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In this Sea History we set off on a course of rediscovery, in the wake of Christopher Columbus. History only lives as it lives through us today, and its truth is always new to each generation. Each generation also brings its own perspective to the telling, as does each personwe hope you find both challenge and refreshment in ours! A much wider audience than usual is being invited to join us in this Sea History, thanks to Texaco, Inc. , sponsors of the replica Columbus ships now fitting out in Spain to sai l in European waters this year. Texaco has generously underwritten the distribution of 50,000 extra copies of this issue to people involved in boating, to encourage wider awareness and discussion of the Columbus voyages and help build up public interest and support for the maritime heritage to which Co lumbus contributed so significantly. The Columbus replica ships will tour over 50 US ports to delight and enlighten millions of Americans. The tour will culminate in a grand 500th anniversary parade of ships in San Francisco on Columbus Day, October 12, 1992. In coming issues this year we'll be looking at the ships, the voyages, and the impact of the voyages on hi story, as we see these things today .
* * * * * American Indian interest in the quincentenary is recognized in several projects of the Columbus Quincentenary Commission , which plans a Museum of the Americas in Washington that will feature Native American life. Archaeology,journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, features "When Two Worlds Become One" in its January/ February issue, presenting the " violent clash of cutures that doomed millions of Native Americans." We have our work cut out for us in this field , and are delighted to see some good initial results achieved in Greg Foster's letter in these pages, reporting a new cooperative approach to "Discovery Reenactment '92." It is good to find Sea History playing a role in this kind of progress in our field , we aspire to reach out to all interests in seafaring, in all their rich variety. And it is good to know that our members find hidden treasures in our pages-as the marina operator Harry Nelson says in "Marine Art News" in this issue, "all you have to do is read closely to find them. " PS 4
LETTERS Ave Atque Vale Dick Morris All of us at Grace were shocked by the sudden passing of Dick Morris. He was a great asset to Grace during his many years of service, and he'll be missed by all. I'm pleased that the campaign for the restoration of the Allen S. Rupley deckhouse aboard the Wavertree under Dick Morris's leadership has generated such strong support. I'll recommend a grant for the Rupley deckhouse in memory of Dick Morris. In the meantime, you have my very best wishes for the success of the Wavertree Restoration Project. J. PETER GRACE Chairman and CEO W.R. Grace & Co. New York, New York For an appreciation of the life of Richard I. Morris see page 40. -ED.
130 chanting paddlers in two dozen canoes for its ceremonial arrival on the beach in Seattle, July 21. The media accounts (for once!) indicated the significant cultural content of this amazing undertaking, in which grassroots reconstruction of maritime heritage has launched new community awareness and even set agendas for major regional goals. And so it would appear that the stage is set for the kind of cross-cultural maritime commemoration you have envisioned for 1992. We will keep you posted on the progress of our plans to make sure that the oldest as well as the newest citizens of this inshore history have meaningful and appropriate roles. GREGORY FOSTER, Director Discovery Reenactment Society Galiano Island, British Columbia
Who's Discovering Who in '92?
Op Sail-The Tradition Lives On
We've got to do better than just fife and drums in our 1992 reenactment of the opening of the Pacific gateway. Our age has its own surprises, and your enthusiastic insistence on native peoples ' partnership in the upcoming Age of Discovery celebrations is proving to be one of them . We shook off the dire predictions of some cultural advisors and set a course toward the spicier islands of Joint Effort. Our first di scovery on this new heading: Eighteen coastal tribes in western Washington and British Columbia have literally been there ahead of us. More than a dozen newly carved cedar dugout canoes participated in a "Paddle to Seattle" last summer-an event acknowledged as the least expensive and most powerful State centennial project. Spearheaded by Emmet Oliver, master canoe carverof the Quileute tribe, the Native Canoe Project has initiated a dramatic revival both in traditional canoe making and the seamanship/lore of canoe voyaging. The vessels-some of them nearly 60 feet long-were shaped by hand from huge old-growth red cedar trees, an exacting process involving teachers and apprentices on Indian reserves throughout the Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. Tribes expect to use the canoes in a variety of programs, the first one being the reenactment of a historic journey from the Pacific coast and points on Puget Sound to Seattle. The 170-mile voyage was completed in six days, with canoes joining the expedition all along the route and swelling the flotilla to over
The story in the Winter 1989-90 issue of Sea History regarding the projected Operation Sail 1992 brought me back to the days of the organization of Operation Sail 1964. Sometime in the fall of 1962, Frank Braynard, then with the Moran Towing Company, told me about Nils Hansell and Commodore Baylis and the project to bring the sail training vessels to New York harbor during the 300th anniversary of New York City and the World's Fair of that year. I was then Director of Port Commerce to promote and develop commerce-<;argo and passengers-for the bi-state port. Frank suggested I join the committee being forrned for Op Sail '64 and asked what I thought of the possibility of the Port Authority giving financial support to the project. I told him I thought the chances for any money were poor-and when I discussed it with a Port Authority executive (who shall remain nameless) I was asked "How many tons of cargo will those ships bring into the port?" I was allowed to join the committee, but no funds would be forthcoming. But there were things I knew I could do. I sponsored some lunches for the committee at the Whitehall Club. And since Paul Van Wicklen, editor of our promotional magazine Via Port of New York, heartily agreed with me that an event so dramatic taking place in New York Harbor would certainly reinforce the long-standing view that ours was indeed the World's Greatest Port, we ran a three-page feature article about Operation Sail '64 in the April 1963 issue of the magazine, which had an SEA HISTORY 53, SPRING 1990