There is another important issue that we have been missing. Without the regular activities and demonstrations that were normal, what will happen to the vessels themselves? It appears that Mystic is reverting to its earlier style of the 50's and 60's where the vessels were allowed to molder at dockside, neglected. One advantage of having demonstrators and docents working with the vessels is that, as things begin to deteriorate, they get noticed and addressed. How many times will vessels like the Morgan and others be allowed to deteriorate to the point where they need total restoration? The Australia is a perfect example She went completely to rot. There are those who will argue she should not have been accepted in the first place. Entropy is deterioration and is as inexorable as gravity. Neglect is not benign, specially with things made of wood, fiber and ferrous materials.
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