Maritime Notes and News

Joanna Colcord Dies (1960)

Joanna Colcord Dies (1960)

Joanna Carver Colcord (March 18, 1882 – April 8, 1960) was pioneering social worker, and author. Born at sea, she was also notable for publishing texts on the language, work songs, and sea shanties of American seamen during the early 20th century. She is best known in the maritime music community for her 1924 book, Roll and Go: Songs of American Sailormen. Read the Wikipedia entry for Colcord here.

Inventor of the Naval Chronometer Born (1693)

Inventor of the Naval Chronometer Born (1693)

Born today, April 3, 1693, John Harrison, the cantankerous Yorkshireman who would go on to invent the naval chronometer and solve the mystery of calculating longitude at sea. Read the complete story on Atlas Obscura.

United States Congress authorizes privateers to attack British vessels (1776)

Because it lacked sufficient funds to build a strong navy, the Continental Congress gives privateers permission to attack any and all British ships on April 3, 1776. In a bill signed by John Hancock, its president, and dated April 3, 1776, the Continental Congress issued “INSTRUCTIONS to the COMMANDERS of Private Ships or vessels of War, which shall have Commissions of Letters of Marque and Reprisal, authorizing them to make Captures of British Vessels and Cargoes.” Read the full story on History.com.

American Naval Hero Killed in Duel (1820)

American Naval Hero Killed in Duel (1820)

U.S. Navy officer Stephen Decatur, hero of the Barbary Wars, is mortally wounded in a duel with disgraced Navy Commodore James Barron at Bladensburg, Maryland. Although once friends, Decatur sat on the court-martial that suspended Barron from the Navy for five years in 1808 and later opposed his reinstatement, leading to a fatal quarrel between the two men. Born in Maryland in 1779, Stephen Decatur was reared in the traditions of the sea and in 1798 joined the United States Navy as a midshipman aboard the new frigate, United States. That year, he saw action in the so-called quasi-war with France and in 1799 was commissioned a lieutenant. Five years later, during the Tripolitan War, he became the most lauded American naval hero since John Paul Jones. You can read the complete article here:  https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/naval-hero-killed-in-duel.

Mike Kennedy Remembrance

Mike Kennedy Remembrance

Southborough — 1:30pm to 2:20pm Sunday April 21 GB (group participation, beginner friendly)Mike (1946-2023), a longtime NEFFA workshop leader, was known for traditional sea songs, Cicely Fox Smith poems, and original compositions. We’ll lead songs from Mike’s 2023 CD, A Dog’s Life, and invite audience participation. Born in western New York, Mike grew up loving folk music, especially songs of the sea.  He spent four years in the US Navy and was fortunate enough to share song swaps with Canadian sailors when in port.  Mike wrote his first song inspired by the Ocean Ranger tragedy and more songs followed over the years.  Being a Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival volunteer for over three decades was his great love and honor.  It was Stan Hugill who first introduced Mike to C. Fox Smith and once he tracked down her poetry, turning her works into fine songs became a driving force in Mike’s songwriting. You can view Kennedy’s MMDI listing here.

French and British battle in the Indian Ocean

French and British battle in the Indian Ocean

The worldwide implications of the American War for Independence are made clear on February 17, 1782 as the American-allied French navy begins a 14-month-long series of five battles with the British navy in the Indian Ocean. Between February 17, 1782, and September 3, 1782, French Admiral Pierre Andre de Suffren de Saint-Tropez, otherwise known as Bailli de Suffren, and British Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, commander in chief in the East Indies, engaged in four major battles in the Indian Ocean region: the Battle of Sadras on February 17, the Battle of Providien on April 12, the Battle of Negapatam on July 6 and the Battle of Trincomalee on September 3. Read the complete article on History.com.

Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)

Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)

The Battle of Cape St. Vincent (14 February 1797) was one of the opening battles of the Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808), as part of the French Revolutionary Wars, where a British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeated a greatly superior Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba y Ramos near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St._Vincent_(1797)

Death of Sir Francis Drake (1596)

Death of Sir Francis Drake (1596)

He died on 28 Jan, 1596 (aged about 56) of dysentery, a common disease in the tropics at the time, while anchored off the coast of Portobelo, Panama, Before dying, he asked to be dressed in his full armor. He was buried at sea in a sealed lead-lined coffin, near Portobelo, a few miles off the coastline. It is supposed that his final resting place is near the wrecks of two British ships, the Elizabeth and the Delight, scuttled in Portobelo Bay. Divers continue to search for the coffin.. Drake’s body has never been recovered. Read the full article on History.com.

First European Explorer Reaches Brazil (1500)

First European Explorer Reaches Brazil (1500)

Spanish explorer Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who had commanded the Nina during Christopher Columbus’ first expedition to the New World, reaches the northeastern coast of Brazil during a voyage under his command. Pinzon’s journey produced the first recorded account of a European explorer sighting the Brazilian coast; though whether or not Brazil was previously known to Portuguese navigators is still in dispute. Pinzon subsequently sailed down the Brazilian coast to the equator, where he briefly explored the mouth of the Amazon River. In the same year, Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed Brazil for Portugal, arguing that the territory fell into the Portuguese sphere of exploration as defined by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. However, little was done to support the claim until the 1530s, when the first permanent European settlements in Brazil were established at Sao Vicente in Sao Paulo by Portuguese colonists. Read the full article on History.com.

Captain Cook Reaches Hawaii 18 Jan, 1778

Captain Cook Reaches Hawaii 18 Jan, 1778

On January 18, 1778, the English explorer Captain James Cook becomes the first European to travel to the Hawaiian Islands when he sails past the island of Oahu. Two days later, he landed at Waimea on the island of Kauai and named the island group the Sandwich Islands, in honor of John Montague, who was the earl of Sandwich and one his patrons. In 1768, Cook, a surveyor in the Royal Navy, was commissioned a lieutenant in command of the H.M.S. Endeavor and led an expedition that took scientists to Tahiti to chart the course of the planet Venus. In 1771, he returned to England, having explored the coast of New Zealand and Australia and circumnavigated the globe. Beginning in 1772, he commanded a major mission to the South Pacific and during the next three years explored the Antarctic region, charted the New Hebrides, and discovered New Caledonia. In 1776, he sailed from England again as commander of the H.M.S. Resolution and Discovery and in 1778 made his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands. Read the complete article on History.com.

Connecticut Sea Music Festival Announces 2024 Lineup

Connecticut Sea Music Festival Announces 2024 Lineup

13 Jan 2024 – Essex, CT The operators of the Connecticut Sea Music Festival announced the performers lineup for this year’s event that will be held on 7-10 June, 2024 at locations around the city. Bennett KonesniBob WrightCastlebayChris KoldeweyDaisy Nell & Capt. Stan CollinsonDanny O’FlahertyJackson GilmanJohn RobertsKeith Murphy Michael O’LearyNicole SingerThe Ranzo BoysSara Grey + Kieron MeansSeán DagherShip’s Company ChanteymenTom LewisThe Vox Hunters + Flannery Brown One can discover more information about this event on its website at http://www.ctseamusicfest.org.

Don Sineti Dies 1/5/2023

Don Sineti Dies 1/5/2023

Don Sineti , folksinger, songwriter, part-time sea chanteyman at historic Mystic Seaport Museum (with one of the most powerful voices on the Eastern Seaboard!), and long-neck, 5-string banjo picker, is also an award-winning marine mammal illustrator with a number of prestigious exhibitions and books to his credit. For over twenty years, he has combined his exhaustive knowledge of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) with his boundless energy, to deliver rousing renditions of songs from the days of wooden ships and iron men, alongside his own compositions dedicated to saving whales and the degraded marine environment. With a booming voice and a hearty laugh, he shares his music, his art, and his unrestrained love for the whale with audiences of all ages. Don Sineti passed away on 5 Jan 2023 after an extended illness.  Memories of his larger-than-life presence is being honored by the entire maritime music community.  His Hartford Courant obituary can be read here.

Herman Melville sails for the South Seas (3 Jan, 1841)

Herman Melville sails for the South Seas (3 Jan, 1841)

On January 3, 1841, Herman Melville ships out on the whaler Acushnet to the South Seas. Melville was born in New York City in 1819. A childhood bout of scarlet fever permanently weakened his eyesight. He went to sea at age 19, as a cabin boy on a ship bound for Liverpool. Two years later, he sailed for the South Seas. The Acushnet anchored in Polynesia, where Melville took part in a mutiny. He was thrown in jail in Tahiti, escaped, and wandered around the South Sea islands for two years. In 1846, he published his first novel, Typee, based on his Polynesian adventures. His second book, Omoo (1847), also dealt with the region. The two novels were popular successes, although his third, Mardi Moby-Dick. The book flopped and was not recognized as a classic for many years. Read the complete article on History.com.

USS Constitution defeats HMS Java (29 Dec 1812)

USS Constitution defeats HMS Java (29 Dec 1812)

On This Day – December 29, 1812 – USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) was sailing in the Atlantic just off the coast of Brazil. In the morning sails were sighted on the horizon, and Constitution’s new captain, William Bainbridge, altered course to investigate. The ship proved to be HMS Java, a frigate similar to Guerriere which was recently defeated by the Consitution. Both frigates stood for each other and cleared their decks for action and maneuvered for advantage, and the following Minutes Were Taken during the Action: “At 2.10. P.M, Commenced The Action within good grape and Canister distance. The enemy to windward (but much farther than I wished).” Read a compressive report of this naval engagement on the Naval History and Heritage Command website.

Charles Darwin sets sail from England (27 Dec 1831)

Charles Darwin sets sail from England (27 Dec 1831)

British naturalist Charles Darwin sets out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle on a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Visiting such diverse places as the Galapagos Islands and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate knowledge of the flora, fauna, and geology of many lands. This information proved invaluable in the development of his theory of evolution, first put forth in his groundbreaking scientific work of 1859, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.  Read the complete article in History.com.

Roald Amundsen becomes first explorer to reach the South Pole

Roald Amundsen becomes first explorer to reach the South Pole

On December 14, 1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole, beating his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott. Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, was one of the great figures in polar exploration. In 1897, he was first mate on a Belgian expedition that was the first ever to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903, he guided the 47-ton sloop Gjöa through the Northwest Passage and around the Canadian coast, the first navigator to accomplish the treacherous journey. Amundsen planned to be the first man to the North Pole, and he was about to embark in 1909 when he learned that the American Robert Peary had achieved the feat. Read the complete article on History.com.

The Mary Celeste is spotted at sea (5 Dec 1872)

The Mary Celeste is spotted at sea (5 Dec 1872)

The Mary Celeste, a ship whose crew mysteriously disappeared, is spotted at sea. The Dei Gratia, a small British brig under Captain David Morehouse, spots the Mary Celeste, an American vessel, sailing erratically but at full sail near the Azores Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was seaworthy, its stores and supplies were untouched, but not a soul was onboard. Read the full article on History.com.

Ferdinand Magellan Reaches the Pacific (28 Nov 1520)

After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic. On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August. Read the complete article in History.com.

Blackbeard Killed off North Carolina (22 Nov 1718)

Blackbeard Killed off North Carolina (22 Nov 1718)

Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, is killed on November 22, 1718, off North Carolina’s Outer Banks during a bloody battle with a British navy force sent from Virginia. Believed to be a native of England, Edward Teach likely began his pirating career in 1713, when he became a crewman aboard a Caribbean sloop commanded by pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1717, after Hornigold accepted an offer of general amnesty by the British crown and retired as a pirate, Teach took over a captured 26-gun French merchantman, increased its armament to 40 guns, and renamed it the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Read the rest of this exciting tale in History.com. There are no historic sea shanties written by pirates, though there is one ballad attributed to Captain Henry Every/Avery. The “Golden Age of Piracy” was from approximately 1650 – 1730, and sea shanties, as music scholars identify them, were a product of the commercial shipping trade that flourished around 1830 – 1860. Here is an excellent Library of Congress article on the subject by Stephen Winick. One might also hunt up a copy of “The Book of Pirate Songs” by Stuart M. Frank (ISBN 0-937854-05-0).

Whaleship Essex Sunk by Sperm Whale (20 Nov 1820)

Whaleship Essex Sunk by Sperm Whale (20 Nov 1820)

The American whaler Essex, which hailed from Nantucket, Massachusetts, is attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America. The 238-ton Essex was in pursuit of sperm whales, specifically the precious oil and bone that could be derived from them, when an enraged bull whale rammed the ship twice and capsized the vessel. The 20 crew members escaped in three open boats, but only five of the men survived the harrowing 83-day journey to the coastal waters of South America, where they were picked up by other ships. Most of the crew resorted to cannibalism during the long journey, and at one point men on one of the long boats drew straws to determine which of the men would be shot in order to provide sustenance for the others. Three other men who had been left on a desolate Pacific island were saved later. The first capture of a sperm whale by an American vessel was in 1711, marking the birth of an important American industry that commanded a fleet of more than 700 ships by the mid 18th century. Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick (1851) was inspired in part by the story of the Essex. Read the complete article in History.com. Here is another article on the subject.