before being sentenced. Queried on this point, the author tells us that she had heard the story from a reliable source, but had been unable to verify it. "It could have been true," she told us. But the incident, in fact, was not in the bounds of possibility. Some animus seems to have given the story credence in the author's mind; her description of the wreck of the Association and the fleet the flagship led to destruction on the rocks , with appalling loss of life, is rife with condemnatory remarks about Shovel I. But.Shovel! was a victim of the limited accuracy of navigation in his day and the vagaries of a north-setting current which runs through the Scillies, giving navigators trouble today as they pass by this notorious graveyard of ships. Fortunately the author 's animus does not appear to have affected the rest of the book, where, as I've noted, she is quite fair to the brilliant but vindictive Maskelyne. Her feeling for John Harrison and his son William is sound, affectionate and balanced, never degenerating into blind partisanship. One feels one truly gets to know this man whose delicacy and sureness of touch in conceiving and building clocks was not matched by any corresponding sensitivity in dealing with conservative naval officialdom, or indeed in dealing with the English language, which he mangled atrociously. Ms. Sobel made a fortunate decision in resolving to go to England to get to know Harrison 's surviving clocks firsthand. There she shared with her two young children the wonder of these machines, which were indeed the wonder of their age. She also met a retired naval officer who had devoted twelve years of his life to restoring four of Harrison ' s clocks to working order, and through him she got a special feeling for Harrison ' s achievement. She sums up that achievement memorably: With his marine clocks, John Harrison tested the waters of space-time. He succeeded, against all odds, in using the fourth- temporal--dimension to link points on the three-dimensional globe. He wrested the world ' s whereabouts from the stars, and locked the secret in a pocket watch. PETER STANFORD
Tall Ships and the Cutty Sark Races, by Paul Bishop (Aidan Ellis, Henleyon-Thames, Oxon, UK, 1994, 160pp, illus , biblio, index , ISBN 0-85628-2219; ÂŁ25hc + ÂŁ4s&h) SEA HISTORY 77, SPRING 1996
The Sail Training Association (ST A) and Cutty Sark Scots Whiskey have been organizing and sponsoring a s.eries of races for tall ships since 1956. The marriage of ST A and Cutty Sark has become almost synonymous with tall ships, and this tidy book chronicles the organizational development and the history of the Cutty Sark Tall Ships races. Amply illustrated with graphic silhouettes and a full-color photograph of each of 58 tall ships, Paul Bishop ' s book provides a description of the fleet, along with a discussion of the races, their "ratings," and an appendix which lists all the class winners for the 84 different race-legs held from 1956 to 1993. Casually put together to emphasize the "endangered" status of sailing ships as working vessels , the ST A events began with seven vessels racing from Torbay to Lisbon in 1956. Forty years later, three of the original seven are still sailing and the fleet has multiplied with the creation of over 20 Class A square riggers in the last decade. As Bishop elucidates, the races are handicapped with an elusive and secret "Rule of Ratings" which purports to make older and newer vessels competitive. Much is made of the secrecy in the ratings, though all the participants know that the age and hull material of the ship give advantages to older and wooden vessels. These "ratings," thus, account for more of the repetitive "winners" than actual sailing experience, skill and performance on the sailing courses. Janka Bielak ' s photographs are excellent and reflect her vantage point from a committee boat at the start of many of the, races. The individual silhouettes are interesting, but do not reflec t realistic proportions of the vessels to one another. It is hard to visualize the proportional range of Sedov at 386 ' to the smaller Class A-II Asgard 11 at I 0 I '. Editorially, the selection of these 58 vessels gives a sampling of the major participants in the events, though one cannot understand the exclusion of Canadian vessels, or the Mexican bark Cuauhtemoc. The United States is represented by the Eagle and the Pride of Baltimore II, which have both participated in J;:uropean events. The inclusion of Blue Clipper and Tunas Samudera over other more popular vessels appears to be idiosyncratic rather than informative, however.
It Didn't Happen On My Watch by George Murphy, retired United States Lines Chi e f Eng in ee r and Port E ng in ee r. 50 % auto biog raphical; 50 % sea sto ri es; 100% enlerlaining. Written from th e unique down under perspective of the eng ine room. Spans over 40 years United States L ines history from WWII and its glory yea rs to its slow decent into bankruptcy. Includes many fascin ating, heroic and humorou s sea stori es and photos. " An y perso n who served in th e merchant marine o r mi li tary wil l re late to 11 Didn 't Happen On My Watch . Thi s book tells it like it is! Sometimes serious, sometim es sad, but mostl y humorous. Recommended reading for all vetera ns." George Searle, National President Merchant Mari ne Veterans Hard cover, 360pp, photos $22.95 incl: s/h, NC res. add $ l.20 ORD ER VISA/ MC:
1-800-941-0020
Or send check/mo to :
Triangle Publishing, PO Box 1223, Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526.
Cail Today'
~
800-941-0020
Free Quote!
TRIANGLE PUBLI S HING
~
PO Box 1223, Fuqu ay-Va rin a, NC 27526
NYS Canals & Lie:bthouses library Research ~sociates Inc. Dunderberg Road, RD#6-Box 41
Monroe, NY 10950 FREE Catalog
(914)783-1144
Mail Ordu .. Jobb.:n .. .Boolc.rwru
Sleek yachts. Towering rigs. The A-Cup races from the early l900's impressed with the beauty of the )-Yachts, the sheer size of hulls, sails, crew. Our completely built model of Cup Racer 'Columbia' l90L, is remin iscent of early large Pond Sail Models. Built wood planks on frame, stained, lacquered. Handsewn cotton sails, brass fi ttings, wood m and spars. Call fo r brochu re with actual size photograph of this spectacular 43" long home decor. 43" J-Yacht Model - $199.95 (+ 12.95 S&H ) We Ship in 24
hour~
THAD KOZA
Wickford, Rhode Island
THOUGHTFUL
G11
TS NEED j'A' STORY
43