More Mystic and Now Block Island, Rhode Island

Saturday morning we were ready to leave.  We went to the dockmaster's office to get more ice, and he asked us if we wanted to stay another day.  Well, YES!  There was still so much to see and do, including the weekend Chowder Festival.  We found exhibition halls we had not had a chance to visit the previous day, including one on the history of whaling to the present day, one devoted to ships' figureheads, and one with works by the artist-in-residence Kevin Sampson.  And the demonstrations of maritime history were amazing.

Sculpture made with found pieces by Kevin Sampson

One was all about launching the whale boats from the mother ship, pursuing a whale and returning with it to the ship.  It began with a sea shanty about whaling (which I was able to sing along with) and an explanation of the process--from sighting a whale to barreling the whale oil--by one of the staff on shore.  Then, from up in a hoop high on a mast on the Charles W. Morgan came the cry of "Thar she blows!" and the excitement started.  The captain shouted out for the direction of the sighting and then ordered the tars to lower the starboard bow boat.  They scrambled, handling the lines to lower the whale boat with two men (actually a man and woman) in it.  Four others slid down these lines to join them before they released the blocks and lines which were then hauled up by sailors on deck.

Whale boat being lowered from the Charles W. Morgan

On the whale boat, the six crew got their oars in place and were ready to go, all in less than five minutes. The harpooner talked about his job and showed the crowd the types of harpoons that were used, and then the other sailors in the whaleboat explained their positions and other gear.  Nate, one of our favorite demonstrators, was the headman or captain of the whaleboat.  He talked about the types of orders he would give, how he would steer and how it would be his job--and privilege--to exchange positions with the harpooner in the bow and lance the whale in a precise location near the lungs so that the whale would drown internally in its own blood.  (Parts of the story are pretty gory!)

Nate as the headman of the whale boat

Interesting bits of information emerged during the demonstration, such as the fact that they could row about four miles an hour without a whale but only one mile per hour hauling it back to the mother ship.  They might have gone out five to ten miles after the whale, so it would take them that many hours of hard rowing to get back, often surrounded by sharks that would be biting chunks out of their cargo.  Since they got paid by the amount of blubber, they hated this!  Arriving back at the mother ship, their jobs were not done.  They had to process the whale quickly before spoilage.  They hauled the whale up alongside the whaling ship so that it hung with its tail fluke in the water and then turned it around and around to cut spiral "blankets" of blubber from the carcass.  Then, the strips were chopped into manageable sizes, cut into smaller "books," and placed in the trying pots on deck to render whale oil.  Other parts of the whale, from such as the head, were processed on deck.  Only those who were romantically naive or unable to obtain any other type of work would sign on to a whaling ship.  After the demonstration, we got to participate in hauling the 1000 pound whale boat back to its cradle.

Another demonstration was the dead horse ceremony, held on the merchant marine training vessel the Joseph Conrad.  No real horses were harmed or killed by either the Mystic Seaport staff or the sailors themselves.  Being in debt was likened to having a dead horse, and sailors who signed on for the voyage usually set sail under debt.  They were paid a month's wages in advance of departure, but they were expected to use this money for own marlinspike, knives, sheaths and other personal tools; their clothing; their foul-weather gear; their bedding; and any personal items they wanted to take on the trip.  Many spent their money on drinking and sinful entertainment while others were swindled by shysters who took their money and promised to kit them out.  These men, after boarding for sail, had to get items kept for just such circumstances from the ship's stores and go further in debt.  In any case, they all were without any cash for the first month or in debt for longer.  The sailors developed the tradition of creating a near life-size canvas horse out of worn out cloth, sewing the seams themselves and making a tail out of unravelled hemp, manila or sisal line.  They filled in with bits of metal and other debris, weighing it down so that it would sink.  At the end of the first month, they held a ceremony in which they paraded around the deck singing a shanty about the poor dead horse, abusing it as they went.  Then, the horse was hauled up onto a yard arm and as the song came to a close, it was cut loose to sink in the deep ocean as the sailors cheered.  The dead horse we used was filled with pool noodles so it would float and could be used again, but those of us (pick me!) who chose to participate rather than spectate had a lot of fun carrying him around, singing and hauling him up for his final fate.

Dead horse ready to release to the briny deep

In the afternoon, we learned about life saving services along the coast, before the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life Saving Service merged in 1915 to form the U.S. Coast Guard.  Officially, the Life Saving Service began in 1848, but even before that there were volunteer rescue crews and equipment along the coastline.  The demonstration we watched a Breeches Buoy Life Saving Drill on the Village Green at Mystic Seaport.  When a ship was identified as wrecked or in peril from the shore, the life savers would usually attempt to reach the sailors on board by boat.  In some cases, the conditions were too dangerous, so they devised a system where they fired from shore to the ship a projectile tied to the end of a heavy line .  This spooled out from a cart which they had hauled down to the shore, holding 1000 to 2000 feet of coiled rope.  For their drills, they used a high pole with a ladder up to a platform, on the other end of the green from the cart.  Two men pulled the line, simulating its flight to the ship and then carried it up with them to the platform where they secured it and waited for rescue.  Meanwhile, those on shore hustled to get all the lines anchored to the ground and taut on their end.  The goal was to get to this stage within five minutes from the time they started setting up.  Then, a life buoy attached to a pulley with cut-off pants sewn in was pulled out along the line from ship to shore, and one by one, sailors would jump in and be hauled to safety.  The addition of the breeches was a 19th century innovation to deal with the fact that many men, particularly those who were injured, were unable to hold themselves on to the life buoy with their arms and slipped through (to their deaths).  In the past, volunteers would practice this two or three times a week throughout the year.  We were amazed to learn that either through rescue by boats or this method, the U.S. Life Saving Service had over a 95 percent success rate.

In addition to these three demonstrations, we listened to a staff member explain the use of instruments for determining latitude dating back over 3000 years while he showed us astrolabes, octets, sextants and other instruments and highlighted the men and cultures who developed them.  We were educated and entertained by a woman in period dress who was role-playing as the owner of a boarding house for shipyard workers in Mystic in the mid-1800's.  We stopped in the drug store, the doctor's office, homes, the Mystic Bank and other buildings.  For a break, we bought lunch from the vendors at the Chowder Festival and listened to a solo performer singing and playing songs from our teens, 20's and 30's and ballads.

Mystic Bank

Instruments and medicines in the doctor's office

Patented medicines

Late in the afternoon, we walked into town, admiring the many preserved 19th century homes of shipyard owners, carpenters, merchants and other members of the community of Mystic, now worth a fortune, we assume, and inhabited by local families.

Home of Thomas Greenman, shipyard owner (with his two brothers, who had houses beside this one)

Home of Charles Greenman

We watched as the bascule bridge closed to vehicular and foot traffic and then opened to let the steamboat Sabino from Mystic Seaport through.  We looked in a few shops and the wonderful independent bookstore before finding an outdoor restaurant called Treetops, where we ate delicious and unusually prepared vegetarian food for dinner before returning to Mantra.   Since the laundry was available, I did one last load that evening.

Mystic Bascule Bridge

We had a couple of more hours to wander around this morning at the museum.  First, we visited an exhibition about the Vinland Map, the unveiling of which was announced to the public on Columbus Day in 1965 by Yale University, claiming it was definite proof that the Vikings had "discovered" America before this Italian explorer.  Although the subject was widely debated and analyzed, the general concensus within ten years was that it was a forgery.  Nevertheless, the archeological excavations and discoveries along the coast of eastern Canada offer compelling evidence for Viking exploration and habitation at the end of the first millennium, hundred of years before other Europeans.

Our long visit was finally over, and what I have written about is only a small portion of what we saw, experienced and learned at this wonderful museum.  It has been the highlight of our trip this fall so far.

We washed down the decks and got ready to cast off, which we did at 11:30 this morning, in time to reach the bascule bridge in time for the 11:40 opening.  Zigzagging our way out of Mystic Harbor, we  then set sail for Block Island, Rhode Island.  The winds were favorable and we were able to sail all the way to the entrance to Great Salt Pond, a large protected harbor on the northern side of the island.

One of the four lighthouses on Block Island

After Peter's cup of tea, we put the dinghy in the water and Peter mounted the smaller of our two outboard engines to the stern.  He decided to take it for a test run, which proved to him that the float was staying open, requiring him to fix it before we could take off.  For him this was slightly frustrating but also enjoyably challenging.  When he removed the cover and started taking it apart, he realized that previously someone had taken it apart and put it back together without one of the parts.  Of course, the part was not around anymore, but, genius that he is, he was able to create a substitute.  Now, two hours later, he believes it is properly repaired.

In is nearly 8 p.m. and dark. Since we don't know the shoreline or where the dinghies dock are, we will wait until the morning to explore on shore.  Now I must make us some dinner.