Mystic Knotwork A New England Tradition For 60 Years
Traditional Knotwork made in Downtown Mystic
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largest US lightship ever built (1936), Nantucket Lightship LV-112 (1,050 displacement tons), was anchored 100 miles off the US mainland in international waters and marked the entrance of the main shipping lanes into the US East Coast—the most treacherous and remote lightship station in the world—and was equipped with the heaviest anchors. Each mushroom anchor was attached to separate DiLok forged nickel-steel anchor chain, 1⅝ inches thick with swivels. Its proof load was 216,000 lb; breaking load was 325,000 lb. Each anchor chain weighed approximately 155 lb per fathom, so a chain 150 fathoms long would weigh a total of 23,250 lb. Even with this strength, during the extreme stress put on the chain by high seas during violent storms, it was not uncommon for the anchor chain to break and for lightships to become separated from their anchors and go adrift from their assigned station. The structure of a mushroom anchor is designed and intended to sink into the seabed to the point that it has displaced its own weight, thus greatly increasing its holding power. These anchors are only suitable for a silt, fine sand or mud bottom, as they rely upon suction and cohesion of the bottom material, which rocky or coarse sand bottoms lack. Mushroom anchors are available in a range of sizes, from about ten pounds up to several tons, and today are also widely used for pleasure-boat moorings. To learn more about lightships, visit one in person for a tour. There are nine lightship museums throughout the United States (listed on the US Lighthouse Society’s website, www.uslhs.org, under “History.”) While you are on the website, you can also check out a really good podcast featuring Mr. Mannino (click on “Education,” then “Light Hearted Podcast,” and scroll down for Episode 92: Podcasts produced and hosted by Jeremy D’Entremont.) Galley or Gallery? I am enjoying the winter issue of the magazine—thank you for putting together such a consistently interesting and attractive publication. I found a nit in the article about the HMS Ontario shipwreck and
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have decided to pick it (what else is there to do?). In several places the article mentions the term “stern galleys” to describe a feature of the vessel, but this is a misnomer. The correct term for that feature is stern gallery, or quarter gallery depending on the exact location one is referring to. No mere glass-house-dwelling stone thrower—I have facts on my side. I checked the terms out in my copy of The Sailor’s Word Book, published in 1867 and written “By the late Admiral W. H. Smyth KFS, DCL &c.” and “Revised for the press by Vice-Admiral Sir E. Belcher KCB., &c. &c.” The admirals are unequivocal: “GALLEY. A low, flat-built vessel with one deck, and propelled by sails and oars...The galley or gally is also the name of the ship’s hearth or kitchen.” “GALLERY. A balcony projecting from the admiral’s or captain’s cabin; it is usually decorated with a balustrade, and extends from one side of the ship to the other.” I am sure that there were no glass windows lighting the kitchen of Ontario; only the captain would rate such a perk. I rest my case. As a final note, which makes a stretched-to-the-breaking-point link to the subject of the article, the publisher of the reprint of The Sailor’s Word Book is located in the province of Ontario. Ain’t that sumpin’? Jerry Bryant Amherst, Massachusetts From the editor: Oh, how I hate to be wrong. Thank you Mr. Bryant for the correction. I’ll take the blame on this one. I do appreciate the nautical literacy of our readership to correct the record. —DO’R USRC Dallas I read with great interest the piece in the Winter edition of Sea History about privateers becoming essentially pirates. When I was conducting my own research while writing books on the War of 1812, I learned that many people of the time thought there was little to distinguish properly “marqued” privateers from pirates, but that’s a story for another time. It kind of depended on whose “ox was being gored.” What caught my eye was the reference to the US Revenue Cutter Service vessel Dallas. Some years ago I came across the SEA HISTORY 174, SPRING 2021