Darwin's BEAGLE

"July 5, 1832. In the morning we got under way, and stood out of the splendid harbour of Rio de Janeiro. In our passage to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on one day a great shoal of porpoises, many hundreds in number. The whole sea was in places furrowed by them...". Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle.

The model pictured is the H.M.S. BEAGLE as constructed by Alexander G. Law, an extraordinary modeler who worked from the 1930's through the 1960's. Law built everything in miniature. As an example, the case for this model is 7.5 by 11 inches, so the small scale of the model is evident. Law placed his models on hand-painted charts of regions traversed by the vessels, thus a chart of the La Plata River outside Rio graces this case. He would also place a book about the modeled vessel in a drawer fashioned into the case. Mystic Seaport has 20 models by Mr. Law and the BEAGLE can be seen in the exhibit, "Treasures from the Collection" opening in April.

The Famous Yacht ATLANTIC

This binnacle stand, from the yacht ATLANTIC, rests on a decorative metal tripod with a stylized lion head at the top of each leg and a dolphin representation on each foot. It contains a 7" magnetic compass which is hung in 4-way gimbals. It has a brass hood with an oval reading window and 2 receptacles for oil lights, one on either side.

In 1905 the ATLANTIC won the Kaiser’s Cup in a trans-Atlantic record-setting time for a monohull boat that stood for nearly 100 years. The Museum has a number of artifacts from the ATLANTIC.

Accession number: 1952.1044

Battle of Stonington, 1814

With the advent of the bicentennial of the War of 1812, it seems fitting to highlight one of the defenders of Stonington, CT during the British attack of 1814. The man with the intriguing eyes is Simeon Haley, captain of the Schooner Sally Ann. The portrait appears in the book America and the Sea: Treasures from the Collection of Mystic Seaport. The book will be brought to life as an exhibit in the Museum's Schaefer Exhibit Building at the end of March.

After participating in the battle, the next day Captain Haley was involved in a daring ruse whereby he purportedly sailed a small boat with a few other men to attract the attention of a British ship. The ship lowered a boat of marines to capture Haley's boat but Haley and company grounded the boat, and with the help of others on shore, captured the marines instead.

Christmas on the CHARLES W. MORGAN, 1889

The G.W. Blunt White Library recently received a journal for the 1889-90 voyage of the CHARLES W. MORGAN out of San Francisco. There has been tremendous interest in this journal, because the keeper, Honorio A. Martin, the second mate, along with the crew of his boat, were left behind by the MORGAN after a Nantucket sleigh ride took them out of range of the ship. They eventually ended up on Sakhalin Island (as reported in the papers of the time), were initially arrested, then made their way to Hong Kong before eventually getting back to San Francisco a month after the MORGAN had returned.

However, the initial part of the voyage was uneventful, and a melancholy second mate Martin recorded the following on the 21st day out of San Francisco as they headed for the Japan and Okhotsk grounds:

"Wednesday, December 25th. Another Christmas is passed by. Still I am wandering on the high seas without a home or abiding place. I wonder how many more I have to pass at sea. Not many, I hope. I am almost tired of this sea life and as soon as possible I will leave it and try to make a living on shore. Today we finished overhauling forward."

Well, his holiday blues and his later brush with death did not dissuade him from doing at least one more voyage as his journal picks up again in 1891 aboard the bark TRITON leaving on a whaling voyage out of San Francisco.

The journal will be available for research purposes once it is cataloged.

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.

Pie Anyone?

With the relentless advance of the seasons, and Fall creeping up on us, the thought of a good harvest of apples brings to mind the thought of pies. At least for me.....

Pies have always been a staple in the American diet, and pies were made with all sorts of fillings. However, many homemakers took a special interest in the decoration of their crusts and pie crimpers were made with that thought in mind. The trimming or decoration of dough for a pie made the crimper a very utilitarian object in the kitchen, and a whaleman with a little bit of time on his hands and some talent in the area of carving could produce some interesting crimpers.

The crimper pictured here is actually a very simple design for the most part. Many have handles that are exquisite in their piercings and framework. This single handled crimper looks more like a modern pizza cutter than anything else. However, according to Richard Malley in his book GRAVEN BY THE FISHERMEN THEMSELVES, he states, "What makes this piece unusual..is the recessed edge of the cutting disk on which is carved reverse lettering in high relief. When used to cut dough, the crimper, with each full turn of the wheel, boldly prints along the edge the message "GOOD PIE WELL MADE."

Bon Appetit! (crimper accession number 1947.1605)