Photo: Susan S. Bank
After seven years of reconstruction and restoration in Boothbay Harbor, ME, the historic schooner Ernestina-Morrissey returned to her home port in New Bedford, MA earlier this week.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the Ernestina-Morrissey sailing into New Bedford to her home port, so this is wonderful,” state Rep. Antonio Cabral said as the boat pulled into the harbor Tuesday.
The schooner was built in 1894 as the Effie M. Morrissey at the James and Tarr Shipyard for the Gloucester fishing fleet.
Following a successful career as a fishing vessel, the schooner was skippered by Robert Bartlett for many years on numerous 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.
Renamed Ernestina, she would later carry cargo and immigrants from Cape Verde in the packet trade. Ernestina returned to the US in 1982 as a gift from the newly independent Cape Verdean people, she sailed as an educational vessel until 2005.
Ernestina-Morrissey is currently designated by the United States Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark. She is also the State Ship of Massachusetts.
The schooner underwent renovations for seven years at the Bristol Marine Shipyard in Booth Bay Harbor, Maine.
While in New Bedford, the Ernestina-Morrissey will dock at the New Bedford State Pier, where she will be made available for educational programming and cultural events such as Cape Verdean Recognition Week. She will then begin a new chapter in her long and storied career as a sail training vessel for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
In September of 2019, the Massachusetts Senate voted to transfer ownership of the schooner to the maritime academy. In that decision, it was stated that the vessel’s home port would be New Bedford and it would have to be berthed there for at least 90 days annually. Additionally, students in New Bedford would have to be guaranteed access to the ship for educational purposes.
Massachusetts Maritime Academy has announced that they will focus the efforts of the schooner Ernestina-Morrissey on undergraduate sail-training and leadership training for cadets, K-12 STEM programming, and community outreach and awareness within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and beyond.
Thanks to Virginia Jones for contributing to this post.