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diff --git a/electra-background.txt b/electra-background.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7201c95 --- /dev/null +++ b/electra-background.txt @@ -0,0 +1,478 @@ +# Training In Sailing Vessels Carries On + +By Commander Francis E. Clark, U. S. Navy +[View +Issue](https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1955/october){.btn + +Training in seamanship under sail for young men is not dead, but is +still very much alive! We are aware that the age of nuclear power has +arrived and may, in the not too distant future, replace steam, but how +many realize that sailing vessels, even in our own country, provide +basic training which certain people believe cannot be adequately +duplicated in full-powered ships? + +It has been over forty years since the U. S. Navy has provided formal +training in square-rigged sailing vessels for midshipmen and recruit +seamen, and there are probably very few, if any, officers on active duty +today whose personal memories include going aloft and laying out on a +yardarm. We, in the Navy, have lost direct contact with the "old" days +of sail for so long that it may be somewhat of a surprise that sail +training is still firmly believed in and *supported* by many of the +maritime nations of the world. USCGC *Eagle* (fully pictured in the +[October, 1954, +*Proceedings*](https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1954/october/eagle-spreads-her-wings-pictorial)) +is not by any means an isolated example; in this year of our Lord 1955, +there are at least *fifteen* square-riggers engaged in training, all +operational and seagoing. There are a dozen or so more whose present +status is not known, mainly because they belong to countries behind the +Iron Curtain, but which are possibly operational. By "square-riggers" is +meant vessels rigged as ships, barks, and barkentines; in addition there +are a number of small sail-craft in service, topsail schooners, ketches, +and so on. Most, of course, have auxiliary power. + +Although World War II appreciably reduced the number of these craft, the +survivors are not merely dying relics of a past era. Interest in this +type of training is continuing and is reflected by the number of sailing +vessels which were refitted after wartime damage and by new +construction. Since World War II, at least five (and possibly quite a +few more) *new* sail training vessels have been completed---several +barkentines and schooners, and one brigantine. Furthermore, most of the +older ones are receiving excellent material upkeep, including extensive +refits when necessary. + +This writer does not intend to enter the controversy as to whether sail +training (as opposed to training on a vessel with only mechanical means +of propulsion) is necessary or desirable. Suffice it to say that +numerous persons in positions of responsibility and authority do believe +in sail training. The subject has been well aired by many writers and by +men of experience for years. Some of the remarks concerning *Eagle* in +the [October, 1954, +*Proceedings*](https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1954/october/eagle-spreads-her-wings-pictorial) +contain the essential reasons in favor of sail training; another example +is an article in the [September, 1938, +*Proceedings*](https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1938/september/why-training-sail). +No advocate attempts to argue that sail training is required to teach +the midshipman or recruit professional subjects; in fact, it is admitted +that in many fields, engineering, for example, a "modern" training +vessel is preferable from a technical standpoint. The proponents of sail +training place their emphasis on the more intangible benefits of +character building induced by life under sail. These benefits are +considered so valuable that sail training is still supported, not only +by governments, but also by hard- headed businessmen. For example, +Norway today has three sail training vessels supported primarily, to the +best of my knowledge, by private funds (merchant shipowners, *etc*.); +yet the last commercial square- rigger under the Norwegian flag (the +bark *Peltr Ugland)* made its last voyage in 1929. Certainly these three +vessels are not maintained to teach young men the technical details of +handling a ship under sail. + +It may also be noted, as will be seen below, that facilities for sail +training are being increased in certain countries, although dying out in +others. Our own United States is one example; at least the U. S. Coast +Guard cadets are receiving more extensive sail training in the *Eagle* +than they did aboard the pre-World War II *Alexander Hamilton.* Brazil +now has two large sailers instead of one. Indonesia, a new nation, has +the newly constructed *Dewarutji.* And the USSR, instead of one large +sail training vessel, now has a sizable fleet! + +Before attempting to summarize recent and present sail training vessels, +mention should be made of the various types of training ships from the +standpoint of sponsorship, although the line of demarcation is not +always clear. First of all are those entirely government owned. Naval +training vessels are obviously in this category, used for the training +of midshipmen (or prospective officers by whatever term they are +designated), or enlisted personnel, or both. These functions are carried +out either in separate training vessels or sometimes together. *Eagle,* +for example, carries only cadets (prospective officers); the Portuguese +*Sagres* carries cadets, enlisted recruits, and also trainees of varying +grades preparing for advancement in rating, a program similar to our +class "B" schools. Most of the naval training vessels are associated +with a shore facility such as a naval academy. Second, there are +government training vessels primarily in connection with merchant marine +training, but some may also train naval cadets. These are similar to the +naval training ships and may or may not be associated with a shore +facility. Boys of different ages may be separately trained; for example, +the Danish *Georg Stage* trains younger boys on Baltic and North Sea +cruises, and many, although not all, then "graduate" to deep sea +training in the *Danmark.* The third type is primarily privately +sponsored, although there may be a government subsidy. These may be +operated by a large shipping company (primarily for its own benefit), by +an association of shipowners in a particular port, or by a "foundation," +usually endowed originally by a wealthy man with an interest in shipping +and in the training of young men. Some of these foundations may be +considered charities in that applicants are limited to certain income +brackets. In this article, I use the words "private" or "foundation" to +designate these types of sponsorship; merchant marine training will be +understood. + +Other forms of classification are whether the vessel is stationary or +operational, and whether the vessel does or does not carry cargoes as a +secondary mission. Obviously this latter class applies primarily to +those privately sponsored. The combined cargotraining scheme is favored +by large shipping companies, both to reduce the cost and to provide +training in cargo handling. + +Another form of training (merchant marine), which is outside the scope +of this article, is the employment of cadets or apprentices in regular +commercial vessels as a prerequisite to "sitting" for an officer's +license. This form of training is well known and many countries, at +least before World War II, required varying amounts of this +apprenticeship to be served in sail. Therefore, when sailing vessels +were becoming scarcer, many firms had vessels which were designated +"cadet ships" and carried in their crews a high percentage of "boys" who +required this experience and were willing to receive minimum wages, or +even *pay* a premium for the privilege of so serving. The British firm +of Devitt and Moore in pre-World War I days, the German nitrate carriers +belonging to Herr Laeisz, and many of Gustav Erikson's fleet (Finnish) +in the years between wars were especially notable in this regard but +cannot be further described here. However, for these, profitable +operation was essential to their existence, and training was necessarily +a subordinate function, but the distinction between "cadet ships" and +privately sponsored cargo-training vessels is often very slight. + +With this background, a summary of the sail training vessels of the +present and recent past is in order. I have grouped them roughly by +geographical area, for convenience; my information is obtained from +Jane's *Fighting Ships,* Lloyd's *Register,* and various books and +publications dealing with maritime history. Starting with our own +country, the U. S. Navy has had no formal sail training for many years; +USS *Hartford* in 1909 was the last sailing vessel to make a +midshipmen's practice cruise, and when the *Reina Mercedes* replaced the +USS *Hartford* as station ship in 1912, square rig disappeared forever +from the Naval Academy. (An excellent history of the Naval Academy +practice ships will be found in the May, 1934, Proceedings.) Since then +the only sail training, except for small boats, at the U. S. Naval +Academy has been on a voluntary extracurricular basis on board attached +yachts. Older officers will remember the *Argo* and *Robert Center;* +those more junior will be familiar with *Vamarie, Highland Light, +Freedom, Royono,* and the Luders yawls presently stationed at Annapolis. +Our Coast Guard, however, is still an adherent of sail training for its +prospective officers. In earlier days, the *Dobbin, Chase,* and *Itasca* +were successively the practice ships, and, until 1900, constituted the +whole Coast Guard Academy. In 1920 the gunboat *Vicksburg* (PG 11), an +auxiliary barkentine, was acquired from the Navy and renamed *Alexander +Hamilton,* and was based at New London until the late thirties. (There +were six gunboats in this 1895 class which included *Newport* (PG 12) +and *Annapolis* (PG 10), to be mentioned later.) During World War II, +the Danish *Danmark,* fortunately in this country when her homeland was +occupied, was volunteered by her master, and ship and crew served the +Coast Guard Academy throughout the war, making short cruises under sail +in Long Island Sound and nearby waters. Since then, the auxiliary bark +*Eagle* (the former German *Horst Wessel*) was acquired and needs no +further comment here. Another sailer in Coast Guard service from 1941 to +1947 was the three-masted schooner yacht *Atlantic,* which in 1905 won a +trans-Atlantic race with a passage of twelve days, four hours, from +Sandy Hook to the Lizard. + +The United States government has consistently supported \"merchant +marine training by the loan of suitable vessels from the Navy to the +various State Maritime Academies; the states of New York, Pennsylvania +and Massachusetts formerly had sail training vessels. The old sloop of +war *St. Marys* served New York until replaced by the *Newport* about +1907. *Newport* (which participated in the Naval Academy cruise of 1900) +was normally berthed at Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor (this was +prior to the acquisition of the Fort Schuyler site), and made her last +annual cruise in 1931 to Bremerton Navy Yard, where USS *Procyon* +(steam) replaced her. A sister ship, *Annapolis* (which participated in +the Naval Academy practice cruise of 1899), replaced *Saratoga* as the +Pennsylvania schoolship and served until shortly before World War II. +Massachusetts' first training ship was the USS *Enterprise,* loaned in +1892 and relieved in 1909 by the USS *Ranger* (PG 23), renamed the +*Nantucket* in 1918. *Ranger* was built in 1873-1876 at Wilmington, +Delaware, as an auxiliary bark, most of her naval career being on survey +and patrol duties in the Pacific. She was rerigged as a barkentine at +Mare Island in 1896-99, but the yards on her mainmast were replaced +during an extensive overhaul at Boston Navy Yard in 1932, and she +continued active until World War II threatened. All the other state +training vessels (including the present ones) were, and are, +full-powered. + +The U. S. government took a direct hand in merchant marine training in +World War II. *Nantucket,* briefly renamed *Bay State,* was transferred +to the newly founded U. S. Merchant Marine Academy at King's Point N. Y. +in 1942 and again renamed, this time being christened *Emery Rice.* +Operational until 1944, she is now designated as a museum ship. The +three-masted auxiliary schooner (yacht) *Verna* was also at King's Point +at one time, but is there no longer. For the wartime school at St. +Petersburg, Florida, the Maritime Commission obtained the ship +*Tusitala* (built 1883 at Greenock, Scotland, as the British merchantman +*Inveruglas,* later *Sierra Lucena, Sofie,* and *Tusitala)* as a +stationary training ship, and also the little full-rigged ship *Joseph +Conrad,* built in Denmark in 1882 as the *Georg Stage. Joseph Conrad* +was employed under sail out of St. Petersburg until 1945. She is still +afloat, although not operational, and is owned by the Marine Historical +Association, Inc., of Mystic, Connecticut. The *Conrad* is used by Sea +Scout groups. *Tusitala* was scrapped in 1948 at Mobile, Alabama. + +Among privately sponsored U. S. vessels, mention should be made of the +five-masted barkentine *Marsala,* operated in the 1930's by the American +Nautical Academy National Training School of Washington, D. C. Tabor +Academy, in Marion, Massachusetts, a boy's preparatory school and a +Navy- designated "honor" school, has had several yachts, usually named +*Tabor Boy.* The present one was built about 1915 in Amsterdam as "Pilot +Schooner No. 2" (there were twelve in all) and in use as such until +1926. Later she was renamed *Bestevaer* and used for training, at first +out of Rotterdam, and after 1943 by the German Navy in the Baltic. After +a brief sojourn in Soviet hands, *Bestevaer* was returned to the +Netherlands and in 1953 was purchased by Mr. R. C. Allen of Grand +Rapids, Michigan, and later presented to Tabor Academy, where she is now +in active service. Finally, in 1953 the Catholic Sea Cadets of America +acquired the four- masted schooner *Annie C. Ross* (built 1917). Renamed +Star of the Sea, she quietly sank to the bottom near Hempstead, New +York, on September 4, 1955. + +The other American republics can be covered more quickly, and most of +the Latin American training ships are under naval sponsorship. Well +known is the Brazilian Navy's *Almirante Saldanha,* an auxiliary +four-masted barkentine which has frequently visited the United States. +This is the second vessel of that name, the first being a full- rigged +ship, the former British merchantman *Dovenby Hall* (built 1885) which +served Brazil's merchant marine during the twenties. The current +*Almirante Saldanha* was launched at Barrow, England, December 19, 1933. +In 1948 Brazil received a second seagoing naval training ship, the +auxiliary bark *Guanabara,* built in 1937 as the German *Albert Leo +Schlageter,* and a sister ship to USCGC *Eagle.* I emphasize the word +*second* since *Almirante Saldanha* received a major refit at her +builder's yard in 1950. To further emphasize Brazil's current interest +in sail training, the small schooner *Albatros* (formerly *Wishbone)* +was acquired from England about 1950 and attached to the Naval College. +The Argentine Navy has long had the auxiliary ship *Presidente +Sarmiento,* built at Birkenhead in 1898, refitted in the same yard in +1925-26, and again refitted 1940-41. She has also served as the +presidential yacht. Chile's *General Baquedano* was similar but +bark-rigged. She was also built in England in 1898 and extensively +refitted in the twenties, but has not been sea-going since before World +War II, and is now a hulk, no longer listed in *Jane\'s.* However, in +1941, Chile acquired the four-masted bark *Priwall* from Germany, one of +the finest of the Laeisz "Flying P" nitrate carriers. *Priwall* was +commissioned in the Chilean Navy as *Lautaro*, later fitted with +auxiliary diesels, and made several combined cargo-training runs to +California ---a rare example of a *naval* cargo-carrying training +ship---until she was lost by fire off the coast of Peru in March, 1945. +The present Chilean training ship is the *Esmeralda,* newly constructed +at Cadiz, Spain, and launched as recently as May 12, 1953. An auxiliary +barkentine (See page 1186), she was originally intended for the Spanish +Navy and is reported to be similar to *Juan Sebastian de Elcano.* +However, she was never commissioned in the Spanish Navy but transferred +directly to Chile upon completion. To complete the Latin American +roster, Peru had the four-masted bark *Contramaestre Duenas* (ex-British +*Vortigern)* for a period subsequent to World War I. Uruguay formerly +had the seagoing schooner *Aspirante* and the stationary barkentine +*Diez y Ocho de Julio,* but both of these were scrapped in 1953. +Colombia has the ketch *La Atrevida,* and the Dominican Republic has +*Duarte,* listed in *Jane\'s.* + +The Pacific area can also be covered briefly. Australia and New Zealand +have not had underway sail training since World War I. Japan, however, +had a quartet of auxiliary four-masted sailing vessels for merchant +marine training, the barks *Taisei Maru* (1904), *Nippon Maru* (1930), +*Kaio Maru* (1930), and the barkentine *Shintoku Maru* (1924). The best +known was probably *Taisei Maru,* of the Tokyo Nautical College, which +several times visited the United States and once circumnavigated the +world. In 1929, for example, she commenced her fortieth training +voyage---to various Pacific Islands, Formosa, Hong Kong, and Manila, +returning to Tokyo in April, 1930. The sisters *Nippon Maru* and *Kaio +Maru* (as spelled by Lloyd's but also sometimes seen as *Kaiwo* or +*Kaimo Maru)* were built at Kobe and operated from Tokyo; the writer saw +them at Tsingtao in 1940. All three survived World War II, being +stripped of their sails and used as motor vessels; *Nippon Maru,* +however, was rerigged in 1952 and, again operational, visited Portland, +Oregon, in 1955. *Shintoku Maru* was formerly attached to the Kobe +Nautical College, but disappeared from Lloyd's *Register* in the +thirties. A newcomer in the Pacific is the Indonesian auxiliary +barkentine *Dewarutji,* launched at Hamburg on January 24,1953. Veteran +German school- ship personnel assisted the Indonesians with her trials, +shakedown, and delivery via Suez Canal. + +Europe has been, and is, the stronghold of sail training, However, +rather surprisingly, Great Britain is not the leading European country +in this regard. For the Royal Navy, the only recent name I know is the +yawl *Amaryllis,* formerly attached to the Royal Naval College at +Dartmouth. For the far- flung merchant marine on which Britannia +depends, I know of no large sea-going vessels since Devitt and Moore's +"cadet ships" were dispersed by World War I, except the round-the-world +cruise of *Joseph Conrad* in 1934---36. Although square-rig experience +was required until recently for certain licences, such as Thames River +Pilot, there was no vessel under the British flag where this experience +could be obtained after the *Walerwilch,* a small coastal barkentine, +was sold in 1939! However, the British government has in the past +supported the stationary training ships *Conway, Arelhusa,* and +*Worcester,* at least to the extent of providing aging men-of-war for +the purpose, although these schools are better described as "private" +rather than "government." The latest *Conway* was originally the +ship-of-the-line HMS *Nile,* laid down in 1827, but not initially +commissioned until 1852; moored in the Mersey as the third *Conway* +since about 1875, she was taken to Menai Strait for safety during World +War II. In 1953 while being towed through the Swillies en route to +Birkenhead for drydocking, the towline parted and she went aground, +breaking her back. The school will carry on ashore. *Worcester* was also +originally one of England's "wooden walls" but for many years was moored +near London as part of the Thames Nautical Training College. She was +joined in 1938 by the former British clipper ship *Cutty Sark.* The +"old" *Worcester* has now gone, but a new *Worcester* training hulk was +recently fabricated to replace her; *Cutty Sark* is being preserved as a +relic. The Shaftesbury Home and Arethusa Training Ship, near London, is +similar. The original *Arethusa,* an 1849 frigate reportedly the last +Royal Navy vessel to go into action under sail, was moored in the Medway +for sixty years until scrapped in 1933. Her replacement was the +four-masted bark *Peking,* another smart Laeisz "Flying P" vessel, which +is still afloat (now crossing yards only on the fore) and, of course, +renamed *Arethusa.* Operational British sail training vessels are all +small, privately sponsored, and largely former yachts. Between wars they +included the barkentines *St. George* and *Lady Quirk* and the schooners +*Maisie Graham* and *Exmouth II* and, since\' World War II, the +*Warspite, Moyanna,* and *Garibaldi.* A 1955 addition is the former +Danish three-masted schooner *Peder Most,* now being refitted and +renamed *Prince Louis II.* The Antarctic exploration bark *Discovery,* +used by Sea Scouts for many years, is still moored in the Thames. + +France is largely uninterested. *Jane\'s* lists several small training +vessels for the Navy, but the largest are the 227-ton sisters *L' +Etoile* and *LaBelle-Poule,* topsail schooners built at Fecamp in 1932. +For the merchant marine, the four-masted bark *Richelieu* (former German +*Pola*) was placed in service after World War I, but she sank after a +cargo explosion at Baltimore in 1926. Since then the bark *Charles +Danielou* was bought in 1930 but quickly faded from the scene. The +Netherlands are more interested. The Royal Netherlands Navy has the +small schooner *Urania,* commissioned in 1938, and *Hobein,* a +post-World War II acquisition (ex-German). For the merchant marine there +are the stationary school ships *Nederlander* at Rotterdam, and *Pollux* +(bark) at Amsterdam. *Bestevaer,* previously mentioned, was privately +sponsored prior to World War II. And Belgium has been a steady provider +of sail training for the merchant marine. In 1906 the ship *Comte de +Smet de Naeyer* (built 1877 as the British *Jeanie Landles,* but best +known as *Linlithgowshire)* was acquired and used as a stationary +training ship at Antwerp until she was scrapped in 1934. Seagoing +training was provided by the four-masted bark *L'Avenir,* built +specially in Germany in 1908. *L'Avenir's* primary mission was training, +but she also carried cargoes, her last one for the Belgians being +phosphate from Fernandina, Florida, in 1932. Both of these were replaced +by *Mercator; L'Avenir* was sold to Gustav Erikson of Finland and will +be mentioned again. *Mercator* is a three-masted auxiliary barken- tine, +built for Belgium at Leith, Scotland, in 1932, specifically for training +purposes. She cruises extensively in the Atlantic each year and at least +once in the Pacific. World War II found her en route from Rio to St. +Helena, but she made her way safely to Freetown. *Mercator* visited New +York in 1953, and Philadelphia and Boston in 1954. Under private +sponsorship was the ketch *Strombank,* in the thirties, at Zeebrugge. + +For a nation as devoted to sail training as Germany, it is unfortunate +that she has had such bad luck. Twice in this century she lost her best +training ships as "reparations." And she has had most of the tragedies +for this class of vessel: *Niobe* foundered, *Bohus* and *Pommern* were +lost in heavy weather, and *Admiral Karpfanger* went missing with all +hands. The republic of West Germany is still interested but presently +has no government sponsored deep-sea sail training vessel. *Deutschland* +is still afloat but laid up in poor condition; *Seute Deem* is now a +youth hostel ship in the Netherlands. One post-war attempt by private +capital ran into economic difficulties; the four-masted barks *Pamir* +and *Passat,* whose last grain voyages around Cape Horn were described +in the May, 1950, Proceedings, were acquired, fitted with auxiliary +power, and made two cargo-training voyages to Rio de Janeiro in 1952. +Both were then laid up, but 1955 reports are that *Pamir,* supported by +German shipowners, has resumed voyaging to South America and that +*Passat,* after overhaul, will soon join her. + +Soviet Russia, as previously mentioned, has shown a greatly increased +interest in sail training since World War II but not too many details +are available. I know of no large training vessels in the Baltic in +prewar years, but there were probably some smaller craft such as +schooners, *etc.-,* the barkentine *Vega* being one shadowy name. In the +Black Sea, however, there has usually been a larger vessel. Prior to the +Revolution, there was the *Grand Duchess Maria Nico- laevna* (ex-Devitt +and Moore "cadet ship" *Hesperus*), but she was never in Soviet hands. +However, in 1925 the U.S.S.R. acquired the former British four-masted +bark *Lauriston;* renamed *Tovarisch,* she made one or two deep-sea +voyages, sinking the Italian steamer *Alcantara* with heavy loss of +life, prior to proceeding to the Black Sea in 1928. The first +*Tovarisch* was sunk by German air action in 1944, but a second +Tovarisch (ex- German *Gorch Pock*) and the ex-Italian *Cristoforo +Colombo* (renamed ?), acquired as reparations, have replaced her. In the +Baltic, the Soviet Union reportedly now has the training ships given on +page 1147. + +Lastly, for the U.S.S.R., an auxiliary training barkentine named +*Sekstan* called at Singapore and Hong Kong in September, 1948, en route +to Vladivostok. + +Turning southward, we find Spain and Portugal both active in the sail +training field. The Portuguese Navy makes good use of the auxiliary bark +*Sagres* for many phases of training, cruising extensively. Built in +1896 as a German merchantman, she carried various names before being +purchased for naval use in 1924. Auxiliary power was fitted in 1931, but +is still little used at sea. *Sagres* will be remembered for her visits +to New York and various New England ports in 1948. There is also an old +frigate-type stationary schoolship in the Tagus named *Dom Fernando II E +Gloria.* The Spanish Navy's *Juan Sebastian de Elcano* is also well +known and has frequently visited the United States. Built in 1927-28, +she is usually called an auxiliary "barkentine," although her foremast +is not square-rigged in the traditional manner (this applies also to +some other "barkentines" so termed in this article), and some insist she +is a "topsail schooner." Her cruises are lengthy, usually in the North +and South Atlantic, but at least twice to the Pacific. For example, her +1953-54 cruise lasted 270 days, covered 21,800 miles, and included +visits to ports as distant as Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Savannah, and +Boston. As previously noted, a running mate for the *Elcano* was built +(tentatively named *Don Juan de Austria)* but was sold to Chile and is +now *Esmeralda.* This may have sparked more extensive use of the +auxiliary bark *Galatea,* built in 1896 and on the Spanish Navy list +since 1922, but long seen only in local waters; she is now in active +deep-sea service, visiting New York in December 1953. However, the small +schooners *Estella* and *Virgen de la Caridad* were "discarded" in 1953. + +Obviously, the status of sail training is quite healthy. And even where +World War II inflicted serious wounds, as it did to navies and merchant +marines throughout the world, sail training is showing a remarkable +recovery. Though commercial sailing vessels are a thing of the past with +a few very localized exceptions, the belief in the value of this form of +training is still strong. For some time to come, many youths who feel +the lure of the sea will receive their early indoctrination aboard a +vessel where the motive power is provided by the free winds, and where a +seaman's character is molded by the tall masts and tapering spars. +Although what is learned in these ships will be applied aboard vessels +with other---possibly even nuclear---forms of power, these youths will +never forget the basic respect for nature which they learned under sail. +And as long as one of these vessels remains at sea, the eyes of sailors +everywhere will appreciate their beauty and their usefulness. + +(Editor's Note: Data concerning sailing vessels used for training will +be found in tabulated form according to nationality on the following +pages.) +[Commander Francis E. Clark, U. S. +Navy](https://www.usni.org/people/francis-e-clark) +Graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in the Class of 1937, Commander +Clark is currently attached to Headquarters, First Naval District, +Boston, Massachusetts. Since World War II he has served as Commanding +Officer of USS *Whitewood* (AG 129), USS *Redbud* (AKL 398), and USS +*Shadwell* (LSD 15). This is his first article to appear in the +Proceedings. + +[More Stories From This +Author](https://www.usni.org/people/francis-e-clark){.btn .btn-primary +.button} [View +Biography](https://www.usni.org/people/francis-e-clark){.btn +.btn-secondary .button} + +**Digital *Proceedings* content made possible by a gift from CAPT Roger +Ekman, USN (Ret.)** + +## Footer menu {#block-usni-bootstrap-footer-menu .visually-hidden} + +- [About the Naval + Institute](https://www.usni.org/about-us/mission-and-vision){drupal-link-system-path="node/30"} +- [Books & + Press](https://www.usni.org/press/books){drupal-link-system-path="press/books"} +- [Naval History](https://www.usni.org/naval-history-magazine) +- [USNI News](https://news.usni.org/) +- [Proceedings](https://www.usni.org/proceedings-magazine) +- [Oral + Histories](https://www.usni.org/press/oral-histories){drupal-link-system-path="press/oral-histories"} +- [Events](https://www.usni.org/events){drupal-link-system-path="node/73"} +- [Naval Institute + Foundation](https://www.usni.org/donate){drupal-link-system-path="node/54"} +- [Photos & Historical Prints](https://photos.usni.org/) +- [Advertise With + Us](https://www.usni.org/advertise-us "Advertise With Us") +- [Naval Institute + Archives](https://www.usni.org/archives/about){drupal-link-system-path="node/52"} + |