OUR SCREENING OF THE CHARLES W MORGAN tonight is SOLD OUT!

Doors Open for admissions 30 min. prior to screening. If you do not already have a ticket, please do not come to the film center hoping to buy one at the door.

In collaboration with Mystic Seaport and SAIL MV the Film Center presents THE CHARLES W MORGAN. A one-hour documentary film, directed by five-time Emmy winner Bailey Pryor which will be aired by PBS affiliate stations across the nation, telling the extraordinary story of America’s last wooden whaleship and the incredible saga of whaling, the first global industry dominated by America.

Following the show we will host a Q&A session with panel members Bailey Pryor; writer, producer, and director of the film, Steve Jones, Executive Producer, Quentin Snediker, Director of the Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport, and Matthew Stackpole, Ship’s Historian for The Morgan Restoration.

From her humble beginnings in New Bedford in the year 1841, the film follows the adventures of the Charles W. Morgan on 37 voyages around the world where this “Lucky Ship” survived freeze-ups in the Arctic, attacks by hostile natives, fire aboard ship, and a host of other stories, each of which had the potential to end the vessel’s life. The ship’s recently completed painstaking five and a half year restoration, which will allow her to  sail on a “38th Voyage” this summer, including a stop in Vineyard Haven from June 21 through the 24th, is also covered.

Millions of people have walked her decks, from ship builders to whalers to movie stars; the Morgan is a lady with a past as complex and unexpected as the era she signifies. In her lifetime, this vessel has witnessed nearly every human emotion, experienced radical changes in technology, and survived the transformation from wind and wood to oil and steel. Yet with all of this progress, in her time of need, the only way to restore this unlikely survivor was to return to the old ways of wooden shipwrights, an experience that transcends generations and redefines a long-forgotten art form. From her early days in New Bedford to her current re-construction in Mystic, Connecticut, the story of the Morgan is the story of American maritime history. Combining stunning archival material with evocative live cinematography and powerful on-camera interviews, the film chronicles the rise and fall of America’s first great industry using the only remaining vessel of the time period as a portal to the past.

 

 

Nantucket sleighride

CWM_logo_2 inch_blue_redMorgan undersail bow shot 1