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Italian Air Marshal Italo Balbo in
Chris Craft Runabout, ca 1933
Unusual historical figures do have a strange way of cropping up in the Library’s collection of Chris Craft-related material. This month’s featured item depicts Italo Balbo (1869-1940), the head of Fascist Italy’s Regia Aeronautica about to enjoy a nice cruise in a Chris Craft runabout. While the other subjects in the photograph remain unidentified, Balbo can be picked out by his mighty goatee and aviator’s get-up. Balbo, one of Mussolini’s most loyal thugs during his rise to power in Italy, eventually came to rival Il Duce in power and influence. Some have said that Balbo’s fatal crash landing in 1940 occurred at Mussolini’s behest.
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Comedians in Chris Craft Runabout, ca 1930
Uncataloged Chris Craft Material, MS5
The Chris Craft Collection (MS5) features some pretty well-known faces, circa 1930. The man with the smile and upraised hand is old Vaudevillian comedian Ted Healy, who ran a comedy troupe in the late 1920s and 30s. That handsome man seated next to him is none other than Shemp Howard, one of the Three Stooges. The men in the back of the boat are representatives of Chris Craft operations in New York City at the time.
Shemp apparently had a phobia about being on the water, which may account for his sourpuss expression. Or perhaps he’s just concentrating on his plan to throw a pie at Moe.
The Chris Craft Archives were donated to The Mariners' Museum Library in 1986, and feature a treasure trove of boat plans, hull cards, photographs and advertising literature.
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 Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic: The Ocean’s Greatest Disaster
Marshall Everett, ed.
G530 .T6W74 1912
When word broke out that the mighty White Star liner Titanic had been sunk with great loss of life after an encounter with an iceberg, a cottage industry sprung to life. People love to read the details of tales of tragedy and heroism and, most importantly, death and destruction. The story of the Titanic incorporated all of those elements in large portions and this month’s featured item is proof of that.
Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic is not the most scholarly work ever produced about the demise of the most famous passenger liner of her day. It was quickly cobbled together and churned out to an eager public within months or weeks of the tragedy. But that makes it all the more interesting. It seethes with an urgency that is not captured by the more dignified, slower-paced works on this always-popular topic produced in the last few decades. When Marshall Everett put out Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic, there were still many facts yet to be uncovered about the sinking. What this work lacks in specifics and veracity, it makes up for with melodrama and lurid illustrations.
This work is an interesting look not just at the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic, but of how the press responded to the public’s seemingly endless appetite for such stories.
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 Elwin M. Eldredge Collection
Steamship Notebooks
MS91
One of the treasures of the Library is a collection of material compiled by maritime historian (and noted packrat) Elwin Eldredge. Among other things collected by Mr. Eldredge are a series of wonderful notebooks that contain any and all information he was able to dig up on a given steamship or steamboat. Eldredge recorded when and where a vessel was built, who owned it, where it sailed and occasionally, even things such as who installed the engines.
While this material is no longer stored in Mr. Eldredge’s original spring-bound notebooks, it is all still arranged alphabetically by the vessels names, making it an easily accessible resource in the Library’s stellar collection on the history of steamships and steamboats. Because Eldredge’s interest spanned the entire era of American steamboating, the notebooks include the earliest steam-powered vessels from the early 19th century up until he stopped actively maintaining them in the late 1950s.
The notebooks contain valuable insight into the ships, boats and companies that plied the waters, and along with Eldredge’s excellent collections of photographs and ephemera items, have helped historians, genealogists and economists interpret this fascinating era of American history.
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 Bill of Lading for the Sloop Hannah
CSa 263
A bill of lading was a document recording that a captain of a ship had taken aboard a merchant’s goods to transport to another market. This item is one of many bills of lading in the Library’s collection, and it records that in May, 1790, Captain Frederick Vernon of the sloop Hannah has loaded on merchandise for Philadelphia merchant Alexander Clow. The handwritten list of goods taken on include two hogsheads of wine, ten quarter casks also filled with wine, ten boxes of “lemmons”, three hogsheads of rum and one bale of cloth.
That’s 189 gallons of rum; looks like someone was planning quite a party!
Documents such as these are fascinating little slices of maritime and economic history, giving modern readers a look at business transactions, early 19th century legalese, trends in the shipping business and a feel for the importance of the carrying trade. Should this shipment of alcohol and lemons not make it safely to Alexandria, Virginia, odds are Mr. John McEven (the receiver listed on the bill) would be very disappointed.
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 Theodore Roosevelt in a Panama
Steam Shovel
Underwood & Underwood Studio
PP231 c138
Teddy Roosevelt was a man of almost endless energy and was blessed with an insatiable curiosity. This photograph from the Library’s collection gives proof to this. Here we see Roosevelt, seemingly out of place in his pristine white linen suit, seated near the controls of a steam shovel working on digging the Panama Canal. Roosevelt was a tireless promoter of this project, and his visit to the Canal Zone in 1906, marked the first time a sitting president left the United States.
The Library acquired this photo in 1943.
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 Oyster Dredgers at Choptank
A.Aubrey Bodine, photographer
Toned Gelatin-Silver Print
Bronze Door Purchase
P5334
"If I were asked to select the most interesting and scenic county on the Eastern Shore, I would without hesitation, pick Dorchester. One of the most picturesque spots in the county is Hooper Island, a crabbing and fishing center. Ask a waterman how thing are going and he will usually reply, ‘had a slim day’. But I have noticed that watermen who regularly work can make a comfortable living. And above all they are supremely independent, and I cannot help but envy this independence and their way of life"
- Aubrey Bodine, The Face of Maryland
Choptank Oyster Dredgers, one of Aubrey’s best known photographs of the Bay. This picture would be seen in seventy-four exhibitions and earn fifteen awards, including first place and a $5,000 savings bond in a national competition that drew more than 50,000 entries.
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 Mussucks, (Air Blown Skin Boats),
The River
Beas Below Bajoura, ca 1865
Samuel Bourne, photographer
Albumen print
Museum Purchase
PJ532
"A river flows past Ahmadábád on the north-west, and during the rainy season which last in India three or four months, it becomes very wide and rapid, and does great injury every year. One must wait six weeks to two months before it possible to ford it where there is no bridge. These are two or three boats, but one cannot make use of them, save when the water ceases to be so rapid. The peasants do not stand on ceremony, and in order to go from one bank to another only make use of the skin of a goat, which they fill and tie on between the chest and abdomen."
- Jean Baptiste Tavernier, 1676
Samuel Bourne (1834-1912) was a well known British photographer who recorded all aspects of 19th century British-controlled India with his partner Charles Shepherd. Throughout the 1860s, Bourne and Shepherd operated out of Calcutta, and ran a studio that still exists today.
Bourne’s darkroom for sensitizing and developing the wet plate negatives can be seen under the tree in the left hand corner of this photograph. Once sensitized, the glass negative was exposed in the camera before it began to set and dry. If the plate dried before development, it would be useless. After exposure in the camera, the glass negative needed to be developed on sight making the portable darkroom tent a necessity.
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 The Steerage, 1907
Alfred Stieglitz
Photogravure
Purchased by the Bronze Door Society
PP2630
"The scene fascinated me: A round straw hat; the funnel leaning left, the stairway leaning right; the white drawbridge, its railings made of chain; white suspenders crossed on the back of a man below; circular iron machinery; a mast that cut into the sky, completing a triangle. I stood spellbound for a while. I saw shapes related to one another - a picture of shapes, and underlying it, a new vision that held me: simple people; the feeling of ship, ocean, sky; a sense of release that I was away from the mob called rich."
- Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946)
Alfred Stieglitz was a major force in the promotion and elevation of photography as a fine art in America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Steerage is considered Stieglitz's signature work, and was proclaimed by the artist and illustrated in histories of the medium as his first "modernist" photograph.
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John L. Worden Papers
(MS016)
John Lorimer Worden (1881-1897) is best known as the commanding officer in charge of the USS Monitor during its fateful battle against the CSS Virginia in March of 1862. But Worden’s career was more than simply the command of a single famous ironclad in the Civil War; he rose to the rank of rear admiral and commanded the US Navy’s European Squadron for several years.
The Library’s collection of the John L. Worden Papers (MS016) records much of Worden’s life during and after the Civil War. Correspondence, photographs and a number of invitations to fancy soirees indicate that Worden spent his time as a rear admiral living the life of a celebrity, being feted by everyone from King Dom Fernando of Portugal to Queen Victoria herself. Assorted dukes, admirals and important businessmen also did their best to have Rear Admiral Worden seated at their tables as well.
The papers are an important and interesting look at 19th century handwriting and gentlemanly correspondence, the post-Civil War navy and include a fascinating series of photos of men involved in building and crewing the USS Monitor. A finding aid for the John L. Worden Papers is available online at the Library’s Special Collections page.
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 Minutes of Proceedings of the Court of Enquiry into the Official Conduct of Capt. Isaac Hull, as Commandant of the United States Navy Yard at Charlestown, in the State of Massachusetts, Convened at the Navy Yard in said Charlestown, on the 12th Day of August, A.D. 1822
United States Navy Official Record
E353.1 .H8H9 rare
Isaac Hull (1773-1843) was one of America’s first naval heroes during the War of 1812. An able and daring officer, Hull spent his first years in the United States Navy battling pirates on the Barbary Coast in North Africa. But his big break came in 1810, when he was made commander of the famous American frigate Constitution. He and “Old Ironsides” scored a major victory against the British frigate Guerriere in a battle that made Hull renown on both sides of the Atlantic. After the war, Hull spent some time as a bureaucrat in Washington DC until receiving the command of the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston.
It is here that Hull's story takes a dramatic turn, as if a dashing young war hero needed one. Other Navy officers, jealous of Hull's success and finding him to be unwelcome competition in the always tight Old Navy pecking order. One officer in particular, William Bainbridge (an officer who held the unenviable record for number of times he surrendered his ship to the enemy), began to spread rumors that Hull was mismanaging funds at the Navy Yard. Accusations like that used to be taken very seriously, and a board of inquiry was formed to look into these accusations. The whole affair eventually turned into a political hot potato, as Federalist and Republican politicians joined in the fight.
The board cleared Hull of any wrong doing, and found that he was as able, efficient and honest as originally thought. To further remove any tarnish from his reputation, the Navy Department had Minutes of Proceedings of the Court of Enquiry into the Official Conduct of Capt. Isaac Hull, as Commandant of the United States Navy Yard at Charlestown, in the State of Massachusetts, Convened at the Navy Yard in said Charlestown, on the 12th Day of August, A.D. 1822 printed up as an official record of the trial. When one cuts through the sometimes Byzantine 19th century legalese, the Minutes of Proceedings makes for some very interesting reading into the career of Captain Hull, as well as the sometimes petty political machinations inherent in a sometimes cutthroat institution like the United States Navy.
The Library purchased its copy of this work in 1948.
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The Storm: Or, A Collection of the Most Remarkable Casualties and Disasters
which Happen'd in the Late Dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and Land
Daniel Defoe
G525 .D32 rare
 Breaking news in 18th England did not travel as fast as the average 21st century citizen is accustomed to, what with 24 hour news coverage on television and the internet. But leave it to intrepid man of action Daniel Defoe (c.1661-1731) to cover one of England's greatest natural disasters, which occurred in 1703. In August of that year, a "dreadful tempest" struck southern England, ravaging towns in Kent and Suffolk before heading towards a completely unprepared London. The devastation was staggering; some reports put the number of fatalities around 30,000.
In 1704, Defoe released The Storm: Or, A Collection of the Most Remarkable Casualties and Disasters which Happen'd in the Late Dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and Land, a collection of interviews from survivors, which presented numerous views of the destruction, often in typically lurid 18th century fashion. The book contains "scientific" explanations of where hurricanes and storms come from, along with a healthy dose of fire and brimstone, of course. The Storm was Defoe’s first published book and turned out to be quite a popular seller with England’s literate elite.
The Library purchased an original copy in 1947.
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Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil 
Captain Richard Burton
F2508 .B95
Explorer, soldier and spy Richard Burton (1821-1890) was the living embodiment of the old Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.” The Victorian era spawned many would-be gentlemen/scholars who braved tropical rivers and seemingly endless deserts in search of fame, fortune and the inevitable bragging rights at posh society clubs back in England. Burton is undoubtedly the best remembered. He had an amazing ability to learn new languages (he claimed to be fluent in twenty-nine), a knack for getting into and out of trouble (when set upon by unfriendly Somalis in 1855, he escaped with at least eleven wounds and a long scar on his face) and an undying wanderlust worthy of Marco Polo.
After spending time as a soldier and spy in Central Asia, Burton joined the Royal Geographical Society where he honed his skills as an explorer. On behalf of the Society, he trekked through North Africa and Arabia, (even entering the holy city of Mecca) and then later through Central Africa in a controversial search for the source of the River Nile. In 1865, he was appointed a British consul to Brazil. His travels through the country form the basis for this book.
In Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil , Burton discusses the various gold and diamond mining operations he runs across, and gives an unabashedly patrician, 19 th century run-down of slavery in Brazil. While the importation of slaves to Brazil had ended by the time of Burton's writing (1868), slavery itself would not be abolished there for another twenty years. The ever-intrepid Burton considered himself something of an anthropologist. While some may question his credentials and/or methods, Burton's eye for detail and insatiable curiosity do much to make Explorations an interesting ethnographic study on 19 th century Brazil. He also devotes a few pages to an entertaining explanation of the multiple local varieties of Brazilian alcohol.
This book was published in 1869, and was purchased by the Library in 1939.
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Inventory of the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library,
compiled by Geraldine N. Phillips and Rebecca Livingston, 2005.
REF CD3026. A3 No. 18
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has published an excellent guide describing the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, which is also known as Record Group (RG) 45. This guide covers material from the Revolutionary War to World War II, over 3000 cubic feet of printed material at NARA and points to a wealth of information for any researcher of naval history or of an ancestor’s naval military records.
The publication begins with a brief history of the formation of the Office of Naval Records and Library followed by lists of Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Under Secretaries of the Navy and Assistant Secretaries of the Navy (Air). The majority of the guide consists of detailed paragraphs describing the types of material and arrangement of collections organized by six major sections. These sections include:
• Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, 1798 - 1921
• Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 1887 - 1945
• Records of Boards and Commissions, 1812 – 1890
• Records of Bureaus, 1823 – 1933
• Records of Shore Establishments, 1814 – 1919
• Records Created and Organized by the Office of the Naval Records and Library
The types of material in these sections includes correspondence, directives, muster rolls, payrolls, officer rolls, financial records, personnel records, legal records, ship movements, logs, journals and diaries and reports.
There is a comprehensive index including officer’s names and naval vessel names. In addition, there are fifteen appendices which act as partial indexes to the guide. These appendices are extremely useful for individuals searching for a list of muster rolls and payrolls by U.S. Navy vessel from 1798 – 1860, a list of muster rolls and payrolls by U.S. Shore Establishment from 1805 – 1869, a list of war diaries of vessels from 1917 – 1927, file designations used in the U.S. Navy and Confederate Navy subject files, a list of vessels for which there are logs and journals, a chronological list of logs and journals including abstracts, a list of naval officers’ personal letterbooks, and a list of muster rolls, payrolls and related records of Confederate Navy Vessels contained in this collection.
If you are searching for primary source material on the U.S. Navy or are hunting for military records of an officer or crew member who served in the U.S. Navy or Confederate Navy, visit the Library and view this important work on our reference shelves.
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Quicksee Distance Tables: Port to Port
Ernest Quick
VK563 .Q6 oversize
Are you a newly minted merchant mariner wondering how far it is to your next port of call? Or perhaps a worried shipper looking for a nearby harbor where you can unload your goods? Maybe you're simply a neurotic like me who enjoys geographical minutia. Whatever your reason, Quicksee Distance Tables makes for some interesting reading.
 Produced in the 1920s by Ernest Quick, the Quicksee Distance Tables were a companion volume to Quick's variety of pocket atlases and sea charts. Arranged geographically and alphabetically, the tables list the distance between port cities all around the globe. Should you ever need to know the distance between San Juan, Puerto Rico and New Orleans, Louisiana (1537 miles, by the way) all you need to do is flip to the chapter on North America and match up your two cities on the grid. Useful to mariner and landlubbers alike, Quicksee Distance Tables can provide valuable perspective on how large (or small, depending on your view) our world is.
The Library's copy of the tables, one of a handful known to exist in publicly accessible collections, shows obvious signs of more than the average amount of use. The book's spine is worn, the pages have seen their fair share of turning over the years, and numerous ports were circled and recircled by the previous owner(s). Now safely in the Library's care, the Quicksee Distance Tables can enlighten coming generations of researchers who will be able to safely gauge the distance of a sea voyage without the terror or apprehension that comes from sailing out of sight of land!
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Thelma and Leroy G. Quick Collection
(MS 370)
 Have you wondered what those World War II recruiting posters meant when they advertised "Enlist in the Coast Guard SPARs: Release a Man to Fight at Sea"? The SPARs were members of the U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve. The organization was established in November 1942 to fill shore jobs vacated by sailors serving at sea. SPARs performed an array of vital administrative work, in the areas of communications, pay and supply, and recruiting. These dedicated women also served as parachute riggers, air control-tower operators, and boatswains’ mates. Between 1942 and the 1946 demobilization, 10,000 women volunteered for service in the SPARs.
The Library at The Mariners' Museum is pleased to announce the recent donation of The Thelma and Leroy G. Quick Collection (MS370), which contains material compiled during Mrs. Quick’s service in the SPARs during 1944 and 1945. This collection features a variety of types of material including books, manuals, newspaper clippings, enlistment and discharge documents, ephemera, and photographs. It affords both personal and professional perspectives on service in the SPARs.
This collection is part of a larger donation given to The Mariners' Museum, which includes Mrs. Quick’s SPAR uniforms and effects, as well as Mr. Quick’s U.S. Coast Guard uniforms and effects.
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The Art of Swimming
The pleasures of swimming are taken for granted today, however, in the 17th century there was much to fear
and consider before plunging into the water on a hot summer’s day. Is it ok to swim daily or in the rain? The answer to both of these questions is no according to The Compleat Swimmer, or, The Art of Swimming by William Percey. Printed in 1658, The Compleat Swimmer offers guidance on self-preservation when manipulating the body through water. For example, information on whether it is safe to swim at night is given as follows:
. . .the Sun, the Author of heat, light, and life, is absent, and darkness is spread over us, and the author of death lurkes in deep waters: And in the night many deadly dangers occur, and that suddenly and unthought of; As boughs, stubbs, mudd, flaggs, weeds, quick-sands and infinite other dangers of present death: And if you do fall into danger, to whom can you call in the night for help? And besides these dangers the night it self may cause many more: As fumes and thick poisonous vapours arising from the water, hurtful and noisom vapours in the Air by reason of the absence of the Sun:
The Compleat Swimmer is thought to be an unacknowledged translation of Everard Digby’s De arte natandi libri duo. A Latin text produced in England in 1587, De arte natandi libri duo is regarded as the first instructional book printed on swimming. The English edition of Melchisedéc Thévenot’s The Art of Swimming: Illustrated with Proper Figures with Advice for Bathing published in 1699 is a more widely known translation of De arte natandi libri duo.
A comparison of Percey’s book with Thévenot’s reveals identical directives including how to tread water, leap like a goat, swim like a dog and pretend to put one’s boots on in the water. The latter action helps swimmers to remain inflated while simultaneously cleaning their feet of mud. Thévenot’s text was issued with 39 engravings that depict lone swimmers in various positions. The Compleat Swimmer contains one illustration, the image presented here. Percey’s The Compleat Swimmer GV837 .P42 and Thévenot’s The Art of Swimming GV837 .T41 are both available for study within the Library.
John L. Hacker Collection
MS310
John Ludwig Hacker (1877-1961) made a name for himself designing some of the fastest and best looking race boats, runabouts and pleasure cruisers afloat during a career that lasted more than fifty years. A largely self-educated naval architect, Hacker's beautiful, artistic designs are still sought after by boat enthusiasts. By creating new, revolutionary boat bottoms, Hacker also established himself as quite an innovative thinker, as well.
John Hacker's family donated the material that comprises the Hacker Collection in several shipments during the mid-1980s. Included are hundreds of photographs of Hacker's boats, sales literature from Hacker's various business ventures and over three hundred and fifty plans for all manner of Hacker-designed watercraft. Numerous period newspaper clippings flesh out Hacker's career and provide evidence of his race boats' many victories over the years.
Researchers interested in the evolution of boat designs, in specific Hacker models or in the history of boat racing, will no doubt find the recently processed John L. Hacker Collection (MS310) a gold mine. A look at the collection finding aid will provide Hacker fans with an understanding of what this incredible collection contains.
Der Norddeutsche
Lloyd. Illustrationsband: 50 Jahre der Entwickelung,
1857-1907.
Paul Neubaur
HE945.N8 N5 Oversize 1907
With Bremen being the busiest port transporting
immigrants from Europe to America between
1850 and 1920, there is a continuing demand
for images of vessels whose port of departure
was Bremen. This book contains about 60
images highlighting North German Lloyd steamships
from 1857 – 1907, individuals involved
with the company, and selected charts and
maps related to routes and immigrant statistics.
The steamship images include sepia, tinted
and color profiles of ships at sea, several
cut-away views showing the compartments
in the larger steamers, and views of elaborate
interiors, such as dining rooms, smoking
rooms, women’s salons, a children’s
room, and a library and writing salon. These
pictures of interiors capture the opulence
of the first class passenger experience.
However, since the majority of immigrants
traveled in steerage or third class, there
is also an image of an early 19th century
sailing vessel surrounded by views of passengers
in steerage accommodations.
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Graphs and charts provide profile comparisons
of various early North German Lloyd steamships,
transatlantic steamships and coastal steamers.
Of particular interest are several diagrams
showing small profiles of the ships owned
by North German Lloyd, comparing the gradual
increase in length, number of masts and
overall size. There are also several maps
of North German Lloyd routes. Reproductions
of images from this work are available from
the Museum and were featured in a recent
genealogy workshop. If you would like to
order images, contact
us and identify the name of the
North German Lloyd steamship, the date of
the voyage and we will assist you with identifying
the image desired. For more information
on steamships, you may want to conduct research
in the Library using our Steamship Ephemera
Collection (MS15) and our extensive collection
of books on international steamship lines.
The Great Sea-Serpent: An Historical and
Critical Treatise
by A.C. Oudemans, 1892
QL89.O92
If you consider yourself a member of the
statistically significant number of “true
believers” out there, then perhaps
this is the book for you. In it, Dr. Oudemans
outlines some one hundred and fifty cases
of reported sea serpent sightings, dating
as far back as the 16th century. Several
chapters are devoted to debunking various
reports, as well as chastising skeptical
or wary scientists who do not share Oudemans’
conviction that sea serpents may swim among
us.
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The book concludes with Oudemans culling
the vastly divergent descriptions over the
proceeding centuries and developing an image
of what Oudemans believes is the only possible
explanation: a previously unknown monstrous
super sea lion he dubbed Megophias megophias.
Oudemans expends much energy (and a number
of pages) to fleshing out his megophias
and its way of life. To his credit, the
author does allow for other explanations
(a train of dolphins, living dinosaurs,
etc.) to be explored, but readers may get
the impression that Oudemans is doing his
best to suppress a fit of derisive laughter.
Because of his seemingly pseudo-scientific
conclusions and his outright disdain for
non-believers, Oudemans, director of the
Dutch Royal Zoological Gardens at the Hague
for ten years (1885-1895), and his book
were not well received by the scientific
community. His last hurrah came in the 1930s,
when he tried again to convince a skeptical
public that his megophias was alive
and well. In Loch Ness.
Register of approved
shipmasters and officers of merchant vessels
holding commissions from the American Shipmasters'
Association, 1866
(Rare HE564.A3 A5)
If you are conducting genealogy
research or hunting for relatives who were
American shipmasters in the mid 19th century,
you may want to consult this pocket sized
publication. There are 4,400 individuals
in the list covering the period 1862 through
December 31, 1865. The register contains
an alphabetic list of shipmasters and mates,
including surname, first name and middle
initial, the commission number, year of
commission, and vessel name. There is also
a numerical list of masters and officers
approved for the merchant service, including
the commission number, the officer’s
role (captain or mate), and the individual’s
full name.
There is also a brief description of the
“Course of Examination” for
all applicants for commissions, which highlights
the basic knowledge needed to become a Mate,
Master or an Extra Master approved by the
Association. There is a reminder at the
back of the book for shipmasters “to
make a report to the Secretary [of the Association]
of any disaster, occurring under their command,
as soon as practicable thereafter, either
personally or by mail”.
The American Shipmasters’ Association,
which was chartered in 1862, published this
book in 1866. They also produced the Record
of American and Foreign Shipping from
1869-1898, which was later published by
the American Bureau of shipping and in 1933
became known as the Record of the American
Bureau of Shipping. These important
reference works provide descriptive information
about vessels, insurance ratings and also
list the master of each vessel, when the
master’s name is known. Unfortunately
you must know the name of the vessel to
locate a master’s name. For this reason,
the Register of Approved Shipmasters….
is an extremely useful book for its time
period. The Library’s copy is one
of four copies known to exist in North America.
Cigarette Card Collection (MS 204)
If you are interested in maritime history
and popular culture, don’t miss the
Cigarette Card Collection (MS 204).
This unusual collection includes cigarette
cards, made to protect cigarettes by stiffening
the pack and to develop continuing customer
interest, along with trade cards issued
with bubble gum, tea, ice cream and bakery
products. The cards are made of cardboard
and usually have a colored illustration
on one side and facts about the image on
the back. Trade cards were first produced
in the mid-1800s and remained popular through
the middle of the twentieth century.
The Library’s trade cards depict
maritime themes: historic boats and ships;
naval and merchant vessels; the American,
British and German navies; and pirates who
were active from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Cigarette cards were often numbered and
issued in a named series, such as “Life
in the Royal Navy,” “Famous
Ships,” and “Pirates & Highway
Men.” Books were produced to house
the cards; some merely have slots in the
pages to hold the cards, while others provide
additional text and images.
The Cigarette Card Collection
contains collectors’ books and sets
of individual cards, that range in size
from 1.25 x 2.5 inches to 4 x 3 inches.
The bulk of the collection is comprised
of trade cards from the 1920s and 1930s,
with representation from the 1800s to 1962.
Notable cigarette cards include two sets,
published in German and issued during the
1930s. One set shows steamships of the era
and the other provides scenes of German
naval life. Stop by the Library to examine
trade cards produced by Newport Products,
Kinney Tobacco Company, Players, Krug’s,
Wills, Bean Bubble Gum, Turkey Red Cigarettes
and get a feel for this fascinating collector’s
curiosity.
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