DECK LOG Paying our Respects
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aptain Walter Rybka has been a leader of the maritime heritage community's involvement in saving USS Olympia, Admiral George Dewey's flagship in the Battle of M anila Bay. Dewey's iconic words from that battle, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," heralded the new era of American naval power during the Spanish American War. Knowing the Society's interest in saving Olympia, when we held our annual meeting in Erie he invited us to pay our respects to Charles Vernon Gridley, who had married a local woman and is buried there on the banks of Lake Erie. It is a beautiful site and well maintained. I was shocked and saddened to realize that Captain Gridley lived such a short time after this battle and died on June 6'h in Kobe, Japan. Not long after our annual meeting I was in Paris for the 4'h of July, and because it was Independence Day, I wanted to acknowledge something important in America's freedom. I visited the home of]ohn Paul Jones, who died there on 18 July 1792. The marker is at 19 rue de Tournon, which was 42 rue de Tournon when Jones lived there. As an officer in the Continental Navy, John Paul Jones helped establish the navy's JOH'.J PAUL JONES traditions of courage and professionalism and CAPITAi E DE VAISSEAU an unwavering commitment to the ideals of DE LA MA !NE DES fl>.TS UNIS freedom. He is considered America's first sea CHEYALI ER DE LOR DRE DU MERITE,, MILITAIRE warrior; he took the war to the enemy's shores t'iff; DES HEROS DEL~ Gl.IERRE and is remembered for his remarks during the DE l'IN DE PENDANCE AM£RICAl1-1£ 1779 Battle of Flamborough Head: "I have not EST MORT O/INS CEIH MAISON lE 18 JlflLLET 1792 yet begun to fight." He was buried outside of Paris; in 1905 his remains were found and returned to the United States with great ceremony and a public commemoration with President Theodore Roosevelt speaking on 24 April 1906 at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. On 26 January 1913 his remains were removed to a special crypt at the US Naval Academy chapel. Many of our readers know that John Willis Griffiths designed the first true clipper ship in the golden age of sail. He was the architect of Rainbow and of Sea Witch, which in 1849 set the unbroken record for the fastest singlehull sailing time from New York to Hong Kong, and his clipper ships brought prosperity and trade with China and California. He lies in an unmarked grave in the Linden Hill United Methodist Cemetery in Queens, New York Maritime architect Melbourne Smith; inventor, captain and small ship builder Matt Carmel; journalist and author Adam Brodsky; Steve Gorelick of the NJ Motion Picture & TV Commission; and NMHS chairman Ronald Oswald have formed a committee to get a proper monument for John Griffiths, which will require permission from the cemetery and funding. They will soon be asking for your support. He died in 1882. We owe him this-no, we who care about our maritime heritage owe this to ourselves. -Burchenal Green, President
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NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY PU BLISH ER'S C IRCLE: Peter Aron, Guy E. C. Maitl and, Ron ald L. Oswald OFFI CERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Ronald L. O swald; Vice Chairman, Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal Green; Vice Presidents, Deirdre O 'Regan, Wendy Paggiocta, Nancy Schnaars; Treasurer, Howard Slomick; Secretary, Jean Wort; Trustees: Charles B. Anderson; Walter R. Brown; Thomas Daly; William S. Dudley; David S. Fowler; William Jackson Green; Karen Helmerson; Robert Kamm; Richard M . Larrabee; Guy E. C. Maitland; Capt. Brian McAllister; CAPT Sally Chin McElwreath, USN R (Rec.); Capt. James J. McNamara; Michael W Morrow; Richard Patrick O 'Leary; Timothy J. Runyan; Richard Scarano; Philip ]. Shapiro; Bradford D. Smith; Capt. Cesare Sorio; Roberta Weisbrod; Chairmen Emeriti: Walter R. Brown, Alan G . C hoate, Guy E. C. Maitland , H owa rd Slotnick; President Emeritus, Peter Stanford FOUN DER: Karl Kortum (1917-1996) OVERSEERS: Chairman , RADM D avid C. Brown, USMS (Ret.); RADM Joseph F. Callo, USNR (Rec.); Clive Cussler; Richard du Moulin; Alan D . Hutchison; Jakob Isbrandtsen; Gary Jobson; Sir Robin Knox-Johnston ; John Lehman; H . C. Bowen Smith; John Stobart; Philip J. Webster; W illiam H. White; W illiam W interer NM H S ADVISORS: Chairman, Melbourne Smith; George Bass, Oswald Brett, Francis Duffy, John Ewald, Timothy Foote, William Gilkerson, Steven A. H yman, J. Russell Jinishian, G unnar Lund eberg, Conrad Milster, W illi am G. Muller, Stuart Parnes, Lori Dillard Rech, Na ncy Hughes Richardson, Bert Rogers, Joyce Huber Smith SEA HIS TORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Chairman, Timothy Runyan ; Norman Brouwer, Robert Browning, William Dudley, D aniel Finamore, Kevin Foster, John Jensen, Joseph Meany, Lisa N orling, Carl a Rahn Phillips, Walter Rybka, Quencin Snediker, W illiam H . W hire
NMH S STAFF: Executive Director, Burchenal Green; M embership Director, Nancy Schnaars; A ccounting, Peter Yozzo; M arketing Director, Steve Lovass-Nagy; Executive Assistant to the President, Jessica Macfarlan e; M em bership Coordinator, Madeleine Fenamore SEA HIS T ORY: Editor, D eirdre O ' Regan; Advertising, Wendy Paggiotta; Copy Editor, Shelley Reid; Editor-at-Large, Peter Stanford Sea History is printed by The Lane Press, South Burlington, Vermont.
SEAHISTORY 148, AUTUMN2014