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We drove the short distance from our campground in Rhode Island back into Connecticut to see Mystic, and somewhat by chance ended up at "Mystic Seaport", an outdoor living history museum recreating and interpreting this 19th century seaport, including several tall ships you will see later. Our only sensible admission choice was the "Family Membership", which gives us the ability to return for a full year -- not likely, but it was cheaper than 4 individual one day passes. So, armed with our guides and maps, we set off on a gorgeous day for a tour of the seaport and environs. Below I caught the girls sitting in a space in the deck railing on the first tall ship we toured. We came to this boat to see the "Capstan Demonstration". Since none of us had a clue what a Capstan was, we went, and found out.
Here Jody demonstrates the Capstan, which is the large gear-like wheel they are all turning. This thing served as a winch, and was used to raise and lower heavy loads -- like anchors -- from this ship in those days before the advent of cranes.
Jordan watches her mom do some serious heavy lifting. Her 'do' that day was courtesy of her sister. Photo by me.
The photo below is of a 'Catboat', which was a popular design around the turn of the last century. Originally a work boat, they were adapted to a variety of uses, including racing. The girls just loved them. They are a bit bathtubish and thus slow, but that also makes them stable in the water.
The larger tall ships used miles of rope. It was usually made locally in a 'ropewalk', so called because in the days when rope was made entirely by hand, the ropemaker had to walk away from a fixed end of his rope while he twisted and braided -- and to make a long rope he had to walk a long distance. To allow year-round ropemaking the ropewalks were eventually enclosed, resulting in very long narrow buildings, like the one below only longer -- only one fifth of the original building shown survived. The odd looking machine on tracks below would automatically twist an individual strand of rope from the hemp yarn made in another part of the ropewalk; 3 of these rope strands were then themselves twisted to make a rope. A 600 foot length was the standard.
A youth boatwright class was in progress. With a parent, the kids were building their own small plank boats in one weekend. We watched them work for a half hour or so, and learned a bit about small boat building in the process.
The ladies and gentlemen in the photo below are reefing the sail of a tall ship. The sail weighted something like 800 pounds. It took 8 people to lift the sail up and secure it in place on the 'yard'. This looked incredibly difficult even when done while the boat was at dock. Normally, one reefs a sail when the weather has turned so foul and blustery that the rigging or mast is in danger -- so this process is done in a raging sea, with the boat pitching wildly about. Not for the faint of heart, I imagine.
Jordan and I got to try reefing a sail under more benign conditions, as you can see below. There were 4 of us lifting a sail that was only 4 feet long -- a little tiny sail, perhaps one you might find at the very top of the mast of these gigantic wooden ships. Even so, it was hard.
We also assembled a barrel from its component parts. This was really tricky, and took 3 of us to get it right, although I am not at all sure that my 'help' was wanted or appreciated -- but I could not resist, as it was too much like an engineering task, and I am drawn to such.
Below decks in the forecastle (pronounced foc-sil), where the crew slept -- those small spaces with curtains are bunks. The space was too small for Joya to stand up -- you can imagine my discomfort. An entire year living in such a space would drive me over the edge (literally) I am sure.
This is a whaler -- the last original wooden whaler left in the world. We learned quite a lot about the operation of a whaling vessel -- more than we really wanted to know, I think. It was a beautiful ship, but seeing pictures in the exhibits depicting the 'rendering' of a whale was disturbing. This ship took over 50 whales on its first voyage -- and all they brought back was whale oil. Everything else went over the side of the ship. One voyage they got over 70 whales.
At the end of the day we practiced playing with 19th century toys. The girls each worked their hoops in their own ways.
We enjoyed our day in Mystic, although one day was enough for all of us. We had brought our laundry with us, and so at 6 PM set out to locate a laundromat, which we found, of course, in the outlet mall nearby. It was run by a very heavy and sweaty woman who worked incredibly hard, this being an East coast laundry where one always had the option of having someone else wash and dry your clothes for us. We got everything washed successfully, but were having a hard time with drying. The circuit breakers kept popping, which elicited a curse from the heavy laundress, who then had to tromp into the raging heat of the boiler room to reset the breaker. Apparently none of the breakers were labeled, since each time she departed all the laundry patrons sat patiently and watched, bemusedly, as the lights, washers, dryers and other machines went alternately off and then back on. Loads of fun.
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