Traveling Exhibit
Nantucket Whaleship: Two Brothers
Traveling Exhibit Featuring Rare Treasures and the Fascinating Story of the Nantucket Whaleship Two Brothers Looking for a New (Temporary) Home
The captivating “Lost on a Reef” exhibit is available just in time for a surge of interest about the story of the whaleship Essex upon release of Ron Howard’s “In the Heart of the Sea” in theaters in March of 2015.
The world was initially reminded of the fascinating and tragic story of Captain George Pollard back in 2011 following the exciting discovery and identification of the Nantucket whaleship Two Brothers. Having survived the events of the Essex, one of the world’s most infamous seafaring disasters, and the true life events that inspired Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, Pollard optimistically set sail for the Pacific once again in the whaleship Two Brothers, believing with all his heart “that it was an old adage that the lightning never struck in the same place twice.” In this case it did, and Pollard’s promising career as a whaling captain came to a tragic end on an uncharted reef in the most remote archipelago on earth, and what is now Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. In 2008, a team of NOAA maritime archaeologists discovered the first clues of the whaleship Two Brothers and began to unlock the mystery of the only Nantucket whaleship ever found on the sea floor.

This traveling exhibit contains 1 title panel, 8 wall panels that include information about the Two Brothers shipwreck as well as other shipwreck sites in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The panels are approximately 2’ x 3’ and printed on Scotchcal laminated to Dibond 1/8” panels. 11 artifacts from the Two Brothers shipwreck site include: 3 harpoon tips, 2 whaling lance tips, 2 ceramic sherds from dishes used in the galley, one small cooking pot (also used in the galley), and three pieces of copper sheathing that were discovered upon conservation of the cooking pot.
The traveling exhibit is currently in Nantucket, MA at the Nantucket Whaling Museum. The exhibit will be available to travel to your site in November of 2015. Costs associated include some assistance with shipping, and possibly new cases for artifacts. The exhibit is available for 1-2 years. Please visit the PMNM website for some more information about the shipwreck story and the exhibit in its current home in Nantucket.
Please contact Kelly Gleason (Kelly.Gleason@noaa.gov, (808)725-5837)) with interest, questions or requests for more information.