& MUSEUM NEWS display building for Howard Blackburn 's 25' sloop Great Republic, which is temporarily housed in the Gloucester Armory. Funds are now being sought for the construction of the museum on a section of harborfront park. Great Republic, City of Gloucester, Gloucester MA01930. The Gloucester Fishermen's Museum is continuing its summer whale study cruises and has installed a 40 ' whale model as part of its whale study workshop. Gloucester Fishermen's Museum, Box 159, Gloucester MA 01930. Through the eyes of the surgeon's mate, the sailing master, a Marine, an able-bodied seaman and a boy, visitors at the USS Constitution Museum will be able to experience a bit of " life at sea'' including activities such as hoisting sails, manning the helm, and seamanship. "Shipboard life was not always exciting and romantic, " says Peter Sterling, director of the Museum. The new permanent exhibit explains how the 475 crew members were ranked , disciplined , accommodated, fed; how diseases and wounds were treated . USS Constitution Museum, PO Box 1812, Boston MA 02129. An account of the sinking of the whaleship Essex (the incident on which Herman Melville based Moby Dick), written by Captain Thomas Nickerson of Nantucket in 1880, has been donated to the Nantucket Historical Association by Mr. and Mrs. James Finch of Connecticut. Nickerson, who was 17 years old at the time ship went down in 1820, mid-Pacific, wrote that while he was at the helm, "The whale struck the ship with his head directly under the larboard (port) forechains," and after a second blow the ship sank-only eight men survived. The only other account of the incident was written by first mate Owen Chase, whose account was published in 1821. Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket MA 02557. (Note: Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex, by T.F. Heffernan has just been published by Wesleyan University Press; dist. by Columbia University Press, 562 W. 113 St., New York, NY 10025 .) Continental sloop Providence completed her first winter cruise on May 29 when she returned to her homeport, Newport, RI. With Revolutionary colors and a new 44 ' commission pennant flying, the 1976 reconstruction of John Paul Jones' first war command stood into the Newport Offshore yard, firing a salute from her starboard battery. Captain Al Roderick and his crew were glad to be home after a 4,000 mile cruise which began last October 3. Most of the winter was spent at Key West, where the 65 ' sloop went out twice a day with people learning the ways of an 18th century warship at sea. During the transits south last fall and north this spring the small regular crew was augmented by enthusiastic volunteers. Ports visited included Baltimore, Norfolk, Beaufort, N.C. and Beaufort, S.C., Savannah, and Charleston. Thousands of visitors came aboard at stops en route. During this summer, Providence will be busy with New England maritime events and making three AST A cruises. She will also continue sup-
SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1981
porting the Bicentennial events of this year, the march of Rochambeau' s French army from Newport to the Chesapeake area, and its transportation by ship down the bay to Yorktown, Virginia. At Yorktown on October 17 Providence will join other Tall Ships in celebrating that final great battle of the American Revolution , after which another winter in southern waters is planned. Seaport '76, PO Box 76, Newport RI 02840, (401) 846-1776. The turn of the century Thames shipyard, in New London, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975, has been sold for $600,000 to John H . Wronowski who has leased the yard for his repair business since 1967. Plans are to restore the yard under Federal guidelines, beginning with the 3 marine railways. Thames Shipyard, New London CT 06320. Mystic Seaport has received a $350,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for cataloging their oral history material, historic photographs, marine paintings and drawings. In addition, a $2 million project has been undertaken to replace the Museum's old wooden bulkheads with I, 700' of permanent steel and granite seawall, which will require minimal maintenance. Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT 06355 .
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A bit of history came full circle in Black Rock Connecticut where a replica of the stern carving of the packet ship Charles Cooper was on display this spring. The Cooper built in 1856 at Hall's Ship Yard in Black Rock was abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1866 and was acquired by South Street Seaport Museum in 1969. The cast for the stern carving was made during one of the first NMHS expeditions to stabilize the condition of vessels in the Falklands in 1977. Bruce Williams, 152 Seabright Ave., Bridgeport CT 06605 . An expedition under the leadership of NMHS advisor Frank Braynard, curator of the American Merchant Museum, will be on Fire Island this summer searching for traces of the 19th century steam ship Savannah which ran aground during a storm in 1821. American Merchant Marine Museum, Kings Pt. NY I 1024.
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"Oysters, Dutchmen and the Bay" a permanent exhibit recently installed at the Suffolk Marine Museum focuses on the history of oystering and on the turn-of-the-century West Sayville Dutch community. Modesty and Priscilla, traditional
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Our Advertisers are our Standing Rigging Bay work boats are restored and on display at the Museum as well. " Dutchman on the Bay," a book which records the oral and written
Tell them you 'Saw it in Sea History' 31