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it just slows down the death spiral of m any sh ips without effectively saving the m ost important ones? How abo ut we decide wh ich ships are so important to our history that they must be saved, and let the other ones go. It must have been a sad day when the Wawona crew watched their ship leave fo r good, but with a sister sh ip not far away (the 1895 Pacific lumber schooner C. A. Thayer in San Francisco) and having been restored to the tune of m illions of dollars not too long ago, I can understand why Wawona could be let go. PHOTO BY 5 1-11\NNON FI TZGE RA LD COURTESY NO RT HWEST SEAPO RT
The 1837 Pacific lumber schooner W awon a leaving her home port far the last time, 2 003 . Kudos to the Northwes t Seaport crew for reading the writing on the wall and for acting responsibly and for m aking the effort to document their ship before it was gone for good . J OHN ECKERT
Santa C ruz, Califo rnia
CLASSIC HARBOR LINE
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Lost Graves started reading abo ut the sea as a tenyear-old boy in Colorado, and fell in love with ships and sailing despite my inland location . I sailed to Guam as a 15-year-old (underage Army enlistee) aboard the USAT General Edwin M Patrick late in World War II and later m arried a fisherman's daughter from Maine/New H ampshire. Being a writer and family historian, I am always interested in "lost graves," so I was particularly interested in Melbourne Smith's letter regarding the unmarked grave of naval architect John W illis Griffi ths in yo ur last issue (Sea History 145 , "Letters") . My great-grandfa ther, Jasper W illiam Johnson , was a well-known m agistra te in Colorado and som ewhat of a fam ous m an in Colorado history and the Pacific N orthwest. He was involved in the "Pig War" (a.k. a. the Northwestern Boundary War, 1859) where we faced off with G reat
SEA HISTORY 146, SPRING 2014