Pledge/Prayer: President Gerri
Song: Bill M.
Card Game Winner: Bob A.
Sergeants Report: Keith
Raffle Winners: Adam, Bill S, Jesse
Happy Bucks
Guests: Ron Lyman, Michael O'Farrell
Announcements:
Ran reported delivering dictionaries to the Westbrook 3rd grade students. He was met with enthusiasm - the kids were thrilled as Ran put it. Today, members of our club visit Old Lyme to deliver their dictionaries.
Gerri, Bill M, John, and Mike just attended the RI Foundation Seminar. Gerri urges everyone to donate $100 a year to the RI, a small amount that goes a long way.
Bill Suits Outreach Committee will meet after next Wednesdays meeting for about 15 minutes
Program:
Michael O'Farrell of the Mystic Seaport Museum gave a very interesting talk on the seaport overall and the museum. His main topic was the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling ship built in 1841 and about to undergo restoration. Mystic Seaport attracts over 300,000 people per year which is actually down from over 500,000 in years past. There are 2 million objects on display. Old Saybrook has a tie with Mystic Seaport - The Buckingham House was moved from Old Saybrook to the Seaport in 1951 when they built the Baldwin Bridge.
The Charles W. Morgan is the last ship of its kind - a wooden whale ship - anywhere in the world and is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Built in 1841, the Charles W. Morgan did 37 voyages the longest of which took 4years to complete. Contrary to popular belief, Mystic was primarily a shipbuilding town (as opposed to a whaling town) with a dozen operations at its peak. Mystic Seaport was built around the Morgan and is its main attraction today. A new lift dock will be completed in June allowing the $3.5 million dollar restoration to commence. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, there will be plenty of live Oaks from the Gulf Coast - the premier wood for this project - available.
There have been reports of para-normal contact (ghosts) on the ship by 3 people. This is unsubstantiated by seaport personnel but you may want to check for yourself. The Charles W. Morgan is part of American history - not just maritime history. Michael closed by saying, we all need to reconnect ourselves to national treasure and to heed their motto that says, "Mystic Seaport is better than you remember and closer than you think".
At the conclusion of his presentation, Michael quizzed the club on his talk. Brent, Marty and Andy were the first ones to answer and each were given a gift courtesy of Mystic Seaport.
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