A B O U T
On a lark and wanting to see the academy that turned me down, I decided to visit the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York in 2006. I was immediately taken by the ethos of self-sufficiency that permeated the place, and how it was born in the crucible of the Second World War. In the years after that visit, I decided to explore the people and entities that made up the American Merchant Marine in and around the war years. In looking at the Academy, in particular, I developed an appreciation for merchant seamen and their vocation – and for all the advances in seafaring technology, the simple fact remains: mariners still face the same capricious sea as did humanity when it first took to water-borne transport.
I studied Anthropology in college and it inspired me to remain open and curious about the world around me. In many of my classes, I found we can learn a great deal about a culture by focusing on discrete, bounded groups of people and their interactions with each other and their host culture. Through these groups, by extension, we can learn something about the human condition. This project uses those parameters in looking at the American Merchant Marine.
I embarked upon this project with the aim of going beyond the superficial embellishments of culture and understanding the symbolic systems at play within the American Merchant Marine. With this in mind, and using objects from my collection, I write about and examine a vital part of American history and culture; in the process, I hope to contribute to the overall knowledge of a relatively overlooked subject.
A B O U T T H E N A M E
A hawse pipe is a pipe passing through the bow section of a vessel that the anchor rode (chain or line) passes through. The name is evocative of the old merchant marine term “To come up through the hawse pipe” – meaning promotion to the wheelhouse from the lower decks. Officers promoted thus were once known as Hawse Pipe Officers. Nowadays, most ship officers are licensed maritime school graduates, but there are some hawsepipers still around. They are the mustangs of the Merchie world.
A B O U T T H E C O L L E C T I O N & C A P T I O N S
Unless otherwise noted, all objects are in my own collection. Images are mine or from other sources.
Collection sources:
- “Col.: IW” and unattributed items are mine.
- “Col.: AMMM” are from the American Merchant Marine Museum at Kings Point (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy).
- “Col.: U.S. Lines papers, AMMM” are from the United States Lines Papers Archive at the American Merchant Marine Museum at Kings Point (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy).
- “Col.: MIM” are from the Maritime Industry Museum at Fort Schuyler (SUNY Maritime).
- “Col.: USMMAAF” are from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association and Foundation.
- “Col.: Anon” are from collectors who wish to remain unnamed.
A B O U T T H E T E X T & C O P Y R I G H T
I work hard to contact all owners of images and attempt to ask permission to use the content of others. If you wish to use my text for award presentations, sell items on popular online auction websites, or present images on forums as examples of an object, contact me, I will usually say yes if all is properly attributed.