Shipwrecks Ahoy!
November 29, 2012Events

Shipwrecks Ahoy!

These days, virtual museums are available with the click of a mouse or remote. But there’s nothing like seeing the real thing, which is why the Milwaukee Public Museum’s “Real Pirates” should keep the revolving doors spinning. Featuring artifacts from the Whydah, a vessel discovered by explorer Barry Clifford on the Atlantic Ocean floor in 1984, the exhibit uses the objects to tell the varied stories of early-18th-century shipping and piracy, including the slave trade (the Whydah spent its first two years as a slave ship) and the exploits of Caribbean pirates. Along with the archaeology and scholarship, there is…

BY Paul Kosidowski

These days, virtual museums are available with the click of a mouse or remote. But there’s nothing like seeing the real thing, which is why the Milwaukee Public Museum’s “Real Pirates” should keep the revolving doors spinning. Featuring artifacts from the Whydah, a vessel discovered by explorer Barry Clifford on the Atlantic Ocean floor in 1984, the exhibit uses the objects to tell the varied stories of early-18th-century shipping and piracy, including the slave trade (the Whydah spent its first two years as a slave ship) and the exploits of Caribbean pirates. Along with the archaeology and scholarship, there is naturally a chance for kids to spin fantasies of blunderbusses and plank walking.

→ “Real Pirates” (Dec. 14-May 27). Milwaukee Public Museum. 800 W. Wells St., 414-278-2728, mpm.edu. 

Paul Kosidowski
Paul Kosidowski is a freelance writer and critic who contributes regularly to Milwaukee Magazine, WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio and national arts magazines. He writes weekly reviews and previews for the Culture Club column. He was literary director of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater from 1999-2006. In 2007, he was a fellow with the NEA Theater and Musical Theater Criticism Institute at the University of Southern California. His writing has also appeared in American Theatre magazine, Backstage, The Boston Globe, Theatre Topics, and Isthmus (Madison, Wis.). He has taught theater history, arts criticism and magazine writing at Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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