38Talk:
A Forum for Discussions among Voyagers and Others related to the 38th Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan
Re: FW: Morgan Letter
From: UNK
Date: 2014 Jul 5, 15:39 -0600
From: UNK
Date: 2014 Jul 5, 15:39 -0600
Thank you, John. Peter's piece was finally published in the Standard Times just the other day. Matthew Bullard On Sat, Jul 5, 2014 at 2:49 PM, John Bryantwrote: > I enjoyed Peter's and Matthew's pieces. > > > > John Bryant, Professor of English > Founding Editor, Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies > Consulting Editor, The Melville Society, http://melvillesociety.org/ > Director, Melville Electronic Library > Director, Hofstra Digital Research Center > Mason 204, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549; Tel: 516.463.5470 > ________________________________ > From: 38Talk@fer3.com <38Talk@fer3.com> on behalf of Veronica Lawlor > > Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 10:16 AM > To: John L. Bryant > > Subject: [38Talk] Re: FW: Morgan Letter > > It definitely was! > > > On Sat, Jun 28, 2014 at 2:21 PM, Peter Whittemore > wrote: >> >> Thanks Veronica, hope the inspiration was colorful. Peter G W >> >> ________________________________ >> From: NoReply_Lawlor@fer3.com >> To: peterwhittemore---.com >> Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:31:15 -0700 >> >> Subject: [38Talk] Re: FW: Morgan Letter >> >> Hello Peter, >> Your letter is beautiful, thank you for sharing it. I am here at New >> Bedford today with some of the artists from Dalvero Academy, and I read your >> letter to them this morning as inspiration before our day of drawing the >> ship. >> Best, >> Veronica >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Jun 27, 2014, at 7:01 PM, "Peter Whittemore" >> wrote: >> >> This is the letter I sent last night for the New Bedford Standard-Times >> "letters to the editor" column, or maybe even a guest editorial column (with >> pictures of the boat?) Steve Urbon passed it on to the top editor today so >> I hope it shows up in the weekend edition, for all of our benefit. Peter >> Whittemore >> >> ________________________________ >> From: peterwhittemore---.com >> To: peterwhittemore---.com; surbon{at}s-t.com >> Subject: FW: Morgan >> Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 23:25:53 -0400 >> >> >> >> ________________________________ >> From: peterwhittemore---.com >> To: peterwhittemore---.com >> Subject: Morgan >> Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 15:09:11 -0400 >> >> A top-gallant salute to the Port of New Bedford, Mayor Mitchell, to >> the Captain, crew, craftsmen and staff of Mystic Seaport, and to anyone who >> has ever dreamt of the one of a kind voyage we have just been privileged to >> experience sailing on the Charles W. Morgan whaleship from Vineyard Haven >> back home to New Bedford Harbor. >> >> I am the great-great-grandson of Herman Melville, author of "Moby >> Dick". He left this port, which in the 1840's was the richest city in the >> world, on the whaleship Acushnet like many a young man, going out to find >> work in the energy sector, as they do today in the shale oil fields of the >> Dakotas. It has been the thrill of a lifetime to be among the crew sailing >> into this port, blood coursing in our veins like the singing of the rigging, >> with the joy of the creation filling our souls like the wind in the sails. >> We did not catch sight of the great White Whale, but believe me, he's still >> out there. >> >> Melville sailed in 1841, just four months before the Chas W Morgan >> was launched. One might say the Acushnet of New Bedford launched the novel >> Moby Dick and the Morgan has given me an opportunity to return the story to >> its source on a "sister" ship. I left New Bedford Tuesday evening on the >> SeaStreak, going to Martha's Vineyard at twenty-six knots and returned the >> next day, some 173 years earlier, so to speak, at an exhilarating six knots >> under eight square sails. There were many descendants of former captains, >> crew and owners aboard and we all agreed the ancestors were smiling down on >> us all the way into port >> >> You might think this a great opportunity for one of the family to >> plug the book Moby Dick as if we ever made a dime on your copy purchase. >> The book sold 800 copies in Melville's lifetime, and was so panned by the >> critics of the day that the copyright ran out never to be renewed. >> So please all of you from high school kids to ancient mariners who read >> Melville's epic, and who should be grateful for such open-source adventure >> and wisdom, read it twice at least and read it in your later years when the >> depth of the ocean and the depth of your soul is so much richer. And if >> you've gained value from the journey, please send that dime and then some to >> the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and to the Berkshire Historical Society's >> home at Arrowhead, in Pittsfield Mass where Moby Dick was written, and to >> the great people of Mystic Seaport whose hard work, with blisters and >> splinters to show for it, brought this great day to the Seven Seas. Please >> support these efforts to keep the literature and the sea alive. >> >> Oh Lord this madness and thy mysteries are so great and my brain is >> so small. Give me the words of my ancestors that I might make us all see >> that Melville's novel "Moby Dick" walks these docks as we speak, day and >> night, walks the cobblestone streets of New Bedford and Nantucket and walks >> the halls of Wall Street and the corridors of Congress, calling us like >> Elijah the Prophet and Ishmael the Beholder, and Father Mapple in his sermon >> on Jonah, calling us to speak the truth to falsity. We need not speak the >> truth to power because truth is the ultimate power, but we must speak the >> truth to falsity as we see the oceans fill with plastic and pollution, as we >> see whale fishing continue beyond any reason, and as we witness industrial >> enterprise crushing the American soul once so joyous in its freedoms. Moby >> Dick still plies these waters calling us to wake up and smell the seaweed, >> breathe in the beauty and to step up and act to sustain our Earth. >> >> Thank you Mystic Seaport, crew of the Charles W. Morgan and to those >> who love the sea and the life it has given us all. Thanks for showing us >> that we can rebuild and rededicate ourselves to a revival of the American >> spirit in view of a sustainable future for the seas that continue to feed >> the world. >> >> Peter Gansevoort Whittemore >> Cohasset MA >> 1-781-383-6568 >> >> View and reply to this message >> >> View and reply to this message >> >> View and reply to this message > > > > > -- > Veronica Lawlor > Studio 1482 > 917-449-9425 > veronica{at}studio1482.com > www.studio1482.com/#veronica > www.veronicalawlor.com > > View and reply to this message > > View and reply to this message