Seeing it through…the lens of history
When a boat comes back home to the mother ship
the command is given to “Rest Oars”.
This boat lives aboard the sailing ship the Charles W. Morgan
in the Mystic Seaport Museum and according to their site it is the oldest commercial ship still afloat.
The Morgan was built in 1841 and used to hunt whales for oil and baleen.
It is a magnificent vessel and the museum has done an outstanding job of restoring her.
As with all the buildings and ships at the museum,
they are preserved to tell our history and keep the stories alive.
The story of the whaling industry is deeply woven into maritime history
and the telling of that story is as brutal as it is adventurous.
No one told it better than Melville and my copy of Moby Dick was the first book I read in my new studio library.
The US chapter of that saga was ended when those oars were given the command to rest in 1971.
The Morgan’s whaling days ended well before that in 1921.
When we know better we do better.
What I love most about this little whale boat is that every time I visit the museum
someone is nearby or often sitting in it
telling how and why it was used.
In its simple design and complicated patina
it is a touchstone to the generations of sailors
who went down to the sea in ships.
Call me Ishmael.
