So much fun on Saturday, from setting up in the AM for Christina Corcoran's Woolie Workshop , above, top right, to Gary Baillargeon's elegant evening cabaret, above & below.    
 
If you haven't been to a musical event in the Custom House, the gallery is quirky but  wonderfully resonate -- a perfect setting for our sold-out evening with Gary Baillargeon. We thank Gary for a most memorable night!

Earlier on Saturday, working in the museum's Frank L. McGuire Library, participants at Christina Corcoran's Woolies Workshop had a productive first session. Christina came armed with samples, templates and a boat-load of supplies. Students also had to the opportunity to examine the Victorian Woolworks exhibition, which has been reinstalled just outside the library door.
We'll let you know how everyone's pieces work out next week . 
  
April through December, the Custom House Maritime Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 1 to 5 PM, or by appointment 860-447-2501. 
What's Up at the Custom House  - May 6, 2018
New London Maritime Society - telling the stories of New London's waterfront & preserving four historic maritime sites.
Thursday, May 10

A Chance to Meet
May 10, (the 2nd Thursday of each month), from 5-7 PM

Trustee Andrew Blacker and his brother
Kevin are opening up the Custom House doors with a series of free social gatherings on the 2nd Thursday of each month. They're looking to be part of the NL waterfront's transformation and have plenty of ideas for how to get started.
Stop in between 5 & 7 PM and join the discussion. Carson's, of Noank, is providing the nibbles. FREE.

And while you're downtown, our neighbor at Studio 33, will be open Thursday night, too! 
Saturday, May 12       

Dowsing Downtown,
with Roger Ryley
it's next Saturday, May 12, at 1 PM 

Roger Ryley will present a brief history of dowsing at the Custom House followed by a hands-on demonstration during an archeological walking tour of lower Bank Street as it was circa 1600-1650.   
$10.00, $5 for NLMS members and youth ages 7 to 16. At the Custom House Maritime Museum. To register call 860-447-2501 or sign up online at brownpapertickets.com/event/3371944   Left, a dowser, from an 18th-century French book about superstitions.
 
Roger Ryley, right center, is a native of Mystic, a retired history teacher, and a 40-year student of dowsing, which has taken him to Civil War battlefields and Stone Age sites in the U.K. and China. Today he continues to pursue his passion ranging all over southeastern Connecticut, convinced that dowsing is a perfect fitness activity for seniors and others, by exercising body and imagination.   
 
Tuesday, May 15

JIBBOOM CLUB 
Pilotage in America
with Capt. Joseph Maco
Tuesday, May 15, doors open at 1 PM, the talk is at 2.  

May's JIBBOOM CLUB speaker is Merchant Mariner Captain Joe Maco.

Captain Joseph Maco, right, MNI, a graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy Class of '66', will discuss Pilotage in America -- his last 40 years working as a ship pilot in Long Island Sound, including New London Harbor, and as the pilot of the cruise ship EXPLORER OF THE SEAS in 2007. 
now on view

Victorian Woolies: Sailors' Stitchery and Other Pastimes
The Charles B. Moss Sr. & Paula Moss Collection 
   
   
'Victorian Woolies: Sailors Stitchery and Other Pastimes' celebrates a recent acquisition of 22 'woolies', or Victorian sailor embroideries -- a recent gift from Charles B. Moss, Jr. To learn more read Mary Biekert's article in The Day, or the article in the Times. 
 
May 22, 2018, marks the 85th anniversary of National Maritime Day , a holiday created to recognize the importance of US maritime industry and, more specifically, the contributions of the US Merchant Marine.  

We 're celebrating in four different ways at New London Maritime Society: with an online exhibition; a current, first-hand account of Pilotage in America by Captain Joseph Maco on May 15;  a history of the events that inspired the May 22 date with historian/author John Laurence Busch on May 20; and a National Maritime Day ceremony at Fort Trumbull on May 22.

1.) Learn about the U.S. Maritime Service Officers School at Fort Trumbull,
New London, Connecticut, 1939-1946  --  with our online exhibition. 
  

Tuesday, May 15 
2.) May's JIBBOOM CLUB speaker is Merchant Mariner Captain Joe Maco.   
Tuesday, May 15, doors open at 1 PM, the talk is at 2. 
Captain Joseph Maco, right, MNI, a graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy Class of '66', will discuss Pilotage in America -- his last 40 years working as a ship pilot in Long Island Sound, including New London Harbor, and as the pilot of the cruise ship EXPLORER OF THE SEAS in 2007. 


Sunday, May 20 
3.)  Special Presentation: New London's Moses Rogers Builds the First 'Steamship' in History, with John Laurence Busch
Sunday, May 20, 4 PM.
Historian and author John Laurence Busch will explain why the proposition of making the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on a 'steamship' was met with a mixture of skepticism and fear.  He then will show how Captain Moses Rogers addressed those concerns  by designing and building -- 200 years ago -- the first example of globalized high technology in history.  The presentation is based upon Busch's book, STEAM COFFIN: Captain Moses Rogers and The Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier. $12, $10 NLMS members, $5 youth ages 10 to 18. Register at brownpapertickets.com/event/3390828 or call 860-447-2501.

T uesday, May 22      
4.) Commemoration: Celebrate the actual 85th anniversary of National Maritime Day on Tuesday, May 22, 12 noon, in a ceremony at Fort Trumbull Park.  FREE and open to the public. 
 
At the Maritime Museum, discover the enormous effect that the maritime world has on our daily lives.  
Without  your support none of what we do at the Custom House would be possible . We receive grants to fund programs, but we need your help for our day-to-day expenses -- especially now. Every donation helps!


Please give Susan a call: 860-447-2501, or 203-444-2884 (cell) or you may email  [email protected]
June 14 & 28
Untold Tides: the Surprising Influence of the Tides in Human Affairs, with Mark Borton

Tides are caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and the sun, and affect everything on earth, not just the oceans.

NLMS member
Mark Borton has been researching the influence of the tides for a decade and will present two illustrated talks on the causes and consequences of the tides.

The first talk, on June 14, will focus on the 2,500 year effort to solve the riddle of the tides, which involved many of history's greatest thinkers, including Aristotle, Socrates, Copernicus, Keppler, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Darwin and Einstein.

The second talk, on June 28, will reveal some of the hidden influences of the tides on love, war, money, and more.

Two Thursday early evenings -- 6-7 PM. Talk, wine & cheese, then we suggest you go have dinner in downtown New London! Tickets for youth ages 8-18 $8, NLMS members $10, $12.
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  Yes, we're on the New London FOOD STROLL -- this Wednesday, May 9, 5:30 -- 8:30 PM.  We'll proudly be serving up Captain Scott's clam chowda'! It's the only Food Stroll scheduled this year, and it celebrates the 20th anniversary of New London Main Street.
 
   Spied from a passing car on Saturday, on State outside of Sarge's. It must be Comic Book Saturday. 

Facebook New London Maritime Society to learn about issues related to our mission of preservation & conservation . We also post community news and conservation / preservation articles.  
 


Congratulations to NLMS board president Ed Cubanski on his new job as American Red Cross Regional Chief Operating Officer - Eastern NY Region (Albany). 
 
 
Custom House Maritime Museum   is on Facebook. 'Like' us to keep up with our events, & school visits, a well as with news of interest about museums.   
 





The Custom House MUSEUM SHOP   offers all kinds of unique gifts. Everybody is welcome in the shop, you don't need a  museum ticket to come in. MUSEUM SHOP gifts have an extra feel good factor: when you shop with us, all your purchases go towards suppo rting the museum, exhibitions, & educational programs.  New this week in the SHOP, The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World's Coral Seas - a book for young people, right.
We thank New London County Historical Society -- Steve Manuel and Frederick Shakir, below left -- for donating and delivering this terrific display unit Wednesday morning. 
We  now use it to display prints, & note cards, and our children's books!
Here's the rack in the SHOP, above right,  filled! 

Facebook New London Harbor Light   reports the latest on NL Harbor 'Pequot' Light and about American lighthouse preservation.   

We continue our work to re-establish public access  
to New London Harbor Light, a beloved local historic landmark.

 
Faceboo k  New London Ledge Light  reports the latest on the lighthouse in the center of our harbor.

If you're interested in visiting inside
Ledge Lighthouse this summer, just shoot  an email to us at We'll have the details worked out  & will start scheduling trips within a couple of weeks! 

We took a road trip to Maine last Sunday to see NLMS trustee Nick Korstad, right, center,
receive the Lighthouse Keeper of the Year award from the American Lighthouse Federation. Cheers! 

 
At the lighthouse award event, Nick returned a lighthouse lens he'd discovered to the friends group at
Pomham Rocks Light, which is located off of Newport. He's just that kind of guy!

F acebook Race Rock Lighthouse posts news concerning Race Rock Light and international lighthouse tourism and preservation efforts. 

Facebook Lighthouse Inn, New London, Connecticut to keep up with the Inn's restoration.  It's Spring at the inn, left.

Facebook  Lighthouses of Long Island Sound Gateway   to learn news of other area  lighthouses. 

Find your lighthouse is a facebook page for world-wide lighthouse events & news.

Facebook Sentinels on the Sound posts events and dates to watch.
Repainted last weekend as a May Day volunteer project of Local 1122, the upstairs hall gallery is coming back together, above left, and the woolies have been rehung.
Our first course at Saturday night's cabaret with Gary Baillargeon consisted of cheese, olives, almonds, fruit, and crackers, above right, --a delicious platter from Thames River Greenery.
 
Below, Docent Bill LaRoue met with a class from Connecticut College. Several of the students had visited in Sierra Leone. All of them wanted to hear the Amistad story.   
 
~ Have a Sparkling Day ~
 
 
Your membership matters! Join NLMS today.
New London Maritime Society thanks our Friends & Sponsors
 
  Robinson + Cole                                   Docko                  Cross Sound Ferry
   
John Steffian, Jr.
& the
Chester Kitchings Family Foundation
 
New London Maritime Society | 150 Bank Street, New London, CT 06320 | 860-447-2501
nl maritimesociety.org