Sea History 050 - Summer 1989

No. 50

•

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SU MMER 1989

THE ART, LITERATURE, ADVENTURES , LORE & LEARNING OF THE SEA

LONG ISLAND SouND: Indians, schoonermen, oystermen and world voyagers sailed its storied tidal reaches ....

USNS ZEUS (T-ARC 7)

SPECIAL SHIPS FOR SPECIAL MISSIONS Military Sealift Command (MSC) crews and operates a fleet of more than 40 ships that sail the globe to support U.S. Navy fleet operations and special missions worldwide.

One of our special mission ships USNS ZEUS (T-ARC 7) was the first cable ship to be designed and built by the Navy. ZEUS is 513 feet in length with diesel electric power and cruises at 15 knots. ZEUS maintains the Navy's capability for laying and repairing underwater cables and related hardware. She is equipped with state-of-the-art cable handling machinery, precision navigation equipment, twin screws, and side propulsion units to accommodate the exacting maneuvers needed for cable operations. In addition, the ship undertakes acoustic, hydrographic, oceanographic, and ocean engineering surveys.

Crewing requirements for ZEUS are unique; the ship's complement includes crewmembers whose duties are dedicated to her cable mission.

ZEUS has two Chief Officers, one of whom, the Chief Officer (Cable), is responsible for cable operations while the other performs traditional First Mate responsibilities. She also has two Boatswain Mates. The cable crew consists of a Boatswain Mate and nine Able Seaman (Cable) who stand two twelve hour watches during operations. Additionally, two Deck Engineer Machinists and two Unlicensed Jr. Engineers are responsible for operating and maintaining cable equipment. Crew accommodations include single staterooms, three lounges, a gymnasium, a recreation room, and a library.

Since USNS ZEUS was delivered to MSC in 1984, she has established an excellent reputation for service and reliability.

MSC has challenging shipboard opportunities and invites interested individuals to request application information .

Miiitary Seallft Command Washington Navy Yard, Bldg. 219 - Room 324, Attn: V. McCauley, M-22e, Washington, DC 20398-5100 MSC IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

ISSN 0 146-93 12

No . 50

SEA HISTORY

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE WORLD SHIP TRUST

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OFFICERS & TRUSTEES are Chairman , James P. McA lli ster; Vice Chairmen , Henry H. Anderson, Jr., A lan G . Choate, James Ean , Schuyler M. Meyer, Jr.; President, Peter Stanford; Vice President, Norma Stanford; Secretary, Spencer Smith: Treasurer, Richard I. Morri s; Trns/ees, Henry H. Anderson , Jr., A lan G. Choate. Wilbur Dow. Robert W. Elliott, Ill , Karl Kortum , Richardo Lopes, Robert J. Lowen, James P. McAllister.

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OVERSEERS : Chairman , Henry H. Anderson.

Jr. ; C harles F. Adams, Townsend Hornor, George Lamb, C li fford D. Ma llory, Schuyler M. Meyer.

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WORLD SHIP TR UST : Chairman, Wensley Haydon - Baillie; \lice Presidents, Henry H. Anderson, Jr., Vi scount Caldecote, Sir Rex Hunt , Hammond Innes, Rt. Hon . Lo rd Lew in , Sir Peter Scott, Rt. Hon . Lo rd Shackleton; Dep . Direc/or, J. A. Forsy th e; Hon. Treasurer, Mi chae l C. MacSw iney; Eric J. Berryman , Mensun Bound , Dr. Neil Cossons, Maldw in Drummond , David Goddard , Richard F. Lee , A lan McGowan, Arthur Prothero. Membership: £ 12 payable WST, c/o Dep. Dir., I 29a North Street, Burwell, Cambs.

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SEA HISTORY STAFF: Ediwr, Peter Stanford; Managing Edi1or, Norma Stanford; Assis1a111 Ediwr. M ichael J . Netter; Adver1isi11g and Public Affairs. Sue Morrow Flanagan; Acco1111ti11g.

Martha Rosvall y; Membership Secrelary, Patri c ia Anstett; MembershipAssis1a111 , Grace Zere ll a: Produclion Assis1a111 , Joseph Stanford; Assis/Cl/I/ 10 1he Presidem. Sally Kurt s.

SUMMER 1989

CONTENTS 4 11 14

32 34 35 36 38 40 41

DECK LOG , LETTERS AND QUERIES CALL TO ACTION , Peter Stanford FROM SEA TO SPACE: IGNITING A CHILD ' S IMAG INATION , Sue Morrow Flanagan LONG ISLA DSOUND: INTRODUCTIONTOASTORIEDSEAWAY, Peter Stanford RIVERMAN , SHELLERMAN, Philip T. Teuscher PAST TO PRESENT, Sue Morrow Flanagan MARINE ART: WILLIAM M. DA VIS , Me lville A. Kitchin MARINE ART NEWS QUESTER GALLERIES: A MOVABLE FEAST, Peter Stanford ART OF THE FIGUREHEAD, Greg Powlesland SAIL TRAIN ING: DO WHAT'S BEST FOR THE SH IP, Barclay H. Warburton IV Bill OF RIGHTS, Muriel Curti s SH IP NOTES , SEAPORT AND MUSEUM NEWS A NEW KA /ULAN/ VISITS PITCAIRN , Warren Clive Christian DRAGON BOAT RACES , Carol O lsen AMSTERDAM II , Robert Friedman TIES THAT BIND, James Ean REVIEWS

45

DOWN THE SOUND IN AN OLD TWO-STICKER, John T . Rowland

15 18 22 24 27 27 29 31

COVER: Her l'oyaging m •er, a Sound schooner lies on the beach outside Port Jefferson , l ong Istand. Th e day ofthese sturdy wind-dril'en sea wagons was already drawing to a close a hundred years ago when Wm . M. Dal'is painted the scene , hut sailing craft swarm thicker than ever around Port Jeff today, continuin'.? a timehonored use of the waterway for recreation and restoration of the spirit. Courtesy , James McNamara.

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

We bring to life America's sea faring past throu g h resea rc h , archaeological ex pedi tio ns and ship preservation efforts . We wo rk with museums , hi sto ri a ns a nd sa il training groups and re po rt o n these activities in o ur quarterly journal Sea His1ory.

We are also the American arm of the World Ship Tru st , a n internatio na l group wo rking worldwide 10 he lp save ships of histo ric importance.

Won't you join us to kee p alive our nation ' s seafar ing legacy?

Membership in the Society costs only $25 a year. You ' ll receive Sea History, a fascinating magazine filled with articles of seafari ng and histori ca l lore. Yo u ' ll a lso be e li g ibl e fo r di scount s o n books , prints a nd o the r items.Help save o ur seafa ring he ritage . Join the National Mari ti me Historica l Society today '

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4

LETTERS

Above we see Assistant Editor Mike Netter at the memorial to the ships and men of Port Jefferson who sallied forth to the world 's four corners. This monument stands on the splendid little public park maintained at the head of the harbor

by Danford 's Inn-an example of how present-day development can enhance, rather than spoil , public access to the heritage of Long Island Sound.

We started the Sound issue full of unconscious nostalgia (a disrespectful attitude, shame on us!) for the vanished fleets of big coal and lumber schooners I remember from summers on Sherwood Island outside Westport, Connecticut. But as we fini sh up, all of us here feel encouraged by the growing understanding of the values of the Sound heritage, and the plain fact of its enjoyment by more people.

One thing I feel we didn't get into enough is the importance of the great tides, ranging up to eight feet, that create the extensive wetlands of the Sound, and gave rise to the grist mills at the heads of dozens of inlets, and made it possible for broad-beamed Sound sloops and schooners to lie out between the tides and set their cargos ashore into waiting oxcarts-a wonderfully nonobtrusive and efficient mode of materials handling! Beyond that, there 's just the indescribable wild beauty of the tidal salt marshes, which you can enjoy, for instance, at the Sherwood Island State Park. And the stretching sandflats! . ..

But I am glad to report that the tidal currents of the Sound do fi gure in John Rowland 's splendid acco unt of hitchhiking a ride on a lumber schooner in 1910-a piece alive with the on-deck crises and rewards of driving one of these unwieldy wagons past landmarks familiar to all who sail the Sound today.

In this issue, also, we report urgent news of a shared treasure that is being systematically despoiled , the hi storic seabed shipwrecks, which are the cultural repository of all our ex perience in seafaring, and the rightful inheritance of us all. Permit us here some heartfelt indignation , and our call for your personal concern. See page 11 .

PS

Rereading earlier copies of Sea History is a constant pleasure. Recently 1 read again about Liberty ships during World War II and vividly recalled my own nineteen-day experience in an Apri 1 1944 crossing of the North Atlantic with one of four 83' Coast Guard cutters cradled on the deck of the SS John H . Campbell en route to Plymouth , England . I was a Coast Guard ensign and the commanding officer of one of the cutters , soon to be part of the US Coast Guard Rescue Flotilla and serving under Royal Navy command during the Normandy Landings on D-Day. The Liberty ship was part of an 88 ship convoy which crisscrossed the North Atlantic during a very rough and slow crossing.

While passing southbound through the Iri sh Sea, we had the misfortune of losing our convoy zig-zagging in heavy fog. Thi s was before radar was seen aboard merchant vessels. Since minefi eld s abounded in that area, what were we to do? Both the captain oftheJohn H. Campbell and I were still young and adventurous, and I knew that radar would then be a blessing since I was familiar with it. My cutter was crad led on the starboard bow of the Liberty ship and had radar, but since the cutter was operationall y dead and without power, the radar was useless. So we took a chance against getting into trouble in a minefi e ld: we would make the radar work.

The electrical power of the Liberty ship was incompatible with the cutter's, and the cutter's generators had been drained of their gasoline. One or two of John H. Campbell's lifeboats provided enough fuel to operate the cutter 's generators and radar, a ship's firehose supplied cooling water through the cutter's intake system, sound-powered telephones were ri gged from the cutter's darkened pilothouse to the Liberty ship 's bridge, and the radar worked Ii ke a charm, conning the John H. Campbell for the rest of the afternoon until the fog finally lifted . We had safely transversed some dangerous waters and entered a Wel sh harbor for regrouping with another convoy en route to Plymouth.

Thi s may well have been the first time a United States merchant vessel was conned independently by radar, illegal though it was.

CAPT. PETER CHASE, USCGR (R ET.) Providence, Rhode Island

Sway Up, Sheet In, and Head Her Off for Gloucester!

SH 49, "The Gloucestermen," found a warm spot in my heart indeed. I grew up SEA

HI~TORY ,

SUMMER 1989

in Gloucester and the best nickel of my life was spent for a copy of James Connolly's Gloucestermen in a local library ' s discard rack. I have read it aloud to many an audience of young people, some of whom were on the great schooner yacht Coronet, also berthed in Gloucester.

Looking at Tom Hoyne's masterly paintings and the incredible model collection, I could only think of Connolly.

What a perfect background to hi s stories this stuff made! Or maybe hi s stories offered the ideal romanticization of these hone s t , hardworkin g-a nd hard worked-vessels. Either way , I was delighted to meet Wesley Marrs himself, bringing up the rear of the issue in his inimitable fashion. Sway up, sheet in, and head her off for Gloucester!

What a way to end a great number.

TIMOTHY

F.

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"Windjammers" William P. Coughlin has written an interesting biographical sketch of Irving Johnson , but used the popular and erroneous definition of "w indjammer." He further compounded the error by naming the wrong originators of the word.

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Undoubtedly, the next few months will be tremendously exciting and challenging-and just think of the joy we ' II feel knowing that something positive is finally happening to that wonderful vessel.

In Po rtlan d's Hi sto ric Waterfront District

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Saving Lettie G. Howard It is good to read in the Sea History Gazette that the Seaport has been g iven a substantial award by the State to restore the Lettie G. Howard.

This is a well-deserved recognition , and due in no small measure to your dedicated efforts on behalf of the South Street Seaport Museum. I am confident that the Society will achieve its goal of broadening the membership, and know that the Museum will continue to be an important part of New York City 's cultural institutions.

L AURANCE S. R OCKEFELLER New York, New York

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LETTERS

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To quote from a letter by I.B. Hazelton to the New York Journal , dated 2 1 January , 1928: " Windjammer is a good, full-mouthed word, which is possibl y the main reason for its misuse so freely in these days when steam vessels are called 'ships' and ships are called 'w indjammers.' This word was coined bac k in the l 880s-90s by deep water, squarerigged seamen, and referred to schooners only.

"The fore-and-aft sail s of thi s new (to deep-sea) craft enabled them to jam into, or sail closer to the wind than a squarerigged vessel. And so, they just naturally became 'w indjammers."'

Thi s referred , not to the litt le twosti ck coasters, but to the bi g three and four masters, then five and six masted vessels. And the te nn , "jam into the wind" meant to sa il as close-hauled as possible and still ma inta in good way on the vesse l.

R OBERT G . H ERBERT, JR. East Northport, Long Island NY

NMHS Advisor Herbert is surely right ahout the original usage of th e word "windjammer," hut even tru e seafaring usage today includes square riggers.

See, for example, Captain J . Ferrell Colton' s wonde1ful book ahout th e big harks Moshulu and Hans. It 's entitled Windjammers Signifi cant.- £0.

The Spring 1989 issue#49of Sea History is one of the best. Ju st a couple of points tho ugh! As Mr. Coughlin states Irving Johnson grew up and still li ves in Hadley, Massachusetts. So even though the Connecticut Ri ver does flow past Had ley, Captain Johnson was a Massac husetts farm boy rather th an a Connecticut one as the capti on of the pi cture on page 7 states.

And on page 7 we meet " the world's largest sailing ship , the four-masted bark Peking," but then on page 8 we find " the greatest of them all-the 440ft, l 1, 150 ton five-masted ship Preussen." Perhaps in reference to the Peking, Mr. Coughlin meant to say " then the world 's largest sa iling ship ."

I yield to no man or woman in my admiration for Irving and Exy Johnson.

Could they be encouraged to tell the tale of the ir adventures during World War II? I' d like to add that book to the fascinating ones I still read and reread .

ER IC P ARKMA

SMITH

Concord , Massachusetts

Massachusetts farm boy it is-and the editor was responsible for this error, not Mr. Cough lin. The Peking-Preussen SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

matter sorts out this way: Peking was launched in 1911 , Pre ussen was wrecked in 19 13-so by 1929 , when Irving Johnson signed on Peking, Preussen was long gone and Peking was the largest surviving sailing ship . As to the last point, the Johnsons loathe war--hut we too , think the story should he told .- Eo. Sea History Gazette Doesn ' t the Sea History Gazette impinge on the Sea History magazine?

T here used to be fo ur issues per yea rlate ly three and a half. Why put out a Sea History Gazette when yo u can' t keep up with Sea History?

G EORGE N APIER,

JR.

Naza reth , Penn sy lv ani a I am still not overl y impressed with yo ur o rgani zation 's ability to get its magazine out and to its members while the news within is still current. I enjoy yo ur cover stories , but yo ur news section is always quite dated. Hope it improves .

THOMAS P A R L AP IAN O

Rose lle Park , New Jersey Sea Hi story, hal'ing suffe red a hiatus in 1988 , is again coming out regularly fo ur times a year. But as a quarterly, its "Ship Notes" section simply cannot he j i1lly current . Hence we publish Sea History Gazette, a semi-monthly newsletter that reports de i•elopments in ship presen •ation and maritime history in timely fas hion, with "Page Th ree" editorial comments. The Gazette is available to NMHS members fo r $25 a year.- Eo.

QUERIES In my research on the 19th century schooner Coronet, I wonder if any o f yo ur readers can he lp with informati on on fo ur of her fo rmer owners, a ll of New York or Brookl yn? Who knows anything about Arthur E. Bateman, owner fro m earl y 1890 to late 189 1? Fred S. Pearson, late 1898 to earl y 1899? John I. Waterbury earl y 1899 to earl y 190 I? Loui s Bossert, 1901 to earl y 1905? I have onl y sketchy materia l on them at present.

CAPT. TI MOTH Y

F. M

U RR AY

185 South McGarity Road McDonough G A 30253 A popul ar interest is presentl y deve loping in the De lawa re Bay sailing oyster fleet , which is still within the memory of a lot of people. Its small craft have had considerable documentati on, but , I fi nd a surpri sing lac k of info rmation on the larger sloops and two- and three-masted schooners that served as coastwise and SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

fo re ign traders. While we have a few doc umented ha lf-mode ls and a handful of photographs. I wo uld like to find suffi cient data to warrant development of plans. Thi s would require models or line dra wings, sail maker's records, builder 's specifications, paintings, or other data giving a fairl y compl ete picture of a given vessel.

As a starter, I am interested in the fol low ing Dennisvi lle NJ schooners: J.K. Manning ( 1869) William L. Elkins ( 1873) Frank Leaming ( 1873) Hattie Nickerson ( 188 1) Gertrude Abbott ( 1882) Emily S. Baymore ( 1884 ) Th omas F. Pollard ( 1890 ) Douglass Gregory ( 189 1) Others from South Jersey are: out of Mill vill e, the James A. Parsons ( 1860) and the Luther T. Garretson (1884) ; from Goshen, the Sa llie E. Ludlam ( 1873); from Bridgeton, the Beulah Land (1 882); and from Lees burg, the Benjamin Russell ( 1904) , Florence & Lillian ( 1874), and Henrietta Simmons ( 1865).

I will be g lad to correspond with others who can contribute info rmation.

EDWARD G . B ROW

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"sails o~ the WoRlb"

©1989

SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

PATRICK COONEY SAYS:

"Join Us and The National Maritime Historical Society in South Street Seaport Museum's Campaign to Save The Lettie G. Howard!"

For thirteen years, the Yankee Clipper Restaurant has been an integral part of the South Street Seaport. The Yankee Clipper's elegant dining room with its rich turn-ofthe-century decor has combined lustrous oak panelling and gleaming brass fixtures with the finest nautical paintings to reflect proudly the best of New York's maritime history.

On many an evening, people from the South Street Seaport Museum and the National Maritime Historical Society have lingered over coffee and liqueurs while dreaming and planning to save great ships like the Peking or the Wavertree.

Now, Patrick Cooney, proprietor of the Yankee Clipper, joins with both these organizations to ask you to help save another of these gallant thoroughbreds of the sea.

The Lettie G. Howard, one of the last of the Gloucester fishing schooners, needs immediate help.

Lettie G. Howard sails into New York, 1968.

"At Pier 15, the stripped-down hull of the 96year-old schooner Lettie G. Howard wallows in the slimy green waves that lap at crumbling pilings. In 1968, she sailed into New Yorkpart of a museum fleet. Now, her masts are gone; her hull rots. I twill take about$1 million to restore her; if the money can ' t be found, she could make a final voyage, to the te nder mercies of a marine knacker's yard. " Dick Sheridan Daily News Magazin e March 26, 1989

New York State has made a $250,000 matching-funds grant to the South Street Seaport Museum to rebuild the schooner on Burling Slip, just outside the Yankee Clipper Restaurant.

The Yankee Clipper Restaurant is proud to play a part in raising funds so the re building of the schooner can begin this year. We invite you to join us with a contribution, great or small. Just make your check out to the "NMHS - SCHOONER FUND" and send it to: National Maritime Historical Society 132 Maple Street Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 or call: (914) 271-2177

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CALL TO ACTION: Thanking all our hosts in Norwalk, Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport, Stamford, New Haven, FallRiver,New Rochelle, Portsmouth and Newport for a great summer of '88.

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At the Annual Meeting of the National Maritime Historical Society held May 6 at Norwalk, Connecticut, resolutions were adopted protesting the sale by such auction houses as Christie 's and Sotheby 's of artifacts looted from historic shipwrecks, and calling on citizens to boycott such auctions.

This followed the action by the Society for Historic Archaeology last fall barring the presentation of a paperon the Wydah excavation off Cape Cod, on the grounds that work conducted under sponsorship not devoted to archaeological purposes should not be recognized or condoned.

The National Maritime Historical Society agrees with that position and supports it. In thi s we are joined by the Council of American Maritime Museums , the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, and the Maritime Alliance.

In the letter to the Society defending Sotheby 's involvement with the auction of Wydah material s (at thi s writing they are making a study of auction potential), Sotheby 's president, Michael L. Ainslie, said: " In my view, the responsible excavation of the Wydah is conservation , not destruction. Without venture capital and its incentives, theWydah materials would never have been di scovered and restored. " We know of no responsible archaeo logist who agrees that the Wydah excavation is "conservation," and we do not believe that the urge to go out and dig things up shou ld be allowed to override the conservation of these priceless, irreplaceable evidences of our voyaging past. If it cannot be done properly, it should not be done. I believe that is the essence of the Society's position and that it is one the public will come to share as it comes to appreciate the values at stake, and the annihilation of those values by excavations undertaken for any but educational and hi storical purposes.

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NOTE: On May 11 , a campaign was launched in Britain ' s House of Commons by Richard Onnond , Direc tor, National Maritime Museum , lo sec ure act ion to stop "selling hi storic wrecks to commercial salvors" and 10 discourage the pub Iic sale of antiquities. For further information on this , and the text and background of lhe NMHS resolution , write NMHS , 132 Maple St., Croton NY 10520.

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Igniting a Child's Imagination

by Sue Morrow Flanagan

Few of us can forge t the morni ng when the NASA space shu ttle Challenger exploded . Eight astronauts, heroes of our age, we re lost under the eyes of a nation watching on TV. America's children saw Chri sta McAuliffe , a beloved teacher, perish. Just as in other centuri es child ren dreamed of sai ling the high seas in search of new lands , today ' s child ren as pire to open the frontiers of space. The Challenger di saster paralyzed many of those dreams.

In an effort to rekindle that interest, NASA gave the job of naming the ne w space shuttle to America ' s children. Recogni zing the monumental role maritime heritage has pl ayed in the wo rld 's hi story, NASA decided our space shuttles should be named after ships of research and exploration. They turned to the Counc il of Chief State School Officers for ass istance who , in turn , as ked the Nati onal Maritime Hi stori ca l Soc iety to act as a reference source for eac h state to check its entri es. Soon o ur phones were ringing off the hook with req uests fo r confirmations on dozens of ship names.

Whil e the fi nal name for O rbiter Vehicle 105 , which will be launched in February, 1992, has yet to be announced, NASA is delighted with the results. "The program d id exactl y what we wanted it to do ," M uri el Thorne, Educational Program s Officer with NASA ' s Educationa l Affa irs Di vision, told Sea History. "These yo ungsters know their ships, that' s for sure."

Indeed, one team of fo ur hi gh school boys who met regul arl y in the ir public library to ld NA SA that one of them didn ' t even know how to find the nonfi ction books in the library. " Now we all know the di ffe rence between a sloop, a fr igate, a clipper and a windj ammer. " NASA ' s " Name The Orbiter Contest" judged each entry on the name proposed (20%), and the quality of the educati onal project (80%). The name had to be easy to pronounce for transmi ssion, and had to capture the spirit of America ' s mi ssion in space. In all , over 71 ,000 students fo rmed 6, 164 teams rang ing in size from four students to 888- an entire school. They proposed 4 11 names and the ir entri es came from as fa r away as a State Department school in Taiwan to Nati ve American Schools, and from Puerto Rico to A las ka. Ameri -

Endeavour under repair on Cook 's First \'Oyage . She was stude nts' leadin g choice fo r the name of th e new space shuttle . can Samoa suggested Hoku-le' a, Hawa ii an fo r Ri sing Star. The most popular names were Endeavour--over 1,000 proposals; Victoria-580; and Resolution- 370 with Nautilus, Ca lypso, Adventure and Half Moon foll owin g.

Native Ameri can children in Washington State ke pt NMHS staff bu sy searching for an e lusive ship named Los Indios until it was rea li zed they created it to re present their people's ro le in shaping Ame rica.

Teams signed their entry essays with signatures rang ing fro m the wo bbl y scrawl of a first grader to the tight prec ision of a sixth grader. Other teams designed T-shirts, badges and buttons to promote their chosen name. Some stayed overnight on ships as part of the ir research. And one gro up staged a 24-hour shuttl e launch (w ith one hour off to go to the school basketball game) . A metal tro ll ey served as shuttl e when the orbiter soared down a school hallway into space.

O thers conducted a dinner-time survey of randoml y chosen community members to document the popularity of their name. Another gro up cel ebrated Captain Cook 's birthday with cake and limeade, since limes pl ayed such a vital rol e in preventing scurvy .

Several ingeni o us teams tested the ir name for tran smi ss ion quality with wa lkie-talkies or CBs. Each state he ld a selecti on process , then sent winning names to NASA. Community support was such that when one group of state winners couldn ' t afford the trip to Huntsville, Alabama, a local compan y fl ew them there in the corporate jet.

Ameri ca ' s children scoured the ir libraries and wo rked together to name the new shuttle which will repl ace the ill -fated Challenger. But, more important, they breathed li fe back into the dream th at will guarantee the future of America's mi ss ion in space. They are tomorrow ' s Co lumbus, Mage llan or Capta in Cook . C hri sta McA uliffe would have been thrill ed . w

Forfurther information: Muriel Thorne, Educational Affairs Officer, Co uncil of Chief State School Officers, 400 North Capitol St. NW, Suite 379, Washington DC 20001; 202 393-8161.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Long Island Sound:

Introduction to a Storied Seaway

by Peter Stanford For a long time no one but the orig ina l Indi an inhabitants of the region seemed to know it was there . Giovanni da Yerrazzano dropped anchor in New York Harbor on hi s way along the North American coas.t in 1524 ; dri ven to sea in a summer squall , he then sail ed east along the Long Island shore. Sailing

by Montauk , at the end of Long Island, he saw a body of water opening out to the north west, but kept on east fo r Bl ock Island.

Nearl y a hundred years later Henry Hudson made hi s famo us voyage up the Hudson Ri ver. Like Yerrazzano and others before him , Hudson was interested onl y in pushing through the obstructi ve land mass of the Americas to get to the fa bled wealth of the Orient beyond, and had no incl ination to seek out byways along the coast. He may never even have become aware of the body of water that twice dail y sends salt water pul sing around Manhattan to pour into Hudson' s great ri ver, that enchanted she ltered seaway, Long Island Sound .

It was n' t until fiv e yea rs after Hudson 's voyage of 1609 had opened European eyes to New York and its environs that a Dutch skipper, Adri aen Block, who had been sailing several seasons in Hud son' s wake to pursue the fur trade with the Al gonkian Indi ans on Manhattan Island, took a 42-foo t sloop up the East Ri ver (whi ch is reall y no ri ver but a tida l passageway) and on th ro ugh the Sound to the eastward .

He set sail in May 16 14, just 375 years ago, hav ing been forced to winter over in Manhattan after his shi p, Tyjgre (or " ti ger") had burnt pas t sa lvage the preced ing autumn . Block was a reso lute intruder on the native American scene. During the winter he built hi s new sloop to repl ace Tyjgre -a vesse l 42.5ft long in hull , with a beam of l 1.5ft. He named hi s little ship On rust , meaning " restless ." (Onrust is also, it turns out, the name of a Dutch prov ince; but looking at other names, fo r example Block 's con sort ship Fortuyn or "fortune," one comes to be lieve that the name meant just what it says.) In thi s vesse l he threaded hi s way through the narrow passage between Long Island and the Bronx , a passage he named He ll Gate. He made hi s way pas t landmarks fa miliar to those who sa il the Sound today; pas t Execution Rocks, on which the US Government was be latedl y to build a lighthouse in 1850after the roc ks had taken, and too long continued to take, the to ll of shipping which earned them the ir name. (The re is nothing to the griml y fan c iful story that the British used to execute Patriot pri soners by chaining them down to the roc ks in a ri sing tide. The name long antedates the Revolution.)

B lock sa il ed on by the Norwalk Islands, Thimble Islands, and Duck Island , up the beautiful Connecticut Ri ver (which he prosa ically named " fresh ri ver"), and on th ro ugh the Race and out of the Sound. He passed on east to name Bl ock Island and Rhode Island (" red island"), and so passed into hi story. He picked up a lift home off Cape Cod and apparentl y never returned to the Americas, ending hi s days in Amsterdam, where he died in 1627, aged about60. Hi s ga ll ant Onrust went on to the De laware for further ex plorations.

He ll Gate, at the western end of the Sound , is no treat to sail through tod ay, with its j agged rocks and hurtling, swerving currents. But it was much wo rse until success ive bl astings of obstructing rock ledges , late in the last century, cleared a deeper passageway than Block had to contend with . T he eastern ex it of the Sound , whi ch Yerrazzano g limpsed , is more open, but more complex ; the main body of w ater goes out through the Race , a seven-mile stretch, w ith side shoots going through Fi sher 's Island Sound on the north, or Connecticut shore, and Plum Gut on the south , Long Island shore.

A lot of water has to get through these narrow apertures and it creates a ferocious chop even in the re lati vely broad waters SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

of the Race. Many a small boat sailor bowling along in a goodl y breeze has been startled to fi nd himself confro nting snarling fi ve-foot seas as he sailed o ut past Race Rock into Block Island Sound .

T hese daunting entra nce and ex it passages may have delayed Europeans opening up the Sound , but Block knew before he went into it that Hell Gate led to a body of water that exi ted at the other end into the Atlantic-a fac t he undoubtedl y learned fro m the Indians with whom he had been trading, in fr iend ly fas hi on, for several years.

Cradle of Culture When the Indian tribes that settled the area fi rst came upon the North American scene, someti me before 10,000 BC (well before, recent fi ndi ngs suggest), Long Island Sound was a true inland sea, or perhaps more acc urately a giant fres h-water puddle left behind by the retreating g lacier that covered most of North America in the Ice Age. Sea level has ri sen some 350 fee t since then, as water locked in the great g laciers returned to the oceans. Much ev idence of the arc ha ic Indi an coasta l presence and culture is pro babl y lost to us underwater. But a pretty clear picture of the culture of the European contact period emerges from survivin g archaeo log ical evidence and from the fa irly sophi sti cated interchange that proceeded between Ind ians and the European- mainl y Engli sh- immi grants who began to settle both shores of the So und in the 1630s and 40s .

The new arrivals fo und a native population who were acti ve fa rmers and trade rs, as well as hunters and fis hers.

Indi an ag riculture up and down the coast had saved starv ing Engli sh colonies at Jamestown and Pl ymouth , and on Long Island the new ly-arrived Europeans tended to settle in cul tivated Indi an fie lds-that' s the deri vation of Old Fie ld Po int, a famili ar seam ark halfway down Long Island just west of Port Jefferson. Still more striking was the degree of commerc ial development. Trade ro utes-probabl y concussive, or fro m tribe to tribe, rather than mainta ined th ro ugh long-haul trips brou ght stone fo r spearheads from as fa r as Labrador, and di stincti ve pottery fragments show interchange maintai ned inl and to the G reat Lakes and south to the Chesapeake.

Wampum , fi nely crafted beads made from clam or oyster she ll s, served as a uni ve rsa l currency and al so as ornament signify ing prestige-muc h as the E uropeans used gold (and still do) for both these purposes.

Because of the acti ve trade in furs, wampum immed iate ly became an intercultural medium of exchange, extensive ly used by the European arri vals, and even manufac tured by them. The local suppl y of furs was soon ex hau sted, so by the 1650s and ' 60s the Indi ans were reduced to trading away their land fo r European products, including the not very soc ia ll y benefi cia l guns and gunpowder. Perhaps even more de leteri ous was the rum distilled from West Indian cane brought into the area through the maritime trade routes maintained by the European settlers with the Caribbean plantations. Guns introduced po litica l and criminal problems that Indian law and custom could not dea l with , strong as these were for the ir own cultu re, and the same seems to have been true of the soc ial problems induced by rum , which an overstressed Ind ian populace just couldn ' t to lerate.

On the north shore, the warlike Pequot tribe, centered around Mys ti c, j ust inside Fisher ' s Island at the east end of the Sound , had exerc ised s uzerainty over ne ighboring tribes.

They vigorously opposed European settl ement. The o utcome of thi s was the Pequot war of 1636-37, a war of extermination in whi ch the remnants of the tribe were pursued fro m the 15

Th e passing of a way o( life is elegiacal/y e1•oked in William M. Dal'is' s porrrair of a schooner srranded on rhe heach our side Por/ Jefferson. She was on her way our a hundred years ago, as railroad and sreamhoar took 01 •er. Bur rhis was nor rhe end ofsail on Long Island Sound!

Mystic area westward to Southport, and slaughtered there. On the south shore there was no real resistance from tribes accepting European overlords in place of Indiim ones.

To these original Americans, the Sound was not a barrier, but a fecund, endless Iy renewed source of food and recreation and a grand avenue of communication. Historians in recent years have determined that cultural patterns, as reflected in local dialects and artifacts, ran in a few broad bands across the Sound, rather than along its shores, so that a Montauk at the east end of Long Island was more closely related to hi s nei ghbor across the Sound in Connecticut than to the Canarsies in western Long Island .

Thi s pattern persisted under the European settlement, as the Dutch settled Brooklyn and Flushing, at the west end of Long Island, and the English colonized the east end, led by such dynastic founders as Lion Gardiner. This remarkable man , sent to Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut River as a so ldier, believed in peace. He acquired Gardiner ' s Island in 1639 from the Montauk chieftain Wyandanch , and went on to found East Hampton and other towns in eastern Long Island. Wyandanch also gave Gardiner land in central Long Island in gratitude for hi s securing the release of the chieftain' s daughter from marauding Narragansetts of Rhode Island . One Indian record refers to him as " the most honorable of the English nation here about us."

From the beginning , European colonists had to go back to the sea they had staggered ashore from so eagerly. This was necessary to sustain their culture, through books and plowshares that had to come to them by sea, and most important, perhaps , the fertilizing exchange of ideas, without which any culture fast ossifies. The Sound, as the Dutch traveller John de Laete noted as early as 1636, was a natural conduit for these vital traffics . " Most of the English who wish to go south to Virginia to South River [the Delaware] or to other southern places pass through this river [as he persisted in calling Long Island Sound] , which brings no small traffic and advantage to the city of New Amsterdam. " New Amsterdam, for the reasons he gives, was in short order invaded by the English and renamed New York in 1664. This was a relatively peaceful transition .

But war came to the Sound in earnest a little over a century later in 1776. As a vital artery of coastal trade, the Sound was a very active theatre of conflict in the American Revolution.

The British, having taken New York in the summer of 1776, easily controlled all Long Island. Dissident Patriots skipped across to the Connecticut shore, from where they mounted continuous harrassing attacks on British shipping from the 16

shelter of the Norwalk Islands. The British occupied and fortified Duck Island, then a more considerable island than it is today , to interrupt Yankee passage along the Connecticut shore. Spies were smuggled across the Sound, notably the Connecticut schoolteacher Nathan Hale, who was caught and executed in New York after having heen smuggled ashore in Huntington , in western Long Island. A good deal of clandestine trade went on as well between opposing sides, and undoubtedly some double-dealing.

An amusing example of the latter was related by Col. Benjamin Ta llmadge , who had left his native Setauket, on Long Island ' s north shore , to serve the Patriot cause. His mi ss ion was to interrupt what was called "the London trade."

He captured many of the trading boats, but one day heard that the armed sloop Shudham, appointed to suppress the trade, was actually engaged in carrying it on'. Tallmadge accordingly went to Norwalk £!nd boarded the sloop when she came in .

Going below with the skipper, " I informed him of my suspicion s and errand." Unimpressed with thi s, the Captain weighed anchor and made sail , standing out to sea, " with a smart wind at the northwest" bearing them toward Lloyd 's Neck , where the British fleet lay. Tallmadge informed him that for carrying him over to the enemy, " by our martial law, he exposed him se lf to the puni shment of death. " In the upshot, the Captain gave in , put the sloop about, and sailed back to Norwalk Harbor, where: "As soon as he came to anchor down at Old We ll s, so called, the Captain went ashore in his boat, and I never saw him again." Opening the hatch , the Colonel found the British goods he expected, and had them condemned for the benefit of the Patriot cause. This was in the last winter of the war, 1782-3, with the Patriot cause clearly in the accendant. Otherwi se, this merry romp might have had a less merry ending.

With peace, the anomaly of a Sound divided down the middle ended. As in Indian times , the Sound served as a conduit, not a barrier. So true was this that Robert MacKay of the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, tells us that some of the greatest finds of crockery from the Brown Brothers pottery in Huntington, in western Long Island , were in the Connecticut River towns-and a centuryold view of the place shows us the reason in the presence of a heavily canvassed schooner 'lying at the pottery wharf, a vessel shoal enough to cross the sandbar at the entrance to the river on the opposite shore.

Nursery of Seamen Thomas Fleming Day, a rare yachtsman at home equally in the open sea or in a favorite backwater, made it his business to SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

know the tales told by the commercial sailors on the Sound then digging a clam from its beaches or pulling a fish from its when he was growing up on its waters a hundred years ago. depths on a line left trailing astern in hopeful fashion.

One gets a picture of old timers who knew the Sound like the And there is the Chesapeake bugeye Little Jennie of 1884 back of their hand-but nothing beyond. He reports: at the Long Island Maritime Center, a most promising venture In my early days I knew old sloop skippers who after long that embraces also a passenger launch of 1910 and uses both lives of voyaging confessed that they had never been boats to run very active historical and ecological programs beyond the Race .... Another old fellow who sailed out of from Huntington Harbor. And one cannot overlook the splenEastchester Creek had never passed east of Eaton ' s Neck, did Suffolk Marine Museum on the south shore at Sayville, and looked upon the waters beyond as a fearful place.

Long Island, home to the oyster sloop Modesty , the schooner But he also notes: "No doubt the Sound trade was the breeding Priscilla of 1888 and other small craft native to the shallows and training place of those mariners for whom in after years of the south shore bays. the world grew too small." Indeed! Specifically, Captain Adriaen Block is not forgotten! Six miles up the ConnectiHenry Champlin, master of the sloop Superior burnt by the cut River at Steamboat Dock in the old shipping town of Essex British in their raid on Essex, on the Connecticut River, in is the Connecticut River Museum , presenting a lively, su1814, went on to become a pre-eminent captain and co-owner perbly detailed picture of the uses of the waterway through of the famous Black X Line in the tough Western Ocean time, and its complex relation to the Sound, whose tides it packet trade (see SH 36, 10-1 I). And N. B. Palmer, discoverer carries on occasion as far north as Wethersfield (see SH36). of the Antarctic Continent, sailing in the bitter waters south of While no floating exhibits are maintained, the Museum Cape Hom in 1820, had come of age dodging British patrols summons them in classic yacht regattas, and this year will hold in a coasting sloop trading between his native Stonington and a waterfront celebration honoring Adriaen Block's passage up New York (the full length of the Sound) in the War of 1812. the river, on August7-9. Milford,just west of New Haven, will From the first, as we've seen, the colonists had to tum back hold Harbor Awareness Days, August 4-6, with a fleet of to the sea to support their nascent civilization. And they built visiting ships honoring the 350th anniversary of its settlement theirown ships to do so. As early as 1647 the vessel Tryall was in 1639, and Norwalk will hold its annual Oyster Festival built far up the Connecticut at Wethersfield for the West September 7-10. Among the ships in these movable feasts are Indies trade, and today's sleepy town of Setauket, across the the replicas of HMS Rose, British frigate of the Revolutionary Sound in Port Jefferson , launched her first recorded ship in War, based in Bridgeport, and the Continental Sloop Provi1662. Before the game played out, ships launched into this dence from Seaport 76 in Rhode Island, and the little brigantine little estuary had sailed in Atlantic and Mediterranean trades, Black Pearl (see p.31) sailed out of South Street Seaport in and one, the bark Urania, built for the coffee trade between New York.

New York and Brazil, traded to China and served for a time as * * * * * a packet between Shanghai and Nagasaki!

What with one thing and another, Long Island Sound has Sound dwellers also·picked up where the Indians left off in become the most populous and popular body of coastal water fishing local waters and in sending out small boats to catch the in the Americas. Will success spoil it? Is its deeply instructive whales that paddled along the south shore of Long Island. The and inspiring heritage to be forgollen and its environment whale trade led to worldwide voyaging as the local stock was finally destroyed in an orgy of pleasure-seeking? The answer killed off. Sag Harbor, on the southern jaw of Long Island ' s to those questions is clearly, and thankfully, No. People, who eastern end, and Cold Spring Harbor, at the western end of the have generated some problems, can solve them, and are Sound, became major centers of this industry, which greatly setting about doing so.

Perhaps the Indians, who lived for unknown millenia in enriched both towns (with whale oil selling in the mid- I 800s for the then-pricely sum of $1 a gallon) until the trade faded fine balance with the Sound, piling up oyster shells in their away in the 1880s. New London, Greenport, and other Sound waterfront encampments to the fantastic depths mentioned towns shared in the whaling trade as well , but Cold Spring and further on in these pages, offer by example the most important Sag Harbor led. counsel. Earlier we noted their recreational use of the Sound, Both these towns, and others on both shores of the Sound a quiet, non-disruptive use woven into the fabric of their lives then became noted yachting centers , as they remain today. As with reverence and a sense of shared proprietorship and celein Nantucket and New Bedford, the accumulated wealth of the bration of the deeds of mighty hunters .... Aren ' t those the best vanished industry left a gorgeous heritage in sea captains ' and ways to enjoy the Sound today-and tomorrow? .i. shipowners ' homes built in a very happy period of American domestic architecture, as even the most casual visitor immeFOR FURTHER EXPLORATION: Thomas Fleming Day , diately sees.

What else remains of this noble heritage in far-voyaging famed adl'Ocate of life afloat , and early editor of Rudder wooden ships? There ' s the packet Charles Cooper, built of maga:ine , wrote an admirable brief histo1y of his favorite Connecticut oak and launched from William Hall's Black crnising ground in 1910, entitled: "The Dei•il' s Belt: History Rock yard in 1856. Now a hulk in the Falklands, she is owned in Long island Sound." Picked up in The Rudder Treasury

by New York's South Street Seaport Museum. And that's it ( 1953 ), this is long out of print; NMHS can supply a Xeroxed for the Sound-built deepwatermen. The whaling heritage of copy for $3 .50 postpaid. Fessenden S. Blanchard's Long the Long Island Sound seaports is fortunately represented by Island Sound ( 1958) is a full length exploration of the Sound the Charles W. Morgan, the 313-ton, I 06-foot whaleship that a generation ago , by another lifelong devotee of its byways set out from her Massachusetts homeport on her world- and its lore. But there is no good general history . The nearest girdling career in 1841. She is to be seen today, with the local thing to it is to he found in Between Ocean and Empire: An Noank fishing sloop Emma C. Berry and other vessels, great Illustrated History of Long Island, ed. Robert B. MacKay. a and small , at Mystic Seaport Museum. The oyster sloop Hope 304-page richly illustrated work embracing essays by leading of 1947, last of her breed, is on exhibit at the Norwalk authorities on subjects ranging from the native American Maritime Center, which also presents a series of living exhib- rnltures to the development of the great estates of the Cold its on the drama of natural life in Long Island Sound-a real Coast. Published in 1985 , it's a1•ailahle from the Society for eye-opener for one who has only sailed across its sometimes the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, 93 North County glittering, sometimes dour and unsmiling surface, now and Road, Setauket NY 11733-for $24.95 plus $2.00 shipping.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

17

RIVERMAN, SHELLERMAN

by Philip Thorneycroft Teuscher "Well, they was lost on Roncador Reef.

My grandfather, Alfred Albert Goodsell, he had three schooners that run fruit from the West Indies to up here.

And, on one trip, the man who was supposed to insure them, well, he put the money in his pocket. After them schooners was lost in a hurricane, my grandfather, he was busted-flat broke."

Frederic Goodsell, one of the last Housatonic River "shellermen," described how his grandfather, after losing his schooner fleet in the 1850s, moved to the banks of the Housatonic River in Stratford, Connecticut. There he started over again, working the natural oyster grounds, clamming, trapping musk rats, fishing and market gunning. He said: "If you can't make a living here, you're too lazy to work!"

The estuarian creeks, marshes and inlets of the Housatonic River have produced a rich cornucopia of marine and avian life since pre-historic times.

Before the advent of the European this delta was a favorite hunting/gathering ground for the eastern aboriginals who camped there during the wanner months.

Even today, oyster shell middens and ancient fykes (fish traps) buried in silt attest to their pre-Columbian presence.

This natural abundance of sea food and bird life attracted Puritan settlement in the 1630s.

A settlement of cottages and garden plots spread along the lower reaches of the Housatonic, south of where the Stratford/Milford Washington Bridge is today (named for George Washington's ferry crossing). For over three centuries, a small group of Housatonic rivennen worked this delta. By exploiting nature's renewable stocks of marine life, these Yankees pursued a unique way of life, surrounded by the industrialized cities of New Haven and Bridgeport, well into this century. Frederic Goodsel I, a third generation waterman, worked the river until it was no longer commercially viable in the mid- l 950s.

Oystering was the mainstay of the rivermen's existence. When core drillings were made prior to breakwater construction where the river meets Long Island Sound, oyster shells were found at ninety feet. For eons the yearly oyster set grew in stratified layers. The bivalves, competing for space, grew an elongated spade-like shell unique to the Housatonic. These were known as "shangs."

Up until the cultivation of oysters in the mid-nineteenth century, oyster shells were a drug on the market. They were used to pave roads or were burnt to 18

render lime for making cement. But as the techniques of commerc ial oyster cu ltivation developed on Long Island Sound, it became apparent that the yearly set of baby oysters preferred oyster she Ils to attach themselves to. At about the same time the State of Connecticut began leasing underwater plots of the Sound's bottom to oyster companies. These two factors spawned a new industry for the rivermen in the mid-nineteenth century .

Up until this time rivermen harvested oysters for market. Now they began a seasonal occupation supplyi ng the oyster cultivators with shell.

They worked from open boats with hand tongs. Originally log canoes with one leeboard and a pole mast were used; later the New Haven sharp ie supplanted the canoes. Sharpies were flat-bottomed hard-chine open boats, easi ly moved through the water with a good carry ing capacity. And, they were cheap to build.

Sharpies were sailed, rowed or scu lled.

A hundred years ago these plumb stemmed, raked transomed, shallow draft craft were a common sight on Connecticut's coast.

Oyster or shelling tongs were a simple device of two hand les with a pivot near the basket end. As the handles (or stales) were opened, a scissoring action opened the basket for the digging position. As the stales were closed, the baskets came together grasping a load of shell s or oysters. The stales were of white ash and the baskets of oak with teeth and cage of steel.

She llermen drove stakes into the bottom to ascertain the whereabouts of she I1 deposits. If possible the river's current was utilized to wash the si lt off the shells as they were brought to the surface.

Shellermen worked in 16-foot depths with tong stales up to 22 feet long . A load of sixty bushels or so was considered a good day's work. The shells were off-loaded by wheelbarrow on l 2x2inch planks from the boats to storage mounds on the salt marsh islands. Shellermen worked through the year, with the exception of the cold winter months.

During June and July the oyster companies bought the shel ls for transplanting to their grounds in Long Island Sound during the oyster spawning season.

Schooners were chartered and companyowned scows were utilized to transport the shells for planting on the beds. With an almost Sisyphean monotony, the she ll s, four bushels to a wheelbarrow, were forked on with "coke forks" and the barrows wheeled up planks and dumped aboard the schooners or scows moored by the sa lt meadows.

The relentless monotony of this backbreaking labor was somewhat ameliorated by chance and Yankee ingenuity.

As the story goes, an oystennan named Charlie Crane ran aground in the Hou satonic in hi s motorized sharpie in 1908.

While backing and filling under power to get free, he noticed that oyster shell s were pushed up in heaps by his propellor wash. Soon the technique of mooring power boats to wash out shells became the standard , and the old ways of tonging through mud and si lt became a memory.

"She ll kicking" was efficient and produced mounds of clean, silt-free shells , ranged in an "artificial bar" aft of the boats. Shell kickers were moored in such a way that they could be pivoted , their sterns moved from side to side to produce a good deposit. The propeller shafts were angled downward and drums of water on the afte r deck lowered the vessels' stern s as needed. Old sandbaggers and assorted craft were employed as kickers.

A crew of three shellennen might kick, tong, load and unload a thou sand bushels in a day, given good conditions of tide, source and weather. In the 1930s shell s so ld for forty cents a wheelbarrow .

"My father stayed with it (shelling), so I stayed with it. We weren't the first to start or the last, but we caught the most. ... " said Frederic Goodsell. He also remarked that " money was not a great thing in my father's life. You never had much money. We planted big gardens, caught fish out of the river, sa lted mackerel in the fall."

The Goodsells also caught eels in the winter by spearing them on the bottom or catching them in fykes constructed from stakes set in rows in the mud , shaped like a funnel. The eels swam in one end and were trapped in a labyrinth.

They a lso dug clams and trapped muskrat for their pelts. Frederic's father market gunned ducks from the salt marshes.

During the spring freshets they collected drift wood, brought down by the swollen river, for firewood.

Frederic, following in the tradition of hi s grandfather, went voyaging on blue water as a merchant seaman in convoy to Europe during World War II. "I 'dj ust as soon forget that part of my life," he commented when telling how hi s Liberty ship lost power in "coffin corner" during a convoy passage. " We were a ll alone out there until we got her go ing again and caught up with the convoy."

When the bottom dropped out of the oystering business in the early 1950s SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Rivermen ham it up for the camera while tonging shells from a har washed up hy a shell kicker. A hove right , mounds of oyster shells on Nell 's Island await transport to the grounds. These photos are from the 1930s and '40s, courtesy Frederic Goodsell, Milford CT.

and the demand for shell ceased, Frederic Goodsell worked as a longshoreman in Bridgeport until retirement.

Today the natural oyster beds on the Housatoni c are productive and Frederic keeps a scow with oyster dredges moored on the river. The laws that permitted harvesting by tonging have been abrogated by new rules allowing watermen to drag dredges to catch oysters. However, Frederic keeps a couple pair of tongs with eighteen-foot stales. From time to time he motors out to certain spots he knows and tongs a couple of bushe ls. And he says,"! never felt better in my life-tongi ng and working the .t river. ... "

By mid-summer, shells were moved from the mounds to a scow or (below) a schooner. In a few weeks th e rivermen would sell and load eight month's worth of kicked and tonged Housatonic shell.

Capta in Teuscher, a steady contributo r to Sea History magazine, has completed and published The Last Drift Oral Hi story Project (SH 49 ), and continues his study of th e work and culture ofthe Long Island Sound oysterman.

Loaded beyond the gunwales , with her booms raised to clear the deckload, the Sarah Maria is pushed downstream to the Sound around 1910. where she will hoisl sail and delil'er her cargo to an oyster company's grounds.

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Long Island Sound: Past to Present

by Sue Morrow Flanagan

When Arlriae n Block came through Long Island Sound 375 years ago, it a bounded with aq uatic life-huge oysters , clams, lobsters, dozens of species of fish in limitl ess numbers, and even dolphins.

Coloni sts built homes and an energetic fishin g industry which survives today .

But, in the 19th century , heavy industry began dumping massive amounts of toxic waste into the Sound. The human population soared and railroads and hi ghways crept out along the Sound 's indented shoreli nes, bridging and cutti ng off many of its inlets. In this century, with the automobile came the suburban sprawl of cottages, homes, recreational developments and countless industries.

Until recently , wetlands were wastelands to be filled . Sewage, toxins, o il running off highways and other waste could easi ly go into waterways under the rule " out-of-sight, out-of-mind." The C lean Water Act of the 1970s forced many industries to clean up, or pack up and most of us thought that was good enough.

Then , the summer of 1987 saw the weste rn end of Long Island Sound , from New York 's Throgs Neck Bridge to Bridgeport. Connecticut, di e for lac k of oxygen.

In Hempstead Harbor, Dr. Barbara Wel sh, Associate Professor of Oceanography at the University of Connecticut watched two divers slide into the water from a small launch belong ing to the Uni vers ity of Connecti cut 's research

vessel, Yukon. They found themselves swimming through a murk of decomposing fish. Trawlers for the Marine Fisheries Program of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection found 80% of bottom-dwellers like starfish and crabs dead, and failed to find even one fi sh alive.

Today , two years later, Dr. Welsh, who is also the principal investigator on water column hypoxia (loss of oxygen) forthe Federal Long Island Sound Study, points out that 1988 was a better year, " but we were within I mi lli gram of oxygen per liter of go ing over the edge .

The Sound 's marg in of safety is [dangerously] small in summer."

In 1985 , the magnitude of the problem was such that, under the National Estuary Program , the Federa l Government initi ated a $3 million Long Island Sound Study (kno wn as LISS to its fri ends). The stud y rece ived hi gh marks in Washington DC, but the news wasn't good. A congress ional caucus on the Sound decided last autumn that the Sound was in even worse condition than anticipated. While acknowl edging some improvements, especiall y in the $20 million a year fishing industry, the caucus pointed an accusing finger at development in the area.

People: The Problem In the dim light of the Norwa lk Maritime Center's aquarium , res ident marine biologist Skip Crane lean s over for an eye-to-eye view of a stoic blackfi sh.

In dustrial development cluttered the harbors oft he Sound du ring th e last century, even while schooners pursued the historic lumber trade under sail. Th e changing times are caught here in an evocati ve view of the site of today's No rwalk Maritim e Center. Photo courtesy Norwalk Maritime Cen ter.

Skip acknow ledges the probl ems are serious but ultimately has great fa ith in the resilience of a system washed dai ly by bi II ions of gallons of c lean sea water.

He sail s the Sound each day with stu dents and sees burgeoning life, a health ier fish ing industry and great hope for the future.

The one year-o ld , $30 milli on Norwalk Maritime Center shows quite clearly what a healthy Sound sho uld look like. Vi sitors start above water with ex hibits abo ut the oystering industry, boatbuilding and nav igati onal subjects.

Then, the aq uarium leads visitors into the Sound itself, starting with a salt mars h and tidal pools where dozens of species begin life. Touch tanks all ow children and ad ults to ho ld a ferociouslooking, but utterly harmless horseshoe crab, an ee l, sea robin or starfish.

Ironicall y, a quick g lance at a nauti ca l chart shows a sewage outlet opposite the Center, illuminating the Damocles' sword hanging over the Sound 's future.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, spill s and inefficienci es from the 86 sewage plants aro und the Sound re lease over one billion gallons of inadeq uately treated sewage into the Sound each day-all in all , a total of 376 billion gall ons annuall y or enough to fill 6.3 million Olympic-size pool s.

Sewage and chemi cals are just two of the crucial factors in a dead ly phenomenon cal led hypox ia. Hypox ia takes place

The convulsion that sei:ed the Sound in 1987 as result of human exploitation is shown al/ too clearly below; west of Middle Ground, the Sound went dead. ln 1988 things improved. We have yet ro see about 1989..

Map courtesy Long Island Sound Task Force.

Fishers I

t atons NPck

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11"mps1e;id /ljrt:HJr

M .wti.J¡ .e1 ua.,.

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DISSOLVED OXYG N W!I~

22

SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

when dissolved oxygen levels in water drop to 3 milligrams per liter or less.

Winter storms pound the Sound, cleaning and oxygenating it. In summer, the heat and stillness of the Sound restrict the natural flow between deep and surface waters.High nutrient levels from sewage, ferti Iizers or storms (which wash nutrients down rivers or out of marshes) foster an intense bloom of a red-brown algae called photoplankton. The algae bloom sucks up oxygen as it lives, and each bloom uses even more as it dies and decomposes . . . . and the Solution Richard Schreiner of the Long Island Sound Taskforce says the problem is serious, "but not hopeless. " He cites experts who claim fish kills have been recorded back to colonial times. Even then, blue fish in a feeding frenzy drove thousands of menhaden up tiny streams unable to support such intense populations . Yet, Schreiner points out, this decade 's fish kills have been "extremely aggravated by excessive urbanization."

Schreiner believes, "The greatest help for the Sound will come from people getting involved individually. What's missing is public concern."

Allen Berrien, owner of the Milford Boat Works and another member of the Long Island Taskforce, shakes his head at the narrow view many critics take.

Boaters and coastal communities often take the whole rap. Berrien says: "The coastal communities are not just bad guys. The culprit is lack of sewage treatment, not just along the coast but in the whole watershed from Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire to Connecticut and New York. " And the problem is bigger than sewage. While storm drains carrying fuel and grease, fertilizers from lawns and farms, boaters dumping heads containing sewage and chemicals like formaldehyde at sea, ocean dumping, and plastics all play a role in assaulting the health of the Sound, another issue is greater.

Schreiner points out that between the European arrival 375 years ago and the mid- I970s Long Island Sound lost 50% of its salt marshes. In the face of development, "The Sound is being robbed of its ability to protect and clean itself." So, when a wetland many miles inland , with its unique filtering and cleaning qualities , is filled in to build a shopping mall in Danbury , Connecticut, the watershed is degraded and the Sound is stripped further of its resilience and its hope for the future.

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Sea life thrii'ing in the varied unde1water habitats of the Sound can he explored at the Norwalk Center, including personal encounteers with star fish , sea robins, horseshoe crabs and other life forms. You can also learn how human forms find their way on the swface. Photos by Sue Morrow Flanagan.

The real hope for the future lies not only in the work of dedicated people like Dr. Welsh, Skip Crane, Richard Schreinerand Allen Berrien, but in even wider public involvement. Dr. Welsh praises Terry Backer, a commercial fisherman and the newly-appointed Soundkeeper, as well as Dick Harris, an oil company executive who leads a group of volunteers from the Norwalk Nature Center who rise each morning before dawn to go down and scientifically measure oxygen levels. " It 's a high class operation ," Dr. Welsh says. " Its a better job than any agency monitoring I've ever seen."

Across the Sound, the Maritime Center on Long Island is sponsoring a 70-mile waterfront cleanup program.

President William T. Perks wrote to hi s members: " I am sure you agree that after many years ofneglect, it is time to renew our efforts and become ecologically responsible. "

This is the level of personal concern people like Dr. Welsh and Richard Schreiner are looking for-when individuals assist in scientific monitoring or question their community sewage treatment, storm drain outlets, fertilizertreatments and waste disposal. While natural factors cannot be controlled, human factors like sewage, run-off and the closing of wetlands can be. Therein lies the greatest hope for the Long Island Sound. u,

For further information and to learn what you can do: Richard Schreiner, Long Island Sound Taskforce, 185 Magee Ave., Stamford CT 06902; (203) 327-9876. William T. Perks, Long Island Maritime Center, PO Box 481, Centerport NY 11721; (516) 754 2864.

Melissa Bari stain, NY Sea Grant Extension Program, Dutchess Hall , State University of New York , Stony Brook NY 11794 ; (516) 632-8737.

23

William M. Davis: Artist of Port Jefferson

by Melville A. Kitchin

"Conscience Bay," oil on canvas, 7" x 12 718", courtesy Society for the Preservation of the Long Island Antiquities.

A Sound sloop , close-hauled on the port tack and reefed down to punch inlo a stiff south westerly, crosses the bow of a deep-laden schooner, close-reaching across the Sou nd. "A Close Shave," oil on canvas. Photo by Josh McClure, Island Color. Courtesy, Jim McNamara.

24

From his long, fruitful life, William M. Davis has left us a priceless legacy in his views of Mount Sinai, Port Jefferson and Setauket during the second half of the 19th century. It was a world full of reflection and calm, quiet bays and coves, ships at anchor or at sea, and villagers pursuing their daily tasks.

One feels the excitement of the Sharpie Race, the cold winter at Saint's Orchard, and the beauty of Port Jefferson Harbor before industrialization. The past lives in these pictures.

Davis was born in Setauket in 1829, the son of James Davi s of Stony Brook (descendant of Phineas Davi s, one of its earliest settlers), and Catherine De Witt of Setauket. His early boyhood was spent with hi s grandmother and later in school in New York. Although he did not take kindly to books and study, he did show much interest in sketching. At 16 he signed on as a cabin boy aboard a sloop in the Sound. This seems to have been short li ved, as he soon entered the shipbuilding trade in Port Jefferson. He was apprenticed to William Darling, one of the most noted shipbuilders of the time. He completed his training with Edgar Brown and later went into business for him self.

In the meantime, he was painting and drawing-it had always come naturally to him. He never took a lesson in art, but perfected his skill by studying the works of others and from a close study of nature.

Davis was 19 when he married Caroline Peterson , 17 , of Danbury CT, in 1848. Their first child was a son, Arthur. Their second, a girl named Lucy, was born on July 15, 1852. Affectionately known as "Little Luttie," her death at age seven was a tragic blow to the young family.

It is through Little Luttie that we have the first evidence of contact between William M. Davis and celebrated artist William Sidney Mount of the Hudson River School. Mount 's 186 1 oil "Little Luttie" is of Davis 's daughter, painted from memory just two years after her death. Through this painting and hi s memoirs, it is obvious that Mount was in close touch with Davi s and hi s family, and that he wanted to make this gesture of a memorial portrait.

William Davi s was never Mount 's pupil , but we can see that Mount was giving him advice. Mount writes: "Mr. Davis says he works without varnish and dries his colors and uses but little oil and then varnishes his work a short time after it is finished. It used to be my method ." He also encouraged Davis to paint landscapes which, until that time, he had rarely attempted . Mount kept a ship model that Davis made for him in hi s studio as a tribute to their friendship .

It was during thi s time 1862 that Davis was working on "The Neglected Picture" (which showed a photo of Jefferson Davis in a broken and sagging frame with memorabilia attached to it) his first painting to attract wide attention. Along with "Done Gone" (the tombstone of a Confederate soldier with his cap and other paraphernalia draped over it), the two created a sensation . Emotions ran high in the early days of the Civil War, and these pictures seemed to sum up the feelings of the general public. Newspaper reporters were inclined to use the word "genius" in reference to Davis at this stage.

These pictures by Davis were a particular kind of painting that was new to the American scene. They contained editorial content and spelled out a political message. The Hudson River painters had not concerned themselves with political issues .

Norman Wiard, the munitions contractor and close friend of President Lincoln, purchased "Done Gone" with the intention of giving it to him. Lincoln , however, asked if he could keep the painting in the White House for only a while. In 1869, Wiard gave the painting to General John A. Logan , Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, to be SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

"Landscape and Water," 16".x 25", oil on canvas. Painted in afirm style with brilliant light, the view is from a heach road in the Mt. Sinai/Miller Place area. Davis certainly brought home the natural heautyof the setting. Photohy l osh McC/ure, ls/andCo/or. Courtesy The Musuems at Stony Brook.

hung in the Grand Army Headquarters. The whereabouts of the painting is presently unknown .

In 1862, Davis' s work also ado rned the walls of the National Academy, along with some of the most famous American artists of the 19th century-J. F. Kensett, Worthington Whittredge, A. F. Tait, S.R. Gifford and Shepard Alonzo Mount to name a few. It was illustrious company, but Davis never became a member of the Academy.

As the Civil War was ending, Davis left his family behind in Port Jefferson and opened a studio at 137 Broadway in New York. In a letter dated January 4, 1862, a vivid picture of the city streets and the artist's life in New York is described, with some twinges of homesickness .

Davi s did not exhibit at the National Academy again until 1867, when he hung four paintings. As a letter in 1867 indicates, he had not received the commissions he had hoped for and was by now quite homesick.

William Sydney Mount died suddenly on November 19, 1868, just one month after the death of his brother, Shepard.

With the death of John Frederick Kensett in 1872, the light began to go out for the Hudson River School. Already, in Paris, the storm of academicians against impressionists was beginning to wane. Many Hudson River painters were to outlive their time, only to die unwanted on the art market.

The influence of Mount on Davi s had been enormousand natural. They were both from the same geographical environment; they were related in creative temperment; they both pursued natural realism , which was deeply imbedded in their rural backgrounds.

Sometime before 1872, which was a turning point in his life, Davi s invented a method for transferring art work onto mirrors. He received a patent for thi s and, with Mr. S.S. Norton of Port Jefferson , formed a company and manufactured at SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

"Landscape of Harhor View ," 14 318" x 19 718", oil on academy hoard. A view from the Poquott side of Port Jefferson Harbor looking toward Belle Terre. Photo hylosh McClure. ls/and Color. Courtesy The Museums at Stony Brook.

25

" Winter at Saint' s Orchard," charcoal and white chalk on tinted paper, 13 112" x 19 112". Photo hy Josh McClure , Island Color.

Courtesy Th e Museums at Stony Brook.

the next 22 years, continued painting but did not re-enter the active art world of New York. He opened a studio on what is now East Main Street in Port Jefferson . Downstairs , he sold paints and painters' s upplies; upstairs he had hi s own studio.

To all in the village he was affectionately known as " Painter Davi s."

For 50 years, William Davi s recorded on canvas what he loved and felt about Port Jefferson and the surrounding country. And he left us these thoughts:

39 Day Street in New York. Al so at thi s time it is reported in news accounts that he had retired to Port Jefferson for reasons of health-a fashionable expression for those Victorian days.

What became of the mirror business is not known , but it seems to have been bought out by others. At thi s time he acquired his house at Mt. Sinai, across from the Congregational Church which he called "The Snuggery ."

In 1872, Davis cleared out of hi s New York studio, and for

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I doubt if there are many city artists who enjoy as I do the exquisite happiness of taking one ' s traps , a sandwich , and a pipe and going forth alone by the calm or tumultuous sea, the wild woods or other infre quented places at whatever season feeling sure to return with some modest transcript of the boundless beauty of nature. ..V Mr . Ki1chin was curator of the William Sidney Mount Collec1ion of Th e Museums at S1ony Brook and is now a private dealer in Huntin gton. Th e a/Jove is adapted from a catalog published /Jy the Historical Society of Greater Par! Jefferson in 1971.

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SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

QUESTER GALLERY: MARINE ART NEWS Oliphant Collection Oliphant & Company offers a rich haul of 19th and 20th century marines in their current catalog-including works by Antonio Jacobsen (1850-1921) , James E. Buttersworth (1817-94), Montague Dawson (1895-1973), and such elusive but gifted artists as Edward Moran ( 18291921 ). The catalog includes invaluable biographical notes . Also offered is the new America 's Cup Defender's Print Collection, introduced by a Frederic S. Cozzens watercolor of Reliance vs.

Shamrock Ill. For catalog, send $5 to Oliphant, 360 E. 55th St. , New York NY 10022; (212) 439-0007.

ASMA Show In Baltimore The ninth national exhibit of the American Society of Marine Artists, "The Artist and the Sea," opened at the Museum of Baltimore History to rave reviews April I , and will continue through August 19.

Catalog is avai lable postpaid for $20 made out to ASMA, c/o Nancy Stiles, 91 Pearsall Place, Bridgeport CT 06605 ; (203) 335-7779.

The American Banksman Those of you who appreciate the work of the late Thomas Hoyne (see"lnveni Portam" p. 34) , may enjoy Peter Vince nt.

With forebearers among the first to settle Marblehead, Vincent celebrates his rich heritage in paint. While faithfully reproducing the sea and the great schooners and dories that fished the banks of the Atlantic, Vincent captures the spirit of the working seaman. Described as an "American maritime gothic arti s t," Vincent shows in his subjects' faces the inner fatigue and conflict of spending months away from home at this hazardous occupation. Prints are available from Gloucester Fine Arts, PO Box 133, Gloucester MA 01930; 508 28 1-3638.

Marine Art Scholar Honored The 1988 Nathaniel Bowditch Scholar of the Year Award was given to Dorothy E.R. Brewington this winter for her lifetime contributions to the marine field.

The award was presented by American Merchant Marine Museum curator Frank 0. Braynard, who saluted Mrs. Brewington for " advancing our knowledge of America 's maritime hi story and art."

Brewington 's achievements include writing the 1982 Dictionary of Marine Artists. (AMMM , US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, Long Island NY 11024)

SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

A Movable Feast With a sure eye, Jim Marenakos plucRs a Buttersworth here, a Stobart there and offers just about the finest works the field provides . And each painting, lithograph, etching or drawingeach piece of this rich collection of nautical memorabilia-has to earn its place on its own merits, not by its artist's name alone. Look at a painting by Charles Robert Patterson ( 1878-1956) long enough, and you may find a tall , quiet man standing next to you. Ask him a question about Patterson and you ' II find you're talking to an authority-Marenakos is collecting information on the sailor-artist to publish a biography , as a joint project with the National Maritime Hi storical Society Sea History Press .

A successful industrial manager with a mania for col lecting fine art of the sea, Marenakos found friend s and business colleagues asking him to advise them , and even to buy for them. There was nothing he 'd rather do. And travelling around the country, he found that the hunger for outstanding marine art knew no geographic boundries. So, emulating Kit Morley 's " Parnass us on wheels," he packed up his treasures in a van and started bringing art to the nation .

Only last year, the Quester Gallery finally opened a permanent exhibit hall

Quester's Jim and Ann Marenakos in their Stonington, Connecticut , gallery. in the Marenakos family's home town, Stonington. But they haven't stopped travelling! And how typical of the Marenakos approach, the gallery stages benefit openings to support the maritime heritage they celebrate.

On Thursday, July 27, a four-day exhibition and sa le will open in Nantucket, with a reception at the Harbor House Hotel , South Beach Street, 5-9 PM. Proceeds from the preview and admission on the remaining days will go to benefit the National Maritime Historical Society.

And on Thursday, August 3, a twelveday exhibition and sale will open with a reception, 5-9PM at the Old Whaling Church on Main Street in Edgarton , Martha ' s Vineyard. The exhibition continues August 4-14, I 0AM to 7PM. Preview proceeds and admissions will go to benefit the Martha 's Vineyard Historical Preservation Society.

For further information , write the Quester Gallery, PO Box 446, Stonington CT 06378, or call (203) 535-3860. PS

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SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

MARINE ART:

Art of the Figurehead

by Greg Powlesland

In 1975 , Karl Kortum asked me to carve a replacement figure for Balclutha when the time came, as the original was deteriorating, with concrete replacing various missing bits of the original. After many delays at the National Maritime Museum in San Francisco, Glennie Wall gave the go ahead to carve a new figure in 1986. So after a hundred years of gazing seaward, Balclutha's figurehead was removed. The three I" iron bolts that secured her to the bow were sti II sound, though the upper part of the figure was very soft, the result of fresh water seepage over the years.

Balclutha ' s figurehead, now removed, was badly battered with much of the carving detail blanketed by fortyfive layers of paint. Even so, the original finished work looked bold and confident, showing a lady whose countenance blends class ical Greek aspirations with a sturdy Scottish family plainness-not beautiful, but imbued with a calm and stoic strength. This " modern" figure of 1886, can now be seen to embody the values of the late Victorian era when the British Empire was at its height.

The cutting of thi s figurehead must have been a no-nonsense affair. A letter from Balclutha's builder, C. Connell, to the carvers A. and D. G. Reid, reads "Figure for our No. 147 is to be a stylish modern Demi-Woman. We enclose carving plan and will be glad if you will fi 11 it with your notes. " I don't know what the carving plan would have been , but I guess it was a plan of the bow showing the available space for the figure and how it would fit under the bowsprit. Thousands of figureheads were made with great similarity. It may have been that many of these figures were mass produced, leaving the fine details to be executed by the master carver in accordance with the owner's wishes: a portrait of a lady , the owner's wife or an historica l person. In the original Balclutha figure , the dress, arms and body show rapid crisp strokes confidently cut with a large chisel in contrast to the fine shaping and delicate proportion of the hands and head .

Working to copy this carving as accurately as possible was a unique opportunity to examine and explore the methods and techniques of a nineteenth-century ship carver. In four months the 2ft x 2ft x 8ft block of yellow cedar was transformed into as close a copy of the original as I was capable of making, using calipers, measurements and visual judgment. Finished in white paint with gilded detail , thenewfigureheadnow replaces the original on Balclutha .

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Figurehead carving as a profession dwindled into obscurity during the early part of this century with the passing of working sail. In recent years however, with so many restorations underway and replicas being built, ship carvings are once again in demand, and several people around the world are periodically engaged in this work.

At one time, there was talk of using fibreglass to replicate Balclutha's figurehead, which would have been a shame for several reasons. Given that the original figure needed to be preserved from further deterioration, and thus removed for display in the museum , sheathing the carving in fibreglass was out of the question. This method had been employed in Portsmouth Dockyard in England, with the result that several fine naval figureheads now have the appearance of painted dough . Worse, the moisture trapped within the wood rapidly turns the encased carving into dust.

To take a mould of the original figure is not a satisfactory alternative either, because it would reproduce all the damage and missing pieces from the original, thus giving no impression of how the figure would have looked when cared for in her early days under sail.

More to the point, to make a pattern good enough to take a crisp fibreglass mould would be more work than simply carving a copy out of wood. Further, it is now known that fibreglass does deteriorate, and that there are innumerable wooden figureheads that have lasted well over 100 years with no particular preservation problems.

Most important, though , the use of incorrect material can lead to incorrect style and execution and a misleading appearance. Although remnants of the original high relief carvings exist for the Great Britain she has been adorned with free-standing figures that are inappropriate in every way. The lightness and strength of fibreglass allowed figures to be fashioned for this ship that would not have been carved out of wood and could not have withstood the first sea that dashed against them. Unknowing visitors leave with the mi staken impression of both .the ship's original appearance and of ship carving in general. Knowing visitors are dismayed.

By taking license with history , some ships, our most important artifacts, are in a sorry state of preservation. The event of carving a new figurehead for Balclutha in wood , in a traditional manner, was at least a small move in the direction of accurate traditional ship preservation. w

Balclutha' s original figurehead, at lefr. The aurhor' s mericulous copy , at right, is now fitted on the ship's bow. Photos by author.

The remains of this sturdy, boldly fashioned unicom survived hard use and long neglect bolted to rhe bow of Great Britain since 1843--almost 150 years. !rs place is now occupied by rhe frail, timorous creature below.

Mr. Powles/and, a resident ofCornwall , has studied the art of carving in his native England, in Canada and elsewhere.

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"Do What's Best for the Ship"

by Barclay H. Warburton IV

The handsome 51/t brigantine Black Pearl was built in 1951 by C. Lincoln Vaughn at his yard in W ickford, Rhode Island. His intention was to sail the little square-rigger around the world, but this was not to be. The voyage was begun, but had to be abandoned due to the owner-builder's health. Barclay H. Warburton 111 sailed her into history, founding the American Sail Training Association following her participation in the Tall Ships Regatta in Europe in 1972. How this came to pass is recounted here by one who experienced it.

I am a product of sail training. In the early years I sailed aboard Black Pearl in a variety of capacities, starting first as cabin boy polishing brass everyday, sanding various odds and ends, kicking over paint cans, learning to remove paint from both myself and the teak. I progressed up to ordinary seaman and onto able-bodied seaman. At age twelve I sailed from Nassau to Florida and up the intercoastal waterway in early April.

Climbing aloft, learning my way among the yards was a glorious feeling. By 1964 I had made boatswain and sailed from Nassau to New York in six days, arriving in time to see the great square riggers of the world arrive for Operation Sail. Aboard that summer we had five cadets and two officers, and from New York we sailed to Newport and on to Maine where I had the opportunity to learn dead reckoning as only the dense Maine fog can teach it; rules of the road , shutting down the engines to hear bell buoys, standing a sharp watch forward for anything that could harm our safety.

At the top of the log each night my father would write, "Eternal vigilance is the price of safety at sea."

In the spring of 1971 the invitation to participate in OpSail 1972 arrived. After several long family councils we decided to accept the invitation , though Black Pearl would require rebuilding. In September of 1971 we gutted her, put in all new wiring, added bunks to increase accommodations from seven to twelve persons and installed a new Chrysler/ Nissan diesel engine. Masts and yards were refinished, a new mainsail cut along with several new squares.

We sailed out of Newport on our shakedown cruise in early March , with spray freezing on the fore shrouds as we headed down Long Island Sound for the \ Virgin Islands. Black Pearl felt strong and safe. We stayed in the inland waterway until Charleston and then shot over to St. Thomas, in time for the two week charter. At the end of April we departed SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

from St. Thomas and went straight to Newport. A strong tropical storm hit us with winds up to 80 knots off Bermuda.

Strapped in with a triple reefed main and foresail, we ran the storm for all it was worth making time for Newport. Never had I felt safer.

Two weeks later, with a crew of eight trainees and four officers , Black Pearl left for Cowes, where we rendezvoused with the great tall ships of Europe. That summer as we sailed through the North Sea, all of us had the great opportunity to work and play with friends that we met in each of the various ports we visitedMalmo, Kiel, Travemunde, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Our crew had all worked together, known fear and success and, most of all, we had learned our strengths and weaknesses.

At the heart of sail training is the force of nature. When the wind blows and the sea kicks up, everyone involved has no choice but to do what' s best for the ship. Personal problems are put aside.

The following summer I sailed Black Pearl back from Europe by the southern route. We followed Christopher Columbus's exact route leaving from Vigo, Spain in late July . On board we had a copy of Professor Morison 'sAdmiral of the Ocean Sea, which contained Columbus's log of his first trip across the Atlantic. The Black Pearl is approximately the same size as the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria and we went at approximately the same speed. When Columbus spotted birds, so did we, some 480 years later, in the same place. When the Atlantic grey turned to Caribbean blue in Columbus's time, so it did in ours. That summer, the long hours on watch at two or three knots provided ample time for reflection and historical perspective.

Until 1980, Black Pearl continued in various sail training activities including OpSail 1976. Camaraderie at sea can only be found by going to sea. Following my father ' s death in 1983 , Black Pearl was given to the American Sail Training Association who in tum sold her to the National Maritime Historical Society. She was put in the hands of Jakob Isbrandtsen, who has given of himself to breathe new life and spirit into Black Pearl, so that she may once again provide unique opportunities for young men and women to grow and learn and experience the bonds that can '1> be created at sea.

Known as Tim, Mr. Warburton is president of WIMCO, a resort firm headquartered in Newport , Rhode Island.

A Heritage at the Service of Youth The schooner Ernestina, born 95 years ago as the Gloucester fi sherman Effie M. Morrissey, set sai I from her home port of New Bedford on May 16, bound to the westward in company with the Mystic Seaport Museum schooner Brilliant, with Connecticut students in crew. So she began a voyage that is slated to bring her to New York City's Harlem River in early June.

As recounted in our last (SH 49, p.

21 ), Ernestina sails today in a program skipper Dan Moreland calls "mantenhas"-bringing new life to the varied, multicultural heritage of the seafaring communities she has served in her long, productive lifetime- from the Cape Verde Republic, off the West Coast of Africa, to Newfoundland in Canada ' s Maritime Provinces.

The purpose of the visit to the Harlem River is to conduct a two-day cruise with students of the East Harlem Maritime Junior High School , an effort coordinated by Paul Pennoyer, who teaches marine biology at the school. Pennoyer, an experienced deepwater sailor, served as mate of the barkentine Regina Maris on her whale-watching cruises offshore, under the command of the late George Nichols .

The visit, sponsored by the National Friends of Ernestina/Morrissey and the National Maritime Historical Society, who worked together in the Cape Verde government's project to restore the schooner and return her to the United States, is supported by the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children.

Sister Maryann Hedaa, Gould Foundation Associate in charge of maritime education , has characterized the undertaking as " bringing a heritage home to people, and putting it atthe service of the young people who can benefit by it in developing their lives. " It is hoped to do smaller, more advanced sea cruises from the East Harlem school aboard the brigantine Black Pear! later thi s year.

Sail training doesn't come any better than this, bringing the experience right into an urban backyard where it is needed most-and doing so with a husky I 06ft schooner manned by a sympathetic and able crew. The smaller, more complexly rigged brigantine Black Pearl will soon be available to serve as a special platform for an advanced experience shared among a smaller number who have distinguished themselves at sea- an idea NMHS is eager to explore further with the Wavertree Gang who sail Black Pearl.

PS 31

Sail Training Aboard the Bill of Rights

by Muriel Curtis

For centuries, men have known that the sea can mature and strengthen a young person as no other environment on earth.

The oceans can be nurturing and calming or a fury to be reckoned with. Th e young person who learns to cope with this most powe1ful of nature's forces also learns to cope with the forces and furies within. (VisionQuest, 1988) I met VisionQuest in 1985 in an AST A race a year after they had taken over the Western Union (now New Way). The year before, I'd left the Western Union in Key West badly in need of repair. This day, I admired her openly. She was in fine shape with varnish and brass as bright as a new penny. The crew, who I was told were juvenile delinquents, greeted me warmly and openly. They gave me the Cooke 's tour in a big way and spoke warmly of their ship and of VisionQuest. They were proud, as well they should have been , and their spirit was contagious.

Their mate, an old friend and shipmate, offered some insight. He said the program 's function was to re-parent the kids , and spoke glowingly of success stories. Most of these kids had been in an average of seven different lock - ups, detention centers and foster homes of various sorts. Most had been abused .

That charming little girl who had brought me aft had been a prostitute since the age of eleven. Now she was fourteen and learning to rebuild her life.

VisionQuest made a major point of that. You need to take charge of your own life. OK, the first fifteen years of your life have been hell and I'm sorry.

But it's up to you to make something of the next fifteen years. We can help you.

We can give you the tools. But it 's your life and your job to direct it.

* *image * * in* mind that I It was with this joined VQ three years later. The sea had certainly turned my life around. Maybe I could help others change their lives. I was hired on as crew on Bill of Rights before anyone realized the extent of the repairs she would need to undergo. At my request I was put in a holding pattern in a wilderness camp until there was an opening on the boat.

The following six months were spent in wilderness camp, the first stage of VisionQuest. Kids come straight from the courts and the streets into impact camps where they learn the word " No. " Life is a steady routine there, although living practically outdoors with twelve youngsters in a tipi is never routine.

Kids are required to face their anger and 32

identify its source. They are led to see can't drive the boat, throw the lines and the issues in their lives which provoke check all your knots. You've got to start their misbehavior and deal with them in taking responsibility for each other. We a positive manner. They must be super- were lucky when that line sl ipped. vised at all times. They don 't as much as Someone could have been hurt." walk to the porch for a drink of water "Captai111, can I say something?" a without staff coverage. young lad seated at the table spoke up Arriving at the boat was like waking gingerly. "I g uess you're all gonna find up after a long winter and finding spring. out so I may as well tell you. That was The Bill ofRights wasjustoutofthe yard my dock line. I tied the bowline that after a major refit, still bald-headed with slipped out." no sai ls. We all worked very hard fitting The few seconds that followed were her out and were eager to stretch her sails the sort where you could hear every and see what she could do. We were ripple of water against the hull and every most fortunate on the first several shake- breath of wind in the rig. The captain put down sails in thatthe wind seemed gradu- his hand on the boy's shou lder. His ally to increase in direct proportion to voice softened just a bit. "That doesn't our skill level , at least for a while. There matter. That's not the point. That was a was a lot of joy in those times . The very brave thing to say, but what matters captain was as happy as a man truly in is looking out for each other. Anyone his element could be. The mate drove can make a mistake. Someone else should the kids hard . Tacks had to be spot on, no have caught it. We've got to work toexcuses, and watch out for your ship- gether here or this boat isn't going anymates. "We ' re acrew,"he repeated time where." and again. "We cover each other's tails I wish I could give you a wondrous around here. I don ' t need to hear whose magic moment when the crew suddenly fault it was. We ' re a team and you're all jelled, unity and solidarity were estabgoing to be men someday so you might lished and we sailed happily ever after.

Alas, all of life isn't an ABC Afternoon as well start practicing now."

It was a real struggle getting these Special. Yet we became a crew somekids, each of whom had overcome a how. I'd look up from my work and tremendous amount on his own , to think notice some kid just up from school and work as a crew. They resented each throw a bucket of water on the deck to other's help. Each was out to prove his wash off the sand even though he hadn't own mettle and would not tolerate an- been told to and it wasn't his mess. Kids other kid checking up on him. Even would happen by a bad! y coiled or fallen putting away a paint can that someone line and take the time to fix it. Sometimes I'd come down from aloft and else had used became an issue.

The " unity" struggle came to a head notice the bits of rope yam that I'd the day of a most difficult docking. We dropped had already been picked up. It needed to back into a finger slip with a was slow, but they were getting the idea. stiff wind on our beam. I was in the Personal victories are manifold on a dingy with another staff member push- boat, but they usually manifest theming in the bow. True to form , if bad luck selves in the most quiet ways, often unhappens in threes, there came a particu- noticed . One day in a good stiff chop I larly strong gust of wind, the outboard called a lad to help me tend the fore stalled, and the dock line on which the sheet. We had to move quickly to catch captain was springing let go. The next the luff and I just didn't notice him at all few moments live in my mind as a blur. until the line was belayed and secure and I remember a huge white hull bearing he buried his head over the lee rail. The down on me, threatening to crush me mate looked askance at me and I told against the pilings on the lee side before him honestly, "I needed a hand and he my companion deftly maneuvered us never even mentioned he was sick." The with an oar to the other side of the mate smiled and shook the boy's hand, "Congratulations, man. You 're all right." pilings.

The docking was completed safely, The kid beamed. He ' d just won one of course. Nothing in this world or the small personal victory.

Courage is a funny thing, and nonext could make me doubt the captain's skill. That wasn't an issue. Neither was where is that more apparent than at sea. the series of unfortunate accidents which Courage isn ' t the absence of fear, for made the docking difficult. The issue only a fool isn't afraid when there is was attitude, and the captain and mate something to be afraid of. Courage is lost no time in say ing so. "I' m tired of overcoming your fear, and it 's a very the I, me, my personal pronouns. We're individual thing. in this together-we. I can 't do it al l. I I saw a lot of courage on board the SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

In 1988 th e Bill of Rights , at right, joined her predecessor New Way in sail training for young ex-offenders.

first time we sailed in a good stiff wind.

It was a perfect day, slightly overcast but not cold, gentle seas, great wind and a fine boat that needed to be put through her paces. I chiefly remember that afternoon as a fine and glorious sail with the captain smiling and the Bill heeled over proper,just dancing from wave to wave, riding the gusts and performing like a real queen. On the other hand I've sailed in challenging conditions before. I understand the thunder of the jib shaking, the blocks rattling and the fore-boom sw inging through a tack. It was all new to these kids. " Heeled to the wind" up until now had been a comfortable theory we'd learned in classroom instruction . Noone understood that what it really meant was walking sideways holding on and balancing for dear life just to give a bow report. In fact, all the rough and rugged ambiance that makes sailing exciting to those who love it, usually spe ll s pure terror for novices thrust in the situation for the first time.

They came through it, though. The frightened fonns huddled amidships took life at each and every call from a hearty " Ready about," to a quieter "Can someone give me a hand with thi s sheet?"

There was no lack of willing hands on the Bill ofRights. Each of these kids was building his own level of courage and findin g in him se lf depths he never knew were there. If in those challenge situations for which YisionQuest is so well known, a kid discovers a source of strength and courage within himse lf, then perhaps when facing the greater challenge of a corrupt and hosti le soc iety, he will think to draw on that source and once again find the strength and courage to push through . This is our hope . .t

Ahove,furling the headsails on New Way in Toronto in 1984 . These 1rainees ha1â&#x20AC;˘e earned /heir way into 1he OceanQuest pmgram. Below, 1he awhor, in redjackel.joins /rainees on /he howspril as dusk setlles in. Trainees and s1ajfshare living quarters and eat the same food, reinforcing 1he ideal of a learn efjorl toward common goals.

Ms. Curtis found "the world/' d been lookin g for" sailin g aboard th e brigantine Young America in 1980 (see SH 18,p. 21 ). Since then she has pursued youth education under sail.

YisionQuest works with ado lescen ts w ho otherw ise wo uld be in stitutionalized. Most are multipl e offenders for whom all traditional approaches have fai led. YisionQuest has hi gh impact programs to break the cycle of failure.

"We work with kids who constantly put themse lves on the edge," exp lains founder Bob Burton. "We want to turn that energy to a positive directi on , a way of experienc ing success." VisinnQuesr, PO Box 12906. Ex1011

PA 19347

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

33

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS INVENI PORTAM Thomas M. Hoyne (1924-1989) Tom Hoyne, distinguished arti st of the Gloucester fishing fleets , died on May 11 after a long illness , through which he kept working. Appreciations of hi s work by hi s colleagues and friend s J. Russe ll Jini shi an and Erik C. Ronnberg Jr. , appeared in Sea History 49.

Sir Thomas Sopwith (1888-1989) On January 26, Sir Thomas Sopwith, who sponsored two challenges for the America 's Cup in the 1930s in the Jboats EndeaFour and Endeal'our 11, died at hi s home near Winchester, at age I0 I. He was a founder of Sopwith Aviation Co., which built some 16,000warplanes for service in World War I, including the famous Sopwith Camel. In 1936 he built 100 Hurricane fighters on specu lationaircraft that four years later played a starring role with the famous Spitfire in winning the Battle of Britain against the German Luftwaffe.

maritime, and in many friend ships made in a lifetime devoted to ships and steamships.

George Nichols, Jr. (1922-1989) George Nichols, who died March 12, was, as hi s good friend Commodore Harry Anderson notes, "a medical researcher, marine biologist, sailing master, counselor of youth, raconteur and philosopher." Born into a yachting family, he sailed in famous 12 meter races before World War II , and in the past two decades had devoted his considerable energies, boundless enthusiasm and sure abilities to the grand subject of youth and the sea.

Working first with Cory Cramer in the Sea Education Association, he helped build up that organization, and was much at sea in command of the Association's schooner Westward, engaged in marine biological investigations , with young people in crew. He had a deeply humanistic approach to sea training, and eventually he pursued this in a unique organization he founded, ORES (Ocean Research and Education Society), which pursued a looser and broader curricu lum than that followed by SEA. For ORES he conducted in a series of long-haul ocean cruises in the Atlantic and Pacific in the barkentine Regina Maris. The program was concerned with the resonances of the seafaring experience and the meaning of the lives of whales and men in the ocean world. Fortunately, it was recorded in a splendid series of newsletters which deserve republication in book form. Such a book would be a real contribution to the literature of seafaring , and a suitable memorial to a truly PS remarkable man .

Kenneth D. Reynard (1913-1989) On March 25 , Captain Ken Reynard died in hi s home in the Pacific Northwest, where he had retired after leaving hi s job as director of the San Diego Maritime Museum ten years earlier. He had quit active seafaring in the 1960s, when he took on the venerable Star of India (an iron bark built in 1863) and made it hi s mission in life to get her sailing again. This he did , and in the Bicentennial celebrations of 1976 she led a parade in San Diego harbor, the cynosure of all eyes-this ship that the city fathers had proposed to sink before Captain Ken Reynard took her on.

His style of management was o ld-fasioned and entirely hi s own. He did ***** International Maritime Heritage everything from arranging bank loans to Year-1992 sewing the bark 's entire suit of sails in his home (they were a perfect fit, as were The World Ship Trust in London reports most things Reynard undertook). He a worldwide inflow of queries and sugtrained up his own cadre, who were gestions for the proposed International devotedly loyal to him , and was gener- Maritime Heritage Year. Originally set ous with hi s expertise to all who came for 1990, the date has been postponed to 1992 to allow for more advance develcalling in the cause of historic ships.

Under hi s leadership the museum took opment work and to capitalize on the on the great steam ferry Berkeley and the worldwide interest generated by the elegant Scottish steam Medea, and be- Columbus Quincentenary. (American came a considerable presence. With the Ship Trust , Hon. Sec. Eric Berrytrustees of the museum , Reynard did not man , 1600 S. Eads St., Arlington VA fare so well. He was invited to leave in 22202) the late 1970s, and moved north to take Sail '89 up a retirement job as captain for hi s friend Paul Whittier, making his home As Hamburg ce lebrates its 800th birthat Friday Harbor, San Juan Island in the day, European marine enthusiasts get ready for Sail '89. The festivities began Strait of Juan de Fuca.

With him, as always, was his wife in Hamburg with a grand jubilee on the Pearl , who continues hi s interest in things waterfront May 3 to 7 featuring a tug34

boat ballet, hot air balloons and fireworks. On the weekends beginning July 13 and July 21, Sail '89 will be in full swing, with a parade of 250 tall ships along with assorted other vessels .

Program avai lable from: Tourist Information Center, 14 Burchard Strasse, Hamburg Germany.

Sea Cloud Society Members will be pleased to learn that the legendary Sea Cloud, after several years of primarily serv ing the European market, will sail in US waters aga in.

Sea History readers will remember Ian Keown ' s fine article in #28 in which he describes her: "She is 3 16 feet of e legance from raki sh bow to flowing counter aft, and with her gracefu l sheer she has a regal bearing even when lying at her mooring, sai ls up in their gear, mainmast soaring 191 feet above the deck. " Keown went on to note: " She is now the classiest cruise ship in the world , a former plaything of celebraties now accessible to us all. " (Florynce Bronstein , The Cruise Co., 33 Lewi s St., Greenwich CT 06830; 203 622-0203)

"Iron Woman" For Scrap?

The Spanish Navy has announced its intention to scrap aircraft carrier Dedalo (R-0 I), former American warship USS Cabot. T he "Iron Woman ," as war correspondent Ernie Pyle christened her, was awarded the Presidential unit c itation and nine battle stars in recogn ition of the heroic service she rendered in the Pacific. The sleek cruiser hull protruding from under her rather awkward flight deck stands as a tribute to the innovative spirit of the US shipbui lders in the early days of WWII, when cruisers were quickly converted to fast carriers as demand dictated. Senior officials of the Spanish Ministry of Defense would like to see Dedalo!Cabot return to the US. Veterans' groups are taking steps to find a worthy home, but no solid proposal has yet been tendered. (USS Cabot Museum Foundation , c/o The Floating Drydock , Kresgeville PA 18333; 215 381-200 1)

S.S. Lane Victory The World War II cargo ship SS Lane Victory has been donated by Congress to the non-profit US Merchant Marine Veterans-World War II , to be used as a li ving museum ship in Los Angeles Harbor. Built in that harbor in 1945 , she saw sef'Vice during WWII, and the Korean amd Vietnam conflicts, and was retired iin 1972. The ship will be restored with spaace in the cargo holds set aside for marritime related functions , such as SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

A New Kaiulani Visits Pitcairn classrooms, theater, meeting rooms and display areas. When completed, Lane Victory will be open for daily tours and occasional trips through local waters .

(US Merchant Marine Veterans WWII , 300 Long Beach Blvd. , Room 502, Long Beach CA 90801)

NY State Helps a Gloucesterman On March 21, New York State awarded $250,000 to South Street Seaport Museum to aid in the restoration of the schooner Lettie G. Haward. In announcing the award, State Historic Preservation Officer Julia Stokes pointed to the national interest in the schooner demonstrated in Sea History. The grant requires matching private contributions to draw it down. Contributions may be made to NMHS Schooner Fund or direct to South Street Seaport Museum , 207 Front St., New York NY 10038; 212 669-9400.

Flying Cloud Record Broken?

The 60ft monohull Thursday ' s Child, using shiftable water ballast, SA TN AV and other wrinkles of 20th Century navigation, sailed in through the Golden Gate on Sunday afternoon, February 12, 80 days, 19 hours out of New York, topping the Flying Cloud' s 89-day, 8-hour record of 1854.

"Let's remember," however, comments Peter Stanford, President of NMHS , "that the immortal Cloud carried not water ballast but some 2000 tons of useful cargo .... "

Schooner Rendezvous The American Schooner Association plans an international schooner rendezvous and race in Gloucester MA , July 17-22. ASA extended an invitation to the Nova Scotia Schooner Association, who will be bringing about ten schooners from up north . (ASA , PO Box 484 , Mystic CT 06355)

J Boat-Yes, J Boat-Race!

After a lapse of just over half a century , the huge, elegant J boats of a vanished era of yachting will race again off Newport, Rhode Island, August 26-27.

This news comes from one of the outstanding portraitists of these big birds (a breed which many Americans believe to be long extinct), John Mecray-who is also president of the Museum of Yachting in Newport. The two boats are T.O.M. Sopwith's famed challenger Endeavour, nearly successful constant of 1934, and Sir Thomas Lipton ' s handsome Shamrock V, bearer of his last challenge in 1930. (Muse um of Yachting, PO Box 129, Newport RI 02840) <t .SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

In December 1941 the bark Kaiulani, which the National Maritime Historical Society was founded to save, stopped in at Pitcairn Island on what was to be her final voyage,from Port Townsend to Melbourne, Australia. Our Patron, Captain Russ Kneeland, built a beautiful schooner named for the old bark which he took to Pitcairn en route back from Tahiti to San Diego. There he met Warren Christian, senior descendant ofthe Bounty mutineer F letcherChristian, who wrote him the letter that follows, recalling in his own words the original Kaiulani visit 47 years earlier:

It was during the war years in 1941 when we on Pitcairn Island had received orders officially to keep watches for any ship that was sighted to be reported immediately.

Early one morning it was a nice day and the weather was good. With light sailing wind and comfortable breeze when someone on watch run to the village and reported that there is a sailing ship to the eastern end of the island and heading on the lanJ. Everybody was interested about the sighted ship being a sailing which I believe it was a three masted square rigged vessel. When the ship got in close enough to land we went out to meet the ship in our sail boats and when the boats get close to ship and could be able to see the name Kaiulanithe difference it made and feeling it gives when we saw and heard what nationality it is.

Just about two years the war had been so the crew on the Kaiulani helped us a

Ahoard rhe original hark Kaiulani , hound f or Pircairn Island in 1941. Pharo hy Karl Korrum.

lot with what they could spare remembering also that we help their needs in a small way. Also they gave us things and we exchange for something well do I remember, they were so pleased because we had that we can exchange even kerosene.

So the Kaiulani spent a very interesting and helpful day to us which everyone did appreciate at the start of the second World War. We have to stand watches day and night. When the Kaiulani , a lumber load ship called and helped us a lot. The second ship of that kind that I do remember.

Sorry that I had no diary, only what I can remember.

W A RREN CLIV E CHRI STIA N

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35

Dragon Racing: A 2000-Year-Old

by Carol Olsen

For over 2,000 years, big canoe-like dragon boats have been racing in Chinese waters. These 38ft boats, weighing a ton , are driven at speeds of around ten knots by paddlers hitting a beat as hi gh as two strokes per second . Fourteen years ago, seeing that local fi shermen were still competing in these strenuous, immemorially ancient races run in boats that look like nothing

e lse on earth, the Hong Kong Touri st Association and the Fishermen's Society got together to make Hong Kong the world center of dragon boat competition.

In 1976, open invitations were extended. Only men from Nagasaki , Japan, arrived to race the Hong Kong teams. Now however, a record number of 26 overseas teams , including

Sleeping dragons are awakened in the eye-opening ceremony(above) and the pageant1y continues throughout the festival. At lower right , a fig urehead is pinned into the bow of a boat. Photos by the author.

36

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Tradition Flourishes in Hong Kong women's teams, throng to Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor to participate in thi s antique, incredibl y demanding sport. From a dead stop, teams of 18 to 22 paddlers (depending on body sizes) make the long, heavy boats plane , and the frenzy of arms and paddles has been likened by one author to "a centipede on amphetamines!"

The mad das h is on a strai ght course of only 640m (about two-fifths of a mile). Stroke synchroni zation is essential. " It's difficult to create harmon y and balance in that crowded boat," observes Steve Fluitt, a phys ical education major from Maine, who now teaches in New Hampshire. "You're so close together that the timing ... has to be ri g ht on the money . And although we have an extra paddle in the boat, if someone lost his, it wou ld be vi rtuall y imposs ibl e to help him out since we're all moving together at som ewhere between 60 to 90 strokes a minute. It 's a time when toughness and performance is everything." Jack Seitz, President of the US Dragon Boat Assoc iation , adds that the Chinese a re manag ing about I 15 to 130 strokes per minute.

Of course, while American crews have been participating since 1983, the Chinese have had a coupl e of millenni a to practice.

** ** *

Dragon boat rac ing, it is genera lly agreed, began in honor of a beloved poet and statesman of the 4th century BC. This person, Ch' u Yuen, wrote a poem e ntitled " Li Sao," which criticized the government. The government of the day responded with an order for Ch ' u Yuen 's ex ile. Choosing death rather than leav ing hi s country a nd hi s people, Ch'u Yuen drowned him self in the Mi Lo River. The local people searched long hours fo r hi s body , and , unable to find it, they finally put food offerings in the water for hi s soul. Then, one day Ch'u Yuen's apparition complained th at the offerings were be ing eaten by turtles and fish , and, according to one source, by an ev il dragon . To protect the food it should be wrapped in silk and ti ed with five-colored threads . Perhaps in this way the dragon image became part of the ceremony-and eventuall y the races- that were held each year on the anniversary of Ch ' u Yuen's death .

Both at the American e limination races, often he ld in Philadelphia, and in the Hong Kong International Races, Taoist priests in gold-embroidered , silken red robes perform e laborate ceremonies, inc luding eye-openi ng rituals for the dragon fi gureheads to awaken them from their eleven-month rest. The priests may also put lettuce in the mouths of the dragons, while nearby cakes, fruits, wine, incense, music and prayers are offered to Tin Hau , the Chinese Queen of Heaven and Goddess of the Sea.

*** * *

The dragon boats are built in the Tung Yee Hing Shipyard .

Mrs. Lau , who manages the yard, was happy to have Americans know abo ut their work. With obvious pride in her husband's 30 years of boatbuilding in this yard, which has produced over 60 dragon boats and some 150 small sampans, and fishing vessels to 60-foot lengths, she explained in Cantonese that they employ some of the last wooden boat craftsmen. The yard 's spec iali zed skill s brought them to the attention of the Tourist Association and others needing wooden dragon boats. " When you are ex pert, others come to you ," she sa id with quiet dignity and directness.

But their work force grows slim; young people are not interested in these sk ill s, particularly when the work is seasonal. Even their son, Siuwah Lau , admitted that he did not want this (US) $35-a-day job as a career, adding, "It is very tough work. " SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

The Sai Kung team, International Champions, 1981.

A 38ft dragon boat (which becomes 48 feet long with the addition of the carved dragon head and tail) takes six men about two weeks to build. When several dragon boats are under construction, one man performs the same task on each hull. The price tag is about $5,000 (US) and the builder says a well-maintained boat will last twenty years.

Hong Kong is full of lore for maritime enthusias ts. At the Sun Hing Shing shipyard in the Aberdeen area, red ribbons tied to the stemposts of pleas ure junks under construction honor Lu Pan, the carpenter god and founder of tool s, whose birthday is a holiday for shipyard workers . This yard , and others near it were a huge mi x of both new boats and piles of old forgotten wood and fastenings. Plans are, however, to c lear all thi s out. The face of Hong Kong is chang ing, and the government intends to offer other land to these boatbuilders and level their old locations.

But the place abounds in survivors, such as speedy ~a m ­ pans, their gunwales always thick with bl ack tires or fenders.

There are regions with thousands of peop le still li vi ng on boats, some from the Tanka tribe, meaning "egg people" because they used to pay the ir taxes with eggs. There are caves of early-day pirates and yards where traditional junks are still being built today without blueprints.

Of all that Hong Kong offers , however, sure ly dragon boat racing is the most exciting. The United States Dragon Boat Association was formed in 1985 and in Iowa a separate organi zation flourishes under the leadership of Susan Smith.

She is organizing a small -scale internationa l race to be held on the Missi ss ippi River, near Dubuque, Iowa, on September 9.

And United Ai rlines has been a force in promoting Hong Kong 's international competition by generously providing many US crewmembers complimentary air transportation to the East.

"Competing and winning is important," said one American crewman, " but more it 's meeting these people from West Germany , Australi a, Singapore, Italy , and Indonesia- from everywhere! Many of us keep in touch between races , and, frankl y, we understand one another 's cultures a little better because of thi s sporting event. " This year American elimination races, tentatively scheduled for Memorial Day weekend , can be seen on Phi ladelphia 's Schuylki ll Rive r from the grandstand on Kelly Drive at the Columbia Bridge. The winning team will be the seventh to represent the US at the Hon g Kong International races, set for June 17 and 18. The Hong Kong Tourist Association offices in San Francisco, Chicago, or New York City can offer .t detailed information.

Ms. Olsen conducts research, lectures, and writes about ship figureheads. She is owner of Olsen and Associates in Washington DC, specializing in providing today's boatbuilders with custom figureheads and other hull decorations.

37

Another East Indianian takes shape i1111ati1â&#x20AC;˘e oak-----after a 250-year pause. Photos hy the auth or.

Amsterdam II

by Robert Friedman

Seated around a table in a small room of a bui Iding hundreds of years old , a group of men are examining a builder's model of a sai ling ship. The men are business and political leaders of Amsterdam and the model is a Dutch East Indiama n circa 1740-1750. She is a big ship, 700 tons and 150 feet in length. The decision being considered at the table is whether to build herforthe VOC, the Vereen igde Oost-Indi sche Compagn ie (Dutch East India Company).

The decision is being made in the time-honored method used in building ships of her sort; by exam ining the builder's model, the company's spec ifications and matching them to the intended purpose of the vessel.

But there is one element in this scene that is a ll wrong. The time is incorrect.

The date of the meeting is not 1748, which is the approximate date the model was built, but 1984! The proposed new ship is not the VOC ship Amsterdam , which now lies buried in the sand and clay of the beaches of Hastings, England, wrecked there on her maiden voyage, but the Amsterdam fl. This new sh ip will soon become the incred ible accompli shment of a nonprofit fo undation dedicated to preserving the heritage of Dutch seamanship. She wi ll also be the flagship of Sail Amsterdam 1990, a major gathering of the world 's tall ships.

The meeting ends with the decision to build! Now the time-honored art of the ship wright, handed down through centuries, continues as draftsmen begin to I ift the I in es of the model into sets of plans that will be transformed into the 38

keel, ribs, and planking of the Amsterdam II.

*****

By 1750 the Dutch East lndi aman, like her English and French counterparts , was the result of over 250 years of evo lution of deepwater merchantmen .

The Indiaman was a hybrid . Her primary ro le was as a merchantman. A ship of 700 tons like the Amsterdam could carry close to 1,000 tons of cargo. High bulk cargoes included saltpeter, sugar, and of course, tea and coffee. Fine goods of light we ig ht and high va lue wo uld include si lks, calicoes, indigo, herbs and spices.

She was also a passenger ship, providing passage for the 30,000 voe employees and their fa milies scattered all over the world, as well as fo r garrison troops that protected the Company's properties. And finally, she was a war ship, built and ann ed to defend herself against a ll comers, be it a ship of the line or frigate of a warring country, pri vateer or pirate. Because attack could come at any time, she had to remain constantl y vigilant during her seven or eight months voyage between Europe and the East Indies .

The firstAmsterdam carried 54 guns.

Forty eighteen-pounders were placed on two g un decks with the balance of her armaments cons isting of nine or six pounders on the weather decks. However, in the case of an Indiaman , looks and statistics could be deceiving. Eighteen-pounders could not match the 24 or 32 pounders of a second- or third-rate ship of the line and in fact would have a

hard time aga inst a well-fought frigate since the lndi aman ' s eighteen pounders were often lighter and shorter than a naval type and could not match their range and punch .

Also, an Indi aman was often short handed , carrying 200 to 225 men of dubious hea lth and sk ill s. These numbers were not enough to handle sail s and man all gun s in an all-out fi ght. But when properly manned , fight she could , as John Paul Jones proved thirty yea rs after the Amsterdam was launched when he laid the Bonhomme Richard, a French India man alongs ide HMS Serapis.

The Dutch Indi aman of 1750 was as much a marve l in her day as the Liberty ship was in World War II. This 700 ton ship was standardi zed as much as possible. Key e lements of a ship were often built and stock piled to be used as called for when a new ship was ordered. A ship could be completed to the ri gorous Dutch standards o f quality in less than nine month s. This is a fantastic feat when you consider that an English 74 took one to two years to complete. There are even records of an Indiaman being built in under three month s.

In the case of the Amsterdam, the voe ordered her and two other sister ships on 2 April , 1748 and by October the Amsterdam was launched and fitted o ut.

Like her sister ships and over 300 other Indiamen built in Dutch yards between 1740 and 1750, the Amsterdam was con s tructed to nav igate the shallow waters of the Dutch coast. She was wide and flat bottomed with a tendency to roll SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Plans drawn up fi¡om the original builder' s model (lefi), show a sturdy , seaworthy carrier.

and wallow as she plowed her way a long at her usual speed of three to four knots.

She had a covered forecastl e, a deep ope n wai st and a quarter deck covered in turn with a poop deck. Her hi gh s uperstructure, built for the comfo rt of her passengers, made her g ive leeway when close hauled.

Excavations of the Amsterdam have produced planking meas urements five to ten centimeters thi ck and 35 to 47 centimeters wide. The hull be lo w the water line had an ex tra laye r of pine planking covering a coating of ta r and coarse anima l hair. Thi s arrangem e nt, a precursor o f copper sheathing, was designed as protecti on aga inst the te redo worm which thri ved in the tropical waters that the lndi amen trave ll ed.

The shipbuilder's mode l from w hich the Amsterdam II will be buil t is the same model the ori ginal Amsterdam was built from. Rescued from its g lass case in the National Gall ery of the N e therland s, it became a working too l again after two centuries of di suse. The m o del, along with the recorded dimensio ns and archaeolog ical information ga ined from the Amsterdam, provided the infonnation that went into the builder 's pl a ns ordered by the foundation .

The project was announced by the Burgermas ter of Am sterdam in Febru ary 1984 after two years of feas ibility

studies . Contributions were rai sed by selling shares in the project throughout Holland. In this way, 7. 5 million guilders, or $4 million at today ' s exchange rate, was rai sed; enough to build the ship.

A long with money , corporate sponsors were recruited and a workfo rce of unempl oyed crafts people, laborers and apprenti ces was asse mbled. Depending on how much they learn , Dutch shipbuilding skill s will hopefull y be prolonged.

On I May, 198 5 the kee l was laid and

by July of 1987 , the entire ship was framed out.

While faithful to the orig inal des igns, some modern constructi on materi als are be ing used fo r strength , du rability and effi c iency. Thi s is ev ident in the skeleton where the keel and ribs are lamin ated and preshaped , and then lowered onto the kee l by a crane. The stern frames were preassembled and also lowered into place by a crane . Planking however is still shaped and applied by the timehonored method of bending to shape on the frame and appl ying water and heat when necessary.

When completed , the Amsterdam II will be 138 ' 6" (42.5 meters) between perpendiculars and I 57' 5" (48 meters) in overall length. Herbeam will be 38 ' 2" ( I 1.65 meters) and her height from keel to stern rail s will be 42' 6" ( 13 meters).

Total he ight to the top of her main mast will be 183 ' 7" (56 meters) .

Powe1f ul ,fi-ames were laminated- yo u ca n't get oak like this today .

SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1989

Launching is scheduled to r October of 1989, and the next year will be busy with the job of mas ting, rigging and outfitting the ship .

***** It is day break in August and the still ness of the ni ght is g iving way to a steady breeze bl owing in from the North Sea. As the sun clears the tops of the 17th and 18th century buildings of central Am sterdam, the sharp report of a cannon is heard and lo w flying puffs of white, now recogni zed as sail s, can be seen mov ing into the harbor. The fl eet, assembl ed from the fa r corners of the wo rld , is returning to Amsterdam harbor. They are be ing led by the pride of the Dutch maritime tradi tio n, Amsterdam II . She is mov ing easy under reduced sail with her yards manned, her guns run out firin g salutes, and her fl ags and buntings snapping in the wind . Her salutes are being answered by the cheers and appl ause of the crowds that are growing by the thousands as the morning wears on. The date is August 9 , 1990. Operation SaiI 1990 is taking pl ace, and if yo u love sailing ships and the sea, pl an to be there. '1

Mr. Friedman , who travels extensively fo r a major printing and commun ications company, is an amateur na val historian, ship modeller and photograph Pr.

The f inished product will radiare the proud and capable look ofa rall ship pioneering in world rrade.

39

Ties That Bind

by James Ean

Just about a century ago, the legendary John D.Rockefel ler approached James P. McAlli ster's grandfather to offer him a partnership in a joint venture to ship John D. 'soil. In the family , the story has been told in self-deprecatory fashion.

McAllister was too smart, he told hi s children and grandchildren, to be taken in by an offer of partnership in what became Standard Oil , the world's largest oil company. He insisted on cash, literally, on the barrelhead.

But he did negotiate a contract to ship Rockefeller oil through New York Harbor. Thi s re lationship has continued through the evolution from sail to steam to today's motorized tankers, tugs and barges.

And in recent years, the re lation ship has had a rich payoff for yo ung New Yorkers as J.P. McAlli ster, Chairman of the National Maritime Hi storical Society and Curator of New York Harbor, works with Mobil Oil Corporation , descendant of the old Standard Oil Company, in a joint venture conceived and run by Camille E. Freas, Educational Coordinator of NM HS , to educate high school students in maritime careers in New York Harbor.

Thi s groundbreaking pilot program ex posed students from Midwood in

The McA llister Bros. lighter Cornelia, built in New London as a schooner in 1839, converted to a sloop in 1864, and fina lly to a barge in 188 1, helped move Rockefeller oil through New York Harbor. She was the predecessor oftoday's Mobil fleet of tugs , barges and oceangoing tankers.

Brooklyn and Seward Park in Manhattan to the port's marine industry. At Mobil 's headquarters on 42nd Street, they were taught how a shipping company functions. Leaming from managers who must survive in today's competitive market, they glimpsed what qualifications and backgrounds marine companies seek in prospective employees, and were afforded the opportunity of meeting with Mobil's department heads.

At the operating terminal in Staten Island , they saw an operation delivering of petroleum products to terminal s in the northeast. The group was impressed by the technical sophi stication in volved in

operations like upgrading octane. An officia l of the United Federation of Teachers who participated remarked on the importance of thi s first-hand view of the opportunities and requirements in the working world . .t.

Further information can he obtained from Ms. Camille E. Freas , One World Trade Center, Suite 26 11 , New York NY 10048; telephone (212) 775 -1544 .

Mr. Ean, a founder of the Intrepid SeaAir-Space Mu seum in New York , is a principal of McA llister Associates and Vice Chairman of NMHS .

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REVIEWS A Portrait of a Ship; the Benj. F. Packard, by Paul C. Morris (Lower Cape Publishing, Orleans MA, 1987, l 88pp, illus, $30.00hb) In 1930, Paul Morris's family moved to Rye, New York where his father had been hired as advertising manager of the new county park, Playland, on Long Island Sound. Earlier that year, the big 2,000-ton down easter Ben). F. Packard had been towed in to become a feature of the park. She became the biggest thing in six-year-old Paul 's life. Then, in the spring of 1939, the sadly deteriorated ship was towed out to be scuttled in the Sound. Paul 's father documented the whole ship in photographs before she left, and went out with her to record her scuttling as well. Those photos, and nearly half a century of searching out information about the ship, make up the basis of this lively and authoritative ship biography.

Launched in Bath, Maine, in 1883 from the yard of Goss, Sawyer & Packard, the Packard was built for the trade around Cape Horn to North and South American West Coast ports. She also journeyed on to the Orient on occasion.

Under the command of the notorious Zaccheus Allen, she soon gained an unenviable place in the Red Record, a journal of atrocities committed against seamen, and earned the unpleasant sobriquet, "Battleship of the American Merchant Marine." Morris draws on Allen 's correspondence with the Sew al ls, owners of the ship for most of her time in the Cape Horn trade, to establish the actualities of the voyaging, revealing the human side of "Tiger" Allen, and also revealing his callousness toward human suffering. To this reader, Allen emerges as a rather querulous, ill-tempered man who may have been pushed around more than somewhat by his son Joe, who sailed with him as chief mate until "going wrong" (in his father's words), staying ashore in the fleshpots of New York.

The Packard was not a fast sailer, compared with her contemporaries. But Allen drove her in a manner fit to carry away canvas and spars and kill seamen.

Was he trying to make a carthorse perform as a racehorse, as Morris suggestsor was he an insensitive shipmaster, as unable to get the best out of ships as he was of men? It's difficult to tell, because his successor, Captain St. Claire (who it turns out was the person who shortened the ship's rig, getting rid of the skysails), was no prize either. St. Claire was dismissed on confidential advice from the ship's agents in Montevideo, who reSEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

ported the captain continuously inebriated and guilty of a string of not-sominor peculations.

Allen's wife, Francescar, a handsome and resolute woman judging by her photo, sailed with him on occasion. In a letter to his mother reporting a heavy sea that flooded the cabin, he reports Ett (as he called his wife) doing "good work" in bailing out the cabin. Not one to resist an opportunity to be snide, he adds: "I suppose Ett thought it better to bail than drown" - a comment that also seems to reveal an unhappy distance between husband and wife. One would like to know more of Francescar (or Fransescar- the name is spelled both ways) who died only in 1929 at age 83, outliving her quarrelsome husband by 14 years.

Author of previous works on New England shipping, including an authoritative history of the little-known (or noticed) schooner barges that gradually replaced sailing schooners in coastal traffics in the first part of this century, Paul Morris left the advertising business in New York to take up a career as author, artist, and fisherman in Nantucket 30 years ago. He has amassed an extensive collection of photographs, letters, ledgers and other records in pursuit of these interests, and with this lively and authoritative portrait of an important ship in American shipping history, he makes a unique and valuable contribution. A Portrait of a Ship could have benefitted from more careful indexing and copy-editing, but the matter of the book is simply first-class, shedding clear light on the Packard and on some of the more obscure corners of the experience of the Yankee square-riggers that ended the American story in deepwater sail.

PS The First Salute, by Barbara W. Tuchman (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988, 347pp, illus, $22.95hb) The British Navy and the American Revolution, by John A. Tilley (University of South Carolina, Columbia, 1987 , 332pp, illus, $24.95hb) The First Salute, currently a bestseller, is the last published work of the late Barbara Tuchman , a respected and well-known historian with a string of historical works to her credit, extending over fifty years.

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REVIEWS on this subject shou ld be welcomed by students of the period. Tuchman addresses the Revolution fro m vario us viewpoints, inc luding maritime trade and naval affairs, British poli cy, Admiral Rod ney's career, and the essential contributi on of George Washington to American victory. Tilley 's book is longer but sticks closer to naval affairs.

Unfortunately, maritime hi story does not get the attenti on it deserves in America, and Tuchman ' s book seems to show the sad results. Her description of 18th century naval life has numerous and incred ible errors. Here are just two samples :

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42

Constructed in three sections, the three mainmasts of a ship of the line could suspend 36 sa il s, amo unting to four acres of fabr ic, and make a speed of ten knots . When mas ts were bent by a strong wi nd , the strain on the floorboards caused the leaks that required constant pumping .

Guns, measured by the weig ht of their cannonballs, were 12-42 pounders (frigates carried 4-6 pounders), with a maximum ra nge of one mile whe n fired by 400 pounds of g unpowder. They fired not only cannon balls but al l kinds and shapes of missiles-pail s of na il s o r sharpened pieces of scrap iron-heated red hot to bum sai ls.

Where can the autho r have found s uch ideas? This kind of thing is inexcusable from a professional hi stori an and throws doubt on the au thor 's ability to understand and address her subjects.

The war on land fares no better. Any reader familiar with the American Revolution will find errors of fact in every topic, someti mes embedded in capable writing which may delude the unwary into thinking they are getting the real stuff.

Ti lley's book is a fine exampl e of what naval hi story can be. It is very thorough, comp lete, and is as easy to read as Tuchman 's, though it is scho larship and not popular entertainment.

Tilley gives a good brief introduction describing ships, crew, officers and promotion . A later chapter covers the prevailing ideas controlling sea battle.

Tuchman wo uld have done well to consult Tilley ' s g lossary under " mainmast" for example, or hi s map of New York Harbor, a have n which she describes as " poor." Three hundred British naval vessels and transports were safely anchored there in A ugust, 1776. Tilley wen t to some lengths to find illustrations

of ships and naval actions from the period , many of which I had never seen.

Hi s bibliographical essay is a good starting point for more reading about 18th century fighting sail. Tilley really concentirates on the British and French activitii es, which made up the major fleet and military transport operations in the war, to the excl usion of American naval actions. You won ' t find John Paul Jones in the book , but I can enthusiasticall y recommend it as a fine example of research and writing.

Tilley's book has the accuracy and unde rstanding that Tuchman should have been striving for. First-rate, recent books are available on the other topics Tuchman addresses, though not as well publici zed as Tuchman 's. The land action s are well described in The Glorious Cause ,

by Ro be rt Middlekauff (Oxford , 1982), and W as hington 's role is the topic o f Washington the Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner (Little, Brown , 1974 ), a di stillati on of a career spent studying Washington. These are only samp les ofan abundant literature, though Tilley's book is espec iall y recom men ded . Lay yo ur hands on Till ey and STUART K. WEIR pass up Tuchman.

Topsail & Battleaxe, by Tom Cunliffe (David & Charles, UK, 1989, 220pp, illus, $24.95 hb) Many sai lors, when they think of crui s ing, think of palm-fringed atoll s with names that sound like soft waves on a sandy beach, of running before warm trade winds across pale blue seas.

Not Tom C unliffe . (And after last summe r 's baking heat on the eastern seaboard, not me e ither.) What Tom Cunliffe thinks of is sa iling north from England to Norway, bashing hi s way westward from Norway to Iceland , then pas t Greenland to L ' Anseiaux Meadows in northern Newfoundland-and making hi s way upwind in his 75-year-old pilot c utter Hirta with bulletproof canvas sail s, virtuall y no electronic gear and a "S LR " (Standard Leak Rate) of30 strokes per ho ur on her huge bilge pump.

What possessed Cunliffe and hi s wife Ros, to gatherthe irfour-year-old daughter and a coupl e of friends and embark on this expedition? In Cunliffe 's case, and he was soon to infect the rest of the crew with hi s e nthusiasm , it was a burning desire to retrace the explorations of those terrors of the I 0th century-the Vikings.

With considerable gusto, Cunliffe interweaves stories of Viking ex ploration with Hirta 's progress. Now you may have be lieved that I 0th-century Vikings like Erik the Red , hi s son Leif

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Eriksson and other lesser known but equally strong-minded types like Eyjolf the Foul and Gudrun Thorbjornsdottir were a wild and wooly lot. Well, after Tom Cunliffe has related their history you ' II know that not only were the Vikings even wilder than you thought but that the Viking spirit lives on.

You ' ll meet latter-day Vikings like the state ly He idi whose mere presence could stupefy the male portion of H irta ' s crew-at least until she started to talk .

So my advice is thi s: Forget (for the time being anyway) yo ur dreams of lazy tropic cruising and go west-viking with Tom Cunliffe and crew. Never mind the fog, the gales and the leak right over your bunk . The vi stas are spectacular, the locals are wonderfully warm and the sense of accompli shment in the sailing is unmatched. Full-color photograph s throughout, maps and charts , line drawings .

SPENCER SMITH Spencer Smith is a NMHS Trustee. This review is slightly condensed from D olphin Book Club News .

Crime and Punishment in the Royal Navy; Discipline on the Leeward Islands Station, 1784-1812, by John D. Byrne, Jr. (ScolarPress, Aldershot, Hants UK , Brookfield VT, 1989, 251 pp, illu s, $54.95) Historians of the modern school , pa rticu larly of the Marxist persuasion , tend to go overboard in depicting sea life in the days of wooden ships and iron men as one of unre lieved hell. N.A.M. Roger's recent The Wooden World, concerned with conditi ons of life and justice in the e ighteenth century British navy, did much to correct thi s di storted perspective (see rev iew in SH 35 , p. 44) and now in this book on naval di scipline¡ 200 years ago, John Byrne makes furthe r inroads on the too commonly accepted notion of "senseless brutality" as the prevailing mode of social discipline in the confined and demanding conditions of life aboard a British man-of-war. Hi s investigation covers peacetime and wartime conditions on the Leeward Islands station in the Caribbean, 3500 miles from London and so beyond the range of immediate Admiralty control.

"As on land ," he concludes, "a draconi an penal code was admini stered moderately-at times even humanely .... " But no mere summary does justice to the wealth of human detail to be found in thi s humane study.

For example, would you expect a captain who marooned a man for petty thievery to getaway with it? He didn ' t he was dismissed from the navy . And the man he marooned, picked up by a SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

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passing ship, was tracked down by the Admiralty after a long search and given all his arrears of pay.

It was a hard world, is the picture that emerges, but a surprisingly fair one, in which "senseless brutality" was sought out and puni shed , and a seaman 's rights were more respected than, for instance, aboard the infamous " blood boats" in Cape Hom trade under the American flag less than l 00 years ago.

PS Brilliant Passage. . . A Schooning Memoir, by Philip Gerard (Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic CT, 1989, 8lpp, illus, $10.00pb) Standing to windward across a halycon sea with all the wash hung out, the beautiful schooner yacht Brilliant sails invitingly across the cover of this handsome volume which details her construction, her trans-Atlantic voyaging and ocean racing in the 1930s, and her postwar sailing under Briggs Cunningham, down to her present-day career as a roving emissary of Mystic Seaport Museum. Written by a Brilliant aficionado (but then, who isn' t), the text tell s its story engag ingly, so that happy summer scenes of 50 years ago seem to have happened just the other day. Fortunate ship--she has had the kind of owners that cared for her, kept her beautiful and sai led her hard and well; and now she's found a first-class biographer to tell her PS facinating story .

Scrimshaw: Variations on a Theme,

by Martha Bowen (Privately printed, Gloucester MA, 1988 , 306pp, illus, no price) Born of the author's involvement in a scrimshaw store in Sausalito, this book traces with verve and authority the practice of whaletooth and ivory carving in collections around the country, and among scrimshanders working today, with tales of old whaling trips, explorations in seaport towns from San Francisco to Nantucket, and brief biographies of today 's artists.

PS Scow Schooners of San Francisco Bay,

by Roger R. Olmsted (California History Center, Cupertine CA, 1989, 96pp, illus, $14.95pb) Square-ended, steered by extension tiller from the tops of the towering haystacks they so often carted from upriver farms to the hungry stables of the city, these maids-of-all-work, the scow schooners of San Fransisco, are summoned forth from their fugitive, almost underground existence, into the full light of day by this splendid photographic documentary by Roger Olmsted. Olmsted was a devoted student of workaday things and, according to Karl

Kortum , was responsible more than any one person for the revival of the traditional regatta of working sailing craft, the Master Mariner's Race, which has now become an annual fixture in the bay. This "witty and outrageous intellectual ," as Kortum , his boss for several years in the old San Francisco Maritime Museum, calls him in his introduction to thi s book , conducted other imaginative research and publishing projects , from recording a Gold Rush Ship discovered in an excavation , to developing the life hi story of the still-floating schooner C.A. Thayer-all, as Kortum rightly notes, with the "attention to exquisite detail that marks an artist." His wife Nancy , equally devoted to the work, completed this beautiful volume following Roger's untimely death in 1981 at age 54.

"Many a seagoing man envied the simple, independent life of a schooner man, " this book observes, and that simple, but proudly independent way of life is well remembered in this lively and PS authoritative record.

Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, ed.

Richard Harrison and M.M. Bryden (Facts on File, New York NY, 1988, 240pp, illus , $35.00hb) This book combines breathtaking photography with outstanding articles by leading scientists on every facet of the behavior and history of dolphins, porpoises and whales. Sleek bodies arc above blue seas. Whales lunge high in the air or coast silently beneath the waves. Maps and graphics outline species development and history . SMF Princess-New York, by Joe Richards (The Marine Museum of Dunedin FL, 1989 repr. of 1956 orig., 258pp, illus, $12.95pb) The fledgling Dunedin Marine Museum in Florida should be congratulated for giving the artist-raconteur Joe Richards's "Friendship sloop Princess a home. And you'll congratulate yourself if you buy Richards 's classic account of his love affair with this beauty, 60 years old and full of rot when he bought her in the spring of 1938. He rebuilt her, and sailed her south along the East Coast amid memorably funny and touching scenes, and his tale recaptures them all, with the wonderful waterfront characters the errant pair fell in with.

PS

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

Down the Sound in an Old Two-Sticker

by John T. Rowland

In the spring of I9IO, an old schooner made her way down the Sound from Greenwich to New London, where she would pick up a cargo of hardwood to carry down east to her home in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Aboard for the ride andfor whatever he could contribute to the passage was young John Rowland, on spring break from Yale. On the way, amid snow squalls and tricky currents, he learned some things about how this "museum piece" as he called her, was sailed... and about how well he really knew Long Island Sound.

By the first decade of this century steam had pretty well crowded sail off the world's oceans, but there was still a large fleet of schooners in regular operation along our coasts. These ranged all the way from big four-masters that carried coal and lumber down to little two-stickers in local trade. Greenwich boasted a lumber yard to which vessels brought cargoes of hard pine from southern ports, like Charleston and Savannah, and sweet-smelling spruce and cedar from such remote places as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. These tough old schooners interested me, for they retained something of the sea's magic and the mystery of far places. And their people were, of necessity, real sailors.

Late one autumn such a fine vessel came in from somewhere on the Bay of Fundy. The season was too far advanced, with freezing weather and heavy gales, for her to risk the return passage that winter. She was a small two-master and very old. Her crew of three brothers made her fast alongside the lumber wharf and left her in the care of the yard. They went home by rail, with a promise to come back and fetch her early in the spring.

This vessel fascinated me. And well she might, for she was of a type not seen in our part of the country for many years.

(Later I discovered that schooners like this were fairly common in the early 1800s.) She had round, bluff bows and a raised poop deck, the latter elevated some four feet above the level of the waist, with a "ladder," or flight of steps, giving access to either side of the "house." The latter had its floor on the main deck, making a large and roomy cabin in which all hands lived. There was no forecastle.

Her rig was that of a conventional two-masted schooner except that the space between the masts was somewhat greater and the foresail relatively larger, making a more even division of sail, which facilitated handling with a small crew. She carried two topmasts and set a sail on each.

From the point at which the bulge of the bows ended, her sides ran in a straight line to the stem. That is, on deck; at the waterline she displayed a graceful run, ending in a raking transom. One striking anachronism was the head gear: her bowsprit carried a long jibboom; together they must have extended thirty feet, or about half the vessel's length, ahead of her stem. There were stays forthree jibs, and to hold this whole fabric down she had the heavy chain bobstays and martingale (complete with "dolphin striker") generally found only on much larger vessels.

By pacing along the wharf I estimated the old schooner's length to be between 60 and 70 feet. Her width looked at least one-third as much. The cap of the bulwarks was at the level of the poop deck, which meant that the bulwarks in the waist were four feet high-another feature found only in big, deepwater ships-and the railing around the poop was an ornate balustrade of the type seen usually on the piazzas of Victorian houses and in pictures of the quarterdecks of oldtime men-ofwar. Her anchors were raised by a home-built windlass whose SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

iron fittings appeared to have been forged in the village blacksmith shop, and her steering gear was equally simple, efficient, and homemade. Altogether she was a floating museum.

The old schooner was much in my mind during the winter term at school, and when I came home for Easter the first thing I did was to walk down and look at her. Two men and a boy were very busy bending sail on the ancient spars which all through the winter had stood as bare as the branches of the trees. They paid me no more heed than any other loafer, but after a while I screwed up my courage to inquire if I might help. At that they all stopped working and stared at me with the frank appraisal one might give a strange animal. Finally a tall, gaunt young man whom I took to be the skipper gave a grudging assent. I took off my overcoat and clambered down.

It was plain none of the the three expected much of me. The boy, a lad about my own age but considerably more robust,

I learned that coasters, like the ship of Saint Paul, sail only with a fair wind. continued to look at me with an almost translucent stare. This, of course, put me on my mettle to show them I was not the city slicker I might appear. Sailing under the tutelage of two elder brothers had taught me at least the rudiments of seamanship, and I soon discovered that while the schooner's gear was much heavier it did not differ essentially from that of our own sloop. When we knocked off for tea my hands were red and swollen, and every muscle in my body had an ache of its own; but the job was finished and the vessel ready for sea. I felt a warmth in the atmosphere which had not been there before.

Fred, the oldest brother, was owner and skipper; Charlie, a good natured young man with brick red hair, was actually a farmer, but he had come along to cook and lend a hand. Dick, though no older than I, appeared to be already an A-1 sailorman, strong and able beyond his years. He still seemed to regard me with suspicion and was not pleased when I told Fred I would like to go East with them.

Fred himself did not exactly enthuse; but the offer of any help at all on a vessel so short-handed as this one could not be brushed aside. He considered a few moments and then asked if I was "well acquainted hereabouts." I replied: yes, I was, wondering why that should interest him. His next words showed that he was not referring to people but to places: "That's good; I've never been through the Sound but once before."

Then he asked about my acquaintance with New London and said he aimed to call there for a jag of hardwood to carry home. I told him I had been into New London often and boasted that I could find my way up the harbor in the fog.

"Well, now," he replied with some animation, "that's just dandy. You be on board at daylight, and we'll get under way."

Then he added: "I'm kinda sorry I engaged that mate to come up from New York. I reckon the four of us could take her down home all right."

Walking home that evening, I felt some qualms about the role I had undertaken; but they were short-lived and disappeared entirely when my father offered no serious objections, merely admonishing me to be sure to get back in two weeks in order to return to school on time. He too appeared to place a flattering reliance upon my seafaring knowledge.

When I reported on board next morning at sunrise all hands were still asleep. The cook turned out good naturedly and started a fire in his stove, but the mate, who had arrived during the evening proved the most unpleasant individual I had ever

45

met. He was a small , shrivelled-up man of middle-age, not at wondered what his next outburst would be. To tell the truth, I all imposing physically but exuding sarcasm and venom . He did not care very much, because I was commencing to see did not dare attack any of the brothers, so vented it all on me. through his bluster. What did concern me was the fact that I He never bothered about a name but just called me " You ," could not be certain about the next course, which was all sometimes with a few epithets thrown in. important. An error there might run the vessel into serious When we were shifting lines on the dock he tossed me the danger and land me in d i sgrace. If only I had not let the kid end of one and said: " Here, you , throw a bowline in that, and bully me out of bringing a chart! drop it over the bollard-if you know what that is! " The night was clear with a moderate breeze at south, and I picked up the line, threw a bowline in it with one hand, and the ancient schooner went along at a good pace under full sail , lassoed the bollard from where I stood. My elder brothers had with her sheets started. When we had the Middleground light gone to some pains to teach me that trick . The skipper grinned . abeam I altered course slightly so as to give us ample weather The mate barked: "Think you ' re smart eh? I'll work it out gauge on Cornfield lightship, off Long Sand Shoal, about of you damn quick! " forty miles farther east. I prayed that the weather might "Stow it, Mister," said the skipper. " We don ' t need that continue clear so that we could pick up its light well before we kind of talk here." Things went a little better after that. got there.

It was a lovely spring night but quite cool. When I told the That mate was a bearcat for work, and I must admit he did not spare himself. When we had made sail , towed out into the mate the new course he made some response, and I could hear harbor, and cleaned out the hold from the last cargo I thought his teeth chatter. Looking closely, I saw that his whole body I had done a day' s work-and it was still only nine in the was shaking. He had on only an ordinary suit of clothes. " Look here, sir," I exclaimed. " You take my overcoat; I morning. Incidentally, hoisting that big mainsail was the first time I ever came near to fainting. No doubt it was caused by don ' t need it-I'm hot! " working on an empty stomach- and we got no bite to eat till He accepted the garment with grudging thanks. It hung on it was done. him in folds, and its skirts almost swept the deck. I had a hard After breakfast, consisting of bread , tea, and salt pork, I time to keep from laughing . ...

When the captain came up we had Cornfield lightship in ex pected we would get under way, as a moderate breeze had sprung up at southeast; but the skipper said we must wait. Thus sight on the port bow and Horton 's Point on the starboard, I learned that coasters, like the shipofSaintPaul , sail only with which was exactly where they ought to be. I pointed them out fair wind. to the captain and told him to hold his course until he sighted At lunch , when we had flapjacks covered with molasses Bartlett' s Reeflightship, off the entrance to New London, and (and the inevitable tea), some mention was made of a chart. then give me a call. He said he would , so I went below and do The skipper remarked casually that he had none for Long not remember even hitting my bunk. The weather when I Island and would not need any now , since he had a man who turned in was fine but growing a little gusty, and it occurred to was "acquainted" on board. me that the old schooner would be better off with less sail.

At that I froze with horror and told him quickly I thought It seemed that I had no more than closed my eyes when a chart might help and offered to go home at once and get one. something was shaking me violently by the shoulder, and " What you want a chart for?" the youngest brother piped Charley 's voice was booming in my ear. Other sounds, too, up. "Thi s is your home waters, ain ' t it? Me, I know every light bombarded my wakening senses-the slatting of canvas and and buoy from Minas Basin to Quoddy Head !" thrashing of booms , the shouting of orders out on deck and rattling of pots and pans against the galley wall, and the No further mention was made of going home.

It snowed in the afternoon , but after that the wind shifted scream of wind and hi ss of spray.

"Tum out to shorten sail ," Charley yelled as I sat up. Then into the south and the weather cleared. The skipper reckoned we might break out the hook . he was gone.

Sailing out of Greenwich harbor past Hen and Chickens, I I pulled on my boots and followed . The schooner was closed my eyes and tried to remember the course down the hee led sharply to port. In her light condition-without cargo Sound. I had sailed it several times every summer for half a or ballast-she might have turned turtle if someone had not dozen years, and it seemed as though I should know it by heart. slacked off the fore and main sheets in time to relieve the But I was neverone to carry things in my head. In the end I had strain. Her lee rail was buried in a smother but she seemed to to visualize the chart of the Sound, complete with compass be rushing ahead. rose, and then in my mind 's eye lay off the course on that. The A sharp squall had c aught her under full sail. In the one I came up with sounded familiar, and I gave it to the darkness I could make out the forms of two men at the weather skipper in a confident manner. I answered his questions main rigging hauling on the topsail clewline, while the sail without hesitation. thrashed and thundered overhead. I followed Charley forward " All right," he said , ignoring the mate. " You do seem well over the slanting deck to clew up the fore topsail too. acquainted. Take her down along, and call me if anything Thi s done, the vessel seemed much easier, since the two comes up." topsails were by modem standards disproportionally large.

He and the boy had scarcely gone below when the mate We rested, panting to catch our breath before starting to trim in the fore sheet. began to fume. "Now, young fe ller," he snarled , " who ' s in charge of thi s watch, you or me?"

Looking ahead, I caught a glimpse of an occulting light " Why, you are, sir, of course," I said. "The captain just broad on the lee bow. My heart gave an exultant leap because questioned me because I have local knowledge-like a pilot." I knew this could be non1e other than the light on Bartlett's That appeared to mollify him , but he continued to grumble Reef lightship, at the enttrance to New London harbor. But under his breath. I had automatically taken the wheel. He told while I looked it faded ancd disappeared, and the next moment me to keep on. " And mind you steer a good course! " we were enveloped in a cdriving rush of snow. It pelted our After taking a look around fore and aft, he came back and faces and plunged the shipJ into a darkness so complete that we stood beside me on the weather side of the quarterdeck. I had to grope our way alomg the deck.

46

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

... she was of a type not seen in our part of the country for many years.

"Come with me," Charley shouted . By feel he found where the fore sheet belayed. Together we took in all the slack we could get, then groped our way back onto the poop. We stumbled over the mate, who cursed us and bade us lend a hand . He and the boy were struggling to get in some of the main sheet, without much success as the strain was great. Our combined efforts stilled the big sai l, and the skipper bellowed: " Belay! " Even with her topsails clewed up, the old vessel still had more sail than she could comfortably carry but reefing the mainsail would be a hazardous operation in that high wind and pitch black.

I asked the skipper if he had seen Bartlett's Reef lightship before the snow set in. He replied that he had , and had taken its bearing broad on the lee bow, also that Cornfield lightship bore a little abaft the beam when last seen. In that case, I told him , Bartlett's Reef lay only about ten miles ahead.

At the lightship we should have to change course to port, away from the wind, in order to run up New London Harbor.

In clear weather that would be easy to do, si nce the entrance was well marked, but in a driving snow storm the case was different. One needed to know the exac.tcourse-and I did not.

Till now my pilotage had worked out very well, and the skipper doubtless believed my boast that I could enter New London in a fog. I regretted it bitterly and wished with all my heart that I had insisted upon going for a chart. But it was too late. I had got myself into thi s mess; and, after all, I did know more about the waters than anyone else on board.

The skipper interrupted these unhappy thoughts by telling Charley to take Dick and me to haul down the outer jib. It was an old sail , and there was no good letting it blow out. Evidently he did not trust the mate, whose job this should have been.

We made our way forward to the eyes. Charley cast off the halyard , and Dick and I laid hold of the down haul and dragged the sail down its stay, thrashing and banging as Charley eased the sheet.

Then, in the nearly pitch-blackness, Dick started out on the bowsprit in order to secure the sail. He did not, of course, walk on the spar itself but slid hi s feet along the wire footrope beneath it on the weather side and leaned over the bowsprit to preserve his balance. Even so, it seemed a precarious passage in that black void with the water rushing past underneath and short, choppy sea licking at his boots. I took a deep breath and followed. Soon we were fisting the thick, half-frozen canvas that tried hard to tear itself out of our grip, riding it down and passing stops round it to subdue its struggles. Once or twice I SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

came near being jerked overboard; but all went well, and in a few minutes we had the sai l secured to the jibboom.

When we started back I made the mistake of straightening up for an instant to look around. A lurch unbalanced me, and I felt myself going over backwards. I had a mental picture of those great, bluff bows piling over me, riding me down under the vessel's bottom. Dick grabbed my arm and yanked me back over the jibboom .

When we got on deck, I tried to thank him for saving my life. "That 's nothing," he answered. "Everybody's got to learn." I decided he was not such a bad fellow after all.

The skipper told me to go below and warm up. I had come on deck in sweater and pants and was chilled through, although I had not noticed this before. He said would call me when he had Bartlett's Reef lightship abeam. I told him it carries a steam whistle and that he should be able to hear that even if he could see nothing through the snow.

The cabin seemed wonderfully warm. Charley had a fire going in the stove, where he was making coffee for the watch on deck. While wondering what to give as the next and allimportant course I fell asleep . .. .

This time it did not take shaking to wake me up. The whistle did it: a stentorian blast that sounded right alongside. I was half-way up the companionway before my hair had time to lie down .

"I thought that would fetch you!" said the skipper. There, in broad daylight not a hundred yards away, lay the lightship with BARTLETT REEF painted on her side in large letters.

We ran past her fast, and she disappeared in the snow before she blew again. The tide was setting to the eastward, a strong current at full ebb, which explained why we got there so soon.

The skipper was grinning. "Well , John," he said-it was the first he had called me by name-"we made that all right.

What 's the next course?"

"East-northeast," I answered. "Three miles to Sarah's Ledge buoy."

I stopped , astonished. Of course, that was it! I remembered now the time my brother Hank had sent me down to lay off the course when we were coming into New London in a fog. It had welled up out of my subconscious automatically, thanks to being startled and half asleep.

"That 's what I'm steering now,'' said the skipper. "It' s as high as she'll lie."

The wind , I saw, had backed into south east and moderated somewhat; and a glance over the stem at our wake showed that the old schooner was making a lot of leeway. "She' II never do it! " I said.

"She just may," Captain Fred answered calmly, "with this current settin' her up against the wind . No good trying to tack."

I knew what he meant. A vessel of this type, with nothing in her, is about as manageable as an empty cracker box. If you try to come about she will just round up into the wind and stop.

We would have to fetch the buoy on thi s tack--or not at all.

And inshore of it lay a wicked reef.

At any rate, it was no fault of mine. I had brought him to the light and given him the next course correctly. From here in it was up to him. That the vessel's life was at stake, and perhaps our own, seemed unimportant just then.

"What kind of a buoy is on this Sarah's Ledge?" the skipper wanted to know.

"A bell buoy-a gong," I told him. " You can cut it some, if you have to. But inshore of that is a black spar, right on the tail of the ledge. You've got to go inside of that."

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The skipper nodded. "Three miles away, you say. Well , we ' ll see."

He had taken the wheel himself and was handling the schooner with great skill. No racing yacht was managed better-nor for a higher stake. The sheets had been trimmed down hard and she still footed well, but the telltale wake showed how she slid off to leeward despite the best she could do. Now all depended on the set of the tide.

We all stood peering ahead as if by sheer effort one could penetrate the blank curtain of snow.

"Hark!" cried the skipper. "There it is!"

Faint with distance, the unmi stakable clang of a gong came up to us against the wind. And right where we wanted it-a couple of points on the lee bow.

"S he 's in the bag now! " Dick exclaimed.

So indeed it looked; but he spoke too soon. As the buoy drew nearer it also changed its bearing-the wrong way .

Slowly but inexorably it marched to windward. For a while the sound seemed to come from dead ahead-no w quite loud. Then it was on the weather bow and moving fast.

I knew what had happened. Here, close to the land, we had lost the sweep of the east-flowing c urrent, and the old schooner was crabbing off to leeward like a crate, with the wicked ledge close under her lee. I felt prickles running up my spine.

We heard the gong loud and clear, nearly abeam to starboard but sti ll invisible in the snow. We were inshore of it but might still squeeze past the black spar on the end of the ledge .

'There it is!" Charley shouted . "I see it, dead ahead!"

It jumped out of the snow, in clear sight and already a little on the weather bow. Inshore of it the seas were piling up on Sarah's Ledge.

The skipper turned to me. " You say I can't cut her none?"

"No. Not a foot!" I cried out.

48

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" Well ," he said grimly, "there's more than one way to skin a cat."

He swung the vessel off to give her sails a good full. For a second I thought he meant to drive her full bore onto the ledge.

Then , whi le I stood speech less wi th fright and doom seemed certain , he spun his wheel hard up.

Swiftly the vessel turned, rounding up into the wind with thrashing sails. They no longer did any good, but her momentum carried her ahead. One moment she seemed certain to run the spar down, the next she passed it---on the proper side. She almost scraped the paint off it as she went by.

"Now, John ," said the skipper in a matter-of-fact voice, "what's the course up into New London from here?"

It was one he could steer without any trouble. In fact, we had a fair wind. The snow stopped, and the town lay sparkling in sunlight. The wi nd dropped to a gentle breeze. Looking back, it was hard to believe we had ever been in danger. An hour later we eased up to a wharf and made our lines fast.

"Quite a sail, Johnnie," said Captain Fred.

The skipper went ashore and returned about noon looking g lum . " Durned hardwood ain 't come yet," he grumbled.

"Looks like we couldn 't load it for a week."

To me this was a disaster. I told him I should have to go back home. He nodded. "Looks so," he agreed. "You'd never get back in time."

Then he added: "Too bact. I figured to get rid of that mate."

J,

Mr. Rowland, born in 1888, went on to serve in a destroyer in North Atlantic convoy duty in World War I, and commanded a four-masted coasting schooner in the 1920s. This tale is exce1pted from his memoirs, Wind and Salt Spray. (W.W. Norton, New York NY, 1967).

SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1989

i\ MODEL SUCCESS STORY' "The Maritime Prepositioning Ship program is a model success story, and I couldn't be more pleased . MPS is on schedule and proving to be an extremely valuable strategic asset."

- General PX. Kelley Commandant U.S. Marine Corps

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DISTRICT 2 MARINE ENGINEERS BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION -ASSOCIATED MARITIME OFFICERS AFFILIATED WITH THE AFL-CIO MARITIME TRADES DEPARTMENT 650 FOURTH AVENUE BROOKLYN, N.Y 11232 (718) 965-6700

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RAYMOND T. McKAY PRESIDENT

JOHN F. BRADY EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

This is MM&P Country.

The legendary S .S. MONTEREY-American owned , American managed, American crewedhas returned to cruising under the banner of Aloha Pacific Cruises offering seven-day luxury Hawaiian Island cruises . The MONTEREY is 563 feet in length and displaces 2 1,051 tons. · S he carries 600 passengers with an all-MM&P crew of 2 77 at a top speed of 20 knots and is equipped with Sperry Fin Stabilizers, ensuring the smoothest ride attainable .

The completely refurbished MO NTEREY combines a perfect blend of the luxury and grace of a bygone era with today's state-of-the-art technology . The men and women of the allMM&P hotel staff , hand-picked from.among candidates trained at the premier American and European hotels and restaurants are splendidly supported by the all-MM&P Deck and Engineering operating crew who sharpen their skills a t MM&P 's Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) located at Linthicum Heights, Maryland. If you would like to experience the pleasure of cruising with an All-American crew, why not call Aloha Pacific Cruises at their toll-free number of 8 00-544-644 2 for further information regarding availability of space .

ROBERT J. LOWEN

F. ELWOOD KYSER

International President

International Secretary- Treasurer

International Organization of

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