NMHS MISSION:
The Challenge of 1992 by Walter Cronkite
1992, the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus 's first voyage to the Americas, will be upon us in one and a half short months. Recommendations as to how the event should be commemorated are as lively, as numerous and diverse as is our citizenry. Surely, we who love history and fo llow the sea recognize 1992 as a singularly significant event in the hi story of mankind . The Columbus voyages impacted on all peopl e everyw he rewhetherfor good or ill , whether immed iately or later. Before 1492, all world maps everyw here had edges. Ju st thirty years later, Magellan 's voyage of circumnavigation gave us a global world , unmi stakably a world with no edges. The Age of Discovery ended millennia of isolation for the Americas. But it also brought eastern Asia, Australi a, the Arctic and the Pacific Islands into the world 's traffics. Within an eyeblink of history, the world was made one. But, exactly what are we to commemorate in 1992, and how shou ld we commemorate it? The National Maritime Hi storical Society has given this some thought and has taken counsel with the leaders of two museums parti cul arl y close to my own heart: Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut and South Street Seaport Museum in New York. (I have the honor of servi ng both these centers of sea learning as tru stee.) The Society has also taken counsel of the National Maritime Alli ance and the Council of American Maritime Museums. And thi s is how we see the Quincentenary year: First, let's recognize the courage, skill and perseverance of all the earl y explorers. It is so easy to call old Chris a bumbler who happened to sail west and eventuall y hit something. But I wonder how many who guffaw at this gibe could make their way across the Atlantic in a small boat with primiti ve instruments, then find their way back again to their point of origin, and then do it again three more times! These first voyagerswhether Norsemen probing their way along the North Atlantic coast, or Portuguese making their way down the coast of Africa and aro und the Cape of Good Hope to India, or Polynesians memori zing the stars in the sky and navigating across the vast Pacific to colonize its islands-all these voyagers shared things very important to our human story: love of adventure, the joy of discovery and SEA HISTORY 59, AUTUMN 1991
seaward fo r reenactments and tall ship festivals, including the gathering of the world's sail training ships in New York on July 4 in Operation Sail-an organization I also have the pleasure to serve as volunteer and trustee. America will tum its forward-looking eyes for a backward glance as we take a look at the world~ c ha ngin g events of 500 years ago. :;; Schoolchildren will be studying the Age ::> =< of Discovery, their parents may pick up ~ one of the many books being published ~ on Columbus. We' ll all probably watch ~ a documentary on TV , and a few of us !;; may even get to a museum to see a ~ spec ial ex hibit or hear a lecture. In short, we can expect interest in things maritime to flare up for a while, until a year from today, when the festivities will draw to a close and public interest will dwindle. The National Maritime Historical Soc iety wants to keep that interest alive! Walter Cronkite and the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport Museum. We'd Iike to leave our fellow Americans with something more than memories of learning, the readiness to rise to chal- fireworks and parades. Our program for lenge. 1992 includes two conferences, one on Second, let's commemorate the event the Wavertree in New York in May , for what it was, with all its joys and and the o ther on the Balc lutha in sorrows, its gains and losses. There is San Francisco in October. Here , our every sign we 're going to do better in shipkeepers will report¡on progress and 1992 than we did in 1892, when the new initiatives to save historic ships and voyaging Europeans and the native deliver their cargo of history . And we American cu ltures were presented in very wi ll be publishing a directory of 1992 stiff and unconvincing two-dimensional events with special emphasis on the work poses. As Richard Monette, a Chippewa, being done by museums and historical wrote in our magazine Sea History: "We societies in the maritime heritage field. Let 's use thi s opportunity to get our now have the capacity to di sseminate an entire history to an entire generation in fell ow Americans involved in the marione fell swoop, to remedy past indiscre- time heritage. Let 's get them-and ourtions and to make the future more learned selves-into the act of history . How? and more hopeful. Let us begin with Join your local maritime museum, sub1492 .. . Let us be candid ... and, in 1992, scribe to a sail training organization, let us set sail together. " American Indi- attend lectures, get involved in the rich , ans are an utterly vital part of the story , enthralling heritage of seafaring! You as the Celts are an imperishable part of wi ll be glad that you did-you really the story of England . Pause a moment to will. Take it from me! I got a little bit look at the case of the Celts. They were established in the British Isles for centu- involved and found that I was signing on ries before the Germanic Anglo-Saxons for the voyage of a lifetime-or, to be came in to seize the land with their iron more accurate, many lifetimes, many swords and plows. The Celts lost almost ships, many languages, different peoples all their land . But anyone who does not of similar hopes and dreams, and alsee their presence in all things English ways, always the challenge of wide hotoday is having serious perceptual prob- rizons and fresh landfalls-the ultimate lems. The fact is that American soc iety challenge of seafaring. D has a tremendous opportunity to learn and benefit from the American Indian Mr. Cronkite, after a long and distinguished career in radio and television renaissance that is underway today. And, thi rd, let 's take advantage of the newscasting, is now special corresponopportunity that is open ing before us to dent for CBS-TV News and maintains a strengthen the maritime heritage. Next lively interest and active participation in year the eyes of America wi ll be turned the maritime heritage.
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