international circulation of over 20,000 copies. We ran off a batch of reprints of the article and gave them to the committee, which were used by Frank and Nils in their successfu l efforts to secure patrons and ship participation. As the big day of Op Sail '64 drew closer and the excitement increased, suddenly our Port Authority commissioners and top staff executives began pressing me for invitations to the reviewing fleet! Suddenly it was a great thing to be in on. It was in many ways the most dramatic event of the anniversary year. So, some years later, when Op Sail '76 was suggested, the Port Authority reversed their hands-off policy and provided Frank Braynard with office space and staff services to coordinate that great Bicentennial event. Nothing succeeds like success. May 1992 be the greatest ever! CLIFFORD B. O'HARA Riverside, Connecticut A memoir of Nils Hansell, who died Janumy 6, appears on page 40 . -ED.
Make Way for a Sailor-Man or Woman I read your Sea History Gazette each time a copy makes its way through my office and find most of your articles very interesting. I am concerned, however, about the headline of one of your articles in the August 9, 1989 edition. I do not feel it appropriate to refer to a crew of young women as "girls" in your headline "All-Girl Crew Set Sail on New Way." Unless all of these young ladies were under the age of 12, the title "girl" is demeaning and inappropriate. I feel this title undermines the accomplishments of the young ladies who made this journey and doubt that ifthe journey were made by young men they would have been called "boys" instead of young men . As your article mentions, work at sea is still a traditionally male env ironment. The only way that women will be fully integrated into the seagoing professions is to accept them for their full value. MARIA SIMMONS
Lieutenant (jg), USCG Juneau, Alaska As we passed this letter around the office, the feeling among staff was that "girls" is the appropriate word up through the age of 17. We do call male trainees "boys" (seeSH#52,p30,#50, p32) . There was an objection on other grounds, however; that is simply that SEA HISTORY 53, SPRING 1990
all-female crews are by no means such a rarity or innovation as the headline would suggest. The all-female crew of the Sir Winston Churchill in Operation Sail 1976 is a fine example.-ED.
Mind Your Helm, There! H.F. Morin Scott's article "Square Riggery" (Sea History 52) reads more like our Coast Guard's directions for tacking Eagle than the much simpler tacking and wearing orders of the last days of commercial sail. Of course I realize that today the sail training craft have at least three times the crew required to handle the vessel, and they must have something forevery hand to do, but he 's made an (unintentional?) error. In wearing the brig, order#3 " ... applies ten degrees of starboard helm" and reports, "Ten of starboard wheel on, Sir." Starboard wheel is a port helm, since the helm refers to the fore-and-aft (whether actual or theoretical), tiller. Note advisory #4--"Helm's aweather." ROBERT G. HERBERT, JR. East Northport, New York Captain Scott is at sea as we go to press, so we' re going to take a deep breath and answer for him. His article recognized the fact of large crews on training ships (he was in commercial sail himself just before World War llHrom which we get the need for orders given in almost militaryform, especially since said large crews are largely inexperienced. On the helm versus wheel business, of course it' s "Helm up" to head downwind. But it's "Starboard wheel" to head to starboard. We think Captain Scott would say "Starboard helm" to achieve the same end and avoid confusion. At one time wheels were rigged to be turned opposite to the direction you wanted to go in, so "Port your helm" to go to starboard would be literally what you would do. This gave rise to confusion, however, as wheels began to be rigged as they are today, to be turned in the direction you want to go in. The US Navy has put an end to all this charming confusion. They say just : "Right rudder"-to head to the right.-ED.
Hurdy-Gurdy a String Instrument A hurdy-gurdy is not a sort of accordian which requires a hand crank for its wind as suggested in Mr. Doerflinger' s article (SH 52); it is rather a stringed instrument once commonplace in Europe with a number of pegs along one side that when depressed stop the strings. A handle on
one end turns a wheel that is in permanent contact with a drone string. It is this scraping sound that makes the hurdygurdy unique as a musical instrument. I also see that there were a number of workshops at the Mystic festival-which I applaud, and it is good to sing-but the passing on of knowledge in some depth is of greater consequence. For my own part, in 1980 I published my own discography based upon my own extensive collection of recordings of chantys and sailor songs. The collection is comprised of some 250 records (mostly all sea song), and another 150 cassettes, plus at this time around half a dozen CDs. I also have one of the most extensive collections of books and articles and am still adding to both collections. Nothing is computerized as yet, but I hope eventually to supplement my collections with material I know of, but have not seen. CHRIS ROCHE
Croydon, Surrey, England
Whisper Reseamed Once stories about the Wianno Whisper start, they keep on rolling. Many years ago, her owner, Peter Stanford, decided she would have a refastening in deference to her age. So he and his younger brother laid out a work schedule, and many laborious hours later she was refastened, recaulked with new cotton laid in and sealed with seam compound, repainted, glistening, and truly a thing of beauty as she sat on her cradle on the ways awaiting a full tide for the launch. Her owner had to be elsewhere, but hjs older and younger brothers were in town the next noon when the very mildmannered yard owner called in anger and consternation, demanding she be moved off his ways. When the blameless brothers arrived, there she was, sitting at the head of the ways, water pouring from every seam, and caulking hanging in festoons from all seams below the waterline. Slip, pantaloons, stockings and all, showing in fine style. The yardowner explained that she had filled up so quickly on hitting the water, he hauled her right out again, " lest she sink." Unfortunately he didn't haul her until she had filled with water, creating a head of pressure which proceeded to blow out all her caulking. Once we had stopped crying about the mess and started laughing, we put the caulking back home with new com-
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