''The Voyage of the Mimi'' is a thirteen-episode American educational
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
depicting the crew of the ship ''Mimi'' exploring the ocean and taking a census of
humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...
s.
The series aired on
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and was created by the
Bank Street College of Education
Bank Street College of Education is a private school and graduate school in New York City. It consists of a graduate-only teacher training college and an independent nursery-through-8th-grade school. In 2020 the graduate school had about 65 full ...
in 1984
to teach middle-schoolers about
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
and
mathematics in an interesting and interactive way, where every lesson related to real world applications.
The series was also released on
VHS and as a
LaserDisc collection. In August 2014, the series was released in digital form via
iTunes U.
Format
After a segment of a fictional adventure in the first part of each episode, a corresponding "expedition documentary" taught viewers something scientific relating to plot events in the previous episode of the show.
For example, there is an episode where the plot is about obtaining drinkable water,
and over the course of the episode, the viewer is also given lessons about
condensation,
heat
In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...
, and the three
states of matter
In physics, a state of matter is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist. Four states of matter are observable in everyday life: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Many intermediate states are known to exist, such as liquid crystal, ...
. Each lesson has accompanying student and teacher handouts or worksheets.
Four software modules are available that covered topics and skills in navigation and map reading, computer literacy and programming, the elements of ecosystems, and the natural environment of whales.
''The Voyage of the Mimi'' was shot in
Marblehead, Massachusetts
Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...
with some scenes being shot on Dyer Island, Maine. It marked
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.
Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...
's television debut role.
A second series was produced in 1988, ''
The Second Voyage of the Mimi
''The Second Voyage of the Mimi'' is a twelve-episode American educational television program depicting a fictional crew of a sailboat named the ''Mimi'' exploring Mayan ruins in Southern Mexico. Along the way, they learn about ancient civilizati ...
'', in which the two Granvilles, along with other archaeologists, searched for a lost
Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
city and uncovered a conspiracy along the way. Both series emphasized equal opportunity in math and science with a diverse cast (including race, gender, and disability status) and incorporated an instructional strategy wherein the fictionalized adventure would catch the interest of students for the initial part of the learning process. A third series, which would have been about the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
, including the river's biology and history, was planned but was not made due to an inability to obtain funding.
Cast
Ben Affleck played C.T. Granville and
Peter G. Marston
Peter G. Marston (February 13, 1935 – September 30, 2022) was an American scientist, businessman, and actor. He served as chief executive officer of Cambridge Environmental Technology and holds a visiting professorship at the Massachusetts Inst ...
played his grandfather Captain Granville. Marston was a scientist at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
during the production of the program and also the owner of the actual ''Mimi'' at the time.
Cast Listing:
*
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.
Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...
as Clement Tyler (C.T.) Granville
*
Peter G. Marston
Peter G. Marston (February 13, 1935 – September 30, 2022) was an American scientist, businessman, and actor. He served as chief executive officer of Cambridge Environmental Technology and holds a visiting professorship at the Massachusetts Inst ...
as Captain Clement Tyler Granville
*Edwin De Asis as Ramon Rojas
*Victoria Gadsden as Anne Abrams
*Mark Graham as Arthur Spencer
*Judy Pratt as Sally Ruth Cochran
*Mary Tanner as Rachel Fairbanks
Film Crew Listing:
* D'Arcy Marsh, Director and Cinematographer
*Barbara Hanania, Assistant Cinematographer
*Roger Haydock, Gaffer
*Eric Taylor, Sound
Episodes
Each episode consists of two fifteen-minute segments: the fictional story of the voyage of the Mimi, then an expedition that reveals the science behind the storyline explored in the episode.
The first segment of each episode follows a serialized tale of scientists taking a census of humpback whales off the coast of Massachusetts. Captain Clement Tyler Granville, the owner of the sailboat Mimi is hired by scientist Anne Abrams and her colleague Ramon Rojas to make the census. Anne's Graduate Research Assistant is Sally Ruth Cochran. In addition, the two scientists each invite a high school student (Arthur Spencer and Rachel Fairbanks) to take part in the study. Finally, Captain Granville's identically-named grandson comes visiting for the summer in order to give his mother a break during her pregnancy.
Each second segment is a standalone exploration of one of the scientific principles touched on in the serialized tale.
In these segments, an actor (Ben Affleck, Mark Graham, or Mary Tanner) portraying a young person comes out of character and interviews a real, in many cases well-known, scientist about his or her work. These scientists include oceanographer
Sylvia Earle, geologist
Kim Kastens, zoologist
Katharine Payne, Greg Watson of the
New Alchemy Institute, and physicist
Ted Taylor.
In addition, Judy Pratt, a deaf student at
Gallaudet University, and Peter Marston, a scientist at
M.I.T., come out of character in interviews with Mary Tanner and Ben Affleck at their respective workplaces.
The real ''Mimi''
Beginnings
The Mimi was a French-built sailboat that is 72 feet (21 meters) in length,
originally built in 1934 to function as a deep-hulled cargo barge.
She was built in northwest France in the region of
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
, on the coast of the
Mer d'Iroise (the Iroise Sea). Mimi is a type of vessel known as a "
Gabare d'Iroise," where "
Gabare" translates as "cargo barge" and "
Iroise" refers to the region in which she was constructed.
Mimi was initially used as a cargo ship in the rough waters of the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
, and was thus built to withstand serious maritime conditions. Because Mimi was a "gabare," she was also built with a shallow draft. This combination of strength and ability to operate in shallow waters allowed Mimi to be used both in the open sea and the extensive canal system in Europe at that time.
After serving many years in the Northern part of France, Mimi was sold to an owner in the Southern part of France where she was converted to a
fishing trawler
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets th ...
for
tunafish.
Nazi commandeer, sinking and salvage
The Mimi was used by German soldiers during the Second World War to transport munitions.
In 1942, the Germans seized the Mimi for the purpose of transporting supplies to military outposts in the region of the Brittany coast. When the Allied Forces pushed the retreating Axis forces back eastward through France in August 1944, Nazi protocol was to destroy any military property that might possibly be used against them by the invading forces (i.e. fortresses, ammunition, vehicles, etc.) For reasons unknown, Mimi was not destroyed by retreating Nazi forces, but rather left tied to a tree on a mudflat.
After the war the Mimi was sunk, and remained so until the 1960s when a Frenchman and his family bought it and converted it from a trawler to a sailboat.
Television career
By 1984, the Mimi had a new owner, Peter Marston. The boat was kept moored in Gloucester, Massachusetts, throughout the filming of the series and thereafter. In addition to its role in "The Voyage of the Mimi," which began in 1984, the boat was used from the late 1980s through the 1990s to teach schoolchildren using the ''Mimi'' curriculum.
Each school year, the Mimi sailed from New England to the Gulf of Mexico and back, stopping at pre-arranged ports of call to meet with students in grades 4 through 7, and their teachers. At each port, "Mimifests" were held, which included various activities and presentations about marine life, seamanship, and navigation.
These events were attended by approximately 30,000 students each year. In 1988, Peter Marston and other freelance musicians produced a cassette, ''Sea Songs from the Mimi Crew'', of old-time sea songs self-published under the name "The Barn School" based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Other souvenirs were also available from the sailing vessel Mimi such as T-shirts and buttons reading "I was on board the Mimi".
The souvenirs are no longer manufactured, and are even difficult to find within the online resale market.
Marston retained ownership of the vessel until 1998, when the boat was sold to new owners Captain George G. Story of Gloucester, Massachusetts, his brother Captain Alan M. Story of Deltona, Florida, and Spiro "Steve" Cocotas, also from Gloucester. They operated the vessel as Three Mates Inc. for several years, bringing the boat to as many as 28 cities along the east coast.
Beginning of the end
After years of ownership under Three Mates Inc., Mimi was repossessed for financial reasons and sold at public auction in Massachusetts. Michael Spurgeon developed a plan to resurrect the Mimi, and the vessel was subsequently purchased with venture capital provided by Spurgeon's employer, Capt. Greg Muzzy, a Boston-area
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
who owns and operates the "Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships,". Mimi was sailed from Gloucester to the
Mystic River
The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts, in the United States. In Massachusett, means "large estuary," alluding to t ...
in Boston, where she was kept docked at various marinas in East Boston and Chelsea.
Spurgeon's intention was to rehabilitate the ship and possibly court a Discovery Channel special about Mimi's story. After spending approximately $100,000 on infrastructural investments on the ship, including a complete rebuild of the stern and diesel engine, the ship became too costly to continue work on.
In 2008, it was discovered that a homeless man had been living aboard the ship while docked at the marina, and he was promptly kicked out. In an act of revenge, the man returned and removed one of several plugs in the belly of the ship, allowing her to rapidly fill with water. Mimi sank while at port, effectively ruining all electronics aboard the ship as well as seriously damaging the recently rebuilt engine. A significant amount of damage occurred above the keel of the ship due to freshwater clams colonizing the wood while she was underwater, rendering restoration nearly impossible.
She was floated back to the surface by a recovery team two weeks later, and sat disused after that.
Attempted revival and final disposal
In the summer of 2010, two recent college graduates of the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...
who had been fans of ''The Voyage of the Mimi'' stumbled upon the Mimi at port and mounted an effort to save the ship, which had fallen into a state of disrepair.
Their efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful, given among other factors the high cost that would be required to save the ship and the Mimi's limited historical value, so the Mimi was scrapped in July 2011.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voyage Of The Mimi
1984 American television series debuts
1984 American television series endings
PBS original programming
Science education television series