LETTERS do ubt hav ing met Captain Patrickson. It wo ul d be interesting to know more about thi s Yankee shipmaster; his name appears in later years as visiting the colony, and was a pparently well- known in Eastern seas. T he Nati onal Arc hi ves also had a cargo manifest fo r thi s voyage, a most unexpected fi nd. Os BRETT Lev ittown, New York
Eagle and "The Big U" Cross Paths in Mid-Ocean A recent letter writer spoke of a des ire to preserve the great liner SS Un ited States (SH84 ). T his rekind led a memo ry of the late 1950s when I was a Coast G uard Academy cadet trave rsing the North Atlantic in the sa il tra ining bark Eagle. I was on watch at the surface search radar, charged with locat ing other shi ps ("targets") and plotti ng their course, speed and closest point of approac h (CPA). A target appea red on rada r and was dul y reported. After several minu tes, enough data was obtained to com pute its course and speed . I reported to my commi ss ioned officer superi or a speed of 30+ knots. Naturall y, he ass umed that I had "screwed up again" and angril y ordered me to con tinue to plot and redo the ca lcul ation. A few min utes later, I stuck to my story and also announced that the CPA was going to be ve ry close to our shi p. A lthough I was still suspected of being incompetent, vind ication came in a short time when the SS United States appeared on the horizon. S he had a ltered course sli ghtly to g ive her passengers a good look at our sq uare rigger and finall y passed within a couple of miles. W hat a sight! That huge vesse l passing us li ke we were going astern fi ll ed us w ith total awe. May her memo ry indeed be preserved! CARL H. BURKHART, CDR, USCG (RET) G reenvi lle, South Caroli na
scended the art of wri ting, painting and seamanshi p, and is onto something fa r more compelling and important. So, when can I see a pi cture of the crocodile? I have a spec ial interest in this species as I am now doing research o n on e Co unt Agos to n Haraszth y. Among hi s other achievements, he is credited with hav ing made a significant contribution to Califo rnia's wine industry and, more pertinent to thi s d iscussion, was reported to have been eaten by a crocodile du ring a visit to N icaragua. I reali ze th is has little to do with the history of the sea, aside fro m the fac t that the Count 's ultimate voyage to hi s fate was most likely by ship. T RENT AN DERSON
Novato, Cali fo rni a Bill Gilkerson' s book, Ultim ate Voyage: A Book of Five Mariners, is reviewed on page 60. E RR ATA
NMHS member A. L. Van Name, Jr. , of Boones M ill , Vi rg ini a, recogni zed his
own wo rk in the Chesapeake Bay Mari time M useum photograph of the schooner Betty I. Conway on page 3 of SH84. He and L. D . Perry took many such images of the last sa iling schooners in the 1920s, many of which are now held in museum collecti ons. Thank you so much for including yo ur memo irofSchu y lerM. Meyer, Jr. in Sea History 84. I must tell you , however, that Schu yler never rowed on the varsity crew; he wo rked hard on the j .v. crew! Also, the first Nawat was a tiny net tenderthat, fo rtunately, never met a mine ! It was a sister minesweeper of Schu yler's YMS-20 that fo und that first New York C ity-area mine. B ARBA RA
S.
M EYER
Dover Plains, New York
In "E ditor's Booklocker," on page 63 of Sea Hi story 84, we incorrectl y referred to Amsterdam, rather than Antwerp , as the port opened by wiping o ut G erman install ati ons in W alcheren in WWII. 1, Seamen on deck are pursued by a boarding sea in this sketch by Gordon Grant,fi¡om th e collection of" Jakob lsbrandtsen. Two more Grant sketches can be found on pages 62-3, illustrating John Nicol' saccount oflif"e be/owdeck during the Ballle of the Nile.
Eaten by A Crocodile I was most de lighted to fi nd the interview with W illi am Gi lke rson in the Spring I 998 issue ("Have You Ever Tried to Draw a Crocodile?"). Stuart Frank is to be congratul ated for a job well done, and kudos to Sea History fo r continu ing to present qua li ty articles coveri ng maritime hi story and art. Further, I was impressed by the stri king reprod uctions of Mr. G il kerso n 's work. It is evident that he has tran4
SEA HISTORY 85, SUMMER 1998