The Red Fleet Comes for Drinks

Soviet Admiral Chernavin, Head of the Red Fleet, proposes toast in our living room.

To his right is Mrs. Chernavin, to his left is Vice Admiral Navoytsev. Back to camera in uniform at right is American Navy Vice Admiral Walters.

  

The Soviet Navy Comes to the House for Drinks.  I mentioned the U.S. Soviet Naval “Incidents at Sea” agreement in an earlier post. http://thepersonalnavigator.blogspot.com/2011/04/today-is-lenins-birthday.html

            The annual meeting between senior officers of the U.S. and Soviet navies took place in Moscow in 1983.  We had a very nice dinner at the Soviet Navy’s reception hall, hosted by the Chief of their Navy, Admiral Vladimir Nikolayevich Chernavin. 

            Our return entertainment would normally have been held by the Ambassador at his quarters, but we were showing our displeasure with the Soviets then about their invasion of Afghanistan, and so we had the party at our apartment. 

            Now, normally, when the senior Soviet naval officers attended a party, they came without their wives. 

            As I was telling Marty, my wife, about this upcoming event, so she and our maid, Lyudmila, could prepare for it, I said, “Don’t worry, they never bring their wives.” 

            And of course, women don’t have to worry so much about entertaining men, because men don’t care all that much about the flowers, or other decoration, and that sort of thing.  However, my wife cares about all that, and she and Lyudmila put on quite a nice spread, with a big roast turkey, and lots of fancy hors d’oeuvres. 

            In Moscow, the walls always have ears, and the Soviet Navy must have taken my statement to my wife as a challenge, because on the night of the reception at our apartment, all the senior Soviet Navy officers, from the Chief of their Navy on down, brought their wives. 

            You could tell that a lot of these admirals’ wives don’t get around the party circuit in Moscow much, because they spent a lot of time admiring everything in our apartment…. They’d back up to a curtain and, with their hand behind them, give the fabric a good “feel.”  They’d quietly flip a plate over and look at the maker’s mark on the bottom, if they could do it without being noticed. 

            Now, during this time when we were displeased about Afghanistan the Russians would attend our parties, but leave 20 or so minutes later. 

            At this party, though, Admiral Chernavin, who is a very urbane, educated, literate and gentlemanly submarine officer, made a toast to our Ambassador, who was there, and to our Navy.  Chernavin is a tall, trim guy—not at all like the short, stubby little Admiral of the Fleet Sergei Gorshkov, who headed the navy for over 20 years.

            The whole group stayed for an hour, and they drank, and ate, and seemed to have a grand time, as did the visiting admirals from our Navy. 

            At some point, we noticed that we were running out of vodka, because everyone was drinking it so earnestly.  I sent out to borrow vodka from apartments of other diplomats in the building, including our general.  

            I managed to get a few more bottles, and if those Soviets would not have left when they did, we would have had a real problem:  out of vodka.  And to run out of vodka in the embassy in Moscow is a pretty sorry situation. 

Now, here are some books and papers:

How Plants Grow, a Simple Introduction to Structural Botany with a Popular Flora, illus. by 500 wood engravings; Botany for Young People and Common Schools By Gray, Asa, M.D.1878. New York, NY: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. 233 pp. 14.5 x 19.2 cm. Botany for Young People: How Plants Grow, How they are propagated or multiplied in numbers; why plants grown, what they are made for, what they do; How plants are classified, named and studied. This copy belonged to Ella F. Tarr of Rockport, Massachusetts, and she illustrates front free endpapers with calligraphy of her name, dated April 1877; in back of book is inserted a "Forget Me Not" embroidery pattern and a sheet of paper on which Ella sketched plant details. There's also a leaf, probably 130+ years old, inserted by the description of Wood-Sorrel Family. Decorated paper on board shows children planting a garden; leather spine with gilt title. Cover worn, text block good.  Note personal mementos of Ella F. Tarr, 1877. Overall Fair.  (4707) $25.00. Educational/Botany     

Map of Boston, 1920

Fingerpoint Map of Boston: The clearest map ever made of the city. Folded paper map of Boston, MA with Index to streets of Boston and Brookline.   1920    Boston, MA:  Sampson & Murdock Co. Publishers.  Map 72 x 90 cm. Foldout map in folder, very sharp detail.   Paper fold-out map has holes in folds, 1 cm chip on paper folder cover; fair. (8132) $17.00. Maps  

Christian Register, The; Boston and Chicago, Saturday, October 4, 1873 Boston, MA: The Christian Register. Very spirited, colorful commentary in this paper. Lead article: "The Roman Catholic Conception and the Infallibility" by Bishop Ferrette.  In prominent article on first page of this issue, controversial Greek Bishop Ferrette tells how two Roman Catholic doctrines came to be, as a triumph of one wing of the hierarchy over another. He writes about Gregory VII (Hildebrand) and his "miserable tool", Peter Damian.  Article is very critical and harsh about Roman Catholic faith and doctrine.  "A New Route for the Slave Trade" describes the illusory progress of the Egyptians. Talk of getting slave trade abolished in Egypt and Turkey.  Anti-Catholic. 4 pp. 56 x 70 cm. Newspaper, some pinholes and small tears  in folds,  good. (7373) $20.00. Religious/History

 This Week Magazine Cover, 3-14-43

This Week Magazine Section, The Boston Herald, March 14, 1943 Boston, MA: United Newspapers Magazine Corporation. 20pp.       27 x 35 cm.      Cover art shows young woman nurse's aide. Your Train is Late? Don't gripe about wartime delays, writes Louis Adamic. Rationing? Let's Ask England. Does the expanding U.S. rationing program scare you?  Look at England. Actress by Accident- -Geraldine Fitzgerald. Sunday magazine supplement, good. (5587)    $14.75. World War II/History/Advertising                                                                                                                   

Indians:  Lives of Celebrated American Indians by the Author of Peter Parley's Tales by Goodrich, Samuel G. [Peter Parley] 1843 Boston, MA: Bradbury, Soden & Co. Goodrich proposed three books on the Aborigines of North America-- this one aims to make the reader familiar with the real character and genius of that remarkable and peculiar race of men.  The conquerors and spoilers of America had strong motives for first hating, and then defaming, the Aborigines.  Cortez slaughtered millions and thus sought to justify his conduct by representing the Indians in the most degrading and revolting colors.  Pizarro also covered up his atrocities by representing the people he butchered as ungodly heathen. Among the  celebrated Indians in this volume are Manco Capac, Mayta Capac, Huayna Capac, Atahualpa, Caupolican, Ycholay, Tupac Amaru, Quetzlcoatl, Xolotl, Montezuma I and II, Cofachiqui, Vitachuco, Pocahontas, Philip, Pontiac, Logan, Brant, Tecumseh, Shongmunecuthe, and Black Hawk.  Illustrated.  Frontispiece is drawing of Logan of the Mingo or Cayga tribe. 315 pp. 11 x 17 cm. Marbled paper on board with quarter calf, front cover detached. Signature of “James A. Pirye, Adjutant" stamped on front free endpaper. Some pencil marks on text.  Poor. (2419) $56.00. History

Ruth's Post Cards, 1928

Ruth's Post Card Travelogue, 1928 by Bradford, Ruth  Boston, MA: Ruth Bradford, 18 Cedarlane Way. Ruth is on the "grand tour" of Europe, and sends home this detailed, colorful report of her adventures, carefully described on the backs of 22 post cards. She watches the fireworks for Bastille Day at Biarritz and warns her friend Lucia to stay clear of Nice. She tells about the violent hailstorm as her group drives through the Pyrenees. Luncheon in Quimper, visit to the potteries.  22 cards 9 x 14 cm. Twenty-two photographic post cards with a detailed travel journal written on backs. Very good. (6337) $65.00. American Originals/Travel

 Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

                                                                                                                        

Aïda, the Cat

Daughter Susan with Aïda, 1986

            Aïda the Cat was just a kitten when my daughter, Susan, rescued her on the streets of Naples, Italy.  She brought her to our palazzo, in the Posillippo section of Naples, and insisted that we give her a home. 

Naples Harbor with Mount Vesuvius in the haze

            Maria, our diminutive Italian maid, was delighted to see us taking an interest in a Neapolitan cat.  Then, one day I mentioned that we were going to have the cat “fixed”, and Maria looked horrified.  She crossed her arms in front of her own body and swore that if we touched that cat she would leave our employment. 

            After three years in Naples, it was time to go back to the U.S. We intended to give Aïda to a deserving family before we left, but then our daughter, age 14, announced that if we didn’t take Aïda, she was staying with the cat. 

            So, we went to a veterinarian, had the cat spayed and vaccinated, and started the paperwork process for taking her back to the United States. 

            I searched out an obscure office down on the waterfront in Naples, and there was the Official Inspector of Animals for Export.  He was the typical Italian bureaucrat, and he commenced very formally to fill out all sorts of forms and papers, and went into a frenzy of stamping a whole selection of rubber stamps on the forms. 

            Then we accompanied the cat to my next duty station, which was Newport, RI.

            After two years of teaching at the Naval War College, I was assigned to a year of schooling in preparation for an assignment as Naval Attaché in Russia. We bought a house in New Hampshire and the family, including Aïda, lived there while I was in various schools in Washington.

            Aïda made it to Moscow, and took up ownership of our apartment, and learned that she and our daughter were both welcome to visit the Barracks of the U.S. Marine Corps detachment in the Embassy.  The cat would sometimes escape our apartment and take a stroll down there. The Marines were always glad to see her.

After leaving Moscow, I was headed for my next assignment as Commander of a relatively small naval base on the southwestern corner of Japan, on the island of Kyushu, in Nagasaki prefecture.

On the way to my new assignment I stopped in Yokosuka to visit my new local area boss, a Navy Rear Admiral, to meet him and his staff, and learn about official relations with Japan and the Japanese Defense Forces. Then I would fly another 800 km. to Sasebo to take command there.

I was accompanying Aïda.
            When you carry a cat like Aïda, you are accompanying her, not the other way around.
            On my last night in Yokosuka, I attended a nice dinner hosted by the admiral.  When I returned to the Bachelor Officers’ Quarters I found that my cat had escaped. She had found a way to push out the screen in the bathroom and was now loose on the base.
            I took a box of dry cat food and went out walking around the building,
shaking the cat food, and calling for Aïda. That was our usual technique.

That cat never was enthusiastic about coming when I called her. In the Soviet Union the cat quickly formed a bond with all the young Marines in the Embassy Marine Detachment.  If my daughter or the Marines had called her, she’d have come running.
            The cat did not come to my calling, so I went to bed.
            I had an early flight to Sasebo the next day, so at about 4 a.m. I was up, dressed in Service Dress Blues, walking around in the dark outside the BOQ, rattling the cat food box again, calling "Aïda!!" desperately.  You can imagine the pitiful sight of a U.S. Navy captain, behaving like that.
            No cat. I finally had to leave to fly to Sasebo.  The admiral's aide agreed to put out the word for our cat.
            Several weeks later, I was entertaining a visiting group of doctors at our base in Sasebo, led by the Commander of the Navy Hospital in Yokosuka. I told him and his wife about losing the cat on the base at Yokosuka.  The wife said that she thought she had seen such a cat.

            A week later, Captain Miner, the Hospital Commander, called and said he thought he had my cat.  He had caught the cat walking on his roof and when he grabbed it, it bit him. In the meantime the aide, true to his word, had advertised in the base newspaper for the black cat that did NOT answer to its name.  According to the Hospital Commander's description, it was Aïda, so I asked my son, Mark, who was living with us, and working on getting into a college in Tokyo, to make a detour by Yokosuka to pick up the cat.
            Mark, who was traveling on his own funds, took the cheap train (36 hours round trip) rather than the expensive bullet train (8 hours).  He collected the cat, and brought her back to us in Sasebo.

When Aïda arrived, she walked calmly out of her cage onto the floor in our kitchen and looked at us as if to say, "What in hell has kept you people?"

Aïda was finally reunited with Susan, and when Susan married, Aïda accepted her husband Ted. She is now in cat heaven.

And now, the Personal Navigator offers these books:

Canning:  Sketch of the Character of Mr. Canning. From the National Intelligencer of Sept. 15, 1827 By  Rush, Richard  1828 Washington, DC: Gales & Seaton. Blistering picture of Great Britain's Foreign Minister, George Canning (1770-1827) published shortly after his death, apparently written by Richard Rush, but also attributed to John Quincy Adams.  Sketch accuses Canning of "British selfishness", toryism, undeviating support for monarchy, ridiculing popular movements. Canning was never the political friend of the U.S., writer states. "From Mr. Canning, literally nothing has been obtained -- no, never; though we have held frequent and protracted negotiations with the British Government, during his administration of the Foreign Office." 22 pp. 13 x 21 cm. Paper booklet, pencil notes on cover wrap: "Richard Rush, author". Minor foxing.  Good. (7929) $42.00. History/Great Britain

 Chelsea Fire: Souvenir Book of The Great Chelsea Fire April 12, 1908; containing 34 views of the burned district and prominent buildings also a descriptive sketch 1908 Boston, MA: N.E. Paper and Stationery Co.  Fire that started at about 11 a.m. in the Boston Blacking Company on West 3rd St. near the Everett line. So intense was fire that buildings made of solid granite crumbled and were entirely destroyed. Number of buildings destroyed was about 1500, and between 10,000 and 12,000 people were rendered homeless. Photos show various scenes of damage, including Stebbins Block, looking up Broadway from Third St., Everett Avenue, corner post of Granite Block, Cherry Street, Odd Fellows Building, Bellingham Hill, Chelsea Savings Bank Building, Williams School ruins on Walnut street, Shurtleff School ruins on Essex St. Also Ruins of City Hall and City Hall School on Central Avenue, more. 32 pp. 15 x 10.5 cm. Paper booklet, good. (7958) $48.00. History/Boston

 Plain Language from Truthful James by Bret Harte

Drawings by Joseph Hull

Plain Language from Truthful James, by Francis Bret Harte (1839-1902); Table Mountain, 1870; Collection of Nine Drawings by Joseph Hull. 1870 Chicago, IL: Western News Co. 9 prints, matted 20 x 25 cm. Plain Language from Truthful James by Francis Bret Harte (1839-1902); Table Mountain, 1870.  Collection of nine drawings by Joseph Hull, published by the Western News Company, 1870.  This collection dramatizes the racial prejudice against Chinese brought to America to work on the railroad in the 19th century.  Note the eighth drawing in the series, showing an all-out melee against the “Chinee”. Set of nine prints, matted in blue cardboard matting. Title card is not present. Lightly soiled. Print No. 6 has 1 x 1 cm chip in lower left hand corner. Good. (7093) $85.00 Humor/Poetry

Discourse Delivered by Rev. G.W. Samson, Pastor of the Baptist Church, Jamaica Plain, Mass. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, 1852. 1853 Boston, MA: Ticknor and Fields. Sermon praises fine American leaders, but cleverly swipes at them. Praises Daniel Webster and slams defenders of slaveholding. "Be assured of this... among a virtuous and pious people, immoral and irreligious rulers cannot exist. Among the majority of our men in station, there is a control over their appetites and passions such as men of less impulsiveness and less temptation have no conception of." If only Rev. Samson could get up and give us another sermon today...16 pp. 14 x 23 cm. Paper pamphlet, front cover nearly detached, owner name on front. Good. (3156) $24.00. History/Religious.

Discourse Delivered in the morning at Quincy and in the afternoon to the third Religious Society in Hingham on the Day of the State Fast, July 23, 1812 by Whitney, Peter, A.M. 1812 Boston, MA: John Eliot, Jun. Speaker addresses audiences on a day of fasting and prayer in opposition to "Mr. Monroe's War", the War with Britain in 1812. Notes two-thirds of Northern Senators opposed war. 16 pp. 14 x 23 cm. Paper booklet with coarse blue paper wrap. Pencil markings on title page. Good. (2658) $35.00. History

Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

The Millerites and Judgment Day, 1844

Judgment Day, Oct. 22, 1844

People took their religion seriously in 1844, and some of the most serious were the Millerites, followers of the Rev. William Miller of New York.  Miller had been studying parts of the Bible and had calculated that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would take place on October 22, 1844.  His followers were so thoroughly convinced that this would happen that some sold their houses and their businesses, and made no plans after October 22. 

It was a big disappointment to Millerites when nothing happened on Oct. 22, but writers to The Gleaner had a field day.  The October 26 issue had four letters ridiculing the gullible followers in four different towns around Manchester, NH, reporting how the Millerites had been so surprised.  In the Nov. 2 issue, a letter to the editor from Haverhill, MA complains about Millerism  "gulling the weak and credulous out of their money"…

  

Old newspapers give you a wonderful view of life in another time, and they give it as it rolls along, without the wisdom of a historian, just as reporters see it at the moment. You see mention of things that the observer thinks are interesting at the time, but all these years later, mean nothing. And, you see the first mention of events that grew and grew in importance over the years.

I read about the big Judgment Day of Oct. 22, 1844, and it surely sounded like the one coming up on May 21, 2011.

Mill Girls at Looms

Manchester in 1844 was a brash young town, with a rapidly growing population, most of the people engaged in the growing wool and cotton mills that used the power of the Merrimack River to spin acres of fabric for customers all over the United States and Canada.  Just six years before the Amoskeag textile manufacturing company was formed, and a sleepy farming village of some 125 souls began to grow, the State of New Hampshire incorporated it as a city in 1847, and by 1850 there were 13,932 people in Manchester.

Laborers extended the canals providing more water power from the Merrimack River, and mill buildings began to go up rapidly.  By 1844 two buildings were operating over 20,000 spindles and some 545 looms.

Farmers all over New England and New York, faced with tough times keeping their families clothed and fed, found that with more than one woman in the home, there wasn’t enough spinning, weaving, butter churning and such to justify another mouth to feed, and so they sent their daughters down to work in the mills of Manchester, for a dollar a week.

Immigrants from French Canada and Ireland also began to stream into town.

The Gleaner was an irreverent weekly paper of four pages per issue, loaded with snide remarks, insults, sneaky questions and innuendo.   With a town full of young, single mill girls, living in boarding houses many miles from their families for the first time, local men saw an opportunity for illicit affairs.

Many of these girls, all who worked perhaps six 12-hour days a week in the mills, came from God-fearing homes, but there were many stories of local Lotharios who succeeded in seducing some of them.

The Gleaner of Sept. 28, 1844 published a poem that captured the sense of the times:

                                                                                          "The Factory Girls Soliloquy-- Oh were my dwelling far remote, From men of evil minds; Away in some secluded spot, Or on some lonely mountain top, Where sol forever shines…."; 

There are numerous mentions of various males having questionable appointments with young mill girls.

            The Gleaner’s readers kept this weekly paper well supplied with juicy gossip, offered as “Gleaner pills.”  It seems that there was always someone around to observe men or women engaged in a bit of extramarital activity, or who were observed drinking or getting drunk; probably as often as not, people made up scandalous behavior for publication in this little paper.

In 1844 the Temperance movement was up to full steam, and with it came letters to the Editor of The Gleaner, noting which members of a temperance society were consuming alcoholic beverages, or even selling them.

In the Nov. 9, 1844 issue of The Gleaner, an editorial notes that Manchester's only bookbinder is a "tyrant", a "jackass" and an "ignoramus".   In that issue election news reported the status of electors voting for Clay and Frelinghuysen or Polk and Dallas, and predicted that next week should reveal who will occupy the White House for the next four years. [It was James Knox Polk.]

In the March 8, 1845 issue, there is more innuendo about activities at the mills: Letter from Exeter: Exeter wants to know if that swell head, E. Tuttle has told all he knows?"..."Ask E.T. if he did not get a dollar for telling a lie about a web he found on fire in the weave room?" "Wants to know how much the quaker, J.S. makes by keeping soap, combs, &c. to sell to the girls in the card-room?" 

Advertisements in The Gleaner give more color to the picture.

Announcement of New Oyster Saloon in Manchester, oysters and clams kept constantly on hand; also fruit, confectionary, nuts, cigars, &c.

—Sam Coulbourn

And now….here are some items I’m offering…

 Manchester NH, City of; and Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. Picture Book 1912 Manchester, NH: Manchester Chamber of Commerce. ~90 pp. 19.5 x 14.7 cm. Interesting collection of photos of Manchester, NH and of Amoskeag Mills, largest industry in Manchester. Amoskeag employs 15,000 people, who earn $150,000 weekly. Population of city in 1910 was 70,000.  Photo of graduating class of High School clothed in Amoskeag Gingham. Cover shows color picture of Indian looking out over Amoskeag Falls.           Paper booklet, moderate wear, inside front and back hinges repaired with cloth tape. Good. (7479) $49.00. Travel/Manufacturing     

                                                                              

Booth Shoots President Lincoln

Manchester Daily Union, Manchester, N.H. Tuesday, May 16, 1865  Manchester, NH: Campbell & Hanscom. By telegraph from Washington:  The assassination trial is open to reporters of newspapers. It is supposed that Jeff Davis will be brought to Washington and tried for murder. The Negro Problem in Kentucky is one of great practical moment. Negroes are leaving their homes by the thousands and are crowding into the towns, demoralizing and being demoralized.... the plantations are without labor, and crops cannot be grown. Uncertainty and confusion take the place of order, and poverty and disease must follow upon idleness and dissipation.  Negro Suffrage--the Abolitionists, not content with negro freedom, are clamorous for negro suffrage. Continued account of Assassination Trial...Mr. Lloyd, who kept a hotel at Surrattville, testified that several weeks before the assassination Booth and his accomplices came to his house, and brought two carbines and a rope... Testimony of Mrs. Surratt... Booth and Harold came to the hotel soon after midnight; Booth said, "I will tell you some news; I am pretty certain we have assassinated the President and Secretary Seward."  Commentary on Mission of the Democratic Party. Adv. New Dress Goods; Mourning Goods; Carpeting and Housekeeping Goods at Barton & Co., East Side Elm Street. 4 pp. 32 x 47 cm. Newspaper, some perforations in spinefold, good. (8030) $30.00. Civil War/History

Manchester Daily Union, Manchester, N.H. Wednesday, May 17, 1865 Manchester, NH: Campbell & Hanscom. By telegraph from Washington:  Assassination Trials. Members of the Military Commission met in Ford's Theatre this morning to view the premises. The military and civil authorities in Washington are still at variance. Report that the President has under consideration a new amnesty proclamation which will announce what classes of rebels are to be held for treason. John M. Buckingham, doorkeeper at Ford's theatre said Booth came in about 10 o'clock .. he then walked up the stairway leading to the dress circle, and that was the last time I saw him until he jumped upon the stage... James P. Ferguson: "About ten I saw Booth pass the open door leading to the boxes. I did not see him any more till he fired his pistol and jumped to the stage..."  More detailed testimony of trial. Wm. A. Browning, secretary to Pres. Johnson, testified that he went to Kirkwood House  between 4 and 5 in the afternoon of the murder and saw in Mr. Johnson's box  a card written by John Wilkes Booth. 4 pp. 32 x 47 cm. Newspaper, some perforations in spinefold, good. (8031) $30.00. Civil War/History

Manchester Daily Union, Manchester, N.H. Thursday, May 18, 1865 Manchester, NH: Campbell & Hanscom. By telegraph from Washington:  The Assassination Trial proceeds slowly. Jeff Davis will not be tried with the assassins now on trial for the murder of Mr. Lincoln.  It is expected that nearly all the rebel governors will be captured and tried. The Nashville Press learns that Gen. Forrest has been killed by Capt. Walker of the rebel army to revenge the killing of his son by Forrest. Editorial detects a "streak of bad faith" in the present treatment by the Johnson administration  of the Southern people. President Lincoln's assurances of fair treatment of Southerners did much to hasten the end of the war.  A delegation of negroes called upon Andy Johnson (President)  and got, we reckon, more than they bargained for."Some think they had nothing to do but fall back on the Government for support, in order that they may be taken care of in idleness and debauchery... 'Freedom' simply means liberty to work..." the President said.  One-and-one-half columns on continuing details of Assassination Trial.   4 pp. 32 x 47 cm. Newspaper, some perforations in spinefold, good. (8032) $30.00. Civil War/History

                       

Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

          

Turkomans and Nixon

Turkoman man and camel

Ever since we arrived in Iran, we had heard about this fabulous land of the Turkomans, up next to the border with the USSR.  Every Thursday, which is Moslem “Saturday”, they held a huge bazaar up there.

One morning the whole family loaded into our station wagon and headed up into the mountains northeast of Tehran, drove up to the Caspian Sea and then headed east to the town of Gorgan, an ancient city on the old Silk Road.

             We checked into a hotel and that night we enjoyed a wonderful Persian Kebab dinner. 

            This was the Turkoman area, and the Turkoman tribes move back and forth across the border with the Soviet Union – now Turkmenistan-- with ease.    The next morning we drove north to the village of Pahlevi Dej.

            Pahlevi Dej was near the border with Soviet Turkmenistan.  The village was filled with low houses, kids and chickens running around, and no grass.  Just sand.  Yet, it was tremendously colorful in the way folks dressed. Very few in modern garb. All around us were Turkoman men, in their native dress—broad, black karakul hats, long black overcoats, and feet wrapped in bindings. Turkoman women dress very colorfully. Also there are Qazan men, with the Asian appearance, who wear a small white turban with black stripes and the women are brightly dressed, color on color, with large colored shawls.

            We also saw Indian-looking people from Sistan or Baluchistan, and Pakistani-looking people wearing little bellboy hats. There were also Arabs wearing turbans with long tails down the back.  And Kurds with green turbans with little fringe on them.

The men drove large carts with wheels two meters in diameter.

I thought I was seeing a Russian historical movie.

Up here, girls don’t go to school. They learn early to weave rugs. And there are Turkoman rugs for sale everywhere. And  Baluchi and Bakhtiari rugs.

 Daughter Susan in Turkoman Rug Shop;

Note photo of Shah on the safe behind her.

  

            We visited a yurt, a traditional large, circular tent made with camel felt, sewn onto saplings or reeds stuck in the ground, bound at the top and covered with furs. At the center there is a hole for smoke and light. There was a samovar chugging away near the entrance.

            We went to the horse bazaar.  No women were there, except for my wife Marty and daughter Susan, age 7.  The men all squatted around, looking thoughtful.  There were 20 to 30 camels for sale, as well as horses, donkeys and sheep. A donkey went for 1500 rials and a camel for 15,000 (about $70). 

            Twelve years later, when we were stationed in the USSR, we visited a similar bazaar in Ashkhabad (now Ashqabat), the capital of Soviet Turkmenistan, and saw the same scene:   the colorful dress, the carpets… with one difference.  One guy offered me some hashish.  In Iran in 1971, with the Shah in charge, a Savak man would have arrested a drug dealer and there’d be a speedy trial and execution. As a diplomat, I’d be on my way out of the country. Today in Iran they are just as serious about drug dealing.

 Shah and Queen Farah greet Mr. and Mrs. Nixon at Tehran

May 30-31, 1972: President Nixon visits the Shah on his way back from a trip to Moscow.  Nixon had not arrived yet that day, but car bombs were reported going off all over Tehran. 

            Today,  car bombs in the Middle East are an everyday occurrence, but in 1972, they were rare.

The chief U.S. Air Force advisor in Iran, Brigadier General Harold Price, was being driven from his compound that morning when a bomb went off under his car.  He was hurt, as was his driver, but the only fatality was an Iranian woman who happened to be walking nearby when the explosion hit the car. 

            We all went to Mehrabad Airport to greet our President, and watched as the Shah, Queen Farah and his generals met Nixon and escorted him to an honor guard, and then they all traveled by a triumphant motorcade into the city.

            The Shah had long admired Nixon, and Nixon wanted to keep the Shah as an ally, because with U.S. support, Iran was taking over the role as “policeman” for the West in Southwest Asia and the Indian Ocean area.  However, just at this time, the Shah was anxious to raise world oil prices, and Nixon wanted to keep oil prices down.

            We didn’t know it at the time, but now we learn that Nixon considered getting rid of the Shah, but he was afraid that his replacement would be worse. 

            However, before he could push the Shah out, Nixon himself was out of office.  The Shah followed five years later.  It turns out, the Shah’s replacement, in the eyes of the West, was worse.

Here are some books and papers the Personal Navigator is offering:

 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi 

Iran Today, A Quarterly Review, Vol. I No. 1  published by the Department General of Information and Broadcasting, Tehran, Iran ca. 1956 Tehran, Iran: Dept. General of Information & Broadcasting. This magazine-format booklet features full-page photos of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi and Queen Sorayya (Soraya). History of Iran. Persian culture. Zoor Khaneh. Olympic Success in 1948 games. Woman of Iran, photo of Queen in fur coat, inspecting women at evening class. Photos of visits by Iskandar Mirza of Pakistan, Sokarno of Indonesia, Conrad Adenauer of West Germany and Camille Chamoun, of Lebanon. Radio Tehran broadcast schedule. 48 pp.  21 x 29 cm. Paper booklet, very good. (7760)  24.00. Cold War/History     

       

Pakistan Times, The: Largest Circulation of any English Language Daily in Pakistan; Lahore, Saturday, March 22, 1958 (Ramazan-ul-Mubarak 1377 A.H.) 1958   Lahore, West Pakistan: The Pakistan Times. "West Pakistan Budget Passed"  Five more members of the Muslim League crossed over to the Republican side on Friday. "E. Wing Govt. Crisis" news from Dacca that 11 members of the Awami League Coalition Parliamentary Party  have withdrawn support from the Government.  AFP reports from Damascus that more than 200 Iraqi army officers have been arrested following an attempt to execute a coup d'etat in Iraq. Ramazan moon has been sighted in Lahore and Lyallpur. Tomorrow the Republic of Pakistan will celebrate the second anniversary of its birth.  Festivities have been planned  on an elaborate scale all over the country. Photo of Pakistani flag being raised on stern of PNS Jahangir, formerly destroyer HMS Crispin, in ceremony at Southampton, UK. Photo of Princess Birgitta of Sweden, in gymnastics uniform, rehearsing for yearly exhibition in Stockholm.  Tehran paper reports new pact by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, says initial move was by Pak Prime Minister, Malik Firoz Khan Noon. 8 pp.  44 x 60 cm. Newspaper, 2 cm closed tear in front page,  good. (7928) $22.00. History/Cold War Era

Plymouth Pulpit: A Weekly Publication of Sermons preached by Henry Ward Beecher, Saturday, July 4, 1874; Vol. 2 No. 15 New York, NY: J.B. Ford & Co. Subject: The Immortality of Good Work. Beecher: "It is blessed to live; but it will be yet more blessed, having lived well, to die-- and for this reason: that our works follow us." 'Indeed, after Christ died he lived more efficaciously than when he was alive." "blessed are the dead; they rest from care and sorrow, and their work goes on and follows them." 24 pp. 14 x 19.7 cm. Paper booklet, very good. Includes small leaflet with poem: "My Times Are in Thy Hand." (5908) $15.00. Religious

1968 Peace Calendar & Appointment Book; Out of the War Shadow, an Anthology of Current Poetry Levertov, Denise, Compiler/Editor 1967 New York, NY: War Resisters League, 5 Beekman Street, NYC. Collection of poems by living (in 1967)  American and Canadian poets, written in the context of "longing for peace", "we are living at war." Poems by Galway Kinnell, Hayden Carruth, Barbara Gibson, Barbara Deming, Lewis Turco, Muriel Rukeyser, Sister Mary Norbert Körte, O.P., James Laughlin, William Lee Coakley, Dick Lourie, Gary Snyder, Harriet Zinnes, Gilbert Sorrentino, Allen Grossman, W.R. Moses, Gary Youree, Eileen Egan, William Burford, Emmett Jarrett, Vern Rutsala, Gail Dusenbery, Louis Zukofsky, many more. 62 pp. 13 x 20.7 cm. Paper booklet with spiral binding, heavy card cover, pages numbered in pen, good. (7996) $35.00. Cold War/Poetry

Berlin, 27. Februar 1969 "Ha, Ho, He -- Nixon is okay!" Booklet issued in commemoration of visit of President Nixon to Berlin text by Waldmann, Helmut 1969 Berlin, Germany: Presse- und informationsamt des Landes Berlin. Cover features color photo of President Nixon standing in open limousine in motorcade through Berlin, while Berliners wave. Introduction to text by Bürgermeister Klaus Schütz. Photos of arrival, visits to Charlottenburg Palace and Siemens Factory, photos of departure. Statement by Nixon, upon return to Washington: "If you could have been with me as  rode through the streets of Berlin on a snowy cold day and have seen the hopeful faces in those crowds on the streets....you (the American people) would have been proud that America did meet her world responsibilities in helping others defend their freedom." 64 pp. 19 x 20 cm. Paper booklet, very good. (7770) $21.00. Cold War/History

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Cold....

Cold.

USS Sablefish

                I don’t remember being cold as a child, probably because I grew up in Port Arthur, Texas. 

There are times, though, that I remember being really cold. 

            Submarines.  Life in a diesel submarine on patrol could be very cold.  We were assigned to patrol a barrier up off Iceland.  This was peacetime (1961-62) but we were always practicing for the time when the whole Soviet submarine force would pour out of Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and other northern ports and head for the United States. 

            We would patrol at best sonar listening depth—maybe 150 feet—for several hours, and then, when it was dark, we’d come to periscope depth, and if the coast was clear, we’d put up our snorkel and light off our diesel engines and charge the batteries. 

In the North Atlantic it is usually pretty rough, so the snorkel valve would open and shut as the waves hit it.  If the valve would stay shut for a minute or so, the engine, which required a lot of air to operate, would suck the air out of the submarine, and particularly out of your ears, until it got to such a vacuum that it would shut down the engines. (That may explain why I wear hearing aids today. That and the guns.)

            Difficulty charging meant that we tried to economize on that battery.  In addition to proceeding at about three knots, we kept the heaters on only the bare minimum, and we didn’t use water except to drink.  It was really cold in that boat.  No showers, no shaving. 

            Soon it would come time to surface, and we’d race up to the bridge and set the watch.  In those waters, the heavy waves were usually crashing over the bridge, so you wore full immersion suits, and you strapped yourself on to your station so a wave wouldn’t wash you overboard.  There were just two lookouts and the officer of the deck up there, and it could be cold, and wet. 

            We made a long snorkel transit one time during the winter, from waters off Iceland to Massachusetts Bay. It was near zero degrees F. when we surfaced and motored on the surface toward Salem, MA, and ice was forming all over our decks.  I remember watching the fishermen I saw, out in this miserable weather, glad that I didn’t have their job. Shortly afterward, it was time to go back out to sea, and when we dove, we couldn’t submerge!  All that ice on our decks made us very buoyant.   Soon, though, several tons of it broke loose, and we submerged, sinking like a rock!  We recovered, but it was scary.

            We’d been at sea for a couple of months, and since we were entering port the next day, and we’d eaten all the potatoes stored in the officers’ shower, we could take showers. Even though the shower was only 30 seconds long, it was hot and wonderful!

 Peter & Paul Fortress on the Neva River, Leningrad, 1982

The Soviet Union.   I was assigned as Naval Attaché in Moscow, 1981-83.  Most of our work consisted of traveling to other cities where we could observe the USSR in all its glory.  As a naval officer, I led a group of two naval officers and one Marine officer and some of us were on the road nearly all the time. 

            Most of our trips consisted of catching the midnight train from Leningrad Station en route Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).  We would arrive in that far northern city about 8 a.m.  and a driver would pick us up and take us to the American Consulate.  We kept a small four-wheel drive vehicle, a Soviet Niva, at the Consulate for our business.  As soon as we dropped our bags at the Consulate, we would get in the Niva and start our travel around the city. 

            Our job was to observe as much as possible of the construction of new warships at the many shipyards in and around Leningrad.  We would also observe what ships were in the harbor, and in the Neva River, including barges and ships, which traveled back and forth in the Soviet canal system.

            Some of the time, we would park our Niva and get out and walk, often in heavy snow, to get the best look at a particular intelligence target. 

            The KGB knew when we had filed to travel to Leningrad, and they generally followed us wherever we went.  Sometimes they followed us closely; sometimes they kept their distance. 

            Usually our routine included a walk along Lieutenant Schmidt’s Embankment of the Neva, where we could see a lot of ships tied up all along the embankment.   The KGB assigned a crew of “goons” to keep an eye on us there.  The head goon was a fellow we called “Fats.”  He had followed generations of western attachés.

            Slogging in that snow along Schmidt’s Bank was a cold exercise. 

            Sometimes we would be driving to view various shipyards, and stop for a lunch break at Harry’s Pie Shop.  Its real name, in typical Soviet fashion, was probably “Lunch Shop No. 237” or such.  Harry’s was a place that turned out really greasy pirozhki, or little pastries, stuffed with shredded cabbage or meat.  And if it were meat, you didn’t want to know any more about the meat.   They served these little pies with glasses of hot tea, loaded with sugar.  Or, you could walk outside the shop and find a little man with a portable tank, selling kvass or beer.  Kvass is a lightly-fermented drink made from stale bread.  The beer was watery and fairly tasteless.     If you decided to buy a glass of kvass or beer, it would set you back about ten cents U.S., and you got to drink out of the same glass the previous customer had used. 

            So, out of the cold we would come, to stand at the high tables in Harry’s, and eat a couple of pastries and drink sugary tea.  Then, back we would go to the snowy world of Leningrad. 

            Russians wear marvelous fur hats, which are quite comfortable in cold weather.  However, there is an ethic that they observe:  Real men don’t put the flaps down until it is “Minus dvadsat gradusov” or –20° C., which equates to –4° F. Russians say that only drunks and students put the flaps down in warmer temperatures. 

            Moscow traffic policemen are recruited from Siberia, I am told.  You see them, in their long gray coats, standing in the middle of the road, directing traffic for hours, in the bitterest weather.  These guys must have a layer of fat on them like a walrus, to withstand that cold. 

            

And now we live on Cape Ann in Massachusetts.

           

.Winter swimmer in the Neva

Now, the Personal Navigator has books and papers to offer:

Seamen's and Boatmen's Manual, The; Original and Revised by J.K. Davis, Chaplain, Troy, N.Y. First Edition            1847    New York, NY: Robert Carter, 58 Canal Street. 179 pp.         9.5 x 15.7 cm.  Rare religious guidance for Seamen and Boatmen. Address on Profane Swearing; address to youths employed as drivers on the canals; The Coming of Christ; Jonah in the Ship; Jesus in the Ship; The Sailor's Last Letter; The Orphan Sailor Boy; more. Chaplain relates his experience in saving souls aboard ship.   Blindstamped cloth on board with gilt lettering on spine. Two cm. crack on front hinge on cover, some pages foxed, last 7 pages dogeared; good. (8131) $100.00. Religious/Nautical                                               

Oliver Hazard Perry on Lake Champlain

 The Naval Monument,  containing official and other accounts of all the battles fought between the Navies of the United States and Great Britain during the late war; and an account of the war with Algiers with engravings            1830    Boston, MA: George Clark.  This is an incomplete copy, missing about ten pages and ten of 25 engravings, but it is still a marvelous piece of naval history, with its accounts of battles of the War of 1812, and of the War with Algiers,  letters written by the officers who fought; at end of book is peace treaty with Algiers, signed by President James Madison, and a Naval Register, with names of officers and midshipmen, surgeons, pursers and Marines. Battle of USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere, report by Capt. Isaac Hull; Report by Pres. Madison of Decatur's report of capture of HMS Macedonian by Frigate United States. Report of Capt. Bainbridge of USS Constitution of the capture and destruction of HMS Java. Loss of USS Chesapeake and Capt. James Lawrence to HMS Shannon, in battle that began within sight of Boston. Details of funeral of Capt. Lawrence, held by British at Halifax, N.S. Near death, Lawrence  had said "Don't Give up the Ship" a slogan used next by Commo. O.H. Perry at the Battle of Lake Champlain. Details of deaths of Capt. Lawrence and Capt. Broke, RN, captain of HMS Shannon.  Report of funeral shows remarkable chivalry and gentlemanly behavior between British and Americans. Report of Naval investigation of loss of Chesapeake exonerates Lawrence, but notes that ship's bugler, who had deserted his post, caused failure of boarders to come on deck to board HMS Shannon. Letter from Capt. Broke of Shannon to Capt. Lawrence of Chesapeake inviting him to the combat that resulted in the deaths of both men. 328 pp. 14 x 23 cm. Red leather on board with gilt design, 3 cm closed tear in spine leather. Frontis.  engraving missing; pp. 11-14 missing, incl engraving; pp. 35-38 missing, incl 2 engravings; engraving at p. 41 missing; engraving at p. 76 missing left 2 cm.;  pp. 83-86 missing, incl. 4 engravings; additional engr at p. 144 (Key to McDonough's victory); pp. 155-158 missing incl. engraving; in all only 15 of 25 engravings are present, and ten pages appear to be missing. Overall incomplete and poor. (2311) $50.00. Naval/History

Boston Courier  Semi-Weekly, Thursday, August 13, 1829 Buckingham, J.T. 1829 Boston, MA   : J.T. Buckingham, Editor and Proprietor. This is a lively Boston paper from the time when Andrew Jackson was President.  "Letters from a Boston Merchant"  recalls that in last chapter he said that Japan was "Paradise of Dogs"--- rambling discussion about hunting for dogs and dog-hospitals.   Refuge for Destitute Mosquitoes.. relates tale of a man on the Dorchester flats where the mosquitoes are as large and as hungry as in Turkey, and of man who bet he could strip bare and lie naked for five minutes with mosquitoes.  Japanese have taste for fine gardens. "Extinction of Egypt" dissertation on course of the Niger, speculation on physical extinction of Egypt.  Commentary on Boston Newspapers reports opinions oif Mr. Ruffleshirt, Mr. Neverchange, Mr. Firebrand, Mr. Scrupulous and Mr. Sugarplum.  Adv. with illustration of Patent Sponge Boots for Horses' Feet.  See James Boyd, 27 Merchants' Row. 4 pp. 39 x 53 cm. Newspaper, worn, fair. Name "G. Wilkinson" written at top of front page. (8078) $30.00. Newspapers/History

Boston Courier  Semi-Weekly, Thursday, January 7, 1830 Buckingham, J.T. 1830 Boston, MA:  J.T. Buckingham, Editor and Proprietor. Editorial critical of discourse in Congress in Washington re debate about distributing proceeds  of the public lands by Mr. Polk. "Where words abound much fruit of solid sense is seldom found."  Commentary on the "Jacksonism" of Mr. Thomas D. Arnold of Tennessee. Report of proposal by DeWitt Clinton to build a railroad from New York to the state of Missouri.  Report from France notes that French journals continue their "harpings" suggesting that the days of the French monarchy are numbered. 4 pp. 39 x 53 cm. Newspaper, worn, fair. (8056) $24.00. Newspapers/History

 Spirit of Sail: On Board the World's Great Sailing Ships 1987 New York, NY Henry Holt & Co. 175 pp. 24 x 31 cm. This is a magnificent work, with beautiful photographs aboard the finest tall ships in the world, by Peter Christopher, with text by John Dyson. Cloth on board, excellent condition. Dj has two minor scratches, else excellent. (0719) $40.00. Nautical/ Picture Books.

Travel Diary of Mrs. Harry Worcester, 1954 handwritten by Worcester, Mrs. Harry 1954. West Swanzey, NH: ephemera 28 pp. 10 x 16 cm. Leather "Travels Abroad" Diary: Mrs. Harry Worcester records trip she and husband took from Keene, NH to NYC, thence from Idlewild Airport via KLM Lockheed Constellation first to Gander, Nfld, then to London, then to Brighton by train; Banquet at Strand Hotel; met Mayor Dudley; back to London, tour, then by train to York, touring, visit The Shambles, on to Edinburgh; touring Scotland, then to Glasgow and steamer to Belfast, N. Ireland; train to Dublin; Dun Laoghaire then steamer to Holyhead, and train for  Caernarvon, Wales; Criccieth to Bristol, then London; flight to Chaumont, France; Harry visited places where he trained during World War I; Neuf Chateau, Verdun; Paris, Chalons-sur-Marne; sleeper train to Basel, CH, then Lucerne, Zurich, then another sleeper for Calais; rough crossing to Folkestone, then to London; flight home on KLM Connie to Shannon, Gander and Idlewild.  Green leather Travel Diary (only 28 pages of entries) with unused pencil in loop, very good. (7644) $30.00. Travel/Ephemera

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