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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