Steve Davis

Hello, thanks, no there was not anything else in the pile. Folks went through it trying to find an address because they always thought it was a student doing a project but we really have no idea. It was miles from the nearest town (Springerville) and out of the way of normal thru Arizona travel. Mostly a vacation area at the time. Havn't been back there since 1972 so I'm sure its grown up by now. The other books were about old ships and such but not as technical as the manuscript. No library markings either. Family mystery for decades.

Thank Justin, I would be interested in giving it to someone that could use it or find a good home for it. Someone went to a lot of work in the pre computer days to compile it and I would hate to have it disappear in time. I will make copies of some of the pages but other than having a family history with it and possibly part of the reason I bought a big hole in the water years back it should be preserved for others. And maybe find the original authors name.

It was unusual because they were stacked in the middle of the 2 lane highway like someone just dumped them. Books were not damaged at all. It is much more detailed complete with formulas, lengths of line etc. than I can relate. It was already old and yellow when we found them. Strange thing to find in the central Arizona mountains. I wondered about Hahn being called Hal as well. I'm glad for the internet when it comes to something like this.

Hello, I am a new member to this site, thank you for admitting me. I have always been interested in ships and sailing ships in particular. Part of my interest was created when as a kid in the early 60's while on a trip thru the White Mountains of Arizona my family came across a pile of books in the middle of a lonely stretch of highway. All the books were on the subject of sailing ships. They were in a pile in the middle of the road so my parents stopped to pick them up. In the mix was a copy of an apparent unfinished manuscript with the above title. There was no cover and no indication of the author anywhere. It lists 40+ ships with very technical information on their rigging. Corrections and editing were done in red ink and pencil. I have kept it with me all these decades and have occasionally tried to search the title for any info but never have. On this site I see there was an author/illustrator named Harold Underhill. It is just a wild shot but I was wondering if this was meant for him. The manuscript is spiral bound with the name M&H Valve and Fitting Co. It has around 75 pages left in it and is now yellow with age. All the printing was by hand. It has chapters starting with why the book was compiled, Miscellaneous data, (including gun dimensions),speed and wind data, Types of sailing ships and mostly information and diagrams of Tackle, Sails and Rigging. These are very in depth descriptions of rigging for specific ships. There is some editing by hand in some of the pages. I always thought it would be important to people who are involved with such and would like it to go to someone/place who would appreciate it. Sorry for the long winded letter. It may be that this is not important at this time, but any advise would be appreciated. Thank you for the chance to research this.