The Life and Times of a Merchant Sailor: The Archaeology and History of the Norwegian Ship Catharine

120 Pages·2003·2.71 MB·English

by  Jason M. Burns (auth.)

The Life and Times of
a Merchant Sailor
The Archaeology and History of
the Norwegian Ship Catharine
ThehPlel)um Series in Underwater
Arc aeology
Series Editor:
J.
Barto Arnold III
Institute of Nautical Archaeology
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
International Handbook of Underwater Archaeology
Edited by Carol V. Ruppe and Janet F. Barstad
Iron and Steamship Archaeology: Success and Failure on the SS
Xantho
Michael McCarthy
The Life and Times of a Merchant Sailor: The Archaeology and
History of the Norwegian Ship Catharine
Jason M. Burns
Maritime Archaeology: A Reader of Substantive and Tl-teoretical
Contributions
Edited by Lawrence E. Babits and Hans Van Tilburg
Material Culture and Consumer Society: Dependent Colonies in
Colonial Australia
Mark Staniforth
The Material Culture of Steamboat Passengers: Archaeological
Evidence from the Missouri River
Annalies Corbin
The Persistence of Sail in the Age of Steam: Underwater
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Donna J. Souza
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The Life and Times of
a Merchant Sailor
The Archaeology and History of
the N orwegian Ship Catharine
J
ason M. Burns
Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program
St. Augustine, Florida
Springer-Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bums, Jason M., 1972-
The Iife and times of a merchant sai lor: the archaeology and history of the Norwegian
ship Catharinelby Jason M. Bums.
p. cm. - (The Plenum series in underwater archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4613-4966-2 ISBN 978-1-4615-0209-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-0209-8
1. Catharine (ship). 2. Shipwrecks-Florida-Pensacola Beach 3. Underwater
archaeology-Florida-Pensacola Beach. 4. Excavations
(Archaeology)-Florida-Pensacola Beach. 1. Title. II. Series.
VM395.C35 B87 2002
387.5'09'034-dc2l
2002027465
ISBN 978-1-4613-4966-2
©2003 Springer-Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by K1uwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York in 2003
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 2003
http://www.wkap.nll
W 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
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of the work.
Foreword
Stroll along the white sands of Santa Rosa Island on Florida's Panhandle,
gaze out to the clear emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico, then close
your eyes and imagine this scene: at daybreak: the storm has abated, but
heavy seas still pound the beach. A full-rigged sailing ship lies stranded
barely 300 yards from shore, rolling precariously in the troughs of waves
that repeatedly break: over her hull. As the sky gets lighter, several groups
of tiny figures can be seen huddled together in the ship's rigging, seek
ing refuge from seas crashing on deck below.
This was the scene that greeted Life Saving Station keeper Robert
Broadbent on the morning of August 7, 1894. With the help of his teenage
daughters and volunteer crew he managed to rescue the vessel's 18 crew
members, but the ship Catharine could not be refloated and eventually
a second storm broke her hulk into pieces that disappeared beneath the
water. Struck from shipping lists, Catharine became another forgotten
casualty of Florida's coastline.
In this carefully researched study, Jason Bums resurrects
the story of Catharine, a ship that served under three different flags
before she came ashore near Pensacola. A veteran of late 19th-century
global maritime trade, she repaid her successive Canadian, British, and
Norwegian owners many times over by carrying a variety of cargos
between far-flung ports for 24 years, in a time when the average work
ing life of merchant vessels was just 18 years. After wrecking, some of
her gear continued service on other ships as recycled deck machinery.
For more than a century, Catharine's remains served as an occasional
nursery for marine life, alternately becoming exposed on the seabed,
then buried by sand during episodic tempests like the one that drove her
ashore.
Ultimately, Catharine assumed yet another life-as an archaeo
logical site and underwater classroom. As with several other Pensacola
shipwrecks (Deadman's Island Wreck, USS Massachusetts, the
v
vi Foreword
Emanuel Point Ship, and the Santa Rosa Island Wreck) the broken hull
and contents of this merchant ship were brought back into the public
eye as maritime archaeology began to thrive in northwest Florida. For
more than a decade, a partnership between the Florida Division of
Historical Resources, the University of West Florida, and the people of
Pensacola has fostered investigation and interpretation of this region's
maritime heritage through the study of sunken vessels that span almost
five centuries of shipping.
As reflected in this volume, shipwrecks and their contents offer
more than diving adventure and the collection of trophies. They offer
unique clues to the cultural systems of yesterday, once they are allowed
to tell their own particular story. In this case, Jason Burns has discovered
that Catharine has many stories to tell: the rise of Canadian shipbuild
ing; the global trade network of Victorian England; the Norwegian
reliance on sailing ships in the age of steam; and the intimate Norwegian
connection with Pensacola's timber industry.
I take great delight in the publication of this superb synthesis of
archaeology and history that so effectively demonstrates how the study
of one particular ship provides a broad insight into the cultural, politi
cal, and economic issues of the 19th-century maritime world. In The
Life and Times of a Merchant Sailor: Archaeology and History of the
Norwegian Ship Catharine, you will find a real treasure of knowledge
that once was lost under the waters of Pensacola but is now available
for everyone.
ROGER C. SMITH
State Underwater Archaeologist
Florida Division of Historical Resources
Preface
The remains of the Norwegian ship Catharine were archaeologically
documented during the summer of 1998 in the Gulf of Mexico, off
Pensacola Beach, Florida. After beginning the study of Catharine, I
began to realize that the shipwreck was only one link in a chain of events
that connected a single site to local, regional, and transatlantic history.
Originally christened as Eliza in 1870, the ship sailed from its building
site in St. John, New Brunswick, to Liverpool, England, where she was
quickly sold to British owners and renamed Carnarvonshire. Docu
ments indicate that the ship served 20 years in the British Merchant
Marine and was eventually sold to Norwegian owners, who she served
for four years. Drawn to Pensacola by its growing lumber industry, the
newly named Catharine attempted to make the pass and grounded on
August 7, 1894.
Historical archaeologists are in a unique position in that they have
the ability to analyze together historical documents and archaeological
data in order to generate hypotheses and draw conclusions. I was
fortunate enough to be able to track down much of the history of
Catharine, from its keel being laid through its wrecking and subsequent
salvage. What emerged was not only a vessel with a long and varied
history of her own, but one directly linked to the economic, social, and
political environments in which the ship was built and employed. This
study therefore attempts to utilize the detailed archaeological and his
torical study of one ship and its demise to gain insight into the broader
historical and cultural milieu of 19th-century Norwegian ships and
their connection to Norwegian maritime economics.
It has been the fault of shipwreck archaeologists in the past to
focus only on the shipwreck and the wrecking event itself. If we as
archaeologists seek the regularities of cultural practices, then we must
try to understand the reasons behind the sinking and the pre- and
postdepositional factors that led to the remains we are studying.
vii
viii Preface
Underwater archaeologist Larry Murphy has noted that often "the ship
will show material evidence of structural changes, repairs and alter
ations, and multiple use, sometimes in different social groups, during
its period of operation" (1983). Shipwrecks should not be seen as,
"synchronous snapshots frozen in time"; they are, as any archaeologi
cal site, part of a culture history that must be put into perspective in
order to be fully understood.
Primary sources consulted for this research include ship's regis
tration information documented in The Saint John Shipping Register,
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, Record of American
and Foreign Shipping, and Det Norske Veritas (The Norwegian Register).
Vessels are classified in ship's registries for insurance purposes, built to
known classification rules, and inspected to conform to these rules.
Ship's registers allow for the tracing of a vessel from its building through
its final disposition and provide information such as overall length,
breadth and depth of hold, number of decks, building materials used,
dates of repairs, and changes of ownership.
United Kingdom Board of Trade crew agreements were also con
sulted and provide dates and crew information for every voyage between
1870-1890. These agreements were worked out in advance between the
shipmaster and his crew and provide information such as dates and
times of departures, destinations, and pay and ration schedules for the
crewmen. Historical photographs of the vessel and wrecking incident
were also analyzed. Oral interviews were conducted with descendants of
the historical Norwegian community. In addition, census records and
family papers were used to further document Pensacola's Norwegian
community. Finally, United States Life Saving Service records and
contemporary newspaper accounts were invaluable in documenting the
grounding of Catharine and its final days on the beach.
Secondary sources varied from general histories of Canadian ship
building, British and Norwegian shipping, and Pensacola history to
detailed 19th-century ship construction manuals and specific Norwegian
community studies. Esther Clarke Wright's Saint John's Ships and Their
Builders, and Frederick William Wallace's Wooden Ships and Iron Men
and Record of Canadian Shipping all provide an excellent overview
of St. John shipbuilding and Canadian shipping. Bard Kollveit provides
a comprehensive overview of Norwegian shipping in Tradewinds: A
History of Norwegian Shipping, while Knut Gjerset's study Norwegian
Preface ix
Sailors in American Waters focuses on Norwegian shipping in and
around North America's East and Gulf Coasts. Wooden shipbuilding
and the development of sailing vessels throughout the world are
detailed in Basil Greenhill's Evolution of the Wooden Ship and Charles
Desmond's Wooden Shipbuilding. The history of Pensacola during this
period is covered by James McGovern's The Emergence of a City in the
Modern South: Pensacola 1900-1945. David Mauk's The Colony That
Rose from the Sea: Norwegian Maritime Migration and Community
in Brooklyn, 1850-1910 and Odd Lovoll's A Century of Urban Life:
The Norwegians in Chicago Before 1930 provide excellent models to
follow for Norwegian community studies.
Comparative Norwegian shipwrecks throughout the world were
analyzed using a variety of site reports, field season reports, and indi
vidual shipwreck evaluations, including Florida State University's
Dog Island Shipwreck Survey 1999: Report of Historical and
Archaeological Investigations, Don Morris and James Lima's Channel
Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment, Larry Murphy's Dry
Tortugas National Park Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment,
The Western Australia Maritime Museum's Field Expedition Reports
for the Dato, and the Gudrun and the Groupe de Recherche en
ArcMologie Navale (GRAN) Martinique report on the Cato.
By viewing Catharine contextually, this research not only focuses
on the history and archaeology of a single ship but also expands in
Chapter 1 to encompass Canadian shipbuilding and British ownership.
Chapter 2 details the Norwegian ownership and Norway's reliance on
secondhand sailing ships to dominate ship traffic. Chapter 3 discusses
Pensacola's rise as a lumber port, Norwegian shipping within Pensacola,
and Pensacola's historical Norwegian community as a whole. Chapter 4
focuses on the 1998 archaeological investigations performed at the
site of Catharine, including previous research, methodology, and field
work. Chapter 5 details the analysis of Catharine's artifact assemblage.
Chapter 6, the final chapter, presents the integration of the history and
archaeology, details other Norwegian shipwrecks around the world as
a basis for comparison, describes the significance of the site within local
history, and offers suggestions for other researchers.
This study should be considered as a jumping-off point for addi
tional research, consideration, and expansion of other 19th-century
x Preface
Norwegian ships. Research designs can be designed to take into account
the history of the vessel if it is known and questions can be asked of the
remains that may not have been thought of before. This utilization of
two independent data sets, archaeology, and documents, to form and test
new hypotheses is what makes historical archaeology unique and a
whole lot of fun.
JASON M. BURNS