OFFICERS & TRUSTEES: Chairman, CAPT James A. Noone, USN (Ret.); Vice Chairman, Richardo R. Lopes; President, Burchenal Green; Vice Presidents: Jessica MacFarlane, Deirdre O’Regan, Wendy Paggiotta; Treasurer, William H. White; Secretary, Jean Wort; Trustees: Charles B. Anderson; Walter R. Brown; CAPT Patrick Burns, USN (Ret.); CAPT Sally McElwreath Callo, USN (Ret.); William S. Dudley; David Fowler; Karen Helmerson; VADM Al Konetzni USN (Ret.); K. Denise Rucker Krepp; Guy E. C. Maitland; Capt. Jeffrey McAllister; Salvatore Mercogliano; Michael Morrow; Richard Patrick O’Leary; Ronald L. Oswald; ADM Robert J. Papp Jr., USCG (Ret.); Timothy J. Runyan; Richard Scarano; Capt. Cesare Sorio; Chairmen Emeriti: Walter R. Brown, Alan G. Choate, Guy E. C. Maitland, Ronald L. Oswald; Howard Slotnick (1930–2020) 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; Christopher J. Culver; Richard du Moulin; Alan D. Hutchison; Gary Jobson; Sir Robin KnoxJohnston; John Lehman; Capt. Brian McAllister; Capt. James J. McNamara; Philip J. Shapiro; H. C. Bowen Smith; John Stobart; Philip J. Webster; Roberta Weisbrod NMHS ADVISORS: John Ewald, Steven A. Hyman, J. Russell Jinishian, Gunnar Lundeberg, Conrad Milster, William G. Muller, Nancy H. Richardson SEA HISTORY EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Chairman, Timothy Runyan; Norman Brouwer, Robert Browning, William Dudley, Lisa Egeli, Daniel Finamore, Kevin Foster, Cathy Green, John Jensen, Frederick Leiner, Joseph Meany, Salvatore Mercogliano, Carla Rahn Phillips, Walter Rybka, Quentin Snediker, William H. White NMHS STAFF: Executive Director, Burchenal Green; Director of Development, Jessica MacFarlane; Head Bookkeeper, Andrea Ryan; Executive Assistant, Heather Purvis; Senior Staff Writer, Shelley Reid; Membership Coordinator, Marianne Pagliaro SEA HISTORY: Editor, Deirdre E. O’Regan; Advertising Director, Wendy Paggiotta Sea History is printed by The Lane Press, South Burlington, Vermont, USA.
SEA HISTORY 179, SUMMER 2022
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PUBLISHER’S CIRCLE: Peter Aron, Guy E. C. Maitland, Ronald L. Oswald
Wind Shifts: Veering and Backing I enjoyed “The Emerald, Opium, and Human Trafficking” by Daniel Laliberte in the spring 2022 issue. But I caught the line in the opening paragraph, “...as he approached the Washington shoreline, the wind began to back from SE to SW. He had to sheet in the sails and keep his vessel close-hauled to make headway in the light southwest breeze.” I always understood that wind backs counter-clockwise and veers clockwise. So, I think, in this example, that the wind was veering from SE to SW. Marc Auslander Millwood, New York
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From the editor: Yes, wind shifting clockwise is indeed veering. I am impressed with your keen eye (and somewhat unimpressed with myself that I missed it!)
Birthplace of the US Navy: The Debate Continues My two cents on the claims of Marblehead, and under the orders of Gen. Washington Beverly, and Salem, Massachusetts, as the and manned by the Marblehead militia birthplace of the United States Navy. The under Capt. Nicholson Broughton. There schooner Hannah was leased by the Com- was no connection whatsoever to the naval mander in Chief of the Continental Army, establishment soon to be created by the George Washington, on 7 August 1775. delegates in Philadelphia. Furthermore, She sailed on her first military mission on there is scholarship to suggest that the 5 September and had her famous encoun- Beverly-based Hannah was not a Marbleter with HMS Nautilus on 10 October, head vessel at all but was owned by a Col. after which she was laid up. The Continen- John Lee of Manchester. I refer your readtal Navy was not created by Congress un- ers to the 2002 booklet The Hannah and til 13 October, so it is difficult to see how the Nautilus, by Thomas Macy, published Hannah can be considered a naval vessel. by the Beverly Historical Society. That does not stop people from making the Thus, the claims of both Marblehead claim, of course, or from referring to her and Beverly are moot. As a Salem resident, as a privateer, which she was not. Hannah seafarer, historian, and member of its Mawas an armed schooner, leased by the Army rine Society (est. 1766), I don’t believe
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