OBITUARIES: Off to Fiddler's Green Marshall Streibert (1938-2005) Marshall Srreiberc, secretary and trustee of the National Maritime Historical Society, died of cancer on 4 August at his home in Water Mill, New York. A sofrspoken person of strongly held convictions and a wry sense of humor, his career in maritime history was launched in the early 1970s when NMHS founder Karl Kortum and I interviewed him for the job of Development Director at the Bedgling South Street Seaport Museum. A graduate of Yale University, at the time he was professional fundraiser working for charities devoted to improving the lives of inner city youth. He brought the sense of dedicated public service South Street Seaport was looking for and was hired on the spot. He soon raised funds to put our ambitious plans on a solid basis, enabling the museum to master the huge costs of acquiring three blocks of Lower Manhattan real estate in 1973 under the leadership of founding chairman Jakob Is brand tsen. After working for Operation Sail 1976, he resumed his professional work for urban charities, while he did extensive volunteer work for NMHS. As an NMHS trustee for fourteen years, his counsels, quietly offered, carried weight with all. He left this world with his devoted wife Laurel and son Nathaniel at his side, and he left it the better for what he did for the things he believed in. -Peter Stanford
Captain Lane Briggs (1932-2005) Lane Briggs died on 19 September, and the tugboat Beet in the Chesapeake Bew their Bags at half mast to spread the word and honor his memory. Captain Briggs inspired at least two generations of mariners, including his sons and grandchildren, but also hundreds of 'adoptees' influenced by his passion and commitment to seamanship, his leadership, generosity, and salty charisma. As a founder of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, Captain Briggs spearheaded the largest point-to-point schooner race in the world, raising tens of thousands of dollars for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. His enterprises and innovations were many-for decades he ran Rebel Marine Service, one of the most successful salvage companies in the Chesapeake Bay. He was best known as master of the "rugantine" Norfolk Rebel, a sail-assisted rug he built at the height of the oil crisis of the early eighties to use wind power to conserve fuel. He used Norfolk Rebel for towing, commercial fishing, salvage work, and even some cargo. In 1984 onboard Norfolk Rebel, h e circumnavigated Virginia via the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, appearing as an attraction at the New Orleans Worlds Fair. Captain Briggs was widely known in the world of schooners and tall ships. In 2001, Captain Briggs received the coveted American Sail Training Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Townsend Hornor (1927-2005) A past trustee and forever friend of NMHS, Townsend Hornor died from cancer on 11 September in his home in Ostervi lle, Massachusetts. He served in the US Naval Reserves during World War II and graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in colonial and maritime history. At Harvard he studied under and worked for Samuel Eliot Morison. Townie worked in corporate finance in New York and Boston. He was former chairman of the board of the Naval War College Foundation, Cape Cod Hospital, Sea Education Association, and the Cape & Islands United Way. He was an honorary corporation member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Bermuda Biological Station for Scientific Research. He and his late wife Elizabeth founded the National Marine Life Center in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Townie was a passionate sailor and had a deep respect for the ocean and everything that connected to it, both in science and history as is indicated in the organizations with which he had an affiliation. To NMHS, he brought this passion for sailing and the sea and his sure touch for non-profit management to strengthen our work in education under sail-with verve, humor, and joy in the work. He was also a frequent and valued book reviewer for Sea History.
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SEA HISTORY 113, WINTER 2005-2006