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.

Steve Urbon, senior correspondent of The Standard-Times:

NEW BEDFORD — The Northeast Fisheries Summit drew almost 300 people to the city Monday, a veritable “Who’s Who” of the fishing industry, giving the new NOAA fisheries director an earful about what they view as the coming crisis in the Northeast fishing industry.

Eric Schwaab, just three weeks into his job as the assistant administrator for fisheries at NOAA, sat in the front row of the whaling museum’s packed auditorium and heard one speaker after another assail his agency for its policies, its attitude and its law enforcement.

Representatives of all kinds of players in the fishing industry were encouraged to put their cards on the table, and they did, in 10-minute presentations that were sometimes angry, sometimes emotional.

It was an outpouring of frustration at a federal agency many believe is trying to put them out of business when it isn’t treating them like children or criminals. The summit, organized by UMass and the mayor’s office, followed on the heels of a Capitol Hill “United We Fish” protest in late February, an inspector general’s report blasting fisheries law enforcement, and sworn congressional hearings in which it was revealed that NOAA’s top law enforcement official shredded documents while under investigation.

The summit was intended to clarify issues and show where everyone stands, said Mayor Scott W. Lang, who opened the conference. He enlisted former Mayor John K. Bullard as moderator, UMass School of Marine Science and Technology dean emeritus Dr. Brian Rothschild as organizer and lead scientific and policy adviser, and a wide-ranging cast of state lawmakers, boat owners, attorneys, fishing regulators, environmentalists, and fishing families as panelists and participants.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration became the prime target.

State Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, drew applause when she announced, “I want to see the day when the agency respects the fishing industry.”

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., criticized NOAA and the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which he and many others believe needs amendment for being too rigid. “The problem is that the basic law is wrong,” he said. Regulators today are sticking with current law the way people in Medieval times believed the sun revolved around the Earth. Evidence mounted that the theory was wrong, but they kept making pained explanations, “but it was hard to maintain the theory. People don’t like to give up on their theories.”

But with Magnuson, “the fundamental basis is flawed,” Frank said. “People have tried to put certainty where it doesn’t belong.”

Later, Gov. Deval Patrick, who hadn’t heard the earlier comments, likewise assailed NOAA for ignoring this region’s request in spring of 2009 that the science behind the fishing regulations be re-examined.

Maine fisherman Jimmy Odlin, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council, joined those who accused NOAA of being “arrogant” by making policy based on flawed science and in doing so harming fishing families and communities. He drew applause when he said that he is angry at the idea that unsound science should be used to get people out of the business.”

Bud Walsh, who actually helped write the original Magnuson Act, defended the idea that “sectors” management is necessary to the health of the industry, but he expressed surprise that the rules have become so complex. “I have never seen such Byzantine regulations,” he said. He suggested that the fishing industry adopt a corporate model to organize itself around the sectors and compete in the global market. But his suggestion was rejected by one participant who objected that such a move would remove all local control.

Again and again, participants returned to the concept of “catch shares” — pieces of the overall catch that they will be allowed to land, based on their previous fishing experience. As they have said in other places, the catch shares are believed to be unreasonably small, don’t provide for the “optimum yield” for fisheries, and threaten to stop fishing entirely as soon as the quota is reached for the most restricted fish.

When that happens, boats will go idle and if they stay in business their catch shares for the next year will shrink because they are based on the current year’s suboptimal take.

It is all in pursuit of what many called an impossible goal: to bring all fish species to their maximum level in a 10-year span. Vito Giacolone of the New England Seafood Coalition said, “the law demands at face value what we all know is unachievable.” Setting deadlines for fish population growth is “absolutely not attainable” he said. But the industry has no choice but to play along, he said, “because all resources are going clearly toward sector management,” and away from “days at sea.”

New Bedford boat owner Carlos Rafael bluntly told fellow fishermen that unless catch shares are postponed this spring, “50 percent of you will be out of business by August.” He suggested, to enthusiastic applause, that the National Marine Fisheries service be cut in half when that happens, and the $150 million in savings be used to start a boat buyback program.

See the original article here.

]]> http://whalingmuseumblog.org/2010/03/09/at-the-museum-northeast-fisheries-summit/feed/ 0 michaellapides UN.1016.21 http://whalingmuseumblog.org/2010/03/09/inspiration/ http://whalingmuseumblog.org/2010/03/09/inspiration/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:12:14 +0000 whaleblog http://whalingmuseumblog.org/?p=1823 ]]> The Moby-Dick Marathon inspires action to support the Friends of the Hull Public Library.

Calliope Pina Parker is a sixth-grader who reads as many as 10 books a week and favors Harry Potter.  She is an avid user of libraries, borrowing from across the region. When budget cuts in Hull not only sheared the local library’s funding and hours, but also cost the town its state certification last month, Calliope took matters into her own hands.

Since January Calliope had been thinking about organizing a reading marathon. That was when her dad, Mark Parker, brought the family to see a friend participate in the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s annual reading of “Moby-Dick’’ – not yet one of Calliope’s favorites. But she appreciated the experience and thought about arranging her own reading marathon, which she did.  A March 6th readathon and bake sale was held, with wizardly cupcakes and “magic wand’’ frosted pretzel rods, raising awareness about the library’s circumstances and collecting money for the nonprofit Friends of the Hull Public Library.

Read the full story as posted by Eric Moskowitz at boston.com

Mayor Scott W. Lang has announced the Northeast Fisheries Summit, a day-long discussion that will focus on the future and sustainability of the fishing industry in New England and near- and mid-Atlantic ports. The Summit is co-hosted by the Mayor’s Ocean and Fisheries Council, the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute. Expected to attend is Eric Scwhaab, the newly appointed Assistant Administrator for Fisheries with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Congressman Barney Frank; and industry leaders, scientists, elected officials, environmentalists, and government officials from across the Northeastern region.

“We all recognize the importance of achieving a sustainable fisheries management plan,” said Mayor Lang. “I look forward to an open discussion about how we can ensure a balance of sensible conservation practices with the economic vitality of the fishing industry. It is appropriate that this discussion take place in New Bedford, the nation’s top-ranked value port.”

The Summit will include panel discussions on catch shares and sectors, scallops and scallop by-catch, and amending the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

The Summit will begin at 9:00am on March 8th at the Whaling Museum, located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill in New Bedford. The public is welcome to attend.

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

Marking the final leg of a national tour, the ECHO Performing Arts Festival Troupe comes to the New Bedford Whaling Museum on AHA! Night, Thursday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m. with their multicultural performance, Celebrate – Song, Dance & Story! The troupe’s appearance at the Whaling Museum will be the only performance for the general public in the region. They will be performing in five New Bedford schools while in the city.

The 45-minute performance will take the audience on a journey down life’s paths, from childhood to love and marriage and beyond. Through song, dance and stories, life’s challenges and triumphs are viewed through the lens of many cultures to reveal the commonality of the human experience.

The ECHO Performing Arts Festival Troupe (left to right): Curtis "Buck" Willis - Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Ani Lokomaika'i Lipscomb (Hawaiian) - Bishop Museum, Annawon Weeden (Wampanoag) - Peabody Essex Museum, Allison Warden (Iñupiaq Eskimo) - Iñupiat Heritage Center, Stephen Blanchett (Yu'pik) - Alaska Native Heritage Center, José Manuel Vinagre, New Bedford ECHO Project.

The troupe will be available after the performance to talk with the audience.

President of the Sea Education Association (SEA), John Bullard has sailed and raced extensively. In 2007 he sailed on SEA’s research vessel, Corwith Cramer, from Bermuda north to Nova Scotia and then joined Ned Cabot’s Ceilita for a trip from the Shetland Islands to Svalbard, passing north of 80° latitude. John will focus his discussion on these two voyages and will share his experiences of climate change, remote places, science, and adventure through engaging stories and striking photography.

John Bullard sailing north of 80 degrees on Cielita, photo by Dr. Charles Welch

The Sailor Series Continues:

March 23: “The Azores: From Whaler’s Refuge to Sailor’s Destination,” with Victor Pinheiro

April 20: “Weathering Cape Horn: An East-to-West Passage Under Sail,” with Dr. Ned Cabot

May 25: “Following the Waters: Voices from the Final Norwegian Emigration, with Astrid Tollefsen

All lectures start at 7:30 p.m. in the Museum Theater. A reception at 6:30 p.m. is held in the Jacobs Family Gallery prior to each lecture. Admission for the series is $50 for members, $75 for non-members. For individual lectures: $15 for members, $20 for non-members. To reserve tickets, please call 508-997-0046 ext. 100.

The guide, which is of particular use to students, researchers, the tourist trade, and journalists, comes in three languages, and provides interesting and easy to use insights into the creature’s habitats, behaviour, and where to find them. It also features 80 maps, over 400 images, a threat index (which highlights the level of danger facing each species).

click on this image to get to the database

Thursday, February 18
10:00 a.m.
Jacobs Family Gallery

Please join Congressman Barney Frank and Mayor Scott W. Lang, along with other legislators, local officials, and the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Board of Trustees to celebrate the launch of a new Youth Internship and Apprenticeship Program at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. This program of paid apprenticeships will provide a unique opportunity for local youth to learn a variety of museum skills and expand their scholastic horizons throughout the academic year and summer months.

Join us in congratulating the first group of Whaling Museum Apprentices and recognizing the program’s generous funders: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement/Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations (ECHO), the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, The Howard Bayne Fund, The Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts, and Bank of America.

A light reception will follow the event.