Captain Kidd Wreck Discovered
The shattered remnants of a ship believed to have been captured by the 17th-century pirate Captain William Kidd have been discovered in just 10 feet of water off Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic. The discovery of the wreckage of the Quedagh Merchant, abandoned by Kidd in 1699 as he made his way to New York in an ill-fated attempt to clear his name, was announced in December 2007 by an underwater archaeology team from Indiana University (IU).
The Dominican government has licensed the university to study the wreckage and to convert the wreck site into an underwater preserve accessible to divers and snorkelers.
Charles Beeker, director of Academic Diving and Underwater Science Programs at IU, said it is remarkable that the wreck has remained undiscovered all these years given its location, just 70 feet off the island's coast, and because it has been actively sought by treasure hunters. "I've been on literally thousands of shipwrecks in my career," Beeker said. "This is one of the first sites I've been on where I haven't seen any looting. We've got a shipwreck in crystal clear, pristine water that's amazingly untouched. We want to keep it that way, so we made the announcement now to ensure the site's protection from looters."
Kidd captured the Quedagh Merchant, loaded with valuable East Indian merchandise, in early 1698, but left the ship in the Caribbean as he sailed to New York on a less conspicuous sloop to refute criminal charges. The Scottish privateer/pirate was lured to Boston, taken prisoner there, and held for more than a year before being sent to England where he was convicted of piracy and murder in a sensational London trial. He was hanged twice—the rope broke on the first attempt—and his body was left hanging in a cage over the river Thames for two years as a warning to would-be pirates.
Anthropologist Geoffrey Conrad, director of IU Bloomington's Mathers Museum of World Cultures, said the men Kidd entrusted with his ship reportedly looted it, and then set it ablaze and adrift. The location of the wreckage and the formation and size of the cannon, which had been used as ballast, are consistent with historical records of the ship, Conrad added. Remnants of several anchors were also found under the guns.
'Splendid Splinter' Honored
A tribute to Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams opened on 31 January with the unveiling of the "Ted Williams Airplane" restoration project by the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation at its headquarters in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The project is to restore a rare Grumman F9F Panther in the colors of the baseball great's Korean War unit, Marine Fighter Squadron (VMF-) 311. The plane will then become the centerpiece of a display that will eventually honor veterans who are best known for their successes in other walks of life.
Of the 1,385 Panthers built, only nine are know to be in existence, and just two of those are in private hands. The foundation's jet, which was well known on the warbird airshow circuit, last flew in 1996 when it crashed in Michigan. The Panther is being restored in a workshop specially created for the work, and the project is supported by the Red Sox organization, as well as the Red Sox Foundation, the Pawtucket Red Sox, and others.
Captain Theodore Samuel Williams served for three years during World War II as a flight instructor and flew 39 combat missions in the Korean War. In December 2007, the foundation announced a cooperative agreement with the Ted Williams Museum of Hernando, Florida, that will result in a permanent display of his artifacts and memorabilia as part of the proposed aircraft carrier museum at the former Quonset/Davisville naval complex on Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay.
(For more about F9F Panthers, see "Historic Aircraft," pp. 14-15.)
Conference Announced
The University of West Florida in Pensacola will host the 27th Annual Conference of The North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH), 7-11 May 2008. The Council of American Maritime Museums (CAMM), will cosponsor the event. The theme of this year's conference is "Defining the Maritime Edge: The History and Archaeology of Inland Environments, Coastal Encounters and Blue Water Connections."
Sessions will explore all aspects of history and archaeology related to saltwater or navigable freshwater environments.
The event will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. See the conference page on the NASOH Web site at www.nasoh.org for further details and registration information.
Clipper Ship Figurehead Sold
The Jenny Lind figurehead from the extreme clipper ship Nightingale (See "Home from the Seas," p. 11, February 2008 Naval History) sold at auction, but the previous owner is not pleased. Sotheby's sold the wooden likeness of the Swedish opera star for the reserve price of $100,000 ($121,000 including bidder's premium) on 19 January to an unidentified bidder. While disappointed that the figure did not fetch a much higher price, the sculpture's previous owner, Karl Eric Sv??rdskog, is more upset that the American provenance of the piece, including its connection to the Nightingale, was questioned.
He points to a quote in an otherwise laudatory 2,000-word article by freelance writer Wendy Moonan in the 4 January 2008 issue of the New York Times. Ryan Cooper, a Massachusetts dealer specializing in antique figureheads, stated his opinion that "it is not the original figurehead from the Nightingale," and that it is "typically Scandinavian." Sv??rdskog is Swedish and the piece was discovered in Sweden.
The former owner, in reference to the article, said, "Mr. Cooper was allowed to express his doubts without presenting any facts." Svrdskog spent 13 years researching the identity and origin of the piece. Immediately after Cooper's statement, the Times quoted Nancy Druckman, Sotheby's folk art specialist: "All the forensic information, in terms of number of coats of paint . . . the condition of the wood, the fact it's New England white pine, points to the figurehead being authentic."
Display Features Vintage SBD
A new exhibit commemorating the Battle of Midway opened in November 2007 at Chicago's Midway Airport. The Battle of Midway Educational Exhibit features photographs, narratives, and interactive video kiosks. The display's highlight is a restored World War II SBD Dauntless dive bomber that was recovered from Lake Michigan in 1991, nearly 50 years after it crashed during training exercises. The exhibit is a collaborative project between the Chicago Airport System and the SBD Dauntless Dive-Bomber—Battle of Midway Memorial Committee.
A. Epstein and Sons International, Inc., developed the architectural design and exhibit design engineering, They also provided project management services pro bono for the exhibit, which offers an educational experience for airport users along with a context for the SBD on display. Corporate sponsors include McDonald's Corporation, The Boeing Company, the McCormick Tribune Foundation, Southwest Airlines, and Leopardo Companies Inc.
Cold War Prize Competition
The John A. Adams Center at the Virginia Military Institute will award prizes for the best unpublished papers dealing with the United States military in the Cold War era (1945-91). Any aspect of the Cold War is eligible, with papers on intelligence, logistics, and mobilization especially welcome. Essays on the Korean War, Vietnam, counterinsurgency, and related topics are all open for consideration. Prizes will include a $2,000 cash award for first place, $1,000 for second, $500 for third, and plaques for each.
Entries should be tendered to the Adams Center at VMI by 15 June 2008. Over the summer, the center will examine all papers and announce its top three rankings early in the fall of 2008. The Journal of Military History will consider the award winners for publication.
For more information, contact Professor Malcolm Muir Jr. at [email protected] or (540) 464-7447/7338.