The Show of boats at Dighton Rock

 

On Sunday, August 8th, 2010, The Friends of Dighton Rock Museum conducted  four  presentations concerning  the different kinds of boats inspired on the models of the ships that are displayed inside of the this Museum:

The Vasco da Gama’s ship and the Caravel of Ferdinand  Magalhães (Magellan)  that  circumnavigated the globe for the first time in 1519-1522.

The speakers were:

Leah Jeffries

Her title is Visitor Services Supervisor (August 8th was actually her last day with us as she is leaving the Department for other opportunities).

A lot of water has flowed under the keel of the schooner Ernestina sine the morning of Feb. 1 1894. It was then that the 112 foot schooner, christened as the "Effie M. Morrissey", slid down the way at the Essex Maine shipyard of James & Tarr.

When her working life was ended Ernestina was presented to the United Sates by the government of Cape Verde and returned here permanently in 1982. Designated a Nation Historic Landmark in 1986. The Ernestine then entered another phase in her storied history. She currently serves as the official vessel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Leah from DCR from the Schooner Ernestina came to the shipbuilding topic program at Dighton Rock and presented about the restoration. She did a  very good job and we thank her.

 

Mary Silva.

“Americas Lost Treasure” 

The Sinking of “SS Central America” Captain Herndon was a native of  Berkley, MA This ship “SS Central America” transported an estimated one third of the entire California  Gold Rush output. That one third was valued at the time at approximately $150 million.  It carried also 478 passengers,  102 crew members and over three tons of gold.

On Friday, September 11, 1857,  on the second day of a hurricane,  the ship sprang a leak at 9 am. Passengers were ordered to assist the crew in bailing. The ship sank about 8 pm, on Saturday , September 12, about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drawing a total of 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon.

Unable to meet payrolls or pay creditors because of the loss of the gold cargo, New York Banks began to fail and stores, and factories began to close, touching off a financial crash in the Unites States and Europe.

“It started the Panic of 1857”

 

 

Diane Ennis:

On August 8, 2010 at the Dighton Rock Museum, the Berkley Historical Commission presented a timeline of shipbuilding in Berkley  from 1790 to 1866.

In 1790 The Hon. Samuel Toby was instrumental in bringing shipbuilding to Berkley.  Over the course of the next 76 years around 100 ships were built in Berkley including schooners, sloops, brigs, barks and a steamboat. Illustrations on these types of vessels were on display. A side note to the presentation was that a citizen of Berkley had in her possession a listing of the names and descriptions of some of the vessels built in Berkley, which she readily shared with those present. The Commission will add this information to their collection.

Source information on timeline: www.Ancestory.com database: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts: with Biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men

She did a very good job and we thank her.

 

(4) Dr. Manuel L. Da Silva

Panoramic review of all type of  boats to relate them with the Lateen sail used on the models that exist inside of the Dighton /rock Museum:

The first floating  object:

      The second floating object:

The third floating
 object with a sail:

 

 

                                        A canoe:

 

 Compare the Lateen sail- triangular -  with square  rig of the Viking ship

 

Navigating against the wind.
 Only with a Lateen sail

 

The  models of the Caravel "Victoria" and the "Nau São  Gabriel" are in the Museum.
They were  the ONLY BOATS  ABLE  to navigate  AGAINST THE WIND
on the open seas, because they possessed the Lateen sails!