New Bedford, MA— A weeklong
whaleboat regatta to be held August 11-17, 2004 will highlight
cultural ties between New Bedford, Massachusetts and the
Azores, Portugal. Hosted by the Azorean Maritime Heritage
Society in collaboration with the New Bedford Whaling Museum,
the City of New Bedford, New Bedford Whaling National Historical
Park, Governo Regional dos Acores Comunidades, Camara da
Horta and the Low Tide Yacht Club, the regatta will bring
together whaleboat crews from the islands of Faial and Pico
in the Azores with their counterparts in New Bedford. The
schedule of events includes three opportunities for the
public to learn more about Azorean-Portuguese history and
culture and to watch teams from New Bedford and the Azores
compete in whaleboat races off of the East and West beaches
in the south end of New Bedford.
On Thursday, August 12, as part of AHA!, New Bedford’s
monthly AHA! (Art-History-Architecture) arts and culture
night, the community is invited to meet the crews and listen
to Portuguese music by Groupo de Musica Popular “Ilhas
de Bruma” Associacao Cultural Luzitana on the New
Bedford Whaling Museum plaza.
On Friday, August 13 at 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, August
14 at 10:00 a.m., two whaleboat crews, one from Faial and
one from Pico, will join their American counterparts, on
a team made up of members from the Azorean Maritime Heritage
Society, in timed sailing races in Clark’s Cove in
New Bedford’s south end. The best viewing will be
from West Beach. The three teams will rotate through the
races in three Azorean whaleboats, two built here and one
built on Faial. Unlike traditional New Bedford whaleboats,
which were lowered from whaleships to pursue whales, Azorean
whaleboats were longer in profile and were launched from
beaches or boathouses. The last whaleship sailed out of
New Bedford harbor in the 1920s and whaling ended in the
Azores in the 1980s.
Equipped with sails, the Azorean whaleboats, with their
razor-sharp silhouettes, are considered by many to be the
most beautiful open boats in the world.
On Sunday, August 15, members of the Whaling City Rowing
Club will join the rotation for an afternoon of international
camaraderie and competition, with teams switching between
Azorean whaleboats and traditional New Bedford-style whaleboats.
Sunday’s races will be an all-rowing event and will
begin at 9:00 a.m. off of East Beach in the south end of
New Bedford. Best viewing will be from the jetty area at
the far south end of the beach. At 4:00 p.m., after the
final race, there will be a ticketed awards ceremony and
reception, including hors d’ouvres and music, celebrating
the regatta participants and winners at the New Bedford
Whaling Museum. In addition to the awards ceremony, Dr.
Manuel Francisco Costa, Jr., Director Do Museu Baleeiro,
the museum of the whalemen in Lajes do Pico in the Azores,
will present a program on whaling in the Azores in the 1960s
and 1970s. Tickets for the event are $25.00. For tickets
to the awards ceremony and reception, call John Pinheiro
at (508) 997-3941 or Arthur Moniz at the Arthur Moniz Gallery
at (508) 997-8644.
The Azores is a nine-island Atlantic archipelago, approximately
900 miles off the coast of Portugal and 2,000 miles from
the U.S. Discovered in the 15th century, the Azores played
an important role in oceanic navigation, serving as a port
of call for ships engaged in trade between Europe, America
and India, and a place to lay anchor for the galleons bringing
the wealth of the Americas back to the old world. In the
19th century, the Azores was a key port for the American
whaling industry. Today, these lush green islands known
as “the gem of the Atlantic” are an autonomous
region of Portugal with its own parliament and government.
The City of New Bedford is a vibrant commercial fishing
port located on the south coast of Massachusetts with a
population of nearly 100,000. The south coast region has
a rich cultural mix of people who were drawn to the area
first by the whaling industry, later by textile and manufacturing
industries, and finally, by the fishing industry. As early
as the 1840s, whalemen from the Azores served on New Bedford
whaling ships. Today, over 64% of the population of the
south coast region of Massachusetts is of Portuguese heritage.
The Azorean Maritime Heritage Society was established in
1997 to “promulgate and preserve the values and traditions
of Azorean culture, particularly that of Azorean maritime
history.” The flagship project of this all-volunteer
community organization was the construction of two 39-foot
Azorean whaleboats at New Bedford Whaling National Historical
Park on the grounds of the New Bedford Whaling Museum in
1998.
The New Bedford Whaling Museum holds the world's most comprehensive
whaling collections. Highlights include a half-scale replica
of the whaling bark Lagoda, a full-scale re-creation of
a whale ship foc’s’le, a 66-foot blue whale
skeleton, and the soon to be created Azorean Whalemen’s
Gallery, which will highlight the cultural connection between
New Bedford and the Azores.
Its collections embrace over 500 whaling implements; 2,000
paintings, prints and drawings; 35,000 original photographs
and negatives; 2,000 scrimshaw items and carvings; thousands
of ethnographic objects; hundreds of ship models; and an
extensive collection of ship’s logs and records of
international voyages.
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park was established
by Congress in 1996 to help preserve and interpret America’s
19th century whaling history. The park, which encompasses
a 13-block National Historic Landmark District, is the only
National Park Service area addressing the history of the
whaling industry and its influence on the economic, social
and environmental history of the United States. The National
Park Service, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior,
preserves over 380 nationally significant natural and cultural
resources throughout the U.S. for the enjoyment and inspiration
of this and future generations. The National Park Service
cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural
and cultural resource conservation and stewardship throughout
the U.S. and the world.
The Whaling City Rowing Club is a nonprofit educational
organization that encourages people of all ages and backgrounds
to participate in diverse open water rowing activities centered
on the whaleboats as our community's identifying boat. Rowing
whaleboats in New Bedford harbor helps us understand, keep
alive, and connect with our maritime heritage. Through rowing,
we are teaching people to care for their personal fitness
and the health of the marine environment around them. We
foster the spirit of teamwork that is essential to rowing,
and create fellowship among rowers and non-rowers alike
who are drawn to the poetry of rowing and the rich maritime
history of region.
For more information on the New Bedford Whaling Museum
or the Azorean Maritime Heritage Society, call (508) 997-0046
or visit the museum’s website at www.whalingmuseum.org.
For more information on the City of New Bedford, visit the
city’s website at www.ci.new-bedford.ma.us. For more
information on New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park,
call (508) 996-4095 or visit the park’s website at
www.nps.gov/nebe.
Photos of last year's regatta (2003), held
in Ribeiros, Pico with whaleboats from both Pico and Faial.
Prepared June 21, 2004
-NPS-
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