Sea History 134 - Spring 2011

No. 134

NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SPRING 2011

THE ART, LITERATURE, ADVENTURE, LORE & LEARNING OF THE SEA

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

Four renowned marine artists will exhibit their work at the Maritime Art Gallery at NMHS 's Washington Awards Dinner, 13 April 2011, at the National Press Club. Here's a previewand a chance to purchase a painting ahead of the event. And best of all, 25% of the purchase price will benefit the Society and is a tax deductible contribution to you!

Patrick O'Brien "USS United States vs. HMS Macedonian " Oil on canvas Image Size 12" x 16" Framed, Price: $3,800

William Storck "Near the Severn " Oil on canvas Image Size 1O" x 17" Framed, Price: $2,800

Marc Castelli "O'Dark Thirty 'Bet the Bayers Aren't Up/Tangier" Watercolor Image Size 15" x 22" Price: $3,800

John Barber "Offloading the Catch" Oil on linen Image Size 8" x 15", Price: $4,450 A Barber original oil will be available at the dinner; however, it may not be the one illustrated here.

You can purchase these paintings by calling 1-800-221-NMHS (664 7), ext 23 5.

They will be displayed as "SOLD" at the 13 April Washington Awards Dinner and delivered after that. Keep watching our web site at www.seahistory.org to find out more.

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To order, call 1-800-221-NMHS (6647), ext. 0, e-mail nmhs@seahistory.org, or visit our web site at www.seahistory.org. Allow 2 to 3 weeks for delivery. Shipping within USA only.

No. 134

SEA HISTORY

SPRING 2011

CONTENTS 10 War of 1812-Understudied, Misunderstood, Forgotten: Year One,

by William H. Whice NMHS Trustee William H White takes us back to June of 1812, when the United States declared war against Great Britain for the second time-fewer than thirty years after the end of the Revolutionary Ui0r. lhe battles commenced, to the west by land and to the east by sea.

16 Restoring an Icon: Preparing the Charles W. Morgan for her 38th Voyage,

by Macchew Stackpole After more than 80 years as a static museum-piece, the whaling ship C harles W Morgan is being prepared for a return to sea. Mystic Seaport's Matthew Stackpole shares with us some of the Morgan's history, as well as a look at the restoration work and the wealth ofarchaeological information being gleaned in the process.

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22 It Seems Moses Caught the Fever-He was Never the Same Again, by John L. Busch When Robert Fulton returned to Manhattan after his successful steamboat run up the H udson River in 1807, he showed the skeptics that steam power was no "folly" and inspired his admirers to join him in taking steam-powered vessels to the next level. Moses Rogers happened to be on the New York waterfront that fateful day, and the experience changed him-and the evolution ofthe steamboat-forever.

26 S•O•S, by H ewicc S. Mo rris Before his death in 1973, H ewitt Morris committed to paper a story from his days as a young radio operator aboard SS Wesc H arshaw-a story with all the elements ofa gripping yarn: a hurricane, a ship in peril, and the fragile, sometimes cryptic, thread of communication that was radio in the 192 0s. lhat story is excerpted here, courtesy ofKent Morris, his son.

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32 Moscoso's Ships, by David Purdy As H ernando de Soto lay dying along the banks ofthe Mississippi River in 1542, he transferred his command to Luis Moscoso de Alvarado. Moscoso immediately set out to lead the surviving expedition members, some 3 00 men, back to New Spain, more than a thousand miles away. lhe overland route had proved a failure. lheir next plan: float down the Mississippi River and sail across the Gulf ofMexico. lhey'd have to build the ships first ... in the wilderness.

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Cover: USS Constitution vs. HMS Java

by Patrick O 'Brien (oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches)

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Late in December 18 12, "Old I ronsides" was cruising off the coast of Brazil when she sighted and engaged the British frigate H MS Java. lhree hours after the first shot, Java struck her colors.

(See pages 10-1 4 for more on the War of 18 12)

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DEPARTMENTS 4 8 30 36 40

DECK LOG AND LETTERS NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION MARINE ART NEWS SEA HISTORY FOR Kms SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM N EWS

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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DECK LOG "our flag was still there ... "

T

he Naval History and Heritage Command has great plans in store for the commemoration of the bicentennials of both the War of 1812 and the Star Spangled Banner. In partnership with OpSail, they will organize a parade of sail up the Eas t Coast, from New Orleans to New York, Norfolk, Annapolis, Baltimore, Boston, and N ew London. There will be opportunities for students to engage in hands-on learning, to correspond with ships' crews and to sail on a ship. There will be books and lesson plans for students of all ages to learn about the War of 1812, about the Hag and the National Anthem, about the navy and tall sailing ships from around the world. It will be an unparalleled opportunity for authors, teachers, museums, ships and organizations to participate and help teach the important lessons of our early maritime heritage.

Rear Admiral Joh n Padgett, USN (Rec.), is chairing the War of 181 2 Commemoration Advisory Board. He explained, "The War of 18 12 defi ned the point of maturity of the US Navy, when the navy went from being an ad-hoc group of patriots to being a strong unified group whose missio n and capability were put to the test and found successful. Colonists were inspired by the battle successes of the fledgling navy over the greatest navy in the world and came to view their young co untry as one on its way to a par with great nations. 181 2 was the last chapter of the Revolutionary War. The great naval battles proved that the new country had the character and will to take on the great nations of the world to secure her freedom. Quite appropriately, the National Anthem was penned as a result of a batde of that war.

"We believe and hope that this event and others to follow will educate the public about the value of having a powerful navy. Even in the years before 181 2, in fighting the Barbary pirates for free trade opportunities for America's merchants, a strong navy was critical to go out to the world to protect American interests . This is even more important today. Each navy ship built is expensive. The public needs to understand the value of a well-trained, technically well-equipped ship. History has taught us the higher price of not hav ing the ships. We need to make sure the American public knows the value of what they are buying."

Rear Admiral J ay D eLoach, USN (Ret.), Director of the Naval History and H eritage Command, added, "The Chief of Naval Operations looks to ¡the commemoration of the War of 181 2 as a great opportunity to reconnect America with its maritime heritage, providing a histo ric background, which can reiterate to America the tenets of our maritime strategy and the reasons to maintain a strong navy in defense of our nation and in protection of our maritime trade."

William H . White, NMHS trustee, C hairman of the NMHS Committee to Co mmemorate the War of 1812, and trustee liaiso n to the Sea History Advisory Board, has committed Sea H istory to publishing material on the War of 181 2 in every issue for the next three years. We invite your articles and will promote yo ur events. Send information to editorial@seahistory.org or bgreen@seahistory.org. We are honored to be working on this important commemoration with such an outstanding team. -Burchenal Green, President

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NATIONALMARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

PUBLISHER'S C IRC LE : Perer Aro n, Guy E.

C. Maitland, Will iam H. W hi re OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Ron ald L. Oswa ld; Vice Chairman, Ri chard o R. Lopes; President, Burchenal G ree n; Vice Presidents, D eirdre O'Regan , Na ncy Schn aars; Treasurer, Howard Slom ick; Secretary, Thom as F. D aly.

Trustees: C harl es B. Anderso n , Walrer R. Brown, Jam es Ca rrer, David S. Fowler, Vi rgini a Sreele G rubb , Karen H elm erso n, Ro ben Kamm , Ri chard M. Larrabee, James J . McNamara, Richard Scarano , Philip J. Shapiro , Perer H. Sharp, Bradford D. Sm irh, H . C. Bowen Sm irh , Cesare Sario, Philip J . Websrer, Dani el W. W h alen , William H. W hire. Trustees Elect: RADM Joseph F. Callo, USNR (Rer.), W illi am Jackso n Green , Cap r. Sally C hin M cElwreath , USNR (Rer.) , M ichael W Mo rrow, Timorhy J. Runyan, Jean Worr.

Chairmen Emeriti, Wa lrer R. Brown, Alan G .

C hoare, G uy E. C. Maitl and , H owa rd Slorni ck; President Emeritus, Pete r Sra nford FOUND ER: Karl Korrum (19 17-1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman , RADM David C. Brown; C li ve C uss ler, Richard du Mo ulin, Ala n D. Hurchiso n, Jakob Isbrandrsen, Gary Jobson, Sir Robin Kn ox-Johnsto n , Jo hn Lehm an, Brian A. McAlli srer, John Sro barr, W illi am G. W interer NMHS ADVISORS: Chairman, Melbourn e Sm irh ; D. K. Abbass, Geo rge Bass, Oswald L. Bren, RADM Joseph F. Callo USNR, (Rer.), Francis J. Duffy, John S. Ewald, T imorhy Foote, W illi am Gi lkerso n, Steven A. H yman, J . Russell Jinishian, Hajo Knutrel , G unnar Lundeberg, Joseph A. M aggio, Co nrad M ilster, Wi lli am G. Muller, Sruarr Parnes, Lori Dillard Rech , Nancy Hughes Ri chardson, Berr Rogers, Joyce Huber Smirh

SEA HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD : Chairman, Ti morhy ). Runyan ; Nor m an J . Brou wer , Roberr Brow nin g, W illiam S. Dudley, D aniel Finamo re, Kevin Fosrer, Joh n O di n Jensen , Joseph F. Mean y, Lisa No rling, Ca rla Rahn Phillips, Walrer Rybka, Q uenrin Snediker, William H. W hi re N MHS STAFF: Executive D irector, Burchenal Green; Membership Director, Nancy Schnaars; Marketing Director, Sreve Lovass-Nagy; Accounting, Jill Romeo; Store Sales & Volunteer Coordinator, Jane Mauri ce

SEA HISTORY. Editor, D e irdr e O ' Regan; Advertising Director, Wen dy Paggiorra; Copy Editor, Shel ley Reid ; Editor-at-Large, Perer Sta nford

SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 20 l l

LETTERS Iron vs. Steel in Shipbuilding O laf E ngvig's article on iro n vs. steel in shipbuilding was very interestin g to me; I am a retired marine engineer with som e kn owledge of wrought iron and steel. I was, whar is called in the U nited States, a "port engineer," and, as such, I arranged fo r and supervised d rydocki ng of commercial vessels.

They were all steel hulls. O n o ne d ryd ocking in New York H arbor som etime in rhe earl y 1970s, rhe vessel next to mine was a US Arm y Corp of Engineers dredge nam ed Ezra Zanzibar. H er port en gineer and I spent coffee breaks together discuss ing our wo rk and the quality of workmanship that we were each receiving from the shipyard. Borh sh ips we re having steel hull plates replaced .

His vessel was a rive ted wro ught-iro n hull fro m the !are 1800s; m ine was a World Wa r II-vintage steel hull. Th e decisio n to replace sreel plates in sh ipyard was based o n thickness measurements, whi ch was a ro utine meth od in the 1970s. H e showed me where rhe o ri ginal wrough t- iron plating on his ship was still in excellent condition with minim al thickness loss . Wherever rhere was any dam ageJ hull platin g, however, ir had to be replaced with steel because wro ughr iron was not available anymore. H e pointed o ut rhar riveting a steel plare between wrought iro n set up a galvanic cell and only has tened rhe deteri oratio n of rhe sreel . H e no red rhar these same sreel plates had been replaced befo re. His vessel spent a large po rti o n of its time in fresh water, so the corrosio n was not o nl y due to saltwater service.

Yo u probably have heard many sto ries like this, but after readin g M r. Engvig's article, I had to bring one m o re story to yo ur arrention. There is a graveyard of 1800s wooden vessels burned to the wa terline near where I li ve in New Jersey. The no ticeable remains on most of these are their rudd er posts, which I assume were wrought iro n.

I graduated from Kings Po int in 1962 and we studied bas ic metallurgy there, but afrer rhe dozens of drydockings and hundreds of o ther repairs, yo u learn on-rhe-job merallurgy. Ano ther example rhar I becam e intimate wirh was bro nze propeller fa ilures. A real old-rimer propeller repair shop owner po inted our rhar rhe T-2 ranker propeller that I senr in fo r rhe repai r of a damaged blade tip had anorher problem . H e called ir "mud acid" (dark spors all over rhe bronze).

Afrer losing entire blades off two of rhe T-2

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 11

reducing rhe po tential fo r leaking seam s.

I do no t co ncur wirh Mr. Engvig's asserti o n that fo r mo re rhan a cenrury, rhe "authorities" had argued that steel was mo re corrosion resistant than iron . M y dog-eared copy of the 194 1 edition of M arks' M echanical Engineers Handbook, purchased while I was a student of naval architecture ar M IT in 1942, states that wrought iro n "is said to be superi o r to mild steel in resistance to corros ion." The superiori ry of w rough t RAY SCHMIDT Woodbridge, New Jersey iron to black steel fo r fresh water piping was recognized throughout industry; however, I enjoyed O laf Engvig's article on iron vs. when choosing a m aterial for use in a parti custeel in your recent issue, bur I think he lar application, the des igner must consid er complerely misses rhe poinr of why sreel man y mo re of its properties than longevi ty, so rapidly replaced wrought iron as a ship- and by th e 1890s steel's all-around superib uilding material. Me rchant ships are builr o ri ry fo r shipbuilding was well recogni zed . for one reaso n-to earn m oney. To ensure En gvig states flatl y "as soon as newer rh ar rheir hulls wo uld las r fo r a century o r tonnage of steel was available, they [those mo re, long after rh eir machin ery wo uld be anonymous "authorities"?] scrapped their wo rn out, was never a design requirem enr iron vessels." I believe rhar rhe ac tual case of an y ship wirh which I am familiar. Sreel was rhar as soon as rheir iron ships, fo r an y has many economic advan rages over iron. reason, becam e uneconomical to operate, Ir is stronger rhan iro n, so need not be as rhe owners re placed rhem wirh steel o nes. rhi ck to res isr rh e same loads. This res ults Rather than by im plication criticizing so me in a lighter hull. Altho ugh o ri ginally m ore long-d ead designers for nor accomplishing expensive per ton rh an iro n, by 1880 rhe somethin g rh ar rh ey never ser our to do, prices of sreel and iron were abo ur equal, we should be grateful rhar the designers o f so rhe lighter hull was chea per as far as m a- rhe earlies t meral ships, by using the o nly terial cost was con cern ed. (Later rhe price material avail able to rhem ar rh e rime, inper to n of steel dropped well below that of adve rtently produced a few h ulls rh ar, w irh iro n. ) Steel could be ob tained in lo nger and a grear deal of luck, survived to becom e wider plares, which reduced the number of museum arrracri o ns today. riveted joints required to connect them, SAMUEL G. M O RRISON furth er lowering constru ctio n cos ts and also Easr Lyme, C onnecticut rankers rhar I rook care of, I determ ined rhar rhe de-zincificario n (mud acid) was caused by rh e lack of good groundjn g of the propeller shaft after installing a Brand X (cheap) impressed currenr system in place of zinc anodes on rhe srern fram e. One ship losr rhe blade our in to rhe ocean and li mped in wirh grear vibratio n. O n the o rher ship, rhe blade we nr ri ghr rh ro ugh the after peak ran k.

Join Us for a Voyage into History Our seafarin g heritage comes alive in the pages of S ea History , from the ancient mar iners of Greece to Portuguese na vigato rs opening up the ocean world to the heroic efforts of sailors in modern-day conflicts. Each issue brings new insights and discove ries.

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Historic Ships Triage We should be concerned about the imbalance in this country between the number of preserved historic military vessels and civilian merchant ships built in peace time.

Furure generations might blame us fo r saving a lo t of big battleships and o ther military hardware, while fo rgetting to do the sam e with some larger merchant ships. It is right to save ships made fo r war du ty, but there

must be a balanced approach. If not, the world of tomorrow will see Americans as a nation obsessed with war machines alone.

It was, after all, the merchantmen that formed the core of the infant US N avy in the first place during this country's War of Independence. On behalf of our children, we have to ask: Where are all the ships that built this great nation? Every member of Congress should be reminded of this

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and asked to act accordingly, and they must rise to the challenge of saving and pro tecting big civilian ships fro m different periods in o ur history. This is a national issue.

OLAF ENGVIG H arbor C ity, C alifornia I think C DR Alden's suggestion that FDR intended fo r the Navy D epartment to preserve USS Olymp ia ("Letters," Sea H istory 133, p. 5) was overtaken by events in the early 1950s, when the N avy reported to Congress that it had a number of historic ships in its possession and asked for Congressional direction as to what was to be done with them. The resultant law directed the Navy to preserve and maintain U SS Constitution "but not for active service," and to make the remainder available to private gro ups having an interest in preserving such vessels. If no o ne came forward within a certain period, they were to be discarded .

As far as I know, that law had no provision forthe N avy re-acquiring a donated unit and thus has no requirem ent to do so.

On the larger question of ship preservation, during my attendance at the Maritime H eritage C onference, I heard enunciatedin private-the thought that, expensive as they are, not every ship someone has an interest in ought to be preserved, so that there wo uld be fewer dem ands for always scarce funding. Perhaps the M aritime Alliance should include this question in open forum at its next conference.

CDR TY MARTIN, U SN (RET.) Tryon, North Carolina Chesapeake Bay Fisheries, No Simple Answers In response to Mr. Evans ("Letters," Sea H istory 133, p. 5) : I have spent m any yea rs trying to understand why the states of M aryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia have done little to effectively meet their responsibilities for the C hesapeake Bay watershed. The issues for watermen of the Chesapeake Bay are derived from poor water quali ty, pollution, and lack of governmental backbone when it com es to m akin g develo pers responsible fo r their impacts o n the shoreline- and, yes, overharves ting to som e degree. I have spent the las t fifteen years in discussions with policy m akers, watermen, and scientists, testifying at legislative sessions in the state house

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

and senate, five years of Oyster Advisory Commission meetings, reading countless books, articles, and research papers about A promising new perspective on New York Harbor history this issue. I have been trying to level the will open up as the Noble Maritime Collection takes over the playing field of information so that people Robbins Reef Light in New York Harbor. Near the entrance to can form balanced opinions about the isrhe much-trafficked Kill van Kull, the 179-year-old beacon in sue of the watermen's future . Maryland has its new role will help build public awareness of the seaport that been active with watermen since the late built the city. This is rhe latest imaginative stroke by the Noble 1800s on the management of oysters. You crew to celebrate the harbor heritage. Last autumn they took over rhe original would be surprised at the number of rimes that watermen have suggested vol untary Sailor's Snug Harbor collection of models, painting and nautical instruments, restrictions on their catches. Watermen are which they brought back to the sailors' home in Staten Island. some of the best empirical biologists in the Formed by the artist-historian Erin Urban after the death of the harbor's state. The plural of anecdote is data. But great seaman artist John Noble in 1983, the fledgling outfit held a memorial then, you have already written them off as service for John in Snug Harbor. This featured a parade of harbor working craft indicated by your "alligator tears" for the sponsored by the National Maritime Historical Society. It fell to me to invite "end of a livelihood that spawned traditions tug dispatchers, pilots and other busy harbor operators, and the vessels gladly and a rich culture." You trot out the same turned out for rhis uncommon tribute to an artist rhey regarded as "one of us." tired, preservationist mantras, informing NMHS volunteers went on to help save Noble's studio barge, what he called his me that you put no more effort into this "little leaking Monticello," which serves now as a stunning centerpiece of the issue than what you glean from the media, Noble Maritime Collection in Snug Harbor at 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten and the organizations to which you beIsland NY 10301, (www.noblemaritime.org). Noble Chairman James Devine, long. Remember, this is not the first time president of the New York Containerport, also serves as board member of Seathat a government-using science-has port Museum New York, an example of the pull-together spirit our world could tried to do away with a "bothersome" miuse more of.

-PETER STANFORD nority. As I stated above, water quality is NMHS President Emeritus, Sea History Editor-at-Large the first issue that needs to be addressed.

On the issue of natural resources, I disagree with the overdependence on science and country to the status of a world power. You the 6th Maryland Regiment. He remained near total rejection of what has worked in also mentioned Baltimore and the excite- a member until 1815, having participated the past by the regulators and legislators ment that city has retained in relation to in the Barde of North Point, 12 September from the Stare of Maryland. The solutions the war. There are two notable men who 1814, under the command of Brigadier lie in using what works and expanding on are seldom mentioned outside the com- General John Stricker. In 1842 Christian them to include new ideas. Perhaps you will pany of those who were steeped in history Peters was key to the formation of the not mind my suggesting two books: The during their school days in the '40s, and Association of D efenders of Baltimore, and Great Gulf Fishermen, Scientists, and the one person probably at his funeral in 1845 the AssociaStruggle to Revive the World's Greatest Fish- remembered only tion by those in my famof Defenders, ery by David Dobbs (2000) and The Oyster along with a large Question: Scientist Bay since 1880 by Chris- ily. First there were number of other tine Keiner (2009). These two books can Daniel Wells and citizens of Baltibe helpful to people trying to make sense Henry McComas , more, were in atof the situation and get them to table with who were the two teenagers said to have tend ance. In my an open mind. opinion the actions MMe CASTELLI mortally wounded of the determined Chestertown, Maryland British General Robert Ross before the citizens of BaltiBattle of North Point on 12 September more m the Barde of North Point, while War ofl81 2 Your article on the War of 1812 m the 1814. While there is a monument in Bal- overshadowed by the events at Fort McHenry Winter 2010-11 issue of Sea History was timore dedicated to the two young men, the following day, showed the British that very appealing and fascinating to read. I was for the most part their story has not been while they could run roughshod over Washington, Baltimore was another thing. There particularly pleased that you included two remembered outside the city.

Then there was Christian Gottlieb is and always has been a spirit in Baltimore things that are of interest to me personally.

You mentioned that there are others not Peters, my great-great-great-grandfather. that prompts its citizens to wake 'em up and so memorable as Jackson, Madison, Clay, Peters was a merchant tailor in Baltimore shake 'em up as they did in 181 4.

Bos ANSTINE Hull and Decatur who were instrumental who joined the Columbia Blues, under the Marietta, Georgia in that war and other efforts that drew our command of Captain Thomas Sheppard of

Around the Cabin Lamp

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRJNG 2011

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NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION National Maritime Historical Society Washington DC Awards Dinner, 13 April 2011 The National Maritime Historical Society is m oving the location of our third Washington Awards Dinner to the Nati onal Press Club on Pennsylvania Ave nue because we quickly outgrew the beautiful Arm y and N avy C lub . Th e Na tio nal Press C lub boas ts magnificent views of rhe White H ouse and is itself an interesting and lovely serring for our gala evening. Dinner co-chairs Irmy and Philip Webster are ho nored to invite yo u to join us Wed nesday, 13 April 2011 , at 6rM to ho no r Admiral John C. Harvey Jr. , USN, Commander, US Fleer Forces Command; CDR Everett Alvarez Jr. , USN (Ret. ); and fo rmer Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley. Gary Jobson, distinguished yachtsman, author and commenrato r, and presidenr of US Sailing, will be our mas ter of ceremonies and will delight our guests with commentary o n rhe upcoming campaign to retain rhe America's C up.

Admiral John C. Harvey Jr., USN, an officer who relishes naval history, is being ho nored fo r pro mpting the US Navy to establish the Commemoratio ns Office as part of the Naval H istory and H eritage Command to commemo rate the upcoming bicenten nial of the War of 1812. The Commemo ratio ns Office is pl anning a wide range of activities, including an OpSail parade of rail ships up th e East Coast in summer 201 2 that will coin cide with a significant educati onal program . Admiral H arvey has served at sea aboard USS Enterprise, USS Bainbridge, and USS Mcinerney, as reacto r offi cer aboard USS Nimitz, and as executive officer on USS Long Beach. He commanded USS David R. Ray, USS Cape St. George, and C ruiser-D estroyer Group Eight/Th eodore Roosevelt Stri ke Gro up. Admi ral H arvey has deployed ro the N orth and South Atl antic, the Mediterranean, Baltic and Red Seas, rhe Western Pacific, the Indian O cean, and the Persian G ulf. As ho re, he served three tours at rhe Bureau of Naval Perso nnel in a variety of billets.

Admiral H arvey ass umed co mmand of US Fleet Fo rces Co mm and in Jul y 2009. The awa rd will be presented by Admiral Bruce DeMars, USN (Ret.), chairman of the Naval Historical Foundation.

Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley is a fo rmer newspaper and televisio n journalist focused o n maritime affairs and has been a life-time advoca te of rhe Me rchant Marin e.

She produced, directed, edited, and wro te the long- runnin g T V series, The Port That Built a City and State. In 1969 , she was appointed by President Richard N ixo n as chairman to th e Federal M aritime Commiss io n, at the time the fourth-highest ranking woman in the history of America's federal government. In 1984, Bentl ey was elected to serve the first of five terms representing M aryland 's 2nd Congressional District. In 2006, she served as chairman of the Port of Bal timore's Tricentennial Co mmirree.

Governo r Ro bert L. Ehrlich Jr. renam ed Baltimo re's port as The Helen D elich Bentley Po rt of Baltimore by announcing: "There has been no one who has championed the vital ro le the Po rt plays in both the global economy and our everyday lives more than H elen ." Admi ral Robert] . Papp, C ommandanr of the US Coast Guard, will present the awa rd.

CDR Everett Alvarez Jr., USN (Ret.) was the first American naval aviato r sho t down over No rth Vietnam during the Vietnam War and was a POW for 8V2 years. Upon his retirement from rhe US Navy in 1980, CDR Alvarez has held numerous notable pos itio ns, including deputy directo r of rhe US Peace Corps , depu ty administrator of what was then the Veterans Administration, and chairman of the CARES Commission. H e has co-authored two books, writing of his POW experiences in Chained Eagle and Code of Conduct. H e explained how impo rtant communi catio n was between him and his fell ow prisoners and how his faith was the key to his survival. CD R Alva rez holds num erous military deco rations, which include the Silver Star, two Legions of M erit, two Bronze Stars, the Distinguished Flying C ross, and two Purple H eart medals. In presenring him with this awa rd , the Society also recognizes and honors all of rhe prisoners of war from that co nflict.

A highlight of rhe evening w ill be the sho rt vid eos of o ur award recipi ents created by NMHS Vice Chairman Rick Lopes at Lopes Pi cture Company. W ith a Combined Sea Services Color Guard and a performance by the US Naval Academy Glee Club conducted by Dr. Aaron Smith , as well as a M aritime Ar r Gallery showcasing o riginal wo rks by C hesapeake Baymari rim e artists John Barber, Marc Castelli, Patrick O'Brien, and Bill Stork created for th e event, ir's shaping up to be a spectacular evening. Visit our website at www.seahistory.org to place yo ur reserva ti o n, order a dinner journal ad, or to get more information about the event, including hotel info rmation. Yo u ca n also email us at nmhs@seahistory.org or call 914 737-7878, ext 0. - Wendy Paggiotta & Burchenal Green

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SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011

I NMHS Annual Meeting at the New Bedford Whaling Museum-Saturday, 21 May 2011 NMHS Program Chairman Captain Cesare Sorio invites you to join us in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for rhe Society's 2011 Annual Meeting ar the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Museum president James Russell will be our host for the event, and we are looking forward to learning more about this dynamic facility. Whether yo u're a frequent- or first-time visitor to the Whaling Museum, you'll find there's a lot to discover, much rhar's new, and then there are rhe many aurhentic historic attractions all along the New Bedford waterfront to New Bedford Whaling Museum J check our.

From atop Johnny Cake Hill, the New Bedford Whaling Museum looks our over the harbor, once home to a fleet of357 whalers at rhe height of the fishery in 1857 and current home to an active commercial fishing fleer. The cornerstone of rhe New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, the Whaling Museum houses the world's largest collection of whaling logbooks, prints, journals, and scrimshaw. It is home to the world's largest ship model, Lagoda, a half-scale whaling ship built in 1916 by the aging shipwrights of the port. The museum contains twenty galleries and exhibits four species of complete whale skeletons.

My own interest in the history of whaling was rekindled by two NMHS-related events in 2008. That June, NMHS co-sponsored rhe Whaling Heritage Symposium that met ar Mystic Seaport and rhe New Bedford Whaling Museum to examine the broader cultural aspects of historic whaling and how it impacts our relationship with the sea. We were immersed in whaling stories and were reminded what a wonderful gem is the New Bedford Whaling Museum. I learned that New Bedford surpassed Nantucket as the foremost whaling port in the world in 1823 and was, at one point, one of the richest cities in the country. I also hadn't considered that the whalers who were traveling the globe were, even if rhey didn't realize it at the time, the early ambassadors of a young nation. Later that summer, Sea History editor Deirdre O 'Regan went to sea with NOAA's Papahanaumokuakea Maritime Heritage Expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

They succeeded in locating and documenting five historic whaling shipwrecks, including the New Bedford whaler Parker, which wrecked on the reef at Kure Atoll in 1842. When she returned, she shared some of the expedition's discoveries in Sea History 125. By gathering at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, yo u too will get a chance to learn more abour this important part of our maritime heritage.

What can yo u expect at our annual meeting? Members will have an opportunity to meet rhe Society's Board of Trustees and share your ideas with them. We'll be there ready to greet yo u between 8:30 and 9:30AM, during which time you can register and enjoy some coffee and a continental breakfast while catch ing up with friends and colleagues, old and new. The Business Meeting starts promptly at 9:30AM and will be followed by presentations that will stimulate your interest in whaling and inform you abour the upcoming War of 1812 bicentennial events that are planned for next year. Among the speakers will be the museum's maritime curator, Michael Dyer, who will talk about "New Bedford in the Atlantic World." Following the morning presentations, we'll gather for lunch and then take guided tours of the museum in the afternoon.

This is your opportunity to elect NMHS trustees. Standing for re-election for the C lass of 2014 are: Charles Anderson, James Carter, Karen Helmerson, Richard Scarano, Howard Slotnick, H . C. Bowen Smith, Philip Webster, and Daniel Whalen. Trustees up for election are: RADMJoseph Callo, USNR (Ret.); William Jackson Green; Capt. Sally Chin McElwreath, USNR (Ret. ); Michael Morrow; Timothy Runyan and Jean Wort.

Registration: Cost for the meeting, including rhe continental breakfast and luncheon, is $55 each plus a cash bar. Please register using the form on the inside back wrapper of this issue of Sea History, online through our website at www.seahistory.org, or by calling NMHS headquarters at 1-800-221-6647, ext. 0. -Burchenal Green, President

Hotel Accommodations: We have booked a group of rooms at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott at 18 5 MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA 02470, just four blocks from the museum. To receive the discounted rate, you need to book before 21 April (while rooms last). You can call the hotel at 774 634-2000 and be sure to ask for booking code NMS. You can also go online to www.Marriott.com/ewbfi and type in the following booking codes under the special rate sections: Standard Double/Double Standard King Standard Suite

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SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 20 11

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Harborview Double/Double NMSNMSAD $114.00 Harborview King NMSNMSAE $ 11 4.00 Harborview Suite NMSNMSAF $134.00

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The War of 1812-Understudied, Misunderstood,

by William H. Whire irh the introduction to this series in the last issue of Sea History, we announced we would be printing several articles abour the War of 1812 throughout the bicentennial of the war, which lasted through the end of 18 14. Two hundred years have passed between the tensions that led to the declaration of war in June of 1812 and now; 201 2 will be on us before we know ir. A host of wonderful commemorative events to celebrate the bicentennial a re being planned throughout the United States and Canada, many of which wi ll be quite spectacular and sure to draw large crowds. What better way to enjoy these celebrations more fully than to know more about what they are commemorating! Sea History will help you learn more about this defining time in our nation's history, and, even if you think yo u already know a lot abo ut it, there's sure to be some angle, detail, or analysis you may not have come across before. Articles in this and upcoming issues of Sea History will cover both an overview of the war by year and will rake a closer look at specific events important to gaining a better understanding of the conflict. In addition to the quarterly issues of Sea History, look for the Guide to the War of1812 and its Bicentennial, which will be published by Sea History Press next fall.

While in the last issue we offered a general overview of the war as a whole, let's now rake a look at the first yea r- h alf-year, actually, as it did not start until the middle of June 1812.

In the years leading up to 1812, the country was becoming increasingly frustrated with England over a number of issues: they had not left the Northwest frontier (think Michigan) as required by the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution; they were inciting the Indians to attack settlers in those regions and along the border with Canada; they continued to restrict our maritime commerce, and, perhaps most infuriating, still impressed our seamen into the Royal Navy. The attitude of the British Admiralty and, indeed, the British citizenry, was "once an Englishman, always an Englishman." Where you made your domicile mattered not a whit!

One event, which had been festering in the minds of the people for four long years, was called the Chesapeake/Leopard Affair.

In June of 1807, a 50-gun British ship, HMS Leopard, attempted to stop USS Chesapeake at sea as she passed the Virginia Capes en route to the Mediterranean . When the American ship, carrying Commodore James Barron, refused to heave to, Leopard fired into her, killing four and wo unding many others-including the commodore. A British boarding parry then removed fo ur supposedly English sailors (as it turned out, only one was actually a British citizen) and departed, leaving Chesapeake to limp back to Norfolk. This event, exacerbated by the lengthy resolution to it, was certainly at the forefront of the American mindser.

The mid-Atlantic states felt that the Madison administration should do something about ir, but the New England states wanted no part of a war-rhey understood that another war would negatively impact rheir own trade and, thus, their pocketbooks. As more settlers were beginning to head to the western states-Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee-their representatives in Congress, Henry C lay and John Calhoun, led a contingent they called "Warhawks" and advocated both western and northern expan sion. Western: not so much of a problem-mostly empty land and only a few Indians to deal with. Northern: not so good , as it was still a colony of Great Britain and was occupied by people who were sure to resent American incursions-as would the English! That said, the Warhawks reasoned, if rhe United States were to annex Canada, it would make a great bargaining chip to offer in exchange for the things we really want! As yo u will learn in the pages of Sea History, it didn't work out the way Clay and company expected. So, let us rake a look at the events occurring shortly after the declaration of war, 18 June 1812.

Year One-1812 General Isaac Brock id-July, 1812: General William Hull left Fort Detroit with the American Northwestern Army, crossed the Detroit River, and landed near Windsor, Ontario. He had under his command some two thousand soldiers, both "regular" Army and local militia; sadly, none were experienced and certainly none wanted to be there. Hull's orders and hence, his intentions, were to invade Canada. His was the western part of a three-pronged attack, a plan conceived by General Henry Dearborn, a relic from the War of Independence. Hull, another relic of that war, had served as governor of the Michigan Territory. He was fifty-nine and in less than robust health. Additionally, he had, in the thirty years following the American Revolution, lost his taste for fighting in

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any arena beyond the political. But orders were orders and, even before the war was officially declared, he set off with his army from Ohio. He arrived at the M aumee (now the Miami) River at the end of June and hired a schooner to take his baggage, papers, and supplies to Derroir. While he was not aware that the war had actually begun, the British had learned of it and, as his hired ship passed Fort Malden, they captured it and, with it, his correspondence, orders, and norations on the strength of his army, thus learning his intentions, as well as vital information on the condition of his "army."

Ignorant of chis turn of events, Hull pressed on , marching (riding) with his army. En route, he learned that the country was at war with England, and he lingered SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011

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The Americans began the war with a three-pronged attack along the Canadian border that ended in, according to one newspaper account, "disaster, defeat, disgrace, and ruin and death. "It would be the fighting to the east, at sea, that would produce the war's first successes-and heroes-in ship-to-ship engagements in the Atlantic. Map adapted.from an 1812 map ofthe United States, published by P R. Tardieu.

in D etroit only briefly before crossing the river to attack Fort Malden to the south.

Even though the fo rt was south of Detroit, it was in Canadian territory, causing som e of his Ohio militia to balk at crossing the border. They refus ed to go, they sa id, because as militia they were only obligated to fight within the bounda ries of the U ni ted States. With his supply line stretched all the way to Ohio, Hull was th reatened from Lake Erie by the British and from the wes t by hostile Indians. U nderway, he learned of a re-supply mission th at was coming from Ohio but never reached hi m and then of the surrender of the Am erican outpost at M ackinac Isla nd (between Lakes Huron and Michigan) to a large enemy force . Hull 's imagination got the best of him, and he imagined that this early action "had opened the northern hive ofln dians, to swarm down in every direction." Once his "demons" took charge, he abandoned his plans for Fort M alden a nd withdrew back across the river to D etroit. Needless to say, his action dispirited his troo ps and he further ingratiated himself to his me n

SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011

when he abandoned the Canadian citizens, At the insistence of the popul ace, the who had joined his effort, to the mercy of federal government h as tened to provide protection to its citizenry living on the fro nthe British .

Through a brilliant subterfuge, Bri- tier. Will iam Henry Harrison, the hero of tish General Isaac Brock, recently arrived Tippecanoe, was appointed m ajor general in the area with reinforcements, received and put in charge of all Kentucky troops.

H ull 's surrender of Fort Detroit in just General William Hull over two weeks without ever firing a shot-an early example of the power of mind warfare! With the fall of the garrison at Mackinac Island, Hull feared that Fort Dearborn in C hicago was indefensible and ordered Captain Nathan Heald, in comma nd of some sixty-five soldiers and another two dozen civilians, to abandon it, giving Brock a second victory at the same time with no effort on h is part. Sadly, when Captain Heald carried out h is orders, Potawatomi Indians fell on them and, even after surrender terms were agreed upon, killed all but a few of the Americans. Hull's mental anguish over an imagined outcome had laid open the entire western frontier to the enemy. Surely not a good start to the war, and it was quickly fo llowed by equally devastating moves by other American officers .

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He built up a large army, soaking up federal resources, with the intent of heading to the frontier, sweeping the hostile Indians away, and re-taking Fort Detroit. Unfortunately, winter arrived and scotched his plan. But he did manage to send General James Winchester with a force of some 800 soldiers to the rapids of the Maumee River as a show of support for the citizens.

Winchester, on his own volition, continued on to the Raisin River and Frenchtown, now Monroe, Michigan, where on 22 January 181 3, he was attacked by British troops and their Indian supporters.

Winchester surrendered, but a band of Indians got drunk and massacred some thirty of the American soldiers and civilian residents of Frenchtown. Many had been wounded in the earlier battle. The battle cry of the northwest quickly became, "Remember the Raisin."

The other two prongs of the plan failed with no less ceremony. By October of 1812, the American fort on the shores of Lake Ontario, right at the mouth of the Niagara River, held some 6,000 troops.

Across the river in Fort George, less than 2,000 British regulars and their Indian allies waited for the inevitable attack.

The high banks of the river on the Canadian side and the swift current running from the falls on the Niagara made any crossing tricky, but the American troops had their orders: take Fort George and the high ground adjacent to it, Queenston Heights. The commander, a militiaman, was Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer, and though he had no military experience, his aide and relative, Colonel Solomon Van

Rensselaer, was a veteran of the Indian wars of the 1790s. The commander relied heavily on his aide for any military decisions. In addition, there was a regular Army officer, General Alexander Smyth, who shared the command. Unfortunately, Smyth's experience in things military rivaled that of his militiaman counterpart. Nonetheless, he tried to assume full command, refusing to take orders from a lowly militia solider. A recipe for disaster was brewing here, and of proportions rivaling that in the western theater.

A comedy of errors ensued before the attack across the river, but in mid-October Solomon Van Rensselaer led his forces into battle. Smyth's men were ordered to take Fort George, some six miles to the south of Queenston Heights, while Van Rensselaer's troops would attack the Heights.

Smyth, due to his status as a federal officer (and political appointee), would not cooperate, but the attack on Queenston Heights went forward anyway. Solomon Van Rensselaer was wounded six times before the Americans cou ld ascend the high riverbank, but a Captain John Wool found an unguarded path and led his men to the hilltop, driving off the occupying British.

During a failed British attempt to unseat the Americans from their perch on Queenston Heights, now under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott, British General Brock was killed and the Americans he)d their ground. Recognizing that his men might be in an untenable position, General Stephen Van Rensselaer ordered his militia troops across the river to reinforce the remaining 600 Americans.

But the men refused to leave American territory, much as General Hull's militia had, citing their agreement to fight only in New York. A renewed British assault proved successful, and the Americans were driven from the Heights with huge losses and some 950 captured. The elder Van Rensselaer asked to be relieved and the War Department, in their infinite wisdom, turned over the command to Smyth. Nothing further would happen on that front, due mostly to Smyth's dithering.

The eastern-and most strategically important-"front" involved the capture of Montreal. Once again, the army was under the command of sixty-one-year-old Henry Dearborn . While he had some status as a veteran, Dearborn had grown fat and lazy with prosperity and had little taste for the current struggle. He did everything he could imagine to delay attacking into Canada until finally, in November, the War Department gave him specific orders to do so. He had amassed an army of 6,000-8,000 troops, which he marched from Albany to Plattsburgh on the shores of Lake Champlain. A small detachment managed to cross the lake into Canada and encountered the British in an inconclusive skirmish just as darkness fell. In the confusion, the Americans fired at their own troops and, once again, though ordered across the lake to support their fellows, the American militia refused to leave American soil. And, with winter upon him, coupled with his lack of taste for decisive action, Dearborn gave up. A contemporary acco unt labeled hi s effort as "miscarriage without even the heroism of disaster."

USS Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere-1.9 August 1812. Paintings by Michel Felice Corne (1752-1845), oil on canvas, 32 x 48 inches. (left-right) The Engagement, Constitution is to the right making her approach; In Action shows Guerriere's mizzen mast falling over the the Guerriere is firing a gun to port-her unengaged side- to signify surrender. This battle was the first ship-to-ship victory for the Navy and

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SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011

By rhe end of the first calend ar yea r of rhe war, the A merican effort h ad produced, according to a newspaper of the times, nothing bur "disaster, defeat, disgrace, and ruin a nd death." Three attempts to invade Ca nada had nor on ly failed, bur had fa iled monumenta lly, and the Northwest was mostly in the hand s of the enemy. The misma nage ment by the War D epart ment, inept senior officers, the inability of the country to raise a national a rmy, a nd a lack of understanding from the populace had co ntributed to the fai lure of the army.

Small wonder, then, that the citi zens of rhe Atla ntic stares from M assachu setts to V irginia bega n to wonder if perhaps the United Stares mi ght have bitten off more th a n it co uld chew!

The wa r at sea, however, was a different story. While at the outset, America had some seventeen warships in its Navy, six of th ese were new or nearly new fri gates, rh ree designed by Joshua Humphreys. So me six weeks fo llowing the decl a ration of wa r, USS Constitution had m ade a highly successfu l cruise up the Atlantic seaboa rd, evadin g a superior fleer of British sh ips off the New Jersey coast. She arrived in Boston and, fo llowing some repairs a nd the restocking of her supplies, se t sa il again in August with orders to protect returning mercha nt ships. The fri ga te was rared to carry forty-fo ur guns, bur when she put to sea in August of 1812 , she ca rried thirty 24-pounder long guns, one 18-pounder long gun and twenty-four 32-pound er ca rronad es. If yo u're quick at figures, yo u probably rea li zed just now that the complement of guns the ship carried was greater than her rating, both true and common. The rating

spoke to design, bur in wa rtime the navy felt it prudent to mount as ma ny guns as a sh ip could sa fely ca rry. She was in the class of ships called " heavy fri gates," a designatio n arising from both her constructio n and her armament. Constitution was one of the first six fri gates ordered by President Geo rge Washington in 1794. Three of them were des ignated " heavy fri gates" and her sister ships includ ed USS President and USS United States. They we re each 175 feet long {w ithout their rakish bowsprits), displaced 1,576 tons, a nd ca rried a crew of 450-480 sa ilors, ma rines, a nd officers.

Each had three masts and a veritable cloud of canvas aloft.

John Rod ge rs, in USS President and commandin g of one of the two squadrons, had already sai led in sea rch of a reporred ly rich convoy of Briti sh merchant ships en route from Jam a ica. His efforts, while unsuccess fu I, had rhe benefit of distracting the Roya l Navy while they looked for him, resulting in few pri zes for the British fleer.

Constitution, under the command of Isaac Hu ll {nephew of the disgraced genera l of Detroit fame), found a British frigate some 75 0 mi les at sea and immediately closed to engage. HMS Guerriere, comm anded by James D acres, held the enviable reputation of bein g one of "England 's stoutest fri gates." One wo uld think that Capta in D ac res mi g ht have rethoug ht that sobriquet after receiving Constitution's opening sa lvo of a double-shotted broadside, sending some 700 pounds of iron into the British ship all at once. Of course, Constitution's guns, being of heav ier caliber than those of the Royal Navy ship- the British felt th at 18-pounders were suf-

Commodore Isaac H ull fi cient- had not on ly a longer reach bur threw a noticeably heavier ba ll.

As Guerriere closed , th e British returned fire, bur it was already too late; her mas ts we re teetering and her hull severely holed . Many of the British sailors were killed or disabled, and when the m as ts fell, D ac res had little choice bur surrender. Hu ll rook off the Briti sh sai lors a nd officers, provided med ica l treatment to the wounded, and set fire to the pride of the Roya l Navy.

There was nothing left to sa lvage or rake as a prize. Ir was, of course, durin g this memorable naval engagement that Constitution ea rned her sobriq uer, "Old!ronsides," when a sa ilor observed British roundshor bouncing off her sides and exclaimed, "H uzza! Her sides are m ade of iron! " When rhe fri gate sailed into Boston H arbor some weeks later, the town speople, des perate for som e good news, went wi ld, feting Captain Hu ll a nd his crew as heroes with parades, pa rries, and wild revelry. Ir was high rime, they claimed, th at the United

side to starboard; D ropping As tern depicts the collapse ofthe British ship '.r fore and main masts; and in Sh e Fell in the Sea a Perfect W reck a great boost to the morale ofthe nation.

SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011

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States had a "tick mark" in the win column!

Thus began USS Constitution's legendary reputation . Only a few month s late r, Stephen Decatur, one of the heroes of the Barbary Wars, would trump Hull 's ace.

In command of USS United States, though part of a squadron, D ecatur went off a lone in sea rch of quarry. Some 60 0 miles west of the Canary Islands, he ca me upon John Carden's HMS Macedonian, engaged, and, using hi s longer guns to hi s advantage over the ca rro nades and shorrerrange 18-pounders carried by Macedonian, brought her to heel.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, Captain D ecatur had once entertained the British comma nder in his home in No rfo lk, toured hi s ship, and discussed tactics wit h him. Perhaps apocryp hal, it was said the two naval captains mad e a wage r of a beaver hat over who wou ld triumph should th ey ever meet in battle. Both were quite convinced of thei r own invincibility.

Commodore Stephen Decatur With most of his rig collapsed, one third of his crew dead, and his guns dismounted or wrecked, Ca rden surrendered.

Macedonians hull was not badly damaged, allowing D ecatur the opportun ity to make repairs, send aboard a prize crew, and sail her over 1,000 miles to Newport, Rhode Island, and thence to New York City. The citizens ofNewporr, like their counterparts in Boston, were hungry fo r another victory, as more news of the disasters on the western frontier filtered in to the coast. When word passed of D ecatu r's victo ry by a fast Block Island schooner, which had encountered the wounded M acedonian en route, they

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USS United States vs. HMS Macedonian, 1812

by Patrick O'Brien, oil on canvas, 12 x 16 inches were overj oyed and lined Cas tle Hill at the entrance to Na rraga nsett Bay, cheering and waving in welcome. Hull had chalked up the first win, but Stephen D ecatur had brought in the first prize!

Not two months later, Constitution, now under Wi lliam Bainbridge, wou ld again delight the American populace w it h the defeat of HMS Java off the coast of South America, while shortly thereafrer, James Lawrence, commanding the shipri gged sloop Ho rnet, pa rt of Bainbridge's squadron , devas tated the British sloop Peacock, also in South American waters.

Of course, there were other victories by the nascent American Navy in the first yea r of the war, involving sma ller ships on both sides, and, like the three " big ones" won by the heavy frigates, well offshore a nd out of sight. D avid Porter, comma nding USS Essex, rook a twenty-gun British brig, HMS A lert, as a prize on his way south to join Bainbridge's squadron in the South Atlantic. He never found them-Lawrence was engaged with Peacock and Bainbridge was on his way home after his recent triumph over Java-so Porter rook his ship aro und Cape Horn to decimate the British whaling fleet in the Pacific.

The US Navy did suffer some losses as well : the British captured three American wa rships, Wasp, Nautilus, and Vixen, all small ships of less than eighteen guns each . On balance, however, American sailors, officers, and ships proved themselves superior to the mighty Royal Navy

time and aga in , as well as capturing over fift y enemy m erchant ships. Ir is easy to see why the Navy won the hearts of the A m erican people even before the war was a year old!

And to add a bit of romance to the mix, American privateers, called the "Militia of the Sea," sallied forth from Baltimore, Boston, Salem, and Newport, to disrupt British com m erce. Hugely successfu l, these arm ed private vessels took over 45 0 English merchant ships in the first six months of the war, prompting the British Naval Chronicle ro complain that "Jonathan's privateers have roved with impunity and success to all corners of the earth! " j:,

William H. White is a maritime historian and award-winning author who specializes in the history ofthe US Navy during the Age ofSail. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Maritime H istorical Society, the USS Constitution M useum, and the Lynx Educational Foundation. Mr. White is currently serving as chair of the NMHS Committee for the Commemoration and Bicentennial ofthe War of1812 and the Star Spangled Banner. For more about the author, visit: www.seafiction.net.

Note: Artist Patrick O'Brien's paintings of the sea battles from the War of 1812, as seen above and on ourfront cover, are availablefor purchase and commission. (Patrick O 'Brien Studio, 600 Gladstone Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210; www.patrickobrienstudio.com.)

SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 20 I l

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Restoring an Icon-Preparing the Whaleship

by Matthew Stackpole

"A fine warm day, but very dry. This morning at 10 o'clock my elegant new ship was launched beautifully from Messrs Hillman's Yard-and in the presence of about half the town and a great show of ladies. She looks beautifully on the water-she was copper bottomed on the stocks. She is to be commanded by Captain Thomas A. Norton." -whaling merchant Charles W Morgan, 2 1 July 1841 1 ccording to the Master Carpenrer's Certificate signed by "J &Z Hillman," the new ship measured " 106 fr 6 inches in length, 27 fr 2 and 1/2 inches in breadth, and ... her draft was 17 fr 6 inches, [and was) of35 l tons burthen."2 Little could Morgan, or anyone else there that morning, have known that his ship, built to join the American whaling fleet of more than 400 vessels in the 1840s, was also beginning her voyage into American history and would alone still be at work, in a different capacity, 17 0 years later.

Today the story of the American whale fishery, spanning more than 200 years, is an epi c chapter in our nation's histo ry that is largely forgotten by those outside of the maritime heritage community o r beyond coastal New England. According to Judith Lund in her book, Whaling Masters And Whaling Voyages Sailing From American Ports, just over 2,700 ships ca rri ed out 14,864 documented whaling voyages during this period. In addition to its role in the

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economic and technological develop menr of the country, the history ofwhaling reflects the importam social and political changes that were go ing on during the nineteenth century.

Before we had gas li ghts or the electric light bulb, whale oil illuminated the wo rld and prov ided lubrication for the mac hin ery that wo uld drive the Industrial Revolmion. Not o nly was the search for whales global, so was the market for whale products. Whale o il lamps and spermace ti ca ndl es, made from the "h ead m atter" of sperm whales, lit the homes and streets of England, Europe, and Am erica. Oil from sperm whales was kept separate from the oil of any of the other species of whale captured because it was of much better quality and demanded a prem ium price . Whale "bone," the flexible baleen found in the mouths of Mysticeti (as opposed to Odontoceti, or toothed whales), was used in ways we use plastic today. In addition to lubricating the Industrial Revolutio n, profits from whaling helped to capitali ze it.

While the whaling industry involved

In the final year ofher whaling career, the C harles W Morgan under sail in 1920.

16

the physical and economic risk of multi-year ocean voyages to often uncharted wate rs, it also required an active in volve ment in the global trade and political system s of the times. Fo r exampl e, while the Boston Tea Parry is a well -remembered event in Ame ri ca n history, few know that two of the ships carrying the tea we re o n a return voyage from London , where they had first deli vered a cargo of sperm oil. In what might be considered an ironic side note to histo ry, it was a whaleship, the Bedford from Namucket with a cargo of whale and sperm oil, that o n 3 February 1783 first flew the new Ame rican flag in the port ofLondon. 3 The pursuit of whales rook whalemen across the oceans aro und the globe, resulting in the "discovery" and charting of vas t reaches of the Pacific, Arctic, and Antarctic.

W halers-the crews from the Charles W Morgan amo ng them-were often the first conract Pacific islanders had with Western civilizatio n. In a letter of support for the Morgan restoration project, maritime histor ian Joan Druett stated: "The Charles W Morgan is a time capsule of immense value ... it is a testament to a time when the arrival of a whaler was, fo r uncounted thousands of Pacific Islanders, the first introduction to Ame ricans and their culture."

The Morgan sailed on her first voyage

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

Charles W. Morgan for her 38th Voyage fro m New Bed fo rd on 6 Septem ber 184 1.

In his journal, second mate Jam es Osborn stated she was on "a voyage to the Pacific Ocean" and added, "M ay kind Neptune protect us with pleasant gales and may we be successful in catching sperm whales." 4 She returned three years, three m on ths, and twe nty-seven days later with a cargo of 1,600 barrels of sperm oil (a barrel is equivalent to 3 1 1/z gal lo ns) 600 barrels of whale oil, and 10,000 po unds of bone.

In her eighty-year career, twen ty years of which she wo rked out of San Francisco, the Mo rgan wo uld m ake thirty-seve n of th e 14,864 voyages referenced above .

1h ese numbers provide insight into the rem arkable scale of the industry.

Laun ched at the beginning of the decade th at wo uld be th e high-water mark of th e whaling industry in te rms of the number of ships, crew, and cargo returned to port, the Morgan's career encompassed both the decline of the industry and a period of eno rmous national growth , co nfli ct, and change. H er whaling voyages would rake her aro und the world, reAect all that was happenin g to the industry and the country and, when her las t voyage ended in May of 192 1, effectively take her to the very end of Ameri ca n whaling under sail.

Certainly no o ne who built her, attended her launching, o r sailed on her first voyage could have imagined that the Morgan alone wo uld survive to tel l no t just her story, bur the story of this industry, its times, and the ships and people who were a part of it.

On 28 M ay 192 1, Captain John T. Go nsalves sailed the Morgan back to New Bedfo rd, having completed her rhir tyseventh and final whaling voyage. After a brief reprieve in whi ch she was used in the films D own to The Seas In Ships and Java H ead, the vessel was laid up. Even at the time, some people understood that she represented the end of an era. A group of New Bedford citizens, led by artist Harry Neyland, sought to raise funds to preserve the ship. In the fall of 1924, inspired by the 26 August wreck of the Wanderer, the only other whaleship left besides the Morgan, Colonel Edward H owland Robi nson G reen, whose grandfa ther Edward Robinson had been the ship's second owner, stepped fo rward. Colonel Green offered to underwrite the ship's stewardship, bring her to his estate just outside of New Bedford, and restore her. His offer was accepted .

The ship was opened to the public o n 2 1 July 1926 under an organizati on called W haling Enshrined and enjoyed im-

mediate po pularity: 189 ,000 people visited the shi p between 1 June 1927 and 1 June 1928 . 1 hingswentalongwell until Colonel G reen died in 193 5, leaving no resources to maintain the ship. Three yea rs later, the devastating G reat Hurricane of 1938 roared up the coast with the ship directly in its path. Remarkably, the old whaleship survived the event, bur not without further aggravating her deteriorating conditi o n. In 194 1, after a valiant bur unsuccessful effort by the Whaling Enshrined o rganization to raise enough money to keep her in New Bedfo rd, they accepted an offer from the then M arine Historical Associatio n (now M ys tic Seaport) to rake respo nsibility for preserving the vessel. The Charles W Morgan was rowed to Mys tic and passed th ro ugh the Mystic River Highway Bridge o n 8 November 194 1, just one mo nth befo re the Japanese attack on Pearl H arbor.

Placed in a sand berrh at th e museum , the Morgan became the centerpiece of the growing institution and received ongoing mainrenance fromherwarerline up. In 1973, the decisio n was made to reAoat and haul out th e ship, a fear made possible by rhe shiplifr at the newly constructed H enry B. duPonr Preserva tio n Shipyard o n the museum's wa terfront. The hull was rem oved from

In her eighty-year career, the C harles W Mo rgan's crew hunted whales across the world's oceans, making p orts ofcall in both bustling ports and remote islands .

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(above) The whaling ship C harles W. Morgan passing through the Mystic River H ighway Bridge en route to her new home at Mystic Seaport, 8 November 1941; (below) The Morgan in her first berth at Mystic, high and dry in the sand. She stayed in this position until 1973, when the museum restored her so she could be re.floated.

rhe sand for rhe firsr rime in rhiny years.

In 1982, rhe Morgan was hauled a second rime for a rhree-year major restorarion that addressed her structure, but onl y from the waterline up.

Even then it was understood that the next major effort would have to address the ship's structure from waterline to the keel. Regular mon itoring of her condi tion was ongoi ng, alo ng wirh the planning and the acquisition of the wood inventory required for the work that wo uld start in the 1990s. Before the museum co uld haul the 340-plus-ton vessel, they had to first replace the shiplift, as the old one from rhe 1970s required majo r reb uilding and u rili zed an our-of-dare technology. In 2007, Myscic Seaport complered insrallario n of rhe

18

new stare-of-the- art H ays and Ros C lark Syncrolift shiplift and the construction of an environmentally compliant haul-ashore area-all told, a ren-million dollar proj ecr.

On 1 November 2008 , a large crowd ga rhered to watch as rhe ship slowly emerged from the water. What they would see in the lower part of the ship was essentially the sam e wood that "half the town" of New Bedford had watched go into the water for the first time in August of 1841 . Once the keel was clear of the water, the ship had to be moved ahead, was hed off at the haul-ashore area, tracked sideways, and shored up so as to be able to wi thsrand the work to come.

Mystic's president Steve White has asked, "What does it mean to be the lase of your kind? " For a museum, it m os t cenainly means preservarion, srewardship, and documentation. Before a single plank or fastening was removed, the museum first embarked on what was considered high priority in the restoration plan-extensive documentation of the ship. The shipyard sraff describes this stage of the res toration as an archaeological effort. Archaeologists undersrand the critical need to documem sites in situ; once a sire has been excavated, no one will ever again be able to see the anifacrs as they we re originally situated.

So too for the Morgan . Even though the whaleship has been in constam view for mosr of her life, certainly since she came to Mys ticseven tyyears ago, the original details of her construction deep in the bilge and behind ceiling planking were hidden from sighr. The shipwrights have understood that chis is a one- time opportunity to see and document an authentic American wooden whaleship as she was originally constructed.

Thus, every aspect of the ship as she existed on that day, and at each succeedin g stage, has been photographed and recorded-including a 3-D laser scan of the interior and an X- ray examinarion of the keel bolts.

W ith the first stage of documentation completed, at last the acrual restoration work on the hull co uld begin . Before any material was removed, actions were taken inside and o utside of the hull to protect her structural integrity. Next, her internal ceiling planking was carefully removed, exposing the ship's futtocks (fram e sections) for the first time since 184 1. Th e shipyard was entering a time machine. The shipyard SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

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The C harles W Morgan hauled out with the museum's newly installed shiplift, 1 November 2 008. In the crowd were members ofMystic Seaport's H enry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard staffand volunteers, a group that was honored this pastfaff with the Distinguished Service Award at the National Maritime Historical Society's Annual Awards D inner at the New York Yacht Club. In addition to working on the maintenance ofMystic Seaport's collection of Large floating wooden vessels, individuals in this group worked on the restoration a/Roan n, a 1946 Maine-built Eastern fishing dragger relaunched earlier in 2 008; the construction ofthe Freedom Schooner Amis tad, Launched in 2 000; the 1980s multi-year Morgan restoration, and her 1973 haul-out. One former employee- now a museum interpreter-had even worked on the Morgan as a caulker and shipwright when the whaleship was still in her sand berth. Such is the heritage ofpassing on the skills and techniques oftraditional large ship timber shipbuilding that is a fundamental tenet ofMystic Seaport.

staff would soo n develop immense respect for their colleagues from 170 yea rs ago.

Their work, now visible, had begun in ea rly January of 1841 , at the same time a young greenhorn sail or from New York named H erman Melville sailed from New Bedford, M assachusetts, on a whaleship named the Acushnet. Seven months later, the Charles W Morgan slipped down the ways, was fitted out, and by 6 September put to sea, setting a course for the Pacific. Between 1827 and 1852, the Hillman Brothers Shipya rd in New Bedford built seventeen whaleships, and their work on theMorgan provides direct insights into the techniques and materials used in nineteenth-century shipbuilding.

Subsequent articles in Sea H istory will share rhe derails of the resto ration as it continues over the next few yea rs, but a unique highlight of this proj ect can only be appreciated by a visit in perso n. Every aspect of the ship's restoration is taking

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRJNG 20 11

place in full view of the public. As visitors approach the shipya rd area of the museum gro unds, the Mo rgan looms large-huge, rather-just ahead in the haul-ashore area next to the shiplifr. To reach rhe ship, they walk through stacks of!ive oak, white oak, and long leaf yellow pine being worked on to go into the ship's hull and superstructure.

The shipyard's main building houses a gallery, which displays a special exhibit about the ship and her resto ra tion called "Restoring An Icon." From the gallery, visitors can look over the railing and down to the open space where the work on the eas tern-rig dragger Roann and the schooner Amistad was done.

On any given day, visitors can witness the shipwrights at wo rk on various aspects of the project. As I write this, a new mizzen lower mas t is near complete and a piece of long leaf yellow pine, which will become a section of the port side clamp, is being shaped near some of the original knees

that came from theship's lower hold. Exiting the building, visitors can go aboard the ship, where rhe weather- and 'tween decks remain open to visitation thanks to a purpose-built stairway constructed amids hips on the starboard side. A visit to see all of this is a rare and memorable experience and one that changes with each stage of the restoration. This ability to see the original fab ri c of the last surviving wooden whaleship is a once- in-a lifetime opportunity.

Work on the Morgan had already begun in the spring of2009 , when M ys tic Seaport came under the direction of a new pres ident. In his new role, Steve White challenged the Mystic Seaport staff and trustees with a series of questions. He asked, "If the ship-wh en we're done-will be stronger than any tim e si nce when she was sailing, why wou ldn't we sail her again? Aren't ships supposed to go to sea? If nor now, when, and if not now, why?" The idea of taking

19

Laser scan of the Morgan's lower hold. Laser scans taken both inside and out ofthe hull can record millions ofdata points and can document even the tiniest details. With the scan of each step of the restoration, the museum is creating a digital archive ofthe ship's physical structure.

an irreplaceable historic icon-rhe lasr ofirs kind- ro sea was not necessarily new, bur, given rhe o urcome of rhe current restoratio n, suddenly changed from an abstract idea to a real poss ibility. The concept is horly debated among historic ship preservarionisrs. Whi le som e view rhe resto rarion ofaship as incomplete without operating it in some capacity in the way it was originally intended, orhers consider the risk of losing such a vessel or seriously damaging it too great and believe char chose who would do so to be acting irresponsibly or even recklessly.

Nonetheless, once the idea had been presented to the current leadership, the museum's board of rrusrees autho ri zed a feas ibility study of rhe qu esti o n, all based on the fundamental principles chat no physical aspect of rhe ship could be altered and that her safety be the highest

priority. In September of 2009 , the board unanimously vo ted to approve rhe feasibility group's recommendatio n char, when the restoration is complete, the ship make a ceremonial "38rh voyage" back home to New Bedford (for a visit) and rh en on to rhe whaling gro unds on Srellwagen Bank in Massachusens Bay (now a Natio nal Marine Sancmary) to pay tribute, nor only to the rhousands of whalers from history, bur to the whales themselves in chi s new era of preservation and undersranding.

The wo rk goes on and the goals are clear. Restore chis impo rtant historic ship fully and, in doing so, let her embark on a new and different voyage. A voyage char will rell rhe story, rhewhole complicated story of chis poorly understood chap ter in American history, as nothing ocher than the authentic, real thing can. H er cargo today is history

Looking aft on the starboard side. New and original 184 1 fattocks side by side.

in all its mu lti-faceted complex laye rs-rhe good, and rhe inspiring, but also the bad and the parts we need to remember so as to nor repeat chem. The 38rh voyage will also serve to bring attentio n to important contem po rary iss ues chat a ship on the sea and her particular history can explore and the crirical quesrion of the human impacr on the warers char surround us. Ir will be quire a rrip. ,!, Notes: 1

Charles W Morgan collecrion ar Mys ric Seaport 2 Cerrificare of Meas urements: New Bedford Custom House 3EdouardA. Stackpol e, The Sea Hunters, ] .B. Lippincott Co. 1953; p.95 4 Charles W Mo rgan coll ection Matthew Stackpole, a former executive director of the Martha's Vineyard Museum and an overseer at the USS Constitution Museum, is a member of the Charles W. Morgan Restoration team at Mystic Seaport.

C harles W. Morgan is in the third year of a multi-y ear restoration project that will be complete when the ship sets sail on her 38th voyage. A s of mid-January, the shipwrights were finished fairing new fattocks and installing the new 17-foot-long section ofthe keelson. New copper keel bolts are being installed in addition to existing fasteners to strengthen the joining ofthe keel, keelson, and floo r timbers. Installation ofthe ceiling will be the next major phase ofthe project. The searchfor materials continues. Suitable timberfor a few more knees needs to be located. More long leafpine is scheduled for delivery next fall. The width of the Morgan's long leafyellow pine plan/es 20

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 11

p oses a challenge in finding trees that can yield the p rop er dimensions. Once the ceiling and knees are in place, the shipwrights will start on the exterior and rep lank the hullfrom about the 7th strake up to the turn of the bilge. With regards to spars: a new mizzen mast is almost complete and work has commenced on the crosstrees. You canfallow the restoration's progress through updates on the museum's website at www.mysticseaport.org. Donations are greatly app reciated and can be made online or by mail to: Charles W M organ Restoration Project, Development Office, Mystic Seaport, POE 6000, 75 Greenmanville A ve., Mystic, CT 06355. (right) The M o rgan at her berth at Chu bbs Wharfat Mystic Seaport in 1992. Generations of visitors, researchers, and schoolchildren-an estimated 2 0 million people-have walked her decks, listened to role players and musicians tell her story, and watched as her museum crew scrambled aloft to set and strike sail at the dock since becoming a museum ship seventy years ago. The next time you see sails being set on the M o rgan, it will be far real sailing out on the ocean and not just as a dockside demonstration.

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21

It Seems Moses Caught the Fever Sail to Steam in the Nineteenth C e ntur y

- -Deirdre O'Regan, Editor, Sea History

or hundreds of years, naval architecture evolved very slowly. C hances are, a sailor from the nineteenth century could have sailed one of Columbus's ships with little guidance, and one of Columbus's crew could have sailed a nineteenth-century vessel with nearly equivalent ease. All this would change in the nineteenth century. In 1800, American ports and waterways were the domain of the sailing vessel, and, with the exception of the rowing galley, wind was the only propulsion the world had ever used. By 1900, mariners would still be using sailing vessels for limited commercial and recreational purposes, bur the shipping lanes were now filled with watercraft of all kinds, and few depended on the wind for power. There were steam paddlewheelers in rivers and coastal waters, ocean liners and seagoing vessels powered by steam and driven with the screw propeller, and even submarines had been developed for the navy.

Before the century was out, the first experiments with diesel engines aboard ship were underway.

The development of the marine steam plant changed not just the way ships were powered and designed, but civilization itself in myriad ways from passenger travel to communications, which in turn affected the movement of people from In this 1856 bird's-eye view of New York, looking north from the Battery, Corlears Hook juts out into the hinterland to the coasts and the East River, just north ofSouth Street; the North (Hudson) River is to the left. Notice the even ratio of across the oceans. Steam travel steamships to sailing vessels. Just fifty years before, no one could have imagined a scene like this. In 1807, changed commerce in every way Robert Fulton's experimental vessel, the North River Steam Boat (/,ater known as the Clermont), would imaginable, including the types embark on a journey up the Hudson River and change the course of maritime history. of cargo carried, where they were carried to, and how often it was done. Sailing ships had been transporting goods and people for hundreds of years, but where they went, how long it took to get there, and the reliability of arrivals and departures were unpredictable.

In a broad overview of these dramatic changes across the nineteenth century, it is easy to forget, at times, that huge changes usually start with a small first step, and often with an individual who gets an idea and follows it to fruition , or from a series of steps taken by individuals to carry a process to its ultimate form.

And so it was with the transition from sail to steam for boats and ships during this time. It didn't occur overnight, and for a long time the steam-powered vessel was simply a sailing vessel outfitted with an engine and paddlewheels or a screw propeller. In time the steam engine would change everything about how ships were designed, how they were built, and from what materials they were made.

Historian John Laurence Busch became fascinated with the story of Captain Moses Rogers, one of the early players in the transiFulton's North River Steam Boat, 1807 tion from sail to steam, and his quest to take the evolution of steam-powered water transport to the next level after Robert Fulton's successful steamboat run in New York. Mr. Busch's fascination resulted in his new book, Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and The Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier. H ere, the author paints us a picture of that time in the summer of 1807, when Moses Rogers first got the spark, a spark that would lead to his taking a crucial step in the history of steamship development and oceanic travel. ,!,

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SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 20 11

He "Was Never the Same Again

by John Laurence Busch n Thursday, 30 July 1807, Mo ses Ro gers was read y to go. His vessel, the sloop Lydia, fin ally h ad a full hold, and it was time to get underway. So, Moses walked into the C ustom H ouse in New London, Co nnecticut, to submit his cargo manifest and clear his vessel fo r departure.

Moses Rogers

Moses had been the mas ter of the Lydia since April of that year, hauling cargoes between New London, New Yo rk C ity, and H ar tfo rd, Connecticut, which, despite its distance from the coas t, was a busy port in its own right, thanks to the broad and deep Connecticut River. The Lydia was well -sui ted for the work, meas uring som e fi fty feet on deck and just over sixteen fee t in breadth. At nearl y fo rty-six tons burthen, the three-year-old Lydia was the largest vessel Moses had ever commanded , but still small enough to navigate in coastal wa terways.

At some twenty-eight years of age, Captain Rogers had been running coastal sailing vessels since the turn of the century and had gained enough experience and contacts to consistently procure cargoes fo r his short voyages along the coast of New Yo rk and southern New England. On this particular trip, he was hauling a hold full of sugar to New York C ity, carried in for ty-two barrels and for ty hogsheads.

Setting sail from the wharves of New Lo ndon , Moses and hi s lone crewman

SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011

steered the sloop o ut the mouth of the Tham es River and into Long Island Sound, the blue highway that links the pons of Connecticut with Go tham. Moses knew this body of water better than any other and could typically make the trip to New York in a day or less.

At the far western end of the Sound, Moses and the Lydia entered the swirling currents of H ell Gate, which served then , as it does now, as the po rtal between Long Island Sound and New York's East River.

Once safely through, they headed due south and foll owed the swiftly fl.owing river, with M anhattan to starboard and Williamsburg to larboard. Just before they reached the wharves alo ng South Street, Moses and the Lydia passed a section of M anha ttan's sho relin e called C orlea rs Hook, where the banks jutted out into the river and m ost of the m ajor shipyards were located.

Tied up to a wharf at one of those shipyards could be seen a most curiouslooking craft. It had what looked like two thin watermill wheels attached to either side of its hull abo ut a third of the way back from the bow, and between them, rising straight up from the deck, was a tall, black tubular stack. To the uninformed observer, this cumbersom e contraption had to be the strangest looking vessel afl.oat. But to those in the kn ow, it had a name; it was called a

Typical nineteenthcentury cargo sloop

hardly a new idea. Plenty of people, Fulton among them, had tried to build these "steamboats" before, but nobody could get o ne to work beyond a few experimental runs-or let alone in a way that m ade them commercially viable. From these early trials, most observers concluded that while the steamboat was certainly an interes ting experiment, never would one be built to any practical purpose. Stearn engines were simply too heavy and their motion too violent to allow for their safe installation within a wooden hull.

"sreamboaL"

This vessel was the creation of inventor Robert Fulton . H e had spent many years living abroad, mostly in Britain and France, where he had experimented with many different innovations. Upo n returning to his homeland the previous D ecember, Ful ton had declared that he and his fin ancial partner, Chancellor Robert R. Livi ngsto n, were going to build a new kind of vessel.

It would be a boat that moved th ro ugh the water by m eans of paddlewheels mounted on either side of the hull , turned by power generated from a steam engine. The hull had been built by well-known shipbuilder Charles Brownne of New Yo rk, and the engine imported from the leading manufactu rer of such machinery, Boul to n, Ware & Company ofBirmingharn, England, which also had sent over a mechanic to help Fulton assemble it properly.

Steam propulsion fo r watercraft was

Robert Fulton

Even so, Fulton announced that his new vessel, the North River Steam Boat (later known as the Clerm ont) , would not only work as an experiment, but operate a regular passenger service along the North (or Hudson) Ri ver, between New York C ity and the state capital of Albany. Such a bold promise led th e skeptics, and there we re many, to offer their own name for this new contraptio n: "Fulton's Folly."

23

COU RTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

''First trip ofFulton's steamboat to Albany, 1807" by Samuel Ho/Iyer (1826- 1919) Even though much of the machinery installed within the hull remained exposed to view and th e uncovered paddl ewheels loo ked rather in co mplete, by the time Moses and the Lydia sailed past this vessel at the end of]uly, it was nearly ready for its first major trial.

After tying up his sloop to the wharf along South Street, Moses began the process of unloading th e barrels and hogsheads of sugar and set to work securing a cargo for the return trip to New London. His turnaround normally lasted from a week to ten days, and for this trip it would be no different. By Sunday, 9 August, the Lydia's holds were full and her hatch covers lashed for sea; they were ready to go.

So was Robert Fulton. Having spent the prior week making final adjustments to his steamboat, he was prepared to make a short test run along the East River. At midday, Fulton and a small crew climbed aboard his creation. He gave the order to fire up the boiler, cast off, and put the engine into action. The sails, bent on two masts for auxiliary power, were lefr furled . Lining the shore were hundreds of onlookers who turned out to see if Fulton's Folly acmally might work.

Robert Fulton turned his steamboat upriver on an ebb tide and would thus be trying to work against the current. Fulton

24

and his crew soon found themselves in the company of a number of sailing vessels, which were also attempting to make their way upriver, towards Hell Gate and the western entrance to Long Island So und.

Yet it was Fulton's Folly that made the most headway. "I beat all the sloops that were endeavoring to stem the tide with the slight breeze which they had," Fulrnn later wrote to his partner Robert Livingsto n. "H ad I hoisted my sails, I consequently should have had all their means added to my own."

Even though his stea mboat had only a partial complement of paddleboards attached to the wheels, it still managed to make three miles per hour. Once they had steamed and splashed their way abo ut a mile upriver, Fulton ordered the anchor dropped and had the crew double the size of the paddleboards. With this adjustment accomplished, the anchor was pulled in and Fulton's Folly was wrned about and pointed down river. On this rewrn leg, the steamboat went four miles per hour.

Fulton himself was ve ry pl eased with the results of this short test run . While he knew that the machinery still needed some adjustmems, Fulton nevertheless felt that his invemion wou ld soo n be ready for its first trial run all the way up the North River to Albany.

Just where Captain Moses Rogers was durin g this East River test of Fulton's steamboat isn't known. He may have been watchin g from shore, along with hundreds of others; or it just might be that one of the sloops Fulton and his steamboat churned past that day on the upriver leg was the Lydia, loaded with ca rgo and heading back to Long Island Sound. Regardless, it seems clear that Moses had been a witness to this first real test of Fulton's steamboat, because in the days that fo ll owed he began to behave in ways that were most uncharac teristic for the m as ter of a merchant vessel.

Upon his arrival back in New London on Monday, 10 August, Moses quickly unloaded his cargo and procured another.

But he did not rake the usual seven-to-ten days to turn his sloop around; instead, he did it in four. On Friday, 14 August, Captain Rogers submined his cargo manifes t to the New London Custom House. Once again, he was hauling sugar to New York, but this time the Lydia's hold was less than two-thirds full. On the surface, this made no sense; m erchant captains did not normally depart with partially filled cargo holds when a few extra days in port would result in a full load and m aximum cargo revenue for the voyage.

C learly, Moses was in a hurry to get to his des tination, which was none other

SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 20\ \

than New York C ity. No t until Sunday, 16 August, did favorab le winds finally allow a departure.

As Moses sail ed westward through the Sound, Robert Fulton was busy transferring his creation from rhe East River, around the Battery at rhe southern rip of Manhattan, and into the North River, where ir was moored ro a dock near rhe stare prison in G reenwich Village. The movement of rhe steamboat rhar day indicated that th e great rest was imminent: Fulton's Folly was go ing to attempt to steam all rhe way to Albany, a distance of about 150 miles. Moses and the Lydia were set to arrive in New York the next day. Ir would prove to be one of the most momentous Mondays in the history of the city.

Surrounding Fulton's steamboat as it prepared to depart from the Village that day were hundreds of spectators who had streamed in to bear witness. Many of those present were more than a li ttle skeptical .

"While we were putting off from the wharf," Fulton later wrote, "I heard a number of sarcastic remarks." Once rhe steamboat cleared the pier, Fulton gave the order for

rhe engine to be put into motion . The ves- August 1807. Fulton's great experimenr to sel moved forward briefly, rhen stopped. Albany had been an obvious success, and Amon gs t rhe gaggle of invited gues ts he imm ediately began making preparaaboard could be heard murmurs of discon- tions to initiate regular steamboat service tent. "I told yo u it was so," Fulton heard along the North River. someo ne remark, fo llowed by "it is a foo lish Moses Rogers began making preparascheme," and "I wish we were well out ofir." tions of his own . The next day, he and the Fulton asked the passengers to give Lydia departed for New London . him a half-hour to determine what was Once home, his behavior in the weeks wrong. This request was readily granted, and months that followed would become all and Fulton went below to inspect the en- the more curious. Less than one year later, gine. Once he had discovered rhe problem , his uncharacteristic actions would culminFulton m ade som e quick adj ustments and, ate in the abandonment of his native Cona short time thereafter, had the engine necticut as a base of operations for rhe first back in action. "She continued to move time in his life. Soon thereafter, in 1809, he on," Fulton later wrote. "All were still in- became one of the first steamboat captains credulous. No ne seemed willing to rrusr in history. the evidence of their own senses." The There can be only one explanation for steamboat churned onward, up rhe wide such a radical change: having borne witness No rth River, overtaking sloops and schoo- to Fulton's Folly, Captain Moses Rogers ners as it went. Soon, it was our of sight. had caught rhe fever-steamboatfever-a nd While it is unknown whether Moses he was never the same again. -!, Rogers actually arrived in time to witness the departure of the North River Steam john Laurence Busch is an independent hisBoat, this much is clear: he was still in torian and author of Sream Coffin : Captain Manhattan when Fulton and his steam- Moses Rogers and The Steamship Savannah boat returned four days later, on Friday, 21 Break the Barrier (Hodos H istoria, 2010).

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25

s•0 s •

T

by Hewitt S. Morris

he freighter SS West Ha rshaw (Emergency Fleet Corporation/US Shipping Board), was one of 111 steamships built of her design (Design 1013), constructed and put into service between 1918 and 1920 as a response to the exigencies of World War I; West Harshaw was lau nched in 1919. On 24 July 1926, the freighter was just two days out from New Orlea ns , en route to London with a cargo of wheat, when the ship's young radio operator, Hewitt Morris, starred receiving radio transmissions warning of an approaching hurricane off the Dry Torrugas, some sixty miles west of Key West. Radio communications in those days came in the form of the dots and dashes of Morse code, and when Mr. Morris reported the desperate S • 0 • S of an Italian steamer in distress, the captain gave the order to go to the rescue.

Most of us have heard the bare facts of sea rescues before. Morris's first-person account brings the world of the merch ant mariner from a single point in time to life. As a first for Sea History, we are printing the opening segment of his story here, followed by three short excerpts from the remaining manuscript, and putting the complete text on our website: www.seahistory.org. If yo u are interested in the rest of the story, you can read it online or download it to read it later. We understand the d ebt we owe o ur merchant marine, and by sharing Morris's story, we hope to contribute to our overall understanding of the role they played in o u r nation's history. -Burchenal Green, President, National Maritime Historical Society

T

o the so utheastward of the United States, from the Florida Straits down through the Caribbean, there extends a vast archipelago of island-broken sea: the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the other smaller islands of the Wes t Indian string, which stretches in a long contorted "S" from the northeast coast of Venezuela up to the Florida peninsula. Books of histo ry and fiction speak of this island neighborhood as the notorious Spanish Main and relate of the piratical raids of ships flying the black flag of skull and crossbones.

Marauders made inaccessible strongholds of the hidden uncharted channels and harborages with which this ragged insular group abounds, from whence they could swoop out unannounced to prey upon passing shipping-and then, another rich merchantman loaded with Aztec treasure would fail to reach home.

Those adventuro us days of piracy have gone, but there still lurks along this islanddotted vicinity a much formidab le menace to shipping which dashes out and across the seas with less warni ng than the bloody corsairs of old, leaving a mass of maritime wreckage and foundering vessels in its turbulent wake. This [lingering] marauder of the modern Spanish Main is known as the West Indian hurricane. Invincible and relentless during the summer and autumn months when it makes its sporadic visitations, the cycloni c West Indian Hurricane receives its gentle birth among the soft rarified airs of the tropical Caribbean, from which it sweeps along the island frin ge and up the Florida Straits in an immense boomerang curve, gathering momentum and accelerated fury with every league.

26

Hewitt Morris inside SS West Harshaw's radio shack.

Such was the setting that occasioned the insertion of a small note in the current issue of the World Almanac, under the heading "Chronology, 1926:" July 28- DISASTROUS GULF STORM Gulf Storms (July 26-27) have done $8 ,000,000 damage at Nassau, in the Bahamas; $3,000,000 in Santo Domingo, and$2,000,000 at Miami and other Florida coast places; at Nassau, 146 were drowned with 400 missing, 75 boats sunk and 500 homes destroyed; near Santo Domingo, 54 bodies have been washed ashore; 5 were killed in Georgia and Florida.

"75 boats sunk;" another was threatenedand another epic of the sea was engraved in the swirling waters off Florida reefs. That is the tale we wish to recount. A strictly true yarn of the sea, of a ship-and of radio. A narrative wherei n there is no human hero; but a venrure wherein the senses of the individual are subordinated and merged into the feeling of the innately alive mechanism he conrrols; when he falls inro complete resonance with the straining ship as she rises to meet each onslaught of the sea, with the sweating gaps and dancing ammeter as sparks jump and leak across saltwater soaked insulators in endeavor to permeate the tempestuous outside-and when he incarnates his ship, and his radio, with a being like his own.

If, just following NAA's 1 evening weather broadcast on the night of July 24th (1926) , one of the malaria-stricken ghosts h aunting on the Isle of Dry Tortugas-sixty miles to the westward of Key West-had happened to cast his eyes in the right direction, he might have sighted the United States Shipping Board steamer West Harshaw laying at ease some miles to the sou'ward. Twenty miles to the so uth, the official figures in a message turned in to "sparks" for transmission read, and must have been correct as DryTortugas' 19-mile light was just visible as its revolving beam swept the rim of the northern horizon.

Whereas this thin, man-made envelope of steel had five minutes before been rushing onwards to conquer a quarter of the Earth's circumference as a slave of the great god Commerce, it now drifted idly, unmoving.

All resulting from a few infinitesimal impulses of electric current coming in conract with the fo ur unpretentious wires strung SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

SS West H arshaw of the American Dixie Line, discharging pitch pine at Newport, England. high berwee n the West Harshaw's mas ts, oscillating down a lead into the wireless shack to continue their course through a maze of switches, coils and vacuum tubes, to be transform ed into audible so unds, and then deciphered into intelligences by the radio operator: "H URRICANE WARNING"!

Ever since passing out of the Mississippi delta two days before, en route to London from New Orleans, Sparks had rwice daily been copying ominous warnings regarding the fo rmation of a "tropical disturbance" down in the Caribbean Sea and advancing slowly norrhwes rward. Now, the admo nishing advice any old salt will extend is that a Wes t Indian hurricane is one animal mo rtal m an sho uld never start an argument with as long as he can possibly, even ignobly, beat a safe retreat; but, as these blows seldom travel as per schedule, not much serious attention was given it until it was changed to "hurricane warning dead ahead." W hen, with less than five minutes' inter Iude since N AA's concluding signature, the Master of the West Harshaw ordered the engine room telegraph swung m idships with its indicator resting on "Stop."

1

NM was the Naval radio station in Arlington, VA. Built in 191 3, NM was part of the US Navy's effort to create a worldwide co mmunications network.

NM began to broadcast regular reports from the US Weather Service and information for mariners in 1923; the fac iliry was sh ut down in 1956.

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

A big blow is the last thing one would expect that evening. It was one of those drowsy, drugged, tropical nights; qui et witho ut a movem ent save the slow, restful roll of the idle ship- the sam e precise roll every ship ass umes when at rest, no m atter how calm the seas. And above, in a clear sky, the moon was serenely scribing its course thro ugh a few isolated splo tches of great flu ffy white clouds. While, in the auditory realms of radio, the general lassitude of Scourge Static gave little evidence to portend a radical change in atmospheric conditions. No matter what appearances were, the weather savants at Washingto n had spoken and gave pro tective advice, leaving the unknown sea-traveler little prerogative but to unconditionally accept and act upon the handwriting in the air, as it were.

Alongside the West Harshaw, the SS West Erral, another Shipping Board vessel bound fo r H avre, had also hove-to, arrested on her voyage by the selfsame warning. The rwo vessels seem ed like a couple of pup pets, with the Weather Bureau at Washington the puppet mas ter, exercising arbitrary co ntrol over their every m ovem ent by jangling unseen radio cords via Arlington's powerful weather fo recasting transmitter. Side by side the rwo m arionettes drifte d in the swelling G ulf Stream until, rwelve ho urs later, Uncle Sam's weather pro phets again m ani pulated the master

waves, bidding them proceed with safety by advising thro ugh the clario n note of NAA that the storm center was veering off to the easrward of the shipping lane. Once m o re the engines began whirling "Full Ahead," but only until Arlington's next weather schedule, when the clear ICW (Interrupted Continuo us Wave) note cut the intervening thousand miles like a prem onitory scream that the hurricane, on altered course, was sweeping across the Baham as, hard-by.

This time the West Harshaw hove- to some sixty miles wes t off Key West, with plenty of company. Scattered all around the horizo n, six tank-steamers in all, could be seen likewise lying-to and preparing for the worst that might be expected: dism antling ventilato rs, las hing deck gear, and improvising preventer stays. They had all advanced too far for safety.

O n the bridge, the West Harshaw's captain was reconnoitering with his m ate when, from out of the murk to the west, there slowly hove into view the silhouette outlines of an approaching ship. On she cam e, a peculiarly constructed vessel; obviously a freighter but with stack and engines situated back aft in the m anner of a tanker-an uncommon type of vessel that, once seen, seam en never fo rget.

"That's that Italian motorship that was in port with us. The Ansaldo San something-or-the-other," rem arked rhe mare, who

27

had been observing her approach through marine glasses. And as the ship moved abeam, "Yep, that's that Italian all right. She's making the sam e ports as us, on practically the sam e sailing schedule. Got about the same cargo, too : wheat, I heard." Still, the moving ship continued o n her way, leaving the drifting West Harshaw far as tern . When the m ate again turned to the captain with a grimace, 'TU bet that Italian skipper over there is grinning and soliloquizing, 'H ere's where I show those Yanks up and beat them to London."' Under his breath the m ate also muttered, though personally to himself, "If I was m aster of this packet I'd sure open 'er up wide and give that guy a race, hurricane or no hurricane." Such an idea never once occurred to the captain; he was an old-timer and experience-seasoned wi th more conservative and cautious fo resigh t.

Rapidly the recedin g vessel merged into the gathering haze of the east. Unlike the small three-masted schooner which had several hours before boldly sped pas t on the wings of an increasing fair wind, all unaware of the danger that was crossing his bow in the straits ahead, the unhesitating steamer, fully equipped wi th wireless, had undoubtedly received the hurricane warning but seem ed to have elected to give no heed.

There, in the southernmost environs of the Florida Straits, the West Harshaw laid for the next twenty-four hours, intermittently drifting with quiet engines and sometimes going slow ahead to make the vessel ride more steadily. But it made little difference. Ever since passing Sand Key, the wind had been springing up. First a gentle breeze, then a strong one, increasing o n up until it was raging a full gale; whipping up gigantic seas and tearing the waves to ribbons as if a colossal comb was bei ng d rawn across the surface leaving a train of frothy furrows. Down in the trough the old hulk would get, with the wind on her beam , and then m errily roll and wallow in drunken contentment. One minute giving a dizzy lurch to the port, her port bulwarks dipping clear under the sea-a slight hesitation-and then back up she would swing, shoveling the water up like a mammoth scoop, only to go over on the opposite side and repeat the same tactics; the decks continually one mass of seething foam, roaring and shifting from side to side with each list of the vessel; the heavy grey seas breaking and crashing with such tremendous force as to take the paint

28

(Reur.i;ir's - Telegram.) '(Reeeived 29th July, noon.)

NEW YORK, 28th July. · A message from Santo Domingo 1tates that meagre reports of hurricane

damage to the island of San Domingo estimate the loss at 31000,000 dollars.

The eteam~bip West Harshaw has sent Jt

radio message that she has taken the

disabled Ansaldo 8an Giorgio in tow

for New York.

Nnasau, in the ·Bahamas, was badly wrecked by the hurrica·ue and the radio station is down.

.:~~~~~

.

.--:: \~~..

~ .- ... ....- ;...~

.

r:;.-:;:..~.P....~--

__...__ ..,,.

The Evening Post,

Thursday, 29 July, 1926

off-not wear it off, but tear it off in jagged patches leaving the clean bare steel exposed to the ravages of saltwater rust.

Ir was later in the evening, around eleven or twelve o'clock on the night of the 26rh_27rh . The O ld Man had just come up to the radio shack fo r Arlington's latest weather advisory, and had sat down on the corner of the table for his customary char.

First, though, before becoming congenial, Sparks once more clamped the receivers on for a last survey of the ether alo ng ship waves before closing up fo r the night.

The 'fones were no more than clasped to his ears-the receiver tuned from NAA's 2,655-meter wave down to 600, an d vacu um tubes turned up bright-but what an uncanny, befo re-experienced tenseness came over him. Som ething unusual- untoward-was abroad in the ubiquitous, super-sensitive domains of radio; so mething unresonant. No r a sound disturbed the quiet tranquility of the air. Silence, ominous silence, prevailed in strange, unnatural contrast to the usual incessant patter of dots and dashes from a hundred and one ships during that generally traffi c-laden hour. Swinging the receiver dials either to right or left brought only the same empty echo punctuated by a few stray, sprinkling discharges of tropical static. The hushed ,

unreal quietude that portends disaster.

Tense moments. Suspense-bur suspense rarely las ts long in reality, des pite the time-dragging tricks of imaginationand then the resounding tattoo of dots and dashes from another ship right abeam beat against the receiver diaphragms like a series of bomb explosions in a vault.

"Anything new on S •O• S?" the unknown ship asked, without signing.

"S •O •S?" th ought Sparks. His hair rising; a chill ebbing down hi s spine.

"That explains it!" -that unnatural silence, which every experienced seagoing operato r immediately connects with distress signals, though not knowing why.

The inquiring ship had received no answe r. So, a few more adjustments to the receiver, and a quick, snappy question shot out into the silence-drawn air brought a reply from the unseen operator abeam that the Italian mororship Ansaldo San Giorgio!!wi th radio call letters "IAH" -had called for assistance a short time before, giving her position as ten miles norrheast of Hi llsboro Inlet, Florida.

Another short tedio us wait of straining ears and the signals of IAH began to weakly impinge the tau t, vibrant ether.

Weak, though as clear as a pin dropped in a deathly quiet room, the low, uncertain spark SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 11

commenced to spell our in Concinental Mo rse che disabled vessel's predicament in broken birs: "Rudder broken"- ''All lifeboacs desu oyed"- "Seven or eight miles off shore and drifting closer" and the climaxing statement of "six fee t of wa ter in number fi ve hold ."

A second barometric chill shivered along Sparks's spine; now stiff, bolt upright.

"H elpless! Hurricane! O ff a d angero us sto rm-irritated coast! " flashed th ro ugh his mind, emphasized as he felt th e West H arshaw plunge and tremble to the o nslaught of a sudden burst of wind and sea.

H e swung around. But the Skipper, having sensed the unusual, was already leaning over his shoulder. Nervo usly he thrust the slip of paper with the distressed ship's position into the captain's h a nd and cried, "There's ano ther ship, a passenge r ship, in communication with h e r bu t not offeri ng mu ch positive assiscan ce-t he S â&#x20AC;˘O â&#x20AC;˘S ship is srill requesting aid! " His eyes flas hing, body vibrating with poignant excitement.

**************** 'Twas alo ng towards early evening when the howling devils of Eolus had reached their most peak'd crescendo of m ad revelry that, afrer a long interval of silen ce from the two h unting vessels which m ay have given the hapless Ansaldo che harrowing choughc char chey had borh deserted her,

IAH again called che West Harshaw in char srumbling to ne with a m essage containing a scarding, pathecic plea in ics erracic syntax. "Please yo u and KU G (call lerters of ch e Gulf ofMexico) come me more," came trickling down o ur of storm-immersed air as if a lase hope, o r dying supplicacion.

**************** As soon as the West Harshaw pulled abeam the A nsaldo, the capcain broughc several m essages back to che wireless shack, including one to the mascer of the helpless vessel, saying che West H arshaw wo uld keep a close wacch over him chrough che nighc and at daybreak get into co mmunication whether he wished to abandon his vessel or take a row line. His messages all cleared- it was chen 1:30AM of the 28'h- Sparks closed up and rook a trip up o n the bridge fo r a good look at the objecc of his lase twe nty-four hours of continuous watch .

There she was-laying abour a mile off the port beam -a lo ng black shape ridin g deeply in the wa ter, gread y resembling an immense black cigar half submerged, and with not a light visible. Lying helplessly in the trough with decks awash fore and afr, she rolled and wallowed with each buffet of the sea as if a dying animal in the las t throes of resistance; each succeeding comber breaking over the defenseless vessel, so metimes dashing a drapery of spray mas t-high-a so rry sight fo r o ne who loves to feel the

The Law of Salvage - A Summary The law of salvage entided the owner, officer, and crew of the West H arshaw to assert a salvage claim and receive a monetary awa rd for services rendered to theAnsaldo San Giorgio II. The historic purpose of salvage awards is to encourage vessels to render aid to other vessels in distress. The rights of salvors are recognized th ro ughout the maritime wo rld.

The seminal United States salvage case is the BlackwaLL case decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1869 . It, and subsequent cases, set forth th e essentials of salvage as: 1) a m arine peril to the property to be rescued, 2) voluntary service not owed to the property as a matter of du ty, 3) success in saving the property or some portion of it from impending peril.

In the.event the right to an award or the amount of it were not amicably agreed to, the West H arshaw's owner, officers and crew could have filed libels (complaints) in an admiralty court, petitioning the court to resolve the issues and render a money judgm ent agains t the Ansaldo.

The am ount of a salvage award is at the discretion of the court, which would take into acco unt the essentials set forth in Blackwall, and such things as the danger to the West H arshaw in effectuating the rescue and the skill and contribution of her crew in aid of the rescue. -Thomas F D aly, NMH S Trustee

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

engine-pulse throb of a pro ud sea-voyager as she steams out and over the distant ho rizo n in all her majes ty. Anyway, there she lay- the prize! The second mate, then o n wa tch, was rick.led green . H e co uldn'c stand still. Pacing nervo usly backward and fo rwa rd, trying his hand at predicting what they wo uld do and raring with impatience fo r daylight to come.

**************** Then fo llowed eight long hours of disco u rag in g maneuve rin g in repeated unsuccessful efforts to gee a line aboa rd the disabled vessel. To bring two plunging, unancho red steel hulks into close proximity during a full gale and mo untaino us seas is a dangerous task. The slap of a migh ty swell amidships, or a powerful gust of shifting hurricane wind, and sm ash! There are two ships frantically calling fo r assistance instead of one. Commuting a line by means oflin e-carrying was tried; but the gun barrel was shattered upon the second trial. Finally, way past noon when discouragement was overwhelming, a line was Aoated over to the Ansaldo on a buoyant barrel and picked up.

AFrERWARD

How could the West H arshaw m anage to row such a d isabled boat, with leaking h old, buckled deck plates, broken hatch covers, sm ashed lifeboats, and useless rudder and engines, to safety? An d if a tug cam e out, stalking for the prize of the disabled ship, sho uld the freighter with her lack of rowing equipment turn her ove r in light of ano ther fero cious h urricane which m igh t overtake them ? Read the endi ng of this exciting true story at www.seahisrory.org. 1, H ewitt S. Morris (1 905 -1973) left home at seventeen to become a ship's wireless operator or "Sp arks, "the name given to radio operators before vacuum tubes were invented. From 1923-1928, M orris plied the oceans and visited major ports across the globe as a crewmen in ten merchant ships. H e entertained thoughts of making this sea-going adventure a career, but an opportunity ashore intervened, and instead he pursued a career in the sound and communications field (his company installed the first "talkingpicture" equip ment in movie houses starting in the late 192 0s). Later he became p resident of A ltec Lansing, a world leader in audio p roducts. H e once said that the sources ofhis education were the H arvard C lassics and his five-J1ear tenure at sea.

29

Maritte Art News Marine artist Patrick O'Brien has begun a new series of paintings depicting all of the sea battles of the War of 1812. His goal is ro finish rhe paintings in rime for rhe bicentennial of rhe War in 20 12. O 'Brien, rhe cover artisr (USS Constitution vs HMS Java) for rhis issue of Sea History, has painted rhe well-known frigare duels several rimes in rhe pasr, and he is now rurning his arrention rowards rhe lesser-known acrions, such as rhe sinking of HMS Peacock by USS Hornet (1812), which he feels are roo often ignored in rhe marine art field. O 'Brien also plans ro rackle many of rhe colorful exploirs of rhe American privareers, who harassed Brirish shipping for patriorism and profir.

O'Brien had a particularly good year in 20 10- rhe US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, exhibired rwenty-three of his paintings in a special one-man exh ibition, and Mystic Seaport purchased one of his paintings for rheir permanent collection. Look for more images of his arr in Sea History as we cover rhe War of 1812 through articles abo ut the hisrory of rhe War of 1812 and the upcoming bicentennial events in 20 12-2014. For more information about rhe artist and ro purchase or commission a painting, visit his website at: www.PatrickOBrienStudio.com. (Note: You can see some ofhis origi.nal paintings in p erson at the 2011 NMHS Washington DC Awards Dinner in April. See page 8 for details.)

William G. Muller, one of the country's pre-eminent chroniclers of the great steamboat era, has been awarded "Fellow Emeritus" status in the American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA). When just a boy of five, Muller was so captivated by the sight of a passing steamboat on the Hudson River that it shaped the rest of his life. In his teens he would find employment as an assistant purser on the Day Line, including a job on board the 1909 sidewheeler Robert Fulton, then in her final year. Later he would be promoted ro quartermaster, with responsibilities that included manning the helm and navigating up the river. After service in World War II, Bill rurned his talents ro art, and over the past 35 years has brought the long-gone paddlewheelers ro life through his oils on canvas. You can read his fascinating memoir about his early experiences handling a big steam sidewheeler and view many of his paintings at the ASMA website: www.americansocietyofmarineartists.com-follow the links: "ASMA in Print" and ''ASMA Summer News and Journal." Congratulations Bill!

The Cape Cod Maritime Museum, in collaboration with Ej Mills Brennan of Mashpee Wampanoag and Linda Coombs of Aquinnah Wampanoag, is hosting a juried exhibition in all media ofWampanoag art, entitled

Maushop's Vision: Maritime Art of the Wa.mpanoag. The exhibit is displayed in the rotating gallery of the Cape Cod Maritime M useum, coi nciding with their new primary exhibit, Making Wa.ves: Maritime Ventures on Cape Cod. Both will open when the museum opens for the season on 8 March.

Wampanoag maririme art includes: sculpture, painting and drawing, collage, photography, clay, jewelry, beadwork, basketry, and woodwork. Pieces can be traditional or contemporary, but all are handmade by a Wampanoag artist and are based on a maritime theme or use. For more information, contact Director Janet Preston via email at jcpreston@capecodmaritimemuseum .org or at rhe Cape Cod Maritime Museum, 135 South Street, Hyannis, MA 02601 ; Ph. 508 7751723; www.capecodmaritimemuseum.org.

The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport invites visitors "Behind the Canvas," when renowned artists will share their personal stories through lectures, slide presentations, and demonstrations. The artists will discuss what inspires creativity and what qualities art collectors look for in a painting. Tickets are available online at www.mysticseaport.org/tickets or by calling 860 572-5322. General information about what's new at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport can be found online ar www.mysricseaport.org/gallery.

â&#x20AC;˘March 19: Lou Bonamarte presents "Virtuoso Watercolorisr." Long-time Maritime Gallery watercolorist Bonamarte will demonstrate how he uses watercolors to create vib rant paintings that are highly sought by collectors. â&#x20AC;˘April 16: Cindy Baron presents "Capruring the Beauty in Narure." Baron, an award-winning artist, instructor, and signature member of the American Watercolor Society, will show how she utilizes both watercolor and oils to capture nature's beauty.

Castle Hill Lighthouse by Cindy Baron

30

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 l l

The Penobscot Marine Museum has issued a Call to Artists in all visual media for a juried show with a boating theme.

The Art of the Boat (28 M ay-23 O ctober 2011 ) will exami ne the artistic asp ects of boat design and construction . This exhibit will explo re the boar as art and the boatbuilder as artist. Artists may submit up to four pieces for consideration in any visual m edium, including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and o ther 3-D medi a, and multi-media. Submissions should be sent as jpeg files with a m aximum size of 2M B to artoftheboat@ pmm-maine.org by 15 March . Works will be judged by a panel, which may include art critics and collectors, naval architects, and boatbuilders. The panel will select approximately fo rry pieces for display by 15 April. Penobscot Marine Museum, in Searsport, is Maine's oldest m aritime museum and hom e to the state's largest display of historic boats and maintains collectio ns of marine art and artifacts, ship models, and historic photography.

The museum's exhibits are closed from November th ro ugh late M ay, bur activities and special presem ations occur yearro und. For m ore information on The Art of the Boat or on the museum in gen eral, visit www. PenobscotMarineMuseum .org or call 207 548-2529.

Errata: In the last issue of Sea H istory, we printed a notice about m arine artist Louis Stephen Gadal winning "Best of Show" at the 17th An nual Maritime Art Exh ibition at the Coos Arr Museum in Orego n , fo r his watercolor Reflections, Provincetown.

We erred, however, in o ur descriptio n of M r. Gadal's professional affiliations. H e is the current presidem of the Internatio nal Sociery of M arine Painters or ISMP, not M arine Artists, and he is a signature member of the Am erican Sociery of M arine Artists (ASMA) , not a Fellow. Both these o rganizations are wo rth checking out if yo u h ave an interest in marine art, whether yo u are an artist, collector, or simply have an appreciation fo r this genre. Congratula tions once again to Mr. Gadal for his awa rd .

(ISMP: International Sociery of Marine Paimers, Inc., 1800 Goldston Springs Rd., Puryear, T N 38251 ; www.ismpart.com .

ASMA: POB 247, Smithfield, VA 23430; em ail asmal978@verizon .net; www.am ericansocieryofmarineartists.com)

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

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Moscoso's Ships

by D avid Purdy

fo r New Spain . By the time they arrived somewh ere in the middle of present-day Texas, th ey were weary and hungry. 1l1e only indigenous tribes they could find were no t fa rmers but hunters, who had little in the way of foo d stores that could feed the expedi tio n . W ith no sign of New Spain on the horizo n, they turned around and trekked 300 m iles back to the Mississippi with a plan ro build ships to return to Spanish territory via a water route.

The army of Spaniards, Po rtuguese, and Indians go t back to the Mississippi River region in D ecember 1542. They located a tribe with enough foo d stores to suit their needs, so they stole the foo d and settled in fo r the winter. 1 Building ships in the wilderness in the dead of winter was clearly a difficult task. Fortunately, one of the soldiers on the expedition, a Genoese, was an experienced shipbuilder, and ano ther knew how to saw timber in quantity. W ith the help of two caul kers and a number of carpenters in the grou p, they set abo ut co nstr uc tin g a sm all fl eet o f vessels along the shores of the Mississippi.

Timber fo r the hulls was not a problem as the WiLliam H. PoweLL's painting, Discovery of the M ississip pi, depicts H ernando de Soto's 1541 encounter with camp was surrounded by fo rests, but iron for the M ississippi River. De Soto's men were the first Europeans to see the river; Luis Moscoso de Alvarado served as fas teners and hardware the expedition's "Master of the Camp." When de Soto died in May of 1542, Moscoso assumed command of the wo uld pose the biggest expedition. The painting was commissioned by the US Congress to hang in the Rotunda in the capitol building in problem. The men scav1847. PoweLL (1823- 1879) was the Last artist to be commissioned by the Congress for a painting in the Rotunda. enged what iro n they fro m a number of tribes that were traveling Tampa, arriving inMayofl 539. From there could from supplies and equipment that with them as guides, slaves, captives, and they marched northwards to the Carolinas the expedition carried with them. A m ajor C hristian fo llowers. The Spaniards had come before heading wes t towards the M ississippi source cam e from the chains, leg irons, and looking fo r gold, but three years in to their River and on through present-day M isso uri, shackles used ro confine captives, but even q uest, they were confident rhat none was Arkansas, and eventually Texas and Lo uisi- with these measures, iron was scarce. As a to be fo und in this part of the continent. ana. In three years they fo und not a speck result, the men m ade the spikes shorter than Instead, their overwhelming desire at this of gold. D e Soto took ill in May of 1542 what would be used in a regular shipyard, po int was to abandon their quest and and, when death was imminent, he placed and, to accommodate the short fas tenings, return to Spanish-governed territo ry. But Moscoso in charge. they hewed the hull planks thinner as well .

Moscoso and his o ffi cers were gold seekU nder Moscoso's co mm and, th e The caulkers "closed [the planks] up with ers in unkn own rerri to ry, no r surveyors o r expedi tion so ught to head home and set oakum , go t from a plant like hemp, called skilled navigators. Alrhough rh ey knew rhey off overland towards the south wes t, bound eneque111 ." The expedition's only cooper made n D ecemberofl 542, fifty years after Columbus "d iscovered" the New World, Luis Moscoso de Alvo rado had a major p ro blem on his hands.

H e was, li terally, up the creek w ithout a paddle. The creek was the Mississippi River, and Moscoso not only didn't have a paddle, he didn't even have a boat.

Luis Moscoso de Alvo rado was the commander of a Spanish expedition , the fi rst European penetratio n into the interior of North Ame rica. U nder his command we re mo re th an 300 (mostly) Spanish soldiers and a few h undred American Indians

32

were located along the banks of the migh ty "Rio G rande de la Florida" (the Mississippi River), they o nly had a vague idea of where they we re alo ng it. They did know that they we re a lo ng way from Spanish-settled territory, be it C uba or New Spain (Mexico).

H ow did Moscoso get into this position ?H e had come to "La Flo rida," the Spanish name fo r what is now the southeastern United States, as "Master of the Camp," an officer in H ernando de Soto's expedition of 1539. This army of 600 Spanish and Po rtuguese soldiers had sailed to the wes t coast of the Florida peninsula, near present-day

SE A HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

two casks for each vessel for carrying fresh water. A local tribe supplied them with rope made from mulberry tree bark and "shawls," from which th ey fashioned sails.2 No known contemporary drawings exist ofMoscoso's ships, but from the expedition chronicles, we kn ow th at they built seven vessels, identified as "bri ga ntines," which could carry the 322 soldiers plus a hundred or so Native Americans between them. The vessels were propelled by both sail and oar. The hulls were not decked nor pitched, although so me planks were fitted inside ro facilitate sail h andling. Anchors were fa bricated fro m the horsemen's stirrups.

The use of the term "brigantine" fo r a sixteenth-century Mediterranean vessel should not be confused with the betterknown square-r igged brigantin e of the nineteenth century. The for mer was a smaller lateen-rigged vessel that was rowed as much as it wassailed and in the Mediterranean was ofren used as a tender, rowed aste rn oflarger ships. The term "bergantin" was often used for the sam e craft.

Primary sources describing the sixteenth -century brigantin e are few. Contemporary sources defin e the bergantin as "a small, swift vessel." A text from 1580 describes a specific bergantin as a vessel fit-

"Brigantin donnant chasse a une Felouque, et prest alaborder, "or "Brigantine gives chase to a Felouque [felucca or shallop}, "published in Plan de Plusieurs Bari mens De Mer by Henri Sbonski D e Passebon, Paris 1690. Republished 1977 by Editions Des 4 Seigneurs Grenoble.

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red with fourtee n thwarts and measuring seventy-eight fee t in length with a beam of rhirteen-and-a-halffeet. 3 Another bergantin was noted as having eleven thwarts and two lareen-rigged masrs. 4 A brigantine of this type wo uld have been a relatively easy type of ship ro construct, as com pared ro other vessels that could have transported that many people and supplies. Ir had no

j3

Nueva Hispania Tabula Nova

by Girolamo Ruscelli, 1561 Ruscelli's map is an enlarged version of Giacomo Gastaldi's map of1548, except that the Yucatan is no longer shown as an island. It is the second earliest obtainable map of the southern halfof the United States. The place names reflect the explorations of Pineda, Cabeza de Vtzca, and Moscoso. Not until Cornelis van Wyjliet's maps of 1597 would a better regional representation appear in a printed map. R. Spiritu Santu appears (Mississippi River); California is shown as a peninsula; the R. Tontonteanc is either the Gila or the Colorado River. It is, perhaps, the most influential map of the southwest during the sixteenth century.

-Barry Lawrence Ruderman, Antique Maps, Inc., www.raremaps.com.

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SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

co mpli cated srructures like forecasdes and poops; the hull had no abrupt curves. W ith a sharpl y raki ng bow and stern, th e length of the keel was minimized.

In additio n ro the briga ntines, the expedition assembled seven more vesselsrafrs-ro transport their horses. Th ese were made by securing two canoes together and erecting a platform over them.

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33

The Spanish called che place where che ships were buil c "Aminoya," buc che records do noc provide eno ugh derails co give a precise locatio n other than the mention that the site was just less than a mile west of the Mississippi's ban ks and was curned into an island during che spring floods. When it was time co launch, chese high waters wo uld float che ships. Scholars disagree abo uc jusc how far up Am in oya was locaced along che Mississippi Ri ve r, but most place it along the banks of the great rive r in the southeastern part of Arkansas.

When it was time co embark on their ri ve r journey, Moscoso abandoned 500 American Indi an captives co fend fo r themselves, m osc of ch em far fro m their tribal homes. On 2 July 1543, 322 Europeans and 100 Indians boarded the brigantines, with each vessel cowing a raft loaded with horses and foo d and a canoe for use as a tender. This wo uld be the easiest part of their voyage, in terms of seam anship. The Moscoso expeditio n members wo uld be che first Europea ns co travel the M ississippi and the o nl y o nes co do so fo r an ocher 130 years, when Jacques Marquette and Lo uis Joliet journeyed down the M ississippi from the G reat Lakes in 1673.

The exped ition cam e upon a village o n their seco nd day o n the river. The reputation of che Spaniards must have preceded them; the village was emp ty. The inhabi tants had fled but left their houses full of co rn , of whi ch the Spanish cook advantage. They stayed in the village for a day co shell the co rn and load it on th e ships. W hile they we re so engaged, some Indians approached by canoes and harassed them. The Spani ards chased them off and in doing so discovered another village. This village th ey burned .

The next day, as che fl otilla Aoaced down che river, a hundred canoes fi lled with natives appeared "within two crossbow-shot of the brigantines" and blocked cheir way.

Moscoso sent twen ty-five of his men ahead of the flo tilla in canoes co clear the way. The N ative Ame ri can canoes parted in front of them and fo rmed two parallel lines, chen attacked . So me Indians got in the wa ter, grabbed the rails of the Spanish canoes and capsized chem . Some of the Spaniards d rowned, d ragged down by the weight of cheir armor. The crew in che brigan cines were able co rescue som e of the other men

34

fro m the wa ter. All cold, eleven Spaniards died duri ng the encounter. 5 The nacives chen attacked each brigantine in cum. Their first volJey of arrows wo unded twen ty-five men in the ships, as most of the men had no armor w ith which co protect themselves . In o ne vessel, m en at the oars began crouching beneach che gunwales as cheir only protectio n, leaving rhe brigantine co swing abo ut with the curre nt, o uc of control. One of the few men in armor ins tructed one of the infantry co grab an oar and steer as he scood in the way, protecting the oarsm an with his shield.

Thereafter, the Spaniards held up their rightly woven sleeping m ats as barriers, and these proved sufficient co block che arrows.

The attacks continued until nigh cfall and resumed the next mo rning.

The Indians tried co board the brigantin es but were repulsed. They also tried to attack the rafts, which were slower than the brigantines, bu t the Spaniards boarded che canoes and held them off.

The Spaniards and the Indians who were attacking them were at a stalemate. Moscoso's men had no long-range weapo ns and cheir few crossbows were in poor condi tion .

Al though the attackers had bows and arrows, they proved ineffective after the men in the boars srarted shielding themselves . At short range, as long as the Spaniards stayed in che brigantines, chey could repel the Indians with their swords and lances. Only their progress down the river, through the nighc and imo che nexc day, saved chem-at least until they entered anocher cribe's village.

The Spaniards broke che impasse by making a stop on shore and slaughtering their horses. The rafts were hinderin g their progress, and they co uld use che horse m eat to feed the m en . Back o n the ri ve r, American Indians fo llowed chem in canoes and shot at chem overni ght and into the next morning. Once they were able to widen distance between them , the rest of the trip down the river was uneventful. They rowed fo r sevem een days, app roxi mately 250 leagues (m ore than 600 miles) to che mouth of che Mississippi River.

There they rested for two days, but not without fu rcher raids. Again, che attacks came co an impasse.

W hile they may have rejoiced at having made it to che m outh of che migh ty

river, eager co leave the imerior behind, chey wo uld now face the hardest part of the voyage, th e passage across che G ulf of Mexico to New Spain . This leg wo uld test the seaworthiness of their vessels and the m en's ability co sail chem. With no chans of che G ulf of M exico nor the coastline, chey wo uld h ave to guess their route. O ne of che officers, Juan de Aiiasco, claimed he had seen a ch arc of the area and could recall its major feamres.

O ne fu ndamental decision had to be made immediately-whether to sail di reedy across the G ulf or to hug the coast. The direct route was shorter, abo ut three qu arters the distance along the coast, but they'd be at che mercy of the wind and seas in open boars. They also had to consider the danger of running o ut of fres h water. The cooper had made som e water barrels, but not nearl y eno ugh co sustain a few hundred men o ut of sight of land. On the o ther hand, hugging the coast wo uld mean sailing alo ng a lee sho re in ships that were not very maneuve rable. Aiiasco advocated the direct route, but many oth ers disagreed . After a dem ocratic vo te, ch ey decided on the coastal ro uce.

It was a good choice. Alth ough they could not have known it at che time, the sho reline they wo uld follow is relatively benign. It is essemially a long beach with no rocky areas. The shoreline is broken at imervals by inlets, either the entrances co small bays or the m ouths of rivers and creeks. With the exception of th e occasional storm, the winds along this coast are typical ly m odera te. They tend to be onshore winds, which were generally satisfacco ry, as they al lowed che boats to sail o n a broad reach, a good point of sail for a long, shallow vessel.

The exp edition left the mouth of the M ississippi Rive ron 18 July 1543. Moscoso set a course offsho re, to get som e di stance between them and the shore, still intending to fo llow a coastal route. In the morning when they tacked back towards land, the wind and current wo rked against them and it was with greac difficulty that they m ade it back to shore. It took four days and they cam e dangerously close co running out of wa ter. The direct route wo uld never have wo rked.

Navigatting close co the land posed its own p ro blerms. W hen the wind piped up

SEA HlISTORY 134, SPRING 20 J J

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De Soto and Moscoso's 1539-43 estimated track projected onto a current map ofthe southeastern United States, GulfofMexico, and Mexico, based on Dr. Charles H udson's map published in Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun : H ernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms (University of Georgia Press, 1997). The exact path that the de Soto and Moscoso expedition followed is unknown, save for a few verifiable points: they left from near what is now Tampa, Florida; they crossed the Mississippi and traveled west and south and back again before following the Mississippi River to its mouth and sailing along the Gulf Coast to the Pdnuco River in Mexico. and they dropped anchor, their makeshift gro und tackle wo uld not hold. The a ncho rs bent and Moscoso ordered his crew to jump overboard in the shallows to hold the vessels off the beach. This scenario wo uld repeat itself before they reached their destina tion.

On a few occasions, the co nditions at sea were so bad that the ships waited out the adverse weather in small bays, sheltered behind sand bars and headlands. Once they waited fo ur days, another time fourteen.

More than seven weeks after they left the mouth of the Mississippi, rwo m onths after they boarded the brigantines at Aminoya, and more than four years after they started out overland from the west coast of Florida, they finally saw mountains ahead and knew that the Rio de Panico (Pinuco River) in New Spain was just ahead. On 10 September 1543, they entered the Panuco River, near present day Tampico, Mexico. When they came upon native men and women clothed in Spanish garb who addressed them in Spanish , they knew their ordeal was over.

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 l l

Their seven brigantines had served them well. In spite of the prim itive conditions at their construction site, the expediti on chronicles made no hint of equipment failure, except for the anchors. They sailed and rowed sufficientl y well , and they were seaworthy eno ugh. J, Not es: 1

Eyewitness Accounts of Early American Exploration and Settlement," Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Library and Archives, 2003.

2 Elvas, p.188 3Author unknown, Livro Nautico ou Meio Pratico de Construcao de Navious e Gales Antiggas, unpublished manuscript in Biblioteca Nacional, Lisbon . 1580 p.28 4 Pedro Menendez de Aviles, La FloridaTomo 2 Madrid 1893 p.559 5Elvas, p.198

Most of the details of the Spanish expedition across the southeastern U nited States co mes from the expedition chronicles, True Relation of the Vicissitudes That Attended the Governor Don H ernando de Soto and David Pu rdy spent his youth messing around Some Nobles ofPortugal in the Discovery of with boats on the Manasquan River in the Province of Florida Now just Given by New j ersey. He also worked at the Hubert a Fidalgo ofElvas, which was relayed in the Johnson boatyard in Bay Head, New j ersey, journals ofRodrigo Ranjel, de Soto's private and made two trips as a wiper on a tramp secretary. TI1e text was later translated and steamer, the Steel Inve ntor. H e earned his bachelor's degree in Naval Architecture at published in English by Richard H akluyt in Webb Institute. After college he worked on the 1609. The vers ion used for researching this article was edited by Edward Gaylord and design of nuclear submarines and merchant translated by Buckingham Smith, published ships and made one trip as nuclear advisor on the NS Savannah. on line as part of the ''.American Jo urneys:

35

ailors rely on wind to get where they are going.

When sailing ships ruled the waves and trade turned into a global enterprise, learning about the earth's winds became very important. Even power ships prefer not to steer into a strong headwind, and in the Age of Sail, ship captains chose routes that followed regular wind patterns and currents to help them get to their destination in the shortest amount of time. In 1847, a US Navy geographer named Matthew Fontaine Maury published the first Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic, which showed sailors how to use the ocean's currents and prevailing winds to shorten the length of their voyages. Sea captains who followed Maury's advice altered the routes they sailed to follow the prevailing winds that blow co nsistently across the oceans. Faster voyages meant they co uld complete more trips over time and thus make more profits.

Trade Winds The eas terly winds that blow nea r the equator are called "trade winds," because sailing ships on trading voyages followed these winds to blow them across th e oceans.

Doldrums When yo u are in a sad mood, people say they are in the "doldrums." 1he expression comes from another consistent wind pattern, or in this case a lack of wind. Near the equator there is a bel t of calm or ligh t winds between the northern and southern trade winds. Sailing ships can't sail without wind, so it was very frustrating and depressing to get through this region wi thout an engine.

Horse Latitudes Between 30° and 35° latitude, the winds are ge nerally calm and the weather is hot and dry. Ships travel ing across the oceans would often lighten their load to help get through them by throwing heaving things overboard. The name "Horse Latitudes" comes from the days wh en Spanish ships were transporting horses to the New World. Legend has it that they wo uld throw thei r horses overboard because they were running out of fresh water for both the crew and the horses. A percentage of the horses taken aboard ship for lengthy voyages would often die underway, and it is more likely that the crew would have eaten them rather than toss them overboard. Horse meat is no delicacy ashore, but fresh meat of any kind after a few weeks or months at sea would have been a real treat.

Spanish conquistadors brought horses with them to the New World for transportation. Loading a horse onto a sailing ship would have been a difficult task indeed. In this image, Spanish sailors are loading a horse up to the ship's rail with the use ofa sling and a block and tackle (pulley) from overhead.

134, SP.RING 201 1

Cultural Resource Manager Russ Green Russ Green is the Deputy Superintendent and Research Coordinator at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan. The United States has fourtee n National M arine Sanctuaries, all of whi ch are unique and get special pro tection under the law. W hy do these places need protecting? Each sanctuary possesses somethi ng very preciousso me are home to frag ile coral reefs o r end angered animal species. Oth ers have cultural resources that need to be p ro tected and studied , such as the Thunder Bay National M arine Sa nctu ary in Lake Huron, where Russ works.

1his region in the Great Lakes is known fo r its hundreds of well-preserved shipwrecks, which, combined with the a rchaeological remain s of piers and lighthouses and even materi als fro m historic and pre-historic Native Americans, help tell the story of G reat Lakes history.

The sa nctuary offices in 1 hunder Bay include a lab where arti fac ts from shipw recks are conserved, a n exhibition hall and educatio nal center where people come to learn about w h at's out in Lake Hu ro n (without getting wet!), and offices where the staff ca n do research and plan act ivities and field wo rk. Russ's job is to help preserve and manage rhe cultural resources in Lake Huron th ro ugh m a ny types of activities, makin g him a so rt of "jack of all trades." His du ties range from applying for research grants, developing partnerships with world-cl ass scienrists and other resea rchers, a nd organizing tea ms of maritime archaeologists who di ve in the lake to locate and documenr shipw recks. Russ spends a lot of rime un<ler water, di ving and documenting shipw recks as part of his regular work.

Russ Green and the NOAA archaeological dive team at the bottom ofLake Huron, investigating the wreck of SS Florida, a freighter that sank in 200 feet ofwater in 1897.

"Growing up in coastal Massachusetts and having an interest in history probably started me on this path. In my early twenties I did some commercial fishing, and, even though I didn't realize it at the time, that was maritime heritage in Russ and the the making. Where it would lead was anyones guess at the time- I was just NOAA team fishing. I didn't really have a plan to make it a career, but I realize now that the experience of working on the water was more fundamental than just fishing- it gave me a powerful connection to the sea.

Every experience you have may not have an obvious tie to a career path, but you just have to appreciate the connections they could have and make the most of them. Its akin to reading books. I've read books I didn't like, but I still learned something from them . A friend recently gave me a science fiction book, something I normally wouldn't choose to read. But amidst the lasers and robots, I found a social commentary that struck a chord with me.

The best part of my job as a cultural resource manager is the wide variety of things I get to do every day: diving, exploring shipwrecks, talking to the public, helping create exhibits at the visitors' center and contributing to our website. Even the more office-bound tasks, such as writing the management plan that guides our sanctuary$ work or researching the history of some of the shipwrecks, all make my job interesting. They also give me valuable perspective and keep me asking important questions: Why is history important? How can people best benefit from the work we do? and How can we do if better? Asking these quest ions helps keep our sanctuary team focused on making good decisions about how to best protect shipwreck sites and at the same time promote access to these unique and irreplaceable sites. At this point in my career I have many more questions than answers, which probably means that I have a lot more work to do!" -Russell T. Green

To learn more about the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, visit them online at http://thunderbay.noaa.gov/ or in person at 5 00 W Fletcher St., Alpena, MI 49707.

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aniel D efoe based some of his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) on rhe real-life experience of a Scottish sailor named Andrew Selkirk, who was marooned on one of the Juan Fernandez Islands, fa r our in the Pacific during the early 1700s. After more than fo ur years of living alone on the island, Selkirk was rescued when the English privateer Woodes Rogers, in ch arge of the ships D uke and D uchess, stopped at the island for fresh water. Rogers wrote: "Immediately our Pinnace rerurn'd from the shore, and brought abundance of C raw-fish, with a Man clorh'd in G oar-Skins, who look'd wilder than the first O wners of them ."

Rogers hired Selkirk on as a mare on the ship, allowing the castaway to eventually return to h is home. The story of Selkirk's rime on the island has often been told, as has his return to Scotland. W hat interests us here, though, is why was the boar fill ed up with "Craw-fish?"

The crawfish the 1 sea captain described were nor the small t>ON 1 \ CM'.. £ ABO\JT crustaceans rhar \HE Ct>.~TP..Wf:>..Y-­ are so fam ous in Alabama or Louisiana. These were Juan Fernandez spiny LOO\< f>,T P..'-l.. 1\-lOSElobsters. This animal is fo und only around the coasts of these C~WflS H remote islands, bur th ere are dozens of similar species of spiny lobster crawling on ocean bo ttoms rhroughour the world, usually living in warmer climates than their larger cousins, rhe clawed lobsters. Spiny lobsters look nearly rhe sam e, bur they have longer, thi cker antennae, and rh;:y use sharp spikes on these antennae and on their shells for defense, instead of..t, bs:: big front claws ,shat seafood resrauran rs serve. Nearly all species 19 . f spiny lobsters are "t.:.. ,, more colorful than their clawed \ relatives, and some have enough spots, stripes, and vivid colors

!

to rival your jazziest tropical fish. Even today, fishermen in England, Australia, and other English-speaking countries call sp iny lobsters "crawfish" or "crayfish," or sometimes "rock lobsters."

All across the Pacific, mariners and explorers have regularly praised both the abundance of spiny lobsters and their taste.

Joseph Banks, who sailed with Captain Cook, claimed "sea crawfish" as one of the greatest luxuries of New Zealand, and he wrote about how the Maori fo und them Juan Fernandez fishermen show offtheir crawfish catch. on the bottom by using their feet. When adventurer Thor Heyerdahl was sailing across the Pacific during the Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947, he also saw people catching spiny lobsters with their feet-the women of Easter Island were catching them at night using their toes.

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British mariners often wrote specifically of the spiny lobsters of the Juan Fernandez Islands. Visiting in the 17 40s, the Royal Navy commander Lord George Anson

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proclaimed these lobsters the best in the world, with individuals regularly weighing eight or nine pounds (a lobster at a restaurant today is normally berween one and one-and-a-half pounds.)

He wrote that so many lobsters lined the sea floor that when the sailors were maneuvering their boats on and off the beach, they couldn't help but stick the animals with their boat hooks.

A century later, Lieutenant Frederick Walpole of HMS Collingwood wrote about five-pound lobsters off the islands and of h ow much fun the crew had catching them while at anchor. Walpole wrote: "We had crawfish for breakfast, crawfish for dinner, crawfish for supper, and crawfish for any accidental meal we could cram in berween."

For some reason Daniel Defoe didn't have his character Crusoe eating sea crawfish, but

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HOL-DINb 6 66 S "Day after day he spent in fishing .. .catching lobsters, his favourite amusement, as they reLl\J~S \iJ vJj\"\~P-.. Jp minded him of the crawfish ofJuan Fernandez." / To .6 'SO t>E. tf-' Next issue: the passenger pigeon of Cape Horn.

For past "Animals in Sea History, " visit www. seahistory.org.

.SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS The USCG Barque Eagle will celebrate her 75th birthday this summer by paying a visit to the Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, the shipyard that built the ship in 1936. On 7 M ay, Eagle w ill sa il from her ho meport in New Lond o n, Co nnecticut, a nd se t a course across the No rth Ad a ntic for the first leg of her summer cadet trainin g prog ram . Under the comma nd of Capta in Eric Jo nes, Eagle will cross the A d a ntic a nd ma ke la nd fa ll at Wa terford , Irela nd (27-3 0 May), befo re heading to Ge rma ny.

The ship w ill visit Lo nd o n, E ngla nd , and Reykj av ik, Iceland, before heading back across the Ad antic. Th ey' ll ma ke a po rt stop at H ali fax, Nova Scoti a, a nd then sa il fo r Boston, a rriving o n 22 July. Other US po rt sto ps in cl ud e New Bedfo rd, MA, a nd New Yo rk. The three-m as ted ba rque Eagle is the o nly active squa re-rigger 111

US government service. USCG Academy cadets a re guid ed th ro ug h a rigorous curriculum des igned to develop skills in naviga tion, dam age control, wa tchstanding, engineerin g, and deck seamanship by a crew of six offi cers a nd 49 enli sted perso nnel. (Yo u ca n fo llow Eagle's voyage online by checkin g th e Academy's website for upd ates at www.uscga.edu.) ...

~

NMHS Overseer and president of US Sailing Gary Jobson was recently awarded the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Charles M. Leighton Award for Outstanding Service for 2010. 1his awa rd is presented to the individual who has m ade a significant difference in the lives of the m embers of the US Ol ympic a nd Para lympic Sailing Progra m. "No o ne does mo re to bring the stories of our athl etes out to the sailing publi c tha n Ga ry Jobson," said pas t US Sa iling executive director Charlie Leighton , for whom the award is named. " [O]ver the past yea r while giving 118 presentation s a round the country, he's always kept o ur athletes on the tip of hi s tongue."

USSTAG is m a naged by the U nited States Sa iling Association, the nati o nal governin g body fo r the spo rt of sa ilin g a nd sa ilboat racing. The to p-ran ked

"Mystery Whaler" Shipwreck Identified The "Mys tery Whaler" di scove red in August 2008 at French Fri gate Shoals in the Pacific by a team of NOAA arch aeologists has been iden tifi ed as the Nantucket whaler Two Brothers, whi ch wrecked on the reef at thi s remote atoll in 1823 (covered in Sea H istory 125, Winter 200 8-09). The Two Brothers was on e of three whaling ships known to h ave wrecked in the area in the 19th century. Dr. Kelly G leason , the m aritime archaeologist for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monum ent (PMNM) in H awaii , announced o n 11 February that phys ical evidence (arti fac ts) and scholarly research co nducted over th e las t three fi eld seaso ns has ruled o ut the likelihood of this site being the o ther rwo, which m et their end more th an three decades later. This particular whaler is no teworthy, in part, because of its at tachment to the fa mous whales hip Essex saga, reintroduced to American audiences by aurhor Nathani el Philbrick in his 2001 New York Times best-seller, In the H eart of the Sea. Wh en Captain G eorge Pollard Jr. return ed to Nantucket after hi s ordeal in Essex, he head ed back o ut to the Pacifi c as master of ano ther Nantu cket whaling ship, the Two Brothers. In an unbelievable case of bad luck, Pollard would lose his seco nd whaler in just over rwo yea rs when, on the night of 11 February 1823, th e Two Brothers struck a reef off French Frigate Shoals, now parr of the PMNM , and had to be aba nd o ned . H e and his crew we re lucky D r. Kelly Gleason and one offour nearly intact to be rescued rhe next m o rning by ano ther Nantucket whaling ship th at ¡ g b y. trypots Located at the Two Brothers wreck site. was pass 111 This ra re archaeological find is th e first discovery of a shipwrecked whaler from Nantucket. O nly a single American whaling vessel from th e Age of Sail has survived ; it is the N ational Histori c Landmark Charles W Morgan at M ys tic Seaport Museum in Co nn ecti cut (see arricle on pp. 16- 19) . The 2008 NOAA maritim e heritage team was led by Dr. Gleaso n to search for and document shipwreck sites at various locations within the PMN M . The Two Brothers was discovered in the las t days of the expeditio n w hen th e team discovered a large 19 th-century-period anchor on the seaflo or, tucked in the shallows of the reef. They went on to loca te three trypo ts, ano ther large ancho r, pieces of riggin g, hawsepipes, bri cks, etc. Subsequent expeditions in 2009 and 2010 resu lted in the discovery of m o re arti fac ts, incl uding blubber hooks, harpoo n tips, whaling lances, cas t-iron cooking pots, and cerami cs a nd glass. First-hand acco unts fro m Two Brothers crewmembers, including a description and approximate location of where the ship grounded, matches th e locati o n of this archaeo logical site. "Ve ry linle of the physical legacy of N antucket whaleships remains, so the exciting pros pects of marine archaeology are seemingly just beginning to open new windows into the whalin g pas t," sa id Nantucket Histo ri cal Association chief curato r, Ben Simon .

PM N M was designated as th e first mi xed (natural and cultural) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the U nited States in Jul y 2010. (www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/ mari tim e/rwobroth ersmedi a.hrml) 40

SE A HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

boats in each Olympic a nd Pa raly mpi c class are selected a nnuall y to be me mbers of the US Sa iling Team AlphaGraph ics. (http://home. ussailing.org) ... The History Department at University of Texas at Austin launched a new, interactive history website called "Not Even Past" on 10 January. Not Even Pas t (NEP) provides current hisrorical writing to a popular audience. The co ntent is wr it te n by the department's 60-person fac ulty with additio nal input from graduate students. The website includes book and film recommendations, video interviews , podcasts, commentary, and free virtual classes every semes ter. (www.notevenpas r.org) The Herreshoff Marine Museum and Mystic Seaport have announced that they have entered into an agreement in which the two museums will be officially affiliated. Both mu seums will continue to operate independendy with their ex isting asse ts, but w ill serve as resources to che other as needed. The H erres hoff Marine Museum (HMM) had recently appo inted D ye r Jones as its chief executive officer, taki ng over afte r the recent retirement of Halsey H erreshoff. Mr. H erreshoff was inducted into the A m erica's C up H all of Fame in September. In 1971 , A. Sidney DeWolf a nd Rebecca C hase Herreshoff fo unded the H erreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol , RI, o n the site of the former H erreshoff M a nufacturing Company, where hundreds of spectacular and record-sett ing yachts we re built, including eight consecutive defenders of the A merica's C up. In the fort y yea rs since then, their son, H alsey H erreshoff, was a driving forc e behind the growth of the museum. Halsey H erreshoff is the g randson of the legendary "Wizard of Bristol," Na thanael Greene H erreshoff, and is himself a nava l architect and marine engineer. A long with the late Edward duMoulin, he fo unded the Amer ica's C up H all of Fame in 1992. H erreshoff served o n many C up defenders of the 12-meter era, first as bowman on Columbia in 1958 and concludi ng as navigato r on L iberty in 1983. (Myst ic Seaport, POB 6000, 75 G reenmanville Avenue, Mystic, CT 06355; Ph . 860 572-5302; WWW. mys ticseaport.org. HM M, O ne Burnside Street, Bristol, RI 02809; Ph. 401 253-5000; www. h erres hoff.org ) SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

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At a time when a number of historic ships are either in dire need of a new home/owner or funds for restoration, the storied 45,000-ton battleship USS Iowa is being fought over between two non-profit groups in California, each seeking to acquire the ship for use as a floating museum. The Pacific Bat tl eship Center has submitted a proposa l to rhe US Navy to bring rhe warship to Sa n Pedro; rhe Hi storic Ships Memoria l at Pacific Squ a re organ ization is hoping rhe navy will transfer ownership ro t hem so they can bring the famou s battl es hip to Mare Island in Vallejo. USS Iowa (BB -61) was decommissioned fo r th e las t

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rime twenty years ago and has been mothba lled nor far from Va ll ejo in Suisun Bay, CA. In their proposa ls, each group cl aims they have th e fin a ncia l bac kin g to properly rake over stewa rdshi p of the vessel. Any decommissio ned naval ship tra nsferred to a civi lia n gro up must demon strate that they have the resources to transport the vessel and pay for conversio n to a museum ship and ongoing maintenance. So far, the US Navy has donated 47 ships to non-profit grou ps. USS Iowa was built in 1943 at the New York Navy Ya rd in Brooklyn, NY. . . . Applications for the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Summer Workshop for community college faculty are being accepted right now.

"United by W ater: Explorin g America n History through the Shipwrecks and Marit ime Landscapes of the Grear Lakes," a NEH Landmarks of American History and C ulture Workshop in Alpena , M ichigan, w ill be taught by Cathy Green from NOAA's Thunder Bay Na tiona l Marine Sanctuary and Dr. John Jensen, a maritime s tudies professo r with Sea Education Associat ion. Two one-week works hops, 17-23 July and 24-30 July 2011 , will

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 11

examine how the oceans, rivers, a nd G reat Lakes shaped American history. Lectures, fi eld trips, museum tours, and archival research are just som e of the activities planned. The workshop is hosted by A lpena Community C ollege and NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena. NEH Sum mer Scholars receive a $ 1,200 stipend for food, travel and lodging. (Applications, details, and all information is online at http ://www.alpenacc. edu/shipwrecks/. Questions should be sent to Cathy Green at cathy.green@noaa.gov.

For more information about NEH Landm arks in American History and C ulture Community College Workshops, visit http: //www. neh.gov/projecrs/landmarkscollege. html.)

The German n aval trai n ing sh ip Gorch Pock is sailing fo r h ome fro m Brazil with a relief capta in at the h elm after a series of scanda ls a nd t raged ies in recen t months. In Ja nuary, the German Navy relieved the ship's captain, C ommander Norbert

1944 US Army T-57, Laura B

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CRUISE ABOARD THE WWII LIBER1Y SHIP JOHN W BROW Schatz, from duty and began an investigation into a number of a llegations, including the circumstances leading up to the November death of 25-year-o ld Sara Lena Seele, who fell from aloft whi le the ship was in port at Salvador de Bah ia in Brazi l. Following Seele's death, h e r fe llow naval cadets refused orders to go aloft and Schatz had four flown bac k to Germ any on the gro unds of "mutiny a nd inciting the crew." Subsequently, the rest of the cadets were flown hom e. At first, reports were leaked th at the capta in blam ed the situatio n on the laziness and sedentary lifestyle of today's youth. Since th at time, the Germa n milita ry ha s started an investigation into a llegation s from tra inees of sexual harassment, bullying, death threats, and physica l and emotio n al intimid ation. The Gorch Fock departed Kiel on 20 August w ith 229 cadets o n board for a training m iss io n that wo uld ta ke them to So uth A m erica. Seele's death

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 11

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aboard Gorch Fock was the 2nd in two yea rs-a cadet drowned in September 200 8 when she fell overb oard whi le on wa tch in the Nort h Sea. ... The Naval Historical Foundation (NHF) is seeking applicants for the 2011 Teacher Fellowship Program. Secondary school teac hers of science, technology, engineering and math will wo rk in team s at the National M useum of rhe U nited States Navy in Washington, DC, during two sessions: 1122 Jul y and 25 July-5 Augusr. Fellows will receive a stipend of $2,000 and funds for documented travel expenses, up to $5 00, a re ava ilable. The NHF w ill arrange local acco mmodations. Deta il s online at www. histo ry. n avy. mil and click o n "Internships & Awa rds," or contact Dr. Dav id Wi nkler w ith questions: email ar nhfwny@navyhistory.org. Application deadline is 1 Ap ril.

In add ition, the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) has internships available for high school and college students (both undergraduate and graduate) in many divisions of its headquarters in Washingto n, D C. In addition to undertakin g histori ca l research, writing and editing, the N HHC operates the Navy Department Library, The Navy M useum, and maintains collections of naval archi ves, photographs, a rti facts, a nd art. Interns can rake on a wide variety of projects and tasks, depending on the individual's background and career goals and the needs of the NHHC. For in fo rm atio n, call 202 433-8200 or visit the NH H C website at www. history. navy. mil. For information on internships at o rher Navy Museums, call 202 433-6901 or email navymus eum@navy.m il.) ... Civil War History, the scholarly journal published by the Kent State University Press, has issued a Call for Papers for a special issue: "The Nature of War," to be out in spring 2012. Submiss ion deadline for articles is l April 2011. The journal, now in its six th decade, has a new editor as of Janua ry 2011 - Dr. Lesley J. Gordon, a hi story professor at the U ni versity of Akron. The special iss ue w ill be g uest edited

by M egan Kate Nelson , a lecturer in the Histor y a nd Literature Program at H arva rd U ni ve rsity, and w ill include essays addressing a variety of the C ivil Wa r's environmenra l histories and a histori ographical introd uction. Submi ssions on

any aspect of C ivil War environmenta l history including, bur not limited to, agriculture, forestry, flora and fa una , rive rine warfa re, disease, weather, and engineering proj ects are welcome. Dr. Gordon is the sixth editor of Civil War History. She succeeds William Blair of Pennsylvania State Un iversity. (Inquiri es on the special issue should be directed to Megan Kate N elson at: meganknelson @ fas.harvard.edu. Submission guidelines m ay be found at: http ://upress. kent.edu / journ als/CW H_guidelines.htm ; completed man uscripts should be sent directly to: Lesley J. Go rdon, Editor, Civil War H istory, Department of History, Un ive rsity of Akron, Akro n OH 44325; or email at civilwarhi story@uakron .edu.) . . . The US Coast Guard Academy will have the first woman superintendent of a military service academy at the helm

when classes convene next summer.

Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Bob Papp, has selected Rear Admiral Sandra L. Stosz, Coast Guard director of reserve and leadership, for the superintendent position. In her currenr position, Stosz is responsible for policy affec ting the recruitment and training of more than 8,000 Coast G uard reserve members. She has also co mm anded the USCG's only recruit training cenrer in Cape May, NJ. She will be the first and, to date, o nl y female commander to head any of the nation's fi ve military academies.

Under the leadership of the currenr superinrendent, Rear Admira l J. Scott Burhoe, th e Academy was ranked as a top college by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and ranked first in the northeas t by US News and World Report. Burhoe also improved the diversity

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

of the student body, doubling the percentage of minority admissions from 12 to 24% between 2008 and 2010. . . . USS Olympia at the Independence Seaport Museum (ISM) in Philadelphia is remaining open to the public, at least for the immediate future. The ship will be open on a reduced schedule throug h March while interim repairs are being made. While this does not remove the need for a major hull repair, the immediate repairs w ill allow the museum to continue to keep the ship open to the public.

In the meantime, ISM , along with the US Navy, National Park Service, and the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission is plan ning a summit to explore options for the ship. (ISM, Penn's Landing, 211 South Columbus Blvd. and Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106; www. phillyseaport.org)

OFF TO FIDDLER'S GREEN Thaddeus J. Koza (1940-2010) The call ship communi ty lost a good friend on 1 December 2010 when renowned marine photographer Thad Koza passed away in his hometown in Newport, Rhode Island after a brief battle with cancer. An English major from the University of Michigan (B.A. 1963) and Northwestern University (M.A. 1965), Koza began his career as an English teacher. In his 30s, he followed his passion for photography and adventure and started a new career as a professional photographer, specializing in tall ships. Over the next three decades, Thad's photographic portfolio wo uld include leading sailing and boating journals, including Sea History, and mainstream publications su ch as the New York Times and Boston Globe.

In addition to periodicals, Koza published photos in books, calendars, OpSail guides, and travel publications. Over the course of his career, he became an authority on classic and tall ships and was often sought out as a speaker at venues both as hore and at sea and for television coverage of tall ship news and events. His photo of Boa Esperanca even made it onto an Irish postal stamp. H e was a long-time m ember and supporter of both the National Maritime Historical Society and the American Sail Training Association.

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

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Voyage to Discovery

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oyage to Discovery, an educarional iniriarive by rhe National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, in par tnership wirh Murrain Associates, Inc., and rhe N ational Association of Black Scuba Divers, recendy launched rhe p rojecr's new websire (www.voyagetodiscovery.org), which highlighrs unrold srories of African-Americans and rhe sea. Aimed ar everyo ne from srudenrs to adulrs, rhe Voyage to D iscovery website fea tures srories, interviews, and videos about African-American seafaring achievements since the period of pre-Civil War to today.

Information about marine careers w ill also be available.

African-American seafarers h ave been an important sector of the nation's maritime labor fo rce since rhe eighteenth cenrury. From the 1740s to the 1860s, blacks shaped mariner culru re and the identity of free black com mun ities, and despite harsh working conditions, both free blacks and slaves fo und opportunity, dignity, and freedom as seamen. African-Am ericans worked as skippers and captains as well as w h alers, lobsrermen, fi shermen, and cooks. They also m an aged lighthouses, steered paddleboats and warships, alo ng with owning and ru nning seaside businesses and working as maritime artisans in port cities . The Undergro und Rai lroad used sh ips to spirit slaves to freedom, a nd black mariners helped shaped the identity of free black communities.

Voyage to Discovery as pires to bring rhe stories of these largely unheralded pioneers to the public's at rention, w ith additional outreach directed towa rd AfricanAmerican communities and students. A n important goal of the project is to locate and identify a shipwreck site thar bcsr illustrates the African-Am erican maritime experience and underscores notable seafaring achievements of the pas t and present.

Project archaeologists h ave begun resea rching potential historic shipw recks impo rtant to the AfricanA merican experience by inves tigating themes that relate to African-Americans at sea. Through a par tnership wi th the NOAA ONMS Maririme H eritage Program, NA BS divers have been trained by N OAA maritime arch aeologisrs in both diving and underwater archaeological methodology.

Among rhe people you will see profiled on the website: •Captain Absalom Boston, a free black born in 1785 who led an all-black crew aboard the whaling schooner Industry and amassed subsrantial real es tare holdings.

•Robert Smalls (pictured bottom right in collage), a slave who became a C ivil W ar hero in the U nion Navy and served as a congressman fro m South Carolina during Reconstruction.

•US Navy Rear Admiral Michelle Howard, commander of US N avy Expedirionary Strike Gro up 2, coordinared the fa mous rescue of Maersk A labama Captain Richard Phillips after his ship and crew were arracked by Som ali pirates in 2009. In 1999, Admiral H oward became rhe first African American woman to command a US Navy ship when sh e became captain of US S Rushmore (LSD-47).

Captain Absalom Boston (1785-1855)

Voyages to Discovery invites you to participate in the proj ect by sh aring yo ur stories, both contemp orary or fro m history, abour the African American maritime experience and its role in American history. For more information : emailinfo@voyagerodiscovery.org;www.voyagetodiscovery.org, or contact Bill Murrain at Murrain Associates, Inc., PO Box 82557, Conyers, GA 30013; Ph. 678 517-391 0. N OAA O NMS: http://sancruaries.noaa.gov/. National Associarion of Black Scuba D ivers: www.nabsdivers.org.

An additional partner on the Voyages to D iscovery project is Ken Stewart, cojounder ofthe Tennessee Aquatic Proj ect, an organization that introduces inner city youth to the marine world through swimAdmiral Michelle H oward, USN ming, scuba diving, marine environmental awareness, and career opportunities.

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

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AVAILABLE-Rare, original Nichol steam calliope Served aboard the Mississippi sternwheeler Washington .

Played first by Leslie Swanson in 1928, and continued aboard the Washington until she was decommissioned .

This instrument is a rare and unique antique and is available with a 15 HP Bryan propane boiler, 50 gallon propane bottle, pressure regulator, flexible piping , books (5" x 8" paper back) by Swanson about calliopes and several hundred calliope recordings. $105,000, buyer collects.

Contact Murphy, FAX 305-666-0501 Book & CD available, $50, pp.

SHIP MODEL BROKER - l will help you BUY, SELL, REPAIR, APPRAISE or COMMISSION a model ship or boat. www. FiddlersGreenModelShips.com.

Thousands of century-old ship postcards, ephemera- in San Francisco; Ph. 4 15 586-9386, kprag@planeteria.net.

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

Custom Ship Models Half Hulls. Free Caralog. Spencer, Box 1034, Q uakertown, PA 18951.

FREIGHTERCRUSS.COM. Mail ships, conrainerships, 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 - O ctober. Ph. 978 729-7600; www.SchoonerFame.com.

BOOKS SHIPS OF THE US MERCHANT FLEET and HISTORY OF ELECTRIC DRIVE FOR SHIPS by Capt. John A. Culver.

Model Kits of ships, rugs, CG Craft, lightships; caralog in www. jacmodel.net.

NEXT VOYAGE WILL BE DIFFERENT by Captain Thomas E. H enry. Accounrs from my 37 years at sea. Available through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Also, CRACKING HITLER'S ATLANTIC WALL. Call 772 287-5 603 (EST ) or e-mail: Arcome@aol. com fo r signed copies.

IT DIDN'T HAPPEN ON MY WATCH and SCUTTLEBUTT by George E. Murphy. Memoirs of fo rty-three years with United States Lines aboard cargo and passenger ships. Anecdotes of captai ns, chief engineers, crew members and the company office.

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

THE SMOOTH LOG by Arthur Randolph Murray. Memoirs of a mariner spanning rhe years from WWII to 195 5. Available thro ugh Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders Books.

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48

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIUMS

•Society of Professional Sailing Ship Masters Meeting, 11 March at Mysti c Seaport, Mysti c, CT. (D erails can be fo und th ro ugh the ASTA website: www. sa ilrraini ng.o rg/ even ts/S PSSM . ph p) •Mystic Seaport's 32nd Annual Symposium "Music of the Sea," 10- 11 June at the museum and at the Uni ve rsity of Connecticut at Avery Point. CALL FOR PAPERS deadline is 18 M arch. G raduate students encouraged to apply. Email Dr. Glenn Go rdinier at glenn. gordini er@m ys ricseaporr.org. (www.mys ri cseaporr. o rg) •"Maritime, Migration and Tourism History at Crossroads: Global Maritime Networks and Their Impact on the Movement of People," The 6 th Conference of the International Ma ritime Economic Histo ry Association , 2-6 July 201 2 in Belgium. CALL FOR PAPERS deadlin e is 2 1 March 2011. (Information: www. imeha201 2. ugent.be. Po ten rial presenters should send an abstract and sho rt CV to Torsten Feys at To rsten.Feys@UGenr.be) •"New Researchers in Maritime History Conference," 11 - 12 M arch at the University of Hull, UK. (Co ntact Rachel Mulhearn, Merseyside Maritime M use um, Albert D ock, Live rpoo l L3 4AQ, UK; www.maritimehistory.o rg.uk) •"Sea Literature, History and Culture," the 2011 Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations , 20- 23 April in San Antonio, T X. (www.pcaaca. org) •North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) Annual Conference, 12-15 May, Old Dominion U niversity in No rfolk, VA. Conference them e: "M aritime History Research at the Beginning of the 2 1st Century." (www. nasoh. o rg) •Council of American Maritime Museums Annual Meeting, 28-3 0 April in Sa nta Barbara, CA. (CAMM , www.councilofamericanmaritimemuseums.org) •"Exploring Empire: Sir Joseph Banks, India and the 'Great Pacific Ocean'Science, Travel, Trade & Culture 17681820," 24-25 June. Organized joindy

by Nottingh am Trent Unive rsity and the National M ari time Museum , G reenwich, London, U K. (www.nmm.ac. uk/researchers/ conferences-and-seminars/ cfpbanks) •"Horizons of Change: The Unexpected, Unknown, and Unforgettable," annual

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

meeting of the Am erican Historical Association- Pacifi c Coast Branch, 11-1 3 August in Seattle, WA. (http: //pcb.cgu. edu/ co nference. h rm) •2011 McMullen Naval History Symposium, hosted by the History Dept. of the US Naval Academy, 15- 16 September 2011 in Annapolis, MD. (www.usna. edu/History/sympos ium.htm) • "Rustbuckets or Floating HeritageCorrosion of Historic Ships," 5-8 Seprem ber 2011 in Stockholm (Sweden) and Mari ehamn (Aland, Finland). Deadline for registration is 1 May. D iscounts for registering before 15 M arch. (Information available ac: Rusrbuckers 2011 , Aland Maritime Museum , PB 98, AX-22101 Mariehamn , Aland , Finland ; www.sjofa rrsmuseum .ax; and Rusrbuckets 2011 , Vasa museet, Box 27 13 1, SE- 10252 Stockholm , Sweden; www.maritim a.se) FESTIVALS, EvENTS, LECTURES, ETC.

•Maine Boatbuilders Show, 18-19 M arch at the Pordand Company Compl ex, a.k.a. Pord and Yacht Servi ces. (58 fo re Sr. , Pordand , ME 04 101 ; Ph . 207 775-4403; www.pordandcompany.co m) • "The Azores: From Whaler's Refuge to Sailor's Destination" with Vi cto r Pinheiro, 23 March at th e New Bedford Whaling Museum . Pinheiro is pres ident of the Azo rea n M aritime H eritage Society. Also at the museum , Scrimshaw Weekend, 13-15 May (Schedul e and registration at: www.whalingmuseum .o rg; Ph . 508 997-0046 x lOO . Student scholarships are availabl e: co ntac t Dr. Stuart Frank, Se nio r C urato r, stuart.m .frank@ve ri zo n. net. N BWM , 18 Johnny Cake Hill , New Bedford, MA 02740; Ph. 508 997-0046; www. wh alin gmuseum .org) • "The Golden Pastime: Icons of Classic Yachting," a lecture by author/yachtsman John Rousmaniere, 24 M arch at th e H erreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, Rl. (For more info or reservations, email events@herreshoff.org; HMM, One Burnside Sr. , POB 45 0, Bristol , Rl 02809; Ph . 401 253-5000; www.herreshoff. org) • "Sounds of the Sea," a presentation by Marty Klein, found er of Klein Associates, and Kurt Hasselbalch , curator of MIT Museum's H art Nautical Collection, 2-3PM on 16 April at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum (MIT

Museum , Bldg. N5 1, 365 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02 139; Ph. 61 7 253-5927; http: //web.mit.edu/museum/) •Boothbay Fishermen's Festival, 22-24 April in Boothbay H arbor, M E. (Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Co mmerce, 192 Townsend Ave. , POB 356, Boothbay H arbor, M E 04538; Ph. 207 633-2353; www. boo rhbayharbor. com) •Charleston Harbor Fest, 12- 15 M ay in South Carolina (www.charlestonmaritimefestival. com) •2011 Maritime Tattoo Festival, 2 1-23 M ay in H alifax, Nova Scotia. (www. maritimetattoofesrival. com) •32nd Annual Sea Music Festival, 9- 12 June at Mys tic Seaport in Co nn ecticut (www. mysticseaporr. org) EXHIBITS

•Building Better Ships: Featuring the Paintings o/Thomas C. Skinner, through 11 March; and Endangered Species: Ulatermen of the Chesapeake, thro ugh 11 May at the Mariners' Museum. (100 Museum Dr. , Newport News, VA; Ph. 757 596-2222; www.marinersmuseum. org) • '1mages from The Atlantic Fisherman,'' through 3 1 March at 1he Ma ine G rind at 192 Main Street in Ellsworth, ME. C reated by the Penobscot Marin e Museum. (www. mainegrind .co m; PMM, 5 C hurch Stree t, POB 498, Sea rsport, M E 04974; Ph. 207 548-2529; www. penobscotmarinemuseum. org) •Whale Magic: Images by Doc White, now at the M aritime Museum of San Diego (1492 No rth H arbor Dr. , San Diego, CA 92 101 ; www.sdmaririme.org) •Written on the Ulaves: Shipboard Logs and]ournals, through 1October 201 2 at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM, East Indi a Square, 16 1 Essex Sr., Salem, MA 01 970; 978 745-95 00 ; www. pem. org) •Fiery Pool: Maya and the Mythic Sea, thro ugh 8 M ay 2011 at the Sr. Loui s Art Museum . This is a traveling exhibit created by the Peabody Essex M useum . (St. Louis Arr Museum , One Fine Arts Drive, Fo res t Park, Sr. Loui s, MO 63 110; Ph .

3 14 72 1-0072; www.slam.org) •From Prey to Protection, through 5 September at the Co ld Spring H arbor W haling Museum on Long Island. (CSHWM , 279 Main Street, Cold Spring H arbor, NY 11 724; Ph. 63 1 367-34 18)

49

MARITIME HISTORY ON THE INTERNET

by Peter McCracken

Managing Your Bibliographic Data Online

I

f you have amassed a large collection of books, magazines, and other items related to maritime history (or any other subj ect), yo u may be looking for ways to manage all those i rems. Ir's now possible to catalogue yo ur own collection, share that catalogue with people aro und the wo rld, and then find others with similar interests and collections. When these online services first began, many of them were doing very different things, but as each expanded its fun ctionali ty, they have grown closer and closer to the best aspects of each other's services. The one yo u'llwantto choosewilldependon which particular core activity is of greatest interest to you. You'll li kely find that each company may be sufficiently good to do the other activities, too-and if not today, then perhaps tomorrow.

For managing a collection of princ materials, the granddaddy of them all is a service called LibraryThing (http://librarything. com ; commonly ab breviated as "LT") . LT offers a free account fo r up ro 200 books, then it costs just $ 10 per year, or $25 for a lifetime membership. You create a complete catalogue of the tides yo u own by searching for each book in the LT collection, plus nearly 700 other collections. You can then add any kinds of tags you wane to each book, such as "whaling," "schooners," "to sell," "to read," or "shelf 12, left side."

The brilliance of LT can be seen through rhe impressive dara wrangling the folks ar LT offer; yo u can compare your library to the resr of the LT universe and discover which users have the mosr similar collections. (You can also keep yo ur library private, if you don't wanr others ro see whar yo u own.) If yo u've been rating yo ur books, you can in rum ger reco mmendations of other books yo u might enjoy, based on the ratings given by fo lks who liked rhe books yo u like. In addition ro ratings, LT users can review books, discuss books, receive pre-publication books, look at other users' collections, and much more. Some libraries use LT, including rhe libraries ar rhe Los Angeles Maritime Museum and the Alexandria Seaport Foundation.

Mendeley (http://mendeley.com) is a much newer tool; it's similar to LT, but focuses on helping individuals (primarily researchers) m anage their collections of scholarly journal articles.

It creates a social community that can help people discover others with similar incerests. The social networki ng aspects of M endeley and LibraryThing make them quite differenc from citation

management tools, which include Zotero (http:/ /zotero.com) and many others. Zorero only works with the Firefox web browser; it is a very effective way of organizing and managing references but without the soci al aspects.

For those primarily interested in reviewing and discussing books with others, Good.Reads (http://goodreads.com) creates a commu ni ty in which friends share their "bibliopinions" with each other. Participants note what books they're reading, what they've read, and what they think of those books, and then those comments are shared with their onlinecommunity. Ifyou rate books as you read them, GoodReads can generate suggestions of other books you might like, though of course the written opinions of people you trust is likely to be more useful than an algo rithmic determination based on only the books yo u've added. GoodReads sends yo u regular emai ls with updates from friends , and yo u can also post yo ur opinions ro yo ur Facebook or Twitter accouncs. GoodReads is free and supported by advertising, though it's generally book-related.

Copia (http://thecopia.com) is a brand-new service that tries to bring together all of rhe above, and much more. Copia offers an online reader community, bur also offers downloadable iPad and desktop apps, so yo u can annotate rexr as yo u're reading.

Unlike any of rhe sires mentioned above, you can buy your ebooks through Copia, as well. The desktop readers are free, as is membership, bur of course the ebooks are not. In facr, ebooks that are free elsewhere (for example, Moby-Dick) cost money when purchased through Copia. Originally, Copia was going to offer portable ebook readers-similar to rhe familiar Nook and Kindle-as well, but rhar seems ro have been shelved, at least for the time being.

Each service is constantly expanding irs offerings, and each service is overlapping others more and more. The strength of social networking is in its size; rhe "network effect" means that only a handful of sites will li kely grow to maturity. But whichever sire(s) yo u choose, yo u'll find thar rhe act of cataloguing yo ur books can help you discover all kinds of unexpected connections with other readers aro und the globe.

Suggestions for other sites worth mentioning are welcome at peter@shipindex.org. See http://www.shipindex.org for a free compilation of over 140,000 ship names from indexes to dozens of books and journals. ,!,

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SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

Reviews Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 by D . M. Giangreco (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2009, 4 16pp, illus, maps, appen, no tes, index, ISBN 978- 15911 -43 16- 1; $36.95hc) One of th e greatest "What Ifs" in histo ry concerns the end of the Seco nd W orld War and the pro posed Am erican invasion of Japan . Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of j apan, 1945-1947 is no t counter-factual history but uses primary source material to lay o ut what bo th the Japanese and Allied high commands

expected to incur with a full-fl edged invasion of the H om e Islands. The read er will be captivated by the back-and-forth between the two sides as the author plays out the invasion and compares the Allied offensive plans with Japanese defensive preparations.

Giangreco's work adds to the growing literature on this topic, including Richard Frank's Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (1999) and Tho mas Allen and Norman Polmar's Code-Name Downfall: The Secret Plan To Invade Jap an- And Why Truman D ropped the Bomb (1 995).

W here Hell to Pay makes new inroads is the use of primary source m a terial from both American and Japanese sources and weaving the story of the invasion into the larger context of the global n ature of the Second World War. These insights include an in-depth analysis of American casualry figures in the year leading up to th e expected invasion, and then projected losses as a result of the invas ion . During the peak of SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2 011

fighting in 1944-45, the US Ar my alo ne was losing an average of 65,000 soldiers killed, wounded o r missing each m o nth, necessitating an increase in the call-up of draftees . Additionally, the war in Euro pe and the final stra tegy by the wes tern Al lies not to push o n to Berlin is seen in a new light, as the need to pull American troo ps out of Europe and shift them to the Pacific.

Perhaps the most chilling revelatio n has to deal with proj ected casual ti es and losses. D. M . G iangreco details the surge in medical capaciry in the Pacific to deal with these contingencies .

Ir is the attention to details that separates Hell to Pay from previous wo rks. The autho r examines the effort to tran sport the US First Army from Europe to the Pacific, drawing parallels with Japa nese efforts to successfull y redeploy the Kwantung Army from China, notwithstanding the American ae rial and submarine blockade of the Home Island. W hile the Americans planned to storm ashore on beaches nam ed for major automakers, the Japanese correctly estimated the proposed landing sites o n the islands of Kyushu (O peratio n O lympic).

The image of carnage on O m aha Beach would have paled in comparison to those of Beaches Ford, Chevrolet, and Plymouth.

The latter landing o n H o nshu (O peration Coronet) seem s even grimmer. American plans involved the use of two armored divisions, transferred from Europe, staging a breakout and surrounding the capital of Tokyo. Yet, none of the 5,000 road bridges in Japan could handle any vehicle the size or weight of not only American tanks, bur m ost trucks-an oversight by the planners that could have spelled disaster in 1946.

Hell to Pay provides a unique insight into the closing days of the Second Wo rld War. W hile the focus is on the Americans and Japanese, and there is little m ention of the role of the British or Soviets, projected uses of atomic weapons and American and Japanese plans are closely examined . W ith extensive m aps, endnotes, and a detailed appendix, D. M. G iangreco provides an excellent addition to the historiography on the subject fo r both the professional and the enthusiast.

SALVATORE M ERCO GL!ANO, PttD Campbell Universiry Buies C reek, No rth Carolina

Iron Ore Transport on the Great Lakes: The Development of a Delivery System to Feed American Industry by W. Bruce Bowlus (McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 2010, 272pp, photos, bi blio, notes, index, ISBN 978-0-7864-3326-1; $45pb) In merchant shi pping cargo is king, and o n the Great Lakes the most impo rtant cargo is iron o re. In this detailed academic study, Great Lakes historian W. Bruce Bowlus examines the development of the maritime tra nsportatio n system that fed the American steel industry. In particular, Bowlus is concerned with Lake Superio r and the Soo Locks that con nected this lake Historic , antique U.S. , ¡ Coast Survey maps ~ from the 180 0s Original lithographs , most American seaports and shores.

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51

with its eas tern counterparts, and po rts like M arquette o n Michigan's U pper Peninsul a.

Bowlus begins with a brief histo rical ove rvi ew that takes the reader through to the 1840s, when American settlement and development of rhe shores of Lake Superior commenced. The author carefull y pl aces hi s story within the large r co ntex t of Am eri can history, such as rhe growing divide between Southerners and No rtherners. Congressmen from rhe South o pposed spending federal tax money o n G reat Lakes proj ects that they saw as only benefirring regional interes ts. He also looks to technological developments such as the ad vent of th e steam engine and evolving iron and steel producti o n methods. In so doing, Bowlus is also careful to explain the ro le of sailing vessels o n tl1 e Grear Lakes during rhe antebellum period. H e provides especial ly good insight into rhe rapid development of the maritime infrasrrucrure rhar suppo rred G reat Lakes trade, such as canals. H e makes a good case in explaining char rhe lack of interest in developing the mineral deposits known to exist around Lake Superior was due to the remo teness and expense of rranspo rrari o n. The Sr. M ary's falls rhat connected Lake Superior to Lake Michiga n we re an eighteen-foot drop rhar prevented large r vessels from passing back and forth . N umero us diffi culties had to be overcome before engin eers com pieced a majo r canal in 1855.

This seeming breakthrough presented a new set of problems to rhe companies attempted to rake advantage of Lake Superior's commercial potential, es pecially the iron mining companies of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

In particular rhe loading process was too slow, often raking four days to load a mere 300 tons a fore. Special docks were developed thar allowed o re robe stored in packers m ar could feed directly into a vessel's hold, a process char could be com pieced in mere hours.

The story wends its way th ro ugh the C ivi l Wa r, which created a greater dema nd for iron a nd steel, and the increasing mechanization of rhe transportation process, with steamers increasingly replacing schooners, including the development of the first vessel designed specifi ca lly fo r the ore trade, the R.j. Hackett, launched in 1869. Posrbellum Congresses also proved more interested in supporting the la kes' maritime infras tructure, fundin g ca nal locks and dredgin g as never before. A look ar the technological 52

improve ments in unloadin g ships, such as rhe early stea m-powered "whirleys," demonstrates that with changing technology cam e cha ng ing anxieties among workers, who increas ingly sought to unioni ze rhe Lakes. The book moves on to rhe heroic period of G reat La kes shipping and rhe steel industry, includingAlexa nder M cDougall 's innovative rurdebacks, rhe m assive Hullett unloaders, rhe opening of the rem arkably pro ductive Mesabi R ange in M innesota, and the emrance of business giants like Andrew Ca rnegie a nd J.P. Morga n. Bowlus concludes w ith a look at this industry in the early twentieth century, a period when shipp ing was standardi zed to conform to the needs of the sreel industry, the cha nges and decline rhat ca me after rhe Second Wo rld W ar, and the growi nge nvironmental concern fo r the Lakes.

This book is a fi ne example of an academic monograph . Ir is well-resea rched and organized, and rhe author's a rgument about the symbiotic process of development as opposed to a heroic approach rhat emphasizes one individual or industry is well taken. The im ages are appropriate a nd useful to understa nding rh e tex r, which is stra ightfo rwa rd and ja rgo n-free. Ye t at rhe end of the day it is an academic monograph, a nd not written with a popular audience in mind. The publishers ackn owled ge its intended ma rker by pricing it at a steep $45 for a soft-cover book, a price clea rly designed for rhe library m arker. H owever, for scholars attempting to understa nd rhe development of G reat Lakes shipping, and more especially irs infras rrucrure, chis thorough account provides a mea ningfu I com exr and analysis, and the author sho uld be commended for chis ve ry solid contribution to the g rowing corpus of G reat Lakes history.

JosHUA M. SMITH, PttD US M ercha nt M arine Academy Kin gs Point, New York The Power ofthe Sea: Tsunamis, Storm Surges, Rogue Waves, and O ur Quest to Predict D isasters by Bruce Pa rker (Palgrave M acmilla n, New York, 2010 , 292pp, fi gures, notes, ind ex, ISB 978-0-230-61637- 0; $28hc) "If we could have predicted that on 26 D ecember 2004, a tsun ami would strike the coasts of the Indian O cean, 300,000 lives would not have been lost in twelve nations," claims oceanographer Bruce Parker

in his new book, The Power of the Sea. A former chief scientist with the Nation al O cea nic a nd Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Dr. Pa rker draws on the wea lth of information a nd k nowledgeable personnel within NOAA in his engaging srud y of the disasters that arise from the sea. He analyzes efforts to mu re the impac t of tsunamis and other threats to humans through prediction, including rhe use of early wa rning systems develop ed by N OAA and ochers.

H e stares char prediction is rhe very essence of science, since we do not believe scientific theories unless they ca n predict specific phenom ena.

The prediction of ocean phenom ena began with the tides. The development of reliable tide tables and predictions of rides could mea n success or failure in mi lita ry operations waged by Alexander rhe G rear in Ind ia in 325 BC , N apoleon in Egy pt in 1798, and Eisenhower at Normandy in 1944. Those same predictors are esse ntia l for shipping, a nd, in some cases, survival; tidal bores have brought many seafarers to a disastrou s end. The Chinese understood rhe relationship of rhe ride ro rhe ph ases of the moo n as early as rhe 2nd century BC. Today, there a re only two large tid a l bo res (about 25 fee t)-on the Qianta ng Ri ver and rhe A mazo n River.

The sea's greates t killer ashore is storm surge, and rhe numbers a re staggerin g. Adva nces in forecasting provide a reason able wa rnin g period and can predict the path of a hurricane and its resultin g storm surge, but this information has to be impl em ented in a res ponse plan to ameliorate the destructive consequences.

For in stance, m ereorologisrs at NOAA's N atio na l Hurricane Center predicted rhe path of Hurrican e Katrina four days before it hie la nd , just east of N ew Orleans on 29 August 200 5, bur chis did nor prevent the ca rn age caused by the coas tal storm surges char reached as h igh as 28 feet. The author suppo rts the conclusion rh ar rhe impact of Katrin a was th e resulr of the "government's i nadequare prep aration for and response to this predicted narural ca la mity."

The range of this work is an appea lin g fea ture. The impact of the sea on historica l events is insightful, as a re the discussio ns of e fforts to pred icr the behavior of the s e a and related atmospheric conditions. They provid e a fram ework SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 20 11

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SEA HISTORY 134, SPRJNG 20 11

In 1958, a 623-fo ot limestone carrier-caught in one of the most violent • storms in Lake Michigan history-broke in two and sank in less than five minutes. This reco nstruction of the terrible acc ident, pe ril ous sea rch, and chill ing aftermath will captivate audi ences .

"Schu macher . . cover[s) the ship's shaky state, the harrowing wreck and risky resc ue with assurance and clari ty.... By profili ng the Ca rl D'.s crew and detailing th eir lives ... [he] gives a human face to the tragedy, infusing the book with d ra matic substance to match the riveting narrative'. ' -Publishers Weekly paperback $ 19.95

800-842-6796 iupress.indiana.edu

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

160 years

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By Kurt D. Voss A new p ictorial history tells the amazing story of one ofAmerica :S fin est maritime restorations.

Pub li shed by Arcad ia Publi shing and Galveston Hi storica l Foundation $2 1.99. 128 pages, 200 photographs A utographed copi es ava il abl e at (409) 763- 1877, or on li ne at:

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Books about the Sea, Ship & Sailor Catalogue Upon Request 54

House for the fin al debates. Sovereignty at Sea blends together military, diplomatic, social, and m aritime history into a concise narrative that is well documented with primary sources and supported with num erous charts and illustrations.

Both the average and well-versed reader on the subject w ill be surprised by many of the events. For example, two months before Wilson's famous declaration of war speech to Congress, and shortly after Germany's announcement unleashing their Uboats against American ships, the president laid our his d esire for peace to Congress and cited what would lead him to ask for a declaration of war. These factors included the destruction of American ships, the loss of American lives, and any other overt acts against the U nited States. This statem ent, along with other evid ence, leads Carlisle to identify the loss of the ten merchant ships TIMOTHY J. R UNYAN Maritime H eritage Program, NOAA and twenty-four crewmen to be th e true and East Carolina University casus beLLi for America's declaration of war, Greenville, North Carolina thereby providing a just war doctrine, more so than the German overtures to Mexico.

Sovereignty at Sea: US M erchant Ships and Ironi cally, President Wilson appears as the American Entry into World ~r I by Rodney greatest victim in the tragedy of early 191 7.

Carlisle (Univ. Press of Florida, Gainesville, His "ago ny," according to Carlisle, comes 2009, 232pp, illus, appen, notes, index, ISBN through on th e pages, including utilizing the principles of Sr. Augustine to justify 978-0-8130-3420-1; $69.95hc) Rodn ey Ca rli sle, who previously his decision to propose war to Congress. looked at the decline of th e American W hile W ilson did nor specifically mention m ari time fleer in Sovereignty for Sa fe: The the loss of individual vessels, as he feared the Origins and Evolution of the Panamanian small loss of life seemed our of proportion and Liberian Flags of Convenience (1981), for what he was preparing to underrake, it picks up with the US m erchant m arine is evident from rhe sources provided that under arrack in Sovereignty at Sea: US they were instrumental in his decision.

While Wilso n's decision was controMerchant Ships and American Entry into World ~r !. Fro m February 2 to April 4, versial, in its ep ilogue, Sovereignty at Sea 1917, ten American merchant ships were demonstrates the lessons learned from this lost to German attacks and it was these episode and how it influenced American assaults and nor the attempt to elicit the neutrali ty laws during the inter-war period support of Mexico that led to American and influenced American policy in the years intervention in the Grear War, and subse- leading up to the Second Wo rld War. In addition, the issues raised by the events of quen rly defeat for the Central Powers.

Carlisle develops a system atic ap- early 19 17 fueled the development of flags proach to the declaration of war, enacted of convenien ce to avoid entangling nations'

by Congress and President Woodrow W ilso n maritime Bee rs in world struggles. Rodney on 6 April 191 7. His narrative rakes the Carlisle's Sovereignty at Sea fill s a crucial reader to Pless Castle in Silesia for the de- void in rhe First World War historiography Ii berarions of the Kaiser and his war cabinet in understanding how the United States concerni ng the resumption of unrestricted cam e to enter the conflict and subsequentl y submarine warfare, o n board the SS lhgi- em erge as a s uperpower.

Lancia, the first American ship deliberately SALVATORE MERCOGLIANO, PHD sunk by the Germans without warning, Campbell Uni versity and to rhe halls of Congress and the White Buies C reek, North Carolina to examine contemporary issues rangi ng from El Nino to global warming and sea level rise. Bur the subject, li ke the sea itself, is huge, a nd the need for information is critical, as nea rly half the world's population lives near the coast and most of the world 's goods are transpo rted by ship. In 1991, the intern ational Globa l Ocean Observing Sys rem (GOOS) was created . When fully implemented it will be a permanent integrated real-rime observ ing system. The author embraces GOOS as the way forward a nd the key to generating rhe informatio n necessa ry to solving the mys teries of the sea as well as predicting its behavior.

This is a fascin ating book fro m a scientist who ap preciates history and uses human stories to breathe life into his study.

H e had m e at rhe introduction, "When the Sea Turns Against Us."

SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, H eroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a vast Ocean of a M illion Stories by Simo n Winchester (H arper Collins, New York, 2010, 495pp, illus maps, gloss, biblio , index; ISBN 9780-06-170258-7; $27.99hc) In his earli er works, best-selling author Simon Winchester has tackled vo lcano es in Krakatoa (2003) , earthquakes in A Crack in the Edge ofthe World (2005) , and carto graphy in The Map that Changed the World (2 001 ). He is a former geo logist, which m akes these topics right up his alley. In this latest book he bit off, perhaps , more than he co uld chew.

A million sto ries? How does one cover a million stories, or even a hundred tales, in one book? I have always been in awe of historians who pull off in a single volume coherent histories of entire civilizations or parts of the world across centuries of time. How do they decide wh at to include and what to leave out? As pleasant as it mi ght be to read Winchester's prose, it's hard ro find any meaningful structure in this latest book. He did it to himself by not only choosing an exceedingly broad topic, but also not even narrowing the fi eld through which he examined it. H istory, geology, oceanograp h y, folklore , literature, weather. ... No discipline is excluded .

It is about everything, so , in a way, it is about nothing--o r at least nothing I do n't have other books o n already.

This is a light book abo ut a topic in which most readers of Sea History naturally have an interest. H arper Collins is no sm all company, and th ey wisely released the book last fall , just in time for holiday shopping. I am a voracious reader of maritime fiction and non-fiction, not to m ention I spent a fair am o unt of my life sailing along the west side of the Atlantic-so guess what I got from my mo ther-in-law fo r C hristmas? I also got a copy from my co-worker, not to mention the book sent to me for a pre-arranged review in Sea History. H ad I not received three free copies this wi nter ro read by the fire through all these snowstorms, would I have sh elled out the $28 to buy it myself? Absolutely. I can't help myself If yo u are looking for a history book that fo llows a particular hypoth esis and draws a concl usion at the end, then this is not the book for you. If yo u ap preciate a SEA HISTORY 134, SPRING 2011

book yo u can pick up and put down again, witho ut having to remember where you last lefr off; if yo u have a collection of books on yo ur shelves covering a wide range of maritime topics- including anthologies; if yo ur birthday is coming up and yo ur spouse can't think of what to get for yo u, then this is a great choice. It isn't all it could be, but it certainly can provide a pleasant distraction next time they forecast another "storm of the century."

MATTHEW

J. DAWSON

Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and The Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier

by John Laurence Busch (Hodos Hisroria LLC, New Canaan, CT, 20 10, 726pp, illus, maps, notes, appen, biblio, index, ISBN 978- 1-893616-00-4; $35hc) Steam Coffin details early effons to expand the application of steam power from coastal and river routes to transocean ic travel. Because author John Laurence Busch omits nothing remotely connected to the creation and operation of the steam ship Savannah (73 pages of notes!) , Steam Coffin is a social, political, financial, econom ic, technological, and diplomatic history of the early American National period.

Moses Rogers, a remarkable individ ual, saw in steam power the capacity to supplem ent wind power and make oceanic travel reliable and predictable. In the years

afte r the War of 1812, shippers experimented with scheduled departures, but nature still determined arrivals. Steamboats became an alternative to sailing vessels in the coastal and river trade, but their reputation of stoppages and explosions suppo rted doubters who predicted a dim future fo r steam power on water.

Rogers antici pated technological improvements in engine design, construction, installation, and operation that wo uld, in rime, enable ships to cross oceans without wind power. But until those developments, steam power coupled with wind power could improve the efficiency and speed of crossings. Rogers's goal in 1819 was simply to prove he was right.

Ro gers invested his own m o ney, expertise, and reputation in rhe project to construct a transoceanic steam ship. Once the Savannah was launched and tested, Rogers commanded her through good seas and bad from Savannah , Georgia, to St. Petersburg, Russia, and back. Rogers and Savannah broke the barrier and showed the wo rld that a steam-powered vessel could traverse the Atlantic.

Busch sets out the odyssey with the support of beautiful maps and illustrations of many of the people and places Savannah encountered on its adventure. The book, manufactured to high standards, is wo rth the purchase price and the time to read it.

DR. DAVID

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Auburn, Alabama

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C.

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W I LLIAM E . W OOD

SEA HI STORY 134, SPRlNG 2011

••.... ...... ,,,, ,,,,,__

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• • • /II I • •, ,

1 11111

'''"••

1111

In all of travel, only one voyage reigns above all The Transatlantic Crossing aboard

Q1J EEN MARY 2®

East and Westbound 7-Day Crossings From APRIL to DECEMBER 2011

ALTO UR

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Call 212-897-5145/5154 to plan your adventure today. ' Fares are per person, based on double occupancy, voyage only, subject to availability, capacity controlled. Call the above agency for more details. Fares shown include a fuel supplement of $6.00 per day (up to a maximum of $200.00) for all passengers who have booked on or after 31 December 2010 for voyages departing on or after 14 April 2011. This fuel supplement amount is subject to change even if the fare has already been paid in full. Government fees and taxes are additional. Air add-ons are available. See applicable Cunard brochure for terms, conditions, and definitions that apply to all reservations. Other restrictions may apply. ©2011 Cunard. Ships registry: Great Britain.

Classic Crossing

Grand Baltic Journey

9 nights, Jul 3 - 12, 2011

21 nights, Jul 12 - Aug 2, 2011

Rotterdam • So uth ampto n New York • Excl usive lectures by hist ori an Bill Mil ler. art ist Steph en Ca rd & nava l architect Stephen Payne • Exclu sive Maritim e Mu seum to ur in Southampton • Optional pre-c ruise stay at th e Rotterdam V w ith pr ivat e tour • Exclusive •so shipboard credit & Pinnacl e Grill Lunch '

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per person •

South America Odyssey

Voyage from Rome

21 nights, Oct 16 - Nov 6 , 2011

20 nights, Nov 7 - 27, 2011

New York • Fo rt Lauderda le Santa Marta • San Bla s Islands Panama Ca nal Transit Fu erte A m ad o r (ove rn ig ht) Manta • Gu ayaquil • Salave rry Ca ll ao/Lim a (overnig ht) Gene ral San Martin/ Pi sco Coquimbo/ La Serena Va lparaiso/ Santi ago

Civitavecch ia/ Rome La Spez ia • St. Tropez Barcelona • Va lenc ia Cadiz/ Seville (overnight) Casab lanca • Agad ir Puerto del Rosario San Sebasti an de la Gomera Ha lf Moon Ca y Fort Laude rda le

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Brad Hatry 212.265.8420 ext. 222 or 800.729.7472 ext. 222 brad@pisabrothers.com

' fares are per person. cruise only, based on double occupancy, include non-discountable amounts, andaresubject to change. Government fees &Taxes areadditional. fuel supplement has beensuspended. Holland America Line reserves theright toreinstate the fuel supplement for all guests at up to $9 per person per day if the NYMEX oil price exceeds $70 per barrel. Any applicableshipboard credit andamenities arefor two guests. Pisa Brothers Travel strongly recommends the purchaseof travel insurance.

We reserve the right to correct errors and omissions. Offers arecapacity controlled and may not be combinablewithother offersor discounts. for completetermsand conditionscontact Pisa BrothersTravel. Ship'sRegistry: The Netherlands