Sea History 098 - Autumn 2001

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The Morgan Forever! I wanted to thank yo u fo r ano ther great publi ca tion (Sea H istory 96). R o be rt Foulke's "Odysseus's Oar" was well w ritten and most appreciated . Believe m e, I once kn ew those feelings well. I also enjoyed reading M r. Leavitt's piece on the Charles W Morgan. T he rwo paragraphs about her mo tio n picture career filmin g " Miss Petti coats" wirh Alice Brady made me wonder: was n' t she also used in rh e m aking of the silent movie "Down to the Sea in Ships" with C lara Bow, "rhe 'Ir' G irl "? Some interestin gscenes were rhe crew harpoonin g porpo ise from rhe chains wirh th e subtitle "F resh meat for rh e boys" and a good shot o f the loo kout in rh e crow's nest with the Diamo nd "M " house flag of the M allory Line flying just overh ead . W ILLlAM H. MACFADEN Leadville, Colo rado

The C harles W . Morgan was, indeed, the ship used in Down to the Sea in Ships, filmed in the early 1920s after the ship 's whaling career had come to an end. -ED. I thoroughly enjoyed the articles in Sea H istory 96 (S pring 2001) on the excellent wo rk being do ne by M ys ti c Seaport, especially rhe in fo rmation on the Charles W Morgan. M y fa ther, Captain C laude S. T ucker Sr., was hired by the Frank C. Taylor M arine C onstruction Company in 194 1 to consult, advise and he! p remove the Mo rgan from her berth in Dartmouth, M assachusetts. M y dad had been o n sailing ships fo r most of his career and ran his own coasting schoo ner, the rwo-masted Coral, fo r 23 yea rs. T he Morgan was moved to Fairhave n and made ready for the row to M ys tic. O n 5 N ovember 194 1, she was rowed o ut of Fairhave n by the US C oast Guard C utter General Greene. Dignitaries were listed as captain , mares, boat steerers, etc., but the only professional mariner aboard was Caprai n T ucker; dock builders from Taylo r Constru ction were aboard as crew. D ad was left to be the caretaker of the Morgan that winter. My brother wo uld dri ve my m o ther, b ro ther, sister and m e down to see him abo ut once a month . Taylor's ga ng and m y fa ther put in a new deck in the spring, and they finally cam e hom e aro und M ay o r June 194 2. SEA HISTORY 98, AUTUMN 2001

I have pho tos of the Morgan dating back to 1914. Some show her in d eplorable condition afte r th e 1938 hurricane and all I can say is: Thank yo u, M ystic Seapo rt, yo u have don e a wo nderful job not only in preserving th e Morgan , b ut preserving our m aritime heritage. DONALD F. TUCK.ER Fairhaven, Massachusetts

Satisfying and Interesting Your Summer iss ue (S H 97), particularly "Winning the Ameri ca's C up in 1851 ," is the most superb co ntributi o n to jo urnalism that I can recall, and I look forward to wh at follows in "To be co ntinued .... "The illustrations are splendid, bringing the histo1y of this class ic event into fo cus. COL.JOHN andJOYCEWILLlAMS Essex J unctio n, Ve rmo nt W hen rhe m ost satisfying and interesting British m aritime publi catio n Seascape ceased , they fo rwa rd ed th e rem ainder of m y subscription to th e Nati o nal M aritime Hisrorical Society. This was my intro ductio n to another satisfyin g and in terestin g publication-Sea H istory. As a retired m erchan t m ariner, with Sea H istory I continue sailing our oceans and kee p up with what is happening in our wo nderful sea wo rld-where there is a real brotherhood of the sea among men who sail ships that is unmatched on land. A LFRED J . CUNNINGHAM C iudad C olon, C osta Rica

Solid, Tangible Links In res ponse to Peter Stanford's inquiry about public interes t in naval craft, let m e report an encouraging phenomeno n we have encountered at the Vancouver M ari time M useum. While we do no t have a naval ship, we do preserve and display the Royal Canadian Mo unted Police schoo ner St. Roch, the second ship ever to nav igate the fa bled No rthwes t Passage-w hile o n a secret Wo rld War II missio n! We find interest is growing, particularly in the wa rtime history. I can only amibure this to a shift in the audi ence-while we tho ught that rhe passing of rhe older veterans wo uld signal a diminishing interes t, we' re findin g that that genera tion has passed on the excitement and rhe sense of achievem ent and sacrifice that the war years witnessed to their children and grandchildren . My guess is that the war years and the sto ries are almost legendary to th e yo un ge r ge neratio ns, and the ships are so lid, tangible links to th at pas t that th ey can relate to. Fo r those of us w ho thought th at interest in W o rld Wa r II wo uld wane, I can o nly say we sho uld have watched what's happened w ith the C ivil Wa r- lo ng after the las t ve teran has gone, and their child re n, too, rhe interes t in that confli ct li ves o n in books, fi lms, reenactments, museums, and in rhe recent initiatives to raise and display USS Monitor and CSS H unley. ]AMES D ELGADO, Executive Director Va ncouve r M aritime Museum Vancouve r, Briti sh C olumbi a

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafaring heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea Histo ry, from the ancient mariners of Greece to Portuguese navigators opening up the ocean world to the heroi c efforts of seamen in this century's conflicts. Each issue brings new insights and new discoveries . If you love the sea, rivers, lakes,

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Sea History 098 - Autumn 2001 by National Maritime Historical Society & Sea History Magazine - Issuu