Tsunami Boat

Mystic Seaport Museum has added a noteworthy vessel with a miraculous story to its collection. On March 11, 2011, a tsunami that followed one of the largest and most devastating earthquakes in Japan's history sent more than 1,000 small fishing boats from the Tōhoku coast of Northern Honshu out to sea. Nearly 200 of these boats were subsequently either seen adrift in the North Pacific Ocean or were washed ashore in North America and the Hawaiian Islands. Remarkably—a decade later—on March 21, 2021, one of these tsunami fiberglass vessels, 25 feet in length, came ashore in central Oregon. It was preserved for Mystic Seaport Museum by the Oregon State Parks Department and was successfully transported to Mystic in November 2022.

In good condition and still with much of its original paint, this vessel and its extraordinary story will be featured on the Benet Deck during the Alexis Rockman: Oceanus exhibit.