AMAZING MYSTIC SEAPORT

Mystic Seaport is a working museum, or so its been described to me. More than that, it is a section of a town, preserved original buildings display or work the businesses they were, some before, some after the turn of the century.
How do you preserve about 50 boats? By “parking” them along the waterfront. How do you repair historic boats? By building a shipbuilding yard and training people to do it. They employ 22 ship builders in this shop and take in outside work to help keep the cost of visiting this unique place down.

This building displays the hull of an old ship and explains in detail how it was built, what made it strong, how it was put together piece by piece. I’m guessing the building is about 120 feet long.

The boat works has some awesome tools and you can wander about, watch the restoration workers and view films on the process.
There were so many buildings and crafts, I couldn’t post and explain them all. Every element of the fishing industry in the area, from oysters to lobsters is covered here. The town had a cigar shop and had to put out fires; pubs and churches and schools were part of the community. In fact one church has a taped sermon from a former preacher in which he regales the “rum” establishments in fiery oratory. Its a hoot. Welding shops, chain makers, iron mongers, carpenters… After five hours of walking and gawking, we became weary. We could have returned after a respite but gave in and went home. The place is a must visit for everyone including great interactive areas for children.

The last whaling ship left intact, the Charles Morgan, out of 2700 that plyed this area, is in for another restoration as the bugs that eat wood, the stresses of sailing and weather take their toll. It was built in 1841. For me, this was the most fascinating exhibit on the waterfront. While she undergoes her scraping and cleaning, and milling of replacement boards etc. we were allowed to walk around inside and ask questions of a docent.

He demonstrated the various harpoons. Unknown to me, the first strike is like a hook to bring the “fish” in, not to kill the whale. The film here is amazing. You are on the small boat as the whale takes you for a “Nantucket slayride.” You see the red foam when the whale is finally bested. You are on the blubber floor as the beast is loaded aboard the ship in slabs. The danger, the muscle it takes, the weariness, the thrill of the siting, the chase. You can almost smell the pungent ambergris as it is removed bucket by bucketful from the great head.

Bringing light below into dark quarters with glass crystals built into the upper deck. Lanterns were used sparingly as the oil soaked decks were so flammable.

The second most fascinating place, was the rope making building. The 250 foot section we were in was once part of a much longer building. When you consider the whaling boats played out 1800 feet of rope as the whale tried to shake its tormentors. How do you make a rope 1800 feet long in one straight, uncut piece? Again, an amazing film shows an old time “rope walker” with fibers tied around his waist walking the rope backward when the task was done nearly by hand with very rudimentary tools to help. This building holds the old mechanical rope making equipment that the film also demonstrates. Here the machine “walks” the rope.

Rope making has changed little from the old days except for more modern equipment. Its still a matter of joining fibers, twisting them into a small strand, then winding the strands together for great, huge ropes. One building holds a model of the town on a huge platform. In the model, the rope building is the longest building in town which this building is a small section of. The original burned to the ground.

On one of their sailing vessels, the Durant, the crew was exchanging signals with another boat. The crewman yelled, “…is their a doctor aboard?” Then, “Man overboard.”  Where upon the crew (in training) lowered the lifeboats and went and rescued a fake body out of the drink.

Also aboard this vessel was a canvas funnel that catches the wind at the top and brings it below deck to cool the crew on a hot day.

In the cooperage building, a female cooper explained to us the bucket and cask and barrel making procedures. It took me by surprise to learn that barrels were routinely taken apart when empty to store them then reassembled when needed. Especially when loaded aboard ship. Each stave was numbered so it
could be returned to its original tight form. Ships had their own cooper to perform this task.

At one time,l obster traps were made of wood instead of the plastic coated steel we see today.

One building held figureheads rescued from old boats.

One building had tools and stories and pictures of tugboats. I hadn’t stopped to think how these little but mighty boats connected to a great ship. The film shows how this great hook, which weighs about 250 pounds is utilized.

The hook is in the water. The tug makes several passes until it can connect to this hook, then it hauls away. Great film here, too.

Horse and buggy rides are available, as well as boat rides and a water taxi to shuttle you around the port, for an extra fee. If you go, plan to spend the whole day.

The Amistad was parked here after having just returned from Cuba. It hadn’t been completely cleaned yet since its recent voyage. It was only open for a short two hours. It has none of the chain and hooks from its horrifying days of running slaves. It has but few artifacts of slave trading, since men of the times tried to hide their nefarious purpose. It serves as an educational tool and memorial of the awfulness of slavery. Like the Holocaust Museum,  NEVER AGAIN.
I took a slug of pictures if you want to thread through them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/81310MysticSeaport#

AMISTAD EXHIBIT AND THE WORLD’S LARGEST CASINO

A casino and the story of kidnapped Africans-extreme differences mark these two places, except to say American Indians were treated almost as poorly as African Americans. We intended to visit the largest casino in the world, the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Casino and Museum. Recommended to us as an excellent Museum, we arrived to find it closed. The casino was not.
In fact, the Amistad Exhibit at the old Custom House Maritime Museum on Bank St. in New London, was also closed. Except for the munificence of Director Susan Tamulevich…but I’m ahead of myself.

Last year, I dared to take a picture of  Jim’s friends at lunch in an Indian Casino at Yellem, Washington, where his friend was a member of the tribe. They stopped me at the door and checked my digital photo and “let me go.”  Here, no one seemed to care about the photos, though I kept to the areas away from gambling.

An MGM Grand Tower connects to the Foxwood Casino, a partnership of some sort with shared parking. Gambling doesn’t appeal to me, but the theaters, shows and restaurants…there is always something to enjoy. From a casino, I’ve come to expect glitz, the sound and excitement of machines signaling a jackpot.  At the very least I expected an Indian motif  showing the great heritage of a proud people. I was disappointed those elements were missing. Hard rock sculptures with Indian themes were sprinkled about the place. The one above was my favorite. Most of them didn’t appeal to me. Foxwood had a hard edge to it, such as these clever, but hard plastic “lounge” chairs.

In fact, my favorite thing about the casino was its beautiful abstract carpeting. The Italian gelato was delicious. We didn’t stay very long.

We quickly moved on to the Custom House Maritime Museum to see the Amistad Exhibit.

Susan Tamulevich is so endearingly proud of this exhibit. When she told us it was displayed for the United Nations she got emotional and almost shed a tear. The unfolding of this historical event is fittingly written on humble canvases about the room. The importance of the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling that Africans kidnapped from their village, who chose to defend themselves by killing their “enemies” and taking control of the Amistad, when unlawfully detained by the Spaniards, were freed and returned to Africa; and  given that this ship was brought to the shores of the United States, a country where slavery was legal, is truly a testament to the tenent that justice is blind. Or, maybe it is more complex than that?

Here are some excerpts of  newspapers of the day that aroused public sentiment against letting them go free and for letting them go free.

The incident happened at such a time in American History that people were conflicted about slavery; a time when abolitionists were actively proselytizing against bondage; a time when good Christians were bravely speaking out against inhumanity to their fellow man. Many objectors were women.

It became the talk of the states. No one was exempt from hearing about the “savages” in the New London Jail.

The Spaniards kidnapped forty-nine men and four children from their village in Sierra Leone, headed for the sugar plantations of Cuba. This group fought back under the leadership of Cinque, who organized his companions to overtake the crew while they were still in shackles. Aware that they did not know how to sail the ship, they kept two of the Captains alive and ordered them to return to Africa. During the day, while the Africans watched,  they sailed for Africa.  During the night, the Spaniards reversed positions and thus they zigzagged into the area where the American Ship, George Washington spotted them and hauled the errant ship into New London.

A drawing of their leader Cinque. Drawings were done of all of the captured men. Two died in the revolt; nine died on the voyage before the revolt; six died in jail at New London. One drowned, a possible suicide.
Drawings were made of the men held in New London. It no doubt helped to personalize them. In fact, there were many slave revolts on board ships. Revolts almost never succeeded, but even so, the slavers kept the revolts secret, hushed them up, so as not to encourage more.

An expression of jubilation at having been released from prison. Interestingly, from the Custom House window, you can look upon the very spot the Amistad was brought to dock and unloaded.
This story is simply and directly wrought. The Supreme Court decision made with one dissenting vote, had repercussions throughout the country as people became more and more uncomfortable with enslaving others to do their labor in a “free” country. It affected thought and helped strengthen the anti-slavery sentiment that preceded the Civil War.
Please go to this excellent exhibit if you are in the area of New London.

For several more photos, check the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/8910FxwdCasinoMGMGrndAmistadExhbt#