On this stamp issued by Kiribati is given by Watercraft Philately:
Since the beginning of whaling activities around the island in the 1830’s many sailors had deserted their whaling ships, choosing the uncertainties of life ashore instead of the hard and dangerous ways of a working whalemen.
In 1851, CHARLES W. MORGAN was attacked by just such a group of Gilbert Islanders (now Kiribati) led by American and Portuguese mutineers who had settled there.
A massacre was avoided when a change of tide enabled the ship to escape.
She was built as a wooden whaling ship by the yard of Jethro and Zachariah Hillman, Fairhaven near New Bedford, Mass. for Charles W. Morgan and others.
21 July 1841 launched under the name CHARLES W MORGAN, named after the merchant Charles Wain Morgan who owned half of the shares in the vessel. Grifitt Morgan, one of Morgan’s nephews named the ship while his uncle was away on a business trip. The part owner disapproved with the name, but the name remains.
Tonnage 314 gross, 298 net., dim. 51.30 x 8.40 x 5.30m., length bpp. 32.00m.
Ship rigged.
Crew around 28.
Building cost $52.000
06 September 1841 sailed for her maiden voyage from New Bedford under command of Capt. Norton via Cape Horn to the Pacific, returning home 01 January 1845 with on board 1.600 barrels of sperm-oil, 800 barrels whale oil and 10.000 lbs. whalebone also known as baleen. This voyage she made $56.000.
1849 Her owner is given as Edward M. Robinson.
1853 Her next voyage the owner is given as I.Howland , jr & Co.
1863 After six voyages she came under the ownership of J & W. R. Wing, which maintained an interest in the ship till 1906.
1867 Rerigged in a bark.
1886 She received orders when she wants to unload cargo to sail to San Francisco, and use also this port as homeport.
On her thirteen voyage there was a great demand for whalebone, and after one year the CHARLES W. MORGAN discharged cargo worth $50.000.
June 1906 she returned to New Bedford after an absence from her homeport of more as 20 years.
She made some more whaling voyages from New Bedford but crews were scare, and many deserted during the voyage when there was a change.
1913 Laid up
1916 Sold to Capt. Benjamin Cleveland with the intention to use her for the sea elephants hunt at Desolation Island in the South Atlantic.
But before she sailed out she was chartered by a film company to use her in the silent movie “Miss Petticoat” as the whaleship HARPOON.
She was sold again now to John A Cook, Provincetown who used her the last three voyages as a commercial whaling vessel.
09 September 1920 she sailed out from New Bedford and returned to Provincetown on 28 May 1921, her thirty seven, and last voyage. Her last cargo was valued at $25.000.
Altogether she made thirty seven voyages in her career as a whaler to the Pacific and Indian Ocean passing via Cape Horn or Cape of Good Hope, and grossed over $1.400.000 in profits for her various owners.
During her career as whaler she harpooned over 2500 whales.
1921 Sold to the members of the New Bedford Whaling Club for use as a headquarter.
1922 Used again for a film, now in the film “Down to the Sea in Ships”, and in 1935 in the movie “Java Head”.
Thereafter again laid up.
She was saved by the marine artiest Harry Neyland from the scrap yard, he persuaded the very rich Hetty Green to acquire the CHARLES W. MORGAN.
Thereafter refitted in a museum in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA.
07 May 1925 towed to the estate of Green, where she was placed in a sand berth, rerigged as a ship and her hull restored.
When Green died in 1935 she fell into disrepair, was taken over by the inadequately funded preservation group “Whaling Enshrine”.
In 1938 during a hurricane damaged, she lost also then her carved wooden eagle sternboard.
Three years later she was bought by the Mystic Museum.
08 November 1941 towed to Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, and again placed in a sand berth, during World War II restoration was delayed till after the war, and the CHARLES W. MORGAN deteriorated still further.
1971 During a major restoration was she rerigged as a bark, the rig she was sailing under most of her career.
2008 Her owners are Marine Historical Association Inc., Mystic.
She is on many stamps.
Norfolk Island 1976 18c sg, 172 scott 194.
Samoa 1979 12s sg 540 , scott 503.
Kiribati 1989 $1 sg 298, scott 514.
United States 1971 8c sg 1444, scott 2340.
Marshall Islands 1987 22c sg 109, scott 134. and 1993-5 78c sg 504 and 30c sg 688 , scott 460.
Source: History of the American Whale Fisheries by Alexander Starbuck. Great Sailing Ships of the World by Otmar Schäuffelen. Watercraft Philately. Some web-sites.
CHARLES W MORGAN
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john sefton
- Posts: 1816
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Re: CHARLES W MORGAN
The famous whaler of New Bedford, the Charles W. Morgan, is depicted lying at her berth at Mystic, Connecticut, under the care of The Marine Historical Association, Inc., after many attempts to preserve her.
These attempts rival those made for the Cutty Sark, starting as far back as 1915, when Harry Neyland, well-known marine artist whose special subject was the American whalers, tried to interest the city of New Bedford in buying the old whaler and preserving her as a symbol of the port's great connection with the whaling industry. They preferred to forget it, for repeated efforts up to the year 1924, by which time Neyland had bought a controlling interest in the "Morgan", as she is generally called, and had offered her as a free gift to the city if they would maintain her in a safe place, were turned down.
Finally, Neyland approached Col. E. H. R. Green, some of whose ancestors had owned the "Morgan" from 1849 to 1863. He agreed to take charge of the whaler and to maintain her to the best of his ability on the south beach of his estate at Round Hills. The whaler was towed from New Bedford to Round Hills on May 7, 1925, and floated ashore. Then a cofferdam was built around her and sand was pumped in to the waterline level.
A reproduction of an old New Bedford wharf was then built alongside, giving the impression that she was moored. The first sail plan of the vessel was located and she was re-rigged as a ship. (She sailed for 26 years ship-rigged, being changed to a barque on July 17, 1867, sailing in this rig for 55 years).
Col. Green, with his associates, formed a corporation known as "Whaling Enshrined, Inc." consisting of thirty-two 1/32 shares in the "Morgan", according to the records of the New Bedford Customs House. When Col. Green died in 1936, before he had made provision in his will for the necessary funds to be provided for the ship's maintenance, his associates found it necessary to secure funds from other sources to secure the ship's safety. They began a campaign to raise $40,000 in order to move the ship to a more accessible location and restore her.
Stamps were issued as publicity material, with a picture of the ship at her berth at Round Hills, fully-rigged, and the wording "Save the Whaleship Morgan. Send check to Morgan Fund, New Bedford, Mass." These stamps are sure to be in demand now by stamp collectors as an interesting tie-in with the ship's history.
Five years passed without the necessary funds being raised, each year bringing further deterioration in the ship that would raise the costs of restoration. Finally the owners decided that it was unlikely that the ship could be preserved at New Bedford and that they would have to seek elsewhere for help. The Marine Historical Association, Inc. of Mystic, was the one organisation able to assume the responsibility of preserving the ship.
Ever since their foundation in 1929 their goal had been the re-creation of a typical American waterfront and shipyard of early times and the whaler could be an integral part of this plan. Whaling Enshrined offered the ship to the association on July 31, 1941, and the offer was accepted, and with Alan Villier's Joseph Conrad, forms part of a most interesting replica of an early American seaport.
As the special envelope issued by the "Seapex V" Stamp Exhibition in 1968 of Greater New Bedford testifies, the Charles W. Morgan was a very lucky ship.
The whaler was built at New Bedford, in 1841, at Hillman's Shipyard by Jethro and Zachariah Hillman, and was launched on July 21, 1841. She was named after Charles W. Morgan, a prominent local shipowner, for whom she was built. She was constructed of live oak and was copper fastened. The last of the old full-bowed ships, she was of 351 gross tons when originally built. When the requirements of re-measurement came into effect some years later, her tonnage was reduced to 314 gross, 298 net. Her measurements are: Length 105 ft. 6 ins.; beam 27 ft. 7 ins.; depth 17 ft. 6 ins. On her first voyage, which began on September 6, 1841, under command of Capt. Thomas A. Norton, she had a crew of 30, including her master. This voyage "around the Horn" to the whaling grounds of the Pacific, lasted three years, three months and 24 days. She returned with a catch of 1,600 barrels of sperm oil (having caught 53 sperm and eight right whales), 800 barrels of whale oil and 10,000 pounds of whalebone. Total value of the cargo was $69,591, of which the master received nearly $11,000 a substantial fortune back in the 1840s.
Nobody in the crew received regular pay. Whether they signed on voluntarily or were shanghaied, compensation was in the form of shares. Thus an ordinary seaman signing-on for this voyage would do so for a 1/180th share in the voyage. For the arduous three years' work he received the sum of $386. From the day she was built the ship was always employed in the whaling business. She never, carried heated cargoes and was always given prompt attention when in need of repairs and this accounts for the good condition she is in at the present time.
Twenty-two of her voyages were made to cold climates where the worms did not get a chance to get into her and thrive, as is the case with vessels constantly employed in warm waters.
Her first 12 voyages were to the North Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, always returning to her home port at the completion of each cruise, with one exception. On the voyage she started on October 6, 1886, contrary to her custom of returning home, she arrived at San Francisco on November 4, 1887. From then until 1904 she made yearly voyages to the Japan and Okhotsk Seas. In 1904 she left San Francisco and arrived home via New Zealand after an absence of nearly 20 years.
After the first two cruises for her original owner, the Charles W. Morgan was sold to Edward Mott Robinson. Then she went into the hands of I. Howland, Jr. and Company, making three voyages for this firm. She was purchased by J. and W. R. Wing in 1863, and made 27 profitable voyages for them until 1916. Subsequently she was owned by Benjamin D. Cleveland and John A. Cook Whaling Company.
It has been computed that a gross estimate of the earnings of the old whaler from the thousands of barrels of oil and hundreds of pounds of whalebone she landed would be in the region of $2 mn. She sailed more miles and took more whales than any other whaling vessel.
She was a lucky craft for in her 84 years of voyaging, which must be an all-time record in itself, I should imagine, she was never grounded, and escaped all the innumerable mishaps that befell so many whaling vessels in the early days when the dangers of navigation were much greater than they are today.
The log-books of the Charles W. Morgan, including her first voyage, are stored in the Stillman Library at Mystic Seaport.
From first to last, she was commanded by a line of famous captains and it is to their skill, care and seamanship that her immunity from disaster, which overwhelmed so many of her sister-ships is attributable. The whaler barely escaped destruction on one particular occasion. On the night of June 30, 1924, she was lying alongside a Fairhaven dock when the steamship Sankaty, a mass of flames, drifted against the old whaler and set her afire. The flames were extinguished before much damage was done to the whaler.
USA SG1444, Marshall Is SG688. Sea Breezes 10/71
These attempts rival those made for the Cutty Sark, starting as far back as 1915, when Harry Neyland, well-known marine artist whose special subject was the American whalers, tried to interest the city of New Bedford in buying the old whaler and preserving her as a symbol of the port's great connection with the whaling industry. They preferred to forget it, for repeated efforts up to the year 1924, by which time Neyland had bought a controlling interest in the "Morgan", as she is generally called, and had offered her as a free gift to the city if they would maintain her in a safe place, were turned down.
Finally, Neyland approached Col. E. H. R. Green, some of whose ancestors had owned the "Morgan" from 1849 to 1863. He agreed to take charge of the whaler and to maintain her to the best of his ability on the south beach of his estate at Round Hills. The whaler was towed from New Bedford to Round Hills on May 7, 1925, and floated ashore. Then a cofferdam was built around her and sand was pumped in to the waterline level.
A reproduction of an old New Bedford wharf was then built alongside, giving the impression that she was moored. The first sail plan of the vessel was located and she was re-rigged as a ship. (She sailed for 26 years ship-rigged, being changed to a barque on July 17, 1867, sailing in this rig for 55 years).
Col. Green, with his associates, formed a corporation known as "Whaling Enshrined, Inc." consisting of thirty-two 1/32 shares in the "Morgan", according to the records of the New Bedford Customs House. When Col. Green died in 1936, before he had made provision in his will for the necessary funds to be provided for the ship's maintenance, his associates found it necessary to secure funds from other sources to secure the ship's safety. They began a campaign to raise $40,000 in order to move the ship to a more accessible location and restore her.
Stamps were issued as publicity material, with a picture of the ship at her berth at Round Hills, fully-rigged, and the wording "Save the Whaleship Morgan. Send check to Morgan Fund, New Bedford, Mass." These stamps are sure to be in demand now by stamp collectors as an interesting tie-in with the ship's history.
Five years passed without the necessary funds being raised, each year bringing further deterioration in the ship that would raise the costs of restoration. Finally the owners decided that it was unlikely that the ship could be preserved at New Bedford and that they would have to seek elsewhere for help. The Marine Historical Association, Inc. of Mystic, was the one organisation able to assume the responsibility of preserving the ship.
Ever since their foundation in 1929 their goal had been the re-creation of a typical American waterfront and shipyard of early times and the whaler could be an integral part of this plan. Whaling Enshrined offered the ship to the association on July 31, 1941, and the offer was accepted, and with Alan Villier's Joseph Conrad, forms part of a most interesting replica of an early American seaport.
As the special envelope issued by the "Seapex V" Stamp Exhibition in 1968 of Greater New Bedford testifies, the Charles W. Morgan was a very lucky ship.
The whaler was built at New Bedford, in 1841, at Hillman's Shipyard by Jethro and Zachariah Hillman, and was launched on July 21, 1841. She was named after Charles W. Morgan, a prominent local shipowner, for whom she was built. She was constructed of live oak and was copper fastened. The last of the old full-bowed ships, she was of 351 gross tons when originally built. When the requirements of re-measurement came into effect some years later, her tonnage was reduced to 314 gross, 298 net. Her measurements are: Length 105 ft. 6 ins.; beam 27 ft. 7 ins.; depth 17 ft. 6 ins. On her first voyage, which began on September 6, 1841, under command of Capt. Thomas A. Norton, she had a crew of 30, including her master. This voyage "around the Horn" to the whaling grounds of the Pacific, lasted three years, three months and 24 days. She returned with a catch of 1,600 barrels of sperm oil (having caught 53 sperm and eight right whales), 800 barrels of whale oil and 10,000 pounds of whalebone. Total value of the cargo was $69,591, of which the master received nearly $11,000 a substantial fortune back in the 1840s.
Nobody in the crew received regular pay. Whether they signed on voluntarily or were shanghaied, compensation was in the form of shares. Thus an ordinary seaman signing-on for this voyage would do so for a 1/180th share in the voyage. For the arduous three years' work he received the sum of $386. From the day she was built the ship was always employed in the whaling business. She never, carried heated cargoes and was always given prompt attention when in need of repairs and this accounts for the good condition she is in at the present time.
Twenty-two of her voyages were made to cold climates where the worms did not get a chance to get into her and thrive, as is the case with vessels constantly employed in warm waters.
Her first 12 voyages were to the North Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, always returning to her home port at the completion of each cruise, with one exception. On the voyage she started on October 6, 1886, contrary to her custom of returning home, she arrived at San Francisco on November 4, 1887. From then until 1904 she made yearly voyages to the Japan and Okhotsk Seas. In 1904 she left San Francisco and arrived home via New Zealand after an absence of nearly 20 years.
After the first two cruises for her original owner, the Charles W. Morgan was sold to Edward Mott Robinson. Then she went into the hands of I. Howland, Jr. and Company, making three voyages for this firm. She was purchased by J. and W. R. Wing in 1863, and made 27 profitable voyages for them until 1916. Subsequently she was owned by Benjamin D. Cleveland and John A. Cook Whaling Company.
It has been computed that a gross estimate of the earnings of the old whaler from the thousands of barrels of oil and hundreds of pounds of whalebone she landed would be in the region of $2 mn. She sailed more miles and took more whales than any other whaling vessel.
She was a lucky craft for in her 84 years of voyaging, which must be an all-time record in itself, I should imagine, she was never grounded, and escaped all the innumerable mishaps that befell so many whaling vessels in the early days when the dangers of navigation were much greater than they are today.
The log-books of the Charles W. Morgan, including her first voyage, are stored in the Stillman Library at Mystic Seaport.
From first to last, she was commanded by a line of famous captains and it is to their skill, care and seamanship that her immunity from disaster, which overwhelmed so many of her sister-ships is attributable. The whaler barely escaped destruction on one particular occasion. On the night of June 30, 1924, she was lying alongside a Fairhaven dock when the steamship Sankaty, a mass of flames, drifted against the old whaler and set her afire. The flames were extinguished before much damage was done to the whaler.
USA SG1444, Marshall Is SG688. Sea Breezes 10/71
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Onlineaukepalmhof
- Posts: 7795
- Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am
Re: CHARLES W MORGAN
As given by Navicula page 4662 is the whaler depicting CHARLES W. MORGAN and designed after a drawing in Whale Ships and Whaling by Dow a reprint of 1985 page 192.
Tristan da Cunha 1965 2d sg74, scott74. 1971 1p on 2d sg138, scott?
USA Cinderella stamp.
Painting after the stamp was designed.
$2.80 Whaling from the CHARLES W. MORGAN, Cloudy Bay, 1852
American whaling ships began to arrive in New Zealand in 1791. Using what was known as the ‘bay whaling’ method, the crew of the CHARLES W. MORGAN is shown here poised, ready to strike.
The stamp was designed after a painting made by Sean Garwood.
By the painting is given: The morning breaks and the sea mist is clearing in Cloudy Bay, Cook Strait. The American whaling ship CHARLES W. MORGAN is heave to with her whaling boats embarking for the first kill of the day.
The harpooner is positioned and poised, ready to strike one of many Southern Right Whales that are passing through Cook Strait.
Known for being extremely slow swimmers, the Southern Right Whales were hunted to near extinction. This method of whaling was known as Bay Whaling and common throughout New Zealand, as opposed to deep water whaling where the whalers were in pursuit of the more lucrative, but dangerous, mighty Sperm Whale.
https://jgg.co.nz/product/whaling-cloudy-bay/
American whaleships under which the CHARLES W. MORGAN visited regular the New Zealand waters. She was also the last American whaleship who visited in 1894 New Zealand.
Tristan da Cunha 1965 2d sg74, scott74. 1971 1p on 2d sg138, scott?
USA Cinderella stamp.
Painting after the stamp was designed.
$2.80 Whaling from the CHARLES W. MORGAN, Cloudy Bay, 1852
American whaling ships began to arrive in New Zealand in 1791. Using what was known as the ‘bay whaling’ method, the crew of the CHARLES W. MORGAN is shown here poised, ready to strike.
The stamp was designed after a painting made by Sean Garwood.
By the painting is given: The morning breaks and the sea mist is clearing in Cloudy Bay, Cook Strait. The American whaling ship CHARLES W. MORGAN is heave to with her whaling boats embarking for the first kill of the day.
The harpooner is positioned and poised, ready to strike one of many Southern Right Whales that are passing through Cook Strait.
Known for being extremely slow swimmers, the Southern Right Whales were hunted to near extinction. This method of whaling was known as Bay Whaling and common throughout New Zealand, as opposed to deep water whaling where the whalers were in pursuit of the more lucrative, but dangerous, mighty Sperm Whale.
https://jgg.co.nz/product/whaling-cloudy-bay/
American whaleships under which the CHARLES W. MORGAN visited regular the New Zealand waters. She was also the last American whaleship who visited in 1894 New Zealand.
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Last edited by aukepalmhof on Mon Feb 21, 2022 7:06 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: CHARLES W MORGAN
Charles W Morgan
Marshall Islands 1987, S.G.?, Scott: 134.
United States 1988, S.G.?, Scott: 2340.
Marshall Islands 1987, S.G.?, Scott: 134.
United States 1988, S.G.?, Scott: 2340.
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john sefton
- Posts: 1816
- Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:59 pm
Re: CHARLES W MORGAN
New Zealand 2022
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