Shipping Out:The Story of America’s Seafaring Women

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Dock-U-Mentaries Film Series continues on Friday, March 18th with Shipping Out: The Story of America’s Seafaring Women (56 minutes), a film by Maria Brooks. Dock-U-Mentaries is a co-production of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and the Working Waterfront Festival. Films about the working waterfront will be screened on the third Friday of each month beginning at 7:00 PM in the theater of the Corson Maritime Learning Center, located at 33 William Street in downtown New Bedford. All programs are open to the public and presented free of charge.

Filmed on board merchant ships in coastal waters from Alaska to New York, Shipping Out looks at the little known history of women and seafaring in America. Featured in the program are women who hold jobs in commercial shipping. We meet them working as engineers, bar pilots, tug boat captains, mates and deckhands. The film was produced by Maria Brooks, whose award winning documentaries, The Men Who Sailed the Liberty Ships and The Odyssey of Captain Healy, have been seen on PBS. The film will be followed by a discussion with several women who work on the New Bedford waterfront.

The Working Waterfront Festival is a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern MA, a non-profit organization. The FREE festival, a family friendly, educational celebration of New England’s commercial fishing industry, features live maritime and ethnic music, fishermen’s contests, fresh seafood, vessel tours, author readings, cooking demonstrations, kid’s activities and more. It all takes place on working piers and waterfront parks in New Bedford, MA, America’s #1 fishing port, on the last full weekend in September. Navigate to us at www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org.

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park was established by Congress in 1996 to help preserve and interpret America’s nineteenth century whaling industry. 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 visitor center is located at 33 William Street in downtown New Bedford. It is open seven days a week, from 9 AM-5 PM, and offers information, exhibits, and a free orientation movie every hour on the hour from 10 AM-3 PM.