The National Maritime Historical Society Honors Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Princess Anne

Peekskill, NY, September 4, 2015 (Newswire.com) -  The National Maritime Historical Society is privileged to announce that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne will be the guest of honor at the 2015 Gala Annual Awards Dinner on October 29, 2015 at the New York Yacht Club.

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne will receive the Distinguished Service Award for her diligent support of the maritime heritage of Great Britain and her patronage of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. The Princess Royal’s commitment and influence has been an invaluable asset in saving and restoring critically important historic ships and maritime museums. In particular, her role as Patron of the National Museum of the Royal Navy and of HMS Victory has made a critical difference to preserving Great Britain’s maritime history.  Gary Jobson, America’s Ambassador of Sailing, will present the Distinguished Service Award to Her Royal Highness.

Admiral of the Fleet, The Lord Michael Boyce, KG GCB OBE DL, President of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum and chair of the HMS Victory Preservation Company, will accompany HRH and speak about the preservation of the world’s oldest commissioned warship.  

National Maritime Historical Society Chairman, Ronald L. Oswald of Wayne, NJ, will receive the David A. O’Neil Sheet Anchor Award for his tireless commitment and support to the Society.  He has served on the executive board of the Council of American Maritime Museums, and has spearheaded the project to put a headstone on the unmarked grave of clipper ship designer John Griffiths. He initiated NMHS’s participation in the annual National History Day to encourage 600,000 students to study maritime history.  Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., USCG (Ret.), the 24th commandant of the US Coast Guard and current US special representative for the Arctic, will present the David A. O’Neil Sheet Anchor Award to Mr. Oswald. 

Award-winning yachtsman and previous recipient of the NMHS Distinguished Service Award Richard T. du Moulin of Larchmont, NY, will be Master of Ceremonies. George W. Carmany III, of Boston, MA, the 2014 recipient of the NMHS Distinguished Service Award, is chairing this year's event. The US Coast Guard Academy Cadet Chorale, directed by Dr. Robert Newton, will provide the evening’s entertainment.

Funds raised at the dinner will go directly toward the Society’s mission of preserving maritime heritage for generations to come with a portion given to the National Museum of the Royal Navy for their restoration project of HMS Victory.

 The National Maritime Historical Society is a not-for-profit membership organization whose mission is to raise awareness of maritime heritage and the role seafaring has played in shaping civilization. The Society publishes Sea History, a quarterly maritime journal, and seeks to educate about extraordinary maritime accomplishments and their continuing relevance for prosperity and cultural vitality.  Initiatives encompass publications, educational programs, sail training and preservation of historic ships.

The National Maritime Historical Society is located at 5 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill, New York on the Hudson River. For more information about the Society or to become a gala sponsor, call 914 737-7878 or email nmhs@seahistory.org.

###

HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne

Princess Anne has been closely involved with the National Museum of the Royal Navy since its inception and, prior to this, with the Royal Naval Museum, one of the four founding partners of the National Museum. Her Royal Highness takes a close personal interest in its achievements and future plans. The Princess Royal has visited the museum on many occasions, as well as hosting events at Buckingham Palace. The National Museum of the Royal Navy is honored to have Princess Anne as its Patron; her support has been key to its many achievements. The Princess Royal is also Patron of the Unicorn Preservation Society. HMS Unicorn, launched in 1824, is the only example of a wooden frigate of her type still in existence; she is being preserved in her current condition.

HRH is a keen sailor and is President of the Royal Yachting Association. In April 2015, HRH met the crews of the British Universities and Colleges Sport Yachting Nationals to present the awards. University sailing provides opportunities for students to get involved with yacht racing and sailing. The Princess Royal was the Patron for London 2015 International Shipping Week, which aimed to promote the importance of global shipping.

The second child and only daughter of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Princess Anne was born in 1950 at Clarence House, London, and baptized Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise at Buckingham Palace. She attended Benenden School, a boarding school in Kent, and thereafter began taking on public engagements. In 1987, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II conferred upon her the title Princess Royal, a title often given to the eldest daughter of the ruling British sovereign; she is the seventh princess to hold this title. Princess Anne was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) (1974), Extra Companion of The Queen’s Service Order (1990), and a Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (1994), and she was appointed to the Order of the Thistle, in recognition of her extensive charity work in Scotland, in 2000.

The Princess Royal is sometimes called “the hardest-working royal” and “the busiest royal,” recognizing her demanding schedule; she attended over 500 engagements last year. Save the Children Fund was the first major charity with which she was associated; she has been its President since 1970. Founded in 1917 to aid children in war-ravaged Central Europe, today Save the Children is active in 120 countries, offering assistance through health and nutrition programs, education, and disaster relief.

Princess Anne is an accomplished equestrian; she won the individual title at the European Championship three-day event in 1971, and she was voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. She followed up with a silver medal in the individual and team events at the 1975 European Eventing Championship, and she was a member of the British Olympic Team at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

The National Maritime Historical Society is honored to recognize Her Royal Highness with the 2015 Distinguished Service Award.

ABOUT HMS Victory

HMS Victory, veteran of the American War for Independence, the French Revolutionary War, and the Napoleonic War, was the flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar and the site of his death. Today she is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and a beloved national symbol, marking the 250th anniversary of her launch this year.

Preserving a wooden vessel of Victory’s age and complexity is an enormous undertaking; she has undergone several “great repairs.” By the turn of the last century, she was in very poor condition; in the 1920s, the Society for Nautical Research spearheaded a fundraising campaign to address the problem. Victory was moved into dry dock, and over £100,000 was raised through souvenir and commemorative medal sales, ticket sales from a commemorative film, and private donations. A cradle was constructed to support the ship, and significant repairs were made. The next large-scale conservation project began in 1955 and lasted until 2002.

Today, while Victory remains a commissioned warship of the Royal Navy under her commanding officer and ship’s company, her care is overseen by the HMS Victory Preservation Company, founded in 2012 and initially funded with a £25 million (about $39 million) capital grant from the Gosling Foundation, along with a matching grant from the British Ministry of Defense, and led by Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Michael Boyce. The HMS Victory Preservation Company laid out a plan to address the ship’s needs so that she might survive for future generations; the entire project is estimated to take thirteen years and cost £35 million. First, the organization took steps to stabilize the ship, having exposed timbers painted to protect them, and having the decks caulked to prevent further damage from rainwater getting in.

While near-term issues were being addressed, the HMS Victory Preservation Company ordered a thorough survey of Victory’s condition, an undertaking including a 3D laser scanning process, which took nearly 90 billion measurements, an archaeological survey of shipwrights’ marks left on timber as part of the construction and repair process, and the use of tree ring dating to help understand the ship’s history. Specialists from the Crick Smith conservation team of the University of Lincoln removed several hundred paint samples from various locations covering all decks, uncovering as many as 72 layers of paint in some places. The team concluded that Victory was painted a pale yellow and dark grey in Nelson’s era; these are the colors that will be used when she is repainted in the fall of this year. Even the lettering of Victory’s name on the stern will be repainted using a more period-appropriate font to complete the new look. Structurally, the study found that the keel had been dropping about one centimeter per year, causing the ship to bulge and press against the cradle supporting her. Part of the conservation project will be to design and construct a better cradle, to better support the ship.

Victory has welcomed more than 25 million visitors over the years, and under the careful guidance of the HMS Victory Preservation Company, she will be faithfully restored to her former state as Nelson’s flagship, and tell her story to millions more in the years to come.

ABOUT National Maritime Historical Society
The National Maritime Historical Society is a not-for-profit membership organization whose mission is to raise awareness of maritime heritage and the role seafaring has played in shaping civilization.  The Society seeks to educate society about extraordinary maritime accomplishments and their continuing relevance for prosperity and cultural vitality. Initiatives encompass publications, educational programs, sail training and preservation of historic ships.

Contact: 

Lisa Fine, National Maritime Historical Society
914 737-7878 x 229
lisafine@seahistory.org