Sea History 072 - Winter 1994-1995

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SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

Far Traveling in 1994 Two heritage vessels that c/!x ked up the miles in 1994 were the square topsail schooner Tole Mour and th e Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien. Tole Mour completed a trip from Ha waii to the Great Lakes, returning to Miami , that covered over 14 ,000 miles. Owned and operated by Hawaii-based Marimed Foundation , the ship carried a total of 80 trainees during its voyage, all adjucated or emotionally impaired youths. Th e Liberty ship Jeremiah O' Brien racked up 25,000 miles on her commemorative voyage to the beaches of Normandy, where she had served on D-Day, and back to her homeport , San Francisco. Photographer Thad Koza captured Tole Mour in the Great Lakes, and the Jeremiah O' Brien in Rauen , Fran ce.

floating restaurant moored on the Thames near Waterloo, is on the market for $750,000. The Carrick (ex -City of Adelaide) was moved in September 1993 to the renovated sli pway in the Ayrshire Dockyard, formerly the Irvine Shipyard. A replica Portuguese " nau" built by Trengganu boatbuilders has become part of the Malacca Maritime Museum , Malays ia. She was built without a single nail in her construction, at a cost of Malay Ringgit 3.8 million . From Peru comes word of the loss of the Inca . The 1906-bui lt steamer was recentl y sold for scrap and broken up. Inca was prefabri cated in England and transported to Lake Titicaca and reassembled there. (WST, 202 Lambeth Road , London , SE I 7 JW) In Portugal, the Dom Fernando II e Gloria , the last frigate under sai l to serve the Portuguese Navy, is undergoing restoration . Built in Damoa, Portuguese India, in 1843 , the ship was partially destroyed by fire in 1963 and for the past three decades has been lyi ng hee led over to port on mudflats in the River Tagus. Now the Navy has undertaken her restoration with the backing of the National Commi ss ion for the Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries.

A ward Given For Arrest of Wreck Looters In November, the Federal Government awarded a check fo r $500 to the Confederate Naval Hi storical Society for its part in uncovering the looters of the CSS Florida and USS Cumberland. The reward is the first of its kind to be g iven to those helping with the arrest and conviction of looters under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Kev in Foster of the National Park Service estimates that the top fo ur feet of .both shipwrecks were disturbed in an illegal collaboration between watermen and antiques dealers who sold pieces of the wrecks by mail order. (CN HS, 710 Ocran Road , White Stone VA 22578)

Brown Sails Clear It was a great year for the Liberty ship John W. Brown. The restored vessel steamed I ,700miles up and down the East Coast, stopping in Halifax, Boston and Greenport NY, attracting 15, 100 visitors along the way. The profits from the trip plus the 24 September Bay Cruise paid off the vessel's outstanding bills, including

International Shipwreck Protection In the uncertain world of maritime law, two international conventions may increase our ability to protect underwater c ultural resources. In Jul y, the US signed a revised agreement regarding deep seabed mining provision s, included in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The ag reement clears the way for

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those recently incurred to retube both boilers-however, there are sti ll plenty of opportunities for givi ng! The Brown is taking a well deserved winter break, but it is not too soon to look forward to the spring. Spaces for the Bay crui ses-3 June and 23 September-are available and other events are being planned for April. (Project Liberty Ship, PO Box 25846, Highlandtown Sta., Baltimore MD 2 1224-0846; 410 661-1550)

the US to sign the entire convention and the Senate wi ll probabl y consider the matter in 1995. The convention on ly touches upon cultural resources, but it does set forth three principles: that nations have a duty to protect underwater archaeological resources; that archaeological resources located beneath the hi gh seas should be managed for the benefit of mankind ; and that nations may control underwater sites within their contiguous zones as if they were within their sovere ign territory. A more effective agreement, if ratified , may be the Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, written by the International Law Association 's Committee on Cu ltura l Heritage Law. A fin al draft was approved at the 66th Conference of the ILA in Buenos Aires in August. Under the convention , nations wou ld be able to declare cultural heritage zones and control underwater archaeological resources within them. Underwater News Who does the Lusitania belong to? A lawsu it fi led in federa l court by Scituate MA res ident Muriel C. Light contends that her late husband, a former Navy diver, bought rights to the wreck 27 years ago for about $2,400 from a British insurance company. The lawsuit challenges a claim made in February by millionaire businessman F. Gregg Bemis, Jr. of Santa Fe NM. According to Associated Press, Bemi s says he hopes to salvage about I00 tons of copper from the ship. "I'd rather leave the wreck alone," says Mrs. Light. "Thi s is an hi storic wreck." The National Maritime Initiative of the National Park Service and the Naval Hi storical Center are preparing a management plan for the wreck of the USS Tecumseh. The Tecumseh is a Civi l War ironclad located 300 yards off Fort Morgan at the entrance to Mobile Bay, Alabama. The site is a war grave and a val uable historical resource, and the vessel itse lf is considered the best preserved examp le of a Civil War ironclad. An East Indiaman wreck has been found off Malacca, Malaysia. The 350ton Diana struck a rock and foundered in 1817 on a passage from Macau to Calcutta. The World Ship Trust reports that the possibility of raising the 100-ft hull for ex hibiition is being considered by her salvors, ~Ma l aysian Hi storical Salvors, but it is fearred that her condition may not allow it. Herr cargo consisted of alum, tea, cloth, SEA H-I ISTORY 72, WINTER 1994-95


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