Author: Mystic Seaport Museum

Periodically, Mystic Seaport sponsors a visit of a maritime professional or scholar through the Mallory Exchange Fellowship to come to the Museum for a short period of time for study and research purposes. The 2015 Fellow is Sarah Sjøgreen, a ropemaker from the Hardanger Fartøyvernsenter (Hardanger Ship Preservation Center), a museum, traditional ropewalk, and boat-building center in Norway. Her project, “Lines Across the Atlantic: An Exploration of Ropemaking Techniques from the Time of the Vikings through the Turn of the 20th Century”, aims to explore traditional New England rigging practices and materials and to connect them with the more modern history of the fisheries of Northern Europe.

“I have been looking into American ropemaking in the Blunt White Research Library and in the ropewalk exhibit to try and figure out some of the bits that have not already been studied,” she said.

Sjøgreen is being sponsored by Mystic Seaport staff member Sarah Clement, one of the Museum’s riggers. In addition to their time exploring the documents, artifacts, and vessels at the Museum, the two took a field trip to meet with staff at the South Street Seaport in New York to examine their vessels.

Sjøgreen has also been asked to evaluate the Museum’s Plymouth Cordage Company Ropewalk exhibit to try to come up with recommendations of alternative ways to interpret it for the visitor.

When asked how the U.S. and European ropemaking histories differ, she responded:

“You have used a lot of manila, where the Europeans continued to use hemp a bit longer, and you started spinning fibers on machinery earlier than the Europeans did, so you commercialized it more and faster,” she said. “We had a lot of working ropewalks—a huge number of ropewalks—but they continued hand spinning much longer. Perhaps that’s why they kept using hemp for a longer time. I need to look into that.”

In addition to the knowledge of American ropemaking she is picking up on her fellowship, Sjøgreen says she will bring back a number of valuable contacts.

“It’s been very good to get in touch with a lot of people who have a common interest in another part of the world; I think that’s very important,” she said. Sjøgreen will return to Norway after three weeks at the Museum.

The Mallory Endowment was established in 1993 by Wade and Angela Thompson to honor Clifford and Pauline Mallory for their many years of service to Mystic Seaport. The purpose of the fund is to create an international exchange program between the Museum and other institutions.

The alternating schedule has an international scholar coming to the Museum for study and research purposes on one year; and in the next a Mystic Seaport staff member visits a foreign museum for the same purpose.

The construction and re-configuring of the north end of the Mystic Seaport campus for the new McGraw Gallery Quadrangle and the Thompson Exhibition Building unfortunately requires the demolition of the G.W. Blunt White Building.

The building was constructed in 1964 and was purpose-built to house the Museum’s growing library. The man for which the building was named was a successful businessman in the Mystic area. Along the way he started sailing, eventually becoming the Commodore of the Cruising Club of America. He also took an interest in the local Marine Historical Society (known today as Mystic Seaport), joining the Board of Trustees in 1947 and serving as the Vice President from 1955 until his death from a heart attack in 1962 while doing what he loved: sailing.

Unfortunately, throughout its existence, the building suffered from chronic flooding due to the site’s high water table and moisture and mold was a perennial problem. In fact, the unsuitable conditions in the building resulted in the research library being moved across the street to the Collections Research Center (the library still bears the Blunt White name). Serious thought was given to incorporating the granite-veneer core of the building into the new exhibition hall, but the environmental issues and additional construction costs could not be justified. In the end, completely new construction made more sense for the overall project and site.

During the demolition of the building a special time capsule was recovered. Mrs. G.W. Blunt White helped seal the time capsule behind the newly laid cornerstone in October, 1964, and on March 16, 2015, with the help of the project contractor A/Z Corporation, the sealed copper box was removed and handed over to the Museum’s Collections and Research Vice President Paul O’Pecko for safekeeping. A few of the items found in the time capsule, which can be seen in the photo above, include Blunt White’s distinctive private pennant; an issue of the New York Times from July, 1964, showing Operation Sail in which schooner Brilliant participated; a number of Cruising Club of America (CCA)-related items; and papers and pamphlets related to the Museum’s happenings of the day.

Henry duPont, in recognizing the importance of his good friend at the time, spoke of the importance of a library to such an institution. “Bricks and mortar, steel and wood–fashioned in a beautiful and commodious building–do not in themselves create a library. The real library is the collection of important and meaningful books, manuscripts and publications, and the uses to which they are put.”

Mystic Seaport still celebrates the man after whom the library was named and takes comfort in the fact that the library collections are in a better environment and still serving the purpose about which duPont spoke half a century ago.

The Mystic Seaport Board of Trustees has decided to name the new Gallery Quadrangle for the late Donald C. McGraw, longtime supporter of the Museum and a charter member and first chairman of its National Council of Advisors.

“We felt that the best way to honor the legacy of Don McGraw would be to name the Gallery Quadrangle after him as the buildings that make up the space are dedicated to exhibition, a subject which was very dear to him,” said Mystic Seaport President Steve White.

An avid collector, McGraw brought his passion for the artifacts of America’s maritime heritage to his leadership and support of the Museum, and his philanthropy significantly increased the endowment and the enhancement of the Museum’s priceless collection of J.E. Buttersworth paintings. The McGraw family’s commitment to Mystic Seaport continues with his son Robin’s service on the Board of Trustees.

The McGraw Gallery Quadrangle will replace what is now Anchor Circle on the north end of the Museum’s grounds. It will be comprised of the Stillman, Wendell, Mallory, and Schaefer Buildings as well as the Greenmanville Church. The to-be-constructed Thompson Exhibition Building will complete the Quadrangle’s north border with a grassy open space in the center. The Quadrangle is scheduled to open on June 15 of this year. The Thompson Exhibition Building is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016.

Moving the Packard Cabin

Despite a month of seemingly relentless snow, work on the project continues to move forward on schedule. Of particular note is the relocation of the Benjamin F. Packard Cabin to the second floor of the Stillman Building. The Packard Cabin has been located in a small brick building that once housed a power plant for the mill complex that existed on the site before Mystic Seaport. The building, which dates to the late 1800s, is scheduled for demolition in early March to make way for the Thompson Exhibition Building (the North Boat Shed and the G.W. Blunt White Building are also scheduled for demolition this month).

The cabin was salvaged from the “Down Easter” Benjamin F. Packard prior to her scrapping after the hurricane of 1938. The 244-foot long ship—more than twice as long as the Charles W. Morgan—was built in 1883 and spent 25 years in the Cape Horn trade carrying cargoes from America’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts. After a subsequent period as a “salmon packer” where she would carry a seasonal cargo of equipment and workers to Alaska’s salmon fishery and return months later with the workers and canned salmon, the Packer ended her years as a dockside attraction at the Playland amusement park in Rye, NY, until the hurricane rendered her unfit for even that duty.

None of the Down Easters have survived and the Packard Cabin is an important artifact of that ship type. Visitors can view the officers’ mess cabin, the captain’s day cabin, and the captain’s stateroom. The excellence of materials and fine work of the paneling, including ornate carvings and beautiful veneers, are testament to the grandeur of the ship. Relocating the cabin requires that it be carefully disassembled and transported upstairs in the Stillman Building. However, before it could be reconstructed, a framework had to be built to support the panels. This was an involved process as the curved sheer and camber of the deck of the ship had to be recreated in a sub-floor. This was painstaking and precise work carried out by Shipyard and Interpretation Department staff. One benefit of the move to is the extra space available for additional artifacts and exhibition elements. The plan is to present the cabin in the greater context of the Down Easter and coasting trades when the exhibit is reopened later this spring.

Mystic Seaport has promoted Elysa Engelman to be the Museum’s new Director of Exhibits.

Engelman will be responsible for creating and delivering an ongoing program of dynamic, interdisciplinary exhibits that attract diverse audiences and introduce new scholarship and content in support of the Museum’s mission and strategic vision. She will direct all aspects of exhibit design and production.

“Elysa Engelman takes on this position at an exciting time for the Museum, and we are very pleased that her exceptional creative, innovative, and academic expertise will play an important role in maximizing the potential of the new Gallery Quad,” said Susan Funk, executive vice president of Mystic Seaport.

Engelman assumes the directorship after 10 years as Exhibit Researcher/Developer for the Museum, where she has contributed to the creation of numerous exhibits, including “Women and the Sea,” “TUGS!,” “Black Hands, Blue Seas,” and the upcoming “Voyaging in the Wake of the Whalers” due to open this June. She was also intimately involved in the programming of the 38th Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan last summer.

She holds an undergraduate degree in English and Theater Studies from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Boston University in American and New England Studies. Engelman has also been a guest lecturer at the Williams-Mystic Program at Mystic Seaport and an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut.

Engelman begins her new position Monday, March 2.

The photograph of the elegant diners (on the right) is from the Grace Line passenger steamer Santa Paula in the 1930s. In the background is a large 14 by 8 foot painting of the ship W.R. Grace by Charles Robert Patterson which eventually came to Mystic Seaport in 1961 and has hung in the Aloha Meeting House (the Greenmanville Church) since that time.

From its time aboard the ship and the intervening five decades in the church, the painting has built up quite a layer of grime. Two conservators from the Williamstown Art Conservation Center (in the sidebar photo gallery) spent three days at the Museum last fall putting a little sparkle back into the clipper ship by stripping off some of the layers of dirt. The project was inspired by Bob Webb, a former curator at the Kendall Whaling Museum and the Maine Maritime Museum and a performer well-known in sea music circles. Webb passed away last year and one of his wishes was to see the painting conserved since, in addition to his other passions, he was also a writer and one of his books was a biography of Charles Robert Patterson, the artist. To help fulfill his wish, Webb’s widow, Helen, has been raising funds to help pay for the conservation work.

The work is a depiction of the W.R. Grace leaving the coast of California in the 1880s. There were four “SANTA” ships built in the 1930s and each one had on board a painting done by Charles Robert Patterson. There is one in the Maine Maritime Museum that went to them from the W.R. Grace offices in Boca Raton in 1999. It is also a painting of the W.R. Grace and is entitled “Report Me All Well,” and that one was in the Santa Elena. When the Santa Elena was turned into a troop ship, the painting came out and was later trimmed down and repainted to fit in the W.R. Grace company offices. The other two SANTA ships, the Santa Rosa and the Santa Lucia, carried portraits of the ship M.P. Grace. The whereabouts of those two paintings is unknown. The one in the Museum’s Greenmanville Church is considered the masterpiece of the four and the only one kept in its original round-topped, half-moon configuration.