The 38th Voyagers: Sailing a 19th-Century Whaler
ysric Seaport's restoration of the Charles W Morgan and sailing her from New London to New Bedford and Boston this summer has been an enormous undertaking. Mystic fully restored the hull, replaced nearly all the sails and rigging, and designed and installed extensive plumbing and electrical systems (most of which will be removed once the ship returns to the museum). Another huge part of this project h as been not about the ship, however, bur about her connection with people- from an extensive shoreside display program at most ports to a gro up of "Voyagers" selected to sail on each leg of the voyage. While tens of thousands will be able to visit the ship over the course of the voyage, relatively few wi ll be able to sail on board her. To m ake the experience of actually sailing in Morgan open to as many as possible, Mystic created a program to invite applicants for each leg of the sail. Eight or nine people on each of nine legs, selected from a large group of applicants, got to experience the ship sailing for the first rime in almost a century. I was lucky enough to be selected to join the first group ofVoyagers, for the leg from New London to Newport, in mid-June. For me, as for most of the Voyagers, sailing in the Morgan was the opportunity
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of a lifetime. The night before we sailed, I joined most of my fellow Voyagers for dinner at Mystic Seaport, and we then headed to the ship, which was moored at City Pier in New London. We were welcomed aboard, found bunks in the fo'c'sle, and were given a tour of the entire ship. Most of us had attended a very useful training day in Mystic abo ut two months earlier, so we already knew quire a lot about the ship and the voyage. Lights were doused at lOPM. I stayed on the foredeck for quite a while, talking with my shipmates-some new friends and some I had known for decades . Many of the permanent crew also slept in the fo'c's le, so nea rly every bunk was taken . We rose
at 5AM Su nday morning, to make ready for a 6:30AM departure. It was a gorgeous, glorious day, a nd a surprising number of people showed up at that hour ro see us off. In addition to the Voyagers a nd the permanent crew, we h ad crew from the museum staff, plus several reporters, guests, and passengers aboard for the day. All rold, there were more people aboard the Morgan when we got underway than there had been in her w haling days. And of course, we sp ent o ur precious few hours on deck; nineteenth-century whalemen likely spent much of their spare time below deck. Twenty yea rs before, I'd sp ent a summer worki ng at the museum as part of the Morgan's demonstration squad, and on this voyage I very much wanted to participate in sail ing the ship. While I remembered things like how to coil a line, I had long forgotten which of the myriad lines from aloft was which. I coiled lines whenever I saw an opportunity, since that was something I could do with confidence. After a while, I was invited to ac tually work some of the lines, and that was a great treat for me. I had sailed w ith the second mate years ago, and he kindly invited me to assist hi s watch in working the sails-and, of course, in coiling lines. The rug Sirius provided by Ralph Packer-owner of the Martha's Vineyardbased Tisbury Wharf Company, rowed us our of New London, to the roar of cheers from a crowd who had gathered on the pier. As we were towed out, we started setting
(right) The 38th Voyage getting underway for its first leg, New London, Connecticut, to Newport, Rhode Island, 15 June 2 014.
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SEA HISTfORY 148, AUTUMN 2014