News From Fort Schuyler

May 24, 2002 - Volume 6, No. 18

SLOCUM VICTIMS TO BE REMEMBERED - According to a press release from FRANK DUFFY, Maritime Industry Museum Executive Vice President, the museum will join with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation for the 98th Annual GENERAL SLOCUM Memorial Ceremony on Saturday, June 15. "The excursion steamer GENERAL SLOCUM burned in the East River on June 15, 1904 with the loss of some 1200 passengers. The disaster was the largest fire fatality in New York City history until 9/11 and the World Trade Center and the second worst inland waters disaster in the nation's history. The [10:30 AM] ceremony will be held in Tompkins Square Park, in Manhattan, East 9th Street and Avenue B, by the Slocum Memorial Fountain."

AMERICAN WANDERER - Cross-country bicyclist, BOB LANG, Class of 1958, condensed his 44-day ride for NFFS: "I, along with 22 others, arrived in Brunswick Georgia on bicycle [on May 12] after leaving Carlsbad, California on March 30. A police escort led us to the Atlantic Ocean on St. Simons Island. It was a fantastic trip and the 2,453.2 mile ride was completed without a drop of rain. So, other than 102 degree desert heat, 9 mile climbs up mountains, 9 days of serious head winds in Texas and 2 days of riding in smoke filled air (Okefenokee Swamp was on fire), it was smooth biking. We had one accident when a biker ran into another biker who was fixing a flat and resulted in a trip to the hospital and an end to her trip. One close call with a rattlesnake in the desert in Arizona when a biker was struck in the sandal and missed his leg by an inch."

"Why cross the USA by bike one might ask ? This is a wonderful country and the American people are fantastic, caring, helpful and generous. The trip gave me an opportunity to chat with 'the locals' and learn more about this great country and its inhabitants. What's next ? Good question, but I'm confident it will be exciting and challenging !" [Hats off to one of Schuyler's more active retirees. He always puts his best foot forward. There is more information on these do-it-yourself tours at http://www.wanderingwheels.org]

CALL ME HERMAN - The second volume of Hershel Parker's monumental biography of Herman Melville (who is described as the "first American literary sex symbol") came out May 22 under the imprint of Johns Hopkins University Press. This concluding volume deals with Melville's difficult years in New York, where he worked at the Customs House, made frequent visits to his brother, Thomas (who was the governor of Sailor's Snug Harbor), and slowly slipped into literary obscurity. In researching this volume, Dr. Parker reviewed many documents contained in the Luce Library's Sailors Snug Harbor Archive. According to the publisher: "Through prodigious archival research into hundreds of family letters and diary entries, newly discovered newspaper articles, and marginalia from books that Melville owned, Parker vividly recreates the last four decades of Melville's life, episode after episode unknown to previous biographers." For the full story go to the publisher's website at http://www.press.jhu.edu/press/books/titles/parker/preface.htm or visit your local bookstore.

TRAINING SHIP SETS SAIL - Fort Schuyler parent, MIKE WILLS, father of SEAN WILLS, Class of 2003, has posted an online album of the 17 May preparation and 18 May departure of EMPIRE STATE VI on Summer Sea Term 2002. Go to http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4291806315&code=2826101&mode=invite. To view the album, you will need to enter a password in lower case - "maritime11" (that is the number "11", not the letters "LL".) SEAN, an engineering major, is making his First Class cruise as the Refrigeration Rate.

FOLLOW ALONG - Check http://www.sunymaritime.edu for the links to the Summer Sea Term 2002. There already are many messages from parents and friends of the college posted to shipboard personnel. In addition the ship' s Master, CAPT. RICHARD S. SMITH ,Class of 1981, has already posted the first entry on the online cruise log, "Departure." Photographs and cruise reports probably will be posted following EMPIRE STATE VI's arrival at the first port, New Orleans, on 25 May.

OLD CRUISES COUNT TOO - A heads up from CAPT JOHN INGRAM, USNR (ret), Class of 1964 - "NOW HEAR THIS: Naval Reservists who have completed 20 satisfactory years of Naval Reserve service are entitled to retirement points for their Summer Sea Training Cruises. They must obtain a certified copy of their transcript from the College which shows the actual dates of each cruise and then send to: CO NRPC 4400 Dauphine St, New Orleans, LA 70149-7800, Attn: ACCREDITATION, requesting the additional points. There is no special form, just letter and satisfactory proof of sea service for the training cruises."