.SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS The Battleship Texas, part of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in Texas, signed a contract in October with AECOM USA Group, Inc., an architectural and engineering firm, to design a permanent dry berth for the historic warship. The only surviving dreadnoughtera battleship in the United States, USS Texas (BB-35), is a veteran of both World Battleship Texas
Wars. In 1916, Texas became the first US battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns and the first to control gunfire with di rectors and range-keepers, analog forerunners of today's computers. In 1919, she became the first US battleship to launch an aircraft, and in 1940, the battleship was designated flagship of US Atlantic Fleet. USS Texas was decommissioned after World War II. In 1948, the ship was transferred to the State ofTexas and rowed to the San Jacinto State Park (off the Houston Ship Channel), becoming the first battleship memorial museum in the US. Since 1983, the battleship has been under the care of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). In 2005, TPWD developed a plan to place the battleship in a permanent dry berth to best combat further deterioration from the corrosive waters of the Houston Ship Channel. In 2007, voters in Texas approved a bond package that included $25 million to dry-berth the battleship. The design of the dry- berth by AECOM is scheduled to be completed this spring. Following a federally mandated environmental assessment, expected to take two years, the bidding process for construction of the dry-berth and a temporary mooring is anticipated to begin sometime in 20 14, with construction complete by the summer of 20 17. USS Texas has been used in a number of movies, including Sand Pebbles (1966) starring Steve McQueen and directed by Robert 42
Wise, Pearl Harbor (2001 ) with Ben Affleck, and the 2006 films directed by C lint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. (Battleship Texas State Historic Site, TPWD, 3523 Highway 134, LaPorte TX 77571 ; Ph. 281 479-243 1; www. tpwd.state. tx. us/ spdest/ findadest/ parks/battleship_ texas/) . . . Oxford University announced the launch of the "Old Weather" project on 12 October, which seeks to use crowd-sourcing and WWI ship logs to build a massive database of historical weather recordings. C itizen-researchers can participate by logging into their website and transcribing weather data from 280 ships' logbooks, which they have scanned in and are ready to view at the click of yo ur mouse. "These naval logbooks contain an amazing treasure trove of information, bur because the entries are handwritten they are incredibly difficult for a computer to read," said Dr. Chris Linton of Oxford University, one of the project developers. "By getting an army of online human volunteers to retrace these voyages and transcribe the information recorded by British sailors, we can relive both the climate of the past and key moments in naval history." Ship logbooks included notation of temperature, wind strength and direction, barometric pressure readings and other information, which were recorded every fo ur hours. That information is critical for climate scientists trying to improve their computer models. As well as rescuing those weath er observations, the project organizers also ask participants to record the personal and political events aboard the ship that might be noted by hand in the old logbooks. Old Weather: Our Weather's Past, the C limate's Future is a Zooniverse project in collaboration with diverse individuals and institutions, including the University of Oxford, The National Maritime M useum (UK), Naval-History.Net, the Atmospheric Circulatio n Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) initiative, amongst others. The project is online and waiting for yo u to join them at www.oldweather.org.) . . . Approximately forty fellowships at the John Carter Brown Library (JCBL) in Providence, Rhode Island, are up for grabs to qualified applicants for the 1 June 2011 to 30 June 2012 year.
The JCBL is accepting applications through 3 January for both shortand long-term fellowships, ranging from 2-10 months. Short-term fellowships are available to those engaged in pre- or postdoctoral or independent research for 2-4 months w ith a monthly stipend of $2, 100. Applicants for the $4,200 per month long-term fellowships are required to have their PhD before January 20 11. The JCBL's collection is foc used on the history of the Western H emisphere during the colonial period (1492-1825), emphasizing the European discovery, exploration, settlement, and development of the Americas, the indigenous response to the European co nquest, the African co ntribution to the development of rhe hemisphere, and all aspects of European relations with the New World. All fellows must relocate to Providence and be in continuous residence at the JCBL for the entire term of the fellowsh ip. Details on restrictions, research topics, and eligibility are available through the library. (JCBL, Box 1894, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912; Ph. 40 1 863-2725 ; www.jcbl.org) James "Jamie" White has taken the helm as the new director of the Texas Seaport Museum (TSM) as of 1 October. The TSM is home to the 1877 sailing vessel Elissa and several other historic vessels. A master rigger, White has more than thi rty years experience in the historic sailing ship community and has led the restoration, rigging, and mai ntenance of dozens of
Jamie White
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SEA HISTORY 133, WINTER 2010-11