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American whaling ship 'Charles W. Morgan' 1841 (With Plans)


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'Charles W. Morgan'


 


Source:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Morgan_%28ship%29


 


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 1940's, and is now an exhibit at the Mystic Seaport museum in Mystic, Connecticut. It is the world's oldest surviving merchant vessel, and the only surviving wooden whaling ship from the 19th century American merchant fleet. It 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. The 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 (32.5 m) in length, 27 feet 2 1⁄2 inches (8.293 m) inches in breadth, and 13 feet 7 1⁄4 inches (4.147 m) in depth.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 the Morgan into the Atlantic alongside the Adeline Gibbs and the Nassau towards the Azores. A stop was made at Porto Pim (Horta) 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. The 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

 

Charles W Morgan 2008.jpg

In her 80 years of service, 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 (1916), Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) and Java Head (1923).

 

Preservation

 

The Morgan was nearly destroyed in 1924 when the Sankaty, a steamer, caught fire and broke free of its mooring lines. The burning Sankaty drifted across the river and into the Morgan '​s port quarter, but the Fairhaven firemen managed to save the Morgan. This event spurred Harry Neyland and some New Bedford citizens to restore and preserve the 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 the 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 (Dartmouth, Massachusetts) and founded Whaling Enshrined consisting of himself, Neyland and John Bullard, the great-grandson of Charles Waln Morgan.

 

The 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 the Morgan '​s launch, Green held a dedicatory ceremony and gave the ship to Whaling Enshrined on July 21, 1926. The 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 the Morgan '​s hull and tore the sails; Whaling Enshrined attempted, but could not secure funds for the ship. In 1941, the Morgan was saved by the Marine Historical Association (later renamed Mystic Seaport) based on Taylor's word that the ship could be freed and towed to Mystic, Connecticut. Taylor's crew dug the Morgan from its berth and dredged a channel for it 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. The 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, the General Greene pulled the Morgan from the wharf only to have it 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 the Morgan passed through the Mystic bridge and was moored in the Mystic Seaport. The Mystic Seaport took shape around the 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

 

The Charles W. Morgan in dry-dock undergoing 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, the Charles W. Morgan was re-launched into the Mystic River. During the summer of 2014 the Morgan sailed its 38th voyage on tour of New England seaports which included New London, Newport, Boston and her home town of New Bedford.

 

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Detailed Plans:

 

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The best information we have on the time frame is:
 

We definitely stop at 1820 mark yes. +-5 years.
Initial model line up range from 1680 till 1820.

Going earlier than that might make line battles look strange (with old galleons alongside modern 2nd rates)


In the Player selected ship 2015 - Suggestions-thread, @admin mentioned: 1600-1830 hard limit, 1690-1790 preferred. Where many feel that 1830 is stretching it.

In other words, this ship is outside the time line by a fair margin.

~Brigand

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If it sells good , why not? :D

 

If making money is to be the best argument in game development, quality and gameplay experience suffer. So far, Game Labs has shown (by closing the pre-orders) that they care about the gameplay experience first and money second.

 

There are plenty of whaling ships out there that fit right into the presented time line. Although I don't really see why we would need one, because whaling has been mentioned to be a 'maybe somewhere in the future, but don't hold your breath' feature.

 

 

~Brigand

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If it sells good , why not? :D

 

Why don't they charge us 10 dollars per ship, why don't they charge us per minute, why don't they put in a 1914 dreadnought or steam powered vessels, they will sell good. Why not? If it sells good that makes it totally a good idea.

 

/sarcasm

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Roasted.

 

 

 

 

Jk, but I think that having a ship outside of the time frame the dev's had in mind would mess up the whole lineup, and before you know it others will be requesting nuclear submarines (exaggeration) and other shtuff like that. 

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On a side note, I have a bit of a love affair with this ship.  Been to Mystic many a time.  I've been aboard her both on the water and when she was in dry dock being rebuilt.  I have the Model Shipways kit of her as well and look forward to building it some day.  It's great that we have preserved at least one fine example of this kind of ship, however you feel about whaling itself.  

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I love the Morgan as well, but she's outside the timeline.  There are others that fit within the timeline, and even if we don't have whaling, they'd make good lightly armed/unarmed merchant ships for those who want to focus on trade.  However, I'd still say we should find an example within the time period (I be surprised if Mystic Seaport and the New Bedford Whaling Museum didn't have plans available for more than one).  It's just 9 years from the launch of the Morgan to the launch of the first purpose-built steam powered warship, Napoleon.  So, with so many possibilities within this 100-230 year span (according to the dates provided above by Brigand), why push the envelope?  Instead, maybe put in the whaleship Essex (sank 1820 and was considered old by then-couldn't readily find a launch date) instead?  Just as famous, and within the time period.

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I think this ship would work with something that Jeremiah O'Brien said in another post about fishing. As you progress your fishing skills, you eventually learn how to whale. This then allows you to make blueprints for a ship such as this, which can then be used to further than skill. As well as selling Whale meat at port and to other merchants.

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