The Voyages of the Ernestina, ex-Effie M. Morrissey By Michael Platzer Africa Branch, Office of Technical Cooperation, United Nations
Built in 1894 as the Gloucester fishing schooner Effie M. Morrissey, the Ernestina served as the last immigrant packet ship to the United States under sail. After a long career, under her original name, as an Arctic exploration and relief ship under Captain Robert Bartlett, she was picked up for the Brava Packet service from the Cape Verde Islands. Here Michael Platzer, project director for the National Society's campaign to return the old schooner to the United States, sets forth the saga of her service as packet ship. In a future article Mr. Platzer will trace the whole history of the Brava Packets.-ED. Charred from the fire which had sunk her in Flushing Bay, New York, the Effie M. Morrissey was not a pretty sight when Henrique Mendes first came upon her. But he noticed her hull, double-planked against Arctic ice, and appreciated her sturdy construction. He paid for the fifty-five year old schooner and brought her to New Bedford, where he had her repaired during the Spring of 1948. He renamed her Ernestina, after his daughter, and on August 18, 1948, sailed for Cape Verde with 50 tons of food and clothing and one passenger. Jose J. Perreira was her skipper. Upon reaching the islands, he registered the schooner in Cape Verde and used her for inter-island trade. The following spring, he organized a return trip and found five passengers anxious to go to the United States. John
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Baptista, Jr., was master on this voyage; the crew included Henrique's son Arnaldo and John Gomes. They left Brava on May 14, and stopped at Fogo and Praia before going to Dakar. During the transatlantic crossing, they encountered five days of rough weather which kept the crew so busy manning the pumps they dared not go to sleep. On August 6, the Ernestina arrived in Providence and anchored off the State Pier. Immigration officials ordered the passengers to remain aboard until their claims to U.S. citizenship were investigated. One man, Manuel Canto, insisted he was an American citizen, although he had left the United States thirty-three years before; another was returning to Cleveland, Ohio after a long visit to his native Fogo-he would have come back sooner had he been able to get earlier passage, he said. To prevent crew members from going ashore and finding marriage partners, thereby acquiring U.S. citizenship, they were ordered to remain aboard, otherwise the owner of the vessel would be heavily fined. But unmarried American women could visit the ship to see if a match could be made. Once one member of a family was given immigrant status, he could bring all his immediate family into the country. So, a seaman who came to America aboard Ernestina and found a wife or got ashore somehow, quite often brought others in his wake. Henrique Mendes lent money and negotiated a variety of fares with his
passengers, crew and prospective inlaws sending their children to New England. The Ernestina's second trip to the U.S. was made in 1950 with six women passengers, seven men, and fourteen crew members. She arrived on July 18 after a 38-day passage. It had been a pleasant trip. Henrique Mendes taught his passengers some basic English phrases and the pledge of allegiance. They had fresh vegetables, lobsters, live pigs, a lamb, goat, and cow aboard, and a good cook in Michael Rosario. They celebrated all the saints' days and everyone's birthday, the young sailors making cakes and serenading the women. A romance started between Henrique's son Arnaldo and his wife-to-be, Maria. Everyone was sorry when the voyage came to an end. It was three years before the Ernestina returned to the United States. Misfortune dogged her. In 1951 she took two American girls to Dakar for visas. Sailing between Praia and Fogo, she was dismasted by a storm. The falling spar nearly killed Henrique. A small boat was sent ten miles to Brava to obtain help. An S.O.S. was then telegraphed to other islands, and the Mada/an rushed to tow her safely to port. She was subsequently taken to the island of Saint Vincent where she was repaired. New masts and sails had to be obtained from Portugal. It took nine months before she was seaworthy again. Arnaldo and Maria had been writing to each other planning to be married that year when the Ernestina visited the United States; Maria broke down and cried when she heard the news. Nor did Cape Verde receive its "Christmas presents" from relatives in the United States since the Ernestina was not able to make its annual trip. In late 1952 the Ernestina, working again, took students from Fogo and Captain Henrique Mendes (left) and son-in/aw, Luis, 1957.