The Artifacts of the Dighton Rock Museum!
 

By Manuel Luciano da Silva, Medical Doctor

For me the most painful period of the Dighton Rock was between 1963 and 1973.  In 1963 the Rock was removed from the tidal  water of the Taunton River, elevated eleven feet and placed on a dry cofferdam,  protected only by eight feet of  a chicken  wire fence.  For  these ten years  remained exposed  to extreme hot temperatures during the summer  and  to frigid conditions  during  the winter. Besides this it was subjected to damage by  objects thrown over the fence such as stones, rocks,  bottles of Coca-Cola, etc.  damaging the  inscriptions.  

I only gained piece of mind when the Pavilion was completed in 1974 and the Rock  was  protected by an octagonal glass enclosure. In this way,  no one was  allowed to cause more  damage to the face of the rock! The Rock was  finally moved from  the  stinky mud to become a precious stone !

The lights and frames

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,  when it approved $50,000 for the construction of the Pavilion, did not provide any extra money for the lights in front of the Rock, nor for the frames depicting   the four theories to the visitors. I had to consult the Westinghouse Electric International Company, to teach  us, free of charge, the tangential lighting system to be placed in front  of  the face of the rock to create better contrast for the inscriptions. This  lighting  apparatus cost  $820.00 and the frames with photos for the four theories,  $445.00.  My wife paid half and I paid the other half, and this way we  did not bother anybody. 

The Lithocollage

At a regular meeting of the Friends of Dighton Rock  Museum I suggested that we should  try to obtain a painting  to be placed inside of the Pavilion to honor   the Wampanoag Indians of New England since they were the first inhabitants of this area.  Professor Tegu  then said that he would speak with his daughter Chipi Tegu who was a student  of  Art and Drawing at  Rhode Island College in Providence, and encourage her to do such a job. Within ten days  we all went to see the Profile Rock, which  is only four miles east of Dighton Rock, for Chipi to feel inspired and paint an Indian encampment.  However two weeks later Chipi called me and told me that she had other ideas.  She wanted to create a monument in three dimensions with profiles of living American Indians.  With such a novel idea, Professor Tegu and I,  decided  to visit  the Mashpee Tribe,  at  Cape Cod,  and try to obtain  color slides of  several  American Indian faces of that tribe to serve as models for the original monument.

Meanwhile Chipi Tegu asked  her two brothers, Steven and Peter Tegu,  to gather  slates of various colors in  Massachusetts  so she could use them  in her Lithocollage. With color photos of the  real American Indians and the different colors of slates, Chipi spent over one year using more than fifty thousand  pieces of slate to create her masterpiece which was so original we  had to invent  a scientific name for it: “Lithocollage” meaning  lithos = stone,  plus collage.

Dr. Nelson Martins  was so impressed with Chipi’s work that he decided to give her a monetary gift but I never found out how much. The Lithocollage has been displayed  inside the glass enclosure together with Dighton Rock to be protected from the hands of the visitors. The Lithocollage is unique in the world. It merits a visit to the Dighton Rock  Museum.

The six panels

The artifacts that required more  hard work was the construction of the six panels explaining  the four theories. The text was composed by  Professor Tegu, my wife Silvia, Dr.  Nelson Martins, Mr. Roswell Bosworth Jr.,  the publisher  of the “Bristol Phoenix”  and myself.  The  metal “sheets “  for   the panels  were manufactured   in the printing press  of the “Bristol Phoenix”, as a donation by Mr. Bosworth.   All the photographs used on the panels were made by me in my  home  dark room.  

All the carpenter work was executed  by Mr. Jose Sousa (Gaspar) and Mr. Humberto Carreiro and Mr. Henrique Medeiros helped install the panels, on Sunday, June 13, 1982.  All these men did their work pro bono. All  the materials for the panels such as wood,  glass, nails, screws, rope, letters, etc.  my wife paid half and I paid the other half.  It is true that the “Friends of Dighton Rock Museum” is  a  registered 501 (C3) non-profit organization,  and my wife and  I could  have  submitted  these expenses as donations to the Museum, but we decided not to do so  to avoid any complications for  the  Friends.  This way we  continue  with  a clear conscience.

The Model of “Nau São Gabriel “

The same occurred  when $50,000  was approved by the Massachusetts Legislature for the construction of the  Museum: no extra monies were  appropriated  for the acquisition of  any artifacts for the Museum proper.   “The Friends of Dighton Rock Museum”  had  to  select the maritime artifacts and pay for them.  Because the Law that created the Museum ORDERS  that  ”the artifacts have to  be Portuguese  and  of other  nations”,  we started diplomatic maneuvering to obtain the gift of the Model of the ‘Nau São Gabriel’, from the Portuguese Prime Minister, Admiral Pinheiro de Azevedo,  which had been  on display in the Maritime Museum of  Lisbon, Portugal,  for 27 years. This is indeed a marvelous gift. This ship was captained by Vasco da Gama during his first maritime voyage from Lisbon to Calicut, India 1497.  Vasco da Gama’s  achievement  was  considered one of the most important of  the  great world discoveries.

The Model of Caravel Victória

Because the Law that created the Museum dictates  that  ”the artifacts have to  be Portuguese  and  of other  nations”, we also  decided to approach  the King of  Spain, Don Juan Carlos, asking  him for a gift of the  Model of the “Caravel  Victória”  which was captained by Fernão de Magalhães (Magellan)  on the first circumnavigation of  the world between 1519-1521.

We wrote  to the King a two page  letter in Spanish,  sent him a copy of my  American edition  ”The Portuguese Pilgrims and the Dighton Rock” and we got no results. We  then decided to send the entire letter as a  telegram because we thought it would be delivered  to the king on a silver platter and the King gave us a positive OK in three days! 

We  are proud to have in the Museum  the two ships models of  the two most important maritime voyages that occurred  in mankind!  

The Padrão of discoveries

I asked Mr. Francisco José Dias, an architectural   designer,  to draw  a professional  design of  a Portuguese Landmarker  of Discoveries or Padrão  which  could fit inside the Museum so I could  sent it to Dr. Azeredo Perdigão, President of the Gulbenkian Foundation in  Lisbon, Portugal.  In my letter to him requesting the gift of a  Padrão  from the Foundation,  I included a copy of the American Edition  of my book The Portuguese Pilgrims and Dighton Rock. Dr. Perdigão approved our request and the Padrão was made in Portugal by expert artisans  and sent to  us as a masterpiece weighting 714 kilograms -  (1,570 pounds) - made of white marble  and  showing  the Portuguese Coat of Arms and the Cross of the Order of Christ.

Three years later,  Dr. Perdigão visited to the  USA with his wife and I invited them to  see the Museum.  They were very pleased to see that the  Padrão has   a prominent position in the Museum.

The  show case of Caravel Victória

The showcase for  the model of “Nau São Gabriel”,   made of rope  and glass arrived   to us that way from the Maritime Museum of Lisbon. We tried to obtain a  similar showcase for  the  Model of “Caravel Victória“ but we could not find one like it. So we asked the  cabinet-maker  José Silva to make a showcase made of Brazilian mahogany wood similar to the rope and glass  showcase and he made an excellent  copy of this artifact.  Further more the “Bank  of  Espírito Santo  from Lisbon” with a  Branch in East Providence, RI  paid $3,600 to construct this showcase.

The Model of the  Sacred Cod or the  Faithful Friend

All the artifacts inside of the Museum are related to the maritime discoveries. It is obvious that the discoverers and colonizers who  arrived in New England had to show much sacrifice  and courage to be able to cross  the Atlantic. They came looking for natural food resources  and  found  an abundance of  codfish  which is the most complete  food in the world for our health.  They were also looking for building materials which  they  found in  the giant  pines trees of New England and Canada with huge trunks for the construction of  boats and houses.  For a long time these two sources of energy -- codfish and pine trees --  were the predominant energies until the whale oil took over. But after 1860 petroleum  started  to dominate the world and still continues to be the primary source of  energy  for all counties.

Since 1784 there has hung  from  the ceiling of the  Capitol in Boston a model of a codfish called “Sacred Cod” which  was  a gift from State  Representative John  Howe, as a tribute to  the contribution  of the codfish as an excellent food product for the people  of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Since  Dighton Rock Museum is dedicated to the world  maritime  achievements, we decided to include  a model of the  “Sacred Cod” or “Faithful Friend”, we again  contracted  José Silva  (jsilvaww@gmail.com)  to built a new  model.   And we even had the special  sponsor for it: “The Academy of Codfish of New England”  that paid $3, 600  for the job.

The  codfish  model is the last artifact to be added to the museum.

We consider  that the Museum is now complete with all the artifacts specially  related to the  first maritime period of New England.

From now on the only thing that is needed is for the American people  to visit  the Dighton Rock Museum and compare its  historical value with the fantastic  achievements  of our astronauts in the conquest of Outer Space Explorations. There is a striking similarity between  the Period of the Great Maritime Discoveries and  the  Outer Space Explorations. This  is the very reason why I  originally wanted to entitled   my first book on Dighton Rock “From Dighton Rock to the Moon” even before the outer space explorations.

Now that NASA is ending its  Space Program, our Museum has completed  its collection of  maritime  artifacts.  This  is an extraordinary coincidence!