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W. WIEGAND & CO. BOX 563, GLASTONBURY, CT 06033
Th is is a fitting memorial to the seafarers, naval and merchant, and to the airmen who took part. Those still around today will, like your reviewer, be fascinated by a wider picture of events than was available at the time.
BRIAN H. WAJNWRIGHT
Available Once Again!
It Didn't Happen On My Watch By George Murphy, retired United States Lines Chief Engineer and Port Engineer. 50% autobiographical; 50% sea stories; I 00% entertaining ! \.Vritten from the unique. down under, perspecti ve of the eng ine room. Spans over 40 years United States Lines history from WWII and its glory years to its slow decent into bankruptcy. Includes many fascinating, heroic and humorous stories and photos. Hard cover. 360pp, photos $21. 95 incl : s/h. NJ res. add $1.20 For a signed copy, order directly fro m the author by sending check or money order to:
George Murphy 408 Martin Place New Milford, NJ 07646
Phone: 20 1-836-8908 FAX 20 1-836-4 194
DIFFERENT BATTLES The Search for a World War II Hero by Rody Johnson During the early days of WWII, German U-boats crept along the U.S. East Coast off of Vero Beach. Rody Johnson , then a child, heard the whispers about ships blowing up off the Florida coast, and of Nazi submarines.
A touching and moving tribute f rom a son to his f ather ... a stunning and authentic narrative of the war. Robert A. Lynn , reviewer, Star and Stripes
$19.95 soft cover Signed Copies Available
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Chalfont St. Peter, England Flying Cloud: The True Story of America's Most Famous Clipper Ship and the Woman who Guided Her, by David W. Shaw (William Morrow, New York NY, 2000 , 304pp, appen, gloss, biblio, ISBN 0-688-16793-4; $25hc) On 31 August 1851, Flying Cloud dropped her hook in San Francisco after a passage from New York Cityof89 days, 2 1 hours, surpassing the previous record by nearly seven days. Driven by the hardnosed Captain Perkins Creesy and navigated by his wife, Eleanor, in a relationship so egalitarian that it would seem an anachronism if it were not true, Flying Cloud's voyage comprised more than just speed. It entailed sabotage, several dismastings, the dismissal of a bitter first mate, and romance that resulted in two marriages aboard ship once she reached San Francisco. In short, the maiden voyage of Flying Cloud is the stuff of romance and adventure novels, all rolled into one. This drama is captured in David W. Shaw's new book Flying Cloud. It is a meticulous study, a nearly day-by-day account of the voyage, but it is never dull. Shaw does a fine job of recreating the tension of the passage, the danger presented by wind and weather, the difficulty of keeping the rig up on the over-sparred ship and maintaining order in a fo recastle full of men who wanted only to get to San Francisco and abandon ship for the gold mines. Despite the fact that the reader knows from the outset that Flying Cloud broke the New York to San Francisco record, one finds oneself cheering each good day's run and moaning with frustration at each dismasting, each calm, each run-in with the crew To achieve this effect, Shaw used many of the novelist's tools, including dialogue, which might rankle the purist. Shaw claims, in the Author's Note, that "lines reflect what wou ld naturally be said in a given circumstance or are based on information contained in primary sources." To be sure,
there is never any dialogue that seems an unreasonable stretch of the imagination. Still, witho ut access to Shaw's so urces, the reader is left to wonder what liberties the author has taken . Despite that minor flaw, David W. Shaw h as done a marvelous job of recreating this famous voyage, providing an insightful look into the extraordinary and short- lived age of the clipper ship. ] AMES L. NELSON Harpswell, Maine Legacy: Shipbuilders, Fishermen and the Age of the Gloucester Schooners (Yesterday's News, 20 King Street, Rockport MA 01966-1444, 2000, video tape, 58 min; $20) This excellent video traces the history of the Gloucester fishery from the port's origin as an English fishing colony in 1623 . The story is well illustrated with early engravings, pain tings, excellent photographs , and film footage. T he shipbuilding center of Essex, Massachusetts, a nearby town which once was home to 16 shipyards, is well covered as well, with photographs and film of the shipbuilding process explained clearly for the lay person. Dana A. Story, Essex author and historian and son of Arthur Dana Story who opened his famed shipyard in 1880, speaks with firsthand fam iliarity of the workings of a shipyard, the skilled people who built the ships, and of life in the tight-knit comm uni ty of Essex. Joe Garland, author and Gloucester historian, brings the life of fishermen past and present into vivid focus, noting that the basic risk and grinding work are little changed over the centuries. "Fishermen," he adds, "are a very individualistic lot. " Only seven of the fishing vessels that carried out this work survive today. T he Highlander Sea of 1920 a nd the Roseway of 1925 are in private hands. T he Ernestina, former Effie M. Morrissey of 1894, now sails ourofNew Bedford doing sail training and education, and the Adventure of 1926 is being restored in G lo ucester. The rest are in museums: the Lettie G. Howard of 1893 at South Street Seaport in New York, the L.A. Dunton of 1921 at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut; and the Evelina Goulart of 1927 at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Massachusetts. They are the sole survivo rs of the dashing Gloucestermen, renowned for their grace and speed, and for the skill
SEA HISTORY 95, WINTER 2000-01