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ARGONAUTA The Newsletter of The Canadian Nautical Research Society Volume XVIII Number Four October 2001

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ARGONAUTAThe Newsletter of

The Canadian NauticalResearch Society

Volume XVIII Number Four

October 2001

ARGONAUTA

Founded 1984 by Kenn eth MacKen zie

ISSN No. 0843-8544

EditorsWilliam Schleihauf

Maurice D. Smith

Argonauta Editorial OfficeMarine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston

55 Ontario Street, Kingston, Ontario K7K 2Y2

e-mail for subm ission is mm useum@ stauffer.queensu .ca

Telephone: (613) 542-2261 FAX: (613) 542-0043

ARGONAUTA is published four times a year—January, April, July and October

The Canadian Nautical Research Society

Executive Officers

President: William R. Glover, Kingston

Past President: G. Edward Reed, Ottawa

1st Vice President: James Pritchard, Kingston

2nd Vice President: Richard Gimblett, Ottawa

Coun cillor: Lewis R. F ischer , St. Joh n's

Coun cillor: Peter Haydon , Halifax

Coun cillor: Maurice D. Smith, Kingston

Coun cillor: Paul Webb, London

Secr etary: Bill Schleihauf, Pierrefonds

Membe rship Secr etary: Faye Kert, Ottawa

Treasurer: Gregg Hannah, Kingston

Canadian Nautical Research Society Mailing Address

Membership Business

PO Box 511, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 4W5, Canada

Annual Mem bership including four issues of ARGONAUTA

and four issues of THE NO RTHER N MARIN ER/LE M ARINDU NORD :

Within Canada: Individuals, $45.00; Institutions, $70.00; Students, $35.00

International: Individuals, $55.00; Institutions, $80.00; Students, $45.00

Our W ebsite: http://www.marmus.ca/CNRS/

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 1

In this Issue

Editorial 1

Council Corner 2

Obituary for Niels Jannasch 4

Letters 5

Research Query 7

Notes of Interest 7

Call for Papers, CNRS 2002 Conference 13

Articles

- William Glover “Alan Easton” 8

- Kimberly E. M onk “Sligo Shipwreck Survey” 9

- William Glover “Of Inches and Miles” 10

- Robin H. Wyllie “Maritime Provinces Steam Passenger Vessels” 12

- William Glover “Nautical Nostalgia” 16

Mem bers’ and Insti tutiona l News 18

The Periodical Literature 21

Advertise ments 28

Editorial

11 September 2001. The 254th day of theThird Millennium, as counted by our Westerncalendar, and every “Joe Sixpack” in NorthAmerica has been forcibly taught a little bit ofhistory. History, ignited by the sparks from twocultures colliding, is the fuel that drives theterrorists. And it will be the lessons learnedfrom history that will give Western Civilisationvictory – tactically, strategically, and evenpolitically.

We can see the American-led forcesbasing their planning on what was found out thehard way by others who have fought inAfghanistan. I wonder if Canada will learnanything? Once again, Canadian forces areheading towards a combat theatre, ill-equippedafter decades of ill-treatment by their politicalmasters. Unfortunately, as much as we’d like

to, we can’t put the blame on the politicians.They mindlessly do whatever gets them elected(or whatever costs them the fewest votes). Foryears, the Canadian public has been at bestindifferent to the state of their military. Andthose who serve are the ones who will pay theprice. That is the real reason why thehelicopters that fly from the decks of HMCShips are literal antiques: were theyautomobiles, they would have been soclassified since 1988! Unlike an old car, theycan’t be run in only good weather and when thepleasure of the driving is the only objective. Ifthey are used, it will be for combat operations,when mechanical failure can directly lead to thedeaths not just of the aircrew, but the sinking ofthe ships from which they fly. That thegovernment has still not ordered replacements,after more than ten years of messing about, ismore than embarrassing. Simply put, it isworse than negligence. We can only hope that

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 2

Fortune will keep those who fly those choppersalive and well.

Ancient equipment is bad enough, but ina fighting force, leadership is what counts.Aided and abetted by the politicos, the higherranks of the CAF have been transmogrified intomanagers, and not terribly good ones at that. Inhis book Lament for an Army - The Decline ofCanadian Military Professionalism, Lieutenant-Colonel John A. English provides a barbedoutline of the degeneration of the last forty-oddyears. Commodore Eric Lerhe’s conduct thispast summer was exemplary, but it onlyconfirmed that the real priority of the top brassis nonsensical “sensitivity.”

It is almost as if every generation ofCanadians are like teenagers: they refuse tolearn from the mistakes of those who have gonebefore. This Dominion was formed, in part, inreaction to the American Civil War. Thenascent military wasn’t ready for the RielRebellion, and when the public demandedparticipation in the Boer War, forces had to beextemporised. Ten years later, at least theCanadian Army had laid sensible foundations(pity Sam Hughes overrode the plans), but thenewborn RCN was ignored by its parents oncethe pleasure of conception was over. Onegeneration later, a new World War would behull-down on the horizon, and once again, allthree services were in dire straits. Korea, theCold War (in the middle of which came thedisaster of unification), the Gulf War and nowthe War on Terrorism. Every time, Ottawa hasbeen “surprised” and has desperately shovelledmoney in all directions to cobble somethingtogether at the last minute.

For a month now, the media have beengleefully pointing out the sorry state of themilitary and like past generations, Canadianswant something done. But six months fromnow, when the latest enthusiasm will beBritney’s wedding or some other suchnonsense, how many will still care? Earliertoday, I was running a few errands, and sawseveral elderly members of the Royal CanadianLegion selling poppies. Theirs was ageneration that paid a very high price so that wecan enjoy the freedoms we take for grantedtoday. Far too many of them didn’t come homebecause their Canada wasn’t ready. Will thosewho serve today suffer the same fate? Let’shope not, and let’s hope that for the first time,Canadians will remember in the years to come.There are many Society members who areveterans, or who still wear the Queen’suniform. More than just our thanks, theydeserve our support.WS

Council Corner

It seems that in each column this year Ihave said that The Northern Mariner would beout soon, but it failed to arrive in your mailbox.This time you are receiving the January issue ofThe Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord withthis copy of Argonauta. At about the time thiswas being put in the mail, the April 2001 issueof The Northern Mariner should be going to theprinter. That should be in the mail to you inearly January. That issue is the last one forwhich Skip Fischer, our founding editor, hasresponsibility. We owe him a great debt forestablishing a successful journal with such highstandards. We all must congratulate and thankhim for ten years of very hard work.

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 3

With the July 2001 issue I will take overas the journal’s editor. I want very much toreturn the journal to publication in the month ofits cover date. That however, will take about ayear. I would hope that my first issue will go tothe printer in February 2002 and be mailed inMarch. Issues will continue roughly every twomonths thereafter. That means that October2002 will go to the printer in December 2002.My target is that the July 2003 issue will bemailed in that month. Members must be awarethat to maintain that schedule there will be aprice. If the journal is to retain its full size, ina twelve month period we will need the numberof articles and book reviews that are normallyprepared over eighteen months. Over the shortterm it may not be realistic to expect that thejournal will continue to have four articles andas many as fifty pages of book reviews. I hopethere will never be fewer than three articles andthat the book review section will be substantial,but that is dependent upon the work of manyothers – authors, article referees, and bookreviewers all helping us to restore the backlogof things waiting to be published that isessential to a full issue. I am sure you will agreewith me that it is important to get thepublishing date back in line with the cover date,and that in the short term a thinner journal is asmall price to pay to achieve that goal.

In my last column I reported that it wasalmost certain that Professor DavidZimmerman would be joining us as the BookReviews Editor. I am pleased to be able toconfirm that announcement. In addition anotherperson well known to many of you, and longinvolved with the society will be coming onboard. Steve Salmon, who has been theChairman of the Editorial Board since its

inception, has advised me that he too must stepaside. Thanks are due to Steve as well for tenyears of labour. I am pleased to report that DrRoger Sarty has accepted the invitation tobecome the Chairman. That appointment willbe confirmed at the January 2002 Councilmeeting. Roger is currently the DeputyDirector of the Canadian War Museum andvery busy with the plans for the new building.Before joining the War Museum he had beenthe Senior Historian at the Directorate ofHistory. He was actively involved in theresearch, writing, and preparation forpublication of volume two of the RCAF officialhistory and of the new operational history of theRCN in the Second World War. In addition hisown books include The Maritime Defence ofCanada, (Toronto, 1996); Canada and theBattle of the Atlantic, (Montreal, 1998) andGuardian of the Gulf: Sydney, Cape Breton andthe Atlantic Wars, with Brain Tennyson,(Toronto, 2000).

There is another change that must alsobe reported to you. At the annual conference inKingston it was announced that we planned tohold next year’s conference in Halifax with theDirectorate of History and Heritage at the timeof the Battle of Atlantic Sunday observances.Unfortunately that has had to be amended. Wewill be meeting by ourselves, and havetherefore moved the date to 20 – 22 June. Webelieve the later date will be more convenientand the weather should be better. Theconference theme will be the port of Halifax inpeace and war. We hope that this will include awide range of papers, including some on otherports, such as Louisbourg or Lunenburg, whosehistory, development, and use may becompared with Halifax. A block of rooms andmeeting space has been reserved at the

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 4

Dartmouth Holiday Inn. Richard Gimblett andPeter Haydon are working together on theconference. More information will be availablecloser to the time, but please circle 20 – 22June in your 2002 calendar now.

Members may remember that I havebeen elected a vice president of theInternational Commission for MaritimeHistory. I shall be going to Fremantle,Australia, to attend the “Maritime HistoryBeyond 2000: Visions of Sea and Shore”conference. The ICMH executive is meeting inconjunction with it. Notwithstanding thedistance, the preliminary programme lists fourCanadians who will be travelling to givepapers. In addition to myself, they are SkipFischer, Steve Salmon, and William Wray ofUBC. That level of participation speaks well, Ithink, for maritime history in Canada. On myway home I shall be stopping at Victoria andVancouver to discuss arrangements for our2003 conference on the west coast. The 2004conference will of course be held in Ottawa tocelebrate the centenary of the CanadianHydrographic Service. This was formed byOrder in Council from the three separatehydrographic agencies of the Department ofRailways and Canals, the Department of PublicWorks, and the Georgian Bay and Great LakesSurvey. So you can see that despite problems insome areas, we remain an active society with afull programme of future events.

On a sad note, members will findelsewhere in this issue obituaries of AlanEaston and of Niels Jannasch. Niels was formany years the Honorary President of ourSociety. I am grateful to Barry Gough, a pastpresident, for writing the notice.

In closing, may I wish you all a HappyChristmas and holiday season, and a prosperousNew Year. I look forward to seeing many ofyou at our Halifax conference next June. Bill GloverPresident, CNRS

Niels Windekilde Jannasch

1924 - 200l

by Barry Gough

One of the founders and chartermembers of the Canadian Nautical ResearchSociety, Niels Windekilde Jannasch, passedaway at home from a heart attack on 9November 2001. He will be sadly missed. TheSociety expresses its condolences to the manymembers of his family and to his countlessfriends who knew and respected him.

Niels Jannasch was born inHolzminden, Germany, 5 July 1924, son ofHans Windekilde and Heidi Jannasch. He livedhis early years in Hamburg where he was drawnto the sea and to all manner of activitiesconnected with the sea. His love of ships had nolimits, and he spoke of individual ships withtouching endearment – ships were livingcreatures to him, and they had lives, some werebrutal and short and others were quiet and long.By the time I met him in the 1970s he hadalready spent nearly a half century in mattersconnected with the sea or with sea heritage. Hewas, as others have said, very much an icon ofthe maritime history fraternity in Canada andabroad, and his reputation always proceededhim. He was a person one delighted inknowing, and hours spent together in discussionflashed by like minutes. It is fair to say that heheld court. At the same time, he relished the

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 5

new views brought forward by all who were inhis circle. The two of us were once mess mates,with cabins in a museum ship. It was not hardto imagine that I was at sea, on the ocean wave,with this great mariner, and as time passed thetales continued to flow, each of them engagingand enlightening. Sailors like to gam, and thiswas one of the best examples I can recollect ofbeing with a venerable and ancient mariner. Iwondered at the time about his years at sea, andlater I was to discover that he had made theBaltic his own, and that he had served duringthe Second World War in the Kriegsmarine. Heconsidered Scandanavia as his second home.After the war he apprenticed in a Cuxhavenshipyard, all the while waiting until he couldget a ship.

For many years he sailed the seas andoceans, and among his most prized memorieswas his experience under canvas aboard thefour masted barque Passat during the last grainrace. Niels would never tell his own life's work.You had to learn it vicariously and in bits andpieces. The continuity of it all was the sea andships – and the many people that he met in thecourse of his voyages ashore and afloat. Portsof call were places of special memory to him.In 1952 he married Barbara Dierig, and theyemigrated to Nova Scotia.

He first had visited Nova Scotia when asailor and fell in love with it. In 1959 he beganhis connection with the Maritime Museum ofCanada, much his inspiration and devotion, andhis work there, his enduring legacy I think, ledto the opening of the Maritime Museum of theAtlantic, in 1982.

In 1971 he visited Nain, Labrador, siteof the Moravian Mission where his father was

born. 1971 was the bicentenary of the foundingof that remarkable offshoot of Christian faith.Niels returned many times to Labrador, and hisfondness for it grew with the years as it did forNova Scotia and for Canada. In his retirementhe continued to go to sea whenever he could.The Mission to Seafarers, the Company ofMaster Mariners, Elder Hostel, and the Councilof Canadians were all on his radar screen ofcare, and he held a special place in theCanadian Nautical Research Society as itspatriarch and sometime Hon. President.

He reviewed many books for TheNorthern Mariner, as a glance at the index ofVolumes I to X attests, and his knowledge ofScandinavian, German and English languagesmade him an especially important member ofthe stable of reviewers. He liked to point outthat the Scandinavians, in particular, the Danescould teach Canadians many a good lessonabout how museums could developed.

He received an Hon. Doctorate fromDalhousie University and was made a memberof the Order of Canada. He had planned to takeanother voyage, to Antarctica, at the time of hisdeath, in his home in Tantalon, Nova Scotia. Inaddition to his many achievements noted aboveit is important to remember that he was devotedto books and to their authors. He was a personof great principles and dedication to task, andhis independent mindset and compassion willbe sorely missed. Donations can be made to theNova Scotia Sea School, P.O. Box 546 CentralCRO, Halifax NS B3J 2S4.

Letters

From N. A. M. Rodger

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 6

It is not difficult to answer AlanRuffman’s query about the loss of the Atlantic.Two enquiries were held: one at Halifax andanother, later, at Liverpool by the Board ofTrade, and full proceedings of both, withminutes of evidence (533 printed pages), weresubsequently published as a BritishParliamentary Sessional Paper (the reference isHC 1873 (373) LX pp.465-1007). There mustbe copies of most in the libraries of Canada,either of the original printing or the modernmicrofiche edition, and there is not muchmystery about something which has been in thepublic domain since 1873. Very likely theCanadian Sessional Papers, if its reference wereunscrambled (it obviously begins “37 Victoria”ie the regnal year 20 Jun 1873 - 19 Jun 1874)would prove to be a reference to the earlierreport, but I do not have a set easily available tocheck. There is also a file in the records of theBoard of Trade Marine Department in thePublic Record Office in London (MT 9/123),which contains a copy of the report and somevery consequential correspondence.

From Trevor Kenchington

In the July 2001 Argonauta, AlanRuffman sought information on formalinquiries into the 1873 loss of the White Starliner Atlantic. The report of Mr.MacDonald'sTribunal, which Alan does not appear to haveseen, has been published verbatim inK.A.Hatchard's monograph on the wreck (TheTwo Atlantics, Lancelot Press, Hantsport,1981). That report did indeed appear asAppendix 38 in the Sessional Papers for 37Victoria, as Alan noted (though the “37” wassurely the year of the reign and not a volumenumber as he suggested). Hatchard stated thatnewspaper reports of the Court of Inquiry began

appearing on 15 April 1873, while its reportwas presented at a session which began at3p.m. on the 18th. Thus, it was indeed a four-day hearing in all, as Alan noted, but the startdate of “5 April” which he quoted from a bookby R. Gardiner seems to be a simple misprint.

It seems unlikely that a printedtranscript of the proceedings before theTribunal was ever prepared, though there mighthave been a manuscript one and conceivablythat might have been found recently in anEnglish bookshop, as Alan reported. It wouldhowever seem more probable, at least to me,that the “seemingly quite rare” inquiry reportthus found was nothing more than the volumeof Sessional Papers for 37 Victoria and hencethat it contained nothing that is not well knownand readily available to those interested in thisparticular wreck.

Alan's inquiry raises a more generalobservation that can be illustrated by theexamples of three of the transatlantic passengersteamers that have been lost off Nova Scotia:The loss of the Titanic in 1912 was followed bya very extensive public inquiry, much as wewould expect today in wake of such a disaster.When the Atlantic was run ashore some 40years earlier, with equivalent loss of life, athree-person Tribunal met for four days, findingthat sufficient time not only to hear evidencebut also to produce their report. Twenty yearsearlier still, in 1853, the Humboldt likewisestruck Nova Scotian rocks and was a total loss,albeit without any deaths. In her case, the onlyofficial report that seems ever to have existedwas the Captain's “Protest”, sworn before theU.S. Consul in Halifax. In short, process ofmaking detailed inquiries following the loss of

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 7

merchant ships that we now take for grantedseems not to have developed until late in the19th century or even early in the 20th – perhapsbecause, before then, such losses were simplyan expected part of sea travel.

And from Jan Drent

Alan Ruffman asked (p. 6) about Britishand Canadian Inquiries in the wake of thestranding of SS Atlantic at Prospect NS in1873. I am unable to help with the location ofinquiry reports but wonder whether MrRuffman is aware of a book called the CoalWas There for the Burning by C.H. Milsom(London: Institute of Marine Engineers, 1975)?This book does not have a bibliography but thetext cites enquiries held in Halifax and the UK.As the title implies the author's focus is thebizarre fact that Atlantic deviated from herplanned track to New York because the ChiefEngineer had miscalculated how much coalremained in her bunkers. The Master wasattempting to make Halifax.

Research Query

A biographer seeks correspondence andanecdotes of Athur Jacob Marder (1910 - 80),historian of the Royal Navy in the Fisher Eraand after, best known for 5-volume From theDreadnought to Scapa Flow. Sparring partnerof Stephen Roskill, official naval historian,Marder received acclaim for painstaking studyand brilliant narrative of the Royal Navy’snumerous challenges. Contact Professor BarryGough, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo,ON N2L 3C5, Canada.

Notes of Interest

The Departure of HMCS Vancouver

Duncan Mathieson, Executive Directorof the NOAC, has circulated the following notefrom Nigel Brodeur:

Retired naval officers may have noticedthat HMCS Vancouver was flying the WhiteEnsign at the port yardarm, in addition to flyinga large Canadian Flag, on her departure.

That White Ensign was flown in theWW II corvette HMCS Vancouver. It camef r o m t h e e s t a t e o f t h e l a t eLieutenant-Commander Rodney H. MullardRCN(R), who served in that corvette duringthe war, and who was formerly a NOAVI[Naval Officers Association of VancouverIsland] member.

It was presented by his widow, Mrs.Gladys Mullard, to the Commanding Officerand Ships Company, on the flight deck, as partof the official ceremonies before departure. Inaddition to the gratitude she received from Cdr.Jim Heath, Mrs. Mullard also was warmlythanked by the Lieutenant Governor and othermembers of the official party.

Scuttling of Cape Breton

On the 20th of September, the formerHMCS Cape Breton, a Fort-class merchant shipthat served in the Royal and Royal Canadian

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 8

the former H MCS Nipigon, now in Rimou ski

(photograph © Richard Larocque, 2001)

Navies, was scuttled successfully by theArtificial Reef Society of British Columbia.She is sitting upright in about 140 feet of water,just south of the wreck of the former HMCSSaskatchewan. Those divers who have alreadyvisited her are very impressed with the results.More information can be found at:

www.artificialreef.bc.ca

www.hmcscapebreton.com

www.divebritishcolumbia.com

The Former HMCS Nipigon

Yet another veteran Canadian warshipwill be sunk as an artificial reef... the Annapolisclass DDE Nipigon is now in the possession ofthe Récifs Artificiels de l'Estuaire du Québec(RAEQ). After the necessary cleanup andpreparation, her scuttling is scheduled for thesummer of 2003 in some 50 metres of waternear Rimouski. More information may befound at:

http://www.libertel.org/raeq/

HMVS Cerberus

Bob Nichols, author of The Three-Headed Dog, reports that this old breastworkmonitor, long a hulk lying off MelbourneAustralia, is the beneficiary of plans for thestabilisation of the hull and a promise of some$600,000 (AUS). You can follow the saga onher website:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~cerberus/

Alan Easton

1902 - 2001

by William Glover

Alan Easton did not like the sea andthought that a sailor’s life was a fool’s way tomake a living. These opinions were come byhonestly. In 1916 he joined the Britishmerchant navy training vessel Conway. Duringthe First World War he was a cadet in the RoyalNaval Reserve. After his initial training he wentto sea in merchant ships and over the next tenyears sailed most of the world’s oceans andseas. He was the second youngest officer toqualify as a master mariner in the CanadianPacific Steamship line. In 1930, after Alan hadmarried “Sonia” Purgold, he left the sea andwith his wife settled in Montreal. There hestayed and worked for Bell Canada until hisretirement, with the exception of course of theSecond World War.

In February 1940, soon to be 38 yearsold, married and already a father, Alan joinedthe Royal Canadian Naval Reserve. He wasimmediately given the rank of Lieutenant. After

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 9

a month indoctrination course he joined HMCSAcadia. Almost as old as Alan, and like him aveteran of temporary naval service, Acadia hadreturned to navy to be used as a training shipfor RCNVR officers. Alan was her trainingofficer. He had no syllabus to follow, but rathertried to give useful and practical instruction asthe ship’s program afforded opportunities. Heserved briefly in an RN cruiser and was askedto become the navigator but declined. He feltthat his navigation was too rusty for thatresponsibility.

Early in 1941 he attended gunnery andanti-submarine courses. He was then appointedin command of HMCS Baddeck in April 1941.His most famous ship is certainly HMCSSackville, now a museum ship in Halifax.While in her he was awarded the DistinguishedService Cross. From Sackville he went on tocommission the frigate HMCS Matane inNovember, 1943. Six months later, in April1944 he was appointed in command of thedestroyer HMCS Saskatchewan . Herelinquished that command in August and washospitalized with ulcers. This is an impressiverecord of command at sea from the dark days ofthe Battle of the Atlantic until after theNormandy invasion. His ships wereprogressively larger and more important. Hewas one of the few RCNR officers to commanda destroyer.

Alan will be remembered for his classicmemoir of his time in command, 50 North. Thiswork is widely regarded by naval historians asthe best personal account of the Battle of theAtlantic. It was not, however, his only book. Hepublished three novels and a number of shortstories. He was a man of strong faith and he

was already ready to offer encouragement toyoung people starting life’s adventures. Heretained an inquiring mind to his last days. Ihad the opportunity to read to him when weboth lived in Kingston. One day last year (whenhe was 98), I found myself bringing, asinstructed, some volumes of the Dictionary ofCanadian Biography because he wanted toknow more about Champlain and Riel.

Contributions in his memory may bemade to either The Old Brewery Mission, POBox 1445, Place d’Armes, Montreal, PQ, H2Y3K8 or to the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust,HMCS Sackville, PO Box 99000, StationForces, Halifax, NS, B3K 5X5.

Research Report –

Sligo Shipweck Survey

By Kimberly E. Monk

Archaeological surveys of the WellandSailing Canal Ship, Sligo were conducted thispast summer over a four week period, inToronto harbor. The ship was originally builtin St. Catharine’s, Ontario as the barkentine,Prince of Wales, in 1860, by Canada’s mostprolific shipbuilder, Louis Shickluna. Thevessel served both oceanic and Great Lakestrade, before being rebuilt as a schooner,renamed Sligo and then exclusively employedfor the inter-Great Lakes markets. Sligo was cutdown for use as a tow barge when the costs ofsailing and manning ships outweighed the costsof operating steam tugs. The ship’s careerended in 1918 when she foundered during astorm in Humber Bay.

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 10

Sligo c. 1915 docked at the Bathurst streetwharf, TorontoPrince of Wales docked at the Shickluna

Shipyard c. 1860

The focus for 2001 field investigationswas Phase II pre-disturbance archaeologicalsurvey of the Sligo’s structure and associatedartifacts. The ship’s recorded dimensions were141.5 length, 26' beam, and 10' depth of hold,and support documentary evidence of heremployment as a bulk freight canaller.Photomosaics of plan and sheer views of Sligowere conducted to assist with generating anoverall site map. Extensive scantlingmeasurements taken will ultimately assist indefining the vessel type, particularly the levelof standardization and deviation employed bythe shipbuilder under the constraints of thecanal dimensions. Further information may befound at http://www.tamug.edu/sligo.

MA Candidate

Programme in Maritime Studies

East Carolina University

Editors’ Note: Kimberly was the winner of theGerry Panting Award at the 2001 CNRSConference in Kingston.

Of Inches and Miles

by William Glover

The last issue of Argonauta includedarticles about the nautical mile and the inch.Steven Toby discussed the modern problem ofexact measurement in computer calculations ofspeed-length ratios necessary for shiphydrodynamics. John Harland discussed thelength of an inch, and when it wasstandardized. These two articles are just themost recent stage in the centuries old problemof measurement. Readers may be interested toknow something of the debate of four hundredyears ago that I have stumbled across in myresearch on navigation.

Until the development of lunar distancetables and the chronometer, both in the thirdquarter of the 18th century, navigators couldonly determine their longitude by deadreckoning. The speed through the water wasnormally measured every two hours with a log

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 11

line. Accuracy of the estimate of the distancemade good depended on the corect knotting ofthe log line, for which the length of a nauticalmile had to be known. Estimates of the distanceand course made good over a twenty-four hourperiod were added to the previous observationssince the departure fix, and then traverse tableswere used to arrive at an estimate of longitude.In order to construct a traverse table, the lengthof a degree of latitude had to be known. Notsurprisingly, these questions were addressed inthe early texts of navigation. In the 1600s therewas much more “choice” available to themariner than Steven Toby’s two lengths of anautical mile.

One of the first navigation books writtenin English was by John Davis, after whom thenorthern strait is named. His The Seaman’sSecrets was first published in 1595. It wassufficiently regarded that an eighth edition waspublished in 1657. The relationship betweenlatitude and miles was clearly understood byDavis. He wrote

Every degree applyed to measure,containe 60. minutes, and every minute60. seconds, and every second 60.thirds, and every degree of a greatcircle so applyed, containeth twentieleagues, which is 60. mile, so that everyminute standeth for a time in theaccount of measures, a mile is limitedto bee 1000. paces, every pace 5. foote,every foote 10. inches, and every inch 3.barly cornes dry and round, after ourEnglish account, which for the use ofNavigation is the only best of of allother: so by these rates of measure youmay proove that a degree is 20. leagues,or 60. miles, a minute is a mile or 5000.

feete, a second is 83 2/3 feets, and athird is 16 2/3 inches: and thus much ofdegrees and their parts applyed tomeasure.

The mile of 5000 feet that Davis used wasderived from the Roman mile. It is close towhat we now know as the Statute mile of 5280feet. (Although I am aware that the term StatuteMile has a long use, the first “statute” of whichI am aware that defined it waited until the 1824weights and measures bill.)

Davis’s unequivocal statement of thelength of degree was not, however, sufficientfor mathematicians. Thomas Blundeville (fl.1560 - 1602), a mathematical tutor well knownin navigation circles wrote that a fathom wasfive feet and an English league was 2500fathoms. (The Spanish league was 2857fathoms.) A degree was 17½ Spanish leagues.This meant that a mile or a minute of latitude,was 4166 feet. William Oughtred (1575 -1660), a mathematician and instrument maker,“doth propose that 66¼ Statute miles to answerto one degree upon the Earth, each containing5280 feet, so that according to his computationthere is 349800 English feet in one degree.”Captain Charles Saltonstall (fl. 1627 - 1665), asea captain and professor of mathematics,would have none of this. He “calculated all myTables, allowing 1000 paces of 5 4/5 foot tomake one mile, and 60 of those miles to makeone Degree in the Meridian; So that now one ofthose miles will contain 5808 feet, and 60 ofthose miles will make one Degree in theMeridian.” Imagine the confusion that musthave been caused by traverse tables calculatedfor this unique length of a mile!

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 12

Amidst all this speculation andpronunciation, Richard Norwood (1590 - 1675),“a Reader of the Mathematicks,” stood out asa lone voice. He carefully observed the latitudeof London on 11 June 1633. Two years later onthe same date he took a meridian altitude of thesun at York. He then physically measured thedistance between his places of observation andfound it to be 9149 chains. This in turn gavehim the length of a degree as 367,196 feet,which he rounded up to 367,200 feet. So by hiscalculation a mile was 6120 feet. This isamazingly close to the figures discussed bySteven Toby. Norwood allowed that forconvenience this might be rounded down to6000, the figure used today as an “electronic”mile for calibrating radar sets. Norwoodpublished the results of his work in 1636. Astudy of navigation texts suggests that onehundred years later his calculation of a nauticalmile was still not uniformly used for themarking of a log line.

Maritime Provinces Steam

Passenger Vessels

By Robin H. Wyllie

P. S. City of Norfolk / City of Monticello

Specifications:

Official Number: 57871

Builder: Harland & Hollingsworth,

Wilmington, USA

Date Built: 1865

Gross Tonnage: 900 (as built)

Overall Length: 232 feet

Breadth: 32 feet

Draught: 10.8 feet

Engine: 2 cyl, compound, 83 hp

Propulsion: side paddle

History:

According to Fred Erving Dayton,whose Steamboat Days, published in 1939, isregarded as the single most valuable source ofinformation on North American steamnavigation, Charles Morgan is credited withbeing the father of coastwise shipping in theUnited States. Born in 1795, Morgan’s was theclassic American success story, as he went fromgrocery clerk in Clinton, Connecticut, to storeowner, shipping merchant and, subsequently,sole owner of a vast business empire ofshipping lines, canals and railroad companieswhich reached from New York to New Orleansand along the Gulf Coast as far as the MexicanBorder.

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 13

THE CANADIAN NAUTICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY

Annual Conference and General Meeting

20-22 June 2002Halifax, Nova Scotia

Call for Papers

Halifax & the North Atlantic in Peace & War

Papers are submitted with the reasonable expectation of publication, with first right of refusal in The

Northern Mariner / Le Marin du nord , the Journal of Record of the Society.

Halifax is the nation’s Gatewa y to the Atlantic and a popular destination with many attractions for tourists.

The conference will be structured such that papers will be given in morning sessions (Thursday-Friday-

Saturday), leaving the afternoons for organized excursions to sites such as the Fisheries Museum of the

Atlantic in Lunenburg and the Harbour Fortifications of Georges & McNab’s Islands (the AGM will be

Saturday afternoon). Evening events will include a reception-book launch for several upcoming titles by

Society members, and a semi-formal banquet for the presentation of Society Awards.

The conference will be h eld at the Dartmouth H oliday Inn, overlooking the Inner Harbour, in p roximity

to the Naval Dockyard and a short ferry-ride from the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. A block of

rooms (nights of the 19th through 23rd inclusive) has been reserve d at a special conference rate of CDN $92

/ night. For rese rvations, call: 1-888-434-0440 and mention “Canadian Nautical Research Society /

CNRS”. Out-of-N orth America ns may bo ok by e-mail: [email protected].

The Canadian Nautical Research Society is a non-profit organization. Conference fee remains to be

determined, but will be assessed only to cover administrative and other actual expenses (ie, catered lunches

and banquet – ex cursion fees will be assesse d separately).

The Gerry Panting New Scholar Award is a CDN $500 bursary to defray travel expenses, available to a

presenter with less than five years experience in maritime studies. Applications (with c.v. and reference

of an acad emic adviser) s hould acc ompany submission of propos al.

Proposals by 31 March 2002 to:

Dr Rich ard H. G imblett

49 South Park D rive

Blackburn Hamlet, Ontario, CANADA, K1B 3B8

Tel: (613) 830-8633 / Fax: (613) 830-1449

e-mail: [email protected]

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 14

While others hoarded their resourcesduring the Civil War, Morgan’s ships weredodging Confederate raiders and, between1861 and 1865, he added no fewer thantwelve new vessels to his fleet. Among themwas the City of Norfolk, a 900 ton iron paddedsteamer, designed to connect traffic fromChesapeake Bay ports with his coastwiseroutes at Norfolk, Virginia.

When Morgan’s rail and steamshiplines were acquired from his estate by theSouthern Pacific in 1885, a number of routeswere consolidated and, among the vesselsdeclared surplus, was the twenty-year-old Cityof Norfolk.

Renamed City of Monticello, thevessel appears to have remained on theChesapeake until just prior to 1889, when shewas sold to the Bay of Fundy SteamshipCompany and placed on their run betweenSaint John and Annapolis, where sheconnected with trains for Halifax. City ofMonticello remained on this run until growingcompetition from the brand new DominionAtlantic Railway paddler Prince Rupert,which had been placed on the Saint John toDigby run in 1895, forced her owners to lookelsewhere for business.

In 1896, the vessel was registered inLiverpool, Nova Scotia and the CanadianPacific showed an interest in using her toprovide a direct service between Boston andthe booming resort town of St. Andrews, NewBrunswick, where, according to the EasternSentinel, passengers for upper St. Croix portscould connect with the river steamer Viking.

The plan came to nought, but there areindications that she found work runningbetween Chatham and the Bay of Chaleurports, during the open season of course, for aperiod between 1895 and 1898.

In March, 1899, the City of Monticellowas sold to the Yarmouth SteamshipCompany as a replacement for the P.S.Express on the feeder service between SaintJohn, Yarmouth and Nova Scotia’s SouthShore ports.

The newly acquired Express had runhard aground, just below the lighthouse onBon Portage Island in heavy fog. The vesselwas a total loss and the official enquiry laidthe blame firmly on the shoulders of CaptainThomas M. Harding, as a result of his faultynavigational calculations.

For some inconceivable reason,Captain Harding was then given command ofthe City of Monticello and, on November 10th,1900, what seems to have been inevitable,happened. With a crew of thirty-two, eightpassengers and a considerable cargo, thevessel left Saint John on her regular schedulejust before noon on Friday, November 9th.The ship ran into a stiff northwest breezeacross the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, whichincreased as she turned to run down the coast.Out of the shelter of the Digby Neck islands,the vessel encountered a considerable stormand, in spite of the recommendation ofCaptain Norman Smith, one of the passengers,and the please of others, rather than heave toin the lea of Brier Island, Harding decided toattempt Yarmouth.

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 15

in

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team

ship

col

ours

, fro

m a

pho

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in t

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ubli

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October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 16

In mountainous seas of Cape Forchu,with the cabin smashed in and the holds andengine room flooding, one boat with sevenpassengers managed to get off, only to smashamong the breakers on the beach atChecoggin. Only four people, includingCaptain Smith, reached safety. Of the rest,twenty-six bodies were recovered from amongthose left on the ship and three from thelifeboat. Those of Captain Harding and theother ten were never found.

The board of enquiry, after concludingthat, having been recently inspected, thevessel was in good mechanical and seaworthycondition, found that the Captain, given theweather conditions, had neglected to take allpractical precautions, and, for a second time,this time posthumously, laid the full blame onCaptain Harding.

Sources:

Dayton, Fred Erving. Steamboat Days. TudorPublishing Company, New York, 1939.

Mills, John M. Canadian Inland and CoastalSteam Vessels 1809-1930. Providence, R.I.,1979.

Woodworth, Marguerite. History of theDominion Atlantic Railway. KentvillePublish, 1936.

Assorted registers, contemporary timetables,newspapers and almanacs.

Nautical Nostalgia

by William Glover

Regular readers of this column mayremember that in one of the early articles Iprovided a list of maritime anniversaries.Turning to that now, and looking at themonths of October, the cover month of thisissue; November, the month in which I amwriting it, and December, the month in whichyou will receive it, I am struck by a number ofthe dates. October, for example, was the birthmonth of the explorers Galiano and Cook, andof Webber the artist who accompanied Cook.Henry Larsen, commanding officer of theRCMP vessel St Roch, was also born inOctober. “The Big Ship” was the first to makea west-east transit of the North West passageJ.F.W. DesBarres, creator of the AtlanticNeptune charts, died at Halifax in the month.In November the CSS Hudson sailed fromHalifax for what became the firstcircumnavigation of both Americas, SamuelCunard founder of the Cunard line was bornat Halifax, and the Union Steamship companyof British Columbia, the first shippingcompany to be based at Vancouver, wasincorporated. In December Pierre-ÉtienneFortin who devoted much of his life toworking on behalf of fishermen was born atVerchères, Lower Canada. Jean Deshayes,Royal Hydrographer of New France, died atQuebec. These otherwise disparate facts sharea link in such themes as exploration,hydrography, and the commercial use of thesea, be it transportation or resource extraction.These are all activities which have beensponsored by government or shaped bygovernment policy for common benefit.

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 17

On 2 November 1936 the Departmentof Transportation was established. It hadresponsibility for shipping, navigation, andother maritime affairs. That same departmenttoday is under scrutiny, and from somequarters criticism, for its policies, or lackthereof, for air transportation and the aviationindustry. Both the importance of air travel inour daily lives and the vast preponderance oftrade that crosses our continental border havediverted attention from maritime policies, butone might ask if they are in any bettercondition than those for aviation. Has theDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans, whichnow has responsibility for many aspects of ournational maritime activity, including forexample the Canadian Coast Guard, been anymore vigilant? For example, is the CoastGuard fleet better provided with fuel andpersonnel than the navy? The voyages of theSt Roch and the Hudson are reminiscent of theearlier work done by Bernier in the Arctic.When was the last time the Government ofCanada sponsored an maritime expedition ofequal importance to the voyage of theHudson? By comparison, today we seem hardpressed to keep vessels at sea on the Pacificand Atlantic coasts fulfilling even basicrequirements of sovereignty, such as fisheriesoversight. Who is concerned that the deadlineset by Parliament for the development of anoceans policy has quietly passed? A Globeand Mail survey published for 1 July foundthat nearly half of all Canadians could notcorrectly identify Sir John A. Macdonald asour first Prime Minister. Presumably it istherefore expecting too much to hope thatCanadians might remember the role forgovernment in national development that heforged with his railway policy. Hilda Neatbydeplored the decline of education in her book

So Little For the Mind. That was published in1953. Jack Granatstein’s Who KilledCanadian History, published 1998 merelychronicles the continuing decline.

Anniversaries are of more than merehistorical or anecdotal interest. They representachievement. The actions of the past, andparticularly the achievements, are thefoundations for plans of today anddevelopments of tomorrow. The remembranceof anniversaries and of achievements affordsus the opportunity to remind and/or to educatepeople today of important events. Given thefickle short term nature of public opinion asgoverned by polls, the matter of remindingtakes on an added significance. For example,Macdonald’s national dream laid thegroundwork for a transportation policy. Ofcourse circumstances will change. Trains donot carry many passengers any more. But Iwould suggest that the apparent change ismuch more superficial in many instances thanpeople might suppose. People still travel.Some might suggest that the place ofgovernment is not as a leader of “mega-projects.” That does not mean however thatthe development of policy that can be theumbrella for such work is no longerimportant. It is also important to rememberthat the “Made in America” solution may notfit Canada. The United States has a smallerland mass than Canada but it is the fourthmost populous country in the world. Ofnecessity our basic determining conditionswill be different.

Our heritage and our anniversaries areimportant. We have to know the facts and thebackground. Anniversaries provide the

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 18

occasion to remind ourselves. We should usethem to remind our elected leaders that justbecause something is not on the front page, itdoes not mean it is not important and that itcan be forgotten. Current maritime policiesand their full implementation are as importantto Canada today as they were in the days ofsail. If we do not press for them, ourforebears will have laboured in vain. We willnot have caught the torch that was passed tous from falling hands.

Members’ News

Olaf Janzen reports that AndrewGibson passed away in July 2001. He was theco-author of The Abandoned Ocean: AHistory of United States Maritime Policy.

Your editors have just seen a releasefrom Vanwell Publishing that Charles (Doug)Maginley’s book The Ships of Canada’sMarine Services, co-authored with BernardCollin and with paintings from Yves Bérubé,is now available. Argonauta readers willrecall his reminiscences that have appeared inprevious issues.

For those wishing to get in touch withGreg Marquis his new address is at theUniversity of New Brunswick, Department ofHistory & Politics, PO Box 5050, St. John,New Brunswick, E2L 4L5, e-mail: [email protected].

Trevor Kenchington reports on hisactivities: In August and in collaborationwith Divers World (a local dive shop), taught

a Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) “PartI” course in underwater and foreshorearchaeology to 17 sport divers. This was thefirst NAS course taught in Nova Scotia forsome years, though it continued an irregularseries dating from 1989, which itself built onpre-NAS foundations dating back to coursestaught in Halifax by Vern Barbour(Newfoundland Marine Archaeology Society)and Andy Lockery (University of Manitoba)in 1978. The course participants includedseveral members of the recently-formed NovaScotia Underwater Explorations Society(NSUES), which is taking up something of themantle of the former Underwater ArchaeologySociety of Nova Scotia. Several courseparticipants are planning to continue to theNAS “Part II” certificate and beyond, while Ihope to maintain a regular series of “Part I”courses from here on.

With NSUES, a new focus onshipwreck archaeology within the MaritimeMuseum of the Atlantic and the NAS trainingprovided by Divers World, we may at last beseeing the progress in underwater heritageissues in Nova Scotia which has been lackingfor a decade. There would be much to bedone, however, before this Province couldrecover the leading position, on a NorthAmerican scale, that it had twenty years ago.

Argonauta co-editor Maurice D.Smith will officially hand over his duties asMuseum Director of the Marine Museum ofthe Great Lakes at the end of the year toDavid Good, this the tail end of a transitionprocess started over three years ago. Startingin 2002, Maurice as Curator, willconcentrate on the museum collections andcollections development.

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 19

Museum News

The Vancouver-based TeekayShipping, one of the world’s largest tankercompanies, has contributed $100,000 to theVancouver Maritime Museum, part of whichwill be used to restore the historic RCMPschooner St. Roche. Museum ExecutiveDirector, Jim Delgado confirmed Teekay hasalready spent $50,000 to refurbish a gallery inthe museum where many public programmesand activities are held and has promised amatching amount for the St. Rocherestoration.

$220,000 Grant Awarded

The Ontario Trillium Foundation hasawarded a significant grant of $220,000 toprovide funding support to the MarineMuseum of the Great Lakes at Kingston forthe Great Lakes Maritime Heritage CentreProject. This funding, provided over a threeyear period will support three specific aspectsof the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage CentreProject: the creation of the Gordon C. LeitchDiscovery Centre, an interactive learningcentre designed for young people; therenovation of and increased access to themuseum’s library and archive through thecreation of the Gordon C. Shaw Study Centre;and the funding of salary costs for two newpositions, a Museum Services Manager and apart-time assistant Curator.

Gordon C. Shaw Study Centre OpenedOctober 14, 2001

The Study Centre at the MarineMuseum of the Great Lakes at Kingston has

been named in honour of a generousbenefactor. The Centre provides a spaciousand well lit area for all to conduct their ownresearch. The full resources of the Museumare available for study or consultation in theCentre through Finding Aids, on-site staff anddata bases. Resources include artefact,pictorial, archives and library holdings.

Dr. Shaw graduated from Queen’sUniversity at Kingston in Mathematics andEconomics. Gordon joined the Department ofResearch of the Canadian Pacific Railway inMontreal. They transferred him to Vancouverwhere he spent several great years researchingthe prospects for the CPR’s fine fleet of“Princess” steamers, then operating all alongthe British Columbia coast. He studied for hisMasters and Doctoral degrees, the latter in theDepartment of Industrial Engineering atUniversity of Toronto. In 1966, Gordon joinedthe Faculty of Administrative Studies at YorkUniversity, in Toronto where he became a fullProfessor and taught applied mathematics andtransportation subjects to their Masters ofBusiness and Honour Business students. Henow Professor Emeritus at York University.

During the 1970’s, Gordon becameinterested in the restoration of the R.M.S.Segwun, at Gravenhurst. This ship was builtin 1887 as the side-wheel steamer Nipissingbut was rebuilt and renamed Segwun in 1925.At present, he is president of the HistoricalSociety and a director and secretary of theNavigation Company. Since 1982, Gordon hasseen the Segwun become both financiallyviable and a leading Ontario touristattraction.

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 20

University Chair

“After 400 years of history, Quebechas finally adopted a comprehensive maritimeand waterway policy,” declared Jacques Baril,the Minister responsible for this sector, onAugust 21. “Even if this blueprint does notpretend to bring solutions to all problems ofQuebec’s maritime industry, the means ofaction proposed nevertheless represents apoint of departure that can only be improvedin time”.

Highlights include additional supportto educational institutions that offerworkforce training for careers in the shippingindustry and the promotion of theestablishment of a university chair with amandate to develop maritime research.

Exhibit Review: Treasures of le Muséenational de la Marine in Paris at le Muséede la civilisation in Quebec City

by Maurice Smith

This is certainly one of the mostremarkable international exhibitions to haveappeared in Canada. Many of the maritimeiconic objects and paintings that you haveseen in histories, monographs and researchpapers throughout most of the 20th centuryare on exhibit. The exhibit, in six sectionsoccupies a large gallery in the ground floor ofthe museum. The sections are AnIntroduction, A Look at the Shipyards, Warsand Exploration, Merchandise and Men,Festivals, Parades and Regattas; and Dreamsand Exotic Souvenirs. There is a wellillustrated glossy catalogue (46 pages) in bothofficial languages and a bibliography ofEuropean sources.

The paintings are well chosen andinclude Vernet’s view of the Port of Dieppe,1765; The Crew in Battery by Le Blant, 1890that has appeared in many books to illustratelower deck life and A Scene from the Battle ofTrafalgar by Auguste Mayer, 1836. There aremany other paintings that feature harboursand illustrations in the exhibit.

The very rare models that illustrate theday-to-day work of a harbour include theMasting Machine, Dredger and The Brilliant,a Careened Ship. Many of you will have seenthese models used as illustrations in standardworks on the history of merchant shipping.

The are of course many naval objects.Two include La Creole, a 24 gun corvette,built in the Dockyard Model makingworkshop in the 19th century and the Surcouf,in its day the worlds largest submarine. Thismodel is in cross-section and easily competeswith the better known ‘admiralty’ models.There are also many examples of small sailingvessels and merchant sail.

The exhibit is on two floors within thegallery and is lit to achieve maximum‘theatrical’ impact. The ceiling is a jungle ofstage lighting and the exhibit cases areelegant. In spite of this advanced lightingtechnology, many of the exhibits are badly lit.Details that might be of interest to any rangeof visitors are hard to see. Pity, since thequality of the artefacts is the very best, nodoubt acquired when connoisseurship was aguiding principal of curatorship. Anopportunity has been lost here to draw in andexcite a diverse audience. The labelling hasbeen dumbed-down in English and as myfrancophone companion observed, so is the

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 21

French. The catalogue is slightly moreexpansive with high production values and iswell worth having in a your library and withyou when visiting the gallery.

From my point of view this is anexceptional exhibition that deserves a visit. Amust see that might be combined with a visitto Quebec City.

Produced in collaboration with leMusée national de la Marine, Paris; theGovernment of Canada, the Port Authoritiesof Quebec and the Consulat general de Francein Quebec. The exhibit will open untilJanuary 6, 2002 as of this date there does notappear to be any other exhibit venue inCanada.

The Periodical Literatureby Olaf Janzen

Many articles on maritime topics ap-pear in journals that are not specificallydedicated to maritime themes. Thus, theScandinavian Economic History Review 48,No. 1 (2000), carried “Why Was Greenland‘Lost’? Changes in North Atlantic Fisheriesand Maritime Trade in the Fourteenth andFifteen Centuries” by Jón Th. Thór (pp. 28-39), a paper that was first presented at thejoint CNRS-AHNS (Association for theHistory of the Northern Seas) conference heldin Corner Brook, Newfoundland in 1999. Theauthor suggests that the commercialconnection with Iceland was essential for thesurvival of the Greenland colony. WhenIceland responded to new maritimecommercial opportunities in the late MiddleAges, the connection with Greenland faded,and so did the colony there. Another paper

recently published does not deal directly withmaritime activities but should be ofconsiderable interest to those historiansinterested in the way in which new overseasdiscoveries in the sixteenth century wereincorporated into an emerging conceptualframework of empire. In “Discourse onHistory, Geography, and Law: John Dee andthe Limits of the British Empire, 1576-80,”Canadian Journal of History 36, No. 1 (April2001), 1-25, Ken MacMillan examines thewritings of John Dee which helped the BritishCrown define and defend the limits of itsevolving empire. Dee laid the foundation forthe British claiming territory by effectiveoccupation rather than mere discovery. Healso figured in the English challenge toSpanish and Portuguese claims of dominionthat were supported by the paper bulls whichawarded new discoveries to the Iberiancountries. In “Illicit Business: Accounting forSmuggling in Mid-Sixteenth Century Bristol,”Economic History Review 54, No. 1 (February2001), 17-38, Evan T. Jones provides adetailed analysis of illicit trade involvingmerchants engaged in Bristol’s overseas trade.Port historians specializing in the earlymodern period will be intrigued by thetechnical challenges discussed in “‘A perfectand an absolute work’: Expertise, Authority,and the Rebuilding of Dover Harbor, 1579-1583” by Eric H. Ash; the article appeared inTechnology and Culture 41, No. 2 (April2000), 239-268. An article by ElenaFrangakis-Syrett on “The making of anOttoman port: The quay of Izmir in thenineteenth century” appeare in the Journal ofTransport History 3rd ser., 22, No. 1 (March2001), 23-46. Dan H. Andersen and Hans-Joachim Voth co-authored “The Grapes ofWar: Neutrality and Mediterranean Shipping

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 22

under the Danish Flag, 1747-1807.” Thearticle appeared in the ScandinavianEconomic History Review 48, No. 1 (2000), 5-27. The deportation of Acadians from IleSaint-Jean (today’s Prince Edward Island) in1758 proved to be a serious logisticalchallenge because the number of Acadianswas greater than anticipated and more thanthe number of ships available for the taskcould handle, as Earle Lockerby explains in“Deportation of the Acadians from Île St.-Jean, 1758,” The Island No. 46 (Fall/Winter1999), 17-25; the task of finding sufficientshipping so late in the season fell to AdmiralEdward Boscawen. Jerry Bannister examinesthe role played by the Royal Navy in theadministration of eighteenth -centuryNewfoundland in a revisionist article entitled”The Naval State in Newfoundland, 1749-1791,” Journal of the Canadian HistoricalAssociation 11 (2000), 17-50. Bannisterchallenges the traditional view that thedecision to assign responsibility for theadministration of Newfoundland to the navycaused that society to deviate from thecolonial model as it evolved politically after1815. Andrew David reminds us that thework of James Cook in Newfoundlandcontinues to benefit by new discoveries, suchas that in 1986 of two previously unknownCook charts in the collections of WindsorCastle. David describes the charts in “FurtherLight on James Cook’s Survey ofNewfoundland,” International HydrographicReview 1, No. 2 (new series; December 2000),6-12.

Lance van Sittert provides a socialhistory of a Cape Town squatter fishingsettlement in “‘To live this poor life’:remembering the Hottentots Huisie squatter

fishery, Cape Town, c. 1934-c. 1965.” Thepaper appeared in the journal Social History26, No. 1 (January 2001), 1-21. CNRSmember Dean C. Allard is the author of twoarticles on the development of Americanmarine science in the late nineteenth century;“Spencer Baird and Support for AmericanMarine Science, 1871-1887” appeared inEarth Sciences History 19, No. 1 (2000), 44-57; “The Origins and Early History of theSteamer Albatross, 1880-1887” was publishedin Marine Fisheries Review 61, No. 4 (1999),1-21. My thanks to Dean who brought the twoarticles to my attention by kindly providingme with copies.

Nothing is likely to irritate specialistsin underwater archaeology more than bysuggesting that treasure-hunting is what thediscipline is all about. The NationalGeographic Society has played aninstrumental role in promoting publicawareness of the way in which underwaterarchaeology should be driven by the quest fora better understanding of our maritime past.Unfortunately, the Society appears to begiving greater priority of late to promotingitself by giving the general public what theywant which, in underwater archaeology,means an unhealthy attention to treasure inthe form of gold, silver and other valuables.The most recent issue of the Society’smagazine (CC, No. 1, July 2001, pp. 74-91)over-indulges this unhealthy attention with anarticle entitled “Cuba’s Golden Past” byThomas B. Allen, about the wealth ofprecious metals and jewellery that has beensalvaged from shipwrecks found in Cubanwaters. Photographs, picture captions like“Going for the Gold” and “A glitteringfortune,” together with a map insert entitled

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 23

“Treasures of the World” that singles out,almost exclusively, sites on land and underthe sea that have yielded precious treasures,all tend to pander to the public preference forloot rather than knowledge. Yes, the reverseof the map focuses more on the archeologists(there’s a lovely cut-away illustration of amid-sixteenth-century Spanish ship), but thisdoes little to neutralize the impact of pageafter page of gold and silver coins, bars, andjewellery.

Until the air age and, more recently,the completion of the “fixed link” betweenNew Brunswick and Prince Edward Island,the only means of crossing from the one placeto the other was by water. In the winter, thiscould be very difficult, as Grover C. Lewisexplains in “The Strenuous Winter Passage toP.E. Island,” The Island No. 28 (Fall/Winter2000), 10-14. Of course, one can always crossnarrow channels by going under the waterybarrier. Laurent Bonnaud explains how theidea of a cross-Channel tunnel linkingEngland and France revived in the post-warperiod in “The Channel tunnel, 1955-1975:when the Sleeping Beauty woke again,” anarticle appearing in the Journal of TransportHistory 22, No. 1 (March 2001), 6-22.

Turning to polar exploration, TheIsland, No. 46 (Fall/Winter 1999) carries“Edward Macdonald’s Arctic Diary, 1910-1911" (pp. 30-40), edited by AlanMacEachern; Macdonald served in theCanadian Government Auxiliary BarkentineArctic on a voyage to the far north forscientific purposes. In “Norwegian use of thepolar oceans as occupational arenas andexploration routes,” Polar Record 37, No. 201(April 2001), 99-110, Susan Barr goes beyond

well-known figures like Nansen andAmundsen to show that a significant sectionof the Norwegian population made its livingover the centuries in Arctic and/or Antarcticwaters, whether as whalers, explorers, orothers. Erki Tammiksaar takes a brief look atthe role of Ferdinand von Wrangell inpromoting exploration of the Arctic in theearly nineteenth century; see “Ferdinand vonWrangell: white spots on the northeast coastof Sieria disappear,” in Polar Record 37, No.202 (April 2001), 151-153. The possibilitythat Lady Franklin turned t spirit mediums inher search for her missing husband is revisitedby Ralph Lloyd-Jones in “The paranormalArctic: Lady Franklin, Sophia Cracroft, andCaptain and ‘Little Weesy’ Coppin” in PolarRecord 37, No. 200 (January 2001), 27-34. “A‘sort’ of self-denial: United States policytoward the Antarctic, 1950-59” by JasonKendall Moore appeared in Polar Record 37,No. 200 (January 2001), 13-26. The Beaver81, 2 (April-May 201), 8-13 carried “Aroundthe World by Canoe” by Graham Chandler, anarticle that recounts the extraordinary voyageof the Tilikum in 1901-04.

National Geographic, 199, No. 6(June 2001) carried “U.S.S. Arizona: Oil andHonor at Pearl Harbor”, pp. 84-99, by Priit J.Vesilind, with photographs by DavidDoubilet. The article provides a movingaccount of the story and current condition ofthe battleship that became the best-knownvictim of the Japanese attack that drew theUnited States into World War II. Anotherwartime tragedy – the wreck of USN Truxtonand Pollux in February 1942 on the harshcoast of Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula – isrevisited by Barry Ries in “Anatomy of aRescue” in The Beaver 81, No. 3 (June-July

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 24

2001), pp. 38-43. Navy shipyards tend to be amale preserve, but this was not the caseduring World War II; Arnold Sparrcontributes “Looking for Rosie: WomenDefense Workers in the Brooklyn Navy Yard,1942-1946,” New York History 81, No. 3 (July2000), 313-340. Using the example ofMaryport on Solway Firth, Daniel Toddanalyses the way in which a port traditionallydedicated to the export of coal seeks todiversify itself now that coal has gone intodecline; see “Retreat from specialisation: Acoal port’s search for sustainability,” Journalof Transport History 21, No. 2 (September2000), 168-190. An article by A.J. Arnold onthe relationship between private shipbuildersand Royal Navy construction during thetechnologically critical transitional generationimmediately preceding World War I appearedin the Economic History Review 54, No. 2(May 2001), pp. 267-289. Entitled “‘Richesbeyond the dreams of avarice’?: commercial;returns on British warship construction,”Arnold’s article analyses the effects of navalwarship construction contracts on theprofitability of the dominant suppliers in orderto provide systematic evidence on theworkings of an early form of regulation andon a tangible aspect of the relationshipbetween private firms and the Britishgovernment. Arnold is the author of therecently published Iron Shipbuilding on theThames, 1832-1915: An Economic andBusiness History (Ashgate Publishing, 2000).

THE AMERICAN NEPTUNELX, NO. 2, 2000

Hugh A. Murphy, “Lost Opportunities:Women in Britain’s Private WartimeShipyards,” 115-129

J.S. Dean, “The Medea Floats Again: SteelHull Preservation Using Foam Coreand FRP,” 131-147

Charles R. Schultz, “Methodists to theCalifornia Gold Fields in 1849,” 149-168

Charles Dana Gibson, “The History of U.S.Law and Juridical Rulings thatDifferentiated ‘Public Vessel Seamen’from Merchant Marine Seamen,” 169-175

Charles K. Cobb, “Hunting Submarines in theEnglish Channel, 1918: Excerpts froman Account by Charles Kane Cobb Jr.(1888-1968),” 177-194

Victor A. Lewinson and Kurt Hasselbach,“Museum Focus: The Papers of HenryA. Morss Jr. (1911-1993),” 195-199

THE GREAT CIRCLEXXII, NO. 2, 2000

Martin Gibbs, “Conflict and Commerce,American whalers and the WesternAustralian colonies 1826-1888,” 3-23

Adrian Jarvis, “Protection and Decoration: Atentative investigation into paintingships before the Great War,” 24-37

Richard Morris, “Australia’s Naval coalingbattalion 1916-17: The briefmilitarisation of the Sydney coallumpers,” 38-49

Alastair Buchan and Drew Cottle, “Scabs orScapegoats? A Reappraisal of thebreaking of the boycott of Dutchshipping, July 1946,” 50-57

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OFMARITIME HISTORY

XII, NO. 2, DECEMBER 2000

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 25

David M. Williams, “The Shipping of theBritish Slave Trade in its Final Years,1798-1807,” 1-25

Jonathan Goldstein, “The Andrew JacksonAdministration and the Orient, 1829-1837,” 27-51

B.R. Burg, “Dissenter’s Diary: Philip C. VanBuskirk, the US Navy, and the HanRiver Massacre of 1871,” 53-67

Adrian Jarvis, “Land Policies in the Port ofLiverpool, 1709-1857,” 69-84

J.N.F.M. à Campo, “A Profound Debt to theEastern Seas: Documentary Historyand Literary Representation ofBerau’s Maritime Trade in Conrad’sMalay Novels,” 85-125

Jan Lucassen and Richard W. Unger, “LabourProductivity in Ocean Shipping, 1450-1875,” 127-141

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OFNAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

XXIX, NO. 2, 2000

Iván Negueruela, “Managing the maritimeheritage: the National MaritimeArchaeological Museum and NationalCentre for Underwater Research,Cartagena, Spain,” 179-198

Michael Flecker, “A 9th-century Arab orIndian Shipwreck in Indonesianwaters,” 199-217

John M. Bingman, John P. Bethell, PeterGoodwin, Arthur T. Mack, “Copperand other sheathing in the RoyalNavy,” 218-229

Ole Crumlin-Pedersen, “To be or not to be acog: the Bremen cog in perspective,”230-246

W. Forsythe, C. Breen, C. Callaghan and R.McConkey, “Historic storms and

shipwrecks in Ireland: a preliminarysurvey of severe synoptic conditionsas a causal factor in underwaterarchaeology,” 247-259

Avner Raban, “Three-hole composite stoneanchors from a medieval context atCaesarea Maritima, Israel,” 260-272

Armin Wirsching, “How the obelisks reachedRome: evidence of Roman double-ships,” 273-283

Technical communicationFredrik Søreide, “Cost-effective deep water

a r c h a e o l o g y : p r e l i m i n a r yinvestigations in TrondheimHarbour,” 284-293

Rory Quinn, Andrew J.A.G. Cooper, BrianWilliams, “Marine geophysicalinvestigation of the inshore waters ofNorthern Ireland,” 294-298

MARINE POLICYXXV, NO. 1, JANUARY 2001

Julia Green, “Australian maritime boundaries:the Australian Antarctic Territory,” 1-11

Paul Bennett, “Mutual risk: P&I insuranceclubs and maritime safety andenvironmental performance,” 13-21

Randall Bess, “New Zealand’s indigenouspeople and their claims to fisheriesresources,” 23-32

Daniel S. Holland, Jay J.C. Ginter, “Commonproperty institutions in the Alaskangroundfish fisheries,” 33-42

Giulio Pontecorvo, William E. Schrank, “Asmall core fishery: a new approach tofisheries management,” 43-48

Robert E. Kearney, “Fisheries property rightsand recreational/commercial conflict:

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 26

implications of policy developmentsin Australia and New Zealand,” 49-59

Eddy Somers, “The arrest of ships inmaritime zones beyond internal watersin Belgian maritime law,” 61-69

Zou Keyuan, “China’s exclusive economiczone and continental shelf:developments, problems, andprospects,” 71-81

Geir Runar Karlsen, “Can formalisation help?The introduction of fisheries co-management in the inshore fisheriesof Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland,” 83-89

MARINER’S MIRRORLXXXVII, NO. 2, MAY 2001

Raymond J. Skinner, “John Ley(c.1550-1604): Elizabethan seacaptain and explorer. His background,together with a voyage from LymeRegis to Spain in 1580,” 133-143

Alan Ereira, “The voyages of H1,” 144-149[Harrison's first sea chronometer]

David Syrett, “Count-down to The Saints: astrategy of detachments and the questfor naval superiority in the WestIndies, 1780-2,” 150-162

Ake Lindwall, “The encounter betweenKempenfelt and de Guichen,December 1781. Some documents inthe Döbeln Collection, Stockholm,”163-179

Ernest W. Toy, “‘They all got off except theship’: Captain Hastings and the Howe,”180-195Hugh Murphy, “Scotts of Greenock, and

naval procurement 1960-77,” 196-211

Notes

Basil Greenhill and Ann Giffard, “TheWhitchurch canonicorum (Dorset)vessedl,” 212

Philip Hancock, “St Katharine’s church,Milford Haven: L’Orient truck andother Nelsonia,” 212-214

Charles Dawson, “PS Orwell, 1813-4,” 214-217

Henry J.A. Brooke, “Operation Counterblast,”217-219

OCEAN DEVELOPMENT ANDINTERNATIONAL LAW

XXII, NO. 1, JANUARY-MARCH 2001

Barbara Kwiatkowska, “The Eritrea-YemenArbitration: Landmark Progress in theAcquisition of Territorial Sovereigntyand Equitable Maritime BoundaryDelimitation,” 1-25

Joeseph E. Vorbach, “The Vital Role of Non-Flag State Actors in the Pursuit ofSafer Shipping,” 27-42

Lawrence Juda and Timothy Hennessey,“Governance Profiles and theManagement of the Uses of LargeMarine Ecosystems,” 43-69

Chris Hedley, “The 1998 Agreement on theInternational Dolphin ConservationProgram: Recent Developments in theTuna-Dolphin Controversy in theEastern Pacific Ocean,” 71-92

RESOLUTIONNO. 53, SUMMER 2001

Joan Goddard, “Sea Stories on the Wind –Memories of Captain AlexanderMcDonald,” 3-7

Shirley Hewett, “Consumate West Coaster:Blayney Scott,” 8, 13

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 27

Marianne Scott, “Dick Pattinson: TheCircumnavigator,” 14-15

Shirley Hewett, “James Butterfield: AVersatile B.C. Mariner,” 16-17

Marianne Scott, “Salt of all Trades: SvenJohansson,” 18-20

SEA HISTORYNO. 96, SPRING 2001

Robert Foulke, “Odysseus’s Oar,” 9-12Peter Stanford, “Greasy Luck for the Charles

W. Morgan: A New Idea – DoingThings the Old Way,” 16-18

Adelbert Mason, “‘Scanning the FoamingDeep Before’: John W. Mason,Shipcarver,” 22-25

David L. Sills, “The Strange Story of theFouled Anchor: An inquiry into thehistory of a naval symbol,” 29-30

STEAMBOAT BILLNO. 233, SPRING 2000

Edward C. March, “Life in Marsodak 1938-1940,” 4-28

James F. Whalen, “Commodore LeroyAlexanderson,” 29-38

STEAMBOAT BILLNO. 234, SUMMER 2000

Martin J. Butler, “Central VermontTransportation Company, the OtherNew London Line: The Last NewYork Steamers,” 89-113

Ronald L. Smith, “Preserving the QueenMary,” 114-127

STEAMBOAT BILLNO. 236, WINTER 2000

Rodney H. Mills, “Wooden Steamers: TheForgotten Era in Great Lakes Ships,”257-280

William A. Fox, “Ferries Forever: 75 Yearson the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry,”281-294

TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR ZEEGESCHIEDENISXX, NO. 1, APRIL 2001

Jaap R. Bruijn, “Commandanten van Oost-Indiëvaarders in de achttiende eeuw,”4-14

P.J. Marshall, “The place of the Seven YearsWar (1756-63) in the changingbalance of power between Britain andthe Netherlands in Asia,” 15-23

F.S. Gaastra, “De VOC en EIC in Bengalenaan de vooravond van de VierdeEngelse Oorlog (1780-1784),” 24-35

Arent Pol, “Geld voor goederen. De exportvan munten en baren door de Engelseen Nederlandse Oost-Indischecompagnieën; een poging totvergelijking,” 36-46

H.V. Bowen, “From trade to empire: Thedomestic reconstruction of the EnglishEast India Company after 1760,” 47-58

WARSHIP INTERNATIONALXXVII, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2000

Christopher C. Wright, “The U.S. Navy’sOperation of the Former ImperialJapanese Navy Submarines I-14, 1-400 and I-401, 1945-1946,” 348-401

October 2001 ~ ARGONAUTA ~ Page 28

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