Mystic Seaport Museum Relaunches whaleship Charles W. Morgan

The Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut relaunched the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan on July 21 in the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. The ship, a National Historic Landmark and America’s oldest commercial vessel, was carefully lowered into the water in a public ceremony to float on her own bottom for the first time since 2008.

The ship was christened by Sarah Bullard, the great-great-great granddaughter of Charles Waln Morgan, one of the original owners of the ship and the man after which she was named. The bottle Bullard broke across the bow was filled with waters from the oceans over which the vessel sailed during her 80-year whaling career. Samples were gathered from the North and South Atlantic, the Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Water from the Acushnet River in New Bedford and the Mystic River were added to represent her original and homeports.

The restoration of the ship began when she was hauled out of the water in November 2008. The focus of the project was to address the hull below the waterline, the majority of which dated to the ship’s original construction. The final phase that begins now will involve rigging, restoring her interior, and installing temporary systems necessary to take her back to sea for a ceremonial 38th Voyage in late May 2014 (the ship completed 37 voyages during her whaling career).

The 38th Voyage will take the Morgan to historic ports of New England. After a period of fitting out and sea trials in New London, the ship will sail to Newport, Vineyard Haven, New Bedford, and Boston. She will also venture onto the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and she will participate in the centennial celebration of the opening of the Cape Cod Canal. The Voyage will be a commemoration of the role of the sea in the history of America and an appreciation of our changing relationship with the natural world.

The Morgan will continue to be open for Museum visitors to board while the restoration continues. www.mysticseaport.org