Philip Haemo de Thorneycroft Teuscher and His Hopes for the National Maritime Historical Society by Walter R. Brown , NMHS C hairman Emeritus; Thomas F. Daly, NM H S Trustee; and Burchenal Green, NMHS Presiden t MHS m ember Captain Philip Teuscher is an adventurer in 1887- 1888 for one of the founding members of the Cedar and avid professional sailor, whose curiosity, interest in his- Point Yacht C lub of Westport, Connecticut, used for racing in tory, and knowledge have taken him around the wo rld. H e is a Long Island Sound. She then becam e an oyster boar before his twenty-first century Renaissance Man; for years, he was a regular fam ily bought her, sloop-rigged, in 1943, and used her as a yacht contributor to Sea History on such diverse subjects as the steam- until he sold her in 1966. H er then-owner Go rdon D o uglas doboats oflstanbul, Victorian-age kerosene-illuminated lighthouses nated her to South Street Seaport Museum . Teuscher has plans ro in the Baham as, and Caribbean sailing craft. In 1989 he was pre- restore this vessel to her original glory and awai ts the next chapter in Shadow's life when her dissented with the NMHS James play will educate a new generaMonroe Award for historiogration about the sailing craft that phy for his extraordi nary work were used in the great oyster in developing lively testimony industry of Long Island So und. of the traditions of local boatmen, from Caribbean Indians His other boats have into Long Island Sound oysrercluded a 26-foot Cuban fishing smack in which eleven refugees men. With Gregory Pettys, escaped from C uba in 1962. producer, he wrote and directed Two others were inspired by the sixty-minute documentary Willi am Atkin-Colin Archer Last ofthe Karaphuna abo ut the double-enders; one of them , surviving Caribbean aboriginals of the Dominica in the Lesser Tanaquill, sailed in three OperAntilles. With a grant from rhe ation Sail parades in New York harbor. Teuscher's current boat Connecticut Council of Humanities, he completed "The is a 1890s authentic steamboat, Last Drift," a history of ConRum Hound, in which he cruisnecticut's last wind-powered es in Long Island Sound. She fishery. This oral hisrory of is most likely, since 1930, th e last listed New York Yacht C lub Connecticut's oystermen, those who dredged the state-owned steamboat. natural oys ter beds under sail, Teuscher's appreciation and captured stories depicting a way love of the sea came from his family. His fa ther hail ed from oflife that disappeared over half a century ago. the Midwest, but he came east Extending from his life's to attend m edical school at work in preserving history and Tufts, learned to sai l a catboat, sharing these, and many more, and finall y settled at Westport, stories with the world, Philip CT, on Long Island Sound. Teuscher has placed a codicil in His mother cam e from an anhis will leaving a large legacy to cient English family who had the National Maritime Historiarrived with William the ConPhilip Teuscher taking a noon sight aboard Tanaquill in 1993. cal Society. When asked why he queror. A m ore recent ancesmade this generous gift, he was very clear on his mission: "Educa- tor, John Isaac Thorneycroft, was a shipbuilder and innovator of tion is the best hope the world has. NMHS and Sea History are high-speed steam launches in the 1870s. Teuscher was born into dedicated to education. Only if we can understand our history a family of vo racious readers and students of history. H e is o ne and what went before and learn from it, not repeating o ur mis- of fo ur brothers-all of whom shared a maritime passion. They takes, can we set a course to a sustainable future for humani ty. spent many years on family boats when their fa ther, Dr. W illiam Maritime history is one of rh e keys to this because much of our P. Teuscher, became a ship's doctor for Grace Lines. So me of his early formative books were Robert Louis Stemigration and commerce developed over the seas. C ulrure, language, and cargo were carried by boat. To tackle our future we venson's Treasure Island, Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons, need to understand our background and our ships and what it Sir Walter Sco tt's Ivanhoe, and Howard Pyle's lhe Merry Advenmeant to be a people who cam e from rhe sea. How we traversed tures ofRobin Hood. As a yo ung boy, Teuscher saw Yankee returnrhe sea rapped into man's creative ingenui ty and abili ty to solve ing from a wo rld cruise. He was greatly influenced and inspired problems." by the aro und-the-world voyages of Captain Warwick Tompkins Captain Teuscher has owned and sailed many boars. O ne of in Wander Bird and Irving and Exy Johnson aboard Yankee, where his favorites was Shadow, originally a cat-rigged sandbagger built they kept alive the skills of sailing a tall ship.
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SEA HISTORY 130, SPRING 2010