The American Neptune, Volume 61, Number 4

120 Pages·2001·11.4 MB·English

"X T The American
JNeptune
Maritime History & Arts
Volume Sixty-One, Number Four Fall 2001
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A Quarterly Journal of Maritime History and Arts
Table of Contents
Editor-in-Chief’s Note.377
Fiction, Film, and Fact: John Huston’s Trying-Out of Moby Dick
Briton C. Busch. 379
Blackbeard and the Meaning of Pirate Captaincy
Michael Thomas Smith.397
A Historian at Work: Thomas Macdonough’s Relief from Command
David Curtis Skaggs.411
Was The Southerner a Confederate Corsair, a Blockade Runner, or an Elaborate Hoax?
Peter Barton.423
The Royal Canadian Navy’s Drive for Diversification: Post-War Planning, 1943-1945
Shawn Cafferky. 431
The Impact of Redesigning and Rebuilding the U.S. Frigate Constellation in 1812,1829, and 1839
on Currently Held Theories Concerning Her Age
Geoffrey M. Footner.453
Book Reviews ^
Donald G. Shomette, Lost Towns of Tidewater Maryland
Paul L. Berry.467
Jo Stanley, Bold in Her Breeches: Women Pirates across the Ages
Joan Druett.468
Paul C. Krajeski, In the Shadow of Nelson: The Naval Leadership of
Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, 1753—1812
John R. Breihan.469
Christopher T. George, Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay
William R. Wells II.470
Kenneth M. Beyer, Q-Ships versus U-Boats: America’s Secret Project
Eric C. Rust.471
Richard L. Schwoebel, Explosion Aboard the Iowa
Dean C. Allard.472
Volume Sixty-One, Number Four 373
Shorter Notices
by Briton C. Busch
Joseph Wheatley and Stephen Howarth, Historic Sail: The Glory of the Sailing Ship
from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Century.474
Peter Le Fevre and Richard Harding, eds., Precursors of Nelson: British Admirals
of the Eighteenth Century.474
Christopher Nicholson, Rock Lighthouses of Britain: The End of an Era?.474
Friedrich Prasky, Die Tegetthojf-Klasse: Modellbau, Technik, Geschichte.475
Charles W. Koburger Jr., The Central Powers in the Adriatic, 1914—1918:
War in a Narrow Sea.475
The Index to Volume Sixty-One of the AMERICAN NEPTUNE.476
/
3 74 The American Neptune
Volume 61, Number 4 THE AMERICAN NEPTUNE ISSN 0003-0155
Director of Publications Editor in Chief Arts Editor Book Review Editor
William T. La Moy Barry M. Gough Daniel Finamore Briton C. Busch
Peabody Essex Museum Wilfrid Laurier University Peabody Essex Museum Colgate University
Managing Editor Copyediting Ship Modeling Copyediting
Geraldine Ayers Fran Craig Paul Dustin Tamalyn Glasser
Peabody Essex Museum Peabody Essex Museum Peabody Essex Museum Peabody Essex Museum
Internet Activity Assistant Publisher Advertising and Copyediting Copyediting
Ray Hirschkop Dori Phillips Eva Ritter-Walker Jane Ward
Peabody Essex Museum Peabody Essex Museum Peabody Essex Museum Peabody Essex Museum
Editorial Advisory Board
James C. Bradford William S. Dudley Benjamin Labaree
Texas A & M University Washington, D.C. Amesbury, Massachusetts
Robert M. Browning Jr. James P. Delgado Frederick C. Leiner
Dumfries, Virginia Vancouver Maritime Museum Baltimore, Maryland
Edward G. Brownlee William M. Fowler Jr. W. J. Lewis Parker
Mount Holly, New Jersey Massachusetts Historical Society Captain USCG (Ret.)
William H. Bunting Stuart M. Frank Carla Rahn Phillips
Whitefield, Maine Kendall Institute University of Minnesota
J. Revell Carr John Hattendorf Peter Rindlisbacher
Nantucket, Massachusetts Naval War College Amherstburg, Ontario
John S. Carter John R. Herbert Suzanne Stark
Independence Seaport Museum Spring Hill, Florida Boston, Massachusetts
Lionel Casson Paul F. Johnston William N. Still Jr.
New York University Smithsonian Institution Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
James Seay Dean Roger Knight
University ofWisconsin, Parkside London, England
The American Neptune (ISSN: 0003-0155) is published 3042 or e-mail [email protected]. Information on the
quarterly by the Peabody Essex Museum, Incorporated, of American Neptune is available at our website and can be accessed
Salem, Massachusetts, d/b/a the Peabody Essex Museum. at www.pem.org/neptune.
Officers of the corporation are John O. Parker, chairman; Support of the journal depends upon receipts from sub¬
Carter H. Harrison and Robert N. Shapiro, vice chairmen; C. scriptions; no payment is made for contributions. Subscriptions
Richard Carlson, treasurer; Lea B. Pendleton, secretary; and are accepted for a one-year period and begin with the issue pub¬
Mrs. Eijk van Otterloo, chair of the Overseers. lished following receipt of the order. 1 he editors of the
Subscription rates are $39 for U.S. individuals and $45 for American Neptune assume editorial responsibility, but they
U.S. institutions. Non-U.S. subscription rates are $42 for in¬ and the Peabody Essex Museum do not necessarily endorse the
dividuals and $48 for institutions. Periodicals postage is paid opinions expressed by authors and book reviewers. “Guidelines
at Lawrence, Kansas. Postmaster: send address changes to the for Contributors” to the American Neptune, a style sheet for
American Neptune, Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, manuscript preparation, will be sent to prospective contribu¬
Salem, Massachusetts 01970. Telephone [phone], ext. tors upon request.
Volume Sixty-One, Number Four 375
Museum Reproduction Prints are Now Available Online
The Peabody Essex Museum now offers digital reproduction
prints of many of the works in its permanent collections. To
browse or make a purchase, start by going to the Peabody Essex
Museums web site at www.pem.org. Press the “Shop” button and
then click on “Digital Reproductions” to enter the virtual gallery
and frame shop. Here you may select from a wide array of paint¬
ings, drawings, and photographs from the collections of the
museum.
The reproductions are high-resolution digital prints of
archival quality that are printed and matted on acid-free mate¬
rials. The selection includes an extraordinary range of art, ar¬
chitecture, and culture from internationally renowned holdings
of maritime art and history; American decorative arts, folk art,
portraits, costumes, and furniture; Native American art; as well
as art from Africa, China, Japan, Korea, India, and Oceania.
You may select your digital reproduction in a variety of sizes
and in several preservation-quality matte and frame combina¬
tions. You may pay for your purchase on a secure site and have
the finished product shipped directly to your door with a guar¬
antee of satisfaction.
On the Cover
The Gough family sloop Danserye (thirty-two feet in length) lying at anchor at the western en¬
trance to Collins Inlet in northern Georgian Bay in the summer of 1998. She sports Danish col¬
ors, similar to those of Canada. Danserye means “Danish song,” or “Dances.” One of the Ontario-
class boats, she was built in Oakville, Ontario, in 1976 and is numbered thirty-six in the class.
The Ontario 32 was conceived as a quality performance cruising boat incorporating the industry’s
latest design features. The C & C partnership worked on the design, with Cuthbertson drawing
the hull and Cassian modeling the interior. The Ontario 32 combines plenty of headroom with an
open main salon in a performance cruiser. While it is not a competitive club racer because of its
wide beam-to-length ratio, the Ontario 32 is a solid off-wind cruiser. Photograph by and courtesy
ofj. S. Dean.
376 The American Neptune
Editor-in-Chief s Note
N
early thirty issues of this journal have passed ums, and he had a keen understanding that a cu¬
through my hands on their way to publica¬ mulative index was critical to our scholarly role.
tion. Given that we generally have five articles per Under his direction in 1997, the staff of the jour¬
issue and fifteen book reviews, several notices, and nal, principally Mrs. Geraldine Ayers, produced
various other items, it is a fair estimate that that ma¬ The American Neptune Fifty-Year Index, for vol¬
terial constitutes nearly three thousand pages of umes one to fifty, spanning the years from 1941 to
solid material on maritime history and arts. Now 1990. In 1995, we published another Five-Year
that I am releasing the reins of office as editor in Index, covering 1991 through 1995.
chief, it is a grand time to reflect upon these duties As to partnerships, I recall fondly the arrange¬
and to pay thanks to all those who have helped me. ments with the North American Society for
In recent editorials, I have commented on the con¬ Oceanic History, the National Maritime Historical
tent most likely to be printed in our pages. It must Society, and various museums such as the Kendall
reflect fresh research, it must be well written, and Whaling Museum. In a world of mutual depend¬
it must be accessible to the informed reader. We ence, it has served us well to cooperate in these joint
pride ourselves on being a leading (I am tempted ventures. We have had some wonderful meetings
to say the leading) journal in our field. We keep our in Salem, notably the World Marine Millennial
preeminence by having authoritative articles, re¬ Conference, brought together under the distin¬
views, and notices. In a world in which so much is guished auspices of Dan L. Monroe, the executive
reprinted or recycled, we seek originality, clarity of director of Peabody Essex Museum, and Daniel
thought, and authentic presentation, and we like il¬ Finamore, the Russell W. Knight Curator of
lustrated material. These criteria set us apart from Maritime Art and History. Dr. Finamore has given
most learned publications in our field. As a result, ready support and counsel, and Will La Moy has
we do not merely have a niche in this realm. been a superb publisher who brought new design
No person in my position can function with¬ and technological components to the steady and
out the loyal and willing support of staff and vol¬ timely publication of our quarterly issues.
unteers. I have been blessed with two wonderful Our volunteers have been remarkable in their
“bosses,” Dr. Donald Marshall and, in the last two dedication and energy. I have been blessed with
years, Will La Moy. Don Marshall gave me guid¬ many fine advisors on the editorial board, many of
ance in the early years when I inherited a journal whom I did not know personally before taking up
that was in need of tender loving care and direction. the post. We value the advice of our board mem¬
Giving me free editorial license, he let me do my bers. One has served from the day of the founding
job, always asking if there were other projects I of the journal, and others have been serving in this
wished to take up to make the journal better. He capacity for decades. Some of our most venerable
encouraged partnerships with agencies and muse¬ editorial board members are the most active.
Volume Sixty-One, Number Four y/7
Many new names have joined the board since Island. After that, he turned to the Egyptians and
my arrival seven years ago, and I thank them for in 1969 successfully crossed the Atlantic on Ra, a
reading and soliciting manuscripts and for giving vessel made of papyrus reeds that he said proved an¬
such advice as they have thought fit to render. cient Egyptians could have reached the New World.
Professor Briton C. Busch, a distinguished historian Someone called Heyerdahl the Inspector Morse of
who is our book review editor, working with Mrs. the ocean, and certainly he was unstoppable in his
Geraldine Ayers, has assumed great burdens dur¬ search for new clues and, more than that, possibil¬
ing my term of office. Tony Busch and Jerry Ayers ities or scenarios.
have been marvelous as professional colleagues and I would not say that I was overly impressed by
great and loyal friends. Heyerdahl’s Pacific voyaging. For me, the empiri¬
Among all of those to whom thanks is given, I cal era of Enlightenment European science best
must also specifically mention Mrs. Dori Phillips. displayed in the voyages of Captain James Cook
She lays out issues of the journal with an ease that and the Royal Navy caught my attention and gave
makes me think that nothing is too difficult for her. me inspiration for further research into Pacific his¬
Each issue shows her professional care and creativ¬ tory. This resulted in several books, notably The
ity. Wilfrid Laurier University also provided ongo¬ Northwest Coast (1992) and Gunboat Frontier (1984).
ing support to me and released me from some Heyerdahl stirred the world’s imagination about the
teaching duties, and I thank my department for its possibilities of drifting with currents. He inspired
sympathetic support, without which none of this three generations of such drifters, and P. J. Capelotti
could have happened. has recently published a brilliant analysis of those
Nearly fifty years ago, I was alerted to the dis¬ who followed the famous Norwegian. I recom¬
coveries of the Norwegian explorer Thor mend it highly: Sea Drift: Rafing Adventures in the
Heyerdahl, who in his unconventional voyage in Wake 0/Kon-Tiki (Rutgers University Press, 2001).
the Kon-Tiki set archaeology on its ear. This ex¬ These recent drifters, right down to our own pres¬
plorer, scientist, ecologist, and adventurer died in ent times, deal with the same problem facing Cook
April in Alassio, Italy, at the age of eighty-seven. and Heyerdahl: how to use the natural forces of the
Like many school students of the time, I was drawn ocean and how to avoid the destructiveness of
to his book, which was then a best seller. With six Teredo navalis, the worm.
Norwegian crewmen, he sailed eight thousand kilo¬ I close this last editorial with the hope that our
meters across the Pacific from Peru. He was con¬ readers will have safe voyages and calm seas, and for
vinced that Indians from South America had al¬
all Canadians reading these pages, remember what
ready in prehistoric times been able to reach
Ottawa told the officers and ship’s company of
Polynesia with their primitive rafts. His theory was
EIMCS Rainbow when she sailed from Esquimalt
that there must have been a transfer of culture'
in search of the German Imperial cruiser Leipzig:
from South America to Polynesia. Anthropologists
“Remember the Spirit of Nelson; all of Canada is
attacked his theories and methodology.
watching. With this issue, we continue to produce
Transoceanic migration scholars entered the fray,
outstanding articles, learned reviews, and interest¬
and human geneticists showed that Heyerdahl’s
ing commentary. Please encourage your friends
ideas were flawed. Some opined that it was all a
and associates to become subscribers. Adieu.
shame because they hoped Heyerdahl’s theories
might prove to be true. His voyage was placed by Barry Gough
many in the stunt category, but he could not be put Editor in Chief
down. He then wrote about the secret of Easter
378 The American Neptune
Fiction, Film, and Fact:
Moby Dick
John Huston’s Trying-Out of
by Briton C. Busch
G
reg Dening in his book Mr. Bligh’s Bad- in The Bounty.1 The point is that history may drift
Language argues that history, in a real sense, into fiction and back again, a process only made
is theater, and that the mutiny on board HMS more complex by the attempt to recreate the
Bounty was due in large part to Bligh’s lack of a sense fiction/fact on film.
of what his role was supposed to be. In Dening’s The context of this paper is not Bligh, but
view, the theatrical aspect often continues beyond rather the nineteenth-century American whaling
the event, giving it life and meaning as it is absorbed industry, for which one might conjure up a vision
into what we know as “history” He means that the of artifacts from a maritime museum, or Clifford
nature of a historical phenomenon depends as Ashley’s paintings, or perhaps the only surviving
much upon the way in which we conceive of it, whale ship, the Charles W. Morgan, now at the
recreate it, and act it out as it does on the event it¬ Mystic Seaport Museum. To those likely to turn
self. What does one see when thinking of Bligh? first to literature, there is Herman Melville’s Moby
Each image seems to be the likeness of a different Dick, published in 1851—brought to life in the
man. In fact, the image is more likely to be that of 1956 Warner Brothers movie Moby Dick, directed
Charles Laughton in the 1935 film, or perhaps of by John Huston and starring Gregory Peck as Ahab.
Trevor Howard, the 1962 Bligh to Marlon Brando’s In the early twenty-first century, that film is little
improbable Christian, or even the 1984 incarnation praised but visually unforgettable. The story of its
of Anthony Hopkins, playing opposite Mel Gibson production offers an interesting study in the rela¬
tionship of film to “history.”
It is necessary first to ignore a common criti¬
Briton C. Busch is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor cism that this movie was little more than a pale
of History at Colgate University. His books in¬ reflection of the novel. After all, it is no small chal¬
clude The War against the Seals: A History of the lenge to create a workable script for a massive
North American Seal Fishery and “ Whaling Will text—eight hundred pages in the famous Lakeside
Never Do for Me”: The American Whaleman in the edition of 1930. The average movie shooting script
Nineteenth Century. A past president of the North is between 150 and 200 pages. Moby Dick’s is 148
American Society for Oceanic History, he has pages, including a great deal of white page space,
served as book editor of the American Neptune but the differences only begin there. Novels and
films may have much in common, but, as James
since 1991.
Volume Sixty-One, Number Four 379
Monaco has pointed out, while a novel may me¬ ters, setting, and plot) and the narration, or way in
ander along for hundreds of pages (and Melville has which it is told. In a him, it is between the mate¬
his meandering moments), a movie always operates rials and the image physically projected. The viewer
in real time. It is seldom easy to replicate even a sub¬ has always had more choice of focus—the actors,
stantial portion of a novel’s action, let alone any the dialogue, and the scenery—than the reader,
philosophical reflections, not least because of the who is more closely bound by the words of the nov¬
ever-present economic constraints in an industry elist. The genius of the filmmaker lies in the choice
that is both labor- and capital-intensive; the only of the image to be shown; his success or failure lies
reasonable facsimile of War and Peace, some believe, not so much in the story itself, but in the techni¬
is the twenty-part BBC series of the early 1970s, but calities of film making. Many directors have at¬
very few movie makers have ever had such a luxu¬ tempted riveting thrillers, but there was only one
rious amount of time.2 Alfred Hitchcock.
Even more important, adds Monaco, is the In the case of Moby Dick, clearly the challenge
different motivating tension. In a novel, the tension was of the first magnitude. It is a difficult, specu¬
lies between the materials of the story (the charac¬ lative, slow-moving, intellectual novel of which
Ray Bradbury (left) and John Huston. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
380 The American Neptune