Aitken, Hugh G.J. the Welland Canal Company: a Study In
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BOOK REVIEWS Adrian Jarvis, Roger Knight, Michael Stammers initiatives as a part of a wider heritage industry." (eds.). IXth International Congress of Maritime [5] I have quoted this statement because it sets the Museums Proceedings. Liverpool: Merseyside tone for the whole conference. Maritime Museums and London: National Mari- The principal papers on the general theme all time Museum, 1997. 207 pp., figures, photo- emphasize the falling-off of visitor numbers to graphs, illustrations, tables. [Free to individual museums generally, and particularly to maritime and institutional members of ICMM; available in museums, which has been characteristic, at least libraries of member institutions], paper; ISBN 0- in the United Kingdom, of recent years. Professor 9530408-0-1. Stuart Davies rightly put his finger on the signifi- cance of the fading collective public memory as The International Congress of Maritime Museums things maritime move further and further from the was founded at a meeting of maritime museums normal everyday experience of most people. of the Atlantic basin at the National Maritime Shortage of money and the absence of a govern- Museum at Greenwich in 1972. This meeting was ment policy (at least in Britain) for museums have organized jointly by the National Maritime Mu- driven some institutions virtually to cease to be seum and Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, in the museums at all and to become "all purpose leisure belief, strengthened by recent experiences, that attractions." Although Professor Davies did not there would be great advantages in developing refer to this factor the deliberate extinction in close links internationally between institutions some maritime museums of the scholar curator, with such strong common interests. still fortunately fundamental to the running of Twenty-five years later at its ninth full such great institutions as the British Museum, has meeting (there had also been smaller regional also been a factor in the lowering of standards. meetings) the Congress, having met in between in No less than four papers have as their subject Oslo, Mystic, Paris, Hamburg, Amsterdam, the unfortunate controversy over the salving and Stockholm and Barcelona, returned to Britain. exhibition of the Titanic material which has given Meetings at Liverpool, Po rtsmouth and Green- rise to much criticism of the British National wich were attended by representatives of twenty- Maritime museums, and brought it into conflict nine countries and some eighty separate institu- with the International Congress. Graeme Hender- tions. There were a total of 120 delegates as well son in his paper "Underwater Archaeology and as some visiting speakers. The Congress is now the Titanic — the I.C.M.M. View," ably presents one of the liveliest and strongest of museum the case of the Congress in this matter. international bodies. The professional papers are on the whole of The papers presented in 1997 fall readily into a high standard. Among the most interesting are three groups: those which dealt with the problems that by Alan Stimson on "Museums in Historic of the maritime museum at the end of the twenti- Buildings. Can you get it right?," Revell Carr of eth century; the long drawn-out professional Mystic Seaport on the gains and pitfalls of pro- dispute over the ethics of the salving and exhibi- grammes of evaluation of exhibitions, and Paul tion of artifacts salved from the Titanic; and Rees on the real value of interactive displays (he papers of general interest. is cautious in his verdict). There are four papers In the words of the (unsigned) Preface the on different aspects of African slavery and its papers in the first category "addressed the chal- consequences, of which perhaps the most interest- lenges and opportunities which arise from the ing is that of Mary Malloy on the employment of rapid changes taking place in recreational activi- Afro-Americans in the merchant shipping indus- ties and in the leisure industry around the world. try of the United States in former years. Museums are no longer isolate places of scholar- The "Proceedings" are nicely produced. An ship, but often placed in the forefront of tourist index, although not customary in this publication, 89 90 The Northern Mariner would have been helpful, as also notes on those interesting chapter. contributors who do not appear on the list of Jocelyn Palmers illustrated account of her participants. The views expressed are very much voyage in Viking from Australia to Falmouth, those of the individuals who spoke and there is which took from March 11 until 27 July 1948, some stimulating stuff here. will hold the readers interest. The writer is responsible for all the fine English summaries of Basil Greenhill this interesting books chapters and repo rts. Boetheric, Cornwall Equally fascinating are the accounts that reveal the personalities of those who served in the Börje Karlsson, Justus Harberg, Per-Ove Högnäs, barques. One chapter, for instance, is devoted to Henrik Karlsson, Bertil Lindqvist, Bjarne John Sommarström, who served fifty years at sea. Olofsson, Anita Pensar, Göte Sundberg (eds.). He rounded the Horn no less than eighteen times. Sjöhistorisk Årsskrift for Aland, 1996-97. Marie- Much of his service was as sailmaker in Eriksons hamn: Alands Sjöfartsmuseum , 1997. 175 pp., ships. His last voyage was in 1950 in Passat. photographs, illustrations, figures. FIM 100 (plus Ashore he continued his trade and became one of FIM 40, ph; payment by cheque preferred), the best guides to the museum ship Pommern. T. paper; ISBN 952-90-9240-7. Palmer contributes another short chapter, "The Last Albatross," about Captain Paul Sommarlund, The Yearbook of the Aland Maritimes Museum, who died aged 91 on Boxing Day 1996. He was published by the Aland Nautical Club, contains a the last member of the Aland branch of the Asso- wealth of articles that will appeal both to those ciation of Cape Homers. The Association dis- interested in the history of cargo-carrying sailing solves on its last members demise. vessels and to those wishing to acquire know- An illustrated article by J. Roger Toll con- ledge of the operations of small shipowners from cerns the galeas Rea, built in 1901 at Göta Aland the late nineteenth century to the present day. for the firewood trade between Aland and Stock- 1 997 was the fiftieth anniversary of the death holm. The vessel became Swedish owned in of Gustaf Erikson, famous for operating four- 1905, and in 1939, the property of Swedish Film masted barques in the grain traded in the post- Industry which used her in two films. In the last, World War I and World War II eras. J. Harberg she was spectacularly blown up! provides a synopsis of Eriksons life both as Steamship ownership made its appearance in seaman and shipowner. At the time of his death, Aland in 1927 when the Alpha company bought Erikson owned diesel and steam tonnage totalling SS Tabunbury, and continued through until 1973. 36,925 tons, in addition to four barques. His least The chapter entitled "You Cant Beat the Steam" successful vessel was the barque L 'Avenir, pur- was the result of a documentation project fi- chased from Belgian owners in 1932. In forty nanced by the Aland Nautical Club. It is based on pages, G. Sundberg records her saga. To obtain interviews with twelve who had served "in steam" some return from his investment, Erikson in 1933 and an unpublished memoir. An impo rtant part of initiated Baltic cruises with L 'Avenir . Only one Alands maritime history has thus been preserved. voyage produced a profit. Later proposals to use In "Some Memories from the Ferry Epoch," L 'Avenir as a hotel or as a Mediterranean cruise Captain Y. Hagerstrand, formerly senior master of ship never matured. Consequently, when cargoes the Swedish Slite Company, tells of his twenty- became available, the ship returned to the Austra- eight years experiences in the Sweden, lian grain trade. L'Avenir was finally sold in 1937 Marchamn, Abo service. Unfortunately, the Slite to German owners and renamed Admiral Companys financial difficulties ended his long Karpfanger. She disappeared on her return voy- career. Another essay by Captain J. Harberg age from Australia in 1938. According to one provides a useful synopsis of Alands shipping expert, L 'Avenir's long shelter deck, combined industry from Alands provincial autonomy in with a low head owing to less skilled stowage, 1922 until 1996. Harberg maintains that the would make steering difficult. Five museums, activity can be divided into three separate stages, Mariehamns county records, and two retired the last of which included the rise of ferry traffic. captains memories were the sources for this A curiosity in the latters beginning was the Book Reviews 91 acquisition of the British Southern Railways at one end of the trail. For the author, this job led thirty-five-year-old cross-channel turbine steamer to a series of community-oriented jobs. For Dinard. (Your reviewer remembers a night pas- middle-aged readers who remember their own sage in Dinard from Southampton to St. Malo in youth, there is the hilarity of recognizing a famil- 1925. I was then nine years old.) iar cast of characters (from government bureau- Finally, there is an eighteen-page summary crats to fading hippies). of an academic study by K. Grundström about the There is no theme to Number 17 although career of Robert Mattson, from seaman to indus- White claims this is the "medical issue" — be- trialist. It tells of Mattsons business activities in cause of Hamiltons article about smallpox and both shipping and other enterprises from the other epidemics, Whites analysis of the illness- 1870s until his death in 1935. There are also four related decimation of the Kalpalin B and, chapters which provide information about the Margaret McKirdys repo rt on The People's co-operation begun with the Hulls Universi ty, the Home Medical Book, a sort of self-help guide for Nautical Clubs, Museums, and Pommern founda- amateur doctors ("Have a curved knife with both tions, as well as annual reports.