Peconic Bay by Marilyn E. Weigold

Author:Marilyn E. Weigold
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780815653097
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 2016-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

4

At War

Down to the Sea in Subs

The genial host and his world-famous guest were no strangers to conflict. One produced weapons of destruction; the other had recently witnessed the ravages of war in Cuba. The guest, seventy-seven-year-old Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, took her host, John Holland, designer and builder of submarines, to task for manufacturing lethal weapons. He, on the other hand, viewed the stealth craft produced at the Holland Company, the New Suffolk firm he had established, as deterrents to conflict. Despite this difference of opinion, Miss Barton and Mr. Holland seemed to have gotten on famously when she, along with other distinguished guests, visited New Suffolk on Sunday, July 23, 1899, a day when the weather was anything but auspicious. Despite the mist and oppressive humidity, the weather did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the A-list invitees who included Miss Barton’s brother Stephen, an official of the American Red Cross; Frank Leavitt of Sag Harbor’s Bliss Torpedo Company and various members of his family; several attorneys, including E. B. Frost, counsel for the Holland Company; and assorted army and navy brass.

Once on board the Holland Company’s yacht Gleam, guests were accorded VIP treatment, including “a finely prepared luncheon.”1 The repast was followed by special tours of the company’s prototypical submarine, known simply as the “Holland boat.”2 A sudden and unusually severe thunderstorm stirred up the normally calm waters of the bay to such an extent that the planned demonstration of the sub was canceled, but when Mother Nature relented, the guests were able to board the sub. The military men and those from the Bliss Torpedo Company “went aboard first and made a lengthy examination.”3 When they completed their tour, to the surprise of some male skeptics who believed a woman’s presence on board meant bad luck, female guests were invited to inspect the sub. According to the weekly newspaper the Corrector (Sag Harbor):

The remainder of the party then took a look below, and contrary to previous custom some of the ladies were allowed on board. Miss Barton was one of this number and her advanced years did not hinder her from walking along the narrow superstructure and crawling down the narrow kettle like hole that affords the only entrance to the strange craft.4

Later that afternoon, when the Gleam set sail for Sag Harbor, she was escorted by the sub for part of the trip. Although the submarine did not completely vanish under the waters of Peconic Bay, “there was but little of her visible and she looked like a boat that had turned turtle, and at a distance might easily be taken for a tide rip.”5

John Holland remained on board the Gleam until all of his guests were safely deposited at Sag Harbor or Greenport. The Corrector noted, “He and his attorney, Mr. Frost, proved genial hosts and made the day a delightful one for all.”6 What the Corrector did not report was that Frost was the real power at the Holland Company, following its acquisition by the Electric Boat Company.

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