eLOOKOUT

MARCH 1959 1834-1959 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 impot tant advantages of home and community life. The Institute is partially self-supporting, the nature of its work requiring assistance from the public to provide the personal and social services that distinguish it from a waterfront hoarding 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 durin!! the past century is its growth from a floating chapel in 1844 to the thirteen-story building at 25th South Street known to merchant seamen the world around. 125 Years on the ~179 Waterfront 25 South Street 7h~ HIS service commemorates a meeting By 1838 they had been able to raise Theld here in New York 125 years ago only $2,415.88 for the support of a total e~~-li . today-in the year 1834. Forty-two young of six missionaries and six students. · men from congregations in New York and Things changed dramatically, however, VOL. SO , N o. 3 MARCH, 1959 Brooklyn were drawn together to pledge in 1842 when the group discovered that themselves to the support of missionaries there was a great work to be done right Copyright 1959 by the and of the education of young men for the at their own front door- the waterfront SEAMEN'S CHURCH INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK Ministry of the Church. They called their of New York. In July of that year, a reso- 25 South Street, New York 4, N.Y. BOwling Green 9-2710 new association "The Young Men's Aux- lution was adopted asking that the group iliary Education and Missionary Society of "inquire into the expediency of establish- FRANKLIN E. VILAS President the Protestant Episcopal Church in the ing a mission to the sailors in this City ... " REV. RAYMOND S. HALL, D.D. TOM BAAB City of New York.'' The idea was favorably received at the Director Editor A quick review of subsequent events September meeting, and in April, 1843, GORDON FEAREY JANET C. FULMER Acting Secretary Associate Editor :Vill show why the date of March 6, 1834, the group committed itself to work with ts worth remembering. seamen, and to the establishment of a Published Monthly $1.00 yearly lOc a copy In attempting to interest the New York- "floating chapel." Gifts to the Institute of $5.00 and over include a year's subscription ers of that day in the welfare of souls in Its first missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Entered as second class matter, July 8, 1925 at New York, N.Y., under the remote lands of Africa and Asia and Cutler Parker, began his work on July 3rd. · · the act of March 3, 1879 the equally unknown lands of the A~eri­ Two weeks later he was holding services can West, the Young Men were somewhat in a rented room over a grog shop at the too optimistic. corner of Pike and South Streets. Less than a year from the time when On March 6, seamen and friends of they had committed themselves to the idea, THE COVER: The Seamen's Church Institute of New York stands today at 25 South the Institute attended a service in the the Young Men witnessed the consecra- Street, only a mile and a quarter down the Manhattan shore of the East River from Chapel of Our Saviour at 25 South tion of "The Floating Church of Our Pike Slip, where its first Floating Church of Our Saviour for Seamen was moored in Street, marking the Institute's founding Saviour for Seamen" at its Pike Street 1844, one decade after the first meeting of the Young Men's Auxiliary Education 125 years ago. mooring. Consisting of a wooden "Goth- and Missionary Society through whose efforts it was launched. Bishop Donegan's address, printed ic" superstructure built, at a cost of $2500, h~re, traced the development of the In- on the reconditioned double hull of the stttute's work among seamen silzce 1834. steam ferry boat "Manhattan" (bought -- for $400), this first floating church was in service until 1866. may deem proper, in which churches the men at 2 Carlisle Street and 107 Green- - an expansion which gave the building The group now set forth a good idea, seats shall be free; and to provide suitable wich Street so proved the worth of his its present size. but in novel form. Sunday pilgrimages to clergymen to act as missionaries in the idea, that in 1854 the Society's charter Here were performed all of the useful the Church, which seated 500, became so said churches." was amended to permit the "boarding, functions of the old boarding house: the popular in the first months after the Nothing was said in the charter about lodging and entertainment" of seamen. provision of meals and lodgings; the· hold- launching, that 300 to 400 visitors had to providing lodgings, or any of the many This cleared the way for the opening, ing of mail and baggage, the offering of be turned away at each service, and special other services whioh account for the 13 measures had to be taken to reserve pew in October, 1854, of the Home for Sea- contacts for employment. Here were elim- stories required by • the Seamen's Church inated the viciousness, the filth, the crimp- space for the 150 to 250 seamen who at- Institute today. men, at 338 Pearl Street. Used continu- ously until 1893, this was the first of the ing, the shanghaiing, the human degrada- tended ! On one occasion the gangplank However, the need for social and spirit- actually had to be raised to prevent further six lodging centers used prior to the open- tion which were too often inherent in the ual betterment to match the success of re- business operations of the old boarding entry. ligious services was soon felt. It was ex- ing of 25 South Street. After years of groping, the Young Men The Institute did not, however, "come house. Here were gained friendships pressed in the first report of the Rev. Dan- marked by trust and decency, replacing had come up with a "winner," and they iel Van Mater Johnson, who became the ashore" with its entire operation when its were quick to follow their advantage. charter was amended. In fact, after its first those of "the hidden claw and fang" com- Society's second missionary in March, mon to the Sailortown district of New In April, 1844, the Young Men, who 1847, when he took charge of the Floating two chapels had to be retired in the late had been formed as an auxiliary to the sixties, a third chapel was launched in York. Church of the Holy Comforter, which the In the years since it has opened, 25 City Mission Society, received their papers Society had launched a few months earlier 1870 to replace the first Chapel of Our South Street has continued to grow and of incorporation as an independent organ- and anchored at the foot of Dey Street in Saviour, at the Pike Street dock. It bore develop, not only by brick and mortar, but ization named "The Protestant Episcopal the North River. He saw the need to pro- the same name and was used until 1910, by modernization and the addition of new Church Missionary Society for Seamen in vide "a retreat for seamen, where they when it was presented to the Archdeacon- services as they were needed. the City and Port of New York." By their might be cared for in body and soul" - ry of Richmond. In Staten Island it was charter, the group was now authorized to forecasting the shore homes from which moved ashore at Mariners Harbor, where During W odd War I, the Marine "provide by building, purchases, hiring, "25 South Street" was to evolve. it enjoyed a long and useful life, which School was opened to train sailors to man or otherwise, so many Boating and other Private experiments by the Reverend ended only last December, when the his- the bridges of ships sailing for. Europe- churches for seamen, at different points in Mr. Johnson and three lay members of toric structure was destroyed by fire. which it did again in W odd War II. Over the City and Port of New York, as they the Society in providing lodgings for sea- However, with the advent of lodging the years it has helped thousands of sea- houses opened by the Society, the days of men to come up through "the hawse pipe," The present leaders of the Seamen"s Church Institute ore shown here with a model of the first Floating crimping, "shanghaiing," and other out- to arrive at the status of career officers. Church of Our Saviour. They are (left to right) the Rev. Raymond S. Hall, D.D., director; the Rt . Rev. rageous abuses of seamen in New York The Missing Seamen Bureau, with the Horace W. B. Donegan, D.D., Bishop of New York, honorary president; Mr. Franklin E. Vilas, president; were numbered. for most of these evils wise and beloved "Mother" Roper as its and Mr. Clarence G. Michalis, chairman of the Board of Managers of the Institute. were centered in the waterfront boarding first supervisor, was also started during houses - a condition which disappeared World War I. It set out to locate brothers, as soon as decent alternatives were pro- sons, fathers and friends who were feared vided. lost to submarine warfare. Then, as now, The scattered stations of the Society most of the 12,000 who have been found wer.e used as stepping stones to this over the years were not lost in calamity, achtevement by that giant among men, but were lost in the distance of the far who started as Chaplain on January 3, horizon, in the isolation and loneliness of 1896, the Rev. Archibald R. Mansfield, seafaring life. whose vision as a Christian whose genius In 1921, when radio had become suffi- as an organizer, and whos'e tenacity and ciently commonplace to make it possible, boldness as a leader, did much to open the Institute established a radio station on ~~ doors to 25 South Street. Under the the roof of 2 5 South Street to transmit JOtnt leadership of Dr. Mansfield as Di- medical aid to ships not carrying doctors. ~ect~r and Edmund Lincoln Baylies as Countless lives - seamen's and passen- resrdent, the present building was opened gers'- have since been saved by this serv- on September 15, 1913. It offered to sea- ice. This service continues today through ?1en many of the services featured today the facilities of the Radio Corporation of 2 the vast. program of the Seamen's America. hurch Institute of New York. Ninety At the same time, legislation, promoted ben entered the first night and the num- by the Institute, was obtained requiring . er went swiftly to the 800 capacity mak- ships' officers to be trained in first aid, tng e . ' xpansron necessary in the next decade and a first aid manual prepared in cooper- 2 3 ,!I'II ation with the U.S. Public Health Service tion to the Institute's program has come was published by the Institute. within the last year - the International I I In the 'thirties, medical facilities at the Seamen's Club, which some present today lit (Jur Houle Institute were supplemented with dental will see for the first time. Since its open- and eye clinics and an ear, nose and throat ing, this attractive club has been host to clinic. seamen from more than 40 nations. On SPOT CHECK The excellent "Joseph Conrad Library" one night last week, nine different na- at the Institute was opened in 1934, pro- tions were represented at an entertainment A young sailor stepped up to the hotel viding books and reading material for and dance. Much is said about the need clerk's window at the Institute the other sailors both at sea and ashore. for international good will and under- day and asked, "Could you tell me a place !II During the war years of the 'forties, na- standing, but here something is being done where they do tattooing?" tional clubrooms for British, Danish, Swe- about it. Sailors gain their impressions of The clerk reflected a moment and said, dish, Belgian and Dutch seamen were others here, and where they go these im- "No, not offhand I can't. I wonder if the maintained at the Institute. For the per- pressions will go. rellow pages .. ." sonnel of Allied shipping, the Institute The 42 young men who first met on "No, I looked already," said the sailor. offered a brief but welcome rest between March 6, 1834, the date we now commem- "The only thing listed is two places that trips from the danger of the sealanes. orate, could not have foreseen the devel- remove tattoos." And hundreds who died at sea said their opment of anything like the Seamen's "Hmmm," said the clerk. "Wait a min- last goodbyes to friends here. Church Institute of our day. But it is prob- ute." He switched on the public address In 1945 a pioneer program was started ably equally true that we, today, cannot system and called out, "Anyone who "Hey kid, what kind of tattoo you to help the sailor afflicted by alcoholism. foresee what great things God has planned knows where there is a tattoo parlor in after?" asked one of the volunteers. It has proved its effectiveness by giving for the welfare of his shudy company of New York, please come to the hotel desk. '' "Oh, it's not for me, " hastened the new lives and new hope to many. men who go down to the sea in ships. This In a few moments the young sailor was young sailor. ''I'm only asking for a friend To encourage the constructive use of does not mean that either their part or our surrounded by twenty salts flashing red of mine. He's got a prize dog, a boxer. leisure time aboard ship, the Institute's part is small, but rather that great things and blue hide and giving addresses. He Only thing wrong is one little white spot Artists and Writers Club was started to always follow the meeting of godly men took down about a half dozen and thanked on the tip of his nose. He wants to have further the writing and painting interests given over to the will of God. This cen- everybody. it tattooed out." shared by so many seamen. tenary is not a completion; it is, please A most important and significant addi- God, but a milestone. BETWEEN THE ACTS: The auditorium was jammed last month for a Valentine's Day party enjoyed by 400 seamen and staff members from the Institute. Amid refreshments, all $ $ $ hands cheered a variety show produced for the occasion by Mrs. Renee Carmen. GieLOOKOUT BL;OCKED UP In January our cover turned a Japanese sail training ship upside down to show her reflection right side up. The effect was well received. Last month's cover, reproduced here, sho~e d an idle block inverted in obedience to gravity, and the howls of protest would make you think we had hung two tomcats over a clothesline by their tails. The picture shows an old wood-frame, single- sheave block, reeved to ride, her becket free. To secure the block and the pull rope in idleness, they were joined by looping the eye splice over the hook. Gravity being what it is, the bloc~ then naturally tipped over, without malice or tnckery, to hang as photographed. Actually, the block is used to snatch srnall boats from the water and slide them sidewa y~ 'hc' to a dock. When the hook is freed to take wet~ ' the block snaps around into its riding posittO!l· Perhaps we should have run this picture ~pd side down, too, but as it was we probably a more fun.

4 5 The WDtAfJf Snips

GOOD BREEDING was not in generally traveled sealanes when Wake Island. Recently, in western China, SCRAPING BOTTOM she went down. "No ship has been lost three rocks were discovered to place the A new strain of algae that multiplies Five specimens of a shellfish thought to by an iceberg collision in the patrolled pole either in the present position of Ba- have been extinct 300,000,000 years were itself a thousandfold every day, seen as sealanes since the Coast Guard began its possibly an important new source of food, varia or southeast of New Zealand. recently scraped off the floor of a 300-mile- International Ice Patrol after the Titanic One suggested explanation to this puz- was reported to the first international deep trench in the Pacific Ocean. The was lost in 1912," he said. zlement is that the continents have been symposium on submarine and space medi- Paleozonic N eopilina reached the deck of drifting through the eons. This solution cine. This algae was developed underwater Columbia University's Lamont Geological would also answer the problem of how with a General Electric lamp providing Observatory vessel Vema dead, apparently Antarctica got its vast coal field, evidence artificial sunlight. because of drastic temperature and pres- of a hot climate through much of its his- Algae may also be used to produce LOOKING AHEAD sure changes. tory. Opponents of the theory argue that Descendants of the 1/ 10-inch-wide oxygen for men in space expeditions. The the frozen magnetism has been so modified plants absorb carbon dioxide and change Five futuristic-looking ships, without shellfish include snails and chitons, today that it no longer represents the true orien- commonly found on rocks along the sea- it into vegetable matter; the vegetable smokestacks and with machinery placed aft tation of the original magnetic field. matter gives forth oxygen. instead of amidships, are to be built for shore, and also the creature that, a mere Seamen have expressed interest in the half-million years ago, left the earliest the Gulf and South American Steamship theories, but they allow as how proof of Company of New Orleans for use between clear fossil record of animal life on earth. either view won't affect transatlantic navi- Scientific theories and research have U. S. Gulf ports and the west wast of gation much. South America. been jolted by the finding of the Neo- DOGGING THE GROWLERS Besides general cargo, considerable pilina, for until recently it was believed A world-wide survey to determine how wheat, ores and other bulk cargo is trans- that the ocean bottom was no place to look ship masters can best use radar to avoid ported in this trade route, and the new for early forms of life. This discovery sup- ports the idea that the constant environ- collisions with icebergs will soon be vessels will, therefore, be combination ATOM BLOCK started by the International Ice Patrol of general-cargo and bulk-cargo carriers. ment of deep waters, with almost no pred- the U. S. Coast Guard. With the machinery placed aft, the widest ators or heredity-changing cosmic radia- The symbol of progress in our age, the tion, helps preserve species unchanged. Among points to be explored is the part of these ships, amidships, will be atom, may turn out to be a handicap to sensitivity of different types of radar to available for heavy bulk cargo holds. This progress in the shipping industrv, blight- "growlers" -ice chunks, about the size is also expected to facilitate proper trim- ing advances made in other directions, of a small cottage, broken off larger ice- ming of the ships. Instead of smokestacks, specifically the gas turbine, according to HITCH -HIKERS bergs. The submerged portion of a growl- two slender king posts atop the engine Jacaues Nevard of The New York Times. er, usually more than seven times as large room superstructure will carry off smoke Tested on the converted Liberty John In the future, game fish - like people as the above surface area, is the real killer, and gases. Sargeant, the gas turbine has proved able - may be known better by the company for this large, irregularly shaped under- Two of the ships are to be built in 1961, to run a ship twice as fast using 5% to they keep. Frequent companions for many body can gash a ship's hull below the three in 1963. They are to be 495' long, 10% less fuel than a steam turbine. Al- game fish are the remoras, or disk fish, waterline. The ability of the average ship's 69' bea m and carry 10,926 tons of cargo though marine technicians are enthusiastic which hitch-hike rides with their sucker officer to read the small "pips" which rep- and 12 passengers at a service speed of 18 about this development, the industry's disks. resent growlers on a radar scope will also knots. policy makers have yet to order a new gas Detailed knowledge of the remoras, be reported in the study. turbine ship. American shipping men are which by virtue of their size are easier to The study is given immediacy by the by no means all eager for nuclear pow- study in the laboratory or aquarium than tragic sinking of the radar-equipped Dan- ered merchantment, but few will deny are their hosts, may shed light on the ish motorship Hans Hedtoft after collid- CONTINENTAL DRIFT that the apparent inevitability of the era habits and life hist0ries 0f large sharks, ing with an iceberg off Greenland on Jan- of nuclear shipping curbs interest in other marlins and sailfish. Remoras attach them- uary 30. While attending engineering Rocks several hundred million years old forms of propulsion. selves to large fish or even to whales, pre- seminars recently given by Raytheon Man- have been found that may have a bygone It is fearePilot of the Egyptian navy, and tians, too, were accomplished seamen. Pytheas led an expedition to Britain and Their astronomy was very old even then, Iceland. So the alleged ignorance of the and their voyages covered a greater change seamen of past times is, perhaps, a slander. in latitude - and therefore a greater Whether ancient sailors had any instru- change in the stars - than those of any ments to guide them at sea is unknown. other ancient people. Many centuries be- There was a device for measuring the fore Odysseus, Egyptians were sailing far distance traveled by ships, described by the down the Red Sea to the land of Punt engineer Vitruvius, who also mentioned (Somaliland). We have little precise in- that there were people who made "portable formation about their methods of naviga- dials for those who travel." The only an- tion, however, for the Phoenicians jealous- cient astrolabe extant was recovered from American ''Cuseum of N f1l11ral Histor)' Radio Corp. of Americ11 ly guarded their knowledge and the Egyp- a Greek galley. It was a very difficult in- tians left no records of how they found strument to use, however, and later navi- their way. gators reported errors of as much as 600 They Followed the Stars The Greek study of astronomy began miles with it, calling into question its AVIGATOR was long a proud title little theoretical knowledge of astronomy. about 500 B.C. and quickly reached a high value in the restricted waters of the Medi- Napplied to great seamen, explorers and In those days there was no pole-star; the high state of development. The earth was terranean. During the late Middle Ages naval heroes, but as the waters of the earth Great Bear circled near the pole. Odysseus known to be round, and it was measured seamen in northern Europe adapted the have become familiar and improved knew that the Great Bear indicated the with great accuracy. The Greeks located gnomon for use at sea. In its marine form methods and instruments have reduced north, and he also knew the Pleiades, the North Pole and the Equator and meas- it consisted of a peg set in a wooden disk the mystery and art of navigating, the Bootes and Arcturus. The last two rose in ured the angle of the ecliptic. During the inscribed with circles to aid in measuring navigator's prestige has declined. Now, in the sky about eleven hours apart, so one third century B. C., Pytheas calculated the the shadow. It was floated in a basin of view of exotic new navigational systems or the other was always visible at night. latitude of Marseille with an error of only water to keep it level. Perhaps ancient sea- developed for missile guidance and explor- Sailors also observed the meridian pas- 1 S' by comparing the height of a vertical men had such a device, but there is no ation, the electronics technician threatens sage of the stars to tell time at night. staff (gnomon) with the length of its mention of it. The astronomer Ptolemy to supercede the navigator. Before he de- Homer often makes remarks similar to: shadow at noon. The latitude of every speaks of charts for sailors but says nothing parts to join the captain of the fore-top "After the third watch, when the stars place of importance was soon known. of any instruments. and the overseer of galley slaves in the had passed the zenith." Some star was Attempts were also made to determine By the beginning of the Christian era limbo of the out-moded, a review of his passing the zenith all night long, but this longitude, but the only method in use de- there was a well-established system of sail- art is in order. reference is probably to the "decan" stars pended on eclipses of the moon and re- ing by the stars. The practice was to sail The origins of seafaring and navigation of the Egyptian astronomers. Since one of sults were unreliable. north or south until the stars were in the are lost in the mists of pre-history and will these reached the zenith every forty min- How much advances in theoretical right place on the mast and then to follow probably never be recovered. Most of the utes, the hour could always be determined astronomy influenced practical methods of the meridian into port. This explains the islands on earth were discovered and col- within twenty minutes. Navigation de- seafaring is a moot question. Many roundabout route of St. Paul's ship. The onized by stone age peoples. In Babylonia pended greatly upon piloting. From here ~cholars think that early seamen were an practice was common right into the there is evidence of ocean voyages as far you sailed in a certain direction to there, tgnorant bunch. On the other hand, Strabo, twentieth century: Long after chrono- back as archaeologists have dug. Earliest keeping a specific star or constellation "on t~e geographer, argues that the Phoeni- meter, time-tick and line of position had Indian records mention ships that sail the left hand" or in whatever position ap- Cians had to be good astronomers because made it an anachronism, it continued to be "out of sight of land." For us, however, propriate to your course. Your destinatiOn they n~eded knowledge of the stars to ac- the preferred method of many conservative the history of seacraft begins in the Medi- was recognized by some prominent land- merchant captains. terranean Sea. compltsh their voyages. Other writers, too, mark. The "two bold headlands" were re_fer to ~he study of astronomy by sailors. Ancient warships, which usually stopped The mythical hero Odysseus can justly the thing to look for when sailing to CICero hmts that sailors did not study the at night to mess and berth their large be considered typical of the Greek sailor of Odysseus' home in Ithaca. A navigator had stars as astronomers, but that is natural crews of oarsmen, did not make extended about 1000 B.C. He was the first sailor to know such things, and he learned them enough. Astronomers were accustomed to voyages far from land. Early progress in who we know used the stars in finding his from experience. ~se d~t~ supplied by seamen, and in the navigation was, therefore, made mostly by way. They were the guideposts of his There were more scientific navigators ~o<;ntnan city of Tyre the astronomer merchant seamen in quest of the things voyages, although he seems to have had in the ancient world than the Greeks. The annus was head of the Hydrographic people want. -THEODORE N. WooDs 8 9 rying fresh meat, coal and two 4. 7" guns physical and mental strain and lack of - but no ammunition. Ironic, indeed, was fresh food. this disappointment, for if La Correntina Gathering the remaining resources of had carried ammunition, she could have his ship and crew, therefore, Thierfelde blasted Kronprinz Wilhelm out of the sea. slid the Kronprinz into Newport N ews, Upon one occasion the Kronprinz towed a Va., before dawn on April 11, 1915, vessel beside her for three weeks, steadily escaping once again from H.M.S. Sttffolk, transferring coal her prize carried until it which was hovering at the entrance to the capsized with 800 tons of coal still in its harbor. Forbidden under international law holds. to repair war damage, Thierfelde was un- Recognizing the tremendous odds able to get his ship into seaworthy condi- against him, the German Admiralty on tion and, having overstayed permission to Christmas Eve, 1914, gave Thierfelde per- remain, the ship was interned. mission to take shelter in a neutral port. Although Thierfelde's prolonged cat- The North German lloyd liner Kronprinz Wilh elm, launched in 1901. became a marauder within a Thierfelde and his men chose to continue and-mouse game is open to criticism, it is w sek of the outbreak of World War I. their phantom raiding, but by the end of to be remarked that while causing no loss February the German supply system was of life, he succeeded in disrupting the breaking down and the growing hostility Allies' South American trade, caused much Big Time Hide-and-Seek of South America was taking its toll. The of the Allied cruiser force to be dispersed Kronprinz herself was wearing out. Her looking for him and sank a minimum of T is difficult to imagine a four-funneled, (unsuccessfully), and the Kronprinz fl ed. 638-foot ship able to remain hidden hull was battered and dented from bang- fifteen loaded Allied vessels. I Thierfelde had a momentous task before and, at the same time, to raid shipping ing against ships tied up beside her in all Upon America's entry into the war the him: to make this undisguisable vessel along the south Atlantic trade routes, yet kinds of weather; her bows were leaky Kronprinz Wilhelm was refitted as the into an effective threat to Allied com- that is exactly what the Kronprinz Wil- and bent from rammingships to sink them armed transport Von Steuben and made merce without risking capture. He dared helm did for the first eight months of without using valuable ammunition; con- several trips to Brest. No amount of refit- World War I. not venture into a port, for an Allied war- tinuous use and lack of maintenance had ting could put her back into good condi- ship would inevitably be waiting when he almost ruined her engines and boilers; and tion, however, and she was laid up and When war broke out, the 13-year-old returned to sea, and with her high sides passenger liner had been stocking fuel and above all, her crew was sick from constant finally, in 1923 scrapped. she presented at least as good a target as provisions in New York. At 8:10 p.m. on the proverbial side of a barn. The Kroll- August 3, 1914, she received orders to pro- prinz' armament - two 3.4" guns with ceed out to sea and, of the seven German 290 rounds of ammunition - would have ships in the harbor, was the only one able been shamefully inadequate even on a to escape. Three days later she rendez- torpedo boat. Her great advantage was voused 300 miles east of Cuba with the speed, a little over 23 knots, but to main - German cruiser Karlsmhe, passing provi- tain this she ate more than 500 tons of coal sions to the warship and receiving guns, a day, and even with her main saloon con- ammunition and her new captain, Lt. verted into a bunker, could not carry over Cmdr. Thierfelde, in return. Her own a week's supply. She carried a crew of 500 master served as navigator for her remain- to be fed, many of them stewards. ing time at sea under the German flag. Well before the war had begun, how- At 10: 15 next morning the two ships, ever, the Germans had set up a sort of still tied together transferring supplies, were startled by H.M.S. Suffolk. The Brit- "fleet train" of German cargo ships bring- ish warship chose to pursue the cruiser ing information, fuel and stores to raiders from South American ports. The Kroll - prinz' only other source of supply was cap- In the Wq/(e tured cargo vessels, which were unbur- . .. where tales of ships and men are dened of coal and fresh food before they READER'S ADDENDUM: Mrs. J. G. Thompson of Selinsgrove, Po., recognized as one of her recalled by Captain Ralph E. Crop- were sunk. grandfather's old friends Captain William W. Urquhart, whose strange adventure with "Barentha R?ck" was described in Mysterious Ways (November, 1958). Mrs. Thompson kindly forwarded this ley, Historian of the Marine Museum Thierfelde captured his first prize, the PICture, which includes her grandfather, Captain Beniamin F. Marsh, and Captain Urquhart in a at the Seamen's Church Institute of Indian Prince, on September 4 and trans- group of sea captains who served as honorary crew and escort to President Harrison during the New York. ferred her coal and crew to the raider. On (entennial of 1889. Seated, left to right, are G. Dearburn, J. Dewar, G .D.S. Trask, Ambrose Snow October 7 he captured La Con·entina, ca r- Jcaxswain), S. Whitman, R. Norton, R. luce and standing, Beniamin F. Marsh, S. Y. Fairchild, · Parker, W. A. Ellis, A. Spencer and W. W . Urquhart. 10 II SEA HERITAGE

My old grandfather, My uncles and my dad- They were all sea crazy, THE GREY SEAS UNDER Blackwater fever had already broken out They were ocean mad; Farley Mowat among the crew, and as the ship crept And my cradle rocked OLD BOAT LOVERS Little, Brown & Co., $5 .00 through the Atlantic storms, a macabre To the shimmer of the sea, death march moved through the ship. Mr. The author, who spent some time at And the waves and the tide When an old tramp steamer sea aboard sea-going salvage tugs, has Tredree, one of the two known now living survivors of the voyage, gives a graphic They suckled me. Comes wallowing in pieced together the life of one of them, the With seaweeds and barnacles Foundation Franklin, in a thorough-going account of the horrifying episode and of history in which heroism and ingenious the bravery and heroism that shone bright I was sent to school Under the chin, among the men who endured it. seamanship become almost commonplace. To learn to read and write, There's a dash to the pier Mr. Mowat chronicles the outstanding ad- But how could I study From all over town- ventures of the 156-foot coal burner as, THE TREASURE DIVERS OF With the sea in sight- But seamen are always from 1930 to 1948, she beat her way VIGO BAY The first ones down. through the stormy Atlantic, saving many And the room would blur ships and lives. John S. Potter, Jr. And the pages fade Doubleday & Co., Inc., $4.95, illustrated With each lone cry Then they're late for supper THE SALVAGER John Potter decided, in 1952, to use the A sea gull made. And little they care Mary Frances Doner most modern means of treasure hunting So long as the old boat Ross & Haines, Inc., $5.75, illustrated to recover the amazing treasure which was sunk with the Spanish Armada in 1702. Is anchored there; Miss Doner tells the robust tale of Capt. And little they'll care, Tom Reid, who conducted one of the He assembled an international group of largest salvaging companies in the Great skin divers, collected every scrap of in- Though scolded a lot, Lakes area, against the background of an formation on the armada and the battle, Whether they're home historical record of the shipping disasters and the hunt was on! Mr. Potter relates Before dawn, or not. on the Lakes from 1880 to 1950. Holding their engrossing adventures - the dangers at least one thrill per page, this book is a and beauty of the underwater world, the fast-reading, vivid adventure story of the excitement of the treasure hunt itself, and rags-to-riches life of an heroic man. the hilarious escapades of the young team when they went ashore - capturing for the reader a powerful sense of participa- THE STRANGE ORDEAL tion in a real adventure. OF THE NORMANDIER -IvA PosToN H. L. Tredree Little, Brown & Co., $3.95 COOKING AFLOAT During World War I, when H. L. Katherine Pinkerton Tredree first shipped inS. S. Normandier M. Barrows & Co., Inc., $3.50 as chief radio operator at the age of 17, A book to interest all sailors and anyone he thought he'd fallen into an exceptional- who likes to cook, eat or read, this cook- ly tough berth. The ancient battered hulk book includes a buying, stowage and gal~ey had stifling quarters, scanty provisions and guide with 350 recipes enlivened w1th a veritable army of bugs. But nothing that lighthearted anecdotes and reminiscences. the men of the Normandier had ex- The recipes have all been cooked i~ a perienced could possibly have prepared galley and tested on sea appetites d un~g them for the fatal voyage of August, 1918, the seven years Mrs. Pinkerton spent cruiS- when the old tramp left Africa for Canada. ing with her family. 12 I

I I

'llr:bomas Roberts WHEREAS, this shall be the first resolution by the Board of Managers of the Seamen's Church Institute of New York in 20 years not to be recorded by its valiant and revered Secretary and Treasurer, Thomas Roberts, who on February 15, 1959, departed this life and WHEREAS, Thomas Roberts, by his wise mind, his kind heart, his faithful hand and by his Christian spirit has helped so nobly to guide this work since 1927 along the true course of its charter in good service to men of the sea, and WHEREAS, in his busy life he did not shirk to be made still busier by the needs of others, reserving for all the courtesy, the pleasantness, and quiet humor that made him a man of many friends who were inspired to follow his interests and his good example; therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Managers of the Seamen's Church Insti- tute of New York, on behalf of the many sailors and the friends of sailors who are in his debt, record by this minute their gratitude for his life and their great sorrow at his death; and be it further RESOLVED, that the Assistant Secretary of the Board be re- quested to convey to his widow a copy of this minute as an expression of their deep sympathy. Extract from the minutes of the January meeting of the Board of Managers, Seamen's Church Institute of New York February 26, 1959