The Real Pirates

The St. Louis Science Center has been ranked as one of the Top 5 science centers in the country.  It's an absolutely beautiful facility.  Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of the building to show you since they have somehow disappeared.  We're not entirely sure what happened.

Regardless, you first walk into the large main area of the building.  My favorite part is the bridge over an 8 lane interstate system that connects the main building to the planetarium across the street.  The bridge is an all glass structure which allows you to see the interstate beneath your feet.  There are also radar guns positioned along the walking bridge so that you may see how fast the cars are traveling.

We visited the museum on Labor Day to see The Real Pirates exhibit before it left from Houston's HMNS. 

The exhibit tells the story of the short life of the slave ship Whydah.  Not long after leaving her namesake port filled with slaves, it was attacked by "Black Sam" Bellamy and his band of pirates including an 11 year old boy.  After a three-day chase, the ship was surrendered to the pirates.  "Black Sam" entered piracy as a way to quickly make a fortune.  He wanted to marry a woman in Massachusetts, but her family refused to allow the marriage saying that he was too poor.  His plan was to acquire his fortune and return to her.  In 1717, while returning to his beloved, the ship encountered a strong storm and sank off the coast of Cape Cod along with the treasure of more than 50 ships on board. 

270 years later, it was found by a "history hunter."  It remains the only authenticated pirate ship complete with treasure ever found.  I'd love to talk more about the exhibit itself and how it uses special effects more than any other exhibit that I've ever seen, but I do know a few people who plan to see it in Houston and I would hate to ruin some of the dramatic elements.  I will say that my favorite parts were the ship's bell, the weapons room, and the chests filled with gold found on board the ship.  In fact, there is a previously unknown design of canon featured in the weapons room.  The earliest known collection of Akan gold jewelry was also found on board.

It's an extremely interesting story.  I've only given snippets of it here and highly encourage you to either attend the exhibit or google the story. 

One really neat fact that I can't help but share here is that John F. Kennedy, Jr was on the original dive team that found the wreckage.  He lost a compass while on his dive that was later recovered by the excavation teams and is on display.

While we were there, we also watched The Hubble show in the OMNIMAX theatre.  It is a high-fidelity, 70MM motion picture system that delivers the highest quality image and sound quality in film.  The screen itself is wrap-around instead of being flat like an IMAX.  This is only a small section of the machines needed to show the film.

Both of us were looking to seeing Hubble and it did not disappoint.  If it is playing near you, go see it.  The imagery is breathtaking.  It takes you a journey with the astronauts as they work on the Hubble while in space.  It's a powerful movie and probably my favorite

 IMAX-type production ever.

This is the grand hallway at the entrance of the science center.  This is what is above your head when you first walk inside.  It takes up the entire length of the building and goes up approximately 3-4 stories in height.  It's



JT and Aidan, both are you are getting Christmas presents found in the museum gift shop.  Just FYI.  :)