DECK LOG The waterways of America, a shining national asset in the eyes of those who know them, go unrecognized too often in their vital contribution, from Indian times onward, to the development of America. In thi s Sea History we join our friends in the State Council on Waterways in New York on a watery inland trek designed to open the waterways to educational purposes. Through SCOW 's eyes more Americans may come to appreciate this shining asset, and use it with increased respect-and enjoyment! During the peace negotiations in the American Revolution, which dragged on from 1781 until American independence was fully recognized in the Peace of Paris in 1783, our French and Spanish allies tried to keep the new nation 's borders short of the Mississippi, the main trunk of the inland waterways. In the American peace mission, New York 's John Jay insisted that our frontiers reach the Mississippi. Benjamin Vaughan, who carried Jay 's message to the British, secured their consent to this, so that, in Vaughan's words, we had secured a system of waterways that would "form a trading coast at the back of the American Colonies, somewhat as the Atlantic does at the front." What we made of the glorious opportunity so tenuously sec ured (these negotiations had to be kept secret even from America's great friend the Marquis de Lafayette!) is set forth in the steamboating articles featured in this issue.
All Hail Endeavour! It was the great dream of Alan Villiers (1903-82), Australian-born Cape Horn sailorman and author, to build and sail a replica of Captain Cook 's sturdy North Country bark Endeavour, both to honor the great navigator and to let yo ung people learn in their time the fascination and cha llenge of seafaring under sai l. That dream is now realized in the new bark Endeavour, in a fashion one feels Alan wou ld have approved , as recounted on pages 30-33. Perhaps you've noticed that one of our space shuttles is named Endeavour. The name is in the English spelling because it honors James Cook's ship! The name was chosen through a school essay contest in which NMHS worked with NASA. We fought, it might be added, to keep the proper spelling of the name, so that the true intent of the children-who had stretched their minds to embrace Cook 's voyages-would be recognized. PETER STANFORD 4
LETTERS Straightening Out "Bent" Officials Congratulations fo r that intelligent column on the Enola Gay, "The Wider View" in Sea History 73 by Norma Stanford! I thought it a closely reasoned and sober assessment of disgraceful bureaucratic bias. The Smithsonian's rewriting of hi story is right out of Stalin's USSR and George Orwell. I was sorry you didn't call for di smi ssal of those dubiously qualified bureaucrats responsi ble forth is travesty! The American Legion magazine's May issue recounts movingly their own efforts in Washington to show the light to unreceptive "bent" National Air and Space Museum and Smithsonian officials. H. B. HUBBELL Rowayton , Connecticut You hit the nail on the head with your article "The Wider View: Hi story as the Enemy." The points yo u made have been of concern to me for some time, but the media has rarely done justice to the subject. I hope you will amplify that article by writing another, giving essential details of the planned invasion of Japan . CAPT. DOUGLAS PHILLIPS, USN (Ret) Sherwood, Mary land
The End of the Progress I was happy to see the story of the brick battleship Illinois at the Columbian Exposition (SH 73). I' m glad we hereon the Lakes could share some of our rich mari time hi story with your readers. I would like to add a footnote to the story concerning the US whaling bark Progress, which was ex hibited at the Columbian Exposition at the same time. The Progress was one of the oldest working vessels then in American registry , built in 1843 in Rhode Island. After a long career as a whaler out of New Bedford, she was sold to a group of entrepreneurs from the East Coast and Chicago in 1892. The intent was to build a whaling museum in her belly and charge admission to fairgoers for the privilege of touring the timeworn craft. She was sailed in to Chicago via the Welland Canal and duly installed at the main wharf of the "World 's Fair. " The trip was probably an adventure in itself. Lakemen had long ago abandoned the use of squareriggers due to hi ghly variable winds and a lack of maneuverability in close quarters as well as for economic reasons. Unfortunately for the investors, they vastly overestimated the interest of Mid-
westerners in whaling. By the end of the Fair they were more than $20,000 in the red. There was no money to sail the Progress back to the sea and little interest in converting s uch a diminutive craft-however sta unch-to a lake freighter. She was unceremoniou sly dumped into a backwater of the south branch of the Chicago River and allowed to sink. In July of 1895 she was sold for $300 to an individual who stripped her of her outfit to sell or junk and removed her copper hull -sheathing for its considerable scrap value. I have no information on what happened to her from there. At the time it was uneconomical to di smantle wooden ships, and in a less populated area she would have been burned or just abandoned. In Chicago it was common practice to tow old hulks out into Lake Michigan and scuttle them. I suspect thi s is what happened to the bones of the Progress and they still lie somewhere off Chicago with the remains of hundreds of other ships. DAVE SWAYZE Mt. P leasant, Michigan
Kaiulani Lives! In the Winter 1994-95 issue of Sea History, Karl Kortum notes that the Benjamin F. Packard was built in Bath, Maine, in 1883. Although built by Goss, Sawyer and Packard, she was managed and later owned by my great-grandfather's company, A. Sewall & Co. in the 1890s. Much of the fine woodwork from the Packard's captai n 's cabin is beautifully and most appropriately displayed at Mystic Seaport Museum. The Sewal I shipyard on the Kennebec River in Bath built 105 sailing ships, mostly barks and schooners , between 1823 and 1903. We had the di stinction of building the only stee l sailing ships in this country, including Kaiulani, whose story is well known to Sea History readers. My mother was also named after the Hawaiian Crown PrincessKaiulani (called Lani) and I'm proud to say that at this writing there are eight Kaiulanis in our family. Thanks to Sea History, I've read numerous interesting articles on the Kaiulani and even wrote one with my brother Arthur about the Kaiulanis in our family . She is a ship close to our family's heart. H. SEWALL WILLIAMS Small Point, Maine A Falling Barometer I would like to make the Society aware of yet another milestone in the hi story of SEA HISTORY 74, SUMMER 1995