Mystic Seaport

Marina at Old Saybrook

Up and off early this morning while it was still cool.  We decided to go visit Mystic Seaport since we hard from a few people that it was an interesting place for sight seeing.  On the way there we stopped at Old Saybrook for a look see.  It was a nice drive around a waterfront community.  We stopped at a marina for a while and watched the boats and watched a few men fishing before we headed off to Mystic.

The $24 each price tag to visit Mystic Seaport almost deterred us but we decided since we drove an hour to get there we should finish our mission.  So we got out the credit card and went inside.  I'm glad we did.  The weather was beautiful..sunshine and 80.

Charles W. Morgan, wood whale ship

One of the first things we saw was the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan.  Built in 1841 she has outlived all of her kind and is currently undergoing restoration.  She is the only wood whale ship in the world.

Large boiler where blubber was cooked to make oil

We were able to go up inside and see what was going on in there.  The guide explained how this ship would locate the whales and then launch several smaller whale boats to go kill the whale and bring it along side.  Then the men would cut off the blubber and hoist it aboard the big ship where it was further processed for whale oil.

Preparing to recreate the masthead

I took 50 pictures there, it's difficult not to put them all in the blog.

After leaving the Mystic Seaport we stopped a few miles down the road to tour the first nuclear powered submarine and museum.  This was FREE (yay!).  Launched in 1955 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.  She has been to the North Pole and logged over 300,000 miles.  The museum on shore gives an excellent display of the history of submarines from the very first one ever until now.

Historic Ship Nautilus (SSN 571)
The first nuclear powered submarine

Inside the Nautilus

Inside the Nautilus