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GALVESTON'S TI IE ELISSA T 11r: T \LL S111r cir TE\\ ~
by Kurt D. Voss All proceeds from this pictorial histOJy benefit the ELISSA preservation fund.
Publi shed by Arcadia Publishing and Ga lveston Historical Foundation $2 1.99. 128 pages, 200 photographs A utog raphed copies available at (409) 763-1 877, or online at:
www . tsm-elissa.org 52
Reading through the biographies that fo rm the core of the work con firm s the dedication and valor of the m en, whose srories are briefly recounted along w ith basic information of date of birth, hometown, class year, service, position/rank, dare a nd place of death and burial, and age. This las t piece of data confirms that it is the yo ung who pay the price of war, as many were under twenty years old when they died . Those interested in the history of the ships w ill find a wealth of information, as the biographical entries include all ship assignments. Training was rigorous and practical. M erchant m ariners who h ad experienced U-boat attacks, aerial bombings, a nd the loss of their ship, guest-lectured to the cadet classes. Lecturer C. W. Boylston, second mate on a freighter, had survived two torpedo attacks that first sank his ship, and then the Durch ship that had rescued him. H e was later picked up by a passi ng freighter. His advice-keep yourself prepared at all rimes to abandon ship with little to no wa rning; as a m atte r of practice, wea r as ma ny articles of clo thing as possible. In addition to trad itional maritime t raining, cadets learned to prepare for the wo rst. Lifeboat launching and rowing drills were carried on in all weather, as was pool t raining that requi red jumping from 15foot rowe rs into the water a nd surfac ing w ith thrashin g m o tions to simulate the scattering of burning oil to enable breathing before going under aga in to avoid the fl am es. This was instruction to be taken seriously-it is estimated that cadets were aboa rd abo ut 65 0 ships char san k during W orld W ar II. The N orth Atlantic, including the Murmansk run, was am ong the most deadly and challenging due to weather a nd enemy attacks fro m sea and air. One cad et-midshipman , R ay m o nd H alubowicz, survived three separate sinkings on the Murm ansk run, for which he was awarded the Russian Medal fo r Distinction in Ac tion. The stori es are impressive and sobering. Some seem hard to beli eve, with recollections of back-to-back attacks, rescues at sea, attacks on resc uers and the survivors, and ocher atrocities and ac ts of valor by ordin ary m en. Editor George Rya n and his team have produced a work of tribute,
schola rship, and reference that w ill prove of interest a nd use to a broad ra n ge of readers. TIMOTHY
J. R UNYAN
G reenville, North C arolina
Seeing the Eliphant: A Maine Couple's Adventure in Gold Rush San Francisco by Kenneth R. Martin (Friends of the San Francisco M aritime Museum Library, San Fra ncisco, 201 3, 302pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, IS BN 978-0-98 18221 -1-2; $ 19.95pb) The curious phrase from which Kenneth M artin takes his ride, Seeing the Eliphant, refers to a p erson's yearning for an eye-op ening a nd sometimes fri ghtening experience that results in a rem arkable tale to tell the folks bac k home. It comes from an 1861 New York Times report about a provincial fa rmer who, obsessed with tales of the giant animal, fin ally encountered one leading a circus parade: "His horse was fri ghtened , his wago n sm ashed, his eggs and poultry ruined . Bur he rose from the wreck radiant and in triumph. 'A fig for the dam age,' quoth he, ' for I h ave seen the elephant! "' ["Seeing the Elephant" NYT, 1 March 1861] . Seeing the Eliphant tells the story of Rebecca and Jam es White, origin ally of Ga rdiner, M aine. Their rem a rkable tale creates the fra mework for a new history of antebellum Califo rnia a nd Gold Rush-era San Francisco. D eparting from fa miliar "49er" mythology, M artin's story focuses on the sm all traders and m erchants who both made possible and exploited the mass emigration that fo llowed the discovery of gold at Sutter's M ill. These people became the leaders and shapers of San Fra ncisco society during an era that m ost only know from stories of the lawless "Barbary Coast." Seeing the Eliphant is a detailed ye t fas tpaced and interesting story based on substantial archival a nd field resea rch , and, significantly, the family papers a nd unpublished letters of the principal charac ters . The book opens w ith Jam es White's d eparture for Ca lifornia at the height of the Gold Rush. White hailed from a Maine seafaring town, and he made his way wes t as a ship's officer. A fter his arrival in San Francisco, however, he decided that commerce-not seafaring or gold mining- was rhe way to achieve las ting and substa ntial
SEA HISTORY 151 , SUMMER 2015