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Someone asked off-list where I found the complete text of Zach's letter
regarding Cleopatra's Barge. It's from "The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem"
by Paine published in 1912. That's the most complete translation of the
original that I was able to find online. The original letter was published
in 1820 in French in "Correspondence astronomique, geographique,
hydrographique, et statistique". It has been published in translation many
times (usually in reference to Bowditch's fame) but usually just one or two
paragraphs. Paine's book is available on Google Books. The entire volume can
be downloaded as a pdf. Zach's letter begins on page 208.

By the way, if you would like to see either of the vessels I mentioned in
the previous post, visit Google Images here: http://www.google.com/imghp
and search on the vessel's name. For unique names, this is a quick way to
find what you're looking for. The top 12 hits for "Thomas W. Lawson" are
images of the seven-masted schooner. One of those is a stamp from the
Republic of Djibouti portraying the vessel. Following that link led to this
caption: "The turn of the century saw many sailing vessels employed in the
oil trade. The world's only seven-masted schooner 'Thomas W. Lawson', built
1902, was reconstructed for the carriage of oil in bulk during 1905. (Stamp
on right.) Following two years in the U.S. coastal trade, it embarked on its
first and last transatlantic crossing, loaded with 58,300 barrels of lube
oil. The stormy voyage took six weeks and ended on Friday, the 13th of
December 1907 on the rocks of the Scilly Isles, resulting in the first case
of oil pollution in the Channel, exactly 60 years prior to the 'Torrey
Canyon'. " ...that's another way this story is often told; as the first
modern story of oil pollution. And there is indeed a certain irony that it
was a super-schooner that began it all. Also, there's a reminder here that
improbable stories are sometimes true: 'lucky seven' sank on Friday the 13th
(the US date at the time of the sinking).

If you search Google Images for Cleopatra's Barge, it's a little less
successful since, well, first of all, there was the original --the vessel
supposedly owned by the Queen of Egypt, and second, there's a club in Las
Vegas at Caesar's Palace (complete with floating dance floor) that has the
same name. Nonetheless, if you scroll down in the first page of the search
results, you will soon enough see something that looks like a 19th century
sailing vessel. And that's it: Crowninshield's yacht de luxe. That image is
located on the web site of a navigation list member. Small world.

 -FER

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