LETTERS Fish eries Managemen t M arc Castelli's art (featured in Sea H istory 132, Autumn 2010) is truly spectacular and his talem and wo rks of art are to be held up fo r all to admire. His ideas abour fi sheries managem ent, no t so much . If the govem mem did no thing to restrict fis hermen fro m taking all that they can get, however they can, whenever they can, there wo uldn't even be a fishery left to manage. It is painful and sad to witness the end of a livelihood that
The Chesapeake Bay skipjack, a sail-powered oyster dredger, was once a common sight on the Bay. Today, only a handful remain and even fewer actively work under sail. spawned traditions and a rich culture that has defined the people living and working in the Chesapeake Bay region . Bu t to say that it is all the gove rnment's fa ult is not accurate and does not help us move forward to fi gure out a solution , if there is a solution to be had. We live in a wo rld of diminishing natural resources and, to date, we (the government and the peop le who have counted
ter: the battleship Oregon and the cruiser Olymp ia. The O regon , on loan to the state of Oregon since 1925, was berthed in Portland as a waterfrom monument and civic center. Governor C harles A. Sprague patriotically offered to return her to the US Navy for "coastal or o ther defense use." The Navy's official position was that the ship was a "histo ric shrine" and "an insp iration to our fighting fo rces." H owever, the War Productio n Board was pressuring the Navy to tum the sh ip over to be scrapped, and the Navy felt that it would have to give in. The fin al decisio n ended up in the hands of President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself. Meanwhile, the Olymp ia was tied u p at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, neglected and in rundown condition, bur still in naval hands. O n 26 O ctober 1942, the presidem rendered his verdict to Secrerary of the Navy Frank Knox. D ear C olo nel Knox: It is wi th great reluctance that I authorize the Navy D epartmem to turn the USS Oregon over to the War Production Board fo r reduction to scrap m etal. It is my understanding that the D epartment will take immediate action toward the p reservation of the USS Olymp ia as a naval relic of the Spanish-American war period . Sincerely yo urs, Franklin D . Roosevelt
USS Oregon, 1898
Ironically, the Oregon was only partially scrapped and its hull was used by the Navy as an ammunitio n stowage barge. The Navy never did anything to preserve the Olympia, fin ally turning it over to the predecesso r of its currem custodian . Perhaps now is the time for the N avy to finally honor President Roosevelt's understanding. ] OHN D . ALDEN, C DR, USN (RET.) Delmar, New Yo rk
Did You Hear the News? Learning abo ut the small role that H MS Pickle played in one of the wo rld's most fam o us naval battles, or rather her role after the battle, is a simple reminder of what communicatio n systems were like back in
o n them for their livelihoods) have done a rr-================================-.i very poor job of managing them effectively. There are no easy answers, but blaming Our seafarin g heritage comes alive scientists and the governmem fo r stepping lakes, and bays-if you appreciate in the pages of Sea Histo1y, from the legacy of those who sail in deep in and trying to keep this fishery from dythe a ncient ma riners of G reece to wa ter a nd t heir workaday craft, ing out altogether is as helpful as blaming Portu guese navigators opening then yo u belong with us. God fo r not m aki ng mo re fish . up the ocean wo rld to the heroic Join Today! M ARTI N EVANS J R. efforts of sailo1¡s in modern-da y Mail in the form below, phone Gaithersburg, Maryland conflicts. Each issue brings l 800 221-NM HS (6647), or visit new insights and discoveries. us a t: www.seahistory.org Time to M ake Good on FDR's Jf you love the sea, rivers, (e-mail: nmhs@seahisto ry.o rg)
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Promise about USS Olymp ia Regarding the pend ing po tential loss of USS Olympia, th e fo llowing little-known aspect of her preservatio n to date may be of interest. Shor tly after our entry into Wo rld War II, the natio n had launched a scrap drive to recover badly-needed steel. At that time, there were rwo surviving relics of the
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Spanish-American War on the Navy's regis- ~================================~
SEA HISTORY 133 WINTER 20 I 0-11
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