Log Chips
magazine: an underutilised research resource
Log Chips is an important American maritime
history resource not hitherto available, as far as I can establish, in
Log Chips was compiled from 1948 to 1959 in
mimeographed (cyclostyled) form to link American maritime historian Dr John
Lyman (c.1915-1977) and a network of collaborators. Issue 1 defined Log
Chips as intended to supplement existing periodicals by presenting in a
simple format, lists and tabular matter of Aslight interest to the casual reader
but of permanent value to the serious student@; preliminary treatments of aspects
of recent maritime history for circulation among those having personal
knowledge of the facts and events; and observations and notes for which no
suitable medium of publication existed at the time.
12 supplements to Log Chips were
published between 1980 and 1985 by a number of Lyman’s former collaborators
under the editorship of Norman Brouwer.
Log Chips made a pioneering contribution to
systematic data collection and comparison in maritime history. Much of the
content deals with 19th and 20th century merchant sail with
a North American, British and European focus but it is of much wider interest
as the ships that it covers represent a major part of world fleets in most of
the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a major resource
both for world sail and one side of the transition from sail to steam. Even
though it may not cover a particular nation’s ships directly, the ships that it
does cover represent a major part of the international context in which those
ships operated. A substantial number of the ships that brought cargoes and
passengers to and from
The coverage of European sailing
ships (particularly Danish, Dutch and Norwegian) is particularly useful for
categories that are poorly covered in English and in Lloyd=s Register. A very useful series of
articles covers the scope of shipping registers. A few snippets on Australasian
books and information from NZ Marine News are included and of minor
interest as an indication of how Australasia impinged on the editors (eg they
picked up on hulks being scuttled in Cook Strait - we already know which ships
they were, of course, but it is a small part of the big picture of maritime
history publishing that the Log Chips editors included them as relevant
to their predominantly North American readership).
Such lists as those of four and five
masted schooners and Pacific Coast shipping published by Paul C. Morris and Jim
Gibbs parallel and extend some of those in Log Chips but others are not
matched by any other published source. Amongst other things, Log Chips
contains unique records of four-masted full-rigged ships (as distinct from
four-masted barques which are often not accurately differentiated in early
records) and a record of Danish four-masted schooners which were radically
different in size and type from the American use of this rig and are not
otherwise covered in English as far as I know. There are lists of
Log Chips also includes book reviews and
reports on current movements of surviving sailing ships (more numerous than one
might think in the 1950's) in similar style to the ASail Review@ features of Sea Breezes magazine
in the same period. Some of the book reviews contain very penetrating inside
knowledge of their technical strengths and weaknesses. An entertaining feature
of the last issue is a review of records of sea chanties noting which ones were
Anot recommended for the ears of your
maiden aunt@.
The primary relevance of Log
Chips to New Zealand and Australian maritime libraries is as part of a
package of resources that place in context those ships that visited these
countries, and contribute to understanding their evolution through time. In
addition, a significant minority of American Pacific Coast schooners and
barkentines brought lumber cargoes to Australia and New Zealand and several
ended their days in Australasia.
Log Chips ceased publication at the end of
December 1959. The 12 supplementary issues between February 1980 and January
1985 edited by Norman Brouwer effectively constitute a fifth volume. The main feature
of these is the completion of the coverage of British launchings of iron and
steel sailing ships back to 1838 but it also includes other information about
sailing ships, including Brouwer=s account of a tour through
A bibliography of Lyman=s writings is also available. Many
of his articles were published in the American Neptune and the Mariner=s Mirror. All issues of the American
Neptune and the Mariner=s Mirror are available in the Alexander Turnbull
Library,
The library of the Maine Maritime
Museum holds a complete set of Log Chips, though not the supplements.
A full set of Log Chips and the
supplements is being deposited with the NZ National Maritime Museum (
Jeremy Lowe
P O Box 12-295, Thorndon,
Wellington, New Zealand
email: j_lowe@ihug.co.nz
A biographical note
on Dr John Lyman, editor of Log Chips
John Lyman went from the staff of
the Scripps Institute of Oceanography,
Lyman joined the editorial board of
the American Neptune in 1942 shortly after its inception and served
until his death. He contributed many articles, notes, reviews, queries and
primary documents to the American Neptune and The Mariner=s Mirror between 1941 and 1977.
R. J. Lowe
P O Box 12-295, Thorndon,
Wellington, New Zealand
email: j_lowe@ihug.co.nz To return to main
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