Colcord's sense of humor reminds me to keep some perspective in my quest, as editor of Sea History, to print a perfect magazine each issue, with every fact checked, every photo accurately identified, and every comma in its proper place. You can write me abo ut my preference for the Oxford comma, if you must, but more on topic are the occasional factual errors that slip past me or, heaven forbid, I myself introduce in the process of editing. On this note, I have a couple of errors from the last issue (Sea History 159, Summer 2017) that made it into print that I need to bring to your attention and correct. Know that, in these items that follow, the error was all my own and not that of the authors and photographers who generously contributed their work so that we can bring you the stories and images that make up our national story. Not just our maritime story, but as historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto said, "Maritime history is wo rld history."
*J.P. URANKER WOODCARVER *
BREWER BANNER
*
JJ¢'tf1
77 Forest Street New Bedford, MA 02740 508 996-6006 www.brewerbanner.com info@brewerbanner.com
CUSTOM WORK is our SPECIALTY We are also THE SOURCE for all sizes: U.S. flags, Yacht Ensigns, Courtesy flags, Code flags, jacks, Pennants, Battle flags ... you name it !
STARS & STRIPES PENNANTS - in stock hand craned from the most durable fa brics
Tired of nautical reproductions? Martifacts has on ly authentic marine collectibles rescued from scrapped ships: navigation lamps, sextants, clocks, bells, barometers, charts, flags, binnacles, telegraphs, portholes, U.S. Navy dinnerware and flatware, and more. Current brochure - $1.00
MARTIFACTS, INC. P.O. BOX 350190 JACKSONVILLE, FL 32235-0190 PHONE/FAX: (904) 645-0150 www.martifacts.com e-mail: martifacts@aol.com
6
Error No. 1: Not on the front cover! Well, the cover image and text are fine, but the caption about the fantastic shot of the Essex schooners by photographer George Bekris in the table of contents (page 3) misidentifies the schooner sailing in the background as the Thomas E. Lannon, when it is, in fact,
That's the schooner Lettie G. Howard of!Adventure' s starboard quarter. the 1893 schooner Lettie G. Howard. The Lannon and the Howard share a similar paint scheme and were both built in Essex, Massachusem, but the Lettie G. Howard is more than a hundred years older! Those familiar with both vessels also point out that the Lannon is rigged with both fore and main topmasts, while the Lettie G. Howard sails with just a main topmast. One reader with a particularly keen eye noted that yo u can read the name of the vessel on the schooner's pennant in the photo. Thanks to all who wrote in to alert me to this error in ship identification. Error No. 2: Mea culpa and my genuine apologies to Margherita Desy and Kate Monea, authors of "Copper Bottomed-USS Constitution Restoration 2015-17," for introducing a mistake that, in rhe way rhe article is laid out, looks like it was the authors' error, when in fact it was all mine. On page 16 of the last issue, their fine article on the history and restoration of Constitution's copper sheathing opens with an introductory paragraph that I added, in hopes to give context to the article that followed. In it, I wrote that "Constitution was launched in 1797 from the same dry dock where she is now... " Of course, as the authors and several readers have pointed out in recent correspondence, this is incorrect and would h ave been impossible. Constitution's restoration work was done with the ship out of the water in Dry Dock 1 at the Charles-
town Navy Yard in Boston. While historic in its own right-Dry Dock 1 the second oldest operational dry dock in the country-this facility was not open for use until 1833, a full thirty-six years after Constitution was launched from a Boston shipyard. According to the authors: USS Constitution was constructed between 1794 and 1797 on the specially made building ways at the Edmund Ham Shipyard in Boston's North End (the present-day site of the US Coast Guard base at "Constitution Wharf"). In fact, in our article, we quoted Secretary of War McHenry's letter to Constitution's naval constructor George Claghorn, in which McHenry sa id, "the Frigate Constitution should be coppered on the Stocks before she is launched .... "The "stocks" refer, of course, to the building ways on the shore of Boston Harbor. We draw Sea History's readers' attention to an excellent blog post written by the former USS Constitution Museum research historian, Matthew Brenckle, entitled, "Should her way have better laid," in which he details the necessary steps in creating the building and launch ways for a vessel the size of USS Constitution (https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/201 4/ 12/12/ should-her-ways-have-better-laid/). Constitution was reBoated from Dry Dock 1 on 23 July. The ship is back at her berth at Pier 1 in the Charlestown Navy Yard, where crews are working to re-rig the ship and re-install her guns and gun carriages. She wi ll re-open to the public in fall 2017. Until then, visitors can view the ship from the pier and learn more about her role in American history at the USS Constitution Museum, in Building 22 at the Navy Yard. Be sure to check out page 45 in this issue's "Sea History for Kids" to learn more about dry docks. Thank you to those who take the time to email. Sea History readers have a wide range of knowledge a nd experience. Together, we can work to keep our maritime history front and center-and accurately told. -DEIRDRE O'REGAN,
Editor, Sea History SEA HISTORY 160,AUTUMN 2017