NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Mark Coady
Date: 2019 Jan 13, 17:58 -0800
Mystic seaport in my single digit ages taught me to be curious of whales. I learned to appreciate them as amazing creatures. Whalers had to know their quarry. Many hunters appreciate the wild ecosystem because they are intimate with it.That started an interest that has had me love the sea all my life.
I read an abridged Moby Dick in about the 5th grade, and finally the full volume in high school for a paper. Heavy sledding but a learning experience.
The seaport is not so much a symbol of whaling to me now, but a place preserving an entire culture with a deeply complex historical context.
The historical skills of shipping and navigation still fascinate me. I must say I am glad I don't have to circle half the globe in a wooden ship with no shower. Can't imagine the arctic whaling....ugh...
I consider myself lucky to live scant miles away from the seaport....My boat is only a mile or so. It has enabled me to take classes and spend many an hour in reflection on a way of life and a relationship with the sea...which I have carried for life.
I am here on this site because of it.
mc