If rhis rask were ro be put our ro rhe mulrirude of maririme hisrory scholars, I am sure rhar everyone would have his or her own lisr. Perhaps a valid exercise would be a survey ro nominate the most important hisroric ships with a limit of twenty vessels. My guess is that everyone's list would stretch ro between two dozen and rhirry, a nd the priority would vary widely. I surmise, however, that ten or twelve vessels wo uld be common ro nearly all lists. It is this consensus that we need to establish. Much of rhe success of our ship preservarion efforrs is due ro communiry supporr: grassroors, entrepreneurial, loyal, and independent-a rrue reflecrion of our narional characrer. Much of the failure of our ship preservation efforrs, however, is due ro the facr that a significant part of our narional m aritime heritage is being preserved only by rhe energy, dedicarion, and resources of volunteers and local supporters. No marter the national-or even internarional-significance of a given ship, rhere is no mechanism for imervention ro save a vessel whose loss would be a loss ro all. The Narional Maritime Historical Society, originally founded with rhe idea that som e organization was needed ro ensure againsr rhe tragedy of rhe commons (whar belongs ro all is cared for by none), was never able ro garner the support needed ro fulfill this role. NMHS does play a viral role as rhe forum for maririme preservarion efforts. From rhe rime of rhe American bicentennial ro about twenty years ago, rhe National Trusr for Hisroric Preservation m aintained a maririme office. But ir was always a neglecred srepchild- never on the level of the land-based program s. When the Trusr fold ed up irs experimem in maririme preservation, rhe Narional Park Service rried ro assume the mamle of a narional maritime preservation organizarion rhrough rhe Narional Maririme Initiari ve. The NMI has done a valuable service as a distriburor of grants and in making rhe case for adherence ro preservarion srandards. Yer ir, roo, h as never had rhe funds ro intervene in any crisis. Nor does it have a mandare ro do so. In facr ir is rather misnamed as an " initiative," bei ng able only ro react ro applications within a narrow range of parame ters. The limitations of the above instirutions prompted maritime academics to SEA HISTORY 148,AUTUMN 2014
fo rm an informal lobbying body, the Na- now locared in rhe United Srares if rhey tional Maririme Alliance, to keep an ear are foreign-buil r or have been so altered to rhe gro und for grant monies earmarked as to lose much of rheir characrer. This from rhe scrapping of reserve fleet ships. list is emirely ships that were either USThis has fin ally mareri alized on a limit- built and operated by Am ericans, or, if of ed scale, rhan ks in grear measure ro the foreign origin, ships that sailed under rhe tireless efforts of Dr. T imorhy Runyan A merican flag at some point in their hisof East Carolina Universiry. This leaves toric careers. I have atrempred to be objecrhe Historic Naval Ships Associarion, rhe rive; as humble evidence I can poim our Council of American Maririme M useums rhar none of rhe ships that my sailing caand Tall Ships America, as trade asso- reer and present employm ent are based on ciarions to promote besr pracrices among is included. Elissa is ve ry dear to my heart, rheir m embers, bur wirh no mandate for and while I believe her to be ". . .one of the raking on particular projecrs. The above special objects on the face of rhe earth ... " paragraphs are the caralogue of bureau- to borrow Joseph Conrad 's words decratic reasons why we can'r accompl ish a scribing rhe very similar Otago which he ship save. comma nded, it must be recognized that The result is rhar no m arrer the his- Elissa's ries to US history are slight comroric significance of a ny given vessel on a pared to o rhers listed here. Likewise, the national- or even international-level, US Brig Niagara is valuable for the lessons rhe preservation of thar ship is almosr learned rhrough actively sailing her and always dependent on the efforts of whar- rhe importance of rhe story of the Barde ever local group ended up wirh it, appro- of Lake Erie brought to rhe public, bur priately or nor. Creating prioriries for rhe the present brig was built in 1988 . preservarion of such vessels has always This article has been wrirren solely been informally raboo, as every one has to spur debare in how we identify rhose its partisans. Yet among the over two ships rhar are truly significam for rhe nahundred historic vessels in the coum ry, tion and merit recognition beyond their there is a lot of near-duplicarion (21 subs, local communities, and furthermore to 10 destroyers, 5 aircraft carriers, 8 barde- stimulate discussion regarding how to rise ships) . It is not appropriate to discourage above our own interests and prejudice on preservation efforts in these pages, but behalf of our own ships, so that we may somehow I hope a case can be made for from time to time subscribe ro an effort ro certain vessels to be recognized as having save a ship we may never see, but believe special m erit for their rarity, and /or the should remain part of the historic fabric importance of rhe deeds associated wi th of the nation. J, rhem. The debare should be abour how to speed resources to rhe vessels thar should Captain Walter Rybka is the Administrabe saved for rhe narion. Ir is naive to rhink tor of the Erie Maritime Museum and sesome lobbying effort will squeeze money nior captain of the US Brig N iagara. He is out of a cash-strapped Congress. We have a board member of the Council of Amerito think of privare money rhrough foun- can Maritime Museums and in the 1980s darions, corporarions, and individuals. Ir led the restoration of the barque Elissa in will be a m ajor job going after odds and Galveston, Texas, of which he then served as ends, bur in rhe process we may make captain until 1991, when he accepted comfriends for m aritime preservation and in- mand of the N iaga ra. Ihe American Sail Training Association (now Tall Ships Amercrease awareness of our history. In m aking rhese argumem s, I likely ica) recognized his contribution to tall ships offended nearly every ship preservationisr and maritime heritage with their Lifetime in rhe coumry. Rarher rhan brisd e ar my Achievement Award in 2008. In addition, list, however, please take the rime ro cre- Captain Rybka serves as an editorial advisor ate one of yo ur own. Which ships do yo u to Sea History magazine. rhink are the most importam to preserve? You can email the editor at seahistory@ W hen you h ave made yo ur list, send it ro gmail.com with your thoughts on the state rhe editor. In developing rhis list, I did of historic ship p reservation in the United not include many vessels importam to States and suggest ships you think should be world maritime heritage, and even some on this list-and why.
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