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| READ OUR MAIL September 1998 Mailbag SeacoastNH.com |
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September 28 BARNACLE BILL AND THE RANGER I liked your article in the Sunday Foster's.(As I Please: "Can We Rebuild the Ranger?") I was the captain of the Finback the night we took you out to the Endeavor. The idea of building a replica of the Ranger is fascinating. The concept is not original. We can remember other attempts to acquire a tall ship for the Seacoast. That means other people consider the idea worthwhile. Those same people were also willing to put real money into the failed projects. However, none of those vessels had the historical significance of the Ranger. If you are looking for volunteers to work on the project and get it organized, let me put my name in. Bill Kingston in New Castle barnaclebill@cybertours.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Thanks. We were also n the scene 10 years ago when a tree was cut at the Mark Wentworth home to create the spar of a tall ship that never got off the ground. But hope springs eternal. We're ready to provide web space, research and moral support, but the cash and expertise needs to come from others. Any more takers? Email us. http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please092798.html September 28 MORE LOST SHOALERS I am researching my family history and believe there may be a connection to the Isles of Shoals & the Monhegan Island. Can you tell me were I could write to find out if there is any connections? PS: The name I am researching is WIDGER Darlene B DABrant@genealogy.org EDITOR'S REPLY: The person you want to contact is Bob Tuttle at the Isles of Shoal Historical and Research Association. They meet twice a year and membership is really cheap. Just saw Bob today, but he and his wife have a wicked case of the flu, so we'll just give you the snail mail address and hope he's better by the time your letter arrives: Write to: ISHRA, 174 Wednesday Hill Rd, Lee, NH 03824. http://www.seacoastnh.com/shoals/index.html September 27 WE'RE SO MASSIVE Your site is so massive I don't know where to look for the pictures from the NH Society of Photographic Artists (NHSPA) weekend on Star Island. Where did you hide them? Charlie R Charles_A_Ridgway@bigfoot.com EDITOR'S REPLY: For new visitors, here's three quick ways to find most any new section on SeacoastNH.com which now has about 1,200 pages online: (1) Check What's New? First and scroll down; (2) Check the Site Map available at top of almost every page; (3) Search for key words on the SEARCH engine on the home page. This particular article turned out to be a tour of Appledore Island instead, since our disposable camera tours of Star and Smuttynose were already online. Also, when in doubt, try the Isles of Shoals theme site which you can reach from History Themes. http://www.seacoastnh.com/shoals/appletour1.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/shoals/star1.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/tji/smuttypix1.html September 27 PENNY POSTCARD EXPERT SOUGHT Hi, I found a painting by an artist named Tichnor. While searching theweb, I discovered a post card on your site by the Tichnor Bros. Would you happen to know how I might get in touch with the owner of the originals? She may know about him. Erin Wallace Mangiapane, Nationally Recognized pearlie@juno.com http://www.tamnet.com/leisure/genealogy/ EDITOR'S REPLY: Our two postcard galleries are on loan from NH collector Sharon Stephan. Her email address is clickable from both web pages below: http://www.seacoastnh.com/postcards/pea/index.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/postcards/star/index.html September 24 SMASHING ENDEAVOUR The SeacoastNH.com coverage on the Endeavour was SMASHING. Ordinarily I wouldn't go to see one, but your pictures and articles were so good I found myself down at the pier actually going on board. And enjoying. What great weather we provided for most days! Peggy GrannyFish@aol.com September 24 SWING DANCING I was wondering if any places in the seacoast area held swing dancing,preferably with live music. Any links or info would be very helpful. In searching, I see a lot happening in and around Boston. I would love to see a place locally. Kevin from Newfields, NH klmrzk@ttlc.net EDITOR'S REPLY: You can take evening classes at the Portsmouth Ballroom in the Vaughn Mall. Call their phone machine during the day and leave your address to receive a flyer by mail (433-2009) or stop by in the evening when classes are in session and pick up the info. Muddy River Smokehouse in Portsmouth sometimes has swing bands and Portsmouth Ballroom has swing starting on the third Saturday of every month. September 23 PRE-REVOLUTIONARY WAR CURRENCY In 1727 (give or take) Portsmouth, like many of the larger colonial towns, printed bank notes. I was wondering where I might be able to see some of these bills and get an estimate of their value. David R ROCKHND@worldnet.att.net EDITOR'S REPLY: The Portsmouth Athenaeum is currently running a superb show on the history of printing in NH that would help you with your bank note research. We asked NH Gazette editor Steve Fowle for info on this topic since he helped create the exhibit. He notes that Portsmouth did not get its first printing press until 1756, so anything printed before that had to come from elsewhere. He offers a link (click below) to the Leslie Block Center for the Study of Colonial Currency. That site is full of info. We've seen samples of bank notes from the Piscaraqua Exchange Bank, but those were issued a century later. http://www.virginia.edu/~econ/brock.html September 23 BACK FROM THE SHOALS Having just spent the weekend on the Isles of Shoals with the New Hampshire Society of Photographic Artists, I enjoyed perusing your web site. Thanks for all your hard work. Alison F alisonf@worldpath.net http://www.seacoastnh.com/shoals/appletour1.html September 22 FRENCH CONNECTIONS? Were there ever French colonies in New Hampshire? If so, what was their influence on the community there? Laura C CIA2003@Juno.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Early French immigrants and settlers, certainly. In fact, we recently discovered a Civil War-era poem about a tragic event in Portsmouth area once called Frenchman's Lane. But we've not heard of early all-French settlements here on the coast. For an extraordinary view of one in nearby Maine, get yourself a copy of the 330-page archeological monograph "The French at Pentagoet, 1635-1674 by Alaric and Gretchen Faulkner from the New Brunswick Museum and Maine Historical and Preservation Commission. The book details every artifact found at the colonial French Fort which actually was in operation in 1613, long before the English settled in NH and Mass. Fascinating stuff in Castine, Maine. French historian Lucie Therrien is also probably good source for local info. http://www.lft.k12.la.us/chs/la_studies/cajun/acad_mag.htm http://www.castine.org/ September 22 MORE "MIGHTY" WINNERS As one of the winners of SeacoastNH.com VIP tickets to see "The Mighty" film premiere, I want to say thank you for a delightful evening. It was wonderful to be amid a multi-generation audience, from toddler to grandparent, and feel that the experience was enjoyed by all. This is truly a "must see", "family" motion picture. Thank you SeacoastNH.com and thank you Rod Philbrick. Paulne Woodman rmwprw@concentric.net September 21 ENJOYED ENDEAVOUR CYBER TOUR What a beautiful work of art the Endeavour is!!! Your pictures & info. are wonderful! I only wish I could be there for the real thing. Your seacoastnh website keeps getting better & better. Thanks for allowing those of us who can't be there to experience it. I also enjoy getting your newsletter monthly. I love your region & would welcome anyone who can to write me with comments on living there. I've been wrestling with the idea of relocating ever since I visited the Rye/Hampton area twice over the past 6 months. Keep up the good work folks! Lori of St. Lawrence Univ, NY lloc@music.stlawu.edu http://www.seacoastnh.com/endeavour/arrival1.html September 21 BATTLE OF THE TOWERS REBUTTAL I'm one of your loyal readers from Amherst, writing to ask you to put in some words about the "battle of the towers," having recently read a horribly inaccurate editorial in the Portsmouth Herald. Yes, we all want cell phones, yes we want to be able to use them everywhere. No, we don't need to fall victim to tall towers dotting our beautiful landscape. Providers have scared towns and cities into believing that the only way to provide service is with unsightly towers for their antennas. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Towns are fighting back. There are alternatives. Nationwide, communities are complying with the 1996 Telecommunications Act while still demanding that the antenna mounts be unobtrusive. We don't need any more Mt. Kearsage pincushions. Helping us broadcast this situation is deeply appreciated. Lots of web sites and people I can put you in touch with. THANKS!!
September 21 MIGHTY PLEASED Thank you so much for offering the tickets to The Mighty, which I won. My husband and I loved the movie. I predict it will be a hit. Lisa Mills Litigate4u@aol.com September 21 WANTS TO TOUR OUR AFRICAN-AMER SITES I just came across your website in the internet. I will be in Seabrook, New Hampshire next week and am interested in visiting places of history re: the African American contribution. If you are aware of any museums, statues, libraries etc., please reply with an address and phone number and hours of operation. Deirdre S WDSPAULD@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Nothing much of local Black History has been officially recognized in this region, despite our detailed info online. We suggest you go to the Portsmouth Library and check out Valerie Cunningham's Black Heritage Trail of Portsmouth booklet. It is typed and bound, not yet published. A sample is on our site below with pix by Richard Haynes. Also check our Black History Hotlinks page for Massachusetts museums nearby that are worth a visit. http://www.seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/trail.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/hotlinks.html September 17 EDITOR GOES TO THE ISLANDS Dear Readers: Sorry about the backlogged responses to reader questions. We have a couple dozen answers still being researched, but we're taking a four day hiatus all the same. If the numbers hold, we'll have about 100 new emails when the editor returns Sunday night from a short stay on Star Island. In that period at least 20,000 pages will have been accessed. If you're starved for more mail, why not check through the hundreds of letters in the READ OUR MAIL archives? We love your correspondence, but for the next few days at SeacoastNH.com it's gonna be no phone, no email and no Monica. If you want to come along with us vicariously, click below: Your Humble Editor http://www.seacoastnh.com/shoals/index.html September 17 WE CAN ALMOST SEE IT FROM HERE! CLICK THE LINK, CHARLIE WE CAN ALMOST SEE IT FROM HERE! CLICK THE LINK, CHARLIE Could you please let me know where the replica of Captain Cook's Endeavour is currently. I understand it was in Boston recentlly, but is no longer there. If it is still on the East coast I would like to visit it. If you know its whereabouts or schedule I would be very happy. Charlie A cwauth+@pitt.edu http://www.seacoastnh.com/endeavour/calendar.html September 16 WE SAILED ENDEAVOUR! Thanks for the fabulous photos of Endeavour coming into Portsmouth. On behalf of the Endeavour Foundation, thank you!!!! If you don't mind,I'd like our webmaster to set up a link with you site. Stephanie Record, North American Public Relations Officer, HM Bark Endeavour srecord@ibm.net http://www.seacoastnh.com/endeavour/arrival1.html September 16 IWO JIMA FLAG NOT "STAGED" FOR CAMERAS PLEASE, Dennis ... get it right on the flag raising on Iwo Jima. In your article, A BIG BRIDGE AND A LITTLE GIRL (As I Please, Aug 16, 1998), you wrote that your Dad indicated the first flag raising on Iwo Jima was not as dramatic as "the one staged later for Life Magazine cameras" or something close to that. The first flag raising was photographed by my friend and fellow Marine, Lou Lowery for Leatherneck Magazine. It was a great shot and I would later, in 1958 and 1959, work as a US Marine combat photographer for Leatherneck Magazine, where he was then photo director. The later shot was of a larger flag, as ships in the harbor had complained the first flag was too small to be seen. The second flat was larger and quickly installed. Joe Rosenthal of a wire service out of California (NOT LIFE MAGAZINE!!) got his UNSTAGED photo and it won a Pulitzer Prize among many other awards. Dennis, the flag raising was not staged. It just happened and for a good reason. Joe, whom I met on several occasions, felt he was lucky to have gotten that shot. He told me that. Please don't tell your readers it was staged for Life Magazine. That is not what happened on that day and it is important that we set the record staight for he 6800 US Marine casualties suffered in that batle. Thanks and Semper Fidelis to you and your Dad. (That's Always Faithful in Marine talk. Your Dad would understand this. Sincerely, Bernie Marvin Sergeant, US Marines 1955-59 Leatherneck Magazine Beirut, Lebanon, 1958. Publisher, Northcountry News-Independent Main street - PO Box 65 Haverhill Corner, NH 03765
Incidentally, Dennis, my son Bernie Marvin (also a Marine veteran) is a Captain on the great Portsmouth Fire Department and my wife and I frequently visit and boat out of Portsmouth. It is a great city and we love it!!! September 16 SEEKS LIGHTHOUSE GUIDE Where can I get a listing or better yet a map of all light houses...even the small ones in the sea coast area? David dtrembla@paymentech.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Not much of a book for NH. We were out in the harbor Monday and could see all three of NH's ocean lighthouses at one time -- Whaleback (actually in Maine), White Island at the Shoals, and Fort Point, which looks conspicuously like our logo. "Lighthouses of Maine and NH" is a nice photo guidebook by Kathleen Finnnegan and Timothy Harrison. Around here, the ultimate spot for anything on this topic is the Lighthouse Depot store in York, Maine. Start with this link below and click on Lighthouse Web Ring for more info than you can imagine. http://www.tiac.net/users/buster/shiningsea/gallery.html September 16 OLD DIGITAL PHOTOS NEVER DIE Thanks so much for your wonderful presentation on Old Ironsides. Having been stationed at PNSY back in 1973-1974, I found the old photos extremely interesting. Bill D of Garner, NC bdamick@twr.org http://www.seacoastnh.com/ussconstitution September 15 BOSTON.COMMON I just visited your site for the first time. Looks interesting, I am still exploring. Why don't you set up a line with Boston.com in the your town section of that site? They have an extensive number of links to local websites in greater Boston and NH. You may get considerably more traffic. David S. DASerio@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: We NH-types get nervous when you talk about "traffic" and "Boston" in the same breath. You probably discovered us in our Sunday Boston Globe interview, right? We've been told there is a large city by that name to the South. Will investigate. September 15 CHOWDER DOWN I brought three people to the Seafood Festival at Hampton Beach this past weekend. It is my favorite event of the year! I would have never known about it without your site. Thank You! Gary C gfcard@ici.net September 15 KILLING COUSINS This is an update on cousin Goody. According to my brother and Aunt(whowas born on Halloween) Goody was William Cole's second wife the union of which (witch?) produced no children. His first wife, Elizabeth bore his heirs(my direct ancestors). Now here is a coincidence. I noticed the name Rev. Stephen Bachilor in the witch stories. It sounded familiar and sure enough, my husband is directly descended from him! Could he (the Rev.) have driven the stake through step grandwitches heart? Jency Cole Latta http://www.seacoastnh.com/poems/rivermouth.html September 14 BUT EVERYONE ELSE DOES IT!! I wish that you had held true to your instincts as expressed in your first paragraph ("The Day Max Fell, As I Please). The third sentence of your opening paragraph reads, "Stop me if you think I'm on thin ice, but I've got to get this story off my chest." Well, there really was no way to stop you, was there? You laid it all out there. Then, in that same paragraph you wrote, "Until recently, if you knew something private about another person, you held it to yourself." Later in your article you wrote, "Are we all compelled to get naked and jump in?" I suggest, sir, that you know quite well that we are not so obligated. Perhaps my vision is limited, but I simply do not see a parallel between the sexual stupidity and subsequent perjury of a United States President and your sad, tawdry tale of one drunken night with a long since retired UNH associate professor. I truly do not see myself as any sort of moral arbiter, but I simply can't believe that as thoughtful a person as you so clearly seem to be can really believe that, "Now, thanks in part of Ken Starr and Joyce Maynard, the gloves are off" justifies your following their leads. Why does this remind me of the days when my kids tried the argument "but everyone ELSE does (or has) it"? Even more sadly I ask why your article reminds me of those "tell-all" afternoon TV shows I have blundered upon where folks appear in order to vomit up the most personal details of their private lives. I can't understand why Joyce Maynard having decided to divulge her "sordid details" of her affair with J. D. Salinger impelled you to follow suit with your sad story about her father. That there is so clearly a market for this sort of thing puzzles me. I have not read Joyce's book, but what I have read about it brings to mind the louts who undertake to amuse themselves by toppling gravestones in the cemetery after dark. This is not entirely fair because Joyce signed her name, and the louts do not. I am much bemused by your paragraph that reads, "When we write about real events and real people, we shape the soft clay of history. Sometimes the writer makes a gentle flowing line, other times just a thumbprint, sometime a deep angry gouge." I have to wonder if, when you put your hands beside Joyce's hands to topple Max's gravestone, you did so for the sake of history?
Just for the record, I graduated from UNH in 1953. I had Prof. Maynard for several classes and he was, as you stated, "a phenomenal teacher". How I wish you had undertaken to write about that facet of his life rather than ride on Joyce's coat tails and show him as a drunken loser and a frustrated, inept painter. Doesn't your commitment to history require that of you? September 14 TERM PAPERS UNLIMITED WE AIN'T I am doing a report on John Paul Jones and was wondering if you could send me some information on him. I would really appreciate it. I have to do a 1000 word essay and I am having trouble coming up with all that information. Mikesquash@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Nice try, but we used to teach school. It's like this: we put the info on the Internet and you gotta take it off. In our day you actually had to go to a library and read books. If you check on our John Paul Jones section you'll find at least a dozen 1,000-word essays. It's really not that hard, Mike. Just click below and DON'T copy our stuff or the term paper police will be at your door. Also check our JPJ Hotlinks for more good sites. http://www.seacoastnh.com/jpj http://www.seacoastnh.com/jpj/links.html September 14 LOVED PROF. MAX MAYNARD I do love this web site and all the interesting things there are to read and learn. However, I looked it up as I wanted to comment on your article about Max Maynard in the Sunday Foster's. ("The Day Max Fell"). I was an English Literature major who graduated from UNH in 1961. I believe it was my junior year I had Max Maynard for 18th Century British Literature. He was my favorite professor. He demonstrated his points in discussing literature and history with chalk drawings on the blackboard. A marvelous teacher, he brought the literature and the times alive. Joyce was in my daughter's class at Oyster River so you can see why the subject of Max Maynard brings back a lot of nostalgia and gratitude to him for enriching my life. Anne M annhmel@nh.ultranet.com http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please091398.html September 14 FEELING GOOD ABOUT HAMPTON DINING In my previous letter I mentioned that I had a poor experience with the Galley Hatch restaurant. Since that time, they have been in touch with me numerous times to turn the experience around for me. They were seriously interested in my observations and have since refunded the cost of my meal and provided me with a gift certificate. This extra effort on their part deserves recognition in an era where it is all to easy to brush aside those that don't agree with your own perceptions. To those readers who read my first comments, I hope you will give the Galley Hatch a try. I'll give it another try the next time I'm in New Hampshire. Steve F. sfreedmn@erols.com September 13 ANOTHER TALL SHIP CHECKS IN I just changed the Barque Picton Castle over to a new service. My old site (which worked with an HTML variant code) simply could not be found by search engines. Now we're switching over to a more conventional service and the use of our own domain name. Angelo Cerchione angelo@boone.net http://www.picton-castle.com September 12 SO MANY RESUMES, SO LITTLE CASH I absolutely love your site and would like to be part of your team. I am a recent graduate from New Hampshire Community Technical College with a certificate in Web Publishing. Please review the attached web sites I have created. Christian N cnilsen@worldnet.att.net http://home.att.net/~cnilsen/index.html September 10 PSSST...…YOUR HINT'S TOO EASY Love the site; and the neat magnet you sent me from the August contest. Maybe you should make the contest hints a little less obvious. William Rutledge bbrut@ttlc.net http://www.seacoastnh.com/contests/index.html September 10 INSIDE IRONSIDES' HULL Hi, I am doing an essay at school about Isaac Hull. Your page was very informative on the USS Constitution his ship. Although I know your page is about the ships, if you have any information on Isaac Hull can you send an email my way? Hornwalker@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Our local interest in Hull is that, he not only commanded Old Ironsides, but was the first commander of the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery in the early 1800s. There is one key book you need -- "The Captain from Connecticut : The Life and Naval Times of Isaac Hull," by Linda M. Maloney, Northeastern University Press, 1986. It's easy to find on Amazon.com, but costs $55, so you may want to check your local library. The USS Constitution Museum in Boston had a big show on Hull "America's Forgotten Hero" in the 1980s, and has tons of other material on him, but the Maloney book is indispensable. http://www.seacoastnh.com/ussconstitution/ http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/shop/index.html http://www.seacoastnh.com/earlyphotos/ironsides/ph4.html September 09 KOSHER FOOD ON SEACOAST Is there anyplace near Portsmouth where Kosher food is readily available? Bruce BBUBLICK@ix.netcom.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Despite 1,000 members of Temple Israel in Portsmouth and 4,000 Jewish residents of the Seacoast, there is no kosher restaurant here. That's according to Roseanne, secretary at the Temple, who says locals who keep to the kosher tradition head to the Boston suburbs of Brookline, Chelsea, Peabody and Revere for food. Temple historian George Sherman says there has never been a kosher restaurant in the area, and he should know. Sherman's self published book, "The History of Temple Israel, 1693-1997," is being released this week. Sherman, who opened a pharmacy in town in 1047, says there were two kosher butchers here in the 1920s, Segals on Marcy Street and Liberson's on Washington. His soft cover book is 215 pages and will cost $25. Mr. Sherman will be signing copies at Temple Israel on Sunday from 10am-noon. The recent addition of the Shapiro House at Strawbery Banke Museum is the key homage to Jewish immigrants in the Seacoast, NH region: http://www.strawberybanke.org/museum/shapiro/shapiro.html September 09 HOME ON THE RINGE I'm writing to let you know that your web site has opened my eyes to the wealth of history out there about Portsmouth. I would also like to ask for your assistance in obtaining the address for the Old South Church of Portsmouth. The Rindge family had a burial plot below the church before it was demolished in 1863 (?). Their remains were moved to Harmony Grove Cemetery but there is only one headstone for the Rindges. I was hoping there might be more info about what Rindges were actually in that plot before it was moved. dpete@celticweb.com EDITOR'S REPLY: The South Parish Church is now the Unitarian building on State Street, but you seem to be referring to the site on Marcy Street that is currently the Children's Museum and was formerly the Meeting House for the local black congregation. According to the 1902 Gurney Guide, the Old South Church built there in 1731 was torn down in 1863. At that time the bodies of two former ministers, buried under the communion table, were moved to the South Cemetery -- same site as your relatives. The links for the Children's Museum and City of Portsmouth that maintains most local cemeteries are below: http://www.childrens-museum.org/ http://www.cityofportsmouth.com September 09 EXETER CHAMBER ONLINE I tried to pull up information on the Exeter Chamber of Commerce but was unable to retrieve. I am a woman small business owner in Newton, NH. I am interested in finding out more about the Chamber of Commerce in this area. Joanne from Newton JCCMM@aol.com EDITOR'S REPLY: Still there along with all six other Seacoast chambers when we checked via our BUSINESS chamber listings. We get a lot of similar letters for other pages. Most times a failed link is an ISP or computer problem, not ores, but try the link below again just for kicks: http://www.exeterarea.org/ http://www.seacoastnh.com/business/cofc.html September 08 HELLO FROM PORTSMOUTH, VA Just surfing thru found your site, It appears that you all have put a lotof work into it. Too bad some of that energy couldn't be transferred to this city. Keep up the good work Peter from Virginia pdewitt@norfolk.infi.net September 07 BABY WITCH HOMECOMING Thanks for the info on Goody Cole. I'm a direct descendent and hope to be in the area in a month or two. Coincidentally I was born in Exeter, NH, but haven't been back since I was a baby. Hope to see you soon. Jency Cole Latta jencyl@hotmail.com EDITOR'S REPLY: For more on Goody, read Whittier's "The Changling" too, besides our "Wreck of Rivermouth" below. In that poem, the fictional Goody's release from prison sets free a possessed baby That the mother is about to fling into the fireplace. We may skip town on your arrival to avoid the hex. http://www.seacoastnh.com/poems/rivermouth.html September 05 WE'RE SELECTED BY "DISCOVERY" CHANNEL Congratulations! Discovery Channel School has selected your site as a valued Internet resource for the thousands of teachers who visit our site. Discovery School features hundreds of pages of lesson ideas and activities for many of the topics commonly taught in the K- 12 curriculum. Bob Anderman http://discoveryschool.com September 05 WE LOVE YOU TOO, MAN I am writing from the Galley Hatch Restaurant in Hampton to tell you that we APPRECIATE our inclusion in your site! Your site is lively, informative and timely. And I appreciate the newsletter. THANK YOU. http://www.galleyhatch.com/ Jane thehatch@nh.ultranet.com http://www.galleyhatch.com/ September 03 JPJ TOOTH -- IT'S NOT A FAKE!! (Editor's note: OK, a cheap headline. The tooth in question is a walrus tooth scrimshaw of the sea battle between the Serapis and Bonhomme Richard -- see earlier letter for Sept 1, 1998) Thanks very much for your reply. I guess there are quite a lot of counterfeit
scrimshaws, but this one is certainly a very good one. The tooth is real. I did the test and it smelled like burnt hair. The engraving seems also old, but it seems difficult to say if it is made on the same date mentioned on it since the date does not reflect the date when it was made, but the date of the battle. September 03 THE CURIOUS MR. FOWLE I have just finished reading your column concerning the NH Gazette. ("Dynamite in the Rock Pasture" 9/1/98). I find Mr. Fowle to be quite interesting and I visit his site frequently. I was particularly taken with his blurb on why the Piscataqua River deserves an Oscar. I had never looked at the river that way before. Great column on the NH Gazette. Keep it up, please. Dennis McCann, San Jose, Ca denofearth11@hotmail.com http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please090198.html September 02 VERMONT IS LIKE NH, JUST UPSIDE-DOWN I really enjoyed your Vermont humor.("Report from the Vermont Frontier, March, 1997 archive). It seemed like you were just like us real Vermonters. Ray Q rayq@dad.state.vt.us http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please031397.html September 01 SCRIMSHAW SHOWS JOHN PAUL JONES! I am a Dutchman living in Prague, Czech republic, and an enthousiastic antiques collector. Not real expensive stuff but mainly odd things. On one of my recent tours through Prague's many bazaars I discovered a walrus tooth with eleborate engravings of an event I did not know of until I visited your site. It pictures the battle of the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis and has pictures on it of John Paul Jones and Captain Pearson and the date 1779. I want to ask you if such things are quiet common and if you know more about it. Where for instance these things are made. It seems original, the tooth certainly is. The tooth is about 45 cm. long. Thanks in advance for your reaction. Frans H from Peague fhoekman@start.cz EDITOR'S REPLY: Great letter! We did a little legwork on this one, and fear you have yourself a plastic copy. Our expert is Dan Kiracofe who has made thousands of scrimshaw pieces and runs his business from Market Square in Portsmouth. He let us to a monograph called "Fakeshaw" produced published by the Kendall Whaling Museum in Sharon, Massachusetts in 1988. The article lists key fake scrimshaw items and, among them, is a Serapis battle scene with the precise date and portraits you describe on iEmitation walrus tusks. This does not mean you don't have the original, but since the original was used to create the flood of counterfeit antiques, that seems unlikely. The standard test is to burn a small shaving of the item. If it melts and smells like plastic, it is. If it smells like burning hair, it is real. Since it is a precise duplicate of the original, at least you have a fascinating work of art reproduction. After all ,the Bonhomme was a Dutch ship, bought with French money, flying an American flag and captained by an Scotsman that sunk a British vessel. It clearly has international appeal. You can reach scrimshaw artist and expert Dan Kiracofe at 603-427-0797. http://www.SeacoastNH.com/jpj September 01 FAN MAIL FROM OLD IRONSIDES I really enjoyed looking over your Constitution stuff. Good job. In regard to your story "How We Lost "Old Ironsides." The first sentence states the "Old Ironsides" is the oldest ship in the American Navy. I thinkthat is incorrect. The American Navy and the US Navy are two ifferentorganizations. We were the beginning of the US Navy and remain commissioned in the US Navy. JO2(SW) Lance H. Beebe. Public Affairs Officer, USS Constitution ljbeebe@erols.com http://www.seacoastnh.com/ussconstitution/ September 01 WANTS MATRIMONIAL HOTLINKS You should write about places in the seacoast where wedding receptions could be held. Include hotels, inns and local country clubs. Heather hmacfar@pacbell.net EDITOR'S REPLY: We agree. Some entrepreneurial soul should do so. There was Seacoastwedding.com, but when we checked, it was out of service. All we can offer, besides our Dining and Lodging section now, is a list of Conference Facilities. In January, we ill present a list of all Seacoast, NH churches. Can you wait that long? http://www.seacoastnh.com/business/conf.html September 01 THEY WON OUR CONTEST Thank you for the two tickets to Water Country I won in your sweeps. contest. This is the first contest I have ever won and the boys had a wonderful time at Water Country. Helen G CapeCod1@webtv.net http://www.seacoastnh.com/contests/index.html Just wanted to let you know that my family and I had a wonderful time at Water Country today. Thanks for having a great site and fun contests. Timothy A tahearn@mint.net |
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