A visit to Mystic Seaport

[Subnuts]

I went back to Mystic Seaport on Thursday, and although I only had about 2 1/2 hours, I still managed to take some pictures. The place is awfully quiet on weekday mornings, so I didn't have to deal with screaming kids getting in the way. The pictures are rather large, so I'm going to stick to 10 per post.

This is the 1920s fishing schooner L.A. Dunton, sans masts and rigging. New England is finally coming out of winter, so quite a few of the boats and ships there were in this condition.


Here's a view of the stern.


The shipyard had a number of restoration projects underway, and there were quite a few components of various boats and ships laying around here and there. Here's an old anchor and windlass.




A view of the Seaport as seen from behind the restoration building. The schooner on the left is the Mystic Whaler. The red building in the middle houses the remains of the schooner Australia, built in 1862 and used by the Confederates as a blockade runner during the Civil War. The green building is an oyster shack from the late 1800s, surrounded by three fishing boats of the same era. The building to the left of it has a large-scale model representing how the Mystic River area appeared in the 1880s. On the right side of this photo, we see the Eastern-rig dragger Roann, and the L.A. Dunton.


The Mayflower II is usually docked in Plymouth, Massachusetts, but now spends winter and early spring in Mystic for refit and repairs. Getting a good shot of the entire ship is pretty much impossible.


This 14 foot tall compound steam engine powered a New York harbor tug back in the 20s. It blows my mind to think about how clean and high tech tugs are these days compared to back then.


Another building at the shipyard houses the keel of the whaleship Thames, which besides the Charles W Morgan, is probably the largest surviving relic from the days of Yankee whaling.


The steamboat Sabino was the current major project in the restoration building. I took a 30-minute trip onboard back in 2013; hopefully they can get her running again!

[Subnuts]

That big ventilation duct coming out of Mayflower II's stern is probably a wise precaution. I was getting a headache from wood mold after just two hours here!


The Freedom Schooner Amistad was in for repairs again. The ship was built in Mystic in 1998, and has been something of a problem child since. I took a bunch of pictures, because I honestly wasn't expecting to see here this time around.




Starboard side has seen better days.




A closer look at Mayflower II's stern.


The dockside was cluttered with parts of Mayflower II waiting to be reinstalled. The seaport staff lets visitors get surprisingly close to ongoing work in the shipyard.


There's really nothing stopping people from climbing up the mainmast shrouds. Thankfully, I'm a goody-two-shoes whose afraid of heights.


The Eastern-Rig Dragger Roann. One of my favorite vessels in the Seaport's collection, but unfortunately, you can't go onboard.


The L.A. Dunton's forcastle. Home away from home for 15 men.

[Subnuts]

Mystic Seaport does a number of demonstrations each day, but I only got a chance to watch one. In this case, I got to see how they the prepared a freshly-caught Cod back in the day. There's some really, really mild gore in the next few pictures, so if you're super-super sensitive, you might want to skip ahead to the pretty boats.

Splitting the Cod lengthwise. The head has always been removed.


Slicing off the inedible bits around the tail.


Breaking the spine.


Loosening the spine.


And finally, removing it and chucking it overboard. The curator pointed out that until recently, final fluid from Cods was used as a thickener in clam chowder. Um...yum?


The meat on the Cod's cheeks apparently makes a good substitute for scallops, which is what she's cutting right now.


This is the Danish lighthouse tender Gerda III. In 1943, this boat was used to smuggle 300 Jews from Denmark to Sweden, presumably not all at the same time. Surprisingly, I haven't been able to find out much about this particular boat.


Three 27 foot whale boats on display. A design that's stood the test of time.


Interior of the whaleboat.


The Emma C Berry, a fishing sloop built in 1866, is one of the oldest crafts in the seaport's collection. Amazing that even the most purely utilitarian boats of time time would have elaborate scrollwork.

[Subnuts]

The oyster sloop Nellie of 1891. Another nice looking boat. They don't make them like they used to.


Some shots of the inside of the rigging loft. Enjoy the huge amount of blocks, pulleys tackles, ropes, sails, oars, and scary looking nautical things.






The highlight of the Seaport: the Charles W Morgan, the only surviving 19th century whaling ship.


Another whaleboat, this time fitted out with a full set of oars.


The bow of the sail training ship Joseph Conrad. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go onboard.


The bow of the Charles W Morgan. The restoration job is fantastic. You'd think the ship was a replica built for a movie made last year, not an actual 175 year old ship.


Gotta say though, that Raytheon radar dish sticks out like a sore thumb.


Surprised at how big those whale boats were when compared to the actual ship. I've read somewhere that a typical whaling ship would have up to eight of these boats.


Calling it a night. More pics tomorrow!

[Sailor Steve]

Fantastic! Lovely stuff.

[Aktungbby]

Please move to beautiful sailing ships thread! REALLY nice!

[Torplexed]

You rarely see the huge labor of love it takes to keep these maritime relics from fading away and keeping the skills alive to do it..