ERNESTINA-MORRISSEY
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2025 7:47 pm
Effie M. Morrissey (now Ernestina-Morrissey) is a schooner skippered by Robert Bartlett that made many scientific expeditions to the Arctic, sponsored by American museums, the Explorers Club and the National Geographic Society. She also helped survey the Arctic for the United States Government during World War II. She is currently designated by the United States Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark as part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. She is the State Ship of Massachusetts.
As Effie M. Morrissey launched in 1894 in Essex, Massachusetts, this historic schooner’s first lives were as Gloucester Grand Banks fisherman, Arctic explorer, and WWII survey/supply vessel. As Ernestina, between 1946 and 1965, she plied the transatlantic waters as the last of Cabo Verde’s long line of transatlantic packet ships. After being gifted by the Republic of Cabo Verde to the “people of the United States” and repatriated in 1982, she embarked on her new life as environmental/maritime/sciences educator and cultural ambassador until 2004, serving thousands of young people, adults, and cultural and community-based organizations. With significant recent commitments from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and two generous private donors, and continued fundraising, Ernestina-Morrissey has begun full restoration at Boothbay Harbor/ Bristol Marine Shipyard in Maine. She is expected to be back to sailing at the end of 2022.
Specifications
Homeport: New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States
Rig: Schooner: Grand Banks Fishing Schooner
Sparred Length: 156′
LOD: 110′
LWL: 96
Draft: 13′
Beam: 26′
Rig Height: 115′
Freeboard: 6.5
Sail Area: 8,323
Tons: 139 GRT
Hull: Wood
tallshipsamerica.org
As Effie M. Morrissey launched in 1894 in Essex, Massachusetts, this historic schooner’s first lives were as Gloucester Grand Banks fisherman, Arctic explorer, and WWII survey/supply vessel. As Ernestina, between 1946 and 1965, she plied the transatlantic waters as the last of Cabo Verde’s long line of transatlantic packet ships. After being gifted by the Republic of Cabo Verde to the “people of the United States” and repatriated in 1982, she embarked on her new life as environmental/maritime/sciences educator and cultural ambassador until 2004, serving thousands of young people, adults, and cultural and community-based organizations. With significant recent commitments from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and two generous private donors, and continued fundraising, Ernestina-Morrissey has begun full restoration at Boothbay Harbor/ Bristol Marine Shipyard in Maine. She is expected to be back to sailing at the end of 2022.
Specifications
Homeport: New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States
Rig: Schooner: Grand Banks Fishing Schooner
Sparred Length: 156′
LOD: 110′
LWL: 96
Draft: 13′
Beam: 26′
Rig Height: 115′
Freeboard: 6.5
Sail Area: 8,323
Tons: 139 GRT
Hull: Wood
tallshipsamerica.org