The 172-year-old whaleship Charles W. Morgan is completing a multi-year restoration designed to ensure this iconic vessel survives for generations to come. Built in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1841, the 113-foot, full-rigged Morgan is the oldest commercial ship in the United States still afloat; only the naval frigate USS Constitution, launched in 1797, predates her on the water.
The five-year, $7.5 million restoration has been framed by Mystic Seaport — the museum that has cared for the Morgan since 1941 — as an investment in American maritime heritage. “This launch is a milestone in the life of this great ship,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport, addressing a crowd of roughly 2,000 in Mystic, Connecticut. “She turns 172 years old today, and we expect this work will preserve her for at least another 172 years so future generations can walk her decks and learn the important stories she carries about our shared maritime past.”
Her July 21 relaunch attracted worldwide attention. The Morgan, the last remaining wooden whaleship from an American fleet that once numbered more than 2,700 vessels, was christened by Sarah Bullard, a direct descendant of Charles Waln Morgan, one of the ship’s original owners. Documentary filmmaker Ric Burns called the vessel an “ambassador from a crucial moment in American history,” capturing the ship’s role as a tangible link to 19th-century seafaring, commerce, and culture.
“This one ship has embodied, made possible, made real and brought alive the experience of whaling as no other single artifact on the planet,” Burns said, underscoring the Morgan’s unique place in maritime interpretation and public history.
Since arriving at Mystic Seaport on the eve of World War II, an estimated 20 million people have walked the Morgan’s decks. With the restoration’s completion scheduled for next May, the ship will leave her long-term berth for the first time since her last whaling voyage ended in 1921. The Morgan will undertake a six-week voyage visiting historic New England ports including New London, Newport, Vineyard Haven, New Bedford, Provincetown and Boston. These port calls are planned as public programs that combine on-site experiences, online interpretation and on-board education to reach the widest audience possible.
The seaport’s public programming will emphasize four core themes: the life of the American sailor, the influence of cross-cultural connections at sea, whaling as a formative example of American enterprise, and the nation’s evolving relationship with the natural world — including whaling’s role in driving some species toward the brink of extinction. To support that outreach, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Mystic Seaport $450,000 to underwrite activities tied to what the museum calls the Morgan’s “38th Voyage.” The ship logged 37 whaling voyages during an 80-year career; this new voyage represents a fresh interpretive phase, transforming the Morgan into an operating artifact as well as a National Historic Landmark.
Dream team
Quentin Snediker, director of Mystic Seaport’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard, has overseen the restoration since it began in November 2008. With a long career in traditional vessels — from captaining schooners and clipper ships to building replicas — Snediker assembled a concentrated team of seasoned shipwrights for the Morgan project. Veterans included Roger Hambidge, who led a major Morgan restoration in the 1980s, and shipwrights Walt Ansel, Kevin Dwyer and Jeff Gold. Several graduates of the International Yacht Restoration School in Rhode Island also contributed specialized skills.
“These are the real veterans who have done this kind of work all their careers,” Snediker said. The small pool of artisans skilled in large timber shipbuilding made the team’s experience especially valuable for a restoration of this scale. The crew approached their work with humility, aware that they were preserving a National Historic Landmark and joining a long line of stewards responsible for the vessel’s continued existence.
Hammer and nails
Restoring a historic ship requires a surgical approach rather than the broad strokes typical of a new build. Earlier restorations had focused more on the topsides, but this comprehensive program concentrated on the hull. Skilled crews anticipated much of the work — a band extending from a couple of feet above the waterline down to the bilge and stem — but the scope still surprised them. The team replaced 100 percent of the ceiling and rebuilt the transom completely, while preserving as much original fabric as feasible.
Snediker described the craftsmanship as complex woodworking that, despite its difficulty, fell well within the team’s capabilities. One persistent challenge was sourcing appropriate old-growth timber. White oak, live oak and longleaf pine of the size and quality required are far less common today than in the 19th century. Mystic Seaport was fortunate to obtain hundreds of tons of salvage timber from several sources: trees uprooted by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike, and centuries-old timbers discovered in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston that had been preserved in anaerobic mud. Those recovered timbers — cut and hand-hewn for shipbuilding in a bygone era — contributed substantial framing stock to the restoration.
Buying time
Launch day used a cradle-and-rail system: the Morgan was slid over a platform which was then submerged until the ship floated free, a process that took about 20 minutes. Wooden vessels absorb water and swell after long periods of drying, and Snediker expects the Morgan’s timbers to take several months to reach full expansion following the 4½-year project. When the restoration began in 2008, the team estimated they would retain 30–35 percent of the original wood; when the work finished, roughly 15 percent of the 1841 material remained. Despite that, critical components like the white oak keel — the ship’s backbone — endured and continue to connect the Morgan to every voyage she has made.
Snediker likens the restoration to pressing a reset button. The work effectively added decades to the ship’s life: he estimates the Morgan should serve as an active artifact for at least another 30 to 50 years before significant restoration is required again. In doing so, the project secures the vessel’s role as an educational platform and a living link to America’s maritime past, ensuring that the Charles W. Morgan will continue to teach visitors about sailors, commerce, culture and conservation for many years to come.
MysticSeaport.org
October 2013 issue