The first 5000 images in the National Fisherman Collection are now live. Ben Fuller is in the process of adding dates and locations to this group as well as reviewing the subject headings and search terms. Please contact him via bfuller@pmm-maine.org with any suggestions or corrections. He expects to have the next 5000 up early in the summer.
Submitted by Ben Fuller, Curator, Penobscot Marine Museum, April 5, 2016
As outlined in this Public Notice, NOEL LOVE GROSS, TRUSTEE OF TRUST B UNDER ARTICLE IIIB OF THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF NELSON G. GROSS is seeking interested qualified parties to enter into an agreement to remove the ferryboat Binghamton from its current site, in Edgewater, New Jersey, for the purpose of preservation and restoration. The Public Notice period will expire after 90 days, on June 29th, 2016. In the event that no qualified parties come forward within the 90 period to enter into an agreement to remove the entire vessel, components of the vessel will be offered to historical organizations and museums for curation.
The ferryboat Binghamton, a National Register structure, was constructed from 1904-1905. This vessel was one of six steam-powered screw-propeller, double-ended ferryboats built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock for the Hoboken Ferryboat Company. After her 62 years of service on the Hudson River between Hoboken and Manhattan, the ferryboat was sold and turned into a popular floating restaurant known as Binghamton’s in 1975. Unfortunately, the ferryboat is in poor condition due to damage sustained during Superstorm Sandy in October of 2012. The State of New Jersey has ordered the vessel’s removal for safety concerns.
Submitted by Teresa Bulger, Richard Grubb & Associates, April 1, 2016
Peter Stanford, one of the 1972 founding members of the Council of American Maritime Museums, died today. The National Maritime Historical Society has posted a tribute to their late President Emeritus on their website.
Stanford was the founding president of South Street Seaport Museum, New York, and was instrumental in saving numerous historic ships, including the Lightship Ambrose; Brigantine Black Pearl; Barques Elissa, Moshulu, and Peking; Schooners Ernestina, ex-Effie Morrisey and Lettie Howard, Liberty Ship John W. Brown, steam tug Mathilda, and Wavertree.
In addition to CAMM, Peter Stanford was involved with the evolution of the American Society of Marine Artists (1977), the American Ship Trust (1978), the Hudson River Maritime Museum (1979), and the National Maritime Alliance (1987). He also co-founded and supervised both OpSail 1976 for the nation’s bicentennial and the Statue of Liberty Parade of Sail in 1986.
A remarkable leader in the early days of ship preservation, Peter Stanford played a crucial role in bringing maritime heritage to the attention of the nation’s cultural resource community.
Submitted by Candace Clifford, using information from the National Maritime Historical Society posting, March 24, 2016
This year’s CAMM conference, April 25-27, in Wilmington, Delaware, will be a great opportunity to interact with fellow maritime heritage professionals. The conference website has been updated with the preliminary program. The registration deadline, April 12, 2016, is less than a month away so make your plans to join us in Wilmington!
Goto http://uslhs.org/about/preservation-grants-program for more information.
The U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association will hold its annual meeting aboard the former Life-Saving Station Number 10, now docked by the Belle of Louisville, October 6-8, 2016, in Louisville, Kentucky. The Life-Saving Service, and later the U.S. Coast Guard, had 3 floating vessels serving this station from 1881 to 1972.
For more information visit the USLSSHA website.
Tim Runyan of the National Maritime Alliance has submitted an Op-Ed from the Maritime Executive in connection with his effort to solicit support for the STORIS Act’s inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act.
The University Press of New England and the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program seek book proposals for our “America and the Sea” series. We are looking for works in three categories:
We have particular interest in underrepresented voices and “blue” environmental studies. Although the submissions deadline will remain running, first considerations begin on March 18, 2016. View this link for the full description and initial submission directions.
Submitted by Dana Hewson, Mystic Seaport
First, there is a full program in Montreal that is of particular interest to our collection care partners during the joint annual meeting of both the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) and the Canadian Association for Conservation (Association Canadienne pour la Conservation et la Restauration) (CAC-ACCR). The meeting is planned for May 13 – 17, 2016. To see the slate of offerings, please visit: http://www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting/allied-professionals-track
Second, the Journal of American Institute for Conservation (JAIC) is seeking submissions for a “Collection Care” special issue. Papers are welcome across the full spectrum of collection care activities, from communication and advocacy to technical specifications. This Journal volume seeks to represent the diverse acts of preventive conservation and the work of all of those who facilitate preservation and access. The responsibility for collection care is not limited to conservators but rather is a collaborative process among allied professionals such as facility managers, curators, registrars, preparators, collection managers, security staff, archivists, exhibit designers, architects, and maintenance staff (among others), who work together to mitigate or manage collection risks. Authors are invited to submit an abstract and article outline for consideration by the special issue editors with final article submissions due April 1, 2016. Please send inquiries and submissions to Mary Coughlin at coughlin@gwu.edu.
Submitted by Gretchen Guidess, AIC Collection Care Network
THREE NEW MASTS INSTALLED IN LANDMARK 1895 SCHOONER C.A. THAYER
San Francisco, CA – Yesterday, a San Francisco-minted, 1895 gold piece, donated by the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association, was laid on the mainmast step of the 1895 C.A. Thayer. Moments later, a mobile crane at Alameda’s Bay Ship and Yacht yard deftly fitted the 109-foot, 8.4-ton “stick” through a two-and-a-half foot hole carved in her planked deck. With the installation of her masts, the National Historic Landmark vessel’s preservation is nearly complete.
C.A. Thayer will return to Hyde Street Pier later this month, where Park staff will completely rig the vessel. The newly-masted schooner will be honored at the Park’s 2016 Festival of the Sea, a free, all-day public event scheduled for Saturday, August 20.
“We’re excited to bring C.A. Thayer back to Hyde Street Pier during the National Park Service’s centennial year,” said Park Superintendent Hendricks. “I invite the public to visit Hyde Street Pier this spring and watch our historic rigging crew install wire and line on all three of her new masts.”
A “stepping the mast” ceremony is a hoary maritime tradition, dating to at least the days of ancient Rome. At one time thought to bring good luck, placing a coin (or other memorabilia) under a vessel’s mast is now as much a part of shipbuilding custom as a smashed-champagne-bottle launch.
C.A. Thayer’s History
Built at Fairhaven, on Humboldt Bay in Northern California, in 1895, C.A. Thayer alone represents the hundreds of vessels built for the West Coast lumber trade. Constructed by Hans Bendixsen, she was originally owned by the E.K. Wood Lumber Company of San Francisco. The vessel spent the early years of her career carrying Douglas fir lumber from the Wood Company mill at Grays Harbor, Washington, to San Francisco and Southern California, with occasional longer trips to Mexico and the Pacific Islands.
The schooner retired from the lumber business in 1912, but quickly found work supplying a shore-based salmon fishing operation in Alaska. She changed hands again in 1924, and was refitted for codfishing in the Bering Sea, operating out of Puget Sound, Washington. After a period of lay-up during the depths of the Great Depression, she was purchased by the U.S. Army, and operated as a barge in the Aleutian Campaign, in 1942. Following WWII, Thayer returned to codfishing, and had the distinction of making the last commercial voyage of a large American sailing vessel, in 1950.
C.A. Thayer spent several years on display as a roadside attraction in Washington State. After a refit in Seattle, the schooner voyaged under sail down the Pacific Coast to San Francisco where, in 1963, she berthed at Hyde Street Pier as part of the newly-opened State Maritime Historical Park. The vessel was transferred, with the rest of that Park’s holdings, to the National Park Service in 1977. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984, and is now preserved by the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
Submitted by Lynn Cullivan, San Francisco Maritime NHP, February 2, 2016
