SHIP NOTES, SAIL TRAINING & MUSEUM NEWS INVENI PORTAM (1915-1988) George C. Campbell, distinguished naval architect, marine artist, and maritime historian, died on 9 October in his native England at age 73. He came to the US in 1963 with his wife Peggy and their three children, and worked as an exhibit designer at the American Museum of Natural History until his retirement in 1979, when he returned to England. In the late 1960s he showed up at the converted fish stall that housed South Street Seaport, to offer his services as a volunteer. He became the naval architect for the restoration of the museum's square rigger Wavertree, an office he had also filled for the tea clipper Cutty Sark preserved at Greenwich, England. Born of a family of shipwrights and fishermen, he had worked in the famous Cammell Laird yard outside Liverpool, and this experience gave a strongly practical bent to his artistic vision and scholarship. He became a memberofthe Royal Institution of Marine Architects in 1947. He was author of a well received and beautifully illustrated hi story The China Tea Clippers, and he also wrote The Jackstay, a handbook for modelmakers which is now a standard in the field. In 1978, Campbell was the recipient of the NMHS Jam es Monroe A ward. He served on the NMHS Advisory Council and continued to be active in Society affairs after hi s retirement to Brighton, England. Humor and scholarship alternated in his contributions to Sea History, as in his private correspondence, which was voluminous and endlessly helpful to students of things maritime. He wrote movingl y of the ships that he studied and depicted in his paintings and drypoint etchings, ballasted by his practical experience and his sure feel for dimensional things. The China, clipper, he said , "m ust surely rank as the most aesthetically perfect man-made shape." And he added. "There is much to be learned about the purpose oflife looking back .... " Peggy said that finding him unconscious toward the end, she knew he was away somewhere-"in one of his ships." PS GEORGE C. CAMPBELL
H ARRI SON
J.
0RI NG
(1919-1989)
Harry Dring (he did not like to be called Harrison!), for many years the keeper of the historic ships in San Francisco, died 20 January 1989." A great guy-a legend in his own time," is how his friend William E. Burgess, Jr., described him . Burgess is one of the host of private citizens, volunteer supporters of the 34
former San Francisco Maritime Museum (now a National Park), who learned what they knew of ships from Dring. Dring had been shipmates with his boyhood chum Karl Kortum, founder of the museum, in the bark Kaiulani (which NMHS was formed to save) in her Cape Hom voyage to South Africa and Australia in 1941-2. He put the well being of the ships first in his concerns, as a note from Burgess's journal 10 November 1984, soon after Dring 's retirement, nicely illustrates: Harry was in fine fettle, drinking scotch and enjoying a cigar. He told us he has done all he had intended to do in life, and ifhe is to go, he ' ll do it his way. So be it. Ray Aker had read to him Davis' letter to me on the state of the ships. Harry just dropped by Fort Mason, and the stem section of Galilee is still unprotected from the rain! Our heartfelt sympathies go to Harry 's wife Matilda, and his sons, one of whom drives a tugboat today in San Francisco Bay.PS W. FREEMAN, JR. (1906-1988) Fred Freeman, whose passing was noted briefly in our last, died on 6 June 1988 in Essex, Connecticut, where for many years he had made his home. A marine artist par excellence, and maritime historian of considerable note, he was distinguished by his infectious enthusiasm and enormous generosity to aspiring artists and indeed anyone who appreciated the story of American seafaring, especially the naval side. A retired Commander USNR, he commanded a subchaser in World War II, participating in the battles of Guadalcanal, Saipan, and Guam. After the war he became the leading artistic interpreter of the nuclear navy, particularly the undersea branch, making annual reserve outings aboard nuclear submarines until recent years . He designed and illustrated Scribner's Picture History of the US Navy, and the Naval Institute's histories of destroyer and submarine operations in World War II, among many other works. His memory will be bright in naval circles for decades to come, and his dedication Jives on in the work of young artists he inspired and helped. PS FREDERICK
***** Commander Tyrone G. Martin, USN (Ret.), former skipper of USS Constitution and author of her standard
biography, A Most Fortunate Ship, has been assembling from primary sources a database ofinformation on people who served aboard USS Constitution during her nearly 200-year career. Currently, the database is virtually complete for all those serving prior to 1882. All of the ship 's officers of the 20th Century are thought to be accounted for, but more research is needed to enlarge the enlisted men 's segment for the modem period. (Captain 's Clerk, 68 Pond Street, Cohasset MA 02025-1920.) In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the National Maritime Historical Society made seven awards to leaders of America's maritime preservation movement on Friday, 2 December at the New York Yacht Club. Yacht Club Commodore Frank V. Snyder welcomed the Society and introduced National Maritime Historical Society Chairman Jam es P. McAllister, who opened the ceremonies with the James Monroe Award . This award is given annually in recognition of distinguished work in maritime history, and this year's recipient was Norman Brouwer, curator of ships at South Street Seaport. New York, explained Brouwer, is "the city with the richest maritime history in this hemisphere. Yet, the port as it was is virtually disapppearing .. .I think we have an even greater responsibility to save this maritime history for future generations." Previous recipients of the award include the late Robert Albion, the leading maritime historian of the Atlantic world, Alan Villiers , historian of the last great square-riggers, and George Campbell, architect of the Cutty Sark restoration in Britain and Wavertree restoration in New York. The American Ship Trust Award was presented to Alan Hutchison , for his efforts to save the Kaiulani. The effort which began in 1963 resulted in the formation of the National Maritime Historical Society. At present, Hutchison is installing her bow as a monument in San Francisco. The Sheet Anchor A ward was presented by Society President Peter Stanford to the five founders of the Society, including Brouwer and Hutchison. Other founders honored were Frank 0. Braynard , curator of the United States Merchant Marine Museum, Karl Kortum, founder of the National Maritime Museum in San Francisco, and Scott Newhall , publisher, conservationist and adventurer. "The Sheet Anchor is the ultimate SEA HISTORY, SPRING 1989