Site Description:

Environment: Bay

Additional Info:

Paddling Mystic River - Mystic Seaport

Paddling Mystic Harbor

Site History:

On July 21, 1841, the full-rigged whaling ship Charles W. Morgan was launched in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was built at the height of the whaling industry, and during her 37 voyages she would catch and process more whales that any other vessel. In all, 54,483 barrels of oil and 152,934 pounds of whalebone, or baleen, were collected.

A typical journey would take the Morgan around Cape Horn and into the Pacific and Indian oceans. About 33 men worked tirelessly during the voyages, which would last anywhere from nine months to five years. The crew was an amalgam of races and nationalities, a true representation of the melting pot that was the United States.

As the whaling era began to wind down in the early 20th century, the majestic Charles W. Morgan still managed to keep busy: it was featured in several Hollywood movies, including Down to the Sea in Ships, starring Clara Bow (whom we assume was a big star). But with the development and refinement of petroleum, the whaling industry would soon vanish.

Of the more than 2,200 Yankee whaling ships that plied the oceans, the Charles W. Morgan is the sole survivor. She now rests in Mystic, within eyeshot of some of the finest modern marine facilities you'll find along Long Island Sound. It is fitting that she rests here, because here is where you will find the confluence of the old and the new, where history shares every street corner with modern-day convenience.