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THE STAR

The seamen of all nationalities, TO EVERY WANDERING BARK and creeds come into the Program New York every year, To by the Reverend William McCall Haynsworth, them the Institute is their SCI Director ofPastoral and Social Services of the center in port and remains Institute polestar while they transit distant oceans of the earth, "And all I ask is a tall ship First established in 1834 and a star to steer her by," floating chapel in New York harbor, the Institute offers a John Masefield _"Sea Fever." range of recreational, Seamen's Church Mariners' educational , and speCial Institute of International Center New York and (SCt) for the mariner, including New Jersey Ports Newark/ counseling and the help of 15 State Street Elizabeth, N.J. A century and a half ago in the New York, N.Y. chaplains in emergency year 1839 (an era when the situations. Seamen's Church Institute of New More than 3,500 ships with York and New Jersey had just 140,000 men aboard an begun its ministry to seamen) a in at Pts, Newark/Elizabeth. young man arrived in New York I:OOK@UT where time ashore is with expectations of romantic Vol. 70 No.2 March-April 1979 limited , liberation on his mind and one SEAMEN'S CHURCH INSTITUTE Here in the very middle dollar in his pocket. Intelligent, OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY huge sprawling Pts. handsome and stalwart, he had 15 State Street, New York, N.Y. 10004 Elizabeth pulsing with decided to abandon the bleak Telephone: (212) 269-2710 prospects of employment in the container-shipping, SCI The Right Reverend agrarian economy of upstate New Paul Moore, Jr., S.T.D., D.O., Honorary President provided an oasis known During the past several years an York and to take his chances in the John G. Winslow, President Mariners' International increasing number of men both adventurous world of seafaring. The Rev. James R. Whittemore, Director which offers seamen a Carlyle Windley, Editor young and not-so-young have Toting a sea bag on his shoulder, he recreational center es~)ecia arrived in my office with the made his way down Wall Street to US ISSN 0024-6425 constructed , designed question: How can I become a "Coffee House Slip" on the East operated in a special way seaman? Underlying the question River. There at the foot of that PUblished bi·mon thly with exception of May and De· very special needs of the is an attitude which often seems to famous street where all the mixed cember wh en monthly. ContributIo ns to the Sea- say: "I want to get into that giant company of the shipping men's Church In stitute of New York and New Jersey outstanding feature is a of $5.00 or more In clude a year' s subscription 10 The field (lighted by night) for steel womb and leave the world community congregated, he found Lookout. Single copies 50¢ . Additio nal postage for behind." This yearning to escape a ajob and signed on the packet ship Canada . Lalin America, Spain , $1.00: other foreign, between ship teams, $3.00. Second class po stage paid at New York , N.Y. troubled environment with its bound for LiverpooL Although 63% of the St. Laurence complexity of economic problems is Although his capacity on board Cover: Lighthouse at Pornt Reyes, California. Photo Institute budget is met by certainly not a new phenomenon. the St, Laurence was ordinary by R.F . Campbell. from seamen and the

contributions. ~ Seamen's Church Institute 0' New York and New Jersey, 1979 tax-deductible. PAGE 5 PAGE 4 ------~~~------

Pip the gentle black cabin-boy; or t he South Street ~~rrne~ ted C apta i~ Ahab who, inst~ad of around 1887.~· bsessively pursumg the gIant white

Photo: Courtesy :hale, might in today's world emerge as New York the proverbial alcoholic ready to run his H istorical SOciety hip onto the rocks. Melville's seafal'ers ~raw upon our sympathy not just beca use of the harsh conditions with which t hey " had to contend, but in understanding their loneliness and isolation. Only th en can the reader begin to comprehend their qualities of strength as well as theil' weaknesses. I Moby-Dick was first published in • London where it was acclaimed as a masterpiece. But the London reviewers were quick to call it a fraud: "No I American ordinary seaman could wl'ite like this," they claimed. How wrong those Herman Melville returned to the sea. In seaman, he was a most extraordinary could excel this graduate of "the ship." In English critics were! The American 1860 he was the guest-passenger of his terms of emotional stress, Melville must I seafaring tradition is a remarkably brother, Captain Thomas Melville, on the person. When he walked up the gangway that fateful day, he could not have have paid a costly tuition for the tough literary one, replete with such sea-going clipper ship Meteor, out of the Port of imagined that he was destined to have a education he received during his sea Boston. During the course of the long profound influence in improving the journeys. Van Wyck Brooks, in voyage, the shi p rounded the Horn. It had living and working conditions of future commenting on Melville's stamina to just passed the islands of Tierra del American seamen. It is an interesting endure such an education, observes that, Fuego and was headed through some of fact that this remarkable man, now "Stout as he was in muscle and bone, with the most terrifying seas on the face ofthe firmly established as a bright jewel of the physical courage to spare, he had never earth when Melville wrote the following American literary tradition, was born on imagined a forecastle and the horrors passage in a letter to his eldest son back the site of the present Institute building. that occurred in that gloomy hole where in Pittsfield, Massachusetts: Located on the west wall of the building seamen burrowed like rabbits in a "September 1, 1860. We were off Cape near the Pearl Street entrance is a bronze warren and the eager, romantic, Horn, the Southernmost point of all plaque, erected by the New York sensitive boy, friendless and alone, America. Now it was very bad weather, Community Trust, which states: encountered evils that one could hardly and was dark at about 3 o'clock in the think of." afternoon. The wind blew terribly. We However sordid life in the forecastle had hailstorms, and the snow and sleet, J may have been, Melville described that and often the spray froze as it touched the A House on This Site was the Birthplace HERMAN MELVILLE place as being populated with the CIRCA 1847 deck. The ship rolled, and sometimes took of the Novelist and Poet battered and cast-off furniture of the in so much water on deck as to wash HERMAN MELVILLE (18 19-1891) shoreside world. "Sons of adversity and authors as Richard Henry Dana, James people off their legs. Several sailors were Moby-Dick Among HIs Numerous Sea Tales calamity," he called his shipmates. When Fenimore Cooper, Eugene O'Neill and washed along the deck this way, and he writes of them, in Moby-Dick for Jack London. Herman Melville was to came near getting washed overboard. example, they emerge as full-blooded, become the "top-sail yarn-spinner" of And this reminds me of a very sad thing In later years, when literary fame had authentic sea-going types like Starbuck, them all! that happened the very morning we were thrust him into the limelight, Herman the serene, practical mate of the Pequod, It is an ancient tradition that the sa ilor off the Cape - I mean the very "pitch" of Melville claimed with pride that, "The is forever on the verge of abandoning the (Con tinued) foc'sle was my Harvard and Yale." It sea, although he almost never does. could be said that these two ancient When he was fifty years old and his citadels of learning have never in all short-lived fame had turned to ashes, their existence produced a writer who PAGE 6 PAGE 7 the Cape. It was just about daylight; it Recognizing the wide spectrum of He entitled it, Post-Operative: was blowing a gale of wind; and Uncle advancements in the world of American I cannot put in words just how I feel. Tom ordered the topsails (big sails) to be , shipping, it must be noted that the Nor yet commit to silent ecstasy furled. Whilst the sailors were aloft on human problems associated with This fact of my survival, though I reel one of the yards, the ship rolled and . lation, loneliness and boredom are the Like one death-sentenced prisoner plunged terribly; and it blew sleet and ~i~toric pitfalls of seafaring which set free hail, and was very cold and biting. Well, I threaten the health and productivity of a Before the prospect of longevity. all at once, Uncle Tom saw something I-. ship'S crew. The necessary pattern oflife Thenceforth I shall not in the falling through the air, and then heard a n shipboard contributes to these shadows wait, thump, and then, looking before him, saw ~roblem s: The seaman stands his watch Myself a shade, for shadows yet to be, a poor sailor lying dead on the deck. He in silence and often alone; off-duty he has In common fiefdom; chattel to my fate. had fallen from the yard, and was killed the limited option of seeking to find some But strike-out boldly as behooves instantly. His shipmates picked him up, sociability in the messroom or returning a man and carried him under cover. By and by, to his cabin. A man of simple faith, the With mind intent on journey - not when time could be spared, the sailmaker mariner often speaks of his'chapel in the its end, sewed up the body in a piece of sail-cloth, bow. Here the starry firmament presses Whose eager eye does all about putting some iron balls - cannon balls­ in upon him as the heavens declare the him scan at the foot of it. And, when all was ready, glory of God and the eternal sea The woods, the road ahead, the Argo Merchant the body was put on a plank, and carried surrounding him echoes the theme: river's bend, to the ship's side in the presence of all Unheeding of the grim horizon far replaced the common forecastle and is Alone, alone all all alone, hands. Then Uncle Tom, as Captain, read That mayor may not light up with rapidly becoming the standard a prayer out of the prayer-book, and at a Alone on a wide, wide sea. a star.2, given word, the sailors who held the accommodation for every American Apart fro m the psychological hazards plank tipped it up, and immediately the crewmember. A varied menu offers the seaman a choice offood. Herman Melville of loneliness and isolation, the body slipped into the ocean, and we saw it would doubtless be amazed and gratified turbulence of the sea with its sometimes no more. Such is the way a poor sailor is > terrible fury produces conditions which buried at sea. This sailor's name was Ray. to witness these innovations which would I make for an accident-prone vocation. is He had a friend among the crew; and they have been fantastic daydreams for It seamen of the nineteenth century. (It probably a fa ir assumption that physical were both going to California, and would be a great humanitarian injuries claim the same high tolls today thought of living there; but you see what accomplishment if these standards as they did a century ago in Melville's happened." prevailed throughout the seafaring time. (Last year, for example, 41.2 Melville's concern for the human domain. Regrettably they do not. Vast percent of seaman on board American component of seamanship is evident in numbers of vessels, floating scrap heaps, vessels were reported to have sustained this vivid description of tragedy at sea, a traverse the oceans of the world; their injuries.) I common occurrence in his day. The crews are subjected to exploitative, An injured seaman, recovering from intervening century has brought demeaning treatment. Living conditions traumatic surgery at the U.S. Public revolutionary changes in the maritime on these ships are at times subhuman. Health Service Hospital on Staten world. Modern technology has long ago Island, was confronted with the prospect Student at MARAD Radar School Unfortunately, the numbers of these located at SCI eliminated the romantic but awesome vessels would seem to be on the increase.) ofleaving the comforts of the "horizontal perils of climbing aloft into the yards. world" of the hospital and returning to Excellent educational opportunities, the work-a-day world of the sea. ranging from specialized in-service Following in the literary tradition of training to university-level programs at Herman Melville, the mariner produced l. Marine Index Bureau, Inc. state and federal academies, produce a Statistical Analysis No. 69, 4 / 17178 a sonnet to commemorate his recovery. 2. Lawrence H. Miner, Deck Engine Mechanic new breed of seamen who are prepared for tasks requiring a wide range of skills as well as professional expertise. Wages

and living conditions are determined by # union contracts; a private cabin has I PAGE 8 PAGE 9

It is a universal truth that the seafarer is the perpetual voyager, "with mind MIGRATION: Those Who Did . . . intent on journey not its end." The ---- horizon of his world of sky and sea, in E United States, inc!udmg fleld tnps to the somber monotony, should be blessed by Statue of Liberty and its accompanying the comfortable assurance of a guiding museum. star. The mariner's beacon, Polaris, was Their play was filled with the used by Shakespeare as a symbol for the straightforward perception, humor and quality of steadfast love and he called it, special exuberance given only to the "the star to every wandering bark." For young; and their comprehension of what Melville's fellow seamen, those "sons of they had learned and what it means to be adversity and calamity," life was an Americans gave heart to all who were uncertain voyage too often devoid of any Chaplain Haynsworth meets with two fortunate enough to see their fine symbol of enduring love or even seamen to discuss their work si production. From start to finish and, sympathetic human caring. Reflecting on Episcopal priest and professional ai n fifth graders from the West especially, when children of all ra.ces the indifference of the world of his day Chaplain Haynsworth has been welnei_I • • Once ag chool in Chappaqua, New York formed into a beaming (though shghtly towards the seafarer, Melville expressed seamen for the past 15 years. rrhard 'th a new musical; played askew) Statue of Liberty and then e to town Wl a compassionate faith in a caring m 'ty audience here at the sang about freedom, there was no Providence: "We must not altogether to ,1 capaCI d had them standing in the question that there's always .a bright Missionary Society, the ancestor of In_tltute, an despair for the sailor; nor need those who Seamen's Church Institute of New tomorrow if youth can have ltS way. toil for his good be at bottom and New Jersey. I-I~". staged and produced by the Thank you students, teachers and \\ ntlen, I d f disheartened, for Time must prove his Today there exists an internatiollll this year's play resu te rom parents - one and all. It was a great udent , . t th friend in the end; and though sometimes rch on emigratlOn 0 e show and we hope to see you next year. confraternity of the sea, an a":'U\:III~IClljfl h lr re ea he would seem as a neglected stepson of kindred spirits comprising those heaven, permitted to run on and riot out agencies around the world which s_ his days with no hand to restrain him, common objective: to seek-out and '*' About the BERENGARIA while others are watched over and for the mariner. In such diverse POrta tenderly cared for; yet we feel and know Rotterdam, Holland and Houston, TeJIf, that God is the true Father of all, and that The Berengaria , ex-Imperator a new emphasis upon a cooperative, (1 912) was the first of three great none of his children are without the pale ecumenical approach to the tasks of superliners built for Albert Ballm , of his care." meeting the unique needs of seamen. director of Hamburg American Lines. One hundred and thirty-nine years taken shape. Sectarian barriers are beiIJ DUring World War I she ran briefly ago, on the day when Herman Melville dismantled and a new awareness of under American colors returning embarked upon his first sea voyage, a advantages and vitality of a coopera troops from Franc e. Turned overto the haven of hospitality and caring existed venture for the welfare of seamen is Bntlsh, after hostilities , she was only a few blocks from the slip on South taking root among Christian maritime overhauled and re-christe ned the Berengaria and became a part of the Street where his ship was berthed. It was agencies everywhere. Cunard Line 's week ly express run to called The Young Men's Church The boldest and most challenging Members of the James A. Lyon's Post America. #122 of the Roslyn (N.Y.) American initiatives toward mutual cooperatiOll Though not a great commercia l Legion present a lithograph of the have yet to be undertaken. Sometime success she brought considerable Berengaria to the Seamen's Church the not-too-distant future when every prestige to the company because of Institute. her size. With th e end of mass part of the maritime community, . Presenting the lithograph are Mr. Immigration to the U.S. in 1921, the inc! uding management and labor, 18 Edward Glannon, artist, who restored the joined in a truly ecumenical movememt. Berengaria was used as a West Indies work and Commander Ray Jacobs of the Cruise ship and in 193B she completed the seafarer's horizon will be brigh­ James A. Lyon Post. Accepting on er last voyage after a series of fi res behalf of the Institute is Francis C. by a polestar that may shine more be ween bulkheads indicated that her Huntington, deputy director. brilliantly than any star has ever h_ wIring was dangerously faulty. Such a beacon would truly become tItt star to every wandering bark. PAGE 10 PAGE 11

('('STOCKINGS ... with care" WEATHER CONFERENCE When young children think of Connecticut, and it was there that 1VIEETS DURING WINTER'S Christmas, their thoughts include became acquainted with the "stockings hung by the chimney with Jane Cobbett is the mother of the WORST BLIZZARD care". When Ida Tilley and Jane Cobbett George Cobbett, who for several of the Church Home in Wethersfield served churches here in '-'V lll1~Ct, IM " think of Christmas, their thoughts go to a young girl working in New the seamen served by the Seamen's she met the then director of Church Institute in New York City and Church Institute and became the warm socks given them in specially supporting their work. She still prepared Christmas boxes. Both of these gold thimble presented her by the ladies have for years been knitters for the Institute director. Institute, and in December they had an The Seamen's Church Institute opportunity to meet its new Executive founded in 1834 and is the largest Director, the Rev. James R. Whittemore. for merchant seamen in the Father Whittemore spoke in December at offering the largest range of St. Andrew the Apostle in Rocky Hill, CT available in any port. Groups at the Advent Corporate Communion for individuals are always most Men and Boys, and he also preached at visit the Institute and have a tour. the morning service. Father Whittemore Presently the Institute is anxious to in parishes and to present its showed the newly produced slide-tape Am ong the panelists participating in the Marine Weather Conference were (from left program which describes the history and program. If interested, contact Father to right): Miss Alexis Hoskins; Capt. K.C. Torrens, Sr. Port Capt., Farrell Lines; Mr. ministry of the Institute. Whittemore at the Institute, 15 State Robert E. Beck, Director Service Operations for NOAA (National Oceanic & At- Ida Tilley presented to Father Street, New York, N.Y. 10004. moshperic Administration); Mr. Jack Willis, President Reorganization Project, Office Whittemore the 1,000th pair of socks that of Management & Budget. Halsey Stevens, m she has knitted over the last 60 years for IWprinted from the E.M .M. the Seamen's Church Institute. Miss Among the recent major events held • New Developments in Ship Weather Tilley was born in Gloucestershire, : ere at the Institute, was the second Routing England, and came to America in 1906, ~nnual Port of New York International • The Effect of Weather on Oil Spill settling in Stamford where she was a .\fonlime Weather Conference and Containment and Clean-up member of St. John's Church. From 1918 ExhIbit. • Proposed Re-Organization of the to 1939 Miss Tilley was Registrar and Are ounding success in spite of heavy Department of Commerce: what will Executive Assistant to the head mistress now. the conference, sponsored by the happen to N.O.A.A. and MARAD? at Wykeham Rise School in Washington, Maritime Association of t he Port of New • Special Requirements for Coastal York and the Council of American and nearby Offshore Advisories and a"ter Mariners', Inc. was filled to • Future Developments in Marine capacity both days of the meeting. Weather Sciences. . 'umerous experts fro m government The exhibit area was a glittering and the private sector spoke on a variety display of all the latest weather tracking topics including: equipment; and exhibitors were kept busy • Deck Officers Need for Marine providing up to the minute "satellite" Weather Advisories Father Halsey Stevens (Rector of 51. printouts showing the movement of the Ambrose the Apostle), Ida Tilley, Jane CcJI*Il • The Contribution of Satellite snow storm that hovered over New York Father James Whittemore. Capabilities to Marine Forecasting during the entire two days of the (Photo: Charles Robi so n) • The Purpose and Work of the Sea meeting. U e Council PAGE 12 PAGE 13

Mildred's boy looked at me with those IN TRIBUTE ... great blue eyes. "She sounds wonderful, Uncle John," he exclaimed. "Does she a letter to the Lookout editor need a boy? You promised to take me with you when I was old enough!" Lucas February 5, 1979 stretched as tall as he could stand. "I bet Dear Mr. Windley, I'm old enough now! And big enough too!" Mildred looked at him with that sad It has been a while since we last faraway look that women get when they communicated. I regret that I have watch their menfolk leave. Our family lost a source for the sea stories that THENEWRO was a long line of seamen. And all the I developed for you. My father, women suffered to see them go. Alfred E. Reimann passed away By Tyrus Reimann I towsled his curly hair. "I can't say a this past September. He had a var­ word, Lucas! Your Ma has a say, you ied career beginning on coal­ know. It's for her to decide." burning destroyers ofWWI, switch­ He literally threw himself onto his ing briefly to the last of the wind­ mother. "Oh, Ma! I'll be good! And I'll be ships, then making the more careful too. I listened to everyone of dramatic switch to diesels. Both Uncle John's stories. I know what to do. I stories I sent you, "The New Rope" won't get washed away in a storm. Can I and "The Rooster Tail" were from go? Please!'" him. The former I can no longer He was such a picture of excitement confirm since the captain who re­ that Mildred couldn't very well say no. I told the story was not known by me. saw a cloud of old memories pass across And alas, the exact facts of some her brow but it cleared in a moment. "God stories will die with the sailors who be with you, Lucas," she said fervently. told them. I believe the ship, from "A sailor's life is full of danger." my father's recollection was the It was the fall of 1904. I'd spent five Lucas hugged her back happily. "Don't of Aberdeen. But I can't weeks doing the kinds of things a sailor I Verbena Captain as he leaned on the taffrail. worry, Ma! I'll be lucky. I'll be Lucky find the boy's last name. As for the dreams of doing. A sailor is cut olTfro "Need any men, Captain?" Lucas!" other story it is an account of a day the land for so long that he longs to fee He sized me up and shouted back, "Aye, Even Mildred had to laugh. His fresh on board the a ship on the warm earth in his hands. My sister' Canadolite, an ordinary seaman, if that's what you face was a picture of indomitable youth. which my father served as Chief Liverpool garden was looking shipshape be!" I nodded and climbed the gangplank Only later that afternoon did she shed a Engineer. The account of her cap­ The flowers were fresh and growing. Th for a word with him. It doesn't take too tear or two. She had packed my bags and ture is touched upon sparingly by weeds were banished. I was feeling reall much imagination to know that I signed had to pack her son Lucas' gear as well. Theodor Detmers, the captain of proud of myself. with him. I was a thrall to the old longing. "Don't worry," I said at the front door. the raider Kormoran who took her. Then the old hankering for the sea "So, you're leaving again, are you, "You heard what the boy said. He's Lucky (The Raider Kormoran, Kimber started to come back. I suppose it was the John?" my sister said when she heard of Lucas from now on!" Pocket Books, 1961) ... All the best autumn weather that brought it on. I my decision. Mildred nodded and waved goodbye to you for 1979. I had hoped to show worked in the garden but my eyes weI! I nodded and swept her up in my arms. until we trudged out of sight over the hill. the stories in print to my father. on the wind-swept clouds. "Yo u've been good to me, Mildred. But The trip started routinely and soon we But better late than never. "John," I'd say to myself, "that's a ri pe Nor-Easter. The ships will be scudding the sea is calling me and I must anSwer. were outbound in a brisk wind. Lucas did Sincerely yours, before it." Then I bent down with new he's a fine ship, the Verbena. A little old his work well and kept the officers' Tyrus vigour but the longing was there all th and in need of repairs. But it's good work. quarters neat as a pin. Most of his spare same. he'll keep her men busy with repairs." time he spent with me, learning a sailor's I wondered if any ship was loading trade. He got really good at splicing rope. One afternoon I took a stroll down by th Soon I was asking for him in the late docks. The Verbena of Aberdeen was afternoons to make my work a little loading general cargo. I hailed the lighter. PAGE 14 PAGE 15

You see, the Verbena had lain idle for About eight in the evening, Lucas had two years waiting for a buyer. Two years take Captain Canning's tea up to him. I can do a lot to make a ship old before her fito ured I'd go WIt. h hImJust" to rna k e sure time. The ropes were rotting away and ~: had his sealegs on the rolling decks. every chance we had we were replacing We almost got to the ladder when the rope. At first nobody wanted to climb the wave hit! ratlines, they were so bad. Little by little There was a tremendous crash of water the old rope came down and the new rope and deep within her the ship moaned like went up. It wasn't until we were well heart-broken woman. I leaped for the south of the Equator that we got ~feJine and wrenched myself to a sitting everything in order. position while I grabbed for Lucas. The We took two and a half months to reach cups and teapot went crashing to the deck the Horn and good weather followed US and were sucked to the scuppers in the all the way. "Lucas!" I laughed, "You're wash. as brown as a berry. You make a fine fair "Uncl e!" Lucas screamed. "I can't weather sailor. But can you weather a hold!" storm?" His li ttle hands were wrapped around He smiled and rubbed his hands the stiff new rope,just beyond my fingers. happily. "Just give me a chance, Uncle. "Hold tight, Lucas!" I roared back and I'll prove I'm Lucky Lucas!" chanced everything on my strength. I let The chance came all too soon. The sky go for a second and another wave washed turned black next day. The barometer me in its powerful grip to the boy. I came dropped like a stone. The Captain up spitting and coughing, touched his ordered us to shorten down to lower little hand for a moment, then he was topsails. The wind shrieked in the sails. It gone. Washed overboard! was going to be a bad one. I lay dazed and helpless, the sea pounding in my ears. All I could think of was Lucas' wretched luck to grab hold of that new rope. i PAGE 16 PAGE 17

and flushed with pride. "I proved it Uncle!" he squeaked in his little ' PRAISE proved I'm Lucky Lucas!" IN Ijust stood in stupefaction a nd OF SAILORS the little gaffer. I had to reach out pinch him to prove he was real and , ? dream. "But the rope! The new Pictured at right, is one of the most 'que and beautiful books of Nautical . ,, ~/ "Strange luck, isn't it, John?" the unl .~,~ --::;: bosun laughed and dug his fingers Art, poetry and Prose that we have ever "\' , Just released by the renown "art ,\,,~ my ribs. "The swell carried the boy see·n - ~ -=-----. ') . back on board." b ok" publisher, Harry Abrams, Inc., this ~ ::::c - ~' O.ge 300 page volume is a welcome ::::. ~ . I reached out in the deepening Ial , , ll'b I roused myself and noticed the b o~~~­ and squeezed Lucas to me in wild dd ition to one s persona I rary or a A RECENT REVIEW FROM on the stern. He was waving his arms like "Luckier than the new rope, I'll be ~e ry special gift for friends. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY a madman. damned. Tomorrow I'll replace it." Autographed Copy at IN PRAISE OF SAILORS: A Nautical Anthology "Whoop! Ho! What luck!" he shouted He grinned back at me and his ~ Special Institute Price of Art , Poetry, and Prose and flung his arms up again in stra nge glistened in the light. "It will make a Compiled and edited by Herbert W. Warden, jubilation. grand letter to Ma !" he declared gam Because we were so pleased with the II/, Abrams. $45 ISBN 0-8108-1107-8. Behind him stood Lucas, wet and balancing against the heaving deck. quality of this vol ume plus the fact that Imaginative in conception, handsome in design, two of the Institute's paintings are and satisfying in range and depth of material, shivering. But Lucas in fl esh and bone, can't wait till we get to Durban." this is a volume sea lovers will enjoy. The text reproduced in color in the book, we contains prose and poetry from a galaxy of writ- rese rved a number of adva nce copies and ers : Conrad, Melville, Richard Henry Dana, had them autographed by the book's Swinburne, Walt Whitm an, Masefield, Kipling and Samuel Eliot Morrison, to name so me. editor, Herbert Warden, III. There are nearly 100 black-and-white etchings The book will regularly retail for and 40 tipped-in color plates by mari ne illus- 45.00 but we are offering this limited trators Arthur Briscoe, Gordon Grant and Anton Otto Fischer, by Winslow Homer, Edward Hop- number of signed copies at $36.00 each. per, James McNeill Whistler and Howard Pyle, S9 .00 of that amo unt can be claimed as a and by many others (some are delightful sur- prises). The thread that ties them together is tax deductible contribution to the editor Warden 's concept of a voyage , the en- Institute! tries and illustrations being arranged to create If you would like a copy, please an imaginary trip around Cape Horn to China and back again in the great days of the sailing co mplete the form below and return it to ships, the late 19th century. This is a loose us with your check made payable to The arrangement and should not keep re aders from eamen's Church Institute of N.Y. & N.J. dipping into the book at random. Both the selec- tions and illustrations are high in quality and We will be sure to send you a receipt with good taste. Illustrations, maps and diagrams; the book and we know that yo u will be glossary, etc. delighted with this exceptional volume . ... _------Iwoul d like copies of In Praise ofSailors at $36.00 ea. ____ The Maritime Friends of the Seamen's Church Institute honored their great friend Please add $1.38 per volume for mailing and respected colleague George H. Blohm, president of Emerald Marine at a special memorial service held in the Institute's chapel this past January_ Total ____ A leader in the maritime industry for many years, Mr. Blohm was a staunch supporter of the work of the Institute, and an active member of the Friends of SCI. Na me ______Because of the high regard in which he was held, the Friends membership chose this service as a way to honor him and to express their respects to his family_ Address ------

City ______State ______Zip

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bor in those days and the regal "They broke out those boards; boy, was THE GALLANT LADIES tlllr dor of old sail ships. len that work. Mostly Polish laborers. They OF NEW YORK HARBOR sP The project to assess and preserve some hit 'em with a 32-pound sledge, sold the 's nautical hentage comes at the best boards back and used them over. Boy, ofth I . byJohnC.Fine ssible tlm ~ . . . ., what work, they don't make men like pO"The time IS nght for thiS proJect. I m that no more," Bob added, shaking his Final part - Summary: encouraged. People are receptive to head remembering how it was in the veryidea . May be I't was the BIcentenma,' . I harbor. he . t t there's an appreclat IOn' cAlor menca' 's "About that ship, gee, I don't know who In parts I and II the author describes how in reclaiming the ~~story today," Throckmorton said, co uld tell you," Bob added as marshland ofLiberty Island an attempt is also being made to salvage I king over the hulk of the Newton, a Throckmorton and Ira Abrams left, still some of the sunken vessels located in the area. An expert team of ~oden ship beached in the mud behind trying to positively identify the old archeologists together with the New York District Corp. ofEngineers ~e Statue of Liberty, calculating what wooden ship. personnel have examined the vessels and selected some of historical they would have to do to save her. If it is John Russo, a man who runs a small interest for preservation. Because the harbor waters are quite polluted, the Newton, then the sleek wooden hulk boat club on a rickety dock nailed the Teredo worm, which bores into the wood of sunken ships, cannot represents the ~a s t of 560 wood steamers together with flotsam on the borders of survive. Thus, the sunken vessels are in good condition and almost made in Amenca. the Liberty State Park Project, laughed intact. One wonders how a ship like the when Abrams asked him about the Newton could have been forgotten, Newton. Harbor watchers and photo buffs can forgotten hulks, abandoned pieces of abandoned in the mud. Perhaps after the "Now I'm old, but I ain't that old to tell find ample evidence of America's history American history. war, with a peacetime Navy cutting back, you when she was brought in here. I been among the reeds and shallows of many of It can be an interesting family burdened with an old wood steamer, it's running this boat club here 20 years and the city's canals and bays. When La ke excursion, either by boat or from easy enough to see how she was left to rot she was here before that. She was here in Erie was connected with the Hudson explori ng the myriad of forgotten on the Jersey shore, a few hundred yards 1933-34, I know that. We used to go waterway by a 40-foot wide, 4-foot deep around New York and New Jersey's from the Statue of Liberty. crabbing over there then, that's how I ditch, 362-miles long, on October 25 , waterfronts. I turned up what al'lf"'lI~ More than three-quarters-of-a-million knew she was there," John said, pointing 1825, the City burgeoned with to be two early fi shing schooners seamen from all over the world come into to the old wooden steamer. midwestern grain which plunged in price up in the mud off Coney Island, the Port of New York each year and "There used to be a work house on her from $100 to $6 a ton. Travel time from among a half-doze n old wood barges. almost 100,000 steam into Port Newark and decking you could walk around. We New York to Buffalo on the Erie Canal Remember though, that these ga aboard some 2,300 modern could go out there and throw our nets in," took only 10 days instead of6 weeks. The girls may have some historical container-carrying ships. They may pass John Russo reflected, pointing to the seaport and harbor of New York boomed importance, that they may hold the to within hailing distance of the Newton after section of the hulk, now only a shell as ample stocks of cheap grain surged to some lo se bit of history from the and a hundred other fine ships that once of staves. across the ocean to European ports. As when New York Harbor bustled carried their own proud crews, sailing to "The kids set fires on there. Once we part of this great commerce, canal boats windjammers, so treat yo ur finds far distant ports. put one out, but one night she burned. were built, more than 4,000 of them, of all respect. "I don't know who would remember her When we came by in the morning it was shapes and sizes. It was only a hundred years ago now. All the oldtimers I knew that would all burned. It was beautiful here up until These barges tied up at Coenties Slip at harbor records reveal that the Port know when she was left there are dead " 5 years ago. I used to chase the kids off the end of South Street in Manhattan. New Yor k was visited by 1,074 steamel'l Bob recalled, sitting in a car with his so~. her, but what could you do," Russo The canal trade flourished in the mid and 1,451 schooners, 1,076 brigs, 2,234 "They used to break out the planking continued reflectively, offering hot tea, latter 1800's. Eventually steam power and 389 full-rigged ships. Hardly and sell it back to the barge builders. The coffee or Sanka to the visitors from the boats and the New York Central Railroad surprising to the New Yorker that wood under the water is in good shape, Corps of Engineers and Throckmorton's took over from the wooden canal barges. the gala parade of old windships but you guys know that," Bob continued, group. eating his lunch. He was working on the Most were burned to salvage their iron sail up the Hudson on July 4th, yet it (Continued on back co uer) fittings abandoned to rot, like the easy to imagine the glory of New Y Liberty Park Project with his son, 1923-built Gertrude L. Dailey, lying remembering the waterfront and the peacefully in the reeds at Tottenville, boatbuilding activities on the Jersey Oats. Staten Island. Other canal boats lie about New York and New Jersey shores, Seamen's Church Institute of N.Y. and N.J. 15 State Street New York, N.Y. 10004 Address Correction Aequesled

The Gallant Ladies ofNew York Harbor (Continued from page 19) "They started a fire on her. We came back in the morning and it was burned down," Russo said again sadly. "Say, who's that feller there?" John asked me, pointing to Simeon Hook, Chief of the Corps' Environmental Branch. I told him. "Maybe I can talk to him. You know, ask if they can leave us just a little pi ece for a dock. Heck, these are mostly retired day, cook out, then go home," John folks. I charge them $50 a year to tie up finally, as I took some pictures of the here," John said looking at the string of Newton from a ship's steel bulkhead small, not too luxurious, wooden boats serves as his crabbing shack at the end tied to the makeshift piers. the dock. John's Boat Club would be gone, John Russo had said enough to gobbled up with the rest of the piers, Dr. Abrams wonder if the old ste,arrlshl ships and wooden debris to make way for was indeed the Newton. the new State Park. "He said she was there in 1933 or "I know it's useless, but you know, I It can't be the Newton if that's true. guess, we like to hold out until the end. Navy says they abandoned the Newton There's just no place to go. Maybe we can 1946," Ira grumbled to Throckmorton have that little space over there," John we got into the old Rambler. said, walking faster to catch up with "Well, we'll see. Anyway, what Simeon Hook to plead for a place that got here is a fine old wooden SLeaITlel', would save the little boat club. Peter Throckmorton said , his Progress is like that. Sometimes I enthusiasm for the old ship Ull'Ua'.H"~ think it's just one great misadventure The mysteries surrounding these after another. wooden ships may only partially be "It's a place to hang out. Everyone solved, but surely one thing will come giv~s you a hand here, one does somethin' it; America will have a better and everyone gives a hand. It's mostly appreciation for the place New York retired people. They come here, spend the Harbor played in Bicentennial