packets up and down the East Coast. H e was a m ember of the radical Sons of Liberty, and duri ng the Revolution Berrien inspected ships fo r co ntra band and prepared fortifications on the Hudson Ri ve r near W est Point. W hen the Ma nhatta n churchyard in which he was buried was sold for a real estate development, his remains were moved to the Evergreens, where he now lies under an immense sandstone tablet on which h is ma ny virt ues are laid out, ending with lines that any one of us wo uld like to h ave on our tombstone:
Friendship may weep, H umanity may sigh, But Berrien triumphs in the Fields on High.
,!,
and sent it to South A merica to fight in the naval confli ct called "the Warofthe Pacific." Flint became a yachtsm an, joined th e New York Yacht C lub, and backed a Herresh offdesigned racing yacht that contended for the America's C up in 1895. 24
Captain Berrien The oldest seamen's grave at the Evergreens we will save for last. The cem etery's mos t senior resident, he was a colo nial ship captain and revolutionary named John Berrien. In the 1760s and 70s, he ran sm all
john Rousmaniere has written widely about sailing, maritime history, and N ew York history. H is books include After the Storm, Fas tnet, Force 10, The A nnapolis Book of Seam anship, The New York Yach t C lub: A History, and the histo ry of the cemetery that is the subject ofthis article, G reen Oasis in Brooklyn: The Evergreens Cemetery, 1849- 200 8 (Kittery, ME: Smith/Kerr Seapoint Books, 2 009). H e wrote cemetery and maritime history entries in The Encyclopedia of New York C ity (2nd edition, 2010) and entries in The Oxford Encyclopedia of M a ritime History. A graduate of Columbia University, he resides on Morningside H eights, M anhattan.
1 "W hen Jack Ta r Di es in Po rt," New Yo rk Tim es, 28 May 1893. 2 Lea h Robin son Rousman iere, A nchored within the Vail: A Pictorial History of the Seamen's Chu rch Institute (New York: Sea men's C hurch l nsrirure, 1995), 14. The aurho r is rhi s w riter's wife. 3Jose p h Co n rad , The Nigger of the Narcissus (1 898), chapter 5. 4 Rousman iere, Anchored within the Vail, 53. 5Roberr G . A lbion, The Rise of New Yo rk Port (New York: Scri b ner's, 1939), 398 . 6 David H. Sra m, "The Lord 's Libra rian s: The American Sea men's Friend s Society a nd rhe ir Loa n Libraries, 1837-1967," Coriolis, vol. 3 n o. 1 (2 012), 45-59. 7 Ro usma n iere, A nchored within the Vail, 12 . 8 Richa rd Hen ry Da na, Jr., Two Years before the M ast (1 840), chapters 6 and 16. 9 Wa lr W hi tm an, Leaves of Grass (1855), P reface . 10 Sa iIors Ce metery Associat ion , To the Ho norable Senate and Ho use of Representatives of the United States, May 1852 . Eve rgreens Cemetery Archives,
Sea men's G rounds Collection. 11 "C emerery fo r Seamen," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jul. 25, 1857. 12 "W hy H e Should nor be Buried in Poner's Field ," The Evening Telegram, May 9, 1883. 13 "Fishing on C holera Ba nks," Harper's Weekly, N ov. I , 1884. 14 "Ships Hi r by E-Boars," ht tp://uboar.n et/allies/ mercha n rs/ 1963. h rm I. 15 "Submarine Offered D ocror to V ict im," New Yo rk Times, Aug. 25, 191 8. "US N aval Sh ips H istory," hnp://www. historycentral.com /Navy. ' 6 N a nerre N apoleo n Pu rn e ll , " Or ien ta l a nd Polynesia n C emetery T rad irio ns," Ethnicity and the A merican Cemetery, ed. Ri chard E. Meye r (Bowling G reen: Bowling G reen Sta re U n iversiry, 1993), 193-221. Bruce Edwa rd H all, "Chin atown," A merican H eritage, A pr. 1999. 17 "Sigsbee's Mar ine is D ead," New York Times, O cr. 25 , 1899. 18 "To Bu ry Wi lli am Ant hony," New York Times, November27, 1899. N avy H istorica l Center. Imp: //
www. hi sto ry. navy. mi l/photos/pers-us/ uspers-a/wa nth ny. h tm. "W hat Bill Anthony Sa id," N ew York Times, Feb. 3, 1901 . 19Commonwealth Wa r G raves Commi ssion, hnp:// www. cwgc. org/fi nd-a-cemerery.aspx. 2 °Charles Edwa rd Russell, From Sandy Hook to 62° (New York: Ce ntu ry, 1929), 385- 90. 21 Edwa rd L A llen, ed., Pilot Lorefrom Sail to Steam (New York: Sandy Hoo k Pilots Benevolent Associarion , 1922), 17. 22 "D ea rh of a Sandy Hook Pilor," N ew Yo rk Times, Feb. 3, 1878. 23 R ichard F. Welch , "The Fu nerary Monuments, Memoria ls, and G ravesto nes of rhe Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York," Dec. 13, 200 6. Evergreens Cemetery Archi ves. "No rrespassing," "Ar rhe Evergreens," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, D ec. 23, 1894. 24 Lawrence A. C layron, Grace: W R. Grace & Co., The Formative Years, 1850- 1930 (O n awa , II. : Jameso n, 1985), 124- 6. C harles R. Flint, M emories ofan Active Life (New York: Putn am , 1923), 340.
Guild Tomb; (inset) detail ofKing Neptune sculpture on the crown of the lid.
SEA HISTORY 144, AUTUMN 2013
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