Sea History 076 - Winter 1995-1996

Page 44

CLASSIFIED ADS Ship Paintings Restored . Museum quality restoration of old paintings. Damaged old ship paintings purchased. Peter Williams, 30 Ipswich St., Boston MA 02215. By appointment: 617-536-4092 Compass a nd Binnacle restoration, repairs and adjusting. J. K. & E. Enterprises, Inc. , 7075 121 Way North, Seminole FL 34642. 8 13-398-5 132. Nautical Publications: (U.S. and British, in print) Nautical Dictionaries. Ship Photographs. Maritime History. Maritime Art. Lighthouses. Sailing Ships. Shipping Companies History. Salvage & Wrecks. Send $2.00 for complete li stin g to; Mariner' s International, 2720 Maplecrest Way, Sevierville, TN 37876 USA Phone/Fax 423- 429-1792. Limited Edition Print. By Mort Kunstler, Constitution vs. Guerriere, August 19, 1812, "Shall I Board Her, Sir?" $55. Inquiries: CSC Foundation, PO Box 122, Quantico VA 22 134. (703) 640-6835 Ocean Liner items: postcards, menus, magazine ads, other? Buy, sell or trade. Rhinehart, I 041 Tuscany Place, Winter Park FL 32789. Master Padlocks. Brass/steel. Any lock. Any key. Any quantity. Free info. Quick ship. Visa/MC. Lockmasters. 1-800-46 10620. Fax 904-235-7658 Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria, hand-crafted, signed & numbered models, size 5" x 7" price $ 15 + $2 shipping. Money-back guarantee. Maritime Museum, 1214 Church St., Galveston TX 77550. Also avai lab le tall ships Elissa & Santa Maria. 409-762-5621. Historical oil paintings, aircraft, marine, WWII. Free brochure. Don O ' Brien, ISMP, PO Box 802, S. Dennis MA 02660 USA . Indian Ocean Books, maps and prints. Used and anti quari an materials. Free catalogue. Larry W. Bowman, 458 Middle Tpke., Storrs CT 06268. Tel: 860-486-3355; fax: 860-4863347; E-mail: bowman@ uconnvm. uconn.edu

To place your classified ad at $1.60/word, phone Carmen at 914-737-7878. Or mail your message and payment to Sea History, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566.

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ten pound island book company 76 1.angsford Street. , Gloucester, MA 01930 (508) 283-5299

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REVIEWS compared to white oak at47 pounds and locust at 53 pounds. The wood is seldom found in straight lengths but the great curved pieces are the best native timber for the knees and frames of ships. The job of procuring this valuable material was known as " live oaking" and the men following this endeavor were dubbed " live oakers." Ms. Wood writes in her preface that she wanted to "s imply show , for those who chance to wonder, how our most valuable trees were transformed into ships." She accompli shed this in a pleasant style carefully documented with well-chosen photographs, drawings by Walter E. Channing and other historic illustrations. Live Oaking is obviously the result of many years of work and i ~ a rare look into a forgotten industry that thrived for more than a century. The author tells how thousands of New England men journeyed to the southern wilderness to fell the mighty oaks and hauled the heavy timbers to coastal landings for shipment to the northern shipyards. Every aspect of the process including the soc ial, political, and economic history of the business from the lives of the cutting crews to the shipbuilding is related and documented in a most agreeable style. "Live oaking" was exhaustive work but an important part in building the great wooden warships and merchant vessels of a bygone era. From beginning to end, the scholarly yet sensitive book is a delight to read. The author deserves high praise indeed. MELBOURNE SMITH

Annapolis, Maryland A Merchant's Tale: The Life and Adventures of a Nineteenth Century Scottish Trader, edited by Jocelyn Hemming and Nancy Thurley (Merlin Books Ltd., Braunton England, 1994, l 78pp, gloss, ISBN 0-86303-693-7; ÂŁ14.95hc) Available from Robert M. Herst Associates, Books from Britain, PO Box 22045, Denver CO 80224. James Johnston Macintyre and his family typified his time. After the failure of the '45 Jacobite uprising, hi s grandfather, driven from his native glen, settled in Leith and managed a glass factory. His son was a trader who died financially ruined by a fraudu lent banker. The yo ung James, born in 1794, had to sec ure for himself an education and contribute to the care of his family, something he did throughout his life. Such dispossessed Scots were to provide the

brains and sinews of the Industrial Revolution, as inventors, engineers, bankers and merchants. It was the age of steam and soon there would not be a ship on the high seas without a Kipling's McAndrew in the engine room: From coupler-flange to spindle-guide I see Thy hand, 0 God Predestination in the stride o ' yon connectin '-rod. The turning point in Macintyre's life was in 1815 when he took a trip down the Clyde in the Comet, the first steam vessel to be launched on that side of the Atlantic. He fell in love with steam, resolving to be the first man to circumnavigate the globe by steamship. He would have made it if the vessel's boilers had not burst after leaving Sydney for Valparai so; but that lay far into the future. By 1818 we find him crossing the Atlantic to work in a counting house in Buenos Aires. Off Cape Verde he had his first encounter with pirates. In South America he was caught up in the struggles for independence of the fonner Spanish colonies. In 1822, Macintyre took passage in the Gratitude , a leaky brig bound forthe Mersey with a n Aberdonian crew, "s pecimens of the dirty and slovenly habits of the Scottish vessel of the olden times." By this time, the reader is very much aware that the young author of the journals is a man of acute observation, a sharp wit and an even sharper pen. There is about him a steadfast self-confidence bringing him through unscathed in spite of bugs, bombardments, fever, freebooters , cavalry charges, licentious soldiery, appalling conditions at sea, ill-found vessels, near death by drowning in Sydney Harbour, icebergs, more pirates, bandits in Mexico, and the danger of ferryboats on the Great Lakes having their boilers blow up. In 1825, Macintyre left Mexico for New York aboard an American schooner, on which voyage he finds the Gulf Stream "a most beneficial ordination of God." Thi s was before he narrowly missed shipwreck off Cape Hatteras. He loved the United States, particularly the American packets that plied between New York and Liverpool, " then the best passenger ships in the world." An accomplished navigator, he kept his own logs as well as a sharp eye on a ship, its crew, hi s possessions and his cargo as to ancd fro he went, trusting in a frequently inwoked Divine Providence-to the SEA\ HISTORY 76, WINTER 1995-96

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Sea History 076 - Winter 1995-1996 by National Maritime Historical Society & Sea History Magazine - Issuu