38Talk:

Last night, my neighbor sent me an email describing a ship sailing past the "Jamestown Farmer's Market" heading up the West Passage into Narragansett Bay late on Monday afternoon. She wrote: 

on Monday at the market all of a sudden a beautiful ship goes by and everyone got excited and ran to look - coming out from the pavilion to look, take pictures - people were wondering if it was "that Morgan ship" - was it??!!

Unless we are superstitiously inclined and willing to believe that the Morgan has become ubiquitous, capable of sailing on many New England bays at once^*, then no, not the Morgan. Apparently my neighbor was referring to a three-masted topsail schooner (or barkentine) with a mostly white hull that will be spending a lot of time in and near Narragansett Bay this season. Funny thing is, this isn't the first time that this particular vessel has been confused with the Morgan. Those excited observers Monday evening were presumably watching the tall ship Mystic which, like the Morgan was trapped on the Mystic River for some years, and many visitors to Mystic strolling across the drawbridge have innocently pointed at the Mystic and said "Oh, there's that old whaleship." They're both beautiful ships, but the difference in age is substantial. The Mystic was built (or launched) in 2007. A press release from OHPRI explains why the Mystic is local this summer. I see from their schedule that they'll be visiting the Cape Cod Canal Centennial celebration, so there will be another chance to see the Charles W. Morgan and the Mystic together in just three weeks. 

Frank Reed
Conanicut Island  USA

^* Yes, that was a shameless Moby-Dick reference.