Edited 10/20/2018 to add note about tick-borne infection.
Ahab Beckons
finally made it to the longest-running Moby-Dick Marathon—that organized by the
Mystic Seaport Museum. This (2018) was its thirty-third annual outing. Mystic sticks to a July 31 start, ending on August 1 (Melville's birthday), no matter the days of the week. If you're not willing to call in sick, tough toenails.
Side note: New Bedford adhered to a January 3 start (the date of Melville's sailing on the Acushnet) until MDM14 in 2010, if memory serves. It then settled on the first
weekend after January 1, greatly increasing attendance.
Practical Matters
- The entire reading takes place aboard the whaleship Charles W. Morgan. Overnight space is limited. Call a few weeks ahead to reserve. Details on the museum website.
- There is ample free parking across the street from the Seaport; well signed.
- You'll need to purchase admission to the Seaport area. Online tickets receive a 10% discount.
- There is Wi-Fi in the Seaport area; spotty, as you'd guess. The entrance desk will give you the password.
- Food and drink are not allowed on the Morgan. Water bottles were permitted. Some folks left their bag of provisions at the foot of the gangway, then left the ship to make a picnic. There is also a pub and sandwich shop on the grounds.
- Experienced marathoners brought folding chairs. Recommended.
- There is not a lot of shade or rain cover on deck; mosquitoes could be a problem; it can be chilly and damp at night. Be prepared.
- The deck is not lit. Bring a lantern/flashlight/headlamp to read & maneuver.
- Lots of folks slept on deck; bring a pad, pillow, and sleeping bag. Some slept below, where it was warm, stuffy, and brightly lit. Earplugs and a sleep mask are the ticket.
- Organizers maintained a sign-up sheet by chapter number. Each reader delivered an entire chapter. (Yes, even The Town Ho's Story!) If you have a favorite chapter, talk to the staff early.
- Check with the entrance desk if you want to leave the Seaport. There should be no problem getting back in.
- The Seaport area is closed from 6 P.M. until 9 A.M. The marathon staff will tell you how to get out/in after hours.
- Don't mess with the ropes (sheets, halyards, and stays) or belaying pins!
"Post-Mortemising" the Mystic MDM
Noon: Board the
Morgan from the port side, and try to find a spot in the shade of the "spare boat rack." (What's the correct term?)
The
Morgan has a tiny cabin (built for a captain's seasick wife) in the center of the deck, just before the mizzen-mast. Readers stand aft of the mainmast and address the audience sitting on either side of that cabin.
"Mr. Melville" recites the
Loomings chapter from memory(!); something of a tradition, I gather. Sorry I didn't get his name, or thank him for his fine performance.
There is no podium, no microphone. Almost all readers are clearly audible; some painfully so. Every reader gets a round of applause when finished.
The ship remains open to museum visitors. Tourists filter through the reading and stare at us as if we're some weird exhibit.
3:30 P.M. A group of staff members boards and goes about reefing the sails for the night. Fascinating, exacting, tough physical work. The reading continues as we try to stay out of their way.
6 P.M. The museum closes, leaving fewer than twenty of us marathoners to carry on through the night. The sounds of the tourists and the working harbor are replaced by the chirps of crickets and the whine of the I-95.
As darkness gathers, we feel like a group of friends sitting around a campfire or in someone's living room.
5 A.M. BYOL - Bring your own light!
6 A.M. The dawn brings showers. Deck-sleepers are driven under the "boat rack" or below deck.
7 A.M. Staff prepares for another day. An anachronistic truck rolls down the quayside to collect the previous day's trash. Local sportsfolk shoot along the river in their sculls.
9:30 A.M. Veteran sailor and Melville scholar,
Mary K. Bercaw Edwards directs staff members as they set the
Morgan's sails for the day. She announces that a whale will be sighted soon...
11:25 A.M. "The Chase — Third Day"
Ahab howls. Mr. Melville waits to read "Epilogue."
11:30 A.M. A watch in the crow's nest calls "There she blows!" Mary K. and staff demonstrate the lowering of a whaleboat (a non-trivial task).
11:45 A.M. All ashore to celebrate Melville's 199th birthday with cake!
Nearly all the readers at Mystic seemed to be very conversant with the text. Their delivery was smooth and confident. This might be a by-product of the marathon falling mid-week when "youngsters" are less able to attend. There were never more than about thirty attendees, so lots of folks read multiple times. (When the marathon falls on a weekend, is the ship overcrowded?)
All-told, this was a cozy MDM, without the technology and "stage management" of the New Bedford MDM. Nor did Mystic have the ancillary events we love in New Bedford: "Stump the Scholars" and "Scholar Chats." Still, an MDM set on an authentic whaleship in a pretty harbor on a beautiful summer evening is not something to miss.
Tick-borne infection
The south coast of Connecticut is prime country for Lyme disease. Did I pick up a tick on the Morgan (perhaps carried aboard by a mouse), or while strolling the grounds of the Seaport, or while hiking in western CT the week before?
The day after the Mystic MDM, I began to feel a cold coming on. Within another day or two, this developed into all the symptoms of the flu, minus the congestion. "Flu" in summer leads one to suspect Lyme disease. My doctor put me on doxycycline and took blood. Test results came back quickly. Diagnosis:
anaplasmosis—which merited a third week of doxycycline. Now, nearly three months later, crisis seems to have been averted, but I lack the stamina to backpack in the mountains (as I've done every summer for years). Full recovery is expected, but it's slow in coming.
If I were to return for another Mystic MDM, I would bring my own chair, sleep in that chair, treat socks & shoes with permethrin, and avoid walking through the grass.
The 2018 reading was held in the barn that houses Arrowhead's ticket office and museum shop.
Peter Bergman, Director of Communications for the BHS, recruited readers as we entered. He explained: read from the "podium copy" until the bell rings, then make a pencil mark where you stopped.
One reader stood out. She was maybe ten years old(?) and had very little problem with the knotty text. All the best to her, and her family!
A better photo, copied from the BHS Facebook page.
At the "Finis," Peter announced that over the four days of the marathon there were 85 different readers, plus 23 folks who simply listened.
