Charles W Morgan Restoration; A Volunteer's Perspective-1

[Redeye]

It's my understanding that Victory was already 50 something years old when she was pounded at the battle of trafalgar. Built in the mid 1700s no?

When was Constitution built? And how many battles did she survive? I know the balls were said to bounce off her.

[Peerie Maa]

It's my understanding that Victory was already 50 something years old when she was pounded at the battle of trafalgar. Built in the mid 1700s no?

When was Constitution built? And how many battles did she survive? I know the balls were said to bounce off her.

Victory was launched 1765, commissioned 1778 and had certainly had been rebuilt before Trafalgar, her stern was changed from the older open galleries to the closed galleries that she has now.

[Morgan Volunteer]

On the Packard engine, the drive gears for the blower and the distributors have been installed. I believe the blower runs six times faster than crank speed. (2,000 at the crankshaft = 12,000 at the blower.)



This engine runs now. It is a Gray & Prior, (C1905) Hartford model built in Hartford Connecticut.





The crew says the fuel system needs some attention. It appears to be running lean and that is causing the backfiring.

On the way back from lunch the guys started the J.W. Lathrop & Co. D-90 Even though it was raining they immediately attracted a crowd. It happens every time.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Inside the DuPont Restoration building, with our crew scrapin’ & paintin’ the spars and the shipwrights creating new bottom planks and knees, room is getting tight. Out in the saw mill they have restacked the old wood taken from the Morgan and made room for another area to make bottom planks.



Also in the saw mill, the Morgan’s new stem is shaping up.



The old one is on the right.

In the DuPont barn a very complicated knee is taking shape.

Angled and curved, it will fit like a glove when done.

[Morgan Volunteer]

This plank is ready to go. It is going into the stern.



The shipwrights ran a string from end to end and concluded that it will fit in the steam box.

Meanwhile, we scrape and paint.



Our job here is to get rid of the heavy coating of tar.

That’s a hair curling iron sticking out of the eye. Nice try, but a gouge worked much better.



And we paint.

[Redeye]

This is quite possibly the coolest saw on the planet!

[Thad]

Ships saw, heavy and worth it's weight in gold. Practically if not quite on the market.

[Redeye]

Yup, I saw it when i was at Mystic last June.

It's a far cry from the band saw my grandfather made using model T wheels and a frame he had cast out of iron at the local foundry. The table was tilted using half a V8 Piston as a guide, the ring grooves allowing alignment.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Even though it was raining, visitors still came last week. This is the Mystic Print Shop.



Perhaps the attraction was Theodore Too. I have no idea except what I found on line.





My guess is that the kids will know.

http://www.mtcw.ca/theodoretugboat/

Hearing a loud booming voice I found the hangman in the rigging on the Joseph Conrad. It was time for the Dead Horse Ceremony.



This site explains it.

http://www.contemplator.com/sea/deadhors.html

[Morgan Volunteer]

The horse swings from the yardarm.



Overboard.

[Sailor]

What's Theodore doing there? She's supposed to be here in Halifax....

[S B]

Hi.
The Morgan is an interesting project, too bad it is so far from here. Everyone seems suprised, to have found her timbers in relatively good shape. This has probably been dealth with earlier but I am too lazy to go back and read the threads missed.
The ships condition is due to what she was not how she was built, cheap as possible and still be serviceable. As a whaler, every fly in town was at the wharf to greet her home. The Charles W Morgan was steeped in whale oil, not a safe landing site for a rot spore. until it finally soaked out decades later. I'll bet if you cut into one of the sound timbers, the smell is still there.
Salt is most likely responsible for the erosion of the plank and framing. It was ball milling the wood for years before the brine in the bilge got weak enough for it all to disolve.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Time for another plank.














The crew starts to assemble as the plank comes in the door.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Meanwhile, on the other side, we pour salt.

[Morgan Volunteer]

We have a new member of the Scrapin’ & Paintin’ team. He lasted about an hour.



His cousin is one of the people working in the shipyard and he soon gravitated toward the job his cousin was working on; planing hull planks. We may win him back, but regardless, he put in a good effort for the day.





After a little scraping, the rest of us pounded salt for the rest of the day.

We have five new barrels of borate to mix in with the salt. About 1/3 borate, 2/3 Salt.



Mixing is simply done by pouring from one pail to another five or six times.



The frames are too close together in a lot places so getting the mix in is a chore. A funnel made of light weight aluminum helps but…..

[Morgan Volunteer]

Then a small stick helps push it in.



I was working in an area where the opening was too small for any funnel so I built a dam and pushed it in with my finger tip.








In an attempt to keep the ship from drying out, there are four of these special fans. The tank below is full of water and an internal pump is supposed to mist the water in front of the fan. We have tried to get them to work with little success. Someone else came up with this idea. It never runs out of water and it doesn’t clog. (So far) It also costs very little. I found the rig that doesn’t work on line for $700.



The mist is hard to see here.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Some future sailors? Fishermen? Parents who will bring their kids to Mystic in 2050?



Mystic has a marina that offers all the usual extras, ice being only one of them. While there is no pool, there is a restaurant and when you stay the night, tickets for the seaport are included.



He assured me that unlike the grocery store where they let the ice “age” in the hot sun before it goes in the freezer, his ice is “the good stuff.”



Visitors are arriving already.





http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.c...538F5E76891620

Another outside vender did some work on one of the seaports lift trucks.


These things are running all the time.

Anyone care to donate a new one? I would but my budget is a bit tight right now.

[nedL]

I'll just throw in my 2 cents about how much I appreciate your amazing chronicling of the work on Morgan and activities at the Seaport. -- And to think I live only an hour north(!), but am still able to get there only a couple of times a year.
If you happen by the blacksmith's shop on Friday or Sunday stop in and tell Mike Sarri that I say hi. That will catch him off guard. We are neighbors across the street form each other and are always talking about what is going on there. I always have to credit my knowledge of what is going on to this great thread. ------- Thank you.

[Morgan Volunteer]

A reply to NedT above.

Atta-boys are always welcomed, thank you. I will not be there Friday or Saturday as I too am an hour away. (West) My commuting partner and Packard engine rebuilder lives another half hour beyond me. That’s why we only go once a week.

I’m guessing I have an advantage over you on this, I am retired. Well, sort of retired. My foreman runs things so well he doesn’t need me anymore. His efforts afford me time to go to Mystic once a week and do this thread a few times each week.

Not only that, a lot of the projects I bring home are done by him. I’m going to sign him up as a volunteer.

He just walked in. Atta-boy, George.



I had heard that there was a crane coming later in the week to lift part of the new stem into place. I asked my scrapin’ & paintin’ partner to get a few pictures for me. By the time she arrived, the stem was in place. However there was another lift scheduled.

I had seen part of this being fabricated but didn’t give it much thought. It’s a crane. It is mounted in the hole used by the foremast. The yellow part was purchased and the black part was built and added by the crew. The black shaft extends down below decks and probably sits on the keelson. I have yet to see this thing myself.







In the foc'sle



The boom. It says, 1000 lb capacity.

[Morgan Volunteer]

The stem was in place by the time my partner arrived.




Here is the upper end, held in place with a chain.



This week the Scrapin’ & Paintin’ crew had a new batch of hardware to attack. The shafts are galvanized so we are only going to work on the heads.

This is the hardware that ties the rigging, chains, and dead eyes to the hull.




The Packard.

The blower is mounted. The distributers are just behind the blower and are covered by the flat covers. There are two distributers, firing 24 sparkplugs.




I’m told this is the magneto.



This is the starter motor reduction shaft.

[beernd]

*Sigh*,
please keep them coming, this is so

Cheers

[Morgan Volunteer]

Roann was hauled last week. This is her first haul out since the new engine was installed last year.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.c...07F9974A58F136




Unlike the more common travel lift with two or more large nylon straps, the Hays and Ros Clark Shiplift needs divers to set the blocks and stanchions before the boat can be lifted. This is much more complicated and labor intensive but also much easier on the hull.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.c...7F7EDE603DC26E




Time to go to work.



Once set, the deck crew needs off.



Up she comes.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Just off to the side is “Mission Control.”



The lift is run by a computer.



Each lifting winch is monitored.





It all happens vey slowly so there’s time to look out the window.



Amazing what a zoom lens can do.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Back to the business at hand.

One of the divers is also the lead shipwright on the Morgan project.



Once Roann’s propeller was out of the water, he yelled, “I found the leak.”

When the new engine was installed she was taken out for a sea trial and put to the test. Later she was found to be taking on water. It was not so much that an immediate haul out was needed. So far, it looks like a simple recaulk is all that’s needed.





Propeller?

Now that’s a propeller!



The lift truck is used to haul her onto the hard.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Once out of the water a crew from Williams-Mystic started taking samples of the growth accumulated on her bottom.



http://web.williams.edu/williamsmystic/Home.html


This graduate is now working at the seaport full time. I asked him to send me a paragraph or two about his time in the Williams-Mystic program.

As soon as I get it, I will post it here.

[Morgan Volunteer]

The blower housing is on the Packard.



The starter motor is in place.



I asked what this is.



If the starter hangs up on the flywheel, this will disengage it. It must have been a problem.

A motor stand is almost done for it.



And the Morgan assembly line moves on,

[Morgan Volunteer]

In the saw mill a new part for the stem is taking shape.





Now that a new hoist is installed there will be no need for a Rent-a-Crane to pick it up.



Just out side the Plastic Palace the mainmast top is almost done with scraping.





Inside, trunnel blanks are being sawn.

[Morgan Volunteer]

During lunch we stopped by the blacksmith’s shop.



While it was a very rainy day, visitors still came.









http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.c...0FF9BC32821D24

[Morgan Volunteer]

I will be away next week. We are leaving for Baltimore tomorrow for the “Star Spangled Celebration.”

http://www.starspangled200.com/index.php

A friend has a boat right in the Inner Harbor, so we will have front row seats.

Wolf, Adventurer, Appledore V, Sultana, and Gazela will be on our dock.




http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7661546/sail...harbor-map.pdf


My friend sent a few pictures he took recently while sitting on his boat.

Pride of Baltimore II.



Lady Maryland



John W Brown.



I am looking forward to a guided tour of Brown as my friend volunteers on her. This means getting into those normally not open areas. (I hope.)

He sent a picture of the shaft tunnel a few weeks ago.



Morgan doesn't have one of these.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Wow, what a weekend!

My wife and I were invited to stay on a friend’s boat in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor with front row seats to the whole event.









From our host’s boat.


Meanwhile the Blue Angles practiced.

[Morgan Volunteer]

On Sunday we went to the John W. Brown where my friend is a volunteer.



We had the grand tour.



I hope you can read this. Brown is considered a lucky ship. (So is the Morgan) During the war it was considered a success if a brand new Liberty made it to Europe on its maiden voyage. The ship was considered paid for if it made it. A round trip was extraordinary. Brown was extra, extraordinary as it made several trips.



The helm.



The armament.



Take that Red Baron! Oops, wrong war.

[Morgan Volunteer]

At first the engine room was shut tight but the Gods were with us and a man with a key showed up. He is the man who tends the boilers so any and all questions were answered.

The top of the engine.



My camera is good for snap shots but this was a difficult place to get great pictures.

The two boilers.



It’s hard to know what you’re looking at.





The square pipes are the smoke stack and the round pipes are fresh air from on deck.



Our hero with the key and all the answers. He is holding one of the tubes that spray fuel oil into the boiler.

[Morgan Volunteer]

The business end of the burner tube. (I don’t know its official name.) I believe ther are four of them on each boiler.



The original fuel was bunker-C but anything they can get, can and will be used.



This is the igniter. Soak it in fuel and stick it in the fire box.

(I may not have all the correct terms, but for my purposes, I hope it’s good enough.)





I was able to walk down the prop shaft tunnel.



At the start end of the tunnel is an escape ladder. It goes all the way up on deck. In this picture you are looking straight up.

[Morgan Volunteer]

The ship was converted to bring home troops after the war. This is just a sample of the bunks.



One of the holds was converted into a cafeteria and meeting room.



There is a ship's store run by volunteers.



At the far end you can see people looking below into the lower hold.



I stitched two pictures together to show what was below. This is looking straight down.



There is no access below because the only way down is this ladder. It goes all the way to the bottom.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Time for the show. Military boats and helicopters were putting on a show but on Brown, we were just a little too far away.

However, the telephoto lens can do wonders.

Here are two pictures of Fort McHenry. Wide angle.



and the lens turned all the way up.



Amazing!



Then it was show time!

[Morgan Volunteer]

The harbor was full of ships and sailors.



At night they were all lit up, except for Eagle.





A passport was available and every ship had someone to stamp it for you.

He seemed to be eager to get his stamped but not to have his picture taken.



Constellation.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(1854)

The Pride of Baltimore II.

[Morgan Volunteer]

All the ships were open for tours. The most interesting one for me was the Indonesian ship. It was fascinating to see the different cultures. The Coast Guard, Eagle wouldn’t even display lights at night but look at the bright work on this ship.






Even there sails were set up with flair.





On Tuesday all the ships left for other ports.

The parade was led by the Pride of Baltimore II.



The Lady Maryland.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Lynx and Pride trade salutes.









The City of Baltimore did a fantastic job on this event!

[Morgan Volunteer]

Later that afternoon we took a ride on our host’s boat down to the Frances Scott Key Bridge.



A dominate sight in the harbor is Domino Sugar.



They were unloading a ship full of raw sugar and you can smell the molasses.



The NS Savannah is docked in Baltimore.



http://hnsa.org/savannah/

Farther out is the Key Bridge



Just by the bridge is a buoy marking the spot where the British ship with Francis Scott Key aboard, fired on Fort McHenry. It is just off the bow of the sailboat.



Oh say can you see… More Monday.

[Sailor]

The two warships rafted together in this picture are Canadian Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels. Not sure which one is there but I believe HMCS KINGSTON is one of them.

[Morgan Volunteer]

We took one of our days in Baltimore to go to St Michaels to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

http://www.cbmm.org/



It was their Annual Wooden Boat Show weekend.









Another in restoration.

[Morgan Volunteer]

They have a very traditional looking Chesapeake lighthouse on display.



Inside was interesting.

There are four rooms on this level and each has a cistern for water. The water had to be treated before it could be used as there is lead and other contaminates it when it comes off the roof. It is in the right corner here.





There are two extra Fresnel lenses plus the one up top.





I hope you can read this. It is about a storm and heroism.

[Morgan Volunteer]

I was not able to talk with anyone in this shop. By the time I got there, they were closing for the day . It looks just like Mystic, only different. (?)



They are rebuilding a skipjack.

This is the skipjack's, Rosie Parks, centerboard.







To fish in the Chesapeake, skipjacks have no power.

This is an excerpt from the website below.
There was some good-natured invective bantered back and forth between the four crews as, one by one, they pulled away from the wharf, propelled by their yawl boats – ridiculously over-powered ten-foot wooden dinghies -- tethered to their transoms. While traditionally most yawl boats contain large gasoline engines taken from old automobiles, the Krentz’s boat sported a 150 h.p. diesel. The yawl boats are the only mechanical power source allowed by law so that when the skipjacks are dredging under sail they can be hoisted up into davits hanging off the stern to show that no engine is being employed. For such large vessels to be powered like that seems downright ludicrous until you see them in action. These skippers can work their skipjacks in and out of tight berthing spots as easily as if they had twin Caterpillars

http://www.ocracokecurrent.com/25068

There was a working skipjack just across the dock from us in Baltimore. Like Rosie Parks above, it was as clean as any yacht.

[Morgan Volunteer]

There are plenty of other things to see as well.

A log canoe.






This is a toy boat exhibit where a child can put together a toy boat. Mystic has a similar program.




Unlike Mystic, all the hulls come with masts already assembled. This is the “Official” Mast Stepper.



They have an extensive display of decoys.



A craftsman is painting decoys and we talked for a long time.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Hey, we have one of these!



Ours is bigger.





If this looks familiar, it’s because he’s been to Mystic before.



As you can see, he’ll be at Mystic this coming weekend.

[Morgan Volunteer]

This reminds me of when I was much younger.



It’s open to come aboard.









It was so original looking, it even smelled good; the way I remember my friend’s boats smelling. Not a bad smell, just that wonderful aroma of old oil, gasoline, and bilge.

Hey, it’s my fantasy.

I have a cousin who loves the smell of old outboard smoke. It reminds her of her summers waterskiing in Barnegat Light, New Jersey.

Ok, vacation is over. Back to "work" in Mystic tomorrow.

[Morgan Volunteer]

I found a new place for the kids. It’s been there all along. I just never went in before. (Just goes to show, one day at Mystic is not going to be enough.)

This is an artist’s studio called the Art Spot.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.c...76B51CCCA2F42E

This is the lady running it.



She explained that there are different things that kids can work on from decorating boxes to painting on canvas. While I was there this young lady came in and she went right to work.





A sample of what can be done.



The boxes and some tools.



Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the finished painting.

Lunch was over and I had to go back to work on the Morgan. Now we call it “pounding salt.” (Adding salt between the frames to help preserve the hull.)

[Morgan Volunteer]

I didn’t bother taking yet another picture of us “Pounding Salt,” but while we were there I noticed a bundle of wood being lowered down behind us.

Recognizing the shape and color, I knew in a flash where it came from. It was the bulwarks from the bow.



The bulwarks is first thing I worked on as a brand new volunteer three years ago and now they have taken it out.

In an e-mail to a friend I marked in red the area of my first day’s work. We scraped the entire area and then primed and repainted it.








Now it looks like this.



All our work is in a pile on deck.



This may sound like sour grapes. It is not.

While I’m not thrilled about our work being torn out, it does show the extent of this restoration. When planking was removed on the outside the condition of the frames was less than perfect. In the picture above you can see the frames are all new. As we scrape paint we too uncover problems. The entire stern is apart because we found the “tip of the iceberg.” We found just a little bit of rot in the officers head in the stern.

Press on. All it takes is time and money, just not in that order.


Sour grapes? Not at all. It’s one small step backwards toward the ultimate goal of the 38^th voyage.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Here’s a good deal. At least it is for the Morgan restoration.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.c...7DA377D6C238EE

I’m going to have to ask who’s plank is going in place next time.

This one is just a bit different.





Once it is up in place and it takes a set, it will be taken down again so that on Saturday during the Wooden Boat Show it can go back in place during a demonstration.









Remember, this is the Wooden Boat Show weekend.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.c...36692662F21863

[beernd]

Just a little anecdote,
In 1652 the British and the Dutch had the geat idea of fighting each other on the Northsea.

The Dutch having a cheap reuptation to keep up, just sawed some square holes in some mechant ships, put some canon in them and give the British hell.

The outcome was not quite what the Dutch dreamed of so, ( bear with me) the stadhouder Johan de Wit ordered the build of 55 major Warships !

Can you imagine the size of that operation in those days.
Seeing the magnificant job on the Morgan made me think of that.

Please keep them coming