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“Weat the last section of the diora its catch in New Bedford See the barrels being rolled down a ramp to the dock?”

The colors of sea and sky were still bright, but the other colors were garish, in the style of a circus poster The brushstrokes were bold, as if the paint had been applied in a hurry The perspective rong, seen through the eyes of an untrained artist

“Any idea who painted this?” Gaood eye for detail You can even see the name of the ship on the hull: Princess”

“You’re very discerning,” Rachael Dobbs said “Seth Franklin was self-taught, and he sold paintings of ships to their owners or captains Before he started painting, he was a ship’s carpenter As I understand it, Nye stood in front of the diorama as it was unrolled from panel to panel and fleshed out the details with his o

wn story The lighting would have been dramatic, and maybe there were even sound effects You know, so ‘Thar she blows!’ ”

The next panel showed the Princess rounding a point of land that the caption identified as THE TIP OF AFRICA In another panel, the ship was at anchor against the backdrop of a lush volcanic island Dark figures that could have been natives were standing on the deck, which was bathed in a blue glow The caption read:

TROUBLE ISLAND-LAST PACIFIC LANDFALL

The panel that followed showed another volcanic island, apparently er, with a dozen or so ships at anchor in its harbor The caption identified the setting as Pohnpei

Paul continued unrolling the diora up a sper its blubber down for oil Particularly interesting hat appeared to be a white-hairedon the deck over the caption:

MODERN-DAY JONAH

“It’s the Ghost,” Rachael said “This is marvelous! This shows Caleb Nye as he must have looked after he’d been cut out of the whale’s stomach”

The stiff canvas of the diora it and Gaa continued to unfold in reverse

The panel before them was the classic depiction of a whaleboat-harpooned sper out of the whale’s mouth The caption identified the scene:

CALEB NYE-SWALLOWED BY A WHALE

Rachael Dobbs could hardly contain her excite about a fund-raiser to restore the diora it Paul and Ga but of little help Yet they kept going until they cae of the ship in the first panel, only returning froe In this panel, there was a crowd of people on the dock, and the ship’s rigging was unfurled The caption read SETTING SAIL