"Another maritime museum?!" remark the girls. Yes, five or six already. The girls have studied and climbed aboard dugouts, skipjacks, schooners, tugboats, and whaleboats. They are well versed in the many trades of those who work on the water including oystermen, crabbers, fishermen, maritime pilots and pirates. They have visited historic sites preserving or replicating seaside communities and learned about their tradespeople including sailmakers, boatbuilders, crab pickers, and chandlers. We have even "lived" on the grounds (or technically, at the docks) of the Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, able to walk around the museum campus at night.
"Maritime museum overkill," complains Phoenix. Nonetheless, to maritime museums we continue to go. We have found that each locale lends a unique perspective on history, and every museum has had its own special offerings for us.
At the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, there were a few things that caught our attention.
The obvious one was the exhibit on Blackbeard's ship, Queen Anne's Revenge. Discovered in 1996 just 25 feet underwater and a mile and a quarter off the North Carolina shore, the shipwreck site of Queen Anne's Revenge has had over 16,000 artifacts unearthed with excavation still ongoing. The renown of her captain, the ferocious pirate Blackbeard, has been better personalized by shipwreck findings such as cuff links, cannons, and even what is believed to be part of his toilet.
What I like about Blackbeard is that he was known as being sort of a "Gandhi" of pirates, practicing non-forceful thieving and piracy. He was able to be successful at this nontraditional form of his trade using that most powerful of weapons, his reputation. Unlike Gandhi, his nonviolence was not motivated by moral or spiritual philosophy, but rather by practical considerations of wanting to keep the cargo and ships he was plundering from being damaged.
 |
| A model of the Queen Anne's Revenge |
 |
| A diorama of the excavation site |
Another display in the museum that caught our eye was that of a life car, a submarine-esque pod that could be used to save people from shipwrecks if the wrecks were close enough to shore and if the water was too rough for the life-saving boats of that time. The life cars could be pulled over or through difficult water, transporting people inside its shell. Sounds great, but looking at the heavy life car with its small, enclosed space, I could not imagine having to move or ride in such a vessel.
Basically, a small line would be shot out to the shipwreck from the shore, then a larger line would be pulled out and attached to the ship's mast. Back on shore, the line would be pulled taut using oxen or whatever means was available. The life car could then be pulled back and forth between shore and ship, transporting survivors to safety. Initially, the life cars did not have ventilation holes and were known to only have only a few minutes of oxygen available once sealed.
 |
| The Life Car |
I'm not a rescue expert, but I see a lot of "holes" (or not enough) in the life car as a life-saving device. Indeed, the life car was eventually replaced by the breeches buoy, a much lighter contraption consisting of a life preserver with canvas pants attached that one person could climb into and be pulled to shore on the same sort of set up used to pull the life car.
Another heart-stopping (ok,not really, but I couldn't resist) exhibit was a model of the heart belonging to a sperm whale named Echo. The whale heart's anatomy is similar to ours with a four-chamber heart that pumps through two circulation systems (main and pulmonary). Unlike humans, some whale hearts can be the size of an automobile, and their cardiorespiratory system is much more efficient than ours.
Whale lungs can extract more than 80 percent of the oxygen carried by blood as opposed to humans who can extract maybe a quarter of this. Whales are also believed to be able to avoid decompression sickness as they dive and ascend due to their compressible lungs. Under pressure, their flexible rib cages collapse and push air up into large and impermeable nasal passages, preventing toxic nitrogen bubbles from entering their blood vessels.
 |
| I could not help but imagine having to do CPR on this |
 |
| I would love to see this heart contract -- imagine the power it must have to be able to pump blood through the entire whale |
 |
| You would have to climb into the heart to do any cardiac surgery. |
It was another great visit to a maritime museum, even for the girls!
INDIGO'S POST: MUSEUM!
When we walked in, we went to the desk and they gave us a sheet of paper that was a truasher hunt. In the lobby there were two woden bords that were filled with fish. There were dolphins, sharks, a lobster, skeletons. We started our scavanger hunt in the lobby than we went in the gift store and got about 6 to 7 bandanas and littel metal sea ornaments. There were sea stars, shells, fish, crabs, etc. Then we walked and we saw this amazing life car that gose out to sea to save people. This can hold about 11 people bolted shut.
 |
| Skye loved working on her scavenger hunt |
_______________
WHERE WE ARE: Anchored in Taylor Creek, Beaufort, N.C.
THE NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM: This museum system is made up of the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, and the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport. Admission is free. The museum is located at 315 Front Street, an easy walk from the town dinghy dock that takes you past many fun and shopping-worthy nautical-themed gift and clothing stores. Hours are Mon-Fri 9 am to 5 pm, Sat 10 am to 5 pm, Sun 1 pm to 5 pm.
EXCELLENT POST-MUSEUM BREAK: The Beaufort Coffee Shop and Cru Wine Bar -- Totally relaxed and mellow ambience. Quality coffee, great menu with tempting offerings, and an extensive selection of specialty wines and ales. What more do you need? Chocolate? Yup -- made by them. WiFi? Yup. I loved that you could add a shot of rum, whiskey or brandy in any coffee beverage for only $3 extra. Located at 120 Turner Street, less than a block away from the museum.
 |
| Root beer float! |
 |
| Fizzy and creamy! |
 |
| We told the kids it was too spicy to share with them. |
 |
| I love it when it's easy to support local! |
 |
| We had this on homemade biscuits. Scrumptious berries in every bite. |
No comments:
Post a Comment