His new book, The Whale – In Search of the Giants of the Sea, won the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. In a richly illustrated talk, Hoare will plumb the depths of the whale’s domain to reveal it as never before, trace its cultural history from Jonah to Free Willy, and show images from his ten years experience of whales, from Cape Cod to the Azores and New Zealand.

A widely followed commentator on the politics and proceedings of the International Whaling Commission, Hoare recently noted, “We stand at a crossroads for cetaceans. We see the fragile existence of these animals as a barometer of ecological threat. As symbols of an endangered world, they evoke, and provoke, anthropomorphism on a scale equal to their size and supposed intelligence.”

Philip Hoare is the author of several books, including Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant; Noel Coward; Oscar Wilde’s Last Stand; Spike Island; and England’s Lost Eden. He lives in Southampton, England, and frequently visits Cape Cod as a member of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies as a volunteer on its humpback whale identification program. He also written and narrated a BBC film documentary, The Hunt For Moby-Dick, which brought him to New Bedford five years ago.

The Whale has garnered praise on both sides of the Atlantic. Publishers Weekly said of the book, “With Melville as his mentor and Ishmael as his muse, the author haunts one-time whaling town New Bedford, Mass., America’s richest city in the mid–19th century thanks to whale oil and baleen… This tour de force is a sensuous biography of the great mammals that range on and under Earth’s oceans.”

For the New York Times Book Review, Nathaniel Philbrick wrote, “Genius… The Whale (is) a rhapsodic meditation on all things cetacean. Hoare is always on the lookout for the revealing detail. He also has a finely tuned sense of perspective and pacing.”

The Washington Post noted that Hoare’s work “is rigorous, something every serious student of whales — and, more widely conceived, of the natural world — will want to have at hand.” National Public Radio said, “You don’t have to love Moby-Dick to love this book. But if you do, The Whale is probably one of the most sublime reading experiences you’ll have this year.”

The lecture is free to the public. The book is available for sale in the Museum store.

Part of Cape Verdean Recognition Week events, Cape Verde 550/35 will feature the Mendes Brothers, an award-winning musical group. Presented in partnership with the New Bedford Historical Society, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the evening will highlight music, video, photography, and literature of Cape Verde:

Cape Verde 550/35, A Multimedia Celebration

In conjunction with their release of a new album, the award-winning musical group Mendes Brothers have created a multimedia historical retrospective of Cape Verde. The new album, Porton de Regresso 1 (The Gate of Return 1), in commemoration of the 550th Anniversary of the discovery of the Cape Verde Islands, is part of a two-album series paying tribute to Cape Verde’s founding city, Ribera Grande de Santiago (Cidade Velha), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Porton de Regresso 1 is being presented to the public in a series of album release events around the world. Following the U.S. releases, the Mendes Brothers will travel to Cape Verde for a commemorative official album launch at Cidade Velha, Santiago.

Written, composed and produced by the brothers, Porton de Regresso 1 is a celebration of Cape Verde’s history and the victorious journey of her people.  The album chronicles the archipelago’s central role as the first permanent European settlement in Africa and the cradle of the New World – the model multicultural and multiracial society that became the Americas and the Caribbean. A tribute to Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Porton de Regresso 1 is dedicated to the people of Cape Verde and to all people of African descent living in the New World in celebration of their mutual triumph over the challenges of the last 550 years.

Panel Discussion

The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion of Cape Verde’s road to independence and how Cape Verdean-Americans contributed to the effort.  Panelists will include PAIGC and community activists Yvonne Smart and Salah Mateus among others.

Book Fair

Presented by the National Library and press of Cape Verde, hard-to-find books about the history and culture of Cape Verde will be available for sale. Works by Cape Verdean authors and others, primarily in Portuguese or Cape Verdean Creole will include a wide range of topics on Cape Verdean poets, writers, maritime history, the arts of Cape Verde, its music, theater and literature, as well as histories of individual islands, cities, villages, families and more.

Presenting Partners

The Cape Verdean Recognition Committee was originally established in 1973 by a volunteer group composed of members of the Cape Verdean-American Veterans’ Association, its Ladies Auxiliary, and interested and dedicated people from the community. The Committee’s goal is to increase awareness of Cape Verdean-American culture and history. Beginning June 27, 2010, the Committee celebrates Cape Verdean Recognition Week, which this year includes a Scholarship Awards Ceremony on July 1st and the annual Cape Verdean Recognition Parade on July 3rd.

MB Global Media: The Mendes Brothers, Ramiro and João Mendes are artists, composers and humanitarians from Cape Verde who have dedicated their entire career to innovating the music of Cape Verde and promoting unity and peace in Africa and the world.  The 1996 winners of the Boston Music Awards for Outstanding World Music Act, the Mendes Brothers are the pioneers of Cape Verde’s Bandera and Talaia Baxu music revolution. With over 150 recorded compositions and 40 plus albums to their production credit, the Mendes Brothers are one of the leading forces behind the modern arrangement and production of Cape Verdean music.

For more information contact:

Today, the Gulf of Mexico is home to an estimated population of 1600 to 1700 sperm whales. Dr. Randall R. Reeves, a biologist with Okapi Wildlife Associates, Quebec, Canada, and an Advisory Curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, noted that sperm whales “move through the water column to great depths, and they spend long periods at the surface ‘catching their breath’. Exposure to oil is inevitable, and it is very hard to imagine that such exposure will not be harmful to both the whales directly and to their prey.”

The display, which includes several whaling logbooks and charts from 1836 to 1932, is located in the Jacobs Family Gallery, an admission-free area of the Museum complex.

( NEW BEDFORD, MA) – The New Bedford Whaling Museum will present the local premiere of Ric Burns’ new documentary, Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, on Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 pm. in the museum theater. Burns, an award-winning writer and director, is scheduled to attend and speak briefly about his work. A co-production of Steeplechase Films, Inc., and WBGH Boston, Into the Deep will air nationally as part of the critically acclaimed history series, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on PBS, May 10 at 9:00 pm. The local première at the whaling museum is free to the public.

The film includes interviews with curator, Dr. Stuart Frank, and features many artifacts and images from the museum’s collection. In researching the film, Burns drew heavily on the expertise of museum staff and associates.

“We are very pleased to welcome Ric Burns back to New Bedford, and look forward to his new film, which will give Americans a greater understanding of whaling history, its impact on the growth of our nation and New Bedford’s pivotal role in that growth,” said museum president, James Russell.

Narrated by Willem Dafoe, Into the Deep examines 300 years of American whaling from its beginnings with shore-based operations off the coast of New England, to its zenith in the 1850s, and finally to its 60-year decline following the Civil War.

Mr. Russell noted that the documentary will weave together several narratives, connecting the whale oil trade with American capitalism and the young nation’s growing global presence. The business of whaling was inherently high-risk, high-gain. Filled with danger and adventure, it appealed to the popular imagination though literary works such as Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Whaling tested the limits of human endurance, both spiritually and physically, as the dark fate of the whaleship Essex revealed to a horrified nation in the 1820s.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is credited in the film as a Principal Location, and several of its staff and associates contributed to the production, including Dr. Stuart M. Frank, serving on the film’s advisory board, with Michael Dyer, Michael Moore and Judith Lund, serving as project consultants.

Seating is limited. To RSVP, please call Pam Lowe, Visitor Services 508-997-0046, ext. 100.

 Society invite you to join Mayor Scott W. Lang, elected officials and James P. Russell, Museum President, in announcing details of the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s largest expansion of exhibit space in a decade: within the Old Dartmouth’s original museum space.

When: Tomorrow, April 24th at 11:30 AM
Where: Jacobs Family Gallery

This brief press briefing will cover:
- Restoration work to the Museum’s Water Street side
- Work completion dates and Grand Opening event information
- Plans to open a Water Street entrance/exit during the summer
- First site tour of the new exhibit space work in progress

The elaborately carved pediment above the Water Street entrance of the original museum features a cartouche with a version of the city seal and motto, Lucem Diffundo (I Diffuse Light). The old museum space, long used for storage, will come alive again this summer.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is the scrimshaw capital of the world, and the annual Scrimshaw Weekend is the world’s only forum dedicated to the indigenous shipboard art of whalemen. Founded in 1989, this event attracts enthusiasts from four continents, all gathering to share the enjoyment of collecting and researching this beautiful artwork.

New this year is a Scrimshaw & Marine Antiques Show, which will include a Swap Meet & Sale with multiple dealers’ booths showing scrimshaw, marine antiques, books and more on Friday, May 14, from noon until 5:00 pm.

The Friday evening lecture, “Scrimshaw…Through the Collectors’ Eyes,” will be presented at 8:00 pm by Nina Hellman, marine antiques dealer and author of “A Mariner’s Fancy, The Whaleman’s Art of Scrimshaw.”

On Saturday, May 15, a full schedule of events and activities will include two informative three-hour sessions. The morning session includes talks on “Distinguishing Characteristics of Scrimshaw by the Ceres Artisans,” “The Life and Adventures of the Ceres Scrimshander,” “The Four Ceres Artists Identified,” and “More about the Ceres Artists.” Respectively, speakers include Stuart M. Frank, Ph.D. (New Bedford Whaling Museum), Kenneth R. Martin, Ph.D. (former Director, Kendall Whaling Museum), Donald E. Ridley, P.E. (Volunteer Assistant Curator Emeritus, Kendall Whaling Museum and New Bedford Whaling Museum), and Judith N. Lund (Advisory Curator, New Bedford Whaling Museum).

whale ivory pie crimper

The afternoon session will include a talk by the dean of scrimshaw collectors, Judge Paul E. Vardeman, titled “Recollections of an old time collector and the recent discovery of new artists.” Other presentations include “The Sam McDowell Scrimshaw Collection,” “Recent Adventures and Discoveries at the Forensics Lab,” and a Collectors Market Report. Speakers include Dr. Frank, Richard Donnelly, and Andrew Jacobson. Mr. Donnelly is a long-time volunteer at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and a collaborator on a forthcoming catalogue of the museum’s scrimshaw collection.

A gala banquet on Saturday evening will conclude with two entertaining and informative programs, “Mystery Man of the Fake Susan’s Teeth” (about art fraud) and “Rugs and Floor Coverings on Scrimshaw,” and an ad hoc “Collectors’ Show-and-Tell.”

On Sunday, May 15, an optional fieldtrip will visit important private scrimshaw collections in Newbury and Lincoln, MA. The bus will leave from Fairhaven at 8:00 am, and from New Bedford at 8:15 am, returning by 6:00 pm. The price is $125 and lunch is included.

The fee for Scrimshaw Weekend, including admission to the museum and the Scrimshaw & Marine Antiques Show, scheduled meals, and all plenary sessions is $315 (Museum members $275) prior to May 1st. After May 1st the fee is $370 (Museum members $330). Saturday banquet and evening program is $65.

For the full schedule of events and program updates, please visit the museum website at www.whalingmuseum.org. For logistical information or to register, please contact visitor services at (508) 997-0046, ext 100 or email: frontdesk@whalingmuseum.org

Scrimshaw Weekend is supported in part by Northeast Auctions of Portsmouth, NH, and the Maine Antique Digest, which have generously helped to make this event possible.

“The Man and Whales Lecture Series” continues April 14, at 7:30 pm

Ken Hartnett photo by Ken Smith

Thursday, April 8 at 8:00 p.m. in Museum Theater

This final lecture in the series examines the activities of 19th Century Irish rebel and writer John Boyle O’Reilly. In 1869, O’Reilly escaped imprisonment in Australia with the help of the New Bedford whaler “Gazelle.” Later, from his new home in Boston, he helped organize the daring Catalpa expedition to liberate jailed Fenian comrades from their British captors. The story of the twin rescues makes O’Reilly a memorable figure, one who will be forever remembered for his immense courage and solid principles.
Ken Hartnett is an experienced news correspondent and author of the novel “A Saving Grace.” He was the editor of the New Bedford Standard-Times and Boston Magazine and was a news executive for WCVB and WGBH television in Boston. The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick is partnering with the Whaling Museum to present this lecture series.

To RSVP, call Pam Lowe, Visitor Services 508-997-0046, ext. 100.

Admission is free.

The one-third scale model was built by Tom Borges, a local artist, sculptor and ship’s carpenter, in his New Bedford studio over the course of seven years. Begun early in 2003, Borges constructed the model from scratch using Concordia plans together with his own meticulous drawings and measurements, taken at the Concordia Boatyard, located in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

In announcing the special exhibit, James Russell, museum president, said, “The Whaling Museum is famous as the home of the world’s largest ship model, Lagoda, so it is fitting that the world’s largest model of an equally famous and locally built boat, the Concordia Yawl, also be displayed here.”

With the mast stepped the boat stands 22-feet tall (keel to masthead) in its custom cradle. With miniature bronze fittings and its 200-pound lead keel, the hull measures 15 feet, 2 inches long; its beam, 44″ across.

The metal and bronze fittings were hand-made in a multistep process by cutting the major elements on a table saw, TIG welding components together, then grinding, filing and polishing each fitting. To fabricate cylindrical parts, Borges utilized a metal lathe in the mechanical department of Burr Brothers Boatyard in Marion, where he works as a ship’s carpenter during the spring and summer months. Most of the progress on the model took place in the off-season, he said.

By his reckoning, Borges has worked in the repair and carpentry department at Burr Brothers for the past 13 or 14 years, and never as a boat builder. A Mattapoisett native and 1995 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Borges studied Fine Arts, majoring in Sculpture. His Cove Street studio, located deep within the former Berkshire-Hathaway Mill complex is as remarkable as the 22-foot high Concordia, which stands landlocked within his cramped but well-lighted atelier. The walls and floors are papered with myriad works of Borges’ art. Numerous portraits and figure studies in charcoal and Conté crayon cover the periphery of a studio crammed with sculpture, paintings, and countless objects of natural study and nautical interest. Heaps of books on fine art lie stacked about on the floor and serve as much for reference as they do for tables to hold palettes, brushes and tools.

“I’ve always been interested in models,” Borges said, pointing to a glass case containing his first attempt, a flawless scale model of a Brownell Bass Boat, which he also built from scratch in 2003.

With his first model completed, Borges decided he wanted to build something bigger, and just big enough to actually sail. This required the model be constructed with all working parts. “In theory, all the parts are meant to work,” Borges said. A snug pilot seat built into the miniature cabin at the bottom of the companionway allows for the model to be skippered by a set of controls from below decks, with a head-and-shoulders view of the exterior. Two jammers on the starboard side control the main and jib sheets. The single portside jammer controls the mizzen sheet. A lever and cable on the starboard side controls the tiller. Smiling, the reticent artist added, “I would consider myself far from a sailor; I know how to sail but I wouldn’t call myself a sailor. I’ve always liked boats and I like to build things.” None of his models have ever been made on commission. “I get an idea in my head and I just keep going; I make them and they end up staying here,” he said.

As the Concordia model began to dominate his small studio, Borges wondered what it might be worth. He contacted a ship model dealer in Marblehead, who responded that he could not appraise a model as large as this one, but referred the artist to several experts on large ship models as well as on Concordia history, including Llewellyn Howland III, a Trustee of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS) and Whaling Museum. A writer and historian, Howland reviewed photos of the model then called Borges and contacted James Russell, Whaling Museum President. Russell, former head of the International Yacht Restoration Society (IRYS), visited Borges’ studio with John Garfield, ODHS Chair, and Calvin Siegal, Museum Advisory Committee Chair. “We were blown away by the remarkable workmanship and level of detail. We determined that this extraordinary work should be made available for the public to see,” Russell said. Dr. Gregory Galer, V.P. Collections & Exhibitions, and Frances Levin, Collections Committee Chair, also visited the artist.

The story of the Concordia Company and its legendary yawl runs deep in the history of American sailing. Established in Boston in 1926 by retired oil company executive Llewellyn Howland, Concordia Company was named after a Howland family whaling vessel.  In the 1930s, the company  entered the yacht design and brokerage business under the direction of Howland’s son Waldo.

Two talented naval architects, C. Raymond Hunt and Wilder B. Harris, were associated with Concordia Company in the late l930s.  Though differing in their approaches to yacht design, the two men worked closely and successfully with Waldo Howland on a variety of projects.

Shortly after Concordia Company moved its offices to Fairhaven in 1938, a major hurricane swept the area causing much loss of life and property, including the destruction of countless yachts in South Coast harbors.  One of the casualties was the boat owned by the company founder, Llewellyn Howland, who soon placed an order with Concordia Company and Ray Hunt for a 39-foot cruising/racing yawl that would  perform well in the fresh afternoon breezes and choppy seas that prevail on Buzzards Bay.

The result was Concordia Company’s design number 14, which became the classic Concordia Yawl, one of the most successful and long-lived stock wooden cruiser/racers ever built.  When the name Concordia is mentioned in sailing circles, it is this class of yawls (and some sloops) that comes to mind.

Between 1938 and 1947, four Concordia yawls were built, three (including Llewellyn Howland’s) by Casey Boatbuilding Company in Fairhaven, a fourth by George Lawley and Son Corp in Neponset, Mass.  Then in 1950 a longtime patron of Concordia company decided to take advantage of Europe’s ravaged post-war economy to have one of the yawls built by the famous German yacht-building firm of Abeking & Rasmussen in Lemwerder near Bremerhaven.  The result was so satisfactory, and the cost so reasonable, that an additional 98 Concordia yawls and sloops were built by the German firm before the final boat, Irene, hull #103, was shipped from Bremerhaven in 1966.  All 103 Concordia yawls ever built are still in existence today.

Waldo Howland purchased South Wharf in South Dartmouth in 1941, which allowed Concordia Company to become a full-service yacht yard.  Soon after the war it acquired the exclusive right to build wooden Beetle Cats.  In the late 1950s, in association with the designer R. D. Culler, Waldo Howland and Concordia Company began building traditional wooden yachts at a facility on the Smith Neck Road in Dartmouth. The company was sold to Bill Pinney in 1969, and by Pinney to Brodie MacGregor in 1981, who continues to operate Concordia Company today.

Brodie and son Stuart moved Concordia to 300 Gulf Road in 2007 where they continue the tradition of storing, repairing, and restoring, and selling Concordia yawls. “Fourteen of the 150 boats we maintain are Concordias,” said Stuart.  “They are at the same time our heritage and a critical, current aspect of our business. Most rewarding are the opportunities we at Concordia get to deliver or sail on owner’s boats.  For all the good looks, nothing compares to level of function and the beauty of Concordias underway.  It is why the class endures so well,” he said.

Transport of the model to the whaling museum is courtesy of N.C. Hudon, Inc., a family-owned and operated company based in New Bedford, MA, providing crane hoisting and rigging services for over 60 years.

The model will be on public display for the next several weeks, with its debut on Friday, March 12, as part of the whaling museum’s festive spring fundraiser, “Bermuda Shorts & Knobbly Knees.”

The New Bedford Whaling Museum expresses special thanks to N.C. Hudon, Inc. Crane & Rigging for assisting with the installation of this exhibit.

To see photos form the installation of the model, visit our flickr set.

NEW BEDFORD, MA (03.12.10) – - On Friday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m., Co-Chairs Patricia A. Jayson and Eugene A. Monteiro will host the inaugural winter fundraiser, Bermuda Shorts and Knobbly Knees, at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Ditch the winter doldrums and join folks at the Whaling Museum for a fun-filled, laid-back, Bermudian-themed affair. Caribbean style hors d’oeuvres, entrées, and tropical desserts will be provided by Russell Morin Fine Catering. Festive cocktails are sponsored by Gosling’s Rums of Bermuda, featuring their trademark concoctions, Dark ‘n Stormies®, Dark ‘n Skinnies, and aged sipping rum. Moby D Beer, a locally craft-brewed version of the American Ale, and sumptuous red and white wines from Travessia Urban Winery will also be on tap.

Entertainment will feature live Calypso and Jazz with the PanNeubean Steel Band, as well as a silent auction and raffle. Attendees in Bermuda shorts and black socks will win a door prize!

This event is sponsored in part by Henry J. Wheelwright of UBS Wealth Management. Proceeds will support programming at the Whaling Museum.

Tickets are $65 per person and include food, drink and entertainment. For reservations visit www.whalingmuseum.org/bermudashorts or call Alison Smart at (508) 997-0046, ext. 115