Mystic, Conn. — Nearly 100 years after its last voyage, the whaleship Charles W. Morgan will visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in a symbolic journey to one of the world’s premier whale watching sites. During the Morgan’s historic 38th Voyage to New England ports, the ship will visit the sanctuary, located off of Massachusetts, July 11-13. While in the sanctuary, the Morgan crew will team with NOAA to conduct outreach activities highlighting the sanctuary’s role in whale conservation and ocean research.

This is the Morgan’s first sailing voyage since 1921. Over an 80-year whaling career, the ship sailed on 37 voyages to the remote corners of the globe, including waters of what are now national marine sanctuaries in California, Hawaii, and American Samoa. The vessel was part of the fleet that played a defining role in the maritime heritage of New England and helped shape the nation’s identity.

Following a stop in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the whaleship’s homeport for most of her whaling career, the Morgan will sail to Provincetown, Massachusetts, for daily sails to the sanctuary. A free dockside educational exhibit will be open during those days. The public can follow the Morgan’s visit to the sanctuary on OceansLIVE (http://www.OceansLIVE.org), which will broadcast from the vessel and other locations, offering interviews and commentary with historians, scientists, authors, and artists discussing the shift from whaling to watching in New England.

“The Morgan’s 38^th Voyage to the whale grounds of New England represents a new voyage of hope,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport. “Instead of hunting whales, the last wooden whaleship afloat sails as an ambassador for ocean conservation.”

Stretching between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, offshore of Massachusetts, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is a critical feeding and nursery ground for several whale and dolphin species, including the endangered humpback, North Atlantic right, sei, and fin whales.

In the 1700s, shore-based whaling was a common activity in Massachusetts Bay, including waters now part of the sanctuary, and along the East Coast. Small boats set out from the shores of Cape Cod in pursuit of right whales, hastening their decline. As whale populations diminished in the Atlantic Ocean, Massachusetts whalers rounded Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean to find more whales.

Today, whales in the sanctuary are no longer hunted but studied and enjoyed for their beauty. The sanctuary is a center for whale watching in New England. Ongoing research at the sanctuary is focused on better understanding whale behavior so as to reduce whale mortality caused by entanglement in commercial fishing gear and ship strikes. Human-induced sources of underwater noise and their potential impacts on marine animals are also topics of substantial concern among scientists.

“Thanks to pioneering work by sanctuary scientists and others to develop conservation strategies to reduce risks to whales, we’re redefining how we interact with these magnificent creatures and forging a new relationship based on respect and stewardship,” said Daniel J. Basta, director, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

Mystic, Conn. — Mystic Seaport announced the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan will delay its departure from New Bedford until Tuesday, July 8. The ship had been scheduled to sail Monday from New Bedford to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy at the south end of the Cape Cod Canal on the next leg of its 38th Voyage on July 7.

“The forecast for sustained winds and gusts and sea conditions for Buzzards Bay exceeds our level of comfort for operating the ship,” said Dana Hewson, vice president for watercraft preservation and operations at Mystic Seaport.

The Morgan is now scheduled to sail to the academy on Tuesday morning. The next leg of the voyage, from the academy to Provincetown, Mass. by way of the canal, will be pushed back one day, to Wednesday, July 9. A series of day sails on the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will continue as scheduled from July 11-13.

For more information on the Morgan and its 38^th Voyage, please visit the Mystic Seaport website.

NEW BEDFORD — With a welcome fit for a prodigal son, the City of New Bedford has thrown open its arms to honor and celebrate the homecoming of the Charles W. Morgan this week.

The Morgan, of course, has a deep connection to the city. She was built and launched just upriver at the Hillman Brothers shipyard in 1841, and New Bedford was her homeport for 60 of the 80 years she was active in the whale fishery. When her whaling years were over, she was opened as an exhibit in nearby Round Hill at the estate of Col. Edward Green. It was only after his death in 1936, when no provision in his will had been made for the upkeep of the Morgan, did the ship find her way to Mystic, Conn., where the Marine Historical Association, now Mystic Seaport, took over her stewardship in 1941. She has not been back to New Bedford, or even left the Mystic River, since that time.

The city held an opening ceremony at State Pier on June 28, the first day the ship was open to the public. Civic leaders and politicians, among them Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Rep. William Keating, and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, praised the ship and the 38th Voyage project and hoped the visit inaugurates a new era of prosperity for the city.

Mystic Seaport President Steve White told the gathered crowd that the Morgan was not the Museum’s ship, nor New Bedford’s ship, but that she is America’s ship.

“We undertake this voyage to teach and to help America understand its maritime heritage more fully and to make it possible for you to teach our younger generations that this ship and this voyage are important, and that they should take notice and agree that they will become her stewards when all of us are gone,” White said.

As Mayor Mitchell raised the city’s flag on the ship, two descendants of whalers—Daniel Rodriguez and Bruce Gamaranzo—rang the Morgan’s bell 38 times to commemorate her 38 voyages, after which the ship was declared open.

An Immersive Experience

To date, thousands have flocked to the pier to take in a remarkable experience. In addition to touring the ship, visitors can learn about the Morgan, whales, and whaling, and their importance to American history in a 22,000 square-foot dockside exhibition. There is a video and display panels that explain the history and significance of the 173-year-old vessel, the important role the whaling industry played in this country’s economic history, how the Morgan and whaleships were an early connector of different cultures, and how America’s perception of the natural world has changed over time. Hands-on activities include knot-tying, handling samples of wood used in the restoration, and searching the Morgan’s crew lists for familiar names or hometown connections.

A focal point is Spouter, a 46-foot-long, life-sized inflatable model of a sperm whale. Visitors can participate in a “What Bubbles Up?” activity by writing down their whale-related memory, question, or sketch and attaching it to a humpback whale sculpture.

Mystic Seaport interpreters demonstrate the 19th-century maritime skills of a cooper, shipsmith, ropemaker, and whaleboat rower. There are live performances including sea chanteys, the interactive “Tale of a Whaler,” and a condensed rendition of the novel Moby-Dick – “Moby-Dick in Minutes.” Visitors even have the opportunity to try their hand at rowing a whaleboat during select times.

Voyage partner, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, is present with an exhibit booth to explain how the National Marine Sanctuaries interpret America’s maritime past, promote ocean conservation, and engage in cutting-edge research. They show how whales feed and what they feed on, and present videos that feature information on the National Marine Sanctuary System, whales, whale research, and whaling heritage. Kids can even create their own whale hat.

The Morgan and the dockside exhibit will be open to the public in New Bedford through July 6. The hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last boarding of the ship at 4 p.m.

The next leg on the ship’s 38th Voyage is a short sail to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy at the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal scheduled for July 7. The ship will not be open to the public, but will overnight there in preparation for being towed through the canal en route to Provincetown the following day.

She will return to the Maritime Academy after a stop next to the USS Constitution in Boston, and be open to the public from July 26-27.

For the latest updates on the Morgan‘s status and opportunities to board her and experience the dockside exhibit, please visit our 38th Voyage page.

MYSTIC — Mystic Seaport and Tall Ships America, the National Sail Training Organization representing the United States, are proud to announce that July 12, 2014 is “Sail for Tall Ships Day.” Tall ships and traditional sailing vessels around America will sail on this day to honor the whaleship Charles W. Morgan, as she sails on her 38th Voyage calling at historic New England ports.

Painstakingly restored over five years by Mystic Seaport, the Charles W. Morgan is the last remaining ship of the American whaling fleet that once numbered more than 2,700 vessels. Built and launched in 1841, the Morgan is now America’s oldest commercial ship still afloat. The Morgan left Mystic Seaport on May 17, 2014 to embark on her 38th Voyage. Where once the Morgan’s cargo was whale oil and baleen, today her cargo is knowledge, and she sails to engage communities with their maritime heritage and raise awareness about the changing perception about whales and whaling.

On July 12, sailing ships around the nation will put to sea to honor the restoration of this great ship, the heritage she represents, and to celebrate the traditional skills of seamanship that are sustained and hard at work in the Tall Ships America fleet today. From Maine, to California, to the inland seas of the Great Lakes, to the sounds of the Pacific Northwest, all manner of brigs, barques, schooners, brigantines and other traditional sailing craft will hoist sail this day in common cause with the Morgan and her crew. It is a national celebration of nautical skill, courage, and adventure that defined America as a young seafaring nation in 1841 when the Morgan was launched, and still defines us as a maritime power today.

NEW BEDFORD — Mystic Seaport sailed the whaleship Charles W. Morgan to a celebratory homecoming at her original homeport of New Bedford on Wednesday, June 25. The Morgan, a National Historic Landmark and America’s oldest commercial vessel still afloat, was built and launched in New Bedford in 1841, and sailed from there for most of her lengthy whaling career.

After a comprehensive restoration that lasted more than five years, the ship is on a ceremonial 38th Voyage to historic ports in Southern New England. Her last voyage, her 37th, ended in 1921. Today she sailed from Vineyard Haven, Mass.

“History has never been so alive as it was just now when we brought the Charles W. Morgan through the hurricane barrier at the mouth of the harbor. To see the people of New Bedford turn out to welcome us and show how they appreciate the project and how it validates the great history of this city was a great moment for all of us.” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport.

The Morgan’s homecoming to New Bedford is a major event for the city, which was once the largest whaling port in the world. The ship was last in New Bedford in November 1941, and has not returned since.

“The Morgan’s return showcases her former homeport to new audiences around the nation. The ship is a living witness to New Bedford’s Golden Age of Sail, and celebrates a tradition which remains unbroken; men and women continue to go down to the sea in ships, making the Port of New Bedford the busiest commercial fishing port in America,” said James Russell, president and CEO of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

He added, “Our hearty congratulations and deep appreciation goes to the Mystic Seaport community for their herculean accomplishment in restoring the Morgan to full seaworthiness, and especially for their brave decision in taking her to sea.  We can take inspiration as our city looks to restore its own many authentic treasures such as the Ernestina and the Seamen’s Bethel, as the renaissance of the historic district continues to unfold. This maritime pageant is like no other in living memory, one in which so many have contributed so much. In the Morgan’s wake, we can best honor her by envisioning other grand activities for the port, which similarly inspires great accomplishment and captures the public imagination.”

The Morgan departed Tisbury Wharf in Vineyard Haven around 9:30 a.m.and was towed down Vineyard Sound and through Quick’s Hole into Buzzards Bay. Once there, the ship cast off the tow and sailed across the bay in a series of tacks. At one point, she was clocked at speed of 8 knots. From Quick’s Hole to New Bedford, the Morgan was joined by a spectator flotilla of more than 40 boats.