Mother’s Day isn’t just about the cards, flowers, or fancy gifts—it’s about spending quality time with loved ones. Here are some fun and affordable ways to celebrate mom on the North Shore this weekend.
Mother’s Day at the LIM
Spend a lovely afternoon with Mom exploring the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook on Sunday, May 11 from noon to 5 p.m. Visit the Building the Ballot Box and Colors of Long Island exhibitions, the state of the art Carriage Museum, and stroll the beautiful grounds dotted with art installations, gardens and historic buildings. Free admission for mothers and grandmothers all day! 631-751-0066
Open Weekend at Benner’s Farm
Benner’s Farm, 56 Gnarled Hollow Road, East Setauket will be open to the public on Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11 from noon to 4 p.m. Come visit a real working farm! See sheep, goats, and chickens, ride the Big Swing and see the new babies born this spring. Admission is $12 adults, $10 seniors and children. 631-689-8172
Portraits at the Vanderbilt Museum
Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport offers live watercolor portrait paintings in the courtyard by local artist Sara Marie Martin on Saturday, May 10 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Your custom watercolor portrait will be painted within 10 minutes! Fee is $20 per 5″ x 7″ (up to 4 people per painting) payable via cash or Venmo on site.*General admission required. www.vanderbiltmuseum.org.
Mother’s Day at the Whaling Museum
Treat Mom to a special day at the Whaling Museum, 301 Main St., Cold Spring Harbor with free admission with a paid ticket on Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11 from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. Plus, enjoy a weekend of Mother’s Day crafts. 631-367-3418
Mother’s Day at The Hatchery
Celebrate Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, at the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium, 1660 Route 25A, Cold Spring Harbor from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission for Moms when accompanied by their children. 516-692-6768
Imagine a world where a child growing up on Long Island does not have the opportunity to climb aboard a 19th century streetcar and learn about the desegregation of public transportation in New York; or to learn who carved the sculptures in Central Park; or be able to look up in awe at the colossal skeleton of a whale and learn about the industry that built and sustained our region. This is the world that will be created if the elimination of federal agencies and grants that support our local libraries and museums are not stopped.
Three of Long Island’s most beloved cultural institutions on Long Island’s North Shore —The Whaling Museum & Education Center of Cold Spring Harbor, The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, and The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook—are facing the abrupt and unprecedented termination and suspension of grant funding from two federal agencies: the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which was terminated by executive order by the presidential administration at the start of April, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), where already-approved project funding is now halted or terminated.
The three museums were awarded federal grants to support public-facing projects, including exhibitions and community programming. But now, these NEH funds have been withdrawn and IMLS funds frozen with little, if any, explanation. A termination letter sent to The Whaling Museum by Michael McDonald, the Acting Chairman of the NEH, stated “the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda” and that “immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interested of the federal government.” The three museums are among thousands of museums, libraries, and educational institutions who have suddenly lost funding.
Impacts
At The Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor, the cancellation rescinds funding supporting exhibition design for a museum expansion centered on a whale skeleton to provide needed community space, and freezes funding for year-round educational programming tied to the museum’s Monsters & Mermaids exhibition.
At The Heckscher Museum of Art, award funds were to support the development of a groundbreaking new exhibition Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History, devoted to the sculptor who is best-known for her Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, along with a robust year of exhibitions and public programming supporting an intergenerational group of community members focused on enhancing teen mental health through the creation of art and fostering of community connections.
At The Long Island Museum, the IMLS funding cancellation blocks efforts to build an interactive and immersive exhibition experience in the museum around its circa 1885 horse-drawn streetcar. The exhibition, titled Riding Towards Justice, was to have created an accessible climb-aboard experience for visitors of all ages who would also learn of the stories of Elizabeth Jennings Graham (1827-1901).
The Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor
“These grants weren’t gifts—they were intentional investments grounded in research demonstrating the positive impacts of humanities-based projects addressing the educational needs in our communities,” said Nomi Dayan, Executive Director of The Whaling Museum. “We have a 90-year history of serving Long Island with integrity and creativity, and we are proud to preserve one of the most significant times in American history. The abrupt withdrawal comes at a cost to the communities we serve. We’re asking our leaders to honor the commitments that were made, and prioritize the learning that takes place in museums.”
“Thousands of studies, including a recent 2024 report released by The World Health Organization, have concluded that involvement in the arts can improve public health and promote healing from illness, cognitive decline, heart disease, anxiety and depression,” shared Heather Arnet, CEO and Executive Director of The Heckscher Museum of Art. “The Heckscher Museum of Art project which had been awarded a grant from IMLS was developed specifically with these social determinants of health in mind.”
“The Long Island Museum has received multiple IMLS grants for our Carriage Museum since the late 1980s that have supported conservation of the collection, improved exhibitions, and great programming. We are heartbroken over these actions and the potential loss this represents for our community and our different groups of visitors,” said Joshua Ruff, Co-Executive Director of the Long Island Museum.
The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook
Collectively, these three museums serve hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors annually; reach more than 100 school districts; introduce tens of thousands of school children each year to their first brush with art and history; and help senior community members develop meaningful engagement and connection opportunities later in life. The programs made possible through NEH and IMLS funding help provide equitable access to culture, spark lifelong learning, and preserve America’s stories.
Eliminated funding not only impacts the educational capacity at the museums, but has an economic impact on the region as a whole. A recently released Economic Impact Study by The Long Island Arts Alliance found that the nonprofit arts sector generated $330 million in economic activity during 2022—$178.4 million in spending by arts and culture organizations and an additional $151.6 million in event-related expenditures by their audiences. That economic activity supported 4,905 jobs, provided $234.5 million in personal income to residents, and generated $81.2 million in tax revenue to local, state, and federal governments.
Taking action
Museums are calling on their supporters, elected officials, and the broader public to speak out to encourage Congress and the Administration to reinstate the legally awarded grants and protect the integrity of the nation’s cultural funding process.
The public can show their support by visiting The Whaling Museum & Education Center, The Heckscher Museum of Art, and The Long Island Museum on “International Museum Day” on Sunday, May 18. All visitors to the three Museums that day will receive special “IheartMuseums” pins, stickers, and additional information on ways to help.
To learn more about the impact of these cuts or to take action, please visit the websites of the three museums — hecksher.org; cshwhalingmuseum.org, and longislandmuseum.org.
Guests can enjoy a refreshing Dirty Dolphin cocktail or mocktail during the event.
The Whaling Museum, 301 Main St., Cold Spring Harbor, will present its first in-person trivia night event, “Summer Sips Trivia Night,” on Wednesday, August 14, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Designed for adults aged 21 and over, this interactive event offers a delightful blend of entertainment, knowledge, and refreshments.
Photo from Whaling Museum of Cold Spring Harbor
Participants can expect an enjoyable evening with general trivia questions inspired by the beach season. The diverse range of topics covered will include film, music, logos, history, geography, art, and nature, ensuring there is something for everyone. Guests will also learn intriguing trivia tidbits about the museum’s collection, making it a fun and educational activity showcasing the museum’s unique offerings.
Attendees will be treated to delectable appetizers donated by Grasso’s Restaurant, along with a refreshing Dirty Dolphin cocktail or mocktail to enjoy during the competition. The event will feature exciting prizes and bragging rights for the winning team.
“We are thrilled to introduce our first in-person trivia night at the museum,” said Nomi Dayan, Executive Director at The Whaling Museum. “Our trivia nights have always been about more than just whaling; they serve as a platform to engage the community with an array of fascinating topics. We look forward to welcoming everyone for an evening of entertainment and friendly competition.”
This event marks the museum’s transition from virtual trivia nights, which commenced on April 30, 2020, as a creative response to the pandemic. Previous trivia nights have covered diverse themes such as sharks, flowers, movies and TV, and local history related to the Town of Huntington. The summer and beach-themed trivia promises an inclusive experience, eliminating the need for participants to be whaling experts to partake and enjoy the occasion.
“During covid, one way our museum adapted its community programming was by developing and hosting Trivia Nights online. These programs were an unexpected and surprising way for our staff to weave contemporary themes with fascinating tidbits related to the museum. This summer, we are looking forward to bringing our entertaining and educational approach in our in-person evening event,” said Brenna McCormick-Thompson, Curator of Education at The Whaling Museum.
Registration for the event is required in advance and must be done in teams of 2-5 participants. The registration fee is $30 per participant, $25 for members. For more details and to register, please visit cshwhalingmuseum.org/events or click here.
This article originally appeared in TBR News Media’s senior supplement Prime Times on July 18.
The Whaling Museum & Education Center, 301 Main St., Cold Spring Harbor has announced its third season of Beyond the Book club. After two successful seasons of this unique, thematic book club, the museum has gained a consistent member base. Even so, there is still room for more bookish folks enamored with the sea to participate. Participants will enjoy fascinating stories paired with the museum’s collection and a special matching snack.
This unique book club series has the museum education team hand selecting texts that are inspired by the sea and utilizes the museum’s collection of over 6,000 artifacts to bring club members closer to the story. Participants are invited to make connections, personal and historical, through up close interactions with relevant objects and facts from Long Island’s maritime past.
Through this tangible way of interacting with objects, book clubbers are immersed in the theme of the text and find new perspectives to understand the narrative. In addition, the museum education team pairs a special snack with the text for each session, further engaging participants.
Liz Cousins, a participant in this past fall and spring book club sessions, had this to say about Beyond the Book — “Thanks again for putting this book club together! I’m not usually a “book club” type[…] but THIS, I LOVE.” The Whaling Museum’s book club aims to gain a new audience of readers through this unique approach.
The January session will take place on Jan. 25. Book clubbers will gather to discuss The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery followed by an examination of historical documents from the museum’s collection that reveal how 19th century whalers viewed whales and how these views have changed over time.
The February session will take place on Feb. 29 featuring Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Enjoy an intimate look at the museum’s special exhibit From Sea to Shining Sea: Whalers of the African Diaspora and discover the surprising role the whaling industry played in carrying people to freedom.
Lastly, on March 28, book clubbers will gather to discuss Ahab’s Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund. Participants will inspect artifacts and writings left behind by Cold Spring Harbor whaling wives to see how closely Naslund’s fiction imitates fact.
“It has been an absolute joy to watch our book club continue to grow and to be a part of the wonderful community that has formed during these sessions.We can’t wait to share more of our collection and explore new stories with this group in the new year,” said Brenna McCormick-Thompson, Curator of Education.
Each book club meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. and is approximately 1 hour long. Coffee (compliments of Starbucks of Huntington Village), tea and cookies will be served.
Beyond the Book club sessions are free for museum members and patrons of the museum’s partner libraries, Huntington Public Library and South Huntington Public Library. All others may attend for $15 per session. Register at www.cshwhalingmuseum.org/bookclub. For more information, call 631-367-3418.
This article originally appeared in TBR News Media’s Prime Times senior supplement on 01/25/24.
Public officials from the Town of Huntington celebrate new downtown revitalization stimulus funds for local communities. Photo from Stephanie Bontempi’s office. Photo from Leg. Bontempi's office
On October 31, at Heckscher Park, Legislator Stephanie Bontempi (R-Centerport) joined with her colleagues in government to announce the local recipients of the Suffolk County JumpStart and JumpSMART grant programs.Combined, these two programs are focused on stimulating downtown revitalization, economic activity (especially tourism) and the arts.
The organizations and/or projects receiving the funds are: Huntington downtown parking and waterfront improvements ($1.25 million –JumpStart); Greenlawn downtown streetscape improvements ($650,000 JumpStart); 1653 Foundation – Artists Alley in Huntington downtown ($250,000); Heckscher Museum of Art – development of an outdoor café on the terrace of the museum ($100,000); Huntington African American Museum ($500,000); Huntington Arts Council – door and window replacement and ADA upgrades ($157,000); Huntington Cultural Affairs Institute – Chapin Stage ($170,000); Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society – electric hookup for overnight guests and humidity control ($100,000); YMCA of Long Island – Huntington ($500,000); and The Whaling Museum and Education Center – expansion of museum ($300,000).
“This is an exciting time to be in the Town of Huntington,” said Bontempi.“All of these projects will add so much to not only our local economy, but our enjoyment of our community.This will also attract visitors from near and far. Huntington is a special place.”
The Whaling Museum is hosting its first golf outing fundraiser after not having a fundraiser two years in a row.
The Whaling Museum of Cold Spring Harbor has announced that it will have its first golf outing on May 16. Held on the grounds of The Woodside Club, in Syosset, the event will offer a day of excellent golfing, delicious food, and an opportunity to support a unique and important cultural gem of Long Island. After a two-year gap without a fundraiser to sustain the museum’s activities, the museum is delighted to host this full day event.
The Woodside Club’s 18-hole championship course has a diverse layout that will challenge all golfers on over 100 acres with challenging doglegs, tree lined fairways, and very well-manicured greens. The championship tees are at 6,520 yards and will make players use every club in their bag. The course was designed by renowned architect William Mitchell back in the 1960’s.
The day promises to be memorable with a delicious Brunch Buffet, BBQ Lunch, Refreshments on the Golf Course, Cocktail Hour, Dinner Buffet with Premium Open Bar, as well as Raffles, On-Course Contests, and Hole-in-One Prizes.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available online (cshwhalingmuseum.org/golf) or call Gina Van Bell at 631-367-3418 x12 for more details.
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About The Whaling Museum – The Whaling Museum engages the community in exploring the diversity of our whaling heritage and its impacts to enrich and inform our lives. The Whaling Museum & Education Center is located at 301 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724 and specializes in the culture and history of our maritime heritage as illustrated by the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Industry of the 1850s. Spring Hours are Thursday-Sunday from 11-4. Learn more at www.cshwhalingmuseum.org.
Photo courtesy of Library of Congress Prints & Photographs
By Nomi Dayan
Nomi Dayan
Becoming ill is never fun. Becoming ill when away from home is worse. And becoming ill at sea on a whaling ship is the worst of all. “Let a man be sick anywhere else — but on shipboard,” wrote whaler Francis A. Olmstead in 1841 in “Incidents of a Whaling Voyage.”
Whalers who fell ill could find little comfort. Olmstead continued to explain, “When we are sick on shore, we obtain good medical advice, kind attention, quiet rest, and a well ventilated room. The invalid at sea can command but very few of these alleviations to his sufferings.” There were no “sick days” for whalers, who were expected to work during busy times if they could stand.
The incapacitated whaler would lie on his grimy, cramped straw mattress in his misery, listen to the nonstop creaking of the ship, roll from side to side with the swaying of the ship, and breathe the fishy, putrid air. He would eventually be visited by the “doctor,” a.k.a. the captain. The skipper would rely on his weak medical and surgical knowledge as he opened his medicine chest and offered some powdered rhubarb, a little buckthorn syrup, or perhaps mercurial ointment, chamomile flowers or cobalt. The whaler would then either recover or die. If he passed, the captain would casually mention his death in the next letter home, and perhaps pick up a replacement at the next port.
If the whaler was lucky, he might awaken from his burning fever and shivering chills to hear a soothing voice, feel a cool cloth being gently placed on his forehead, and perhaps taste a bit of food offered to him. He would sit up to catch a glimpse of this angel visiting him with her wide skirt and billowing sleeves.
She was none other than the captain’s wife. Women who lived on board whaling ships with their captain-husbands were primarily there to avoid the widow-like years ashore. Although these wives generally lived a profoundly separate life from the rest of the crew at sea, some wives recorded in their journals how they aided sick crew members as nurses. They wrote how they were bothered to see others suffer, and felt satisfied with their own usefulness in a situation where medical resources were bordering nonexistent.
Even if there was not much she could accomplish medically for a sick or hurt whaler, it seems her presence alone could be a comfort to men: Olmstead lamented that the attention an ill man received from other men “have none of that soothing influence which woman’s tender sympathy alone can impart.”
Mary Brewster, who sailed from Connecticut in 1845, observed that “a whaleship is a hard place for comfort for well ones and much more sick men.” She documented in her journal how “the best part of the day I have spent in making doses for the sick and dressing sore hands and feet. 5 sick and I am sent to for all the medicin[e]. I am willing to do what can be done for any one particularly if sick.”
Another wife of a coastal trader, Mary Satterly Rowland of Setauket, reported an unending job tending maladies and injuries: “First came Jack, a dose of salts. Second case Nick with a sore leg knocked off the skin on launching day. Thirdly Gardner taken cold and confined to the forecastle several days. Fourth, Cook Rheumatic pain and in bed sick … Fifth case Lawrence cut his toe.”
Martha Brown of Orient also played nurse at sea to an unfortunate young man, John. “I went into steerage this afternoon to give him some medicine, and asked him how he felt. His answer was ‘Mrs. Brown, I feel bad.’ My heart was touched. It is very hard to see him gradually growing worse and can do nothing for him.” One can imagine Martha’s grief watching him die shortly after. He was buried at sea.
One whaling wife’s experience as a nurse led her to falling in love with her patient. When 29-year-old first officer Will Williams was badly injured, Elizabeth Stetson nursed him all night, and continued to visit him when he was hospitalized. She washed his hair, cleaned his nails, and chatted – and chatted – and chatted, growing emotionally closer to him until she admitted in her diary, “I hope that Charles [husband] does not mind if I do love Willie so much.” Once he recovered, though, and rejoined the ship months later, she continued to get to know him – and his faults – and the spell was broken.
Most wives were happy to feel valuable and help contribute to the voyage’s success. Some took the initiative to go beyond their nursing roles: Calista Stover of Maine persuaded the crew of a sailing ship to swear off tobacco and alcohol while in port (the pledge didn’t stick). Others tried to reform men’s swearing. However, women tried to improve the crew, their support gives understanding to the root of the word “nurse,” which is Latin for “nutrire” – nourish. No wonder Charles. W. Morgan wrote, “There is more decency on board when there is a woman.”
Nomi Dayan is the executive director of The Whaling Museum of Cold Spring Harbor. In honor of National Nurses Week, the museum is offering pay-as-you-wish admission for nurses (with current ID) and their families (up to 6 people) from May 7 to 12, as the museum recognizes the importance of nursing roles which whaling wives often took in the whaling industry.
As part of the Museum Movies in Huntington series, the Huntington Historical Society will present a special screening of ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1974) starring Robert Redford, Mia Farrow and Sam Waterston at the Whaling Museum, 301 Main St., in Cold Spring Harbor on Wednesday, July 11 at 7 p.m. $5 per person. Reservations are required (no walk-ins) by calling 631-427-7045.
Whaling was a risky business, physically and financially. Life at sea was hazardous. Fortunes were made or lost. Whale hunts were perilous, as was the processing of the whale. Injuries were rampant and death was common, sometimes on nearly every voyage. In some instances, the deceased was none other than the captain.
Captain Sluman Lothrop Gray met his untimely end on a whaleship. Born in 1813, very little is known of his past, his family or his early experiences at sea. In 1838, he married Sarah A. Frisbie of Pennsylvania in the rural town of Columbia, Connecticut. His whaling and navigational skills must have been precocious, because in 1842, in his late 20s, Gray became a whaling captain — and a highly successful one.
His wife Sarah joined him in his achievements, living with him at sea for 20 years. Three of their eight children were born during global whaling voyages. Gray commanded a string of vessels: the Jefferson and Hannibal of New London, Connecticut, to the Indian and North Pacific oceans; the Mercury and Newburyport of Stonington, Connecticut, to the South Atlantic, Chile, and Northwest Pacific oceans; and the Montreal of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the North Pacific Ocean.
While financially successful, Gray’s crew felt his harsh personality left much to be desired. Some of his blasphemies were recorded by a cabin boy on the Hannibal in 1843. Gray did not hesitate to flog crew members for minor mistakes. Unsurprisingly, when Sarah once reported her husband had taken ill, the crew rejoiced. To their chagrin, he recovered.
As Gray aged, he attempted to retire from maritime living and shift into the life of a country gentleman. He bought 10 acres of land in Lebanon, Connecticut, and lived there for seven years, where his house still stands.
This bucolic life did not last, and Gray returned to whaling. With his wife and three children — 16-year-old Katie, 10-year-old Sluman Jr. and 2-year-old Nellie, he sailed out of New Bedford on June 1, 1864, on the James Maury. Built in Boston in 1825 and sold to New Bedford owners in 1845, the James Maury was a hefty ship at 394 tons. Gray steered the course toward hunting grounds in the South Pacific.
Unexpectedly, after nine months at sea in March 1865, he suddenly became ill. The closest land was Guam, 400 miles away. Sarah described his sickness as an “inflammation of the bowels.” After two days, Gray was dead. The first mate reported in the ship’s logbook: “Light winds and pleasant weather. At 2 p.m. our Captain expired after an illness of two days.”He was 51 years old.
Sarah had endured death five times before this, having to bury five of her children who sadly died in infancy. She could not bear to bury her husband at sea. Considering how typical grand-scale mourning was in Victorian times, a burial at sea was anything but romantic. It was not unheard of for a whaling wife to attempt to preserve her husband’s body for a home burial. But how would Sarah embalm the body?
Two things aboard the whaleship helped: a barrel and alcohol. Sarah asked the ship’s cooper, or barrel maker, to fashion a cask for the captain. He did so, and Gray was placed inside. The cask wasfilled with “spirits,” likely rum. The log for that day records: “Light winds from the Eastward and pleasant weather; made a cask and put the Capt. in with spirits.”
The voyage continued on to the Bering Sea in the Arctic; death and a marinating body did not stop the intentions of the crew from missing out on the summer hunting season.
However, there was another unexpected surprise that June: the ship was attacked by the feared and ruthless Confederate raider Shenandoah, who prowled the ocean burning Union vessels, especially whalers (with crews taken as prisoners). The captain, James Waddell, had not heard — or refused to believe —that the South had already surrendered.
When the first mate of the Shenandoah, Lt. Chew, came aboard the James Maury, he found Sarah panic stricken. The James Maury was spared because of the presence of her and her children — and presumably the presence of her barreled husband. Waddell assured her that the “men of the South did not make war on women and children.” Instead, he considered them prisoners and ransomed the ship. Before the ship was sent to Honolulu, he dumped 222 other Union prisoners on board. One can imagine how cramped this voyage was since whaleships were known for anything but free space.
A year after the captain’s death, the remaining Gray family made it home in March 1866. The preserved captain himself was shipped home from New Bedford for $11.
Captain Gray was finally buried in Liberty Hill Cemetery in Connecticut. His resting place has a tall marker with an anchor and two inscriptions: “My Husband” and “Captain S. L. Gray died on board ship James Maury near the island of Guam, March 24, 1865.” Sarah died 20 years later and was buried next to her husband.
It is unknown if Gray was buried “as is” or in a casket. There are no records of Sarah purchasing a coffin. Legend has it that he was buried barrel and all.
Nomi Dayan is the executive director at The Whaling Museum & Education Center of Cold Spring Harbor.
Above, Simon shows the audience a photo of the crew right after being rescued. Photo by Heidi Sutton
Danger on the high seas: Reliving ‘the perfect storm’
A painting by George Schoenberg depicts the rescue on Oct. 29.
By Heidi Sutton
The Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor hosted a presentation of “The Accidental Sailor” with guest speaker and storyteller Nelson Simon last Thursday evening. In front of a captivated audience, Simon recounted how he and his crew members were caught in “the perfect storm” off the coast of North Carolina and how they all miraculously survived. With a slide show and readings from his journal, Simon gave a dramatic day-by-day account up until that fateful hour when the ship starting taking on water and had to be abandoned.
Simon opened the lecture by reading the names of his crewmates: Joey Gelband, Laingdon Schmitt, Jen Irving, Peter Abelman, Damian Sailors, Marty Hanks, Barbara Treyz and John Nuciforo.
“A ship in a storm is like a tiny quadrant of order in a huge universe of chaos and it only works if everyone does their job, and these people did,” said Simon solemnly.
The Anne Kristine
In late Oct. 1991, the Brooklyn resident found himself aboard the Anne Kristine, a 150-year-old Norwegian schooner bound for Bermuda from Mills Basin, Brooklyn. The 95-foot ship, which had been lovingly rebuilt by explorer Norman Baker in 1986, was to be transported to Bermuda and then continue on to Puerto Rico to take part in a scientific expedition to study whale behavior.
Simon had second thoughts from the very beginning, a sort of sixth sense about the whole thing, but signed up nevertheless as the last, and least experienced, ninth crew member. Why did he do it? “Maybe being an immigrant, we are taught to fit in, go along, to accommodate people. I didn’t want to be a bother,” explained Simon, who was born in La Paz, Bolivia. Though he had recently sailed on the Clearwater Sloop for a week down the Hudson River holding educational tours, he couldn’t help but wonder what he had gotten himself into.
What was supposed to be a pleasure cruise, turned out to be a near death and life-changing experience for Simon as the ship found itself caught between a nor’easter and Hurricane Grace, battered relentlessly by enormous waves for days until the captain sent out a Mayday.
Unlike the fishing boat Andrea Gail and its six-member crew who were lost in the storm never to be seen again, the crew of the Anne Kristine were all rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Oct. 29. Simon described how each crew member had to jump into the raging sea one at a time with a life jacket and flashlight and wait to be plucked out by a helicopter rescue crew.
Last seen turning sideways in the waves, the ship was lost at sea.
From left, friends Paul Maggio and Jonny Rosenblatt, storyteller Nelson Simon and Joan Lowenthal, Elizabeth Fusco and Amanda Vengroff of The Whaling Museum. Photo by Heidi Sutton
“Anne Kristine did everything that we asked of her,” stressed Simon. “She held up under the most challenging circumstances. She was completely seaworthy. There was some talk afterward that she had let us down but nothing could be further from the truth.” Instead, Simon blamed human error, citing several key mistakes including “heading east instead of west” and not priming the pumps properly.
For the crew, telling Norman Baker that his beloved ship had sunk was hard. “Anne Kristine wasn’t just a ship, she was a community,” said Simon. Baker held a memorial for the ship shortly after at his home in Massachusetts — 150 people showed up, including the nine-member crew that sailed on her last.
Even after 26 years, Simon still gets emotional speaking about the event. “In preparing this [lecture] I remembered how afraid I was,” said Simon. He described the scene right before he was rescued — “a young man standing on the ship’s deck, looking up at the [midnight sun], wondering how he got here and waiting for his chance to get away.”
