SHIPNOTES New Tall Ships in the Offing Operation Sail has inspired the restoration of historic ships, from France's stately bark Belem to the bugeye Little Jennie of Centreport, NY. Now, there are at least three undertakings dedicated to doing something more for Operation Sail 1992-a new tall ship for America! The team that restored the bark Elissa in Galveston has now set up shop in Bath, Maine, to build a new steel Down Easter of just under 500 tons. Designed as a full-rigged ship, she is to be called Discovery. SAIL, Inc., 229 Washington St., Bath ME 04530. Captain Jay Bolton, who has sailed as master of Elissa and Gazela of Philadelphia , plans a big four-masted bark to be called Liberty. This vessel, at 3,000 tons, would be in a class with the Soviet Union's Kruzenshtern. US Tall Ships Foundation , c/o Burke & Parsons, 1114 A venue of the Americas, NYC 10036. Captain Melbourne Smith has been working for a dozen years on plans to build a replica of Griffith 's immortal Sea Witch. This fast-travelling 900-tonner of 1846 holds the record home from China and may fairly be said to have launched the clipper era a century and a
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half ago. The new Sea Witch would be of wood, like the original, and is costed at $18 million. Captain Smith has a reputation for bringing in his ship projects on time, within budget. The big schooner Californian sailing the Pacific today is an example of his work, as is the brig Niagara, outfitting now to sail the Great Lakes this summer. American Clipper Trust, PO Box 54,AnnapolisMD21404. The Second Annual Awards Dinner of the National Maritime Hi storical Soci ety was held November 10 at the New York Yacht Club. The Founders' Sheet Anchor Award , established in 1988, the 25th anniversary year of the Society, was presented to Schuyler M. Meyer, Jr. , Vice Chai rm an of the Society, for his contribution to its recovery and reinvigoration fo llowing the financial crisis of 1987-88. This award, to be given only on occasion, is intended to recognize that every insitution needs to be refounded as the years pass, to rise to the challenges of its time, and this is usually the work of one person of extraordinary leadership, commitment and vision. The Society 's American Ship Trust A ward was presented to James P. McAllister posthumously, for his leadership in saving historic ships, and particularly his personal recovery of the little steam tug Mathilda of 1899, now on exhibition at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston , New York. The award was accepted by hi s nephew, Brian McAllister, President of McAlli ster Bros. Towing & Tra\i sportation Co. The James Monroe Award for outstanding contibution to the cause of maritime hi story was designated for later presentation to Philip Teuscher (known as "Captain Torture" to readers of these pages), for hi s extradordinary work in developing lively testimony of the traditions of local boatmen from Carib Indians to Long Island Sound oystermen. NMHS Historic Ships Program announces a " new arrival"-the 1926 steamboat Delta Queen (See pp36-38). This paddlewheel steamer brings us into the heartland of America, departing Cincinnati, on the Ohio River, on July 2, to cruise on downstream to St. Louis, where she will arrive July 9. NMHS President Peter Stanford will be along to speak about the river navigation that tied the American Midwest to the rest of the world via New Orleans. Meantime, the March 8 Caribbean
cruise of the main-skysail-yarder Sea Cloud with Paul F. Johnston , Maritime Curator of the Smithsonian Institution , and the August 11 cruise of Sea Cloud in the Mediterranean, with Peter Stanford as speaker, are shaping up in good sty le, with NMHS members signing on to pull and haul (amid scenesofnotable luxury) with the ship 's international crew. For information on these voyages of redi scovery, talk to Michelle Shuster, NMHS , PO Box 646, 132 Maple St., Croton-onHudson NY 10520; 914 271-2177. The January-February issue of Historic Preservation (National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20036, $15) records a fascinati ng bit of sea transferred technology. Problems encountered in maintaining the 200-yearold Spanish mission of San Xavier del Bae in Tucson, Arizona, turned out to stem from the incompatibility of modem materials with the clay brick of the 1700s. The solution: a mortar containing prickly pear mucilage. This "folk technology"as it is called by the National Trust, apparently originated in Moorish Africa and was then brought to America by the Spanish-precisely reflecting the pattern oflberian deepwater trades, first to Africa, then to the New World of the Americas. Grays Harbor Historical Seaport reports that the Lady Washington , a replica of Captain Robert Gray's Lady Washington , the firs t American vessel to explore the West Coast in 1788, was boarded by more than 10,000 visitors during her visit to the Columbia River in September. Captain Jack Finney and crew took the vessel to Astoria and Portland , Oregon , and Vancouver, Washington ; 2,500 of the visitors were children in school groups. Lady Washington, when not sailing in the Northwest, is docked at the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport. (Grays Harbor, PO Box 2019, Aberdeen WA 98520)
Wavertree Forever! Next summer will mark the 20th anniversary of the fullrigged ship Wavertree's arrival at the South Street Seaport Museum-an occasion marked by city-wide acclamation led by Mary Lindsay, wife of the then mayor. After initial progress , restoration of the 1885 iron-hulled ocean wanderer lagged, and the late Allen S. Rupley joined with Jakob Isbrandtsen, SEA HISTORY 53, SPRING 1990