MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2012 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Representatives Patterson, Baria, Barton, Bennett, Broomfield, Busby, Crawford, DeLano, Eure, Guice, Haney, Ladner, Moak, Read, Upshaw, Williams-Barnes, Zuber

House Concurrent Resolution 89

(As Adopted by House and Senate)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE GLENN L. SWETMAN AND THE MIKE SEKUL SCHOONERS AS THE OFFICIAL TALL SHIPS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.

     WHEREAS, the Glenn L. Swetman and the Mike Sekul schooners, named for pioneers of the seafood industry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, are authentic replicas of the working schooners that sailed the Mississippi Sound and Gulf of Mexico in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Mississippi's coastal harbors; and

     WHEREAS, the fishing families of the Mississippi Gulf Coast worked tirelessly on schooners like the Glenn L. Swetman and the Mike Sekul to bring the oysters and shrimp to the canning and processing factories on the coast that made Biloxi, Mississippi, the Seafood Capital of the World in the early twentieth century; and

     WHEREAS, these wooden boats were built by, and are owned by, the Biloxi Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum (Museum), using the master boat builders and boatyards of the Mississippi Gulf Coast which have preserved the unique design and craftsmanship that made these shallow craft, double-masted schooners the perfect vessels to fish the shallow Mississippi Sound and the Louisiana marshes; and

     WHEREAS, every year through participation in school field trips and the Museum's summertime Sea and Sail Camps, thousands of school children experience the thrill of sailing and learn the history of the maritime and seafood industry of the Mississippi Gulf Coast on the Glenn L. Swetman and the Mike Sekul; and

     WHEREAS, the Glenn L. Swetman and the Mike Sekul are major, family-oriented tourist attractions that have been featured on national television and in numerous national magazines, and the depiction of the schooner brings to the minds of all who have had the opportunity to view the majestic boats, the seafood industry of the Mississippi Gulf Coast:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby recognize that the sailing schooners, the Glenn L. Swetman and the Mike Sekul, are hereafter known as the official tall ships of the State of Mississippi.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to the City of Biloxi, the Maritime and Seafood Museum and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.