LETTERS Our Letters section this issue is dedicated to the public outcry at the threat facing too many ofour important historic ships and the institutions that support them as this issue ofSea History goes to press. In his Op-Ed piece (see pages 8-9), NMHS President Emeritus Peter Stanford fills us in on the current state ofthe South Street Seaport Museum's situation and about a grassroots movement underway to address the problem. We are printing a sampling ofletters written by leaders in the maritime community to New Yo rk's Mayo r Michael Bloomberg and to the volunteers at South Street to affirm the role that people, both as individuals and as a group, must play to effect a positive outcome.
South Street Seaport Ships [Letter to the Volunteers of the South Street Seaport Museum} South Street, or The Seaport, has always been an idea and an experience, more than a place. Still, as an original waterfront, it is a special place so rare in American cities. These low brick buildings, cobbled streets, and ships preserve an atmosphere that, however faint, is a direct connection to the real roots of New York. Shoddily built in haste, on landfill dumped in haste, needed to access the ships that constantly came and went, what built environment better defines the eagerness to bring the commerce of the world, and with it a polyglot assemblage of ideas and peoples, to the "Island at the Center of the World?" It is that eagerness itself that defines America and made New York its foremost city. A generation ago it took vision to recognize this most disguised, tarnished, jewel of a place, and hard work and innovation to save it. Iflost, it will not be readily revived. To have a few of the vessels that came to South Street as part of this creation is integral to the vision. Ships' decks have been the stage for much of the human drama. Ships were the original space stations, great tools for exploration-they still are-for voyages of the mind. The greatest worth of South Street is in experiences, impressions, lessons, relationships, nowhere more vivid than onboard the vessels. The life imparted to them is entirely from the people who serve in them. I salute your efforts to keep this spirit alive. Forry years ago South Street gave me an entry into the world of maritime tradition and has inspired many lives since. Hold Fast! WALTER p RYBKA Senior Captain US Brig Niagara Erie Maritime Museum and President, Council of American Maritime Museums [Letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloom berg] During the years when present-day South Street Seaport was being put together, the Street of Ships was intended
SEA HISTORY 136, AUTUMN 2011
to be a reminder of that which helped to make New York the great city it is. It was to be open for all to see. Unfortunately, as years passed, the Seaport management allowed the ships to take second place. It was either absence of maritime know-how on their part, or plain incompetency. In any case, thanks to recent intercessions by the Attorney General's Office, the ongoing dismantling of the Street of Ships has been restrained. Now, using a practical approach and at a minimum expense, the Seaport could return to course. My knowledge of the Seaport dates back to its early days. I was Chairman of the first Board of Trustees. I was responsible for the acquisition of the ship wavertree, rowing it up from South America and delivering it to the Seaport. A practical approach entails: publicly redefining the purpose of the Seaport; installing a new board of trustees; establishing the office of a general manager to oversee direct day to day operations; establishing the date the Seaport must be standing on its own feet; providing required operating funds until that time; departmentalizing Seaport operations which would have responsibility for: •Care of Maritime Artifacts •Care of Non-Maritime Artifacts
•Supervision of the paid staff •Serious solicitation seeking volunteer interest and participation in Seaport operations. Already money has been put on the table, showing there is interest in having a functioning Seaport. All that is missing at this time is plain work and less talk, talk, and more talk. ]AKOB IsBRANDTSEN
New York City [Letter to M ayor Bloomberg} Through the professional grapevine I learn that in recent weeks supporters of South Street Seaport and its historic ships have rallied in a grass roots movement, called Save Our Seaport, to save this wonderful enclave of New York heritage. As a maritime historian and maritime museum director, let me add my voice in support of whatever energy and resources you can bring to this cause. New York is one of the greatest seaports in all of history, and the maritime urban landscape of South Street Seaport is unrivalled in its ability to capture the symbolic and educational value of these ships, creating a sense of place which evokes that history and its maritime connections across four centuries.
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