INVENI PORTAM BASIL F. HARRISON (1925-1998)
Basil Harrison, leader of the proj ect to build and sail a working replica of the Hudso n River sloop Experiment (see pages 28-32), grew up in Rochester, N ew York, where he was drawn to the wider world of seafa ring opened by the waterborne traffics along the E rie Canal. Enlisting in the Navy in World War II, Basil served in the Pacific aboard the "jeep" carrier Casablanca. H e came back to earn a degree in business administration at the University of Rochester. Thus equipped, he went to work for the then-fledgling Xerox company. As promotion directo r, he helped introduce the strange new process of xe rography. H e went on to becom e vice pres ident and advertising director for Gro li er publishing house. In 1979, he set up shop as H & H Associates, working from his home in Westchester County, New York. On one ofhis frequent trips to N ew York City, hespotred the NMHS pin in my lapel and commented on its seamanlike design. From then on, he and his spirited wife Phyllis becam e co-co nspirators in the plans of the Society, including the laun ch , just rwo years ago, of the proj ect to build the Experiment. To this Basil brought all the fire and precision that sparked his career in promoting sophisticated products, all the feeling for seafaring that he had shown in our 1991 campaign to save the Regina Maris (aboard which his son Alex had served), and all the urgency of his constant search for ways to make NMHS a more active force in educational sea experience. Basil's fami ly-Phyllis and hi s so ns Scott and Alex-are carrying on his work. The rewarding feeli ng Basil brought to everyone he involved in the Experiment was reflected in so mething the finan cier and sailor Alex Zagoreos said o n learning of Basil's death in Sep tember: "I feel I've lost a fri end I've only just met. " But we have not lost the message of the Hudson River sloop Experiment and of the gall ant so ul who championed her, even as a fatal illness ove rtook him. T hat we can never lose or forget. - PETER STANFORD
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SAMUEL R. THOMPSON (1917-1998)
Samuel R. Thompson, a trustee ofNMHS from 1990 to 1993, graduated from Florida A & M University in 1940 and joined the army soon after, attending the Officer Training schoo l at Fort Benning before being sent to Italy. Sam, with his background as journalist for the National Maritime U nion and Masters, Mates & Pilots, did much to bring NMHS into a more active ro le in the concerns of the US merchant marine of today and tomorrow, and with his wife Mary Lou, who survives him , did wo nders to light the way in the present active role our Society plays in maritime historical education . PS
RICHARD W. SCHEUING (1923-1998) Richard Scheuing, w ho served NMHS as trustee and vice chairman from 1994 to 1997, was second mate on the Liberty ship William N Pendleton at Normandy on 0-Day and served as pres ident of th e E mpire Region of the Navy League of the US. Under his guidance, NMHS estab lished a growing endo wment fund , and he initiated our scholarship memberships - JUSTINE AHLSTROM for cadets in the m aritime academies.
Historic, antique U.S. Coast Survey maps , from the 1800s , Original lithog raph s, mo st Am eri ca n seaports and shores. Reprints, too . Unique framed , great gifts. Catalog, $ 1.00 . Spec ify area.
"The Chronometer Specialists" Bought Sold
CAPT. GEORGE SALVESEN (1907-1998)
I had always admired Captain George Salvese n. H e was among the first to take Allied ships to Murm ansk USS R during W\VII . As skipper of the SS Troubado r, he camouflaged his ship with white paint and bed linens to hide from Nazi bombers and fo ught his way into Archa ngel as one of 11 surviving ships of the infamous PQ-1 7 in Jul y 1942. It would be more than 50 years before I had the pl easure of meeting him, as a fellow survivor of PQ- 17, at a gathering of Murmansk Run veterans at th e National Maritime Historical Society. I found him to be a still vigorous, witty, lucid son of Norway-who was disappointed that stronger potabl es were not being offered! George survived 9 1 years with a sense of hum or, an attentive daughter, a "girlfriend, " and his afternoon vodka martinis. The last of a gall ant breed of Vikings, a gen uine deepwater shipmas ter. - ] ACK M CCUSKER
SEA HISTORY 87, WINTER 1998- 99
Antique Modern Marine Chronometers
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