Our Historic Ships: Not Just a Hobby-lln Urgent Priority by Senator Christopher J. Dodd
Senator ChristopherJ Dodd (DCT) presented the World Ship Trust's Maritime Heritage Award to Mystic Seaport on 23 September 2000 for the preservation of the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan of 1841. Senator Dodd serves as a trustee of Operation Sail and played a leading role in bringing the tall ships to New London last summer for OpSail 2 000. He also championed the building and sailing ofthe schooner Amistad.
surrounded and permeared by warer. We remember rhar America was discovered accidenrally by a grear seaman searching for someplace else. Its earliest exploration was largely undertaken by those who hoped to get rhrough or aro und ir, not senle it. And when settlement finally took hold , it occurred along our coasts and rivers. Our subsequent rise as a powerful nation can be traced to our growing power on the seasto harvest food, to conduct co mSenator Chris Doddpresents the World Ship Trust Award to Mystic merce, and to defend our nahave the honor and rhe privi- Seaport for the preservation of the whaling ship C harles W. rional sovereignty. Indeed, it has been said thar lege rh is afre rnoon to presem Morgan in September 2 000. (Courtesy Mystic Seaport, Inc.) sea power is an indelible mark of the World Ship Trust's Maritime Heritage Award to M ys tic Seaport for who believe that the preservation of his- a free people. its rescue of the wo rld's last remainin g toric ships ought not be just a hobby, but The nations thar have enjoyed sea power, even for a brief period-Athens, Scand inasquare-rigged, wooden commercial vessel must be an urgent priori ty. At one time in our history, thousands of via, rhe Nerherlands, Britain and our U nired from our grear age of sail- rhe Charles W Morgan. ships like the Morgan graced our harbors Stares-are those that have preserved freeOn behalf of people rhroughour Co n- and p lied their trade o n the seas. Today, all dom for themselves and given it to orhers. necti cut and throughout our nation , allow save she are gone. And so this cherished vessel and others me to express deep gratimde to the World Over the yea rs, much effo rt and many like ir are far more rhan quainr reli cs of a Ship Trust for the award-and immense reso urces have been dedicated to the pres- bygo ne era. They embody the noblest aspipride in the achievement thar it recognizes. ervation ofour histo ric buildings and natu- rarions of a people. They speak nor only of Ir is richly deserved by Revell Carr and ral monuments. And rightly so. what is pasr, bur to what endures-ingenuRegrettably, the sam e can no t be said for ity, intrep idi ty, and an insatiable apperire everyo ne associated with Mystic Seaport. T hey co ntinue to perform a criri cally im- historic vessels. All but a few li e disregarded for freedom and a berrer life in a berrer land. Yes, th ey are old wooden boars. But in portam public service to our stare and our or discarded, ignored or scuttled by a wo rld country. too busy, ir seems, to care-too emhralled rhe historian 's words, rhey were "the mosr Some may wonder why, on this ea rly with machines and modems. beautiful creatio ns of man in America. autumn afternoon-a few rnomhs into a That is an observation, not a judgment With no extraneous o rnament except a new millennium, at a time when explora- - for the calculus of co mmercial life dic- figurehead, a bir of carving, and a few lines rion of new planets has become co mmon- tares rhar change be rhe only constant. of gold leaf, their ... purpose . .. was place, when peo ple routinely rravel ar twice Thar has been rrue of rimes pasr as much as achieved by perfecr balance of spars and rhe speed of so und, and when vast sums of of rhe presem . Indeed, iris quite likely thar, sails to rhe curving lines of the smoorh money and information can be moved in when rhe Morgan was ch risrened 159 years black hull; and this harmony of mass, form, seconds with the click of a computer ago-o n a day perhaps nor unlike this one, and co lo r was pracriced to rh e music of mouse-we have gathered here to celebrare jusr a few miles up th e coast in Fairhaven, dancin g waves and of brave winds whisMassachusetts- there were those who de- tling in the rigging. T hese were our Gorhic an old wooden boat. cried it as ye r anorher sign of the passing of cathedrals, our Parthenon. "* Allow me to propose an answer. Their preservarion is up to us . We dare T hree months ago, just over the hill in a simpler era in whaling. Yet, were our generation to shrug its not leave it to chance. New London, hundreds of thousands of And to thar end, I pledge to do all I can people witnessed the parade of rall ships shoulders, sigh, and say, "Ir's a pity rhey' re that played a key part in our nation 's mil- gone, bur such is life," it would permit rhe in rhe U ni red Stares Senare to co mmir our lennium celebration . What if al l of those perpetuation of an oversighr of enormo us nation to rhe preservarion of our rn aririme heritage-so rhar o ur harbo rs mi ghr alships, grand and glittering in the New En- and tragic proportions. gland summer sun, were to suddenly disapShips such as this embody o ur heritage ways be graced by ships such as the one we pear- never again to be seen or muched, as clearly and unmistakably as our great are privileged to honor rhis afrernoon. .t buildings and our natural wo nders. lost forever to us and future generations? America can no r be understood as a na- * Sam uel Eli or Morison, The Oxford History of T he image of an empty harbor co nveys the magnitude of the task faced by those tion until we understa nd iras a pi ece ofland the American People (1965)
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SEA HISTORY 96, SPRING 200 I