The Charles W. Morgan has sailed the oceans during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.  She set sail from Mystic Seaport on her 38th voyage this year.  As she sails through the ocean, we can connect with past voyages through logbooks and journals.

Mike Whitney will be onboard the 38th voyage as the Morgan travels from Provincetown to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary on July 11th.  He will release several GPS-tracked surface drifters that flow along with the currents that connect coastal and open ocean waters.  The drifters will report their positions every two hours for several weeks.  The paths they travel can be seen at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center drifter program website; it will be updated several times a day.  Yan Jia, Steven Deveaux, and Jim Manning all helped with this effort.

 

 

Mike Whitney has created a database and maps from the journal kept by Joseph F. Edwards (master) on the 1918-1919 Atlantic voyage from New Bedford.  Click on the links below to see where they went, where the sighted ships, and where the caught or saw whales.  How does the weather where you are compare with what the voyagers experienced?  You can answer this by selecting different weather conditions below.  Each point includes a link to the original hand-written journal so you can read the each day’s first-person historical account.

ALL DAYS	Nice Weather	This month
Whales	Stormy	Dec,Jan,Feb
Ships	North winds	Mar,Apr,May
Calm/Light Winds	South winds	Jun,Jul,Aug
Good Winds	East winds	Sep,Oct,Nov
Strong Winds	West winds

 

Click on the adjacent image to view a movie charting the entire 1918-1919 voyage.  The information from the Edwards journal is combined with surface air temperatures and winds derived from the NOAA 20th Century Reanalysis (V2) observational/modeling product.

 

The 38th voyagers project is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Mike Whitney’s efforts are partially supported by UCONN Department of Marine Sciences, UCONN Avery Point Campus, and Connecticut Sea Grant.