Braynard, maritime historian, dead at 91
Frank O. Braynard, a founder of the South Street Seaport Museum, curator of the American Merchant Marine Museum at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1979-2000, and an organizer of the parade of Tall Ships through New York Harbor during the 1976 bicentennial celebration, died Dec. 10 at the age of 91.
“Through his tireless efforts with such innovations as the National Maritime Hall of Fame, the museum became a well-known repository for America’s maritime history,” said a statement from the academy, which noted he was presented with an honorary doctorate at the Kings Point commencement in June 2000.
A graduate of Duke University with a master’s degree from Columbia University, Braynard worked as a ship reporter in the late 1940s for the New York Herald Tribune. He later served as a publicist for the American Merchant Marine Institute and for Moran Towing Co.
He organized the first parade of tall ships in New York Harbor in 1964, the OpSail celebration, which was the centerpiece of New York City’s bicentennial celebration in 1976, and another OpSail in 1992.
He served as president of the Steamship Historical Society and was a founder of the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City.
He authored some 40 books of maritime history and his own artwork. His masterwork is considered by many to be a six-volume series about his favorite ocean liner, S.S. Leviathan, a vessel that he sailed aboard as a child. In addition, a volume of his sketches from OpSail ’76 sold more than a million copies.
In 1985, Braynard was briefly involved in a controversy when millionaire businessman and adventurer Richard Branson raced a powerboat across the Atlantic to claim a new three-day, eight-hour speed record, slicing two hours off the time set by the ocean liner S.S. United States in 1952.
Braynard, at that time curator of the Kings Point museum, refused to award the Hales Trophy to the Branson team, siding with traditionalists that said the trophy was made for ocean liners, not speedboats.
The Braynard family has not yet announced funeral plans.
Braynard, maritime historian, dead at 91
