LETTERS
DECK LOG "Each of us is looking for a ship." So said Father Peter Larom, of the Seamen's Church Institute of New York & New Jersey , in the benediction he offered at the NMHS Annual Awards Dinner this past November. Humankind finds something extraordinary in ships, and apparently always has, from the time of Solomon who found wonder in "the way of a ship in the sea," to the latest city child who also comes to wonder at the ships of an earlier day on the waterfront in seaport cities like New York and San Francisco. Since ships carry a message of such meaning to people of every creed and background-even people who have never been on a ship nor seen any great body of water-why is our historic ship establi shment in trouble, as it is today, with an apparently uncertain and threatened future? The answer, I believe, is sim ple: we have not learned to give the ships in our keeping a voice, a way to convey to all comers the meanings that people almost instinctively see in them . In this issue, we report the retirement of our founder Karl Kortum of San Francisco, a person uniquely able to see the truth in ships and articu late that truth vividly and with unmistakable authenticity for all sorts and conditions of people. Joe Ditler ' s report on Kortum's retirement party aboard the Balclutha last fall (see page 6) tells us something of Kortum's unique contribution to our fie ld, a contribution that has been neglected to the pub Iic' s loss, and to the peril ofourundertakings in historic ships.
* * * * *
"See you in Liverpool ," sailormen used to say on parting- knowing that their calling would bring them back together in one or another of the great seaport cities that ships sai led to. In the world of maritime education, the same thing keeps happening. So it's no surprise, in an issue of Sea History largely devoted to tugboats , to find Kortum and his friend Scott Newhall embarked on perhaps the greatesttugboat voyage of history, which was completed just a quarter-century ago when they steamed into San Francisco Bay in the paddle tug Eppleton Hall. For the oeginnings of that ep ic voyage, see pages 46-47 of this issue. PETER STANFORD
An Inspiring Maritime Story By honoring Warren Marr, II, the National Mari time Historical Society brings honor on itself. I am proud that an organization that is part of the sailing universe chose to honor a man who represents-and helps keep alive-one of the most inspiring stories of American maritime history. BILL SCHANEN Ed itor & Publisher Sailing
Surgery Am idst German Shells read your interesting article about Admiral Patterson in SH73 . I was¡ a member of the 35 th Evacuation Hospi tal and we crossed the Channel from Southampton and landed on D+ 17 at Normandy. Ourfirst"set-up" was at St.Sauveur-le-Vicomte where we received our first cas ualties. It was interesting to be performing surgery and first aid while German shells were dropping in the field just outsi de the operating tent. Your article brought back a lot of memories. PEYTON ATTERBERY Lake Forest, Illinoi s
When a Bark Isn' t a Bark I always look forward to receiving my next iss ue of Sea History and I particularly enjoyed "Captain Cook 's Endeavour" in yo ur Summer 1995 iss ue. However, the artic le would have been more complete if it included an explanation of why the Endeavour was designated a "bark. " A sailing vessel with three masts and square sail s on each mast is designated a "ship" and a " bark" is fore-and-aft rigged (only) on the mizzen and squarerigged on the other masts. Yet, the Endeavour, with sq uare sails on each mast, is designated a " bark. " This apparent anomaly is well explained in Captain fames Cook by Alan Villiers. To be designated a "ship ," a sai ling vessel must have three (or more) masts and each mast must consist of three sections (a lower mast, a topmast and a topgallant mas t) and include a sq uare sai1on each mast section . The Endeavour's mi zzen consisted of only two sections and therefore the Endeavour could not be designated a ship; it was also not a true bark as it was equipped with a sq uare sai l on the mizzen in addition to a fore-a nd-aft sail. The term "bark" was also a general
des ignation for small ships (Vi lliers explains) , thus, the bark Endeavour. LEO BLOCK San Clemente, California
Enjoy It in Health Today I have received notification fro m you of a year's membership in the National Maritime Historical Society given us by a mem ber of NMHS. Thank you. Our patrons do indeed enjoy reading Sea History. ANN MARTIN STREIT, Director Gloversville Free Library Gloversville, New York
Drake's "Southernmost Island" The Times of London's article about Drake di scovering Cape Horn brings to mind , out of the distant past, a research paper about an island just to the southwest of Cape Horn that Drake is said to have used fo r refuge and watering. It is gone now , and , even with all the data available to us, nothing of the site can be found above water. But below the surface lies Burnham 's Bank. Carefu l soundings give it the same contour as the island Drake used. Did I dream all this? How ARD H. EDDY Dunedin , Florida Captain Felix Riesenberg' s fine book Cape Horn asserts that the "southernmost island" Drake landed on in his circumnavigation of 1577- 1580 had subsided into the underwater shoal of Burnham' s Bank, west of Cape Horn. Later research by ourselves and Captain Ray Aker of the Drake Navigators Guild shows definitively that the island Drake landed on was Cape Horn itself-ED.
Summers of Barefoot Indolence What a ru sh of nostalgia and sensory overload to see the profile of MN Commander in the Autumn Sea History! As a yo ung lad during the late 1930s and early 1940s I had the great pleasure of daily exposure to Commander and her sister ships plying the waters of the Rockaway Inlet as she made the trip from her home slip in the shadows of Lundy 's Restaurant in Sheepshead Bay in Brookl yn to the pier at Breezy Point with Kennedy's Restaurant and thence to the pier at Rockaway Point (not Far Rockaway) and the Colony Inn . Commander was by far the inost impress ive of her fleet which inc luded, as my memory recall s, the Neponset, the Frederick Lundy and Columbia.
Jeanie Kortum
2
SEA HISTORY 76, WINTER 1995-96