RE LOG Fall 2017

FALL 2017 Ransom Everglades LOG 35 From the Archives W hat started as a class prank has become one of Ransom Everglades’ most hallowed traditions: This spring marked the 50th anniversary of the painting of the cannon. In 1967, a mischievous group of seniors decided to cover the iron gun stationed in the center of the Quad with a coat of paint on the morning of their graduation. Headmaster Pierre “Pete” Cameron was not amused. He demanded that the culprits scrape the cannon clean in order to collect their diplomas hours later. The seniors accomplished the task, then raced to commencement, white paint adorning their dress shoes as they crossed the stage. Since that day, RE students have painted the cannon – without fear of retribution – to make political statements, express their views about school policies or simply celebrate achievements and good news. The cannon has an illustrious history that dates well beyond its first coat of paint. It was discovered in 1938 among the coral-caked remains of the HMS Winchester, a British ship that wrecked just off of Key Largo in 1695. Diver Samuel Fales ’31 and Commodore Hugh M. Matheson, who attended the A Colorful History For 50 years, RE students have painted the school’s cannon, a 17th-century relic Adirondack-Florida School in 1903, helped salvage the cannon and many other artifacts from the 60-gun, 933-ton ship. The HMS Winchester, which first launched in April 1693, had been trying to return to England from Jamaica. The Fales family later donated the cannon to Ransom Everglades. In the spring issue of the Ransom Everglades Log, Ann Hicks ’66 and former faculty member Louis De Carlo correctly identified the students in 1965 photos from the Everglades School for Girls and Ransom School. Hicks named Judy Prewitt, Evelina Moulder, Laurie Ross, Angie Arrington, Liz Cowen, Tina Salvesen, Heidi Fishman, April Probinsky, Melanie Kofoed, Maria Prio, Lyn Witham, Ann Coleman Hicks; and De Carlo identified Lloyd Spruille Rath, Douglas Shields Putnam, Peter Lawrence Schlueter and John George Chesney, Jr. Cannon 2017 The cannon in 1966 with Ray Berle Zemon, Donald McLean Wylie (senior prefect) and Samuel Logan Higginbottom, Jr.