A New Sailing Card

This picture of a sailing card showing a brig-rigged steamer under the heading of the STAR LINE is a recent purchase and is of particular interest to Mystic Seaport. The reason? Three of the vessels listed, the CONSTITUTION, the NEVADA and the WEYBOSSET, were built in Mystic in the mid-1860's. The CONSTITUTION was not only built at the George Greenman yard, her captain was also a Greenman. The AMERICA was a Connecticut vessel as well, built in Portland, CT.

This particular sailing card is the size of a normal postcard and was used, as were all sailing cards, as an advertisement to drum up business for particular ships or lines. Click on this sailing card link for more cards in the collection at Mystic Seaport.

Eddystone Light

This image of the Eddystone Lighthouse from the sketchbook of Lieutenant (later Captain) George Tobin, R.N., was done in the year 1800. This was the third light to be built at Eddystone and was completed in 1759. When it began incurring damage from waves in the 1870's, it was dismantled, piece by piece, and erected on a piece of land called Plymouth Hoe as a monument to its ingenious creator, John Smeaton.

George Tobin's sketchbook will be on display in March as part of the exhibit on Treasures from the Collection of Mystic Seaport. Click on the word "sketchbook" to take you to the full digital version.