SEAMEN'S CHURCH INSTITUTE OF NEW
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~ The cargo vessel plowed through the The tragic loss of life in the sinking North Atlantic at half speed because of the Titanic in 1912 prompted the the International Ice Patrol reported calling of an international conference an iceberg in the vicinity. So none of for safety of life at sea. This conven the crew wanted to sleep. Those not on tion met in London in 1914 and created active duty gathered in little groups of the International Ice Patrol. It re three or four along the rail of the for quested the United States to take over ward deck, keeping well aft of the look its management, and the job was given ~~ out in the bow so that there would be to the Coast Guard. For over fifty no suggestion of their distracting his years, with the exception of the years attention. during World Wars I and II, the Coast ~~ Inevitably, conversation of the men Guard has operated the International turned to the Titanic. Ice Patrol and during all that time ~ '4" there has been no major disaster in "Royal Mail steamship of the White the patrol area. Star Line. Biggest ship afloat and on Icebergs are pieces of glaciers that her maiden voyage, too." break off as the glacier moves seaward. "Where was she?", asked one of the Most of the Atlantic bergs originate on younger crewmen. the west coast off Greenland and about "I'd guess about two hundred miles 400 of them drift into the shipping LOOKOUT The Rev. John M. Mulligan east of here. If I remember right, she lanes every year. They average up to Director was about 500 miles off the Grand 300 feet above the waterline and per Vol. 58No.10 December 1967 Harold G. Petersen Banks. Supposed to be unsinkable, she haps 1,500 feet long and wide. It is sig Copyright 1967 Editor Published monthly with exception of July·August and was, but there never was a hull plate nificant that of this ice mass, represent February·March when bi·monthly. Contributions to the SEAMEN'S CHURCH that could stand up against an iceberg." ing about 11/z million tons, only approx Seamen's Church Institute of New York of $5.00 or more INSTITU'l'E OF NEW YORK include a year's subscription to The Lookout. Single sub· "Did it sink her?" imately one-tenth shows above the 25 South Street, New York, N.Y. 10004 scriptions are $2.00 annually. Single copies 50¢. Addi· "Sure did. She filled up with water, water. Telephone: 269-2710 tiona! postage for Canada, Latin America, Spain, $1.00; The Right Reverend other foreign, $3.00. Second class postage paid at New then reared up on one end and went So far there is no known way to des Horace W. B. Donegan, D.O., D.C.L. York, N.Y. down like a capstan bar. Carried over troy an iceberg. Hono1·ary President COVER: Iceberg being pushed out of channel at 1,500 passengers and crew with her, They have been bombarded with Franklin E. Vilas McMurdo Sound, Antarctica P·res·ident too. Many of the passengers were mil naval guns, mined with demolition lionaires, but money won't help some charges, and bombed with thermite times." bombs.
3 Seaman Burtis is congratulated by Bishop Donegan while SCI's Chap· lain Bauer looks (Left) The Titanic. The Titanic Lighthouse Tower (center) atop the SCI South on. Street building was dedicated April 15, 1913, as a memorial to the victims of the sea disaster. (Right) Icebergs are virtually indestructible. They have been bombarded with naval guns, mined with demolition charges and bombed with thermite bombs. The bombardment merely chips off chunks of ice.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Burtis has The bombardment chips off chunks damine B bomb. The calcium chloride Those who think a seaman is usually been engaged in all these diverse activi of ice which, compared to the whole pellets melt into the ice an inch deep an irresponsible roistering oaf should ties, has won the awards mentioned and mass, are insignificant. The mathe so that the bright vermilion dye will take a good look at today's modern sea men and particularly Jack E. Burtis is a member of all the fraternal groups matics of demolition show that it would ~ot wash off. The· progress and deteri take over 1,900 tons of TNT to break oration of a berg so identifiable can of Watertown, New York. listed. In other words, a Solid Citizen. up the average berg. And the thermite thus be studied. The 50-year-old seaman could easily Mr. Burtis also has been in and out bombs, which will melt iron, produce Recently, the Coast Guard has been be taken for: a police officer, criminol of the United States Public Health only trickles of water. experimenting with a "radiometric de ogist, engineer, executive,army officer, Service Hospital in Stapleton, Staten In fact, to melt the berg would re tector" built to the specifications pro Federal Investigator, War Crimes in Island, popularly known as the "Marine quire the heat generated by nearly 21f2 vided by the Coast Guard electronics vestigator, security officer, police de million gallons of gasoline. engineers. It operates on the principle tective, member of British Merchant Hospital". During these years he became ac Since destruction of bergs is impos that all objects give off electromagnetic Marine, member of Norwegian Mer quainted with and subsequently a sible, there remain the locating of them energy in the microwave region of the chant Navy, marine union representa and the pinpointing their exact posi frequency spectrum. tive, entertainment director, a member friend of Chaplain Richard Bauer of SCI who is a Resident Chaplain at the tion. This information is broadcast to Used to supplement the aircraft's of U.S. Merchant Marine. Hospital. Chaplain Bauer, at Mr. Bur all ships twice daily. radar, it maps the .shape of the object One might think, also, that seaman tis' request, began giving the seaman Originally, all icebergs were visually and its temperature differential. When Burtis could be the kind of fellow who instruction to prepare him for confir located by Coast Guard cutters, but as perfected, it will be able to locate ice would be a member of the American mation in the Episcopal Church. the years passed, the Coast Guard bergs in dense fog, where visual Sight Legion, Elks, Masons, Scottish Rite and So Mr. Burtis was recently con changed its technique and today most ing is impossible. the Shrine. firmed in the Church by the Right Rev bergs are found by loF)g range aircraft, Standing guard over 33,000 square erend Horace W. B. Donegan, Bishop constantly patrolling over 33,000 miles of ocean, the Ice Patrol, senti Or he might - you could speculate of the Diocese of New York, at a service square miles of ocean. nels of the sea, spot icebergs as they - have been once chosen Seaman of of confirmation in the Cathedral of St. When a plane sights an iceberg, or appear, keep track of them until they the Year by United Seamens Service, John the Divine. Chaplain Bauer "pre locates it by radar, the berg's exact lo finally disintegrate in the 60 ° Gulf or have been given a special award by sented" Mr. Burtis to Bishop Donegan cation is established by Loran. Then it Stream, thus making the ocean safe for Former President Truman for meri who is also is bombed with a calcium chloride-rho- all ships that use it. torious war-time service. honorary president of SCI. 4 5 "Big Jack," as the seaman is affec hospital dates from 1918. In that Year Anything May Happen At The Institute tionately known throughout the mari the Secretary of the Treasury ap time service, is the thirtieth patient pointed the then-director of SCI as gin shaking hands like politicians the Chapla in Bauer has presented for con chaplain of both the Marine Hospital world over. firmation during his ministry at the and the Hospital for Seamen on Ellis It turned out, however, that the Marine Hospital. Island. The Marine Hospital ministry stocky, grey-haired, be-medaled man has since been provided by SCI without was not the famous Russian, but Oscar The SCI chaplaincy at the federal interruption. Jordan of New Rochelle (a New York suburb), a Khrushchev look-alike who Ju\yl,·\967 impersonates the ex-Premier as a =-- PLEASE I'OS1' ON YOUR BULLETIN JI()AIID model in connection with newspaper ___ ...... ,.. C!'C' AMEN and magazine advertising (vodka, etc.) and who was doing a bit of an act in Soucbt by Relatives and friend• F01 iftfor fftat'- a,.d 10 ...,.d j.,.lonftltiOft )dd,.-. show biz around Fun City. "The Svet SEAMEN'S CHU'RCH tNSTlTUTE Of NEW YORK lana thing has helped immensely," he 2~ South Succt, New Yo rK , N. Y., U.S. A 10004 Tolo-r. BO-""' G
"The moving finger writes, and having writ . .. " Visiting Norse seaman and a hostess at SCI Mariners Center If you were asked to name the in Port Newark survey his hand world's loneliest island you would prob Sable's yellow sand as a lucky charm. iwork on glass walls of Center. ably choose some coral pinpoint in the The flask is supposed to ensure that The script reads: Happy Yule_ vast Pacific. And you would be wrong! vessels sailing close to Sable will not For the spot which really qualifies be wrecked on the island's dangerous for this dubious honor is a 25-mile nar- shores . . row piece of land lying across one of The twenty-one people who live there the Atlantic's busiest sea lanes. Dozens consist of technicians and their fami of ships steam past it daily, and globe lies. They serve one year on the island, spanning jet-liners regularly wing operating the latest weather-tracking overhead. Yet, except for radio and the devices, issuing weather bulletins, modern houses in which they live, the warning ships to keep well clear of twenty-one inhabitants might as well Sable. No one else is allowed to live be living on another planet. there. TENNIS ANYONE? Guest at SCI Their gale-swept, fog-wreathed home Sable's tiny township consists of International Club is Sable Island, 170 miles east of Hali four frame houses and severa1 quonset dance plays at fax, Nova Scotia. It belongs to Canada, type aluminum huts designed to with table tennis in and because more than 500 ships have stand the terrific abrasive effects of adjoining game been wrecked on its shifting sandbars wind-blown sand. There is a generating room during during the past four centuries, it has station, store, boathouse, carpenter and intermission. been called "The Graveyard of the blacksmith's shop, and a hostel for the Atlantic." It is the loneliest, most bar accommodation of survivors. ren outpost off the east coast of North Several other disused buildings are / America. It is called Sable Island not scattered around, one of them being an because sables are found there but be old barn inside which are displayed cause the word "sable" means sand in relics of Sable Island's shipwrecks. French. There are timbers, masts and spars Veteran mariners claim that some from wrecked ships, oar thwarts and sinister quality is possessed by the pieces of planking - grim evidence of sands of Sable Island which confuses the merciless pounding the sea gives the best compass made. Many Nova ships when they founder on Sable's Scotia fishermen keep a sealed flask of sandbars.
9 A generating plant helps provide iners known to be struggling for . ex- many of the comforts of city living istence on t h e Is 1and, and he knew for the inhabitants. They even have enough about horses to send a breed refrigerators, washing machines, which has thrived to this day on Sable' ranges and radios. Electricity also pow rugged climate and environment. 8 ers the two lighthouses which can send About twenty of the ponies have been their life-saving beams of light a dis tamed and are used for riding and for tance of 16 miles. drawing carts. Hay and oats are im Fresh water is plentiful. The deep ported from the mainland for these sands soak up and hold rain and mois but the wild ponies live on beach grass' ture as efficiently as blotting paper. wild peas and flowers. ' For recreation Sable's inhabitants Every day Sable Island's desolate read a lot. They hold get-togethers in beaches are patroled. The shifting side each other's living quarters at sands are constantly uncovering relics. weekends, take part in handicraft Once a bulky packet of Bank of Eng classes, and operate a "ham" radio sta land five-pound notes was found, said tion through which they can contact to be worth $5,000. Another time a pa relatives and friends on the mainland. trolman picked up a solitary sea boot. In summer they swim, sunbathe and go When he shook it several gold coins fell for long walks along the coastline, look out. ing for relics from shipwrecked vessels. Rusty muskets have been yielded by Some cultivate gardens in the sand. the moving sand, together with bay Others ride the ponies of Sable - po onets, swords, broken crockery and nies which are perhaps the island's human bones. greatest mystery. All told there are <:lte :Dreaded J!arbarv Pirates about 360 ponies roaming the island. Geologists report that Sable Island They are short, shaggy, and for the is the summit of one of those huge byM. R. Bull most part wild. banks of sand, pebbles and fragments Between the 16th and the 19th cen Sallee. He sacked the capital and car One theory is that they are the de of shell and coral which form a line tury, the terrible Barbary Corsairs at ried off the Governor's family and 300 scendants of French cavalry mounts extending under the waters of the At tacked shipping in the Mediterranean people. Then he hoisted a flag of truce which swam ashore from a wrecked lantic parallel to the coast of North as well as the Atlantic. Many American and let the Governor come on board to ship 175 years ago. The ship was head America from Newfoundland to Cape ships were also captured by these ex ransom the prisoners. ing for the New World with soldiers Cod. The whole of the sandy surface · cellent but ruthless Arab sailors. In 1627, a German renegade with and military supplies. has been washed and blown up by the They also landed on Europe's coasts, three ships even attacked Denmark and Another theory is that the ponies sea and wind, and some predict that it looting and carrying off men, women Iceland, capturing several hundred peo were sent to Sable Island by Thomas may be washed and blown down again and children into slavery. Though Eu ple. A few years later a Flemish rene Hancock, uncle of John Hancock, the as the treacherous mass moves gradu ropean nations sometimes sent fleets gade attacked the coasts of England famed revolutionary patriot. Thomas ally further and further out into deeper against them, the pirates defeated or and Ireland, taking many slaves to Al wanted to help the shipwrecked mar- water. (Continued on page 14) evaded them. giers. Between 1628 and 1634, pirates The Corsairs came from Libya, Tuni captured 80 French ships and 1331 sia, Algeria and Morocco, the region crew. then called Barbary. But though most Once captured, a Christian's life was were Moslem Arabs, numerous Euro hard. The men were either sold to pri / peans were among them. These rene vate buyers, or were kept by the ruler. Departing technicians on gades had generally been captured At night they were locked in 'bagnios' the island bid farewell themselves. Forgetting their language (prisons), but during the long, hot to a newly arrived group days they constructed ships, made clay beginning one-year stint and Christian religion, they became bricks or lime, built earth and stone of duty. Moslems. Reckless European noblemen also joined them. city ramparts, palaces or other build In 1585, Murad Reis actually at ings. Hundreds rowed the pirates' tacked the Canary Islands with a fleet boats. of brigantines from the Moroccan port, If they tried to escape they were
10 11 Part of the ancient for. tress opposite Sallee (Morocco) and the Bou Regreg river into which the Sallee pirates sailed their brigantines to un load their loot and cap tives. Until they were A typical alley in Tunis, Medina,which has sold, the prisoners were not changed for several centuries. Many a thrown into the dun poor Christian slave must have despaired geons of the fortress of escaping from such a maze of narrow (left center). streets.
Bey of Tunis actually wrote the Presi dent: "It will be impossible to keep peace longer unless the President sends without delay ten thousand stand of tortured and killed. Many were beaten oar. These crews had to fight as well as arms and forty cannon of different to death or hung on great hooks from row. calibre ..." · the walls to warn others. Few escaped Later the Corsairs built large gal In 1801, Yusuf of Tripoli declared The following year the fearless Lieu successfully, and and only those with leons which depended on sails for mo war on America. Exasperated, the U.S. tenant Stephen Decatur, commanding rich families were ransomed. bility and so could go further and stay Government at last took action. In 1803 the ketch Intrepid, sailed right into the At one time there were twenty-five at sea longer. The pirates' chief ports three ships under Commodore Preble harbor and set fire to the Philadel thousand slaves in Algiers alone. were Tripoli (Libya), Algiers, Tunis blockaded Tripoli, but bad weather phia, which the pirates had repaired After the 18tli century when Ameri and Sallee. . drove the Philadelphia ashore, where and were going to sail themselves. can vessels sailed the seas in increas Despite the harm done to their com she was attacked and captured by the Then Commodore Preble attacked ing number, they too were attacked, merce, the ships they lost and the crews Moslems. Captain Bainbridge and his Tripoli with a frigate, three brigs, and many an American sailor passed captured, the Corsairs were more or crew were imprisoned. three schooners, six gun-boats and two the rest of his life in slavery in North less tolerated by the other nations. In Africa. stead of collaborating to destroy them, As for women, most of them were Christian nations concluded treaties put in harems, but the most beautiful with them, paying tribute so their ves were kept by the local ruler. Young sels would be left alone. children were adopted and converted to Once an Italian squadron forced a Islam. Tunisian General of the Galleys and his Yet the Corsairs' fleets were not ships to shelter in an Albanian port. large. Generally, a squadron had only To defend themselves better, most of about ten ships. In the 16th century the Corsairs landed. Thereupon the the Algerian Corsairs had only 36 Italians boarded their ships and after Until the beginning of this cen galleys and galliots. The Moroccans had a fierce struggle captured them and tury, every town in North Africa brigantines, chiefly. sailed them away, leaving the pirates was surrounded by these mas Though these ships had sails, they stranded on shore. sive ~:amparts constructed of depended on oars for mobility. The gal But because Italy wasn't at ~r with earth and stones. And many of these huge walls were con leys were narrow and about 150 feet them, the Italians later compensated structed by Christian prisoners, long, with 27 long oars to a side. the Corsairs. many of whom were sailors. Each was manned by 4 to 6 men, gen Even America paid tribute for a erally slaves, who were chained to their time. In 1799 she concluded a treaty, benches except for short rests, and only paying the Corsairs fifty thousand dol given bread to eat. Galliots only had a lars, 28 cannon as well as ball, powder, couple of men to an oar while the even cordage and other equipment. But this smaller brigantines had one man to an didn't satisfy the pirates for long. The
10 YOU AND YOU by the Rev. John M. Mulligan
"The Minister is ordered, from time sensible and sound people die without to time, to advise the People, whilst having left any kind of Will. This is they are in health, to make Wills ar bad stewardship and even worse house The Kasbah of Algiers overlooking the port to which many thousands of Christian ranging for the disposition of their keeping. It is also wasteful because captives were brought, and from whose narrow alleys few escaped. temporal goods, and when of ability, to those who would benefit as heirs are leave Bequests for religious and char automatically deprived of a sizeable bomb vessels. Though the town wasn't to Tunis and then Tripoli, making the itable uses." portion of the estate. captured, the Libyan Corsairs were The Seamen's Church Institute of rulers promise to abolish the slavery This "rubic" or instruction appears forced to conclude a peace treaty, and of Christians. New York has only been able to carry on page 320 of the Book of Common all American slaves were freed. on its important ministry for 134 years Later, with a Dutch squadron, the Prayer. It has been there for several In 1815, another American squadron because concerned and thoughtful peo fleets sailed to Algiers and shelled the centuries but many loyal church people sailed to Algiers, and a treaty was soon town, forcing the Bey to free all slaves ple have left us bequests in their Wills. have never been aware of it. concluded with the Bey without a shot - 1642 of them- and promise in fu· Our ability to meet the demands of the being fired. This success was followed ture to exchange prisoners instead of Many of the Clergy follow its in future will be largely determined by by that of an English fleet which sailed enslaving them. struction to them and of late years have· the amount of testamentary support seized upon the Sunday next before current friends and contributors pro Advent as a logical occasion. The Col World's Loneliest Island (Continued from pagelO) ------vide. lect for the Day begins, "Stir up, we A modest bequest continues in per beseech thee, 0 Lord, the wills of thy Unless energetic measures are taken Many of the wrecks sucked down petuity the annual contribution given faithful people." to prevent it, the wind-driven sand into the sands carried treasure on during one's lifetime. Once a bequest buries everything on Sable Island, man board and it is estimated that several Of course, the Collect is not speaking is written into a Will the individual made or otherwise. One 90-foot sand million dollars' worth of buried wealth of testamentary instruments but the knows that while he "can't take it with dune has completely buried the full lies beneath the island's surface. humor does provide a light approach to him" he can take with him the knowl rigged American clipper ship Nicosia Brigs, barques, schooners, galleons and what many people consider a dark and edge and comfort that the support he from her keel to the tip of her masts. steamers all bearing rich cargo have heavy subject. gave during his lifetime is forever as Some recent wrecks have completely been buried in this hungry graveyard . It is amazing how many otherwise sured. disappeared overnight, engulfed by the of the oceans. The men keeping a look shifting sands. Others, after being en aut on the island never relax their vigi The following simple table indicates how this may be done- tombed for a hundred years, have sud lance - for there is always room for If your annual It is perpetuated If your annual It is perpetuated denly appeared again. more in Sable's sandy tomb. contribution is: by a Bequest of: contribution is: by a Bequest of: $500 ···················· $12,500 $50······················ $1,250 (Below left) The sands of Sable Island. Mariners claim they pos"sess some sin 250 ...... ············· 6,250 25 ...... 625 ister quality that has lured some 500 ships to their doom in the past. (Below 100 ...... 2,500 10 ...... 250 5...... 125 right) Not all Sable Island's ponies are wild. Some have been trained for patrol work. They have an instinctive sense of direction -very necessary in Sable's A simple bequest form for your use is suggested: savage storms. I give, devise and bequeath to SEAMEN'S CHURCH INSTI TUTE OF NEW YORK, a New York corporation located at 25 South Street, New York City, the sum of ...... Dollars. Note that the words, "Of New York" are a part of our title and should be used. If land or specific personal property is given, a brief description thereof should be inserted in place of the words, "the sum of ...... - ...... Dollars''. A calendar year is drawing to a close. A new one is about to begin. This then is a very good time to tidy up one's affairs and set the house in order. 15 - ..... & • -~---~ An 25 South Street AT NEW YORK, .N.Y. Ne11V York, N.Y. 10004
Return Requested
A world within a '!Vorld, giver of life and taker of life, limitless water stretching on and on as if forever. At times warm and caressing, encour aging you to give yourself to its gen tle hold, to go with it, swim on and on. Other times come when it is cruel and relentless, sweeping away all that blocks its path, leaving behind destruction, debris and death. The beaches are littered by its delicate shells, some covered with the lustre of mother-of-pearl: the very sands are made by the constant grinding of rock on rock. At the bottom of the ocean is another world peopled by plants and fish; crabs to eat up the corpses created by the raging waves and little fish are eaten by larger ones : nature takes its way, uncontrolled by human hand. As the waves wash over the beaches, the stones look beautiful, encouraging you to gather their beauty to hold forever; but also as they are dried by thewind the color goes and you are left holding a grey pebble. The sea: we fear it; we love it; we live with it; it is the beginning and the end ·and so we hold our breath with pleasure as we watch the sunset over the water, repair the breaches in the sea wall and in a winter storm, offer up a silent prayer for the fishermen out in their small boats. Dinah Garratt-Adams