mystic seaport magazine 2006 winter
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Mystic Seaport Magazine Winter 2006 issue filled with information about the museum events, activities, programs and classes.TRANSCRIPT
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Behind the Seams: Costume Shop Prepares for Lantern Light Tours Like a Boat Out of Water | Library Makes a Move | O is for Oysters
Wood,Water& LightThe Photographs of Benjamin Mendlowitz
A Mystic Seaport membership is the gift that keeps on giving. Look at all the privileges—
and discounts! Free admission to Mystic Seaport—with express entry. Free subscriptions
to member publications. A 10 percent discount at our Museum Store. Special discounts
on Mystic Seaport classes and camps. And now, you receive a free Mystic Seaport
calendar when you give the gift of membership.
TO LEARN MORE, CALL 860.572.5339, OR VISIT MYSTICSEAPORT.ORG.
Get the whole year in return.
Give a Mystic Seaport membership.
Save $5 off the price of membership and get a FREE 2007 Mystic Seaport
Members Edition Calendar.
Plum Pudding, Mincemeatand TurkeyHolidays of the past at sea and ashore
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C O N T E N T S
Wood, Water & LightThe photographs ofBenjamin Mendlowitz18
Let Me Count the WaysHow do you get a boat outof water?14Behind the Seams
Costume shop preparesfor Lantern Light Tours4
ARMCHAIR SAILOR. . . . . . . . . . 25
CALENDAR OF EVENTS . . . . . . . 30
GREENHAND’S CORNER . . . . . . 31
BY THE NUMBERS . . . . . . . . . . 32
SIGHTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
IN THE NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
GARDENING BY THE SEA. . . . . . 16
IN THE GALLEY . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
I N E V E R Y
I S S U E
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ast summer, Mystic Seaport took a significant step in its ongoing efforts to continually refresh
and renew what it offers those who visit and become members. The Museum engaged a team of
exhibit designers and architects to help plan a major series of expansions and enhancements to our
year-round exhibiting and programming capabilities.
Haley Sharpe Design, Ltd., is a multidisciplinary design practice based in the U.K. Their exhibit
design portfolio includes the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada; the National Center for the
American Revolution in Philadelphia; and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia
Antiquities. We have been very impressed by the creativity of the people on the Haley Sharpe team.
Machado and Silvetti Associates is an architecture and urban design firm known for enhancing
distinctive spaces and unique works of existing architecture in the U.S. and abroad. The firm has
worked on such projects as the Getty Villa and Museum, Malibu, CA; the Rockefeller Stone Barns,
Pocantico, NY; the Provincetown Art Association, Provincetown, MA; and the South Boston
Maritime Park. We are particularly pleased about the quality of their work and their track record for
working effectively with the communities adjoining their projects.
The work these two firms are doing for us is supported by funds donated expressly for this
project. Their focus is on the Museum’s “north campus,” the area fronting the Mystic River west of
Route 27 and north of the Membership Building. It’s there that we have the greatest potential to
improve in indoor ways that complement Mystic Seaport’s mostly outdoor historic village,
waterfront and working shipyard, as well as the scenic elements of the community of which the
Museum is an integral part.
The exhibit designers are now working with the Museum’s staff to help select those compelling
themes, stories and topics that will best inspire visitors and members, and thus fulfill the Museum’s
mission through a continually refreshed series of exhibits and public programs. In particular, we seek
to give our members, the community and our visitors even better coverage of
thought-provoking and enjoyable “America and the Sea” stories than our
limited exhibiting capabilities permit. For example, our collections of
historic marine photography, spanning more than a century on
the water, have great power to inform and inspire. Yet they
remain mostly unseen by our audiences because we lack suitable
exhibition galleries.
In all of this, we will seek to preserve and enhance the best
of Mystic Seaport while we concentrate on those parts of our
public campus that have the greatest untapped potential to
serve our visitors on a year-round, all-weather basis. As I like
to put it, we will be “as good as always, and better than ever.”
If you have ideas or suggestions to share, I encourage you to contact
Project Coordinator Jenny Doak at [email protected] or
860.572.0711, ext.5004. And if you would like to contribute financially
to this historic undertaking, I am grateful for your support of our shared vision.
While all this is taking shape, we continue to offer an amazing variety of exhibits and
programming. Be sure to visit this season and enjoy your Museum in all its winter beauty!
S I G H T I N G SL
MMyyssttiicc SSeeaappoorrtt magazine is a publication of Mystic Seaport
The Museum of America and the Sea
PPrreessiiddeenntt aanndd DDiirreeccttoorrDouglas H. Teeson
ddiirreeccttoorr ooff ccoommmmuunniiccaattiioonnssPeter glankoff
EEddiittoorrAnna F. Sawin
ccoonnttrriibbuuttoorrssCHristine batemanelysa engelmanMolly Entinbarbara Jarniganmichael o’farrell
PPrroodduuccttiioonnSusan Heath
DDeessiiggnnCaspari McCormick
PPhhoottooggrraapphhyyKane BordenDean Digital ImagingBenjamin MendlowitzDennis Murphy
photograph by
Benjamin Mendlowitz
CCoorrppoorraattee SSppoonnssoorrss::
Bank of America Foundation
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Northeast Utilities Foundation
Mohegan Sun
Pfizer
Rolex Watch USA
EEvveenntt SSppoonnssoorrss::
Burger Boat Company
Coca-Cola of Southeastern New England
Condé Nast
Marsh USA
Robinson & Cole
SmithBarney
Sparkman & Stephens, Inc.
Steamboat Wharf Company
Waterford Hotel Group\
The Westerly Hospital
president and director
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MYSTIC SEAPORT PHOTOGRAPHER DENNIS MURPHY CAPTURED THIS IMAGE OF THE
JOSEPH CONRAD EARLY ONE FALL MORNING. “What made this image different from so
many other photos of the Conrad was the overcast sky and the curtain of fog. Framing
the image in my camera, I especially liked the view of the Conrad from this low angle,
with the grass in the foreground,” says Murphy. The image was chosen as one of the
featured images in the 2007 Mystic Seaport Members Edition Calendar.
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JOANNA CADORETTE, MYSTIC SEAPORT COSTUMER
In preparation for her role in Mystic Seaport’s annual holiday celebration, Lantern Light Tours, Hallie Payne
memorizes her script and walks the grounds. But nothing prepares her as much as putting on her costume.
“The first time I put on my costume and laced up my corset, I literally felt ‘pulled’ into my
character, Mrs. Palmer,” she said.
Many people often overlook the role costumes play in each year’s performance. “People don’t know the 19th
century,” said Marelda Hart, director of Lantern Light Tours. “Clothes serve as a point of reference for the cast
and the visitors. When a person puts a costume on, they become their character. When visitors go on a tour,
they expect authenticity.”
“I feel so different in my costume. It really gives me a sense of character,” said Payne. “As soon as we
take off our 21st-century clothing and put on our costumes, we begin thinking like our characters. We
even start speaking differently—like saying ‘good evening’ instead of ‘good night.’”
At the forefront of costume preparation is the Museum’s costumer, Joanna Cadorette. Her interest
in costumes reaches back to her childhood when she visited Colonial Williamsburg and Old
Sturbridge Village with her family. Her sister also had a passion for collecting 19th-century
clothing that Cadorette found interesting.
After receiving a B.F.A. from Tufts University, Cadorette worked as a curatorial
intern at Colonial Williamsburg to learn about patterns and how they worked.
There she created designs based on originals in the collections—designs that would
later be used in reproductions of garments.
In 1993, Cadorette began working as a tailor at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA,
where she researched and studied Elizabethan embroidery design and techniques.
She came to Mystic Seaport in 1999 and is in charge of creating period costumes worn and
used as educational tools by the Museum’s role players, as well as in Mystic Seaport’s
theatrical productions, holiday programs and special events.
In preparation for the holiday season at Mystic Seaport, Cadorette spends hour upon
hour researching, sewing, washing and drying. Surrounded by piles of fabric, drawers full
of patterns and walls covered in inspirational artwork by the likes of Winslow Homer
and Edgar Degas, Cadorette works long hours as the seasonal event approaches.
The challenge to assemble 100 costumes for the cast of Lantern Light Tours
begins in October. Even before the final cast is chosen, each potential cast member
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visits Cadorette in the costume shop to have their measurements taken. With measurements in hand, she
begins pulling costumes that might fit not just the person, but the character.
Starting the second week of October and trickling well into November, back-to-back fittings are
scheduled daily with the cast. These half-hour sessions are critical to developing the right look for each
person’s character. Cast members try on clothes, shoes, hats and capes, while Cadorette marks the
clothes for alteration if necessary.
Since the Lantern Light Tours script changes each year, sometimes there is nothing in the
collection of costumes that will work for a particular person or character. In this case, Cadorette will
start from scratch, making or buying new costumes. She has many original patterns from the pattern
archives at the University of Rhode Island, and in some cases will make costumes from patterns that
came free in magazines like Harper’s Bazaar in the 1800s.
With so many costumes, storage is tight in the costume shop. The rooms are full of clothing,
rows and rows of men’s and women’s shoes and boots, and drawers full of accessories, such as brooches,
gloves and hair pins. Low ceilings, narrow hallways and small closets make the rooms seem even
smaller. As the performance dates approach, the costume shop begins its transition into dressing
rooms for the cast.
Along with finishing all the production on time comes the challenge of keeping all the clothing,
hairstyles and accessories in the look of the 19th century. While research has given Cadorette
guidelines as to how to dress and accessorize the cast, she still finds this part challenging.
The pictures on Cadorette’s wall, novels, diaries and photographs all serve as references of
how men and women wore their hair, laced their shoes or wore a piece of jewelry. But
although they give her ideas, they are not absolutes. “I think it’s a mistake for us to believe
we can know for certain how people behaved, dressed or carried themselves in the past,”
said Cadorette. “The only thing we can do is study our sources and try to interpret
them as best we can and always be open to new ways of interpreting history.”
Cadorette likes to give the cast the option to wear more complete costumes
in order to give them a richer experience into the history aspect of the Museum,
as well as improve the overall look of the play. This can involve details such
as corsets and petticoats.
“Although it is challenging, getting closer to more and more accurate details
is always my goal,” said Cadorette. “I would like to help people to get closer to
the feel of period dress and get more involved in the history of the mid- to
late 19th century through their dress as much as possible.
“[I enjoy] having the opportunity to build on and improve the
costume inventory and see progress from year to year,” she said.
“When people tell me that they have learned something new from
wearing the clothes, I am happy.” E
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As the cast expands, we eventually run out of clothes to fit
the people we have. But the nice part is that each time we
have to make something, we have it for next year, and as
the inventory grows, so do our options for the future.
- Costumer Cadorette
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-MOLLY ENTIN
TAKING ON A LIFE OF ITS OWNAdd Diane Sawyer of Good Morning America to the list of people wanting to know if there is para-
normal activity aboard the Charles W. Morgan. The ABC morning show, seen by millions every day,
ran a four-minute segment about the story June 26—two days after the Rhode Island Paranormal
Research Group reported on its full investigation of the vessel. The group was aboard Saturday night,
the story ran Monday and was concluded by Sawyer conducting a live interview of Museum President
Doug Teeson. The CBS Evening News also ran a national story about the Morgan and its purported
paranormal activity. That segment ran August 12.
LEARNING THEIR ROLEA story originally published in the Hartford Courant about role playing at Mystic Seaport has
gone on to receive national attention. A number of newspapers, including the Arkansas Democrat-
Gazette and the Columbian in Vancouver, Washington, picked up the story about the role-playing
apprentice program at Mystic Seaport led by Rebecca Donohue. The article not only spotlights
those learning to become role players, but Museum veterans, too, including Janice Whiteman and
Robert Schneider.
OPEN 24 HOURSHeadline writers at the Providence Journal, one of the larger daily papers in New England, must
have had fun when working on the paper’s story about the annual Melville Marathon at Mystic
Seaport, where visitors read the classic Moby-Dick in 24 hours. They dubbed the story “Whale of a
Tale.” Predictable? Maybe. But the fact is a reporter and photographer from Rhode Island’s leading
paper perfectly captured the spirit and atmosphere at one of the Museum’s most unique events.
Reporter Bryan Rourke recounted personal stories of those who have attended previous readings and
gave insight into what happens after hours—when just a few hearty souls remain on deck overnight.
WOOD CONTINUES TO BE GOODThe story about Mystic Seaport acquiring Live Oak trees from the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast
provided the Museum with publicity in numerous national outlets—including CNN, The New
York Times and nearly 100 television stations. The story reached even more people nationally July
15 when it aired on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition. NPR correspondent Noah Adams
interviewed Shipyard Director Quentin Snediker for a story that also featured conversations with
two tree donors. The end result? More exposure for the Charles W. Morgan as we try to make her
famous yet again.
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EW PARTNERSHIP FOR MYSTIC SEAPORT
Mystic Seaport has joined forces with the New Bedford WhalingMuseum and the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park in a collaborative initiative, Pursuit to Preservation: The Story of American Whaling.
The collaboration combines the considerable strengths of all threeinstitutions through a variety of initiatives that leverage their respectivecollections, resources and expertise while cross-promoting programsand venues to larger audiences. Components include whaleboat races,volunteer and staff training, a lecture and performance series, reciprocalfree admission for members at selected events, teacher professionaldevelopment and family activities.
A central focus of the collaboration is the Charles W. Morgan, the lastremaining wooden whaleship in the world. Built in New Bedford,MA, in 1841, she has resided at Mystic Seaport since 1941.
“Mystic Seaport is the proud steward of this National HistoricLandmark,” said Doug Teeson, president and director of MysticSeaport. “While the Morgan has strong ties around the world, perhapsits strongest are still in New Bedford. Through this partnership, all ofus can continue to learn more about the Morgan and who sailed her.More importantly, we can celebrate her, particularly as she will undergomajor restoration in fall 2007, a project which will lead to numerouseducational opportunities for all involved.”
EAS, SCHOONERS AND FISHERMEN
A new exhibit, The Seas, the Schooners and the Fishermen: Thomas Hoyne’sPaintings of the North Atlantic, featuring the fine art paintings of ThomasHoyne will open in June 2007 at Mystic Seaport. A successful commer-cial illustrator, Hoyne devoted the final years of his life to the creationof elegant and poetic paintings of the 19- and 20-century commercialfishing fleet of the North Atlantic.
Although he came from a family of lawyers, stockbrokers and civicleaders, Hoyne followed his early interest in the arts at the Universityof Illinois in a course of architectural studies. Hoyne’s lifelong interestin the sea and the North Atlantic fisheries became his passion when hewas diagnosed with cancer and gave up his commercial art career topaint “scenes for my own enjoyment,” as he related in a speech atMystic Seaport in 1983. He was a Fellow of the American Society ofMarine Artists, and in 1983 he was given the Rudolph J. SchaeferAward at the Mystic International, an honor given to the artist whosework best documents our nation’s maritime heritage. His paintings arein numerous private and public collections including Peabody EssexMuseum, Mystic Seaport and Ventura County Maritime Museum.
Hoyne’s paintings depict images of the hand-liners that fished fromsmall dories dispersed from a schooner constantly threatened by storms,
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currents, ice and fog and by the transatlantic steamers, whose lanes
ran close by the fishing grounds. His images also celebrate the fast and
seaworthy ships built “Down East” in the shipyards along the New
England coast. Hoyne’s paintings reveal the poetry of the North
Atlantic seas, the able schooners and the men who fished them—in
short, his work embodies the grandeur of the era.
The exhibit was brought to Mystic Seaport in collaboration with the
Ventura County Maritime Museum.
ACHT TALES
Mystic Seaport has opened its newest exhibit, Yacht Tales: Stories
from the World of Recreational Sailing.
The exhibit presents four stories that suggest how yachting—
once a pastime for the wealthy—has become more accessible for all.
They feature:
Arthur Curtiss James, a man of wealth who cruised the world’s
oceans and believed owners should know how to skipper their own
yachts; Captain Thomas Hawkins, a professional yacht captain who
worked for those who could not sail; the Star, a middle-class racing
sailboat that became popular all over the world; and the Albatross, a
yacht-turned-classroom that sank in 1961.
Support for the exhibit was provided by Mr. and Mrs. Robert T.
Galkin, Mr. Warren B. Galkin, Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Marsellus,
Ms. Anne Ramsey, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Webster Walker and donors
in memory of Christopher B. Sheldon.
Yacht Tales: Stories from the World of Recreational Sailing is now
located in the lower level of the Mallory Exhibit Hall.
OLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
Marie Engelman has received the 2006 William C. Noyes
Volunteer of the Year Award.
Engelman began volunteering at Mystic Seaport in March
2002 and has since contributed 1,350 hours. She has served the
Museum in many areas including Interpretation, Volunteer
Services, Lantern Light Tours and Community Carol Sing.
“Marie epitomizes the highest standard for a Mystic Seaport
volunteer,” said Senior Development Officer Lisa Reed. “Her
infectious enthusiasm and can-do attitude is an inspiration.”
The Award was established in 1998 through the generosity of
Noyes’ widow, Bettye, and donations received in Bill’s memory.
Noyes volunteered close to 6,000 hours between 1983 and 1997.
The Volunteer of the Year Award is presented each year to a
Museum volunteer who “best personifies Billy Noyes’ example
and the ‘true spirit’ of a Mystic Seaport volunteer.” Volunteers
are nominated by Museum staff and a winner is chosen by a
committee headed by Rhoda Hopkins, supervisor of volunteers.
This year, the committee also presented two new awards. The
Lifetime Achievement Award honors longtime volunteer Art Payne.
Prior to his death in June, Payne volunteered more than 5,500 hours
at Mystic Seaport. He was a skilled clock repairman and worked on
the Mystic Scale River Model from its inception in 1958.
The Libby and Pickett family were awarded the Outstanding
Family Award. Elizabeth Libby, Stephen Pickett and their two chil-
dren, Evan and Tristan Pickett, volunteer
their time in the Communications
Department, where they complete a
multitude of office tasks.
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2006 Volunteer of the Year, Marie Engelman
There is a traditional thought that libraries
are built with 20 years’ growth in mind. Library
Director and Vice President of Collections Paul
O’Pecko says Mystic Seaport’s G. W. Blunt
White Library opened in 1965 and ran out of
proper space after the first 20 years. Library staff
has jury-rigged every available space to
accommodate the library’s vast collections,
which include 1,000,000 pieces of manuscript
material, more than 1,300 logbooks, 900 oral
history audio and videotapes, 10,000 charts and
maps and the aforementioned 75,000 volumes of
books and periodicals.
Environment is also a concern. The potential
for water incursion into the basement and
damage to the collections stored there is likely.
“If we are ever in harm’s way of the 100-year
flood, our basement and the 12,000 books in
it would be devastated if we could not move
them in time,” said O’Pecko.
In the event of severe weather, the Museum’s
Williams-Mystic students are tasked with relo-
cating the collections to higher ground. This
plan took effect in preparation for Hurricane
Gloria in September 1985. As the storm
approached, the students formed a human chain,
starting in the farthest reaches of the basement
where the government documents and periodicals
were held. Items were passed from student to
student down the hallway and up the stairs until
all the items had been moved.
Jim Carlton, Williams-Mystic director,
remembers that day well. “We moved hundreds
and hundreds of books,” he said. “Nearly 25
students made a very efficient human book chain.”
When they had finished, the students
hunkered down in the Munson Room with
bedding, food and water and the movie Star Wars
to ride out the storm. “Ten to 15 minutes before
the storm’s landfall, we heard a loud banging on
the door,” said Carlton. “A couple in a small boat
had nearly given up on finding shelter and was
searching for safety on the grounds. Luckily, we
were in the library and let them in.”
Mystic Seaport escaped any serious damage
from the storm.
The Museum plans to begin relocating the
library collections this winter. The Collections
Research Center will offer a larger, climate-
controlled space for the library material.
“Creating a single department dealing with all
the Museum’s collections allows us to work with
them in a more efficient manner,” said O’Pecko.
“This will give the public greater access to the
collections while also giving the materials
greater security.”
In addition to the relocation, new compact
shelving will be purchased specifically for the move.
The large amount of shelving will give the library
room for growth. The acquisition of the shelving
is made possible in part by the Davenport Family
Foundation, supporting the project with nearly
half of what the shelving will cost.
In addition to the generosity of the Davenport
Family Foundation, the Library Fellows have
begun supporting the match. The Fellows are a
group of more than 50 professionals who are joined
together to support the Library, its collections
and programs. Organized in 1981, the Library
Fellows include researchers, university faculty,
writers, librarians, booksellers and others with
maritime and library interests. The Fellows are
dedicated to supporting the library by encouraging
research, publication and scholarship. They also
provide financial support for special programs,
acquisitions and library endowment.
The Fellows also offer annual prizes and
awards, such as the Morris Prize, a prize of
$1,000 for a previously unpublished article in
American maritime history, and the Maritime
History Prize, given to the best paper written by
a resident undergraduate student.
O’Pecko anticipates that at least half of the
funding will come from the group. “They have
been the library’s strongest supporters,” he said.
“The move of the library to the Collections
Research Center is vital for the library’s future
and its collections,” said Joe Callaghan, president
of the Library Fellows. “This move will provide
more extensive access for all users, put an
invaluable collection in a safer environment, as
well as provide urgently needed room for growth.”
nug between the R. J.Schaefer Exhibit Hall and theMuseum’s north entrance, the G.W. Blunt White Library standsquietly on the north end of thecampus. Perched atop the whitecupola, a weathervane reflects inthe sunlight. The stone buildingis home to nearly 75,000 volumesof books, and there isn’t room forany more.
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H O M E P O R T
How do you create a 400-square-foot traveling exhibit that
does it all: is attractive and informative, light but sturdy,
expandable yet self-contained and appealing to all ages? And,
how do you use it to tell the complex story of the 1839 Amistad
incident, which started with the illegal enslavement of 53African
men and children, climaxed in a revolt at sea and resulted in a
landmark Supreme Court case?
It might sound like a design challenge on a TV reality show,
but this was a real-world request made to the Exhibits
Department last winter. Amistad America wanted to debut a new
introductory exhibit during the Freedom Schooner Amistad’s July
visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Supported by a federal grant, it
partnered with Mystic Seaport to create a historically accurate,
sturdy and beautiful display.
The exhibit plan evolved through brainstorming sessions,
historical research, sketches and three-dimensional scale models.
The final design takes the visitor on a chronological and
geographic trip, from a West African village scene complete with
touchable tools, cloth and musical instruments, through a
discussion of the transatlantic slave trade and the horrific Middle
LEFT TO RIGHT:
1) Once the rigid sails and masts are removed, the model’s hull flips upside
down so all elements fit inside the crate for travel.
2) Visitors can explore the Amistad story in depth at the computer station.
3) A binder with short bios and portraits of the captives.
Passage. At the center is a three-dimensional mockup of the
cargo schooner with drawers that open to reveal more info
about the captives, crew and conditions aboard.
Five free-standing graphic panels (actually customized
trade-show displays) represent the Amistad story with dramatic
scenes, historical images, maps and landscapes drawn by illustrator
Mike Eagle, and label copy exploring the key themes and
events. The panels themselves hang on lightweight pop-up
frames that support lights and the electricity for the different
interactives. Each six-foot-high unit collapses to fit inside its own
traveling case, which also serves as a display pedestal.
Binders with facsimiles of important legal documents and
biographical information about the individual Africans round
out the presentation, along with a computer station with
Mystic Seaport’s Amistad website and a short video of the
Freedom Schooner’s construction at the Museum’s shipyard.
The end result? An engaging and visually stunning display
that can be packed inside a standard cargo van and set up by
two people in under one day. Mission accomplished!
useums on the oveM MMystic Seaport creates a traveling Amistad exhibit
- ELYSA ENGELMAN
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YSTIC SEAPORT’S CURATORS AGREE THAT THE SAFEST
PLACE FOR ANY HISTORICAL OBJECT IS SECURELY TUCKED AWAY IN A
temperature-controlled, light-regulated, archival-quality storage unit. But they also recognize that if
every one of the Museum’s more than two million maritime artifacts remain sa fe ly within the
Collections Research Center walls, the Museum would sail far off course from its mission statement:
to create a broad, public understanding of the relationship of America and the sea.
“We cannot fully learn about our past when we cannot see its objects,” observes Exhibits Director
Jonathan Shay. And so, the Museum makes many of its objects available throughout the campus—
aboard the ships, within the village and inside the exhibit galleries. But what you may not know
is this: The effort doesn’t stop at the borders of the Mystic Seaport campus.
Through two primary loan programs—objects-on-loan and traveling exhibits—the
Museum works with other like-minded institutions around the world to expand the reach
of our mission statement. These programs not only broaden the Museum’s reach but,
as Shay notes, they are also “a great way to utilize the true breadth and depth of our
collections, and capitalize on the cross-fertilization of resources and knowledge that
comes from building relationships with other institutions.”
OBJECTS-ON-LOAN
Today, the Museum has almost 200 objects out on loan to other institutions. “In general, we loan to other nonprofit, educational
institutions like libraries, museums or historical societies,” says Rodi York, registrar and coordinator of the loan program. “But we also
sometimes loan to local organizations and federal programs, like the Art in Embassies program.”
In most cases, a curator from another institution will call the Museum to request objects that fit a particular exhibit theme. Because every
object loan requires a complicated behind-the-scenes process, from conservation work to loan agreement preparation to facility survey, most
objects don’t actually leave the Museum until six months after the initial request.
Some objects travel for only a month, others for up to one year, and still others remain on what York describes as “long-term” loan. She
highlights one long-term object loan of note: Since 1977, a whaleboat from the Museum’s Collections has been displayed at the National
Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
Whaleboats and whaling materials are a popular loan request, along with paintings and ship models. In fact, the objects farthest away from
the Museum right now are a selection of whaleboat materials on long-term loan to the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. But
the farthest distance a Museum object has ever traveled is Western Samoa, where, in 1994, a variety of Robert Louis Stevenson’s personal
effects traveled to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.
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TRAVELING EXHIBITS
It’s no secret, acknowledges Shay, that in recent years,
museums and other cultural institutions have struggled to
make ends meet. Shay and his exhibits staff met that challenge
a few years ago with an important new loan program—traveling
exhibits. They realized that by lending out not just objects,
but an entire exhibit—including graphics, text panels,
audio-visual materials and more—the Museum could defray
costs, expand its reach and accomplish its mission in a brand-
new way, all while building strong, creative relationships
with our sister institutions.
Shay cites the Women & the Sea exhibit as a great example
of this creative synergy. The original exhibit was conceived
by the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, VA. When the
Mariners’ Museum exhibit closed, Mystic Seaport
borrowed their text panels and a half-dozen objects,
then built up the exhibit’s central themes with
hundreds more objects from the Museum’s collections.
Women & the Sea was on display at the Penobscot
Marine Museum in Searsport, ME, and is now at the
Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. Each
museum gives the exhibit its own unique touch: Penobscot
augmented the show with objects from its own collection, and
created an evening speaker series that highlighted women from
Maine with notable maritime connections.
In addition to Women & the Sea, Mystic Seaport also travels the Sea
Dogs! Great Tails of the Sea exhibit, and Shay hopes to travel Black
Hands, Blue Seas: The Maritime Heritage of African Americans after
it closes.
While York echoes Shay on the core benefits of an object loan, she
adds one special side benefit, “Sometimes when we make an object
available to another public institution, we hear something back about
it, learn something more about it.” By reaching out beyond the
borders of the Museum campus and working together with the
borrowing institution’s visitors, she said, we are able to refine the
collection’s historical account of an object. In this way, visitors
around the world become an important participant in fulfilling our
mission to better understand the fascinating and complex relationship
between America and the sea.
- CHRISTINE BATEMAN
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IT’S LIKE A SHIP OUT OF WATER…NO, REALLY!With approximately 500 vessels in Mystic Seaport’s Watercraft Collection, not a
day goes by that the Shipyard staff isn’t inspecting, maintaining or restoring
historic boats. But before the Shipyard staff can work on one of the
vessels that you see floating along the waterfront, they first have to get it out of
the water. From the smallest rowboat to the largest whaling ship, here are the
Museum’s six tried-and-true methods for hauling vessels out of the river and onto
dry land.
MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORKFor the smallest boats in the collection—including rowboat and sailboat rentals,
as well as the JY15s and Dyer Dhows used in sailing classes and camps—we use
good, old-fashioned manpower. A small group of people work together to haul the
boat by hand and carry it to the appropriate place.
ONE FORKLIFT OR TWO?When hauling larger rowboats, dories or whaleboats out of the water, we use
forklifts. Depending on the vessel’s size, one or two forklifts approach the water’s
edge with a long boom attached either perpendicular or parallel to the vessel.
Large, weight-bearing slings dangle from the boom and are then snugly wrapped
around the vessel. After the vessel is hauled, a single forklift will usually transport
the vessel directly to the Shipyard, or the two forklifts will transfer the vessel onto
a trailer for transport.
HEY, VESSEL, WANT A RIDE?In the railway method, a wooden carriage rolls down a short set of tracks, or ways,
into the water. A medium-large vessel—a large sharpie, the sandbagger Annie,
oyster sloop Nellie, or Crosby catboat Breck Marshall—is guided into position to
rest on top of the carriage. A motorized vehicle then hauls the carriage and vessel
HOW DO YOU GET A BOAT IN ( OR OUT) OF THE WATER?
LET MECOUNTTHE WAYS
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back up the railway and onto dry land.
Most maintenance and restoration work is
completed right there along the waterfront.
BRING IN THE BIG RIGWhen we have to haul some of our heaviest
medium-large vessels, like the Eastern-rig
dragger Roann or the Noank fish and
lobster boat Star, we bring in some of the
heaviest hauling equipment. Rarely used,
this method involves the rental of a massive
vessel-hauling crane and boat-specific
trailer to do the job.
In the case of Roann, currently undergoing
a major restoration, a crane lifted the vessel
onto blocks set right next to the water-
front. Shipyard staff then spent a
month scraping down her hull and
disassembling the vessel enough to fit her
inside the 75-man shop shipyard. Once
she was ready for transport, a trailer slowly
carried Roann from the blocks into the shop.
GIVE HER A LIFTIn anticipation of a massive, three-year
restoration of the Charles W. Morgan, the
Museum is in the process of installing of a
brand-new vertical ship lift located
behind the Shipyard. This ship lift
will haul the Museum’s largest vessels,
including the Morgan, fishing schooner
L. A. Dunton, square-rigged training ship
Joseph Conrad and steamboat Sabino.
Like the old lift dock, the new ship lift
uses the same elevator-like process. When
the time comes to haul the Morgan out of
the water, a platform with a large cradle
covered by keel blocks will be lowered
into the river. Then the Museum’s family
of workboats will gather around the elderly
matriarch and guide her gently into place
above the lift. Divers ensure appropriate
positioning before the platform begins its
gradual return to the surface. When the
keel blocks on the platform touch the
bottom of the ship, the divers will again
check for positioning, and continue to do
so as the lift rises slowly and carefully.
When the boat begins to lose its stability
in the water, the divers will ensure that
the side supports are moved into the
appropriate place. Once the Morgan reaches
ground level, a large motorized vehicle
will slowly and carefully pull the cradle
along a track that will guide the vessel
into position for her restoration.
The slow, deliberate nature of the lift
process is critical, notes Shipyard director
Quentin Snediker. “If you put too much
pressure on any one part of the vessel, you
can damage her.”
Unlike the old lift dock, the new ship lift
is loaded with safety features that will
ensure success in safely hauling out
the Morgan and our other large vessels.
These features include sophisticated load
monitoring, a synchronized motor system
and increased environmental protection.
“Our equipment will now meet world
standards of quality work and design to
ensure the best possible care of our
vessels,” says Snediker.
Dana Hewson, vice president of watercraft
preservation and programs, credits the
new ship lift’s design and construction
in large part to two key participants:
Project Manager Bill Parent and Naval
Architect Jack Llewellyn. “Bill has years
of experience in the management of complex
projects, so he is ideally suited for this
type of work,” says Hewson, “and Jack’s
high degree of technical understanding
was instrumental in the design process.”
Snediker calls Llewellyn the “overall guiding
intellectual force of the project.”
There you have it—Mystic Seaport’s top
six methods for hauling a boat out of the
water. So the next time you visit the
Museum, keep your eyes peeled, and you
may see our shipyard staff actively
employing one of these methods to keep
our watercraft in the best possible condi-
tion, so that each vessel may continue to
demonstrate its important role in
American maritime history.
- CHRISTINE BATEMAN
FOR ALLSEASONS
G A R D E N I N G B Y T H E S E A
As winter approaches, the sweetly scented
and brightly colored roses of a balmy day in
June are rarely on our minds. But some
roses add interest to the landscape in all
seasons with their contributions of colorful
foliage and fruit.
New Englanders, when thinking of roses
and gardens by the sea, almost always
consider Rosa rugosa, the Salt Spray rose.
Following its introduction from Japan, it
escaped cultivation, naturalizing along
sandy beaches, becoming so common that
many consider it a native plant. Ours are
planted along the waterfront at Hobey’s
Dock, providing fragrant blooms
late spring through
fall, and fruit well
into the winter.
The historic roses
at the Buckingham-
Hall House, while
not considered
seaside roses,
are noteworthy
and tolerant of
our waterside
exposure. Rosa Mundi (Rosa gallica
versicolor) is a sport of the Apothecary Rose
(Rosa gallica officinalis). Gallicas are the
oldest of the cultivated roses, hardy and
tolerant of a variety of conditions. The
fragrance of the petals intensifies as they
are dried, and, historically, they were
used in medicines and perfumes.
Valuable as a small hardy
shrub, they keep a neat
appearance when not in
their bloom. Their well-
perfumed blossoms are
striking, as no two are
alike. Loosely semi-double, they are
splashed with deep pink and soft crimson
on blush pink in June. Legend attributes
Fair Rosamond Clifford, mistress to King
Henry II, as the namesake.
The Redleaf Rose (Rosa rubrifolia or R.
glauca), native to central Europe, was
introduced to the United States in 1830. Its
outstanding foliage has blue-gray-green
tones if grown in the shade. Purple and
deep red tones are present if grown in
sunny conditions. The strong, clean, dark
purple canes are nearly thornless. Single,
bright pink flowers are born in bunches,
contrasting with the deep foliage. The
petals are separated, giving a starlike
appearance, further enhanced by a white
center, crowned by yellow stamens.
Colorful fall foliage is followed by glossy
red hips that persist into early winter. The
hips provide a food source for mice, and
dropped seeds produce seedlings true to the
parent type. This rose, in particular,
attracts visitor interest in all seasons.
Harison’s Yellow, planted at the back
kitchen door of the Buckingham-Hall
House, is an American hybrid of Rosa foetida
and Rosa pimpinellifolia (R. spinosissima).
Various dates between 1820 and 1830 have
been attributed to its hybridization by
George F. Harison. Although its prominent
semi-double sunshine yellow flowers are
present only for a week or two in June, they
brighten the entire area. Tolerant of
neglect, cold, drought and extreme
exposure, and readily transplantable, this
rose traveled westward with settlers,
perhaps reflecting the spirit of the settlers
themselves, resourceful and adaptable.
Plants
Gardening by the Sea columnist Leigh Knuttel studied botany at Connecticut College and has worked in ornamental horticulture formany years. She is the Museum’s supervisor of grounds and is responsible for many of the fascinating plants at Mystic Seaport. o
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Drink a toast to the “brotherhood of the raised elbow.”
Close your eyes, click your heels and go back in time a century or so to Mystic on a snowy white winter evening. Walking down Greenmanville Avenue
and across the Mystic River Bridge, Captain Daniel Packer (just off a whaling ship from New Bedford) and his new bride, Sallie, are out looking for a bite to eat. Passing several shops closing for the day, they pause at the window of Sparks Mystic Bakery. It certainly looks like a spot for a snug supper. No lace on the windows here, just rough wooden benches and tables set with bowls of lemons, a crock of butter and soda crackers. A written placard on the table announces the fare of the day: Oysters (Watch Hill Premiums or Long Island Napeague), bean soup, Graham bread, donuts, boiled joint, cod cakes, pickled cabbage and plum duff. Tonight, yearning for a rare treat, they choose a dozen of each oyster at the counter and wash them down with a pint of ale. A sign overhead reads, “Drink a toast to the brotherhood of the raised elbow,” a tribute to the oyster-loving clientele. By the door, a large oak barrel is piled with pints of shucked oysters buried in ice. Not wanting to wait for the
Saturday oyster truck, Sallie picks out a few to set aside for the holiday. Next week is Thanksgiving and they will be out celebrating at the Buckingham-Hall House. Her grandmother’s famous scalloped oysters will certainly be a welcome addition to the table alongside the bounty of birds — roast turkey and goose, grilled quail and perhaps a pheasant if they are lucky. Today, this same joy of eating oysters is probably most celebrated at the historic Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City. With oysters now available to us year round, they advertise at least 100 different varieties from all over the world, Alaska to Japan. Try a Belon, Blue Point, Chipi-Chipi, Kumamoto or even a Coon oyster from Florida. The long, gleaming counters at their spectacular raw bar are set with huge platters of crushed ice, lemons and bowls of spicy cocktail sauce (do make your own!). The festive mood may be somewhat different than at Sparks on a cold winter night more than 100 years ago, but if you look at the faces in the brightly lit mirrored walls, you might just see the refl ection of Captain Daniel Packer and his wife Sallie as they smile and refl ect thatthe tradition of the “brotherhood of the raised elbow” has not been erased by time.
AINSLIE TURNER IS A LOCALLY RENOWNED AUTHOR, CHEF, RESTAURATEUR AND LECTURER. SADLY FOR FOOD LOVERS EVERYWHERE, THIS IS AINSLIE’S
FINAL COLUMN FOR MYSTIC SEAPORT MAGAZINE. VISIT WWW.MYSTICSEAPORT.ORG/RECIPES FOR ANOTHER OYSTER RECIPE FROM AINSLIE.
Special Request Scalloped OystersA much-heralded Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition
O Is For Oyster
1 pint shucked oysters2 cups coarsely ground crackercrumbs (use buttery crackers)1/2 cup melted butter3/4 cup light cream
1/4 cup oyster liquor(reserved from oysters)1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce2 tbsp. saltDash of black pepper
Drain oysters, reserving 1/4 cup of liquor. Combine cracker crumbs and melted butter. Spread 1/3 of crumb mixture in a well-greased 8-inch round casserole dish. Cover with half the oysters and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Using another third of the crumbs, spread a second layer, cover with remaining oysters and again season with salt and pepper. Mix cream, oyster liquor and Worcestershire sauce and pour over oysters. Top with last of crumbs and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Sprinkle withchopped parsley and serve bubbly hot. Serves 4.
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W O O D , W A T E R & L I G H T
The Photographs of Benjamin Mendlowitz
Photo by Louise E. Rothery
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MARINE PHOTOGRAPHER BENJAMIN MENDLOWITZ,best known for his award-winning Calendar of Wooden Boats® and luminous contributions to nautical publications, spoke with Mystic Seaport magazine editor Anna Sawinabout some of his now iconic calendar photos, going digital and what we’ll see next from him.
The Calendar of Wooden Boats®, a gorgeous calendar
that hangs in many offices around Mystic Seaport, is
celebrating 25 years this year. From all the thousands
of images you shoot each year, how do you choose
the final 12?
Well, six or 10 of us get together and review images.We all come in with our favorites. We gradually nar-row it down and finally get to about 16 images. Atthat point, any one of them is good enough for thecalendar, and then it just comes down to the rightmix—power vs. sail, action vs. quiet, and so on. It’san arduous process, especially for me, since I am moreinvested in each shot than the rest of the group.
What types of boats do you especially enjoy photographing?
I think Buzzards Bay 25s are just spectacular. I alsoreally like Alden schooners and other schooners, bothworking and yachts, peapods and catboats. In general,for sailboats, I find gaff-rigged boats to be much morephotogenic than a Marconi rig.
What’s hanging on your walls at home?
Let’s see, I have a few images of my boat and my family on the boat; I have a few Rosenfeld imagesfrom Mystic Seaport, a few prints by Ansel Adams and I have some paintings by a local artist. What I’msaying is that I don’t have my own images hangingthere—I see enough of them at work!
For the photography buffs out there, the
question for you is, digital or film?
I’m struggling with the transition from film to digital—it’s just really this year that I have been getting my digital feet under me. For each shoot, I’ve been using film and digital. Most photographersare switching now, or have already made the switch.Digital has improved so much in the last few years.We’ll see what next year brings.
What’s the next publication in the works?
[Maritime historian and former Mystic Seaport trustee]Maynard Bray and I are slowly working on a book onthe Nathaniel Herreshoff boats still in existence, usingthe original drawings and lots of photographs. It iscoming together slowly, so it will be a few years yet!
What would you still like to accomplish as a photographer?
I’m ready for some new settings. For 25 years, we’vedone Maine, New England and the Mediterraneanracing scene. I’d like to try some new environments, perhaps Australia, New Zealand, the Far East and Scandinavia.
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Over the years, Mendlowitz has compiled a photo archive of thousands of wooden boats, from simple prams and work-boats to glorious classic sailing vessels and magnificent power yachts. The images on these pages, chosen from among the 25 cover photographs of the Calendar of WoodenBoats®, represent a “best of” collection of Mendlowitz’s work. Here, he comments on some of hisfavorite images.
1989Torna, 37' COAST YAWLSOUTH BROOKSVILLE, ME
“I came across this boat at a local boatyard in Maine one spring. It was a yard that still used a railway ratherthan a travel lift. It is increasinglyharder to find an image like this, of a boat on the ways in a cradle.”
1991Pride of Baltimore II, 97' TOPSAILSCHOONERBROOKLIN, ME
“This was an early morning inBrooklin. I was out in my motorboatand I came across this beautiful scene.The low light of early morningbrought on a beautiful reflection. I likethis shot because you see just enough of the rig to get a feel for the boat.”
1993Breck Marshall, 20' C. CROSBY CATBOATMYSTIC, CT
“I took this one fall evening at MysticSeaport, way upriver, near the cemetery.Maynard and I wanted a shot of this boatfor the calendar. I like how it shows theshape of the rig and what a great down-wind sailor a gaff rig is in light air.”
1994Starlight, 39' CONCORDIA YAWLPENOBSCOT BAY, ME
“This is my boat, so she is always aroundwhen the light is good! This is a scene offGreens Island on the coast of Maine. I wentfor an early-morning row, and loved the fullsun on the boat contrasting with thedark shoreline.”
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1996“I was invited to join Voyager in Tahiti, while they were on an extended round-the-world trip. They had just come off a long passage, and weredelighting in the comforts of being close to shore in Papeete. However, it wasn’t very conducive to photographs with all the other moderncruising boats out there. So after a few days, we took a sail over to Moorea, where it was quiet and lush. I like to isolate a boat in its natural environment, and this photo is a good example of that.”
1998Madigan, 25' GREAT SOUTH BAY CATBOATLONG ISLAND, NY“This was shot near Shelter Island,specifically for the calendar. Madiganwas a bit over-rigged, and needed fourpeople to sail it, to flatten it out. Forthis shot, I asked two of them to hideduring the photos when the wind waslight enough.”
Voyager, 50' ALDEN SCHOONERMOOREA, FRENCH POLYNESIA
W O O D , W A T E R & L I G H T
1999Tuiga, 74' FIFE 15-METER CLASS SLOOPMONACO
“Tuiga is one of the 15-meters in Europe that has beenrestored. It races in the big Mediterranean classic regattas.These regattas have a strict rating rule that heavilypenalizes modern equipment, so most yachts are faithfullyrestored to avoid the racing penalties. For this image, Iasked the crew to go out in this hazy blue Mediterraneanevening. There was very little wind, so they are all alongthe leeward rail to help keep the sails full.”
2001Brilliant, 61' S&S SCHOONERDEER ISLE, ME
“This was in the Camden feederrace to the Eggemoggin ReachRegatta. We had picked up whatwe call a ‘smoky southwester’near Stonington, and while I usuallyprefer to shoot a boat when it ison the wind, Brilliant was movingalong so well that I got her fromthis more unusual angle.”
2003Vitessa and Flying Dream, 32' BUZZARDS BAY 25sRED BROOK HARBOR, MA
“There was just enough wind that afternoon(these boats are great in light air), and patches ofblue in the sky, so between the light on the boatsand the darkness of the clouds, I got this dramaticimage. We didn’t get rain, but it was the kind ofweather where you often see a rainbow.”
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2006Juno, 65' NAT BENJAMIN SCHOONERLESSER ANTILLES, CARIBBEAN
“This was on a delivery with friends from the Grenadines to Antigua. It was a vacation and delivery more than a photography trip—an easy tackthe whole way. At the time, I wasn’t thinking of this for use in the calendaror else I would have taken the canvas covers off the forward companionwayto show more wood. I like this image because it puts you right in the scene as opposed to viewing from afar.”
Longtime Mystic Seaport member (and Antique & Classic
Boat Rendezvous judge) Benjamin Mendlowitz will be
speaking at Mystic Seaport on March 15, 2007, as part of
the 2006–2007 Adventure Series. To inquire about ticket
availability, please call 860.572.5339.
In addition, an exhibition of his work will be displayed
at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport in March. The
2007 Calendar of Wooden Boats® and other publications
featuring Mendlowitz’s work are available (with 10 percent
member discount) at the Museum Store.
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TUGBOATS OF NEW YORK:An Illustrated History by George Matteson,
New York University Press, 2005
Anyone who doubts the beauty or role of the lowly tugboat will be pleasantly
surprised by this handsome new book, which charts the development of the
waterfront workhorse in New York City—from 1830s steamboats towing
passenger barges up the Hudson to 20th-century diesel-powered harbor tugs escorting
cruise ships and moving barges. Drawing on a range of historical sources, the author
argues convincingly that the towing industry played a crucial role in building New
York’s commercial stature.
At first glance, it is the book’s illustrations that will keep you turning the pages.
More than 100 large-format images accompany the text, from ships’ plans to charts.
The real jewels are the historical black-and-white photographs; early views show city
wharves crowded with tugboats, schooners and canal boats, while detailed 1940s
photos by Berenice Abbott, Gordon Parks and Harold Corsini capture the work
rhythms and off-duty hours of tug crews.
This balancing of the personal and the panoramic is perhaps the book’s greatest
strength and carries through the text as well. Author George Matteson, a 20-year tug
veteran and former waterfront director at South Street Seaport, effortlessly moves
between a discussion of the technical (innovations in propulsion) to the social (the
Irish immigrants who controlled the waterfront in the late 1800s and gave rise to the
Moran and McAllister companies) and the political (the impact of the 1988 tug
strike/lockout on the unions). He opens and closes the book with poignant stories
about his own tug experiences.
The illustrations, text and personal anecdotes combine to create an engagingly textured
work. Matteson’s book would make a welcome winter addition to any maritime
library—whether owned by a New York City devotee, a photography fan or a tug enthusiast.
Elysa Engelman, Ph.D., is the
Museum’s exhibit developer
and researcher. She also is
co-coordinator of the
Museum’s informal
lunchtime forum about
books, research
and history.
A R M C H A I R S A I L O RALSO RECOMMENDED
A SELECTION OF MARITIME BOOKRECOMMENDATIONS FROMMUSEUM STAFF AND MEMBERS
HAVE A BOOK TO SHARE?Write to the editor, Anna Sawin, [email protected]
THE LONG SHIPS by Frans G. BengtssonThis WWII-published two-volumeSwedish novel about the Viking RödeOrm came out in a marvelous Englishtranslation in 1954. Never out of printon either side of the pond, it’s a thrilling,humorous adventure saga about Orm’svoyages from Scandinavia to Western andEastern Europe—a masterwork.Göran Buckhorn, Visitor Reception Center staff
WASHINGTON’S CROSSINGby David Hackett FischerRead it to discover the untold back storyof a group of seafarers turned soldiers,whose skills and determination madeWashington’s crossing succeed where mostothers gave up and turned back. Thesesame seafarers who, at the Battle of LongIsland, saved Washington and his army tofight another day, enabled him to take thefight to the enemy at Trenton. This bookis great history, and it’s a sea story to boot!Doug Teeson, President and Director
LYDIA BAILEY by Kenneth RobertsKnown for his realistic and conciselydescriptive details, Roberts is probablythe best historical fiction writer I’ve everread. Try this one: Lydia Bailey is aromance set in the Caribbean and NorthAfrica. The story includes details aboutAmerica’s early maritime history, includingtrade in the West Indies and the testing of the young American navy by Barbary pirates.Chris White, Collections Manager
Plum Pudding,Mincemeat and Turkey
HOLIDAYS OF THE PAST
AT SEA AND ASHORE
wrote Richard Henry Dana in 1831, in Two Years Before the Mast.
This dreary situation was on the verge of change even as Dana
penned these words. Merely eight years before, Clement Clarke
Moore wrote a poem entitled “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and in the
following decade Godey’s Lady’s Book editor Sarah Josepha Hale
began her campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday
celebrated reliably on the last Thursday of the month.
ankees don’t keep Christmas ,and ship masters at sea never know when
Thanksgiving comes so Jack has no festival at all,”
“Y
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SANDRA OLIVER
Most Yankees did not celebrate Christmas in the early 1800s.
A holdover from the Puritan days when extravagant and biblically
non-warranted holiday observance was eschewed, Christmas was
kept in New England only by Catholics and Episcopalians and by
the descendants of the Dutch in nearby New York. New Englanders
who were not at all averse to having a good time did, however,
enthusiastically celebrate Thanksgiving as they had for over a
century already, particularly Connecticut people, who had the most
consistent record of declaring an annual autumnal harvest festival.
During most of the 1700s, Thanksgiving floated from late
November to early December, usually held on a Thursday, declared
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P L U M P U D D I N G
annually perhaps as early as a month in advance by each state
governor independent of the others. That was why Dana wrote
that ship masters at sea, coping with delayed news, never knew
when the holiday was declared.
Early New Englanders might hear that a colony or state
governor had designated a day dedicated to thanksgiving and
prayer for the successful outcome of a battle or the end of some
affliction, like a drought. The major Thanksgiving, the one with
the capital T, was always in the fall after harvest and featured a
festive meal. The “little t” thanksgivings are often proferred today
as evidence that the first Thanksgiving was held someplace else
besides Plymouth Colony in 1621. In fact, the 1621 event was
not described by the Pilgrims as their first Thanksgiving. They
merely set a time to have a traditional harvest festival such as they
had known in England to express their gratitude for a decent
harvest. Later historians dubbed that particular feast the
first Thanksgiving.
In the 1700s and early 1800s, families attended church and
ate a large meal. Days were dedicated for the making of pies and
puddings, the butchering of turkeys, chickens and pigs, and
baking of bread, preparing of vegetables and other arrangements
culinary and domestic. Women cleaned houses and set extra
tables in anticipation of company. By that time, many families had
members scattered into other towns and districts and even across
the country who often took advantage of the holiday to gather
for a family reunion.
In the course of determining the ideal holiday meal, New
Englanders who could afford to do so turned to the most festive
menus they could summon up. Plenty and variety were the goals,
and tradition was evoked. Dinner included roasted meats, rich
puddings and pies and an array of side dishes.
By the 1700s, turkey had become a high-status meat among the
gentry, was more costly than other fowl, and so was an ideal festive
food. By the middle of the 1800s, it also acquired a romanticized
association with the Pilgrims, who were presumed to be the holiday’s
founders. Turkeys abounded in early New England, but were quickly
hunted off, and domesticated versions were subsequently brought in
and raised in New England barnyards. To feed a large gathering,
though, the housewife needed more than turkey, so roasts of pork,
large chicken pies and other meat, together with dishes of stuffing
and gravies, were added to the menu. Seasonal vegetables such as
potatoes, turnips and squash were served and pickles from summer
gardens accompanied them. In addition to apple and pumpkin
pies, cooks set out plum pudding full of raisins and currants,
fragrant with spices and brandy and unctuous with suet. Children
growing up in the first half of the 19th century recalled helping with
the making of mincemeat pie similarly rich in dried fruit, apples,
meat and suet. They pounded and sifted spices, picked the seeds
out of raisins and helped with all the chopping. Ironically, mince-
meat and plum pudding had such strong associations with
Christmas that to make such dishes close to December 25 pointed to
an intention to celebrate the holiday. It was one thing for Puritans
to give up Christmas, entirely another to give up plum pudding and
mincemeat pie. Both were cheerfully incorporated into the
Thanksgiving meal.
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P L U M P U D D I N G
Thereafter, Yankee and all other ship masters had no excuse, except perhaps adverse
weather, for not observing the holiday. The holiday was passed over aboard the Mary & Helen
in 1881, according to Irving Reynolds, who recorded in his journal that the ship had spent
the day fighting a gale, and in the margin of the barkentine Good News’ 1894 log were
penned the poignant words “Thanksgiving Day & no turkey.” Other seafarers might lack
turkey but put some effort into a special meal. Irving Reynolds recorded in 1879 another
shipboard Thanksgiving celebrated with a dinner of roast beef, green peas, potatoes,
apple pie and raisins.
With reunion such an important part of the holiday, seafarers at sea and their families
ashore thought about one another. Sailors wrote in their journals that they were thinking of
home, and wondered if anyone was thinking of them.
Victorian New Englanders were a good deal fuzzier on the details of celebrating
Christmas. Moore’s poem spoke of gift-filled stockings, which were substituted for Dutch
shoes on St. Nicholas’ Day, December 6. Christmas trees were promoted when Queen
Victoria was pictured in American periodicals with her tree, a German custom brought to
England when she married Prince Albert. Many New Englanders were already in the habit
of visiting and exchanging gifts on New Year’s Day. The Dutch offered New Year’s visitors
platters of small cakes and cookies. German settlers everywhere baked large batches of
holiday cookies. New Englanders ultimately cobbled together their Christmas holiday
traditions by borrowing freely from observances among their neighbors.
At first, the holiday was more or less confined to the Sunday school, where a pageant told
the Christmas story and a Christmas tree might be erected. Boxes of candy were handed out
to the children together with an orange. But it was too good a commercial opportunity
for merchants and storekeepers to ignore, and Yankees were quickly educated in Christmas
celebration via commerce and popular publications.
ver the course of the 1800s , turkey became indispensable to the Thanksgiving meal, and Mrs. Hale’s campaign was so successful
that President Lincoln finally declared the holiday a national one in 1863.
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29or Christmas dinner, some followed the English lead with
roast beef. We might think others, possibly influenced by Charles
Dickens’ popular A Christmas Carol, would serve goose and plum pudding
like the Cratchits, or upon reading Washington Irving’s Sketchbook of Geoffrey
Crayon, Gent., decide to offer a boar’s head. There is little evidence of either.
After all, what better menu to have than the most festive one they already knew?
Most people repeated some version of Thanksgiving’s meal, complete with turkey
and mincemeat pie.
As Christmas ashore was more commonly observed, Yankee captains were more likely to make provisions for
the holiday even if it were only plum duff, a boiled pudding with raisins served with molasses for sauce, for the
fo’c’sle. For the after guard, who always fared better than the men before the mast, a nice meal was in order, such as the
one aboard the Ohio in 1876 consisting of roast chicken, stewed apple, pickled pears and apples, and sweet and Irish pota-
toes. Christmas dinner aboard the packet ship Frederick Gebhard in 1858 offered chicken, beef, pork, codfish, onions, green corn
and beans, boiled tongues, pickles, pickled beets, bread and butter, whortleberry pie and whiskey.
By the end of the 1800s, Thanksgiving was still the premier New England holiday, but Christmas was catching up. At
sea in the 20th century, holiday celebrations were helped along by the increased use of artificial refrigeration and wider array
of frozen products. Ashore, holiday dinners struggled through the rationing of two world wars and, for many, Depression-
era privation, but came out intact with turkey and pumpkin pies still the norm.
In our time, Thanksgiving is still the one holiday for which families make an effort to gather and feast, even though it
looks more and more like the prelude to the Christmas shopping season than a dignified old celebration with the longest
historical roots of any in the nation. Christmas dinner itself may be hard to find under the piles of wrapping paper and
ribbon, but when else can you find plum puddings for sale in the grocery store?
SANDRA OLIVER FOUNDED THE OPEN-HEARTH COOKING PROGRAM AT MYSTIC SEAPORT IN 1971. TODAY SHE
IS THE EDITOR OF FOOD HISTORY NEWS AND THE AUTHOR OF SALTWATER FOODWAYS, AN EXCEPTIONAL
VOLUME OF REGIONAL FOOD HISTORY PUBLISHED BY MYSTIC SEAPORT.
F
JANUARY 12John Gardner Boat ShopCourse: Varnishing Techniquesfor Traditional Boats A full-dayfinishing class focuses on theart of varnishing a boat.
JANUARY 13John Gardner Boat ShopCourse: Half-ModelConstructionLearn the basics of half-hullconstruction by carving yourown model of a classic sailboat.
JANUARY 18 The 2006-2007 AdventureSeries continues with David andJoyce Kay, avid scuba divers whotravel to exotic places and photograph beautiful, seldomseen creatures at the bottom ofthe sea.
JANUARY 19–21AND JANUARY 26–28John Gardner Boat ShopCourse: Greenland Kayak BoatBuilding Build your own kayakin this intensive six-day course.
JANUARY 30Mystic Seaport CocktailParty at Christie’sA special preview to the NewYork auction house’s annualmaritime sale. For more information, contact SallyHalsey at 860.572.0711 x5120.
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W H AT ’ S H A P P E N I N G AT M Y S T I C S E A P O R T
For a complete list of eventsand programs, please visitwww.mysticseaport.org. For more information aboutthese programs, call 888.973.2767.
THROUGH DECEMBER 30The Maritime Gallery atMystic Seaport hosts itsWinter/Holiday Exhibition.For more information andhours, call 860.572.5388.
DECEMBER 7-10, 11-17,20-25Lantern Light ToursExperience theatrical scenesof Christmas past with thispopular yuletide activity.For tickets, call 888.973.2767.
DECEMBER 15 AND 22Lantern Light Tours:Family NightsThese special tour nightsfeature live music, a chanceto make your own ornamentand a visit from St. Nick.
DECEMBER 12 The 2006-2007 AdventureSeries continues with whaleresearcher Nan Hauser. Herprimary research is conductedin the Cook Islands, SouthPacific. For tickets, call860.572.5339.
DECEMBER 17Community Carol SingGet into the holiday spiritwith a traditional carol singbacked by brass quartet.
MARCH 2–4John Gardner Boat ShopCourse: The Elements of Lofting Learn the process of lofting—the straightforward process ofdrawing a boat to full size forthe purpose of making pat-terns and molds from whichto build it.
MARCH 10John Gardner Boat ShopCourse: Introduction toSparmaking –The Traditional BoathookBuild an elegant, taperedmahogany-handled boathook,with a polished bronze end.
MARCH 15 The 2006-2007 AdventureSeries continues withBenjamin Mendlowitz, theinternational wooden boatphotographer whose work has been featured in theworld’s noted wooden boatpublications. His work will beexhibited in the MaritimeGallery at Mystic Seaport in March.
FEBRUARY 3-7John Gardner Boat ShopCourse: Traditional BoatBuildingGain hands-on experience innearly every phase ofconstruction of a traditionalplan-on-frame, smooth orlapstrake-planked boat.
FEBRUARY 10John Gardner Boat ShopCourse: Kayak Paddle MakingUse a few simple tools tomake a lightweight, traditionalGreenland kayak paddle.
FEBRUARY 15The 2006-2007 AdventureSeries continues with Dr.Milton Clark, world explorerfrom Antarctica to Africa,describing his latest trip to theMontagnards, the colorfulmountain tribes of NorthernVietnam.r
MarchFebruaryDecember January
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As a sailor out at sea for weeks and months at a time, one of the few events that changes your daily routine is the
weather. Sailors of long ago developed a keen eye for observing changes in the ocean and the skies, and used those
observations to predict the weather, along with a fair number of superstitions. Some of them actually had some scientific
fact to back them up. For example, “Seagulls sitting in the sand, Always foul weather when you're at hand." This
ditty referred to the fact that a drop in the barometer indicates thinner air, making it more difficult to fly.
Here are a few more bits of sailors’ lore for predicting or causing a change in the weather. Do any of these work for you?
Ask your grown-ups how they can predict weather
changes just by looking at their environment. Try
drawing weather, weather changes or weather predictors.
HOW MANY ILLUSTRATIONS OF WEATHER
PREDICTORS CAN YOU INCLUDE IN ONE DRAWING?
To bring a wind to the ship’s sails, trim your nails or your hair.
If a goose honks high, it means fair weather.
A bright yellow sky at sunset indicates wind.
A pig running with straw in its mouth indicates
a big wind is coming.
At sea, a mirage often is a sign of approaching rain.
If the clouds are hanging low in the sky, it will probably rain.
Unusually colored clouds with hard outlines means rain and
wind are approaching.
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.
When there is moisture in the air, sound carries better.
On dry days, sounds are not as clear.
To invite a breeze to the ship’s sails, whistle a little song, but
NEVER whistle while it is breezy, as it calls a storm to the ship!
Old knee and elbow injuries can predict when wet weather is
on the way.
BY THE NUMBERS
pH LIDAYD E C O R A T I O N S
at Mystic Seaport
Decade in which the Museum began putting up a holiday tree: 1960s
Year in which the Museum began adorning theentire campus with historically appropriatedecorations: 1984
Number of handmade wreaths hung aroundthe Museum each year: 156
Number of themes used for wreaths: 8(shells, cones, ropeworks, berries, sea stars, children’s toys, waxed beans, ribbon)
In feet, length of garland hung: 1,060
In feet, length of handmade garland: 635
Number of sprays: 46
Different types of greens used in decorations: 27
Number of bows created each year: 216
Number of hot-glue sticks used to create handmade decorations: 20
Types of hand cream to soothe decorator’s hands used during decoration creation: 3
Number of buildings adorned with decorations: 78
Employee hours spent creating decorations: 233
Volunteer hours spent creating decorations: 224
Length, in days, of the Museum’s holiday season: 35
In 2005, number of Museum visitors during that season: 15,403
* * *
A gift to Mystic Seaport’s Annual Fund protects our irreplaceable collection of ships, boats, photographs and maritime artifacts, and preserves our priceless
historical legacy. This year, all new and increased gifts made to the 2006-07 Annual Fund by December 31, 2006 will be matched dollar for dollar!
2006-2007
ANNUALFUND
TO MAKE A GIFT TO THE 2006-07 ANNUAL FUND, PLEASE CALL 860.572.5365. YOU
CAN ALSO SEND YOUR GIFT TO 2006-07 ANNUAL FUND, OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL
ADVANCEMENT, MYSTIC SEAPORT, 75 GREENMANVILLE AVENUE, MYSTIC, CT 06355.THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING MYSTIC SEAPORT. WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!
NonprofitU.S. Postage
PAIDPermit #119
Deep River, CT
75 Greenmanville Avenue
PO Box 6000
Mystic, Connecticut 06355-0990
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It’s Dinner & Dance night at Seamen’s Inne. The first Thursday of each month join us at Seamen’s Inne for professional
swing dance & instruction for the Lindy Hop from 6-9 pm. Admission for dance and instruction is just $5. The full
dinner menu will be available. For information or reservations, call 860.572.5303.