LETTERS NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS &TRUSTEES: Chairman, Howard Slotnick; Vice Chairmen, Richardo R. Lopes, Edward G . Zelinsky; Executive Vice President, Burche nal G ree n; Vice President, Norma Sranford; Treasurer, Will iam H. White; Secretary, Marshall Screiberc; Trustees, Donald M . Birney, Walter R. Brown, Sabaco Carucci, Richard T. du Moulin , David S. Fowler,JackGaffney, Virginia Steele Grubb, Rodney N . Houghcon , Steven W. Jo nes, Ri chard M. Larrabee, Warren G. Leback, Guy E. C. Maitland, Karen E. Markoe, Michael R. McKay, Jam es ]. McNamara, David A. O'Neil , Ronald L. Oswald, David Plattner, Bradford D. Sm ith, David B. Viecor, Alexa nder E. Zago reos; Chairmen Emeriti, Alan G. C hoate, G uy E. C. Maitland, C raig A. C. Reynolds; President Emeritus, Pecer Scan ford FOUNDER: Karl Korcum (191 7- 1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RA.OM David C. Brown; Walter Cronkite, Alan D. Hutchiso n, Jakob lsbrandtsen,John Lehm an , Warren Marr, II, Brian A. McAl lister, John Scobart, Wi lliam G. Winrerer ADVlSORS: Co-Chairmen,F rankO. Braynard , MelbourneSm ith; D .K. Abbass, RaymondAker, Geo rge F. Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, No rman J. Brouwer, RA.OM Josep h F. Call o, Francis J. D uf!Y, John W. Ewald , Joseph L. Farr, Timothy Foore, W illiam Gi lkerson, Thomas C. G illmer, Walter J. Handelman, C harles E. H erdendorf, Sreven A. Hyman, Hajo Kmmel, Gunna r Lundeberg, Conrad Mi lster, W illiam G. Mul ler, David E. Perkins, Nancy Hughes Richardson, Timothy J. Runyan, Shannon J. Wal l, Thomas Wells NMHS STAFF: Executive Vice President, Burchenal G reen; Director ofEducation, David B. Al Jen; Membership Coordinator, Nancy Schnaars; Membership Secretary, Irene Eisenfeld; Membership Assistant, Ann Makelainen; Accounting, Jill Romeo; Executive Assistant, Karen Ritell; SEA HISTORY STAFF: Editor, Justine AJ1lstrom; Executive Editor, Norma Sran ford; Editor at Large, Peter Scan ford; Advertising, Ma rin Engler TO GET IN TOUCH WITH US:
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Kings Point to continue our education. Eighteen months later, I gained firsthand knowledge of the transport of fighter planes fully assembled on tankers. I sailed as third assistant engineer on the SS Sag Harbor, a T2 tanker canying assembled fighter planes on platforms above the deck and close to six million gallons of aviation fuel below them-a submarine captain's dream and our nightmare. We eluded the enemy and with the aid of a Canadian corvette arrive safely in Bristol, England. HENRY SCHULMAN
Great Neck, New York The Richness of Hawaii's Seas I would like to briefly introduce the state of maritime studies in Hawaii to your readers. Hawaii is simply the best location in the world to study maritime history. Polynesian navigation, western voyages of exploration, the Manila galleon trade, whaling and fishing, commerce, naval activities in World War II , and Cold War undersea espionage are only some of the highlights awaiting students. The University of Hawaii has excellent archives on maritime Pacific topics, and there are li terally hundreds of shipwrecks scattered around the islands. T his being the case, in 1996 the Marine Option Program at UH created an interdisciplinary graduate certificate program in Maritime Archaeology and History. Ir is the only agency in the state to have attempted this. T he MAH program has, among other projects, offered hands-o n education, carried out field inves tigations of wreck sites, and created a statewide inventory of submerged cultural resources. In the best of situations, academic institutions support maritime history as a field of study and states recognize that submerged cultural resources can be historic treasures. This has yet to happen in Hawaii. Historic wrecks are not part of resource management, and (except for a single course supported by the MAH program) there is no maritime history curriculum at the Pacific's flagship universiry. Due to budgetary constraints, funding for the Maritime Archaeology and History program has recently been terminated. (The Marine Option Program continues.) Departments at UH have been working on reproposing the program, and decisions are pending. Rather than take a negative view, it is more productive to say that there
is nothing but potential for the future of maritime history in Hawaii. One way or ano ther, there will be maritime research in the Hawaiian Islands ... the seas are too rich to remain fallow for long. Support (moral or otherwise) for those dedicated to making the maritime program a permanent reali ry at the Un iversiry of Hawaii is greatly appreciate. Mahalo and AlohaD R. HANS VAN T lLBURG 2525 Correa Road, HIG 2 14 Un iversiry of Hawaii Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 e-mail: hkvant@hawaii. edu Calling Merchant Marine Veterans I write to fo llow up on the American Merchant Marine Museum News in Sea History 101 (p36) concerning the ceremony held on National Maritime Day to honor merchant mariners and armed guard who lost their lives during wartime. The Kings Point C hapter referred to in the article is part of the national organization of American Merchant Marine Veterans. We have approximately 4,000 active members. We estimate that there are actually 30,000 to 35,000 merchant marine veterans still living who served in World War II. At our national convention in Seattle in May, a committee was formed to introduce a bill in Co ngress this year to obtain what we call "just compensation." T his compensation is now fifry years overdue, as we were denied any benefits after WWII and were not given veteran status until 1988. We would like very much to hear from anyone who served on merchant ships during Wo rld War II. I can be reached at the address below. ROBERT F . PARK
PO Box 66896 St. Pete Beach, Florida 33736 e-mail: captpark_2000@yahoo.com ERRATA & ADDENDA
W e neglected note that the first three photographs used in Dr. Louis Norton's "Superstitions of Fishermen" (SH 101 , pp2830) are part of a collection gathered for the book Men, Fish and Boats: A Pictorial Story of the North Atlantic Fishermen (London, 1934) by Alfred Stanford. The collection has been placed at Mystic Seaport.
SEA HISTORY 102, AUTUMN 2002