by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
The United States of America has a long history dating back to 1776, but at a mere 233 years it pales in comparison to Jacksonville’s history in terms of maritime interests. That clock began ticking 214 years earlier in 1562 when French explorer Jean Ribault and his crew first sailed up what they called the “River of May” – what we now know as the St. Johns River.
“Actually, we probably should have a dugout canoe to represent the native peoples who used the river long before Ribault arrived,” said Paul Ghiotto, curator of the Jacksonville Maritime Museum.
Located on the river at the south end of the Main Street Bridge near the Museum of Science & History, the JMM is the smallest museum in the city and the repository of the long and varied history of life and commerce on North Florida’s waterways.
The museum was founded in 1985 by a group of volunteers, most of whom were veterans of the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. It has remained an all-volunteer staff of docents, which helps keep operating expenses as low as possible. That effort is aided by the building being provided by the City. The museum depends on memberships (which start at $25 per year) and private donations to conduct its educational outreach programs.
Ghiotto worked for the U.S. National Park Service and was stationed at the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, Fort Caroline National Memorial and the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine among other posts. When the Jacksonville native retired he decided to join the volunteers at JMM. He said in many ways the museum and its contents reminds him of other landmarks.
“It’s pretty common for people to be unaware of historic sites that are in their own backyard,” he added.
Guided tours are included in the price of admission, which is free. The docents explain the history behind the many ship models, paintings, displays, archival photographs and other artifacts that tell the stories behind Jacksonville’s maritime heritage. The centerpiece of the museum is a 16-foot scale model of CVA-60, known to civilians as the USS Saratoga, which home ported at Mayport Naval Station. Much of the collection has been donated by members and the rest is on loan from the Jacksonville Historical Society.
There is also a small but comprehensive research library and a gift shop stocked with nautical items and a selection of ship’s caps representing some of America’s most famous military vessels.
Part of the collection tells the story of Jacksonville’s emergence as a port city beginning when the ships that docked here to load and unload their cargoes had sails.
Ghiotto said quite a bit of the collection is devoted to Jacksonville’s U.S. Merchant Marine history, a part of the World War II story few people fully understand. There were 82 Liberty Ships built at the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company here in Jacksonville in the early 1940s. The modern chandlery history doesn’t stop there. Ghiotto said, what is now Assumption Catholic School was originally the administration building for the now-defunct Merrill-Stevens Shipyard. Another bit of local history is that of four spies who came ashore near Ponte Vedra from a German submarine in 1942 with a cache of weapons and explosives. They were soon apprehended and eventually convicted of espionage, sentenced to death and executed.
The JMM is open seven days a week, Monday-Friday 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 1-5 p.m. For more information call 398-9011 or visit www.jaxmaritimemuseum.org
356-2466