Trips -N - Ships

Well, November is here and so it’s time for things to get into winter mode. The Essex Shipbuilding Museum will now be open on weekends for the public - but groups can still be scheduled during the week. We’ve even been toying with the idea of closing down during the coldest months to 1) save money and 2) allow us to do some organizing and re-arranging. Besides, January is not the best time to be walking around a boatyard. In the meantime we are still getting some glorious fall days down on the Essex marsh and the foliage, although past peak, is still aglow in crisp autumn color.

For me, Fall begins with the first dish of risotto - a Northern Italian classic that I fell in love with during a dinner in Venice on cold October evening. Danielle and I still vividly remember just how intense the mushroom flavor of the rice was. And so each fall I do my best to replicate that risotto al funghi to varying degrees of success. This week I think I made my all-time best with some excellent dried porcini and fresh crimini and shitake. The whole house smelled of mushrooms that night.

Of course, with each winter night that goes by, our big trip to Holland gets closer. With that comes the realization that I need to buy a whole new winter wardrobe if I plan to walk the frozen canals in comfort…

THE ESSEX SHIPBUILDING MUSEUM

Presents

Harold Burnham, Essex’s own resident shipwright will talk about his role in the project as owner’s representative at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard. He will talk about his work on the Ernestina, which includes rebuilding the vessel from the break in the deck to the bow. Harold will also highlight his experiences working on Ernestina and how his work on other Essex vessels, including Adventure and the Evelina M. Goulart, have helped on this project.

Earlier this month the Essex Shipbuilding Museum held its 2nd annual Steam Muster. I was not with the museum for the first one, so I was pretty excited to be involved with this one. Not knowing much about steam power, I learned a lot talking with the vendors - the “steam heads” and how pervasive this technology was. The wooden boat fans out there may be wondering what Essex has to do with steam power, considering the town is known mostly for sailing vessels. Well Essex produced quite a few steam powered vessels, including a couple paddle-wheelers, passenger ferries, beam trawlers and of course - the Vidette, a collier of 191 feet - an Essex record.

The vendors had all sorts of displays - from steam engine toy kits, to large engines once used in lighthouses, we even had a couple of steam launches that took visitors for quick jaunts along the Essex River.

However I have to say the most popular exhibit for young and old alike had to be the old coal truck. Dating from about 1910 this coal truck was once used in Gloucester to deliver coal to power steam engines. It is entirely original, including the two-cycle gasoline engine and solid rubber tires. Although not steam powered, it is from the age of steam and in many ways was a harbinger of the technology to come.

The Steam Muster was so popular that I expect each year to get bigger and better with even more vendors. I am hoping that next year we will have two attractions that did not make it to this year’s: The Stanley Steamer and an antique steam roller. For those interested in participating as a vendor in next year’s Steam Muster should contact Mr. Ed Howard of Howard’s Flying Dragon Antiques in Essex, MA (978) 768-7282.

At the end of January, my wife and I are heading to Amsterdam for two weeks. Now I’m sure some of you are saying “what are you nuts?” I know Holland isn’t exactly a winter time destination but there are two reasons why we are going. One is that off-season travel is cheaper, you meet more locals, and it is much easier to find a room. The other reason is that my wife is going to fulfill her 12 year old dream and meet the New Kids On The Block - rest assured I will be doing something else during that.

Those who know me will find Amsterdam as not a big surprise - this will be my 5th time visiting. But it’s not all about the Coffeeshops - although I’d be lying if that wasn’t part of the equation. I’ve always had a thing for the Netherlands - windmills, canals, rich maritime history and a little thing they call “Gezellig”. As a 12 year old I was interviewed by Radio Netherlands so I already liked the place before I ever heard the word “Coffeeshop”. Up until recently Danielle and I thought about moving there someday. However Dutch society is changing to a more hard-line stance on many issues and so we may just have to be content with visiting once in a while.

With the worldwide economy crashing around us, we figured this may be the last visit to A-Dam for some time. And we couldn’t have picked a better time, since my all-time favorite Coffeeshop, Homegrown Fantasy will be closing this March. So in a way this trip is a final pilgrimage to the place that introduced me to Dutch cannabis.

The last time I was in Amsterdam in winter it looked like this:

The canals were frozen and kids were playing hockey and the town was full of locals instead of stoner tourists or soccer hooligans. And now that I’m in my thirties I do want to experience more of the city and surrounding area. I plan on finally trying an Indonesian Rijsttafel, exploring a few more Brown Bars, and seeing the Van Gogh museum. Sadly the impressive Maritime museum is closed for renovations. But I do plan on visiting their replica ship called Amsterdam.

In my future posts I will keep you all updated on our planning progress. We’ve already got our air and we are renting an apartment in the Jordaan. Now it’s time to gather lists of things to do, plan daytrips and find some new Coffeeshops and restaurants.

First off I grew up on boats - work boats, fishing boats from Gloucester. Both sides of my family were fishermen, with the Scola side owning an old Essex-built dragger named ST. PETER. By the time I was 12, the schooner Adventure had arrived in Gloucester and even though she was from another time, I could easily see the similarities between this grand old lady and my family’s old boat (which was sold in 1986, just shy of 60 years fishing). Less than a year separated the launching of these vessels, yet their methods of fishing were world’s apart.

Later I would become aquainted with the American Eagle and got to sail on her in several races - She was the last schooner built at Gloucester, back in 1930. Amazing that this beautiful vessel was the first dragger my father fished on. She was once owned by my great-uncle Joe Piscatello and his brothers before being restored by Capt. John Foss of Maine.

Fast forward to adulthood and to be honest, I thought I was done with boats and all things maritime. Years of chronic GI problems and then surgery to a degenerative hip has pretty much made anything on the water pretty uncomfortable. Besides my mind was elsewhere…That is until a trip to Virginia’s Historic Triangle got me back thinking about wooden ships, and helped me realize that all that knowledge was still there.

A mid-morning of great conversations with costumed interpreters made me realize why am I re-inventing the wheel? Why don’t I just use what I already know? I also had a bit of luck that the Essex Shipbuilding Museum was looking for help when I got back. I hit the ground running including diving head first into a virtual treasure trove of images and artifacts in the museum archives.

It’s funny what life throws at you - for years I did not think about this stuff and now, I look forward to everyday that I can tell the tales of the shipbuilders of Essex and especially, the harrowing events of the Gloucester fishermen. And so I have to think that maybe my health issues served a purpose - to get me back to what I should have been doing all along…

Hey there, I’m Justin and this is going to be a blog about travel, and maritime history - two great passions of mine, among many.  Some of you may know me as a writer for Life in Italy, a website dedicated to Italian life and culture. Others may know me for my work at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum - here at Trips-N-Ships these two worlds will meld somehow. As the Blog grows it will have plenty of great images from my travels, as well as images of the vessels I’ve come to know through researching history or my own experience. 

I may also include some stories that I’ve been told during my travels or some of the great old stories from Cape Ann. As a researcher for the shipbuilding museum, I am constantly amazed at the stories that I read both about not only the ships but of the shipbuilders down in Essex. I like to experience all I can and I’ve been lucky to be involved in the major traditional industries of Cape Ann: I grew up in a fishing family and a few years back I got to work with a buddy of mine cutting granite in his quarry.

The current main image is Eastern Point Light in my hometown of Gloucester, Massachusetts. But that image will change as I dig through my image archive. I have some great shots of schooners under sail from the Gloucester Schooner Festival. I also have plenty left over from my trips - like this one Below:

That’s me at the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia on one of their re-created vessels. I have plenty more that will be posted in the following weeks. Also on the travel front I am planning a trip to the Netherlands so I will probably have all sorts of posts about my preparations. So check back often and see where I take you!