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No. 124

SEA HISTORY

AUTUMN 2008

CONTENTS 10 A Tale of Two Shipwrecks, by Victor Mas tone and Robert Schwemmer lhe winter of2008 produced a number ofstorms that exposed two old shipwrecks on beaches in the Pacific Northwest and on the East Coast on Cape Cod. Instantly, both mystery wrecks made national news .and attracted thousands ofpeople. Despite the sometimes harsh weather in these regions in the dead of winter, people donned their parkas, packed up the kids, and traveled near and far to see them in person. Mr. Mastone and Mr. Schwemmer were involved in the attempts to identify them and comment on the management and phenomenon ofthese very publicly held resources.

16 John Falkinburg, at Sea in USS Iroquois, 1867, edi ted by Robert Barde

10

A treasured journal, cared for and passed down through family, reveals one young man's Life at sea in USS Iroquois, sailing from New York to Asia, just after the American Civil U:lar.

20 Romance Under Sail: the Life and Legacy of Captain and Mrs. Kimberly and the Brigantine Romance, by Captain Bert Rogers and Captain Daniel D . Moreland For three decades, Arthur and Gloria Kimberly Lived and sailed in their brigantine Romance, taking hundreds ofp .eople to sea under square sails. lhrough two circumnavigations and trips to the South Pacific and Caribbean Sea, they honed their seamanship skills and passed along to the next generation ofseafarers, not only these hard-earned skills, but a respect and devotion to do it the proper way, the way ofthe ship.

16

26 NMHS Annual Awards Dinner lhis fall, NMHS will honor the work ofPeter Aron, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Captain A rthur Kimberly and the late Gloria Cloutier Kimberly by bestowing upon them three prestigious awards at the annual gala event at the New York Yacht Club. Spectacular auction items are available for bid a great way for you to support the essential work ofthe Society.

30 Lancing, a Ship for the Record, by OlafT. Engvig lhe memory of this storied ship, which consistently made record-breaking passages and steady profitable voyages for her owners, has faded from our consciousness because ofa simple problem oftranslation. Most of Lancing' s documentation is in Norwegian, while the most well-read histories of this era ofshipping are written in English. Olaf T Engvig removes the language barrier and brings us the story ofthe Lancing, a ship whose career will not be forgotten.

Cover: The brigantine Romance shows off her leeward leeches as she sails along the coast of Uapu, Marquesas.

Read about this Little square rigger and her formidable captain and mate, Arthur and Gloria Kimberly, on pages 20-25.

Photo by Gloria Kimberly, courtesy ofMichael Dodge.

20

DEPARTMENTS 4

DECK LOG LETTERS NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION 34 MARINE ART NEWS 38 Sea H istory FOR Kms

5 8

42 44 49 50

MARITIME H ISTORY ON THE INTERNET SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS CALENDAR REVIEWS 56 PATRONS

Sea H istory and the National Maritime H istorical Society Sea History e-mail: editorial@seahistory.org; NMH S e-mail: nmhs@seahistory.org; Web site: www.seahistory.org. Ph: 914 737-7878; 800 221 -NMHS MEMBERSHIP is invited. Afterguard $10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plank:owner $2,500; Sponsor $1 ,000; Donor $500; Pattron $250; Friend$ I 00; Contri butor $75; Famijly $50; Regular $35.

All members outside the USA please add $10 for postage. Sea History is sent to all members.

Individual copies cost $3.75.

30 SEA HISTORY (issn 0146-9312) is published quarterly by the National Maritime Historical Society, 5 Joh n Walsh Blvd., POB 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Periodicals postage paid at PeekskHI NY l 0566 and add'! mailing offices.

CO PYRl G HT Š 2008 by the National Mari time H istorical Society. Tel: 9 14-737-7878.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sea History, PO Box 68, Peekshlll NY 10566.

NTATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG Falls of Clyde's Final Voyage We are saddened to report no good news in the eleventh-h our appeal from the H awaii M aritime Center to save the wo rld's last remaining fo ur-masted full-r igged ship, Falls of Clyde. They contacted N MHS as one Falls of Clyde, of over 700 international maritime or]uly2008 ganizations to which they appealed to find a new home or sufficient financing for a full resto ration to continue the important role she has played in H onolulu, H awa ii , since 1969. The severely deteri orated co ndition of her hull and rigging require m ajor fundin g to restore her and make her safe fo r public visitation.

Although many individuals and organizations have expressed their shared distress over the news, no o rganization with a workable site, financial wherewithal, and feasibiliry plan for the ship has contacted the museum. With the greatest respect fo r the shi p herself, they are preparing her for her final voyage out to sea, where they will sink the ship in deep water beyond the US territo rial limi t. At the time of this printing, workers have removed 250 cubi c yards of non-rigging m aterial, of which 50 cubic yards has already gone to o ther museums. Al l re movable historic artifacts and the shi p's remarkable inventory of steel yards and o ther square-rigged components are being saved to share with the heritage communi ry. A portion of the bowFalls of C lyde's hull and rig need to be stabilized sprit has been removed; the stern has before she can be towed to open water. been reinforced with new transverse fram es and some platin g to be sure she survives the tow o ut to the open ocean. It is so hard to believe we cann ot save this great ship. As the twelfth h our approaches, we still hold out hope fo r a reprieve, while planning for a farewell.

Response to NMHS Members Survey Sea History's Advertising/Merchandising Director Wendy Paggiotta and former NMH S Vice President Norma Stanford (who analyzed the two most recent surveys before this one) , have done a thoro ugh analysis of yo ur responses to our survey o n the wrapper of the Spring 200 8 issue of Sea History. I cannot thank you enough fo r th e time yo u took and careful attentio n yo u gave to let us know who you are, what yo u read in Sea History, and what you would like fro m yo ur Sociery. Your feedback helps us with our developm ent of a new Strategic Plan , which we will present to m embers in our next issue. Also in that iss ue, look for a more comp lete w rite- up of th e survey res ults.

In short, 9% of yo u responded . You may be an older group, for the m os t part, but yo u sure rake vacations, are interested in maritime art, and frequen t maritime museums.

Yo u are avid readers and collectors. You read "Historic Ships o n a Lee Shore," "Ship N otes," "Reviews," "Letters," "M arine Art," and "D eck Log"-i n that o rder. You most enjoy articles on general maritim e histo ry, adventures, seafarers, sea battles, and ship restorations. As a group, yo u don't own up to reading "Sea History for J(jds" in great numbers, but individual comments noted th at it may be created for kids but you love it.

We look forward to sharing yo ur many comments next iss ue, and we thank yo u so very, very much.

- Burchenal Green, President 4

â&#x20AC;˘

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

PUBLISHER'S C IRCLE: Wi lliam H . W hi te

Peter

Aron,

OFFICERS & TRUST EES: Chairman, Ro nald L. O swald ; Vice Chairman , Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal Green; Vice Presidents, D eirdre O 'Regan, N ancy Schn aars; Treasurer, H. C. Bowen Smith; Secretary, 1hornas F. Daly; Trustees, Cha rles B. And erso n, Walter R. Brown, James Carter, David S. Fowler, Vi rginia Steele G rubb, Kare n H elmerson , Steven W . Jones, Robert Kamm, Richard M . Larrabee, G uy E. C. M aitl and, Joh n R. McDo nald J r., James ]. McN amara, Ri chard Scarano, Philip J. Shapiro , Peter H. Sharp, Howa rd Slot nick, Bradford D . Smith, Cesa re Sorio, Philip J. Webster, D aniel W. W halen, W illia m H. W hite; Chairmen Emeriti, Walter R . Brown, Alan G . C hoate, G uy E. C. M aitla nd , C raig A. C. Reynolds, Howard Slo mick; President Emeritus, Peter Stanford FOUN DER: Karl Ko rtum (19 17-1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM David C. Brown; Walter C ronki te, Clive C ussler, Ri chard du Mo ul in, Alan D . Hurchison, Jako b lsbrandtse n, John Lehman , Warren Marr, II, Brian A. McAl lister, John Stobart, W illiam G .

W interer NM H S ADVISORS: Chairman, Melbourne Smith; D. K. Abbass, Geo rge Bass, Fran cis E. Bowker, O swald L. Brett, RAD M Jose ph F. Callo, Francis J. Du ffy, John W. Ewald, Timothy Foote, Wi lliam G ilkerso n, Thomas G ill mer, Walter ]. H andelman, Steven A. Hyman, H ajo Knuttel, G unnar Lundeberg, Joseph A. M aggio, C onrad M ilster, W illiam G . Muller, Nancy Hughes Richardso n

SEA HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Chairman, T imoth y ]. Runyan; N orman J. Brouw e r, Rob e rt Br ow n i n g, William S. Dudley, D ani el Fi namore, Kevin Foster, John Odin Jensen, Joseph F. Meany, Lisa No rlin g, Carla Rahn Ph illips, Walter Rybka, Q uentin Snediker, W illiam H. White NMHS ST AFF : E x ecutive Director , Burchenal G reen; M embership Director, N ancy Schnaars; M arketing Director, Steve Lovass-Nagy; Communications Director, Julia C hurch; A ccounting, Ji ll Rom eo; Store Sales & Volunteer Coordinator, Jane Maurice

SEA HIS TORY. Editor, D eirdre O ' Rega n; A dvertising D irecto r, We nd y Pagg io tt a; Editor-at-Large, Peter Stanford; "Sea H istory for Kids" graphic d es ign by Trish LaPointe

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008.

We Welcome Your Letters! E-mail: editorial@seahistory.org or send mail to: Editor, Sea History, 7 Timberknoll Rd., Pocasset, MA 02559

LETTERS John Stobart There is another side to John Stoban NMHS members should know aboutStoban the humanitarian . In 1988, John estab lished The Stoban Foundation to give talented young artists financial support to ride them over through the period when, fresh our of art school, they could not earn enough money to support themselves from their arr. Many talented yo ung artists are lost to the profession because they have to rake a job in another line of work to survive and never get back to being artists. To dare, the fo undation has helped almost a hu ndred young artists to further their careers. Most people don't realize that when they buy a Stoban painting or prim, th ey are helping to assure the future of American traditional an-but that is how these srudem s have been helped to establish their careers.

John Stoban's ultimate goal is to set up a building, which will house an office, instructional smdio, and gallery. H ere, the fo undation wo uld provide lecmres and instruction by prominem visiting artists and, thro ugh the gallery, assist in findin g representation for the smdenrs. I hope a big hitter will com e along to fund the building and put his name on it. In the meantime, the door is open to receive taJc-deducrible contributions at: The Stoban Foundation, 100 C ummings Center, Ste. 335J, Beverly, MA 11915 .

GERALD

J. MCCAUL

will , no doubt, be aware of the prominence of hi s work in their own country, they may not be aware that, before he moved to rhe States, he had already developed a highly promising and successful career here in the UK as a ship por-

M VExplorer by john Stobart trait artist, com mi ss io ned by shipowners and others to depict the huge variety of dry cargo vessels and passenger ships seen in London Docks, Liverpool, and in the other major sea ports of the world. Even then, his work combined an as mre study of the archirecmre of the magnificent buildings that lined rhe waterfro nts with a detailed study of the naval archirecmre of the ships of the 1950s and 1960s. Sadly, these busy river scenes have vanished, replaced by the fleeting visits of the occasional cruise liner and container ship.

Nonetheless, just three or four years ago, a sale rook place in London of the contents of the head office of Liverpool

shipow ner T & J Harrison, offering for sale up to 20 professionally built ship models and also a number of paintings of the Harrison fleet made by leading artists of the time, incl uding a good number by John Stobarr. Armed with my cheque book, I attended the sale, wh ich was hugely oversubscribed. Not one, bur two, sale rooms and the corridor were crammed with potential bidders, ex-Harrison seagoing staff and enth usiasts like myself. Against all the odds, I was successful in purchasing what, in m y view, was the pick of the bun ch!

MV Explorer, buil t in Holland in 1961 , is depicted against a backdrop silho uette of the dockside cran es of London Docks as they used to be, with the late evening sunshine reflecting from the superstrucmre and deck gear. John Stobarr is one of only a few marine artists wo rkin g in oils who seems able to depict evening sunligh t to great advantage, as he has done in th is image . I look at it every day and always see something fam iliar to m e, as Explorer was typical of th e many dry cargo vessels built at that time, with either three or four holds forward of the accommodatio n hold and one aft, and very similar to the ships I was involved in building as a yo ung man in the 1960s. I feel pri vileged to have it on my wall, and wo uld share it with yo u now.

ROB ERTS. H UNTER

Tyne & Wear, England

Lighthouse Point, Florida I was delighted to read John Stobart's recollections of his beginnings in the US and th e development of his career, becoming one of the leading artists depicting Am erican maritime heritage (Sea History 123) .

He is to be congramlated for his pai nstaking research, re-creating the scenes of life in the heyday of the major East- and West Coast ports.

As a retired naval architect, for many years invo lved in shipbuilding in Europe and elsewhere and now based in th e UK on Tyneside, the birthplace of C unard's Mauretania, I have had more than a passing interest in marine arr. Among artists both past and present, John Stobart has been one whose work I have particularly admired. Whilst yo ur American readers SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafaring heri tage comes alive in th e pages of Sea History, from the ancient ma riners of G reece to Portuguese navigators opening up the ocean wo rld to the heroic efforts of sailors in modern-day conflicts. Each issue brings new insights and discoveries. If you love the sea, rive rs, lakes, and

bays-if yo u appreciate the legacy of those who sail in deep water and their wo rkaday craft, then yo u belong with us.

J oin Today!

Mail in the form below, phone I 800 221- MHS (6647), or visit us at: www.sea history.org (e-mail: nmhs@seahistory.org)

Yes, I want to join rhe Sociery and receive Sea History quarrerly. My contribution is enclosed. ($ 17.50 is fo r Sea History; any amount above rhar is tax ded uctible.) Sign me up as: D $ 100 Friend D $3 5 Regular Member D $50 Family Member D $25 0 Parron D $500 Donor 124 Mr. / Ms.

----------------------~ZIP _ _ __ _~ Return to : National Maritime Histori cal Society, PO Box 68 , Peekskill NY I 0566

5

LETTERS

ERE IS AWORLD TO EXPLORE

Sea Ties to Capt. Arthur Kimberly I found an inreresting coincidence in the article, "From Sea Scout to Master Mariner, Arthur Kimberly before his Romance. " The article shows a picture of the fourmasted barque Abraham Rydberg and tells the story of Kimberly's trip on its 1941 voyage to Brazil and back to Baltimore, which brought back a memory from my early youth. In 1940 I arrived in New York as a Danish emigranr and found employment with the ship brokerage firm, Blidberg Rothchild. My first and only fixture of a ship, before I was drafted in the US Army in March 1942, was the charter of the Abraham Rydberg. I just checked my records, which I have kept since 1940, and they show the fixture of Abraham Rydberg for 3,000 tons fertilizer from Santos [Brazil) to Boston or Portland at $13 a ton, with Swift as charterers. As Capt.

Kimberly can attest, the ship was diverted to discharge at Baltimore because of the U-boat threat. This fixture of the Abraham Rydberg was the beginning of my career in the US maritime industry, which has lasted till this day. Shipping is a small world, and it is nice that Sea History is helping to keep it alive.

OLE SKAARUP

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In Sea History 122, Mr. Graham Cumming requested information on the R & J Craig fleet of four-masted full rigged ships, one of which, the County of Peebles, was commanded by his grandfather. I wonder if he or Norman Brouwer knows of the detailed study of the wreck of the County of Roxburgh, by my former captain and friend Arthur Kimberly. In January 1976, he brought his brigantine Romance, then on her first circumnavigation with an amateur crew, to the island of Takaroa in the Tuamotus, about 325 miles NE of Papeete, Tahiti.

They found the wreck high and dry on the beach and spent two days exploring and photographing the hull and fittings, which were badly rusted, but otherwise remarkably complete, considering she had lain there since 1906. I have a copy of some photos and a six-page account of Captain Kimberly's investigations.

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

In his report, he mentions finding a sail plan of another sister, the County ofLinlithgow, in Lubbock's Last ofthe Windjammers; also deck plans of the County of Inverness.

Underhill's Deepwater Sail gives a description of a typical County ship. Probably Mr. Cumming knows of these references.

Since the death late in 2006 of Gloria Kimberly, I have been unable to contact Arthur and don't know how far and wide his report was circulated . I have a photo of a lovely model of the Roxburgh he built after selling his Romance.

I served as navigator in Romance in 1971-72 when we visited Mangareva in the Society Islands, but were unable to call at any of the Tuamotus due to weather and shortage of time. None of us were aware then of the Roxburgh, or we might have waited!

CAROL

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Kalk Bay, South Africa Miss Roehm and others interested in Arthur and Gloria Kimberly and the brigantine Romances voyages will be pleased to read about them in this issue (pages 30-33) and in the previous issue of Sea History (123, Summer 2008). The Kimberlys and Romance will be presented with the Karl Kortum American Ship Trust Award at the National Maritime Historical Society Annual Awards Dinner on 24 October 2008. For more information, see pages 26-29 of this issue. -DO'R

Ask Sea History The daughter of a Navy surgeon on USS Intrepid is seeking corroboration from former WWII submarine crew who might be fam iliar with the following swry told by her fathe r. While on one of the Pacific Islands during the war, he noticed a make-shift vehicle, which he learned was put together by crew from a submarine anchored off shore.

The crew stored away parts of a jeep aboard the submarine, which they then assembled when they were on shore, giving them mobility. It was remarkable, considering the limited space aboard the submarine.

Anyone having knowledge of such things, or a referral to someone who might, may contact: J. Robinson, 562 B Lombard St., San Francisco, CA 94133; or e-mail: editorial@seahistory.org and we'll gladly put you in touch with her. ~ SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

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~~ Charles Tobias, Chairman 7

NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION NMHS travels from Tahiti to Tacoma pring 2008 has been a whirlwind of exciting activity for rhe Society, a constant reminder of the innovative work being done to further the cause of preserving our maritime heritage.

In April, NMHS trustees Bill White and Captain Cesare Sario led a group of our members aboard the Star Flyer, sailing around the Society Islands. As we sailed across the very waters of rhe original adventure, Bill White gave a riveting acco unt of the 1790 voyage of HMS Pandora to capture the Bounty mutineers. As you might

S

expect, sailing around the South Pacific in a large, modern square rigger with all the amenities is indeed paradise. We were enamored of Captain Szalek and his crew, the maj estic islands reaching dramatically from the water, the multi-national and diverse ship's company, our search for black pearls, and the incredibly beautiful and lush vegetation we encountered everywhere.

Immediately upon our return, we traveled to Pensacola, Florida, to attend the North American Society for Oceanic History and Council of American Maritime Museums joint conference. CAMM challenged member museums to reexamine how they present their stories to their visitors. NASOH presenters updated us on rhe progress and results of some extraordinary new research projects underway in the field. We were delighted to hear a significant percentage of graduate student presentations this year.

A few weeks later, it was on to Maryland's Eastern Shore for our own annual meeting. This year's NMHS annual meeting in Sr. Michael's underscored rhe significance of how our rich heritage is being kept alive in the C hesapeake Bay. Stuart

8

Parnes, executive director of rhe Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM), gave a thought-provoking welcome by focusing on the Society's national role in a sea-change of leadership within the maritime field and our ongoing challenge to keep our heritage relevant and engaging to yo unger participants. The leadership of Chesapeake-based maritime institutions were well represented in the series of maritime heritage reports: Pere Lesher, of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum; Bill Dudley, editor of The Naval Wtzr of 1812 and past head of rhe Naval Historical Center; Jim Cheevers, of the US Naval Academy Museum; and Drew McMullen, of Sultana Projects. Our hosts at the CBMM gave some informative behind-the-scenes tours of their facilities, in between squalls of a violent rainstorm rhar blasted the peninsula char afternoon. As prudent mariners, we kept a weather eye and adj usted our course accordingly.

The Whaling Heritage Symposium, held 15-18 June at Mystic Seaport and the New Bedford Whaling Museum and New Bedford Whaling Historical Park, brought together a superlative meeting of scholars who traveled from all across the wo rld to participate in this first symposium of its kind, representi ng the global heritage that the history of whaling bonds together. Dr. Hans Van Tilburg, maritime heritage coordinato r for NOAA's Office of

'

Natio nal Marine Sanctuaries in the Pacific Islands Region, chaired an inspired panel, which examined the broader cultural aspects of historic whaling and how it impacts our relationship with rhe sea. NMHS was honored to host the symposium with NOAA's Office of Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program and NOAA's Marine Fisheries Service.

On 25 June the Down Town Association in New York served as the venue for a magical evening, as representatives from dozens of maritime organizations joined to honor the renowned artist John Stobarr. As he recounted tales of his early days as an artist and how he came to paint and love rhe fledgling South Street Seaport Museum (SSSM), many of the early leaders and supporters of SSSM reminisced

Peter StanfordpresentedJohn Stobart with the NMHS Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Stobart then surprised Mr. Stanford, presenting him with a painting ofthe Wavemee.

with their own stories. NMHS chairman Ronald Oswald presented SSSM executive director Mary Ellen Pelzer with 1,000 copies of the new NMHS booklet, john Stobart and the Ships of South Street, to use z ~ in their campaign to restore South Street's ::; flagship, Wtzvertree. :S We attended the WoodenBoat Show iJ ~ at Mystic Seaport the last weekend in June, >= and finally, over the Fourth of July weekend, NMHS Trustee Brad Smith and his Ronald Brower Sr. and his coLLeagues tour the wife Stephanie staffed an NMHS table in whaling ship C harles W Morgan at Mystic the American Sail Train ing Association's Seaport. Brower traveled to New England "National Mari rime Educatio n" rent in Tafrom the lnupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, coma, Washington, where 400,000 people Alaska, to give a presentation on the Inuit visited as part of ASTA's impressive West whaling traditions at the Whaling Heritage Coast Tall Ship C hallenge this summer.

Symposium.

-Burchenal Green, President

~

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

A Great Way to Support the NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY ...

Generously donated by renowned artist John Stobart "New York, East River Arrival c. 1884," signed and numbered, limited edition prints.

On a summer evening in 1884, the tall Down Easter Eclipse has just docked in South Street afterencounteringarainsquall on the way. The crew is putting the ship to bed while sails dry out overhead. Beyond her arching bow of New England oak lies an iron British full-rigger. And across the way, south of the new Brooklyn Bridge, opened just a year earlier, stand buildings dating back to the early 1800s. Today these buildings house the South Street Seaport Museum.

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John Stobart and the Ships ofSouth Street features the artist 's evocative images of the ships of New York's South Street. The essay "A Fair Tide in South Street" is Stobart's personal account of his inspirational days at South Street Seaport. Soft cover, 24 pages, beautiful illustrati ons. Book 025 $10.00 + $2 s/h

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A Tale of Two This past winter, storms o n t he east a nd west coast s exposed two unide ntitie d s hipwrecks, high a nd d r,y o n t he bea c h. The attent io n th ese wrecks got in th e me d ia a nd b,y the public was rema rka ble . Each was located o n public la nds, a llowing t he m some measure ot p rotectio n t ram loote rs a nd souvenir collectors. Desr:;ite t he cold a nd wind , eve r- present o n Ca pe Cod a nd the O regon coast in mid- winte r, t ho usa nd s ot people donned parkas, th rew the kids in the car, a nd t rekkea o ut to see the wrecks in P.erson. We asked Victor Masto ne , Director o t the Massachusetts .5oa rd ot Underwate r Arc haeolog ica l Reso urces, a nd Robe rt Schwe mmer, the West Coast Regiona l Coord inator to r NOA./% Maritime Heritage Program, to exa mine the phe no me no n ot t hese events a nd exp la in the ir value to o ur ma rit ime he ritage.

Marine D ebris or Shipwreck Tale? The M~ster~ at Newcomb Hollow Beach) Cape Cod b,y Victo rT Masto ne n late January 200 8, part of a shipwreck appeared on the Atlantic shore of Cape Cod at Newcomb H ollow Beach in Wellfleet. We expected the sea to reclaim it in quick time, like most wreckage that gets washed up on the beach. Winters are a quiet time on the Cape, so this event m ade the newspapers and, as a resul t, hundreds of people Hocked to see it. It raised a lot of interest and questions. How did it get there? What part of the ship was it? Where is the shipwreck site? What vessel was it?

Fortunately, this wreckage lies within the

I

bounds of the Cape Cod Natio nal Seashore, m anaged by the National Park Service, which grants it protection from would-be souvenir hunters and whose mission includes interpreting cultural remains fo r the benefi t of the public.

Over the next several months, I made three trips to visit the site to see if we might be able to answer these q uestions and assist the Seashore staff interpreting the wreck.

Amo ng my colleagues on these trips were Massachusetts Historical Commission archaeologist Lenny Loparto, Sea History

edito r Deirdre O 'Regan, local maritime researcher and remote sensing expert Arne Carr, and underwater archaeologist David Robinson and h is students from the University of Connecticut at Avery Point. Staff from the National Park Service regional office in Lowell also visited the wreckage and prepared a site plan. These site visits provided opportuni ties fo r data collection, teaching exercises, discussions among us as to what we were seeing, and real-time interpretation for the on-looking public. (continued on page 14)

shipwrecks Oregon's M~ster~ S hipwreck- Uncovering Coos 5a~'s H istoric Past b~ Robert V. Schwemmer h e US Bureau of Land Managem ent (BLM) manages more than 259 million surface acres in the United States, most of which are located in the twelve Wes tern States, includimg Alaska.

Steve Samuels is an archaeologist based out of the BLM office in N orth Bend, Oregon, who on a typical day manages and documents terrestrial reso urces for che region that include Native American pre-occupation sites, historic structures, and a lightho use at C ape Blanco. Las t D ecember, this was all about to change. Earlier in rhe year a number of beaches along the O regon coast, stretchi ng between Cannon Beach and Bandon, experienced a large degree of sand erosion brought on by winter storms.

This phenomenon, although not an unusual occurrence, exposed several of Oregon's maritime heritage resources tha t included skeletal remains of a sailing ship a t Bandon, two cannons at Cannon Beach , and the complete bow section of an unknown shipwreck on the north spit of Coos Bay. O ver the course of 2-1 /2 m onths, the sand continued to move offshore, exposing more of the C oos Bay shipwreck, once concealed below thir ty feet of sand. The wreck is located along rhe remote north spit trail system m anaged by BLM, alo ng with its stare partner, rhe Oregon Parks and Rec-

T

reation D epartment, bur this did no r deter an overwhelming response by the public to visit rhe site. W hile the BLM is experienced in managing outdoor recreation and irs multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoym ent of p resent and future generations, the mys tery shipwreck created some new challenges fo r this federal agency. Ri ght away, they set our to m aintain a balance between encouraging the public to visit the site while fi guring our what measures needed to be implemented to mitigate human impact on the historic resource. This was partially acco mplished through the agency's requirem ent that allrerrain vehicl e drivers must have a permit before rraveling to the site. Ir was estimated that over 10,000 people visited the remote location, with the regional hotels benefiting from the outporing of interest.

O ld shipwrecks evoke the public's imagination: is it an old sailing ship, maybe an old forgotten pirate ship, what's its nati onali ty, where was it headed when it wrecked ?

Shipwrecks also offer a window into our nation's seafaring pas t, and this particular wreck provided historians and archaeologists with the rare o ppo rtuni ty to study ship construction techniques fro m a b

....

SEA HISTORY"l 24, AUTOMN 2008 >-

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go ne era. The second challen ge the state rangers stationed there faced was how to best interpret what they had. W ith the high level of preservatio n, there was little do ubt the vessel was a steam schooner used to haul lumber from the local mills to distant ports in California and South Am erica, bur what was rhe history associated with this particular vessel?

Calum Stevenson , an archaeologist with rhe Oregon Parks and Recreation D epartment, recorded detailed measurements of rhe stea m schooner's bow section, while Samuels sho t dozens of photographs.

W ith site documentation in progress, they turned to Annie D onnelly, executive directo r of the Coos Historical and M aritime Museum. Donnelly was already wo rking w ith the local com muni ty, po uring over muse um files, hi storic photographs, and newspaper accounts, and had determined that there were at least four steam schooners reported wrecked in rhe Coos Bay area. Samuels was co ntacted by a company locate~ regon, who offered to perform a L" ¡ ,' (Light D etection and Ranging) / s f the sire, a method that uses laser r's surface creating a high-resolution ntour image of the structural rem ains. ' was completed and BLM is

George L. Olson waiting to review the final product.

The interest in solving this mystery was not limited to the local populace and government agencies, but reached beyond Oregon's borders to include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS). The ONMS manages a national system of fourteen underwater-protected areas that includes shipwrecks . A key mandate of the agency is to explore, characterize, and protect submerged maritime heritage resources and to share these discoveries with the American public. Building upon previous efforrs with the State of Oregon, William Douros, director of the ONMS west coast region requested that I provide assistance for this important project in my capaciry as NOAA's maritime heritage coordinator for the region.

Reviewing histo ric documents that included wreck repo rts and newspaper accounts, I identified four steam schooners that were reported as total losses at Coos Bay: Julia H. Ray (1888-1889), Claremont (190719 15), C. A. Smith (1917-1923) and Fort Rragg (1910-1932). I continued to monitor media coverage for further clues. A newspaper article from The World quoted Jack Long, who had visited the same shipwreck in the 1950s and recalled seeing a name-board with "Geo." or "George," the first real evidence of a possible identiry. Reviewing shipwreck database records, I discovered that the steam schooner George L. Olson had stranded on 6 Curious onlookers flocked to the shipwreck when it was exposed in 2008 (above), just as they June 1944 at Guano Rock, located just inside had 61 years ago. (below) Fred Crothers and his family pose on the ship's remains in 1947. the Coos Bay entrance. Because shipping activities during WWII were censored, there were few details reported on the wrecking event in the national newspapers. Sharing this discovery with our partners in Oregon, Donnelly researched the local newspaper archives, which revealed that the Olson was rowed to the north spit six months after the stranding. Consulting vessel registries, I determined that the Olson was originally built as the Ryder Hanifj in 1917.

Although initially we didn't have any images of the George L. Olson, I did locate several images of the Ryder Hanifj that included a bow-on-view. I immediately contacted Samuels, Stevenson, and Donnelly.

Samuels compared the historic image to his recent photo-documentation at the site from the same vantage point-"we have a possible match ." Stevenson returned to the

12

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

shipwreck and conducted a thorough comparison of its structural features as shown in the historic photograph and concluded we may have solved the mystery. Since the first day the shipwreck started to emerge from the sand, both agencies had been receiving daily inquires as to the identity of the shipwreck. With this new information, the BLM broadcasted an official news release on 20 February 2008.

Fred Crothers in San Diego read the article and saw the shipwreck photograph published in the San Diego Union Tribune.

He was shocked- the photograph of the wreck was a positive match to the family photograph he kept on his desk. Cro thers had visited the wreck site in 1947 with his fami ly, and they took a gro up picture on the shipwreck. His photograph also revealed the partial name-board beginning with the name "George," as reported by J ack Long in the 1950s. Crothers contacted 1he World newspaper, and the photograph was published along with th e BLM news release. With the historic research supported by photographic evidence from 191 7 and 1947, the mystery had finally been solved!

As with many shipwrecks over the course of history, the George L. Olson may have been

transformed into a floating hardware store of sorts. No doubt, much of her machinery was salvaged and either used for the war effort or perhaps transferred to another ship?

Although research hasn't confirmed this yet, I did discover that the Communi ty Church at nearby Charleston was built from the salvaged lumber cargo. A 1945 newspaper article read, "No Miracle-The sea has cast

Steam Schooner George L. Olson On 22 January 1917 at the W. Frank Stone Shipyard in Oakland, California, little 4-year old Lucinda Hanify, perched on the launching platform against the newlybuilt Ryder Hanify, smashed a bottle of California wine across its bow, christening the ship for her new owners. 1he Oakland Tribune headlines read, "Longest Wooden Boat Ever Built Here, Is Launched." In 2008 that same bow, buried in sand for more than half a century, would attract more than 10,000 visitors to the beach at Coos Bay. J. R. H anify Co. sold three of its steam schooners, including the Ryder Hanify, to French owners for $2,000,000 that same year. Under French ownership, the Ryder Hanify was renamed Gabriel. The vessel's career under a foreign flag was short-lived; she returned to American registry in 1921 and was renamed again as the George L. Olron by her new owners, Oliver J. Olson & Co. Official Name: George L. Olson Official N umber: 215007 Rig: Double-Ender Steam Schooner Registered Dimensions (feet): length, 222.8; beam, 43.6, depth of hold: 16.5 Cargo Capacity: 1,5 00 ,000 board feet lumber Machinery: Main Street Iron Works Triple Expansion Steam Engine For additional information, visit the following web sites: US Bureau of Land Management: http: //www.blm.gov/or/news/index.php Coos Historical and Maritime Museum: http://www.cooshistory.org/ Oregon Parks and Recreation D epartment: http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/ NOAA ONMS Maritime Heritage Program: http: //sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime/ SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

up lumber to build a new church for the Baptist congregation ... but it wasn't quite a miracle because they had to pay for it. .. $30 1 for 500,000 [board feet] of lumber."

Today the Coos Bay community is uncovering their historic past through the discovery of a shipwreck. A public exhibit featuring the George L. Olson story and that of other regional shipwrecks is now featured at the Coos Historical and Maritime Museum.

Just as fast as the George L. Olson appeared, the sands of time have returned and entombed the steam schooner's bow, which will help to preserve its remains.

While preliminary site documentation was completed during the short window of opportunity, the BLM, working with ONMS, plans to complete a full-site survey should the Olson uncover again in the near future.

Not all shipwrecks are ultimately identified by their official name or nationality. In this event, the collaboration between federal, state age ncies, the public, along with the natio nal reach of the media, all came together to help solve this mystery. Perhaps in many years to come, people will once again flock to the site of a recently exposed shipwreck on the beach: "is it an old sailing sh ip, maybe an old forgotten pirate ship, what's its nationality, where was it headed when it wrecked?" J:, Robert Schwemmer is the West Coast Regional Maritime Heritage Coordinator for NOAAs Office ofNational Marine Sanctuaries.

13

(continued.from page 10)

In addition to field investigations, historic records were combed to see if there was any information that would lead to the identity of this wreckage. About half of the 3,000 known shipwrecks off Massachusetts occurred off Cape Cod in the area berween Provincetown and Monomoy Island. Records reveal that there are easily ten shipwrecks per linear mile along the shores of Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, and Chatham.

Many of these wrecks in this stretch are rwo-, three-, and four-masted schooners, representing the typical fishing boats and local coastal trading vessels of the eighteenth- and nineteenth centuries.

Our on-site research efforts provided some clues. The fastenings were mainly round treenails with very few iron drift pins or copper tacks. The size and shape of the frames suggested we had floors or first futtocks. The discovery of a limber hole confirmed that we were near the turn of the bilge, suggesting the vessel was roughly 25-30 feet wide at the bilges. The doubled frame pairs, ceiling, and planking suggest a

Atlantic Ocean

Newcomb Hollow

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1he Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, is easy to get to by car. 1he area is crowded with tourists in summer but quiet in winter. In Janua ry and February, the shipwreck story made national news headlines, attracting hundreds ofpeople over the next few months to the Cape Cod National Seashore to check out the wreck in person.

Trunnels (treenails) and trunnel wedges protrude from the massive frames.

vessel of roughly 125-150 feet in length.

We came up with over 20 possible vessels, bur no specific identity could be assigned to this large fragment of a ship.

Upon reflection, I was struck with a broad question about the circumstances of this find and its true value for the appreciation of our maritime heritage. Why is this wreck getting more attention than others?

• It was an opportunity to see, touch, climb over, inspect up close a "real" shipwreck.

•Accessibility-just about anyone can get there to see it in person.

• It provides a first-person experience.

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The only other way to personally experience a shipwreck in situ is by SCUBA diving.

• People really enjoy a mystery. All we know about this artifact is that it is from a shipwreck. So, anyone can make a reasonable guess (and even some unreasonable ones). They can, for one brief moment, be an archaeologist.

• It is a relatively uncommon event for a piece that large to come ashore today.

People might encounter small random pieces of wood from a shipwreck (ancient or modern) just walking the beach. These fragments might not even be identifiable as coming from a ship. This fragment at

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Plenty of questions remain unanswered on this stretch of beach. 1his fragment (below) washed up just a short walk from the Newcomb Hollow wreck (Left) a Jew months earlier. Could it be another portion of the same ship?

Trying to photograph the wreck site without people in the frame was an impossibility on the weekends, as was the case in early February on a crisp Sunday morning.

Newcomb Hollow Beach, however, is quire large and clearly is a portion of a ship. Old timers recalled similar events-but not fo r decades. So, it is safe to say it is a rare experience.

It is likely part of a shipwreck site lying just offshore. At som e point, we might be able to say exactly what ship it is from and tell the complete story.

The val ue of these shipwreck remains, aside from the excitement it generated beyond the maritime heritage community, was not in pinpointing a specific vessel, but

rather the opportunity it provided the public to see and experience a shipwreck in a manner similar to an archaeologist. Despite the impression one might have of shipwreck sites in archaeology, this, like most, is not a pristine intact wreck. The public can begin to grasp the reality of both the wrecking event itself and the limits faced by archaeologists in examining and interpreting them. Predictably, the elements have begun to reclaim this sire, burying it in the sands of Cape Cod, but there is still enough to see, next time yo u are in the neighborhood. ,!,

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Victor Mastone is the Director and Chief Archaeologist of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, Office of Coastal Zone Management, 251 Causeway Street, Suite 800, Boston, .MA 02114; www.mass.gov/czmlbuarl.

Town of Wellfleet, Massachusetts

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SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

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15

"F()Y the B&Keji:t ofAny Ftie1uM... wlw May Be Urtattudn:ted

wah S/UpfJoard Life"

John 0. Falkinburg's 1867 Diary from Sea, USS Iroquois

edited by Robert Barde

If by any accident I should be lost overboard or otherwise lose my life, will some shipmate please send the news of my death to the following named persons . ..

Mr. Davis Furnas, Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio Mr. John Burnett, Winimac, Pulaski Co, Indiana Mrs. S.E. Falkinburg, Rock Island, Illinois

M

-John 0. Falkinburg, US Str. "Iroquois" Comdr English, Commencing January 7th 1867

uch of our maritime history is captured in modest documents, written by the men and women whose lives and work created that history. Few of these authors' efforts produced works that approach the literary merit or historical acuity of a Richard Henry Dana Jr., but their words allow us to view the American epic at sea through a slightly different lens. By studying their experiences through their firsthand accounts, we can better understand the broader history of life at sea in the Age of Sail.

John Odell Falkinburg's diary is a humbl e, unpretentious document, full of curiosity, keen observations, and useful information.

He kept diaries from his experiences at sea between 1866-70, but his journal of the year 1867 is one that reveals particularly well the marvels of being at sea for the first time and observing strange and exotic cultures in new lands, intertwined with the tedium of the watch system and routines that changed little from day to day in normal weather. This essay draws principally on John Falkinburg's diary for 1867, as well as other diaries and additional papers.

Falkinburg's youth was a disjointed affair, moved here and there in the Midwest and raised by various relatives fo llowing the death of his mother, a year after his birth. His father worked as a tailor, then a clerk, and even though he remarried, he seemed unable to provide a stable home for John. Young Falkinburg and his stepmother did not get along well, and, when his father died in 1862, the principal of the local school was appointed his guardian. Perhaps it was from him that Falkinburg learned to keep a diary, for little else in his desultory schooling would seem to have prepared him for future literary endeavors.

Falkinburg's journal begins as the United States was refocusing its attention and military might away from its own recently-ended Civil War and more toward international affairs. The interest in events beyond America's borders surfaces in a brief early entry while Falkinburg is still in port in New York: "Th e US Frigate 'Susquehanna' came into port from her mission of carrying Gen. Sherman and Col. Campbell to Mexico." The opening of Japanese ports to foreign trade was part of the expansion of American commercial presence in East Asia and a useful employment of the substantial naval force built up by the Union. Falkinburg had seen action in the Civil War aboard Union "tin clads" operating on the Mississippi River, where he "had charge of all stores belonging to the engineers department." He made it as far as New Orleans before the war ended. Finding "life on the gunboats so pleasant," Falkinburg set out to find another ship. He decided to participate in the next chapter of American history-one that would take him from New York to Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Aden, Bombay, Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Nagasaki and Hiogo (Kobe), Japan .

16

John 0. Falkinburg, age 22

In the summer of 1866, John Falkinburg left his Waynesville, Ohio, home, determined to join the blue-water navy. Traveling by train ro Cleveland, where "for the first time [I] saw Lake Erie," he continued on to Buffalo. There, he hoped to find the USS Michigan, a warship he had heard might accept his enlistment. Not finding her in port, he continued east to New York. On 19 July he enlisted at "the Naval rendezvous, corner of Market and Henry streets ... for three years for general service." He was assigned to the receiving ship Vermont and reported for duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. There, he waited. And waited-six months with "nothing of importance occurring on board."

The waiting ended on 7 January 1867: Falkinburg had been SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

"drafred for rhe US Sr[eame]r 'Iroquois."' This eighr-year old sloop-of war was a veteran of rhe mass ive, world-wide search for rhe Confederate raider Shenandoah in rhe waning days of rhe Civil War. Early in 1867, she was being added ro rhe Asiatic Squadron , charged wirh opening more Japanese porrs ro foreign commerce.

For rhe rhree-year cruise, Falkinburg would be assigned ro rh e Hospital Department as a nurse-rh e second lowesr-paid raring above cabin boy.

The winter rhar Falkinburg reported aboard rhe Iroquois was birrerly cold. From his ship anchored in rhe Navy Yard, he could see "large masses of ice floaring dow n rhe river." One afternoon, borh rhe Iroquois and rhe Vermont were frozen in-once he was even able ro walk back to his old ship. On 29 January, rhe crew undertook one of a warship's more dangerous rasks. "In the afternoon all fires and lighrs were pur our; rhe amm unition boar came alongside and we took on our load of shell and powder." Two days larer, she weighed anchor and pur to sea, bound for Japan.

"Today, ar lasr, after six months of waiting .. .I left rhe Navy Yard .... Ar six bells both anchors were fished and we started down rhe Easr River." As rhey made for rhe open sea, the firsr pangs of seas ickness were upon him. " [I] was oblivious to everyrhing excepr rhe facr that I was very sea sick. Among orher things I forgot rhar it was my birthday and rhar I was nineteen years of age."

The Iroquois was builr in the New York Navy Yard in 1859.

She was rigged as a rhree-mas ted barque and equipped with auxiliary steam power. At 1,016 rons, she measured nearly 199 feet in lengrh, 33 feet 10 inches on rhe beam, and drew 13 feet of warer.

Falkinburg nored rhat she was "pierced for ren guns, bur only carr [ied] four nine-inch guns, one one-hundred pounder rifled Parror pivor gun, and one sixry-pounder rifled and a crew of abour a hundred and fifry men." Th e Iroquois was built for speed more rhan fire power. She could make eleven knors when rhe wind and her power plant held up. The captain once gor her up to 15 knots in a sriff breeze off rhe wind, bur engine failure and shaft/propeller problems were more rypical for rhis single-screw ship. Such problems would prompt the captain ro rinker constantly wirh the balance berween sream and sail: "D ecember l sr. Ar about rwo o'clock rhe rod of the feed pump ro the main engine broke and for a rime disabled rhe engine, so we ser all sail and altered our course, bur rhe engine soon being in running order we furled everyrhing and srood on our original course under sream." Using borh sreamand wind power, the Iroquois headed so urh, and John Falkinburg's iniriarion inro shipboard life began. H e was srill seasick when he witnessed one of rhe age-old rragedies of rhe sea: A man names James Harry belon ging ro rhe U.S. Srr. "Wyoming" while performing some du ry on rhe rop gallanr forecasrle was swepr overboard. This ship was broughr ro , the life buoy casr adrift and rhe life boat lowered, but he was drown ed before assistance could reach him.

SEA HTSTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Falkinburg recovered from his seas ickness by his fourrh day ar sea. Ten days out from New York, he experienced his firsr violent srorm: In rhe afternoon a violenr storm arose and we wore ship and stood off to rhe Norrh East. Got up sream bur owing ro some derangemenr of rhe propeller could nor use rhe engines. During rhe srorm rhe life boar was washed away and lost. Toward evening rhe gale subsided .

Two weeks ar sea: "divin e service was held, prayers being read by rhe first lieurenant, Lieut. Co m. Mahan ." Thar was none other than Lieurenant Commander Alfred Thayer Mahan, who would ulrimarely become a celebrated naval historian and aurhor of rhe enormously influential volum es, The Influence of Sea Power upon History. Mahan's experience onboard undoubredly gave him val uable firsr hand knowledge of life on a navy ship, bur his USS Iroquois cruise in USS Iroquois convinced him rhar his calling was nor on rhe decks of ships but rather in strategizing what ro do with rhem . Orher than commanding officers and the accused ar courts martial, few names appear in Falkinburg's journal-so we mighr assume thar Lieurenant Commander Mahan made somerhing of an impress ion on his young shipmate.

Eighreen days our: rhe ship dropped anchor off Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The French Caribbean island held no arrracrion for Falkinburg, despite "the tropical fruits ro be had in great quantity and ar prices that ro a Northerner seem wonderfully cheap." As rhe ship conrinued ro work its way sourh, some members of rhe crew found co nditions ashore more rempring. By rhe time rhey reached Brazil, he remarked rhar "large bounties are being offered here for recruirs, fifteen hundred for rhe army and eleven hundred for rh e navy all in gold. The English vessels in rhe harbor are short of hands, most of their crews having deserted ." The call of gold and rhe lure of rhe tropics provided more remprarion than Falkinburg's shipm ates could wirhsrand. On rhe nighr of22 March, four crewmen deserted; rhe nexr nighr, anorher. One of rhe crew, already in irons for rrying ro desert ar Guadeloupe, slipped his shackles and escaped wirh a shipmate. Desertions wo uld conrinue ro plague rhe ship, bur rhe problem seems ro have been foreseen by irs commanders . Supernumeraries had signed onboard in N ew York. They were nor normally involved in rhe operation of rhe vessel, bur rhey co uld expecr ro be called upon as the forces of arrririon-desertion, disease, and dearh- reduced rhe ship's company during her rhreeyea r voyage. The ship also recruited along rhe way. On 21 June, ar Cape Town, Falkinburg nored rhar: "We are enlisring men nearly every day here, ro replace rhose who have deserted."

On several occasions, Falkinburg nored a facr rhar mighr explain rheir high rare of desertion- rhe high proportion of nonAmericans in the crew of a US Navy warship. By rhe rime rhe Iroquois reached Nagasaki, Falkinburg would nore rhar:

17

O ut of o ur whole crew but 58 are Americans, or hail from there, though it is doubtful about a number of them. Very nearly as many more come fro m Ireland, and the rest from almost every European nation, though Germany has the largest proportions next to Ireland, and France is the next.

D esertions reduced not only the crew's numbers, but its m orale as well . Particularly for someone like Falkinburg, a yo ung seam an with few acquaintances aboard, such losses were particularly devastating. "While we lay at Bombay we lost by desertion six of our crew and among them were three of my most intimate frien ds .... It seems strange that no sooner do I get on terms of intimate friendship with any one, than they must needs desert." The journal also conveys the emotional impact o n yo ung Falkinburg of some of the hardships aboard a warship.

Today died John Harrigan second class firem an, of Organic disease of the heart after a long illness. H e was one of the supernumeraries that we are taking out fo r the U.S.Str. "Wyom ing." He was buried in the evening. Two bells the word was passed "All hands bury the dead ." It was the fi rst time that word has been passed since going into com m ission. The officers and crew being assembled the former aft, the latter fo rward of the port gangway. The beautiful and impressive burial service of the Episcopal church commencing "I am the res urrection and the life" etc. was read by the first lieutenant. At the words "We commit the body of our brother to the deep" the corpse, which was lying in the port gangway sewed up in his hammock with a ro und shot at his fee t and wrapped in the Union Jack, was d ro pped into the sea and the ceremony was ended . The colo rs in the meantime we re hoisted at half m as t. M ay we never be called upon to participate in another of the kind.

O ne set of events is curious fo r its absence of em otional com ment, especially considering this period in history. From 24-29 July the Iroquois visited the Comorro Islands off M adagascar, whose in habitants he described as "quite civilized and very intelligent [and] are nearly all slaveholders." D espite having just fo ught a long and bloody civil war ostensibly over the issue of slavery, Falkinburg fo und the local rulers charming and hospitable, even as he observed slaves at work "making sugars, which they exactly do as in the States though on a smaller scale." Neither the sight nor the plight of slaves seem ed to arouse any ire or empathy. Whe n a ship came in rum ored to be loaded with slaves, he noted that "as we are lying in port, of course we could not touch her."

M ail day was an impo rtant day o n any ship and aboard USS Iroquois was no exception . Falkinburg wro te daily in his diary, but he also wro te letters hom e to family and frie nds. In return, he expected-o r at least ho ped-to receive mail from ho me. In August, the Iroquois arrived in Aden , "the great m ail depot fo r As ia.

We can receive letters here fro m the U ni ted States but three weeks old if cl ose co nnexio n is m ade.... In the afternoon our mail cam e on board bu t any fri ends ifl have any seem to have forgo tten m e, fo r I received none, nor h ave I received any since we left Rio [de] Janeiro." Most of the time, m ail call had no thi ng fo r him.

O ne of his m ore poetic entries occurs just after departing

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Aden-"Fire in the sea."

Last night the sea presented the most beautiful appearan ce that I have ever seen of th e kind. The night was dark and the sea rather ro ugh and it was covered with countless millions of m edusae or jelly fish which Bashed and glittered with a phosphorescent light. Standing at the bowsprit and looking down it seems as though we were sailing through a sea of fire. At the gangways when ever a wave would strike the vessel it wo uld be light enough to read large print, and lookin g over the gunwale the side of the ship seemed to be encrusted with fire.

John Falkinburg surely kep t a diary fo r himself, but he clearly had in mind his family and friends, who wo uld want to learn about his life and travels. In this vein, he offers a description of the daily routine aboard his ship: For the benefit of any fri ends who may hereafter read this and who may be unacquainted w ith the routine of life on board of a man-of-war, I w ill here give a description of o ne days life on board. In the first place the crew are divided into two equal watches, called respectively the starboard and port watches . O ne of these is always on deck at sea and the time is so arranged that the time t h at one watch is on deck one day is taken by the other on the next. This is done by dividing the twenty four ho urs into six equal watches of four hours each and subdividing the watch from fo ur o'clock in the evening to eight into two wa tch es of two hours each called dog watches. This of course gives each watch the same hours o n du ty on alternate days. As the men fro m each part of the ship mess together, the messes are called the starboard and port forecas tle, fo re top, m ainto p , mizzen to p, and afrerguard messes, and each mess con sists of fro m fifteen to twenty or even mo re m en. At sea but o n e watch have their hammocks at night each wa tch having theirs alternately. In the morning at six bells (7 o'clock) the w atch below is called. At seven bells they get their breakfas t. This consists of hot coffee, and hard tack besides such o ther articles as they themselves may buy, each mess generally b uying at each po rt in which we to uch a sufficient quanti ty of potatoes or other vegetables to last them to the next. H alf an hour is allowed for breakfast and at eight bells (8 o'clock) this watch goes on duty and the other goes to breakfas t. Theirs over, all hands clean up and polish the brigh twork o n the guns and their battle axes, cutlasses, and whatever articles of brass wo rk there is aro und the ship, such as the taffrail, capstan head etc. I forgot to state that the deck is scrubbed every mo rning early by the watch on deck, as the wa tch on d uty is always called. At nine o'clock com es quarters, and this is fo ll owed on most fin e days by drilling either at great guns, sm all arms, or single sti cks. This over, if the wea ther is fin e there is nothing to be do ne and the men sew, read , play checkers, dominoes, etc until noon when watch goes to dinner. This on fo ur days of the week consists of pork and beans, once canned meat and duff, once salt beef and d u ff, and once of canned beef and ri ce. We also d raw during t he week, butter, molasses, vin-

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

egar, d ried apples and pickles. At one bell (half past twelve) they go on deck, and the other watch get dinner. In the afternoon the men- if the weath er be fine- dispose of their time as best suits them selves, except the unfo rtunate "black listers" who fo r trivial offences are sentenced to do all manner of odd jobs while the oth ers do nothing. At five o'clock comes supper in the sam e m anner as dinner and it consists of the same as breakfas t witli th e exception that sometimes tea is served out in lieu of coffee. At six or seven hamm ocks are piped down, to o ne watch, and by eight o'clock everyth ing is quiet for the night.

Life at sea, especially in fair weather, was one of ro utine. M ost days, his journal entry reads, "no thing of interest occurring on board," fo llowed by a brief descrip tion of the weather. Other than references to deserters co urt-m artialed for "insolence," Falkinburg gives us few insights into relations between crew and offi cers. It is obvious fro m his writing, however, that not all was well aboard the Iroquois. O n 5 N ovember in H o ng Ko ng: The captain had all hands called aft and gave us a severe lecture upon things which have happened of lace on board.

It seem s that las t nigh t while taking on coal, some person threw a piece of it and struck the midshipman of the watch .

Beside chis, a good deal of the rigging has been fo und cue of late. The captain wo und up by informing us that until he fo und out the perpetrator of the first offense, he wo uld stop all m oney, liberry, and other privileges, and chat no t one of the crew should set foot on shore until he did so, if was not until two years from now, and then disrated one of the quarterm asters fo r using profane language. In the evening he ordered that the crew should stand sea watches while lying in the harbor. The weather all day was exceedingly pleasant.

That sam e week, he noted that "the American mail steamer of the line fro m San Francisco to Chi na recently established is expected in here daily, being now overdue." This wo uld have been the Pacific M ail Steam ship Company (PMSS), whose Colorado had inaugura ted steamship service connecting San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Japan that sam e year. O n 14 November the newest PMSS sh ip wo uld arrive on her initial sailing to the Far East: "In the afternoon , the U nited States m ail steamer 'China' cam e in from San Fran cisco h aving o ur American mail on board. I was not fortu nate enough to get anything fro m home, nor have I since we left Bombay. The weather is most delight ful at presen t."

The year 1867 ended with the Iroquois lying off Hiogo (now part of Kobe) in Osaka Bay alongside fo ur ocher American warships: H artford, Wachusset, Aroostook, and Oneida. There were also ten English men-of-war in the harbor, plus one French warship, with a constant coming and going as the two m ain fleets were relieved or reinfo rced . As they headed in to the new year, the year of the M eiji Restoration , one feels the tension building, preparato ry to opening the port of Osaka.

From all acco unts there seems to be a probabiliry of a serious fight at the opening of the port of Osaca [sic] , which will take place abo ut the first of next month. The Tycoon SEA HISTORY 124, AU TUMl'N 2008

or Emperor has been all along favo rable to the opening of the ports and in this he has been supported by a few of the seaboard Daimos, or princes, who perceive the benefi ts of fo reign intercourse, but m ost stro ng opposed by the mass of the princes who reside in the interior. We have the news now that the Tycoon has been deposed and afrerwards assassinated and a new emperor ch osen, who, backed by the hostile Daimos, has determined to hold the ports. There w ill most probably be a civil war over it and we will probably be drawn into it, as according to the rreary made by the Tycoon with the American , English, French and D urch ministers, the port was to be opened, and the naval commanders of the respective countries have determined that it shall be opened, peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary.

To this end there will be presen t at the opening of the port all the m en of war that can be gathered in these waters, over every squadron and nation.

The las t entry in the journal begins the year 1868: January 1: In the m orning after quarters all hands were called to muster and chis being the first Wednesday in the month, the Articles of War were read, after which the captain made us a little speech in which he co mplimented us on the m anner in which everything was carried on when the Admiral was on board, and informed us that the affair at H ong Kong was fo rgotten, chat he should give us m oney every month and liberry as often as he could. He then read som e of the squad ron orders of the Admiral, and the proceedings of a General court m artial held o n the " Wachusset" some time since in th e case of a couple of deserters, as a warning. H e then perfo rmed an act of clem ency which we did not expect, viz. released two prisoners who deserted at Nangasaki [sic], and were recaptured. They were both down fo r a general court martial, and would almost certainly have been sentenced to two years in the Penitentiary and loss of pay. H e finished up by rating a number of the crew, and when he piped down all considered that we had received a very good New Years presen t.

So ended what must have been the most eventful year in John Falkinburg's life. The next year he was transferred to the Piscataque (soon renamed the Delaware) and continued to see du ry off Japan, China, and the Philippines. Station du ry was tiresome-the only shots fired were touched off as salutes to dignitaries. The journals of those years well convey the tedium. The Delaware returned to New York in 1870, and Falkinburg returned to O hio. H e became a school teacher and principal, a pillar of his communiry, and never left- but he left us a journal of that marvelous first year at sea. -!

Special thanks go to j ohn 0. Falkinburg's great-grandson, Wayne Myers, and his cousin, Jeffrey Sawtelle, keeper of the diaries, for making them available to the author and assisting in the preparation of this article. Robert Barde is Deputy D irector and Academic Coordinator ofthe Institute ofBusiness and Economic Research, University of California, Berkeley. H e is the author of numerous articles on immigration history, and his new book, Immigration at the Golden Gate, is reviewed in this issue of Sea History, page 50.

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Romance Under Sail: the Life and Legacy of Captain and Mrs. Arthur Kimberly and the Brigantine Romance

by Captain Bert Rogers and Captain Daniel D . Moreland n the last issue of Sea H istory, we met a yo ung Arthur Kimberly and learned abo ut his transformation from Sea Scout to master m ariner. We left the tale in 1966, when Captain Kimberly, known as "Skipper," and his new bride Gloria C loutier staked all to purchase the brigantine Romance. For all those who sailed in Romance over the ensuing twenty-three years in voyages throughout the Caribbean, South Pacific, and around the world, that event marked the beginning of the story, the legacy, and the lessons that were learned from a consummate m as ter of sail, a staunch little ship, and the endless challenge of the sea.

I

The Story of the Ship Romance was built in Denmark m 1936 and christened the Grethe, an auxiliary-powered two-masted trading vessel.

Grethe was beautifully and powerfully built of Danish oak and beech at the renowned shipyard of]. Ring-Andersen, in Svendborg, Denmark, which carries on to this day. Her design, lines, and construction were typical of the legion of stout and seawo rthy vessels built in northern Europe in the early 19th century to withstand the rough weather typical of the North Sea. The Grethe made her living, like so many other vessels, trading along surprisingly extended routes from all around Europe, out even as far as Greenland. Modest facto ries and manufacturing plants up small rivers and harbors needed a steady supply of all the 200 tons that Grethe could load and carry.

After nearly thirty years of hauling cargo, Grethe was discovered by Hollywood. In 1964, Captain Alan Villiers was contracted by MGM Studios to select and deliver a suitable vessel for the m aking of "Hawaii," MGM's film version ofJames Michener's ep ic novel of the same name.

MGM needed a brigantine to sail to Hawaii to star in the movie with Julie Andrews and Max von Sydow. Budget did not seem to be a problem , and Villiers knew just where

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That the Kimberlys called their brigantine, Romance, concedes at once their allegiance to the quest of transcendent experience in life, intangibles which are often mocked today. Who would use a word like "romance" these days when talking about anything serious? But they sailed under that banner, like Masefield's "Dauber," who sailed "in quest of that one beauty God put me here to find." I think ofArt Kimberly in this connection because, in his sailing for far horizons under all conditions of wind and sea, his aims were so exalted-matched to an intensely practical approach to the everyday needs of the ship and her people and a mastery of sailorly arts and craftsmanship, which no one who sailed with him ever forgot. Rather, they have done their best in their later careers to emulate and live up to his standards and pass on to others what they learned from him aboard a most romantic ship. - Peter Stanford, NMHS President Emeritus

to go. H e went to Denmark, selected the Grethe, and set out to re-rig her as the brigantine that twenty-three years of Romance sailors would come to know and love.

The refit of the Grethe was something of a national swan song fo r the old-time m arin e artisans there. Villiers gave the project his all and so did the Danish riggers, shipwrights, sailmakers, and blacksmiths who we re pulled out of retirement.

The job they did was just about as perfect as could be: rigging, m as ting, spars, iron-work, d ecks, taffrail, Bax-linen sails, hemp lanyards, and all the detailing one could hope . The square- rigged fore-mast of the brigantine was an exact sister to a mast from out of Villiers's former ship, the Joseph Conrad (ex-Georg Stage), down to the very las t detail.

Meanwhile, Arthur Kimberly had SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Cap tain A rthur and M rs. Gloria Kim berly aboard Rom an ce, 1313

Romance was Skipper and M rs. K's ship, their home, their passion, their mission in life. Skipper's "marineros," what they called their Romance crew, were the prime benefi ciaries of their dedication and commitment to ships and the sea. John M asefield once said that "we will not see such ships again ."

H e was right, but he sho uld have added that we will not see such seam en as well.

The offshore voyages were as good as it gets for blue-water seafarin g. Weeks and weeks of uninterrupted passages gave fo rtunate Romance sailors the opportunity to feel the

m et and wed Glori a C loutier in Tahiti in 1961. Kimberly was then captain of the famous brigantine Yankee, but he did not own the ship. After they were married, the Kimberlys set out to find their own vessel.

They started small, running a little schooner out of the Bahamas, bur they had their eyes on another level of seafaring, if they could only find just the right vessel.

To Sea It was in 1966 that the Kimberlys had set up temporary quarters ashore in New England and were in contact with a number of yacht brokers. In the m ail one afternoon, amongst a batch of bills and junk m ail, was an envelope bearing the listing for the saltiest brigantine they had ever seen. MGM had finished their movie, the Grethe was sailed fro m H awaii to San Diego and put up for sale at a price to move.

The Kimberlys made some pho ne calls, ran to the bank, quit tlheir jobs, packed their bags and, within days, were standing on the deck of the brigantine that would be their hom e for the next cwenry-three years. They gave h er the nam e Romance, partly from their love of the sea and partly hearkening back to a clipper ship, Romance of the Seas.

From 1966 to 1989, the Kimberlys sailed their beloved , beautiful , salcy, and seaworthy briganti ne wid1 yo ung men and wom en fo r crew- some paid, some paying.

They sailed on man y trips to the Galapagos and the South Pacific, cwo epic voyages around the world a nd countless eight-day trips in the Virgin Islands and the Lesser A nti lles. No G PS, no Loran , no RD F, no Radar, no single side-band radio, no program directors, no office ashore-just their shi p, a sextant, a lead -line, Skipper's knowled ge, Mrs. K's dedication, and a whole lot of will power.

SEA HISTORY 124, AU TUMN 2008

satisfying rhythm of standing watch . To sail on Romance was to be prepared to roll out at-or before-"all hands" was called; to grow ro understand the benefits of a daily fare of hard work for the ship becweenwatch. There was always work to do: sewing sails, m aintaining the rig, endless paint and soogee, and as always, fixing what was broken with m aterials at hand. A deep-sea voyage in Romance was a direct connectio n to seafarin g life as it is so often described, but so seldom experienced .

One tim e during Romance's second wo rld voyage, the tiller stub, to which the steering chains made fas t, broke off, leaving no way to directly control the rudder. This happened, naturally, as the ship was making up for landfall to the Tuam otus in the South Pacific, known on the charts as the "D angerous Archipelago." These are low-lying atolls

surro unded by treacherous coral reefs, with the m ost prominent feature observable from sea being the occasional cumulous clo ud reBecting green on its underside from the lagoon below. In a passage of some thousand miles with no electro nic navigation, steering a reliable course was extremely important in o rder to maintain and accurately plo t their track using dead recko ning. Skipper and his crew steered with just the sails, while they jury- rigged new steering gear using a spliced wire-strop to the rudderhead and tackles to each quarter.

All in a day's work fo r a ship's crew at sea, and just one of countless examples of the self-s ufficiency that was the culture of Romance.

In Romance, marinero "self improvem en t" was always self-directed and selfmotivated. There was no curriculum , no reading list. Skipper's formal lessons were reserved for training his crew for the job at hand : wire splicing and seizing when part of the standing rig needed to be renewed; sailmaking when a new sail was ready for second layout; caulking and ship's carpentry when the ship was hauled for m aintenance.

Studying celestial navigation , meteorology, fan cy work, ship lo re, and maintaining one's kit filled the quiet hours between watch and sleep. A new crewm an was ill advised to brandish a sextant for stars or meridian passage until he or she had first shown that they knew the way of the ship.

Once that threshold was passed, though , Skipper becam e a great resource for advanced knowledge. To be as ked by Skipper

21

to take a noon sight fo r the ship was a de facto, if unofficial, rite of passage.

Romance offered about as "real" an experience of seafaring that a yo ung person could get, with everything related to and for the life of the ship and her voyage.

Romance's ocean passages were great fo r their distance, deep water, and lo ngterm exposure to seafaring life, but the shorter trips in th e Caribbean taught her crew just as much , and in some ways m ore. While o n a trade-wind passage under stuns'ls across the South Atlantic, the crew migh t not to uch the braces for days at a time. Sailing am ongst the close islands of the Virgins with a much reduced crew, however, was an intensified experience in sail- and ship-handling. In the Virgin Islands, three o r fo ur crewm embers wo uld wake up to the so und of the galley waterpump, wash down the decks, scarf breakfas t (which Skipper made while listening to VI radi o) , loose sail , heave up the anchor, set

sail, tack up Sir Francis Drake Channel, sail in close-hauled to the Bitter End (Virgin Go rda, BVI), sail o ut again the next day, end up at Foxy's (Jost Va n D yke), run boats all night after helping out as stand-in bar-

Sailing and living aboard Ro mance allowed her crew to learn and master every element of seamanship, .from sailmaking to celestial navigation-without any formal lesson-plan. Self-reliance and personal responsibility were the lessons her crew would take anywhere, whether to their next ship or to other p ursuits ashore.

22

tender while Foxy played his Calypso, heave up the anchor again , paint, tar, varnish, set sail again, tack and wear, furl sails late in the evening and do it all again in the morning.

Ki mberly's crew stowed the gear, maintained the ship's engine, sent yards and mas ts up and down, bent sail and sent sail down, rigged the jib-boom in and out, and hauled braces, hauled braces, and hauled braces some m o re. Romance's anchor wind lass was a m achine of solid iro n and limited efficiency. O ne yo ung crewmember straight from college, on his fi rst time at th e wi ndlass panted tha t "this was pretty good," th ough the lad was clearly dying.

Coughing, sweatin g, wh eezing-he seemed to appreciate th e windlass that many others found reason to curse. When asked to expand (over the clink-clink-clink of incoming chain), he gasped "can yo u imagine how hard th is wo uld be without this windlass?"

Those were the days w h en yo ung sailors earned calloused hands, sun-bro nzed backs, and bellies yo u could light a match on from that damned anchor w indlass. O nce, during a season in the Virgin Islands with just a few yo ung m en for crew, Skipper installed a donkey-engine to haul in the chain on the windlass. It took a short time fo r that to fa il and fo r Skipper to be reminded that No rwegian Steam is more reliable than diesel power. For Romance's m arineros, it was back to "hands to the w indl ass" ... .again .

The Caribbean seasons were Romance's bread-and-butter, but the lure of the wo rld voyages was always stro ng with the Kimberlys . Romance's two circumnavigations and subsequent voyages to the South Pacific

SEA HJ STORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

I

provided long deep-sea passages, often under stuns'ls, following the explorers, whale ships, and South Seas traders of the age of sail to Grenada, San Blas, Panama, Galapagos, Pitcairn, the Marquesas, the Tuamorus, Tahiti, Huahine, Raiarea, Bora Bora, Rarotonga, Palmerston, Samoa, the Tokelaus, Fiji, New Hebrides, the Solomons, Borneo, Singapore, Java, Bali, Cocos Keeling, the Seychelles, the Co mmoroes, Durban and Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro, Fernando de Noronha and more.

The places Romance sailed were awesome, but the ship herself was the thing.

The ship came first, and that was deepest lesson to learn. Thar, and the commitment to the "properly way"-rhe way that Skipper taught, lived, and sailed the world-the way of the ship.

Skipper and Mrs. K sold Romance in 1989. Sadly, she was lost in 1995, after almost sixty years of remarkable service. That stout Danish trader and world voyager had her back broken beyond repair in a devastating hurricane while close to the end of a complete rebuild at West End, Tortola. The damage was extensive; there was no reasonable choice but to give her up. Then , as she was being towed out to sea, she got away from her rug and now rests in the waters off the British Virgin Islands, but we do not know exactly where.

The legacy of Skipper, Mrs. K, and the brigantine Romance is carried on in the contemporary world of tall ships and sail training. Many of the marineros of Romance have gone on to command their own ships and co found sail training organizations.

Some: work as sailmakers, riggers, and shipwrigh1rs; others as teachers, writers, and marine e:nvironmentalisrs. Romance marineros and even her marinero "descendenrs" are at the: heart of some of today's most active

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

sail-training organizations, including the barque Picton Castle; the brig Niagara; the schooner A. J Meerwald; the schooners of the Ocean Classroom Foundation, Ha rvey Gamage, Spirit of Massachusetts, and Westward; the American Sai l Training Association , and Sea History magazine- just to name a few examples. The marineros have taken the lessons from Romance and expressed them again to their own crews and colleagues, maintaining the unbroken commitment to seam anship and the properly way that is the core of the Romance legacy.

The following excerpt from Gloria Kimberly's unpublished memoir, perhaps sums up the mission and the meaning of Romance best: For decades, there were no sailing square-riggers in the world, save only Irving Johnson's famous Brigantine Yankee, now gone, and the sail training ships open only to naval and merchant cadets.

An era was done. All that remained were the legends and pictures. Few men would ever again stand spread-legged on a wooden deck and look up into that maze of wire rope, hemp, and soaring spars, to wind-swollen canvas overhead.

Romance's suit ofsails, including stuns'ls, were made onboard, hand-sewn by Skipper and his crew.

Few would hear again the windsong in the high rigging, or smell the clean tang of spray, oakum, and tar.

Surely we need sailing ships today, as much as we ever did. Ir is far too good a life to be lost forever. Ir tests the mettle of a man's soul, yet rewards him with freedom, peace, and beauty, which those who are bound

Aboard Romance, young men and women learned the value ofhard work: taking care of the ship, their shipmates, and the oceans-lessons taken ashore or to another ship that have served them well. (left to right) Barque Picton Castle's captain/owner Dan Moreland, Clyde Sanadi, Clark Voss, and "Big John" pause for a photo in the midst ofan adventure ofa lifetime.

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to the land will never know. There is a further need for square rig today, a chance for a yo ung man o r young woman to go to sea. Even a small sh ip will do, as long as she is the real th ing, and sailed by a seaman.

Such a ship was the brigantine Romance.

Such a seaman is Arthur Kim berly. And such a soul was Mrs. K. ,!, Captain Bert Rogers is the Executive Director of the American Sail Training Association and the farmer captain ofsail training ships, including the Spirit of Massach usetrs, among others.

One of the Kimberlys' ''rnarineros, " he joined Romance in 1978 and served as sailmaker far her second world voyage, 1979-81. Daniel Moreland served in Romance .from 1973-77 and is the captain ofthe world-voyaging Picton Castle. (right) Children tend to flock to Capt. Kimberly. lhe world-voyaging master mariner has always shared his adventures with children.

Even in his retirement, he occasionally visits elementary schools to share the stories ofhis adventures and teach a little bit ofknot tying.

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SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

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25

Annual Awards Dinner to Honor Captain Arthur M. Kimberly, the late Gloria Kimberly, Peter A. Aron and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston On 24 October, the Society will acknowledge those of particularly distinguished service to the maritime community at our gala Annual Awards Dinner at the magnificent New York Yacht Club.

Dinner co-chairs John R. McDonald Jr. and Captain Cesare Sorio invite you to join us for a joyous celebration of great maritime achievements. This event is traditionally sold out, so make your reservations early. For more information, please visit our web site at www.seahistory.com.

ir Robin Knox-Johnston, CBE, will receive the NMHS Distinguis hed Service Award for utilizing his extraordinary accomplishments and influence as a world-renowned yachtsman to promote the heritage of seafaring.

On 22 April 1969, aboard his 32foot home-built wooden boat Suhaili, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, after 312 days at sea, became the first man ever to circumnavigate the globe no n-stop and single-handed. He was the only person of the nine contestants to finis h that grueling Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and donated his prize money to the family of the contestant who perished in the attempt.

He has been described as Britain's greatest-ever yachtsman.

25 years later, in 1994, he won the Jules Verne Trophy, along with Kiwi yachting legend, Sir Peter Blake, for the fastest circumnavigation. Their time was 74 days, 22 hours, 18 minutes and 22 seconds. This was the team's second attempt at this prize after their first one failed in 1992 , when their 90-foot

S

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catamaran, Enza, was damaged.

Born 17 March 1939 in Putney in Lo ndon, Knox-Johnston grew up on England's Wirral Peninsula. He served in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy from 1957 to 1965.

Sir Robin has devoted considerable time and energy to both education and charitable work. In 1992 he was invited to become president of the Sail Training Association, where he served until 2001 .

During his tenure , Knox-Johnston oversaw the collection offunds to replace the STA's vessels Sir Winston Churchill and Malcolm Miller with the new, larger brigs Prince William and Stavros S. Niarchos.

He was trustee of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich from 1992 to 2002 and is still trustee of the National Maritime Museum - Cornwall at Falmouth, where Suhaili is berthed today. The yacht has been refitted and took part in the Round the Island Race in June 2005.

In October 2006, at the age of 67, Sir Robin embarked on another solo race aro und the world. He was the oldest competitor in the Velux 5 Oceans Race, challenging the very best sailors in the extreme high-performance Open 60 class.

Among the many perils were storms in the Bay of Biscay and the big wind and waves of the Roaring 40's in the Southern Ocean.

After months of intensity and hardsh ip, on 4 May 2007 , Knox-Johnston successfu ll y completed his second solo circ umnavigation in his yacht SAGA Insurance, finishing the race almost 200 days faster than in 1969.

Knox-Johnstonhas been recognized with mu ltiple awards, fellowships and honorary degrees. In 1969 Knox-Johnston was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) and he was knighted in 1995.

Knox- Johnston has also had a

successful business career. In 1995 he created, and still chairs, Clipper Ventures, a prom inent sports marketing outfit ded icated to running and promot in g world-class marine events. In 1996 Sir Robin established the first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and has since worked with the Clipper Vent ures company as chairman to progress the race to higher levels every year.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has a lengthy bibliography, promoting yachting th rough his many popular books, particularly A World of My Own , History of Yachting , and Cape Horn.

A new book, Force of Nature (Penguin Books, 2008) is Sir Robin's firsthand account of his extraordinary return to the ultra-competitive, punishing world of single-handed offshore racing.

The book recounts his harrowing second solo circumnavigation of the worl d aboard the yacht SAGA Insurance.

NMHS Overseer and accomp li shed yachtsman Richard du Mou lin, who beat the world's fastest time sail ing from Hong Kong to New York, will present the award.

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Commander of Coast Guard Atlantic Area and Coast Guard Defense Force East, and the former commanding officer for three years of USCG Barque Eagle, will present the award to Captain Kimberl y.

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he NMHS Karl Ko1tum American Ship Trust A ward will be presented to Captain Arthur M. Kimberly, his late wife Gloria Kimberl y, and the brigantine Romance. Known to crew members as "Skipper and Mrs. K," the Kimberlys are outstanding leaders in the sail-training field and are responsible for training many of the crews of today ' s sailing tall ships.

In the words of a former shipmate, "Theirs was the way of the ship, no more, no less , and to sai l in Romance was to drink deep of the traditions and values of seamanship. " Between 1966 and 1989, Captain Arthur and Mrs. Gloria Kimberly lived and sailed their Danish-built, 100-foot brigantine, Romance, with working guests and able crew, passing on the traditions of sailing under square rig to hundreds of young people (and some young at heart) who were lucky enough to get a berth onboard. Some stayed for a week, others for years. Romance completed two circumnavigations and at least five separate voyages to the South Pacific. In between, they carried guests on shorter voyages in the Virgin Islands and through the Caribbean Sea. The Kimberlys' and Romance's legacy is deep and extends far beyond Romance's crew list. Many of their proteges eventually moved on to other ships and are teaching what they le arn ed aboard Romance to their shipmates, who are now keeping those traditions and skills alive and passing it forward. You can learn more about them in this issue on pages 20-25 and also in Sea History 123 (Summer 2008), pages 14-16.

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he NMHS David A. O'Neil Sheet Anchor A ward will be presented to Peter A. Aron, founder of Sea History's Publi sher 's Circle and a lon g-time generous supp01ter of the Society. Thi s award recognizes outstanding leadership in furtherin g the Society.

Peter A. Aron has held a life-long interest in maritime history and supported or become directly involved with a wide variety of maritime hi story and preservation projects. He is quick to credit hi s interest and a good deal of hi s knowledge about history and the sea to hi s late father, Jack R. Aron. Peter and Jack Aron were recipients of the NMHS Ship Trust Award in 1990.

For the past several years, Peter Aron has been a strong supp01ter of Sea History magazine. " It is the best written, the most honestly researched , and just plain mostattractiveof all the publications about history and the sea. Each issue gives everyone who lo ves ships and things-nautical a great 'fi x,"' he said. Mr. Aron is a leader in promoting the written voice of the heritage, the magazines and books that record the seafaring story.

Peter Aron's major involvement with maritime history was his service for nearly thirty years as a trustee of the South Street Seaport Mu seum , for which he served as chairman the last thirteen years. He and hi s family signed on at the very beginning, when Peter Stanford and Jakob Isbrandtsen made the rounds of all the maritime-related companies in lower Manhattan seeking help for the then-n ew waterfront museum. The Arons , then major importers of coffee, cocoa and sugar, along with the J. Aron Charitable Foundation, Inc ., soo n became supporters of South Street Seaport Mu seum. They were among the early "plankowners" for Wavertree when she was found by Karl Kortum in Buenos Aires and towed to New York for preservation. For the next 30-plus years they supported numerous projects to stabili ze, preserve and restore the vessel.

Peter Aron and his father were also instrumental in saving the barque Peking from the ship-breakers in England in 197 4 and oversaw extensive work to make her suitable as an exhibit ship for public visitation at the Seaport.

Over the years Peter Aron and hi s family have helped with the preservation of a number ofNMHS-supported vessels, including Ernestina, Matilda , and Lettie G. Howard. He served for a time on the Advisory Council of the American Merchant Marine Museum at the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy, only about a mile down the road from hi s home in Kings Point, NY. At present he is a trustee of the Wood s Hole Ocean ograp hic Institution.

You are coraiaffy inviteeÂŁ to the NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S

Annual A wards Dinner Friday, 24 October 2008 Reservation s are $3 75 per perso n; $7 ,000 sponsors a table for ten , plus a feature ad page in the dinner journal. Call 800-221-664 7 , ext 0 to make yo ur reservation. Black tie optional.

Visit www.seahistory.org for more inform ation .

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

27

Treat yourself. .. ... to a wonderful getaway with these great items-all featured in our Annual Awards Dinner Auction. Below is a tempting sampling of some of what our auction has to offer. Please remember that all proceeds from the auction support the essential work of the Society.

Christie's Auction House will once again provide an auctioneer. If you are unable to attend NMHS's gala event on 24 October, let us bid for you! Call 800-221-6647, ext 0, and we'll set you up with your own personal bidding representative. We'll bid by the auctioneer's increments up to your designated reserve bid.

Race With the Best Day Sail, Dinner and Evening Race aboard four-time class winner of the Newport-Bermuda Race. Only one other boat in history has accomplished this feat of four consecutive wins. You don't need to be an experienced sailor to enjoy an afternoon sail, light dinner, and evening race aboard Rich du Moulin' s 37 foot ocean racing yacht Lora Ann sailing out of the Larchmont (New York) Yacht Club. You will get a lesson in racing. Rich and a few of his racing crew will take four guests for an entertaining and exciting adventure. The racing will be low-key, but for real. Winning (and losing) crews have been known to enjoy post-race festivities at the Club bar. Donated by Richard T. du Moulin. Value: $4,000.

Palm Beach Getaway Enjoy a week away in the quiet elegance of The Palm Beach Hotel in an individually designed studio complete with all the amenities. Conveniently located on the island of Palm Beach, Florida, the hotel evokes an ambience of subdued sophistication. Available now through 2009, with the exception of January-February (subject to any prior bookings). Beautiful pool, walking distance to beach and intracoastal waterway, convenient to shopping and restaurants. Donated by Jean Wort. Value: $1 ,000.

Schooner Adirondack Private New York Harbor Cruise for 40 Private champagne cruise aboard the schooner Adirondack in New York Harbor departing from Chelsea Piers with a standard open bar for up to 40 guests. Valid MondayFriday. Expires 5 June 2009. Donated by Richard Scarano and Classic Harbor Lines. Value: $2,500.

Grand Mayan Resort Mexico Vacation Vacation in style at Grand Mayan Resort in Mexico. One-bedroom apartment with living room, kitchen, bath, and terrace for any week in 2009 starting Friday, Saturday, or Sunday except Christmas, Easter or New Year's. Sleeps four adults. Can be at Grand Mayan Resott in Acapulco, Pue1to Penasco (Sea of Cortez), Los Cabos, Nuevo Vallarta, or Riviera Maya. Donated by Cesare Soria. Value: $2,500.

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SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Manhattan Champagne Cruise for 30 Private champagne cruise aboard classic yacht Manhattan in New York Harbor, departing from Chelsea Piers with standard open bar for up to 30 guests. Valid MondayFriday. Expires 5 June 2009. Donated by Richard Scarano and Classic Harbor Lines. Value: $3 ,200.

Annapolis Boat Show Weekend Getaway in America's Sailing Capital October getaway weekend includes accommodations for two couples at the 1775 Samuel Hutton House in the heart of the Annapolis's National Landmark Historic District during the Annapolis Boat Show, a.k.a the United States Sailboat Show, billed as the largest in-the-water sailboat show in the world! Donated by Sam'l Hutton Associates.

Value: $4,000.

Ski Week at Sugarbush Resort Enjoy the natural beauty and mountain environment as you make a true escape from the everyday for a week in a four-bedroom condo at Sugarbush Resort in Warren, Vermont. The condo is situated in the South Village section, immediately adjacent to the ski area, affording ski-on/ski-off access to the Lincoln Peak lifts under normal winter snow conditions. Located in the Mad River Valley, Sugarbush Resort is the place all serious skiers must visit at least once if they consider themselves to be truly "great." Use by mutual agreement with owner. Donated

by Robert Phillips. Value: $4,000.

Seven-Day Polynesian Cruise Experience the most alluring destination on earth in a cabin for two aboard the luxurious Star Flyer as you sail French Polynesia from Tahiti for seven days. Cruises are subject to availability and are confirmed within 30 days of sailing. Read about the NMHS cruise on page 8. Donated

by Star Clippers Cruises. Value: $5,000.

Golf Foursome in Nantucket at Sankaty Head A unique opportunity for you and 3 friends to play a round at Sankaty Head Golf Course on Nantucket in 2009. Includes green fees, carts, and lunch. Available anytime except during tournaments. Winning bidder pays caddy fees. Named a National Historic District, Nantucket has changed little since the 17th century, and offers history, natural beauty, culture, world-class dining, a relaxed atmosphere and island way-oflife. Donated by H. C. Bowen Smith. Priceless.

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

29

Lancing, A Ship for the Record

by OlafT. Engvig

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he fo ur-mas ted, full-rigged ship Lancing had the abili ty to reach great speeds, but she was never pu t to the rest before she flew Norwegian co lors. D espite the glamour in making record runs, in truth, m any windjammer captains, even if they knew they had a speedy ship, understood that their job was to delive r th e ship and its cargo safely, in due time, whil e mini m izing damages along the way.

A few of Lancings captains were particularly skilled at getting the maximum drive out of her (and her crew) withour injury to either. These men we re the virtuosos within their trade that succeeded in maki ng record-breaking passages, time and time aga in . Speed records at sea were typically bro ken when conditions were ideal- if the wind blew a gale fro m just the right direction, for example. But that rarely happened , and if it did blow very hard , the sea got ugly. To measure a ship's capacity for speed , therefore, it is imperative to co nsider perfo rmances on different routes aro und the wo rld and consistency over years.

Lancing has no t been acknowledged beyo nd Scandinavia as one of th e wo rld's greatest sailing ships because, perhaps, the documentation of her acco mplishments were primarily derailed in No rwegian. She was documented in English for the years she flew the Union Jack, bur her British captains never seemed to get her up to speed.

Lancing was built in 1865 of iron

by Robert Napier & Sons, G lasgow, as the steamer Pereire for the French America Line, just fo ur yea rs after the company was established . She was rigged as a th ree-mas ted barque. H er engine was relatively sm all, compared to the ship 's m assive size. Pereire was buil t with an easy-dri ven hull, and, like many first-generation steamships, had a block coefficient much lower than her successors.

Pereire was 356 feet long by 43 .8 fee t on the beam, and drew 27 .3 feet of water.

With a length-to-beam ratio of 8. 5: 1, she was like an eno rmous Viking lo ng ship.

H er displacement was 5,2 17 tons and she m easured 3,01 8 gross tons. In sea trials, her 1,250-horsepower engine demo nstrated that Pereire could make 15 kno ts. H er first crossing fro m Le H avre ro New York in 1866 was acco mplished in nine days and 4 30

ho urs. W ith that, she got lots of publicity.

The Emperor Napoleon III even came o n board fo r a look around. With an average cruising speed of thirteen kn ots, she was co nsidered the fas test steamship crossing the Atlantic-even better than Cunard's China that had achieved a record run between New York and G reat Britain.

In 1871 the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi sailed to New York aboard the Pereire to select a locati o n and co me up with a design fo r an internatio nal monument of liberty, an idea that was gaining momentum in France to create a gift for the centennial of the signing of the D eclaration of Independence. As the shi p entered New York harbo r, Bartholdi was on deck looking toward the great city. It was

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at that moment that he got a vision of the locatio n of where to place a m assive statue of a great goddess, with a torch in one hand, w ho would welcome immigrants and inspire them in their new home, the land of freedom. Bartholdi made a sketch of a great statue with Lower Manhattan in the background, and this first draft, made from the deck of Pereire, closely resembles the statue that later was erected on Liberty Island.

Pereire was the Queen M ary of her day, where the rich and famous from the old world would travel in ultimate comfort, while all the emigrants she later carried would travel one-way. Among her m any notable passengers was science fiction writer Jules Verne, who later used Pereire in the introduction of his famous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, published in France in 1870.

In 1880, when Pereire had been actively working for fifteen years, she caught fire.

Sh e was purposely hit with a torpedo to extinguish the flames and subsequently sank.

She was raised and repaired, and, in the process, was fitted with two funnels. She continued her passenger service until 1887, mainly as an emigrant ship, when she was wrecked

Lancing

(above) The steamship Pereire with two fonnels as an emigrant ship to America, late in her steaming life. (right) The ship, here after her conversion to a fo ll-rigged ship, at her homeport in Kristiana, N orway, 19 07. Only once in her lifetime did Lanci ng, ex-Pereire, sail to Kristiania (now Oslo).

She visited to San Francisco seven times and was six times in New York. She sailed all over the world, but rarely home.

SfEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

and written off. The wreck discussed Lancings capacwas sold to new owners from ity for speed with respect to who might be in comLondon, who salvaged the mand: "With her great hull and had her towed to Blyth, on the no rtheast coast length and heavy yards she was not an easy ship of England, where she would ro handle, and the Norbe co nverted to carry cargo wegians certainly seemed under sai l. to have got the hang of At Blyth, she was fither better than her Britted with three steel masts. ish officers as I can find Pereire's foremast was moved aft and made in to the jigger, no specially good passages under the Red Ensign ." and they gave her a surprisingly short bowsprit. H er Lancing had several owners from several counlength overall increased by tries throughout her sixtyalmost fifty feet to 405 feet.

Ballast tanks were installed in year career. A. E. Kinnear the former engine room and of London purchased her in 1888 and later sold pump room, and a boiler and her to a Johan Bryde of steam winches were installed on deck. The ship's five waSandefjord, Norway. In 1896, her title was transtertight bulkheads were kept. ferred to Frank Ross of This was highly unusual for a windjammer and added Quebec, though Norweimmensely to her strength. gian interes ts were sti ll involved. While in port Instead of one big hold, the converted ship had three in San Fra ncisco in 190 1, she was transferred back separate cargo holds and to Norway: the new own"tweendeck." In her rig, she carried 24 squaresails, 9 stayers were Johan Johanse n of Lysaker, with Krisriania sails, and a spanker. In 1889, (now Oslo) as home port. she was described by Lloyd's Register of Shipping as the Pereirel Lancing had been four-masted, full-rigged ship a workhorse, carrying Lancing, a cargo-carrying people and hauling cargo all over rhe world for forwindj ammer of 2,785 gross tons with the designation of ty-six years, but, after the turn of the century, her life "Class Al" vessel. changed drastically. The Many years later, when she was being surveyed for Lancing in dry dock. The sharp Lines of her huff reveal her designer's goal of twentieth century began her class renewal in Gree- building a ship that could attain great speeds. In her case, she was incredibly with a period when sailing nock, an elderly surveyor fast, both as a steamship and as a sailing ship. Over a twenty-year period, and ships could rely on good came on board. He had been Late in her Life, she proved to be one of the speediest windjammers of aff time. freight rates, and Lancing with Lloyd's as a yo ung apgot her fair share. She was prentice when the steam er Pereire was built years under British ownership are well dry-docked and cleaned regularly. Sails and in 1865. Now, fifty-four years later, he ex- documented. Her departure and arrivals rigging were renewed when needed.

In 1903, when Nils Bull Melsom asplained that Lloyd's considered Lancing suggest that she was not a "Greyho und of one of the world's wonders. In more than the Seas," but a few stories indicate she was, sumed command, things changed dramatia half century of sailing, she had never had nonetheless, a speedy vessel. O nce, under cally. He must have been an extraordinary a negative comment filed in her records. In the command of Cap rain Hatfield, she eas- seaman and master, one who understood his notes, he stated that she could sai l an- ily left the fourteen-knot pilot boat astern as well the strength and ability of this ship other fifty years. Today, we understand that she sailed into New York. Highly surprised, and how she could best be sai led. He imthese early steamships, built of ship-quality the pilot asked fo r her speed. Hatfield re- mediately installed a new towing log and wrought iron, are among the most lasti ng plied that he had no log and could nor mea- purchased a high-quality chronometer. structures built for a saline environment. sure the speed. In Basil Lubbock's The Last From that time forward, Lancing embarked Lancing's voyages during her early of the Windjammers (G lasgow, 1929), he o n a long series of extraordinarily swift SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

31

Captain Nils Bull Melsom Lancing' s master for more than eleven years, Captain Melsom showed the world how to get the most out of a full-rigged ship . passages. Speedy turnaro unds reaped even greater profits. Her officers and owners were pleased, of course, but, for her crew, this translated into backbreaking labor.

Afte r Captain M elsom discovered what he could squeeze o ut of this almost for ty-yearold vessel, he determined ro figure out her exact speed. In his log, he wrote that the ship made twenty knots fo r two consecuti ve ho urs during a four-hou r watch when she had made good a distance of seven tysix nauti cal miles. The average speed for this watch was nineteen knots! Surviving logbooks from that time show th at Lancing, over and over, maintained an average speed of well over fifteen knots in a noonto-noon run. Lancing m ade record-breaking passages when the weather was fair, not just in those gale-force downwind legs .

In 1904 Captain M elsom rook Lancing from Saint John , New Brunswick, ro Melbourne, Australia, in 79 days, averaging eighteen knots during many watches en route. In 1908, he drove his ship from Lands End ro Melbourne in 64 days. In 19 10, he was just two weeks out from Cape Ch at in the St. Lawrence when he pulled into port at Ardrossan, Scotland.

There are m any o ther examples of impressive runs from one end of the globe ro the o ther. Melsom's feats were impressive but no t anomalies . Lancings logbooks docum ent that fo ur of her Norwegian captains

32

sailed the ship well over 300 nautical miles on 24-hour runs, and each recorded fourhour watches that consistently averaged speeds better than fourteen knots.

An article published in the No rwegian magazine, Ship-o-Hoy, corroborates M elsom's claims ro Lancing's speed. The article quotes a Captain Krneber, who was in command of a big four-masted barque, deeply laden with grain, sailing from Australia ro Europe. H e admi tted his pride at m aking thirteen knots under lower topsails at the latitude of the Falkland Islands in gale force wi nds, when he spied a ship astern, also deeply laden: "It was a large four-m as ted, full-rigged ship, and she carri ed all her topgallant sails! She must have logged a speed of at least eighteen knots and was a fantas tic sight. She quickly passed us and made us appear standing still with o ur thirteen knots. We barely managed ro exchange greetings and signal letters. She was the Lancing of Kristiania!"

Lancing sailed wo rld-wide during Wo rld War I and continued ro earn solid profits for h er owners. When Melsom gave up command, Captain O scar Olufse n relieved him. Olufsen had sailed as m ate on Lancing under Captain M elsom for m any years. He turned out to be just as skilled as his m aster when it cam e ro dri ving the ship. It was under his command in 1916 that Lancing sailed from Ambrose Lightship off New York ro Muckle Flugga on the north tip of the Shetland Islands in 12 days and 21 hours. The crossi ng of the At-

!antic from Cape Race to Shetland was accomplished in unbelievable 6 days and 18 hours. During that time the Lancing sailed 2,071 nautical miles. That is an average speed of 12.3 knots for the Atlantic crossing and must be the fastest Atlantic run of a cargo-carrying windjammer.

Captain Olufsen only got to comm and Lancing for 4-1/2 years. On 16 September 191 8, he fell overboard, aft by the log line, and was lost in a storm. Cap tain Olufsen's best noon-to-noon run was 366 n autical miles, with 72 miles on the best watch-average speed, eighteen knots.

On the return trip, he rook the Lancing from Denmark's Skagen Rev Lightship ro H alifax, Nova Scotia, in under twentyone days, with a recorded speed of sixteen knocs one day and the following entry the next day: "Calm the whole wacch, no recorded speed, sails given up." A round trip voyage with two transAtlantic crossings, including a route across the N orth Sea, in a mere twen ty-seven days is an outstanding achievement. This particular voyage occurred during World War I. En route, Lancing was sropped and boarded

by British warships for inspectio n before she could continue her voyage. After her arrival in the US, she headed ro Canada ro rake on a load of spool wood before heading back across the Atlantic to G lasgowall in fifteen days.

At che end of che war in 191 8, Magnus Melsom bought the ship, and Melsom & Melsom would be her final owners. No t

Lancing under full sail. A careful look reveals her name painted in huge letters on the topsides, between the main and mizzen masts, as was done during Wo rld W'tir I.

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Pereire's lines based on her original as-built 1865 configuration. Initially, her owners p lanned to have her built as a paddle steamer, but she was converted to screw propulsion during construction. all was smoo th sailing for this speedy workhorse. In June 192 1, she collided with a bi g iceberg in th e fo g. She had loaded cargo in the St. Lawrence and was bound for Scotland. The bow and port side hit first, then her yards jammed into the towering iceberg. For about a half hour, the ship was fas tened to the ice. Assuming she was about to go down, the whole crew manned the lifeboats and waited . When she final ly broke loose from the iceberg, the crew scram bled aboard to check her holds fo r flo oding. They found her damaged but dry.

She had sustained damages on her upper hull, one mas t, some yards, and the rigging, but she was intact. The order was given to haul up the lifeboats and set sail. Lancing limped in to po rt in Sco tland. Divers surveyed the hull and declared it so und. With the Titanic disaster in recent mem o ry, few could believe that such a large windj ammer could escape from an impact with an iceberg and survive. One could argue that the Titanic was m ade of steel that gets brittl e in low temperatures and rivets might let go, while Lancings hammered w roughriron hull was pliable and could survi ve th at sort of an impact by giving way, though, of course, the main difference would have to be Titanic's greater size and speed.

Finally, in 1924, Captain P. H ansen rook the fifty-nine-year old ship o n two runs from Canada to Scotland and managed 58 nautical miles on his best watch . Late that year, the Lancing was sold to breakers in Ir-

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

aly. The last entry in her logbook is dared 6 December 1924. She was sailed and rowed to Genoa by a skeleton crew, later to be broken up in Savona in 1925 .

A ship like the Lancing needed a knowledgeable and skillful captain who understood what this ship could handle.

Though she was m anned with the required twen ty-eight-man crew most of the rime, the age of sail had passed, and she was often plagued by the lack of professio nal sailors. In those logbooks that no ted incredible speeds and runs, m any en tries note problem after problem with the crew in port. Drunkenness, fights, and diseases were common, as well as desertions.

Lancing becam e a living legend around the world and an inspiration for artists. Posters and paintings showing a big full-rigged ship in the dusk, leaving an ocean liner in her path, becam e popular.

Seamen who had sailed in her never missed an opportunity to brag about a reco rdbreaking voyage and how they left a slower steamship behind. Backbreaking wo rk was forgotten.

After word got o ut that she had been sold to breakers, many windjammer buffs were devastated that no one could save her fo r the future. O n Ch ristmas Eve of 1924, the Glasgow H erald printed a pi cture and an article abo ut her that ended with a two line poem : "O ut of the bay yo u may sail away, but never out of 'our hearts' ." The sam e article co ncludes that, when the day

com es that the complete history of the era of white sails will be told, then the beauti ful, 405-ft. , four-mas ted, full-rigged ship Lancing will be rem embered and find a place among the best sailing vessels the world has ever seen. Lancings complete history th at the Glasgow H erald predicted mo re than eighty years ago has ye t to be told. This is o nly a brief summary.

The yea rs that followed the turn of the twentieth-century witnessed the las t period of big sailing ships carrying cargo across the world's oceans. Bigger and more efficient steamers, the opening of the Panama Canal, and other events m ade the freight-carrying windship unprofitable. This steamer-turned full -rigged ship was the last windj ammer to hold a full classification with Lloyd's Register of London . O ne could argue that the age of sail co ncluded in 1925, and that Lancing ofKristiani a made the perfect final e. W hen Lancing was sent to the breakers 83 years ago, the age of sail went with her. J, Olaf T Engvig has extensive maritime experience and a graduate degree in maritime history from the University of Oslo. H e has written numerous books and articles in English and Norwegian and has worked on the restoration of several historic ships, including the sail steamship, H ansteen, among others.

H is latest book, Viking to Victorian: Exploring the Use ofiron in Ship Building (2006) was reviewed in Sea History 117. Read more at engvig.comlolaf

33

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DUSAN'S PRINTS AND REPRODUCTIONS PLEASE CALL

WWW.DUSANKADLEC.COM

902-479-2253 OR VISIT US ONLINE AT:

Maritte Art News

Constitution & Guerriere

by George Ropes Jr., 1813

You only have a few months left to catch the only exhibition planned of the four newly acquired George Ropes Jr. 1813 paintings depicting Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere in the famous battle of 19 August 1812. Last January, the USS Constitutio n M useum purchased at auction one of its most significant acquisitions ever, a series of paintings by Salem, M assachusetts, artist George Ropes Jr.-they are among the earliest images of this seminal battle. Ropes's paintings are now the museum's signature images of this event and will be displayed together until 14 November. They will then be rotated o n and off display, central to the museum's battle theater presentati o n, used as aids in educational programs, and rep roduced on products to be sold in the museum store. The paintings come from the collection of the Woburn Public Library in Woburn, MA, where they had been stored in a base ment vaulr. Because the paintings have no local Woburn connection, the library's trustees made the decision to deaccess ion them to help fund an expansion and renovation of the library's historic structure.

(USS Constitution Museum, C harlestown Navy Yard, Building 22, Charlestown, MA 02 129; Ph. 6 17 426- 18 12; www.ussconstitutionmuseum .org)

The Peabody Essex Museum is preparing an exhibition, "To the Ends of the Earth, Painting the Polar Landscape," to open 8 November.

Capturing the high dram a and stark beauty of nautical explorations to the Arcti c and Antarctic during th e 19 th- and early 20th centuries, this exhibition offers a rare glimpse of pristine and uncharted regions as they were encountered by pioneering North American , British, and Scandinavian expeditions. The exhibit investigates the polar landscape from the vantage point of maritime exploration and adventure and features works from the expeditions of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Admiral Richard Byrd, am o ng o thers. More than 50 wo rks by artist-explo rers are represented, from exp a n sive ro m a nti c canvases like Frederic Edwin Church's stunning Aurora Borealis, to intimate early modernist works in pas tel Aurora Borealis, 1865, Frederic Edwin Church, 56X83-112 inches

by D avid Abbey Paige.

The exhibitio n will close on 9 M arch 2009. (PEM, East India Square, Salem, MA 01 970; Ph . 978 745-9500; www.pem .org)

(Left) Iceberg, 1891, Frederic Edwin Church, 20 X 3 0 inches

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SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

35

MARINE ART NEWS The American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA) is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a museum tour along the eastern seaboard.

Over the next 16 months, works from more than 100 of the best contemporary American marine artists in oil, watercolor, pastels, scrarchboard, pencil, sculpture, and scrimshaw will be exhibited in five states, ending at the New Bedford Art Museum in New Bedford, MA, in September 2009 . 1he exhibition is currently showing at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime M useum through 22 September 2008.

The ASMA exhibi tion will then travel to the fo llowing museums: • Noyes M useum of Art, Oceanville, NJ, 13 Nov.-22 Feb. 2009 •Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartan burg, SC, March-May 2009 •New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA, June-Sept. 2009

Approaching Sunset

by Leonard Mizerek, 24 x 30 inches

Homeward Bound, The Catboat Selina II and the Harbor Town of St. Michaels, Maryland, by john Barber, 22 x 36 inches.

A 107-page, full -color catalog of the exhibition will be offered for sale at each of the venues and on their web sire, www.americansocietyofmarineartists.com. ASMA is a non-profit organization founded "to recognize and promote marine art and history and to encourage cooperation among artists, historians, marine enthusiasts, and others engaged in activities relating to marine art and maritime history." Ir is the nation's largest organization of contemporary marine artists, with more than 600 members. In addition, a regional exhibition in New England will also be traveling on its own tour, showing 70 works of newly created marine art. You may still be able to catch the last few days of that exhibition at 1 h e Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, RI (until September 1st); it will then move to the Maine Maritime M useum in Bath, ME, (24 October - 5 January). Derails for each of th ese exhibitions and respective venues can be found at their web site or by writing to: ASMA, POB 369, Ambler, PA 19002.

(right) Sled Runner, by David Smith, scrimshaw, 3 x 10 x 3 inches (fossil walrus tusk artifact)

NMHS Calendar for 2009 Our bestselling item is back! The 2009 calendar features extraordinary paintings by world renowned maritime artists. The calendar includes not only biographies of the artists but also information about the ships compiled by NMHS Chairman Ronald L. Oswald and NMHS President Emeritus Peter Stanford.

Calendar is wall hanging, full color,

11" x 14" $13.95 (or $11.50 for Sea History readers) + $4.00 s/h To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, e-mail nmhs@seahistory.org, or visit our web site at www.seahistory.org. NY State residents add applicable sales tax.

36

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Sea History FOR KIDS

What Do You Want to Be

When You Grow Up? Careers in the Marine and Maritime Field

n historian is someone who studies events of the past, and a maritime historian focuses on the stories that deal with our relationship with oceans, rivers, and lakes. To do this, maritime historians read a lot of history books and do their own research in libraries and archives. They share what they've learned by creating museum exhibits, writing books, and teaching students.

Jennifer Speelman is a maritime historian who teaches at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina.

Before being hired as a college professor, Jennifer had to earn a PhD in history. A PhD is an advanced college degree earned after graduating from a four-year college. In addition to taking more classes, PhD--or doctoralprograms require students to conduct original research and present those findings in a dissertation. Jennifer's

dissertation was about the history of the New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts state maritime academies, schools that train merchant marine officers.

With her PhD completed, Jennifer, now Dr. Speelman, joined The Citadel 's history department as an assistant professor in 2002. She teaches a wide variety of classes, including World Civilization, Military History, and Maritime History. Teaching includes giving lectures, leading discussions, helping students with research projects, and grading tests and quizzes. She still reads lots of books about maritime history on her own time and has started working on a new research proj ect to write a history of the Charleston Naval Shipyard.

RIGHT: Maritime Historian, Jennifer Speelman, and her students tour Patriots Point in South Carolina . The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown can be seen in the background.

Photo Courtesy Jennifer Speelman

BELOW: Or. Jennifer Speelman is a maritime history professor at The Citadel in South Carolina. Here, graduating seniors stand in formation as part of their commencement ceremony.

Photo Courtesy Russell K. Pace{fhe Citadel

As part of her classes, Jennifer has taken her students to visit historic ships and seaports and on local fi eld trips around Charleston, which has a long and rich maritime history.

During the summer when school is out, Jennifer attends conferences to meet with other maritime historians, learn about what topics they are researching, and tour historic sites around the country.

Becoming a college professor might require more time in college than most careers, but Jennifer can't imagine doing anything else.

"I love working with students and learning something new every day.

I consider myself very lucky to play a part in preserving this country's maritime heritage for future generations."

Sea Hist01y

FOR KIDS

ast spring, a group of high school students traded their classroom in school for an ..._ .. "ocean classroom" on a sailing ship. During their long voyage, which sailed throughout the Caribbean Sea before heading up the east coast of the USA, they learned much about life at sea during the age of sail. When their ship, the schooner Harvey Gamage, made a port stop in the British Virgin Islands, they encountered the Caribbuilt sailing dugout canoe Gli Gli and her crew and learned about a very different kind of sailing tradition.

Caribs are the native inhabitants of the southern Caribbean Islands who were there when Columbus first came to the New World. It was hardly new to them- their ancestors had been there for hundreds of years before the Europeans showed up. More than a thousand years ago, Caribs traveled from South America northwards in vessels just like Gli Gli and populated many of the islands in the Caribbean Sea. They continued to use these kinds of boats to travel from island to island for many generations.

Seventeen-year-old Elijah Mendelsohn of Jamestown, Rhode Island, was aboard the Harvey Gamage and shares what he learned from G!i Gli's crew about the boat and its mission.

"For thousands of years, native peoples in many cultures have been using the dugout canoe for transportation. We saw this first hand when we got the chance to sail in Gli Gli, a 35-foot dugout canoe built on the island of Dominica.

We met two of the people primarily responsible for creating this massive canoe, Etien Charles ("Chalo") and Aragorn Dick-Read.

Aragorn is an artist with an eye for sailing, and Chalo has been building dugout canoes his whole life, a tradition that has been passed down through Carib Indians for centuries.

Since her launch in 1996, Gli Gli has traveled thousands of miles. Her longest and most important journey so far was from Dominica to the Amazon River in South America, uniting Caribs throughout the 800-mile voyage. During our travels in the Caribbean, we were lucky to meet both Aragorn and Chalo, asking them any questions of the building and sailing we desired.

We not only got to see and admire the boat while we were in Trellis Bay, British Virgin Islands, but we also got the special treat of sailing it as well. This boat was a king at sailing. It cut through waves like a hot knife through butter. Gli Gli is not only sail powered, it also has oars, which the crew used to help with tacking. This beautiful canoe opened my eyes to a beautiful new realm of sailing."

Elijah and his classmates sailed in the schooner Harvey Gamage for a full semester of high schoo l with the Ocean Classroom Foundation in spring 2008.

OCEAN CLASSROOM FOUNDATION offers high school students the chance to voyage under sail for full semesters with accreditation through Proctor Academy in New Hampshire. For more information on this and other programs available to middle- and high school students, visit www.oceanc lassroom.org or call 1-800-724-SAIL.

Y~L.l-OW- Be:LLlf.D SEA St'-tf\\c.E ( \'EL i'<MlS ~LP.:\\J~\JS)

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In Samuel Taylor Coleridge ' s famous

FLA"!> oliFR NCJSn!ILSTo '(. t: t:~ OUT \J'it>t\E I<

poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," an old sailor tells the story of a horrible, supernatural voyage. As punishment for shooting an albatross with an arrow, magical spirits held him hostage in the middle of the vast Pacific

which breathe air and have scales.

They can dive underwater for longer than three hours on one breath. Their venom is as powerful as a cobra ' s. Sea snakes spend their entire slithery lives

Ocean. He was all by himself, surrounded

at sea, eating small fish. To keep their bodies clear of algae and other fouling

by his shipmates who had been turned into zombies. There was no wind, rain, or any help on the way. One moonlit night, just when it seemed that he was either

organisms, such as barnacles, they tie themselves in a knot and wipe themselves clean!

going to die of thirst or go insane, he sees some creatures in the water:

Nearly all sea snakes live near the coast, but one kind, the yellow-bellied

Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watched the water snakes: They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes.

sea snake, can be found slithering around in the open ocean. Perhaps it was this species Coleridge imagined when he wrote his poem. Though he had not sailed in the Pacific himself, he had read plenty of sailors' journals

Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue. glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track Was a flash of golden fire.

maybe Coleridge read the story of a whaler named James Colnett, who wrote that off the coast of Peru "sea snakes

and stories when he wrote the poem in 1798. It's possible he got the idea from an account by buccaneer William Dampier, who wrote: "In the Sea we saw . .. an Abundance of Water

were also in great plenty, and many of the crew made a pleasant and nutritious meal of them."

Snakes of several Sorts and Sizes."

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is

The beauty of these animals

Or maybe he learned about sea snakes

pure fiction, but sea snakes are real

overwhelmed the sailor, so he blessed

from an account of a voyage by Sir

serpents that swim in the ocean. Though

them. This act freed him from the spell and Jet the ship sail home.

Richard Hawkins that says: "In the

eagles and some people in Asian cultures eat them, sea snakes might be the most

This isn't a true story, of course, but there really are snakes in the ocean.

Nearly fifty different kinds of water snakes, usually called sea snakes, swim along the coasts of the Pacific and Indian

~ans. They "" true snoke<-reptil<',

year of our Lord 1590 ... many [months] becalmed, the Sea thereby being replenished with [several] sorts

numerous reptiles on earth. So speak kindly of them, and they might save you

of gellies and formes of Serpents,

someday!

Adders and Snakes, Green, Yellow, Blacke, White, and some partiecoloured ... And [the sailors] could hardly draw a Bucket of Water, cleare of some corruption withall." Or

Next issue, I'll explain the "hoary flakes " in the verses above. Because other kinds of animals, not sea snakes, make "the elfish light."

Everyday Speech from Sailors of Yesterday

- the word mayday is the mariners' distress call. It comes from the French words "help me" or "m'aidez." It is only to be used when a person or a vessel is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance. "Pan-pan" (pronounced pahn pahn) is another important radio call that mariners use to transmit urgent messages and warnings to other sailors and rescue personnel, but it is used for situations that are serious but not life-threatening.

Crows are landlubbers.

Sailors long ago used crows as navigational tools. When the fog rolled in or the weather was foul (or should we say "fowl"), mariners would release a crow from its cage and note the direction it flew, which was sure to be straight toward the closest land. Today we describe how far away something is "as the crow flies" to mean the shortest distance to it regardless of where the road is or what might be in the way.

fatn 0m(noun) The length of outstretched arms or a nautical measure of 6 feet; (verb) To measure to the bottom with a pole or line; to understand something completely.

Before we had rulers and tape measures. people measured things with what was fairly consistent and always nearby .. .their bodies. Horses are measured in hands; distance is measured by the foot. The fathom. used on nautical charts and by mariners. is six feet. Today, when we find ourselves without a measuring tool handy and a good estimate will do. we can still use our bodies to approximate measurements. If you stretch your arms out from side to side. it will approximate your height. Since most adults are somewhere around six feet tall. you can measure something in fathoms with your outstretched arms. Need a quick way of measuring how much rope you've got tied to your anchor before you throw it overboard? Use your wingspan to measure it in fathoms.

Overestimate if you are vertically challenged .

Sea History For Kids is sponsored by the James A. Macdonald Foundation

41

MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

Google Earth and Google SketchUp: Exploring t he Globe n this issue, I will highlight two fascinating Google tools: Google Eart h and Google SketchUp. Google Earth ("GE," h ttp ://earth.google.com , curren tly version 4.3) is, in essence, a geographic representation of Google's search results, along with an incredible amount of user-generated content. To use GE, download the program to your computer and run it from there.

O ne of Google's strengths has been its abili ty to create simple and powerful fram eworks into which anyone can place data. M uch of the content mentioned below has been created by som eone other than Google; they've used G oogle's tools and their own data to create a "mashup," a customized site that highlights their content w ithin Google's structure. A n ice example of this is the Western Australian Sh ipwrecks D atabase. In GE 4 .2 or greater, click on "Add Content,'' then search for "shipwrecks" in the resulting search box. Then click on "Open in Google Earth" to see shipwreck sires along the Australian coast.

Ar h ttp: //bbs.keyhole.com yo u can search postings fro m people who have created data sets with GE. Examples include an overlay of the Barde of M idway and images of National D efense Reserve Fleer vessels.

You can also search GE directly. Under the "Find Businesses" tab, I typed "m ari time museums" in the 'What' box, and "Europe" in the 'Where' box. GE displayed the location of maritime museums and related sites across the continent. C licking on the link for the Merseyside Maritime M useum, for instance, returned links to sires where people have posted images of the museum and described it in their travels, along with a link to the museum's web sire itself. W hen you go to London and zoom in toward N elson's Colum n, GE returns photos people have added, a link to W ikipedia about the column, and m uch more. By m odifying the "layers" that appear on the image, from the list on the left, you can rem ove all of the photographs, add links to galleries, DVD sto res, and ATMs, and all sorts of other things. In the United States, Google has roving vans with cam eras taki ng photos fo r their "Street Level" layer, so yo u can zoom in and see street-level images of m any large cities .

A correspondent has described to me how he uses GE to view sires he's reading about. Yo u can, for instance, search for

I

Commission your own sea history!

Collecred by the US Navy, museums, and d iscrimi narin g ind ivid uals wo rl d w ide, BlueJacker is the srandard by which all others are measured. Surprisingly affordable, we del iver wirhi n a guaranreed period of time. Builr in the US , by our ralem ed shipcrafrers.

"Diamond H ead, H awaii,'' then zoom to the surface of the water and view the cliffs as they would appear if yo u were sailing by.

One of the most incredible mashups in GE is D avid Rumsey's historical map collection. Rumsey, a prolific map collector, started digitizing some of his thousands of maps about ten years ago. H e currently has over 17 ,000 maps online at http://www. dav id r umsey.com and about 120 are ~~ ~ also in GE. The ones in GE can be fou n d by selecting the "Rumsey Historical M aps" layer under "Gallery," then looking-primarily in Europe -for the compass roses. Older m aps, which do n't exactly march the true topography, are stretched to fir, which makes fo r an interesting view.

Of co urse, the original map is available for viewing at a very high resolution at Rumsey's site.

Another enhancement to this already-incredible tool is Google Sk etch Up . Sketch Up is a fairly simple C om purer-Aided D esign program for the masses and allows one to build 3D designs of all kinds of obj ects. While building a model is complex and requires downloading another program, you can still benefit from the work of others by looking through the SketchUp Warehouse at h ttp :// sk etchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/. The designer "Gacek" has built a set of incredibly complex ship models in Sketch Up. If you search fo r, say, "HMS Victory," yo u'll see remarkable 3D m odels of the ship. Then select "View in Google Earth," and GE will rake yo u to Po rtsmouth. As yo u look around the docks there, yo u'll discover that many of the building images are models built by individuals and added to the GE database.

Google Earth and Google Sketch Up are amazing examples of what can be done online wh en a company offers an immensely powerful and simple fram ewo rk and everyone else contributes the content that interests them .

Suggestions for other sites worth m entio ning are welcome at sh ipindex@yahoo.com. See http://www.shipindex.org fo r a compilation of over 100,000 ship names from indexes to dozens of books and journals.

- - Peter McCracken

Historic, antique U.S. Coast Survey maps " from the 1800s o Original li t hog raphs, most America n se aports and shores.

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SE A HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

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.SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS Ocean Classroom Foundation (OCF), which owns and operates the schooners

Harvey Gamage, Spirit ofMassachusetts, and Westward, is looking for a collegelevel partner to continue running its successful SEAmester program. SEAmester was created in the 1970s by Southampton College in New York and ran continuously, with long waiting lists, until the college closed its doors in 2005. The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth rook over the program temporarily, but they have recently announced that the spring 2008 semester would be their last. A partner institution will need to take on the responsibility for running the program: curriculum design (former SEAmesrer curricula are available), staffi ng, and signing up students.

OCF, whose schooners have hosted the program since 1986, will provide the ship (s), crew, seamanship curriculum, and itinerary. The model is a trusted and tried one and, over the years, has reaped excellent feedback from all concerned, particularly students. It has traditionally operated on a 9-week model, with both Eastern seaboard and Caribbean components. The itinerary is set, the teaching notes are already printed, the ships are ready-this is a turnkey program for the right institution.

(For more information, contact: Jeffrey Parsons, Executive Director, O CF, e-mail: jparsons@oceanclassroom.org; Phone: 207 633-2750 ; www.oceanclassroom.org) ...

National Landmark for Sale: One Dollar!

The Nantucket lightship LV-112was a Boating lighthouse, built in 1936 to mark the outer fringes of the infamous Nantucket

.

44

shoals. Over 100 miles from the mainland, a crew of 22 men kept its guiding light shining. Transatlantic vessels homed in on the lightship's powerful radio beacon, deafening fog horn, and brilliant light as they approached the eastern seaboard from Europe.

The sh ip was retired from duty in 1975 and has passed through the hands of several notfor-profit organizations. After safely guiding tens of thousand of ships and literally millions of people to safety, this 150-foot-long National Landmark is in dire straights and needs a safe haven of its own this time. With its present owners unable to guarantee a secure future, the National Lighthouse Museum is seeking a qualified not-for-profit organization able to take the vessel and give it a safe home and some needed maintenance.

The terms are simple enough: it would be transferred for $ 1, along with the obligation to maintain the ship as a national landmark, offer some form of public access, not alter it, and never sell it for more than a doll ar. This covenant has kept the ship from being sold into private hands and turned into a nightclub or sold for scrap. (Interested parties should e-mail Jerry Roberts at jroberts@ctriverm useum.org) . . . Check out the Maritime Heritage Network's web site at www.maritimeheritage.net for information and useful links on Pacific Northwest maritime history and heritage.

In particular, their music page posts about a hundred musicians and their maritime music, including audio files to sample before yo u buy. ... Another online posting worth visiting is Ben Ford's commentary, "What is the difference between archaeologists and treasure hunters?" posted on the Museum of Underwater Archaeology web site: www.uri.edu/mua/. Scroll down to "Project Journals" and click on "Lake O ntario Cultural Landscape." ... JELD-WEN, a windows and doors company, is conducting an online contest where the public can vote to select which lighthouse out of 12 finalists will be the lucky winner of new windows and doors from JELD-WEN. Anyone can cast a ballot by visiting www. jeld-wen.com/lighrhouse through 7 September. The contest allows one vote per e-mail address. The 12 finalists are: Baltimore H arbor Lighthouse, MD; Bodie Island Light Station, NC; Cedar Island Lighthouse, NY; Grand Traverse Lighthouse, MI; Grays

Harbor Light Station, WA; New Canal Lighthouse, LA; New Dungeness Light Station, WA; Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, ME; Plum Island Station , WI; Point Arena Lighthouse, CA; Rose Island Lighthouse, RI; and Toledo H arbor Lighthouse, O H. Last year, JELD-WEN bestowed new windows and doors upon the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay

1homas Point Shoal Lighthouse

and the Wind Point Lighthouse near Racine, WI. Ir's a great opportunity for the winning lighthouses. (www.jeld-wen.com/ lighthouse/) . . . The Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland, Maine, recently completed a major expansion of its exhibit space and its artifact collection. The American Lighthouse Foundation, now also located in Rockland, has joined with the museum as a strategic parmer to further their joint mission of lighthouse education

and the preservation of lighthouses and lighthouse history. The museum's name is more a reflection of its locatio n in Maine, rather than the scope of its exhibits, which cover all facets of lighthouse lighting and fog signal technology, history, and the human dimension of the keepers and th eir families that staffed the lights until the 1990s. The museum includes the largest (continued on page 46) SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Organized by Sail Training International (STI) and the American Sail Training Association (ASTA), tall ships from around the world will participate in a spectacular odyssey around the North Atlantic ocean of more than 7,000 nautical miles.

Host ports in mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, Bermuda, the USA, Canada and Northern Ireland will welcome the fleet and their trainee crews. Whether you are an experienced sailor or have never been to sea before, whether you are young or just young at heart, sign up for one or more of the five race legs

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or cruises-in company or visit one of the host port festivals and enjoy the fun . To find out more go to:

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Sail Training International

SHIP NOTES,

SEAPORT,

&

(continued from page 44) soon as possible. The Boothbay Region www.maritimelibraryfriends.org. For more Land Trust has set up the Washburn & information, e-mail Mark_Goldstein@nps.

Doughty Employee Fund to help with tran- gov) . . . The USCG International Ice sition and other expenses for the employees. Patrol issued its last daily warnings to Contributions are being accepted at the mariners for the 2008 iceberg season on Washb urn & Doughty Employee Fund, c/o 15 July. Formed after the tragic sinking of First Federal Savings & Loan Assoc. of Bath, POB 26, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538 or to the Boothbay Region Land Trust, POB 183, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538. . . . The Karl Kortum Endowment for Maritime History has announced its 6th call for submission of research in selected fields of Maritime History of the West Coast of the United States. The recipient of the $1,000 award will be announced in February 2009 .

Submission deadline is 12 September. RMS Titanic in April of 1912, the Interna(For guidelines, see "Endowment Funds" at tional Ice Patrol monitors iceberg danger near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and provides the limits of all known ice to NMHS Rodney N. Houghton Award the maritime community. USCG ComPresented at the NMHS Annual Meeting, 3 1 May 2008 mander Scott Rogerson noted that the 2008 iceberg season was very active, with Thomas F. Daly, a close friend and law partner of former trustee Rodney Houghton 1,000 icebergs crossing 48 approximately (1938-2007) gave an eloquent presentation of the first NMHS Rodney N. Houghdegrees north, the largest number in the ton Award For Best Feature Article in Sea History to novelist Bill White for "In the es timated to be similar to the last decade, Wake of Bounty: A Voyage of Recovery," which appeared in Sea History 121 . Mr. Daly amount present in 1912.

Rogerson also described Rodney Houghton's love noted that this season , the geographic disof historic sea stories and his admitribution of icebergs was unusual.

After a ration for Captain James Cook and shift in environmental conditions in May, then introduced Bill White as the many icebergs were driven down the N ewfirst recipient of this new award, crefoundland coast and then south and west as ated in honor of Hough ton's passion far as the Laurentian Channel. Tens of for maritime history and his apprethousands of icebergs calve from the glaciation of those whose work brings ciers of Greenland every year, creating a us those stories. In his presentation, constant threat to shipping in the Labrador Daly reminded us of Bill White's Baffin Bay. The cold Labrador curSea and service in the US Navy and his dediNMHS Chairman Ronald Oswald congraturent carries a small percentage of these icecation to preserving our maritime lates William H. White on his receiving the first bergs south to the vicinity of the Grand heritage through his work as a trustee NMHS Rodney N Houghton Award Banks and into the great circle shipping of several maritime institutions, his lanes between Europe and the major ports appearances on the History Channel, and, of course, as an author of naval ficcion of the United States and Canada. The iceand non-fiction. Mr. White is an active member of the NMHS board of trustees and berg season typically begins in February a frequent contributor to Sea History. There was no more perfect candidate for the and ends mid-summer as temperatures first-ever presentation of this award. warm up. . . . Jerry Ostermiller, past It was especially meaningful to return to the NMHS offices after the dedication president of the Council of American to receive a letter and financial gift from John]. Lombard Jr., who had also been Mr. Maritime Museums, has announced his Houghton's friend and law partner at McCarter & English, LLP. He wrote, "Rodney retirement as president of the Columbia and I, as close friends , sai led and fished in many places in the Western Hemisphere River Maritime Museum, effective at the over the last several decades. Rodney was a keen adherent to the principle that 'A day end of 2008. C RMM was found ed in on the water is never wasted, and anything else that comes is a bonus .' His love of the 1962 and was the first museum in Oregon sea and boats remained with him all his life. I appreciate the opportunity of making to meet national accreditation standards this modest gift in Rodney's memory as I know how much the National Maritime and has been designated the official state Historical Society meant to him." maritime museum. The museum preserves With thanks, Mr. Lombard. And he to us. and interprets the rich maritime history of

collection of Fresnel lenses on public display in the US. (MLM, One Park Drive, POB F, Rockland, ME 04841 ; Ph. 207 594-3301 ; e-mail: info@mainelighthouse museum.org; www.mai nelighthousemuseum.com) . . . Washburn & Doughty Shipyard in East Boothbay, Maine, was destroyed by fire on 11 July, but the yard's management has sworn to rebuild. The shipyard has been a mainstay of the midcoast community, providing year-round employment for more than 80 people in an area heavily dependent upon summer tourism. Two tugs, tools (many of them personally owned by the yard workers) , materials, and the building itself were completely destroyed. Local, state, and federal governments have pledged their support to get them back in business as

46

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

MUSEUM NEWS rhe Columbia River region. Unril a formal search for his successor is announced, interesred candidares should conracr Mr. Osrermiller ar osrermiller@crmm.org. (CRMM, 1792 Marine Drive, Asroria, OR 97103; Ph. 503 325-2323; www.crmm.org) Imi Loa, a 32-foot pulling boat designed

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•Association for Great Lakes Maritime PAPERS deadline 3 1 October (For info , History Annual Conference, 4-6 Septem- e-mail: AAAHRP2009Conference@co mca ber in Muskegon, MI. (www.aglmh. org) st.net; www.aaahrp.org) •Rough Waters: The United States' In- •Sea Literature, History & Culture, 8volvement in the Mediterranean during 11 April 2009 in New Orleans, LA. The the Late 18th Century and Early 19th 2009 Conference of the National Popular Century, 17-18 October, in Nice, France. C ulture and the American Culture AssoConference organized by the Centre de la ciations; CALL FOR PAPERS deadline is 30 Mediterranee Moderne et Comemporaine, November. (Stephen Curley, Regents ProUniversiry of Nice, France (www.unice.fr/ fessor, Dept. of General Academics, Texas cmmc/) A&M Universiry at Galveston, Galveston, •3rd Annual Great Lakes History Confer- TX 77553; e-mail: curleys@tamug.edu; ence, 17- 18 October in Grand Rapids, MI, Ph. 409 740-4501) sponsored by Grand Valley State Universiry •Loyalism and the Revolutionary Atlan(For info, contact: Dr. Craig Benjamin at tic World, 4-6 June 2009, at the Univerbenjamic@gvsu.edu or Dr. Scott Stabler at sity of Maine in Orono. CALL FOR PAPERS deadline 3 October. (For info, contact: Stablers@gvsu.edu) •"Ports, Forts and Sports: Maritime Econ- Liam Riordan, History Dept., Universiry omy, Defense and Recreation through of Maine, 5774 Stevens Hall, Room 275, Time and Across Space," the 28th Annu- Orono, ME 04469; Ph. 207 581-1913; eal Conference of the North American So- mail: riordan@umit.maine.edu) ciety for Oceanic History (NASOH) co- •Maps, Myths and Narratives: Cartograsponsored by NMHS and the Steamship phy of the Far North, The International Historical Society of America, 14-17 May Conference on the History of Cartography, 2009 at the California Maritime Academy 12-17 July 2009 in Copenhagen, Denin Vallejo, CA. CALL FOR PAPERS deadline mark. CALL FOR PAPERS deadline 1 Oc1 December. Specific questions may be di- tober (For info, e-mail: ichc2009@bdp.dk; rected to Program Committee Co-Chair, www.ichc2009. dk) Bill Thiesen at thiesen@earthlink.net.

FEsTIVALS, EvENTS, LECTURES, ETC. (www.nasoh.o rg) •"There is No Place like Home: Integrat- •14th Annual Windjammer Weekend, ing Local History into the K-12 Social 29-3 1 August in Camden, Maine (www.

Studies Program," 21 October, at Man- windjammerweekend. com) hattanville College (For info, Dr. Peter •Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, 5Feinman, Institute of History, Archaeol- 7 September, Port Townsend, WA. (Ph . 360 ogy, and Education, POB 41, Purchase, 385-3628; e- mail : festival@woodenboat.

NY 10577; Ph. 914 933-0440; e-mail: o rg; www. wooden boat. o rg/ festival/) •Short Ships Rowing Regatta, 8-9 Sepfeinmanp@ihare.org;www.ihare.org) •Wisconsin Underwater Archeology and tember, Rockland, ME. Hosted by Atlantic Maritime History Conference, 25 Octo- Challenge, Traditional Small Crafr Assober in Milwaukee, WI. (www.wuaa.org) ciation, and the Maine Rowers Assoc. (For •Women on the Water Conference, 6-8 info, contact: Atlantic Challenge, Ph. 207 November, Galveston, TX. Hosted by the 594- 1800; www.atlanticchallenge.co m) Texas Maritime Academy and Texas A&M •Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse Tours, Universiry at Galveston. (For info, send 13, 14, 27, 28 September. Meet at the Ine-mail to: WomenontheWater@dot.gov) terpretive Center at the Annapolis Maritime •Gales of November, 7-8 November in Museum's Barge House and embark on 30Duluth, MN, Lake Superior Marine Mu- minute boat ride to the lighthouse. (Adseum Association (For info: Gina Wuorin- vance ticket reservations required. AMM, en, POB 177, Duluth, MN 55801; e-mail: POB 3088, Annapolis, MD 21403; Ph. 1info@LSMMA.com; Ph. 2 18 727-2497; 800-690-5080; e-mail: office@amaritime. org; www.annapolismaritimemuseum.org) •Association for African American His- •International Boat Show and Meeting torical Research and Preservation 2009 of The Antique and Classic Boat Society, 14-20 September at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

(A&CBS, 422 James St., Clayton, NY 13624; Ph. 315 686-2628; www.acbs.org) •Sea Music Concert Series, 27 September and 18 October aboard the Balclutha at Hyde Street Pier at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (SFMNHP, Building E, Fort Maso n Center, San Francisco, CA 94123; Ph. 415 561-7006; www. maritime.org) •The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, 15-18 October, from Baltimore, MD, to Portsmouth, VA. (POB 8176, Norfolk, VA 23503; Ph. 757 480-4402; race@schoo nerrace.org) •Nautical Nightmares 2008, 17-19, 2326, 3 1 October and 1 November at Mystic Seaport. Not recommended for children under 10. (For advance ticket sales after 22 September, phone: 860 572-5331; MSM, 75 G reenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT 06355 ; www.mysticseaport.org) EXHIBITS

•15th Annual Maritime Exhibit, through 20 September at the Coos Art Museum.

(235 Anderson Ave. , Coos Bay, OR 97420; Ph. 541 267-3901; www.coosart.org)

•Mariner Made: Folk Art by Those Who \\lent to Sea, through 13 October at the Maine Maritime Museum (243 Washington St., Bath, ME 04530; Ph. 207 4431316; www.mainemaritimemuseum.org) •Tugboats Night & Day at the Noble Maritime Collection, guest curator is George M atteson, through 2009, (1000 Richmond Terrace, Building D, Staten Island, New York 10301; Ph. 718 447-6490; www.noblemaritime.org)

•The Art of the Boat," Photographs from the Rosenfeld Collection, at the Maritime Museum of San Diego (MMSD, 1492 No rth Harbor Dr. , San Diego, CA 92101; Ph. 619 234-9153; www.sdmaritime.org) •Treasures from the Cliffs, Calvert Marine Museum, new exhibit in the renovated paleo ntology hall. (CMM, POB 97, Solomons, MD 20688; Ph. 410 326-2042; www.calvertmarinemuseum.com)

•Black Hands Blue Seas: The Untold Maritime Stories of African Americans, through 22 March 2009 at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia (ISM, Penn's Landing, 211 South Columbus Blvd. & Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106; Ph. 215 413-8655; www.phillyseaport.org)

Reviews Immigration at the Golden Gate: Passenger Ships, Exclusion and Angel Island by Rob-

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But this book is about more than just Angel Island. Barde also spends several chapters ert Eric Barde (Praeger Publishers, Westport, on the transPacific passenger trade, including CT, 2008. xiii+ 283pp, illus, notes, biblio, lengthy treatments of both the Pacific Mail and C hina Mail Steamship Co mpanies . H e index, ISBN 978-0-3 133-4782-5; $49.95hc) When one thinks of passenger ships and discusses how the economic and logistical asimmigration, the first thoughts are usually pects of the industry mingled with social and of the great receiving halls whi ch welcomed political concerns, condemning some players some 17 million persons at New York's Ellis to failure while allowing others to prosper. A Island. There, newcomers from Europe were look at one ship, Nippon M aru, allows Barde to extrapolate from this story about to make the transition to life in the United States, as and make grand conclusions lmmigratiu11 :It i\1,· about the experiences of immigration officials and govmany would-be Asian immiernment agents assisted them in the bewildering process. grants. It is an excellent exerIn Immigration at the Golden cise in historical analysis and PASSENGER SHIPS, EXCLUSION. AND ANGEL ISL.IND Gate, Robert Eric Barde reraises as many questions as it answers: questions about racminds us that there was another portal to the US, and that ism , corruption, democracy, the experience of the roughly and civil rights. This, then, is Rt*l IZI I l{[l. l'.\l~!ll 200,000 who entered through a provocative look at some of that door-or, more accurate- iij:~.~-.-- ,\ ,a ¥~ the most importam issues in " ;. , -Ill t American society while also ly, who tried to-we re vastly different from their East Coast immigrant serving as a defini tive treatment of passe nge r brethren. Barde uses the particular case of ships and transPacifi c immigration. one C hinese coup le to tell the tale of Asian Robert Eric Barde's Immigration at the immigration to this country. With a defr eye Golden Gate is a heady meal. It offers somefo r derail, an investigative journalist's nose, thing to the serio us scholar and to the arma rich research agenda, and a talent fo r writ- chair activist, and, whi le it is an easy read, it ing, the author communicates a little-known rewards a close and studious examination. Ir tale to his readers. The result is a far-rang- deserves a place on many reading lists, and ing work that succeeds on various levels: as should also find itself as a finalist fo r many maritime history (his chapter on the "Rise accolades. and Fall of Pacific M ail" was a past winner of T IMOTHY G. L YNCH , P H D the Karl Kortum prize), as local history, and Vallejo, Cal ifo rnia as an ethnic study. This is a book that I will turn to many times in the future, and I feel The Oxford Encyclop edia of Maritime that I will learn something new with each H istory, edited by John H arrendo rf reading.

(O xford University Press, N ew Yo rk, 2007, Barde posits that while Ellis Island was 4 volumes, 291 2pp, illus, charrs, maps, ISBN des igned to fac ilitate the processing of new 978-0-19-51 3075- 1; $5 50hc) Am ericans, Angel Island was designed to In an age when any researcher can Google keep them out. With the passage of Chinese this and consult Wikipedia for that, what Exclusion Acts in the 1880s and the Gentle- makes an expensive fo ur-volume reference man's Agreement with Japan in 1907, there wo rk stand apart from the options in cyberwere concerted efforts to stem the tide of im- space and the o ther books already on yo ur migrants from Asia. Located in the middle of shelf? John H attendorf has assembled a talSan Francisco Bay, Angel Island housed a va- ented and eclectic list of comriburing authors riety of governmem and bureaucratic insti- to attack comprehensively the topic of maritutions: from POW camps to army barracks time history. Experts from aro und the globe and quarantine stations, this solemn piece explore such varied maritime themes as sciof land witnessed any number of hards hips. ence and technology, trade and politics, art After its designatio n as the receiving station and literature, mi litary and naval affairs, info r "Asiatic" immigrants, it witnessed count- sritutional and organizational developmem , less more. The situation on Angel Island was and sports and recreation . The resulting work atrocious; Barde's trearmem , if it did noth- is a truly unique assemblage of erudition.

Whether used as a companion piece to other ing else, shows that clearly.

GOLDEN GATE

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

maritime writings or read alone as one's primary navigation through the world's oceans and waterways, this wo rk presents the reader with a multi-faceted approach ro a global maritime landscape. Social ropics, such as maritime communities and banking and credit; cultural ropics, such as marine artists and figureheads; and regional articles coving the Indian Ocean ro the Caribbean Sea represent traditional barriers removed by this work. Moreover, ropics range from medieval ro modern and Far Eastern tO North American, presenting a reference work incredibly comprehensive in scope, ye t maintaining an impressive level of cohesion throughout.

With nearly 1,000 entries contained in almost 3,000 large-format pages, it also takes up a considerable piece of real estate on one's bookshelf. This set is a virtual (if not literal) anchor for anyone's maritime library. Armchair sailors and aspiring academics will enjoy delving into the broad entries and specific avenues of Oxford Universiry Press's latest encyclopedic offering; accomplished scholars will crack the binding often. It further solidifies the essential role of maritime hisrory in the interpretation and public presentation of world hisrory.

rory, ever foc using on the idea that a huge proportion of sailors were exceptionally literate. Books and writing were a significant part of sailo rs' daily culture. Blum un covers evidence that suggests many captai ns even rolerated men bringing a book with them aloft while on lookout. Sailor-authors were fully aware that their labors at sea involved a level of existential thought and cosmopolitan experience unique ro their profession, and, as exemplified most famously by Dana and Melville, "literary tars" were committed

CATHY AND RUSSELL GREEN

Alpena, Michigan

lhe View from the Masthead: Maritime Imagination and Antebellum American Sea Narratives by Hester Blum (Universiry of No rth Carolina Press, C hapel Hill, 2008, 283pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISB N: 9780-08078- 5855-4, $22.95pb) If yo u're reading these book reviews, chances are you've read yo ur Dana and a good helping of Melville, perhaps even a dash of the salty works by Cooper and Poe. You might even re member Ishmael's comments in "The Mast-head" chapter of MobyDick, about how for "a dreamy meditative m an" time aloft is "delightful"- yet if one gets roo lost in revelry, a slip could lead to physical or symbolic doom .

In lhe View from the Masthead Professor Blum examines this, and similar scenes from classic American sea narratives, as well as researching a great number of lesser-known works, particularly those first-person accounts that preceded Dana and Ames: th e narratives by sailors held captive by Barbary pirates. Blum exam ines sea narratives in their hisrorical context, in terms of their authorship, reception, and publishing hisSEA HISTORY 124 , AUTUMN 2008

ro wrmng truthfully and accurately about their skills and way of life. Blum explains: "Neither crude, unthinking drones nor disembodied transcendental eyeballs, sailors propose a method for aligning reflection and literary production with labor practice."

Just as Ishmael allows himself ro digress into philosophical musings, so Blum does in her study, divi ng deeper inro the greater meanings of this sailor-author perspective, which she terms "the sea eye." Make no mistake, this is a thorough work ofliterary scholarship, fillin g gaps left by Thomas Philbrick's James Fenimore Cooper and the Development ofAmerican Sea Fiction (1961) and picking up from works such as Philip Edwards's The Story of the Voyage: Sea-Narratives in Eighteenth-Century England (1994). Blum includes an extensive bibliography and exhaustive notes and illustrates the book well with primary documents. But just like Melville's Ishmael, she can get a few toes too close to the edge of losing her reader in metaphysics, especially when she delves into what she calls "mariti me ep istemology." Blum never lets you slip off the cross-trees, however. She constantly reminds yo u of what she's arguing

and summarizes where she's been and where she's going.

For the dreamy, meditative reader of maritime narratives, The View from the Masthead is scholarly and superb, nay, delightful.

RrCHARD KrNG

Mystic, Connecticut

Endless Sea by Amyr Klink, translated by Thomas H. Norton (S heridan H ouse, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 2008 , 272pp, illus, biblio, ISBN 9 18-1 -57409-259-2; $19.95pb) Endless Sea is a sailor's narrative that traces Amyr Klink's solo voyage circumnavigating Antarctica from 3 1 Ocrober 1998 to 19 March 1999 in his steel-hulled boat, Paratii.

His remarkable voyage of some 18,000 miles takes place during summer in the southern hemisphere, but he still finds plenty of ice to contend with, as well as freezing temperatures, dense fogs, and snow-, ice-, and rainstorms. As he sai ls along through his sto ry, Klink comments on the history of Antarctic exploration, briefly recounting the exploits of Cook, Bellinghausen, Amundsen, Scott and others. Amundsen he deems the most intrepid of all-a solid explorer who, importantly, "achieved his dream ." Another valuable component of the book is the contribution of his wife's "land" log of the voyage.

Last year, I visited the Antarctic Peninsula where this extraordinary sailor m ade stops at many of the same places; I wish I could have done so when the region was still so pristine. Reading his story inspires me to return to "the end of the wo rld" and to sail the "endless sea."

R OBERT KAMM

N iagara-O n-the-Lake, Ontario

Encyclopedia of Civil Wflr Shipwrecks by W. C raig Gaines (Lo uisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 2008, 264pp, photos, illus, maps, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-8071 3274-6; $35.95hc) .

Craig Gaines's new monograph provides a brief overview into the accounts and histories of over 2,000 American Civil War shipwrecks. Drawing on a wide number of historic sources, Encyclopedia of Civil %r Shipwrecks documents various hull attributes, summarizes the historic background

51

Reviews

..

Will be Different

related to each vessel, and lists applicable bibliographic references. Many of the better-known Civil War shipwrecks do receive greater attention, but this does not ap pear ro be excessive or at the expense of the more obscure references listed. More importantly, the author includes, where available, specific vessel locations in latitude and longitude coordinates, and some attention is also given ro new archaeological work related ro several of the wreck sites. This information is, however, very sparse. While a broader application of these ideas would certainly benefit a volume of this rype, even a limited applicatio n helps bring a new spin to a lot of vessel descriptions that tend ro be somewhat repetitive in a number of seco ndary sources.

Aside from these addirions, Gaines's Encyclopedia only slightly improves o n Donald G. Shomette's Shipwrecks of the Civil mtr: the

Encyclopedia of Union and Confederate Naval Losses (1973), now out of print. Shomette

Anne T. Conver se Photography

created one of the first comprehensive databases pertaining to Civil War shipwrecks.

His work suffered from some organizational problems; Gaines improves on this structure with an approach that is easier to navigate, listing vessels by state and location of sinking, cross-referenced ro an alphabetical list located in the index.

Gaines provides a good starting point for historians, archaeologists, and other Civi l War enthusiasts with an interest in shipwreck databases. W hile the author's added information might not quite live up to expectations, the overall concept is worth the investm ent, especially if yo u don't already have a copy of Sho mette's Encyclopedia on yo ur shelf.

BRIAN DIVELEY

Nei tll , 1996, Cover photograph

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52

Bellevue, Washington

Sentinel ofthe Seas: Life and Death at the Most Dangerous Lighthouse Ever Built by Dennis M . Powers (Citadel Press, New York, 2007, 380pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 9780-8065-2842-7; $21.95hc) People often look at an imposing structure, and say, "How in the world did they build that?" Aurho r Dennis M. Powers's similar reaction to the St. George ReefLighrhouse was to find out the answer and write a book about it. Obviously, one thing led to another, and the resulring Sentinel of the Seas became much more than a treatise on mid-19th century lighthouse construction.

The subtitle, "Life and D eath at the Most

Dangerous Lighthouse Ever Built," seemed overly melodramatic, for the boo k opens with the usual introductions and political, hisro rical, and geographical considerations.

Then the work begins. The year is 1883, the sire is six miles off the coast of northern Califo rnia, dubbed "Dragon Rocks" (hence the St. George Reef). 'Th e plan was to sail inside the reef, anchor the supply ship, and start construction o n No rth West Seal Rock.

The men were ro live on a schooner until living quarters could be completed. This must have all sounded good ro the Lighthouse Board, bur to the workers it had ro have been a nightmare. Hurricane-force srorms blew up frequently with no warning. Seas of "mountainous heights" regularly washed over the fifry-four foot rock.

Nexander Ballanryne, the construction supervisor, was unfazed . By November 189 1, the fifteen-story structure was completed, although the lens, at 146 feet above mean high water, was not in operation for almost another year. The details of the co nstructio n are intertwined with enough gales and high seas to keep any sailor entranced and lightho use fanatics surfeited, but the srory doesn't end here. For eigh ry- rhree years, men had to tend this lighthouse at what had to feel li ke the end of the world. Th eir dury may have lacked the ferocious drama of the initial construction, bur their work was equally haza rdous. Just getting men on and off the rock proved deadly more than a few times.

So many lost their lives at or aro und the lighthouse it became known as the "sentinel of death."

Powers pays tribute to these unsung crews in the late chapters of the book, the poignancy of the stories underscored by the final entry in the St. George Reef Lighthouse log that had dared back to 1891. Ir is 13 May 1975. The light is dark, replaced by an LNB (large navigational buoy) one-half mile away. "In your passing, the era of the lonely sea sentinel has truly ended. May another nature show yo u mercy. Yo u have been abandoned, but never will yo u be forgotten."

Powers concludes the book with a plea for the Sr. George Lighthouse Preservation Sociery and the Del N orte Coun ry Historical Sociery in their efforts at restoration.

Sentinel of the Seas will certainly advance the cause of preserving our lighthouses in this age of automation.

ARDEN ScoTT Greenport, New York

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

The Plimsoll Sensation, The Great Campaign to Save Lives at Sea by N icolette Jo nes (Little, Brown, London, 2006; in the USA by Trafal gar Square Pub!., 200 8, 4 l 6pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-3 1672612-5 ; $32hc)

In well known lays we sing the praise of men renown'd in war, How heroes brave, on land and wave, have fought for us of yore; But I will sing for one who fought, though not in deadly strife, The noble object that he sought was saving human life.

- Verse from 'A Cheer fo r Pfimsoll, " Music Half song by F A lbert, 1876

So begins N icolette Jones's 1he Pfimsoff Sensation, the story of the man remembered most fo r his namesake mark, the load line.

The pages which foll ow tell, in well-researched detail , the epic tale of Samuel Plimsoll and the fi ght for legislation through the British parliament to protect lives at sea. In the history of the labor movement and early attempts to hold shipowners to a standard of safe operation, the nam e "Samuel Plimsoll" is well wo rth remembering. Mariners, who may not know much of the man, know his legacy through th eir work around "The M ark" o r "Plimsoll's Eye," notable for its resemblance to an eye but more particularly for Plimsoll 's fa r reaching watchfulness.

During the las t half of the 1800s at a time when G reat Britain ruled the waves, the country's record for loss of life at sea was lamentable. Few regulatio ns existed to prevent unscrupul ous shipowners from sending overloaded and unseaworthy vessels to sea. Such vessels came to be known as "coffin ships," and there were few alternatives within th e law to a sa ilor who suspected he sailed in such . Regulati ons were in place to protect passengers, but the fate of the m erchant seamen was solely in th e hands of the shipowner. By the time Plimsoll entered the scene, one in five British sailors who worked at sea, died at sea. D espite improvements in navigation and technical advances in ship design, sea-related deaths were on the increase. C learly something was amiss. Refo rm was in the air. Enter Samuel Plimsoll.

Already a veteran of relief efforts to ease th e lot of coal miners' fam ilies, Plimsoll had learned the effectiveness of appealing to the public when confronting the cold shoulder of "The Establishment."

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Unique Whale Art Cube Now available only from the W ha ling Museum: The Richard Ellis wha le art cube created exclusively for the New Bedford W haling Museum. Vis it www.whalingm useum .org to see more unusual gifts.

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CRUISE ABOARD THE WWII LIBERTY SHIP JOHN W. BROWN

featuring music of the 40's by a live "Big Band!" See reenactors demonstrating military equipment and vehicles. Watch an exciting air show with flybys by several WWII aircraft !weather permitting I. Enjoy a continental breakfast and a great all-you-can-eat buffet lunch. Tour the whole ship, including the engine room, museums, ca rgo holds, crew's quarters and bridge.

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53

Jones presents th e story in great detailbattles within the highest realms of the British government, enormous public rallies, behind-the-scenes maneuvers against interests convinced that reform would bring economic ruin. Thro ugho ut the saga the author emphasizes the humanity of a man who wo uld not rest, a m an who could write: "I have been made an agitator by the simple fact that when the storms of winter were blowing, I knew that men were being wrecked and dying. I determined, deep down in my heart, that I would give myself no rest, but that, quiet and timid as I am, I would go the length and breadth of the land and wo uld speak wherever the people would listen and say, 'Will you have them drowned-good, brave men- drowned, by the dozen and the score, to make a few scoundrels rich?' We'll have no more of this; we'll stop it; we'll see that our men , when they go to sea, shall have a tight ship, sound gear to their hands, the ship properly loaded and properly manned, and if that is done they will do the rest for we have no gale in these latitudes that would destroy such a ship."

CAPT. J ONATHAN BACO N SMITH

Washington, M aine

SHIP'S LOG DEClASSIFIED, THE TRUE JOURNEY CAN NOW BE TOLD. his colorful memoir of a young officer's journey half way arou nd the globe aboard a fighting Coast Guard man-o-war during WWII, includes the USS BISBEE as guide ship at the entrance to Leyte Gulf. Illustrated with archival photographs.watercolors and sketches this book is a "must have" for seafarers and marine historians.

T

A Perfect Lady: A Pictorial History of the US Coast Guard Cutter Barque Eagle by

The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Consp iracy That Set Its Sails

Tido H oltkamp (The Flat Hammock Press, Mystic, CT, 2008, 160pp, photos, appen, ISBN 978-0-9795949-2-2; $ 19.95pb) The Barque Eagle has been used for training United States Coast Guard cadets and officer candidates since 1946. ''America's Tall Ship" has become a national symbol, proudly representing the United States of America at celebrations and events at home and across the wo rld. She is not an American-built ship, however. Launched in 1936 from a German shipyard as the Horst Wessel, she was a war prize taken fo llowing World War II. Tido Holtkamp served on board the vessel as a Kriegsmarine cadet during its fo rmer life. Now an Am erican citizen and US Army vete ran, he has brilliantly documented his fo rmer ship's history though an extensive collection of more than 250 photographs and well-written captions. This excellent book is "a must-own" for any veteran of an Eagle cruise, a scholarly contribution from a uniquely qualified person who has known The Perfect Lady in her youth and now elegant maturi ty.

Lours ART H UR NORTON West Simsbury, Connecticut

by Erik Calonius (St. Martin's Griffin , New York, 2006, 298pp, map, illus, notes, biblio, ISBN 978-0-3 12-34348-4; $ 14.95pb) Erik Calonius- a former edi ro r and Lo ndon-based foreign correspondent for the Wall Street journal-once visited a sm all museum on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia and nearly exited without glimpsing a "ghostly image of a sailing ship." The exhibit placard identified the to psail schooner as the Wanderer: "In 1858, 50 years after the importation of slaves was prohibited by Congress, the Wanderer delivered a cargo of African slaves to the coast of Jekyll."

Calonius was intrigued by the dates.

Co ngress banned the impo rtation of slaves in 1807 (effective in 1808). Slavery in the US, "our peculiar institution," legally could continue, but it would do so without the benefit of new blood. So why the d isparity in dates? The story of the Wanderer is the story of Charles Lamar of Savannah. To some readers, Lamar may come off as a wily cavalier, defending "the purest fo rm of aristocracy the world has ever seen" from the economic aggression of the north . Others

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will find him an arrogant, self-centered bully, mounting a "forl orn hope" to preserve a southern o ligarchic class system based on the sweat and blood of the enslaved .

C alonius's skillful storytelling evokes the antebellum south's efforts to counter the stra tegies of the northern abolitionist movement. Prominent in this offensive were the "fire-eaters," public and priva te figures who used oratory and legislative maneuve rin g to preserve plantation soci ery and the human bondage upon which it was built. But C harles Lam ar was a man of actio n. As ea rly as 1857, he was conspiring to revive the slave trade by actually sailing to Africa and returning with kidnapped m en, women, and children to be auctioned off into slave ry. Lamar commissioned Wanderer, a luxury yacht flying the N ew York Yacht Club burgee. Secretly, her interior was adaptable to the requirements of carryin g a human cargo, setting "487 [humans] as if they were spoo ns in the available space, allowing 12 inches of width, 18 inches in height and less than 5 feet in length per person."

The boo k is at once a sea yarn and witn ess to this nation's descent into civil division and finally war. It is political and courtroom theater. There are on stage inept, colluding, and dedicated members of

is based on just a few successes m anaged by whaleboats aro und Boston H arbor. H e duly gives credi t to John Paul Jones for his no tabl e success w ith Bon Ho mme Richard off G reat Britain but correctly points out P ETE R SORENSEN Old Mys tic, Co nnecticut that this was one of th e only victories won by the Ameri cans. It is true that the ConIf By Sea: The Forging of the American tinental Congress had little idea of what Navy, From The Revolution to the W'tzr of to do wi th a navy, no r did they have ex1812 by George C. D aughan (Basic Books, perienced captains and crews to m an their New York, 2008, 536pp, illus, notes, biblio, ships. It is from thi s fact that Dr. D aughan index, ISBN 978-0-465 01 607-5; $30h c) derives his opini on regarding small boat opThere have been any number of books eratio ns. H e grud gingly acknowledges the written about the early days of the Ameri- successes (and fa ilures) of the early fri gates can Navy. Likely the most comp rehensive on the Barbary Coast but seem s inclin ed to and viable is Ian Toil's Six Frigates (2006). agree with Jefferson's decision to put most Dr. D aughan's effort, which documents of them in ordinary after that conflict had eve nts and decisio ns surroundin g the peri- been decided. It is in te resting to no te that od from 1775 to 18 12, relays fac tual com- none of the now experienced naval o ffi cers ments colored by his personal opini ons. He of the time agreed with the policy, and later maintains that what later becam e known events proved them correct. as "Jeffersonian Policy" with regard to the If By Sea is a satisfactory record of the navy was correct, even tho ugh current early struggles of the US Navy and the nahistorians as well as Jefferso n's co ntempo- tion, giving an accurate accounting of even ts, raries have deemed it to be fl awed . While political feelings, and fin ancial concerns of it is true that the Revolutio nary navy was the period . One must filter out the author's mismanaged and remarkably unsuccessful , opinio ns-o r suffer a skewed history of the D aughan's premise that the fl edgling Unit- fo unding of the navy. As a reference, with ed States sho uld have used no ships and the forego ing caveat, it is quite satisfactory.

W ILLIAM H . WH ITE only boats suitable fo r harb o r defense, ala Rumson , New Jersey Jefferson's policy in the early 19 th century, civil sociery, government, and military. Ultimately, however, The Wanderer recounts the tragedy of 487 souls, cargo aboard "The Last American Slave Ship."

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CDl - On a s umm e r eve nin g in 188 4 , th e ta ll Dow n Eas te r Eclipse has ju st d oc ke d in So uth Stree t after e nc o unte rin g a ra in squ a ll o n th e wa y . Th e crew is puttin g th e s hip to be d w hil e sa il s dry o ut ove rh ea d . Beyo nd he r a rc hin g bow o f New Eng la nd oa k li es a n iro n Br it is h full-ri gge r.

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SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

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M s. PATRI CIA A. JEAN B ARI LE

WALTER C RONK ITE

CA PT. JAMES E. H EG, US N (RET)

MR . & MR S. ELLICE M CD ONA LD, JR.

DONORS

IN M EMORY OF JOE R . G ERSON

WILLI AM G . W INTERER

MR S. CAROLL VI NA LL

.I.

CAf'T. BERT ROGERS RONA LD SHEAR

FR ANK K. T ARBOX

WILLI AM R. TOWER , JR.

A LFRED J. WI LLIAMS

FRED

MR. & M RS.

T AWAN I

JAM ES M. TRI ER

D R. & MR S. JOHN DI X WAYMAN

JOHNS . WI NGF IELD

ROBERT S. YOUNG

SEA HISTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008

Two

WONDERFUL CRUISE OFFERINGS

FROM THE NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

TURNING POINTS OF HISTORY GREECE • LI BYA • MALTA • ITALY

j UNE 4 - 16, 2009 ABOARD THE 114-GUEST CORINTHI AN

THE GREAT LAKES UN ITED STATES • CANADA

II

"We make war that we may live in peace," wrote Aristotle. Conflict and war are at the heart of human drama, and to study the history of war is to peer into the human condition.

On this unique voyage we will explore sites and events dating from antiquity to World War II that have shaped the course of Western history and civilization. The stories have come down to us from ancient writers, including Herodotus, Thucydides and Plutarch, as well as from countless modern historians.

They describe events known now by single names, indelibly associated with our history - Marathon, Salerno, Malta, Libya, Monte Casino, Crete, Sicily. Stand on the plain of Marathon and recall the seminal events of the early 5rh century B.c., when democratic Athens and its allies defeated the armies of the mighty Persian Empire; sail into the same harbor of Sicily's Syracuse where the Athenians suffered a terrible defeat some 85 years after Marathon; and relive some of the most important World War II battles that took place in Crete, North Africa, Sicily and the Italian mainland. Our voyage takes place aboard Corinthian II, which accommodates only 114 guests in 57 spacious and elegant suites that face outside, affording panoramic views of the landscape and seascape.

Rates starting at $7,995 (per person, double occupancy)

SEPTEMBER 5 - 12, 200 9 ABOARD THE 100 - GUEST CLELIA

II

Close to home is one of the great natural wonders of the world.

Nearly fifteen thousand years ago, the last of the great glaciers retreated, leaving us with the legacy of the Great Lakes. The lakes are unique, for although they are called lakes, they are in reality vast inland seas that comprise one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water. On the shores of Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior, welcoming towns have changed little since the 19'h century-in marked contrast to much of the North American continent-and warm summer breezes skim through the lush leaves of the woody, rocky coasts. Aboard the 100-guest Clelia II, with its combination of intimacy and elegance, we are pleased to revive the grandeur and pleasure of a classic Great Lakes cruise, embarking in Toronto, Canada, and disembarking in Duluth, Minnesota. On this unique itinerary, which sails between American and Canadian ports, travelers will thrill to the thundering of Niagara Falls, witness Native American culture on Manitoulin Island, enjoy Mackinac Island's bygone Victorian charms and revel in the pristine beauty of the Keweenaw Peninsula, one of North America's most unspoiled regions.

Rates starting at $5,595 (per person, double occupancy)

For reservations or further information, please call Travel Dynamics International toll-free at 800-257-5767 Monda -Frida 9:00 .m - · ·

~EEN MARY2

~EEN VICTORllXM

CUNARD®

CUNARD®

Join Queen Mary 2® on her final crossing of 2008 or Queen Viaoria 2® on her Mediterranean finale this November. Warmer climes may beckon you instead to the Caribbean as both ships' leisurely treks among the islands offer a superb way to close out the year.

Queen Mary 2 Westbound Transatlantic Crossing 6 Days - November 15, 2008

Queen Victoria Ancient Wonders of the Mediterranean 12 Days - November 17, 2008

Southampton, England to New Yo rk prices starting at $1 ,282

Athens (Piraeus) to Rome prices starting at $2,261

Queen Mary 2 Caribbean Adventure 8 Days - November 21, 2008

Queen Mary 2 Southern Caribbean Calypso 10 Days - November 29 & December 9, 2008

New York to Ft. Lauderdale prices starting at $1 ,258

Roundtrip Ft. Lauderdale prices starting at $1 ,590

Queen Victoria Caribbean Holiday 22 Days - December I I, 2008

Queen Mary 2 Caribbean Celebration 15 Days - December 19, 2008

Roundtrip Southampton , England prices starting at $5, 708

Roundtrip Ft. Lauderdale prices starting at $3,529

NEW!

For a FREE broch ure and inform ation about these and other voyages contact Cruise Specialist Trevor Wilson:

Pisa Brothers Travel Service 630 Fifth Avenue• New York, New York 10111 Call 1-800-729-7472 or Email trevor@pisabrothers.com Fares are per person, non-air. based on double occupancy, and apply ro the first two passengers in the stateroom. Fares do not apply to single, shares and upper-berth passengers. lfares are capacity controlled and based on space availability. Government fees and taxes are additional. Offer may not be combinable with ocher discounts, promotions or shipboard credits. fares are quoted in U.S. dollars. See ap1plicable Cunard brochure for terms and definitions that apply to your booking. Other restrictions may apply. Ship"s registry Great Britain. ©2008 Cunard.