My dates with Dighton Rock!
 By Manuel Luciano da Silva, Medical Doctor

I was a Fellow in Internal Medicine at the world famous Lahey  Clinic  in Boston from 1960 to 1963. During this period I had long articles published in the “Christian Science Monitor” and  in “The Boston Globe” about my investigations  concerning the History of the Dighton Rock inscriptions.  Various organizations, such as universities, colleges, and  public libraries started inviting me  to give  lectures with color slides.  Because my lectures were free of charge, during that  period of three years I delivered 22 lectures within  the City of Boston and its  surroundings.  

I remember very well the lecture I gave at  Boston Public Library because during the question and answer period one lady stated: “I never saw anyone speak with such enthusiasm about a rock? What motivates you?” Because we all were having a good time, I  responded  to the lady this way: “Because Dighton Rock is my "mistress"!  And  my  statement caused  an   uproar! After that evening whenever  it became apropos,  I did  not hesitate  to state that Dighton Rock had been my "mistress" for decades.

In fact all the years  and  thousands of dollars that I have spent together with my wife to preserve the Dighton Rock  have been  inspired  by the extraordinary love  that  we have dedicated to it!

(1)  My love for Dighton Rock first started in October 1943, when my high school teacher of World History  in Oliveira  de Azeméis, in Portugal,  asked  me when I arrived in  America,   to go  visit  Dighton Rock and  send him a photo of it.

(2)  I saw Dighton Rock  for the first time  only on August 14, 1948,  but it was  covered by high tide. I had to return the following day at  low tide when  I  verified that  the rock  was covered  by  lichen and stinky mud.  I could not see any inscriptions so I did not take any photograph to send to my history teacher in Portugal.

(3) My next serious encounter with Dighton Rock was when I signed the incorporation papers on September 25th, 1951,   creating   “The Miguel Corte Real  Memorial Society, Inc.” in the State of New York.

(4)  In 1952,  I went  to Coimbra, Portugal,  to obtain my Medical  Degree and while I was  there   I had occasion to review many documents  and old maps concerning the Portuguese Discoveries of the XV and XVI centuries. It was during this period, perhaps motivated by nostalgic memory of America, that I discovered the fourth Cross of the Order of Christ   engraved on the face of the Dighton Rock.

(5) It was also during this period that I started writing my first book about the  Dighton Rock inscriptions. Curiously,  I start writing this book in English!

(6)  In 1959,  I returned  to America  already a Physician to continue my medical training by doing my  internship at St. Luke’s Hospital in  the City of New Bedford,  and I renewed  my love for Dighton Rock. With the help of Donald Cordeiro,  Pathology Technician  at the hospital, we obtained an artist  to draw  the  three flags with the Portuguese National Symbols, which became the  famous photograph depicting   the Miguel Corte Real Theory. 

(7)  It was on a Sunday, November 1st, 1959,   together with my medical colleague at  St.  Luke’s Hospital, Dr. Luis Wilcy Dupont,   that I obtained a photo comparing the Portuguese National Symbols with the inscriptions engraved on  Dighton Rock.

That morning  was very cold, with   the wind chill factor  at   30 degrees Fahrenheit. Two days later “The Fall River Herald News” published for the first time this historical photo.


     Conclusion of Portuguese Inscriptions

Flag # 1 - Portuguese Coat of Arms, U-shaped

Flag # 2 - Portuguese Cross of the Order of Christ

Flag # 3 - Portuguese Coat of Arms, V-shaped

Captain's Name: Miguel Corte Real

Date: 1511 (numeral 5 like a capital S)

 

(8)  In 1959, with the help  of  my good friend Donald Cordeiro from the Pathology Department, we started  making color slides  about the Portuguese discoveries and navigators and also about the early  drawings of the  Dighton Rock inscriptions before the discovery of  photography in 1836. We also made  slides of black and white  photos and got  new color slides  of the  face of the Rock.  With this selection of  80 slides I began giving lectures  to my colleagues and friends subjecting   my findings to questions and answers so I could improve my presentation.  When I moved to Boston, in 1960, I was prepared to start giving  my series of illustrated lectures.

(9)  On the first week of August 1960 I gave a long interview  to a reporter of  the “Christian Science Monitor”, Mr. Kenneth Hufford, and his article was published  on  a full page on August 15th , 2060,  with the title of “History engraved on Dighton Rock”. 

                     http://www.dightonrock.com/historycarvedondightonrock.htm

(10)  Before  this article  was published I had already left for Portugal to get married and also to make  my presentation  on Dighton Rock at the First International Congress of  the  History of the Discoveries which was held during the first  two weeks of September  1960, at the University of Lisbon.   I delivered my lecture on September 8th, 1960 and on the following day the “Lisbon Daily News”  had an article stating that  I had gotten  “the loudest applause of the Congress.”

(11) When I returned  from Portugal on October 1960,   to continue my specialization at the  Lahey Clinic,  the  Chairman  of Endocrinology at  the Lahey Clinic,  called me to his office and asked me what was the matter that I was able to have published such  a long article on   the prestigious  “The Christian Science  Monitor” newspaper.  I explained to him my research about the Dighton Rock inscriptions and he became so  fascinated by it to the point that he asked me to  give my lecture to  the Spring  Medical Meeting in honor  of  Dr.  Lahey, the Founder of he Lahey Clinic. This Annual Medical Symposium was held at the Joslin Clinic Auditorium. So two Medical Specialists made their Medical presentations first and I was the third speaker. With my color slides and with my great enthusiasm I delivered one of my best lectures to more than two  hundred Medical Doctors of the Staff of the Lahey Clinic.  I got a standing ovation and at the end of my lecture all the chiefs of the various departments came to the stage to shake my hand and congratulate me.  Only in America, I was so honored!

(12) Because my salary at the Lahey Clinic was very small,  we could not go to the movies or  to the theater. So  my wife and I decided to do research in two  important subjects, while we were living in Boston.  We spent many hours at  the Boston Public Library, investigating   two main topics:  (a) the influence  of the Portuguese Language  in the names used by the Wampanoag Indians of New England;  and (b) review more than thirty thousand pages  of books dealing with photographs and descriptions of  the old armory of  open breach cannons an also  old type of swords  typical of  the XV and XVI centuries  to compare them  with the samples found in America with those that exist in the Portuguese Museums.  This research was of a much value later on for us.

(13) Because I was an America citizen I qualified  to rent an apartment in  the large Dorchester Public Housing near where later the Kennedy Library was built. This situation help us very much because our rent covered  water, electricity, heating, and even gas. We stayed there until we move to Bristol,  Rhode Island, on June 30th, 1963. 

(14) Even though I was very busy with my medical responsibilities  I did  not forget my ”mistress”, the Dighton Rock.  I started, free of charge, a  weekly medical   program in  Portuguese  on local  radio in Cambridge,  which became very popular. Thru the suggestion  of the   program director,  I decided to ask a local State Representative  to submit  a bill to a Public Hearing proposing  that  the Dighton Rock be removed out from  the water and  be placed  on a dry cofferdam.  This  hearing was held  at the Capitol in Boston, but because of the  objection of Professor Francis Rogers, who  taught Portuguese at Harvard University,  the proposal  did not pass.

http://www.dightonrock.com/fieryyoungdrmanuellucianodasilva.htm

On  my radio program  I praised   the same Representative, and  he was able  to submit the same Proposal  the following year at  another public hearing, but this time I  made sure that Harvard University was on vacation,  and the Proposal passed  without any difficulty.  It  went  on to be approved by the House of Representatives, the Senate  and signed by the Governor to  become Law.  When Rogers found out it was too late.

(15) The officials at the Department of  Natural Resources never believed  that such a law would be approved!  They were required to confirm scientifically  that Dighton Rock was a loose boulder and not   the tip of an underground mountain, before starting the work of getting the rock out of the water.   

(16) In the mean time  I passed my Medical Boards and I was ready to move into  private Medical Practice. Because in my third  year  at the Lahey Clinic I had become the Chief of  the Fellows,   I was offered a position  to continue as  a staff member of the Lahey Clinic,  but I  declined because I wanted to start my practice where there  was an abundance of Portuguese-speaking immigrants.  I was very lucky to find the Town of Bristol,  Rhode Island.

(17) When  people from the Boston area  learned  that I had moved to another state, in this case, Rhode Island, they thought that I would never again be  able to help  preserve Dighton Rock. They were wrong!

(18) I moved to  Bristol , Rhode Island, on June 30th, 1963,  with my wife and our first son Manuel.

On Sunday, October 13th, 1963, the Cofferdam  holding  the Dighton Rock was inaugurated, but had only  a  chicken wire   fence  protecting the rock  from  vandals. It stayed that way for ten long years. This was the most painful period for me.

(19) When I arrived in Bristol,  Rhode Island,  (July 1st, 1963), as a physician,  I was already a member of the American Medical Association and soon became also a member of the Bristol County Medical Society and  the Rhode Island Medical Society. I had to belong to these organizations in order to have credentials to admit my  patients into any of  the  R. I. hospitals.

At that time the ethics of the American Medical Association PROHIBITED any form of advertisement: on radio, TV or newspapers.   What should I do to become known and develop  my  clientele at the Bristol County Medial Center?

(20)  I created  of the Rule of  Five Ps: (1) Police, (2)  Press, (3) Priest, (4) People and  (5) Pharmacies.  

(1) - On my first week in Bristol, I introduced  myself to the Police, because we were bound  to meet in dramatic situations.  My gesture was greeted  with delight.

(2) – Next,  I went to see the Editor of the local newspaper “The Bristol Phoenix”, Mr. Roswell Bosworth Sr.    I met  him on Monday July 8th, 1963 and he wrote an article about me  which was published on the front   page with my photo and my biography, on July 12th, 1963!   In less that two weeks, after my arrival,  the entire town knew that a Portuguese American  specialist in Internal Medicine was in town!

http://www.dightonrock.com/my_first_true_friend_in_bristol.htm

(3) - Thirdly  I went to see the Priest, Monsignor Henrique Rocha,  of   St. Elizabeth Church, the largest parish in Bristol, and he  received my wife, our son and myself very well.

(4) - Fourthly - People: I asked if there were any Portuguese-American Clubs in town. Yes, four. I became  a member of  all of them.

(5) - Fifthly - Pharmacies: I went personally to greet all the pharmacists  in the towns of Bristol and Warren and we became good friends!

(21)   While concentrating all my energies on  starting my medical practice in  the back of mind was always  the  concern to save Dighton Rock from vandalism.

(22)  Living in a different  state from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,  I knew I had to get into radio and TV in order to communicate across  state frontiers.

(23)  On my third Sunday in Bristol,  I was off from medical duty,  so I decided  to drive around  with my wife and our son ending up in the City of Newport.  Usually  radio programs in  foreign languages are broadcasted  on Sunday morning,  so I searched the entire radio  dial  until I found  one produced by an immigrant from  the Azores  by the name of  Luis Raposo. Judging by his editorial remarks,  I got the impression immediately,  that  he sounded like a man with  a strong character.  I had to meet him. So we did and we became  strong friends for many years.  He wanted me to appear on his program every Sunday, with  my advises on medical  or social  issues  concerning the Portuguese immigrants. Besides this  radio program,  I needed  also a TV  program. I had to use the  facilities of the Public Affairs Division. But at that time there was no Cable TV.  All TV programs were monopolized  by CBS, ABC and NBC.  I had to come up with an original idea.

(24) I  knew that  by Law  the  Federal Communications Commission  (FCC) demanded that  radio and TV stations had to provide free programming  time at least  ten percent for public service  programs within the  communities  for which they  had been  licensed  to broadcast.

(25)  So I decided to create  13  detailed programs  for a TV series on Channel  6,  with studios in the City of New Bedford, MA. This TV station was  the  favored  one by the Portuguese-Americans  in this region. My proposed program, entitled “The Portuguese Around Us”, would be a TV production  in  ENGLISH   about  the Portuguese -Americans of this region.  I went to the TV  6 studios in New Bedford,  asked  the secretary to speak with Mr. Vance Eckersley,  the General Manager, and left with him  my plans  for the  new TV series “The Portuguese Around Us”, asking him to get back to me after his review. Two weeks later Mr. Eckersley called me for a meeting.  My program  was approved but  we had to get a  professional  moderator for  the series.

At that time I was  President of the  Portuguese American Federation which would be the sponsoring  this  series, just with its name.   To start the program I hired  moderator Walter Hackett,  who had been a WW II correspondent in Europe  for several  American newspapers and was  living here in Bristol at the  time. But he was too expensive and after a few shows, we contracted Professor Steven Tegu  of Rhode Island College. 

In the meanwhile I spoke in several Portuguese radio programs of this region asking the Portuguese Americans to write to Channel TV 6 praising our new program.  The station started receiving large  bags of post cards and letters praising  the program.  That pleased Mr. Eckersley very much and he told us that the program could continue indefinitely. And we did. It was produced weekly  and shown on Sundays at 12  noon for   30 minutes, for twenty years. Only when Channel TV 6 was sold, was I  able to continue the same series at the Cable Full Channel TV   (Bristol  County, RI)  for eleven more years. 

I was able to obtain the cooperation of several Portuguese-Americans, men and women, who  became excellent moderators of this series.  These Moderators gave their time and talent free of charge: John Maciel, Esq ; Dr. Julio V. d'Oliveira;  Albert Costa, Architect; Rachael Sousa Baxter; Dorothy dos Reis Gauthier, PhD ; Mary Alice Post; Odete Amarelo, PhD; Sylvester Sylvia; Mary Ida Sousa; Theresa Verdadeiro LaBonte; Robert C. Arruda, D. M. L. and Manuel Luciano da Silva, M. D.

At the beginning several  Portuguese-Americans stated  that:  “I was full of vanity, that I just  want to appear on TV, etc.  I certainly proved that they were wrong.  My only interest was the improvement  of relations between the Portuguese-Americans and the Americans in the communities where we are living in New English. Those critics never did anything positive and some of them have died without leaving any positive mark of their lives.  Let them rest in peace!

I consider the “The Portuguese  Around Us” the most influential  TV program to uplift the Portuguese in this region of New England.

When  I first arrived in Bristol, RI on July 1st, 1963, derogatory terms such “Portugee” and , “Greenhorn” were frequently applied to the  Portuguese immigrants and their descendents.  But  “The Portuguese Around Us” during  thirty years  erased all  these  derogatory  names.

“The Portuguese Around Us” also broke  down  state lines, because we  invited several Massachusetts Legislators to appear in  our series.  They began to appreciate the social influence of our program. It  was very important for me to connect with those legislators  so they could help  move forward the proposals to protect the Dighton Rock. You can appreciate the reason of my merry-go-round with TV…   

(26)  Because “The Portuguese Around Us” was so successful I asked Mr. Eckersley if we could  do a similar program,  in Portuguese.   He gave me many excuses that such a program had to be translated into English  to satisfy the FCC rules, etc.  So I decided to go to Channel 36 in Providence, the Official Station of RI,  and there  I started  a weekly  30-minute TV program in Portuguese with the duration of  30 minute  entitled “Os Portugueses”   or “The Portuguese”.   I  was the moderator  for four years, until  I just did not have  the extra time available for it.

(27) So even living and working in a nearby   State,    I never gave up  trying to persuade Massachusetts Legislators  to sponsor the   proposals for the  construction of the Pavilion and the Museum proper.  I am not going to recount  how many telephone calls,  faxes, trips, meetings, etc.  I had to make,  to  finally succeed. How did   I  do it  with my  busy medical practice?  I never spent any time playing tennis, visiting night clubs, or going to  the movies, and seeing very little TV …

(28) I continued to give lectures,  (497 & counting),  free of charge with my slides of Dighton Rock and  writing  historical monograph, and books about it.  My wife and I have written 8 books and we have 14 copyrights in the Library of Congress.  All  this together  created the   a momentum  which  eventually yielded   excellent results.   The proof is there in the  complete Dighton Rock Museum!

My wife and I are very happy that our “Mistress”  is now  very well protected  for  to  American People to  appreciate and enjoy.

We continue to be most grateful to everyone who helped us attain our desideratum  for better relations between the Americans and the  Portuguese-Americans. We believe this contributes for a better America!