SCHUYLER M. MEYER, JR. 1918-1997
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"Well, let 's do it!" Thi s favor ite say ing of Schu yler ' s is an Schu yler had served since 1966 as president of the Edwin affirmation of hi s positive outl ook on life and his strong Goul d Foundati on fo r Chil dren when he joined NMHS in the des ire to be up and do ing to "change the world," to use earl y 1980s. He was interested in our work w ith hi stori c ships another of hi s fa vori te express ions. He was e ver a kni ght and stood in awe of the great shi ps in South Street. He was errant embarked on an unending quest. The quest was to he lp interested in o ur efforts to in vo lve yo ung peopl e in these d isadvantaged young people ac hieve the ir goals, to ass ure ships and soon fo und him self ed ucati on chairm an of NMHS. full opportunity to American Ind ians and des ti tute hill fo lk in After five years in that pos iti on, he became chairman of the Appalachia, and to invite people of all so rts and conditions to Soc iety to see us thro ugh diffic ul t times fo ll ow ing the death share his enthusiasms fo r an enlig htened politics, the natural of our cha irman Jim McA lli ster. Schu yler served as chairman environment, and the canals and waterways of America- fro m 1990 to 1992. He went on to rev ive the State Counci l on parti cularly New York's Champl ain and Erie Canals, Cana- Waterways (SCOW), which he had fo unded with us a few da's Rideau Canal, and the fasci nati ng backwaters of New years before, and the George Bird Grinnell American Indian York Harbor. He was extrao rd inarC hildren 's F un d, whi c h he had ily well-read and liked to send hi s fo unded in 1989 in fu lfi llment of a fri ends passages from books he knew long-cheri shed dream. they' d never otherwi se read. Few Wi thin a few months of hi s retirethings deli ghted him more than a ment as chairm an, Schu yler jo ined wide-rang ing discuss ion of some reus w ith Wa lter Cro nkite, Jako b cent literary or histori cal discovery lsbrand tse n and other stalwarts to he' d made, on which he never inlaunch the NMHS Mari time Ed ucasisted on agreement with hi s viewstion Initi ati ve, an effort born of hi s the shared experience was what the dedication to opening the seafaring di scovery was ail about. heritage to young Americans. He was generous in hi s praise of our wo rk on He was passionately commi tted thi s, unde r Alan Choate's leaderto education and never more at home than when d iscussing some new conship, largely on the lines he and Alan cept or program in learning, be it the had worked out when Alan served 700-mile classroom of the Eri e Caunder Schu yler as plans chairm an. nal, where for some years he personIn 1995 there was a grand reuni on of interests, when Schu yler carried all y conducted environmental, hi sSchuyler aboard Nawat III, 21 July 1990, torical and cultural programs on the the NMHS banner across the waterdoing what he loved, exploring rhe warerdecks of the New York State Cana l ways of the eastern states and Canada, ways of America. Photo , Peter Stanford. Corporation tug Urger (whose exfro m Kentucky to Montreal, ending pl oits will be found in a spec ial booklet he published on the the voyage as the star of our Celebrate the Waterways Urger and her work, avail able o n req uest from NMHS). recepti on in Peekskill , where State Parks Commi ss ioner Naval service in World War II made a profound impres- Bernadette Castro presented Schu yler w ith our Di stingu ished sion on Schu yler, prov iding him with a rich fund of anec- Service A ward fo r this wonderful voyage. dotes, refl ecting hi s deep interest in the peopl e he encoun And what memories he gave us, pres id ing at our Ann ua l tered. As captain of the nava l tu g Nawa t , working in New Dinne rs, where hi s playful ribbing and comi c banter bro ught York Harbor, he greatly admired A lex T rooni n, veteran of the ho wls of deli ght from members and guests! The thing that was wonderful in Schu yler's voyag ing was Tsarist navy of Imperial Russ ia and former skipper of the famous wishbone ketch Vamarie-a tiger of a man who always the peopl e. The lockmasters who greeted him by would jump on top of the boom that supported the wartime net name on the Erie Canal d id so because he knew them by name barring the harbor entrance and challenge Schu yler to bring and often their families, too. Sometimes people in tro uble hi s tug up to the boom gently eno ugh not to knock him off into wo uld be helped to pay a hospita l bill or some other thing the icy water. This kind of lesson had never been taug ht at needed to get on with the ir li ves or keep the ir fa mil ies Yale, where Schu yler had rowed in the vars ity eight. But he together. Thi s, however, was not the source of the real joy learned in the school of hard knocks and never had to fi nd out with which people greeted him , because no one knew abo ut what wo ul d have befallen him if he had fl ubbed the approach these charitable acts except the rec ipients-some of whom spoke to me abo ut his acts of kindness. and knocked the giant Ru ss ian overboard.* No, the source of peopl e ' s joy in Schu yler' s presence was Promoted to a much larger seagoing tug, he learned about manag ing people as well as shiphandling, resolving di sputes simpl y hi s embracing interest in people, their li ves and conand e ncouraging perso nal progress in the lo ng, slow, hot cerns. Staff members at the New York Yacht Clu b, where j ourney south through the Caribbean and the Panama Canal Schu yler and I often met, came spontaneously up to condo le then on across the seemingly end less Pac ific. T alki ng to me w ith me on hi s death last fa ll. Hi s whole fa mily was with him of thi s adventure 45 years later, he eas ily recalled the names at the end-his wife Barbara and their children Schu yler Ill, of the ship 's people and the ir strengths and weaknesses , Moll y, Aileen, Scott and Allen. At his memori al service in December they were jo ined by people as varied as Norbert which I am qui te sure he j udged ri ghtl y. Hill of the Ameri can Indi an Sc ience and Engineering Soc iety *The Nawat became the di scoverer of the German minefield laid off in Co lorado, the educator Cynthi a Parsons of Vermont and the New York, an incident fo rtunately comic rather than tragic in its bag piper Christopher Layer of the Urger crew-all Schu yler's people, come to celebrate the li fe of the ir great fr iend. PS outco me. See SH44, pp. 50-56. SEA HISTORY 84, SPRIN G 1998
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