If you will not be present at the gala, but wish to bid on a live auction item, please contact Sherri Ramella at 860.572.5302 ext. 5052 to arrange for a proxy bidder - no later than Monday, September 1, 3:00pm ET.

DINNER FOR EIGHT ON THE CHARLES W. MORGAN

Enjoy a private catered dinner aboard the Charles W. Morgan for up to eight people!

The Charles W. Morgan is the last of an American whaling fleet that numbered more than 2,700 vessels. Built and launched in 1841, the Morgan is now America's oldest commercial ship still afloat.

After an extensive restoration at Mystic Seaport Museum, the whaleship was re-launched July 21, 2013 and left Mystic Seaport Museum May 17, 2014, to embark on a 38th Voyage to historic ports of New England. The nearly three-month journey raised awareness of America's maritime heritage and called attention to issues of ocean sustainability and conservation. The ship returned from its voyage August 6, 2014, and resumed its role as an exhibit and the flagship of the Museum.

Dinner for eight may be enjoyed on the deck of the Morgan, as the sun sets and stars emerge over the Mystic River, or you may prefer to dine below deck at the Captain's table where the very first captain, Thomas A. Norton, ate his meals beginning in 1841. For a true adventure, dinner may be served deep in the ship's hold for an elegantly rustic experience!

This is a truly unique opportunity only available through the Mystic Seaport Museum Gala Auction.

Terms and Restrictions:

• April through October in 2022
• Minimum three weeks advance notice
• Dinner for up to eight people

DOWNRIVER PARTY FOR 20 ABOARD SABINO

This private downriver cruise on Sabino - the oldest wooden, coal-fired steamboat still operating in the United States - offers a unique opportunity to host a small event, family reunion, or special celebration. Gather your nineteen closest friends and board Sabino for an exclusive party cruise on the Mystic River!

The Sabino steamboat was built in 1908 in East Boothbay, Maine, by W. Irving Adams and spent most of her career ferrying passengers and cargo between Maine towns and islands. While her configuration and passenger capacity has changed over the past 113 years, her engine did not. Sabino still has the two-cylinder Paine compound steam engine that was installed in 1908. Since 1974 she has been a working exhibit at Mystic Seaport Museum - undergoing a full restoration from 2014-2017. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take a private ride on a piece of history - Sabino was formally designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.

SAIL FOR 12 ON MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM'S SCHOONER BRILLIANT

Sail on the beloved Brilliant with 11 of your friends! Set sail for the day on the iconic Mystic Seaport Museum Schooner Brilliant. She has been described by WoodenBoat Magazine as one of the 100 most beautiful classic boats in existence and as "one of the best maintained and sailed classic yachts in the country - if not the world."

This 1932 schooner is the work of legendary naval architect Olin J. Stephens, II. Originally built for offshore cruising, Brilliant has proven herself in many races and is the platform for the nation's oldest sail education program.

Choose from a spring racing series in Oyster Bay, NY, or a fall day sail from Mystic on a mutually agreeable date in 2022. Lunch will be provided.

Terms and Restrictions

• Maximum 12 guests
• Reservation must be made on a mutually agreeable date in 2022.

DAY CRUISE FOR 6 ON MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM'S LITTLE VIGILANT

Sail down the Mystic River with five friends aboard the classic 1950 steel sailing vessel Little Vigilant on a day cruise to a location of your choosing along southern New England and Long Island. The destination is planned with the captain at time of booking and options include North Fork, Sag Harbor, Block Island, etc.

Little Vigilant was designed and built for yachtsman Drayton Cochran of New York to be able to sail both sea and the canals of Europe. She spent her first years cruising Europe and in 1959 served as the dive vessel for an underwater archaeological expedition in the Aegean Sea with Peter Throckmorton and the National Geographic Society. A film, "3000 Years Under the Sea" was filmed aboard. After four decades in storage, Little Vigilant was restored to her former glory and is now part of the collection at Mystic Seaport Museum.

Terms and Restrictions

• Leaving from Mystic Seaport Museum
• April through October in 2022
• Minimum two weeks advance notice
• Cruise for up to 6 guests

DINNER CRUISE FOR 6 ON MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM'S LITTLE VIGILANT

Delight in watching a New England sunset over dinner with five guests while cruising the Mystic River aboard the 1950 steel sailing vessel Little Vigilant.

Little Vigilant was designed and built for yachtsman Drayton Cochran of New York to be able to sail both sea and the canals of Europe. She spent her first years cruising Europe and in 1959 served as the dive vessel for an underwater archaeological expedition in the Aegean Sea with Peter Throckmorton and the National Geographic Society. A film, "3000 Years Under the Sea" was filmed aboard. After four decades in storage, Little Vigilant was restored to her former glory and is now part of the collection at Mystic Seaport Museum.

The dinner cruise for six will depart from Mystic Seaport Museum for a three-hour cruise, returning upriver just as the sun is setting in a remarkable scene.

Terms and Restrictions

• April through October in 2022
• Minimum two weeks advance notice
• Dinner and cruise for up to 6 guests

DAY SAIL ON REBECCA OF VINEYARD HAVEN

Experience the sea with a day sail on schooner Rebecca of Vineyard Haven. The itinerary for this sail will be decided with the captain based on the winner's preference and weather/sailing conditions.

Built in 2001, this vessel was designed by Nat Benjamin and launched by the famed Martha's Vineyard yard of Gannon and Benjamin. Although launched in the 21st century she is traditionally built and her design was inspired by the classic designs of Nathaniel Herreshoff, John Alden, and Olin Stephens. Her construction was chronicled in the book Schooner: Building a Wooden Boat on Martha's Vineyard by Tom Dunlop. Since her launching Rebecca has cruised and raced in Europe, New England, and the Caribbean.

Terms and Restrictions

• 6-hour sail
• Leaving from Mystic Seaport Museum
• Late May through October in 2022
• Minimum two weeks advance notice
• Maximum capacity 6 guests

OVERNIGHT ON REBECCA OF VINEYARD HAVEN

Don't miss out on the opportunity for an overnight excursion on Rebecca of Vineyard Haven for up to six guests! The itinerary may include Fishers Island Sound, Greenport, or Block Island, and will be decided with the captain based on winner's preference and weather/sailing conditions.

Built in 2001, this schooner was designed by Nat Benjamin and launched by the famed Martha's Vineyard yard of Gannon and Benjamin. Although launched in the 21st century, she is traditionally built, and her design was inspired by the classic designs of Nathaniel Herreshoff, John Alden, and Olin Stephens. Her construction was chronicled in the book Schooner: Building a Wooden Boat on Martha's Vineyard by Tom Dunlop. Since her launching, Rebecca has cruised and raced in Europe, New England, and the Caribbean.

Terms and Restrictions

• Leaving from Mystic Seaport Museum
• Late May through October in 2022
• Minimum two weeks advance notice
• Maximum capacity 6 guests

OPEN HEARTH COOKING CLASS IN "THE BUCK"

Travel back in time with this exceptional culinary experience. You and five guests will participate in an interactive cooking class in bucolic Buckingham-Hall House at Mystic Seaport Museum. Your group will help to prepare the seasonally appropriate meal for open-hearth cooking then sit down in the "hall" by the fire to enjoy the delicious results in this unique time-travel experience. There will be a choice from two menus to include chicken or fish cooked over the fire, two sides, dessert, and appetizers. Group may bring own wine.

Buckingham-Hall House - originally situated in Saybrook, Connecticut near the only ferry crossing at the mouth of the Connecticut River - was purchased in 1833 by William Hall Jr. (whose father was a New York import merchant) from the estate of Samuel Buckingham.

Mystic Seaport Museum preserved the structure when a new highway bridge across the Connecticut River threatened it in 1951. The house was shipped by barge to the Museum, undergoing a second major restoration and re-interpretation in 1994.

Terms and Restrictions

• Minimum two weeks advance notice
• Maximum 6 guests

CUSTOM HAND-CARVED NAME BOARD

Take home an original and personalized piece of craftsmanship. The winner will receive a custom wooden name board carved by Mystic Seaport Museum woodcraftsman Rich Froh. Choose to have the name of your boat, house, family, etc. hand-carved and beautifully finished, similar to the America and the Sea Award (pictured) given to the gala honoree.

Woodcarving at Mystic Seaport Museum is done using the traditional tools and skills of 19th century craftsmen.

Figureheads and other carvings which decorated wooden ships in the Age of Sail are sometimes all that remain from the many vessels built in the 19th century. Carvings on a vessel were meant to show pride and to capture the public's attention.

HAND-FORGED IRON BAR SET

Bring a bit of the 19th century to your next dinner or cocktail party with a hand-forged iron cork screw, bottle opener, and cheese cutter created at Mystic Seaport Museum. All were hand-forged by experienced blacksmiths in the Museum's historic James Driggs Shipsmith Shop using traditional, 19th-century techniques. The set is complete with a small cheese cutting board crafted from wood used in the Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard.

The James Driggs shop was originally built in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1885, and came to Mystic Seaport Museum in the 1940s. Today the shop is used to train staff and demonstrate historic blacksmithing techniques for visitors and school groups.

HAND-FORGED IRON COAT HOOK SET OF 5

Bring a bit of Mystic Seaport Museum home with a set of five iron coat hooks hand-forged by our experienced blacksmiths in our historic shipsmith shop using traditional, 19th-century techniques.

The James Driggs shop was originally built in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1885, and came to Mystic Seaport Museum in the 1940s. Today the shop is used to train staff and demonstrate historic blacksmithing techniques for visitors and school groups.

RELIEF CARVING: BRECK MARSHALL (LIBERATED!)

The Breck Marshall is a replica of a Cape Cod pre-1900 Crosby-designed 20-foot working catboat. The Breck Marshall was built at the Mystic Seaport Museum Small Boat Shop in 1987 using the techniques developed by the Crosby family of boatbuilders at Osterville on Cape Cod. The classic lines and swan-like grace of this iconic sailing craft inspire Museum visitors to experience for themselves a half-hour sail along the Museum's picturesque and well-protected waterfront. A seaworthy and able working craft type, she is shown here "liberated" from the confines of the Mystic River estuary as she would appear while sailing on an ocean swell and homeward-bound off a North Atlantic coastline.

The hand-carved piece in clear northern pine was begun as a bas relief woodcarving study and live demonstration as part of the Mystic Seaport Museum A Way With Wood exhibit in the Collins Gallery during the reopening of the Museum following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was selected to be finished for auction and was completed in the summer of 2021. The piece expresses the artist's hope for everyone's "liberation" from the confines imposed by the pandemic, and for their having a first, joyful experience of sailing the wind.

RELIEF CARVING: PROMISE (of a New Day)

PROMISE (of a New Day) shows the view that a sailor on a square-rigged sailing vessel experiences when sent aloft as a lookout at the masthead at daybreak. After coming on deck from the cramped confinement below decks in pre-dawn to begin the next duty watch, the sailor savors the serenity aloft while the promise of a new day unfolds as the sun breaks the horizon. A giant albatross flies past and veers off to investigate another sailing vessel that has appeared in the same stretch of ocean, heading in the same direction, and shore-based sea birds appear, bringing a promise of fair weather, and soon, a landfall, bringing our sailor thoughts of returning home. The piece was created as a live demonstration as part of the Mystic Seaport Museum A Way With Wood exhibit in the Collins Gallery during the reopening of the Museum following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece expresses the artist's hope for everyone's return to their home ports.

This hand-carved clear northern pine piece has four types of carving. The gilded edge and the lettering are incised; the sky is carved with a small veiner gouge to capture light on the edges of the clouds and sun's rays; the sea is carved in bas-relief style; the "wings" bracketing the lettering are relief promise and also gilded. Nineteenth-century ship carvers such as Mystic's own Campbell & Colby often carved decorative scenes as panels affixed to ships' transoms. The vessel name and home port were required to be displayed.

HAND-FORGED IRON BAR SET

Bring a bit of the 19th century to your next dinner or cocktail party with a hand-forged iron cork screw, bottle opener, and cheese cutter created at Mystic Seaport Museum. All were hand-forged by experienced blacksmiths in the Museum's historic James Driggs Shipsmith Shop using traditional, 19th-century techniques. The set is complete with a small cheese cutting board crafted from wood used in the Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard.

The James Driggs shop was originally built in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1885, and came to Mystic Seaport Museum in the 1940s. Today the shop is used to train staff and demonstrate historic blacksmithing techniques for visitors and school groups.