partially removed, revealing some of rhe original frames rhar gave rhe 172-year-old hull irs shape. Rob poimed our some gaps in rhe original framing and insrrucred me ro use rhe oak he had given me and "see whar [I] can do ro cur some shims and close up rhese gaps." He poimed our some of rhe shimming rhar had been done by orher volumeers. "Yup .. . gor ir," I replied and off! wem. As I sized up rhe job, I could see rhar every one of rhese gaps was unique wirh irs own irregular shape, so a one-size-firs-all srraregy was our of rhe quesrion. Each ser ofshims required several sreps of measuring, curring, re-measuring, and sanding before I could finall y pound rhem inro place. Purring your hands ro work on such an imporram hisroric ship is a bir inrimidaring ar firsr, and I probably over-engineered every shim , raking over rwo hours for rhe firsr ser, bur gerring rhar down ro less rhan an hour as I workedmywayaround rhehull. Ar rimes I felr that I must be a source of some comic relief ro rhe professional shipwrighrs who could probably accomplish whar I was doing in fifreen minures, bur I rook my usual SUNY Maririme College engineer's pride in what I was doing and wanted ro be sure that, once rhese shims were installed, they would rruly be permanent. At some point, Rob came back ro inspect my work and gave me a simple, "Looks good, Jim." My farher was a serious woodworker who made a lot of furnirure around rhe house as I was growing up. I benefited from some of his knowledge abour working with wood and the various types of wood. By comparison, all of rhe workers I mer in rhe yard were masters in their knowledge of species of wood used in boat and shipbuilding and rheir unique properties. I actually wanted to learn more about the subject-and wanted ro sound so mewhat inrell igent ar the same rime-so I asked "does rhe oak that I'm using come from Sourh Carolina?" "Ir's white oak," Rob replied-then smiled as if he already knew why I was asking and said "and it came from Connecticut. Why do yo u ask?" With a slightl y puzzled look, I explained that I had read once that "Old Ironsides" had been planked wirh a very dense oak rhar on ly grows in Sourh Carolina. "The Morgan, and many ships of rhat era," he explained, "were built from white oak, which comes
SEA HISTORY 143, SUMMER 20 13
Ihe museum's investment in a new shiplift in preparation for the Morgan restoration has paid off Its fleet of large vessels need annual dry-docking for both regular maintenance and for Coast Guard inspections for their operational passenger and sail training vessels, including the steamboat Sabino (left) and schooner Brilliant.
from New England." Rob spun around and pulled our a piece ofscrap live oak from rhewood bin behind us and laid it alongside rhe piece of whire oak I was wo rking wi th. In rhe side-by-side comparison, you could clearly see the differences in density and rhe grain. I was grateful for rhe lesson of rhe day from Rob, who was obviously very busy bur still rook rhe rime to show me. During my week ar rhe shipyard, rhe restoration crew removed rhe 3,000-pound rudder from rhe Morgan using a forklifr and block and tackles from overhead. The cask would be challenging enough on any given day, bur naturally a cold front was passing rhrough and broughr wirh ir a frigid, soaking rain. Trurh be told, I was relieved when I was assigned to position myself inside (and our of rhe rain) with a flashlight and relay verbal commands and help pull slack out of lines through rhe overhead block and tackle when commanded. Towards rhe end of rhe week, I helped build a !arching mechanism rhar wo uld be used to secure a couple oflarger remporary doors. These would allow access to the work areas during rhe winter months when rhe Morgan will be wrapped in a cocoon of plastic to prorecr rheworkers from exposure to rhe wearher in rhe coldest of rhe wimer months.
A Welcome Everywhere Throughour rhe week, I was impressed how appreciarive everyone ar rhe museum was to see me rhere. They explai ned how viral volunteers are to rhe success of rhe museum as a whole and rhar, even rhough what I was working on mighr appear small, ir all helps in rhe overall success of rhe insrirurion. Many rimes, a volunteer's work can help
(right) A view of some of the port-side stern planking shows the documentation labeling.
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