Newest Title

The ever popular Silas Talbot (Mystic Seaport mss Coll. 18) is one of the early U.S. Naval Commanders featured in Lou Norton's new book Captains Contentious: The Dysfunctional Sons of the Brine . Along with Talbot, this book also looks into the characteristics of Dudley Saltonstall, Joshua Barney, and John Paul Jones and into how their reckless bravado and frequent antagonism toward their fellow officers shaped the new institution.

Another Weekend, Another Hurricane Threat

Last weekend Hurricane Bill skirted the nearby coast giving us lots of good surfing waves. This weekend we're waiting to see what Danny will bring - and thinking about Hurricanes past. If you want to see what a real hurricane can do - take a look at our photos from the 1938 Hurricane.

The 2009 Williams-Mystic Essay Contest in Honor of Joseph Conrad

The Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport is awarding a $5,000 scholarship for one semester.

Deadline: October 15, 2009

Eligibility: Undergraduates of any major in good academic standing at an accredited college or university are eligible. High school seniors may also submit. Must be interested in spending a future semester at Williams-Mystic, either spring or fall (based on choice and availability), as part of your college career.

The Essay: Submissions of either fiction or nonfiction should be between 1,000-5,000 words.
Submissions may be about any topic and in any genre as long as the ocean or a major body of water is the primary setting or aspect of concern. The essay may be nature writing, environmental or political activism, literary or historic scholarship, or simply good storytelling. (Sorry, no collections of poetry in 2009.)

More information: www.williams.edu/williamsmystic, rk2@williams.edu

Letter to the Collections and Research Library

Dear Mystic Seaport Library and Special Collections,

Thank you very much for your help during our research trip to study pirates this summer. As we are researching the changing meanings of "pirate" throughout history, several aspects of your collections were very helpful to us. On the matter of evolving legal and policy responses to and understandings of piracy, the transcripts of Civil War era trails of Confederate privateers on charges of piracy provided us with excellent empirical evidence of the disputer meaning of 'pirate' during this time.

Equally illuminating in terms of popular cultural understandings of piracy were your collections of pirate stories for children which help us trace the course of the romantization and de-fanging of portrayals of pirates through the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. We really appreciate your help in locating and providing these text for us.

Sincerely,

Researchers from American University
Washington, DC

The CRCs got talent

Not only did staff members produce this excellent video - they also star in it:

Shakespeare, the Maritime Connection

Mystic Seaport's G. W. Blunt White Library is acknowledged in A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare'sThe Tempest.

But... that's not the only reason to read this newest maritime work. According to Nathaniel Philbrick it is "at once a penetrating work of literary analysis and a riveting historical narrative ... reveals the salty survival tale at the heart of Shakespeare’s New World masterpiece, The Tempest."

The book focuses on William Strachey, an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonization of North America, and the 1609 shipwreck of the Sea Venture on the uninhabited island of Bermuda. The survivors eventually reached Virginia after building two small ships during the ten months they spent on the island.

The Desert Connection

Several images from the Rosenfeld Collection are included in KNPB, a PSB station in Reno, NV's new documentary "Legends of the Lake".

Legends of the Lake looks at the appreciation, beauty, and historical connections that lie beneath the surface of the mahogany rich wonders of classic wooden boats. Set at the Concours d’Elegance in beautiful Lake Tahoe, this 30-minute high-definition, documentary addresses the passion wooden boat owners have for their craft, familial connections, legendary speed kings, hydroplane racers and a history that tie generations together

Pictured here is BABY GAR IV, 1924, #13265F, a view of Gar Wood (r) and Orlin Johnson (l), at the Free-For-All Race during Buffalo Races. Our record says that "Men seen wearing formal dress, bowties, and jackets with tails. The formal dress was worn in protest of the comment made that Gar Wood 's racing was not for "gentlemen". Gar Wood was a famous hydroplane racer and boat builder. Orlin Johnson worked side-by-side with Gar Wood readying Wood's boats, testing them and racing them for many years. Orlin is pictured here as the mechanic."