Urger on the Canal What a pleasure it was to meet Schuyler Meyer, Jim Voorhees, and the Urger crew. The children and adults of Medina enjoyed touring the tug and also learning first hand about the history of the Erie Canal. The canal is an important resource and played a strong role in the history of New York State. It is very exciting to be part of its revitalization. We commend Capt. Meyer, the National Maritime Historical Society, the Alliance for Arts Education Imagination Celebration, and the Edwin Gould Foundation for for Children for sponsoring the Urger's trip along the Canal. CATHERINE S. REVELAS Exec. Director, Chamber of Commerce Medina, New York Christobal Colon Visits San Diego NMHS readers should be interested in knowing that there is a living Christopher Columbus. Don Cristobal Colon is the 20th direct descendant of the famed explorer. I recently accompanied him to the west coast where he "discovered" San Diego. Colon continues his ancestor's love of the sea and is a lieutenant commander in the Spanish Navy. He follows his father, also with the same name, who served in the Spanish Navy rising to the rank of admiral. The elder Colon was assasinted by Basque terrorists some seven years ago. Don Christobal may sail in the replica fleet of the Santa Clara, Santa Ana, and Santa Marfa. By the way, these are the little-known official names of the ships of discovery. We remember the two by their nicknames which Columbus used in his logs except for his flagship, Santa Maria. She too had a nickname, La Gallega, because she was built in Galicia, Spain. CHARLES J. Grnow1cz, JR. Madrid , Spain This Great Cape Horner About the Benjamin F. Packard (see SH 56) I've had much personal contact. Shall long remember how at age 13, while in a New York private hospital recouping from a tonsil operation, I slipped out one bitterly cold day in February, boarded a bus and made my way uptown to 125th Street and North River-to face that cold and snarling wind whistling down the Hudson, to stand there in shivering SEA HISTORY 59, AUTUMN 1991
delight, feasting my eyes on this great Cape Homer, as she lay moored and abandoned alongside a deserted pier. There was no chance of boarding her: I was lucky just to behold her (having somehow heard that she had arrived here, in tow , from the Panama Canal & West Coast ports). With fingers freezing, I managed to use up a whole role of film in my new box camera-bought that very hour, with all my spending money, for this one purpose. They came out well enough for one to see the drift ice floating along her sides. My, but it was cold to this thin stringbean of a kid, but my! it was a glorious unforgettable moment. I've always been that way about ships, come to remember. I didn ' t see the Packard again until around 1931 , when I visited her in Playland, in Rye, and meet Frank Jaeger . . . . Frank and I spent much time aboard the laid-up Packard together. Of all the types there were, he and I both were fondest by far of the square-rigged ship, of which the Benjamin F. Packard was then just about the finest example of a wooden sailing vessel left afloat under our flag . RICHARD MAURY Santa Barbara, California Mr. Maury is author of The Saga of the Cimba, an account of how in the 1930s he sailed a small Novy schooner to the South Pacific and lost her there-a little known book that ranks as a classic among those who know it.-ED The Guide: Incentive and Guidance I have recently received your remarkable guide to the maritime museums of the United States. I knew there was a large number, but I am still surprised. My wife and I have covered many of the maritime museums in Europe and Great Britain, but the number in the United States must be far greater, although I have never been able to find a comprehensive list for Britain and the continent. With the incentive and guidance provided by your Sea History's Guide to American and Canadian Maritime Museums, we are planning two trips. One would be as far as we can get in two weeks starting north from Jacksonville, Florida. The second will be another two weeks finishing with the museums of the Maritime Provinces of Canada. It is possible to see two or three museums in one day , or even more, in some locales, while another day it may be possible only to do justice to one mu-
seum, given the size an geographical position of the museum. WithyourGuide we know what to expect. THOMPSON LENFESTEY Tampa, Florida The Great Britain's Unicorn IfDr. Ewen Corlett had stuck to his slide rule and stability tables, the Great Britain would not now be in Bristol. Greg Powlesland and the Editor would, therefore, not have the luxury of criticizing the work of Dr. Corlett who played such a fundamental part in the discovery, return and restoration ok SS Great Britain. Dr. Corlett's answer seems to me conclusive and I rememberthe care taken by him over this very matter, being a member of the SS Great Britain Project in the early years. MALDWIN DRUMMOND Southampton, England The editor intended and intends no detraction from Dr. Corlett' s role in the SS Great Britain recovery and restoration, an admirable achievement. For an authoritative comment on the spirit of the unicorn (the point at issue) see below.- ED A Real Unicorn-from HMS Unicorn! Reference SH 54 and 57 and the letter from SS Great Britain Project on the subject: "Is Bambi a Suitable Unicom?" I enclose this illustration of the unicorn figurehead on the "real" Unicorn - the one at Victoria Dock, Dundee and still the oldest British built warship afloat (built 1824).
The figurehead is of more recent years however and was unveiled in 1979 by HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. Congratulations on an excellent magazine. HAMISH ROBERTSON Development Manager Unicom Preservation Society Dundee, Scotland
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