CW Morgan's copper bottom

I haven't researched this subject, but it sounds like the narrow belts of copper were installed by Mystic during overhauls after she became a museum ship.  I imagine she has modern, effective anti-fouling paint from the waterline to the keel now; the narrow strip of copper probably is just for show.

Back in the days when the copper sheathing was the only thing protecting the hull planks, a narrow band of copper just below the waterline wouldn't make sense.  Apart from the obvious fact that an enormous section of the hull would be exposed to worms and marine growth, the narrow strip of copper would only protect the portion of the hull that would be relatively accessible for maintenance.  

All that is just guesswork on my part, but it makes sense.

I would agree with you except it is backwards. Before she was hauled the Morgan had the copper strip at the water line. Now there is no copper at the water line but the keel, which can't be seen, has the copper.

She had a fully coppered bottom when she was a working whaler.

Remember that she sat in concrete, I understand, for most of her life in Mystic. So I'd assume that the copper strip around the waterline was the small amount of "underwater" area above the level of the concrete.

Well your picture solves the mystery of whether the hull was coppered. However there is one point that should be clarified. To the best of my knowledge the Morgan was beached on a bank of sand and gravel from 1941 when she arrived at Mystic to around 1968 when she was refloated. Had it been a hill of concrete they probably would still be working with jack hammers to free her.

In 68 and probably at other times leading up to now the Morgan was placed in the lift dock at the Mystic shipyard and had repairs done to her bottom. It was obvious though that a full replanking would be necessary at some point. That is what has just occurred.

Here's the best answer I could find on the Mystic website:  http://www.mysticseaport.org/news/2013/100-days-until-launch/ .

If I'm reading it right, they coppered the keel because it's original to the ship (unlike the hull planking), and used modern anti-fouling paint for the rest of the underwater hull.  I can't tell from that quote whether they intend to put another 6-foot band of copper (or Muntz metal, or whatever it is) around the waterline or not.  (Maybe they intend to wait till she gets back from her "38th Voyage" this summer).  I think it would be a good idea - if for no better reason than to show visitors what she looked like in her whaling days.

I should have gone back and read the seaport news. Then I would have remembered what a member of the crew working on the hull told me about coppering the keel because it was the only part of the exposed hull that was original and had no caulking subject to damage. As the seaport news says they were more concerned about damage to the caulking than worms. The crew member had told me they left the copper  (which was in bad condition) off one of the previous times the ship was hauled except for the strip near the water line where they thought the most worm damage would occur.

I do not believe they intend to put anymore copper on at least not for the visitors. Most of the copper strip will be under water and 99% of the visitors won't know or care whether it should be there.

I wonder if practical considerations may be involved too.  I have no idea what copper plates cost, but I suspect they aren't cheap.  And putting all those copper spikes into even a 6' belt of copper would be quite a job.

The Mystic folks know what they're doing.  I'm confident that the finished, restored, rigged Morgan will make fewer compromises with authenticity than virtually any other museum ship in the world.  Remember that the Constitution, though the experts have made lots of changes in the past few years to bring her back to her 1812 configuration, still contains quite a few anachronisms.  The Cutty Sark, which just went through an extremely thorough restoration by some of the best experts in the field, has a big hole in her bottom to accommodate a wheelchair elevator.  H.M.S. Victory has steel masts that don't sit on her keel, and her external planking looks nothing like it did in 1805.  The Wasa has no spars above her lower masts.  Etc., etc., etc.  Preserving old ships inevitably involves compromises.  Off the top of my head I can't think of a museum ship that comes closer to the Morgan to looking like she did in active service.  (The closest I can think of is the U.S.S. Kidd, and even she has some post-1945 anachronisms.)

The Galveston maritime museum had SS Elissa in her "sailing barque" glory.  They were not really operating her as a museum, per se, though.

The museum side of the operation did/does have quite a lot of documentation of the stages of Elissa's rig and fitting-out.  She had been a barque, a barquentine, right through to her condition when she was "found" heading to the ship breakers as a mast-less M.V.

Sadly, while having ridden out Ike almost unscathed, the last hull survey caused her to be de-rated for carrying passengers.  (The volunteer crew are carried as supercargo passengers for legal reasons.)  The iron hull and frames may prove a dilemma for Texas Seaport Museum.

Since all of her rigging was restored "from scratch" (adn to present USCG requirements) it's rather unsuitable a a historical reference.  The reference photos and documents in the museum do not suffer that deficit.

www.sfgate.com/.../Eppleton-Hall-tugboat-sails-into-S-F-history-5175538.php

SFgate has a good following commentary on the boats/ ships in our bay.

I used to belong to the venerable South End Rowing Club and I'm proud of it that went out most mornings in swims around the pier. I know her well top to bottom.

Notice also in that image I posted previously from my cell phone shots at the Historic Park collection- the Morgan had no stern galleries and no evidence I can see of their previous existence, although that might have been possible.

So the Revell fully rigged ship with stern windows (the kit is rigged pre-bark days) is once more clearly modeled on the way she was when displayed at the Green estate before she was given to Mystic Seaport.