Stormy Weather....

“If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head…”

-          William Shakespeare, The Tempest

     The tornado that recently devastated Moore, Oklahoma reminds us of the fickle and furious temperament that Nature can exhibit. While tornadoes are few and far between in New England, the same cannot be said for hurricanes. Take as an example the destructive 1938 hurricane that rampaged through New England, killing hundreds and leveling, it is estimated, up to two billion trees. In this image taken at the time of that hurricane, it is quickly discernible that boats are not supposed to be traveling along the railroad tracks in Mystic, CT. This image is from the Post Collection of Photographs at Mystic Seaport.

Mystic Seaport Accession # 1987.58.523

     Texas has the unfortunate geographical location that puts it in the path of both tornadoes and hurricanes. The second picture shows the remains of a church in Galveston, Texas after the deadly hurricane that swept through there in 1900. This storm took an estimated 8,000 lives and is still the worst natural disaster on record in the United States. This photo is part of the Merrit-Chapman & Scott collection of marine salvage photographs at Mystic Seaport.

Mystic Seaport Accession # 2008.28.3.159

First Responders on the Water

The week of April 15, 2013 was one that will not soon be forgotten. The bombings at the Boston Marathon and the explosion of the fertilizer plant in West, Texas were the two major events of the week that required extraordinary action on the part of American first responders.

Mystic Seaport. Rosenfeld Collection. Accession number 1984.187.27083

This photo showing two New York City Fire Department fireboats reminds us that firefighters and police work on the water as well. The two boats, JOHN D. MCKEAN in the foreground along with FIRE FIGHTER, are pictured with the Statue of Liberty in the background. The two boats were not only the most powerful fireboats in the NYFD fleet pumping 19,000 and 20,000 gallons per minute, but also the most famous. FIRE FIGHTER responded to more than fifty fires, including the fire that destroyed the NORMANDIE in 1942. Among other incidents, the JOHN D. MCKEAN, named after a marine engineer killed aboard the fireboat GEORGE B. MCLELLAN, was quickly on the scene in Manhattan after September 11 and rescued passengers from U.S Airways Flight 1549 in 2009, the crash that became known as the Miracle on the Hudson.

To read more about these extraordinary boats and the exceptional people involved with them, visit the Marine 1 FDNY website.

Imagine That! Whales!

Imagine! That's exactly what Conrad Gesner seems to have done in his depiction of these two whales in his 1560 epic work entitled Nomenclator Aquatilium Animantium. Gesner was a Swiss naturalist with an extremely curious mind. Although he only lived for fifty years (1516-1565), he was exceptionally productive in his studies. For example, he attempted to name every known animal (and some unknown); he wrote extensive treatises on botany; he tried to identify all existing languages; he published a catalog of all the known authors to that time, and much more. If Gesner had not died of the plague in 1565, who knows what else he might have accomplished?

A depiction of whales in Nomenclator aquatilium animantium, published in 1560.

While his book on aquatic animals does contain mythical creatures such as mermaids, he tried to describe as many animals as he could from direct observation, not just from hearsay as was the custom of the time.

In this picture of the two bizarre-looking whales, the strangest part is not the whales themselves, but the man standing at the rail with what looks like a trumpet, obviously blowing it in the direction of the beasts. Is he trying to call them or scare them or communicate with them? If your Latin and German are good enough, you can try to find out when you go to this link at Archive.org to read the work in its original format. Click on the picture to get a larger version.Mystic Seaport is fortunate enough to have this extremely rare book as part of its research collection in the G.W Blunt White Library.

Bathing Beauties....

MSM Accession Number 1939.1301

This whimsical illustration of a couple narwhals basking on an Arctic beach appeared in the "Mammalia" volume of the 1837 series entitled The Naturalist's Library published in Edinburgh, Scotland. The title of the print is "The Narwhal or Sea Unicorn."  These marine mammals are related to the Beluga whale and, like them, have no dorsal fin. The tusk is actually a tooth that extends through the upper left lip of the male and is unusual in the fact that  it grows in a counterclockwise spiral from the left side of the face, although two-tusked animals have been reported and the occasional female exhibits a tusk as well. Scientists apparently are still unsure of all the uses of the tusk, though there are many unusual theories, the most likely being that it signals dominance among males. While the mythical unicorn was a solitary animal, the swimming variety is very social and can be occasionally seen in large groups in its Arctic habitat, especially in the Atlantic arctic region. Mystic Seaport has a large collection of Narwhal tusks brought back by whalemen from the Eastern Arctic. One unusual object in the collection is a coat rack constructed from wood, narwhal tusks and whale ivory. Now, get off the beach, beauties, and back into the brine.

A Slow Boat to England....

Artist Charles Raleigh moved to New Bedford in 1877, the same year that Capt. Thomas Crapo made the decision to seek fame and fortune by sailing across the Atlantic from that port to England in a boat just under 20 feet in length. Raleigh captured the event and the painting now lives at Mystic Seaport.



Capt. and Mrs. Thomas Crapo. Painting by Charles Raleigh. MSM accession # 1955.965

The strange event was made stranger yet when Crapo acquiesced to his wife's request to join him. The two set off in their modified whaleboat built especially for the trip in June of 1877. After 56 days at sea, with the expected trials and tribulations behind them, they arrived in England to great fanfare. Returning home to New Bedford the next year, the Crapos took their show on the road and attracted thousands to hear their story. Twenty-two years after their voyage, Capt. Crapo once again got the urge to do something unusual to attract attention. In 1899 he left Newport in a boat less than 10 feet in length in an attempt to sail to Cuba. This time the ending was not so happy. Caught in a storm, Crapo capsized and drowned, having made it as far as South Carolina. He lives on through the work of Charles Raleigh.

Crossing the Line!

A crossing-the-line ceremony is something that many naval and merchant seamen have experienced over the centuries. Traditionally when a vessel passes over the equator, any sailor aboard that is also crossing for the first time is initiated into the brotherhood of shellbacks by King Neptune himself, attended by his lovely court, of course. Duckings, being “shaved” with giant implements, dosing with some sort of medicinal potion and being smeared with tar are just some of the events that might take place during a mandatory appearance at the good King’s court. Nowadays, certificates of such a graduation into the ranks are even made available to the “lucky” inductee.

The accompanying image is a plate taken from a rare book in the G.W. Blunt White Library’s collection at Mystic Seaport. “Crossing the Line” is from A Picturesque Voyage to India : by the Way of China, by Thomas Daniell and William Daniell published in London in 1810 by  Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme [etc.]

Scrimshaw Identified

Over the past few months Dr. Stuart Frank of the New Bedford Whaling Museum has been doing an assessment of Mystic Seaport's scrimshaw collection. As one of the world's authorities on the subject, Dr. Frank is greatly respected for his knowledge and Mystic Seaport is happy to have his expertise put to good use here. One of the many pieces that Dr. Frank examined is a tooth from the so-called "Mechanic" scrimshaw artist. Unknown until identified by Dr. Frank and other members of his research team, the artist was identified in that manner because the scrimshaw in question came from an 1834-38 voyage of the ship MECHANIC  of Newport, Rhode Island. Dr. Frank and his compatriots are confident that the artist is one Spencer Pratt of Bristol, Rhode Island who was the first mate on that particular voyage. A partial description of the accompanying piece from Dr. Frank's work states:

"..blindfolded figure of Justice standing, with left arm akimbo, the Scales of Justice suspended in her left hand, with her right arm outstretched, holding an upright sword. Above all of this is a circumferential band of stars, surmounted by a patriotic device of six flags lit by a radiant sun
or star." This is one of three teeth by Pratt in the collection at Mystic Seaport. Dr. Frank has similarly identified numerous other artists and subjects in the collection, information that will be gladly appended to our records.