SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS SPUN YARN The San Francisco Maritime Park plans to build the first Chinese shrimp junk constructed locally in more than a century. John Mui r, curator of smal l craft, developed the design using historic photographs, oral histories and archaeological data. T he bui lders will use traditional Chinese techniques, including direct application of fire to bend wood , rather than steam, and nailing planks along their edges. (SFM P, PO Box4703 10, San Francisco CA94 1470 3 l O; 4 15 56 1-6 662; e- m ail : in fo @ maritime.org; web site: www.maritime.org) . .. Due to n ew Coast G uard regulations, the sternwheel steamer Portland is confin ed to her dock. She has been placed in a different certificatio n category, demanding additional drydock inspections, vessel upgrades and changes, and adherence to
The steamer Portland naval codes . T he Oregon M aritime Center and Museum will have to get a co ngressional waiver for some requirements that would be impossible fo r an historic ship to meet. (OMC M , 11 3 SW Front Ave nue, Portland OR 97204; 503 224-7724) ... A T EA-21 grant through the US D epartment of Transportation fo r $583,000 h as been awarded to No rthwes t Seaport fo r the restoration of the 1904 lightship Swiftsure. (NS , M aritime H eritage Center, 1002 Valley Street, Seattle WA 98 12 1; 206 447-9800; e-mail: seaport@oz.net; web sire: www.nwseaporr. org) ... America's first atomic-powered co mmiss ioned naval vessel is getting a $4.7-million overhaul. On 16 January2002, Nautilus (SSN 571) left her berth at the Submarine Force Library and M useum , where the submarine has been open to visito rs sin ce 1985, to go to General D ynamic's Electric Boat Company. W ork will include hull repairs, new paint, a special underwa ter coating and a new ironwood deck. She will return to her berth by the end of May. T he Submarine Force Libraty and M useum Association has also acquired the experim ental mini-
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HMS Vengeance of 1942. She saw action in the N orth Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific and served in the Royal and Royal Australian Navies before being so ld to Brazil in 19 56, where she was recommissioned as Minas Gerais; Brazil deco mmissio ned her las t O ctober. O rganizers are attempting to raise $6 million to bring her to the M idget Aero n auti ca H eritage Co mplex in So uthsubX-1 am pto n, England, as a museum of global fly US colors. She was stricken fro m the naval aviation. (Save the Vengeance M uNaval Vessel Register in 1973. (S FLMA, seum Appeal, c/o Barde of the Adanric Box 50 1, NAVSUBBASE New Lo ndon, Memo rial Ships, East Lea, Main Road, Groton CT 06349-5 000; web si re: www Burto n Agnes, Driffield, East Yorkshire, .ussnamilus.org) .. . For the past 20 years, Y0 25 4NA, UK; 44 1262 490248; e-mail: the E uropean U nion and the U ni ted King- vengean cecampaign@fl ee tairarm arch ive dom have wo rked together to deco m mis- .net; we b site: www. fleetairarmarchi ve. net/ sion as many Bri tish fis hing vessels as pos- vengeance) . . . T he three-masted topsail sible, a program which has led to the de- schooner Tole Tole Mour under sail struction of more than 800 vessels. T he Mour, built in 40+ Fishing Boat Association is working 1988 to supto preserve as many of the boats as possi ble po rt prim ary before generations of fis hing vessels be- health care and co me extin ct. In an article in the European education proMaritime H eritage Newsletter, M ike Smylie, grams in Micofounder of the Association, comments cronesia, ts now that, so far, m useums have no t afforded working as a much pro tection, fearing that they will sailin g school beco me sto rage facilities fo r derelict boars. shi p with the Smylie also calls upon the British govern- Catalina Island ment to look to other options for reducing M arin e Insti the fleet. (Mike Smylie, Gwynfo r, New- tu te, p art of borough, Angelsey, LL6 1 6SY, U K; web G uid ed Di ssire: homepages.e nterprise. ner/ mlrscraine cove ri es, Inc. (Tall Ship Expedition s, 00000 / ind ex .hrm ; e- m ail: mi ke @ G uided D iscoveries, Inc., PO Box 1360, kipperman.freeserve.co.uk: EM H web site: Claremont CA 9 17 11 ; 1 800 645-1 423; www.euro pean- maritime-heritage.org) ... web site: www .guid eddi scove ri es. org/ BAE Sys tems of G reat Bri tai n has donated tallship) . . . In November 2001 , the ConÂŁ 150,000 to the Royal Navy Sub marine vention of the Protection of the UnderM useum to help cover the cost of restor- water Cultural Heritage was ratifi ed by ing the submarine Holland I , launched in the plen ary session of UNESCO 's 3 l st October 1901. (RNSM, H aslarJetry Road, General Conference. T he convention binds Gosport, H am pshi re, P01 2 2AS, UK; 44 its signatories "to prevent the entry into (23) 9252 92 17; web site: www. rnsubmus th eir territo ry, the dealing in, or the posses.co. uk) ... British mari time preservation- sion of, underwater cultural heritage illi cists are worki ng to save th e aircraft carrier itly exported and/o r recovered" and gives them the power to seize such boo ty. Sites M inas Gerais (ex Vengeance) 100 years old or older are the prim ary focus of the program. (web site: www. unesco.org/ cul tu re/legalp ro tection/warer/h tml_e ng/ co nvemion.shrml) . . . T he LaSalle Odyssey Planning Committee has received $3 00 ,000 from th e Texas State Legislamre to help fund the coalitio n of seven instimtion s fro m six co unties to present the story of the French explorer Robert Cavalier de La Salle and his ship La Belle, which was sub USS X-1 of 1955, fo rmerly displayed on the grounds of the US Naval Academy. Designed to p rovide covert inland water capabilities, X-1 was the first midget sub to
SEA HISTORY 100, SPRING 2002