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
AMERICAN MARINE SUPPLY QUALITY BOATING EQUIPMENT SUPPLIES AND ACCESSORIES ANCHORING • ELECTRICAL • HARDWARE • PLUMBING SAFETY EQUIPMENT • NAVIGATION SUPPLIES • TRAILER ACCESSORIES WATER SPORTS SUPPLIES • AND MUCH MORE American Marine Supply, a division of American Boat Captains, LLC, proudly offers our boating equipment and marine products to both the recreational and commercial boating communities. We are purveyors of fine quality marine equipment and supplies.
Exceptional Customer Service
~ .
VISA"
Shop Online or Contact Us Today www.AmericanMarineSupply.com • (610) 272-1064 6
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