Tribal leaders 'disheartened' at Columbus replica ship's role in Maine bicentennial event
Jul. 9—Tribal officials expressed outrage on Friday that a replica of a ship sailed by Christopher Columbus would be visiting the Penobscot River over the next 10 days, leading Maine officials to ask organizers to remove the vessel from a state bicentennial event.
The Nao Santa Maria is a replica of one of the three ships sailed by Columbus during his 1492 journey that paved the way for European colonization of the New World. On that voyage and subsequent ones to the Caribbean, Central America and South America, he and his men killed, enslaved and brutalized native people and introduced diseases that killed many more.
A historical reevaluation of Columbus has in recent years led many U.S. jurisdictions to replace Columbus Day — traditionally held on the second Monday of October — with Indigenous People's Day, including Maine. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, signed a law renaming the holiday in 2019 as part of an effort to repair the state's relationship with tribes.
The replica is one of several tall ships that will visit various spots along the river between Bucksport and Bangor during a tall-ships festival July 9-18 and organized by the Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association as part Maine's 200th anniversary celebration, which was largely pushed back a year from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maulian Dana, tribal ambassador for the Penobscot Nation, said in a Facebook post that having a ship that is a replica of one sailed by Columbus was disrespectful and a desecration of a river that the Penobscot hold sacred.
"The Penobscot Nation is disappointed and disheartened that any group would use a replica of a ship used by Christopher Columbus to celebrate the heritage and statehood of Maine," tribal leaders said in a statement on Friday afternoon. "While offensive in numerous ways, as well as historically inaccurate, it is also deeply harmful to the Wabanaki Nations as well as the descendants of all Indigenous Nations."
State Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, chair of the state's bicentennial commission, said on Friday evening that the Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association's event is not funded by nor is officially part of the state's bicentennial celebration. During original planning for the celebrations in 2019, it was endorsed by the commission, which allowed it to use its logo.
That endorsement was issued before they knew which ships would be visiting. When the tall ships festival was first announced in early 2020, the Nao Santa Maria was not part of the lineup.
"While the ship's visit is not hosted by Maine200 and the bicentennial commission is not involved in the planning for this event, we regret that this ship was chosen for an event that is associated with Maine's bicentennial, as the mistreatment of Native Americans is a devastating part of Maine's history," Diamond said in a statement. "We are encouraging the event organizers to cancel the participation of the ship as part of their bicentennial celebration."
The Penobscot Nation requested in its statement on Friday that towns that intend to host the ship reconsider their events, and asked that festival sponsor Bangor Savings Bank withdraw their support for the ship's visit.
Dick Campbell, a former Republican state legislator from Orrington who is the lead organizer of the tall ship's visit to the Penobscot River, said he would be issuing a statement on Friday evening.
The Nao Santa Maria, which is run by a Spanish nonprofit, previously visited Maine in 2019, when it docked in Portland Harbor. It did not draw wide criticism then.
The currently scheduled appearance comes after a national reckoning over race and as tribes struggle to advance a sweeping sovereignty effort that has been resisted by Mills. She vetoed a bill late last month that would have allowed tribes to run gaming businesses on their land.
