William Main Doerflinger Memorial Sea Shanty Sessions at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor

This Saturday night, January7th, the Mystic Seaport will be hosting a “Chantey Blast and Pub Sing“ from 1-5 PM in the Frohsinn Hall (aka the German Club), 54 Greenmanville Avenue, in Mystic CT as a fundraiser for the 33rd Annual Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival  coming up in June.  The suggested donation is $15.

Around New York harbor, we have been fortunate to have had a monthly shanty (or chantey, if you prefer) sing for over a dozen years. In its current incarnation, it is called the William Main Doerflinger Memorial Sea Shanty Sessions at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor.  William Doeflinger, who died in 2000, “collected” many well known sea shanties at the Sailor’s Snug Harbor retirement home in Staten Island, NY.  The shanty sing is held in one of the buildings where the old sailors sang their shanties for Doeflinger.  The acoustics are great and there is a sense of magic as the old songs are sung again where sailors from the great age of sail lived out their final days.  The shanty sessions are held on the third Sunday of every month.   from 2 to 5 PM, at the Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center at 1000 Richmond Terrace, building D, in Staten Island New York. For a short video see our post: The William Main Doerflinger Memorial Shanty Session, 5/15/11

Fortunately Mystic and New York City are not the only places where folks regularly get together to sing sea songs. In San Francisco, there are monthly shanty sings from 8pm to midnight on the first Saturday of every month on a historic ship at the Hyde Street Pier.   Admission is free but reservations are required. Call 415-561-7171.

Tonight in Port Townsend, Washington there will be a Sea Shanty Song Circle and Sing-Along  from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m at the Northwest Maritime Center Cafe located at 431 Water Street.  The shanty sing is held the first Thursday of every month.

In the Washington DC area, the Ship’s Company Chanteymen host multiple monthly public chantey sings.  These are held:

• On the first Tuesday of the month from 8 to 10 p.m., the Royal Mile Pub, 2407 Price St. in Wheaton, Maryland (near University & Rt. 97). (301) 946-4511.
• On the second Wednesday of the month from 8 to 10 p.m.,at the Wharf Rat, 801 S. Anne Street, Baltimore, Maryland (Fells Point) (410) 276-9034
• On the third Wednesday of the month from 8 to 10 p.m., at Galway Bay, 63 Maryland Avenue in Annapolis, Maryland 21401 410.263.8333
• On the fourth Tuesday of the month, from 8-10PM at Laughing Man Tavern 1306 G St NW, Washington DC 202-737-1797

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing along the news about the Mystic Shanty Blast.

Sail the Morgan 2014

Sail the Morgan 2014 is a Mystic community group dedicated to raising $1.5 million to help Mystic Seaport restore and sail the 1841 whaleship.

The Charles W. Morgan 70th Anniversary Celebration

In 1941, the historic whaleship Charles W. Morgan arrived at Mystic Seaport. We’re throwing her a party and you and your guests are invited for free to enjoy the festivities:

• A special ceremony, featuring noted historian and author, Nathaniel Philbrick*
• Chowder by Coastal Gourmet
• Maritime skills and squad presentations
• Talks by shipwrights about the restoration
• Live music 
• An “Eyewitness Reunion” of those who greeted the whaleship in Mystic 70 years ago
• Book signing with Nathaniel Philbrick in the Museum bookstore at 2:45 p.m. (“Why Read Moby-Dick“)
• Premiere performance of “Prince of Whalers,” 5:30-7:00 p.m.

Here is a informal and incomplete roundup of how some of our favorite vessels, from New York harbor to Maine, weathered the storm, gathered from the news and social media sites.

Fireboat John J Harvey – The historic fireboat headed up the Hudson River to ride out the storm.  Jessica DuLong, the Chief Engineer  wrote on Facebook just after noon today, “Creek is ripping. Already flowing over the bulkhead and high tide isn’t until 1:30. Fireboat is tied up alongside a sinking barge but I’ve got air up and engines ready to go.”   Good to know that the fireboat has a skilled hand on the throttle.

Tanker May Whalen - Portside NewYork reports that the historic tanker made it through the storm with the help of McAllister Towing and Weeks Marine.

Ships of the South Street Seaport -  The folks at Save out Seaport report that ” the ships of South Street seem to have fared the storm well. Many thanks to the NYC Economic Development Corporation for taking charge of the situation, and directing appropriate measures for the expected conditions.  Wavertree, Peking, Ambrose, Marion, and Helen stayed at the dock. We’re waiting for further reports from Pioneer, who ran ahead of the storm to Indian Point, and from Lettie G. Howard and W.O. Decker, who made it up to Kingston.

Ships and Boats of Mystic Seaport –  The seaport followed its emergency plan, pulling most small boats from the water and securing them. The larger historic vessels like the Joseph Conrad and the L.A. Dunton were “breasted off” – using anchors and lines to secure them in open water, where they can ride out the winds and the swells away from the seawall, bulkheads and other watercraft. The 1841 whaler Charles W. Morgan, is already on shore undergoing a multiyear restoration in the Seaport shipyard. The vessel is fastened down in a special crib-like structure designed to withstand high winds.  (See Mystic Seaport takes precautions)

 Le Pingouin - Brad Van Liew, who won the Velux 5 Oceans single-handed around the world race, has been sailing his Le Pingouin ECO 60 up the East Coast. The are holed up at Newport Shipyard in Newport Rhode Island.  At noon today he wrote on Facebook,  ”LP is bouncing around a bit but we’re looking ok for now...”

USS Constitution - the world’s oldest floating commissioned naval vessel rode out the storm at pier one berth in the Charleston Navy Yard in Boston harbor with storm chains and additional moorings.

Timberwind Schooner - the Rockport, Maine based schooner reported on Facebook two hours ago, “Discharged our passengs yesterday a day early …. Sitting it out at Gilkeys harbor …. near the American Eagle … me and two crew … pretty damn windy … looks like a long night!”

Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport wants to see your tattoo

“Tattoo Tales” is just one part of a weekend full of special activities. The event is a celebration of the Museum’s newest exhibit Skin & Bones – Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor. The critically-acclaimed exhibit traces the purpose and meaning of tattooing for the American sailor from the Revolutionary War up to the present time. 

Children can enjoy tattoo story times; they can try their hand at designing their own tattoo; and they can even get their own temporary tattoo. Face painters and henna tattoo artists will be on hand to decorate the faces and limbs of those who wish to do so. 

Special interpreted tours of the Skin & Bones exhibit will be offered to provide interested visitors an in-depth presentation of the history of tattoos in the maritime community and beyond. In addition, panels of local tattoo artists will discuss their work and display their designs both days at 1:30 p.m. in the Greenmanville Church.

Tattoos & Tallships is free with Museum admission. 

Skin & Bones was funded in part by a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council. The exhibit runs through Sept. 5.

For anyone in the area, the Mystic Seaport Wooden Boat Show, which starts today and runs through Sunday,  is well worth stopping by.   The show is sponsored in partnership with WoodenBoat  Publications.

The WoodenBoat Show

A video about the show: 20th Annual WoodenBoat Show

See more than 100 traditional classics and contemporary wooden boats of every type at the 20th-annual WoodenBoat Show — a festival celebrating the design and craftsmanship of wooden craft.

Described by Yankee Magazine’s Travel Guide as “one of Connecticut’s Top 20 Events for the Summer,” the three-day WoodenBoat Show offers something for all wooden boat enthusiasts and marine history buffs. Wooden boats of every type — large and small, old and new, power, sail, oar and paddle — will be on display including cruising yachts, launches, runabouts, fishing boats, performance powerboats, daysailers, dinghies, rowboats, canoes, performance shells, multi-hulls and racing boats.

In addition to all the beautiful boats and exhibits, there will be a book signing on Saturday  by Author Tom Dunlop and photographer Alison Shaw, authors of “Schooner: Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard.”   See our review from last June.   On Sunday Vivian Volovar will be signing her book, “Lobster Lady.”

The 32nd Annual Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport starts this Thursday night, June 9th, and runs through Sunday, June 12th.    More than 5,000 people gather each year to hear Mystic Seaport’s Chantey Staff along with a solid core of performers carry on classic musical traditions of the golden age of sail.  The festival features music from maritime cultures around the world, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Australia, Iceland, Poland, Netherlands, France, Canada and Africa, as well as native peoples within the United States.  In addition to the performances, the 32nd Annual Music of the Sea Symposium will also take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Mystic Seaport is featuring a traveling exhibit from Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum – Skin & Bones,  Tattoos in the Life of an American Sailor. The exhibition runs through September 5, 2011.

Skin and Bones – Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor

The exhibit traces the progression of purpose and design to the present. Some of the connections are surprising: The famous red star logo of Macy’s department store is believed to have been inspired by a tattoo founder R.H. Macy got while on a whaling voyage in the South Pacific on the Emily Morgan (a predecessor of the Museum’s 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan).

Skin & Bones brings together the most comprehensive presentation of design flash on this subject. From eagles and flags, to ships and animals, to lost shipmates and loved ones, visitors can survey the evolution of tattoo design through the decades. One of the oldest surviving books of American flash, bearing the name C.H. Fellowes, belongs to Mystic Seaport and is on display. Visitors can also see the range of tattoo-making tools, from rather crude sail-making needles to Samuel O’Reilly’s revolutionary electric tattoo machine of 1891.

I almost prefer visiting Mystic Seaport in the wintertime.  The summertime crowds are gone, wood or coal stoves heat the chandlery and the rope walk and the ships are as lovely as ever against a winter sky.   Mystic Seaport is especially lovely around Christmas.   This year Mystic Seaport is hosting, Christmas by the Sea, a new holiday maritime experience, Thursdays through Sundays, November 26 – January 2, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Christmas by the Sea

Visitors are invited to enjoy an old-fashioned Christmas as they stroll through the Museum’s decorated 19th-century village, hear stories of seafaring holidays of long ago told aboard historic vessels, join chanteymen in singing songs of the sea and season, try their hand at candle dipping at the Buckingham-Hall House, print a Victorian Christmas card keepsake at the Print Shop and more.

Children will be able to make a souvenir toy of long ago at St. Nicholas’ Workshop, build a take-home creation at a Gingerbread Blast Workshop and play with 19th-century toys, games and puzzles in a new Pastimes and Playthings activity space. The Gingerbread Blast Workshop will be offered Saturdays and Sundays from 1 – 3 p.m. and includes a $5 fee.

Additionally, Mystic Seaport will host its first-ever Gingerbread Lighthouse Contest. The competition is open to all ages and each entrant will receive one complimentary Museum admission pass that will be valid through January 2, 2011. All submitted creations will be on display to visitors throughout December and prizes will be awarded in four categories – Youth (entrants up to the age of 12), Authenticity (judged on the reproduction of an actual lighthouse, lighthouse image must be submitted), Originality and Best Overall. All entries must be delivered to Mystic Seaport December 2 – 3 from 2 – 5 p.m. or December 4 from 10 a.m. – noon.

All Christmas by the Sea activities, excluding the Gingerbread Blast Workshop, are included in Museum admission.

Assuming that Hurricane Earl doesn’t interfere, the 3rd annual Fish & Ships Labor Day Weekend Seafood Festival will be held at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut this Saturday through Monday.

Fish & Ships Seafood Festival back at Mystic Seaport

Tall Ship Amistad cancels Great Lakes tour, replaced by Europa at Tall Ship Celebration