CHARLES W. MORGAN (SHIP)

'''Charles W. Morgan''' was a U.S. whaling ship during the 1800s. Ships of this type usually harvested the blubber of whales for the use of whale oil that was commonly used in lamps during the time period.

Contents

History

Later service

Retirement

Restoration

External links

History

In the 1840s, a Quaker whaling merchant named Charles W. Morgan ordered a whaleship from the shipbuilders of Jethro & Zachariah Hillman of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
The hull and deck of ''Morgan'' reflected the industry for which she was built to serve. A typical whaleship has three functions:
# to serve as a mother ship to a fleet of small whaleboats, which are stored on the davits when not in use,
# to serve as a factory and a refinery ship with tryworks for extracting oil from the whale blubber,
# to serve as oil tankers.
''Morgan's'' maiden voyage began on September 6, 1841. She sailed around Cape Horn and cruised the Pacific Ocean. On ''Morgan's'' three year and four month voyage, she came home with 2,400 barrels of whale oil and 10,000 lbs of whalebone, known as baleen, which was worth around USD$56,000.

Later service

In her 80 years of service, she would make 37 voyages ranging from nine months to five years. ''Charles W. Morgan'', in total, brought home 54,483 barrels of whale oil and 152,934 pounds of whalebone. She also sailed in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans surviving ice & snow storms, and her crew survived a cannibal attack in the South Pacific. Between 1888 and 1904 she was based in San Francisco.
''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 1800s, ''Morgan'' often was home to the captain's family.
''Charles W. Morgan'' was used in 3 movies; the 1916 movie Miss Petticoats, the 1922 Down to the Sea in Ships, and in the 1930s in Java Head.
On the night of June 30, 1924, the ''Charles W. Morgan'' caught fire when the flaming wreck of the steamer ''Sankaty'', which had drifted across the Acushnet River from New Bedford harbor in flames, collided with it. Badly charred, it narrowly escaped destruction.^[1][2][3]

Retirement

The whaling days came to an end with the perfection of refining petroleum. ''Morgan'' was under the care of Whaling Enshrined, Inc. until 1941, when she was transferred to Mystic Seaport, where she still stands to this day.

Restoration

The Charles W. Morgan arrived at Mystic Seaport in December of 1941, narrowly avoiding her destruction during WWII. She has undergone several restorations and is slated for another large project in the next year or so. She is a Historic Landmark and Mystic Seaport is completing a multi-million dollar upgrade to their shipyard to complete her restoration. She is the oldest Whaler and Commercial vessel surviving in America.
The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring the Charles W. Morgan.

External links

★ ''Charles W. Morgan''

★ ''Deck prisms on the Charles W. Morgan''