Weekly Quote

Over the next year I plan to put a weekly quote in the blog from The Mariner's Book of Days. Each week starts on a Monday, so each Monday there will be a new quote. Of course, if anything else of particular interest comes up I'll let you know about that as well. So without further adieu, here's the first quote of the week for 2008.

The true peace of God begins at any point 1,000 miles from the nearest land. ~Joseph Conrad

I suppose the same could be said for the wrath of God, depending on the weather.

Cool Stuff I Got for Christmas

I hope everyone has had a joyous and peaceful holiday, and I hope that you got everything you wanted. There are a few things I received that I felt were noteworthy of blog mention.

1. Those that know me well, especially my boss and Chris Grimes over at Albemarle Soundings, will appreciate the fact that I received $40 worth of Bojangles gift certificates. I can hear Jann and Chris both chuckling as they read this one!

2. Every year my mom buys me a Civil War calendar of some sort. This year it turns out to be one featuring Matthew Brady photographs (some well known, others not so much so).

3. Lori bought me a copy of The Everything Knots Book, a guide to tying every type of knot imaginable. This will be handy since I sometimes talk about rope and knot work at our living history shows.

4. Quite possibly the COOLEST thing I got this year, though was also from Lori. She found it and the knot book in a nautical themed store in Beaufort called Scuttlebutt. It is the 2008 Mariner's Book of Days by Peter H. Spectre. This is a calendar/day planner that also has all kinds of interesting information, anecdotes, and nautical stories on each page. Not only is it extremely interesting, but it will surely provide me with weekly blogging material. It is a unique gift that I think will prove very rewarding throughout the entire year. What more could you ask for from a gift?

Holiday Wishes for All

I want to take an opportunity to thank everyone who reads this blog and wish you all Happy Holidays, no matter what holiday you celebrate! In my first eight months of doing this blog, I have found it enjoyable and I have also enjoyed your comments. It has been a pleasure meeting and getting to know some of you, and I look forward to continuing this endeavor as long as it is rewarding to me in some way. During this holiday season I wish everyone joy and peace, and a happy and prosperous new year!

Winding Down Another Year

Yeah, I realize that it's only December 18, but I can see the end of 2007 coming down the tracks. Here's a few reasons why:

1) We wrapped up our living history schedule at Halifax two weeks ago, so we must be getting close to the end of the year, right?

2) Christmas shopping is almost done; I say almost because we still have to buy the one big ticket item for my stepdaughter.

3) This is my last week of work in 2007. I'll be in the office tomorrow, followed by two days of first person character interpretation at Tryon Palace, then I'm off until January 2. The boss is really wanting me to burn up some comp time, so that's what I'm doing.

4) The excitement is building for my wife, who will leave her position as Assistant Director of the Onslow County Museum on December 31. She has worked there for three and a half years, but will be starting a new position as Program Assistant at the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort, NC on January 2. (That's pronounced "Bo-fort" for all you South Carolinians who have been saying it incorrectly all these years (haa haa)!

Of course, my calendar for 2008 already has quite a bit on it and is filling up faster as we speak. But I'm looking forward to the break, though I'm sure I'll be restless while I'm sitting at home; it's just my nature. Never fear, I'll find something to blog about.

Clif "Cannonball" Lewis, May He Rest in Peace

Cannonball at Roanoke Island Festival Park, 2005

Word came today of the passing of Clif Lewis, better known in the North Carolina reenacting family as Cannonball. He had fought a long, hard battle with lung cancer for the past year. He will be laid to rest tomorrow afternoon in Roanoke Rapids. In remembrance of Cannonball, I'd like to go back to a post I had on this blog on April 30, 2007 following the annual reenactment at Plymouth, NC. The following passage was written about him:

This weekend also witnessed the return to the field of a long-time reenactor who is well loved and respected in the reenacting community. Not long ago he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and he has withered physically. After Saturday's battle he told me that being back on the field was the best therapy he's had yet. On Sunday morning he and his son were baptized at the river and his battalion promoted him to the rank of Lt. General, a rank that he has always declined to take. The outpouring of love and generosity shown this weekend would be enough to convince anyone that reenactors really are a sort of family. They care about one another, look out for one another, and will give each other the shirt off their back when needed. Sure, sometimes they squabble like children, but that's also part of being a family now, isn't it?

Cannonball had earned the respect and love of most of the folks with whom he came into contact. He will be missed by many. Though my friendship with Cannonball was only a few years in duration, it was important to me. I think most important was that he respected me even though he had been in the artillery game a lot longer than me. That meant a great deal to me. I'm sorry that the last time I saw him was at Plymouth in April. Hopefully he's commanding a battery in a better place tonight.

PS - The artillery piece on the header is a 10-pounder Parrott rifle, just like Cannonball used to shoot.

Christmas at Historic Halifax

This past Saturday I went to Historic Halifax with the 5th NC Regiment Continental Line (new members of the Carolina Living History Guild) for their annual Christmas program. We had a wonderful time and were allowed to set up shop in the Tap Room, a recreated 18th century tavern. The cool thing about it is that all the furnishings, etc. are reproductions and can be USED! It was just a great setting and I can see doing lots of good living history there. At this point I'll refer you to Chris Grimes' blog for more on this very nice event.

New Ship on the Header - USS Delaware

This ship was actually the fourth in the US Navy to be named USS Delaware. She was a 375-ton sidewheel steamer, 161' x 27', with a six foot draft. She was a rather fast vessel, capable of 13 knots and carried a crew of 65 officers and men. She was armed with four 32-pounders (smoothbore) and a 12-pounder rifle of unspecified design. She was built in 1861 in Wilmington, Delaware and purchased by the US Navy in October of that year.

The ship was commanded by Lt. S.P. Quackenbush and assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, sailing from Philadelphia in December 1861. She patrolled the North Carolina coast from January-May 1862 and participated in a number of engagements in coastal waters in association with the Burnside Expedition, including the capture of New Bern in March. She then saw service in Virginia waters from June-October, when she made her way back to coastal North Carolina. For the remainder of the war this pattern of operations continued, splitting time between Virginia and North Carolina. At war's end she reported to the Washington Navy Yard, was decommissioned and sold to the US Treasury Department.

News from Our Living History Group

One thing I probably forgot to mention a few weeks ago is that our living history organization underwent a few fundamental changes at our unit meeting on November 18. We organized an umbrella organization that encompasses not only Ship's Company of the Roanoke (our maritime arm, if you will) and the 5th NC Regiment Continental Line (our sister Rev War unit). This allows the 5th to be covered under our group liability insurance policy, but it also allows us to more effectively run both organizations under one Executive Committee (expanded from three to five members). We decided to name the umbrella organization the Carolina Living History Guild, which we feel really reflects what we do and our mindset that living history in a lot of ways is a craft. We are looking forward to 2008 with renewed energy and look forward to more growth.

Busy Week

I've been meaning to post something all week and the time has just slipped away from me. In my first stint at Tryon Palace for the holiday Civil War interpretation I realized that some of their interpreters really do need training (something their supervisor and I had already discussed earlier in the week). While the research they base their interpretation on is impressive and gives them a wonderful story to tell, the delivery on the part of the interpreters is lacking in a lot of ways. Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to help them hone their skills to make the presentation more convincing and vibrant.

I've been working on the January edition of the NC Civil War Tourism Council newsletter. I've been editing this newsletter for almost four years now and I enjoy it. If you go to the website you'll find the newsletters archived under the "About" tab. I hope to have the January 2008 edition up in the next week or two.

Finally, today I visited Historic Bath, one of only three sites I have not visited. It's the oldest town in North Carolina and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. I'll be sure to go back often, both in a professional capacity and as a visitor. Only two sites left and I've visited all 27 at least once!

Hopefully tomorrow will bring a new ship to the header. Be on the lookout for more Tryon Palace information and a report on the Christmas program at Historic Halifax coming up this weekend.