Deck Log It’s All About the Ships!
courtesy of the artist
Preserving historic ships is an expensive, time-consuming process, requiring vision, commitment, and know-how. There are famous ships that we, as a country, must save as important icons in our national story; and there are lesser-known vessels that represent whole industries or regional culture. For those fortunate enough to get underway on a historic vessel that is still operational, the lessons learned cannot be taught any other way. They are gut-learned lessons of the trials of our ancestors, in many cases lessons of courage and hardship and hope. In addition to promoting the history these vessels represent, historic ships serve to preserve the skills required to maintain and operate them, whether they be wood or steel, powered by sail or steam. How thrilling it was in 2014 to see the only surviving wooden whaling ship, the 1841 Charles Morgan, sailing for the first time in seventy years, after years of meticulous restoration at Mystic Seaport. How moving it was to tour the iron full-rigged ship Wavertree in 2016 when she returned to South Street Seaport after a complete restoration in nearby Staten Island. The two surviving Liberty ships, John W. Brown in Baltimore and SS Jeremiah O’Brien in San Francisco, are not only preserved, but fully operational, and taking the public out for day trips several times a year. In the pages of this issue, you’ll read about Salvage Chief (ex-LCM-380), originally built for transport in WWII, a veteran of countless salvage and rescue missions, now entering a third career as a museum and training ship. Many other success stories can be found in ports around the country and sailing along the coasts. For those maritime stories whose associated ships have long been gone, the building of accurate and operational replicas like San Salvador at the Maritime Museum of San Diego and Plymouth’s Mayflower are great projects that pay it forward in myriad ways. There are ships that we must not scuttle because of their important role in our history. The cruiser Olympia in Sheeting In, by Charles Raskob Robinson, depicts Philadelphia—Admiral Dewey’s the crew of the Falls of Clyde on the fo’c’slehead flagship during the Battle of hauling on the headsail sheets in a pitching sea. Manila—has been barely hanging on for years. The fate of SS United States, America’s flagship and speed record holder from the great age of transAtlantic passenger travel, is far from settled. A Scotland-based group is working to repatriate and restore the Falls of Clyde, the only surviving full-rigged, four-masted sailing ship afloat. These are just a few examples of important vessels at risk because there is not yet a national consensus to save historic ships. Few public dollars are appropriated to ship restoration projects, and there are yet to be found enough billionaires to underwrite the work. With each passing year, it will become too late for some of them, and long gaps between projects means there may be too few left who know how to do the work. We haven’t given up hope. There are so many who should be thanked for their unwavering dedication to ship preservation, and we couldn’t possibly name them all. We salute the hundreds of heroes of the field who are moving the projects along, holding on, fundraising, scraping, painting, and record-keeping. Let us celebrate the successes and support the hopefuls, while we can.—Burchenal Green, NMHS President 4
NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLISHER’S CIRCLE: Peter Aron, Guy E. C. Maitland, Ronald L. Oswald OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, Ronald L. Oswald; Vice Chairman, Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal Green; Vice Presidents: Deirdre O’Regan, Wendy Paggiotta, Nancy Schnaars; Treasurer, Howard Slotnick; Secretary, Jean Wort; Trustees: Charles B. Anderson; Walter R. Brown; Christopher J. Culver; William S. Dudley; David S. Fowler; William Jackson Green; Karen Helmerson; Richard M. Larrabee; Guy E. C. Maitland; Capt. Brian McAllister; CAPT Sally Chin McElwreath, USN (Ret.); Michael W. Morrow; CAPT James A. Noone, USN (Ret.); Richard Patrick O’Leary; Erik K. Olstein; ADM Robert J. Papp Jr., USCG (Ret.); Timothy J. Runyan; Richard Scarano; Philip J. Shapiro; Capt. Cesare Sorio; William H. White; Chairmen Emeriti: Walter R. Brown, Alan G. Choate, Guy E. C. Maitland, Howard Slotnick FOUNDER: Karl Kortum (1917–1996) PRESIDENT EMERITUS: Peter Stanford (1927–2016) OVERSEERS: Chairman, RADM David C. Brown, USMS (Ret.); RADM Joseph F. Callo, USN (Ret.); George W. Carmany III; James J. Coleman Jr.; Clive Cussler; Richard du Moulin; Alan D. Hutchison; Jakob Isbrandtsen; Gary Jobson; Sir Robin Knox-Johnston; John Lehman; Capt. James J. McNamara; H. C. Bowen Smith; John Stobart; Philip J. Webster; Roberta Weisbrod NMHS ADVISORS: George Bass, Francis Duffy, John Ewald, Timothy Foote, Steven A. Hyman, J. Russell Jinishian, Gunnar Lundeberg, Conrad Milster, William G. Muller, Stuart Parnes, Nancy Hughes Richardson, Bert Rogers, Joyce Huber SEA HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Chairman, Timothy Runyan; Norman Brouwer, Robert Browning, William Dudley, Daniel Finamore, Kevin Foster, John Jensen, Joseph Meany, Lisa Norling, Carla Rahn Phillips, Walter Rybka, Quentin Snediker, William H. White NMHS STAFF: Executive Director, Burchenal Green; Membership Director, Nancy Schnaars; Membership Coordinator, Jean Marie Trick; Marketing Director, Steve Lovass-Nagy; Comptroller, Anjoeline Osuyah; Staff Writer, Shelley Reid; Director of Development, Jessica MacFarlane; Membership Assistant, Irene Eisenfeld SEA HISTORY: Editor, Deirdre O’Regan; Advertising, Wendy Paggiotta Sea History is printed by The Lane Press, South Burlington, Vermont, USA.
SEA HISTORY 162, SPRING 2018