Charles W. Morgan is an American whaling ship whose active service period was
during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Built in 1841, ships of this
type were usually used to harvest the blubber of whales for whale oil, which
was commonly used in lamps. The ship has served as a museum ship since the 1940s,
and is now an exhibit at the Mystic Seaport museum in Mystic, Connecticut.
She is the world's oldest surviving merchant vessel, and the only surviving
wooden whaling ship from the 19th century American merchant fleet. She was
designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
Construction Charles Waln Morgan chose Jethro and
Zachariah Hillman's shipyard to construct a new ship at their shipyard
in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Charles W. Morgan's live oak keel was laid down
in February 1841 and fastened together with copper bolts. The bow and stern
pieces of live oak were secured to the keel by an apron piece. The sturdy stern
post was strengthened with hemlock root and white oak. Yellow pine shipped from
North Carolina was used for the ship's beams and hemlock or hackmatack was used
for the hanging knees. Construction of the Morgan proceeded
until April 19, 1841, when the workers went on strike, demanding a ten-hour
work day. The strike gathered support until it encompassed the shipyard, the
oil refineries and the cooper shops; Charles Morgan was appointed chairman of
the employers and tasked to resolve the strike. Morgan opposed their demands,
and a meeting with four master mechanics ended in failure. On May 6, an agreement
was reached when the workers accepted a ten-and-a-half-hour workday. Work
resumed on the ship without incident and it was launched on July 21, 1841. The
ship was registered as a caravel of 106 1⁄2 feet in length, 27 feet 2 1⁄2 inches
inches in breadth, and 13 feet 7 1⁄4 inches in depth. Her displacement was
314 gross tons The ship's construction and rigging cost a total of $32,562.08
and was assessed a shipyard fee of $2.25 per day for its 258 construction; labor
charges was billed at $1.75 a day for 129½ days.
The ship was outfitted at Rotch's Wharf for the next two months while
preparations were made for its first voyage. The name Charles W. Morgan was
initially rejected by its namesake builder before being used. Captain
Thomas Norton sailed Charles W. Morgan into the Atlantic alongside Adeline
Gibbs and Nassau towards the Azores. A stop was made at Porto Pim on Faial
Island to gather supplies before crossing the Atlantic and passing Cape
Horn before charting a course to the north. On December 13, the men launched
in their whaling boats and took their first whale, harpooning it and killing
it with the thrust of a lance under the side fin. The Morgan entered the port of
Callau in early February and departed again on the 10th for the Galapagos
Islands. In 1844, the ship sailed to the Kodiak Grounds before sailing for home
on August 18. Charles W. Morgan returned to her home port in New Bedford on
January 2 in 1845. The voyage of three years and three months resulted in 59
whales being processed for 1600 barrels of sperm oil, 800 barrels of right whale
oil and five tons of whale bone that netted a total of $53,052.56.
Service life In her 80 years of service from her home
port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, she made 37 voyages ranging in length from
nine months to five years. Charles W. Morgan, in total, brought home 54,483
barrels of sperm and whale oil and 152,934 pounds of whalebone. She sailed
in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans, surviving ice and snow storms. Her crew
survived a cannibal attack in the South Pacific. Between 1888 and 1904 she was
based in San Francisco. Charles W. Morgan had more than 1,000
whalemen of all races and nationalities in her lifetime. Her crew included not
only Americans, but sailors from Cape Verde, New Zealand, the Seychelles,
Guadeloupe, and Norfolk Island. The ship's crew averaged around 33 men per
voyage. As with other whaleships in the 19th century, Charles W. Morgan was
often home to the captain's family. Charles W. Morgan was owned and managed
by the J. & W. R. Wing Company of New Bedford.
During her years of service, Charles W. Morgan was used in several movies,
including Miss Petticoats, Down to the Sea in Ships and Java Head.
Preservation Charles W. Morgan was nearly destroyed
in 1924 when Sankaty, a steamer, caught fire and broke free of her mooring
lines. The burning Sankaty drifted across the river and into Charles W.
Morgan‍ '​s port quarter, but the Fairhaven firemen managed to save
Charles W. Morgan. This event spurred Harry Neyland and some New Bedford
citizens to restore and preserve Charles W. Morgan. Unsuccessful in their
efforts, Neyland persuaded Colonel Edward Howland Robinson Green to save
the ship. Neyland appealed to Green that the Morgan was of historicial importance
and was a family heirloom because Charles W. Morgan was once co-owned by
Green's grandfather and his wife's company. Green had the ship towed to his
estate in Round Hill and founded Whaling Enshrined consisting of himself, Neyland
and John Bullard, the great-grandson of Charles Waln Morgan.
Charles W. Morgan underwent restoration by Captain George Fred Tilton and was
turned into an exhibition for Green's estate in a berth constructed by Frank
Taylor. On the 86th anniversary of Charles W. Morgan‍ '​s launch, Green
held a dedicatory ceremony and gave the ship to Whaling Enshrined on July 21,
1926. Charles W. Morgan‍ '​s fate came into question when Tilton died in 1932
and Green died in 1935; resulting in lengthy court proceedings over the
Green's estate. The 1938 New England hurricane damaged Charles W. Morgan‍ '​s
hull and tore the sails; Whaling Enshrined attempted, but could not
secure funds for the ship. In 1941, Charles W. Morgan was saved by the
Marine Historical Association based on Taylor's word that the ship could be
freed and towed to Mystic, Connecticut. Taylor's crew dug Charles W. Morgan from
her berth and dredged a channel for her to pass through, but the first attempt
to pull the ship free was unsuccessful. More digging and caulking of the ship
preceded the Morgan‍ '​s successful tugging into the channel and the century
old hull withstood the move and floated into bay provided by the Coast Guard
cutter General Greene. Charles W. Morgan was towed to the old berth in Fairhaven
for several days of preparations and repairs prior to the trip to Mystic.
On November 5, 1941, General Greene pulled Charles W. Morgan from the wharf
only to have her be caught by the tide and swept downstream, coming to rest on
a mud flat and requiring two hours to be freed. The journey came to an end on
November 8 when Charles W. Morgan passed through the Mystic bridge and was moored
in the Mystic Seaport. The Mystic Seaport took shape around Charles W.
Morgan with the restoration of its buildings and historic ships that came
to reside at the museum. Stackpole writes, "Over it all, the Morgan
presided like Old Neptune-the centerpiece, the king seated on a throne
of gravel, towering high above the scene."
Restoration Charles W. Morgan arrived at Mystic
Seaport in December 1941. The ship was declared a National Historic Landmark
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. In 1971, the
United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring Charles W.
Morgan. For the first 30 years of the ship's
life at Mystic Seaport, she was surrounded by a bed of sand to prevent
her from sinking. Even so, she was open to the public and was the center piece
of an recreated 19th Century maritime village museum inspired by Colonial
Williamsburg. She was, and is, the only preserved 19th Century whaling ship.
A restoration and preservation project was undertaken in 1968 which resulted in
her being made seaworthy and the sand bed was removed. Prior to the 1968
restoration, she had a wide white stripe on her sides with painted with large
black squares that resembled gun ports when viewed at a distance. This
"camouflage" was often employed by 19th Century merchant ships to make them
resemble warships so as to deter pirates and hostile navies.
In 2010 Mystic Seaport was engaged in a multi-million dollar restoration,
intended to restore the ship to seaworthy status.
On July 21, 2013, marking the 172nd anniversary of the vessel’s initial
launch, Charles W. Morgan was re-launched into the Mystic River.
During the summer of 2014 Charles W. Morgan sailed her 38th voyage on tour of
New England seaports which included New London, Newport, Boston and her home
town of New Bedford. In culture
Charles W. Morgan has been depicted in mixed media in different ways for nearly
a century. In 1971, Melbourne Brindle of Bridgeport, Connecticut designed four
commemorative stamps of historic landmarks including Charles W. Morgan.
Notes In The Last Sail Down East Charles W.
Morgan's length was reported as being "just over 105 feet long". The book
conflicts with Stackpole by listing the ship's return from its first voyage on
January 1, 1845 instead of the following day. The goods detailed within match,
but the figure of $69,591 is listed instead of $53,052.56.
See also List of National Historic Landmarks in
Connecticut National Register of Historic Places
listings in New London County, Connecticut
List of museum ships Other preserved 19th-century sailing
ships: USS Constitution
USS Niagara USS Constellation
Cutty Sark Effie M. Morrissey / Ernestina
Coronet References
External links Deck prisms on the Charles W. Morgan