Charles W Morgan Restoration; A Volunteer's Perspective

On November 1, 2008 the Charles W. Morgan was hauled out for extensive restoration. It was predicted to take between 3 to 5 years to complete.

The Charles W. Morgan is the last surviving wooden whaling ship from the great days of sail. Built in 1841 in New Bedford, MA, the Morgan had a successful 80-year whaling career. She made 37 voyages before retiring in 1921.
When finished the plan is to take the Morgan on her 38th voyage and sail her back to New Bedford.
I (Carl, ed.) joined Mystic Seaport’s volunteer crew in late July of 2009 and was asked if I would like to work on the Morgan. My job is to scrape paint. Certainly not a glamorous job, but it needs to be done.

During the last six months while I have been scraping paint, I have been taking pictures, and sending them in e-mails to friends who are on my “Victim List.” I sent them to a couple of Mystic staff members and now I have a new job. I will continue to scrape paint and in my new job I will try to show what is going on behind the scenes where visitors can not go.
These pictures are from the day the Morgan was hauled out in Mystic’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard.
So to start off with, here is the paint scrapping we have been doing. We started with heat but quickly found that all the paint contains lead. Now we use Peel Away which is much safer for everyone.

The bilge is an area where the bulk of the restoration is taking place. The ceiling and frames are being evaluated and replaced as needed. The bilge is an area that has never been available to visitors to Mystic Seaport.

All of the knees have been removed in the bilge area except those replaced during another restoration back in the 80's. The white I beams overhead are holding up the deck above. They are tied into the main deck with steel rods for support. They are also used as rails for a gantry which is used for hauling heavy timers in and out of the hull.

Here you can see the ends of the futtocks are rotted. The ceiling is only partially removed here and it is not in the best condition either. To the best of the seaports knowledge, this is all original to 1841 and no one has seen this part of the ship since then.

There are numbers all along both sides of the Morgan.
They are used in conjunction with a laser, I’m not up on this right now but it has something to do with keeping the ship straight and true. As the hog is removed more than just the keel will move so I guess this is part of that project.
Here, in the pictures below, the old numbers are being replaced because the sun has faded the original numbers. The fellow in the picture told me that each number lines up with a frame inside the hull.

This is from the day the ship was hauled and shows the hogging.

There has been some progress on the framing inside the hull.
Here a shipwright is taking measurements and fabricating a template of the old futtock.

Several frames have been measured.

These are the knees that have been removed so far. They will be replaced with new knees made from live oak. Knees are used to support 90 degree joints such as where the deck ties into the hull. They are cut from a part of the tree that has the grain growing in the desired shape. Where the root and trunk meet is a good source. Another place is where a large branch forms.

This is one template made to replace a knee. Every knee and every template are numbered so they go back where they belong.

The yard cuts all the wood it needs with various saws. Here they are cutting stock for frames and knees.

When I was involved with sports cars years ago and was rebuilding an engine there was a special moment when the ratchet wrench lever was switched to tighten bolts rather than loosen them. At that point all the prep work was done and dreams of sunny days with the top down were soon to be realized.

The Morgan has reached that small milestone. After a long winter of prepping the ship for new frames, the first futtock has been installed.

Months of carving out the rough shapes from giant logs which will eventually become futtocks continues. The yard is filling with these blanks.

Some of the original 1841 futtocks have been removed.

Some of the original 1841 futtocks have been removed.

One down and hundreds more to go.

Work on the Morgan is moving along.
Frames have been replaced on both port and starboard sides.
This is starboard looking aft.

In this picture a futtock is being planed to length and shape to match the original.

Framing continues. Here a new futtock is hauled up into the bow for installation.

Inside the 500 lb futtock is lifted into place.



All photos and captions courtesy Carl Swebilius , Mystic Seaport and the WoodenBoat Forum


To be continued...

I'm a big fan of the WoodenBoat Forum. I almost exclusively follow the design forum, but recently thought I should take a look at the at the building forum and was rewarded by finding there a huge thread on the restoration of the Charles W Morgan, the last remaining wooden whaleboat in the world. The thread is posted by a volunteer, Carl Swebilius, who works at Mystic Seaport one day a week and follows the work being done on the Morgan as well as branching off into many other stories about Mystic. It's a casual read, but also hugely informative and entertaining. Well worth a look.

Here's what Mystic Seaport say's about the Morgan:

"The Morgan is comparable to many whaling ships of the time: 105' on deck, 133' overall. Her beam (width) is 27.7' and her draft (depth) is 12.6 feet, although fully loaded she could draw as much as 17.6', her registered depth. Her displacement (weight) is 313.75 tons.

Her longest voyage was four years and 11 months, while her shortest was 'only' eight and a half months.

The Charles W. Morgan is the last surviving wooden whaling ship from the great days of sail. Built in 1841 in New Bedford, MA, the Morgan had a successful 80-year whaling career. She made 37 voyages before retiring in 1921, and was preserved as an exhibit through the efforts of a number of dedicated citizens. After being on display in South Dartmouth, MA, until 1941, she came to Mystic Seaport, where each year thousands of visitors walk her decks and hear the fascinating story of her career as a whaling vessel, historic exhibit, film and media star, and a porthole into America's rich history."

Some numbers:

The Charles W. Morgan slid out of Jethro and Zachariah Hillman's shipyard in New Bedford, MA, on July 21, 1841.

She took 7 months to construct with 31 men working on her.

She cost $26,877 to build and another $25,977 to outfit for her first voyage.

She was 113 feet long and classed as a 351 ton whaling ship.

Her beam was 27-feet, 6-inches with a 17-foot, 6-inch depth.

Her main truck was 110 feet above the deck.

The sail capacity was over 13,000 square feet.

She carried 4 whale boats (later a fifth was added).

The Morgan typically carried a crew of 30 to 36 men.

Her cruising speeds could reach over 9 knots.

Nat Arata, VP of Development at Mystic, and my liaison for this project, along with Carl Swebilius, the volunteer who is telling the story, sent this answer to my query about what the costs from 1841 equated to in current dollars, just for some perspective. The question was answered by another VP at Mystic, Paul J. O'Pecko, Vice President, Collections and Research Director, G.W. Blunt White Library,Mystic Seaport:

"According to the website Measuringworth.com, $1340000.00 in the year 2009 has the same 'purchase power' as $52854 in the year 1841.
Another historical currency converter says 52854 dollars in 1841 had the same buying power as 1.31908712e+6 current dollars. So very close, somewhere near 1.3 million dollars."

I visited the Morgan this summer during the WoodenBoat Show this summer and have to say she is the imposing presence on the Seaport's waterfront. Out of the water as she is, the word that comes to mind is massive. Definitely worth the trip.

Editors note. I am endeavoring to keep the flavor of Carl's posts to this thread by not editing his captions. Note that I have not, by any means, used all of his work. It's all there on the thread.
This is just the first of three posts on this voluminous thread, More to come...

Launching speech for the Bavaria Cruiser 40s

My name is Patrick Shaughnessy, and I am the President of Farr Yacht Design, and today I very happy to be here participating in the launch of the Bavaria Cruiser 40s.

Farr Yacht Design is acknowledged as the top racing-yacht design team in the world based upon one of the most extensive and impressive records of winning yacht racing results ever compiled by a single design group. Our long-running record of achievement dates back more than 25 years and includes 40 World Championships and a multitude of design successes at prestigious grand prix yachting events such as the Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup, Vendee Globe, Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Barcelona World Race, Transat Jacques Vabre, Copa del Rey and many others. So having said that you can imagine that we were very happy to oblige Bavaria when they requested a sport version of the Cruiser 40.

When you have an existing platform you need to be very careful how you add performance. It is possible to float the boat too light, and add too much sail area, and to generally ruin a good boat’s characteristics. We needed to be responsible in order to maintain the goodness of the Cruiser 40, but to add performance, and do it in a cost effective way that could fit within the pricing, and assembly logic that has made Bavaria so successful.

We determined that an overall weight reduction targeted at 250kg was the maximum that the hull should be allowed to float up. This has been achieved by increasing the hull core thickness, and eliminating superfluous nonstructural interior components along with removal of a toilet, and the swim platform.

We’ve lengthen the mast tube 440mm, and the boom 390mm. The combination of those changes has allowed us to add 5.6m2 of sail area to the boat focused on improving light air upwind performance. Near masthead asymmetric and symmetric options provide the boat with ample downwind sail area to complement the upwind performance. Sail area / Displacement ratio increases from 4.4 to 4.6. The sails can be controlled in a racing environment by a full German mainsheet system on a traveller, adjustable jib leads, and full spinnaker controls.

Below the waterline a cast iron fin keel increased in draft to 2.3m and achieves an IRC friendly keel geometry which should produce an improved upwind sailing efficiency. The steering system has been changed to a full mechanical component system which should improve steering feel.

With all of those changes we’ve produced a boat which has a measurable performance increase over a standard Bavaria Cruiser 40. As an aside fact it turns out that the average racing windspeed is almost exactly 12 knots when considering the whole worlds racing venues. And so a comparison of the Cruiser 40 and 40 Sport in 12 knots TWS show that the Sport version is 96 seconds per mile faster VMG upwind, and 33 seconds per mile faster VMG downwind. A typical 2 mile windward leeward racing course twice around would have the Sport version finishing 4 and a half minutes earlier. While the performance remains relatively modest in a true grand prix sense we are confident that the Cruiser 40s has the sail area it needs to sailed in light air venues, and the performance versus handicap attributes to be successful under both ORCi and IRC.

Launching Speech for the new Bavaria Cruiser 50

My name is Patrick Shaughnessy, and I am the President of Farr Yacht Design, and today I represent the combined design group that has produced the new Bavaria Cruiser 50.

The line-up logic for Bavaria’s Cruiser line entailed producing cornerstone type products at 55, 32, and 45 feet, and following that, derivative type products between them at 40, 36, and 50 feet. Today with the 50 we have finally the complete Cruiser line together. For Farr Yacht Design alone this body of work represents 15,000 man hours, or roughly 7.5 man years’ worth of design time. Certainly a substantial undertaking.

We’ve continued our focused effort to link the exterior living space with the water. The enormous swimming platforms that we’ve created for the Cruiser line continue to be a focal point for the 50. The deck concept is improved by adding more opening ports and hatches in response to a want for greater ventilation.

Like the 45 and 55 the 50 is a twin rudder boat. This choice allowed us to create large central storage area beneath the cockpit and to give this boat the benefit of real controllability at high angles of heel. The twin rudders also allow us to create a hull shape with a long waterline and a great interior volume. By keeping our halyard runs and dodger above deck we’ve been able to package a large interior beneath a moderate freeboard height. Within our large interior volume we’ve packaged both a 4 cabin charter boat, and an owners cabin forward 3 cabin boat. Both of those interior options can also be had with a forward Pullman style cabin increasing the potential cabins to 3, 4, and 5 cabin versions. A range of interior options available for both owners and charter fleets. All of the cabin options will be able to seat the number of people they can sleep at the exceptionally large salon seating area. A separate shower area adds to the interior features list. Beneath the cabin sole we’ve been able to use large centrally located water and fuel tanks which should improve pitch response in waves. In our engineering work we’ve moved to a thicker hull core which has produced both weight reduction, and reduced boat assembly time.

We’ve used the deck space wisely so that the whole crew can sit comfortably for dinner on deck just like we can below deck. We created a cockpit space that is closed and secure to protect a young family, but can fully open so that we can truly enjoy the places we spend the time to sail to.

We’ve worked hard to produce a boat that can be kind and forgiving for a novice and rewarding in the hands of an experienced sailor. This is a boat with 2 keel draft options at 1.85m and 2.25m, both with produce ballast ratios exceeding 28%. Both keel versions follow our logic that a true cruising boat should sail at heel angles of less than 20 degrees below 15kts true wind speed and avoid reefing until over 20 knots TWS. Even with those conservative choices a SA/Disp ratio of 4.7 ensures that the boat will have a very competitive performance in its class.

And so we have the complete Cruiser line with the new Cruiser 50 following the line logic for styling and aesthetics but still managing to find improvement in several key areas. It does all of those things with a level of performance, engineering, and safety that has been the signature of every Farr Yacht Design product. Having said those things I would like to thank Bavaria for the opportunity to produce design work for the Cruiser line, and to be here today before you.

Unity of Lynn is for sale

Unity of Lynn

all photos courtesy Delphine Garcin

Unity of Lynn is for sale. She is an English smack of 11m built in 1906 and restored in Essex in 1995.
She'll come with a beautiful set of sails, a wood stove, and a Lombardini 36 ch2009 for power.
Restoration of the bulwarks, the stays and gunwales are underway. She is lying in Tréguier, France.
From the owner:

Unity was built by Alexander Gostelow in early 1906 and in late May 1906 he launched the Smack Telegraph (38 tons) and he is supposed to have launched Albert in December 1906 (now rebuilding in Holland) so for a small yard he was very busy....

Unity was employed for most of her working life trawling for pink shrimps which is a major fishery in the Wash.
The oyster fishery in the Wash died out by the 1880's so Unity could not have taken part and I do not think she has ever commercially fished for oysters any where else.

Unity was one of three "sister" ships built, the other two were Providence and the Perseverance which is now preserved in Grimsby Heritage Fishing museum although many features of her rigging are not as she was originally built.

Unity, Providence and Perseverance are the emblems/ motif of the Oddfellows Order (a society a bit like the Masons, but for working men) so presumably the first owner was a member of the Boston Oddfellows Lodge.

The owner offers this link for more information on the English Smacks ; www.ssa-uk.org

If you have interest in Unity, please email me with your contact info and I will gladly forward it to Unity's owner. My email is found in the upper right hand of this page.

Unity is offered at 30,000 euro. The owner is open to discussion.

Francois Vivier, Eliboubane and Yvon Le Corre

The model boat is a sardinfiskare from Brittany. Just "Eliboubane" who inspired us...

courtesy Arwen

Exposition d'Yvon Le Corre

courtesy
IPPA Iles et Phares du Pays des Abers

courtesy
Stéphane Dugast

Eliboubane with Vincent Malandain as skipper.

courtesy Moulin-Mer

Eliboubane detail.

courtesy Moulin-Mer

courtesy

Jean-Michel Durieux

(The Tools of the Passion)

The pardon of Saint Eliboubane early 20th century: the departure of boats with banners (Etienne Bouille, AD 22)

courtesy
(c) Région Bretagne, 2008 ; (c) Conseil général des Côtes-d'Armor, 2008

Yvon at 71

courtesy Le Telegramme

The magnificent work of Yvon Le Corre is reissued by The Chasse-marée/Glénat, seven years after its previous printing and twelve years after the original publication. Legends of the hand of the author were added to a number of boards. (© Chasse-marée/Glénat)

courtesy Olivier Chapuis

Inside Outils

courtesy coop-breizh

Le Corre drawings and a base map Beautemps-Beaupre, a masterpiece of nineteenth-century French engraving. (Double page of the 2010 Double page of the 2010 edition of Tools of passion © Chasse-marée/Glénat)

courtesy Olivier Chapuis

'Twice Round theLoggerhead' was written by Lance Lee and Bruce Halabisky. It's a poetic tribute to the Azorean whaling tradition, illustrated by Yvon.

Francois Vivier is a French boat designer who, after a long practice as a naval architect designing large commercial craft, turned his eye and hand to smaller, more traditional craft. He primarily draws boats based on tradition but modified for more contemporary usage and building techniques, and does so brilliantly. He also occasionally draws plans for very traditional Breton boats. Eliboubane was a rather special request from celebrated artist Yvon Le Corre. Here's Francois:

"Yvon La corre is both an unequaled artist and sailor. Both are linked as his boats have always been a means to wander with paper and pencils and come back with awesome illustrated notebooks.
When the first volume of Ar Vag, was published, with an extensive description of Breton sardin boats, he wanted to rebuild one of them. Eliboubane was built in 1981 by Daniel boatbuilder in Paimpol on a line plan drawn by myself on the basis of historical plans. Original sardin boats had a crew of 7, but Yvon was frequently alone or with only a few people on-board. So he tried many rig arrangements, to avoid gybing the sails when tacking".

Eliboubane (10m l, 3m w, 6.4 T d) I have been in love with this boat since I first saw her. Her owner, Yvon Le Corre is a highly respected and rather prolific painter/illustrator and author. He's also widely regarded in his native France as a gifted sailor, some have even likened him to the fabled Moitessier in his love for the sea. As Francois says above, he's figured a method for sailing his dipping lugger singlehandedly. Admirable. Yvon uses his boats to travel and makes sketches along the way, which he then turns into beautiful paintings/illustrations.

I have a copy of 'Twice Round the Loggerhead', a special project written by Lance Lee and Bruce Halabiskey documenting the life and waning culture of the Azorean whalers. It's beautifully illustrated by M. Le Corre, who does more than justice to the elegantly elongated whaleboats developed in the Azores.

After years of trying to contact M. Le Corre to no avail, I now have a slow mail address to write him, hopefully more to come.