. Wilson, ill , called "Terry." Like the upclose angry gull charging at the hooked fi sh , Terry is momentarily slightly frustrated .

He must be quick and he must be nimble fo r all his priorities rank " top." He must gaff the blue for Garrison ; he must tend his own frantical -

ly surging rod and line; he must keep his boat off the rock-strewn , sandy bottom which is shoaling fast. Thi s mini-drama is played out against the nearly bl ack backdrop of the oncoming squall. Ragged , torn-off, scudding clouds, almost at the rooftops of the cottages, signal the passing of a cold front. The squall will do nothing to help Wilson get his boat inside the middle-distance pier along with the Sailfish fleet which may be seen fl eeing before the wind and rain . Beyond the pier one can see the long stone Saybrook Breakwater with the Outer Light fur to the right of the print. To the left and inland is the tall older lighthouse called the Inner Light. A smaller sister breakwater lies just beyond . Enclosed between the two and protected by them lies the vital channel leading into the mighty Connecti cut River.

There was no channel here till 1871. That is why, in part, the river is laughing out of both sides of its mouth , for on neither side of the river's mouth is there a city or a town . Today, the land on both sides of this, one of the world's g reat rivers, is almost as sparsely settled as it was in 1665 when the Niantic-Algonquin and the Pequot Indians filrmed the land and fis hed here for shad and salmon and bluefish. Where the channel now passes was th e Saybrook Bar and it was just here in 1776 that the United States Frigate Trumbull halted on her maiden voyage down the river to the Sound and the sea. Too deep draft to cross the bar, she lay just there athwart the Inner Light for two and a hal f years under the languid eye of her capta in Dudley Saltonstall . (He left the Trumbull to command-and lose-an entire New England Fleet to five British ships at the castastrophe of Castine, Maine.) The Trumbull got over the Saybrook Bar a couple of months later under Capta in Hinman.

T he ill-fa ted ship went on to fight two furiou s battles and was so badly battered , the British , to whom she ultimately surrendered , thought her not worth saving and sank her.

Just over the port quarte r of Terry's boat is his cottage built by his g rand father John Hall. And here we come full circle, fo r John Hall , who was president of Colt F irearms, came from Portland , Connecticut.

His family 's business was S haler and Hall which , in turn , owned the quarry at a place, then ca llled Chatham , where the Frigate Trumbull was bui lt in 1776.

SEA HIS1DRY, SUMMER 1985

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Crowley Harbor Tug comes to life in this pencil sketch by marine artist J.M. Taber.

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31

'Tge great $chooners From the power and beauty of THE WIDOW MAKER to the romance and excitement of RACE OF THE ELSIES, this series of fine limited edition prints capture the richness of life at sea in these fast and famous fishing vessels. Each high quality print is published in an edition of 780 on the finest rag paper using an eightcolor plate process.

The original publishers of marine artist Thomas M. Hoyne, F.A.S.M.A., now make available note cards depicting "The Great Schooners" series of his limited edition prints.

Each gift box contains an assortment of ten Hoyne cards and envelopes.

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SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

GREAT BRITAIN

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After 18 years, the paddle steamer Kingswear Castle, built in 1924 which borrowed the design and the actual engines of her predecessor ship Kingswear Castle (built in 1904) is again in commission. A former denizen of the River Dart in the West Country, the beautiful Edwardian survival (for such she is, in her design and her faithful heart, her compound engine) , has been a long-standing project of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society-the same people who own and operate the much larger and very famous paddle steamer Waverley (240ft, 700tn) . The Kingswear Castle, at ll3ft Sin, 98 gross tons, is much smaller but no Jess appreciated and the newsletter of the Maritime Trust suggests she is really more Victorian than Edwardian or 1920s Georgian, since "she is in fact the very last of eight very similar ships which started with PS Berry Castle in 1880."

Friends of the Maritime Trust, 16, Ebury Street, London SW lW OLH. Tel. 01-730 0096.

In addition to its major fleet at St. Katharine's Dock in London, the Maritime Trust has three boats in Falmouth, Cornwall-the Barnabas, Sotwing and Ellen, providing examples of the three classic Cornish sailing rigs, gaff, dipping lug and sprit. "Our intentions are," notes the Cornish friends of the Maritime Trust, "to keep the boats in full sailing and working condition, representing the past afloat."

The Fahnouth Maritime Museum is opening an exhibition on the history oflocal shipbuilding and boatbuilding in the areas of the Fa! and Helford rivers. This project draws together and preserves many local records, and the Hon. Secretary, U. Comdr. J.W. Beck, invites those interested in the undertaking to be in touch with him at Higher Penpol House, Mawnan Smith , Falmouth, Cornwall.

The coasting steamer Divis, Belfast-built in 1928, is joining the schooner Result at the Belfast Ulster Folk & Transport Museum in Belfast harbor. This port also boasts the handsome light cruiser HMS Caroline, built in 1914, sole surviving veteran of the Battle of Jutland of 1916. She has served as RNR headquarters since 1924.

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32

Peter Spectre, editor of WoodenBoat (see page 39), hopped over to the British Isles this winter, where he visited the Valhalla Museum on Tresco, one of the Scilly Isles. He found that it houses "an extensive collection of ship's figureheads salvaged from the hundreds of vessels that have been wrecked on the Scillies."

The Museum is reachable by helicopter, and well \\Urth the effurt to reach it, Spectre reports.

The Falkland Islands Foundation, which watches over the historic hulks in the islands as well as the island ecology, has published a valuable report on the ships in their latest newsletter. Membership in this dedicated and highly competent outfit is $20 US or £10 payable to the Foundation c/o World Wildlife Fund-UK, Panda House, 11-13 Ockford Road, Godalming, Surrey GU 7 IQU, England .

EUROPE Our correspondent Hans-Joachim Gersdorf in Hamburg sends us this photograph of the finelined schooner Valdivia of Altona, built in 1868

as the Vanadis in Stockholm, for the Swedish Navy, and veteran of an 1898-99 round-the\\Urld expedition. Rebuilt at Troense, Denmark in 1976-80, she is sailed today by Uwe Kutzner of the Hamburg-Oevelgoenne Maritime Museum, which is said to boast the largest fleet of historic ships extant-33 old-timers all actively sailed.

Thousands of ships-600 in the 16th century alone-have sunk off the seaport of Cadiz in southern Spain, which has served as a key link in Atlantic trades since perhaps as early as 2000 BC. Chances of finding substantial remains of these ships are good since dense mud in the sea floor shuts off oxygen, barring worms and micro-organisms that attack wood. In January this year the Society of Historical Archaeology called upon King Juan Carlos of Spain to safeguard these wrecks, which are now threatened by extensive landfill and dredging operations. Robert F. Marx, an independent archaeologist, reports that recent dredging has uncovered parts of the hull of a Roman ship and timbers from a 17th century ship that "looked like they were cut yesterday." Marx has formed a company, Phoenician Explorations Ud., which hopes to find a Phoenician ship and learn enough from her to build a replica to cross the Atlantic, as Marx believes the Phoenician voyagers did . Others are interested in the caravels of Columbus's time, 2500 years later. Nautical archaeologist Roger C. Smith of Texas A&M points out: " We know !Illore about Greek and Roman ships than these !Sith- and 16th-century Spanish and Portuguese sh1ips of discovery."

SEA HISIDRY, SUMMER 1985

WORLD SHIP TRUST REPORT

Maritime Heritage Award to Jylland

Sailing Adventures SCHOONER HARVEY GAMAGE

by James Forsythe, Hon. Secretary, World Ship Trust The World Ship Trust's Fourth Maritime Heritage Award was presented by Her Majesty Queen Margraethe of Denmark to His Royal Highness Prince Henrik , the Prince Consort , for his leadership in the restoration and exhibition of the 44-gun Danish frigate Jylland, built 1860, at ceremonies held aboard the frigate in Ebeltoft, on the west coast of Denmark, on April 3 .

The royal party embarked on a tour of the 125 year-old wooden steam frigate after boarding, accompanied by Trust Chairman Frank Carr, who was able to explain the interior of the warship in considerable detail. Queen Margraethe then presented the medal to Prince Henrik, "in honor of all those who under his inspiring leadership have enriched the world's maritime heritage by the preservation of the historic Danish frigate Jylland." Following the presentation , Sir Andrew Stark, KCMG, CVO read congratulatory messages sent by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. The Prince of Wales characterized Queen Margraethe's presentation as "a splendid recognition of the work done to restore and preserve the Jylland" and added " I know that all those involved with me in our activities on behalf of the Mary Rose would wish me to add their congratulations on this most important occasion." Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, writing as president of the Maritime Trust of Great Britain, said : " The preservation and restoration of the frigate Jylland is an achievement of major importance and a reminder to the people of Denmark of their maritime and technological history."

Ceremonies concluded with three cheers for Her Majesty and the Prince, and the party then repaired to the gundeck , which had been set out as a 19th century messdeck, with mess tables laid , seamen's chests and benches for seats, and members of the Jylland Society dressed in 19th century sailors' uniforms , where a splendid cocktail party and high tea were served, including copious drafts of specially brewed Jylland Beer, and also of Jylland Aqua Vitae poured from special bottles commemorating the type in which the spirit had been served in the ship when she fought in the famous Danish naval victory off Heligoland in the War of 1864.

During the meal, Mayor Jens Aage Rasmussen of Ebeltoft who is also chairman of the independent Jylland institution , read a cabled message of congratulations and good will from the National Maritime Historical Society of America. This message was greeted with acclamation.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

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Meanwhile back in the Mediterranean , Dr. George F. Bass, fo unding president of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, based at Texas A&M , and member of the National Society's Ship Trust, uncovered last summer a ship sunk 3,400 years ago-a ship that sailed before the Tmjan War was foug ht. She lies in some 150 feet of water, off Kas in southern Turkey, not far from Rhodes. Bass thinks the vessel , about 65 feet long, may have sailed from Syria , stopped in Cyprus, and was headed for Greece or Western Turkey when she was wrecked trying to round a headland. Her cargo, surprisingly intact, constitutes the most extensive collection of Bronze Age trade goods ever recovered , including eight very heavy (600-800lb) stone anchors, copper, tin , glass, an elephant tusk, a go ld goblet, and perhaps most important, a two-handled Mycenaean pottery cup which has helped date the wreck to about 1400 BC. The recovery project, sponsored by th~ National Geographic Society, may take five years more.

A second running of the regatta of traditional sailing craft organized by the Groupe de Finisterien de Croisiere took place in August last summer, gathering a remarkable collection of schooners, ketches, luggers, Cornish rowing gigs, a Bay of Biscay tunneyman. Basil Emmerson, reports on the event in the new publication Traditional Sail Review (Anglian Yacht Services, 28 Spital Road, Maldon, Essex , CM9 6EB, England, subscription £9 for four issues).

It records the passage of the Eliboubane from Le Camaret to Pors Beac' h. The next Fete de Pors Beac'h is scheduled for August 1986.

UNITED STATES & CANADA July 4 will witness a variety of maritime celebrations across the United States, ranging from the traditional International Lifeboat Race (this year from South Street Seaport to the Battery in New York Harbor) to a parade of tall ships in Honolulu, honoring the IOOth anniversary of Japanese immigration to Hawaii . The New York event is an old tradition revived under the auspices of the Maritime Association, Port of New York, with entries from the stalwarts of Ship Trust Wavertree and McSorley's Ale House, among others. MAPONY, 17 Battery Place, New York NY 10004. Tel. 212 425-5704. The Honolulu event will include the topsail schooner Californian, and the Japanese sail training ship Nippon Maru . And on the ensuing Saturday, July 6, there will be a Tugboat Muster at the Charlestown Navy Yard , Pier 4, Boston-billed as "a celebration of the boats and people which do the work of the port ." Boston Educational Marine Exchange, 54 Lewis Wharf, Boston MA 02110. Tel. 617 523-76 11.

There will be a Small Boat Builders' Get Together as part of Clearwater's Seventh Great Hudson River Revival , June 15-16, on the Hudso n River at Croton Point Park. This event is expected to attract up to 20,000 visitors for SEA HISlDRY, SUMMER 1985

SAIL AWAY TO YESTERDAY

& MUSEUM NEWS leading folk singers (including sea music great Louis Killen) and educational exhibits promoting many varieties of handcraft . participating organizations include the Maine Maritime Museum Apprenticeshop, directed by Willits Ansel , and the Apprenticeshop of Rockport , Maine, directed by Lance Lee. The Get Together is "designed to remove some of the mystery from boatbuilding, and to interest people in the craft"... and also, we gather, to get more people afloat in boats of their own building at the next Revival. A worthy objective! Clearwater, 112 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. Tel. 914 454-7673.

And then there's the Ninth Annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival in Seattle, which runs July 5-7 at the Center for Wooden Boats, near the schooner Wawona at the south end of Lake Union. The historic tug Arthur Foss will be among an expected armada of 100 wooden vessels of all sizes and shapes. " Boats on display will include restorations and replicas of traditional designs , as well as some newdimension creations,'' says the Center sponsors. " Many boats offer on-board inspections and some offer free rides." Their newsletter Shavings lists a full calendar of Northwest Maritime events, including a rowing regatta held June 29-30 in Sidney, British Columbia, a sea festival in Vancouver, July 17-21, and a wooden boat show in Portland , Oregon, July 26-28. CWB, 1010 Valley street, Seattle WA 98109. Tel. 206 385-2628.

The Brookfield Boatbuilding Institute, part of the Brookfield Craft Center in Connecticut (a nonprofit outfit set up in 1954 to promote education in the " fine handcraft ethic") runs classes in boatbuilding with a distinguished faculty including such giants in small boats as John Gardner of Mystic Seaport, and Robert Prothero of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, and sponsors a juried competition of custom small craft in Brookfield (July 5-14) and South Norwalk (July 20-28). Craft Center, PO Box 122, Brookfield CT 06804.

Tel. 203 775-4526.

The Chicago International Wooden Boat Festival comes the following month , Augu st 8-11 , at Chicago's historic Naval Pier. Opening night is a benefit for the building fund of the Chicago Maritime Museum, and the Chicago Maritime Society will sponsor demonstrations in restoration , boatbuilding and modelmaking during the festival. CIWBF, 600 North McClurg Court, Chicago IL 60611. Tel. 312 787-6858.

At the famous old sailing ship haven, Port Townsend, Washington, a Summer Youth Sea Symposium will be held. This consists of a sail training cruise aboard Erni Bennett's schooner Adventuress, July 22-28, followed by what is described as a " maritime and boatbuilding program" ashore, July 28-August II. The program is open to co-eds ages 14-18, with some 12-14 year-olds accepted with special recommendation. Tuition: $1,050. Apply to the Wooden Boat Foundation, 637 Water Street, Port Townsend WA 89368.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

Traditional vessels will gather on these occasions this summer: Pier Day at Maine Maritime Museum's Percy & Small Shipyard , Bath ME, June 23; Nova Scotia Schooner Association Races, Halifax Harbor, June 29-July l; Maine Windjammer Schooner Race, Penobscot Bay, July 6; Landing Regatta, Newport RI, July 13 ; Douglaston Windjammer Race, Douglaston NY, July 20; Boston Antique & Classic Boat Regatta, Charleston Navy Yard , July 20-21; Friendship Sloop Weekend, Maine Maritime Weekend , Bath ME, July 21-22; Antique and Classic Boat Rendezvous, Mystic CT, July 26-27; Penn's Landing Classic Yacht Rendezvous, Philadelphia, July 27-28; Rendezvous of Canadian and American Schooners, Gloucester, August 5; Schooner Cruise in Company, Gloucester-Vineyard Haven, August 7y-8 followed by International Schooner Races, Vineyard Haven, August 10; Gloucester Tall Ships Festival, August 10; Newport Wooden Boat Show, Newport RI, August 15-18; Mystic Seaport Schooner Race, September 21, Connecticut River Cruise, Hartford, September 28, Schooner Race for the Mayor's Trophy, New York, October 5; Chesapeake Appreciation Days, Annapoliis MD, October 26-27 (or November 2-3). For information on these and other events: American Schooner Association, PO Box 484, Mystic CT 06355.

To encourage more of these harbor and coastal gatherings and goings-on, an outfit called Coastweek sponsors a nationwide celebration of coastal resources, in the week that includes Columbus day- this year, October 7-14.

Described as "a citizen's network of organizations , agencies and individuals who annually focus attention on the salt and fresh water shores of our nation ," Coastweek is now working in its fourth year to "foster the public's awareness of the great value of the nation's coasts and shores, the great diversity of their uses, the increasing pressure and conflicting activities and the urgent need for improved planning and management." For a package of suggestions and " how-to" directions write Coastweek, Off West Road , Box 545, South Wellfleet MA 02663. Tel. 617 349-2834.

Sail the Maine Coast... aboa rd the historic windjammer schooner Stephen Taber. Weekly cruises. $425 includes everything.

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MARINE CHRONOMETERS Bought , Sold and Serviced Restoration and Appraisals

The Waterfront Center holds its third annual Urban Waterfronts Conference, "Water Makes a Difference,'' September 27-28 at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC. Ann Breen and Dick Rigby, who head up this outfit, do valuable work in that muddy region where so much of our history took shape, and where so much takes shape today. Their important new publication "Caution: Working Waterfront" is available for $24. 95, and subscription to their bimonthly newsletter Waterfront World is $24 ($48 for organizations).

An extensive "maritime track" planned for the National Trust Conference to be held October 9-13 in Seattle includes studies and discussion of the schooner Uilwona , and panels on skills preservation, on the uses of voluntarism and the proper role of maritime museums in historic ship preservation. For more information apply

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Sail Conn., R.I., Shores, Cape Cod and the Islands aboard the 55 year old SCHOONER MARMION. Come sail with us and leave your cares on Shore. Enjoy sightseeing, beachcombing, swimming and outstanding shore dinners . Daily, weekly and extended rates.

CALL OR WRITE: 203-447-7137 Capt. Brian Beckwith

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36

to Peter Neill, Director of Maritime Preservation, National Trust, for Historic Preservation, 1785 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036. Tel. 202 673-4127.

CONFERENCES (see also SH35:29) : Seventh Naval History Symposium, September 26-Tl, US Naval Academy, Annapolis MD 21402; The Canadian Navy in the Modern World, October 16-18, at Halifax NS, Dr. W.A.B. Douglas, Director of History, National Defense Headquarters, Ottawa ON KIA Ok2 , Tel. 613 992-6475; Lighthouse Conference, October 18, Rockland , Maine, Shore Village Museum, 104 Limerock Street, Rockland ME 04841, Tel. Wl 594-4950.

VOYAGES: The Baltimore clipper Pride of Baltimore left March 31 for an extensive cruise of European waters, following upon her successful foray into the Pacific in 1982-83. And a month later, on April 30, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation's Godspeed, replica of the 68-foot bark that brought the first settlers to Virginia in 1607, set sail from London for Jamestown.

We expect on-deck accounts of these voyages

by Pride's skippers Armin Elsaesser and Jan Miles, and from Godspeed's doughty George Salley, a National Society Advisor. The sailing days of the barkentine Regina Maris as an oceanographic research vessel are over, due to her age and expense of upkeep. The Ocean Research and Education Society of Boston has replaced her, for the time, with the chartered staysail schooner Rambler. We hope to publish further word on the future of the Regina and ORES from Dr. George Nichols, who has led this seagoing outfit in voyaging from the Aleutians in the Pacific to Greenland in the Atlantic.

From Key West, Captain William P. Frank, who has been working with a band of stalwarts to establish a maritime center worthy of the richly diverse tumultuous heritage of the Keys, reports : " There is so much to do and so much material here! I got hold of a filing cabinet a month ago and it is now jammed to the point where I can't get another thing in it and am using milk cartons again." A veteran of rebuilding and sailing traditional boats in Maine and San Francisco waters, the good captain is supported in his efforts by square-rig veteran Roland . Barker and other National Society members in the region. Key West Maritime Historical Society, 1123 Packer Street, Key West FL 33040. Tel. 305 294-5789.

Last fall the Kendall Whaling Museum (Tl Everett Street, PO Box 2fJ7, Sharon MA 02067) collaborated with the Vancouver Maritime Museum, in the Pacific Northwest, on a major exhibition on Pacific whaling. Whereas on the East Coast there are important collections at Mystic, New Bedford, Nantucket and Kendall in Sharon (all within half a day's drive of each other) there are none at all on the West Coast, which was the center of American whaling for the century before it ended . We hope to see something done about this in the disposition of the Barbara Johnson collection, now privately held at Princeton, New Jersey. in the meantime, this interchange is a valuable step. After

the exhibition closes July 2 part of it will go traveling in Canada through 1987. A catalog is available for $2 from Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1905 Ogden Avenue, Vancouver BC V6J 1A3.

Following up the proposal advanced at last autumn's National Trust conference on ship preservation to emphasize restoration standards, a professional training course entitled "Developing Maritime Standards for the Preservation and Restoration of Large Museum Ships" is offered September 2-4 by the National Maritime Museum, SF, and the Association for Preservation Technology. This will pe studied in field workshops aboard the six historic ships of the National Maritime Museum, SF. Tom McGrath, Course Coordinator, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Building 201, Fort Mason, San Francisco CA 94123.

Tel. 415 556-3002.

That notable periodical Concertina & Squeezebox will have to stumble through its next issue without its publisher, George Salley, since he's at sea sailing the new edition of Godspeed across the Atlantic in re-enactment of the voyage by her namesake of 1607 that established the first lasting settlement in Virginia. John Townley, editor, musician and scholar sans pareil , will just have to get out the next issue himself, with the help of the willing contributors who make this journal ·a meeting place for all those interested in tlie varieties of music, from that played aboard nineteenth century square riggers to that played on the Mexican border or in Cajun country today. Subscription is a bargain $10/yr.

Concertina, PO 68, Gloucester Point VA 23062.

Mystic Seaport Museum has established an Archives of American Yachting & Boating, in recognition of a collection that is unparalleled in America. Paintings, photographs, trophies and figureheads from the collection will be on display at the R.J. Schaefer Gallery through August. The little full-rigger Joseph Conrad, which Alan Villiers took around the world in 1934-36, will return to service by the end of June, following extensive refit including a new teak deck. And an active summer season is shaping up with waterfront tours in the steamer Sabino ($1.25, or $4.50 for longer evening tours downriver), concerts, festivals, planetarium program for sky-watchers, etc. Send in to find out what's on the calendar when you plan to visit! Museum, Mystic CT 06355.

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At Mystic, the sandbagger Annie, acquired in 1931, was the first in an extensive collection of yachts-a collection now backed with the newly established Archives of American 'fuchting & Boating , which feature in an exhibit ashore thiJS summer. .t ~SEA

HIS10RY, SUMMER 1985

J

QUERIES Information on the sailing vessel Fair Lady, William Perkins Matchett, Master, which sailed out of Boston on June 16, 1790 and sank off the coast of France in 1794 is sought in order to make a model of the vessel. She was described by John Adams as a " Trade Vessel" rather than a warship. DeVynch-Anderson Model Shipwrights, 9344 W. Friend Drive, Littleton co 80123.

The Alexandria Seaport Foundation seeks information on their topsail schooner Ale.xandria, in her earlier career as a Baltic trading vessel. Built at Gravarne in 1929 as the /ngve (or lhgve) she was damaged by grounding in 1970 and rebuilt at Ring-Anderson's yard in Svendbord as the lindo. Photographs, memoirs and plans of this or similar ships would be welcomed by Peter Ansoff, Alexandria Seaport, 5777-162 Reading Avenue, Alexandria VA 22311.

Information is sought, and particularly any surviving ship protrait, on the medium clipper Stephen R. Mallory, 959 tons, built in Key West by Bowne & Curry in 1856 for Benner & Browne, New York. Captain William P. Frank, Key West Maritime Historical Society, 1123 Pllcker Street, Key West FL 33040. Tel. 305 294-5789.

Readers who may have had a dramatic religious experience of any kind aboard a boat are invited to contribute to a project on the religious and psychological symbolism of the boat. This project is an undertaking of John Rousmaniere, whose ninth book, The Sailing Lifestyle, has just been published. Send your notes to him at 100-23 Hope Street, Stamford CT 06906.

CAPTAIN FREDERICK K. KLEBINGAT Captain Frederick K. Klebingat, born in 1889 near Kiel , Germany, died at age 95 on March 31 in Coos Bay, Oregon, where he had settled after corning into the Pllcific world round Cape Horn in the full-rigged ship D.H. Watjen in 1905 at age 16. He served as chief mate in the bark Falls of Clyde, now preserved in Honolulu , and rose to command the four-masted schooner Melrose in 1919. He commanded Liberty ships in World War II and at age 80 he was still going to sea in the motor ship Coos Bay in the coastal trade. Karl Kortum, chief curator of the National Maritime Museum, San Francisco, and Klebingat's friend of many years,. said of him: "All over the world, maritime scholars called on his expertise. You could ask him about an incident from that voyage around the Horn in 1905 and it was like asking a yachtsman how things went last weekend.

Every detail was there, every shipmate remembered."

"He was a poet at heart;' said another friend, the novelist Ernest K. Gann. "He saw things I'm sure other sailors didn't see."

Captain Klebingat is survived by a daughterin-law, Mary Klebingat, and two grandchildren .

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

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The Florence Griswold Museum

GR!SWOW BEACH, Ow LYME, by William Chadwick (18'iY-1962) , who first exhibited his work in Old Lyme in 1906 at age 27, catches the celebratory feeling of middle-class America's discovery of its seashore at the turn of the century; his radiant oils catch the very sunlight of a day one would wish prolonged forever.

FISHERMAN'S HUT. by Charles Ebert (1873-1958) , who first showed his work in Old Lyme in 1914 at the relatively advanced age of 41, reflects another passion of these people-to celebrate ordinary workaday scenes and lives. Here we see a distant cove in Maine-but one recognizes the joyous affirmation and recreation of salt air, wide horizons, and sun-warmed earth as something rooted in Old Lyme sensibilities and perceptions. Photos courtesy Lyme Historical Society's Florence Griswold Museum , Lyme, Connecticut.

38

The late-Georgian mansion makes a fine presence beside the Lieutenant River in the heart of Old Lyme. Built in 1817, it was bought a quarter century later by Captain Robert Griswold, a dashing transatlantic packet captain who left his family unexpectedly broke when he died in 1882. His widow and daughters opened a finishing school in the house, and at the end of the century the remaining daughter, Florence, began to take in artist-lodgers. With wit, good breeding, courage and a passionate concern for her artists, she went on to found a vital center of American Impressionism.

Today the Lyme Historical Society maintains the house as the Florence Griswold Museum . Jeffrey Anderson , director of the Museum, has noted that the seemingly unworldly artists' colony contributed to Old Lyme's real-world development.

"Old Lyme had been dependent on wind-powered shipbuilding and shipping," he explains, and the area declined as this economy died out in the later nineteenth century. The arrival of Henry Ranger and his fellow artists at Miss Griswold's in 1899 was a godsend to local merchants and landowners, who lived of the trade brought by the artists-and those who came to watch them .

There is an oft-told story of a grottp arriving just before dinner. Miss Griswold said that they could not only see the artists, but see them at their food!

Whereupon the artist-lodgers got down on their hands and knees and rushed for the dining room, cavorting and baying.

At one point President Wilson visited , coming up the Lieutenant River by launch from the Presidential yacht Mayflower; but from 1915 on a slow decline set in as fashions changed and artists moved on. Florence Griswold kept her house like a shrine until her death in 1937. She was '07. She had seen great change from her father's world of the transatlantic packet trade, through her awakening to genteel poverty, to learning to make her own way. And along that way, in the felicitous words of the critic William Zimmer, she presided at the establishment of a little society "of hardy painters who were true believers in the power of paint , who relished daylight and moonlight, and who created a small artists;' civilization where the Connecticut Riiver meets Long Island Sound ...." J..

SEA HIS'IDRY, SUMMER 1985

BOOKS The Book Locker: We Are Not Alone In which we look at other periodicals and what they have to say about our field An informative review of the often beclouded, sometimes brilliantly illuminated progress of archaeology is provided in the Spring issue of The Wilson Quarterly, a publication of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, associated with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC (subscription $17; send to PO Box2956, BoulderC080322). BeaRiemschneider, editor of Archaeology Magazine, takes us from the grave robbers of ancient Egypt (who went to work while the pyramids were still a-building) and Nabonidus of Babylon, who dug up thousand year-old artifacts from Ur and displayed them 2500 years ago, through the dilettante collectors and pursuers of oddities of the Renaissance and after. The professionals of today go beyond interest in the "find" to an absorbing concern with the context-historical and physical-in which it existed and was discovered , a context too often destroyed in the act of recovery. Don S. Rice, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, goes into the concerns of the " new" archaeology, which looks to historic process, and to the why and how of things happening, beyond the bare when and where. This is the school that tries to replicate living processes (making stone axes) and study surviving parallelisms (accompanying aborigines as they make spears, it is found that they may fashion inferior axes from stones that "come to hand" rather than go back home for superior tools which they do possessand that is only an example of the dangers of preoccupation with the artifact as distinct from how it came into being) .

But the "new" archaeology seeks new worlds beyond improved methodology ; it seeks to discover dynamics of human behavior and principles of social evolution-an obviously risky course to embark on, witness the horrid conclusions of Nazi ethnographers and others who seek "rules" of human development. Also, almost equally dangerous in another way, a kind of hieratic glibness creeps in with the use of sophisticated tools with inadequately developed concepts.

Wilson Quarterly commendably publishes work of younger authorities-Riemschneider is 31 , Rice 38. To an historian of the old school , taken up (some might say taken in) by the desire to know " what happened next," that is to say by sheer narrative, and perhaps by the idea of extending the human experience across generations (rather than codifying its rules) , it is a little disappointing that neither Riemschneider nor Rice goes into SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

the need for greater interaction between archaeologists and historians.

The first great contribution of archaeology as it entered into its full estate about a century ago was to redirect attention to the factual basis of traditional, and even mythic history; my great-great grandfather " Uncle Tommy Stanford," a bookseller who died in 1885, probably learned that Homer's Troy actually existed only toward the end of his life. As for Abraham's city of Ur, I imagine not one out of a hundred educated people thought it a real city at that time. But now we know of its existence, and know details of its daily life, its ethics and concerns, that Nabonidus hardly knew, when, wondering, he placed the relics of its vanished civilization on display around 550 BC. Using the new techniques of linguistics and statistical probability, think how we can begin to reconstruct actual historical situations, even events (like Gilgamesh's voyages) at civilization's very first light!

The big (152-page,), lavishly colorful May-June issue of WoodenBoat (PO Box 956, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11737, bimonthly, $18) carries a well illustrated report by Peter Johnson on the building of a 125-foot schooner modeled on the Baltimore clippers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries-a project of owner-builder Dennis Holland in the front yard of his Costa Mesa home. He had been living aboard, with a growing family for the last nine years of her construction. Color photographs of the traditionally finished interior show how this was not such hard duty as it may sound.

In the same issue is a review by Jack Custer of the great wooden steamboats of the Western rivers. The first set out from Pittsburgh in 1811, and the last was destroyed by fire in 1942 . In between , some 16-20,000 were built , including such giants as the 321 foot sidewheeler J.M. White of 1878. Photographs of these ornate behemoths under way, at rest, or under construction on the riverbank make this a fascinating exploration of a vanished breed of craft.

At the other end of the publishing spectrum , the much more modest (23-page, black-and-white) Messing About in Boats (29 Burley St. , Wenham , MA 01984, semi-monthly, $15) offers in its April 15 issue a remarkable review of the building of traditional wooden fishing and work boats in Crete- in a yard housed in buildings put up by the Venetians in 1607 to serve the galley fleets that guarded their Mediterranean PETER STANFORD trade.

Sail: The Surviving Tradition, by Robert Simper (Conway Maritime Press, London; dist. US Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry NY 10522 , 1984, 161 pp , illus , ÂŁ8.95/$24.95).

Robert Simper, who writes a column on sailing vessel activities for the British magazine Sea Breezes, is the author of a dozen previous books of antiquarian seagoing or shoreside interest. His approach is an activist one, and he has managed to sail in the craft he writes about on both sides of the Atlantic. He was active in the founding of Mariners International in the 1960s, and is currently president of the Old Gaffers Association . As a leader of the movement to get back to sea under sail in traditional craft, he writes with unique authority and inimitable verve in reporting the standing of that movement today.

"There is a special magic about sailing ships which causes people to drop their safe jobs ashore and sink all their savings into them ," he observes. Sometimes this works out , as in the successful sailing of the brigantine Eye of the Wind, which has spent part of her time in European waters and part around the world in Australia since her first setting out in her new incarnation in 1976, having been rebuilt and rigged in traditional fashion by a crew of dedicated volunteers (and one master rigger, Walter Buchanan, a professional who'd l~t the old trade and was burning for a chance to practice it!). Sometimes it ends in disaster, as in the sinking of the brand new schooner John F. Leavitt in 1979, or the tragic loss with all hands of the former Baltic trader Activ in 1983, or the sinking of the Marques with heavy loss of life off Bermuda last summer. Simper follows these ships with lively first-hand anecdotes of their sailing and their people; you really enter into their world .

In these pages you'll learn the difference between the approach followed by Alan Villiers in the Joseph Conrad's circumnavigation in 1934-36, and Adrian Seligman's in the Cap Pilar in 1936-38-and I for the first time found out what ultimately became of the Cap Pilar.

The world of sail training ships, the vanished world of coastal schooners (a trade that died out in Devon only 30 years ago), and the varied world of fishing craft of all sorts and descriptions around the British Isles, on the Dutch coast, in Nova Scotia and the Chesapeake are explored, rewardingly, in story and photograph. The pictures alone are worth the price of admission-my favorite being a photograph of the Mayor of Colchester with his gold mace and ceremonial robes, aboard an Essex smack hauling in the first of the season's oysters. Or maybe it's the one of sardine 39

BOOKS Scarce and Out of Print MARITIME/ EXPLORATION Books Bo ught and So ld Lists Issued

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fishermen rafting up their boats at a seawall in south Brittany, three quarters of a century ago- they just look so at home in their work-worn craft , so aware of what they are and their place in the worldand so proud of it!

The book ends with an invaluable listing of 250 extant sailing vessels, from the giant Kruzenstern to sailing barges and fishing smacks, and another list providing addresses of organizations maintaining or supporting traditional sailing vessels. In all , this colorful review of the world of traditional sailing vessels will make rewarding reading for old hands and new, and it provides authoritative information on a lively and varied heritage.

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Coasting Bargemaster, by Bob Roberts (Terence Dalton , Mallard Reprints, Water Street, Lavenham, Suffolk, England 1984, 152pp, illus, ÂŁ6.95).

This reprint in paperback of a book first published in 1949 is actually an entirely new edition with many additional illustrations and an invaluable new introduction

by Frank Carr. Bob Roberts, last of the "sailormen ," (as the sailing barge seamen were called) became a legend in his own time. The book covers a lifetime spent in sail around the coasts of Britain in peace and war, beginning with Roberts at age fifteen aboard the famous barkentine Waterwitch, one of the last square-riggers to trade under the Red Ensign. It records his graduating to an exciting experience as captain and part owner of a topsail schooner trading on the SW coast. The schooner finally became a constructive total loss on the Irish coast. After a spell ashore as a journalist in London , Bob Roberts felt the call of the sea too strong, and began life afloat again as mate of a Thames barge, the Audrey. His journalistic experience stands him in good stead as he relates his varied experiences around the south and east coasts, first as mate of various barges, and then as captain of the Northdown , a famous racer. From her he transferred to the Martinet, last of the " boomie" barges , an unlucky ship with an evil reputation , in which he served during the early years of World War II. Roberts was determined to tame her, and did so for a time, until her loss off Orford Ness in 1941. He then commanded the big steel barge Greenhithe for a time, and after a break took over Everard's famous Cambria , one of the last barges to trade under sail. Eventually he bought her and sailed her in trade until 1970, when she was sold for preservation to the Maritime Trust. All this makes up what was truly a full life if ever there was one. To quote

Frank Carr:, " In this book he leaves a legacy for posterity to enjoy. We shall not look upon his like again."

JAMES FORSYTH E

Major Forsythe, Hon. Secretary of the World Ship Trust, is also President of the Norfolk Wherry Trust, and a student of working sail.

The Piscataqua Gundalow: Workhorse of a Tidal Empire, by Richard E . Winslow III (The Portsmouth Marine Society, Portsmouth NH , 1983, 164pp, illus, $12).

The gundalow, whose name is derived from "gondola" and can be spelled in a variety of ways , was for 250 years a familiar sight on the inland waterways above Portsmouth , New Hampshire. Displaced by successive improvements in transportation , the lateen-rigged lighter disappeared from popular use about the turn of the century. Now this singular craft is represented by a replica of the last working gundalow, and is named for that vessel's builder and master, Captain Edward H. Adams, " the last of the gundalowmen ."

Mr. Winslow's book is divided into three chapters. The first is an absorbing history of the Piscataqua River and its tributaries, and of the towns that grew up along their banks. Because the gundalow was utilitarian and of humble construction , little is known of its early development except what can be found in occasional documents (three of which , from 1697, 1747, and 1842, are reproduced , together with some seventy illustrations) . But Winslow is nothing if not resourceful , and the eighteen pages of references will satisfy the most avid gundalowphile.

Drawing on published and unpublished sources, including interviews, journals, periodicals, histories , and literature, Winslow draws us into the mainstream of the Piscataqua's "tidal empire."

In this gundalow's-eye-view of events, we are treated to some extravagant New England provincialism . For instance, Winslow writes, ''As 'All roads lead to Rome,' all waters eventually lead to Portsmouth , 'the Queen of the Piscataqua ,' where sooner or later all gundalows docked ." And we learn elsewhere or Captain Adams' relation to John Adams, " who used the Piscataqua ferries in 1770 en route, eventually, to the Presidency."

Chapter Two is a biography of Captain Adams , who lived for ninety years on Great Bay as a gundalow captain , among other things, and who was a fathomless well of local knowledge and practical observmtion. " I had to make a living," goes ome quote, "and that's an awful SEA HISlDRY, SUMMER 1985

setback to a fellow." His first gundalow, the Fannie M. , was launched in 1886.

With a capacity of 60 tons, she was over 69ft overall , with a beam of 19ft, and a draft of about 4ft. Although " modernized" by the addition of a gasoline engine, she carried the standard lateen rig on a spar about the length of her hull , as well as long sweeps (to make an "ash breeze") and a leeboard .

Engaged primarily in freighting brick, the Fannie M.'s real significance lies in the studies made of her in the 1920s and '30s. Under the auspices of the WPA , D. Foster Taylor wrote an exhaustive account of her design and measurements.

His article, later published with plans (none of which are to be found in Winslow's book) forms the basis of most subsequent research , especially that of the Piscataqua Gundalow Project.

The Project itself is typical of the maritime preservation movement , and Winslow's treatment of it in Chapter Three could serve as a primer for anyone embarking on a similar enterprise. He gives balanced weight to all aspects of the Project , and to the usual struggles with deadlines and the bottom line. The Captain &lward H. Adams was finally launched in time for Durham, New Hampshire's 250th anniversary in 1982.

Winslow brings a historian's temperament to his topic. The book's faults are few. His style, like the Piscataqua , ebbs and flows, and he should have included a better map of the region and a ship's plan. These chinks aside, his book is sturdy and practical , much like its subject.

L INCOLN P AINE

Mr. Paine is a New Yorker who has served as a Coordinator at Operation Sail 1986, and worked with Opsail '76 and successive Harbor Festivals.

The Lore of Sail, by William A . Baker et al (Facts on File, New York, NY 10016, 1983, 256pp, illus, and color, $5.95 pbk) .

Dealing with all aspects of both large and small sailing craft , this small pockettype book also covers the development of hulls down through the years, hull design and construction, ship carpenters' tools, vessel decoration , types of vessels and rigs, national and shipping company flags, navigation and allied instruments, and lighthouses. The whole book has been adapted from a large, hard-cover Swedish publication of 1963, The Lore of Ships. So one must keep in mind that the terms and phrases used are mostly European, and not necessarily wrong, such as naming the mizzen mast of a five-masted vessel the " middle mast ,'' the fourth becoming the SEA HIS'IORY, SUMMER 1985

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By Dwight Messimer ri lled with the dramatic exploits of PBY pilots and their crews. this fast- paced accou nt of Patrol Wing Ten's courageous battle against a powerfu l enemy is presented here in full for the first tim e. A striking collection of previously unpublished photographs enhances this fasc inating story. Aviation and World War II enthusiasts and readers with a taste for adventure stories will appreciate this well -written book.

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Naval Institute Press Books 41

BOOKS Celebrating the quality and craftsmanship of one of the most enduring art forms that exists today: the Wooden Boat.

mizzen . A few errors have been carried over from the original , such as improperly showing how to clap on a whipping.

Withal, it is quite a useful little volume for the sailing ship aficionado, and is well worth the small price for the vast amount of knowledge held between its glossy covers.

R .G. HERBERT, JR.

AUGUST 8-11, 1985 NAVY PIER, CHICAGO The Chicago International Wooden Boat Festival will feature some of the finest products, builders, dealers, collectors, and periodicals related to the boating industry.

For exhibitor information contacl Kcilh Church bv calling or writing 600 Nonh McClurg Court Chicago. lllinois 606 11 (3 12) 787-6858 A PROJECT OF THE LAKESIDE G R OUP 600 North McC lu~g Cour l . Chicago, I llinois 60611~elephone312•787 ·6~ _58 Producers ol Chicago lnternahona l Antiques Show. Chicago International Wooden Boat Festival. and Chicago lnternal ional Art EJ1:pos 1t1on.

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Seafarers Heritage Library ANNOUNCES A NEW TITLE IN THEIR GREAT AMERICAN SHIPWRECK SERIES:

WHIDAH: CAPE COD'S MYSTERY TREASURE SHIP

by EDWIN DETHLEFSEN For the first time read the true account of Cape Cod 's famous Pirate ship and New England 's first great shipwreck disaster. This book tells the inside story of Black Sam Bellamy, his pirate ship, and the sunken treasure which has laid somewhere off the beach at Wellfleet on Cape Cod since 1717. The historical adventure of real life pirates, sunken treasure and the struggle of life and death .. ..... .. . at sea is must reading for every serious wreck diver and anyone interested in shipwreck • archaeology and the maritime history of Colonial • America .

Whidah: Cape Cod's Mystery Treasure Ship

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42

~

Mr. Herbert is an Advisor of the National Society. His experience at sea, which began in a Down &st fishing schooner more than half a century ago, has led him into varied work with maritime museums across America.

Whidah: Cape Cod's Mystery Treasure Ship, by Edwin Dethlefsen (Seafarers Heritage Library, Box 73, Woodstock VT 05091 , 1984, 173pp, illus, pbk $13.95) .

A vivid picture of the ways of traders and pirates along the North American Atlantic coast two and a half centuries ago is given in this spirited account of the last voyage and wreck of the galley Whidah , which was wrecked on Cape Cod on April 26, 1717, under the command of the pirate Sam Bellamy. Plentiful testimony regarding the voyage is available from the depositions of the surviving crew members, who were haled before the courts, and this makes it possible to reconstruct in some detail Bellamy 's voyaging, and how he came to be at sea off Cape Cod on the stormy night of April 26. Dr. Dethlefsen gives a fair picture of the ships and shipboard practices of the era. Retained by the salvor Barry Clifford to lead the search for the remains of Whidah and her reputed treasure, he goes on to describe search and salvage plans. The operation is proceeding with sound archaeological advisors, and one may hope that this chapter in the Whidah history will be less rapacious than the last.

PS

s

Falkland Islands Shores, by Ewen Southby-Tailyour (Conway Maritime Press, 24 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8DR , England , 1985, 270pp, illus, £12.95) .

Whilst stationed in the Falkland Islands in 1979, Ewen Southby-Tailyour, a Major in the Royal Marines and a keen yachtsman, compiled a unique pilotage guide and topography of the Islands. Some three years later these sailing instructions played an important part in the British Task Forces operations which re-possessed the Islands. The author, a great authority on the locality, clearly planned his guide for the use of visiting yachtsmen in happier times. For sea historians, after an opening chapter on geography, climate and history, Major Southby-Tailyour devotes a full chapter to the unique collection of more SEA HIS1DRY, SUMMER 1985

than 30 historic wrecks around the shores (fully listed in a supplemental index) , and in several of which , including the Lady Elizabeth , Jhelum , Charles Cooper and the Snow Squall, both the National Maritime Historical Society and the World Ship Trust take more than a passing interest , with various other organizations who have joined in . Two excellent maps are included , which are linked by cross-reference with the text for each section of the coast. The island's abundant wild life is cataloged with illustrations by the author.

This should clearly be recommended to all ocean wanderers, ship lovers and historians, as well as to the visiting yachtsmen for whom it was originally JAMES FORSYTH E intended .

Let the Wind Blow Free, Twelve-inch LP recording by The Shanty Crew (Coach House Records, 1984. Available at £7.50 from The Shanty Crew, 6 Brafferton Road, Croydon, CRO lAD, England . Cassette, £6.50).

Here is a mixed bag of sea songs and chanties sung by an energetic group of English aficionados. They have chosen their fo'c'sle songs imaginatively, concentrating on ones that are rarely heard .

Among them is "The Flash Frigate" or "La Pique," that old-time British naval tar's scathing but witty recital of the harshness of actual life aboard the "wooden walls" so alluringly portrayed by Dibdin in his songs. Only a few of the stanzas are given. "The Twenty-Fourth of February," another rare song on the record, relates an action with an Algerian corsair. "The Mingulay Boat Song," an excellent song of the Outer Hebrides, and "Lahoula T'Chalez ,'' which Dieppe women used to sing as they hauled fishing schooners home from the Newfoundland Banks in through the locks, are two other fine and little-known songs on the recording.

The Shanty Crew include modern sea songs as well as traditional ones in their concert repertory, and the high point of the recording for this listener was a contemporary song, Rod Sherman's "Is the Big Fella Gone?" This powerfui song, a sad vision of a possible coming time when man will have slaughtered the last whale, really hits home.

Besides the fo'c'sle and whale songs the record includes a dozen shanties, work songs for hauling on halyards or braces, sheets or tacks, with others for heaving at the capstan, windlass, or pumps. But here The Shanty Crew are less successful.

They have fallen into the pitfall of singing most of these work songs of the sea at a rapid tempo at which it would have been physically impossible to carry out the SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1985

work on shipboard . And the chanties are presented in a rather theatrical , hardboiled style, in broad accents that make one regret the absence of a complete transcription of the words. Included in the record envelope, however, is an illustrated leaflet in which , along with some rather inaccurate historical statements, not only the words but also the tunes of four of the songs are given. They include "The Eddystone Light," from whose chorus the title of the recording is taken.

WILLIAM MAIN DOERFLINGER The Island of South Georgia, by Robert Headland (Cambridge University Press, Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge, England , CB2 2RU, 1984, 293pp, illus, £14.95; USA & Canada: Cambridge University Press, 32 East 57th Street, New York , NY 10022. $39.50).

Robert Headland has done several tours of duty in South Georgia with the British Antarctic Survey. He was present during the troubles of 1982 when he surrendered the civilian population of the scientific station and was taken prisoner by Argentine forces . His book covers the story of the island from the earliest recorded landings by Captain Cook in 1775, when he named the island. Cook reported on the immense quantity of wild life-immense flocks of birds, vast herds of seals and shoals of whales. This led to a flourishing sealing industry intermittently through the 19th century until over-exploitation led to its decline before 1914. Then followed a well established whaling industry from the early 1900s until ca. 1965. Today the island is used mainly as a base for the British Antarctic Survey and similar scientific undertaking.

The book contains an interesting narrative of the many ships and seafarers who came to South Georgia, the most famous, in 1916, being Sir Ernest Shackleton after an epic journey of 1500km from Elephant Island in a temporarily-decked open boat, the James Caird. The narrative is well illustrated with good photos and clear charts and maps, and a full record of the many interesting wrecks, hulks and other vessel remains around the shores. It will be read with close attention by all lovers of the remote seas and those who voyage thereon.

JAMES FORSYTHE J.,

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Dept. of the Army

David Levi ne Š 1966 The New York Review

Smithsonian In stitution

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THE FRIENDLY CONNECTICUT: My Favorite River in the Whole United States

by Raymond E. Baldwin One evening two years ago last fall, after an excellent dinner at the Griswold Inn, Governor Baldwin was asked to make a few remarks about the Connecticut River. He spoke in the friendly surroundings of the river Museum at Steamboat Dock.

When he finished two hours later, somewhat dry of throat, everyone present knew they had heard the nearest thing to the River telling its own tale, in a bravura perfonnance. Forlunately a transcript of these remarks was made, and we are privileged to present an abridged version below. Ray Baldwin first came to the river in 1903, at age IO, when his family (his father Lucian was in the wholesale grocery business) moved to Middletown.

In the years since then he has served as US Senator and Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, and on many other public missions in the region he knows so well. He has the Connecticut River's story by heart, and here he tells it from the heart. Much of the extensive parkland along its banks was acquired at his behest as governor-ensuring that future generations will enjoy the river as he has.

It doesn't compare with the grandeur of the Columbia or the Yellowstone or the Green in the western part of the countryI've seen them all-or the awe-inspiring Colorado. It doesn't compare really with the Mississippi or the Missouri or the Ohio or the Tennessee, which are longer and wider and have more water in them. They call the Hudson " lordly," and the Delaware's quite beautiful , and then you get down a little further and you run into the Potomac, fraught with history, and the James and the Rappahannock and lower down the Cape Fear Rivers. They all have their beauty, but the thing the Connecticut has is an intimate, friendly, neighborly ambience. It doesn't inspire you with awe, you're not overcome with its greatness, you're just entranced with its beauty, and I think it's my favorite river in the whole United States.

The river starts out, near the Canadian border, 1600 feet above sea level. But at Middletown, 30 miles upstream, it's hardly higher than it is at Saybrook, at the river mouth . So it's what we might call a river estuary, which many of the East Coast rivers are. We have about 3 1/2 to 4 feet of tide at Middletown, and I've seen the tide run so strong up the river that the Boats anchored off Hartford, still further upriver, would be headed downstream!

So that's how far the tides affect the river. But. . .it's a very lovely river!

I was born in Rye, New York, on Long Island Sound . And I sailed with my father in a little sloop called the Dawn . She was rigged quite different from sailing vessels today, with a tall mast and a topmast, a long boom and a long bowsprit, two jibs and a mainsail and what has since disappeared as a sail , a sprit topsail-like the Cup defenders of the last century. She was a lovely little boat. When we moved to Middletown in 1903, it was the first time we'd been inland . And Father gravitated to the Middletown Yacht Club, and I gravitated to the Middletown Yacht Club along with him. And there I got acquainted with the Connecticut River.

Well , since then I've swum in it; I've canoed on it; I've sailed boats on it; I've skated on it, and it's been very, very close to my life all of these years and I've loved it all of those particular years.

Islands in the Stream The islands in it-I've explored them all, and all the river tributaries except the Farmington which comes in north of Hartford and drains most of northwestern Connecticut. The first island coming down from Hartford is Gildersleeve Island, a large island. The strange thing about it is, it's very close to the Portland shore, and the river there is very narrow, but that's where the deep water is. On the west side of the island the river is very SEA HISlDRY, SUMMER 1985

Governor Baldwin at the River Museum , delivering this talk on the evening of September 19, 1983-a man thoroughly at home on the river, and with himself, and making others feel at home.

wide but completely unnavigable except by a canoe.

The islands in the river, many of the larger ones, were used in the summertime by the farmers to pasture cattle. They would bring the cattle down-their young cattle-on big wooden scows.

Now some of those islands are quite wide and quite large. And , of course, you have the cattle there during the summer, and they become wild , and you need cowboys to round them up. I don't know if they imported any.

At Gildersleeve Island , in my boyhood days, there was a shipyard ; and they manufactured big scows for hauling stone and heavy weights and coal and things of that kind . The timbers were hauled into place by oxen . It was a very interesting thing to see those men build those boats, which were put together with big, long wooden pins in the good old-fashioned way. During the First World War, there were two wooden steamers built there. They towed them down the river. That yard was still going through the First World War, but it has long since stopped. There were other shipyards, notably at Middle Haddam, and at other places on down the river. The shipbuilding is completely ended nowit's all over.

Coming on down the river, the next island is Willow Island , just above Middletown. The Portland shore was docked for fully a half a mile, and brownstone was quarried in Portland in tremendous quantities. There were always a couple of sailing ships or big barges moored alongside the dock being loaded with brownstone, hauled off to New York, and that stone made the fronts of many buildings on Fifth Avenue. And if you go through an old graveyard around this area, you'll find every gravestone going back to 1860 is brownstone-every one of them.

Well, coming on down the river, at Willow Island, the channel east of the island, to the west again the river is quite wide but very shallow. In the winter time, in my boyhood days, it would freeze over-the water was shallow and the current was not too strong-and they'd have horse races on the ice with sleds, with many people out on the ice. I often wondered how it would hold them all , but it did . That went on for two or three winters when I was a boy. I've never seen any horse racing on the ice since.

There were a lot of ferries on the river, including one that is still operated between Rocky Hill and Glastonbury. It goes back to Colonial days and is said to be the oldest ferry in continuous operation in the whole United States. In my boyhood days, it was a great big scow, pulled or rowed across the river. It would carry a horse and buggy or a team of horses and a load of wood, that sort of thing. Then as you came on down further, there was another ferry in East Haddam, between East Haddam and Had-

45

'~ ..one

thing about this river, it's close to you. It's an intimate river. ..."

dam, a steam ferry boat-no bridge there in those days. Where the atomic energy plant is now, there was an old man living in a farm house there who operated a boat ferry, a rowboat, across the river. He had a license from the Legislature to operate it, and the farmers from Haddam Neck wm~ld come down and be rowed across the river-they and their wives-and they 'd stop and get the railroad up the river at Arnold's Dock down there.

They'd go to Middletown for their shopping, and when their shopping was over in the afternoon, they'd come down on the afternoon train, and the old man would row them across the river.

The ferry when I first knew it was six cents.

Then you go on further on down to the big good ferry at East Haddam and another good ferry at Hadlyme, and the Hadlyme Ferry, of course, is still operated. Then, of course, there was a big ferry at Saybrook, a steam ferry, the largest on the river, and that ferry slip on the west side of the river is just below site of the present railroad bridge.

Below Middletown when the State Highway Department was putting in Route 91, a man operating a power shovel finally got down to the rock, and said , " Oh look! Look at these tracks. What are they?" So they came and looked. They scraped off the dirt, and they uncovered the best set of dinosaur tracks and prehistoric bird tracks in the state. So the state moved the road over another half a mile, and made Dinosaur Park out of it, which is still maintained at Rocky Hill .

You go down a little bit further, and you come to Middle Haddam. There's another island there. It used to be Darts Island.

That island has practically disappeared and a new island has come in north of it, at least 75 acres and a quarter of a mile long that's been built by the rivers. Now it's heavily wooded.

I used to like Darts Island because it was small . It had no water on it, but we boiled our coffee out of the River water and drank our water out of a jug. That's the way we got along. I might say at this point that the river today is much cleaner, very much cleaner, than it was when I was a boy.

You go down below Middle Haddam , and there's a beautiful reach in the river. The deep water on the- river is usually on the outside of the bend because that's where the current flows . The navigational aids show you that. Down below what's presently Hurd Park (it wasn't Hurd Park in my day, although it was used as a park-it was privately owned) they built a long breakwater.

The reason for that is that at that particular location, there are what they call fish piers in the middle of the river, great stone piers, put there in Colonial times. The Colonial people would put their nets across the river, across the channel , from the piers to the other bank and probably would catch everything that went up or down. The salmon were plentiful , so that the Indians, who didn't (of course) have nets, used them for fertilizer. They told the farmers, the early settlers, to put a salmon in each hill of com.

Schooners, Canoes, Launches Two schooners sailed out of Portland, the Frank Brainerd (a big three-master) and the smaller Brownstone.1 I had a trip on the Brownstone once, up to New York . (You know the boatman never talked about going down to New York-it's going up to New York, up to the head of the Sound .) Billy Davis and I went in her with an old fellow named Swan, and he sailed that little schooner with just one hand . She was light-sailed just like a yacht.

And we had a lively time; slept very well that night ; got up to New York; picked up our tug and towed through Hell Gate.

I. The 254-ton Brainerd was built at Rockland , Maine. New when Governor Baldwin saw her, she was the last commercial sailing vessel to come up the River, making a trip to Hartford with lumber in 1931- the same year the steamer Hartford made her last run upriver.

The 165-ton Brownstone, built at Hartford in 1869, was aged about 40 when Baldwin sailed in her, and ended her days soon after.

46

At the Salmon River, below East Haddam , in my boyhood days the tugboats used to take coal barges three miles up river to a dock which was called Leesville, and the coal was peddled to a couple of plants in what is Moodus. We used to camp there.

It was a lot of fun to come dowrr in a canoe, then paddle all day long up the Salmon River, pull your canoe up on the bank, turn it over, build a little fire out of wood, fry some eggs, warm a can of beans, make a cup of coffee, turn in on the ground , under the canoe. I was sleeping under the canoe one night at Bodkin Rock and a big steamer went by, sending its wash up the shore. I rose up in a hurry. I forgot I was under the canoe!

I remembered that for three more days.

When school let out in June we took the first advantage of the vacation to go down there. We used to stay down there ten days until the food was all gone, then we'd paddle all the way home on an empty stomach. Once when we were paddling along on a rainy day, all of a sudden this tremendous fish came out of the water, about 24 or 30 yards from the canoe, and he looked as big as the canoe. I had seen a picture of a sturgeon with a corrugated snout and a corrugated back, and I knew it was a sturgeon. And he came out of the water and landed-splash!

I thought he was going to land in the canoe. He looked as big as a canoe. I'm sure he wasn't, but he was at least six or eight feet long-a big, big fish . Every once in a while in the old days, the shad fishermen would get a sturgeon. They don't get them anymore. But this year they counted in one day 500 salmon going through a trap North of the Enfield Rapids, so the salmon are coming back to the Connecticut River, and that's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

I said Father gravitated to the Middletown Yacht Club. They had a wooden clubhouse on the west bank of the river. Mother and the girls would get on a trolley car and come down with the food , walk down to the boat yard. Father and I would go down earlier, get the rowboat, row out to the boats-they were all anchored across the river, about 75 of them. There were soine lovely yachts, in those days, the early days of the gasoline engine.

I think my father and I did a lot to introduce the gasoline engine.

We had a 30-foot class cabin boat called the Medea. She had a six horsepower, two cylinder engine. Someone asked how you started it. I said: "I don't know. As I saw it as a boy it required a lot of profanity with a lot of words that I haven't heard very often."

Well, Father on a long weekend would take Mother and my three sisters and myself with food and we'd go down the river in the boat , and we'd swing around at Essex and up the crick (it was known as a crick then) . The Dauntless 2 was still afloatthey'd built a house on her-and they had a club in the house.

While the Dauntless was still in the river, you'd tie up between a couple of piles and stay there. Father and I would stay on the boat, and then we'd come to the Griswold, where Mother would be staying with the girls, and we'd usually have dinner together there.

Father knew Frank Ladd at the Griswold very well . Father was in the wholesale grocery business and used to stop there every once or twice a month to sell old Ladd groceries and things of that kind. So Ladd would say : "Hello, Lou ." Lou would say : "What you've got today?" Well , he'd say: " We got corned beef 2 . The schooner yacht Dauntless was a famou s vessel. Built in Mystic in 1866 for James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald, she was in the first defense of the America's Cup in 1870. Jn 1883 she was bought by Caldwell H. Colt , son of Sam Colt, the founder of today 's Colt Industries in Hartford . After his untimely death in 1894 at age 36 his mother and later hi s sister Elizabeth (Mrs. Charles Robinson) kept her on as a hou seboat in Essex, until she was scrapped in 1917, having been sunk by ice the prcevious winter.

SEA HISTDRY, SUMMER 1985

The veteran schooner yacht Dauntless, her racing days over, at rest at Smith's Yacht Works in Essex, (left) as she first arrived, (right) with deckhouse added.

and cabbage. You like that?" If you liked it, you'd stay for dinner.

If you didn't, you went somewhere else. And we'd stay there for dinner, and Mother thought it was wonderful to go out to a restaurant to eat. And the dining room was the old room where the pillars are. And there was one table. It was an extension table.

Then we'd get down to Saybrook, where the river is real wide.

I want to say again that one thing about this river, it's close to you. It's an intimate river. It's a friendly stream . It never gets too rough. It gets high and runs strong sometimes, but you can cope with it. You're not overawed by it ever. It's a friendly, friendly river.

Steamer to New York In my boyhood days, Father and Mother used to take my three . sisters and me to New York on the boat, on the big boat , the Hartford. We knew Charlie Bacon, the skipper. We'd go down and get aboard at Middletown . They'd load at Middletown with these stevedores, and the Wilcox and the Crittenden and the Russell manufacturing companies would turn out a lot of freight for that boat , a lot of it the heavy stuff. We'd get aboard the boat and then we'd have supper. They served good meals on that boat with black waiters, and the prices were very, very cheap.

The steamer Hartford , on which Lucian Baldwin traveled with his You didn't have an awful lot of choice but it was enough and family to New York, was the last of the Connecticut River steamboats, making her final run from Hartford to New JVrk on October 31, 1931. very wholesome. We'd always have two staterooms, always the Here she comes into Steamboat Dock in the 1920s. Photo, Connecticut same two. Father and I slept in one, and Mother and the girls River Foundation. in the other.

Mother didn't care much about boats . I remember once when we were cruising, and Mother was sleeping in the Medea one night in the Salmon River, Father said: "What's the matter and go out to the Cornfield Point lightship. On the Sound there, Sadie?" She said: "I'm sitting up to rest! " So that tells you how about three or four miles off shore, you can see the bottom she felt about boating! Aboard the Hartford , Mother and the sometimes. And that's sand that down through the years has come girls would go to bed after we'd cast off from East Haddam . out of the river. We'd stay up until the boats passed at night, From Middletown, the boat would stop at Middle Haddam , and and they'd salute one another-The Hartford and New York on the west shore of the river there was an open field, with a Transportation Company salute-one long and one short blast. wine glass elm tree in the middle of that field-a beautiful tree.

So we got so at the yacht club we used it too.

And Captain Charlie Bacon would turn the searchlight on that Then I'd go to bed. It wouldn't be for long because Father tree. It was brilliant green, a gorgeous, gorgeous sight. And then would say: "You've got to get up and see us go through Hell we'd go down the river, and Mother and the girls would turn Gate." It was only about five hours to get up the Sound to in, and Father would say: " We ought to stay up until we get out Execution Rock and then Hell Gate. Then in the East River the to the lightship." sight to see was the Brooklyn Bridge. When I first went to New There used to be a cute little lighthouse on the next reach , York on the steamer, it was the only bridge going from Brooklyn way over on the western shore, because the channel where the to Manhattan. It's still the prettiest of all of them. The place big boat went goes westward behind Eustacia Island . Further where we landed was on the east side of Manhattan, just below down, just above Essex , it swings to the eastward of Brockways the bridge. And in that day, there was still a large number of Island, opposite Hamburg Cove. At Essex , we'd pull in here at big sailing ships still in business, and you'd see the forest of those Steamboat Dock. There'd always be some freight here of one masts above the houses on the docks. ..t kind or another. I've been in this room when I've seen a half a dozen or a dozen ivory tusks against that wall-elephant tusks NO'fE: The standard biography is Raymond E. Baldwin , Connecticut -for the piano factory up here. That goes back a long way. Then Statesman , by Curtiss S. Johnson (Pequot Press, Chester CT 06412, 1972 , 297pp, illus, $12.95). we'd stop at Saybrook, and then we'd get on away from Saybrook SEA HIS1DRY, SUMMER 1985

47

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J OSEPH WINEROTH J OHN F . WlNG SIDNEY WINTON LAURENCE F . WITTEMORE WOMENS PROPELLER CLUB, PORT OF BOSTON WOMENS PROPELLER C LUB , PORT OF JA CKSONVILLE JEFF WOODS EUGENE Wos DORAN R. WRIGHT THOMAS H . WRIGHT WILUAM C. WYGANT YACHTlNG JAMES H . YOCUM ALEN SANDS YORK JOHN YOUELL HENRY A. YOUMANS ANNE YOUNG RANDOLPH S . YOUNG W. J. YUENGLING C HARLES ZEISN EDWARD G. ZELINSKY

Engineering 'Ib01orrow's Sea History

The Dredge Whee ler, one of the Army Corps of Engineers hopper dredges operating out of the New Orleans District is mann ed by MM&P deck officers

This is MM&P Country The Army Corps of Engineers Dredge Wheeler is but one of the workhorse vessels needed to keep the harbors and rivers open for smooth operation of the nation's co mmerce. These vessels are the nucleus of the dredge fleet operated for defense purposes under the national agreement signed between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Masters, Mates and Pilots. MITAGS, where MM&P dee~. officers go to sharpen·their skills, is the result of a close and profitable collaboration between MM&P and American flag shipping companies.

LLOYD M. MARTIN

ROBERT J. LOWEN

International Secretary-Treasurer

International President

International Organization of

Masters, Mates & Pilots 700 Maritime Boulevard , Linthicum Heights, MD 21090 •Tel: (301) 850-8700 •Cable: BRIDGEDECK, Wash1ington , DC• Telex: 750831