A new exhibit at the Maine Maritime Museum celebrates the international connection between Bath, Maine and a Japanese community that risked it all to save the crew of an American ship.

Late last month, the museum unveiled “Kindred Tides: The Gyotaku Artwork of Nate Garrett” exhibit honoring the sister-city relationship between Bath and Tsugaru, Japan, with a fish print demonstration scheduled for Sept. 4 by Maine-based artist Nate Garrett.

Nate Garrett’s Gyotaku fish prints celebrate the sister relationship between Bath and Tsugaru in a new exhibit displayed over the summer from June 28 to Sept. 29. Paul Bagnall/The Times Record

“It’s the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the sister-state relationship between the state of Maine and the Aomori Prefecture,” said Catherine Cyr, associate curator for the Maine Maritime Museum.

Garrett has been doing gyotaku fish printing artwork, a traditional form of Japanese art that began 100 years ago, as a way for fishermen to keep a record of the fish they caught.

Garrett had fish species from the Sea of Japan shipped to him and locally sourced Maine fish to serve as models for the Gyotaku prints.

In 1889, a Bath-built vessel named the Cheseborough, ran into a typhoon on its return trip to New York after dropping off a shipment of case oil in Kobe, Japan. According to Cyr, the Cheseborough shipwrecked near the village of Shariki, and villagers braved the rough seas to save surviving crew members.

“It’s almost like a lore in their sense now of this huge event that happened that sparked this improbable connection between a tiny city in Maine and a small village in Japan,” Cyr said.

Visitors to Maine Maritime Museum can view the work of Nate Garrett as the museum celebrates the 30th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Bath and Tsugaru. Paul Bagnall/The Times Record

The villagers saved four of the 19 crew members and provided ceremonial burials for the crew members who didn’t make it. Cyr said these memorial services have been held annually since 1889, even throughout World War II when the United States and Japan were at war.

“They understood that the witnessing of this tragedy was something to not be forgotten,” Cyr said.

A monument built in 1969 was dedicated to the Cheseborough crew that passed away. In 1990, a student exchange program was set up and is still actively happening in Bath at Morse High School and Tsugaru, with Shariki village now a part of Tsugaru. In 1993, a sister-city relationship was codified between Tsugaru and Bath, spawning the sister-state relationship in 1994.

A tori gate was constructed in Bath on Commercial Street the previous year to dedicate the between Bath and Tsugaru.

The “Kindred Tides” exhibit is on display at the Maine Maritime Museum until Sept. 29, so visitors can learn more about the friendship and history Bath shares with Tsugaru.