News From Fort Schuyler
February 11, 2001 - Volume 5, No. 05
COMINGS AND GOINGS - Two major personnel actions involving senior staff were
announced by ADM DAVID BROWN during the week. First was the appointment of
RICHARD S. SMITH, Class of 1981, to serve as Master of the EMPIRE STATE VI
for the 2001 Summer Sea Term. Admiral Brown wrote: "... Rick... the former
Chief Mate of EMPIRE STATE VI and Chair of the Marine Transportation
Department, is returning to Maritime following three years at sea sailing as
Master of ULCC and VLCC tankers for a major shipping company. He will resume
teaching duties in the MT Department and also serve as coach of the varsity
crew team, a position he had previously filled with distinction, leading the
Privateer oarsmen to national championships."
Second was the news that the Commandant of Cadets, CAPT ROBERT WEAVER,
Class of 1969, is leaving. According to Admiral Brown "...he has accepted an
offer of employment in Washington, DC, beginning April 1. The position is in
his former (Coast Guard) professional specialty, with significant
responsibilities and excellent promotion potential. While we are
disappointed that Bob will be leaving us, this represents a major career
opportunity for him and we wish him well." Noting his intention to fill Bob'
s position through a national search, Admiral Brown wrote that he "will
appoint a search committee in the next two weeks and will name an acting
commandant prior to Bob's departure."
UNION MADE - According to MIKE SHOEMAKER, Master of the SEALAND FLORIDA, a
Fort Schuyler graduate, "BOB GROH, Class of 1969, has been elected as Vice
President of Master Mates and Pilots. He left his position as Master of the
SEALAND FLORIDA to take on the job of union official."
NO BATTERIES NEEDED - The Class of 1949 will be holding its 52nd reunion
from April 25 - 29 in San Diego, California and "alumni from classes
immediately prior to and after the 49ers (particularly 47, 48, 50, and 52)
are cordially invited too participate." According to information posted on
the Alumni Association webpage, "Activities planned include tours of San
Diego Bay, visits to nuclear carriers, golf, a hosted barbeque at the
Coronado home of DON and BEA PENNIALL and lots of opportunity to swap sea
stories." Contact ED DANGLER edangle1@san.rr.com or check "Class News" at
www.fsmaa.org
WORKING VACATION - This information from Betty TISKA, regarding her son
CARL TISKA, Class of 1986: "A big affirmative to MIKE BURKE, Class of
1986 --- that WAS Carl that he spotted on the Discovery Channel last
September. Carl took a two-week leave from the Navy in 1999 to go with Barry
Clifford, who made the only documented discovery of a pirate ship, the
Whydah (http://whydah.com), off the coast of Cape Cod in 1982. The name of
Carl's marine expedition, filmed by the BBC, is called "The Lost Fleet" and
it is the documentary of a search near the island of Las Aves (one-hundred
miles off the coast of Venezuela) for a fleet of French warships that had
been dispatched in 1678 to capture the Dutch colony at Curacao under the
command of the French Vice-Admiral Jean D'Estrees. The ships had been
decoyed onto the island's reefs
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology/marine/fleet.shtml) by a
small fleet of three Dutch ships and were destroyed by the coral --- a cool
move by the underpowered Dutch. The film of their search will be shown on
BBC England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland tomorrow night (February 5, 2001);
I don't know when it will be repeated on the Discovery Channel in the US.
The Clifford expedition used Admiral D'Estrees' map, which was found to be
most accurate, but the team could locate only some of the metal artifacts
(cannons, lead shot and anchors) that have survived their underwater resting
place of more than three-hundred years."
TALES FROM THE SEVEN SEAS - That is the title of a new, glossy, color
brochure which is being distributed by the Maritime Industry Museum at Fort
Schuyler. One of the featured photographs is the TSES II model built by
BARRY MARSH, Class of 1986. There is also a nice pictures of the recently
dedicated Alumni Hall of Honor (the old First Class Lounge) and a great
aerial shot of the Fort taken from the Sound.
URBAN LEGEND ? According to an article in volume 26 of Voices: The Journal
of the New York Folklore Society (Fall-Winter 2000), there is a maritime
connection to the invention of chewing gum - if one stretches the point. "In
the 1860's General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was living in exile in
Sailors Snug Harbor on Staten Island, New York. Like many Mexicans, the
75-year-old general was fond of chicle. His farm on the Yucatan Peninsula
had vast stands of Sapodilla trees, from which the chicle sap oozed when the
bark was slashed. General Santa Anna wanted money to raise another army and
his scheme was to make rubber bicycle and carriage tires from the chicle."
In 1869 General Santa Anna invited NY-based inventor Thomas Adams to meet
with him at Snug Harbor. He struck a deal to sell Adams a ton of chicle,
which after trial and error, ended up as the first chewing gum, "Black
Jack," a brand that is still on the market today.
A Maritime College connection ? The Luce Library contains the archives
of the Sailors Snug Harbor (without the chicle.) In addition, a number of
our graduates have spent their retirement years at Snug Harbor. Most
prominent was FREDERICK S. McMURRAY, Class of 1896. The Superintendent of
the New York Nautical School/Training Ship NEWPORT from 1914 - 1917,
McMurray's fifty-three years at sea also included service as Master of the
Woods Hole oceanographic survey ketch R/V ATLANTIS from 1932 - 1942. In
1954, at the age of 76, he came out of retirement from Sailors Snug Harbor
to serve as Extra Master aboard Columbia University's R/V VEMA, assisting
noted oceanographer, Maurice "Doc" Ewing (founder of the Lamont Geology
Observatory) carry out his famous "core-a-day" quest for sediment samples
from beneath the ocean floor.
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