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

[Eric D]

Neat stuff, thanks for the "side trips" too. Keep them coming!!!

[Hwyl]

Is this the same Joseph Conrad that featured in the book I read as a child, "Stormalong"? By Allan Villiers, 1937. A great read.

YES

[Morgan Volunteer]

As a museum artifact the Morgan is being completely documented down to the last piece of debris found in the bilge. This volunteer is on spring break and is sifting through pail after pail of what looks like mulch. Mostly it is small pieces of wood that have fallen off the old frames. She has also found ash and coal fragments. She has not found anything really exciting but several years ago during restoration on the bow and stern, a whales tooth and a clay pipe were found.

It's a long day shaking the screen and sifting "Mulch" all by herself.








This is a pile of bags of the stuff she has sorted.




Tomorrow she goes back to school.

Documentation is the rule. There was no one around when I took this so I could not ask any questions. It appears to be a printout of the frames.



And lastly, here is a tag on a removed futtock. It would appear to be pretty solid for a 169 year old timber. Notice the bent nail holding the corner of the tag.



Documentation is the rule even when the old parts are removed.

[nedL]

Thanks for the update on Morgan, and for the pictures of the worming, parceling, and serving of Conrad's rigging (though no pics of the serving.).

[Morgan Volunteer]

I am only there on Wednesdays and they were not serving that day.

[Morgan Volunteer]

I am usually pleasantly surprised when I walk in on Wednesday morning, my day to volunteer. Today was no exception.

A whale boat was being painted for the upcoming season, and the Sabino was moved forward to make room for Brilliant.






You can take a ride on Sabino.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=9FDC5DBB-B0D0-D05E-1AFF4F8D9D7F35B4







You can do much more on Brilliant.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=FF10EA76-B0D0-D05E-1A1360424E13F653









Wanna volunteer?

I know for some of you the commute would be a killer, but I have been in contact with someone who comes up from Tennessee for a week every year.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=8C088EA5-B474-BF13-889CB6B481D3A21A



You can make a donation too.

Yeah, I know, but here is the address anyway.

https://secure2.convio.net/mystic/site/Donation2?df_id=1180&1180.donation=form1




http://www.mysticseaport.org/

[Morgan Volunteer]

Last fall a visitor arrived at Mystic and has spent the winter here. With a crew of two, she started this voyage in Malta. Last summer she came north up the east coast. The owner and his son have lived aboard this winter.

Amazon was built in 1885 and was originally powered by steam. She started with a six foot diameter propeller. Now a diesel pushes her along and "only" has a four foot prop.





There does appear to be a wheel inside as well for those not too perfect days. Since this is a private yacht I have not been asked aboard.



The ice never gets too bad in Mystic, or so they tell me. I took this picture back in January.






Yesterday I noticed that her dinghy looked like she was about to go under until I could see she was still attached to the davits. After a long and cold winter drying out, it appears to be time to swell up all those dry wooden parts that are holding hands so loosely right now.





I spoke with the owner's son yesterday and he told me she will be leaving in June.

[nedL]

Great pictures, things are really hopping aroung there! Thanks for the update. - I am always amazed at Brilliant and the fact that you can't find a seam even when you look up close. Just a beautiful schooner!

[Morgan Volunteer]

Warm weather is helping a lot. Here, a futtock and template are fastened together so an accurate duplicate of the original futtock can me made.



In this picture a futtock is being planed to length and shape to match the original.





It is amazing the lengths the shipyard and shipwrights are going to duplicate the original parts as accurately as possible.

[nedL]

Thanks for the continued updates! ---- OK, so I have to ask, .... what do they use all the Dreissigacker oars for? (Is there a crew that rows ot of the seaport these days?)

[peter radclyffe]

amazon is one of the first boats i worked on ,as my fathers carpenters mate

[Morgan Volunteer]

Mystic seems to have something for everyone so long as it's about the water.

After I looked up Dreissigacker oars, (Who knew?) I found this. I hope it will answer your question.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=AA0B53E0-1E4F-379B-608BA28A5908BF39

[nedL]

Oh yes, must have something to do with NRF & their Hall Of Fame at the Seaport. I'd forgotten that was there. Thank you.

[Ethan]

Great thread! Thanks for 1. Volunteering, and 2. Putting the effort forth to share with the rest of us!

[rufustr]

Wonderful Thread.

Thank you for all the effort involved.

[Gerarddm]

This a GREAT thread, many thanks!

Mystic is fabulous. Some 30-odd years ago I took a small course with John Gardner, drove in every week from Newport. Worth every gallon of gas, and more.

[J. Dillon]

Another thank you.

JD

[Morgan Volunteer]

Since I forgot my camera last Wednesday I have to use an earlier picture to explain what I did that day. This is the ladder leading into the crew quarters in the bow. The door hardware had been stripped of paint but still needed some help.

Note the hinges on the right.





I brought them home, gave them a light sandblasting where needed and tumbled them for a while to give them a nice color.

Before





During



And after.






When installed, the finish will be allowed to return to its natural state.

It's all in the details.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Framing continues. Here a new futtock is hauled up into the bow for installation.





Inside the 500 lb futtock is lifted into place.



Mystic Seaport has a giant collection of old boats, most of which are never seen by the public except by appointment. They are stored in one of the seaports warehouses and come in all sizes and conditions.









More on the boat collection in the next page.

[Morgan Volunteer]

More on the Mystic Seaport small boat collection.

This boat below is a significant piece in the collection. The picture is slightly distorted because of the Photo Shop stitching process.

The boat was a very popular sailboat from years ago. It is a Lightning and this one is serial number 1.











Some of the boats are in almost new condition and others are "waiting restoration." All it takes is time and money and not necessarily in that order. They are all hear because they are unique and important to our maritime history.



You can see them all if you ask.

Call 860.572.5367 or email: collections@mysticseaport.org

[Morgan Volunteer]

April 16, 2010

Late last year I took the Mystic Seaport Half-hull Carving class on a rainy Saturday in November. The shop was heated with a potbelly stove and couldn't have been a more perfect a day.

I think we ended up only doing the easy part. The teacher had already cut out and assembled the pine stock so we could plane, chisel, and sand the rough models into a hull ready for finishing.

It was only a one day course so this is what we started with.



Planing and chiseling slowly brought it down to the finished hull.







At the end of the day everyone took home their half hull. My classmate below drove up from New Jersey for this class.



When I got home, I bought the exotic mix of paints and got to work. Our instructor gave us the material list. From Home Depot I bought spray cans of Rustoleum red primer, satin white, and green for the boot topping. When it was done I polished it with white auto polish to give it just enough shine.



I know this course will be offered again but for now it is not listed on the Mystic website.

[Morgan Volunteer]

This is the engine shop at Mystic and there are two engines being worked on now.

The first one is a B&W Lathrop Diesel. It has been gone through and is almost ready to go except for a couple of nagging problems. The oil pressure is way too high and no oil makes it to the top end of the engine. It seems like the only fix is to take it apart again. The manual does not show a picture of the oil gallery so they are guessing about where the problem is.

The pressure relief valve appears to work but the pump is putting out 150 lbs of pressure.





Another project is the Hall Scott PT boat engine. The engine is clean and ready for primer. Paint shields cover the intake ports and the engine is now supported by the lift.



This is the auto pilot from the Roann.



It runs on a small electric motor that drives the gears. It looks like about a 100:1 reduction, but I have no idea how it works.



Here is Roann (Pronounced Ro-Anne)

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=B415EDEC-C94B-21EE-4507F9974A58F136

[Morgan Volunteer]

I climbed down into the "Basement" on the Morgan to see how progress is coming along.

Progress is slow but steady. There are about 10 frames installed now on the starboard side. Some do not appear to be complete yet.



Here is a work bench the shipwrights have set up.



I poked around in the stern and found the construction interesting.





It looks like three knees are laid horizontally to tie the stern together. This part of the ship was restored several years ago so it needs no further attention now.

Meanwhile on deck we are appling two coats of 1/2 turpentine and 1/2 linseed oil. The next step is a white primer.



It's beginning to look good again.

[Morgan Volunteer]

This is a hoot! Who would ever think Mystic Seaport and Rolls Royce had anything in common.

Well, Rolls Royce is a big company and they do a lot more than cars and jet engines.

On the way home last week I spotted two guys working on the ship lift. It turns out that the thing was made by Rolls Royce and they were here to service it. They travel the country repairing and servicing the equipment.



There are eight winches, each with a 10hp electric motor. A total of 80hp to lift 300 plus tons out of the water. Not too bad.





The lift is partially lowered in this picture.

[Eric D]

Thanks for the updates, I do enjoy them and look for new ones daily. I think it is great that you help out and post them here for those of us who can not make it over there.

[Morgan Volunteer]

We did a little painting last week. After two coats of a mix of raw linseed oil and turpentine the next coat was white primer. The fourth coat is a primer tinted with Grey. The final beige color looks better over a darker primer.



It doesn't look like much yet but it feels good to be putting back instead of taking off.

The main focus for the shipwrights right now is below decks restoring the framing. The parts missing here will come later. For now we protect what we will keep.



During the time on I am on board working, visitors are always asking questions. As a volunteer, aside from scraping and painting, I am supposed to answer questions and help. If I don't know the answer I am supposed to find out the answer or guide the visitor to someone who knows.

This is a lot of fun because I meet a lot of really great people.

Below is what Mystic Seaport calls an interpreter. This interpreter's job is to talk about the ship, the voyages, whaling, the restoration, the future for Morgan, and all things Mystic Seaport. On top of that he answers all sorts of questions.



Here he is showing a family some of the tools used to hunt and process whales.



When you come to Mystic Seaport (You know you're coming eventually) look for the blue and yellow signal flags. While most displays are always open, the flags indicate an interpreter is on duty.

The flag stands for K (Kilo) and

"I wish to communicate with you."

[Morgan Volunteer]

It was a cold and raw Wednesday this week at Mystic Seaport. If it were any colder we would have had snow. Working in the wood shop was a good place to be so I helped rebuild the vegetable locker on Morgan.



A couple of weeks ago I helped tear down the old vegetable locker so it could be rebuilt later. Apparently the ship carried root crops like potatoes and turnips (My guess on these) as they keep well without refrigeration.

There was a week a while back where I forgot my camera so this is the best I have before we took it down. It is located just forward of the big skylight in the stern. Look for the horizontal slats in this picture. I know it's not very good but it is not much more than you can see here anyway.



We cut the pine to size, planed it smooth, rounded over the edges, sanded the edges and gave them a coat of primer.







Another coat of primer, two coats of color and then we can rebuild it.

[Michael D. Storey]

My favorite thread, this one.

Those small boats; walking through a collection like that is a noisy proposition. So many voices, those boats.

A much smaller collection but one of great value and import is at the Calvert MArine Museum at Solomon's Island, MD. The log canoes, or more rightly the remaining scraps of log canoes, some nearing 50 feet LOA reveal so much about where we as a tidal culture came from.
Nice folks, too.

More Pix, PLS

[Eric D]

4th picture in post 63...gray haired guy working on the pine. Look over his right shoulder to the left....See what I see???

The biggest clamps I have yet seen. WOW are they huge!!! I am never posting a picture of a clamp again. : )

Thanks for the update.

[Peerie Maa]

This is a hoot! Who would ever think Mystic Seaport and Rolls Royce had anything in common.

Well, Rolls Royce is a big company and they do a lot more than cars and jet engines.

On the way home last week I spotted two guys working on the ship lift. It turns out that the thing was made by Rolls Royce and they were here to service it. They travel the country repairing and servicing the equipment.



There are eight winches, each with a 10hp electric motor. A total of 80hp to lift 300 plus tons out of the water. Not too bad.





The lift is partially lowered in this picture.

We've got one of those. Ours lifts about 24,000 te.

[Morgan Volunteer]

This picture, taken on the day the Morgan was hauled out, shows the hogging that she suffered from after 167 years in the water. The shipwrights have been "De-hogging" her for 18 months and now this shows up in some odd places.



The yard built a stairway along side the ship so visitors can still come aboard. To secure the ship at night there is a door where visitors come on board.

As I walked through the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard building I found the door being worked on. I asked what was up.

This is the second time they had to take the door off because the ship is moving and changing shape. It didn't fit anymore!




Even the hinges did not match up well any more, but it's only a temporary door so there is nothing critical about that.





While they reinstalled the door they pointed out how much the ship had moved.

This walkway was level when the ship was hauled and now they had to add in a step down.

The bow and stern rise and the middle goes down.



The railing and walkway started out even!

Progress shows in odd places.

[Morgan Volunteer]

Below decks the framing is coming along.

You can see the progress here on both port and starboard side with the temporary work bench in the center.





Each pair of frames is held together using trunnels which are also made in the shipyard. The shipwrights are doing such a nice job installing the trunnels they are hard to see in place. Even in this enhanced photo it's hard to make out where they are.



Everywhere there is a spacer between futtocks, there is a trunnel.

This is the machine that makes the trunnels.



The 1/2 round cutter takes a turning square and makes a trunnel in a few seconds. It will repeat the diameter with in a couple of thousandths every time. The cover is off here.



A pail of trunnels ready to go.

[Morgan Volunteer]

My job is scraping paint and now it has evolved into painting where I helped take it off.

But Mystic is about all things and the sea.

If you enjoy art and paintings or just want to take a peek, take a look at the Modern Marine Masters 2010 exhibit.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=artgallery.browseExhibit&exhibit=16DFC771-1E4F-379B-6074CC4737C84C33&artistID=6C74F970-65B8-D398-71AB52314745E898&productID=1B3A099B-4C32-4230-8D90C4AF43AD4F16

I don't think my skills qualify.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=05ED60E2-FABF-4FA2-D98C2EE82CC214DC

[Morgan Volunteer]

Tug Boats Are Coming!

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=48767F8A-1E4F-379B-604E0E8C8F816C77

When you arrive at Mystic Seaport the display lets you know something tug boat is up



Last week in the R.J. Schaefer Exhibit Hall preparations were well underway for this event.



The orange balloon is actually a mooring ball. You can see the amount of work needed to prepare this exhibit. This will be an interactive display for both adults and children.



Kingston II, temporarily located on the front lawn, belongs to Mystic Seaport. She is used to move the Mystic fleet as needed. She was built by apprentice welders using scrap steel at Electric Boat in Groton, Ct.




You can read about her here.

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=7DE3E6F8-1E4F-379B-603A879FE6332279

Real and model tugboats will be on display.

Check out this short video.

http://www.youtube.com/v/KPDff7_Cb98&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0

[Morgan Volunteer]

For me, every day I am able to work at Mystic is a great day. Even when it's raining.



Painting still went on.



It was a raw day, but visitors still came.



At times it was crowded.



They were mostly students and they were taking notes. When they get back to school their assignment is to use their notes and write an essay about their visit to Mystic.



They were all nice kids and America's future is safe.