March 29, 2016
“Down to the Sea in Ships” and the 1762 Elihu Akin House of the early 1920s
In 1921, the Akin House becomes a part of film history as a location for Elmer Clifton’s Down to the Sea in Ships.
These still photos provide a record of the east side of the Akin House, called the “Old Homestead”, and appears in a late sequence of the film.
Down to the Sea in Ships was Clara Bow’s first released film and also depicts Dartmouth’s Apponagansett Meeting House.
It contains rare footage of a whaling voyage filmed on the Wanderer and the Charles W. Morgan.
This film about New Bedford whaling had its premiere at the Olympia Theatre on September 25, 1922. The whaling footage is considered the best ever filmed and among the rarest.
