eLOOKOUT THE SEAMEN's CHURCH INSTITUTE OF NEw YoRK is a shore center for merchant seamen who are between ships in this great port. The largest organization of its kind in the world, the Institute combines the services of a modern hotel with a wide range of educational, medical, religious and recreational facilities needed by a profes­ sion that cannot share fully the important advantages of home and community life. The Institute is partially self-supporting, the nature of its work requiring assistance from the pnblic to provide the personal and social services that distinguish it from a waterfront boarding house and give the Institute its real value for seamen of all nations and all faiths who are away from home in New York. A tribute to the service it has performed during the past century is its growth from a floating chapel in 1844 to the thirteen-story building at 25 South Street known to merchant seamen the world around.

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I eee~~.qi I I came u pon a small metal sea chest half-concealed under a pile of fragments." VOL. XLVII No. 9 SEPTEMBER, 1957 A CRUISE TO TREASURE

Copyright 1957 by the SEAMEN'S CHURCH INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK In Quest of the El Capitan 25 South Street, New York 4, N.Y. BOwling Green 9-2710 CLARENCE G. MICHALIS HE ONLY Spanish galleons left in the travel and steered for the little ­ President Tworld today are at the bottom of the guarded inlet of Gorda Cay to the east, we REV. RAYMOND S. HALL, D.D. TOM BAAB Director Editor sea. A tragic fleet of hundreds upon hun­ entered a world of complete solitude - THOMAS ROBERTS FAYE HAMMEL dreds of ancient oak-ribbed vessels, they the world where the El Capitan had met I Secretary and Treasurer Associate Editor lie rotting on the ocean floor, sunk by her fate more than 200 years before. Published Monthly $1.00 yearly lOc a copy storms and pirates, many still guarding, I did not know what had sunk the El among the coral and sea creatures, their Capitan here. The records I had unearthed Gifts to the Institute of $5.00 and over include a year's subscription bulging cargoes of gold and silver which were curiously vague about the details of Entered aJ Je

2 3 water erupted off the port bow. large piece of metal, without any fin e in­ ..- Presently the waves subsided. We set­ strument. They were pieces-of-eight ! A Rave notices are in on tled down on an even keel again. Bits of few discolored brown gold doubloons our fall theatre benefit. wood came drifting up from the wreck were among the find, and 34 bars of gold. below. A dark brownish shape - once a Under the scratch of a knife they gleamed YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS great manta ray, now a mass of loathsome golden. The crew bqys gave a great cheer. flesh - bore past us. Fish by the thou­ Fallin ~ to their knees on t

INTERNATIONAL MIDWEST Captain Hewlitt +R. Bishop, Atlantic sidies or other financial aid from selling or ANCHORS TO MATCH Coast director of the Maritime Adminis­ transferring any ships to foreign flags. The Midwest may be a long way from tratiorl., who made the original light-sound At hearings held last month before the Deep-water sailors have always been the ocean, but the movement of merchant system suggestion at a meeting last March Senate Commerce Committee, the spokes­ concerned about the trim appearance of ships in world trade is crucial to that area. of the marine section of the National men claimed the bill would require the their ships, but it has taken the pleasure In Wisconsin, for example, a third of the Safety Council, stated that at least two use of obsolete ships on American-flag boatman to worry about whether the an­ state's total employment is affected directly major accidents in New York harbor last lines and prevent the normal disposal of chor matches ! or indirect! y by world trade, according to winter were partially caused by sound sig­ private property. Having a brown boat and a black anchor a bulletin published by the Committee of nals not being heard, although the nights Senator Magnuson, in turn, accused may come to be considered in poor taste, American Steamship Lines. were clear. some of the shipping interests of "using now that someone has dreamed up an an­ More than 313,000 Wisconsin em­ If the system is installed and proves ac­ a blackjack" on Government agencies, chor in various colors, so the skipper can ployees, with an income of $1.5 billion, ceptable, it may be the forerunner of simi­ claiming that unless they can use a foreign match his anchor to his craft. Available in work in industries that depend on U. S. lar signal systems on all American mer­ flag they will not build any ships. Mag­ almost all shades, the new anchor, called merchant ships to carry a large portion of chant ships. A few ore ships on the Great nuson said that his bill had the support of the Protecto, is of a traditional Navy type. their products overseas, the bulletin states. Lakes already have an adaption of the maritime labor, while "some shippers are A tough plastic coating protects the color And 130,000 persons in Wisconsin dairy idea. for it and some against it. " and, according to the manufacturers, the farms are also engaged in foreign trade. Hoyt S. Haddock, executive secretary Miller Lock and Safe Company, it will not It was pointed out that in Racine, one of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. maritime committee, wear off, rust, be damaged by exposure to of the state's leading industrial conunu­ SUCCESS told the group that the transfer of so many salt water or interfere with the ability of nities, approximately 1,000 of the city's ships to foreign flags in order to escape the anchor to grip the bottom. 14,000 industrial workers owe their jobs A long and arduous campaign on the U. S. tax and wage rates and safety stand­ to foreign trade and ocean shipping. part of New York steamship and port in­ ards constituted "tFie greatest single danger to the American merchant marine." If terests has finally borne fruit in the new SHARKS round-the-clock quarantine inspection law necessary, he said, "it would be better to recently signed by President Eisenhower. scrap our ships than to transfer them to TOOT LIGHTS the runaway flags." A young New Yorker visited the watery The new legislation enables vessels call­ grave of the Andrea Doria last month and A revolutionary signal system that may ing at the Port of New York and other says he doesn't plan to go back too soon United States ports to clear quarantine in­ do a great deal to prevent collisions be­ YOUNGSTERS - there are too many sharks. spection at any hour of the day or night, tween ships at night has been proposed by Peter Gimbel, 29, of the department­ the Navy's Military Sea Transportation any day of the week. In the past, 40% of store family, and another skin diver, Ram­ the ships entering New York harbor from Two of the world's newest countries are Service. Each of the fleet's 227 vessels sey Parks of Hermosa Beach, California, foreign ports were delayed overnight, at going to set up a new shipping line. The would be equipped with amber lights that had two encounters with sharks on their the cost of millions of dollars each year to partners are Ghana, the youngest nation would flash in a 360-degree arc every time dives down to the sunken luxury liner ly­ the steamship companies. Under the new in Africa, and Israel, a young nation in the ship's whistle is sounded. the Middle East. ing 60 miles off Nantucket Light. Gimbel system, the companies will pick up the The proposal was made to the Coast The new company, which will probably made three photographic expeditions to overtime tab. Guard, which is responsible for supervis­ be controlled by the Ghanans and man­ the Doria last year, but never succeeded in ing the rules of the road in navigation, by aged by the Israelis, will be called the getting beyond the bridge and promenade Vice-.Admiral John M. Will, commander Black Star Line. It is expected to offer deck regions. This year he had planned of MSTS. The synchronized signal system, regular cargo service from the port of to go further, into the cabins and salons, said Admiral Will, "would be a positive FLAG FIGHT l'akoradi, in Ghana, to ports in Britain. taking pictures of the Andrea Doria lying correction" when atmospheric or other Service to Rotterdam and Hamburg may in Davy Jones' locker. But the sharks and cond itions interfere with the whistle Spokesmen for the Eisenhower Admi n­ eventually be added. fish interfered. Said Gimbel, the vessel is sound. It would also eliminate the habit istration and for the major American The line will begin operations with one "pretty well covered with marine growth of partial reliance on visual sighting of st.eamship lines are vigorously opposing a used ship, which will probably be less than and schools of fish, most of the jack fam­ steam emitted from whistles, a practice b1ll put forth by Senator Warren G. Mag­ fO,ooo tons. At the start of operations, ily, swim in and out of the portholes." that is becoming hazardous with the adop­ nuson which would prevent ship owners sraeh officers and men with some Ghanan The name Andrea Doria is still visible on tion of electric whistles. receiving United States Government sub- sailors, will operate th~ ship. the bow-plates, he reported.

6 7 School was opened here in 1947, but get­ pick up what they can, read a few booklets ting the new 12-foot scanner to the Insti­ of instruction, and that's about it. With­ tute's roof was a tough job. Too big to be out some formal training - like that given hauled to the top of the building by by Sperry - the officer is pretty much on normal channels, the scanner had to be his own as far as radar is concerned: The dragged up underneath an elevator, then At the Sperry School itself, a large sign boosted through windows taken out of the hangs above the blackboard: "Observe top floor. Its installation took more than Rules of the Road. Radar is a Navigation New a week. Aid Only." According to Lou Lopez, who Although the Sperry School has no of­ is in charge of Sperry schools in New ficial connection with the Merchant Ma­ York, collisions would be impossible if Look rine School on the Institute's top floor, the Rules of the Road were always obeyed. many a man working to advance his rating These require that in fog ships slow Atop the Institute, Sperry will add a week's time to his studies and down to a speed which would enable Co.'s lou lopez explains the gain competence in the use of radar. them to stop within one-half the distance operation of its new 12-foot sca nner ta Mr. Walter Fish, Such competence on the part of deck of visibility. In practice, it may work out Eas tern Di strict Manager af officers is now recognized as crucial to the somewhat differently. According to the the Sperry Gyroscope Co., welfare of a ship. Ever since that foggy Reader's Digest article mentioned above, Rev. Raymond S. Hall, direc­ July night a year ago when the Andrea captains race through fog, despite the ob­ tor of the Institute, Captain Al bert Morasso of the In sti ­ Doria and the Stockholm, both equipped vious danger, in order to meet tight dock­ tute, and Midshipmen John with radar, ripped into each other, a good ing schedules. If they arrive even a few Bradley of th e M~ssa c hu setts number of people have asked, "Why hours late, the steamship company loses Maritime Academy, a student didn't radar prevent the crash?" The an­ thousands of dollars in charges to long­ at the Sperry School. swer is that radar is a ·navigational aid shoremen and tugs. A captain who is late only, just as a sextant or a compass is, and too often doesn't keep his command for HE MORE than 500 students a year Military Sea Transportation Service. a navigational aid is only as efficient as very long. Twho come to the Seamen's Church In­ Students also come from two or three the men who use-it. It takes a good deal But that's another story. The people at stitute to study marine radar at its Sperry dozen foreign countries each year to take of skill to interpret the ghost-like pips on the Sperry School try to see that the men Radar School now have the advantage of this important training. The language the radar scope properly, and many men it trains use their radar equipment in the working with some of the most modern problem sometimes becomes formidable, entrusted with that responsibiity have no wisest possible way, being neither "hypno­ equipment available. Just installed at the according to Mr. Shanholtzer, especially formal radar training whatsoever. In the tized" or lulled into a false sense of secu­ school is a new Sperry Mark 3 high-reso­ when the men are from Turkey or Thai­ hearings of the Doria collision, the tragic rity by it, nor overlooking its very real lution radar, designed "to most closely land or Greece. But they usually come in story came out. The ship's second officer, advantages as a navigational tool. approximate what a good look-out at the pairs, and at least one of them has some who had been on the radar before the col­ masthead can see in clear weather." The knowledge of English. "We try to make lision, admitted that he had had no formal new equipment will make for improved the exams as non-verbal as possible," he tr.aining in radar, that he had picked up his knowledge of it serving on another Principal C. P. Shanholtzer explains th e technical defi nition on the radar scope, a boon to says. Similar facilities for studying marine ship and that he had not bothered to plot' side of radar to students at the Sperry Radar Sc hool. students learning radar's fundamentals. radar are scarce overseas, except in Eng­ About ten of these students each week land, where competence in radar has just the course of the Stockholm when its pip complete the intensive five-day course giv­ been made an official requirement for a appeared on the radar scope. The reason ? en free of charge by the Sperry Gyroscope deck officer's li cense. In this country, stu­ He hadn't thought it was necessary. Company to any qualified seaman who dents study radar at merchant marine ~oward Whiteman, a reporter who in­ wishes to take it. "The demand for radar academies, but for active seamen, the ~e vestigated the Andrea D oria story for the training is so great that we sometimes are only three schools available - one JO Reader's Digest, reports in a recent issue have to turn students away on Monday N ew Orleans, one in San Francisco and ff that magazine that the second mate's mornings," according to C. P. Shanholtzer, one at 25 South Street. ~ck of judgment was hardly an excep­ principal of the school. The students are The Seamen's Church Institute got its ~onal case. He calls it "an open secret on merchant seamen, many of them radio unique place at the center .of the rad:. e Waterfront" that many who stand radar scope because of its he1ght, 1ts comma_n Watch lack the necessary know-how to do officers, as well as Navy, Coast Guard and 0 MSTS personnel. The school's certificate, ing view of the harbor and its long- time ~ · When a shipping company installs ra­ ard, a sales representative comes aboard presented at the end of the course to those association with seamen. There has bee.n an · who pass their examinations, is recog­ a four-foot radar scanner on the TitaniC str ~tves the officers a few general in- nized by the Navy, Coast Guard and Lighthouse Tower ever since the Sperry UctiOns on how it works. The officers 8 letters about two-and-one-half feet high a four-flag hoist, on entering or leaving spell out her name. port. At the time of her registry, every ship The ship's name must again be repeated, gets four official call letters, used for both this time in letters at least six inches high, signaling and radio call. The first letter on nameboards placed on either side of or first two letters will also indicate the the pilothouse. This particular regulation nationality of a ship. Call letters begin­ applies only to United States ships; the ning with either a "K" or a "W" signify others are more or less the same in most a United States flag ship. of the major maritime countries. All coun­ These are the easy-.to-spot identifica­ tries, for example, insist that many small tions. Experienced marine observers are items aboard ship - like life preservers, often able to tag a ship by the special col­ life buoys, lifeboats and oars- be marked oring or insignia on her funnels, various with the name of the ship. In a search for markings on her hull and superstructure wreckage or survivors of a sunken vessel, distinctive to her shipping company, or by one of these items would be a valuable find. her company flag. One old-timer at the The name of a ship's home port is an­ Seamen's Church Institute, an expert at other important means of identification. such matters, can sometimes spot a ship Regulations require that the name be by the color of the band lying between her placed on the stern, under the ship's name. hull and water line, or simply by the way Technically, the home port is the place she rides in the water. where the ship is registered, the place In wartime, the identification picture is where she was built or where one or more a bit different. Combat ships will, of Special insignia on her smokestCJcks help identify a ship. Back in the 30's, it was easy to spot the Dollar line's President Hoover. of her owners reside. But today, when so course, do everything possible to hide their many American-built ships sport home identities. But non-combatants know that ports in Liberia, Honduras or Panama, it's their best safety is in publicity. A huge not unusual for either the ship or her crew flag painted amidships on both sides of never to have seen her home port. the vessel, the name of the ship and the W hat''s Her Name? A ship also identifies herself by a num­ shipping company and floodlights at night ber, just as an automobile does. The closest leave little chance that a non-combatant ship analogy to a license plate, the official will be attacked unwit~ingly. s the ship nosed her way into the fog­ myriad routine details of customs, docking, call number, is marked prominently on At night, or in fog, these identification Abound harbor, the young sailor on quarantine, cargo loading and discharging, the forward side of her main cargo hatch. devices must give way to radio signals, watch peered anxiously ahead for a sight etc., get under way. At night, or in fog, Again, a ship may identify herself by Morse code, or even an occasional "What's of land. It had been his first trip; in a ship' identification must be done by voice raising her signal letters, in the form of your name?" few minutes he would feel solid ground or, more routinely, by radio signals or under his feet again and be recognized Morse code. When the sun shines, there ashore as a real seaman. He could scarcely are several easier ways of determining the make out the harbor ahead, but what answer to the age-old marine ques tion, looked like a small Coast Guard boat was "What ship?" approaching and out of the silent fog a Most obvious of all is the ship's name. voice suddenly boomed: "What's your United States flag ships are required by name?" Nobody else was in sight; they the U. S. Customs Service to spell out the1r must mean him. "Jimmy Paine," he shout­ names on the stern and on each bow of ed back. "Not you, stupid," came the dis­ the ship, and not in small print, ei ther. gusted retort. "Your ship." According to the regulations, "the namef 0 The young seaman is an old-timer now, shall be painted or gilded or cons1st ' 1'1 ht and he knows what "What's your name?" cut or carved cast roman letters in g means at sea. The identification of a mer­ color on a dark ground, or in a dark c ol:~ on a light ground, secured in place, a . chant vessel is an important matter. In 15 There's na prob­ wartime, it can mean the difference be­ to be distinctly visible." Four inches lem identifying this tween safety and disaster. In peacetime, the minimum letter height specified, ~t ship. The United most name plates are larger than that. n States spells out the identification of a vessel as she comes . u · d States, the bow of the super1 mer 1 her name in letters into port is the first step before any of the m e two- and-one- holf feet high. 10 RETURN

SHIPS OF STEAM dermic harpoon with which to bring sharks The distant sea with encircling arms Lamont Buchanan into captivity. It is replete with informa­ McGraw Hill, New York, $5.95 tion on the collecting, feeding and main­ reaches up the beach to find taining of ocean specimens. Perhaps best With over 200 striking illustrations and of all, it brings to life with 70 amazing abandoned on the summer sands an informative and lucid text, this hand­ photographs that fascinating world of sea some work tells the story of steamboats creatures which have caught the fancy of from the 1780's to the present day. the 700,000 visitors who annually come my broken shell. Beginning with sketches of John Fitch's to look at these windows in the sea. If you rude models of steamboats, the pictures can't join them, this book is the next­ I hold the fragile heart's shape tell the story of man's triumphs and disas- . best thing. ters on the sea in ships of steam. Here is as a monument to our lives. Fulton's North River Steamboat, the Savannah and a page from her log book, The shining sea withdraws my hollow home the people of New York cheering the end­ ing of the race between the Sirius and the 20,000 MILES SOUTH and with the power of gentle hands Great Western, the last picture of the Titanic taken before her death by icebergs, Helen and Frank Schreider the Normandie flaming at her New York Doubleday & Co., New York, $3.95 the poundings of the beating waves, pier, the Morro Castle holocaust, and so on. Those building a serious library of Helen and Frank Schrieder are a young like heart's blood in my ears, marine history will want to own this book. couple who just don't believe in doing things the easy way. When they decided fill my world and turn to go to South America a few years ago, they thought they'd drive down - that is, my stone walls to sand. WINDOWS IN THE SEA drive from the Arctic Circle to the world's Ralph Nading Hill southernmost town, Ushuaia in Tierra del Rinehart & Co., New York, $3.50 Fuego. They did just that, with the help of an amphibious jeep called La Tortttgtta, Just 20 years ago, two men got the novel a contraption neither car nor boat but a A. Kirby Congdon idea of starting an oceanarium- an aquar­ little of both. Looking somewhat like a ium in which fish are not segregated but "Victorian bathtub with wheels, " La Tor­ live roughly as they do in the middle of tttgt~a carried them through the steaming the ocean. It took ten years, a million dol­ jungles of Mexico, rode the monstrous lars and the solving of formidable scien­ surf of the Pacific, navigated the reef­ tific problems to make Marineland, near ribbed Caribbean and climbed with them St. Augustine, Florida, what it is today - 16,000 feet into the Peruvian Andes. Their a true fragment of the sea on land. The book is a delightful account of this he~tic story behind Marineland is expertly and and wonderful trip, written with a feeling delightfully told in this book. for the thrill of discovery, the pull of ad­ The book gives the intriguing history venture and the romance of far away of the Marine Studios, which involved places. Illustrated with photographs and such tricky problems as developing a hypo- drawings. 12