Sea History 127 - Summer 2009

No. 127

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SUMMER2009

SEA HISTORY.:

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SEA HISTORY

No. 127

SUMMER 2009

CONTENTS 10 HISTORIC SHIPS ON A LEE SHORE: How to Save the United States

by C harles B. Anderson In 1950, the US government and United States Lines created a partnership to build the fastest trans.Atlantic superfiner in the world. Today, SS U nited States is up for safe, and it wiff take another government-industry partnership to save her from the scrap heap. You can help.

12 The Oiler, by Neil E. Jones WWII had just ended and a young man went to sea as a wiper in a former passenger ship , which had been used as a troop ship during the war. The war was over, but a Leftover mine showed him firsthand what his countrymen had been through, sailing in dangerous waters.

10 18 New Libertalia: A Pirate Dream Comes True, by Daniel Sekulich It's been three hundred years since the "Golden Age ofPiracy" and two hundred years since the US sent warships to battle African pirates in the Barbary ~rs. But, today, African pirates are wreaking havoc on the world's shipping and the US is again sending warships to the African coast in an effort to curb attacks on commercial ships.

22 British Whaler in the Pacific: the Discovery of the Gledstanes, by Dr. H ans Van Tilburg In 1837, a British whaling ship wrecked at Kure Atoll The crew made their way to a nearby island, where they built a makeshift rescue boat and sailed it to Honolulu, more than 1,000 miles away. 1he G ledscanes's story was revived, unwittingly, by the crew of USS Saginaw, when they wrecked along the same reef in 1870. In 2008, using the sketches a Saginaw survivor made,

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noting the Location ofthe G ledstanes, NOAA maritime archaeologists Located the whaler and revived, once more, the story ofBritish whaling in the Pacific.

28 MARINE ART: John Barber, Chronicler of the Working Chesapeake

by Melissa Scott Sinclair Marine artist john Barber, winner of the 2 009 NMH S Distinguished Service Award, shares his view of Chesapeake Bay watercraft, work, and history through a collection ofspectacular paintings.

Cover: Reffections-Gwynn's Island by john Barber, Oil on Linen, 15" x 30" Julian and Shelton Rowe, 61and71, unload the round.stern deadrise Darnell after fishing their pound net in the early morning.

(See pages 28-33)

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COURT ESY OH N BA RB ER

DEPARTMENTS 4

DECK LOG

40 MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

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LETTERS NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION

41 SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT

34 MARINE ART NEWS

49 CALENDAR 51 REVIEWS

36 Sea History FOR Krns

56 PATRONS

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MUSEUM NEWS

Sea History and the National Maritime Historical Society Sea H istory e-m ail: editorial@seahistory.org; NMHS e-m ail: nmhs@seahistory.org; Web site: www.seahistory.org. Ph: 914 737-7 878; 800 221-NMHS MEMBERSHIP is invited . Afcerguard $10,000; Benefactor $5,000; Plankowner $2,500; Sponsor $ 1,000; Donor $500; Patron $25 0; Friend $100; Contributor $75; Family $50; Regular $35 .

All members omside th e USA please add $ 10 for postage. Sea History is sent to all members.

Individual copies cos t $3. 75.

22 SEA HISTORY (issn 01 46-93 12) is published quarterly by the National Maritime Historical Sociery, 5 John Walsh Blvd. , POB 68, Peekskill NY 10566. Periodicals postage paid at Peekskill NY 10566 and add '! mailing offices.

COPYRIGH T© 2009 by the Natio nal Mariti me Historical Sociery. Tel: 914-737-7878.

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

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG Member Support NMHS Treasurer H. C. Bowen Smith has been extremely gratified by yo ur generous membership renewals and responses to our appeal for support. "In these difficult financial times, our members have many organizations requesting their support. That they are so genero us to our Society tells me that there is a large gro up of people who care about our maritime heritage and appreciate our efforts to promote and protect it-that motivates me to work even harder. Thank them for us, please," Bowen asked.

On behalf of your Board of Trustees, staff and fellow members, accept my heartfelt thanks for yo ur strong enco uragement and financial support.

Piracy Although the Society is known more for stories from our history than breaking news, we were honored to have our trustee Phil Shapiro speak extemporaneo usly at our Washington Awards Dinner on 16 April , on ly days after his Liberty Shipping Company vessel, carrying hum ani tarian supplies from the UN World Food Programme, CARE, and other groups, was viciously attacked by pirates (a word we have unfortunately romanticized and which does no justice to the violence and terror of their actions). Chairman Ron O swald opened the program recounting how Sea Histo ry has told the great maritime sto ries of courage and triumph over adversity, specifically citing the very recent example of courage and resolve demonstrated by the heroic actions of Maersk's Cap tain Richard Phillips during his capture and subsequent dramatic rescue from Somali pirates by Navy SEALs. He then introduced Phil Shapiro to update our guests on the attack on the Liberty Sun. Shapiro said, "Last week's attacks on US flag ships by pirates operating in international waters serve to remind us of the life-and-death challenges that United States seafarers can face. The United States Government, whose primary responsibility is to protect American citizens, should take stro ng action to combat piracy before it sparks an international incident that could have widespread political repercussions and ramifications." You can read more about the development and scope of modern piracy in "New Libertalia: A Pirate Dream Comes True," on pages 18-21 of this issue.

SS United States America is a co untry that grew from the sea, and preserving our great historic ships is cri tical for us as a people who value and learn from our heritage. There are ships that are icons in America: USS Constitution, USCG Barque Eagle, the last wooden whaleship Charles W Morgan. Just as these ships represent the spi ri t of our co untry in eras past, SS United States is a symbol of the 20th century. The fastes t passenger vessel ever built, the Cold War-era United States was built as a lux ury liner, but was also des igned to be capable of transporting 15 ,000 troops more than 10,000 miles with out refueling. In the 1950s, the federal government underwro te 2/3 of her construction cos t, and we believe now that it ought to underwrite her restoration . We are askin g you to read her story on pages 10- 11 and write to yo ur congressional representative to support legislation to preserve, protect, and restore her before it is too late.

New NMHS Leadership We are delighted to welcome two new overseers: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, considered England's greatest living yachtsman, and Gary Jobson, America's yachting spokesm an, to our leadership. We are also honored by the addition of five new advisors: Lori Dillard Rech, president of Independence Seapo rt Museum ; Joyce Huber Smith, chair of Sultana Projects; Stuart Parnes, president of Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and secretary general of the International Council of Maritime Museums; J. Russell Jinishian of J . Russell Jinishian Gallery, Inc., leading authori ty on contemporary marin e art; and Bert Rogers, executive director of the American Sail Training Association. We welcome them and know how much their depth of knowledge will enrich us all.

-Burchena! Green, President 4

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

PUBLISHER'S C IRCLE: Peter Aron, William H. W hite OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Ron ald L. Oswald; Vice Chairman, Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchen al Green; Vice Presidents, D eirdre O'Regan, Nancy Schnaars; Treasurer, H. C. Bowen Smith; Secretary, Thomas F. Daly; Trustees, C harles B. Anderso n, Walter R. Brown, Jam es Carter, David S. Fowler, Virginia Steele Grubb, Karen Helmerso n, Steven W. Jo nes, Robert Kamm, Richard M. Larrabee, Guy E. C. Maitland, John R. McDonald Jr., James ]. McNamara, Richard Scara no, Philip ]. Shap iro, Peter H. Sharp, Howard Slomick, Bradford D. Smith, Cesa re Soria, Philip J. Webster, Daniel W. Whalen, W illiam H . White; Chairmen Emeriti, Walter R. Brown, Alan G. C ho ate, Guy E. C. Maitland, Craig A. C. Reynolds, Howard Slotnick; President Emeritus, Peter Stanfo rd FOUNDER: Karl Kortum (191 7-1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM David C. Brown; Walter Cro nkite, C live C ussler, Richard du Mou lin, Alan D . Hutchison, Jakob Isbrandtsen, Gary Jobso n, Sir Robin KnoxJoh nsron, John Lehman, Warre n Marr, II, Brian A. McAl lister, John Srobarr, W illiam G. Wi nterer NMHS ADVlSORS: Chairman, Melbourne Sm ith ; D. K. Abbass, George Bass, Francis E. Bowker, Oswald L. Brett, RADM Josep h F. Callo, Francis J . Duffy, John W. Ewald, Timothy Foote, W illiam G ilkerso n, Thomas G ill mer, Steven A. Hyman, J. Russell Jinishian, Hajo Knurrel, Gu nn ar Lundeberg, Josep h A. Maggio, Co nrad M ilster, William G. Mul ler, Stu art Parnes, Lori Dillard Rech , Na ncy Hugh es R ichardso n, Bert Rogers, Joyce Huber Smith

SEA HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVlSORY BOARD: Chairman, T im othy J . Runyan; No rm a n J. Bro uwer, Rob e rt Browning , Wi ll iam S. Dudley, Daniel Finamore, Kevin Foster, John Od in Jensen, Joseph F. Meany, Lisa No rl ing, Carla Rahn Ph illips, Wa lter Rybka, Q uenrin Sned iker, W illiam H. W hite NM HS STAFF: Executive Director, Burchenal Green; Membership Director, Nancy Schn aars; Marketing Director, Steve Lovass-Nagy; Communications Director, Juli a Church; Accounting, Jill Rom eo; Store Sales & Volunteer Coordinator, Jane Maurice

SEA HISTORY Editor, D e irdre O ' Regan; Advertising Director, Wendy Pagg iorr a; Editor-at-Large, Peter Stanfo rd

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

LETTERS Nantucket Lightship The recenc article in Sea History on rhe Nantucket Lightship I LV-112 brought back memories for me. In 1958 I was the executive officer and navigato r in rhe US Navy radar destroyer escorr USS Hissem (DER 400). One dark stormy night we were returning hom e from forty mostly rough and cold days ac sea o n our primary mi ssion as part of rhe Barrier (the seaward extension of NORAD's Early Warning System agai nst miss iles or planes from the Soviec Union). The Nancucker lighcship wo uld be our "landfall" because we had been o n dead reckoning for lo nger chan I rhoughc wise. Navigation chen was all celestial and bad visi bili ty shot rhac down, also Loran-A, as was ofcen rhe case, was unavailabl e. We were approaching che coast in che dark, ve ry close to a shoal and no longer sure of o ur position.

Co ncinuing o n, glued to the fac hom ecer, much later we verified our position and recurned to o ur base in Newport, Rhode Island. Two days later, we were told char on che night we were making rhac landfal l, che Nanruckec lighcship had broken ics anchor chain and drifted off scacion , unknown to anyo ne.

RICHARDT. WHITLOCK, C DR, USN RET. Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

le is so imperative rhar our Nacional Historic Landmarks and Places be preserved, so everyone can enjoy and learn from chem-especially today's yo ung peo ple. As a museum, the Nancucker lighcship co uld offer so m any learning opportunities for everyone. Mo reover, che citizens of our nation need to recogni ze che importance of saving and preserving hi stori c landmarks rhar represenc che m any unique facets our nation's hericage. Lightships played such an important role, helping to guide and pro tect our seafaring commerce.

M ICHAEL CAMERATTA Palm Beach Shores, Florida

Man-Made Explosions The article on rhe El Estero fire (Sea H istory 126) was an excellenc story o n an explosion that did nor happen. One can only wo nder what che results wo uld have been had EL Estero gone up. One small quibble: the author stared that the 19 17 Halifax explosion was the "largest man-made explosion in history before .. .Hiroshima."

This claim belongs to first A-bomb rest at White Sands, New Mexico, on 16 July 1945 , nor Hiroshima, which came three weeks lacer.

CHARLEY SEAVEY

Sama Fe, New Mexico

Minot's Ledge Light, 1-4-3 Th e ride of the Marshall Johnson painting reproduced on page 28 of Sea History

Minot's Light off Cohasset, U4 126 m ay be "Minor Lighthouse, Boston H arbor," bur Minor's Light is located off the encrance to Cohasset harbor, m y former "home port." Irs 1-4-3 flash is said to m ean "I Love You." Ty Martin Tryon, North Carolin a

Colin White Tribute Colin Wh ite was an inspiration to all who care about naval history and its place in world affairs, and he encouraged countless others to rake a serious inceresr in these viral themes in history. The ro le of the Royal

Join Us for a Voyage into History

Lightship Nantucket Sunk by RMS Olympic by C harles Mazoujian recently received an issue of Sea H istory magazine (126) and was immediately drawn to the article on the N antucket lightship as a result of che striking cover illustrati on. This particular lighcship has quire a fasc inating history. After reading the arricle, I logged on to che LV-112 web sire (www. nancucketlighrshiplv- l 12. org), and read about the United Stares Lightship Museum's plans for the vessel.

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

Our seafa rin g heritage comes alive in the pages of Sea History, from the a ncient mariners of G reece to Portuguese navigators opening up the ocean wo rld to the heroic efforts of sailors in modern-day conflicts. Each issue brin gs new insights a nd discoveries.

If you love the sea, rivers,

lakes, and bays-if you apprecia te the legacy of those who sail in deep wa ter a nd their wor kaday craft, th en you belong with us.

J oin To day !

Mail in the fo rm below, phone 1 800 221-NMH S (6647), or visit us at: www.seahistory.o rg (e-ma il: nmhs@seahistor y.org)

Yes, I want co join rh e Sociery and receive Sea History quarrerl y. My conrriburion is enclosed. ($ 17.50 is fo r Sea History; any amou nr above rhar is rax ded ucrible.) Sign me up as: 0 $35 Regular Member 0 $50 Fami ly Member 0 $ 100 Friend 0 $2 50 Patron O $500 Donor 127 Mr./Ms. - - - - - - - -- -- -- - - - --

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----------------------~Z I P _ _ _ _ _~ Return co: Narional Mari rime Historical Sociery, PO Box 68, Peekski ll NY I 0566

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Navy in th e defense of freedom wo rldwide is now more generally and accurately understood thanks to C olin's imaginative and tireless efforts on this broad theme, and particularly on the life and times of Lo rd Nelson, who epitomized that cause in actio n. His meticulous scholarship and his infectio us pleasure in spreading the wo rd have spread light, in times rather short of enlightenment on history and its ineluctable lessons in national securi ry and the advance of freedom in the wo rld.

His generosiry of spirit encouraged others to follow the paths he opened in studies of the maritime world. His legacy will go o n inspiring people into the future, and his unbo unded helpfulness to his fell ows in the work will always be remembered with deep affection and gratitude, by all who knew him, and should be known to all those not fortunate enough to have worked with him.

P ETER STANFORD

President Emeritus Na tional Maritime Historical Sociery N OTE: In the las t issue of Sea H istory (1 26), we mistakenly omitted the byline fo r Colin White's obituary. Mr. W hite's tribute was written by AoM. Joseph F. Callo, who also contributed this photo of HMS Victory flying the white ensign at half mas t. In January, the Royal Navy signalled for all ships in Portsmo uth H arbor- including N elson's flagshi p-to lower their ensigns to half-mast to mark White's fun eral.

Making Maritime History Personal I am absolutely thrilled with the issue of Sea H istory that arrived today in the mail, particularly because I have a large Marshall Johnson oil painting hanging over my fireplace, acqui red by my great-grandfather Elbridge Webster, a Boston clipper ship captain. It depicts a square- rigger beating her way off Cape Cod Light in a storm (see image above). The article on the artist (Sea H istory 126) brings this painting mo re to li fe.

Speaking of my great-grandfa ther, using tips fro m Sea H istory's "M ari time History on the Internet" guide, I discovered that Captain Webster skippered the barque William Penn from San Francisco to Port Jackson, New So uth Wales, Australia, between September 185 1 and Jan uary 1852 in 106 days under sail, stopping long enough in Fiji to recruit five Fij ians fo r his crew. All of this info rmation I found o nline from the State Record Authoriry of New South Wales. O nline, I also learned of his adventures skippering the ship Louisa in 1854, from Sydney to San Francisco and back, a voyage that included storms, drunkenness, hijinks, a mutiny and knife battle. At once, yo u can see the val ue that Sea H istory can bring to one's research projects.

PHI LIP

J. WEBSTER

Trustee, NMH S

Treasure Hunting The letter in defense of treasure hunters in the last issue misses several crucial points.

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That a few treasure hunters employ professionals and modern equipment is irrelevant when their basic mission must always be to grab the goodies in the m ost economical way in their to at temp t to make a profit. Scientifi c wo rk becom es no more than window dressing to be dispensed of at need, as we see in the outcomes of an endless row of treasure-hunting projects.

W here are the in-depth studies of the sites and their arti fac ts? W here are the scientific reports? I have seen o nly one fro m treasure hunters in a nearly fifty-year career in the field . Coffee-table books, aucti o n catalogs, and borderline-fiction adventure tales don't co mpensate for the destruction of unique nautical history sites. Where are the opportu nities fo r scholars to see the wo rk in progress and its results? No t likely when treas ure-hunter secrecy is the watchwo rd. W here are the museum exhibits which wo uld bring new knowledge abo ut ships and o ur seafaring history to the public? I know of very few, and their m essage usually is glorification of these m odernday destroyers of our common heritage.

M os t artifac ts are sold off, dispersed, and provide no benefit fo r sociery. 1h ere are good reaso ns why enlightened nations and states are passing m ore and m ore restrictive laws regarding disturbance of our underwater heritage. The day of these m odern pira tes is drawing to a close, and none too soon given the destruction they leave in their wake.

EDWARD Vo N D ER P ORTEN

San Francisco, Californi a

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

A Call for Artifacts/Info The Haverstraw Brick Museum in Haverstraw, New York, is purring together an exhib it, "Moving Bricks on the Hudson," for display from September 2009 through January 20 10. The exhibit will focus on the sloops, schooners, towboats, rugs, and barges that transported bricks on the Hudson in the 19th and early 20th centuries . At its peak, the brick industry was the dominant industry on the Hudson River, and diverse boats transported one million bricks on the river annually. The museum is wondering if NMHS members m ight have information about brick boats and artifacts, particularly models of vessels that transported bricks on the Hudson River, which could be made available for loan for the exhibit. For more information, please contact Pat Gordon, President, Haverstraw Brick Museum, 12 Main Street, H averstraw, NY 10927; Ph. 845 94735 05 ; www.haverstrawbrickm useum.org.

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Drake's Island Regarding the discussion of the site of Francis Drake's Elizabeth Island and the discovery of Cape Horn in the "Letters" section of Sea History 126-may I add two other voices? The late Drake scholar Raymond Aker, who made Drake's circumnavigation a life-long research proj ect, came to the conclusion that only Horn Island matched the descriptions in the contemporary acco unts. This identification was agreed to by the Society of Cape Homers and by Drake researcher Michael Turner, who has visited nearly every site Drake contacted during his voyages. Aker and Turner realized that the descriptions in the Drake acco unts usually are remarkably accurate and permit identifications of Drake sites with little room for debate in almost all cases. Horn Island is one of those firmly identified places in Turner's book In Drake's Wake, Vol. 2, The World Voyage. The National Geographic Society used Aker's map of the circumnavigation and his identification of Elizabeth Island as Cape Horn on its map, "The Explorers," in 1998.

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SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION First Washington DC Awards Dinner

A ccording to dinner co-chairman Philip Webster,

''April 16th's ..l\Jirst Washington DC Awards Dinner for the Na tional M ari time Histori cal Sociery exceeded our expectations and was remarkable for an inaugural fundraising event in the middle of a recessio n.

The room was filled to capaciry, everyone enjoyed themselves, and they bid often and well on the Silent Auction items and bought fo ur John Barber paintings to benefit NMHS. The comments we've heard from our guests are: 'warm and friend ly,' a 'fami ly gathering for those that love the sea,' ' interesting presentations,' 'well-paced,' 'lovely music by wo nderful yo ung people,' 'excell ent food and service,' 'lovely surroundings,' 'an event with energy."'

It trul y was a great evening and one we will long cherish .

Gary Jobso n, America's yachting spokes man, is a wealth of perso nal and funny stories and information- he was a perfect maste r of ceremo nies. The wo nderful voices of the USCG Academy Cadet "Idlers,'' under the direction of Dr. Robert Newto n, were enchanting. The stars of the evening, of course, were the two awa rd recipi ents. John M . Barber graciously gave the Sociery credit for influencing him by helping to fo und the American Sociery of Marine Artists, which has played such an important role in his life.

Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant of the US Coast G uard, focused on the importance of the heritage of the Coast G uard in shap ing what it is today. H e stated that the prin ciples of their operations haven't changed for 200 years, regardless of the dangers facing them. Those principles are to maintain a clear objective, an

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effective presence, a uniry of effort, an on-scene initiative, managed risk and restraint. "Because situations can change so rapidly," he stated, "we need to stay fixed o n where we're going. To do that we need to know where we've been. For that we thank the Sociery."

NMHS award winners john Barber (left) and Admiral Thad Allen (2nd from left) were fited by NMHS members and trustees at the inaugural Washington DC Awards Dinner. With them are (left-right) NMH S trustee Philip Webster, dinner co-chair I rmy Webster, overseer Gary Jo bson, and chairman Ron Oswald.

Registry of Historic Vessels

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nder the leadership of our trustee Karen Helmerson , NMHS has been pleased to partner with the New York Stare Council on the Arts, the North River Historic Ship Sociery, the Working Harbor Committee, the Empire State Maritime Alliance Venture, and the Metropolitan Waterfront Al liance to create the 2009 Commemorative Registry ofWorking and Historic Vessels, a proj ect of the 2009 Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial Commission . The Registry, along with Vessels as Venues, will serve as a pub lic listing of New York State's histo ri c and working vessels and will be a great cultural resource for New York's waterfront communi ry, cultural o rganizations, and all New Yorkers for years to come.

This non-exclusive registry brings arts and cultural organizations in New York State together with vessels for public programs dockside, on the water, or underway. Vessels as Venues provides a platform for otherwise land-based events and audiences, communi ry tours, educational workshops, performances and exhibitions, from tugs to barges to sailing ships, fireboats and more.

The 2009 Commemorative Registry is an online reso urce through the Quadricentennial web site www.exploreny400 .org, where cultural organizations and communities can find vessels as ve nues throughout New York State for programs and events in 2009 and beyond.

Warof1812

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MHS is forming a committee to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 18 12 and is asking for participation from museums, ships, organizations, schools, states, and all who realize how important it is to commemorate this essential chapter in Anglo-American relations. The co mmittee chairman , William H. White, is a trustee ofNMHS and the USS Constitution Museum and an award-winning author on the War of 1812. Famed '"round-the-world" sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, naval historian Dr. William Dudley, and Captain Sally McElwreath, USNR (Ret.), are a few of those who have agreed to serve. Our vision is that there will be a spectacle to draw attention to the bicentennial- ideally a tall ship parade. We also envision a commemoration on both sides of the pond. There needs to be an educational com ponent, where students ado pt a museum or ship and learn hands-on about an aspect of the conflict. It is expected that forts,

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ships, museums and organizations from the Great Lakes to the East Coast, from the C hesapeake Bay to Washington, D C, and from Baltimore to New Orleans, are planning commemorations over the three-year time period. A grand spectacle and an educational program wi ll serve to underscore the significance of these events and increase attendance and news coverage. Th e N aval History and H eritage Command, th e Naval Historical Foundation, Operation Sail, and the Massachusetts Port Authoriry (Massport), among others, are already planning to commemo rate the war.

Together, we plan to highlight each other's activities, disseminate material, and involve schoolchildren. The NMH S web site www. seahisrory.org will offer a calend ar of events as part of this effort.

We invite yo ur participati o n and offer yo u our support. Co ntact nmhs@seahisrory.o rg and join the committee.

Burchenal Green, President SEA HJ STORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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How to Save the United States

by Charles B. Anderson

0

ne of the greatest engineering marvels of the twenti- in this partnership by urging their congressional representatives to eth century is in peril. SS United States, the last re- support plans for SS United States's protection and restoration. maining US-flag transAtlantic superliner, which has On her maiden voyage in 1952, the United States shattered been languishing at a Philadelphia pier since 1996, all rransAt!antic speed records and, to this day, is still the fastest has been put up for sale. Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) assumed passenger ship ever built. The ship was put on the National Regisownership of the 990-foot ship in 2003 and announced its inten- ter of Historic Places in 1999 because of her "compelling national tion of refurbishing the vessel and returning her to service. Restor- significance." Passenger lists included Presidents Truman, Eisening the ship is, for anyone, an ambitious goal, but one deemed hower and Kennedy, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, both worthy and feasible. That idea was floated before 2008, well Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, before our current economic crisis. Recently, however, Star Cruises John Wayne, Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Marlon Brando, and Leon(NC.Ls parent company) determined that this sort of undertaking ard Bernstein. Even Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona was beyond what they could budget for and they decided to sell Lisa, traveled first class in 1962 in a specially designed container the ship. on her way home after an exhibition in America.

Although NCL has reported that the terms of sale contain A product of the Cold War, she was designed for dual use: conditions that would prohibit the ship's immediate sale to for- a luxury passenger liner, bur also a troop ship able to transit the eign buyers for scrap, such contractual conditions are clearly not Panama Canal and transport 15,000 troops more than 10,000 sufficient to prevent the ship from ultimately meeting the same miles without refueling. She embodied the triumphant spirit of disastrous fate as SS Norway, SS Independence, and many other postwar "can-do" America and was the subject of seemingly endclassic ocean liners that have come to their end at scrap yards in less press coverage in her day. In the 1950s and 60s, the United Alang (India) and elsewhere. In 1950, the federal government States was our "ship of state" and became a beautiful and compelpartnered with United States Lines to build SS United States as ling national symbol. Without question, the United States ranks a passenger liner built to Navy specifications so that she could be as one of the greatest ships in history. Aptly named, she belongs easily converted for use as a troop ship, if necessary. Of her $78 to all Americans . Her architects (Gibbs & Cox) and her owners million construction bill, the federal government underwrote $50 (United States Lines) were both American companies and world million. Today, the SS United States Conservancy, a non-profit leaders in the maritime industry. All three of her masters-Comorganization dedicated to the ship's restoration, recognizes diat modores Harry Manning (1952), John W. Anderson (1952-64), saving the ship will take more resources than most individ and Leroy Alexanderson (1964-69)-were graduates of the State citizens or non-profits can generate, and University of New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, and is thus aggressively working to establish e==~4 ': tshe was manned with outstanding success by American citizena government-industry partnership, 1 m ariners until her retirement in 1969. While transporting many just as had been done when the ship thousands of immigrants to a new life in America, and large was originally conceived, to develop a numbers of US servicemen and women to Europe during the business plan for the ship's future use.

NMHS members can play a vital role

•

Cold War, the ship traveled 2,770,884 naucical miles, never once delayed because of a casualty or mechanical failure.

This ship, whose image conjures up scenes from a bygone era, has survived, despite decades of neglect and repeated transfer of ownership, because of the high-quality materials and craftsmanship that went into her original construction . Recent rests have revealed char che ship's hull strength is-remarkably-92% of ics original condition. She is not too far gone to be saved and resume her status as an inspirational national symbol for current and future generations. The United States can serve us honorably as a vibrant example of the success of the country's new economic stimulus plans.

Planned and executed correctly, the restoration can help generate man y jobs and much needed tax revenue. The ship is che perfect candidate for a public-private restoration project, either as a stationary floating attraction and museum in a major American port city, or fully restored as a seagoing ambassador ship.

Our National Maritime Heritage Act recognizes that "historic resources significant to the Nation's maritime heritage are being lost," and declares that "the preservation of this irreplaceable maritime heritage is in che public interest so that its vital legacy of cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, and economic benefits will be maintained and enriched for future generations of Americans."

Without a doubt, few other vessels in our country are of greater importance co our maritime heritage, or have such a viral legacy of cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, and economic benefits than SS United States. As advocates of our maritime heritage, we, the members and trustees of the National Maritime Historical Society and che public at large, must take immediate measures co insure rhac the present owners of SS United States and our representatives in Congress act consistently with our nation's policy co preserve this irreplaceable national treasure. We urge NMHS members to visit the SS United States Conservancy's web site at www.ssunitedscates conservancy.org and co write or e-mail their congressional representatives co introduce legislation to protect, preserve, and restore SS United States as our nation's flagship.

SS United States was built for speed, as is obvious from the view from beneath her sharp, twelve-story-high bow. Most ofthe ship's interior has been gutted. The original telephone switchboards (below) are among the few original artifacts that remain onboard.

National Maritime Historical Society Trustee Charles B. Anderson is a maritime lawyer in New York and a member of the Board of the SS United States Conservancy. His father, Commodore john W Anderson, was master ofSS United States.from 1952 to 1964.

SEA HISTORY l 27, SUMMER 2009

11

The Oiler

W

byNeilE. Jones

orld War II had been over for a year, but deadly naval mines still menaced the shipping lanes-the minesweepers hadn't located them all. We found one in the North Sea, just after midnight during my watch as oiler in the engine room of the US Army Transport Edmund B. Alexander.

When the 22,225 gross ton ship was launched in 1905, she and her sister ship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria were the biggest ships in the world. Originally named Amerika, she had been built for the German-owned H amburg-Am erika Line in 1905 at H arland and Wolff's shipyard in Belfast, Ireland- the same shipyard that would build the Titanic seven yea rs later. As a passenger liner, Amerika operated primarily between H amburg and New York C ity.

When World War I broke out in the summer of 191 4, Amerika was in port in Boston, and she stayed there, idle, for nearly three years. 1he United States was sti ll neutral during that time, but the risk of capture by the Royal Navy, should the ship try to cross the Atlantic, was too strong to chance.

W hen the US joined the war in 191 7, the government officially seized the German ship. She was soon put into service as a troop ship and she put to sea under the Anglicized name USS America. During World War I, America transported 40,000 troops to Europe, and brought almost 47,000 home to the US. After the war, the ship was deco mmissioned and transferred to the US Army Transportation Service, and then in 1920 transferred to the US Shipping Board and put back into the transAtlantic passenger service for the United States Lines (formerly the US Mail Steamship Company).

In the early 1930s, she was withdrawn from service and laid-up.

In 1939, just before World War II started, the United States Lines launched a new passenger ship nam ed America and, after nearly nine years out of service, the old America was recommissioned as th e US Army Transport Edmund B. Alexander, in honor of an Army officer who had fought in the C ivil War and the M exican-American War. H er boilers were converted from coalto oil-fired; her two tall, thin smokestacks

SS Amerika, of the Hamburg-Amerika Line (pre-1917).

12

were replaced by one shorter, thicker stack, and she put to sea once more, transporting American troops abroad for the Second World War. Soon after graduating from high school, I secured a job as a wiper aboard this ship. With wartime rules still in effect, the usual requirement of six months' sea time as a w iper before sitting for an oiler's examination was waived, and, after my first voyage, I sat for the test. A merciful Coast Guard examiner at the M arine Inspection Office in New York gave me a passing grade, and I became an oiler. The position has since been made obsolete by the progress of technology, but, at the time, oilers performed a small but crucial function in the operation of great old steam ships.

On Saturday, 7 September 1946, the Edmund B. Alexander lay alongside Columbus Quay at the north German port of Bremerhaven. She was about to depart for Southampton, where she would embark English war brides for New York.

I was on the twelve-to-four watch. My job: keep the starboard of our two gargantuan reciprocating quadruple expansion steam main engines and their auxi liary small er steam engines properly lubricated.

These engines powered pumps for fresh water, sanitary water, fuel oi l, boiler feed water, bilge water, fire protection, and condenser water. Each main engine's condenser was served by a circulating pump that rook volumes of cold seawater through an intake pipe riveted to a hull open ing about eighteen inches in diameter. This cold seawater was pumped through the condenser's coils to cool exhaust steam into fresh water so it could be pumped back into the boi lers to make more steam .

The sun was low on the horizon. I leaned against the rail on the after deck looking o ut at bomb-ravaged Bremerhave n. I reAected on the devas tation I had seen on my daily walks into town . Walking for almost a mi le along Rickmerstrasse, I'd pass great broken heaps of rubbl e, bricks, sp lintered timbers, rusting iron, and odd tangles of pipe sti ckin g up through the debris like some sort of lunatic sculpture.

Most of the side streets were still blocked with the wreckage of buildings that had crumbl ed during the bombing raids. Shattered walls of once-proud buildings now SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

revealed inrerior doors swinging from broken hinges. Toiler fix rures, wirh no floors o r walls supponing them, dangled fro m their plumbing. Tauered drapes and soiled furniture, their colors now faded by the weather, lay where rhe blas ting bombs had lefr them. I understood thar the devastation was the result of what had to be done to save the wo rld fro m Hider and rhe Nazis, yer I fe lt deeply fo r rhe people who had lived here.

Pulling my watch from my trouser pocket, I nored it was only a few minutes until our scheduled sailing time. I butto ned my jacket and walked aft toward the small deckh ouse perched above the fa ntail. This deckhouse, with its big wooden card table and a few chairs, was the recreatio n roo m fo r engine-room workers, the "black gang."

Red, my reticent warch-mate, the oiler fo r the port engine, an old-timer, maybe fi fry, maybe older, sac ourside on a bench facing aft. I joined him.

D uring the previous voyage to New York, Red had learned of my pendin g Coast Guard exam and rook care to explai n the impo n ance of rouch and smell in judging the temperarure of a bearing.

Duri ng wa tch he'd show me how to synchronize the m oti on of my arm with th e motion of rhe reciprocating and rotaring parrs before reaching into rhe m oving machinery to touch rhe bearings wirh my fingers. Red called it learning how to "feel" an engine. He warned m e never to wear a ring o r rrade my Ingersoll pocker warch for a wrisrwarch. Those things co uld eas ily snag on one of the engine's moving parts wirh devastaring consequences- and nor fo r rhe engine.

A bus rumbl ed along rhe quay toward us. An Army band srepped down .

1 h e deck gang on rhe fa ntail wo rked ar gerring our mooring lines on board .

W hen the lase line came aboard, a ship's officer yelled, "All cl ear aft!"

"Al l clear aft!" a seam an repeared in to his relephone headser connecting him wirh the navigation bridge.

The ship's rwo propellers ro il ed rhe warer under our stern . The band began a m elancholy rendition of Sen rimental Journey. We were underway, and the music faded with the distance.

'Tm go ing to get some sleep," I said.

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

On deck view of USS America, 1 7 October 19 17, at the Boston Navy Ya rd. The US government had seized the German passenger ship in July and sent it across the harbor to the navy yardfor repairs and conversion to a troop ship. The day after this photo was taken, A merica left Boston and sailed to H oboken, NJ, where it loaded coal, cargo, and troops bound for France.

"OK, see ya' at midnight," Red acknowledged.

Deep inside the ship, I pushed open rhe gray metal door to rhe oilers' compartment and was greered by rhe familiar smell of old swear, srale tobacco sm oke, and oil-soaked wo rk clo rhes. The to p and bo tto m bunks nearest rhe door were emp ry. They belonged to Karl and H arvey, rh e oilers currently in rhe engine room on rhe eight-to-rwelve wa tch . On the bunks nearest rhe po rthole, Sam and Little Geo rge, rhe fo ur-ro-eighr oilers, were catching up on rheir sleep. Red and I had the middle bunks-min e was the upper.

D espite o ur close quarters, disputes and displays of bad temper am ongst the oilers we re rare, m osdy because there was n't much interacrion . Two of us we re always o n du ry in rhe engin e roo m, rwo others we re usually sleeping, and rhe remaining rwo were busy writing letters, doing personal laundry, playing cards, o r trading sea stories with other crewmembers over co ffee in the mess room.

There was no expected srandard of hygiene, nearness, or conduct. We all pretry much lived as we pleased wirh rhe unspoken understanding rhat yo u knew yo ur job and did ir, thar yo u were never late relieving the watch, and that yo u tried not to make life mo re unpleasant fo r yo ur shipmates than necessary. If a shipmate's behavio r was annoying, the affecred shipmate o r shipmates

resolved the m au er, or ir was ignored . No one else cared. We were merchant seamen .

I ki cked off my shoes, hung my shirr and tro users from the hooks inside my locker, then heaved myself onto my bunk.

A half hour before midnight, one of the wipers on du ry shook me awake. It was rime to gee up and relieve Karl.

O pening the heavy door to the engine room, I was welcomed by steamy hear and rhe d ro ne of huge blowers feeding air into fiery boil ers. I grabbed the oil-slicked ladder railings with bo rh hands, raised my feet and slid down through the dimly lit maze of gratings, piping systems, and massive air ducts down to the Operating Platfo rm, the nerve center of the engine room .

The deck of the operaring platfo rm co nsisted of studded steel plates, about fo ur feer square, all supported by sreel framing to hold them fi ve feer above the inner bottom of rhe ship. Below th e platform was the bilge, where black sludge from leaking oil , wa ter, and muck accumulated.

O ur rwo four- cylinder m ain engines, rising more than fo rry feet above the o perarin g pl arfo rm, towered over everything.

They resembled a matched pair of longlegged mechanical dinosaurs. Their exposed piston rods, crossheads, connecting rods, and crankshafts, all shiny wirh oil, fl as hed in rhe artificial light as they wo rked to ro tate our rwo propell ers 68 times per minu te.

13

USATEdmund B. Alexander's fire room (boiler room), 1946.

\ \...

Karl stepped aside as my feet thumped onto the operating platform.

"Number three crank bearing is running warmer than it should," he said. "I went up and poured a slug of oi l straight into the drip cup. Checked th e bearing a couple times since. Some really dark oil oozed out. Burned. So she got pretty warm. But she's cooled some. I think she'll be OK now."

I looked high up at number-three cylinder's drip cup bobbing up and down. It was attached to the crosshead that transfers the vertical motion of the piston rod to the rotary motion of the crankshaft through the connecting rod. The drip cup, a modified funnel big enough to hold little more than a quart of oil, was fed by a broad wick extending from a stationary reservoir moumed above on the engine block.

A narrow pipe led from the cup's bottom down the connecting rod to the crankshaft bearing.

During Karl's watch, the temperature of the crank bearing's babbit-the smooth, relatively soft bearing metal-had risen to a troubling degree. If it were to melt, friction would increase. Things would get very hot, very quickly; something would have to be done. Sometimes Rushing with clean oil or slowing the engine would cool it. If not, the engine had to be stopped, so the

14

mechanism could be disassembled, resurfaced, and reassembled.

To make my own assessment of the crank bearing's temperature, I stepped up onto the cap of the adjacent main bearing, abo ut three feet above the Boor plates, and faced the massive whirling crank sweeping through a nine-foo t orbit. Synchronizing the movement of my right arm to the oncoming, descending swing of the huge crank-the way Red had taught me- I inserted my hand into the inner face of the crank web as it came down and gently touched the surface surrounding the crank pin , the bearing's "boss." There was enough clearance between the crank web and the connecting rod for some oil to seep out.

After touching the boss through three or four revolutions, I found it warmer than usual, but not hot, and the oil on my fingers was clean. Good.

I smiled, relieved. I would check it again in a few minutes, and maybe give the drip cup another slug of clean oil for good measure. I turned to step down.

A massive explosion thundered through the engine room. The ship lurched violently. There was no Bash or fire, only a deafening blast and brutal jolt. The engine room went dark.

I was thrown face-down on the Boor plates next to the ladder. I could hear metal

objects clattering down through the gratings, the cacophony oflaboring machinery, the high-pitched screech of escaping steam, and the inrush of water.

I knew I was lucky not to have been thrown into the pit beneath the numberthree crank. One revolution of that gigantic crank, and I would have been transformed into a blob of oily sausage.

None of the lights were on, but I could make out the vague ou tline of the bulk of the port main engine, just in front of me to my left. Light was coming from somewhere. On the far side of the engine room, about ten feet above the level of the operating platform I saw pale green water pouring into the ship. The seawater intake for the portside circulating pump had torn away from where it was riveted to the hull, and a torrent of seawater about eighteen inches in diameter gushed into the engine room. The water's natural bioluminescence filled the engine room with an eerie, greenish glow.

Was the ship sinking? I had no idea, but no one was scrambling to the ladder to leave the engine room. My shipmates weren't panicking. I wouldn't.

I heard both engines slow to a stop.

The engineering officer must have closed the throttle valves. A dark form Bashed down the ladder, landing on the Boor

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

"There was no flash or fire, only a deafening blast and brutal jolt.

The engine room went dark." plates with a heavy thud. "Get those em ergency lights on." It was th e booming voice of the Chief Engineer.

Red switched on the first of the three battery-powered em ergency ligh ts behind the port engine. The lights behind the starboard engine were my responsibility. I carefully made my way, avoiding the gaps where some of floor plates had rumbled imo the bilge. O ne misstep and I wo uld have fallen imo that murky filth .

More voices shouted over the screeching steam. The res t of the "black gang" was arriving. 1h e Chief, his flashlight casting its beam in from of him, stepped from the fi re room hatch . "Fire room is OK. We've got pressure on the boilers," he shouted.

"It was a helluva blas t. M ust've been a

witho ut bothering to feel their temperature. Engineering officers with their flashligh ts and others in the black gang scurried past m e, repai rin g broken pipes and redi recti ng pumps fo r overboard discharge.

There were urgent sho uts to do this or that.

Evidently, wa ter was flooding into the engine roo m from places I couldn't see. It was frant ic, but there was no panic.

The piercing screech of escaping steam suddenly stopped. Som eone had closed the valve. The only noises now were from the pumps, the commands from the engineering officers, and the waterfal l of in-rushing wa ter.

After a tim e the normal engine room lights fli ckered and cam e back o n; the engineers had the generators wo rking again.

The Chief seemed to be everywhere at once, helpi ng, ordering, encouraging. H e grinned at m e, "D on't let up, kid," he said, "We're gonna start gaining on the sonuvabitch ." His confidence was comforting.

M aybe a half hour later- m o re than fo ur ho urs afte r we'd "fo und" the minethe water level had begun to recede. We we re gaining on the sonuvabitch.

Water no longer covered the floor plates, but, sm eared with dirty water and oil, the plates were very slippery. Two wipers, on hands and knees, busily scrubbed them with kerosene-soaked rags, swabbing them dry with fistfuls of cotton was te.

On my way to the lube oil tank fo r another refill, the Chief reached out and gripped my shoulder. "Take a break," he

USAT Edmund B. Alexander underway offBoston, 6 January 1945

m ine left over from the war. Minesweepers missed it, we fo und it."

"Get on every pump on the starboard side," The Chief barked at m e. "I don't give a damn how m uch oil you use-don't let 'em stop."

H e shouted at two wipers, "W restle as many of those floo r plates o ut of the bilge as yo u can. Get 'em back in place so we can move aro und."

H arvey and Karl cam e sliding down the ladder railings. I heard the Chief o rder them to get to work on the portside floor plates.

Filling my half-gallon oil can at the lu be oil tank, I began my rounds of the pumps behind the starboard engine, sloshing oil on crosshead and crank bearings

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

The bright lights were reassuring, but the water in the bilge cominued to rise and would soon rise above the floor plates. If it got much higher, the bo iler fires wo uld have to be extinguished, and there would be no more steam to power the pumps.

Half a dozen shipm ates were at work to com rol the torrem at the broken circulating pump intake. Two wrestled with a steel plate hanging from a handybilly just above the hole. Karl and two others struggled to keep the plate right against the hull with lengths of timber. O ne of the engineering officers banged on the top of the plate with a sledgehammer. Slowly, awkwardly, the plate gradually covered the hole. Seawater cominued to spray aro und the plate's edges, but the volume was much, much less .

said. "Go have a sm oke. Don't go to sleep and don't be gone long. Never know what's going to happen next."

"Than ks, Chief."

I nodded at Little George, the fourto-eigh t oil er who regularly relieved me, standi ng nearby with his hands deep in the pockets of his oil-and-water-soaked d ungarees. "Go t it." Little George acknowledged my nod.

After a long climb, I em erged omo the port side of the boar deck. Ir was still dark and a light rain was falling. The chill felt good after the dank engine room. I could make out the ligh ts of a ship lying motio nless no more than a m ile away. An officer having a smoke leaned on rhe rail near the ladder leading up to the navigating bridge.

15

three weeks later, on 29 September 1946, her unlicensed crew returned to New York aboard the troop ship General C. C. Ballou, quartered deep in the ship on canvas racks stacked five-high along with hundreds of homeward bo und soldiers, many of whom were seasick.

After repair, the Edmund B. Alexander returned to service until 26 May 1949, when she was laid up at Baltimore's H awkins Point. In 1951 she joined the Federal Defense Fleet at Jones Point, New York, and eventually returned to Baltimore for demolition in 1957. She was scrapped at Bethlehem Steel Corporation's shipyard there in 1958 . ,!,

Part of the "black gang" on the operating platform between the port and starboard main engines of the Edmund B. Alexander. The steps of the steep engine room ladder rise behind.

"W hat happe ned?" I asked. "Did we hi t a mine?"

"You know as much as I do," the officer said. "We're waiting on a rug to row us back to Bremerhaven. Anybody get hurt down there?"

"Nothing serious. Anyone hurt up here?"

"One of the guys from the Steward's D epartment jumped over the rail. Gone."

"How?" "He came running up here righ t after the explosion and yelled to the bridge, 'Are we sinking?' The standby Q uartermaster was kidding. H e yelled back that we were. I was in the pilot house so I didn't see it, but the guy panicked, dove over the rail right where we're standing. No life jacke t. Nothing." H e glanced over the rail. "Long way down; probably di ed when he hit the water." H e dropped his cigarette on the rainwet deck. Ir fizzled. H e picked up the soggy remnant and pitched it over the side.

I looked over the rail, shaken.

"What ship is that?" I asked.

"The George Washington. Came out to stand by in case we had to abandon ."

I remembered watching her arrival at Bremerhave n the morning before. I'd been gone from the engine room for almost 16

half an hour.

The Chief intercepted me as I returned to the engine room. "Everything's under co ntrol," he said. "We're going back on regular sea watches. You can go get some sleep."

"Thanks, C hief." I turned and began the long climb up to my bunk.

Our ship was towed to Bremerhaven's drydock late that day. Little more than

Neil E. Jo nes graduated from the US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point in 1952 with a Third Mate's ticket, af ter which he sailed with Esso Shipping Co., Moore-McCormack Lines, and aboard a US Navy minesweeper. Later, he worked for many years in the telecommunications industry. He is an active supporter ofthe American Merchant Marine Museum at Kings Point.

The author would like to thank Captain Moses W Hirschkowitz, USMS, professor emeritus, D epartment of Marine Engineering, USMMA, for his assistance. Professor H irschkowitz, who holds an Unlimited ChiefEngineer's license, is uniquely familiar with the ship that is the subject of this story, having served aboard her as an engineering officer.

Edmund B. Alexander in drydock at Bremerhaven for repairs after hitting a naval mine in September, 1946.

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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CRUISE ABOARD THE WWII LIBERTY SHIP JOHN W- BROWN

Dinner and Silent Auction on board the

SS Meteor Barker's Island Superior Wisconsin save the date

Saturday, September 12 5-9 PM Join the McDougall 's Dream mailing list for invitation and updates Send your name and address to info@superiorpublicmuseums .org or call (715) 394-5712 www.superiorpublicmuseums .org for more information

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

T'AKE-lf SIX HOUR-jlvbyag~ into History"' fea turing 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 (wea th er permitting). Enjoy a continental breakfast and a great all-you -can-eat buffet lunch. Tour the whole ship, including the engine room, museums, cargo holds, crew's quarters and bridge.

OUR2009 DAY CRUISES June 13, Sept. 12 All cruises depart from Baltimore, Maryland

Cost for each guest - $140. Inquire about Group Discounts.

Restrictions & penalties apply to cancellations.

Mail ticket orders to P.O. Box 25846, Hig hland Station, Baltimo re, MD 21224-0546.

(Please include name, address and phone number.)

Phone Orders: (410) 558-0164 •Fax Orders (410) 558-1737

www.liberty-ship.com We accept VISA, MasterCard and Discover. Cruise profits maintain this liberty Ship Memorial. A portion of yo ur payment may be tax deductible. Offic ers and crew licensed and documented by th e U.S. Co ast Gua rd .

17

New Libertalia: A Pirate Dream Comes True

by Daniel Sekulich

T

hree hundred years ago, the general public was fascinated by the lives of pirates and privateers, avidly following their exploits in books and newspapers. 1l1is was during the so-called Go lden Age of Piracy, when the likes of Captain Kidd, Edward Teach (a.k.a. Blackbeard) and Bartholomew Roberts went "on the acco unt" to roam the waves in search of riches, and pirate tales provided a visceral fo rm of entertainment to readers in Europe, Britain, and the American colonies, who were at once appalled and attracted by what was occurring on the high seas.

One facet of the era that received co nsiderable publicity concerned a place in the far-off Indian Ocean where pirates were supposed to have established their own republic. It was a haven set up on the island of Madagascar, where sea robbers lived by their own rul es without worrying about prosecution from the authorities. Led by a certain Captain Misson, pirates called their new republic "Liberrali a," a land where all the outlaw inhabitants shared power and money, where slavery had been abolished and where they'd even created a new language. Ir was nothing short of a pirate utopia.

The story of Libertalia was first described in the second volume of Captain Charles Johnson's A General H istory of the Py rates, published in London in 1728. A bestseller at the time with its vivid descriptions of pirates and their activities, his depiction of Libertalia evoked a revolutionary, rogue state in which pirates had cast off all the traditional limitatio ns of Western law and o rder in an effort to create a criminal territory from whi ch mey could set forth to prey upon vessels in the Indian Ocean and beyo nd, a most dangero us proposition indeed.

Unfortunately for its would-be pirate "citizens," Liberralia was really nothing more than a fancifu l ideal. W hile it is true that M adagascar had served from time to time as a pirate haven, no one ever managed to build an ou tlaw nation there. Libertalia never achieved anything near the utopian paradise that Johnson presented.

Scholars have serious doubts as to whether Captain Misson or the communi ty actually existed, with no trace of any Liberralian settlements having ever been fou nd

18

on Madagascar. The notion of a pirate republic on the African coast-som e sort of rogue state that wo uld allow men to plunder and rob at will-appears to have been a piece of fiction. Bur three centuries later, that fiction would turn into a reality.

An Attack on a Galleon

by Ho ward Pyle (1853-1911) Until recently, the idea that piracy could still be a problem on the waters of our planet today might have seemed, to most of us, preposterous and far-fetched.

However, the reality is that we are living in the midst of a global maritime crisis of epic proportions. Since the end of the Cold War, pirates have returned to plague the seas with a vengeance, preying upon vessels and mariners sailing throughout the Atlantic, Indi an, and Pacific Oceans.

In many cases, they have become highly organized operations with hundreds of willing participanrs who are heavily armed and can operate with ruthless efficiency hundreds of miles from shore. Piracy has evolved into a multinational, multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise that makes Blackbeard's era seem a mere Bronze Age by comparison .

By the time 2008 came to a close, the number of pirate hijackin gs and hostagerakings had reached levels not seen in centuries. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), last year saw 293 reported incidents of piracy and armed

ro bbery agai nst vessels, with pirates holding 889 mariners hostage and ki lling 11 in the course of their attacks (another 2 1 seafarers were still missing when the IMB released its statistics). The use of violence is on the rise; during that same year, there were over a thousand reported incidents in which crew were assaulted during a pirate attack.

What is most startling about these statistics is that they are incomplete: The IMB only tallies reported incidents, and m ost observers believe the actual figures are at least rwo or three times higher. Incidents go unreported because a ship owner doesn't want to see insurance rates rise or potential customers scared off, or because the victims operate small vessels-s uch as fishing boars-in places where the local police may be powerless, or corrupt.

Nevertheless, even the officially reported incidents are asto nishing. They reveal a sophistication that has developed in certain parts of the world that has allowed pirates to seize the largest and most valuable prizes ever captured in their long history. This, in turn, has led to co ndemnation from the United Nations and the deployment of warships from over a dozen countries to patrol the seas.

Pirates may be fo und throughout the globe, in the Cari bbean and South C hina Seas, the Strait of Malacca and West Africa's G ulf of G uinea, but it is the wate rs off the Horn of Africa that are undoubtedly the most dangerous for any m ariner roday. The IMB reports a whopping 200% increase from 2007 in pirate incidents in the Red Sea, G ulf of Aden, and western Indian Ocean. And most of those attacks were carried o ut by pirates operating fro m what might be considered "New Libertalia"-Somalia.

Since 199 1, Somalia has descended into indescribable anarchy and ch aos, a place without a dependable government, judiciary, police or army. The nine-anda-half million people who live there are among the poorest in the world, inhabiting a fa iled state that has been wracked by famines and disease, torn apart by civil war and controll ed by local warlords.

Somali a is a place where the old rules no lo nger apply, and it is the perfect breeding gro und for piracy, which requires SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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c~ greed, lawlessness, and o ppo rtuni ry in order to flourish. W ith the longest coastline on the African continent, Somalia sits beside the most important sea lanes and fishing gro unds in the region, visited by thousands of vessels each year. So it didn't rake long before som eone got the idea to get a boat, round up som e eager yo ung men, give them weapons and send them to sea to attack the prizes that awaited them over the horizon.

Somali pirates began by robbing fishing boats and sm all coastal vessels, their unarmed crews no march for men in speedboats armed with AK-47s and rocker-propelled grenade launchers. But as the years passed and they gained more experience, these pirates realized they could take on bigger and more profitable prizes with little resistance, if any. From a handful of attacks in 2004, Somali piracy exploded in the next year to thirty-five incidents. Sixteen of those attacks resulted in the successful hijacking of vessels and crews, with healthy ransoms extracted from shipowners.

As a result, organizations like the IMB began to warn m ariners to stay at least two hundred nautical miles off the Somali coast, if possible, and to rake proper counter measures when sailing off the Horn. These involve locking down the ship's house, turning on every available outside light during the evening hours, placing high-p ressure water hoses around the vessel to deter boarders, and keeping a sharp eye posted during watches . Since the vast majority of merchant vessels do not keep firearms aboard, these measures are all that stands between a safe passage and being taken hostage. Ir became a gamble, of so rts, to be a mariner working near Somalia, and things were abo ut to get worse.

The year 2005 saw Somali pirates first make headlines by hijacking freighters carrying aid to that country on behalf of the United Nations World Food Programme.

Soon, the pira[es were capturing bulk carriers, product tankers, and LPG rankers, as well as fishing trawlers and general cargo ships. They even tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the luxury cruise liner Seabourn Spirit, peppering her hull with machine gun bullets and RPGs. These were no longer isolated, inconsequential incidents that could be ignored, for the targets were important

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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The shipping lanes (in blue) through the Gulf ofAden and into the Indian Ocean are some of the busiest in the world, linking Asia with Europe via the Suez Canal. Avoiding the area isn't much ofan option, as alternate routes add considerably more miles to the voyage-costing both time and money. (below) 8 October 2008: these Somalian pirates are heading for shore from the merchant ship MVFaina, a Belize-flagged cargo ship operated by a Ukrainian shipping company. The Somalians seized the ship on 29 September 2008 and finally released the vessel and its crew on 5 February 2009 after successfully receiving a ransom of$3.2 mi/Lion.

19

Somalian pirates do not discriminate between vessel types if there is possibility of a ransom payment. lhe luxury cruise ship Seabourn Spirit came under attack off the coast of Somalia in November, 2 005. lhe ship escaped capture, but not injury-the remnant of a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) is lodged in the hull ofSeabourn Spirit. Personnel assigned to the US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Eight (EODMU-8) D etachment 4, boarded the ship while still at sea to remove the RPG. and the ransoms being garnered were hefty.

The freighters with UN food aid were netting the pirates about $ 100-150,000, while the tankers were worth three times as much. H appy times had arrived for Somali pirates, and they were more than ready to take advantage of the situation .

One incident in April of 200 5 gives some idea of the ruthlessness of Som ali pirates, and it is by no means an isolated example. While steaming sixty miles off the east coast of Somalia, the bulk carrier MV Tim Buck was approached by two speedboats just past noon, local time. At 53 1 feet in length, the Tim Buck was as long as oneand-a-half football fields, much large r rhan the riny pirate craft . The ship's captain immediately took evasive maneuvers, increasing his speed, sending our a distress call on the radio and ordering rhe vessel into a lockdown mode.

For the next ren minutes, rhe pirates circled aro und rhe Tim Buck and peppered rhe ship with rounds from their automatic weapons. When this failed to slow the vessel, they began firin g grenades at the ship, hitting a lifeboat and destroying it. With a portable ladder, pirates climbed aboard from their speedboats and tried to enter the ship's acco mmodatio ns, only to find all the entranceways locked. A gro up then targeted the wheelhouse from rhe main deck, firing round after round where the captain and helmsman were crouching. After an hour of shooti ng up the ship, the pirates finally gave up trying to commandeer the Tim Buck, leaving her fri ghtened crew to

head as far o ut to sea as possible and limp away to a safe port.

1he degree of skill required to carry out these attacks speaks volumes abo ut the manner in which the Somali pirates managed to organize their operations. Pirates in Somalia are just one element in a gro up of well-organized criminal organizations that are the business and political elites of the country. These warlords control huge parts of the economy, wi th interests in the agricultural, telecommunications, retail, banking, transportation, and fishing industries.

And no one engages in piracy without the consent of the local warlord.

It is believed that there are four main pirate gro ups operating from within the country, though they morph and intermix to varyi ng degrees. In the southern part of Somalia, just across the border from Kenya, is a gang that likes to call itself the National Volunteer Coast Guard (NVCG). Believed to be under the command of warlord Garaad

Mohamed, the NVCG is based primarily out of Kismaayo and prefers to operate close to shore, where they can prey upon small boats and fishing vessels.

Further up the coas t, near Mogadishu, can be found the Marka groups, so named because they are based around the town of Marka. They operate further offshore than the NVCG and engage in piracy, sea robbery and smuggling, using vessels that in some cases have deck-mounted guns. 1he Marka gro ups are allied to Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad Inda' ade, a warlord in the Lower Shabelle district (though it should be no ted that Inda'ade has told the m edia he is not personally involved with piracy operations.)

In the northeastern part of the country is found what are called the Punt!and gro ups, named after the semi-autonomous state in which they live. Mos t of these sea bandits are older men, drawing upon a tradition of piracy and smuggling that goes

Working from small boats, pirates are able to overtake large, but slower, ships. (right) Pirates come and go from MVFaina, while they negotiate a ransom with the ship's owners.

20

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

back centuries. 1hese seem to be [he counaway. Piracy needs to be considered as [he uy's 'pira[e elders,' for i[ is believed [ha[ world's longes[ running armed co nflict, a [hey have provided [raining to dleir bre[hde facto, low-level war tha[ has simmered ren, including rhe largest gro up operating on dle seas for thousands of years. The in Somali wa[ers: rhe Somali Marines. vic[ims of dlis confliC[ are m embers of a The Somali Marines are [he mosrcomm uni ty wi[h frs own history, [radidons feared gang in [he region, with [he mos[ and language, a nomadic people rela[ed sophisticated organization. 1heir m ai n no[ by birth or nadonali ty, bur by [he sea. operating base is the coas[al town of HaWe don't usually [hink of mariners in dlose radheere, though mey have ranged up and [erms, bu[ [hey uuly constiwte a distinct down [he seaside carrying ou[ [heir attacks. gro up in our plands history, a gro up [ha[ The group also likes to style itself rhe 'Dehas been preyed upon, robbed and murfenders of Somali Territorial Waters' and dered for millennia, m erely because [hey chose to se[ out upon [he wa[er. For this is thought to be loyal to me powerful reThe tanker Sirius Star was 450 miles offshore gio nal warlord Abdi Mohamed Afweyne. co mmunity to have endured violent attacks when it was attacked and captured by pirates No one knows how many rhe gang acwin the past is terrible. Thar they are still belast November. With the ship and cargo valally employs pira[ing, bur [he warlord can ing targeted today is unco nscionable. ued at $250 million, the pirates succeeded in call upon hundreds of willing men and And as for that New Liberralia-Sosecuring a $3 million ransom payment. rhe group has developed a highly ordered malia-well, it really hasn't managed to fulsuucwre-wirh a fleer admiral, admiral, national security. Recognition of this fact fill the image initially created by Captain vice-admiral and head of finan cial affairs. has been a li[de slow in coming, but last Charles Johnson of a pirate utopia. There Combined, these pirate gangs have year's exceptionally high number of pira[e is no egalitarian aspect of life there, no freemanaged to carve our profirable businesses incidems has fo rced dozens of na[ions to re- dom from servitude or promise of better for [hemselves, bringing in anywhere from spond to the crisis, especially off the Horn [hings. Instead, there is just the bleak pros$30-5 0 million a year from piracy to Soma- of Africa. Since January, warships from the pect of a life of crime upon on the seas and lia, a country where [he per capi[a income U nited States, Great Britain, Canada, the the harsh reali ty of a life ashore in a lawless is abo ur $600 . And wi[h o ne norable in- Netherlands, Germany, Russia, C hina, In- co untry. j:, cident in 2008, [hey managed to suike a[ dia and Japan-among others-have been [he mos[ important prize poss ible: a super- deployed to the region.

Daniel Sekulich is a journalist and writer ranker laden wi[h crude oil for Am erica.

We need a new means of looking at based in Toronto, Canada, and the author of The hijacking of [he Saudi Arabian- the issue, for while i[ plays itself out upon the new book, Terror on the Seas: True Tales owned [anker Sirius Star in November of [he seas, i[ germina[es ashore. Wi[hou[ a of Modern Day Pirates (Thomas Dunne/ las[ year shocked many wi[hin [he shipping more comprehensive means of addressing St. Martin's Press). His last book was Ocean world, to say nO[hing of [he general pub- [he lawlessness in places like Somalia, [he T itans: Journeys in Search of the Soul of a lic. Tha[ a vessel as big as a nuclear-powered scourge of modern-day piracy will not go Ship. ai rcrafr carrier could be commandeered by pira[es was suiking enough; [ha[ i[ could The guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge tows the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama happen 450 nau [ical miles O U[ to sea anO[h- to the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. In April the capture of the American cargo ship er shock. This was a ship no one expeC[ed Maersk Alabama and dramatic hostage situation that fallowed captured the attention of the could be a[racked-successfully-and yet general public across the world. It was the first American merchant ship seized by African i[ was. h was carrying [WO million barrels pirates since the Barbary ~rs two centuries ago. The Maersk Alabama and its crew ultimately of crude oil in i[s holds, [he equivalent of escaped with their lives and their ship, but, almost immediately, the pirates set their sights on more man a quar[er of Saudi Arabia's daily the next ship, hull down on the horizon. ourpll[ of [his valuable resource. The vessel and i[s cargo were wonh a quan er of a billion dollars and in [he immedia[e wake of her seizure, crude oil prices briefly went up.

The Sirius Star was eventually released in January, afrer a ransom of $3 million was airdropped to her captors, bu[ [he incident revealed [ha[ no vessel js immune to the threat of pirates today. This is an issue that goes well beyond just those who "go down to the sea in ships," for piracy affects the global economies and is a [hrear to trans-

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

21

British Whalers in the Pacihc: the Discover~ ot the G/edstanes

by Dr. Hans Van Tilburg he histo ric whaling period encompasses a large pan of the maritime heritage of the Pacific Ocean, and so the discovery of an early nineteenth-century British whaling shipwreck, tentatively identified as the Gledstanes, can shed new light on the history and the archaeology of this trade.

Frequently, it is the heyday ofAmerican whaling which is deservedly celebrated, thanks to a number of outstanding museums and research libraries, and the well-worn texts of the story of the whaleship Essex and the great American novel Moby-Dick. Nonetheless, decades earlier than the hundreds of those New England ships put to sea, many a whaling vessel and crew from the region around London and the Thames sought their whale oil far off in the Pacific. Whaling in the nineteenth century was most assuredly a competitive global pursuit.

In 1788, shipowner Samuel Enderby's Emelia was the first British whaler to double Cape Horn, and from that point forward the British southern whaling trade grew until reaching its peak in the 1820s. Subsequently, despiteaslowdecline through the late 1850s, purpose-built ships and a focus on taking highly profitable sperm whales kept the British firms going. Actually, berween 1826 and 1840, some thirty new whaling ships were added to the southern Beet.

In contrast to the rounded bluff bows of American whalers, some of these British vessels were relatively sharp-bowed designs.

British shipowners were willing to sacrifice some of their carrying capacity for speed on long voyages to a distant ocean. Most of these ships went out to the Pacific in ballast, depending on whale oil for their sole profit.

In 1827 the Cruikshank shipping firm had the whaler Gledstanes built in Leith, Scotland. At 428 tons, the ship was slightly larger than average British South Seas whalers of the 1820s, which usually fell berween 300-400 tons. The size of ships in the Pacific whaling Beet reflected the great distances sailed, the need to stay out for rwo to three years or more, and the economic return of cargo. The Gledstanes embarked on her first trip to the Pacific in November, 1831 , under the command of Captain John R. Browne.

Judging from brief mention in reports from other ships, Captain Browne sai led south and then east, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, made his way across the Indian Ocean to 22

the only harbors in the Pacific with permanently established provisioning and repair facilities. By January 1835, Gledstaness holds were at last full with a very profitable 2,500 barrels of sperm whale oil and she plotted a course for London and home. 1 On the Gledstanes's second voyage, beginning on 29 October 1835 , Captain Browne sailed directly for the Japan Grounds, stopping only at the Bay of Islands. The Gledstanes fetched up in the Hawaiian Islands a year later and with only 300 barrels of oil.

Browne likely recruited several native Hawaiian sailors at that time. Hawaiians played a critical role in replenishing whaling crews.

In the 1830s observers had already noted the potential problem of so many native men leaving the islands, particularly given the tragic consequences of foreign diseases and depopulation. This practice continued to increase into the 1840s to the point where Hawaiian chiefs required posted bonds from ship captains, berween $300 and $5 00, to

A typical 19th-century British whaleship

Indonesia, and then cruised the waters south of Japan. From there the Gledstanes moved through Micronesia to New Zealand and arrived in the Bay of Islands in December, 1833. For many years, Honolulu, Lahaina, and the Bay oflslands in New Zealand were

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guarantee the return of the Hawaiians who left the islands in whaling ships. 2 From H awaii the Gledstanes sailed again for New Zealand and, in May 1837, to Tutuila Island in Samoa (then known as the Navigator Islands). Then Captai n Browne set a course northwards, to return to the lucrative Japan Gro unds.

The story of historic oceanic whali ng is the story of the discovery and subsequent bloody depletion of marine man1mals from specific whali ng areas in a m ovement that began in the North Atlantic and eventually girdled the globe. The British and the Am ericans are both credited with being the fast whalers to stumble on the significant concentration ofsperm whales in the wes tern North Pacific, an area known as the Japan Grounds. Captain Frederick Coffin (actually a Nantucket whaler) on board Samuel Enderby's London vessel Syren, and Captain JosephAllen on board the Nantucket whaler Maro, shared in the discovery in 1819.3 Soon hundreds of vessels were converging on the area, seeking profits before the resource

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was depleted. By 1836, despite seventeen years of increasingly intensive exploitation, it remained obvious to observers that "the Japan whaling gro und is by no means worn out, but is increasing in interest, and holds out more inducements to those engaged in the whale fishery than any other part of the wo rld yet known." 4 Some reports define the Japan Gro unds as an area from latitude 28 ° to 40 ° north, stretching from the Bonin Islands eastwards to approxim ately longitude 170 ° east. The sperm whale population , however, recorded by Lieutenant C harles W ilkes during the US Exploring Expedition in the late 1830s and other parties, shows a band of oil-rich whales extending much farther into the Pacific at this same latitude.

Sperm whale oil, then the best resource for lighting and industrial uses, commanded a ... leading profit in the 1800s. The position "' of what was known as the Japan Gro unds t. may have varied, but the cho ice of where ro ~ cruise for whales was, ultimately, made by ~ the captain. g~ Whaling was a very dangero us business, ~ not simply because of the nature of the hunt, ~ but also because traversing the distant Pacific ~ meant crossing long stretches of open ocean , if/""'""""_. ~ occasionally stumbling upon many low and ~~~~~~ obscure islands and unseen shoals and reefs . ~W,~~ i In the early 1800s, few of these hazards to ~ ~ navigation were accurately charted, if they were known at all. The Northwestern Ha~ wai ian Islands, a long archipelago stretching ~ some 1,200 miles west-northwest from Kauai g to Kure Atoll, presents a line of reefs, shoals, 0 ~ and low-lying islands, straining the flotsam of unlucky ships from the North Pacific.

In fact, the term "islands" can be misleading, fo r m any locations in this archipelago are simply sandy spits, emerging no more than eight or ten feet above the surface of the ocean. 1hese atolls lie astride many of the sailing routes between Honolulu and the Japan Grounds. Accordi ng to whaling researcher Dale Chatwin, shipping losses for

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

the British southern whaling fleet between 1825 and 1839 ran at an estimated ten percent, a general figure similar ro losses in the American whaling fleet. 5 Currently, there are more than sixty shipwrecks reported in historic documents and/ or confirmed by site surveys in these atolls, ten of which are nineteenth-century whaling vessels. As of 2008, five of these ten have been discovered by maritime archaeologists: the British whalers Pearl and Hermes lost in 1822, theAmerican whaler Parker from New Bedford lost in 1842, an unidentified whaler at French Frigate Shoals ... and the Gledstanes.

Kure Atoll, known as C ure or Ocean Island

Sailing across thousands of miles of deep ocean, it is no surprise that mariners would not have been able to spot the reef, barely visible above the surface.

or one of the "Midway Islands" at that time, extended into the area of the Japan Gro unds at latitude 28 ' north, longitude 178 ' west, was only discovered by westerners in 1825. It is a gem of a Pacific Atoll- the circular coral reef is some six miles in diam eter, enclosing a shallow lagoo n. Ir possesses a rich abundance of marine fi sh and corals, and the low island to the southeast provides a nesting place for shearwa'ters, petrels, tropic birds, boobies, frigate birds, albatrosses, terns and noddies.

It is a sharp and hazardous ring of reef and a flat sandy island wi thout clear landmarks or navigational aids, the northernmost coral atoll in the wo rld.

On 9 June 1837, just before midnight, the Gledstanes ran aground in heavy surf on the eastern reef of Kure Atoll. Soon after

23

the ship struck, three boats were launched, and her captain and crew stood off seaward from the wreck until daylight. Some sources reported that two sailors we re mistakenly left o n board the first night, o nl y to be recovered the following day, intoxicated fro m liquo r in the ship's stores .6 The fo llowing m orning, spare hands were landed o n O cean Island, and, upon returning to the wreck from the lagoon-side, two sa ilors swam through the surf to their ship and cut away the forem as t, making a bridge across the reef to the lagoon .

Others could then board safely and salvage some of the provisions: sixteen to eighteen casks of Bour, o ne cask of salt pork, and a few casks of "oily" water. The next day, the ship began to break apart fro m the heavy surf on the exposed eastern reef.

Once established as ho re, the castaways constructed a 38-foo t vessel from salvaged m aterials. Whale spades were fashioned into axes and adzes, and lances provided augers and chisels. The compass provided parts for the bellows, constructed on the island by the ship's blacksmiths. The boat, named D eliverance, was caulked with a mixture of lime (calcium carbo nate fro m coral), seal oil and seal blood . This bloody m ixture, referred to at that time as similar to the chinam or chunam used in Eas t Asia, was used to paint Kure

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the rescue boat as well as caulk the seams. 7 Three mo nths were spent laboring on this craft, while the entire crew led a miserable existence on goo ney bird (albatross) and monk seal meat and brackish water.

The Deliverance put to sea for the main H awaiian Islands on 12 October, with Captain Browne, the chief mate, and eight m en (including two H awaiian sailo rs). They we re resupplied at sea by the American ship Tim oleon, under the command of Captain Bunker, which they "spoke" o n 29 O ctober.

The D eliverance appears to have sailed east into the prevailing trades before turning south at the longitude of the main H awaiian Islands. Twenty- three castaways rem ained o n the island fo r fo ur more months until a rescue vessel arrived , fin ally returning to H onolulu aboard th e British schoo ner True Blue, commanded by a Captain Bland [or Blunt], on 6 February 1838. 8 The Deliverance, as becam e the regular practice with the other beach-built rescue craft from the many No rthwes tern H awaiian Islands shipwrecks, was soon sold at auction to raise funds fo r the survivo rs.

It is the mission of OA!\s Office of Natio nal M arine Sanctuari es to co nserve and protect our natural and cul tural marine reso urces. In 2002, the O ffice of National

M arine Sanctuaries created the M aritime H eritage Program , a national-level effo rt to discover, invento ry, and appreciate significant historic artifac ts and sites that refl ect our maritime pas t. As part of this effo rt, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Natio nal Mo nument in H awaii has supported a number of research expeditions in the regio n, whi ch have included archaeological surveys, and the whaler Gledstanes has been a recognized target fo r a number of years. It is rare, however, that the calm weather and Aat seas needed to survey on the exposed eastern reef crest of Kure Atoll ever coincide with the NOAA ship Hi'ialakai's cruise schedule and short visits by the team of maritime archaeologists.

During the 2008 field season , however, dive rs finally were able to m ove close in to the high energy reef crest enviro nment and located a scatter of iro n ballast lying within a deep coral substrate crevice. Closer to the surge zo ne and breakers of the crest, anchors, ca nnon , and other artifacts soon came into view, including a telltale trypot-a whaling ship had been found. The Gledstanes is the only whaler known lost on the atoll's eastern side, and her position on the reef was reported soon afterwards by other nineteenth-century voyagers in the No rthwes tern H awaiian Islands.

The physical rem ains of the Gledstanes are scattered in the vici ni ty of the reef crest in depths ranging from te n to thi rty feet. The fo rty to fi fty bars of heavy iron ballas t and (left) A survivor of the USS Saginaw shipwreck produced this sketch of Kure Atoll. H e not only marked the approximate location of his ship, but also the location of what was left of the British whaleship Gledstanes, which had wrecked more than thirty years earlier. (below) Kure A toll: with Green (Ocean) Island visible to the south, as seen from space.

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heavy chain in the deeper ravines indicate that the ship may have run hard onto the higher coral ridges, opening a substantial portion of her lower hull. (We found similar pig iron ballast during previous field work on both the Pearl and Hermes wreck sites, British whalers lost at the atoll later named for them in 1822.)

Measurements of these three-foot-long ballast pieces correspond to 320-pound Admiral tystyle iron pigs (3 feet x 6 inches x 6 inches). 9 The anchors, three large wooden-stock iron anchors (length 10 112 feet) and a smaller kedge anchor (8 114 fee t), lie in the shallower substrate some 75 yards closer to the reef crest, showing where the vessel eventually became permanently lodged. The fo ur an chors lie in close proximity to each oth er-stowed at the time and not deployed, typical for a ship running agro und unexpectedly. The arms of these anchors, unlike the straight designs of the circa 1800 anchors found on rhe Pearl and Hermes sires, begin to show a gentle curve, som ething prevalent in many styles later in the nineteenth-century, particularly fo llowing Richard Pering's parented design improvements of 1819 . H eavy iron pieces, encrusted in to the coralline substrate, may be the rryworks knees from the brick structure o n deck used to render whale blubber into oil. A portion of a rrypor, reveali ng bricks and part of the copper pan or sheathing, li es under a deep overhang. One small can non (3 1/2 feet long) is also visible, as well as at least one cannonball; early British whalers sailing in the Pacific were usually armed. None of these artifacts seem inconsistent with what we wo uld expect to find on a whaling vessel from the early nineteenth century. D espite the presence of these large pieces, most of the ship has, obviously, disintegrated. A survey of the adj acent back reef area insid e rhe lagoon revealed only a few mino r items. Only the heaviest artifacts have survived rhe years of exposure to rhe full force of the North Pacific.

Many of the smaller pieces either have been swept away or buri ed, and all of rhe organic

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The atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are part of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (above right).

The Gledstanes wreck site lies close to the reef crest at Kure Atoll. Pig iron ballast lies in the sand channels seaward (middle) . Following the channels towards the reef, archaeologists located four huge anchors (right), cannon, and other large iron pieces, wedged in the coral.

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

25

material has long ago decomposed.

Research into this site has only recently begun. The history and the archaeology surrounding the loss of the Gledstanes come together to provide a preliminary case study of international whaling in the early nineteenth-century Pacific. The features and artifacts on this shipwreck help

1

Rhys Richards, e-mail message to author, 19 August 2008; Sydney H erald 6 March 1834; Sydney Gazette 23 January 1834; A. G. E. Jones, Ships Employed in the South Seas Trade 1775-1861 (Canberra: Roebuck Sociery, 1986), 107.

2 Rhys Richards, email message to author, 19

Ballast, cannon, anchors-all evidence ofa shipwreck. But a whaleship? The telltale remains ofthe whalers' trypot makes it so. Most ofthe trypot has broken off, but the perfectly circular iron remains, with two bricks from the tryworks that once supported it, cemented into the sea floor unmistakably identifies this as a whaling vessel. The Gledstanes is the only whaleship known to have wrecked on the eastern side of the atoll.

to illustrate the material culture of the South Seas whaling industry. Anchors and chain, ballast and brick, can be compared to archival documents to glean more information. Their distribution on the reef speaks directly to the wrecking event on rhe night of]une 9'\ filling in a portion of rhe survival story in a way that no other document or evidence can address. Locating the 1837 crew list for the Gledstanescan provide a direction in rhe social history of whaling. In short, the discovery of the shipwreck opens intriguing aven ues for maritime resea rch . That is one of the roles that shipwreck sites like this can play in the Pacific, an opportuniry to learn from our submerged heritage resources.

The story of the Bri rish whaler Gledstanes does not end with the rescue of her crew in 1837. Survivors from the wreck of the New Bedford whaler Parker, lost at Kure Atoll in 1842 during a powerful storm, salvaged portions of the Gledstanes five years later. When the navy steamer USS Saginaw ran aground at night at the same atoll in 1870, the sight of a nearby vessel at first light initially cheered the exhausted crew. Their joy soon turned to gloom, for it was the still-exposed portion of the Gledstanes, welcoming the new castaways to their island priso n. They sketched the posi26

tion of the Gledstanes on a makeshift chart, and it was this evidence that defin ed our search area, though it took several years waiting for good conditions to locate the wreck. Little is left at the site today except for the heaviest and sturdiest of elements, but for a long time in the nineteenth century, the wreck of the Gledstanes was the sentinel at Kure Atoll.

Thirry-three years is a long time for any section of a wooden vessel to remain in place against the hard coral reef of the atoll, a testimony to the art and skill of the shipwrights from the days of our whaling past. .1 H ans Van Ti/burg is the maritime heritage coordinator for the Office ofNational Marine Sanctuaries Pacific Islands Region and the author of a new book, Civil War G unboat in Pacific Waters: Life on Board the USS Saginaw (University Press of Florida publisher, Fall 201 O). The Gledstanes wreck site was discovered by the 2008 NOAA maritime archaeology team: Dr. Kelly Gleason, Dr. Hans Vtm Ti/burg, Tane Casserley, Cathy Green, Jason Raupp, and Deirdre O 'Regan. For more information on the G ledstanes and other shipwrecks in the PapahanaumokuakeaMarine National Monument, visit http://sanctuaries. noaa.govlmaritimel.

August 2008; Sydney Gazette 31July1837.

3EdouardA. Stackpole, Whales and Destiny: the Rivalry between America, France, and Britain for the Control ofthe Southern Whale Fishery, 1785-1825 (Amherst: Uni ve rsiry of M assachusetts Press, 1972), 362.

4 Ephraim Spaulding, "Interesting Intelligence from the Sandwich Islands," Sailor's Magazine and Naval journal, Jun e (1836): 3 12.

5DaleCharwin, "A Trade So Uncontrollably Uncertain: a Study of the English Southern Whaling Industry from 1815 to 1860" (MA Thesis, Australian National Universiry, 1996), 99.

6 Hawaiian SpectatorJuly, 1838; Pacific Commercial Advertiser 29 January 1838.

7 Sandwich Island Gazette 18 November 1837; in China, chunam was composed of gro und lime and tung oil, as well as a portion of hemp rope or other fibrous materials.

8 Hawaiian Spectator July, 1838; Pacific CommercialAdvertiser29 January 1838; also Rhys Richards, email message to author, 19 August 2008; Sandwich Island Gazette 11 November 1837.

9 Robert White Stevens, On the Stowage of Ships and their Cargoes (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1894), 347.

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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27

John 'arber; Chronicler of the Working he Chesapeake Bay Skipjack was never meant to be a wo rk of arr. This sturdy and swift shallow-draft wooden vessel served as the workhorse of the commercial oyster industry on the bay. With a V-shaped deadrise, centerboard hull, and simple, single-masted two-sail sloop rig, the skipjack was cheap and easy to build. Many were built by "rack of eye," without consulting any drawn plans.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, abo ut 1,5 00 skipjacks skimmed the bay, dredging millions of bushels of oysters destined for tables aro und the country or local canneries. In 1865 , Maryland legislators had passed a law that oysters co uld be dredged only while under sail-a decision made to preserve the oyster population. Still, the oysters' numbers declined and so did the fleet, with the exception of a brief resurgence in skipjack building after World War II . By the 1960s, the skipj ack seemed destined to become a relic. But these humble workman's boats were about to find a champion.

John Barber, then a yo ung art student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, was attending a gathering of friends on Gwynn's Island when he stepped outside and walked onto the dock. H e watched in awe as the moon rose over the Chesapeake Bay. "I'd never really known the Chesapeake before," John Barber said, but now he was entranced.

After graduation, an employer of the artist invited Barber aboard his Maine-built, wooden "Block Island" ketch. Sailing with skipper John Nesbit, Barber go t to know the intricate shoreline, picturesque harbors, and traditional vessels of the Virginia portion of the C hesapeake. He became fasci nated by rhe working side of the bay: the hardy watermen, the buy boats that ran fresh catches to market, and the few proud skipjacks still dredging fo r oysters in the northern bay.

In his early twenties, Barber built a small sloop, which he used to explore the bay on his own, painting what he saw. He wanted not just to observe, but to understand what he painted.

He sought to discover the details of how these working vessels were built and learn the unique rhythms of life on the Chesapeake Bay, America's largest estuary.

H e remembers kneeling on ice-slicked decks and culling oysters from the skipjack's dredge as February's bitter winds drove seas over the windward rail. H e remembers being aboard a crabber, leaving the harbor in the pre-dawn blackness and trying to finish pulling the never-ending strings of crab pots before the blazing August sun began to beat down. He remembers crawling through the bilge of a buy boat with her proud owner to be shown the new wood put into the chunk-built stern to keep her from sinking.

The result of more than thirty years of learning the whys and hows of life on the bay is a body of artwork that places the viewer in the heart of the Chesapeake: on the decks of 100-yearold boats that still earn their keep, and on the waterfronts of towns like Annapolis, Maryland, and Deltaville, Virginia. As Barber's career progressed, he expanded his foc us to capture other Chesapeake scenes, including historic steamboats and schoo ners and modern-day yacht races.

28

The Vanishing Fleet (1986) Oil on linen, 20 " x 31" Barber has been deeply involved in efforts to preserve the bay's ecology and heritage. H e served on th e board of the Chesapeal<:e Bay Foundation for nine years. Donating copyrights to his artwork has raised nearly hal fa million dollars for the Foundation and other Chesapeake Bay conservation gro ups. In 1985, he was commissioned by the National Geographic Society to create a piece for then-President Ronald Reagan; he has also painted for the Clinton administration. One of the artist's most memorable SEA HISTO RY 127, SUMMER2009

Chesapeake

by Melissa Scott Sinclair

This painting, exemplary ofBarber's ear/,y work, shows the Stan ley Norman (built in 1902) and other Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks making "licks" over the oyster bars near Tilghman Island, Maryland. dredged for oysters during the 2008-09 season . Disease and mismanagement have caused the demise of one of America's projects was sailing from Annapolis to Martha's Vineyard with great fisheries and, with it, the magnificent skipjacks. Still, in Captain Walter Cronkite aboard his sailing ketch Wyntje, in orBarber's paintings these boats sail on forever. der to paint the famed newscaster's yacht entering Edgartown harbo r.

When the artist began painting skipjacks in the earl y Melissa Scott Sinclair has written for The Virginian-Pilot in Nor1980s, th ere were twenty-six in the Chesapeake oyster Beet. folk, Virginia, the alternative paper Style Weekly, and other pubNow just fifteen of these venerable vessels remain , and on ly five lications. She is married to artist Joshua Barber, john Barber's son.

SEA.HISTORY 127, SUMMER2009

29

A Fair Breeze and a Full Moon (1992) Oil on linen, 18" x 32"

From the deck of the venerable skipjack Karh ryn, we see the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse and the Sranley No rman sailing swiftly back to Tilghman Island after selling their catch in Annapolis.

Crab Potting (2006) Oil on linen, 15"x 18" While poking around the creeks ofMathews County, Barber met Captain Curtis Forrest and his nephew William crabbing aboard the wooden deadrise H illary Ann. 'Just doing his job, just working his pots," Barber recalls.

Reflections-Gwynn's Island (1999) Oil on linen, 15" x 3 0 " Julian and Shelton Rowe, 61 and 7 1, unload the roundstern deadrise D arnell after fishing their p ound net in the early morning. Gwynn's Island, Virginia, is where Barber first fell in love with the Chesap eake.

Crabbin' (2002) Oil on linen, 14" x 26" As the morning fog lifts, a lone waterman nets blue crabs ftom his wooden skiff lhe bow of a skipjack is visible behind him.

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

31

Winter on the Eastern Shore (1995) Oil on Linen, 14"x 17" Mallards Land on the shore as the steamer Eastern Shore Leaves the Virginia town of Onancock for the journey back to Baltimore. In the days ofsail and steam, boats Like these were the Lifeblood of waterfront towns.

Reaching for the Finish (2008) Oil on Linen, 15" x 30" Hampton sloops compete in a 1950s race on th1e Lafayette River, Virginia.

Annapolis, Circa 1900 (1991) Oil on linen, 21"x43" The side-wheel steamer Emma Giles lands at the wharf Barber loves Annapolis, a sailing city through and through: "This town breathes history."

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

33

Marine Art News The Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia recently opened a new exhibition featuring a different kind of marine art: Skin & Bones-Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor, now through 3 January 2010. The exhibition explores the origins, functions, and significance of tattoos in American sailors' lives, as well as how the art of tattooing has spread throughout society, impacting not only the body, but fashion, decor, and many forms of contemporary art. The exhibit will include traditional and modern tattooing tools, flash, tattoo-related art, historic photographs, personal stories of tattoo artists and tattooed sailors, etc.

(ISM: Penn's Landing, 211 South Columbus Blvd. & Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106; Ph. 215 413-8655; www.phillyseaport.org) Tattoo artist Owen Jenson giving sailor L. M Brown his latest tattoo, c. 1943.

Schooners Off Cape Ann by Donald Mosher The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport will host its annual spring exhibition, Modern Marine Masters, now through 14 June. Paintings, sculpture, scrimshaw, and ship models from more than 70 contemporary marine artists will be displayed and available for purchase as well. Featured artists include Loretta Krupinski, Joseph McGurl, Donald Mosher, Yves Parent, and H.G. Park IV (MSM Maritime Gallery, 75 Greenmanville Avenue Mystic, CT 06355; Ph. 860 572-5388; www.mysticseaport.org/gallery)

The 16th Annual Maritime Art Exhibit at the Coos Art Museum gets underway on 11 July with a "Plein-Air Paint Our and Dinner" and will run through 19 September.

Featured artist will be Buck Braden ofTualatin, OR, who will select the "Best of Show."

Jurors are Louis Gadal, Paul Mullally, and Dutch Mostert. Each are members of the American Society of Marine Artists. (CAM: 235 Anderson Ave. Coos Bay, OR 97420; Ph. 541 267-3901; www.coosart.org)

The American Society of Marine Artists will wrap up its 30th an niversary celebrational tour this summer at the New Bedford Art Museum in Massachusetts. More than 100 contemporary marine artists will have had their works exhibited during the tour, which began last year and traveled to museums in five states. Check it out, 7 June-5 September 2009, at 608 Pleasant Street in New Bedford, MA. Ph. 508 961-3072; www.newbedfordartmuseum.org. See also: www.americansocietyofmarineartists.com.

The Ventura County Maritime Museum will host its ann ual Plein Air Festival & Exhibit, June 20 through July 29, with the opening reception scheduled for Saturday, 27 June, 3-6 pm . See images of the deepwater cargo ships in the harbor at the Port of Hueneme and images of coastal and marine life-all painted on site, by artists working in the tradition of the 19th-century French impressionist painters en plein aire. (VCMM, 2731 South Victoria Aven ue, Oxnard, CA 93035; Ph . 805 984-6260. Admission is free-donations accepted.)

34

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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

Generously donated by the Annapolis Marine Art Gallery/John Barber Editions, signed and numbered limited edition prints by NMHS Distinguished Service Award Recipient and famed artist John M. Barber

"Chesapeake Bound" Making Sail Aboard the Schooner Man-A -Way Urbanna, Virginia, Circa 1930 14" x 26" Limited Edition of 950 Price: $115 + $25 s/h

"Homeward Bound" The Catboat Selina II and the Harbor Town of St. Michaels , Maryland 12" x 22" Limited Edition of 950 Price: $115 + $25 s/h

To order by phone, call with your credit card 1-800-22 1-NMHS (6647), x 0 Or visit our web site at www.seahistory.org N YS residents add applicable sales tax. For orders sent outside the US, call the above or e-mail (nm hs@seahistory. org) for shipping.

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iracy has been in rhe news a lor larely, and we're nor ral king abour a Disney movie. Our fascinarion wirh pirares goes back hundreds of years, ro rhe rime of Blackbeard and Caprain Kidd .

Blackbeard, whose real nam e was Edward Teach (or Tharch), and C aprain W illiam Kidd were real people who plundered rhe seas in the la re 1600s and early 1700s. Today, real pirates are srill wreaking havoc at sea.

A pirate wo uldn't be a pirare wirhour ships ro raid, so access ro busy shipping lanes is a musr. In rhe l 7 rh- and l 8rh cenruries, pirares hung our in rhe Caribbean Sea, especially no rrh of Hispaniola (whar is now rhe D ominican Republic and H airi), where Spanish and Brirish ships regularly sailed, carrying valuable cargos ro and from th eir colo nies in rhe Caribbean and rhe Americas. Today, som e of rhe busiesr shipping lanes are in rhe Red Sea and rh e Indian O cean, where commercial ships are rraveling berween Europe, Asia, and back

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ro rhe Unired Srares by going rhrough rhe Suez Canal or around rhe rip of Africa (check our rhe map on page 19).

In rhe las r few years, modern-day pirares have been purring ro sea from rhe east African country of Somalia, chasing and capruring ships rraveling off rheir coasr. They are seeking money by raking ships and rheir crews hostage and demanding a hefry ransom.

Until recendy, rhis racric has been very successful. Shipping companies, faced wirh rhe potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars and the lives of rheir crews, have been paying rhese ransoms. In recenr years, Somalian pirares have broughr home rens of millions of dollars a year ro a counrry where rhe average citizen earns just $600 a year.

Solving rhe 2 l sr-cemury pirate pro blem is mo re complicared rhan simply sending rhe navy rhere ro p ro recr ships and batde the pirates ar sea. Like any problem,

Somali pirates held the ship Faina and her crew hostage for more than four months before they received $3.2 million in ransom money.

the real way ro fix it is ro look at what is causing it rather than jusr rhe symp ro ms.

And rhar is what our gove rnmenr and rhe governmenrs of o rher counrries aro und rhe world whose ships are in danger are working hard ro solve right now.

Pirate cruising grounds in the 17th and 18th centuries.

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GLOSSARY: buccaneer, corsair, sea rogue, and freebooter are all synonyms for pira'Ee. A privateer was differenr. A privateer was given permi ssio n, a "letter of marque," by his government to raid the shipping o f a country w ith whom they were at war.

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ne day, over 175 years ago, a yo ung C harles Darwin peered over the sid e of his sailing ship, HMS Beagle. The ship was sailing off Tierra de! Fuego, the blustery southern tip of Argentina. Darwin's eyes widened when h e saw long bands of some so rt of crimson-colored so up covering the surface of the sea. He wrote later in his acco unt of the voyage:

Darwin's shipmates were indeed correct when they said that the creatures were I food for whales. Even THOl?.P..ClC L.E:6S though individual Antc:f cP..~ y~ot:>vc E >?..5' 1 000 fol".. ft:f.W-l (:, E:G6S !ti ON£ YEt>.,~ arc tic krill, the largest of their kind, do not grow larger than an average person's pinky, the whales of the South- rigid outer skeleto n, so they need to shed ern Ocean-notably the blue, fin, and right or molt their shells in order to grow. They wh ale-dine on them almost exclusively. can shed these exoskeletons on the spot I have seen narrow lines of water ofa Whales swim open-mouthed through fields when they need to distract predators. bright red colour, from the number of of these critters, gulping millions at one Because Antarctic krill live in such crustacea, which somewhat resemble pass. massive groups, they not only provide in form large prawns. The sealers call In the Southern Ocean mariners have food for whales, seals, fish, squid, and them whalejood. Whether whales feed sailed through dense swarms of kri ll so vast birds, but humans have also developed a on them I do not know; but terns, corthat they covered the area of 280 square large industrial fishery to net them by the morants, and immense herds of great miles. Thar's larger than the entire city of ton. Krill are occasionally served as food in unwieldy seals derive, on some parts of C hicago! Ocean currents move these little countries such as Japan , but, more comthe coast, their chief sustenance from animals around, but krill also m anage to monly, catches are sold to feed farm anithese swimming crabs. swim together like schooling fish, perhaps mals or fish raised in aquaculture. By som e So, what was he looking at? Darwin was because it helps more individuals survive estimates, co nsidering the total weight of likely sailing through a patch of krill, or eu- when predators approach, and maybe it all the living m embers of their species, phausiids, which look similar to crabs and helps them when finding their own food, Antarctic krill are the most populous animals on Earth. Certainly that wo uld have shrimps (prawns), but are recognized today which is mostly microscopic plants. as their own kind of animal. 1he Antarctic In winter, krill eat algae and other tiny impressed C harles Darwin, who wo uld be krill is the species most commonly found in organisms that live under the ice. When celebrating his 200th birthday this year.

In the next issue's Sea H istory for Kids, the area where D arwin sail ed, but the word swimming in the open ocean, they collect "krill" wasn't in common English usage both near the surface and also hundreds we'll examine the mys terious fish in back then . It's ac tually a Norwegian word, of feet below. Krill use their forward sets-· one of New England's most famous meaning "very small fry of fish ," and, ac- of legs to feed and their back limbs to . _ {_~)~ \paintings. If you're interested in ~l Qi , pas t entries of"Animals in Sea cording to the krill expert William Ham- swim, adjusting their tail fins like a /f~ ~ ·~ History," check out www. ner, once also meant "tiny creepy-crawly rudder to steer. Like other crusta1 things." ~ ceans, such as lobsteh'-hill have a I · seahistory.o rg.

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Careers in the Marine and John Barber, Marine Artist

by John Barber and Melissa Scott Sinclair

When John Barber was seven years old, he was walking along the beach with his family when they stumbled upon an artist, an older gentleman wearing a blue beret, who was painting the scene before him. Using bits and dabs of paint on his sm all canvas, he was creating a virtual world of a lighthouse and the vast sea beyond. Young John was thunderstruck by the magic the artist was creating and was overcome with the desire to capture such beauty himself. Years later, as an art student in college in Virginia, he was introduced to the nearby Chesapeake Bay and was at once attracted to this great inland waterway, with its picturesque harbors, enduring lighthouses, and graceful workboats operated by hardy watermen. "My love for rhe sea and for rhe story of the Chesapeake Bay and her people would eventually direct my entire artistic career," John says.

But it wasn't enough to paint what he could observe-he wanted to fully understanding his subjects. "I've always been interested in how things work, and so I proceeded to learn as much as I could about my newfound subject." John says . H e built a small wooden sailboat and began to explore the waters of the Chesapeake. At first, he would take photos and bring them back to the studio and paint from those images, bur soon he started bringing a sketch pad, so he could draw and paint while he was still out on the bay.

Over the years, John befriended the wa termen who worked the bay, and wi th them he sailed aboard most of the surviving C hesapeake Bay Skipjacks. These boars are the last surviving fishing vessels to do their work under sail in North America.

Skipjacks are wooden boats designed to sail in the shallow waters of the Chesapeake Bay, d redging for oysters. In addition to skipjacks, John has worked aboard and painted deadrise crab boars, clammers, eelers and gill neners o ur for a fine catch of fish . When some of these fisheries began to die out, so did these purpose-built boats, bur John has worked hard to preserve their memory through his artwork.

In addition to painti ng the scenes of today, John has also studied a lot about what the bay might have looked like a hundred years ago or longer. Many of his paintings depict historic scenes, such as his painting (on page 39) of a schooner and a steamboat getting underway from Urbanna, Virginia, in the 1930s.

While John has devoted much of his art to scenes of rhe C hesapeake Bay, he also paints scenes of places he visits. When most travelers would pack a camera, Barber makes sure to pack a sketch easel. Small canvases can be finished quickly within a few ho urs. Because these are created in nature, or in the "open air," French impressionists referred to these pieces as "plein air" paintings.

Other travelers might keep a scrapbook of their trips, but John Barber has created a collection of art.

John Barber's art is special, not just for his skill as an artist, but because he has wo rked hard to understand the history behind his subjects and the intricacies of how things are put together. Importantly, he has also worked hard to get to know the people he depicts in his paintings, and this understanding comes through in his art.

The Subjects of John Barber's Art If yo u look at John Barber paintings printed here and on pages 28-33, yo u'll see all kinds of boats afloat on the C hesapeake Bay. The sailboats with a wide hull and two sails attached to a leaning mast are skipjacks; their job is catching oysters. The big boats with smokestacks, some with paddlewheels on the sides, are steamships, which once carried passengers and goods up and down the bay. And the white wooden boats with a cabin up top and a mast bur no sails are buy boats, which used to carry fishermen's catches and produce to marke t.

Years ago, these types of boats were common in rhe Chesapeake Bay, which is a huge estuary (a place where fresh water and seawater

Skipjacks at Thomas Point by John Barber

mix) in Maryland and Virginia. Today, only a few skipjacks and buy boats are still aro und, but not a single steamboat. Steam engines were long ago replaced by diesel and gaso line engines. John has sailed on all kinds of boats-big schooners, racing yachts big and small, and his favorites, the skip jacks. Believe it or not, the artist taught himself how to paint these beautiful boats. Ir takes a lot of research and practice to learn how to paint the rigging, the sails, and get everything exactly rig ht. When he wants to paint a boat that's not around anymore, he studies old photographs and books to get a feel for what it looked like.

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SEA HlSTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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From Concept to Finished Painting

by John Barber

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With the help of old photos and maps of the town, I sketch out the major elements in the scene, in this case boats and buildings, which I'll be putting into the painting.

Here I am with the final painting on my easel.

I transferred the drawing to the canvas, and then I painted it with oil paints.

MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

Preserving Historic Vessels

by Perer McCracken

T

h e recent loss of Seattle's 1897 lumber schooner Wawona derailed drawings (see rhe collection for the C. A. Thayer), and (Sea History 106: 18), current concern for preservarion orhers have fascinaring photographs, such as rhose from rhe Percy of rhe 1936 Namucker Lighrship LV-112 (Sea History & Small Shipyard in Barh, Maine (now rhe core of rhe Main e 126:12), rhe risk of an impending sale of SS United States (see Maritime Museum).

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_museum_ships pages 10-11 of rhis issue and also Sea History 108:33), and the continuing "Historic Ships on a Lee Shore" (nearly every Sea one can find Wikipedia's "list of museum ships," which identifies History issue), show rhe challenges facing preservarion for hismuseum ships around the world and includes their locarion, naroric vessels. The interner is obviously an excellent way of sharrionaliry, and orher informarion. Mosr have a link ro a Wikipedia entry wirh ar leasr some addirional informarion . ing informario n abo ur rhrearened vessels and f~~~;;~=~ for find ing support from across rhe country and The UK has an impressive online darabase around rhe world, bur ir also conrains a wealrh rided "Narional Hisroric Ships" ar http://www.naof resources about such vessels rhemselves. Govtionalhistoricships.org.uk. This darabase contains ernments and h isrorical societies have collected, informarion on over 1,200 exrant vessels in rhe and are now disseminating, much of rhis inforUnired Kingdom, wirh phoros, histories, previous mation. names, builders' informarion, and dimensions.

The amount of informarion varies from vessel In rhe US , rhe Historic American Buildings to vessel, of co urse, but it's a useful place Survey and Hisroric American Engineering for identifying exisring historic vessels, Record (known collecrively as "HABS/ HAER"), have been recording informaincluding those for sale! tion abo ut important buildings, vessels, The World Ship Trust publishes the International Register ofHistoric hips, with rhree edirions archirecture, and engineering rechnologies since rhe early 1930s. While definirely nor limpublished so far. The mosr recent came our in 1999. A lisr of all rhe vessels mentioned in the Register appears at http:// ired to historic ships, the project has included many vessels and maririme technologies. The HABS/HAER www.worldshiptrust.org/register.html. collection, adminisrered joindy by the Nario nal Park Service, the Sea History and rhe Narional Maritime Historical Sociery mainrains a sire about ship preservation at http://www.seahis Library of Congress, and privare secror members, now comprises more rhan half a million drawings, photographs, and written history.org/html/aboutpreservation.htm, but I have fou nd few rories, for nearly 40,000 sires from across rhe country. More are other web sites with comprehensive information on rhe srarus added every year. While some of these hisroric sites have been losr of specific vessels and preservar ion projecrs. Neverrheless, using since they were documented, the records have nor, and many of a search engine to look for a ship name and rhe word "preservathem are now available online through rhe Library of Congress's tion" will return many resulrs for any particular vessel currendy ar American Memory site under the name "Builr in America," at risk. The internet is an excellent way of sharing information about http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_ haer/. preservation projects and undoubtedly will contin ue to play this If yo u browse the collection by "subjecr" ("place" is an- role for the foreseeable furure. other option), yo u will find many maririme oprions, from "rowSuggestions for other sites worth mentioning are welcome ar shipindex@yahoo.com. See http://www.shipindex.org for a boats" or "yawl boats" to "lightships" or "sailing ships" or even "gamry cranes" or "sea walls." Items may have technical drawcompilation of over 100,000 ship names from indexes to dozens ings, photographs, dara pages, or more. Some have incredibly of books and journals. ,!,

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40

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SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS

SEAmester lives on! SEAmester, the 9-week college sem ester aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts (and other call ships over the years), has been in flux ever since the closing of Southampton College in 200 5.

So uthampton C ollege, pan of the Long Island Universiry system, created a nd ran the program continuously from 1976 to 200 5. After the college shut d own, the Universiry of M assachusetts D artmouth took o n the program bur cancelled it after two semes ters. From 1985 until 2008, SEAmesrer was run on either the Sp irit of Massachusetts or the H arvey Gamage, sometimes both. Ocean Class room Foundation, which owns and operates these vessels, has announced SEAmester's revival through a collaboration with rhe U niversiry of Maine. The first sem ester is being planned fo r the spring semester of 2010 .

Sp irit ofM assachusetts

Undergraduates from any unive rsity are encouraged to apply. Students earn 12 credits toward their undergraduate degree as they travel throughout the Caribbean and up the eastern seaboard. C lasses are offered in marine science, maritime history and literature, and navigatio n and seamanship. For more than thirry yea rs, SEAm ester has given young adults the adventure of a lifetime and, fo r m any, has transformed their whol e life view and purpose. D o n't miss o ut! (O CF, 29 M cKown Street, Boothbay H arbor, M E 04 538; Ph. 207 633-275 0 or toll free 800 724-7245; www. oceanclass room.org) ... A groundbreaking ceremony was held in April for Gulf Quest: The National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico (GQ) in Mobile, Alabama. The buildin g will be constructed and owned by the City of Mo bile, while the interacti ve m ari time museum inside will be funded and operated by an independem , non-profit organizatio n through a public/private partnerSEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

ship with the city. 1he groundbreaking took the form of a "keel laying" because the building is designed to resemble a ship. US Senator Richard Sh elby said, "It's

Gulf Quest: The National Maritime M useum ofthe Gulf of Mexico

hard to beli eve that, until now, no museum has been created to celebra te the histori cal, economic, and culmral significance of the G ulf of M exico." The museum is expected to open its doo rs in spring 2011. Exhibits will be ho used inside the stern of a mock-up full -s ized co ntainer ship, displayed as if dockside. (G ulf Quest temporary offices are located at th e International Trade Center, 25 0 N . Water St. , Suite 13 1, Mobile, AL 36602; Ph. 251 43 6-8901 ; www.gulfquest.o rg) ... The United States Coast Guard recently announced its new rule, effective 28 May, regarding identification document requirements for crewmembers of commercial vessels in US navigable waters.

This rule affects those m anning foreign comm ercial vessels operating in US waters

and calling o n US pons and crewmembers aboard US commercial vessels returning from a fo reign port. The rule requires crewmembers to carry one of the following IDs: a pass port, a US perman ent res ident card, a US merchan t m ariner docum ent o r credential, a rransportatio n wo rker identification credential (TWIC) , o r a seafarer's id entifi cati on document issued by a country signatory to the Intern ational Labour O rgani za tion Convention 185. Vessel operators will be required to ensure char crewmembers comply with chis regulation. (The rules and related materials are online at http ://www. regula tions.gov, docker number: USCG-200728648) ... Dr. Joshua Smith has been appointed Interim Coordinator of the American Merchant Marine Museum (AMMM) on the campus of the US Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY. Dr. Smith is an historian and an Associate Professor of Humani ties at the Academy. The AMMM focuses o n US commercial shipping since the inceptio n of steam-powered vessels and is also the site of the Natio nal Maritime H al l of Fame, whi ch each year induces a notable seafarer and shi p into its venerable ran ks.

Smith is also rhe autho r of Voyages, a new anth ology of primary texts and images coverin g top ics in maritime history fro m

The 2009 NMHS Rodney N. Houghton Award Author James L. Nelson has been awarded th e 2009 N MHS Rodney N. H oughton Award for the Best Feature Article in Sea H istory for his article, "Taking the Fight to Sea: M achi as and the First Sea Fight of the Am erican Revolution." Mr. N elson is a critically acclaimed author, historian, and former professional sailor. His article ran in Sea H istory 123 (Summer 2008) and was based on a chapter in his 2008 book, George Washington's Secret Navy (M cGrawHill, ISB N 978 0071493 89 5). Since swallowin g the anchor, Jim N elso n has sought to bring to life, through fiction and non-fiction, America's historical connectio n with the sea. Hi s writing covers a wide range of Ameri ca's m aritim e heritage, from piracy in Colonial Virginia to the naval action of the Civil War. Rodney N . Houghton (193 8-2007) was an active member of the N ational M aritime Historical Society's Board ofTrusrees and a frequent contributor to Sea H isf ames L. Nelson tory. The award was created in 2008 in honor of Rodney's passion for maritime history and his appreciation of chose whose work brings the stories of our maritime heritage to a broader audi ence. (For more informati o n o n James N elson, see www. jameslnelson.com; on NMHS, see www.seal1istory. org) .

41

Off to Fiddler's Green Walter J. Handelman (8 September 1931 - 2 February 2009) Walter Handelman was a committed philanthropist and a long-time and generous supporter of the National Maritime Historical Society. Back in 2002, we conducted a readers' survey in Sea History and had asked for our members' opinions about creating pages designed for students in Sea History, with the aim of getting the children and grandchildren of our members involved in the compelling story of America's maritime heritage: 65% of NMHS members said they would subscribe for a child if we published a section specifically for younger readers. Walter Handelman wrote to say what a fine and important educational initiative this would be, and that the James A. Macdonald Foundation, of which he was director, would fund the costs if we implemented the program. From that day to the present, because of Walter Handelman's commitment to maritime education, each issue of Sea History has contained the feature "Sea History for Kids." (The section also appears on our web site.) Because of his commitment and generosity, thousands of students who never heard of Walter Handelman have learned about their seafaring heritage in a kid-friendly way, some perhaps who will make that heritage their life's work.

Walter Handelman was the visionary and major funder behind many of the Society's educational projects for more than rwo decades. He was pragmatic, a careful thinker and speaker, but he had a rwinkle in his eye and a ready handshake. At his funeral service the rabbi stated that he gave so generously of his time and wealth that the many organizations he supported each thought they must be his main interest. He was an active supporter of the historic sites Lyndhurst and the Jay Heritage Center, Boy Scours of America, Hudson Link, the Preservation League of New York State, Friends of the Westchester Band, Westchester Reform Temple, Partners for Sacred Places, Education through Music, Emmanuel Day Care, the Scarsdale Historical Society, the Scarsdale Foundation and Town Club, Scarsdale Citizens for Senior Housing, and the Bronx River Parkway Restoration Conservancy, among others.

Walter Handelman was born and raised in New Rochelle, where he graduated from New Rochelle High School. A Boy Scout since his yo uth, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout at age 18, served on the executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America Westchester-Putnam Council and, in 2001, received the distinguished Eagle Scout Award, given to only 1,600 of the one million Eagle Scouts. He graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude and with an ROTC commission in the Naval Reserve, serving for rwo years as an officer aboard USS Curtiss in the Pacific.

He returned to Cambridge, met his future wife of 49 years, Judy Ashe, and graduated from Harvard Law School. H e joined his father's law practice in New York City, and, after his father's death in 1971 , moved it to White Plains, New York, in 1984.

The Handelmans moved to Scarsdale in 1960 and were very active in the community; he was elected mayor and served from 1993 to 1995 and even played clarinet in the Westchester Band. He continued to work pro bono for the organizations he supported.

Walter J. Handelman was the well-deserved recipient of the NMHS Founder's Sheet Anchor Award in 1994. He leaves behind many good friends, the ongoing work of the many organizations he nurtured , three sons, David, Dan, and Matthew, and five grandchildren. We will miss him.

-Burchenal Green, NMHS President

42

Ways to Contribute to NMHS

by Thomas F. Daly, Trustee, National Maritime Historical Sociery

In this difficult economic climate, the generosity of our members is integral for the success of the Society. As a 501 (c)3 not-for profit organization, NMHS is dependent on member support as the foundation on which is built all of our work for the maritime heritage. Both the Board of Trustees and the staff are often asked what options are available to best support the Society.

-Burchenal Green, President Please refer to the list below when considering making a gift to the Society.

Outright Gifts Outright contributions, often consisting of cash or appreciated securities, are the most direct way of assisting NMHS.

Appreciated Securities A gift oflong-term appreciated securities, either publicly traded or from a private company.

Restricted Gifts A donor may choose to designate his gift for one or more of the specific needs of the Society.

Gifts of Cash Matching Gifts Many companies will match or multiply donations made to the National Maritime Historical Society by their employees and, in some cases, by employees' spouses.

IRA Account Transfers Other Gifts Life Insurance Donors who own a life insurance policy that the family no longer needs.

Bequests Members are requested to please include the National Maritime Historical Society as the beneficiary of their will or trust or retirement plan.

Sustaining Gifts A Sustaining Member supports NMHS at a higher level than might otherwise be convenient. A sustaining gift may be at any amount, and it can be charged each month or quarter from a credit card account direictly to NMHS. For more inforrmation from NMHS, a donor or his or her adviiser may contact the Society's President, Burchenaal Green, at 914 737-7878.

SEA IHISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT, & MUSEUM NEWS Columbus to the present, published in cooperation with National Maritime Historical Society and the University Press of Florida. (AMMM, 300 Steamboat Road, Kings Point, NY 11024; Ph. 516 7735515; www.usmma.edu/abour/Museum/) ... Capt. Dan Moreland of the Barque Picton Castle is seeking applicants for the Picton Castle Bosun School's fall

term, a new program where sailors will spend 14 weeks in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, getting intensive hands-on training in advanced marlinspike seamanship, including wire work and sailmaking. The program has limited enrollment and is open to individuals ages 18-30 who have som e previous experience on traditional sailing ships, either as crewmembers or as students/trainees. (For info: Ph. 902 634-9984; e-mail thebosunschool@picton-castle.com; www.picton-casde.com) ... The Naval War College Foundation is seeking applicants for The Edward S. Miller Research Fellowship in Naval History. One grant of $ 1,000 will be awarded to the researcher with the greatest need who can make the optimum use of the research materials for naval history located in the Naval War College (NWC) archives, Naval Historical Collection, Naval War College Museum, and Henry E. Eccles Library. The recipient will be a Research Fellow in the NWC's Maritime History Department, which will provide administrative support during the research visi t. Further information on the m an uscript and archival collections and copies of the registers for specific collections are available on request from Evelyn Cherpak, H ead of the Naval Historical Co llection via e-mail at: evelyn.cherpak@usnwc.edu .

Submit a detailed research proposal that includes a full statement of financial need and comprehensive research plan for optiSEA HT STORY 127 , SUMMER 2009

ma! use of NWC materials, CV, at least rwo letters of recommendation, and relevant background information to: M iller Naval History Fellowship Committee, Naval War College Foundation, 686 C ushing Rd., Newport RI 02841by1 August. (For more information, contact the chair of the selection committee at john.hattendorf@ usnwc.edu) ... In September, the Maritime Museum of San Diego added the research submarine USS Dolphin (AFSS 555) to its fleet of historic ships. She is currently being modified to ready her for public exhibition. Two cuts have been made in the hull, one near each end, for ingress and egress. These will accommodate one-way through-traffic with a stairway at each end of the vessel, replacing the original single vertical ladder located amidships. Minor changes are being made to the interior spaces to enhance the visitor experience. Early this summer, USS Dolphin will be moved to its permanent berth alongside the ferryb oat Berkeley and will then open to the public. The naval submarine was launched in 1968 and decommissioned in 2007. Dolphin's extreme deep-diving capability placed the vessel at the forefront of undersea naval research

continued

Schooner Ernestina has just returned home to New Bedford after nearly a year's absence while she underwent a major restoration of her hull, fo rward ofthe break of the deck.

the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and donations from the general public. Built in 1894 in Essex, MA, Ernestina, ex-Effie M. Morrissey, is the official vessel of the Co mmonwealth of Massachusetts, a National Historic Landmark, and part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. As a National Historic Landmark, all work on the ship adheres to the requirements set forth in the Secretary of the Interior's Standard's for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects and US Coast Guard standards. Work has included a new stem, frames, top timbers, knees, deck beams, and deck. The challenges on a project like this are many and have included finding properly seasoned white oak and long leaf southern yellow pine. Lumber from trees h as come from as far away as Michigan, Tennessee, and North Carolina. (For more information and photos on the ship's restoration and future plans, visit www.er nestina.org and www.sailernestina.org) ...

USS Dolphin

throughout her entire career and was the last diesel-electric submarine in the US Navy. (MMSD, 1492 North Harbor Dr., San Diego, CA 9210 1; Ph . 619 234-9 153; www.sdmaritime.com) .. . By the time this issue of Sea History is printed, the historic Schooner Ernestina should be back in her home port in New Bedford, MA, after a major restoration of the forward half of the hull at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in Maine. The $ 1.1 million proj ect is supported in part by a Save America's Treasures grant administered by the National Park Service, The Partnership Marching Funds Program of

Schooner Ernestina

43

NEW from Sea History Press!

Harbor Voices New York Harbor tugs, ferries, people, places, & more .. .

"New York is a City Built from the Sea" Discover the People , Vessels & Places of NY Harbor!

USS New York (LPD-21), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock which incorporated 24 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center towers in her construction, was christened in March in Avondale, Louisiana. The New York is rhe 6rh ship of rhe US Navy to

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be named fo r rhe srare of New York. The ship was designed to deliver a fullyequipped barralion of 700 Marines. The ship is rhe firsr to be fu lly designed from rhe CAD-screen up to suppon all rhree of rhe Marines' primary mobiliry capabiliries-Expedirionary Fighring Vehicle, Landing C rafr, Landing Crafr Air C ushioned vehicle, and rhe MV-22 O sprey. In rhe US Navy, srare names are usually reserved for submarines, bur an exceprion was made so rhar rhe name could be given to a surface ship. Sreel from rhe World Trade Cem er was mel red down ar Amire Foundry and Machine in Amire, LA, to casr rhe ship's bow secrion. The Navy is building rwo sisrer ships, USS Arlington (LPD 24) and USS Somerset (LPD 25), to honor rhose who were aboard rhe rwo orher planes used in rhe 9/11 an acks rhat crashed in Arlington, VA, and Somerset Counry, PA. USS New Yo rk was built ar N onhrop Grumman Ship Sys rems, Avondale Operarions, in Louisiana. The shipyard is located on rhe banks of rhe M ississippi River approximately 12 miles upriver from New Orleans ... World Ocean Observatory (W20), a web-based resource for scientific, cultural, and political information about the ocean, has announced that it h as joined forces with Ocean C lassroom Foundation, owners and operators of the schooners Spirit of Massaichusetts, Harvey Gamage, and W'estw1ard. The rwo non-pro fit organizations wvill share info rmation and administrative assets bur maintain separare fund -

SE A HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

ing sources. Peter Neill , fo under of World Ocean O bservatory and interim director of OCF, will ass ume the role of executive director for both organizations . OCF was fo unded to incorporate experiential education principles to foster ocean literacy and leadership skills using traditio nal schooners as a platfo rm fo r secondary education . O ne new OCF program of note is their "Horizon Gap Program At Sea" fo r recent high school graduates loo king to broaden their life experien ce before college. Students will sign aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts fo r a 12-week educational sea adventure on a voyage covering mo re than 5, 000 miles with po rt stops in over a dozen countries in the Wes tern Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. Applications are now being accepted fo r the 2009 fall term .

(O CF, 29 M cKown Street, Boothbay H arbor, M E 0453 8; Ph. 207 633-275 0 or toll free 800 724-7245; www.oceanclassroom . org) . . . The US Coast G u ard has released its marine casualty investigation rep ort for the collision b etween the motor vessel Cosco Busan and t h e San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on 7 November 2007, wh ich resulted in the disch arge of more than 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay. Acco rding to the report, the m ain cause of the accident was a navigational erro r by the pilot of the Cosco Busan, who navigated the vessel at a high , unsafe speed in near-zero vis-

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Cosco Busan with a 100-ft. gash amidships ibiliry, failed to properly m onitor the vessel's position and progress, and lost situational awaren ess. Also a t fault was the failure of the mas ter of the Cosco Busan to adequately m o nitor the actions of the pilot. A multi-agency Incident Specific Preparedness Review panel iss ued a detailed repo rt whi ch fo und that spill response personnel acted on a "worst case scenario" bas is, res ulting in one of the m ost aggressive and successful responses in recent histo ry, yielding an approxim ate 40% recovery rate of spi lled oil. (The USCG m arine

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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CLASSIFIED ADS Barnegat Bay NJ Boat shows: Toms River Seaport- July 18, (908) 303-171 O; Tuckerton Seaport-Sept 12 (856) 727-9264; ACBS Pt. Pleasant-Sept .19, (908) 910-3653; www.njmb.org NEXT VOYAGE WILL BE DIFFERENT by Cap rain Thomas E. Henry. Accounts from my 37 years ar sea. Available rhrough Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Also available, CRACKING HITLER'S ATLANTIC WALL. Call 772 287 5603 (EST) or e-mail: Arcome@aol.com.

"San Francisco's Little Boat that Could." The history of rhe beauriful Monterey fishing boars of Fisherman's Wharf is available at Barnes and Noble.

Photos of "messing around" boat yards, sailing in wooden yachts & boats. Hang beauriful picrures in yo ur home or office.

See (www.StanSinowitzPhotos.com) Thousands of century old ship postcards, ephemera-in San Francisco; Ph. 415 586-9386, kprag@planeteria.net.

Elegant Ship Models. Individually handcrafred custom scale model boats. Jean Preckel: www.preckelboats.com or call: 304 432-7202.

CUSTOM SCRIMSHAW on antique ivory. Made by hand in the USA by me, Peter Driscoll. www.scrimstore.com. Free brochure: chipsmay@aol.com; Ph . 336 998-0459.

Jonesport Nautical Antiques. We offer world class nautical antiques & nautical gifts (old & new); 800 996-5655 or on the web at www.nauticalantiques.com.

Custom Ship Models Half Hulls. Free Catalog. Spencer, Box 1034, Quakertown, PA 18951.

A CARELESS WORD-A NEEDLESS SINKING by Capt.

Arthur R. Moore. Documented account of catastrophic losses suffered by American Merchant Marine and Armed G uard during WWII. 720 pp, lists crew members & ships, profusely illustrated. Eighth printing sponsored by American Merchant Marine Veterans. E-mail: gemurphy@carroll. com.

BOOKS: It Didn't Happen on My "Watch and Scuttlebutt by George E. Murphy. Memoirs of forry-three years with United States Lines aboard cargo and passenger ships. Anecdotes of captains, chief engineers, crew members and the company office.

Web site: www.gemurphy.com; e-mail: gemurphy@carroll.com.

FREIGHTERCRUISES.COM. Mail ships, containerships, trampers ... Find the ship and voyage that's perfect for you . Ph. 1-800-99-Maris.

1812 Privateer FAME of Salem, MA Sails Daily May - October. Ph. 978 729-7600; www.SchoonerFame.com.

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casualry investigation of Cosco Busan allision can be found at: http:// www.uscg.mil/foia/reading_room.asp) ..â&#x20AC;˘ The wreck of the ]ojfre, a 105-ft. long fishing vessel located within the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) off Massachusetts, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. joffee is an early 20th-century fishing vessel that represents technological changes in New England's fishing industry. Launched as a schooner in 1918, she fished with tub trawls (baited hooks) until 1939 when the vessel was converted into a motorized Eastern Rig dragger. The joffee caught fire and sank on 10 August 1947 off Gloucester, MA. During its 29 years of service, joffee's crew -:!..

Joffre landed more than 15 million pounds of fish.

Scientists from NOAA and the National Undersea Research Center at the Universiry of CT documented the shipwreck sire in 2006 with a remotely operated vehicle. Thejoffee is the Sanctuary's 4th shipwreck site to be included on the National Register. Its location within SBNMS provides protection unavai lable in other federal waters off Massachusetts. Regulations prohibit moving, removing, injuring-or making any attempt to move-any sanctuary historical resource, including artifacts and pieces from shipwrecks. SBNMS encompasses 842 square miles of ocean, stretching between Cape Ann and Cape Cod. (http://stellwagen. noaa.gov) ... The Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, OR, has selected Dr. Samuel E. Johnson to be their new executive director. Dr. Johnson replaces Jerry Ostermiller, who retired in 2008. Dr. Johnson received his PhD from Stanford Universiry and has served as the execurive director for the Oregon Field Office of the Nature Conservancy, the Director of External Affairs at the Oregon Historical Society, and was the Director of Planned Giving for the Oregon Health Sciences Universiry Foundation. In recent years Johnson has been building and restoring boats and teaching bronze foundry classes at the Center for Wooden Boars, rhe San Francisco National Maritime Museum, the Rivers West Small Crafr Center in Portland, OR, the WoodenBoat School in Maine, Mystic Seaport Museum, and the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY. CRMM, a private non-profit organization, is the official State Maritime Museum of Oregon. (CRMM, 1792 Marine Drive, Astoria, OR 97 103; Ph. 503 325-2323; www.crmm.org) ... The Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport has launched a new online resource for scholarship in literature of the sea, titled "Searchable Sea Literature." This site compiles known links to electronic texts of American literature of the sea, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays, primarily from Google Book Search, but also from several other sources. As "Searchable Sea Literature" grows and improves, the site will expand to include links to journal manuscripts, British, Canadian, and Australian texts, and other works written or translated into English. (www.williams.edu/williamsmystic/SeaLitSearchable/SeaLitSearchable.html)

~

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SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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 mi les.

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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SEA HlISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIUMS •Maritime Conference, Massachusetts •13th Annual Cape Cod Maritime His- Maritime Academy, 23-25 October in tory Symposium, 30 May at the Cape Buzzards Bay, MA. (Info: contact Dr. Cod Museum of Natural History in Brew- Kathryn Mudgett, Department of Huster, MA. (www.ecapechamber.com/Mari- manities, MMA, 101 Academy Drive, timeDays/symposium .asp) Buzzards Bay, MA 02532 ; e-mail at nau•Loyalism & the Revolutionary Atlan- rilus@maritime.edu ;www.maritime.edu) tic World, 4-6 June at the U niv. of Maine •"Transportation in the Americas (Info: Liam Ri ordan, History D ept. , Univ. (1800-1914): A Factor of Modernity?" of Maine, 5774 Stevens Hall, Room 275, International Conference, 14- 16 JanuOrono, Maine 04469; Ph. 207 58 1-191 3; ary 2010 in Bordeaux, Fran ce. Organized e-mail riordan@umit.maine.edu) by the Institut des Ameriques Po le Sud•Music of the Sea Symposium, 12- 13 Ouesr, Universite de Bordeaux, UniverJune at Mystic Seaport. (75 Greenmanville sire de Pau, Universire de Toulouse. (Info: Ave., Mystic, CT 06355; e-m ail glenn.gor- contact Dr. Isabell e Tauzin via e-mail Isadinier@mys ticseaport.org) belle.Tauzin @u-bordeaux3.fr) •Munson Institute Graduate Courses at Mystic Seaport, 22 June - 30 July, matricFESTIVALS,EvENTS,LECTURES,ETC. ulating students may apply; financial aid •Barge Into Hoboken! A "Tug & Barge" available. (Info: MI, Mystic Seaport, Box Quadricentennial Tour, 26 May - 4 June 6000, Mys tic, CT 06355; Ph. 860 572- in Hoboken, NJ. Free rug rides, barge 07 11 , ext. 5089; e-mail munso n@mys tic- tours and showboat performances on historic vessels, which will be docked seaport.org; www. mys ricseaport.org) •"Understanding Change, Coping with between Hoboken's Pi er A Park and NJ Uncertainty," the International Con- T RANSIT'S Eri e Lackawanna Rai l & gress of Maritime Museums 2009 Con- Ferry Terminal. (Fo r derails on other Wagress, 5-11 October in Esbj erg, Denmark. terfront Museum programs this summer, (www.icmmonline.org) visit www.wa rerfronrmuseum. org) •American Tropics: Towards a Literary •16th Annual Cape Cod Maritime Days, Geography, 4-7 July at the Universiry of throughout May 2009. (See breakdown of Essex (www.essex.ac. uk/lifrs/ Ameri can_ events at: www.ecapechamber.com/MariTropics/Conference.htm) timeDays/) •"Maps, Myths and Narratives: Carto- •30th Annual Sea Music Festival, 11-1 4 graphy of the Far North," The Inter- June, at Mystic Seaport. (MSM, 75 G reennational Conference on the History of manville Ave. Mys ti c, CT 06355; Ph. 860 Cartography, 12-17 July in Copenhagen, 572-5331; www.mysticseaport.org) D enmark. (For info: ichc2009@bdp.dk; •Norwegian Pram Building, 13-19 June at the Center for Wooden Boars in Seattle, www. ichc200 9. dk) •2009 Advanced Oral History Summer WA (Cama Beach, 1880 SW Camano Dr. , Institute, 10-14 August at the University Camano Island, WA 98282; www.cwb.org) of Californ ia, Berkeley (http://bancrofr. •"The Bay From Above: Aerial Views of berkeley.edu /RO H 0 I educatio n/ institute/ the Bay Then and Now," 16 June; 21st Annual Antique and Classic Boat Fesapplication .html) •12th North Atlantic Fisheries History tival, 19-2 1 June; The Chesapeake Folk Conference, 19-22 August at O ld Do- Festival, 25 July, at the C hesapeake Bay minion University in Norfo lk, VA. Co n- Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD ference theme: "Fisheries Management in (CBMM, Navy Point, POB 636, St. Mia Historical Perspective." (Info: www.hull. chaels, MD 2 1663; Ph. 4 10 745-2916; www.cbmm.org) ac. uk/ nafha/) •Historic Naval Ships Association An- •The Tall Ships® Atlantic Challenge nual Conference, 21-23 Sept. in Mobile, 2009, now thro ugh 16 August. TradiAL, at th e Battleship Alabama. Conference tional sailing ships will travel more than theme: "Back to Bas ics." (Info: H NSA 7,000 nautical miles and will visit the folExec. Director Jeffrey N ilsson , POB 401 , lowing host ports: Vigo, Spain; Tenerife, Smithfield , VA 2343 1; e- mail hnsaO l @ Canary Islands; Bermuda; C harleston, SC; Boston, MA; Halifax, NS, Canada; ao l.com ; www.hnsa.org/conf2 009.hrm)

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

Belfast, Ireland. Sponsored by the American Sail Training Association (240 Thames St. , 2nd Floor, POB 1459, Newport, RI 02840; Ph. 401 846- 1775; e-mail asra@ sail training.org; www.sailrraining.org) •Boothbay Boat Builders Festival, 2 August in East Boothbay, ME. Sponsored by the Boothbay Region Land Trust. (BRLT, POB 183, 137 Townsend Ave. , Boothbay H arbor, M E 04538; Ph. 207 633-4818; www.bbrlt.org/bbrlr_ boarbuild ers.hrml) •30th Annual Classic Yacht Regatta, 4-6 September, at the Museum of Yachting in Newport, RI. This year the CYR will converge with the Huckins Rendezvo us and th e start of the Six Merer Worlds. (Mo Y, Fort Adams State Park, Newpo rt, RI, 02840; Ph. 401-847- 101 8; www. moy.org) •SNAME Expo (Sociery of Naval Architects & Marine Engin eers), 2 1-23 October in Providence, RI . Booth space can be reserved at www.s nameexpo.com. (For info: Ph. 56 1 732-4368; e-mail howard@ marinelink.com) •25th Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival, 4-7 September in Gloucester, MA (www.capeannvacations.com/schoo ner/) •The Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta and Yacht Race, 7-12 September, Gloucester to Provincetown, MA (www. provincerownschoonerrace.com) ExHIBITS

•Predators and Guard Dogs, warship paintings by Ian Marshall , through June, and Da=le and other Camouflage: Faces of the Naval Wtir, mid-July through August, at the Naval War College Museum in Newport, RI. Visitors need to phone 24 hours in adva nce for reservations to visit the museum and to bring photo ID. (NWCM, 686 C ushing Road, Newport, RI 0284 1, Ph. 401 84 1-4052/2 101 ; www.usnwc.edu/ newpordinks/ museum / museum.aspx) •Treasures of a President: FDR and the Sea, at South Street Seaport Museum in NYC. (SSSM, 12 Fulton St. , New York, NY 10038; Ph. 2 12 748.8600; WWW. so uthsrreetseapo rtm use um.org) •Jamestown & Bermuda: Virginia Company Colonies, through 15 Oct. at the Jam estown Settlement in VA. (Jamestown-Yo rktown Foundation, POB 1607, Williamsburg, VA 23187; Ph. 757 2534838; www.hisroryisfun.org.)

49

~

CURRENTLY ON

VIEW ~

TREASURES OF APRESIDENT: FDR AND THE SEA Treasures of APresident: FDR and the Sea is a joint collaboration with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. FDR was America's greatest seafaring president. The sea offered adventure, camaraderie, and respite during his recovery from polio and throughout his presidency. His passion for sailing extended into his collecting and this timely and relevant exhibition displays, for the first time in New York City, portions of FDR's vast ship model collection and maritime art. ' " ~~ v•· - ' • . • - . ---. - ___,. ________ ---------

NEW AMSTERDAM: THE ISLAND AT THE CENTER Of THE WORLD This September, we will celebrate the opening of New Amsterdam: The Island at the Center of the World. The exhibition is a joint effort between the Museum and the Dutch National Archives and will include pieces from esteemed institutions around the world, including New York City's "Birth Certificate," the original letter documenting the sale of Manhattan for 60 Dutch Guilders. ,~~- ·~,", · · ·- · · --··"· - __ ..________ ---

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Reviews From Colony to Superpower: US Foreign Relations Since 1776 by Geo rge C. H erring (O xfo rd University Press, New Yo rk, 2008 , 1035 pages, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-19-5 07822-0, $35hc) From Colony to Superpower is a lengthy and sometimes challenging read, yet a rewarding literary sojo urn thro ugh che evolution of American fo reign policy from ics earliest rimes co the 2 l sc cemury.

Foreign policy was che metaphorical midwife acrending che birch of the nascem American experiment in dem ocracy, a novel ideology and a form of governan ce char wo uld come co influence much of the world. Ame rican fo reign policy had rwo disparate functio ns: co protect che new government from foreign interferen ce and co pave the way for an expansionist plan-America's "manifest destiny." Thus, the idealized Am erican democracy also came ro be perceived as bullying and hypocritical, espousing slavery and selective suffrage. Its fo reign policy cools em ployed "interference ac bes t and coercion ac worse."

H erring's scholarly research , wo rked into a co mpelling historical acco unt, tells che story of Am eri ca's interac tion with che peoples and nati o ns of che wo rld. It documents many of che stunning successes and tragic fa ilures char shaped fo reign relatio ns and were central to the existen ce and survival of what became known as the ''America way of life," its markets, terricorial expan sion and defense. Its peopleadventurers and explorers, captains of ships and captai ns of industry, merch am s, missionaries, and diplomats-shaped the nation's commerce and established ics interests against fo reign powers . The h eroes and vill ains (and occasional doles) of chis story were che secretaries of scare and fo reign ministers, as well as their respecti ve pres idents and prime ministers, who shaped che events char acco unted for Ameri ca's place in che wo rld.

Maritime issues were, of course, a significant consideration in the development of American foreign policy, establishing commercial partnerships, trading ports, safe trade routes and ports for provisioning, coaling, and lacer fueling. Maritime agreem ents determined che boundaries of coastal waters, the rights of seamen SEA HrSTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

and fishing rights. Finally, resolution of these issues helped establish diplomatic, political, and military alliances for the pro tection of American citizens around the wo rld.

H erring's analytical book about epic C...-SU!! events and ch e human drama contained wi thin chem is a most worthy addition prefers using specific primary documents co any hisrorian's library; a work char ex- and images co "stir students to chink more amines che hiscory of American foreign deeply abo ut the impact of all things mapolicy, a hiscorical venue coo infrequendy rine on American society. By providing a visited. body of documents that they themselves Lours ARTHUR NORTO N analyze, Voyages enables students to move Wesc Simsbury, Conneccicuc beyond being passive participants."

The Voyages volumes are no coffeetable books. The dense format in two reasonably priced paperback books is mean t to allow students co pack them in their backpacks and carry them to the classroom, library, or even the deck of a ship. For both students and instrucrors of maritime histo ry, these are a must. For the armchair sailor, history buff, or independent researcher, Dr. Smith has just saved you a lot of time by selecting important and compelling documents char cover a wide range of topics in maritime hisrory and purring chem all together chese two books.

D EIRDRE

Voyages: Documents in American Maritime History, 2 vols. edited by Joshua M. Smich and che National M ari rime Historical Society. Vol. l , The Age of Sail: 14921865 and Vol. 2, The Age of Engines: 1865-Present (University ofFlo rida Press, Gainesville, 2009, illus, notes, biblio, ISBN (vol. 1) 978-0-8 130-3304-4 and (vol. 2) 978-0-81 30-3305- 1; each $34.95pb) Joshua M . Smith, an associate professo r of humanities ac che US M erchant Marine Academy, has ream ed up wich che National M aritime Hisrorical Society co publish chis two-volume anthology covering che American m aritime experience from che European discovery of che Americas to che 2 1st-century War o n Terror. A collection of cho ughcfully selected primary documents, chis sec is intended co assist anyone assembling course material in maritime hiscory. After years of developing curricula fo r his ow n classes, Dr. Smith lamented that the field of m aritime hiscory has no textbook o r standardized curricular resources. In his own teaching, Dr. Smith

O'REGAN

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Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her by Maxwell Taylor Ke nnedy (Simon and Schuster, NY, 2008,

Flotilla The Patuxent Naval Campaign in the War of 1812 DONALD G. SHOMETTE foreword by Fred W Hopkins, Jr. "A comprehensive view of the complex nature and incredible impact of the naval war of 1812 as ir was played our on the turb id waters of the Patuxenr River. " -from rhe fo rewo rd $38.00 hardcover

Chesapeake Ferries A Waterborne Tradition, 1636-2000 CLARAANN SIMMONS In rhis engaging and gracefu lly written narrative, Simmons rakes the reader from rhe earliest days of colonial serrlement, when all who journeyed through rhe region crossed rhe waterways, ro rhe age of bridge buildi ng rhar forever changed rhe way people traveled.

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5 15pp, illus, biblio, notes, index, ISBN 978-0-7 432-6080-0 ; $30hc) On 11 May 1945, two inexperienced Japanese pilots, Yas uno ri Seizo and Kiyos hi Ogawa, defied hundreds of guns and tens of tho usands of shells and bullets and successfully crashed their planes in to USS Bunker Hill, an Essex-class ai rcraft carrier participati ng in the attack on Okinawa. The resulting devastation claimed m o re th an 400 American lives and resulted in the removal of the carrier from active battle. Coming in the closing phases of the war, the arrack on the Bunker H ill has attracted far less attention than the incident deserved . Maxwell Taylor Kennedy's In Danger's H our has done the public in the U nited Stares and Japan a genuine service by sensitively retelling these events fro m the perspectives of m en on both sides of the conflict.

My late fa ther-in-law served on the Bunker Hill during the attack and never really described the events to his children.

Reading Kennedy's acco unt answers the question of why he said so little. Carrier duty d uring this phase of the war was a nearly unending series of near-miss attacks, little sleep, and unrelenting stress.

The extent of the dam age that resulted from the Seizo and O gawa attack, in part a result of design flaws in the earliest of the carriers, co upled with its timing and the rem arkable targeting of the pilots, led to a horro r of fire, explosions, trapped m en, painful deaths, and narrow escapes.

The book's chief strengths are its clear analysis of the ship's complex design and how it influenced the post-crash events, the integration of the ho nest and often blunt m emories of the m en who survived, and its sensitive portrayal of the Japanese pilots who proved as much victims of circumstances as any man o n the ship.

Through interviews with surviving Japanese pilots, their fri ends and their fami lies, Kennedy reveals the tragic plight of the kamikazes. Far from fanatics, the m en who led this attack were well educated bur ill trained warriors who, caught between deep cultural expectations and the crushing real-

ities of an unsuccessful war, paid the price for the imperial ambitions of their superiors. Although repetitive in places, the book is exciting and extremely informative, and reveals aspects of the Naval war in the Pacific little known to the public.

JOHN j ENSEN Wakefield, Rh ode Island

When Fortune Frowns by William H .

White (Tiller Publishing, St. Michaels, Maryland, 2009, 352pp, autho r's notes, ISBN 978- 1-888671-22-3; $29 .95 hc)

During the 1789 m utiny onboard H MAV Bounty, led by Fletcher C hristian and his mares, Bounty's cap tain, Lieutenant W illiam Bligh , was set adrift in a 23foot boat along with eighteen of his officers and men . Sixteen murineers fo und refuge on Tahiti, while C hristian and nine of his shipmates-feeling too vulnerable to discovery at this well-known locationmade off fo r obscure Pitcairn Island.

Those who had stayed in Tahiti lived happily, for a time, am o ng their native wives and friends, but discovery was always a stro ng possibility. In an as tounding feat of seamanship, Bligh and his crew made their way back to Tofula in the Dutch East Indies, traveling 3,6 18 open-ocean miles in forty-e ight days. When it learned of the Bounty mutiny, a shocked British Admiralty was d eterm ined that this heino us crime would n ot go unp unished. U nder the command of Cap tain Edward Edwards, H MS Pandora, an armed frigate with 140

SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

men aboard, was dispatched ro the Pacific ro apprehend the mutineers and return them ro Britain for courts-m artial and likely hangings. Iron ically, Edwards, arguably even more brutal ro his men than Bligh, had suffered a near-mutiny nine years earlier.

When Fortune Frowns is the episodic srory of Edwards's mission: from the preparation and voyage ro the mutineers' arrests, from their subsequent cruel treatment as prisoners ro yet another smallboat voyage fo ll owing the shipwreck of the ill-fated Pandora. This little-known story abo ut the final chapter of the most famous of mutinies is rold using salty and authentic 18th-century language that adds color to the bravado, bravery, and banality of the times. H ere is a naval adventure, but one without a naval battle. A carefully constructed pi ece of fact-based fi ction, White's work is scholarly, thoroughly researched, and masterfully written. Breathing life inro maritime hisro ry, the author's style is reminiscent of Patrick O 'Brian's novels, ye t nearly all of his characters are pulled straight from history, and their interactions are based upon the historical records of the Pandora's voyage. When Fortune Frowns is a captivating book, a pleasurable read from the hand of a highly skilled au thor.

Lours ARTHUR NORTON Wes t Simsbury, Connecticut

Red Tobruk: Memoirs ofa World Wflr II Destroyer Commander by Captain Frank Grego ry-Smith RN D SO DSC and edited by Dominic Symons (Pen & Sword Books, Ltd., South Yorkshire, UK, 2008 , viii + 200pp, notes, glossary, and index, ISBN 978-1-84415-862-1; $3 0hc) In the 1980s, William Frank Niemann G rego ry-S mith published for his fam ily a three-volume memoir of his Royal Navy experiences. Dominic Symons, w h o grew up with those volumes, skillfully extracted the heart of his grandfa ther's narrative abo ut his service in Wo rld War II and edited it for publi cation as Red Tobruk (the term refers to the Tobruk radar stations' warning that enemy planes were in the vicinity). The book fo llows Gregory-Smi th's naval career, from his enrollment at D artmouth Naval College in 1922 at age twelve SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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53

(it was a school for Royal Naval cadets) to his post-retirem ent reflections on his lo ng service in the Royal Navy. Between Gregory-Smith's lucid writing and Symons' skillful editing, a good story is transformed into an excellent one in the telling.

The pace is fas t and unnecessary sentences rare. In his writing, G regorySmith effectively communicates the excitement and anxiety of enemy attacks on HMS Eridge, an escort destroyer and his first command, and his crew's response to threats from the air, surface, and the depths with carefull y co nt ro lled sentences and emotion . His acco unts of action against bombers, fighters, surface ships, and submarines are so vividly expressed that they can exhaust the reader. "We seemed to be isolated in some dark corner of H ades where a huge giant was tossing us back and forth like a shuttlecock. We were imagin ary persons, utterly remote from the civilised world, against who m was co ncentrated all the fury and hate of the nether regions" (170).

The autho r does not portray himself as a hero, but rather as a commander keenly aware of his responsibility to pursue the war with zeal, while trying to avo id unnecessarily endangering the m en under his command. Som e, perhaps most, commanders might bask in the authority that comes with rank, while some of the best, like G regory-Smith, struggle with respo nsibili ty.

The decline of empire is the underlying theme of Red Tobruk. When Gregory-Smi th began his naval studies as a cadet in 1922, Great Britain was a naval power in co ntro l of a global empire. At his retirem ent in 1960, this empire was a mere shadow of what it h ad been in his childhood, and the Britannia no longer ruled the waves.

D AVJD

The Annotated Sailing Alone Around the World by Capt. Joshua Slocum, anno tated by Rod Scher (Sheridan H ouse, Inc., D obbs Ferry, NY, 2009, 224pp, illus, maps, no tes, ISB N 978-1 -57409-275-2; $ 19.95 pb) As an avid sailo r and autho r, I have read Slocum's book several times, most notably as I was preparing to help crew a 39-ft.

Valiant from Honolulu to San Francisco.

them. I co uld not have been more right and more wro ng at the same time. This is a cool b ook, but it is no child's boo k-at least n o t in my ho use. I let my kids look at it fro m the other side of the room and no closer!

Sailing Alone Around the World.

From the very fi rst page I was transfixed. Rod Scher has transform ed the m aterial with info rmation about oceanography, geography, sailing explanations, and history so that a reader is transported back to that era. He provides thorough foundation for better understanding exactly what it mean t to sail around the world in the late 1800s. H e has given the reader both co ntext and depth that greatly enhances one's enjoym ent of the material and makes Slo-

ANNOTATED

SAILING ALONE ~~

CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM cum's story accessible to a larger audi ence.

Who is this book fo r? Sailo rs, histo rians, students, teachers, and anyo ne who revels in curio us facts and fasc ina ting no tations will find this gripping tale even m ore entertaining and compelling.

PAT RI CIA Woon H onolulu, H awaii

0 . W HITTEN

Auburn, Alabam a

54

I'd been anxious to test my mettle on a passage of that length, but full y realized it was only a d ro p in the bucket compared to Slocum's achievem en t. I was privileged to be re-introduced to th e wo nder of Slocum's accomplishments when I read Rod Scher's brillian tly annotated version of

The Pop-Up Book of Ships by Dr. Eric Kentley and D avid H ancock (Uni verse Publishing, New York, 2009, 12pp, illus, ISBN 978-0-7893- 1862-6; $40) When yo u read a book review that describes the ship sailing "right o ut of the page," usually it is m eant only fi guratively. In this case, it is a literal translation . I have two sons in elem entary school, boys who have had ships and maritime stories shoved down their throats since birth. I tho ught this would be a great book for

' "" 10' '" ........

.............

'~r:::

Let m e explain. The ships that popup in this book were created by D avid Hawcock, a paper engineer (I didn't even know there was such a thing!), and D r.

Eric Kentley, a British anthropologist who wo rked for sixteen years in various capacities at the National M aritime M useum, including posts as head of ship technology and h ead of exhibitions. The teaming up of these talented and knowledgeable men has produced a book, which is both exciting to look at and play with as it is to read.

The m ost famo us of ships th roughout m aritime h istory are represented here, from the Golden Hind to USS North Carolina, the latter of which is recreated in a detailed and spectacular paper ship, nearly three feet long once the book's spine is fully opened. The lines and details on the paper models are accurately represented , not an easy feat which is why other "pop-up" books are so overly simplified . In addition to the pop-ups, the autho rs have explained th e context of each vessel within its tim e period concisely and intelligently.

Yes, kids will love this book, but so will the grown-ups in their lives .. .perhaps even more so.

D EIRDRE O'REGAN Cape Cod, Massachusetts CORRECTION: In Sea History 125 (Winter 2008-09) we mistakenly credited T ilbury House Publishers for the beautiful design and production of Kenneth R. Martin's Patriarch of Maine Shipbuilding:

The Life and Ships of Gardiner G. Deering. That fine wo rk was done by M ichael Sterere of H o pe, Maine. T ilbury H ouse is dismibuting th e book for Jackso n A. Parker. ((ISBN 978-0-88448-3 07-6)

SSEA HI STORY 127, SUMMER 2009

New&Noted Harbor Voices: New York Harbor Tugs, Ferries, People, Places, & More by Terry Walton (Sea History Press, Na ti onal Maritime Historical Society, Peekskill , NY, 2008, l 79pp, illus, sources, ISBN 978-0-930248-14-7; $19. 95 pb) HMS Fowey Lost and Found: Being the Discovery, Excavation, and Identification of a British Man-of- war Lost offthe Cape ofFlorida in 1748 by Russell K. Skowronek and George R. Fischer (University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 2009, 272pp, illus, appen, biblio, index, ISB N 978-0-81 30-3320-4; $45 hc)

The Navies of Rome by Michael Pitassi (Boyde!! Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, 2009, 348 pp, illus, maps, biblio, index, ISBN 978- 1-84383-409-0; $9 0hc) Navigation Through the Ages by Donald Launer (S heridan House, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 2009, 224pp, illus, biblio, ISB N 978-1-57409-278-3; $23.9 5pb) Pirate Hunter: The Life of Captain Woodes Rogers by Graham A. Thomas (Pen & Swo rd, So uth Yorkshire, UK, 2008, l 76pp, appen, notes, ISBN 97781-844 15-808-9; $29hc)

Live Yankees: The Sewalls and Their Ships by W. H. Bunting (Tilbury H ouse, Publishers and Maine Maritime Museum, 2009, 512p p, photographs, appen, index, ISBN 978-0-88448-3 15-1; $30hc)

The Pirates' Pact: The Secret Alliance Between History's Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America by Douglas R. Burgess Jr. (McGraw Hill, NY, 2008, 30 lpp, ISBN 9780071474764; $26.95)

Longitude by Wire: Finding North America by Richard Stachurski (So uth Carolina University Press, Columbia, 2009, 264pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978- 1-5700 3-801 -3; $29.95hc)

The Sherlock Holmes Illustrated Cyclopedia ofNautical Knowledge edited by Capt. Walter W. Jaffee (The Glencannon Press, Palo Alto , CA, 2009, 242pp, illus, I SBN 978-1-889901-48-0; $24.95 pb)

Affordable Luxury When You're Anchored in Boston Starting at

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Ships' Graveyards: Abandoned watercraft and the Archaeological Site Formation Process by Nathan Richards (University Press of Florida, Gai nesville, 2008, illus, notes, biblio, index, I SBN 978-0-8130-3257-3; $65hc) The World ofthe Medieval Ship master: Law, Business and the Sea, c. 13501450 by Robin Ward (The Boyde!! Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, 200 9, 260pp, illus, biblio, notes, index, I SBN 978- 184383-455-7; $95 hc) Valkenisse, Retourschip of 1717: Reconditioning an Eighteenth-Century Ship Model by Rob Napier (Sea Watch Books LLC, Florence, OR, 2008, 237pp, illus, gloss, appen , biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-98205 79-0-2; $68hc)

The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian by Brian Lavery and Geoff Hunt (W. W. Norton & Co., NY, 2009, illus, notes, bibli o, gloss, index, ISB N 978-0-393-07009-5 ; $3 9.95hc)

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SEA HlSTORY 127, SUMMER2009

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SJEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009

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(~JU [[N M/\rtl 2

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C)UE.EN /V~f\RY2

~

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